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MiSTer: FPGA gaming

Dr_Dave

By Dr_Dave,
in Retro & Arcade Gaming

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jonnyalpha

jonnyalpha

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, watusi said:

 

This works really well, its a bit of a faff to set up as you need to create a FAT format VHD containing the ZX Next firmware and whatnot but it seems very solid for an initial release. Just being playing WarHawk and the Pawn - couldn't get pogie to run

Well that sounds like another day of fiddling around trying to get something to work. I have no idea how to create a vhd but I'll have to find out. I'm now slightly regretting ordering a spectrum next on the last KS. 

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watusi

watusi

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, jonnyalpha said:

Well that sounds like another day of fiddling around trying to get something to work. I have no idea how to create a vhd but I'll have to find out. I'm now slightly regretting ordering a spectrum next on the last KS. 

 

https://winaero.com/create-a-new-vhd-or-vhdx-file-in-windows-10/

 

This covers it on Win10. It's very simple.

 

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ulala

ulala

Posted
Posted
11 hours ago, jonnyalpha said:

Well that sounds like another day of fiddling around trying to get something to work. I have no idea how to create a vhd but I'll have to find out. I'm now slightly regretting ordering a spectrum next on the last KS. 


Surely you got the next because if the case and it’s styling?

 

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watusi

watusi

Posted
Posted

Not sure if anyone else is on the Jotego Patreon but this weeks update includes Street Fighter Alpha 2 and its absolutely incredible. He's also suggested that he is planning to convert Robocop at some point. when that happens I shall poop with Joy!

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Dr_Dave

Dr_Dave

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A heads up to anyone using the Spectrum Next core - you can actually use the secondary SD card slot that you'd completely forgotten about instead of the .vhd file! Just make sure you have an SD card built to boot on a Next and delete or rename the .vhd file and the core will use it.

 

It seems to work a lot better than the .vhd, especially for reading large directories.

 

I just grabbed my SD card from my Next and used it with no changes needed.

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Spoonman

Spoonman

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Mine finally arrived!!! Omg. It's amazing. So tiny, to boot.

 

It took me a while to get the VGA-SCART output working on my CRT, but I did in the end. Please excuse the stretched HDMI image; I was still tweaking, and everything is set up correctly now.

 

aQm6MZr.jpg

 

You know what I realised? How fucking good CRTs are for games pre 2000. There's real depth to the spritework, that is lost on LCD even if you have all the filters in the world*.

 

I will take better photos and haven't finished the mod, but this is what I bought rather than either an AES or actual supergun with PCBs...

 

I present: MiSTerGun

 

 

t8TF7il.png

 

*M2's ESP.ra.de on Switch (&PS4) has outstanding filters that really do look like a CRT on LCD. Some kind of voodoo magic, but most implementations look pretty cack. M2 go above and beyond.

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DeciderVT

DeciderVT

Posted
Posted
10 hours ago, Spoonman said:

Mine finally arrived!!! Omg. It's amazing. So tiny, to boot.

 

It took me a while to get the VGA-SCART output working on my CRT, but I did in the end. Please excuse the stretched HDMI image; I was still tweaking, and everything is set up correctly now.

 

aQm6MZr.jpg

 

You know what I realised? How fucking good CRTs are for games pre 2000. There's real depth to the spritework, that is lost on LCD even if you have all the filters in the world*.

 

I will take better photos and haven't finished the mod, but this is what I bought rather than either an AES or actual supergun with PCBs...

 

I present: MiSTerGun

 

 

t8TF7il.png

 

*M2's ESP.ra.de on Switch (&PS4) has outstanding filters that really do look like a CRT on LCD. Some kind of voodoo magic, but most implementations look pretty cack. M2 go above and beyond.

 

Wait... is that a modified Sigma 9000TB?

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Dr_Dave

Dr_Dave

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5 hours ago, Count Buffalos said:

Is anyone subscribing to Jotego's Patreon? If you are, is it easy to get the CPS-2 games up and running? I don't think I can wait much longer for the general release!

 

Yes, I subscribe to it. It's fairly straightforward, and he provides detailed instructions. It just basically involve copying a bunch of files across to the MiSTer in various different places then running the updater to pull the roms. One thing that's important is to delete older versions of the rbf and mra files at each release.

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Colonel Panic

Colonel Panic

Posted
Posted

Sorted a MiSTer VGA to SCART cable so was able to connect it all to my CRT. 

