MiSTer: FPGA gaming

[Colonel Panic]

I'm going to have to get one of these, I think. I've been interested in doing FPGA development for a while and between that and MiSTER, I think a DE-10 Nano covers a lot of bases.

[AceGrace]

I've had one sitting in a box over christmas. Running out of days before I go back to work. Must put it together and set it up tomorrow or new years day! 

[Colonel Panic]

Where’d you order yours from?

[AceGrace]

Digikey.co.uk

 

Finally got round to opening the fpga only to find a US power adapter! You would have thought that it would have had a UK adapter knowing it was an order from the UK!

 

Anyway. Is there another 5v power supply I can get or can I use a travel adapter?

 

Can it be powered by USB?

[AceGrace]

Ignore my insane ramblings. After 2 tense hours I've got it together in the 3d printed case. I am just using the heat sink for now.

I didn't fit the fan as I didn't have the correct screws but I think it will probably be OK without the fan.

 

Got the 128mb installed and the RTC although no battery so I will be taking the case apart later to fit the battery.

 

Now to try and set up the sd card.

 

[AceGrace]

Just for info.It only took 2 hours because I was being very cautious.

[AceGrace]

OK. Followed the instructions above (the update.sh script stuff).

 

Got the sd card set up. "Found the Neo Geo" roms

 

Very impressed with the quality. Can't wait to try other cores but for now this is terrific.

 

Thanks for everyone that has posted help and to the MiSTer wiki.

 

[AceGrace]

Just did a video on the MiSTer FPGA with Neo Geo core

 

https://youtu.be/PYudQ9vp2IU

[OogyBoogy]

My DE-10 Nano is slated to arrive tomorrow, with a 128 memory card on Friday.

Like @Colonel Panic I'm interested in the programming side of things, and I ordered the book Programming FPGAs: Getting Started with Verilog

 

[jonnyalpha]

Edit:

So I've ordered the DE10 from Mouser.co.uk and then ordered a USB hub board, 128Mb Ram, RTC board, wifi adapter and heatsink from Misterfpga. Got a plug adapter and 128Gb micro SD card on the way from Amazon. I think that should be all I need to get it sorted and put it together. When the i/o board comes back in stock I'll probably get one of those to get the fan, buttons and power switch options.

 

I'm going to spend the next day or two watching and reading some tutorials to get the thing set up as quick as possible when it arrives. 

 

 

Now out of date:

I've read through this thread several times and now I need one of these. I looked at prices of an already made kit and by the time VAT, shipping etc was added it was too much. Am I right in thinking that it's not too difficult to order the DE10 board from Digikey or mouser and then get the other bits from a site like MiSTer Fpga?

 

I'm thinking that I need the DE10 (obviously), 128Mb RAM expansion and the i/o board with fan and heatsink to get me started. Is that right? What about a USB hub expansion board? I saw one of those is available and that looked a neat solution for connecting several accessories at once.

 

What cases have people found? I like the look of the one that @Dr_Dave was using in the original post but couldn't see that anywhere other than the complete units.

 

Hints and tips appreciated. 

 

Ignore me, @Dr_Dave has already answered most of this in his first post. I'm just flapping because I always worry about ordering the wrong thing.

[shiffy]

On 27/04/2020 at 21:39, jonnyalpha said:

Edit:

So I've ordered the DE10 from Mouser.co.uk and then ordered a USB hub board, 128Mb Ram, RTC board, wifi adapter and heatsink from Misterfpga. Got a plug adapter and 128Gb micro SD card on the way from Amazon. I think that should be all I need to get it sorted and put it together. When the i/o board comes back in stock I'll probably get one of those to get the fan, buttons and power switch options.

 

I'm going to spend the next day or two watching and reading some tutorials to get the thing set up as quick as possible when it arrives.

 

Welcome to the rabbit hole, jonnyalpha! Once you're set up you will lose so much time reliving those old classics. There are a few experienced MiSTer users here now so don't be afraid to ask if you need any help.

[jonnyalpha]

Thank you. I know I'll have plenty of questions.

