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MiSTer: FPGA gaming

Dr_Dave

By Dr_Dave
in Retro & Arcade Gaming

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shiffy

shiffy

Posted
Posted

I have to admit that I don't know how hot the FPGA gets on the DE-10. There are no temperature sensors on the DE-10, and having asked the question to those more knowledgeable than me nobody (yet, I add!) has given me an answer regarding temperatures. I have to assume that it's something that nobody is terribly concerned about .... outside of the odd instability issues.

 

I'm going to include a few links to options just in case you do decide to mount your fan to the DE-10 at a later date. I think the best option is the top one

 

Unpopulated I/O board from Misterfpga.co.uk

 

Just been given a little more info relating to an unpopulated board .... "with the unpopulated IO board, you'll need to at least install the 40 pin header and 2 pin fan connector, because the GPIO header will be blocked by the PCB".

 

Premade plate with fan from MiSTer Addons (USA Based)

Files to 3d print a fan mounting plate

More files for 3d printing

 

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shiffy

shiffy

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You're in for an exciting time bwi, you're joining in at a time when things are a little easier for newcomers to the MiSTer. It might be worthwhile preparing an microSD card ready for when your DE10 arrives. I've referenced an earlier post of mine for basic instructions for this. The full Github instructions are here but it's straight forward and using what's below should sort you out.

 

**One thought I just had regarding the instructions below, once you've prepped the sd card create a folder in the root of the card named "Scripts" and drop the UPDATE.SH file into that folder.

 

On 11/09/2019 at 20:10, shiffy said:

I can't remember if the setup instructions are up above, but go here to get the Windows program to initially set up the SD card. Then grab the UPDATE.SH script from here. Put it on the SD card, open the scripts option on MiSTer (F12 on a keyboard), run the script and all the cores, pallettes, cheats, etc will be pulled from Github.

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mmmonkey

mmmonkey

Posted
Posted

I’ve ordered from misterfpga.co.uk a couple of times, worth remembering that you tend to get a discount code for your next order.

 

I bought the 128 RAM, and then later decided to get the USB Hub, not bad using the code along with free postage.

 

I also got the power switch, that’s been useful!

 

Still can’t decide what’s best to do for controllers on this.  I tend to stick with console cores - I’m considering USB SNES pads for most cores, and USB Saturn pads for Sega stuff that works better with 3/6 button Sega layout.

 

Can you mix and match pads, so P1 uses one type of pad and P2 uses different type altogether?  I can’t remember how the setting up of controllers work.

 

Pete

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shiffy

shiffy

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34 minutes ago, mmmonkey said:

Can you mix and match pads, so P1 uses one type of pad and P2 uses different type altogether?  I can’t remember how the setting up of controllers work.

 

I can certainly mix & match pads using bluetooth 8bitdo pads & the Retrobit Saturn pad, although it can to be a bit of a pain in the backside to get two 8bitdo pads working together. In my case I tend to use only one pad at a time, but keeping each style of pad for it's own dedicated core. For example 8bitdo SN30 & variants for Nes, Snes, GB & GBA cores, 8bitdo M30 for the Master System, Megadrive & PCE cores, the arcade stick for Neogeo & arcade cores. I'll go through the procedure in a bit and set up the Snes core for 2 players using an SN30 & SN30+ to remind myself what needs doing. As you're using USB wired controllers presumably you might not run into the problem that I had in that both bluetooth controllers seemed to default to player one when both switched on.

As I was writing this I've just tested the NeoGeo core with one 8bitdo SN30Pro+ bluetooth pad & my wired XB360 arcade stick. Both pad and stick recognized independently with two players with no issues. Also just succeeded with 2 8bitdo bluetooth pads on the snes core (SFII Turbo) working as P1 & P2, one being the SN30 Pro+ & the older SN30 Pro. After disconnecting one of the 8bitdo pads and resetting the Snes core it's then sees the XB360 stick plugged in as P2 (this stick has been plugged in the whole time).

