Arcade cores

[850]

What you guys thinking about a core to develop arcade games?

I'm thinking to make a core which will include Gameduino code: http://excamera.com/sphinx/gameduino/
It's very sophisticated sprite engine:
- 256 sprites with 4,16 and 256 colors
- collision detection
- hardware screen scrolling in both X and Y.
I'm also thinking to extend it with 2 or even 3 independent backgrounds to support parallax scrolling. Co-processor also could be improved to have it's own 32KB RAM instead of 128bytes as in original gameduino.
There is also plan to add AY8910 additionally to existing sound.
You can watch videos on that site to see its capabilities.

The core will also include softCPU. Currently i'm deciding what softCPU to use. The main candidate is ZPU. It has gcc for both linux and windows, so it will be easy to compile the game code. If you know other softCPU which has convenient C/C++ compiler or even IDE post it here.

No any additional hardware will be required. BRAM will be used as a main RAM for code. Probably 32KB will be available for game code. Also DDR3 memory will simulate the ROM code which will serve the graphics and sound.

Overall the Arcade core will outperform most known 2D coin-op arcades. It will be possible to write many different games and even mimic some existing games with better graphics.

Is there any interest to have such core? It will require a community support with games. Need developers who would like to write the games.

That sounds awesome. I'd love to create an original arcade game that I could then build into a cabinet.

[oldgit]

1942 Arcade

So I did say I would get Robotron/Joust working but whilst trawling the internet for inspiration I came across a port of the 1942 Arcade on github written for the pipistrello board only a couple of months ago.
I have ported the code to MiSter removing the Roms and Proms from the code.
The sprites are locked to one axis and no sound but the rest works as it should.
The developer had similar problems with the sprites.
Is there any one else looking at this code?

[olin]

I have ported the code to MiSter...

Well done! The more FPGA developers the better

The sprites are locked to one axis and no sound...

I took a look at the github of the project (https://github.com/d18c7db/FPGA_1942) and it looks the author doesn't seem to mention any issues related to sprites nor sound. He mentions: "This current release is fully functional, without any known problems...". What do you mean by "sprites are locked to one axis"? Are they not moving the way they should?

[hyperterminal]

Gehstock tried to port this core to the MiSTer: https://github.com/Gehstock/Mister_FPGA ... er/release

[Gehstock]

Nope My Port is the PACE Version

[oldgit]

project (https://github.com/d18c7db/FPGA_1942)

From the link above by the author
'I have also had to deviate from the schematic in one place to even have the
sprites display at all'

'we tap OH earlier to account for the delay introduced by detecting OH edge via OH_last
-- Without this fix, a glitch is created halfway in s_2CLn, s_1CLn, causing the sprite at
-- position 0 (the player sprite - airplane) to have its Y position constantly zeroed so it
-- always appears at bottom of screen instead of being able to be moved around'

'-- FIXME not as per schematic, comparison below fails and spites don't show, find out why
-- ( ( s_M5_5 and s_VOVER ) or ( ( not s_M5_5) and ( not s_VOVER ) ) ) -- same as not (s_M5_5 xor s_VOVER)'

Changing the timings for the reading of the sprite roms has given me 90% of the sprites with full movement. Need to tidy up and work out why the sound doesn't work - Perhaps timing again. I need one of them Oh silly scopes to check.

[Kjarkur]

Hey,

I've just received today the nice de10 nano board and installed the mister arcade xevious core. I tried rom set 0.37b5, 0.106 (advmame) and 0.78.

I have a continuous reboot.

Tried other cores dkong, defender and they run fine with 106.

Any ideas?

[hyperterminal]

Hey,

I've just received today the nice de10 nano board and installed the mister arcade xevious core. I tried rom set 0.37b5, 0.106 (advmame) and 0.78.

I have a continuous reboot.

Tried other cores dkong, defender and they run fine with 106.

Any ideas?

This is a known problem and there is nothing you can do about it: http://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.ph ... 08#p344508


Not every DE10 nano is exactly the same. On some boards it works, on others it does not.

