MiSTer NES Core

[sabreAZ]

Aw damnit, I must have ran the updater before the 0324 core was available. I'll try it again when I get home

[joegaff76]

I can happily report that NES Release 20190325 fixed the vertical screen-tear problem I was experiencing with HDMI output. Thank you for all of your hard work!!

[eXa]

Hello everyone,
first of all I hope this is the right place to pose this question, in case feel free to move or delete this post.

I've just been starting with the MiSTer FPGA and I've been encountering a weird bug on the NES core. 50% of the time, more or less, the core won't output any audio, for any game both NES and FDS.

After loading multiple ROMs or changing core and going back again to the NES core, it magically unlocks and everything seems to be working well.

My MiSTer system has a I/O board and the expansion RAM, both bought from retroshop.pt which should be a reliable seller. I tested the RAM using the memtest core and seems to be stable at 160~150 MHz.

Do you have any idea what might cause this issue?

Thanks a lot in advance for any help on this.

Cheers!

EDIT: I'm sorry, I noticed that this happens ALSO on other cores (randomly, again), so I don't think this question is in the right place anymore.

[Sorgelig]

I've just been starting with the MiSTer FPGA and I've been encountering a weird bug on the NES core. 50% of the time, more or less, the core won't output any audio, for any game both NES and FDS.

some TVs have weird behaviour - they need some volume of audio to unlock it. So probably your TV is this kind. Nothing i can do (or at least i don't know what) to fix it. You can use analog or optical audio as an alternative.

[eXa]

I've just been starting with the MiSTer FPGA and I've been encountering a weird bug on the NES core. 50% of the time, more or less, the core won't output any audio, for any game both NES and FDS.

some TVs have weird behaviour - they need some volume of audio to unlock it. So probably your TV is this kind. Nothing i can do (or at least i don't know what) to fix it. You can use analog or optical audio as an alternative.

Thanks for the quick reply! At the moment I'm using an elgato to acquire the HDMI signal (I intend to use the MiSTer also for streaming), so I guess that makes things even more difficult! In any case it's nice to know that it's not the machine fault but something in the way the HDMI is treated. I'll try if using an anlog audio will make things easier.

Thanks again for the answer and all your hard work for the project. <3

[Sorgelig]

Elgato is known to have this problem. So, it's 100%.
Report this bug to Elgato.

[breiztiger]

is elgato Always good with sound with genesis core ?

[eXa]

Elgato is known to have this problem. So, it's 100%.
Report this bug to Elgato.

I will! Also connecting a normal analog cable fixes the issues. Also the noise and popping of the sound is apparently reduced this way. Thanks again for the support.

is elgato Always good with sound with genesis core ?

In my limited experience it seems that Elgato has less issues with certain cores, like the Genesis one for example. Never had any no-audio issues with it.

[kitrinx]

For anyone curious about the recent updates to this core more in depth:
-Aspect ratio was corrected, 240p test suite linearity test will now be perfectly round
-Overscan trimming was adjusted to be the correct aspect ratio and cover the more traditional 261x224 window.
-Multiple APU bugs fixed, system audio should now be extremely accurate
-Audio bias causing many HDMI and capture devices to not play audio now fixed
-Fixed audio crackle
-Audio balance for APU fixed so square waves and dmc/triangle/noise mix properly
-Many fixes for expansion audio, VRC6, Sunsoft 5b, FDS, and MMC5 expansion should all sound nearly perfect now
-Lightgun support via either the mouse or analog joystick
-Microphone support, simulated blowing into the mic, for games like the Japanese version of Zelda
-Many timing and accuracy related fixes

Also from Paul:
MMC5 fixes removing glitches from Castlevania III, Simcity, and Rockman 4 Minus Infinity, Super Mario All Stars, etc

[SegaMan]

Great work!

[stefanem]

-Overscan trimming was adjusted to be the correct aspect ratio and cover the more traditional 261x224 window.

Could you explain this feature a little more?
What is more faithful to what we were meant to see on screen back in the day - on or off?

[hernan43]

I think having the trimming on is closer to what you would have seen as a kid. I think old TVs cut off the edges of the image so the trimming is approximating that.