 

Edit:

My first priorities are going to be trying to set up working Amiga and Spectrum cores. I've got Amiga workbench files as I purchased the Amiga in a Box official pack years ago so they'll come in handy. I always find folder structures confusing but there seems to be plenty of advice to follow on youtube and github (although github is pretty confusing for a novice) and if I can get help here with any specific questions that'll be brilliant.

 

I'm also amazed to see stuff like the TRS80. That took me back as my dad had a Video Genie in the early 80s and I remember typing in the listings from C&VG to play games on it and some of them were great. I'll have to give that a try.

 

I'm just itching for the boards to start arriving. My SD card arrived and I've started setting that up and messing around trying to work out how to build arcade roms and how to set up the folder structure. I'll be back with questions when I get stuck.

[jonnyalpha]

Nearly all of the stuff arrived today. The DE10 arrived first thing this morning and the package from misterfpga arrived a little later. Unfortunately the heat sink I ordered was missing so I've messaged them to get that sorted but it shouldn't be a problem as they responded very quickly to messages before and were very helpful.

 

I've assembled the rest, which was quite easy and booted up the sd card that I'd prepared earlier. Then I ran the scripts that had been suggested to get all the folders set up. It's all looking good so far and tomorrow I'm going to get some more files on to the card and see if I can get things configured correctly. I'm a little concerned about running anything too taxing without a heatsink on but I'll just be careful.

 

Thanks to everyone here but especially Shiffy who's help has been invaluable in getting me setup so easily.

[shiffy]

You're welcome jonnyalpha!

 

Last night I heard on the grapevine that the PC Engine CD core is probably closer to release than many people realize. So close in fact that someone has disclosed the file structure used. Unlike the Mega CD core, which was it's own core seperate from the Megadrive, the PCE CD core will utilize the exisitng "TurboGrafix16" core with CD images living inside the /games/TGFX16 folder. I've created a folder within TGFX16 for my CD images simply named "PCE-CD". In the base TGFX16 folder you must have the Japanese Super System 3.0 Bios and rename it  to "cd_bios.rom".

 

I've been a little busy this morning ripping my small PCE-CD collection in anticipation .... ! Those who are also interested in the PC Engine CD might want to start getting prepared.

[jonnyalpha]

So this morning I got the Minimig code setup and working. That's very exciting although one of my go to games, Rainbow Islands, didn't want to run. Had a good bash on R-Type, Silkworm and Prince of Persia and it was brilliant. 

 

Getting there with the Spectrum core. Having more problem with the arcade games. I think I've not managed to get the folders set up correctly so I need to read up a bit more on that. 

 

Exciting times. 

[shiffy]

1 hour ago, jonnyalpha said:

 I think I've not managed to get the folders set up correctly so I need to read up a bit more on that.

 

Glad you're getting there! I'm wondering if the non-functioning arcade cores is due to a redundant folder being created with the script. Have a look in /fat/games ... if there happen to be two folders in there named "mame" & "hbmame" delete them but make sure they're empty first!

 

These two folders should be in the following location and should have been populated by a combination of both the update.sh & Retrodriven ....

 

fat/_arcade/mame

fat/_arcade/hbmame

[jonnyalpha]

You were right. There were two empty folders just where you said they would be. I've got rid of them and everything else looks like all the examples that I've seen so I should be sorted. Thank you.

[AceGrace]

I can't remember if my MiSTer has a heatsink on it. I know it doesn't have a fan because I didn't have the screws but I've had it on for ages and it doesn't overheat, even in a case.

 

*Update* Ignore me. Just checked previous posts and I have the heat sink. Doesn't get hot though.

[shiffy]

Some users on the Atari-Forum say that the fan helps with the stability of the Amiga & the AO486 cores. I ran the MiSTer for several months with only a heatsink & no fan last year with no adverse effects. Coupled with the fact that the DE10-Nano doesn't even come with heatsink as standard tells me that heat is not considered to be an issue. At the same time, did Terasic ever envisage their board to be pushed as far as the MiSter project has taken it? The FPGA does get a little warm though, and I was always told by a PC tech friend years ago that "heat is the killer". I think people are being a little cautious. I just wish that more vendors would offer a fan mounting plate as an option instead of having to order the IO board to act as a fan mount, not everyone wants the analogue connectivity options.