[hyperterminal]

Forget what I posted before. Looks like I had the wrong romset.

Below are the required rom files with their corresponding CRC 32 checksums:

Code: Select all

50xx.bin  A0ACBAF7
51xx.bin  C2F57EF8
54xx.bin  EE7357E0
xvi_1.3p  09964DDA
xvi_2.3m  60ECCE84
xvi_3.2m  79754B7D
xvi_4.2l  C7D4BBF0
xvi_5.3f  C85B703F
xvi_6.3j  E18CDAAD
xvi_7.2c  DD35CF1C
xvi_9.2a  57ED9879
xvi_10.2b AE3BA9E5
xvi_11.2c 31E244DD
xvi_12.3b 088C8B26
xvi_13.3c DE60BA25
xvi_14.3d 535CDBBC
xvi_15.4m DC2C0ECB
xvi_16.4n 605CA889
xvi_17.4p DFB587CE
xvi_18.4r 02417D19

I recommend taking these files from the latest MAME romset xevious.zip and adding the missing files 50xx.bin, 51xx.bin and 54xx.bin from an older MAME romset (I took them from the game xevios.zip from the MAME 0.139u1 (MAME4DROID) romset).

The combined rom should have a CRC 32 checksum of CA34DE00.

[ewok]

Brilliant!! You nailed it!!

Thanks!

[850]

Is it possible to boot directly into an arcade core? I'd like to boot straight to Defender since I'm installing this into a bar top arcade cabinet. Also, since I won't have a keyboard attached, is there a way to change the key commands to get back to the menu to switch games? Like I've done with my Raspberry Pi, I'd like to assign Player 1 start + Player 2 start to return to the game select menu.

[Sorgelig]

MiSTer is not developed for arcade cabinets and using single core.
There are many other FPGA boards running just single core and output joysticks and coin contacts to the pins.

[850]

I understand that. It's not jamma or a real arcade machine, for that matter. Essentially, I'm looking to swap out my existing Raspberry Pi with the MiSTer. I'm using a usb Ultimarc i-pac to connect the joystick and buttons. And it's hooked up to a VGA display. All this just housed in a small bartop "arcade" style cabinet. I still want to be able to switch to other games and cores, it's not just for one arcade game core.

So, arcade cabinet aside... Is it possible to boot directly to a single core? Is it possible to do custom key combinations to exit back to the menu without a keyboard attached? Maybe by editing a .ini file or something? Sorry for the noob questions. I'm still trying to get this all figured out.

[Sorgelig]

Menu core is a root core which is unconditionally loaded at start. You may try to rename your favorite core to Menu.rbf. Correct work is not guaranteed, but may work. You can switch the core to other through OSD menu.

Menu core contains some system wide settings, so if you will replace it, then these settings won't be accessible. Through, you may rename Menu.rbf to some other name and load it as a generic core to access these settings. But again, there is no guarantee of correct work.

[leejsmith]

I just brought a nano board and I also plan to make sd and io boards up to sell in the UK.

I also wanted to ask if arcade cores can be set to load automatically, so will give this a try once I am setup and working.

[Sorgelig]

I just brought a nano board and I also plan to make sd and io boards up to sell in the UK.
I also wanted to ask if arcade cores can be set to load automatically, so will give this a try once I am setup and working.

why don't just read my previous post?

[leejsmith]

I just brought a nano board and I also plan to make sd and io boards up to sell in the UK.
I also wanted to ask if arcade cores can be set to load automatically, so will give this a try once I am setup and working.

why don't just read my previous post?

Please read my previous post, it ends with me saying " so will give this a try once I am setup and working" so I did read it and understand it's not designed to work this way.

Sorry for any miss understanding.

[BlockABoots]

The only 2 files you need to run an Arcade core are the .rbf and .rom file (created from the 7za.exe program and .bat file correct?.

As i have tired Xevious and it gets to the title screen and then reboots the rom

[Sorgelig]

Xevious sometimes go into reset loop. I have no idea what's the problem. Leave this arcade for now. PCE has the same Xevious game.

