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Final Burn Neo => FBN Development => Topic started by: dink on March 28, 2014, 03:53:52 PM

Title: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 28, 2014, 03:53:52 PM
Hi guys,
Here's my first contribution to this great project.  In the attachment you'll find d_battleg.cpp (src/burn/drv/toaplan) fixed to prevent a crash issue with savestate loads.
p.s. can I get access to the FB Alpha svn? Theres a couple more drivers that I plan on fixing/clearing up issues with, and who knows what else. :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: Fix for Battle Garegga crash on savestate load & Scramble/Super Cobra
Post by: dink on March 28, 2014, 05:50:18 PM
Here's another one :)

Problem: In Scramble! and Super Cobra, when something explodes, there is a loud clipping/distortion type noise.
Solution, in src/burn/snd/flt_rc.cpp, check for clipping after it adds the samples.  The attached file contains the fixed flt_rc.cpp.

Code: [Select]
pSoundBuf[x] += n[l/r]Sample;  is now  pSoundBuf[x] = BURN_SND_CLIP(pSoundBuf[x] + n[l/r]Sample);

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: Fix for Battle Garegga crash on savestate load & Scramble/Super Cobra
Post by: iq_132 on March 28, 2014, 06:43:01 PM
Excellent work! Keep it up! I'll commit these to the svn tonight.
Title: Re: Fix for Battle Garegga crash on savestate load & Scramble/Super Cobra
Post by: Arcadez on March 28, 2014, 07:48:18 PM
Some good fixes there always nice to see more people work with the FBA SRC
Title: Re: Fix for Battle Garegga crash on savestate load & Scramble/Super Cobra
Post by: dink on March 29, 2014, 02:50:11 AM
Hello FBA fans,
Here is yet another fix - this time, for the game Tengai and possibly other games (S1945) utilizing the Psikyo hardware.

Problem: when loading a savestate, the sounds sometimes get desynched.  The Psikyo driver was only scanning the YM2610 driver, even though the game uses the YMF278B.

Solution: use the updated d_psikyo.cpp (in src/burn/drv/psikyo) in the attachment.
EDIT: fixed a small buglet, make sure you have version 2 of the attachment (tengaisoundsyncfix02.zip)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on March 29, 2014, 10:32:11 AM
Today I'm working again with the psikyo driver, this time the problem is with Samurai Aces.  Either the tile ram or rom is somehow getting clobbered on return from a savestate (save state load).  I spent quite a bit of time with it so far and can't see anything obvious, so later today after a nice break I'm going to dig a little deeper.  If you want to see the problem for yourself, fire up Samurai Aces, start the game and as soon as the playfield appears, save the state, then load it - you'll see a couple of the background tiles are corrupted.  It might not seem too bad at this point, but in the later levels the entire backgrounds are messed up in the same fashion.
...well, thats it for now...

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Handybo on March 29, 2014, 02:15:31 PM
Some nice fixes there, dink.

Personally, i think save state support should be scrapped from FBA as it causes more trouble and game breaking bugs than it is worth. Real arcade games don't have saves (except for passwords like in Red Earth) so i don't see why arcade emulators need them.... but thats just my blinkered opinion. :D
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on March 29, 2014, 04:47:22 PM
Handybo: thanks :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on March 29, 2014, 04:56:42 PM
Hi Guys,
Just a little update on what I've been doing today.  I spent almost all day trying to figure out what exactly is causing the tile corruption in Samurai Aces.  I've got to the point where I've tried everything I can think of, and none of them worked.  The only thing I can do now is take a nice long break, and come back to it later....

I won't give up though!  :smilie:

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Barry Harris on March 29, 2014, 05:40:34 PM
dink,

Thanks for the fixes.

Can you register on assembla.com and let me know your username by PM or post here. Once I get your username I'll invite you to the SVN.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on March 30, 2014, 01:01:14 AM
Thanks Treble Winner, I sent you a PM.

Now, I'm back to figuring out what the deal is with Samurai Aces....  :S
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on March 30, 2014, 01:52:22 AM
I'm tired, so I'll let the pictures do the talking...  ;)

Before the fix - (after loading a savestate in Samurai Aces):
(http://s30.postimg.org/rlm6jtei9/samuraiaces_before1.png)

After the fix:
(http://s27.postimg.org/g4jlxhuw3/samuraiaces_after1.png)

The fix: (see attachment - also includes the Tengai sound desync fix)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Barry Harris on March 30, 2014, 09:16:07 AM
Thanks Treble Winner, I sent you a PM.

Now, I'm back to figuring out what the deal is with Samurai Aces....  :S

Dink - invitation sent. :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on March 30, 2014, 11:27:15 AM
Thanks Treble Winner, I'll commit my patches as soon as I get the Irem M62 savestates working better.  I got the sound fixed for Youjyuden after savestate load, but sometimes it will reset to the title screen on savestate load when the state was saved mid-game.  And also if a sample was playing in Kung-fu master while a savestate was saved/loaded, will cause some strange issues, which also uses the m62 hardware.

Thats it for now,
best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on March 31, 2014, 02:35:04 AM
Hello friends,
Just an update - some good and some bad news..
First the good news, Implemented savestates in the Irem M72 hardware driver (Dragon breed, R-Type I and II, Mr. Heli, X-Multiply) and they seem to be working just fine. I played X-Multiply to stage 5 and the first 2 stages of R-Type I and Mr. Heli using nearly a hundred of savestate / loadstates while testing, and it seems solid :)

The bad news, Irem M62 hardware driver (Kung Fu Master, Kid Niki, Youjyuden) savestates are still messed up, I had to put working on them aside for now, I spent more time with this driver than all my work on FB Alpha combined and I seem to be getting nowhere :(  Maybe I'll come back to this one somewhere down the line, maybe with some help/suggestions from other dev's?  I thought it might have been a banking problem, so I saved the bank information and restored it on savestate load, as well as all the variables I could find - no go..  What really makes this one interesting, is that after a reset, loading the savestate will work sometimes, and sometimes not, which leads me to thinking that perhaps an irq is getting hung up.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on March 31, 2014, 10:23:17 AM
It doesn't look like there is really much hooked up in the save states for m62. Give this a shot. There is still stuff to be hooked up (bank switches), but it's a start at least.

Code: [Select]
static INT32 M62Scan(INT32 nAction, INT32 *pnMin)
{
    struct BurnArea ba;

    if (pnMin != NULL) {
        *pnMin = 0x029709;
    }

    if (nAction & ACB_MEMORY_RAM) {
        memset(&ba, 0, sizeof(ba));
        ba.Data      = RamStart;
        ba.nLen      = RamEnd-RamStart;
        ba.szName = "All Ram";
        BurnAcb(&ba);
    }

    if (nAction & ACB_DRIVER_DATA) {
ZetScan(nAction);
M6803Scan(nAction);

AY8910Scan(nAction, pnMin);
MSM5205Scan(nAction, pnMin));

SCAN_VAR(M62BackgroundHScroll);
SCAN_VAR(M62BackgroundVScroll);
SCAN_VAR(M62CharHScroll);
SCAN_VAR(M62CharVScroll);
SCAN_VAR(M62FlipScreen);
SCAN_VAR(M62SoundLatch);
SCAN_VAR(M62Port1);
SCAN_VAR(M62Port2);
SCAN_VAR(M62SlaveMSM5205VClckReset);
SCAN_VAR(M62BankControl[0]);
SCAN_VAR(M62BankControl[1]);
SCAN_VAR(Ldrun2BankSwap);
SCAN_VAR(Ldrun3TopBottomMask);
SCAN_VAR(KidnikiBackgroundBank);
SCAN_VAR(SpelunkrPaletteBank);
    }

    return 0;
}

I would start moving the bank switches to be routines rather than built in to the writes.

Code: [Select]
        case 0x85: {
            INT32 BankAddress = 0x8000 + ((d & 0x0f) * 0x2000);
            ZetMapArea(0x8000, 0x9fff, 0, M62Z80Rom + BankAddress);
            ZetMapArea(0x8000, 0x9fff, 2, M62Z80Rom + BankAddress);
            return;
        }

to something more like this

Code: [Select]
static void KidnikiBankswitch(int bank)
{
            M62BankAddress0 = 0x8000 + ((bank & 0x0f) * 0x2000);
            ZetMapArea(0x8000, 0x9fff, 0, M62Z80Rom + M62BankAddress0);
            ZetMapArea(0x8000, 0x9fff, 2, M62Z80Rom + M62BankAddress0);

}

...

        case 0x85: {
            KidnikiBankswitch(d);
            return;
        }

that way you can call it later in the scan function
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on March 31, 2014, 02:25:12 PM
Hi iq_132,
Thanks for the input.  I got to that point yesterday, but there is still a problem every couple savestate loads where the sound hangs.  I tried saving even more variables, but no dice... which leads me to believe that something is possibly hung on an irq perhaps?  I found something in pre90s/d_ddragon.cpp's DrvScan that I might look into later today.  I've been thinking about this so much it's been driving me nuts, so I really should take a break before I lose my mind  :eek:  hehe..

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 01, 2014, 02:32:11 AM
Savestate support added for all NMK16 games & the ones I personally tested so far:
Bombjack Twin
Thunder Dragon 2
Twin Action
US AAF Mustang (no music)
Stagger (RedHawk)
Guardian Storm
Fire Hawk
GunNail (no music)
Saboten Bombers
Super Spacefortress Macross

..that's it for today!
best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 01, 2014, 08:33:26 AM
Hi guys,
Here's some progress I made this morning before I go out:
Fixed savestate-load crash with Raiden (d_raiden.cpp)
Fixed savestate-load crash with Aero Fighters/Sonic Wings, Turbo Force, Spinal Break & Karate Blazers (d_aerofgt.cpp)
Added savestate capability to the game Kangaroo (for a friend)

I'm aiming for no crashing in any games (guru meditation errors) by the next release of FB Alpha, whenever that might be :)

p.s. starting 2 days ago, patches will be uploaded to the svn instead of linked here as attachments.  If someone outside of the svn wants the patches, let me know and I'll post them here.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: kenshiro on April 01, 2014, 12:00:46 PM
Cool work Dink :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: JacKc on April 01, 2014, 12:53:46 PM
Great job Dink !!!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on April 01, 2014, 01:20:55 PM
Definitely agree!

I really want to overhaul the save state system at some point. I want to start from scratch, but keeping compatibility with the in-driver structures. A target for me is to have the cpu and sound cores automatically register to the save system.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 02, 2014, 03:30:06 PM
Thanks guys :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 03, 2014, 03:57:24 AM
Hi guys,
Here's what I've been up to yesterday and today regarding FB Alpha:
The good:
* Fixed the ability to uncheck the Hardware tree under filters (needs more testing before checking in)
* Fixed palette issues in the game Act Fancer (DataEast) on savestate load.  For example, if you die and the screen starts to fade out, and a savestate is loaded while its fading out - the loaded savestate will be faded out -or- you die in level 2 (which uses a different palette) and load a savestate from level1, or vice versa, things will look bad.
...The bad and the ugly:
* Worked some more on the M62 savestate issue, and have come to the following conclusions (using Youjyuden as an example game), on restore of savestate, things go horribly wrong, stuck sound, no sound, resets to the title screen, or the game prints "ROM NG" in the middle of the screen.  At this point I almost rewrote most of the driver, and its driving me bonkers trying to figure it out.  Oh yea, I almost forgot about the conclusions: possible protection in the rom is triggering, M6803Scan() isn't saving everything that it should be saving, maybe a stuck irq issue, and maybe theres a bug or issue in the memory layout. 

Thats it for today :)
best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on April 03, 2014, 08:00:17 AM
Hi guys,
Here's what I've been up to yesterday and today regarding FB Alpha:
The good:
* Fixed the ability to uncheck the Hardware tree under filters (needs more testing before checking in)
Nice!

Quote
* Fixed palette issues in the game Act Fancer (DataEast) on savestate load.  For example, if you die and the screen starts to fade out, and a savestate is loaded while its fading out - the loaded savestate will be faded out -or- you die in level 2 (which uses a different palette) and load a savestate from level1, or vice versa, things will look bad.

