MiSTer FPGA Forum

Posted: **Wed Jun 10, 2020 5:54 pm**

Call me crazy but one of my favorite game systems is 3DO. I still remember driving 90 minutes to the nearest town which had them in stock at launch. Some of my favorite games are Escape from Monster Manor, Gex, Crash N Burn and Lucienne's Quest. Would 3DO be possible on MiSTer?

Posted: **Wed Jun 10, 2020 7:25 pm**

I think it would make a nice addition

Posted: **Wed Jun 10, 2020 8:53 pm**

there are certainly some 3DO games that I'd like to try out.

Posted: **Thu Jun 11, 2020 12:31 am**

The version of Gex on the 3DO is tops. I grew up with the PlayStation version, but picked up a 3DO a few years ago and the ability to save your game in that version is so much more convenient. I too would love a 3DO MiSTer core, but from what I've read most people with the skills to implement one don't have much interest in attempting it. Both because of a perceived lack of interest from the public and because none of them actually own a 3DO to compare their work against. Honesty though I'd lend mine to a trusted dev, postage paid, if it would lead to an accurate 3DO core for the community. Seriously Sorg, PM me if you're interested haha

Posted: **Thu Jun 11, 2020 12:34 am**

colonel panic wrote: ↑Thu Jun 11, 2020 12:31 am The version of Gex on the 3DO is tops. I grew up with the PlayStation version, but picked up a 3DO a few years ago and the ability to save your game in that version is so much more convenient. I too would love a 3DO MiSTer core, but from what I've read most people with the skills to implement one don't have much interest in attempting it. Both because of a perceived lack of interest from the public and because none of them actually own a 3DO to compare their work against. Honesty though I'd lend mine to a trusted dev, postage paid, if it would lead to an accurate 3DO core for the community. Seriously Sorg, PM me if you're interested haha

Same here. I’d lend a 3DO to a trusted dev for core development

Posted: **Thu Jun 11, 2020 12:53 am**

I'm still burning CDs for my 3DO.

Posted: **Thu Jun 11, 2020 2:14 am**

Bought one in the past few weeks and now replacing caps in the hope it will properly read discs and not blast noise out of the left channel.

Support for the 3DO and other old 4th and 5th gen CD consoles would be great, save people from the shitty busted hardware situations I keep finding myself in.

Posted: **Thu Jun 11, 2020 2:21 am**

Yes please, I have both Panasonic models, love 3DO!

Posted: **Thu Jun 11, 2020 3:20 am**

Moondandy wrote: ↑Thu Jun 11, 2020 2:14 am Bought one in the past few weeks and now replacing caps in the hope it will properly read discs and not blast noise out of the left channel.

Not to get too off topic, but see if the laser in your 3DO has any calibration pots. I bought a broken Sega CD years back for practically nothing and the main thing I did to get it working was to tweak the pots on the laser assembly till it would reliably read disks. The correct way to do this is with an oscilloscope and a copy of the service manual with the correct readings printed in it. In my case, at that time I didn't care about doing things correctly, since I thought of it as cheap junk, so I just marked the original positions of the pots with a sharpie, so I could "reset" if need be, and then just kept tweaking and testing over and over till things ran smoothly. YMMV, of course, so I would always recommend using proper equipment

Posted: **Thu Jun 11, 2020 3:55 am**

The 3DO has 2 external SRAMs for VRAM, each of them bigger than internal BRam of the Cyclone 5 FPGA.
So don't expect a 100% cycle accurate core with the Mister platform, but that's true for most newer consoles.(Gen5+)

CPU side looks better, could probably use a stripped down version from the GBA, as it's an older ARM.
Overall it should be possible if you don't mind a few quirks and tricks to make it work.

Creating it will be a pain, as there is no good opensource emulator where you could look up how things work and i didn't found documentation with a quick search.
So you probably need someone who wants to reverse engineer AND create HDL from it or a team.

Posted: **Thu Jun 11, 2020 4:02 am**

FPGAzumSpass wrote: ↑Thu Jun 11, 2020 3:55 am The 3DO has 2 external SRAMs for VRAM, each of them bigger than internal BRam of the Cyclone 5 FPGA.
So don't expect a 100% cycle accurate core with the Mister platform, but that's true for most newer consoles.(Gen5+)

CPU side looks better, could probably use a stripped down version from the GBA, as it's an older ARM.
Overall it should be possible if you don't mind a few quirks and tricks to make it work.

