Perfecting Vectrex Overlays

[TimeWarpGamer]

Hi, I'm new to MiSTer and hoping to help out a little bit with the greater community where I can. I'm a big Vectrex fan, playing it extensively on Vita/Switch/EmuELEC (vertical monitor setup), and I'd love to tighten up the way overlays look in MiSTer, hopefully even share some improved/new overlays, too, but I'm definitely going to need some assistance.

With some help from a friend, I can use a python script (https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Vectrex ... r/overlays) to convert .png to .ovr, and I made sure that the source png. was 540x720 pixels. However, when the ovr actually displays on MiSTer, it's offset a bit to the right, not centered correctly as the original .png was, and it's as if the part that was pushed to the right is now displaying on the left edge of the image, like it rolled over there. I have no idea if this is an issue with the conversion script, the .ovr format, or how overlays were implemented in the Vectrex core.

And this doesn't look like an issue with just my experimental .png. I noticed the same thing with the included .pngs from the link above, once they were converted to .ovr.

Happy to take a crack at helping with overlays, in general, but first step is figuring out how to make the overlay input display as expected.

[alanswx]

I probably have an off by one issue when I made the FPGA code. Do you think we can correct it with the PNG? Or should I try to go into the core and fix it? I need to look at the code again.

[TimeWarpGamer]

I probably have an off by one issue when I made the FPGA code. Do you think we can correct it with the PNG? Or should I try to go into the core and fix it? I need to look at the code again.

Thanks for the quick reply. It's probably possible, chopping off a strip of pixels on the right side and pasting them to the other side, but that would add a lot more manual work, and my graphic design skills are rather pedestrian. If it's not too hard, I'd definitely prefer addressing this at the core level. Plus, with it fixed there, other people don't need to re-invent the wheel if they want to make/modify their own overlays.

[alanswx]

I probably have an off by one issue when I made the FPGA code. Do you think we can correct it with the PNG? Or should I try to go into the core and fix it? I need to look at the code again.

Thanks for the quick reply. It's probably possible, chopping off a strip of pixels on the right side and pasting them to the other side, but that would add a lot more manual work, and my graphic design skills are rather pedestrian. If it's not too hard, I'd definitely prefer addressing this at the core level. Plus, with it fixed there, other people don't need to re-invent the wheel if they want to make/modify their own overlays.

I think my skills have improved since I first wrote it, hopefully it won't be a hard fix. I should probably create a rainbow or something so it will be obvious where the pixels are ending up. I was just so happy that pole position looked better when I did it!

[TimeWarpGamer]

Very cool, @alanswx. Hoping that making Vectrex overlays super high-quality and accessible will rekindle interest in this awesome console. Careful what you say about your skills, because next request from me is going to be an opacity/transparency setting for the overlay like the software emulators have

[Moondandy]

On a related note, would it be possible for the overlays to be grabbed by the update script? I remember it was discussed a good while back but don't think anything came of it.

[mattsoft]

Very cool, @alanswx. Hoping that making Vectrex overlays super high-quality and accessible will rekindle interest in this awesome console. Careful what you say about your skills, because next request from me is going to be an opacity/transparency setting for the overlay like the software emulators have

Like being able to rotate the display.

[TimeWarpGamer]

On a related note, would it be possible for the overlays to be grabbed by the update script? I remember it was discussed a good while back but don't think anything came of it.

Definitely a good idea, but overlays need to exactly match the rom names (definitely want them to auto load), so we’d probably want those distributed by the script as well, so I defer to the real Mr team on that front.

[LamerDeluxe]

On a related note, would it be possible for the overlays to be grabbed by the update script? I remember it was discussed a good while back but don't think anything came of it.

Definitely a good idea, but overlays need to exactly match the rom names (definitely want them to auto load), so we’d probably want those distributed by the script as well, so I defer to the real Mr team on that front.

Which would actually be legal, as Vectrex games don't have copyright anymore.

[TimeWarpGamer]

On a related note, would it be possible for the overlays to be grabbed by the update script? I remember it was discussed a good while back but don't think anything came of it.

Definitely a good idea, but overlays need to exactly match the rom names (definitely want them to auto load), so we’d probably want those distributed by the script as well, so I defer to the real Mr team on that front.

Which would actually be legal, as Vectrex games don't have copyright anymore.

That would be ideal. Personally, I have no idea about the exact legal reality/how MiSTer could safely distribute games. Definitely something to explore. Not to trust Reddit but: https://www.reddit.com/r/Vectrex/commen ... ic_domain/

Assuming this is accurate, maybe Jay Smith would sign off on free Mr distribution of games if he was asked for permission? Just a wild idea...

[LamerDeluxe]

Definitely a good idea, but overlays need to exactly match the rom names (definitely want them to auto load), so we’d probably want those distributed by the script as well, so I defer to the real Mr team on that front.

Which would actually be legal, as Vectrex games don't have copyright anymore.

That would be ideal. Personally, I have no idea about the exact legal reality/how MiSTer could safely distribute games. Definitely something to explore. Not to trust Reddit but: https://www.reddit.com/r/Vectrex/commen ... ic_domain/

Assuming this is accurate, maybe Jay Smith would sign off on free Mr distribution of games if he was asked for permission? Just a wild idea...

So not quite as free of rights as people have been mentioning for ages. Seems like a message to Jay could indeed be the solution.

EDIT: And if the original, commercially released, games would be allowed to be added, just automatically downloading the overlays for all other games would be the filename reference for correctly naming those ROMs.

[breiztiger]

or crc like cheats files

[Torgo]

All of the games, even the ones that are unreleased, were all released to the Public Domain by the Rights Owners of the Vectrex.