SMS core

[Newsdee]

Splitting the discussion from over the SAM Coupe thread

The ZxUno seems to have made some improvements to the SMS core, perhaps they can be backported into the MiST.

SVN:
http://www.atc.us.es/svn/zxuno/cores/sm ... an6/test2/

login:
guest/zxuno

[Newsdee]

Quoting from original thread:

Ok, found the comment and adjusted the audio pitch. Will check if there are more fixes we might have a use for. But maybe this discussion should not continue in the SAM Coupe thread ...

Thanks a lot! I'll give the new core a try.

[Newsdee]

Thanks! The sound is much nicer now!

The video in NTSC is a bit scrunched though (too narrow) - the PAL version seems more correct, but then the games run slower.

[vebxenon]

Thanks for the audio fixing! About NTSC on SMS, most games were released only at Europe, so PAL 50 HZ is the most common configuration to play SMS games.

About FM sound, FM chip is the OPLL, the same is on MSX, which MSX core has

Regards,

Salva

[ericgus]

Thanks for the audio fixing! About NTSC on SMS, most games were released only at Europe, so PAL 50 HZ is the most common configuration to play SMS games.

About FM sound, FM chip is the OPLL, the same is on MSX, which MSX core has

Regards,

Salva

There are about 115 games for NTSC .. so about 1/2 that of PAL .. still nothing to sneeze at though but I wouldn't say "most games were PAL" ..

[vebxenon]

PAL: 300 games
US NTSC: 115 games
JAP: 87 games

67 releases didn't came to Europe (JP, US or BR exclusives). No game since October 1991 (Sonic the Hedgehog, last US Master System Release, only three games were released on US that year) were released on US. On Japan, last game appeared on February 1989, Bomber Raid (The only game released for SMS that year).

Yes, 115 is good number, but, actually, most games appeared on Europe and except some US exclusive games, the most common configuration for playing SMS is PAL 50 Hz

Regards,

[ericgus]

PAL: 300 games
US NTSC: 115 games
JAP: 87 games

67 releases didn't came to Europe (JP, US or BR exclusives). No game since October 1991 (Sonic the Hedgehog, last US Master System Release, only three games were released on US that year) were released on US. On Japan, last game appeared on February 1989, Bomber Raid (The only game released for SMS that year).

Yes, 115 is good number, but, actually, most games appeared on Europe and except some US exclusive games, the most common configuration for playing SMS is PAL 50 Hz

Regards,

Ok as I said about 1/2 ... I'd still prefer to stick with NTSC as thats the ones I am most familiar with since it was not possible to play PAL based games here in the USA. Though id be curious to check out some of the PAL/non-US based titles.

[Paradroyd]

Ok as I said about 1/2 ... I'd still prefer to stick with NTSC as thats the ones I am most familiar with since it was not possible to play PAL based games here in the USA. Though id be curious to check out some of the PAL/non-US based titles.

Same here. While I'm glad the core is progressing, I'm going to stick with the older version until NTSC is working properly. It's really irrelevant to me how many titles were released in PAL/vs NTSC as I generally don't run it in PAL here.

[NML32]

Ok as I said about 1/2 ... I'd still prefer to stick with NTSC as thats the ones I am most familiar with since it was not possible to play PAL based games here in the USA. Though id be curious to check out some of the PAL/non-US based titles.

Same here. While I'm glad the core is progressing, I'm going to stick with the older version until NTSC is working properly. It's really irrelevant to me how many titles were released in PAL/vs NTSC as I generally don't run it in PAL here.

Same for me as well but I just ordered a monitor that should be able to display both NTSC and PAL. (Hopefully)

[ericgus]

Ok as I said about 1/2 ... I'd still prefer to stick with NTSC as thats the ones I am most familiar with since it was not possible to play PAL based games here in the USA. Though id be curious to check out some of the PAL/non-US based titles.

Same here. While I'm glad the core is progressing, I'm going to stick with the older version until NTSC is working properly. It's really irrelevant to me how many titles were released in PAL/vs NTSC as I generally don't run it in PAL here.

Hopefully they can apply the same magic Sorgelig did to fix the NTSC mode on the c64 core.

