MiSTer FPGA Forum

To simplify his life and the life of his patrons Jotego will distribute all his arcade cores via the update all script. This includes the beta versions.
Anyone using the script will receive the beta versions ... BUT ...
From atrac17
This is the best way to distribute. You'll still be able to grab it from github too. Without the corresponding key, it renders the core useless. You can load an mra and watch the attract and that's about it. Or whatever parameter @topapate sets. It's ingenious!

Thats sweet, great work from Jotego

So DRM has come to MiSTer? Kinda ironic.

Like it's a good thing to make it a little easier on patrons, it's a little over the top to call it ingenious imo, since having keys to use software has been around since the earliest days of software

i'm confused. non-patrons without a key who use the update-all script, will their update be effected?

bazza_12 wrote: ↑Wed Jun 09, 2021 3:27 pm i'm confused. non-patrons without a key who use the update-all script, will their update be effected?

You will get the cores and mra plus the roms with mame/hbmame getter.
Without a key you will only be able to get a teaser until the core is released to the public. But if you like what you see you can become a patron and get a key.

what? even without being a patreon will we be able to download the games as well?

Yeah but you can only play them with a key.

I support this.

So you can be patreon for 1 month and get a lifetime key ?

Does this apply to public cores too? would my MiSTer system get the jotego cores wrecked if I run the script not being a patreon?

Update_All has a configuration screen and you can disable parts of it from running if you need to, so it's opt-in. As for this change I welcome it. Consider that Jotego has already made a lot of amazing cores public and done a lot of collaboration to improve the state-of-art for MiSTer in general (especially his memory tester!) CPS-II is beta today but it's eventually going to graduate to the open status when he feels its ready. It is a bit of a hassle to download the cores, copy them over, and then have to run the update-all script anyway to satisfy new/updated MRAs with supplemental *ahem* files so this is merely a convenience to those who were already support Jotego. And don't worry, you're still seeing lots of awesome stuff even in the non-beta channel. He's updated a bunch of other cores such as Shinobi, Contra, Double Dragon, etc in the past few months. If you're still not happy about this, just change the update-all settings to disable that part.

gibs wrote: ↑Wed Jun 09, 2021 7:10 pm So you can be patreon for 1 month and get a lifetime key ?

No, the key will probably work only while you are patreon.

pacoarcade wrote: ↑Wed Jun 09, 2021 7:17 pm Does this apply to public cores too? would my MiSTer system get the jotego cores wrecked if I run the script not being a patreon?

Public cores stay untouched. When a beta core gets public, no need for a key anymore.

might be a good idea to add to the JT update_all script, a 'download beta updates' option.. otherwise, non-patreons who don't want teaser versions of beta cores.. will have those core & corresponding mras/zip files d/loaded to their SDCard, when all they wanted was an update for a released core such as double dragon..

I think this is a great idea and will probably lead to more patreon supporters for Jotego. I don't have the time to see what betas are out there so I don't even know what I am missing, but having them available with the update_all might make me want access to a beta core that I would otherwise not know about.

I like bazza_12's idea as well.

So if you aren't a patron you will download a beta you can't play... We are going to see a lot of people asking why they can't play these games that are on their MiSTer...

I like what JT does, and am glad he is compensated for his work, but if these beta cores aren't being downloaded by a beta down script that can be disabled in the update all script them this is just downloading adverts for his patreon for non subscribers. I don't think this is a door that should be opened, it could lead to a pretty grubby place.

I’d just put the betas on a different script and keep update_all clean.

So this is piracy, but you have to pay for it, but the money goes to the wrong person? This is so weird to me…

C-R-T wrote: ↑Thu Jun 10, 2021 4:17 am So this is piracy, but you have to pay for it, but the money goes to the wrong person? This is so weird to me…

No, he's creating a core through reverse engineering. The money goes to him to help develop these cores. He's the right person, if you want to support him. It's only weird because you are trying to be a smart-ass about it, but you shouldn't.

If you are downloading shit that you don't own, you might be a pirate! Arrrr matey!

Needs to be opt-in .. this will cause confusion and angst .. if you are a patron then sure .. "opt-in" and get those locked downloads ... and enjoy them with your key .. other wise the default should NOT be to download these locked cores at all and only fetch his fully open/public cores ..

One possibility is the update-all.sh could check if the file beta.zip is present on sdcard.
If it is the case it can download automatically beta cores.
It will be great to name jtbeta.zip because beta.zip is too common.

I am patreon supporter of jotego, and i really appreciate so much all his work, but i think it should be an "opt-in" option on the script.