[kitrinx]

-Overscan trimming was adjusted to be the correct aspect ratio and cover the more traditional 261x224 window.

Could you explain this feature a little more?
What is more faithful to what we were meant to see on screen back in the day - on or off?

The actual output of the NES was a full 280x240 resolution, drawn in a 4:3 area, although only 256 pixels were actually drawn horizontally, and the rest was padding so that the drawn area would be visible. On old CRT's, part of the tube was obscured by the edges of the frame, so you only could see an area of about 261x224 NES pixels, although this number is not exact, and varied from tv to tv. Nintendo understood that this part of the picture would likely be obscured, and so often drew "garbage" in the overscan areas as they did work internally in the game. In the SNES console, this same area is actually blacked out, but still exists.

So in a nutshell, having the overscan trimmed is probably going to be more accurate to what Nintendo intended you to see.

[stefanem]

Fantastic explanation! Thank you very much!

[Newsdee]

Thanks for fixing the overscan , Rysha. I implemented the first version of it (one of 3 or 4 minor HDL commits I managed to do back in the MIST days), and I just went with trial and error with a few games. It does make SMB3 and Double Dragon 2 so much nicer to play...

[cwbowron]

On the latest NES core, I don't get any video. I'm using HDMI for audio and video and the audio is working but I don't no video.

The 20190421 release works fine, but 20190428 is broken for me.

[kitrinx]

On the latest NES core, I don't get any video. I'm using HDMI for audio and video and the audio is working but I don't no video.

The 20190421 release works fine, but 20190428 is broken for me.

can you give me some more info on your settings?
vsync_mode
vsync_adjust
scandoubler,
etc?

[BitsNStuff]

It's working for me but the number of attempts it takes to get it working is certainly more than it used to be. It used to take several attempts in the past but it had got the stage of booting up correctly almost every time recently.

I can't say for certain but I think the latest NES update worked OK at first, is it possible that it's an issue on the MiSTer side as that's been updated after the NES update?

[JamesF]

Always try vsync_adjust=0 if you have problems with displaying an image.

[kitrinx]

It's working for me but the number of attempts it takes to get it working is certainly more than it used to be. It used to take several attempts in the past but it had got the stage of booting up correctly almost every time recently.

I can't say for certain but I think the latest NES update worked OK at first, is it possible that it's an issue on the MiSTer side as that's been updated after the NES update?

If you mean the infamous "black screen" problem where the core will use menus fine but only show black screens, that's some mister/scalar/top level thing. I don't know any way to influence that other than load the core again until it works.

[ovalfastlx]

I noticed some audio clipping while playing Contra on the first level, not as much as the Genesis Core but barely noticeable.

[Sorgelig]

If you mean the infamous "black screen" problem where the core will use menus fine but only show black screens, that's some mister/scalar/top level thing. I don't know any way to influence that other than load the core again until it works.

it's not top-level problem.
It's hardware (Cyclone V DDR3 controller) problem.
I've wrote it many times, so i've stopped to react on these messages. If someone doesn't like to read then will go a harder way.

[cwbowron]

can you give me some more info on your settings?
vsync_mode
vsync_adjust
scandoubler,
etc?

I'm using default settings from the example MiSTer.ini, hooked up to TV for HDMI audio and sound. VGA output to a monitor worked fine.

After reading the suggestion to try reloading the core, I've found that the first time I load it I get black screen, on subsequent loads sometimes I get horizontal stripe garbage on screen and then sometimes it works. The menu screen works fine in every case.

The 20190421 release seems to load fine every time.

With vsync_adjust=1 I found that the first load resulted in black screen, but subsequent loads generally worked. vsync_adjust=2 never seems to work.

I also tried video_mode=8 and that worked sometimes, but less often than original vode_mode=0.

[robfish]

Just updated the mister with the script and NES core displays black screen for games. Audio is working. UI is also working.

[BitsNStuff]

Just updated the mister with the script and NES core displays black screen for games. Audio is working. UI is also working.

It's a common problem.

If you get that sort of issue the best thing to do initially is to retry it a few times, that will hopefully sort it out for you.