Creating it will be a pain, as there is no good opensource emulator where you could look up how things work and i didn't found documentation with a quick search.
So you probably need someone who wants to reverse engineer AND create HDL from it or a team.

Posted: **Mon Aug 03, 2020 12:26 am**

Is anyone really going to go through such a large effort to play Plumbers don't wear ties on the MiSTer?

Posted: **Mon Aug 03, 2020 12:31 am**

redsteakraw wrote: ↑Mon Aug 03, 2020 12:26 am Is anyone really going to go through such a large effort to play Plumbers don't wear ties on the MiSTer?

3DO has some great games. That isn't one of them though

Posted: **Mon Aug 03, 2020 11:20 am**

mario64 wrote: ↑Mon Aug 03, 2020 12:31 am
redsteakraw wrote: ↑Mon Aug 03, 2020 12:26 am Is anyone really going to go through such a large effort to play Plumbers don't wear ties on the MiSTer?
3DO has some great games. That isn't one of them though

I don't know, 3DO had mostly lackluster 3D games and a shit tone of FMV games. Most of it's good games can be found elsewhere such as the Playstation for example. That being said my friend loves the 3DO for some reason, I believe he played Ball Blazer a lot.

Posted: **Mon Aug 03, 2020 1:43 pm**

redsteakraw wrote: ↑Mon Aug 03, 2020 11:20 am
mario64 wrote: ↑Mon Aug 03, 2020 12:31 am
redsteakraw wrote: ↑Mon Aug 03, 2020 12:26 am Is anyone really going to go through such a large effort to play Plumbers don't wear ties on the MiSTer?
3DO has some great games. That isn't one of them though
I don't know, 3DO had mostly lackluster 3D games and a shit tone of FMV games. Most of it's good games can be found elsewhere such as the Playstation for example. That being said my friend loves the 3DO for some reason, I believe he played Ball Blazer a lot.

A lot of people care deeply about 3DO. I'm not sure why, but there are a legion of fans out there.

Posted: **Mon Aug 10, 2020 10:57 am**

retrorepair wrote: ↑Mon Aug 03, 2020 1:43 pm
redsteakraw wrote: ↑Mon Aug 03, 2020 11:20 am
mario64 wrote: ↑Mon Aug 03, 2020 12:31 am 3DO has some great games. That isn't one of them though
I don't know, 3DO had mostly lackluster 3D games and a shit tone of FMV games. Most of it's good games can be found elsewhere such as the Playstation for example. That being said my friend loves the 3DO for some reason, I believe he played Ball Blazer a lot.
A lot of people care deeply about 3DO. I'm not sure why, but there are a legion of fans out there.

Yes I know there is some allure about the 3DO, like I said my friend loves the system. I am interested in it but not enthusiastic. I actually want to play Plumbers don't wear ties for the cheese factor, and Ball Blazer with my friend. The games are crazy expensive to collect for so FPGA will be my only hope.

Posted: **Mon Aug 10, 2020 6:48 pm**

Crash‘n‘Burn is amazing, especially for its time. Also, Need for Speed on 3DO is more like a simulation. It plays totally different, better in my opinion, than the PS1 version.

Posted: **Sat Aug 29, 2020 4:19 am**

redsteakraw wrote: ↑Mon Aug 03, 2020 12:26 am Is anyone really going to go through such a large effort to play Plumbers don't wear ties on the MiSTer?

Sega CD plenty of atrocious games too.

I'd quite enjoy a 3DO core, played on a Panasonic one a lot as a kid. Star Control 2, Return Fire, Need for Speed, Wing Commander 3, all those terrible Crystal Dynamics games .. built in CD vis is kinda worth it on it's own.