[albconde]

I think the problem with Xevious is always the romset , not the core , the actual Xevious.zip in mame miss 3 files (50xx.bin ,51xx.bin, 54xx.bin ) , as explain in This post :

Forget what I posted before. Looks like I had the wrong romset.Below are the required rom files with their corresponding CRC 32 checksums:
50xx.bin A0ACBAF7 51xx.bin C2F57EF8 54xx.bin EE7357E0 xvi_1.3p 09964DDA xvi_2.3m 60ECCE84 xvi_3.2m 79754B7D xvi_4.2l C7D4BBF0 xvi_5.3f C85B703F xvi_6.3j E18CDAAD xvi_7.2c DD35CF1C xvi_9.2a 57ED9879xvi_10.2b AE3BA9E5 xvi_11.2c 31E244DD xvi_12.3b 088C8B26 xvi_13.3c DE60BA25 xvi_14.3d 535CDBBCxvi_15.4m DC2C0ECB xvi_16.4n 605CA889 xvi_17.4p DFB587CE xvi_18.4r 02417D19
I recommend taking these files from the latest MAME romset xevious.zip and adding the missing files 50xx.bin, 51xx.bin and 54xx.bin from an older MAME romset (I took them from the game xevios.zip from the MAME 0.139u1 (MAME4DROID) romset).The combined rom should have a CRC 32 checksum of CA34DE00.

I had the same problem , reboot, until i add This 3 files to xevious.zip and create a new .rom file

[Sorgelig]

Even with correct files this Arcade sometimes does 2-3 resets upon starting. So, i've thought may be someone got it in endless loop.
If it's just because of missing files, then OK, and good it's been solved.

[trackball]

It looks like a few of the arcade cores' build rom .BAT files reference the incorrect MAME files for creating the ROMs needed.

I found this out by attempting to source the MAME rom archives specified by the arcade cores' build rom .BAT files from the web and from usenet, trying multiple copies (usually every single copy I could find).

I did eventually find different MAME rom archives which contained the input files inside that the MiSTer build rom .BAT files were expecting, but they came inside MAME rom archives with different names.

Could someone please attempt to duplicate my examples below, and if I am correct, update the MiSTer arcade core build rom .BAT files on GitHub to reference the proper MAME arcade rom archive filenames? I know that MAME filenames sometimes changed over time, but in the two examples below, I tried every single copy I could find on the web, with no success, until I fed the build rom .BAT files the correct files (by renaming the correct files to suit the existing filename expected inside these .BAT files).


Examples --

The current Ms Pacman arcade core's .BAT file says it expects :
mspacmab.zip

However, the actual MAME rom archive containing the files the .BAT file is expecting, and proceeds to generate a working Ms Pacman ROM on MiSTer is actually :
mspacman.zip

The current Galaxian arcade core's .BAT file says it expects :
galaxianm.zip

However, the actual MAME rom archive containing the files the .BAT file is expecting, and proceeds to generate a working Galaxian ROM on MiSTer is actually :
galaxian.zip



thank you!

[hyperterminal]

In most cases you cannot simply change the bat files.

mspacmab is a bootleg which runs on slightly different hardware (different number of roms).

galaxian and galaxianm might be interchangeable but I have not tested this.

Code: Select all

set    zip=galaxian.zip
set ifiles=galmidw.u+galmidw.v+galmidw.w+galmidw.y+galmidw.z+galmidw.z+galmidw.z+galmidw.z+galaxian.j1+galaxian.j1+galaxian.l1+galaxian.l1
set  ofile=a.galaxn.rom

[funkycochise]

if I remember correctly, galaxian and galaxianm built roms behaved the same, showing both namco.
supposed midway version never displayed Midway. It may work after hacking the rom though.

[SegaMan]

Played Bagerman today.
Like it!

Not a big deal but:
Tate mode rotate the game 90° to the left side.
Is it possible to add an option to rotate the game 90° to the right side too?

I am not sure but i think in the arcade all Cabs rotate the screen to the left and the game to the right.
My Saturn did it also like this.