MiSTer FPGA Forum

After posting/updating the RDI Halcyon thread, I watched Lu's video (THANK YOU Lu!!) as well as read through this entire thread. Thank you psakhis, Calamity, and any and all that made this core possible. I always love options, including those that benefit others even if they aren't for my own needs.

I'm trying to find a current use case for ME, but see the future potential for my setup. I misunderstood how the core worked until now and didn't know the current limitations (that's no shade at the developers!). For example, I thought I heard that you can plug things other than a PC or specific emulators in a way where the MiSTer magically displayed A/V on a CRT. I thought [in the other thread] my modded PS3 would allow me to run Dragon's Lair DVD .iso files and thru the network get it on my CRTs. That's MY error. I thought the 'Groovy' was new and was unaware of ongoing projects like Groovy_Mame.

Not to play devil's advocate at all, but didn't the idea of running MAME on the Linux side (like ScummVM) ruffle some feathers or create debate? Don't get me wrong, I LOVE that Groovy_MiSTer has us covered and is getting embraced by many here. I'm just curious if MAME on the linux side as just ANOTHER option would be a simpler solution for some?

I did read that Mednafen has benefits of save options, PC-FX and Virtual Boy, which is great for others, but not my interest. Retroarch may have some cores I'd have fun tinkering with...

1. MAME I'm very interested in here, though what would REALLY be great is if RetroNAS and Groovy_MiSTer could work together. I'd swap out my old laptop it's installed on for a newer mini-PC if it acted as both NAS and emulator powerhouse.

2. Daphne's successor 'Hypseus Singe' might also be a welcomed guest to the Groovy table:
   https://github.com/DirtBagXon/hypseus-singe

The ARM Chip in the DE10 could not cope with Modern Mame. It is a weak arm.

Wow- I've been with MiSTer (and MiST) for so long- I'm surprised I didn't know that! Thank you! Maybe we will see on MARS, but if that is the case with MiSTer, I must get Groovy. I'd love a Retrotink 4K after the reviews showed that it is great for SD content of old tv shows. I can't justify the expense for my own setup, but maybe Groovy_MiSTer may have this on the horizon? I read that Retroarch has a media player. I've tried a Pi with Kodi booting exclusively into the PLEX addon but thus far, nothing has been ideal (hard to read text). Imagine SD content with playback ease on a CRT using shadow masks or filters...

I never EXPECT anything from developers, but do like to voice hopes and dreams for features.

you should never be applying shadow masks or filters to a CRT. The whole point of a CRT is thats an inherent weakness/strength of the system. Shadow masks were a result of trying to get around a problem with CRT displays

I herd it's a more accurate version of Mame. i was looking at it about the same time i bought the mister like a decade ago. I knew what mame was.
What set to get for Groovy Mame. Merged or Non Merged?
Just wondering?
What is the highest emulator you expect running on the mister platform? I seen Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 playing.
Crosses fingers for Noimi at least for MVC 2 and SNK vs Capcom 2. and some of the other fighting games on there.

Groovy Mame is a fork of Mame for CRT use. Its inherently no more accurate than Mame. As its a Mame its dependent on the version of Mame used. Merged Roms generally are smaller in size but updating them is more of a pain, unless you use ClrMamePro

Hi!
I tried to make this "Groovy Mister Core" work on my setup here, but something seems to be wrong.
Why don't I get the bouncing rainbow coloured ball after starting the "groovy.rbf"? The menus do seem to work.
My mister does have a working network connection via dlan...

I changed the mister file like advertised by lou on yt.
Somebody know what's going on?

RiotRay wrote: ↑Tue Feb 06, 2024 9:26 pm

Hi!
I tried to make this "Groovy Mister Core" work on my setup here, but something seems to be wrong.
Why don't I get the bouncing rainbow coloured ball after starting the "groovy.rbf"? The menus do seem to work.
My mister does have a working network connection via dlan...

I changed the mister file like advertised by lou on yt.
Somebody know what's going on?

The GroovyMister core should work and the colour ball visible regardless of the network connection. Grab all the necessary files from here:

https://github.com/psakhis/Groovy_MiSTe ... est-builds

RiotRay wrote: ↑Tue Feb 06, 2024 9:26 pm

Hi!
I tried to make this "Groovy Mister Core" work on my setup here, but something seems to be wrong.
Why don't I get the bouncing rainbow coloured ball after starting the "groovy.rbf"? The menus do seem to work.
My mister does have a working network connection via dlan...

