PC Engine CD Support is Now On MiSTer

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fernan1234
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Re: PC Engine CD Support is Now On MiSTer

Post by fernan1234 »

Fudoh wrote:it's good, yes, but just like on orginal hardware effects often times outweight the music volume.
It will also vary by game. But yes, it should be relatively simple to add volume control for PSG, CDDA, PCM. It's already been requested, won't surprise me to see it in a future release. But already everything sounds so good. I never heard compressed voice clips sound as clear/noise-free before.
scrilla4rella wrote:It still blows my mind when I hear the CD sound coming through the speakers.
I know right! Although I'm using direct video mode for analogue RGB, I'm getting digital audio from the HDMI output into my audio receiver. It sounds so good. Now that I think about it, it may be interesting to turn on 96khz audio, I still have it set to the standard 48khz.
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Fudoh
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Re: PC Engine CD Support is Now On MiSTer

Post by Fudoh »

Is there a European reseller for the Bliss adapters?
svensonson
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Re: PC Engine CD Support is Now On MiSTer

Post by svensonson »

hardly can wait until Sorgelig does add SNAC Support on this core.
As much as I love playing on original consoles but I just sold my Supergrafx SSDS3 Combo.
Picture quality on the Mister is just flawless.. No struggle getting the best RGB output on it, using special made RGB cables, addon boards or jailbar fixes...screw that...
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Bassa-Bassa
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Re: PC Engine CD Support is Now On MiSTer

Post by Bassa-Bassa »

What'd be the benefit of using SNAC against just plugging that into the USB board and setting 1ms polling?


Also, everything regarding MiSTer has to get Sorgelig's approval?
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gojira54
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Re: PC Engine CD Support is Now On MiSTer

Post by gojira54 »

SNAC is already in the new PCE build
It allows connection directly to the core via the GPIO so it is has no lag
fernan1234
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Re: PC Engine CD Support is Now On MiSTer

Post by fernan1234 »

Any USB pad/adapter + 1ms polling also has "no lag", but the benefit of SNAC is direct compatibility with any native device (not just controllers).
Bassa-Bassa wrote:Also, everything regarding MiSTer has to get Sorgelig's approval?
Not really. But he's the lead dev so basically everything that goes to the main branch goes through him. He has strong opinions and speaks his mind about things he doesn't like, but that doesn't stop him from adding them if someone else contributed them and they work.
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cr4zymanz0r
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Re: PC Engine CD Support is Now On MiSTer

Post by cr4zymanz0r »

Bassa-Bassa wrote:What'd be the benefit of using SNAC against just plugging that into the USB board and setting 1ms polling?


Also, everything regarding MiSTer has to get Sorgelig's approval?
SNAC is basically just connecting a controller/accessory to MiSTer as if it were natively connected to the console's corresponding core. So For instance you could plug the PCE multitap into the MiSTer and use it with the PCE core just like you would with a real PCE. No assigning buttons for each controller/player, etc. (though it can't control the OSD). It'd also let you plug in any other oddball accessories that plug into the controller port.
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Syntax
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Re: PC Engine CD Support is Now On MiSTer

Post by Syntax »

paulb_nl wrote:
This is only true if the NES polls at the same exact time every frame and it doesn't because NES games poll manually. If a game polls at scanline 50 one frame and it polls at scanline 30 the next frame then LLAPI has the input ready at scanline 50 where it should have been ready at 30 and the input is 1 frame delayed.

Genesis is one of the cores where LLAPI is synced to Vblank. If the games poll outside of Vblank then there is a much bigger delay than 1ms from USB depending on how far from Vblank it reads the controllers.