 

I need to start thinking about multiple profiles now, as I'll be getting a MiSTerCade in the future and it'll need different options for sync and all that (probably)

 

I still need to set up my SNAC correctly, got NES and SNES adapters ready to go.

 

IMG_6408.thumb.jpeg.e91d1b672fdde37e1c85dce5550af698.jpegIMG_6410.thumb.jpeg.33d2ed6011cd881e90afd1d04749a122.jpeg

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mmmonkey

mmmonkey

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Kevvy Metal said:

Man, back in the day I got all the Smokemonster Everdrive packs straight off the site that had them before they all got taken down but that was just the console packs. Nothing like Arcade boards like CPS-1 and CPS-2 which I have nothing for. 

That's taken care of with the update_all script, grabs all the necessary files and roms for the Arcade cores and organises them for you.  I haven't downloaded the CPS2 beta yet, but I think the script gets all the necessary files for it already.

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Kevvy Metal

Kevvy Metal

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, mmmonkey said:

That's taken care of with the update_all script, grabs all the necessary files and roms for the Arcade cores and organises them for you.  I haven't downloaded the CPS2 beta yet, but I think the script gets all the necessary files for it already.


The ROMs too? I’m really surprised at that! 

 

EDIT: Holy crap this is amazing! I never used the Update_all script! Just Update

 

<3 

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Colonel Panic

Colonel Panic

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I see. Well, there’s a tool that will format your SD card and update scripts to pull down cores for you to run. 
 

After that, it’s setting up your ROMs and configuring inputs line you would on a software emulator. 
 

I can’t remember if the set up tool needs Windows or not, so bear that in mind. 
 

so it’s easy if you follow the instructions. Just ask here if you get stuck at a particular point. 
 

It’s all a bit hobbyist unfortunately so not always user friendly. 
 

Have a read: https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Main_MiSTer/wiki/Setup-Guide

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Kevvy Metal

Kevvy Metal

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9 minutes ago, Protocol Penguin said:

No? That was the physical assembly, and I’ve got someone lined up to help me with that.  It’s the software that’s the main issue now (again, that’s why I was looking at pre-assembled units, because it’d be pre-installed).

 

I think it's very easy. 

You install a file on a sdcard, then turn on the machine and let it do it's thing. 

You then run an included "update" script that updates the mister with everything, and gets the latest versions of all the cores, you just sit and wait and watch the progress.

There's another "update_all" script that will include some mame roms and BIOS files that are harder to find, that has to be moved to the machine manually then run.

 

Installing stuff like console roms is down to yourself, and it's as easy as dragging and dropping files. I'd recommend using an FTP client like Filezilla though. 

From the Mister front end, you can set some things via scripts like the .ini one. 

 

It is all very easy. 

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Kevvy Metal

Kevvy Metal

Posted
Posted
4 minutes ago, Colonel Panic said:

I see. Well, there’s a tool that will format your SD card and update scripts to pull down cores for you to run. 
 

After that, it’s setting up your ROMs and configuring inputs line you would on a software emulator. 
 

I can’t remember if the set up tool needs Windows or not, so bear that in mind. 
 

so it’s easy if you follow the instructions. Just ask here if you get stuck at a particular point. 
 

It’s all a bit hobbyist unfortunately so not always user friendly. 
 

Have a read: https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Main_MiSTer/wiki/Setup-Guide

 

I've used nothing but a Mac with mine. I used Apple Pi Baker as outlined in that readme.

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Protocol Penguin

Protocol Penguin

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Kevvy Metal said:

 

I've used nothing but a Mac with mine. I used Apple Pi Baker as outlined in that readme.

See, that’s helpful, as my computer is a Mac bought at the end of last year (so was my previous one – I’ve never owned a PC). If a Mister really can be set up with a Mac running Big Sur without any issues, that relieves the biggest concern I have about the software side of things.

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Peter St John

Peter St John

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, Protocol Penguin said:

See, that’s helpful, as my computer is a Mac bought at the end of last year (so was my previous one – I’ve never owned a PC). If a Mister really can be set up with a Mac running Big Sur without any issues, that relieves the biggest concern I have about the software side of things.

 

Used a Mac here as well - no problems, and the update scripts have been painless so far (e.g. pressing a couple of arrow keys). Even setting up wifi was about as painless as it gets with Linux.

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