This one may need a revisit.  I would call DrvRecalc = 1; from the save state rather than saving the calculated palette. This doesn't work well if you switch color depths -- say you save the game when using a 32-bit depth and then loading it using a 16-bit depth. If that doesn't work... there may be something else weird going on.


Quote
...The bad and the ugly:
* Worked some more on the M62 savestate issue, and have come to the following conclusions (using Youjyuden as an example game), on restore of savestate, things go horribly wrong, stuck sound, no sound, resets to the title screen, or the game prints "ROM NG" in the middle of the screen.  At this point I almost rewrote most of the driver, and its driving me bonkers trying to figure it out.  Oh yea, I almost forgot about the conclusions: possible protection in the rom is triggering, M6803Scan() isn't saving everything that it should be saving, maybe a stuck irq issue, and maybe theres a bug or issue in the memory layout. 

Thats it for today :)
best regards,
- dink

Nasty... I should take a look tonight.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 03, 2014, 09:52:52 AM
Hi iq_132,
Thanks for the input on Act Fancer, I checked in a revised patch using your suggestion after testing it a bit :)

re: M62, it usually takes between 1 and 5 state loads before the weirdness happens.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on April 03, 2014, 10:22:49 AM
Hi iq_132,
Thanks for the input on Act Fancer, I checked in a revised patch using your suggestion after testing it a bit :)

re: M62, it usually takes between 1 and 5 state loads before the weirdness happens.

best regards,
- dink

I'm actually surprised it doesn't automatically set *recalc = 1; on (nAction & ACB_WRITE) in the burn core... :| This may have to change. I really need to get git set up on my pc again (new windows install...)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 04, 2014, 03:04:07 AM
Things are looking good... :)
Tonight I started working on improving the savestates of the sample-hack Toaplan games - Vimana, FireShark/SameSameSame! etc, and also set the loading status to "Loading samples..." while the game is loading the samples, as it takes a few seconds.
EDIT:
Cleaned up the strange noises / ringing noises at the end of short samples.  (listen closely and insert a coin in ghox, or FireShark with the samples present in support/samples/ to hear what I mean)

EDIT: after doing a ton of playtesting, Toaplan samples hack improvements checked in!  :biggrin:

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 04, 2014, 05:04:19 PM
Just a bit of blurb... *I figure its at least worth documenting. :) *
Last night I played a game of FixedEight (Toaplan GP9001) and got to level 2 and a half, saved the state and quit.
Today I tried loading the state, and it hangs after drawing the screen & playing 1 note - investigating....  Going to try scanning a couple extra variables, like v25_reset, perhaps (if I can reproduce it again).  The only problem is, I've tried to reproduce it 3 times now, and it won't hang.  ...and I accidentally overwrote the state that hung while testing/etc.   :redface:

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 05, 2014, 01:40:32 AM
Blurb part 2, but different emulation:
Theres another intermittent issue that has been bugging me (pun intended) is with the NeoGeo emulation, today it happened twice - I'll be playing a game, say, Strikers 1945 Plus or Sengoku and saving states every minute or so (incase I screw up).  So, I screw up for maybe the 10th time, and all is going well so far, but this time, it crashes with a Guru Meditation error when loading the state.  I fire up gdb and get a backtrace and the crash is in LoadRoms(), which is somehow being called during the state-loading process..  The backtrace is almost useless, and I can't find the path taken to get to LoadRoms() when loading the savestate.  Any ideas?
Code: [Select]
Program received signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault.
0x008ea928 in LoadRoms() ()
(gdb) bt
#0  0x008ea928 in LoadRoms() ()
#1  0x007fd416 in SekReset() ()
#2  0x004201e4 in m68ki_write_16_fc (value=0, fc=<optimized out>,
    address=<optimized out>) at src/cpu/m68k/m68kcpu.h:1098
#3  m68k_op_move_16_ai_i () at obj/47/3s/dep/generated/m68kopdm.c:7144
#4  0x00401f1c in m68k_execute (num_cycles=18381)
    at src/cpu/m68k/m68kcpu.c:715
#5  0x007fce88 in SekRun(int) ()
#6  0x008ef917 in NeoFrame() ()
#7  0x007c7958 in BurnDrvFrame ()
#8  0x009df188 in RunFrame(int, int) ()
#9  0x009df274 in RunGetNextSound(int) ()
#10 0x009df354 in RunIdle() ()
#11 0x00a6f875 in DxSoundCheck() ()
#12 0x00a066e6 in AudSoundCheck() ()
#13 0x009df35e in RunIdle() ()
#14 0x009dfbf7 in RunMessageLoop() ()
#15 0x009cefcc in WinMain@16 ()
#16 0x00af282e in main (argc=Cannot access memory at address 0x6c0
) at ../mingw/main.c:73
(gdb) q

I attached the said savestate for Strikers 1945Plus, hoping that someone with a better debugger can try loading it and try to get a little more info as to where/why this crash is happening.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 05, 2014, 03:42:40 AM
Hey there..
Tonight I told myself I was going to take a break and just play some games..  Well, it only lasted a couple of games...
...Fix for lost SFX after 2nd state load in games that use NMK004, most notably Super Spacefortress Macross. (added NMK004Scan() to nmk004.cpp/h, and called from DrvScan() in d_nmk16.cpp if the game uses NMK004.)
EDIT: (a day later) Fixed another NMK004 issue, this time with Acrobat Mission and GunNail.  Up next: figure out why sounds are screwed up in GunNail - the bassline from the background music is triggering when your weapon fires, and a few instruments are missing from the background music.

best regards and goodnight,
- dink

Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 08, 2014, 08:35:23 AM
Hello,
Last night I found a crash problem with Galmedes (Visco/Taito) when trying to load a savestate, so I fixed it and checked in the fix to svn.  The fix may also prevent a crash in Cadash as it uses the same banking method as Galmedes.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 10, 2014, 04:05:48 PM
Heavy Barrel by DataEast.
I'm working to map some buttons to change the rotation of the player, its almost done! :)

The arcade game has a joystick that looks like an ordinary arcade joystick, but you can turn it, to change the shooting direction of your player while running the other way.  I'm currently testing a 2 button method (one for rotate gun right, other for left), this way they can be mapped to the shoulder buttons on a gamepad.

So far it works pretty good! :D

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on April 10, 2014, 05:14:58 PM
Heavy Barrel by DataEast.
I'm working to map some buttons to change the rotation of the player, its almost done! :)

The arcade game has a joystick that looks like an ordinary arcade joystick, but you can turn it, to change the shooting direction of your player while running the other way.  I'm currently testing a 2 button method (one for rotate gun right, other for left), this way they can be mapped to the shoulder buttons on a gamepad.

So far it works pretty good! :D

best regards,
- dink

Nice work it's probably not possible but the best solution would be to mimic the Arcade Rotary Joystick setup thats to say
on a gamepad left stick would be move player left right up down diagonal etc and right stick would be turn player when shooting
there's a few hacks in MAME that do this still waiting for that Joystick Hack of Midnight resistance to be dumped if it ever is
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 10, 2014, 06:16:36 PM
gamez fan, I'll see what I can do :) (no promises though - sometimes I just can't figure things out)

I got Heavy Barrel working using the L/R shoulder buttons for both players now, I had my neighbor/friend help me test 2p mode a bit ago, and we had a blast.   I'm really glad to get this game in a better working condition in FBA, because only being able to shoot in 1 direction kinda ruins it. 

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on April 10, 2014, 07:42:45 PM
gamez fan, I'll see what I can do :) (no promises though - sometimes I just can't figure things out)

Hey man no worries just having it controlable in FBA is good enough as for figuring things out tell me about it im currantly
trying to backport the graphic and sound fixes for Fire Barrel from newer MAME to MAME84 absolute nightmare :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 11, 2014, 02:53:14 AM
Well, I ended up liking the new controls for Heavy Barrel gun rotation so much that I changed the Midnight Resistance driver to use it too.
This fixes 2 problems with the current (old) Midnight resistance code for rotating your gun...
1: Deadzones, sometimes pressing the button assigned to it does nothing for a couple presses!
2: Response time, sometimes pressing the button takes a second to finally move your gun, or sometimes it moves your gun too many steps, with the new code, 1 button press moves the gun instantly 1 position.  And now if you hold it down, say 1 second, it will always move your gun 180 degrees.

I'm going to play a couple games with a friend tomorrow and see how the new code holds up :)

best regards & happy gaming,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 11, 2014, 03:26:11 PM
Hey guys,
I'm kinda bummed out about something.  Everything was going just perfect with the new controls in Heavy Barrel, and I did a couple of playtests.  There seems to be a strange problem in the emulation, though.  When going through the wall after beating the second boss (or the third boss), it will then take you to a random level in the game, or a corrupted-tile looking level.
I've played the game 5 times now, and its easily repeatable - even tried with a fba without my changes... :(
How to reproduce:
After the second boss has been defeated, take a snapshot right before you blow through the wall and walk through it, now go through the wall, if it takes you to the third level, load the snapshot and try again - there seems to be a 50% chance it will take you to the wrong level.  The next time it will take you to level 1,2,or some corrupted level...

What now? I'm comparing the mame driver to the FBA driver to see if I can spot anything that could be causing the problem.. But right now its looking a little grim :(

best regards....
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Barry Harris on April 11, 2014, 04:51:52 PM
Hey guys,
I'm kinda bummed out about something.  Everything was going just perfect with the new controls in Heavy Barrel, and I did a couple of playtests.  There seems to be a strange problem in the emulation, though.  When going through the wall after beating the second boss (or the third boss), it will then take you to a random level in the game, or a corrupted-tile looking level.
I've played the game 5 times now, and its easily repeatable - even tried with a fba without my changes... :(
How to reproduce:
After the second boss has been defeated, take a snapshot right before you blow through the wall and walk through it, now go through the wall, if it takes you to the third level, load the snapshot and try again - there seems to be a 50% chance it will take you to the wrong level.  The next time it will take you to level 1,2,or some corrupted level...

What now? I'm comparing the mame driver to the FBA driver to see if I can spot anything that could be causing the problem.. But right now its looking a little grim :(

best regards....
- dink

Could be unmapped reads/writes or more likely an issue with the i8751 simulation. That's where I'd look first.

Also - does this happen in normal play or just when using savestates? It looks like these should probably be saved (in HbarrelI8751Write);

Code: [Select]
static INT32 Level, State;
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 11, 2014, 04:52:34 PM
Woohoo! It looks like I spoke too soon, problem solved! :)  Somehow the level variable for the I8751 pseudo-emu was getting changed about because it was not properly initialized, I moved it to the global scope and init it (along with the state var) on reset, and also scan the variables for working savestates.

For those that don't know the game - Heavy Barrel is kinda like a strange combination of Contra and Ikari Warriors, and I definitely recommend checking it out (especially when the next version of FBA is out! - these changes really make the game play right)

Anyways, sorry for the ranting earlier, I guess I need to take a break from coding more often o.O

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Barry Harris on April 11, 2014, 04:56:29 PM
Looks like you found it. :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 11, 2014, 05:09:09 PM
:) Thanks though!

