FPGA Based Videogame System

[Fafner]

I just want to say I'm really enjoying the NT Mini. I have it plugged into my little 14" tv via composite

This is by far the best thing I've read in this entire thread!

 

If that's the way you like to play it! Enjoy it!

[jamon1567]

Question for Kevtris about the Z3k. I don't recall this being asked, but however you decide to implement the video output, would it be possible to have both RGB and composite (or even S-video for those that use it) implemented to where both could be hooked up at the same time? It would be nice to have the option to easily switch between RGB and composite for games like Sonic that would benefit from some of the imperfections of composite without having to physically switch cables.

 

Side question for anyone who may know.....as I understand, the SCART standard carries composite over a certain pin. Would it be possible to fashion a cable that breaks out composite to essentially achieve what I asked for above on the Mini currently? I suppose then the followup question would be that, if this is possible, would the mini support it?

Edited March 22, 2017 by jamon1567

[retro_fan]

[...]

 

I'm far far from knowledgeable about displays, but Kev was 100% right man.. I A/B'd a real NES and the NT Mini and to my eyes the picture was exactly the same, colors, sizing, idiosyncrasies and all. Pretty cool after fiddling with console emulators (xbox, wii, etc.) for so many years, which even after resizing, rescaling, etc. on an old tv set, was never quite exactly the same picture (especially colors). Not that it matters too much, but it's cool to see.

 

 

 

 

 

That's awesome! And how do you find the Nt mini sound vs a real NES?

[Iano]

I've combed through this thread a few times now and don't believe this been brought up, but if it has already sorry in advance. I loaded a few ROMs into the NES folder on JB firmware ("1.8") and I see duplicate names in the list, e.g. there are 2 ROMs listed with the same name per ROM in the folder. I popped the SD card back in my PC to verify and to make sure there weren't any hidden files, etc. Any thoughts on what may be causing this?

Edited March 22, 2017 by Iano

[Wolf_]

wow I am having major problems tracking down some of the bios files. I wish there was like a nt mini bios pack that just had all this crap in one place. I don't even know if half the ones I put on there will work because I had to rename them from .rom to .bin

[Tusecsy]

I've combed through this thread a few times now and don't believe this been brought up, but if it has already sorry in advance. I loaded a few ROMs into the NES folder on JB firmware ("1.8") and I see duplicate names in the list, e.g. there are 2 ROMs listed with the same name per ROM in the folder. I popped the SD card back in my PC to verify and to make sure there weren't any hidden files, etc. Any thoughts on what may be causing this?

I'm having the same problem, I believe there's a simple fix for it but I can't recall off hand.

[NE146]

That's awesome! And how do you find the Nt mini sound vs a real NES?

Sound the same to me .. granted, I've only played standard NES games. I've seen some reviews where there are audible differences in some enhanced audio chips (e.g. VRC6 w/ the jap Castlevania 3) where things might sound "warmer" in one vs. the other, so take it for what you will. On the regular games however I hear no difference whatsoever in tone nor speed.

[NE146]

wow I am having major problems tracking down some of the bios files. I wish there was like a nt mini bios pack that just had all this crap in one place. I don't even know if half the ones I put on there will work because I had to rename them from .rom to .bin

Which ones?

[Wolf_]

Which ones?

The Atarivox bios (avoxrom.bin and avoxee.bin) and I'm not sure what smsbios3 and 4 are supposed to be for the SMS because it has several other bios including Alex Kidd in Miracle world, Hang-on, Missile Defense, and Sonic the Hedgehog. Pretty sure Sonic and knuckles also has a bios. I'm not really sure why it has all those different bios for individual games and I'm not sure what is supposed to be #3 and #4.

[kevtris]

The Atarivox bios (avoxrom.bin and avoxee.bin) and I'm not sure what smsbios3 and 4 are supposed to be for the SMS because it has several other bios including Alex Kidd in Miracle world, Hang-on, Missile Defense, and Sonic the Hedgehog. Pretty sure Sonic and knuckles also has a bios. I'm not really sure why it has all those different bios for individual games and I'm not sure what is supposed to be #3 and #4.

you don't NEED to use all of them. I just provided multiple slots so if you wanted to try different bioses (i.e. US, euro, japan) you can. You can get away with no bios for many games even.

[Wolf_]

you don't NEED to use all of them. I just provided multiple slots so if you wanted to try different bioses (i.e. US, euro, japan) you can. You can get away with no bios for many games even.

But I would assume you would need the game specific bios to play those games wouldn't you? I mean it doesn't make much sense to have a sonic bios if you don't need it to play sonic.

 

Also I can't find the atarivox bios anywhere and that is pretty frustrating.

[kevtris]

But I would assume you would need the game specific bios to play those games wouldn't you? I mean it doesn't make much sense to have a sonic bios if you don't need it to play sonic.

 

Also I can't find the atarivox bios anywhere and that is pretty frustrating.

no, that bios has sonic *built in*. the way it works is if you don't pop in a cartridge (or the cart isn't recognized, etc) then sonic plays. There were several BIOS+game combos released over the years. If you want to play the sonic rom, you can use any BIOS and aren't restricted to using the "sonic bios" unless you wish to play the version built into that particular bios ROM.