Being enabled by default will create too many problems for the most part of users on the platform.
1) If you are not a patreon u will download unnecessary non working files taking space, and it will show non working titles on the mister menu listing, it even creates confusion to new users.
2) If u stop being a patreon one day while a core still in beta and u execute the update script (to update other cores or just keep the platform updated) u will end up disabling your working titles.

I think a better option would be a beta script as someone pointed out, so we could enable or disable it on the update_all.sh configuration. Not sure if it will make things too hard to mantain :S.

XtraSmiley wrote: ↑Thu Jun 10, 2021 4:42 am

C-R-T wrote: ↑Thu Jun 10, 2021 4:17 am So this is piracy, but you have to pay for it, but the money goes to the wrong person? This is so weird to me…

No, he's creating a core through reverse engineering. The money goes to him to help develop these cores. He's the right person, if you want to support him. It's only weird because you are trying to be a smart-ass about it, but you shouldn't.

If you are downloading shit that you don't own, you might be a pirate! Arrrr matey!

https://reverseengineering.stackexchang ... s-old-game

C-R-T wrote: ↑Thu Jun 10, 2021 4:17 am So this is piracy, but you have to pay for it, but the money goes to the wrong person? This is so weird to me…

This kind of comment is pretty unhelpful within the scene. Supporting Jotego for his dev work is no more piracy than downloading any core surely? He's not sidling up to you in the playground and offering to sell you copied cassettes for your Spectrum. Maybe I'm more hot-headed than he is but if I saw comments like that I'd be like, forget it then, make your own CPS2 cores.

And nobody has to pay for anything. Carry on playing games on non beta cores until they become public and out of the Patreon. If that somehow makes it less "pirate" for some then great. Me, I don't mind giving the guy the price of a coffee a month for his not inconsiderable amount of time he puts in so that I get to play the games I loved as a kid.

Don't mean to sound harsh here.

If there's any area that gets less grey it's with the update all script rom downloader rather than Jotego. I don't use it anyway, I use my own MAME Set, but downloading roms "officially" is always where problems emerge.

RascalUK wrote: ↑Thu Jun 10, 2021 8:36 amHe's not sidling up to you in the playground and offering to sell you copied cassettes for your Spectrum.

damn, i wanted a copy of sabre wulf

bazza_12 wrote: ↑Thu Jun 10, 2021 8:42 am
damn, i wanted a copy of sabre wulf

Old school!

C-R-T wrote: ↑Thu Jun 10, 2021 4:17 am So this is piracy, but you have to pay for it, but the money goes to the wrong person? This is so weird to me…

Give it a bone mate. This is supporting a strong, active dev and as a thank you, being given early access to his work in developing cores for an open source project. It all becomes free when the work is complete. This (optional) money goes to EXACTLY the right person.

Any ideas how keys will be distributed to patrons? Couldn’t see anything about it on patreon. Looks a good idea to me, but I do see a lot of people asking why core x doesn’t allow them to play it

XtraSmiley wrote: ↑Thu Jun 10, 2021 4:42 am

C-R-T wrote: ↑Thu Jun 10, 2021 4:17 am So this is piracy, but you have to pay for it, but the money goes to the wrong person? This is so weird to me…

No, he's creating a core through reverse engineering. The money goes to him to help develop these cores. He's the right person, if you want to support him. It's only weird because you are trying to be a smart-ass about it, but you shouldn't.

If you are downloading shit that you don't own, you might be a pirate! Arrrr matey!

The script is downloading copyrighted files that you have to pay Jotego to use, but those files copyrights do not belong to Jotego. How is that not paying for piracy?

Do note, I don’t give a crap. I am strongly in favor of piracy in all aspects, but piracy shouldn’t be for profit.

The piracy angle is really not the issue here.

I'm all in favour of supporting Jotego for his stellar work, but including these locked cores into the main update script is an ill-advised move. It's shouldn't really a big deal from an user viewpoint (for me at least), because it's only gonna be a few files among countless other roms, but it still doesn't sit well with the whole "open" MiSTer ethos, and looks like an advertising gimmick.

If there's an opt-in flag in the script that'd be fine, but it shouldn't be enabled by default.

C-R-T wrote: ↑Thu Jun 10, 2021 10:39 am The script is downloading copyrighted files that you have to pay Jotego to use, but those files copyrights do not belong to Jotego. How is that not paying for piracy?

Do note, I don’t give a crap. I am strongly in favor of piracy in all aspects, but piracy shouldn’t be for profit.

Because get this you're not paying for the rom's. It's entirely legal to sell an Emulator in most countries which is essentially whats going on here. Jotego can legally charge for his work he can't charge for, or distribute, the roms to use his work.