Is there room for a merged Genesis/CD/32X core?

teknomedic
Posts: 18
Joined: Sat Jan 30, 2021 1:17 pm
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 2 times

Is there room for a merged Genesis/CD/32X core?

Unread post by teknomedic »

Now that we have the proverbial "Tower of Power" would there be room in the FPGA chip to merge all three together and maintain a single core instead of 3 separate cores with folder structures?

I would also assume getting all three merged would allow the few remaining CD/32X enhanced games to run as well?
FoxbatStargazer
Top Contributor
Posts: 1018
Joined: Thu Dec 10, 2020 5:44 pm
Has thanked: 315 times
Been thanked: 238 times

Re: Is there room for a merged Genesis/CD/32X core?

Unread post by FoxbatStargazer »

The whole reason a Mega CD core exists is because of the difficulty of fitting it together with the SVP chip + turbo features on Genesis. Adding the beefy 32x processor just compounds those difficulties.
User avatar
Kitrinx
Core Developer
Posts: 187
Joined: Sat May 23, 2020 2:14 am
Location: NYC
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 149 times
Contact:

Re: Is there room for a merged Genesis/CD/32X core?

Unread post by Kitrinx »

It's more than just size. Genesis uses several chips that are coordinated by a bus arbiter that kind of works like a traffic cop for the system. Currently, this particular part of the system isn't perfect in our cores. Each of the three genesis cores has a slightly differing implementation for it that doesn't work well for the full library.

Sergey was in the process of rewriting this and the VDP in the 32x core, but it doesn't seems he had time to finish it yet. When that is done, perhaps then it would be possible to evaluate the various cores to see if the memory could be consolidated enough to merge some of them.
User avatar
Waifu4Life
Posts: 271
Joined: Fri Jun 19, 2020 5:30 am
Has thanked: 21 times
Been thanked: 47 times

Re: Is there room for a merged Genesis/CD/32X core?

Unread post by Waifu4Life »

Weren't these combo games all FMVs?
dmckean
Posts: 310
Joined: Sat Jan 16, 2021 7:03 am
Has thanked: 396 times
Been thanked: 95 times

Re: Is there room for a merged Genesis/CD/32X core?

Unread post by dmckean »

the_importer wrote: Tue Apr 26, 2022 4:44 pm Weren't these combo games all FMVs?
Yes, we're not missing out on much.
Insert Disk Two
Posts: 221
Joined: Sun May 24, 2020 7:59 pm
Has thanked: 16 times
Been thanked: 28 times

Re: Is there room for a merged Genesis/CD/32X core?

Unread post by Insert Disk Two »

Nope.
User avatar
darksakul
Posts: 353
Joined: Mon May 25, 2020 4:34 pm
Has thanked: 397 times
Been thanked: 73 times

Re: Is there room for a merged Genesis/CD/32X core?

Unread post by darksakul »

the_importer wrote: Tue Apr 26, 2022 4:44 pm Weren't these combo games all FMVs?
Yes, and most has a regular Sega CD/Mega CD counterpart.
It is my great regret that we live in an age that is proud of machines that think and suspicious of people who try to.
Jingsing
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Jan 27, 2023 9:18 am
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 2 times

Re: Is there room for a merged Genesis/CD/32X core?

Unread post by Jingsing »

Night Trap SEGA CD 32X version is pretty nice to play.

Post Reply