JOTEGO

Is SID a priority?

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When I started this Patreon Sorg proposed me to work on a new C64 SID implementation. I have never used a C64 so I'm not that familiar with the alleged sound differences. I looked into the problem and there seems to be a lot of variation among C64 machines, even when using the same chip. So the prospect of a satisfying solution to everyone is not great given this variation. From time to time one or two people ask me to work on this. 

I'd like to know if this ...

CPS Public Release

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One week after publishing the release candidate version, I am finally bringing CPS to the light. Code source is available here. Binary files are now in the jtbin repository and can be obtained with my update script (MiSTer) or manually downloading them for MiST/SiDi users. MRA files are in the same location.

There are a co...

Forgotten Worlds: CPS Release Candidate

FILES ATTACHED.

We're finally here. The last beta file brings suppot to what was the first CPS game: Forgotten Worlds. This title uses a rotary control which needs a specific interface that took some work to implement. Although I have not connected the dial inputs to MiSTer pins yet, all the real hardware is there. At the moment you will use two buttons to rotate the characters. When I can get my hands on a dial solution for MiSTer I will try to support...

Emulators inside FPGA cores!

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We are all in here because we want accuracy. We want no lag. We want the original speed. We even want the original glitches! And FPGA is the technology that provides it. FPGA allows you to make digital hardware at an affordable price. But what if I told you that you have used an emulator without knowing!
Here's the deal: you can fit any kind of circuit in an FPGA and that includes of course CPUs. We are used to having Z80 and 68000 CPUs synthesized insi...

CPS0 CRT/DIP update

Many people have asked me to add CRT sync signal control on the OSD for all CPS0 games too. So here is a service release for that and some other items:

1. CRT adjustment on OSD (only MiSTer)
2. DIP support via MRA (needs latest firmware on MiST/SiDi). Needs attached MRA files
3. Fixed scan doubler issue on vertical games (MiSTer, thanks to Paulnb)
4. Fixed parsing of last object in the sprite table (affects several games)
5. Aspect ratio set to 5:4 in all ga...

Crash Course in Hacking Arcades via MRA

MRA files are now the standard way of loading ROM files into FPGA cores. Originally developed for the MiSTer platform, we have taken them to other platforms too via the command line mra tool.

The MRA defines a list of files to be transferred to the FPGA. The order in which the files are transferred and even th...

Statement about MiSTer

As some may know I had a misunderstanding with MiSTer main developer yesterday. We have already sorted it out. Sorgelig and I have met in person twice in the past and he's a great host. I am also thankful to the work he's done for the MiSTer platform. Thank you to the people who showed support yesterday and apologies for the drama.

Sorgelig and I still have a disagreement about how to handle source code, file distribution and other technical points but that is normal.

For cores th...

Pang! 3 -CPS beta #8-

FILES HERE

Smooth animations, new game elements and a full art gallery, that's Pang! 3. This game has copy protection, an EEPROM chip and the ROM dump is a bit special so it took a while to have it ready. But, here it is!

DMA timing is better adjusted in this release. You will see that many of the slowdowns are now gone or diminished. I think the remaining slowdowns are...

CPS beta #8 files (Pang! 3)

See attached files. Remember to delete old MRA files.

MiSTer files: mra zip and RBF zip for MiSTer

MiST/Sidi files: arc zip and RBF zip for your platform

Updated on May 2nd to fix mapper problem in Willow

Updated on May 3rd: MRA files for Mercs and some others replaced by the fix provided by terminator2k2

Legendary Wings Public Release

Welcome to another Friday update. This time we have a public release: Legendary Wings and SectionZ are now public (source code). RBF files can be obtained via the jotego MiSTer updater. For Sidi and MiST I have attached them here. MRA are only available here.

Legendary Wings is a verti...

Section Z! Special 1000 Patron Release!

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Thank you, thank you and thank you. You have made this last year a terrific time of digging into old hardware and bringing it back to life in modern electronic form.

I am very happy to announce that we have reached 1000 enthusiasts of retro gaming. To cellebrate I am releasing Section Z for all patrons (see attached files to this post). This is the ancestor of Forgotten Worlds and I really wanted to finish it before the CPS1 title...

Pokonyan & some bootlegs

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New MRA files again. Please delete the old ones. You have the link to download in the first CPS post. Please read the post to find it. The files for today's update are marked 20200417 for today's date.

This week most of the work has been focused on getting the DIP switches in and fixing MRA files. I think all released original games should work with full DIP switches. T...

Street Fighter II

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What you need to know:

-New MRAs. Delete old ones so buttons get recognized properly.
-I have only tested the main ROM MRA versions. I know many of the alternative versions will fail. Please report them here.
-Files are in the location indicated in the first CPS beta post.

I have spent most of ...

DMA in CPS

Welcome back to one technical article. This time I'm going to talk about DMA (Direct Memory Access) in the CPS system. This aspect is completely ignored in emulators and has a large effect in the effective processor performance because if the DMA is active the CPU is stopped. The result is that emulators may be running the CPU of CPS games at some ~18% faster speed than the actual one. This article is very technical but I know some of you enj...

Shooters!

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IMPORTANT

-Google Drive location is shown in the first beta post here.

-MiSTer: All MRA files are new. Old ones won't work delete them

-MiST/SiDi: All ROM files need be re-generated. Use the -A option to generate the ARC file too. mra file.mra -A -z zip-folder

-MiST and SiDi now use .ARC files to load the games. Read the official documentation...

Captain Commando & Mega Man - MiST(er) and SiDi

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After much struggle, I have moved the memory controller to a 96MHz clock. This had large implications in the system. For those developers out there, not the whole core is operated at that speed, part of it runs at 48MHz in order to ease synthesis. Much of the time this week has been in making the core synthesize correctly with no timing errors at the new speed. Also, another change was to use the whole SDRAM space (32MB) instead of a single bank (8MB).

So that was...

Three Wonders, Mega Twins and Japanese Titles

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As I have spent the week working on the Double Dragon public releases; I have only had time to test MRA files. Today's CPS update is only of MRA files, the RBF is the same one as last week's. The rest of the titles do need core changes so we will have a new RBF next week. This week's games are:

-Three wonders
-Mega Twins (very, very nice platformer)

And three Japanese only titles:

-Pnickies: puzzle game, you don't need to know Japanese to have fun 2020-03-20 06:40:23 +0000 UTC View Post

Double Dragon Public Release MiST(er) and SiDi

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If you have to spend more time at home in the next few days, as some of us, then at least kick some ass! After a long wait, here it is Double Dragon! Finally open to the public. Files are in jtbin, just run the the update script in MiSTer to get them.

Sorry for the long wait. Initially DD1 was meant to be released in January but I got engaged with CPS and well, it kept me engaged! Now it's fi...

Manga!

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Hi all!

Thank you for being there one more week. I have prepared a new set of games. This time the common theme is manga games!

Important

-Old MRA files are not compatible at all. Delete them

-RBF files for MiST(er) and SiDi are in the same shared folder. The timestamp is 20200313. Refresh the page if you don't see them!

New game...