Here's proof the game is now working fine and the new controls rock :D   Heavy Barrel  :cool:
p.s. will post code to svn after some 2player playtesting.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 12, 2014, 03:49:41 AM
Now I'm stuck on something else - this time with the game Midnight Resistance.  When you get to the part with the gears and conveyor belts, nothing shows on the screen, see pic: (The first pic - FB Alpha, the second pic - from mame - how it should look) p.s. its on the second level, if you need to figure out how to get to this exact spot, Watch this video.  The part where the issue occures is at 2:14 - http://youtu.be/beoHC4KCq4I?t=2m14s
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 12, 2014, 04:07:02 AM
(Continued from last message - due to the attachment size limit)

The third pic is FB Alpha, but I kept shooting at the ground, and eventually proceeded downwards as normal, and as soon as the top part - the beige platforms - scrolls off the screen, the gears & blue platforms show normally.  I'm afraid I need some help with this one.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 12, 2014, 04:15:36 AM
It happens again a little later in the game, refer to the second pic in the last post, and the pic right below this text, when I travel down the ladder a little more, the screen then becomes visible.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Barry Harris on April 12, 2014, 03:31:11 PM
Midnight Resistance should be fixed now. :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 12, 2014, 03:57:57 PM
Treble Winner,
Thank you! very much - my friend! :)
Today is a good day :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 13, 2014, 03:15:07 AM
Its always good to do some proper playtesting to thoroughly test the driver, right? :biggrin:

Well, it took me half the night, and many tries, but I finally beat Midnight Resistance - and I couldn't have done it without the excellent Tile/layer fix from Treble Winner, and the groovy rotator code I wrote the other day for Heavy Barrel ( & Transplanted to Midnight Resistance)
p.s. my changes will get checked in after I test the 2player mode tomorow with a friend.

best regards,
- dink

Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 15, 2014, 02:29:08 AM
Today I uncovered an issue in SN76496Scan(), if 1 SN76496 was initted, it wouldn't scan anything, but if 2 were initted, it would only scan the first one.  Nothing too exciting :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: BritneysPAIRS on April 15, 2014, 06:07:26 AM
dink PM me if you want anything for the control of TNKIII Midnight Res Heavy Barrel Forgotten Worlds Calibar 50 and others ive pached these many ways....so they fire the way you are pointing....or so they fire in the direction of the second joystick when you press it in a direction...a few little quirks but makes them nice to play
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 15, 2014, 09:08:04 AM
Thanks for the offer, but how I got it now is the way I'd like to keep it.  Games like Midnight Resistance need to be able to shoot backwards while running forward in certain parts.  I also playtested the new code quite a bit and there aren't any quirks :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: BritneysPAIRS on April 15, 2014, 04:10:32 PM
No worries...yes midnight res is the worst game for point and shoot...but is alot better for ikari warriors...g war...time soldiers...etc...

good work though...just pm if you want the code ill send it to you...
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 15, 2014, 05:29:28 PM
Hi guys,
Here's what I'm working on today:
*actually started on this the other day, but didn't make any progress*
While playing Willow or Strider (Capcom CPS1 games), after a couple savestate save/load's, the sound - both sfx and music - hangs.  A simple F3 reset then load the state will bring things back to normal, so that (probably most-likely) means that nothing is getting corrupted in the savestate itself.  Right now I'm just scratching my head and taking a break, hopefully something will turn up :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: destronger on April 15, 2014, 09:02:43 PM
nice work dink, well done!

 :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 16, 2014, 03:23:55 AM
thanks destronger :)

Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 16, 2014, 03:40:25 AM
I don't have a solution yet, but I did find out some more info regarding the sound hang in Strider/Willow (cps1) games that use the ym2151. 
The sound/music will hang if the savestate is saved right after drvYM2151IRQHandler has been called with nStatus=1 or if its loaded before the handler is called with nStatus=0
At this point no more read/select calls (PsndZWrite()) to the YM come in.
A reset with F3 then load the savestate will fix the sound/music.

An easy way to trigger the bug without playing the game and casually save/loading the states - after inserting a coin and hitting start, press save / loadstate repeatedly (every second or so) during the cut-scene glider-fly-in on Strider.
If it doesn't bug after 2 tries, close/reload fba and try again.

thats all I have for now,
best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 16, 2014, 11:51:41 AM
Something else thats on the todo list is to figure out why Double Dragon I and II don't work 2-player over kaillera - the remote fba can't control the player.  Though the good news is Demon Front works fine this way, so when I get some time later today I'll try to figure out what is going on with the inputs differently in DD1/2 compared to Demon Front.

EDIT: Figured it out - if the controlls for the P1 block have P2 controls in them, for example:
P1 Coin
P1 Start
P2 Coin
P2 Start
P1 Up
P1 Down
It thinks that the P1 block of controlls is just the first 2, because as soon as it sees the P2 controls, it thinks the P1 block of controls has ended.   Thats easy enough to fix :)

Unfortunately theres a bigger problem in Double Dragon (Japan) (ddragon.zip).  Upon winning the game, its supposed to play a cut scene where they free the girl, the game just locks up and the graphics get corrupted pretty badly at this point.  :(
Any ideas? :)

Best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on April 16, 2014, 07:05:03 PM
Unfortunately theres a bigger problem in Double Dragon (Japan) (ddragon.zip).  Upon winning the game, its supposed to play a cut scene where they free the girl, the game just locks up and the graphics get corrupted pretty badly at this point.  :(
Any ideas? :)

Best regards,
- dink

The issue you mention was fixed in MAME maybe the same fix is required in FBA??

Quote
- 0.103u2: Bryan McPhail fixed Double Dragon crashed sometimes at the very end of the game.

- 8th January 2006: Bryan McPhail - Double Dragon Has a crash Which Occurs sometimes at the very end of the game (right before the final animation sequence). It Occurs Because of a jump look up table: BAD3: LDY # $ BADD; BAD7: JSR [A, Y]. At the point of the crash A is 0x3E Which causes a jump to 0x3401 (background tile ram) Which obviously does Contain proper code and causes a crash. The jump table Has 32 entries, and only the last contains an invalid jump vector. A is Set to 0x3E as a result of code at 0x625f - it reads from the shared spriteram (0x2049 in main CPU memory space), copies the value to 0x523 (main ram) where it is later fetched and shifted to make 0x3E. So. It's not clear where the error is - the 0x1f value is actually written to RAM shared by the main CPU - Perhaps the MCU Should modify it before the main CPU reads it back? Perhaps 0x1f Should never be written at all? If you want to trace this further Top please submit a proper fix! In The Meantime I have patched the error by making sure the invalid jump is never taken - this fixes the crash (see ddragon_spriteram_r).
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 16, 2014, 08:00:44 PM
gamez fan, thank you very much for the information!  I will add this fix to the FBA code :)

EDIT: it turns out that FBA already has this crash fix, so tonight I played the game through to the end by myself, and the ending showed perfectly.  So what gives?  Does the crash fix only fix 1player mode? Luckily I used savestates throughout the last level, so I went back and added the second player, but the computer figured out that the 2nd player was idle, and the ending chose a different path.  Ugg..
I feel like I'm at yet another dead-end.  All sorts of debugging & testing yet nothing positive has been gained, kinda makes me feel bad. 

Heres my current FBA Failure roster:
1: Neogeo (any game) crashes after saving/loading several savestates - no fixFIXED!
2: CPS1 (Strider, Willow, etc) games lose sound after saving/loading several savestates - no fix, but workaround - hit reset then load savestateFIXED
3: OutZone (Toaplan) - if you save a state, then close and reload FBA, load the game then the state and move your character, there will be a stuck sprite of your character on the screen OR sometimes just playing the game with casual save/loadstates will cause a stuck sprite on the screen - no fix FIXED!!!
4: Ash n joe / Success Joe crash on SS - no fixFIXED (iq_132)
5: Maze of Flott - crash on SS - no fixFIXED
6: GunNail - all of the sounds are kind of messed up, tried to fix this by comparing to mame sources (which works fine), no luckFIXED!!!!!!!!!
7: Clicking the hardware check to clear everything below it - forgot to check it in, Treble Winner got it though.
8: Double Dragon - possible crash at the end of a 2player game - looking into it..no issue, played several more 2p games w/o a problem.
 :eek:  :p
Perhaps a little break is in order...

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: destronger on April 17, 2014, 08:53:53 PM
when in doubt, take a nap.  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 18, 2014, 02:51:52 AM
@destronger - thanks, great idea :)

After sleeping half the day, I came up with a couple of good fixes:
1 - Contra, fixed the slowdown when lots of stuff is on the screen & increased the music tempo
2 - The New Zealand Story, savestates now work without crashing, and fixed the low music/sfx volume.

thats it for now,
best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: manliodp on April 18, 2014, 04:17:42 AM
OMG you're doing a wonderful work!!

Thank you and keep going!! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 19, 2014, 12:16:14 AM
manliodp, thanks :)  I'm trying to give back something to my favorite emulator, thats all!

Heres some more good news, Barry fixed the graphics corruption/issues on stage3 of Contra - now the game is 100% playable!! :D  Teamwork!!  :biggrin:

EDIT: some more Contra-goodness - fixed the 2nd player inputs for 2player Contra-netplay with Kaillera, and fix the palette after loading a savestate (the problem only became apparent in the last 2 levels)

Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 19, 2014, 05:27:56 PM
Today I made a couple of modifications to kailleraclient.dll, which is basically the netplay interface for FB Alpha and many other emulators.

Changes:
kaillera .ini file is now saved to the directory of fbalpha's executable as ka.ini, instead of in C:\n02.ini
reasons for this:
For some reason, my friends system (win8.1) doesn't have write permissions to C:\ (root dir), so his settings were always lost after a restart & it looks better not having an ini on your root directory. (other systems)

The context menu for creating and joining games would sometimes change to some language other than English.

The titlebar infotext was slightly modified to reflect these changes.
Here's a link to the updated dll (zipped), http://cloud.cbm8bit.com/dink/kailleraclient.zip

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 20, 2014, 11:05:02 AM
A little solution to "shit happens", by dink.

So, every once in a while I accidentally overwrite a savestate, and its really frustrating - especially if the one that got written was absolutely useless.  I've added a little 3-line chunk of code that backs up the last savestate (the one thats about to be overwritten) to gamename slot xx.fs.backup

thats it for now,
best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 20, 2014, 04:30:51 PM
Hi guys,
Today we have some more good news, I patched up savestates for Altered Beast, as saving and loading a state would cause corrupted/distorted sound or hung notes, or no audio at all depending on when you saved the state.  A good way to reproduce this bug almost every time is to save/load a state right after hitting start when the wizard says "Rise from your grave".

Technically: UPD7759 and YM2151 wasn't being scanned properly (not enough variables - or too many we're being scanned) & check for clipping while mixing audio w/UPD7759.

thats it for now...

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 21, 2014, 01:41:55 AM
Enough of the fixes, its time to play some games :)
Tonight I did a couple practice runs of Altered Beast (using savestates), then I ended up beating it on my first coin on a fresh run without any savestate usage.  Back in the late 80s, I wasn't too much a fan of the game, but now I love it :)  *Back then, I also sucked at any game that had more than 1 button - so go figure* :biggrin:

Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 24, 2014, 02:14:19 AM
Over the last couple days when the forum was down, I was busy working on FBA.. Heres a log of the past 3 days:

A singular backup for each savestate slot - lets say you saved something to slot 1 at the wrong time, and it ruined your only good savestate of this game - no problem - your last savestate that got overwritten will be renamed to "gamename slot 01.fs.backup"  Just go and delete the new/bad savestate and rename the .fs.backup to .fs

Savestate support added in the games: Toki, Donkey Kong & DK Jr.

Fixed some clipping/distortion in the Konami K053260 chip emulation, most notably fixes crackles during some sounds in the game Vendetta.

Fix states for games using YM2151 and UPD7759 chips, and fix some clipping/distortion (crackles in sound) in UPD7759 games.

And now, something I consider a holy grail fix - Cutscene/music timing is now properly synchronized and SFX work in the classic Gun.Smoke  :)

I always wondered why some games sounded better in MAME, and I stumbled over the problematic code while working on Gun.Smoke the other day which causes the issue...
Games that use the YM2203, such as Gun.Smoke, Ghosts and Goblins, Karnov, etc. init the driver at a really low khz.. like 5-10khz when the setting "4 point 3rd order FM Interpolation" is selected in the Audio tab of the toolbar.   I've temporarily fixed this by forcing the driver to init at the rate selected in Audio -> Plugin Options -> 44100hz (the rate I have selected), and it works just fine, but I wonder if thats the best way to go about it?  Hmm...

Thats it for now,
best regards,
- dink

Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on April 24, 2014, 10:55:17 AM
I enjoy reading your WIP posts dink some more good work done long may it continue!!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 25, 2014, 12:06:40 AM
Heres what's new for today:
Part 3 of "do research/code compare/figure out why sounds are wrong in GunNail & try to fix it" - ongoing (no fix yet!)

I was playing Karnov a bit earlier, and hit reset for some reason, only to realize that reset caused FBA to crash.  The crash also happened with the other games in the d_karnov.cpp driver, so now thats fixed :)

@gamez fan, thanks buddy :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 26, 2014, 05:56:31 PM
Good day, fellow FBAlpha fans!