[Wolf_]

no, that bios has sonic *built in*. the way it works is if you don't pop in a cartridge (or the cart isn't recognized, etc) then sonic plays. There were several BIOS+game combos released over the years. If you want to play the sonic rom, you can use any BIOS and aren't restricted to using the "sonic bios" unless you wish to play the version built into that particular bios ROM.

Oh cool, so the sms bios 3 & 4 aren't actually needed for anything?

 

What about the atarivox bios, do I still need those for the voice add on to work?

[kevtris]

Oh cool, so the sms bios 3 & 4 aren't actually needed for anything?

 

What about the atarivox bios, do I still need those for the voice add on to work?

correct. I never really used 3 and 4, I just put US/japanese in the first two slots and used them for the most part. re: atarivox, yes you need them if you want the voice to work. I can't help with providing them though. sorry.

[Wolf_]

correct. I never really used 3 and 4, I just put US/japanese in the first two slots and used them for the most part. re: atarivox, yes you need them if you want the voice to work. I can't help with providing them though. sorry.

I'm impressed you could find them in the first place. Not to mention Game King and Gamate roms. Like damn these are just not on the internet anywhere lol.

[Andromeda Stardust]

HI Kevtris, I don't know if this can be done but I was wondering if it would be possible to give users the ability remap the order of the controller ports via your firmware? Maybe you've seen me venting my spleen about the retro receiver situation that arises when two (or more are in use) on the hardware thread, but I wanted to put your eyes on this because I think it's possible to ameliorate the issue (even though it's kind of 8bitdo's problem)...

 

It seems to me that if I can put the P2 reciever just a few inches away from P1, the problem goes away... Care to save the day? Thanks for your awesome work and consideration!

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/263325-analogue-nt-mini-hardware/?p=3723725

Hi. I think I detailed the workaround in the nt mini harware thread. You are correct in that there is too much crosstalk between the recievers. A two port receiver would fix the issue on an original nes or top loader, but most clones including the nt mini would be incompatible due To Port Spacing (it would work on avs however). Best quick fix solution is to use a cable extention on port 2, but that kinda defeats the purpose of going wireless.

[Andromeda Stardust]

DP.

[RampantOctopus]

Hi. I think I detailed the workaround in the nt mini harware thread. You are correct in that there is too much crosstalk between the recievers. A two port receiver would fix the issue on an original nes or top loader, but most clones including the nt mini would be incompatible due To Port Spacing (it would work on avs however). Best quick fix solution is to use a cable extention on port 2, but that kinda defeats the purpose of going wireless.

 

You did, and thanks-- it's just that a port remapping solution would be so elegant in the absence of spectrum partitioning support from 8bitdo. It's not Kevtris' problem, I just wanted to post where he could see it in case this idea was of any interest to him. Anyhow, I'll stop talking about this now, I've got my solution even if it's not ideal. Thanks again.

[Flangle]

you don't NEED to use all of them. I just provided multiple slots so if you wanted to try different bioses (i.e. US, euro, japan) you can. You can get away with no bios for many games even.

 

Off topic:

 

Kev! What is your icon from?

 

I'm a curious b-stard.

[Reaperman]

Off topic:

 

Kev! What is your icon from?

 

I'm a curious b-stard.

Here

[Keatah]

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/247145-coleco-chameleon-hardware-speculations/page-237?do=findComment&comment=3460281

[Iano]

I'm having the same problem, I believe there's a simple fix for it but I can't recall off hand.

 

Figured it out through some trial and error, it seems you must have the archive attribute set on the file, otherwise it shows up as a duplicate on the NT Mini. The Windows "attrib" command can set the attribute, e.g. "attrib +A file.nes". Maybe kevtris can shed some light if this is intentional or a bug.

[Flangle]

Here

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/247145-coleco-chameleon-hardware-speculations/page-237?do=findComment&comment=3460281

I love these little bits of gaming history. This trivia is just dead interesting to me.

 

Thanks to both of you.

[kevtris]

 

Figured it out through some trial and error, it seems you must have the archive attribute set on the file, otherwise it shows up as a duplicate on the NT Mini. The Windows "attrib" command can set the attribute, e.g. "attrib +A file.nes". Maybe kevtris can shed some light if this is intentional or a bug.

first I have heard of this problem. If it's a mac, they drop all sorts of extra/duplicate meta data files onto the SD card which made life difficult before- there's a hidden file for each file on the card sometimes. I thought I got rid of those by hiding hidden files, but maybe there's something else there. On a mac this problem might not be visible since the OS probably strips them out for display. I couldn't repro the problem until I had someone zip up the contents of an SD card doing it, that's when I found all sorts of hidden dirs and files sprayed everywhere in the file system. I might need an example dir with the problem zipped up (on a windows machine) to be able to find it.

[kevtris]

Off topic:

 

Kev! What is your icon from?

 

I'm a curious b-stard.

As someone else pointed out, it's from JY company... but I have it because we found that logo hidden inside a game I had reverse engineered the mapper to (the infamous mapper 90) hidden in a bunch of the CHR banks of a game, but didn't know how to activate it for a long time. It was so weird I had to use it as an avatar. My avatar originally was the wrong colours. Turns out, a button combo makes it activate, and thus we knew the correct palette finally which is what is now used in the avatar.