MiSTer Nuked-MD Mega Drive Core

[thorr]

Just curious, does anyone know if this core requires an SDRAM module? The old core always impressed me because it is one of the few that did not.

[FoxbatStargazer]

One very interesting feature of this core is that it supports pause-on-menu. I remember fpgaspazumpass saying that being able to stop a core was an important step towards implementing save states, so maybe that could possibly be in this core's future, which would be a huge leg up over the other one for me.

[Bumtree]

This core runs SMS games better than the Master System core.

[shaitan]

This core runs SMS games better than the Master System core.

What makes you say that? Examples?

[thorr]

I am not home right now but one title I would try is Outrun. The sound is not right last time I tried it on the SMS core.

[rezb1t]

The topic is nuanced further by the fact that you can make mistakes when translating die photos into FPGA code, hence there are still bugs in the NeoGeo core.

I don’t disagree, but what bugs are left in the NeoGeo core? There aren’t any open bug reports on the issue tracker.

[thorr]

I just tried my Light Phaser gun with Gangster Town in both this core and the SMS core. In the SMS core, the gun is accurate. In this core it is not. I also tried SMS Outrun and I am not that familiar with the game but there seem to be differences with the sound. I also tried the Genesis game Earthworm Jim. In this core, Earthworm Jim appears right away when flexing his muscles at the beginning. In the Genesis core, the screen is black at the beginning during the first flex but I can hear him. It is nice to see him again from the beginning with this core.

[Armakuni]

MiSTer SNES core is also cycle accurate

There's a HUGE difference between cycle counts and implementation/integration accuracy.

The Amiga core is cycle accurate in 68000 mode, yet still has flaws in the custom chipset implementation.

I'm not even sure why people continue calling out cycle accuracy in the Nuked core...pretty sure the older core was also "cycle-accurate". That means something VERY specific, and is actually wholly unrelated to emulation accuracy.

The 68000 is cycle accurate in the minimig core due to using the FX68k cpu module, 020 is not due to using TG68k CPU module which has never been cycle accurate. A great demonstration of open source development being held back by open source modules used but TG68k does offer great performance

Minimig has been in development since 2006/7 ? So highlights how difficult it can be to create a perfect replica on FPGA or highlights how a goal can be held back by open source baggage and development travelling through various platforms and developers ?

Even while a lot of cores are not cycle accurate they are mostly timing accurate you can have one without the other, the PS1 core is a great example of this

A lot of time unless you know what to.look for in terms of issues and inaccuracies you wouldn't notice them and in a blind test side by side with original hardware it would hard to tell them apart, so you could say in the grand scale of things MiSTer is good enough.

On the flip side we have seen more and more ARM and FPGA chip replacements for original hardware especially on the likes of the C64 and Amiga these will be replicating more the behaviour than the function at a transistor level and some of the ludicrous Frankenstein Amigas are now very funny. So in the end we will get to same place no matter the route you take

[FoxbatStargazer]

Mostly agree for Mister overall but the A1200 example is well outside the bounds of "good enough." Its much faster than the real thing, like a turbo switch you can't shut off, which causes much software to run very differently.

[rhester72]

@Armakuni I agree with all that you've said, and find most emulators today (software or hardware) have long reached the 'good enough' stage. I'm just trying to express to some of the harder-core FPGA fanboys out there that just because it's in hardware doesn't necessarily make it "betterer". (I believe it was actually Near that wrote a REALLY long dissertation along these lines, comparing the relative potential accuracy of software and hardware emulators and correctly concluding that neither has an accuracy edge over the other.)

[Bumtree]

This core runs SMS games better than the Master System core.

What makes you say that? Examples?

Not the biggest simple size but two games the SMS core can't run which original hardware and now this new Mega Drive core can:

• D.A.R.C (the game's FM sound output is non-functional on MiSTer's SMS core).

• The Snail Maze (8K ROM ripped from the v2.4 BIOS is incompatible with the SMS core but runs as intended on real hardware and this new Nuked-MD core).

I wasn't expecting this new core to instantly become my default Mega Drive and Master System on the MiSTer but here we are, and it is.

[softtest9]

The topic is nuanced further by the fact that you can make mistakes when translating die photos into FPGA code, hence there are still bugs in the NeoGeo core.

I don’t disagree, but what bugs are left in the NeoGeo core? There aren’t any open bug reports on the issue tracker.

You are of course right. It looks like my information about NeoGeo was outdated.

[vanfanel]

This core is simply perfect. And it has become my default MD & SMS core, too!

However, adding !Genesis and !sms in downloader.ini also disables this core, which makes no sense. Someone else experienced this small problem?

[rezb1t]

Nukeykt made a new release of Nuked MD FPGA with a z80 and a 68k fix. I have compiled the changes into a new MiSTer RBF for anyone to try out:

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/MegaDri ... 230904.zip

The 68k fix fixes Space Harrier 2, not sure what the z80 fix is intended to fix.

[kerunaru]

now we just have to wait for paprium rom

The comments for that on Kickstarter are... not good

But the game IS excellent.

[rezb1t]

Sorgelig posted a bunch of new changes to the core so here's the new version with his changes too! Notably, EEPROM support is added!

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/MegaDri ... 230904.zip

[Armakuni]

Mostly agree for Mister overall but the A1200 example is well outside the bounds of "good enough." Its much faster than the real thing, like a turbo switch you can't shut off, which causes much software to run very differently.

I think with the A1200 it depends on use. For me using it for games combined with MegaAGS/Vision it fine, The Amiga for me was always a games machine with some scene demos on the side. I also dont mine the use of NTSC versions of games if it improves performance.

I was never a A1200 owner or user though only A500/A600.

[atarieyes]

I was just about to ask if the Nuked-MD core will now replace the Genesis core, is there any point in the Genesis core being available?