I have finally found the solution to the broken SFX & music in the game GunNail.  For weeks I have been going through the code line-by-line trying to figure it out, comparing it with the MAME driver code, and other drivers in FBA... and every time I'd end up giving up/thinking there wasn't a solution.  You see, I have a list of games in FBA that don't work right (or don't work to my liking), and a couple of weeks ago, I didn't think I'd ever be able to repair them.  So when I get to cross one of them off my list, its an exciting day for me :) 
Contra (with massive help from Treble Winner) and Gun.Smoke were previously on that list, too..

Another (albeit, less significant) fix I came up with earlier is for the game The Berlin Wall - FBA would crash if you tried to reset (F3) the game.

Well, thats it for now - I need a nice break ;p

*EDIT: Later that night....*
Now that GunNail is working properly in FBAlpha, I figured doing a little bit of playtesting would be a good idea because one can never be sure about bugs that may occur later on in the levels.. heh :)
Yea, its perfect.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 28, 2014, 01:45:25 AM
Changes for this lazy sunday...

The Multi-Screen games...
Darius2, Ninja Warriors, Rastan III - Warrior Blade (d_darius2.cpp driver): Fixed the controls to play over Kaillera & scan the parameters.etc. of the extra screens when using savestates.  Previously, it only scanned the first screen's parameters, which lead to cut off/missing text on the second/third screen and/or weird error messages on the second or third screen.

Regarding Taito games and savestates - a lot of them will have a missing background if you exit/reload FB Alpha and load the savestate, but don't worry - move around a bit or wait a a bit and it will re-appear.  If you use savestates at different points in the level, and want to go back, they work without this missing-background problem though[AKA: NO problem, MON!].  I havn't yet found a decent way to fix this problem, but the work-around isn't too bad..

Added Savestate capability to The Fairyland Story's driver.

thats it for now :)
best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 28, 2014, 02:03:23 AM
Rastan 3: before / after
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: vbt on April 28, 2014, 11:06:13 AM
is there a list of bugs somewhere ? maybe i could help too
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 28, 2014, 02:36:34 PM
is there a list of bugs somewhere ? maybe i could help too

Theres a thread called "FB Alpha 0.2.97.29 Bugs Reports" where you can read about glitches and issues in games.  It would definitely be nice to have someone else helping with the glitches/bugs/etc :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on April 28, 2014, 03:08:57 PM
Theres a thread called "FB Alpha 0.2.97.29 Bugs Reports" where you can read about glitches and issues in games.  It would definitely be nice to have someone else helping with the glitches/bugs/etc :)

best regards,
- dink
I would love to see an FBA bug tracking site. There's a lot of bugs! Mostly mine!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Barry Harris on April 28, 2014, 03:48:18 PM
I'll see if I can get something setup - should be pretty easy. :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 28, 2014, 04:49:06 PM
Excellent idea re: the bug tracker :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 28, 2014, 05:31:01 PM
Methods to my maddness, Monday version  :p

Spent a while re-working and refining the taito/d_darius2.cpp & tn0100scn.cpp savestate issues & fixed the sometimes blank-background on state-load.  Darius2/Ninja Warriors/Rastan 3 - Warrior Blade is savestate-perfect now!
Another thing, I also spent the past couple days testing what was supposed to be a temporary low-khz ym2203 patch.  After a crazy amount of testing on different pc's, I decided to check in the fix.  Are you confused?  :)  Basically it comes down to this:  if you have FM Interpolation on, (Audio -> 4-point 3rd order FM Interpolation) and play a game that uses the YM2203 chip, chances are - it'll sound like crap.  Try it yourself - make sure FM interpolation is on, (also make sure your plugin sample rate is 44100 or higher), and play the game Ghosts 'n Goblins, or Gun.Smoke.  Listen closely.  Now exit the game and disable FM Interpolation (Audio tab), then re-try Ghosts 'n Goblins and Gun.Smoke.  In theory, FM Interpolation should sound better, not worse, than no Interpolation.  Well, now that its fixed it does  :biggrin:

Tip of the day: sometimes its a good idea to wait for the game to initialize (aka wait for the manufacturer's logo) before loading a savestate on a freshly loaded game - especially with Taito games!

thats all for now,
best regards,
- dink



Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: kev on April 29, 2014, 07:12:22 AM


Tip of the day: sometimes its a good idea to wait for the game to initialize (aka wait for the manufacturer's logo) before loading a savestate on a freshly loaded game - especially with Taito games!


That sounds like something is not being saved, but I guess you already knew that :)

Also, good work on all the fixes! If anyone ever wanted to take a look at what I did wrong with the graphics on the SMS driver that would be amazing! I really, really wish I had more time as i'd love to work on FBA again. At best I spend an hour a year at the moment and all I do is cause more issues :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 29, 2014, 08:35:06 AM
That sounds like something is not being saved, but I guess you already knew that :)

Also, good work on all the fixes! If anyone ever wanted to take a look at what I did wrong with the graphics on the SMS driver that would be amazing! I really, really wish I had more time as i'd love to work on FBA again. At best I spend an hour a year at the moment and all I do is cause more issues :)

Hey there,

Re: something not being saved..
The problem is, some things are exempt from being saved (see memindex and the top of the *Scan function), the second part of the problem is, if theres too much data being saved, FBAlpha chokes up when saving the state for a few seconds, and thats not good.  So we have to find a happy medium :) But in reality, its probably just a global variable hidden between functions and/or something simple that I've overlooked..  :p


Can you post a re-creation scenario for the SMS graphics problem?  (which game, where exactly? etc).  (in the "FB Alpha 0.2.97.29 Bugs Reports" thread, of course).  I'll certainly take a look at it, but can't promise anything since graphics are my weak point..

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 30, 2014, 03:01:04 AM
It seems like it takes about 15 minutes to compile and link a new fba executable with mingw, even after only making a minor change to the code.  To get around this, I came up with 2 scripts, one to compile and one to link - which gets the compile&link time down to about 10 seconds :)

lets say you're at ~/fbalpha/trunk and you made a change to src/burn/drv/taito/d_darius2.cpp, and want to build an executable real quick.
Code: [Select]
user@---------- ~/fbalpha/trunk
$ cm drv/taito/d_darius2
compile-o-matic v.0001 - usage cm dir/sourcefile

user@---------- ~/fbalpha/trunk
$ ./l.sh
linking..
copying to /home/user/fbadebugg/

user@---------- ~/fbalpha/trunk
$

"cm" does the compiling, and "l.sh" does the linking.  Here's how to synthesize the scripts, there is quite a bit involved, but the time it saves is worth it. (You have to generate a new link script (or update it) each time something new is added, like a driver or something.)
First, make sure the make process completes successfully and builds an executable, then:

Edit Makefile.mingw, search for "linking executable" and add this line below the echo:
Code: [Select]
@echo $(LD) $(CFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS) -o $@ $^ $(lib)
Go to line #650 in Makefile.mingw, which should be "@echo Compiling $<..." and add this line below it, and save/exit editor:
Code: [Select]
@echo $(CC) $(CXXFLAGS) -c $< -o $(subst $(srcdir),$(objdir),$(<D))/$(@F)
execute this, it will change the timestamp on the d_darius2.cpp file, so it gets re-compiled with our new makefile:
Code: [Select]
touch src/burn/drv/taito/d_darius2.cpp
almost there! now run
Code: [Select]
make mingw471 > makelog.txt 2>&1 and wait about 15 minutes or so for everything to complete, or, open another shell window and run tail -f makelog.txt to see whats going on.

- stay tuned for part 2 -
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 30, 2014, 03:11:59 AM
part 2 - making the scripts from makelog.txt:

load makelog.txt up in your favorite editor, and create 2 new files, cm and l.sh.
go to the very end of makelog.txt in your editor, and copy the line that looks like the one below, and paste it into l.sh:
(you'll want the entire g++ line, ignoring the "Linking executable... fbads.exe" line above it)
Code: [Select]
Linking executable... fbads.exe
g++ -pipe -std=gnu99 -O1 -mwindows -fforce-add ............

now, go up a few lines to where it says "Compiling src/burn/drv/taito/d_darius2.cpp...", and copy the entire line under it, which should start like "gcc -pipe -O1 -mwindows -fforce-ad.........", and paste it into the new file "cm"

Focusing on the new "cm" file, go to the end of the very long line and change this part:
Code: [Select]
src/burn/drv/taito/d_darius2.cpp -o obj/47/3ds/burn/drv/taito/d_darius2.oto this, and save:
Code: [Select]
src/burn/$1.cpp -o obj/47/3ds/burn/$1.o
... and there you have it!  when using the "cm" script, pass the directory leading up to the source file - relative to ~/fbalpha/trunk/src/burn/ - and the source file, without the .cpp extension.  If you also want to do work under burner, remove "burn/" from the script above (and use "cm burner/win32/sel" for example).  For an example of how to use it, refer to the top of the previous message :)

p.s. to make things a bit easier, you can further modify the l.sh script to copy the new executable somewhere such as your fbalpha installation directory.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Barry Harris on April 30, 2014, 05:01:02 AM
dink,

You do realise FB Alpha has it's own dependancy checking in the makefile (enabled by default when using GCC/MinGW)?

First time you compile, everything is built, subsequent times only changed files are compiled.

The dependancy also checks for dependant files too, eg, if you change burn.h then all files that include burn.h are recompiled.

15 minutes is a long time too - it takes 2-3 minutes on my machine! :)

If you are devloping with MSVC enable symbols to avoid having to do a full link optimisation each compile.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 30, 2014, 09:16:01 AM
Treble Winner, yep - I'm pretty familiar with the Make process.  It really takes 15 minutes to get to the linking part, even if just 1 driver/cpp file is modified.  I think a lot of it has to do with my trusty/dusty centurys-old PC.  eh, ohwell :)

Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on May 04, 2014, 11:21:09 AM
Hi guys,
The last couple days I've been tearing my hair out trying to understand & possibly fix a graphics glitch in Caveman Ninja.  I have at least narrowed down the problematic code, but I just can't seem to make sense of it. 

back to the drawing board!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on May 05, 2014, 03:18:23 AM
Cavaman Ninja is now a-ok - I solved the graphical issues! (finally!)
Here's some before and after shots:

Before:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on May 05, 2014, 03:18:59 AM
After:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on May 05, 2014, 02:37:28 PM
Psycho-Nics Oscar, a cool little platformer that has a powerup system similar to Gradius isn't quite right in FB Alpha.  Our hero sprite is displayed behind the trees and other stuff that should be in the background.  Here's a little pic to show how it looks in FBAlpha: * where is he hiding? :) *

Edit: another issue is the palette is wrong on certain things - that big weird head is supposed to have a stone-ish appearance, and the collect-em-ups are always grey and hard to read - they should be orange/yellow and easy to read.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on May 05, 2014, 03:33:52 PM
Your on a roll dink!!! fancy taking a look at Battle Shark there's a error somewhere in the code which causes the game to
freeze just before level 2 or anytime after
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on May 05, 2014, 04:24:01 PM
Hi gamez fan :)
Just for the record, Psycho-nics Oscar isn't fixed yet, I was just documenting the bug because I started working on it.  anyways,  I think I might have jumped over a huge hurdle with Caveman Ninja though - I spent the entire weekend working on it - most of the time it was a learning experiance.  A funny thing about Joe & Mac.. After fixing it, I played the entire game from beginning to end just to make sure everything was alright.  It turns out the fix actually caused some glitches in the ending sequence, so a little while later I came up with yet another fix, to fix what the previous fix broke.   :eek:

I'll definitely take a look at Battle Shark just after I figure out Psycho-nics Oscar!
EDIT: Our hero sprite of Psycho-Nics Oscar is no longer hiding in the trees  :biggrin:
Next up: fix the palette issues on the boss character and power-ups.  (see http://neo-source.com/index.php?topic=2487.msg16408#msg16408 for more info)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on May 06, 2014, 02:52:47 AM
Psycho-Nics Oscar is now completely fixed, heres the proof:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on May 06, 2014, 09:16:35 AM
gamez fan, I did some research with Battle Shark, and found where it spazzes out (locks up) a few seconds into level 2.  Once I figure out why it is doing this, I can fix it..
EDIT: ...a couple hours later, still no dice, this is a really strange problem, gonna need some help on this one!
EDIT again, later that day.. Battle Shark is fixed, but you'll have to thank Treble Winner!  Great job buddy :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on May 06, 2014, 03:07:05 PM
Nice work! Looks like I added the color offset and forgot to remove it for Oscar.
Good job on cninja too. I took a quick look, but didn't go far with it. :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: WILOWAR on May 07, 2014, 12:46:09 AM
Hi dink. Could you test these games: ROBOCOP 2, VENDETTA 2, THUNDER DRAGON 2, IN THE HUNT, BOOGIE WINGS, TASK FORCE HARRIER, GAUNTLET (after Stage 1), TURBO FORCE, CONTRA (STAGE 2), CONTINENTAL CIRCUS (JAPAN VERSION)?? I have found some glitches couple months ago when I played FBA emu  :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on May 07, 2014, 01:06:43 AM
Thanks iq_132 :)