LLAPI cores adjust for this, for example the NES Zapper polls once every 900 us.
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azmun
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Re: PC Engine CD Support is Now On MiSTer

Post by azmun »

fernan1234 wrote:Component for SDTVs is also an option, though that may not be authentic enough for you. S-video would not be "authentic" either for the PCE, but composite would, using a converter like the one linked above by hellbelly. Granted, we can assume that the composite converted from the MiSTer's RGB will not look exactly the same as the original composite from a PCE IFU-30, CoreGrafx, or SuperGrafx. The original composite is relatively good, so I'm actually interested in seeing this comparison once I get my hands on a VGA2NTSC.
Component (or RGB) would certainly be acceptable to me and probably few others, but not to our sets that lack the ports. I know it's possible to mod televisions although I'm not inclined to do this and seeing these two videos just reinforces the idea.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLz6pgvsZ_I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANSxASanZes

The results from 8-Bit Guy show his mod produces a much cleaner picture (i.e. with less noise and artifacts), but at the same time when tested on his Genesis the colors seemed to have been a bit washed out? See also Jaek_3's post/results here: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=63425 The second vid from pcbjunkie shows how difficult and complex the process is of modding my tv (we have similar sets).

RetroTINK's VGA2NTSC encoder looks promising. I looked at two other VGA to composite/s-video adapters in Amazon. One from manufacturer StarTech.com and the other from brand eKL. Both have mixed reviews and I'm quite hesitant to experiment as I've tried using a similar product in the past. Got it to work, but it produced a less than pretty picture.
Last edited by azmun on Fri Jun 05, 2020 3:26 am, edited 1 time in total.
paulb_nl
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Re: PC Engine CD Support is Now On MiSTer

Post by paulb_nl »

fernan1234 wrote:Any USB pad/adapter + 1ms polling also has "no lag", but the benefit of SNAC is direct compatibility with any native device (not just controllers).
Not just any USB pad/adapters are fast enough for 1ms polling. Especially adapters that also have to poll the controllers. Genesis 6 button controller is an extreme example where it is required to poll every +10ms otherwise it wont send the extra 3 buttons.

Here are some benchmark results with 1ms polling: https://github.com/eniva/MisSTer_Guides ... ce-Ranking

Raphnet adapters have their USB polling set to 1ms by default and you can change their controller polling to 1 or 2ms with their adapter manager software.

There is also a DIY option which has very low lag. https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Retro-C ... USB-MiSTer
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Josh128
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Re: PC Engine CD Support is Now On MiSTer

Post by Josh128 »

Can anyone chime in on whats the deal with removing the sprite limit? Obviously games wont be putting more sprites on screen than the amount they were programmed with, so how does it help?
shroom2k
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Re: PC Engine CD Support is Now On MiSTer

Post by shroom2k »

Have you never tried it in some NES games, like Megaman? It removes flicker when there are too many objects on screen.
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Josh128
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Re: PC Engine CD Support is Now On MiSTer

Post by Josh128 »

Yeah, thats what I figured. Never tried it.
fernan1234
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Re: PC Engine CD Support is Now On MiSTer

Post by fernan1234 »

paulb_nl wrote:Here are some benchmark results with 1ms polling: https://github.com/eniva/MisSTer_Guides ... ce-Ranking
Surprised about the wired Saturn controller doing this poorly. Glad I didn't buy one when I was looking into it--what turned me off were reports of the shoulder buttons not feeling right.
But this also shows that most wired solutions should do well enough though, in regular use. Looks like the best performing ones would be good even for the most demanding uses like speedrunning and competition.
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Fudoh
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Re: PC Engine CD Support is Now On MiSTer

Post by Fudoh »

The Retrolink is a very old, really crappy controller. Don't mistake it for the Sega SLS or the Retro-Bit ones. I'm using a SLS one. Maybe someone can measure the Retro-Bit ones one day.
svensonson
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Re: PC Engine CD Support is Now On MiSTer

Post by svensonson »

gojira54 wrote:SNAC is already in the new PCE build
It allows connection directly to the core via the GPIO so it is has no lag
damn..somehow I totally missed the option in the core....Can`t remember being under "hardware" ..lol
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jandrogo
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Re: PC Engine CD Support is Now On MiSTer

Post by jandrogo »

Antonio Villena also have splitters for almost all the original pads (nes, snes, tg16, neogeo..) in his custom i/o. It has a DB9 (megadrive) port that goes directly to the GPIO, so it has no lag.
Only downside is that you need to download the modified cores, but are updated in hours following the original releases

https://www.antoniovillena.es/store/pro ... ry/mister/
Working in the japanese language achievement
Bassa-Bassa
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Re: PC Engine CD Support is Now On MiSTer

Post by Bassa-Bassa »

jandrogo wrote:Antonio Villena also have splitters for almost all the original pads (nes, snes, tg16, neogeo..) in his custom i/o. It has a DB9 (megadrive) port that goes directly to the GPIO, so it has no lag.
Only downside is that you need to download the modified cores, but are updated in hours following the original releases

https://www.antoniovillena.es/store/pro ... ry/mister/
But all that is SNAC-based, right?