I changed the mister file like advertised by lou on yt.
Somebody know what's going on?

I had the same issue on my setup. I didn't see the colored ball on screen any longer even though the menu pulled up. I had pulled all the files from GitHub as a zip and used the .rbf from the main folder. I just replaced it with the one from the "test builds" folder and now everything seems to be working as expected.

If you want to try out Super Model, the Sega Model 3 emulator, with Groovy Mister, I put up an initial build a few days ago.

https://archive.org/details/supermodel-mi-ster

Set address out in the config to your Mister IP address.

mikehaggar wrote: ↑Thu Feb 08, 2024 6:46 am

If you want to try out Super Model, the Sega Model 3 emulator, with Groovy Mister, I put up an initial build a few days ago.

https://archive.org/details/supermodel-mi-ster

Set address out in the config to your Mister IP address.

Thats great stuff!
How does the batch file look for the Super Model Emulator?

Nice video on the feature, courtesy of VGEsoterica:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQObALWWwbg

I finally got it to work and it's VERY nice.
Maybe it's me but the games i couldnt play before (City Connection, Star Force, and many others..) look better on Groovy Mister than on a RPi4 with RGBpi hat.

I guess the stuttering in games like Virtua Racing (sometimes it shows fine, sometimes it stutters) it's about the network not being able to deal with some interlaced modes..

It's a great new core!! thanks psakhis !!

any plans of passing input from controller connected to MiSTer over to mame?

What would be the best option for someone who has their mister way too far away from their router to do a wired connection? Is there a way to go directly from my laptop to the mister with an ethernet cable? or would buying a switch/router to plug my mister and pc into to connect them together be a good option? thanks

Bazset wrote: ↑Thu Feb 08, 2024 9:13 pm

What would be the best option for someone who has their mister way too far away from their router to do a wired connection? Is there a way to go directly from my laptop to the mister with an ethernet cable? or would buying a switch/router to plug my mister and pc into to connect them together be a good option? thanks

i would look into getting a powerline ethernet adapter. it lets you use 2 wall outlets with ethernet ports on them to carry the internet signal through the electric lines

Thanks for the suggestion. I think id need 3 of them, one to connect my router to an outlet, one to connect my mister to an outlet and one to connect my pc.. it would be cool if the developers could create a build that you can just connect an ethernet cable from the misterfpga straight into a pcs ethernet port.

Bazset wrote: ↑Thu Feb 08, 2024 9:28 pm

Thanks for the suggestion. I think id need 3 of them, one to connect my router to an outlet, one to connect my mister to an outlet and one to connect my pc.. it would be cool if the developers could create a build that you can just connect an ethernet cable from the misterfpga straight into a pcs ethernet port.

I am not an expert on powerline ethernet adapters, but I think they need to be on the same circuit. So if you flip your breaker and both outlets you intend to use go out, then your good. Instead of getting three of them, you can get two and plug your PC directly into the powerline ethernet adapter. Set static fake IP addresses on the MiSTer's LAN port and on the PC's ethernet port so they can ping each other, and connect the PC to the internet via WiFi, and probably the MiSTer too which should use a different IP range than the private essentially point to point connection you set up between the PC and the MiSTer.

Bazset wrote: ↑Thu Feb 08, 2024 9:28 pm

Thanks for the suggestion. I think id need 3 of them, one to connect my router to an outlet, one to connect my mister to an outlet and one to connect my pc.. it would be cool if the developers could create a build that you can just connect an ethernet cable from the misterfpga straight into a pcs ethernet port.

It has been this way from the beggining. You can connect directly from the PC <---->Mister or through a router pc<--->router<---->Mister.

In fact I think the preferred method is direct connection.

Open a terminal in Mister (press F9 login root, pass 1) type ip address and copy the ip that shows on eth0. That's the one that should go in Mame.ini

Bazset wrote: ↑Thu Feb 08, 2024 9:28 pm

...it would be cool if the developers could create a build that you can just connect an ethernet cable from the misterfpga straight into a pcs ethernet port.

Isn't this just an ethernet crossover cable? Not sure, but I think some ethernet adapters auto detect tx/rx (auto-mdi-x) being reversed. Just have to set different static ip addresses on both sides (both ip addresses need to be on the same network (ie. 192.168.1.1 and 192.168.1.2), etc.