Posted: **Sat Aug 29, 2020 9:39 am**

3DO is kind of like the original Xbox in that it's greatness lies in the fact that it's got the best console ports of games. I think that Wolfenstein 3D on 3DO is the definitive experience. It adds all of the Jaguar content, but with orchestrated music. Escape from Monster Manor is a fantastic hidden gem Doom clone that's exclusive. The EA sports games are better on 3DO than their 16-bit counterparts. Gex has an exclusive saving feature on the 3DO not featured on the Saturn or PS1 version. Slam n Jam 95 is a great NBA Jam clone that's exclusive to the 3DO. Shockwave 2 is another EA exclusive. My favorite is Crash n' Burn though. All in all, I'd say that the 3DO has a lot of good games, but not many great games. However, it definitely is worth preserving. The Bandai Playdia or the BBC Bridge Companion on the other hand wouldn't be worth preserving xD

Posted: **Sat Aug 29, 2020 3:25 pm**

This core would be worth just to play Star Control 2.

I've very recently bought a 3DO and it's a great little machine. Too expensive when it came out, but that doesn't make it bad.

Posted: **Sun Aug 30, 2020 4:10 am**

For sure the 3DO (and earlier CD-i) is historically significant, but I wonder if any dev will be interested in working on it at this stage. Maybe if Furrtek or somebody similar is interested in decapping and documenting it...

Posted: **Mon Aug 31, 2020 12:11 pm**

NightShadowPT wrote: ↑Sat Aug 29, 2020 3:25 pm This core would be worth just to play Star Control 2.

I've very recently bought a 3DO and it's a great little machine. Too expensive when it came out, but that doesn't make it bad.

PC version works in the ao486 core

Posted: **Tue Sep 01, 2020 1:38 am**

Shaneus wrote: ↑Mon Aug 31, 2020 12:11 pm
NightShadowPT wrote: ↑Sat Aug 29, 2020 3:25 pm This core would be worth just to play Star Control 2.

I've very recently bought a 3DO and it's a great little machine. Too expensive when it came out, but that doesn't make it bad.
PC version works in the ao486 core

Yeah, I know, that's the version I originally played, but unfortunately it doesn't have the voiced dialog.

Anyway, let's keep dreaming

Posted: **Wed Sep 16, 2020 4:03 pm**

FPGAzumSpass wrote: ↑Thu Jun 11, 2020 3:55 am Creating it will be a pain, as there is no good opensource emulator where you could look up how things work

Well there's this one: https://sourceforge.net/projects/fourdo/ - I'm not saying it's good, but some stuff does work.

Posted: **Wed Sep 16, 2020 6:25 pm**

NightShadowPT wrote: ↑Tue Sep 01, 2020 1:38 am Yeah, I know, that's the version I originally played, but unfortunately it doesn't have the voiced dialog.

Anyway, let's keep dreaming

Just FYI it looks like the developer released the 3DO source and there's an open source port which includes that voiced dialogue: http://sc2.sourceforge.net/

Posted: **Thu Sep 17, 2020 1:23 am**

xtcrefugee wrote: ↑Wed Sep 16, 2020 6:25 pm
NightShadowPT wrote: ↑Tue Sep 01, 2020 1:38 am Yeah, I know, that's the version I originally played, but unfortunately it doesn't have the voiced dialog.
Anyway, let's keep dreaming
Just FYI it looks like the developer released the 3DO source and there's an open source port which includes that voiced dialogue: http://sc2.sourceforge.net/

Ur-Quan Masters with voices is how I discovered and played SC2. Great game!

Posted: **Thu Sep 17, 2020 1:31 pm**

xtcrefugee wrote: ↑Wed Sep 16, 2020 6:25 pm
Just FYI it looks like the developer released the 3DO source and there's an open source port which includes that voiced dialogue: http://sc2.sourceforge.net/

Yes, I've been playing the Ur-Quan Master for more than 10 years... but thanks for the information.

Maybe other players will learn about it

Posted: **Tue Jan 10, 2023 2:29 am**

I want to play ballz. I remember playing it and my friends mom saying "hey, what are you playing with?" and us very emphatically yelling back "ballz!" Man i want to play with me ballz.

Posted: **Wed Jan 11, 2023 4:50 am**

3DO has an FPU, and I don't believe anyone has done an FPU for any core on Mister? Right? I think creating an FPGA FPU is advanced level.

Posted: **Wed Jan 11, 2023 6:59 am**

The unofficial PDP11 has an FPU.

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