[vebxenon]

I've tested last SMS core with the same games I've used with previous versions. PSG timings seem to be OK, although for example, on Space Harrier, voices sound very accelerated

Video aspect ratio I think it must be fixed, but good progress

Regards

Salva

[vebxenon]

Hopefully they can apply the same magic Sorgelig did to fix the NTSC mode on the c64 core.

Oh, Sorgelig is magic, yes

[seastalker]

Hey guys, I've been testing this core too. An added bonus is that it even recognized a small handful of my Game-gear ".gg" files! I also wish to point out that there is a glitch that may make troubleshooting and testing more difficult. I've hit F12 to load up many games (.sms) and it seemed like most did not work. Then I noticed that the core was able to hotswap games better at first startup, but the more I swapped, the more the incompatibility. I then tried repowering the MiST, restarting the SMS core, and games that did not boot or loaded with messed gfx and or sound suddenly worked! ...IF I loaded that game FIRST. Strange glitch, but if your favorite game doesn't seem to work, try that trick!

...Of course, this is a much more time consuming process if you wish to test all games for a compatibility list.

[Sorgelig]

Just use my latest release of Menu core. It cleans the SDRAM while running.
So, if core has problems caused by non-clean SDRAM, then Menu will help you to solve it.

[NML32]

@Sorgelig True your menu core works like a champ. It just needs an option for upgrading firmware. I think I read it's an option you're considering.

[Sorgelig]

@Sorgelig True your menu core works like a champ. It just needs an option for upgrading firmware. I think I read it's an option you're considering.

It's not in core control. FW limits OSD to only core selection if name of core is "Menu".
Firmware need to be changed to allow other OSD pages.
Actually, it's very minor issue. You always can load any core and update FW.

[NML32]

@Sorgelig True your menu core works like a champ. It just needs an option for upgrading firmware. I think I read it's an option you're considering.

It's not in core control. FW limits OSD to only core selection if name of core is "Menu".
Firmware need to be changed to allow other OSD pages.
Actually, it's very minor issue. You always can load any core and update FW.

True, and that's what I've been doing

[seastalker]

I'd love to learn how to program code or tweak this one to make improvements like aspect ratio and smoother jumping between games. Anyone have tutorial videos of how to get started in core creation or helping to make one even better?

[Newsdee]

I'd love to learn how to program code or tweak this one to make improvements like aspect ratio and smoother jumping between games. Anyone have tutorial videos of how to get started in core creation or helping to make one even better?

You can start by installing Quartus II and try to compile a core yourself. After that you can start tinkering

[seastalker]

Checking out some tutorials, thanks!!

[vebxenon]

New updates!

https://github.com/mist-devel/mist-bina ... /cores/sms

Now SMS core has 15kHz support and games have now black border, so it's nicer to play. Hope new updates like better VDP, compatibility, better resolution or even FM music will follow.

Thanks to phoboz for this new update!

Regards,

Salva

[leech]

New updates!

https://github.com/mist-devel/mist-bina ... /cores/sms

Now SMS core has 15kHz support and games have now black border, so it's nicer to play. Hope new updates like better VDP, compatibility, better resolution or even FM music will follow.

Thanks to phoboz for this new update!

Regards,

Salva

I was trying out different cores, and I can't seem to get this one to display on my VGA monitor (I know it does support 15khz, as I've used my ST on it.)

[jotego]

Now SMS core has 15kHz support and games have now black border, so it's nicer to play. Hope new updates like better VDP, compatibility, better resolution or even FM music will follow.

I thought it already had it... I will look into it when I'm done with the Megadrive. I'll ask phoboz...

[DrChaos]

I was trying out different cores, and I can't seem to get this one to display on my VGA monitor (I know it does support 15khz, as I've used my ST on it.)

Sure you used the 15kHz ST core? I haven't used the ST core for a while, but as far as I remember the frequency is set by the STimage? VGA is 31kHz and only few Multisyncs are able to work with 15kHz input...

[vebxenon]

I was trying out different cores, and I can't seem to get this one to display on my VGA monitor (I know it does support 15khz, as I've used my ST on it.)

I'm using it using VGA , 31 kHz