Included on this package:

DE10 nano board
SDRAM XXS 32Mb/64MB or 128MB
IO board
6mm heatsink
Acrylic case
Replacement screws and pillars
Adjustable fan cooler
USB hub with 7 ports
DB9 joystick port, protected for SNAC
AC power supply
microSD card, 8gb, with all installed
microSD extender
VGA->Scart adapter or VGA->YPbPr adapter
SPDIF optical through 3.5mm connector
ON/OFF switch
Internal speaker
Size: 123x111x32mm. Weight: 283gr
https://www.antoniovillena.es/store/pro ... te-mister/

Is this the be-all and end-all solution for CRT users at this moment (unless you want Blisster as well)? Or you can't expect the I/O board and USB hub being up-to-date? [How often do these officially "update", anyway?] Being from Spain to Spain, I guess it's not even the most expensive, as well?
Galgomite
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Re: PC Engine CD Support is Now On MiSTer

Post by Galgomite »

Looks like you have everything there, save for a larger MicroSD card. You'll need to modify your config file for the analog out but that's it. EDIT AND you might need a 3.5 to RCA audio cable.
Bassa-Bassa
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Re: PC Engine CD Support is Now On MiSTer

Post by Bassa-Bassa »

Thanks. I guess the I/O board and USB hub aren't getting updates any time soon?
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Syntax
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Re: PC Engine CD Support is Now On MiSTer

Post by Syntax »

The IO is getting an upgrade for 2 player SNAC, but im unsure if that is hardware based.
Bassa-Bassa
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Re: PC Engine CD Support is Now On MiSTer

Post by Bassa-Bassa »

Thanks. It's hard to follow development, these days.
thrasherx
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Re: PC Engine CD Support is Now On MiSTer

Post by thrasherx »

Regarding 2 player SNAC: there's a fork by Antonio that supports 2 player SNAC but it's not "official hardware"

There was also work on making a port extender solution to replace SNAC but development has hit roadblocks.

So, for now, 1 player SNAC it is :)
fernan1234
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Re: PC Engine CD Support is Now On MiSTer

Post by fernan1234 »

An updated release went out yesterday that boosted accuracy to extreme levels. Every single reported issue has been resolved. Even Memory Base 128/Save-kun support has been added (only 3 Koei games don't seem to work with it, but this is being looked into).
edit: now all MB128 games work.
Last edited by fernan1234 on Wed May 27, 2020 8:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Bassa-Bassa
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Re: PC Engine CD Support is Now On MiSTer

Post by Bassa-Bassa »

That's good to hear! Did the SNES core get the same luck? I remember many games on it with issues even before the people had the time to investigate obscure Super Famicom titles?
fernan1234
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Re: PC Engine CD Support is Now On MiSTer

Post by fernan1234 »

Personally I can't say much of the SNES core since I don't really use it. Unlike the PCE, The SNES/SFC original hardware is still good enough :lol:

But it is definitely solid and open issues are actively monitored. From a glance, only a few minor issues (some of which only seem to happen in some people's setups) remain in the open issue list: https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/SNES_MiSTer/issues
Galgomite
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Re: PC Engine CD Support is Now On MiSTer

Post by Galgomite »

I've heard vague critiques about the SNES core but don't know specifics. Often it comes down to "known problem title has problems," or "obscure tech demo has glitches." I have never personally encountered a problem. What's better, the MiSTer supports many of the most desirable addon chips including FX. I'd forgotten that my Super NT doesn't.
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Overkill
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Re: PC Engine CD Support is Now On MiSTer

Post by Overkill »

Latest Core update by Alexey Melnikov:

"TurboGrafx 16/CD
- Extra sprites option for less flickering in some games.

- Adjust horizontal screen position on VGA output."

Looking good :)
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