I'm going to stick to the Genesis core for composite out to CRT for now. The MegaDrive core has some major dot crawl/shimmering when hooked up to the YC Active Encoder so it's a no-go for now with that set-up.

[FoxbatStargazer]

Mostly agree for Mister overall but the A1200 example is well outside the bounds of "good enough." Its much faster than the real thing, like a turbo switch you can't shut off, which causes much software to run very differently.

I think with the A1200 it depends on use. For me using it for games combined with MegaAGS/Vision it fine, The Amiga for me was always a games machine with some scene demos on the side. I also dont mine the use of NTSC versions of games if it improves performance.

I was never a A1200 owner or user though only A500/A600.

Lol AmigaVision is exactly what I had in mind, some games run far too fast on it. Major Motion is semi unplayable, prohecy:viking child speeds up in some places. I imagine the WHD load guys have added timing fixes for real A1200s but the Mister is still too much.

[Armakuni]

Mostly agree for Mister overall but the A1200 example is well outside the bounds of "good enough." Its much faster than the real thing, like a turbo switch you can't shut off, which causes much software to run very differently.

I think with the A1200 it depends on use. For me using it for games combined with MegaAGS/Vision it fine, The Amiga for me was always a games machine with some scene demos on the side. I also dont mine the use of NTSC versions of games if it improves performance.

I was never a A1200 owner or user though only A500/A600.

Lol AmigaVision is exactly what I had in mind, some games run far too fast on it. Major Motion is semi unplayable, prohecy:viking child speeds up in some places. I imagine the WHD load guys have added timing fixes for real A1200s but the Mister is still too much.

The creators of MegaAGS/Vision state they use the best performing version of the game be that NTSC or PAL and any issues in the game due to the core/WHDload is also noted

I have no issue playing NTSC produced games at the right speed rather than with PAL slow down even though I grew up with a PAL Amiga

There is of course cycle accurate A500/600 available too with AGS/Vision for games that won't work properly or only work from ADF

[limi]

Lol AmigaVision is exactly what I had in mind, some games run far too fast on it. Major Motion is semi unplayable, prohecy:viking child speeds up in some places. I imagine the WHD load guys have added timing fixes for real A1200s but the Mister is still too much.

As always, file bugs, and we will take a look — with 3000+ game configurations available, there are bound to be some that aren’t configured correctly:

https://github.com/amigavision/AmigaVision/issues

[mike911]

This core is simply perfect. And it has become my default MD & SMS core, too!

However, adding !Genesis and !sms in downloader.ini also disables this core, which makes no sense. Someone else experienced this small problem?

Same problem here. I guess both new and old cores are linked at the moment.

[mario64]

I’ve been out of town for several days. Did adaptive composite blend get added?

[rhester72]

I’ve been out of town for several days. Did adaptive composite blend get added?

Yes. Full blend is absent. "On" is adaptive.

[mario64]

I’ve been out of town for several days. Did adaptive composite blend get added?

Yes. Full blend is absent. "On" is adaptive.

Finally got back home and tested it with the 9/15 core. Adaptive composite blend is most certainly not present in the Nuked-MD core. The whole point of adaptive is the screen remains nice and sharp except for those areas where pixel blending is needed, such as the waterfalls in Sonic 1. Regular composite blend makes the entire image blurry, and that's exactly what happens in the Nuked-MD core. If you compare Nuked-MD "On" to Genesis core "Standard" composite blend they're identical. So I'll still be sticking with the original core. I sure hope Sorg adds Adaptive to Nuked-MD.

[rhester72]

Finally got back home and tested it with the 9/15 core. Adaptive composite blend is most certainly not present in the Nuked-MD core. The whole point of adaptive is the screen remains nice and sharp except for those areas where pixel blending is needed, such as the waterfalls in Sonic 1. Regular composite blend makes the entire image blurry, and that's exactly what happens in the Nuked-MD core. If you compare Nuked-MD "On" to Genesis core "Standard" composite blend they're identical. So I'll still be sticking with the original core. I sure hope Sorg adds Adaptive to Nuked-MD.

I understand what you are asking. It's most definitely adaptive (only) on Nuked. Not sure what you're seeing (or why).

[Stinky]

Yes. Full blend is absent. "On" is adaptive.

I prefer full blend.

[jd213]

Tried the composite blend on the new core, and it definitely blurred the image a good bit, at least on the analog output. Maybe not as blurry as a real Genesis over composite, though.

[rhester72]

Tried the composite blend on the new core, and it definitely blurred the image a good bit, at least on the analog output. Maybe not as blurry as a real Genesis over composite, though.

Maybe an artifact of analog? HDMI is razor-sharp except for the blending (and you can even see the telltale 'shift' on the intro as the waterfall passes behind the logo, unblended until it fully emerges and then suddenly "snaps" into a blended area).

At least on HDMI, the behavior of 'on' with the Nuked core is 100% identical visually to Adaptive in the classic core.

[jd213]

Here's some screenshots taken by pressing Win+PRINTSCREEN. The screenshots with composite blending on (002 and 004) look fairly blurry across the entire screen to me, but that might be an acceptable tradeoff for some.

NODATE-Sonic-The-Hedgehog-Japan-Europe-Korea-En-0001.png (292.29 KiB) Viewed 11012 times

NODATE-Sonic-The-Hedgehog-Japan-Europe-Korea-En-0002.png (334.02 KiB) Viewed 11011 times

NODATE-Sonic-The-Hedgehog-Japan-Europe-Korea-En-0003.png (132.93 KiB) Viewed 11010 times

NODATE-Sonic-The-Hedgehog-Japan-Europe-Korea-En-0004.png (170.53 KiB) Viewed 11009 times