WILOWAR: the good news, Contra is fixed - massive thanks to Treble Winner, of course! :)

I'll see what I can do about the other games, but I can't make any promises, as I've been spending 100% of my free time just working on games that I have in my personal to-do list for FBAlpha (read this thread from beginning to end, noting the time of the messages if you don't believe me!)  But my mission is to get every game working perfectly - or at least try to, so stay tuned :)

best regards and happy [retro, of course] gaming,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on May 07, 2014, 05:41:30 PM
There is yet another issue in Caveman Ninja - the in-game background music plays at the wrong tempo.
Heres some soundclips to document the issue:
http://sharesend.com/tdmxd34r

I'm stumped yet again.. :/

Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on May 07, 2014, 08:16:19 PM
EDIT again, later that day.. Battle Shark is fixed, but you'll have to thank Treble Winner!  Great job buddy :)
Thanks alot fellas Nice one!!!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on May 08, 2014, 04:05:39 AM
I started Midnight Resistance tonight because all I wanted to do was hear that nice level-1 music, well, after the first level things started to get addictive.   One coin and only 2 deaths later I beat the game :biggrin:

Sometimes one has to take a break from working on code and enjoy some nice solid oldschool gameplay.

Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on May 09, 2014, 01:59:02 AM
After lots of debugging and lots & lots & lots of trial and error, I got the music in Caveman Ninja (Joe 'n Mac) to run at the right tempo!  :biggrin:
EDIT: Playtested the game from beginning to end, everything seems 100% perfect now.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on May 09, 2014, 05:02:46 PM
Hey guys,
One [most certainly!] last thing regarding Caveman Ninja:  I noticed some sound crackles which only seemed to appear around mid-level 2 to right before the boss.  It happens even more when using the fireball weapon.  I uploaded a patch to fix the issue, of course :) 

Thats all for today.
best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on May 10, 2014, 03:22:00 AM
Tonight/today I made a little modification to fix the loud crackles/distortion in the iremga20 sound driver, which is used by irem M92(and M107) games. This improves the sound in-game for In the Hunt quite a bit.   :biggrin:

EDIT: *the next day* regarding IREM m92 savestates - fixed occasional lost sound on savestate load, some other misc crackle/distortion/clipping prevention in other sound drivers. tip: mixing 16bit samples with "sample += newsample;" can cause this issue if the result is larger than 65535 - which happens on particularly loud and/or bassy samples, use "sample = BURN_SND_CLIP(sample + newsample);" instead

Oh yea, a little playtesting never hurts :) [see pic below, game: R-Type LEO]

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on May 12, 2014, 04:11:05 PM
dink's FBA Dev Journal for Monday, May 12, 2014...

Fixed up 2 excellent games using the Seta driver:
Masked Riders Club Battle Race & Madshark had no background music - only sfx.  It turns out that the driver wasn't acknowleging irq 4, which does the sound.  After a couple other little tweaks both games play and sound great :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on May 12, 2014, 06:22:08 PM
dink's FBA Dev Journal for Monday, May 12, 2014...

Fixed up 2 excellent games using the Seta driver:
Masked Riders Club Battle Race & Madshark had no background music - only sfx.  It turns out that the driver wasn't acknowleging irq 4, which does the sound.  After a couple other little tweaks both games play and sound great :)

best regards,
- dink
Excellent work! As you've probably noticed by now, I have no eye for detail and am horrible with game music. Thank you for your work.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on May 13, 2014, 01:03:18 AM
Excellent work! As you've probably noticed by now, I have no eye for detail and am horrible with game music. Thank you for your work.

I'm exactly the same, but horrible with the graphics side of things, so if you think of it - we make a good team :)

Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on May 13, 2014, 01:57:09 PM
Something for today,
Got War of Aero - Project MEIOU's background music in proper working order.

Trying to get the sound in Air Duel working, though - this one is a bit tricky, but I think I'm on to something :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on May 14, 2014, 03:51:42 AM
I'm afraid I gotsome bad news, I've been debugging-about all day with Air Duel (irem d_m72) and I can't get the music working.  Oh well...

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on May 14, 2014, 04:13:35 PM
..And now for some good news this time!
Today I fixed the corrupted & out-of-place sounds in Gundhara and EightForces & improved the music a bit (it was only coming out the left side).

EDIT: Fixed the samples in Blandia as well :)

For FBA Quality Assurance - I Played MadShark to the end, to make sure the fixes I made to it the other day didn't affect anything or cause any new bugs - things are looking & sounding good!  :biggrin:

EDIT: FBA Quality Assurance part 2: Played Gundhara a few times, eventually beat it (the last and 2nd to last boss is a b*tch), everything checks out 100% :)
This game is awesome - definitely one for fans of Heavy Barrel, Midnight Resistance, Contra.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on May 15, 2014, 04:40:53 PM
(For those that use savestates - read on)
I started working on a linear savestate mechanism, which is great for gaming from a gamepad w/o the need to reach for the keyboard to select different slots while in-game.

Basically, it works like this: every time you save a state, it will save a backup of the last 10 savestates - instead of just overwriting the last one. A new "undo" function will go back through the backups, in a reverse of the order you saved them.  It also works nicely with the current slot system - each slot will have 10 backups each.  I've used this method a lot with BlueMSX (MSX & Colecovision emulator) and VICE (C64 emulator), and really miss it in FB Alpha.  Its really handy for practicing ultra-fast-paced/frenetic games and shoot-em-ups alike.

Doesn't seem interesting?  Well, how about... Have you ever saved a state at the wrong time and overwrote your excellent gaming progress with the title screen? This will be the solution for this as well  ;p

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on May 15, 2014, 06:11:06 PM
(For those that use savestates - read on)
I started working on a linear savestate mechanism, which is great for gaming from a gamepad w/o the need to reach for the keyboard to select different slots while in-game.

Basically, it works like this: every time you save a state, it will save a backup of the last 10 savestates - instead of just overwriting the last one. A new "undo" function will go back through the backups, in a reverse of the order you saved them.  It also works nicely with the current slot system - each slot will have 10 backups each.  I've used this method a lot with BlueMSX (MSX & Colecovision emulator) and VICE (C64 emulator), and really miss it in FB Alpha.  Its really handy for practicing ultra-fast-paced/frenetic games and shoot-em-ups alike.

Doesn't seem interesting?  Well, how about... Have you ever saved a state at the wrong time and overwrote your excellent gaming progress with the title screen? This will be the solution for this as well  ;p

best regards,
- dink
Sounds pretty interesting! Do keep in mind that FBA compresses save states.  This can be pretty cpu-intensive for a pile of save states. It takes FOREVER for games with large areas of ram. I've been wanting to re-write the save state system for a while, ripping out the compression and getting these to be endian and 32->64 bit safe. As of right now, states from a 32-bit build of fba won't work on a 64-bit usually. It's pretty nasty.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: kev on May 15, 2014, 07:45:00 PM
The rom loading could do with a rewrite whilst your at it :p

In all seriousness libzip gives pretty good performance in another project I work on but not sure how useful it will be on a save state front.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on May 15, 2014, 09:09:36 PM
The rom loading could do with a rewrite whilst your at it :p
What are you thinking? This may be something I invest some time into.

Quote
In all seriousness libzip gives pretty good performance in another project I work on but not sure how useful it will be on a save state front.
I honestly don't see the point of compressing save states at all. Hard drive space is nearly limitless, the MAME set eats your hard drives with impunity.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on May 16, 2014, 01:38:43 AM
Sounds pretty interesting! Do keep in mind that FBA compresses save states.  This can be pretty cpu-intensive for a pile of save states. It takes FOREVER for games with large areas of ram. I've been wanting to re-write the save state system for a while, ripping out the compression and getting these to be endian and 32->64 bit safe. As of right now, states from a 32-bit build of fba won't work on a 64-bit usually. It's pretty nasty.

I realize the compression is pretty slow with games that use large amounts of ram, but this feature will take no longer than usual - all it does is: instead of overwriting the last savestate, it renames it to a backup file, up to 10 of them, the 11th always gets deleted.  To break it down visually:
hit savestate once, you get:
game slot 1.fs
hit savestate button again
game slot 1.fs
game slot 1.fs.backup0 (from the first time you hit savestate
hit it again:
game slot 1.fs
game slot 1.fs.backup0
game slot 1.fs.backup1 (from the first time you hit savestate)

now, if you hit the new "savestate undo" button, this will happen:
game slot 1.fs.backup0 -> game slot 1.fs
game slot 1.fs.backup1 -> game slot 1.fs.backup0
hit it again:
game slot 1.fs.backup0 -> game slot 1.fs

Nothing else needs to be changed re: savestates (IMO) :)

One thing I might add: mame's crappy savestate support is the reason I chose FB Alpha.  Every time you hit savestate (even if mapped to a joystick/gamepad button) it asks "what slot do you want to use" - and you have to reach for the keyboard to type in the slot#! [at this point, mame wont accept input from Joy2Key] What if you're sitting back in your chair with a gamepad in your hand? that sucks. also - in a lot of games "savestates aren't supported for this game".  Now that I fixed nearly every game with broken savestates in FBA, FBA is perfect in this respect. :)

Going off topic:
I agree with kev, the rom loading needs at least some macros, to rid the use of having to use memcpy and such things if data needs to be relocated.  You don't have to change the entire system - just make a couple macros to deal with things better for future drivers (what I mean is, we don't have to go back and change all the existing drivers to use the new macros - just for new drivers and/or when updating/rewriting older drivers that never worked right to begin with).

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on May 18, 2014, 04:45:28 PM
Hi guys,
Heres some good news for this Sunday -

Savestate undo has been through some very rigorous testing over the past couple days, after a few tweaks and some more testing - its golden.  Activate savestate undo with Shift-F8 - this will restore the previous savestate over the last savestate which was saved, then load the state with F9.  Savestate Undo gives 11 levels of undo on each slot  :biggrin:

Green Beret now has the right sounds.  Prior to this fix, the bgm sounded all distorted and weird.

Enabled savestates in Konami's Devastators & The Main Event.

EDIT:
In Konami's Ajax/Typhoon - the sfx would randomly change volumes, this was due to the wrong channel being specified in the volume callback.  Also some tweaks to the K007232 sound driver for savestates & games that use multiple chips.

best regards & happy gaming,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: vbt on May 18, 2014, 08:03:28 PM
dink, great job, i have 2 unsolved bugs on fba for saturn would you help ?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on May 19, 2014, 12:32:45 AM
vbt, I can try - give me some info via pm :)
EDIT: I need to point out that I don't have a computer thats fast enough to run a Saturn emulator.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: kev on May 19, 2014, 02:49:06 PM
What are you thinking? This may be something I invest some time into.
I honestly don't see the point of compressing save states at all. Hard drive space is nearly limitless, the MAME set eats your hard drives with impunity.

Honestly nothing really concrete,.

I was thinking that bzip, whilst it does work fine, seems a bit ugly in places and I think it should be refactored to at least use ziplib. For some reason, although its not emulation related I always thought that the rom loading, including the accessing roms from within zip files should live in burn. Over the years I have argued that it might also be worth creating a extra layer between burn an burner that handles all the platform agnostic stuff as there tends to be a lot of code that gets duplicated from burner that's not win32 specific that gets copy and pasted out into new files. That's probably a fairly complicated refactoring job though.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on May 23, 2014, 04:44:37 PM
Hello friends and fans of FBAlpha, heres some fix-news for the past couple days...

