MiSTer FPGA Forum

Hi,

I have released a new MiSTer FPGA Arcade Core, the 1983 Atari game 'Crystal Castles'.

https://github.com/0xECEAD/Arcade-Cryst ... er/release


It is a trackball game and the best playing experience is with an actual trackball connected to the SNAC connector. But joystick and mouse are supported as controllers through trackball emulation.

Quickreference for folders and file placement:
/_Arcade/Crystal Castles.mra
/_Arcade/cores/CrystalCastles_20221119.rbf
/_Arcade/mame/ccastles.zip


Note: cocktail mode is not correct, cabinet mode seems to play fine. Let me know what you think.

Enc.

Speaking of trackballs, I wonder if a cheap option might be a Kensington Orbit TrackBall ?
Would Mister see this as a mouse ?
They are currently around £25 on Amazon, far cheaper than some of the arcade trackballs on eBay.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kensington-Orb ... =430570031

Chilli_Vibes wrote: ↑Sun Nov 20, 2022 2:08 pm Speaking of trackballs, I wonder if a cheap option might be a Kensington Orbit TrackBall ?
Would Mister see this as a mouse ?
They are currently around £25 on Amazon, far cheaper than some of the arcade trackballs on eBay.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kensington-Orb ... =430570031

Yes it is a standard USB mouse MiSTer would see this as a mouse. If the core works well with mouse input it should work fine.

Yeah, thanks for that. I did have a feeling that this might be seen as a mouse, I know it would work in Windows, but this is Linux.
I might get one, then test some trackball games, such as this, Centipede, etc.. then report back.

the repository is now on the mister-devel github:

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Arcade- ... les_MiSTer

Xxzxcuzx me?????

I haven't played this since my year of silence - 1991. Any reckless hope I had of being able to have a good time with it again had vanished along with my cabinet (victim of birds + a crimewave).

I'm not in love with the alternatives, playing mercenary/Vietnam/Black Panther/violent youth/plague/etc feels like suffocation. I've had terribly pale flesh and sad eyes since -- IMO -- the wrath of God said "child I will hurt you," took my game, and left me with violent dreams in which I am made of chalk.

Affection, love and caring to the core creator! They must be a telepath and feel intimate empathy for me. It's like a baptism I never expected.

All the MiSTer devs are gallant knights, in my opinion; wish I could learn their FPGA magic spells so gaming publishers couldn't tell me what to swallow. (Their advertising air war shows how they untrust us -- it's like "Mother knows best!")

Doe deer, I feel fainting spells coming on... I'd better get some kerosene (or insulin?)

Enceladus wrote: ↑Sat Nov 19, 2022 5:24 pm Hi,

I have released a new MiSTer FPGA Arcade Core, the 1983 Atari game 'Crystal Castles'.

https://github.com/0xECEAD/Arcade-Cryst ... er/release


crystal-castles-mister-core.png


It is a trackball game and the best playing experience is with an actual trackball connected to the SNAC connector. But joystick and mouse are supported as controllers through trackball emulation.

Quickreference for folders and file placement:
/_Arcade/Crystal Castles.mra
/_Arcade/cores/CrystalCastles_20221119.rbf
/_Arcade/mame/ccastles.zip


Note: cocktail mode is not correct, cabinet mode seems to play fine. Let me know what you think.

Enc.

THANKS! Can you link me a real trackball I can use with SNAC?

zoysiamo wrote: ↑Sun Nov 20, 2022 11:12 pm had vanished along with my cabinet (victim of birds + a crimewave).

Um Birds? What happened there, has to be an interesting story there?

AmintaMister wrote: ↑Mon Nov 21, 2022 10:46 am THANKS! Can you link me a real trackball I can use with SNAC?

I don't think they are commercially available.
I made mine with a salvaged tb-unit and soldered on a SNAC connector (USB3).
Wiring is described on the GitHub page.

redsteakraw wrote: ↑Mon Nov 21, 2022 12:19 pm

zoysiamo wrote: ↑Sun Nov 20, 2022 11:12 pm had vanished along with my cabinet (victim of birds + a crimewave).

Um Birds? What happened there, has to be an interesting story there?

These birds, specifically: https://youtu.be/rcmalrmv6UM (Sorry for leaving that detail out at first).

That's awesome! I always loved Crystal Castles.

How long will it take before Crystal Castles gets installed with the update_all script? I don't really know who controls that.

AmintaMister wrote: ↑Mon Nov 21, 2022 10:46 am
THANKS! Can you link me a real trackball I can use with SNAC?

My guess is it will work with Happ trackballs, like this one: https://groovygamegear.com/webstore/ind ... cts_id=363

I have that one with the upgraded wheels and bearings, and the Optiwiz for USB connectivity. I am wondering if there is any real advantage to using SNAC vs the optiwiz. I would prefer to just use it as a USB mouse/trackball so I don't have to deal with hooking it up via SNAC unless there is a major reason to do so.

I bought a multicade a coupe years ago, in which was originally a 60-1 iCade board. I replaced the 60-1 w/ a MisterCade.

The control panel came with a 2 1/4” trackball which originally interfaced off the PSU and JAMMA. While I could have just swapped the trackball out w/ a USB compatible version, I bought the kit that just swapped the boards on the trackball I had. Now I can use the trackball on the MisterCade (connected w/ USB). There is no lag. There are not a lot of trackball compatible games in FPGA yet, but it works great in Arkanoid and nicely in (the now fixed) Centipede. Crystal Castles was a horizontal monitor, so I’m not sure I’ll be playing it much in my vertical mounted cabinet.

2-1/4" SOLID WHITE TRACKBALL ASSEMBLY W/ USB & PS/2 INTERFACE
https://na.suzohapp.com/products/trackballs/56-5600-11

PS/2 & USB TRACKBALL INTERFACE KIT FOR 2-1/4" AND 3"
https://na.suzohapp.com/products/trackballs/56-0113-00K

I am currently in the finishing stretch of building my cabinet, and I built it with interchangeable control panels so I can have dedicated controls for different games, and also made the CRT screen rotatable so I can play either orientation. I can't wait to finish it and start playing all these great cores that have popped up recently.