 

 

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bwi

bwi

Posted
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i'm assuming it is possible to boot the de10 with just power and hdmi connected as im getting no sign of life. Havent got any addons yet , just making sure it works.

 

 edit: Well it seems i'm getting no power from the psu, as i can't get the 5v reading. Using a shaver adapter unless there is something better out there?

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Dr_Dave

Dr_Dave

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Posted
16 minutes ago, bwi said:

i'm assuming it is possible to boot the de10 with just power and hdmi connected as im getting no sign of life. Havent got any addons yet , just making sure it works.

 

 edit: Well it seems i'm getting no power from the psu, as i can't get the 5v reading. Using a shaver adapter unless there is something better out there?

 

I use one of these:

 

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07PMJ9C1W/

 

with one of these:

 

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01AE28QX6/

 

And it's been absolutely fine.

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bwi

bwi

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Posted

funnily, i have that exact psu for my pi's. The adapter is nice so i'll go for a hunt as the link you sent is unavailable.

 

cheers dave

 

I do wonder if my shaver adapter might be the problem, but its fine with ..........my shaver :/

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shiffy

shiffy

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, bwi said:

i'm assuming it is possible to boot the de10 with just power and hdmi connected as im getting no sign of life. Havent got any addons yet , just making sure it works.

 

 edit: Well it seems i'm getting no power from the psu, as i can't get the 5v reading. Using a shaver adapter unless there is something better out there?

Have you set up the SD card with the MiSTer files yet? I can't remember what it does when there's no SD card inserted (or without the files for MiSTer) but there might not be any lights at all, although I think I can recall one blue light on the board that lit up with nothing inserted in the SD clot. I think for the DE10's intended purpose (FPGA development) it connects to a PC which is then seen as an external device. When a MiSTer formatted SD card is inserted the DE10 lights up like a Christmas tree and then you'll get a signal from the HDMI. It needs that MiSTer card inserted to act like a video game console or computer.

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AceGrace

AceGrace

Posted
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On 01/12/2019 at 20:53, shiffy said:

You're in for an exciting time bwi, you're joining in at a time when things are a little easier for newcomers to the MiSTer. It might be worthwhile preparing an microSD card ready for when your DE10 arrives. I've referenced an earlier post of mine for basic instructions for this. The full Github instructions are here but it's straight forward and using what's below should sort you out.

 

**One thought I just had regarding the instructions below, once you've prepped the sd card create a folder in the root of the card named "Scripts" and drop the UPDATE.SH file into that folder.

 

Does the update.sh script download the latest mister firmware or does this have to be done separately?

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bwi

bwi

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Well the psu was a dud out the box. Got a new one off amazon same day, and it lit up straight away and gave me the mister screen with no files. Soooooooo i'm just waiting misterfpga for my bits and then i'll be joining in the fun.

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AceGrace

AceGrace

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Decided to get a case with an IO board (on ebay). as a just in case (for the fan mounting really). Can't hurt to have the other ports just in case :-)

 

The case will fit the OTG hub that I ordered from Amazon.

 

So takes it up to about £280.

 

Should be picking up my main board on Friday.

 

All set. Already received the 128mb extension and the fan, hub and thermal compound.

 

Can't wait.

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shiffy

shiffy

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3 hours ago, bwi said:

good timing as all my bits have been shipped from misterfpga.

 

Just to make sure will a 2amp psu be ok till some of those adapters dr_dave suggested arrive?

I honestly don't know! I've only ever used the stock PSU that came with the DE10. I thought that it needs 5amp psu. I'm not near the machine at the moment, but I'll check in a bit a see what the official DE10 is rated at.

 

EDIT: Just had a quick look at the plug that was supplied as standard with my DE10..... 5v /  2a.