Added the 3rd button (special/smartbomb) to WOF: Sangokushi II

Did a tag-team fixage with iq_132 on the nmk16 driver, this fixes the hi score area on several vertical games (Task Force Harrier, Super Spacefortress Macross, Spectrum 2000 Vertical, and possibly a few others)

Fixed an occasional bad palette on savestate load with Silver Millenium.

Fixed something (scale the analogue values) with Night Striker, so its possible to reach the far edges of the screen.

And the best one so far - a fix for the stuck-sprite in Toaplan's OutZone!  This bug has eluded me for quite some time.. one which I thought would never get fixed..  so, its a good day! :D
EDIT: Some more good news, this fix actually had a side effect of solving a missing-background on savestate load issue in Vimana, Hellfire, Truxton 2 and Fire Shark/SameSameSame!

A little more than a month ago I had posted a "dink's FBA Failures" list of bugs that I couldn't fix.  I'm happy to say that almost the entire list has been crossed-out :)  http://neo-source.com/index.php?topic=2487.msg16276#msg16276

Thats it for now...
best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on May 23, 2014, 08:54:21 PM
A little more than a month ago I had posted a "dink's FBA Failures" list of bugs that I couldn't fix.  I'm happy to say that almost the entire list has been crossed-out :)  http://neo-source.com/index.php?topic=2487.msg16276#msg16276

Thats it for now...
best regards,
- dink
Nice one dink!! bet it's a crackin feeling to clear up that list :D
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on May 25, 2014, 02:32:38 PM
gamez fan, you're absolutely right - its great to finally clear some of those things up :)   

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on May 26, 2014, 03:36:18 AM
Hello FBA Fans,
Earlier today a good friend let me know that almost all of the deco16 games (Boogie Wings, Diet Go Go, Crude Buster, Darkseal, Funky Jet, Rohga Armor Force, Super Burger Time, Tumble Pop and Vapor Trail) suffered from the same slowdown issue that Caveman Ninja had.  So I got to work on the fixes, and also fixed a few sound crackle issues in Vapor Trail, Crude Buster and Dark Seal.  Vapor Trail was the worst - it crackles just about every time the weapon was shot.
NOTE: Boogie Wings crackles a bit at the beginning of level 1 during the explosion of the structure, at this present time a fix doesn't exist.

Best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on May 28, 2014, 06:55:10 PM
Hi guys,
I'm working on the Super Kaneko Nova System driver, I got Cyvern to work with music!
Only have a few little issues to iron out, and I'll post back with some progress :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on May 29, 2014, 06:30:22 PM
Alright!! I got Cyvern on the Super Kaneko Nova System working 100% :)
(@iq_132: with the speed hack working & with full cycles & with perfect music \o/ :D  :biggrin: )

Heres a little detail on how it *painstakingly* came to be..
The first problem, get iq_132's brilliant and almost-finished d_suprnova.cpp to work with the latest FBA, this was just simple stuff like changing the BurnInfo structure's from the old to the new style.

The second problem - Cyvern would hang after the machine tests - this took about 4 hours of referencing the mame code, updating a few things here and there..  after a bit of almost going mad, and coming to a conclusion that this might never boot, I found a little piece of code that was commented - so I uncommented it, just "for the heck of it".  And that fixed it  :redface:  :eek:

The third problem aka the greatly needed "speedhack".  Let me tell ya, without this thing, the music chops up and the game is unplayable at 35-40FPS.  Its just too intense [for my little p4 3ghz pc].
This bit of code, codenamed the "speedhack" caused the code to cut a few corners making the game run at proper 60FPS without any slowdowns or stutters... BUT...
Enabling the "speedhack" was not without consequences - It caused the background music to cut out randomly and caused the SFX to become lagged.  After a day and a half of debugging, I came to the conclusion that the bug wasn't in the FBA driver at all, but in the Hitachi SH-2 CPU emulation - well... the function that burns cycles until the next interrupt, which allowed for the "speedhack" to work, was skipping over timer events that the game needs to keep the music playing. (I didn't know it was skipping these timer events until later on the next day...)

The third problem and a half - aka the next day - after making subtle changes to the SH-2 CPU core, recompiling, linking, loading the newly compiled FBA, loading Cyvern & testing the music - about 50 or 60 times, I realized I might have to look at things a little differently to get this fixed..  To make a long story a little less long, I took a break, thought about it for a while and realized that maybe some timer events were getting skipped when the "speedhack" went to burn cpu cycles until the next interrupt.  I updated the SH-2 core, tested it out, and lo-and-behold - it worked!!  I played a few games to make sure I wasn't dreaming, then came here to write this :)

The next FBA will not only have one fk'n awesome shooter game - Fire Barrel(Air Assault), but 2 of them :D

Tis a great day, my friends,
thats it for now & best regards,
- dink

Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on May 30, 2014, 03:25:55 AM
A couple days ago I didn't think this would ever be possible in FBA, oh how wrong I was..
Cyvern Screenies: *click to zoom*
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on May 30, 2014, 09:01:01 AM
Nice work dink Cyvern's a crackin game there is another big shmup in the same driver Sengki Strikers well worth getting it
playable in FBA if possible

Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on May 30, 2014, 09:31:21 AM
Nice work dink Cyvern's a crackin game there is another big shmup in the same driver Sengki Strikers well worth getting it
playable in FBA if possible
I could never get that particular game to boot. That's where the driver stalled out. :(
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on May 30, 2014, 09:59:51 AM
I stayed up until like 5am last night (er, today morning) trying to get sengeki striker to work, I'd love to get it to work, but, its not looking good.

On the other hand, at least we got Cyvern out of it :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: kev on May 30, 2014, 04:38:38 PM
Good work Dink :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: KaNyErO on May 30, 2014, 08:40:04 PM
Dlink your fixes are awesome. Do you think you could have a look at neogeo's super bubble pop? It has a problem with controls.

Thanks
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on May 31, 2014, 12:39:36 AM
Dlink your fixes are awesome. Do you think you could have a look at neogeo's super bubble pop? It has a problem with controls.

Thanks
Those don't even work in mame. Been meaning to take a crack at again. :-|
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on May 31, 2014, 05:31:03 AM
Thanks for the kind words guys :)
I took a break from coding and played Cyvern.. all night..  What an intense game!

level 4 is really killer, it's sort of a Neo-Tokyo/Bladerunner-esque level, pic below..

EDIT: the Cyvern driver has been cleaned up and checked in to svn :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on May 31, 2014, 04:31:14 PM
Hi guys, just a little update for today...
I'm working on a quick 'n'dirty TLCS90 cpu port to get sound in the NMK16 game Arcadian/Rapid Hero.
Lets see how it goes.... :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on June 01, 2014, 02:59:34 PM
Hi guys, just a little update for today...
I'm working on a quick 'n'dirty TLCS90 cpu port to get sound in the NMK16 game Arcadian/Rapid Hero.
Lets see how it goes.... :)
Really looking forward to this! I remember being disappointed when I added this game and there was no sound (the sound wasn't even emulated in MAME yet!)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on June 02, 2014, 05:22:49 PM
I'm making some progress on the Rapid Hero soundcpu (TLCS90841), it isn't quite working right (yet), but I'm definitely getting somewhere :)  *fingers crossed*

iq_132 - I know you're really busy, but if I can't figure this out, would you take a look at it?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on June 02, 2014, 08:41:37 PM
I'm making some progress on the Rapid Hero soundcpu (TLCS90841), it isn't quite working right (yet), but I'm definitely getting somewhere :)  *fingers crossed*

iq_132 - I know you're really busy, but if I can't figure this out, would you take a look at it?

Of course! Just send me what you've got when/if you're stuck.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on June 05, 2014, 05:22:14 AM
Just a small update for the past 2 days:

Fixed distortion in the sampled sounds in Enduro Racer.

I was playing Spinal Breakers today, and noticed that the game was missing background music, and that the sounds & music completely cut out at the first boss.. SO, thats fixed now too :)

EDIT: later that day...
Netplay fixes for: Sunset Riders, M.I.A., TMNT, Green Beret
Sound Panning fix for ThunderCross II, sfx was only coming out the left channel - very annoying...

.. to be continued..

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on June 06, 2014, 01:37:37 AM
Here's the Rapid Hero sound cpu port (tlcs90.cpp/.h & d_nmk16.cpp) - it's pretty close.. I think!

Attached you'll find the port/hack I made of the tlcs90 cpu & d_nmk16.cpp, I put it aside a few days ago because I'm stuck..  Everything looks ok, but it of course, doesn't work.   :p

btw, I don't think that the sample that plays when the game first loads isn't coming from the soundcpu.

EDIT: June 8, 2014, new attachment - fixes non-tlcs90 games that use nmk004init.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on June 06, 2014, 09:49:04 AM
I was thinking dink maybe the CPU is fine did you port the sound code from the NMK112.c/h src files in MAME for Rapid Hero??
http://www.mamedev.org/source/src/mame/machine/nmk112.c.html (http://www.mamedev.org/source/src/mame/machine/nmk112.c.html)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on June 06, 2014, 10:38:09 AM
gamez fan, There is a small portion of the nmk112 code ported, but maybe something is missing in this respect.  Thanks for letting me know :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on June 10, 2014, 03:39:34 AM
Not much news this time, but here goes..

I keep trying (and keep failing) to get the Rapidhero sound cpu alive. Maybe iq_132 can give me a hand with this? :)
although on the bright side..

Checked in a fix for Double Dragon 3 for netplay
Fixed clicks in DAC.cpp and fixed a savestate issue w/ msm5205.cpp (though some small clicks still exist in Dragon Breed at the start of the game re: DAC.cpp - have to figure this one out!)
and a couple other minor tweaks/fixes that aren't worth mentioning.

thats it for now, until next time...
best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on June 11, 2014, 04:36:46 PM
Just a couple small changes for today:
F8/F11 to select previous/next savestate slot will now show the slot# message even when paused.

Shift+F8 savestate undo feature now has its own spot in the menu - Game -> Save States -> State Slots -> :)

bye for now & happy gaming,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on June 12, 2014, 10:14:04 AM
Well, its that time again... Time for A new dink's FBA failures list.  Hopefully as time goes by, me (or someone else) can come up with a clever way to cross these bugs off the list.

Thunder Zone - "Mission 1" text is covered up at start of game when blows thru wall. - Only happens with a non-32 bit depth screen, hack implimented (iq_132, 6/14/14) pt.2 fixed the Enhanced blitter to actually run at 32bpp unless forced 16bit or an effect that only supports 16bit is enabled. (dink, 6/15/2014)
Dragon Breed - (Both versions) the pcm samples at the beginning have clicks in them.
The Cliffhanger - graphics on stage 2 are completely screwed up. - Fixed (iq_132, 6/14/14)
Raiden - Music plays too slow (tempo)
Terra Cresta - music plays way too fast
Dragon Buster - music & sfx plays way too fast (entire game) - Improved, but not fixed (iq_132, 6/14/14)
VanDyke (nmk16) the frog sample is missing
Guardian (toaplan/d_tigerheli.cpp) background goes up every screen - Fixed (hopefully) (iq_132, 6/14/14)
Trojan - ym sound is off tempo randomly (possibly because of the msm changing interlace?)
M.I.A. - speed goes too fast after restore state. (sometimes?)
Carrier Air Wing (CPS1) - Locks up on the first level after the shadows appear. (m68k core must be compiled with an early gcc version)
Rapid Hero - Can't get the sound cpu to work right..

thats it for now,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Barry Harris on June 13, 2014, 05:24:38 PM
Carrier Air Wing works fine for me, always has - CPS-1 should work well as the driver is very mature.

Most likely a 68K thing. Either you're using M68K with a newer GCC compile or using the ASM core. If it's the ASM core it's another reason to rip it out! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Barry Harris on June 13, 2014, 05:27:34 PM
It's not the ASM core - played through the first level fine.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on June 14, 2014, 12:29:12 AM
Treble Winner, thanks for checking - I ran into that problem and put it on my bugslist about a month ago, when I was still using the messed up Musashi core-compile.  I guess I should go through and re-check everything in my list - this is starting to get embarrassing  :redface:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on June 14, 2014, 12:45:09 AM
Thunder Zone - "Mission 1" text is covered up at start of game when blows thru wall.