If you happen to be running your groovymame instance on a linux host, I compiled a thing:

https://github.com/zakk4223/Mister_USBIP

Edit: Just deleted my huge post and want to focus on the main issue I am currently having...

Star Wars the vector arcade game is trying to run at 640x480i @49.5 Hz. How do I get it to run 640x480i @ 60 Hz? I don't have a PAL capable TV. I had this same issue with Batocera and had to write a custom setup script to get it to configure properly for my NTSC TV. Thanks!

PikWik wrote: ↑Thu Feb 08, 2024 9:18 pm

i would look into getting a powerline ethernet adapter. it lets you use 2 wall outlets with ethernet ports on them to carry the internet signal through the electric lines

Avoid powerline adapters, can't reach minium latency to work with. A ping with 3 or 4ms is too much.

ahh, ok. i knew they were a thing for getting internet in different rooms,
but now i know to not use them for sending pixels to your MiSTer

eerie wrote: ↑Thu Feb 08, 2024 11:22 pm

It has been this way from the beggining. You can connect directly from the PC <---->Mister or through a router pc<--->router<---->Mister.

In fact I think the preferred method is direct connection.

Open a terminal in Mister (press F9 login root, pass 1) type ip address and copy the ip that shows on eth0. That's the one that should go in Mame.ini

I’m using a Windows PC. For a direct connection do I need to give the computer its own static IP address? I’ve already done that on my MiSTer setup and have that specified for GroovyMAME. I’d like to see if I can get better performance than connecting through my LAN.

thorr wrote: ↑Fri Feb 09, 2024 6:59 am

Edit: Just deleted my huge post and want to focus on the main issue I am currently having...

Star Wars the vector arcade game is trying to run at 640x480i @49.5 Hz. How do I get it to run 640x480i @ 60 Hz? I don't have a PAL capable TV. I had this same issue with Batocera and had to write a custom setup script to get it to configure properly for my NTSC TV. Thanks!

Create a blank ini file with the name of the rom (starwars.ini?). Edit it and add "monitor ntsc". Put it inside mame's ini folder.

By doing this the game will run accelerated at 121%. To avoid this, try adding, in the same ini:

monitor ntsc
throttle 1
syncrefresh 0

I'm not sure if this will cause issues, since the mister core is actually meant to be syncrefreshed.

Notice that this won't work if you've configured GroovyMAME to be launched from bat file with command line settings added in it, or from a shortcut, like in the VGE video. Forcing command line arguments that way has top priority over anything else, making this specific game ini overrides worthless.

Calamity wrote: ↑Fri Feb 09, 2024 6:05 pm

Create a blank ini file with the name of the rom (starwars.ini?). Edit it and add "monitor ntsc". Put it inside mame's ini folder.

Thank you so much! I can't wait to try it out tonight. I made a Star Wars themed arcade cabinet so that is my most important game to get working on it lol.

zakk4223 wrote: ↑Fri Feb 09, 2024 6:50 am

If you happen to be running your groovymame instance on a linux host, I compiled a thing:

https://github.com/zakk4223/Mister_USBIP

I've just tested this. I measured input latency with usbip vs local usb. On my tests, added latency is only 0.33-0.50 ms.

Calamity wrote: ↑Fri Feb 09, 2024 6:05 pm

By doing this the game will run accelerated at 121%. To avoid this, try adding, in the same ini:

Code: Select all

monitor ntsc
throttle 1
syncrefresh 0

I'm not sure if this will cause issues, since the mister core is actually meant to be syncrefreshed.

Notice that this won't work if you've configured GroovyMAME to be launched from bat file with command line settings added in it, or from a shortcut, like in the VGE video. Forcing command line arguments that way has top priority over anything else, making this specific game ini overrides worthless.

Very helpful, thanks! Could I make a separate shortcut for launching Star Wars directly and put -monitor ntsc -throttle 1 -syncrefresh 0 on the end of it?

thorr wrote: ↑Fri Feb 09, 2024 7:15 pm

Very helpful, thanks! Could I make a separate shortcut for launching Star Wars directly and put -monitor ntsc -throttle 1 -syncrefresh 0 on the end of it?

You can, but the correct way is to have the all the general MiSTer options in mame.ini, and use specific ini overrides when needed, and not using shortcuts with options, bats or whatever.