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Dr_Dave

Dr_Dave

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Does anyone have any tips for optimising Minimig on the MiSTer? I find that I have very variable levels of success with it, specifically:

 

- Some games freeze when run from WHDLoad (I think I've figured this out to be an NTSC/PAL issue, but I'd love to know how to tell whether I should run a game in NTSC or PAL)

- Glitching in games - in particular, I see glitching in Turrican 2 (DCache related, I think) and Shadow Of The Best - both suffer graphical artefacts all over the place

- Screen mode issues - I'm finding it very difficult to get nice looking screens. I see a lot of large borders or screen over lapping with the edge. Appreciate that borders were just a thing on PAL Amigas, and I know about that screen position adjustment, but I can't ever seem to get it right. Adjust one game and it seems to knock another out of whack. Also, the screen position adjustment seems to have stopped working in recent versions. What is "Blank" and "Blank+"?

 

EDIT: Doh! I'm an idiot... had the mister.ini file in config rather than in the root, so everything I was trying to tweak was having no effect. SOTB works fine when loaded on an A500 config, so probably some 020 or AGA incompatibility. Still can't get the screen position tweaking to work, but everything looks a hell of a lot better now.

 

 

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bwi

bwi

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got mine up and runnning to a degree. But not really sure of how i do the file structure when inputting bios files for the neogeo etc.

 

Also after reading there seems to be a lot of talk about the romlist.xml and darksoft/smokemonster  rom packs etc.

 

i think im going to tinker more today and then line up a list of questions when i've become more aware of what is going on and where i'm going wrong.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
shiffy

shiffy

Posted
Posted
On 06/12/2019 at 13:06, Dr_Dave said:

Does anyone have any tips for optimising Minimig on the MiSTer? I find that I have very variable levels of success with it

 

The Amiga is a bit of a strange one. It's one of these machines, and the MiSTer core too as a result, that because it wasn't successful in the US not many games are optimized for 60hz. Most games that I've tried to force into 60hz either cut off part of the screen or fail to load. Although I know there are more I only managed to get two games working in 60hz properly, those are Battle Squadron & Mega Typhoon ... even then, I think Mega Typhoon is running a tad too fast! I know there's some way in which you could enter the config file of a game on the hard drive & change a setting so the game boots in NTSC mode, but I wasn't successful with getting them working right. I gave up in the end. I've just accepted that the Amiga is best played at 50hz, and as a result I learnt to live with the huge borders.

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shiffy

shiffy

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I've just seen a few videos by Smokemonster, his "FPGA Countdown To The New Year". I quite like this idea, one new video a day with each video highlighting one core. So far, they've not been the obvious Snes/Megadrive/PC Engine. I thought I'd post the videos here for folks who are new to MiSTer or haven't jumped on board yet to highlight exactly what the MiSTer is all about. First few videos posted below, I'll add the new videos as they're uploaded.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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shiffy

shiffy

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On 17/12/2019 at 01:43, spanky debrest said:

Looks like the original Wonderboy is getting the ported by Mister XB. I used to love playing this cabinet (despite the SMS port being so faithful) so playing it again without emulation lag will be amazing.

 

I seem to remember my first encounter of the arcade machine being at Stansted Airport, I loved this game and I had it on the Master System at the time. I can't wait for this, and judging by this beta is looking up to Mr.XB's very high standards!

 

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shiffy

shiffy

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Another of Smokemonster's "Core Countdown To New Year", although this is not a video about a specific core. This is highlighting the newly added and much needed feature of external HDD support. Because this video highlights such an important new feature I've seperated it out from the rest of the series of videos.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
BaronCorvo

BaronCorvo

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Hi I wonder if someone here might be able to help. 

 

I've set up my mister and manually swapped over the menu core and mister firmware files but it wouldn't display on my screen. I manually swapped a few files over and could get it to display on older mister firmware. I ran the update script to bring it back up to the most recent version and again, it wouldn't diaplay. The board lights up but nothing on screen.

 

I'm not using any adram at the moment as that hasn't arrived. Any thoughts?

 

 

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