Can't reproduce this one. :\
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on June 14, 2014, 01:00:32 AM
iq_132, I tried both Thunder Zone and Desert Assault (us), both look like (see below).  I made sure I'm using the proper (Treble Winner-compiled) core, also tried the ASM core.  Can you think of anything that might cause this?  I checked via svn, all my code is up to date, is your dataeast directory sync'd?


Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on June 14, 2014, 01:19:48 AM
Check it out with the basic blitter. ^^

*edit*
My guess is a color depth problem. That layer is alpha blended to the background and alpha blending is only enabled with 32-bit color depths.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on June 14, 2014, 01:26:25 AM
Thats it!  I was getting worried, I thought I might have f*'d something up :) I backed out all my dataeast changes(locally), and it was still borked.  what a relief. :)
Maybe something can be fixed to work with the other enhanced blitter? Any ideas?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on June 14, 2014, 01:49:43 AM
This is probably a stupid question, but how does one set the window'd mode to 32bit using the Enhanced blitter?  My windows desktop settings are 32bit.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on June 14, 2014, 01:55:22 AM
This is probably a stupid question, but how does one set the window'd mode to 32bit using the Enhanced blitter?  My windows desktop settings are 32bit.

I'm not sure you can. ^^
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on June 14, 2014, 02:07:30 AM
Btw, mostly fixed the problem. for depths < 32 bit alpha is handled as "flicker." It's a little cheesy, but it works.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on June 14, 2014, 02:20:00 AM
 ** Starting DirectDraw7 blitter.
  * Initialising video: Total video memory minus display surface: 212.84MB.
  * Initialisation complete: 210.00MB video memory free.
    Displaying and rendering in 32-bit mode, emulation running in 32-bit mode.
    Transferring the image to video memory before blitting.
    Running in windowed mode. (this works fine)

 ** Enumerating available DirectDraw drivers:
 ** Starting Direct3D7 blitter.
  * Initialising video: Total video memory minus display surface: 212.84MB.
  * Initialisation complete: 180.10MB video memory free.
    Displaying and rendering in 32-bit mode, emulation running in 16-bit mode. <- maybe this can be forced to 32bit? ya think?
    Running in windowed mode, using Blt() to transfer the final image. (this doesn't)
I tried under blitter options -> advanced -> uncheck force 16bit, but, its still 16bit. hehe. drat!

Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on June 14, 2014, 03:22:37 AM
When using just the Enhanced (d3d7) blitter, it starts in 32bit for both rendering and emulation:
 ** Starting Direct3D7 blitter.
  * Initialising video: Total video memory minus display surface: 212.84MB.
  * Initialisation complete: 179.60MB video memory free.
    Displaying and rendering in 32-bit mode, emulation running in 32-bit mode.
    Running in windowed mode, using Blt() to transfer the final image.

but, when a game is selected, it goes to 16bit mode for emulation:
 ** Starting Direct3D7 blitter.
  * Initialising video: Total video memory minus display surface: 212.84MB.
  * Initialisation complete: 180.10MB video memory free.
    Displaying and rendering in 32-bit mode, emulation running in 16-bit mode.
    Running in windowed mode, using Blt() to transfer the final image.

Out of curiosity - Is there a reason why that happens like that?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on June 14, 2014, 02:22:22 PM
... see previous message ..

Out of curiosity - Is there a reason why that happens like that?

The [long] answer comes soon..
If hardware gamma is selected, it must render at 16bit, so it forces the emulation at 16bit.  Due to a mixup in the logic, it doesn't check to see if the gamma correction is actually enabled.  If hardware gamma is selected, but not enabled, it will still force emulation to be 16bit.  A small change to the logic in src/intf/video/win32/vid_d3d.cpp (see svn) solves the problem :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on June 17, 2014, 02:29:00 PM
I've been looking into a strange issue with the neogeo driver, every once in a while a savestate will crash when loaded.  It usually happens between 1 and 10 states saved - or not at all (especially when running fba under gdb.... or when I want it to..) - making it a really tough one to track down.

EDIT:
Later that day... Let's get things going..
Installed Dr. MingW (just-in-time debugger) on my system and into FBA by replacing the current exception handler with Dr.Mingw's, recompiled the neogeo core with better debug flags and no optimization. [don't worry - dr.mingw will only stay in my local codebase!]

Did some playing & crashing, fixed Prehistoric Isle 2's crashing savestates (which happens right around/after/when you go underground)

Now its time to take a break, the daytime heat is horrible!  Later after it cools off a bit, I'll try to fix the other intermittent savestate crash.  I think its separate from the one I just fixed, because the crash address was in a totally different place.  Its going to be a tough one, though, since I can't make it happen on demand.  It can be really illusive, too, sometimes it'll happen every other neogeo game one day, and the next day, not at all.  :p

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on June 18, 2014, 10:51:02 AM
A little info about this crash (pointer is trying to access an unallocated part of memory):
It would occur after loading a savestate which was saved (between 1 and 20 times - more or less) in neo_run.cpp, in neogeoWriteWordVideo() at
Code: [Select]
case 0x02: {
-->here-->        *((UINT16*)(NeoGraphicsRAMBank + NeoGraphicsRAMPointer)) = wordValue;
NeoGraphicsRAMPointer += nNeoGraphicsModulo;
Upon deeper investigation, the NeoGraphicsRAMBank was getting clobbered by SCAN_OFF() in DrvScan():
SCAN_OFF(NeoGraphicsRAMBank, NeoGraphicsRAM, nAction); <- here.

So, I thought, Instead of using this SCAN_OFF(), lets just recalculate the NeoGraphicsRAMBank pointer upon savestate load,
the same way it is calculated later on in the code.  That should be foolproof, right? :)

*success!* I wrote a script that did over 2000 savestate & loadstates while Prehistoric Isle 2 was running, and not a single crash happened.  Now, the big question is, is this the same SS bug that I noticed in other MVS games?  I hope so, but I have a strange feeling that I might be revisiting this at a later time.

Big thanks to Jose Fonseca for his wonderfull Dr.Mingw just-in-time debugger.  Before this, I would always get a very strange crash address from this bug, which was usually situated somewhere around LoadRoms() - as gdb told me. 

best regards & happy gaming, my friends :)
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on June 18, 2014, 07:14:44 PM
Excellent work! That crash has been around for aaaages!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on June 19, 2014, 01:43:47 AM
iq_132, thanks  :biggrin:
I am stupidly happy to have fixed this one before the big release :)

p.s. do you know of any others?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on June 19, 2014, 04:34:21 PM
Re: Fix SCAN_OFF() too :) [Re: Re: fix the crashing neogeo savestate thinggy]

Earlier today whilst reviewing yesterdays code I realized SCAN_OFF() was used in other parts of the code and thought that it would be a good idea to investigate how/why SCAN_OFF() is messing up pointers.  If SCAN_OFF() is bungling pointers that don't cause a crash - who knows what kind of corruption is going on behind the scenes.  Scary stuff!

I lifted SCAN_OFF() from FBA, put it in a little test program and added some printf's to see whats going on....

start: rambank=1020,ram=1000.
SCAN_OFF(rambank, ram, 0);
end: rambank=980,ram=1000.

rambank after SCAN_OFF() executes is supposed to be 1020, but here its 980.  This is really bad, especially since we're dealing with pointers  :eek:

To get the offset, SCAN_OFF was subtracting the rambank variable from ram. 1000 - 1020 = -20
So, it was saving -20 as the offset, and to recalculate the rambank(on savestate load), it was adding this saved value to the ram variable, which is where the 980 came from (1000 + -20=980).  A simple change so that it now subtracts the ram variable (1000) from rambank (1020), which gives 20 [which is stored in the savestate].  Now, when it adds the stored value of 20 to the ram variable, we get the proper value of 1020.

*I'm confused - What does all that mean?* Better reliability & stability when using savestates.  and, of course, none of that Guru Meditation sh*t  :biggrin:

Thats it for now,
best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Barry Harris on June 20, 2014, 05:33:15 AM
Nice work dink. Very nice. :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on June 20, 2014, 04:53:22 PM
thanks :D
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on June 20, 2014, 05:05:04 PM
Heres my latest erm, effort, at tlcs90841 + rapid hero soundcpuenablement.  I really need help from someone with experience with porting cpu cores for this one.  Double check the basic stuff, like read / write byte from memory address, and everything else - as I must be totally missing the point here.  Some info: it inits the cpu in RapheroLoadCallback(), raphero_sound_read/write handle all the memory mapped stuff.  It does a few things at reset, but then the cpu just stops.   :redface:
To get started: toss tlcs* into src/cpu, d_nmk16.cpp into drv/pst90s, add edit makefile.burn_rules, search for sh2.o, add tlcs90.o after it & save then make.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on June 20, 2014, 05:18:56 PM
Heres my latest erm, effort, at tlcs90841 + rapid hero soundcpuenablement.  I really need help from someone with experience with porting cpu cores for this one.  Double check the basic stuff, like read / write byte from memory address, and everything else - as I must be totally missing the point here.  Some info: it inits the cpu in RapheroLoadCallback(), raphero_sound_read/write handle all the memory mapped stuff.  It does a few things at reset, but then the cpu just stops.   :redface:
To get started: toss tlcs* into src/cpu, d_nmk16.cpp into drv/pst90s, add edit makefile.burn_rules, search for sh2.o, add tlcs90.o after it & save then make.
I started my own port of that cpu core as well, I'll probably finish it up early next week. (hopefully). I'll probably end up merging what you've got with mine.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on June 20, 2014, 05:54:29 PM
iq_132, Awesome :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Huggybaby on June 20, 2014, 08:09:42 PM
Hello dink,

I'm checking in after quite some time and was thrilled to see the work you've done!!

I've reported a problem with The Simpsons a couple of times. There used to be some bad sound clipping which I think is fixed. But there is still a problem with left and right channels being swapped. A little bit into the game there's a TV and a character skates across, this is where it's easy to notice, but other effects are swapped too.

Thank you for all the awesome work; I have loved reading this thread!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on June 21, 2014, 02:13:48 AM
Huggybaby, thanks - I really appreciate the feedback :)  Also, thanks for the bug report, consider it fixed.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on June 21, 2014, 11:29:39 AM
dink it's come to my attention that as yet you've not been asked for a certain request that has plagued other FBA devs for years
so let me put that right by asking could you please port the Midway drivers across from MAME so we can play the Mortal Kombat
games in FBA


















Only joking  :wink: :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on June 21, 2014, 02:11:44 PM
dink it's come to my attention that as yet you've not been asked for a certain request that has plagued other FBA devs for years
so let me put that right by asking could you please port the Midway drivers across from MAME so we can play the Mortal Kombat
games in FBA


















Only joking  :wink: :biggrin:
You like dead kittens? 'cause that's how you get dead kittens. Lol
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Huggybaby on June 21, 2014, 02:22:39 PM
LOL  :p
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on June 21, 2014, 04:07:04 PM
You like dead kittens? 'cause that's how you get dead kittens. Lol

Quote
+ T +: Every time you mention Midway games in Final Burn, iq_132 kills a kitten!

Oh i forgot about that and well since it was only joke you leave them kittens alone now :lol:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on June 21, 2014, 05:05:43 PM
hehe!

Well, all funny things aside, I found yet another problem with the ym2151 and savestates.  Fix is incoming..  :eek: :p
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on June 22, 2014, 04:58:13 AM
Thunder Cross 2 (thndrx2 / konami/d_tmnt.cpp) has some really killer stereo sound+music, but it has to be enabled via the nvram settings in the game.  By default, the game is set to mono, but sounds only come out of one speaker, and this is horrible, because most people won't think of going into the service mode and setting it to stereo (its not a dip setting).  I would like to somehow set it to stereo mode by default, but I'm not too familiar with the inner workings of the eeprom serial interface.  All I know is that the 8th byte into thndrx2.nv should be changed from 0x2e to 0x0e to enable stereo mode.  Do you guys have any ideas how this idea/feature can be done? :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on June 22, 2014, 10:54:43 AM
re: the theory of some sort of internal timer overflow (or something of that sort)

There are a few games, notably varth, thunder cross 2, truxton 2, and several others which savestates work fine, and even closing and reloading fb, then loading the rom and savestate, works perfect.  Now that that has been established...