[shiffy]

Things move so fast in the world of MiSTer. Only a few days ago I said somewhere that we have had most of the console & computer cores that we're ever going to see. Of course, when I said that I was thinking in terms of what we know in the Western gaming world & I hadn't taken Japanese computers into account. I knew the following core was being worked on .....

The first release of the Sharp X68000 core. At the moment it's not ready for the general public. I've only managed to get 2 things to work so far, Akumajou Dracula & some very text heavy Japanese game. The port to MiSTer is very early, but it looks like we're going to have the Sharp X68000 wide open to us in the not too distant future. This video I took earlier is a taster of things to come!

[shiffy]

Another week goes by and we're treated to another new core! Technically this isn't a new core, rather an expansion of an existing core. It has more or less been totally rewritten so it is effectively a new core. PC Engine CD functionality has been added to the "Turbografx 16" core. There has been a subtle change to the setup instructions I had posted a week or so ago. Instead of the CD images living inside the "TGFX16" folder in games they now go into their own dedicated folder in the games named "TGFX16-CD". Within this newly created folder put your bios in here and call it "cd_bios.rom". Each game has to have it's own folder containing bin+cue files.

 

root/Games/TGFX16      ----- hucards go here

root/Games/TGFX16CD ----- CDs & bios go here

 

Sorry for the shaky phone cam, here's a little video I took earlier today. I think you'll agree it's running fantastically! Yet another reason to own a MiSTer device.

 

 

[jonnyalpha]

That's great. Thanks for the update and the extra instructions. I'm getting the hang of the different folder requirements so will get that set up tomorrow. 

[shiffy]

I know I'm a little slow on this but just a quick heads up in case anyone doesn't know yet, Jotego has released his CPS1 core to the public, very good it is too!

 

I've spent a bit of time this evening playing around with the X68000 pre-release core again, an update was released a day or so ago. I've managed to get around 40 odd games running so far. This core really is a PITA to get things going ... converting images, setting up the "Human" disk OS, language barrier. It will not defeat me though!

 

 

[AceGrace]

Cool. Does the CPS1 core get installed with the update script?

[jonnyalpha]

Oh my. Off to try and get that running now.

[shiffy]

3 hours ago, AceGrace said:

Cool. Does the CPS1 core get installed with the update script?

The Retrodriven script should get everything you need. I haven't used the Retrodriven script for about a month as I want to preserve a setup that is a little different from the norm so I installed the public release of CPS1 last night the old fashioned manual way. The official "update script" won't touch any of Jotego's cores so it's a case of use Jotego's own script that will get the cores & mra files, or the Retrodriven script that will get the cores, mra files and the mame files.

[AceGrace]

Does it use any roms or do they have to be rebuilt.

[Norfolk Enchants]

New forum as Atari-forum has been down for a while now - https://misterfpga.org/
 

I have the DE-10 and a couple of extra boards - just need the motivation!

[shiffy]

18 hours ago, AceGrace said:

Does it use any roms or do they have to be rebuilt.

 

There is a new version of the Retrodriven script out. It's not much different to the old one from a user perspective although the folder structure has changed a tiny bit. This new version of the script should make a backup of your exisitng unofficial folders. If you've used the old Retrodriven script previously then just run it and it will grab the new version of the script automatically, grab both the Update_RetroDriven_MAME_SE.sh & .ini from the link above if you haven't got it. You don't have to worry about building roms, this will do everything for you.

 

By default the new structure for the unofficial cores using this script is as follows...

 

 

 

[AceGrace]

I don't get this. I have run both the official update script and the retrodriven one after deleting the contents of the _arcade folder.

 

None of RetroDrivens _unofficial stuff runs. I just get a black screen. Do they take a while to boot? Hasn't the CPS1 Core been release?

 

I find the set up of the arcade stuff really confusing.

 

I got Atari ST and Neo Geo set up but the arcade stuff eludes me.

 

Does the official script download the arcade cores automatically because it don't seem to

 

this is what I have

 

As you can see I don't have any of the other arcade cores.