Turning off my computer, then turning it on several hours later, loading fb and the game & savestate, and now the game crawls at like 1/4 the speed.  Press f3 to reset it and start a new game, its still going slow as hell.

The investigation begins...  though I'd like to ask, does anyone have any ideas off the top of their heads why this may be happening?

Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: kev on June 22, 2014, 12:02:50 PM
I wonder if its the frameskipping code getting confused? Are any of the variables used by it (at the burner side) defined in burn and missing from the save states? Maybe also if they are not missing they need to be reset when a state is loaded?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on June 22, 2014, 01:04:09 PM
Does the same thing happen when changing the windows system time?
Also, create the eprom settings you want for those games and I'll set up the default in the driver. (please post the actual file)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on June 22, 2014, 02:39:26 PM
I tried setting the time back, no dice :(  I'm about to do some investigating though, take a new snap, and compare the data, try to figure out where things are going wrong. EDIT: I believe its due to a compiler bug.  I had recompiled konami/d_tmnt.cpp with my script which had -Ofast (fast optimization), and this screwed up savestates for games even outside of that driver.  My savestates work again at the proper speed after changing it back to -O1 / recompiling / linking.  Very strange - though, I'm also very relieved :biggrin:

Here's the eeprom data for thunder cross 2 (thndrx2), thndrx2.newdefault is the one that should be the default data.  thanks :D

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on June 22, 2014, 03:45:58 PM
Re: savestate investigation revisited, aka I don't think its a compiler bug after all.

When making a savestate with SekScan(), it dumps the entire structure m68ki_cpu_core to the savestate.  At the bottom of the structure are a bunch of pointers:
Code: [Select]
uint8* cyc_instruction;
uint8* cyc_exception;

/* Callbacks to host */
int  (*int_ack_callback)(int int_line);           /* Interrupt Acknowledge */
void (*bkpt_ack_callback)(unsigned int data);     /* Breakpoint Acknowledge */
void (*reset_instr_callback)(void);               /* Called when a RESET instruction is encountered */
void (*cmpild_instr_callback)(unsigned int, int); /* Called when a CMPI.L #v, Dn instruction is encountered */
void (*rte_instr_callback)(void);                 /* Called when a RTE instruction is encountered */
void (*pc_changed_callback)(unsigned int new_pc); /* Called when the PC changes by a large amount */
void (*set_fc_callback)(unsigned int new_fc);     /* Called when the CPU function code changes */
void (*instr_hook_callback)(void);                /* Called every instruction cycle prior to execution */

so, what happens if you load the savestate on a different pc, or at a different time of the day when the operating system decides to load the code into a different segment?  problems. :)  I'm going to experiment with ignoring these pointers when loading a state, since they should already be set up in drvinit().etc. and see what happens...

EDIT: a little while later...

Success!!
I modified the 68k interface to preserve the pointers, save or load the cpu context data, then put the pointers back.
To make sure I wasn't seeing things, I disabled the new code in the 68k interface and tried loading a savestate between a fast-optimized FBA exe and a regular-optimized exe, and.. it exhibited the same symptoms as talked about a message or 2 back.  (so thats good! it proves that the new code does indeed work.)
This new fix should help with the portablilty of savestates between 64 and 32bit systems also.

So what did we learn today?  Savestate-scanning structures with pointers in them is bad, mm'kay!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: kev on June 22, 2014, 06:53:08 PM
I suppose a terrible way of fixing this would of been changing the save state loading to load the roms, start the driver for a frame and then load the save state. Your fix is better :)

Edit : actually, that would still not work obviously. Yours is the only fix. I shouldn't drink on Sunday nights :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on June 23, 2014, 02:04:18 AM
kev, thanks :)  well, at the time of loading or saving a state, the rom is already loaded and running.  But I kinda see what you mean.. if a game isn't running and you go to load a state, it should then load the game and then the state.  I like that idea :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on June 24, 2014, 09:14:00 AM
Alright, I finally got the YM2151 savestate issues worked out, it all boiled down to the parameters being swapped for set_connect() in the postload-refresh function.  ugh  :eek:  :redface:
To my defence, the parameters were swapped way before I even touched the code!  Honest!  :biggrin:

...It will be perfect when I get done with it, even if it takes 5 tries.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Barry Harris on June 24, 2014, 09:29:34 AM
Most likely that would be how it came out of MAME way back then...
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on June 24, 2014, 10:35:47 AM
Most likely that would be how it came out of MAME way back then...
Holy bug from the beginning of time!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on June 24, 2014, 02:53:39 PM
hehe :) I figured so much..
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on June 25, 2014, 03:12:10 PM
Hi guys,
Once in a while, I'll pause a game, and then turn off my pc (actually, Hibernate!), later when I wake the thing up, I'm greeted with a blank FBA window.  So thats fixed now :)

its a slow day..

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on June 28, 2014, 02:27:32 PM
Out of curiosity(or desperation), would anyone be interested in porting the ymf278b.c driver from the latest MAME to FBA?  :S
The FBA-current version of the driver is missing reverb/dampening, sometimes notes stick on forever (try the smartbomb in Tengai, for example).  Fortunately, all this has been added and fixed in the latest version.  The driver itself is relatively small :)


Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on June 29, 2014, 11:25:41 AM
I'm trying to port the [latest mame]/src/emu/sound/ymf278b.c to FBA, but the part that is confusing me is all of the timers needed by the driver.  The driver is really simple and straightforward other than the timers though.

http://mamedev.org/source/src/emu/sound/ymf278b.c.html

The timers are set up in ymf278b_init()
Manipulated in ymf278b_A_w() (the lines with chip->timer_a/b & the attotime stuff)
.. and around line 609-612.

I need someone to explain how these timers work, and how they translate to FBA. :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on June 30, 2014, 01:25:14 AM
I got the new ymf278b chip driver ported to FBA! :biggrin:

What I did was check the mame svn and found where they changed the timer code over to the new timer code, which I'm not familiar with, and then I figured out from there how to integrate the old timer code from FBA into the new driver.
And it works, too, imagine that :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on June 30, 2014, 08:22:50 AM
I got the new ymf278b chip driver ported to FBA! :biggrin:

What I did was check the mame svn and found where they changed the timer code over to the new timer code, which I'm not familiar with, and then I figured out from there how to integrate the old timer code from FBA into the new driver.
And it works, too, imagine that :)

Nice work! Looking forward to seeing it!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on June 30, 2014, 10:04:23 AM
I got the new ymf278b chip driver ported to FBA! :biggrin:
Well done!!!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on June 30, 2014, 03:51:30 PM
Thanks guys! :D

I spent a few hours today testing the new driver, and since everything checked out OK, I checked it in to svn.  I need to do a little cleaning up here and there, but for the most part, its complete.

One of my favorite games - Tengai (aka Sengoku Blade - Sengoku ace episode II aka Samurai Aces 2) is now much more enjoyable.  No more stuck sounds (try it - press the smartbomb button), no more missing music halfway through the game :D
Wait, thats not all, this new driver has reverb and dampening also.  In Tengai, try picking up a coin[during the game] with headphones on, its ear piercingly painfull, now try with the new version, ahh - perfection.  :wink:  For only 19.95, you get not one, but two.. Just pay separate shipping and handling.....  Just kidding, wait for the next version of FBA  :biggrin:

I thought that this driver port would fix the problems with Sol Divide, but I was wrong - it seems like something in Sol Divide's driver is skipping some irq's or interleaved wrong which is causing commands to the ymf278b to get skipped.  To see what I mean, run Sol Divide in MAME, insert a coin, watch the intro w/music & start playing, then do the same in FBA, notice something missing?  I will definitely be looking into this problem (in the sol divide driver/d_psikyosh) soon though, guys!

best regards and happy gaming,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Haze on June 30, 2014, 05:43:16 PM
The SH2 has timers as well.. I seem to remember at least one of the Psikyo games needing them to work properly and idle skipping interfering with that, might have been Sol Divide.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on July 01, 2014, 02:48:11 AM
Haze, thanks for the info, I'll take into consideration on my debugging session :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on July 01, 2014, 02:50:01 AM
Big thanks to iq_132 for leading me in the right direction to fix a bug in the ymf278b driver that was driving me insane earlier tonight :)

Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on July 02, 2014, 11:18:38 AM
Re: Playtesting...

Not much to write about today, but things are looking good :)

I played Strikers 1, 2, 3 & Tengai from beginning to end (again) as they are the games in FBA that make the most use of the ymf278b chip, and things are looking pretty good.  Looks like I forgot about Dragon Blaze.. .  Later today perhaps.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on July 09, 2014, 10:57:16 AM
There hasn't been much news from me lately, but thats a good thing.  I used to find bugs in games every couple games I tried, and lately I've been playing tons of games, and havn't come across any showstopping bugs.  On top of that, iq_132 has been doing an awesome job adding new drivers, things are good for FBA :)

Its probably not worth mentioning, but I found yet another issue with the way hibernation is handled, and I made a new fix for it - this time I'm going to test it for a few [more] days before checking it in - but I think this will be the last fix-iteration for hibernation related issues (loss of video/etc) - without affecting anything else, like stepping frames when menus are accessed - oops  :redface:

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on July 11, 2014, 05:51:48 PM
Some news for today:

Added a [Rescan Romset] button to the Rom Info window, so new rom/roms can be added to the database without doing a full rescan.

I noticed that a bunch (nearly all..) of the Toaplan games had missing dipswitch heading descriptions (group), those have been filled in :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on July 12, 2014, 03:48:37 PM
Hi guys,
Made some small enhancements to the Rescan Romset button - if the romset has issues, it will popup a little window with the missing/bad roms/etc - its the same one that pops up when you try to play a game with something wrong.  If the romset is OK, it will add a little message to the rom info window saying that the romset is OK. .. and of course add or remove the game from the database.

Thats it for today, best regards,
- dink

Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on July 13, 2014, 12:05:01 AM
I went to load my savestate for Progear from the other day, and was greeted with a blank screen - but all the sfx and music of a regular game, luckily it was a simple fix - a common s.state/palette issue.. no problem! :)  Now, back to my game of Progear...  :biggrin:

In the meantime, check out this awesome stage 4 boss...
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on July 18, 2014, 01:05:30 AM
Tokio(b) - Scramble Formation is now a lot more playable, 2 things were fixed with this game: the background music - yes, there actually is background music in this game, it just wasn't set right :)  Also just tonight I figured out & fixed the gaps between tiles in the playfield that happened every screen. (it was happening because the vblank irq was fireing too late in the frame)

thats it for now,
best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on July 20, 2014, 11:00:12 AM
I got Sengeki Striker on Supr[Kaneko]nova hardware to boot :)
There are still 3 issues that are holding this back from becoming a playable game, but, at least now there is hope...

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on July 20, 2014, 11:06:16 AM
I got Sengeki Striker on Supr[Kaneko]nova hardware to boot :)
There are still 3 issues that are holding this back from becoming a playable game, but, at least now there is hope...

best regards,
- dink
Nice one!!! What are the 3 issues if you dont mind me asking
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on July 20, 2014, 04:23:33 PM
Nice one!!! What are the 3 issues if you dont mind me asking

:) !

Well, a similar issue to Sol Divide, where the music doesn't trigger properly.  Its a problem with the sh2 cpu core, I'm working hard to try to fix this one..  We're going by the cycle count to trigger the timer, and that's not good enough I guess :/  I don't know for sure how its going to be fixed, I think we might need a timer system similar to mame's., a total of 3 timers is needed.
The other is an issue with the coin input, it says "Coin Error" and resets when I try to insert a coin, but if I set the game to free play mode, it plays fine.
The third problem, the game isn't compatible with the FAST_OP_FETCH in the sh2 cpu, but I optimized the regular op fetching code to be almost (85%) as fast.

I'll post something as soon as I make progress!
best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on July 20, 2014, 09:24:28 PM
:) !

Well, a similar issue to Sol Divide, where the music doesn't trigger properly.  Its a problem with the sh2 cpu core, I'm working hard to try to fix this one..  We're going by the cycle count to trigger the timer, and that's not good enough I guess :/  I don't know for sure how its going to be fixed, I think we might need a timer system similar to mame's., a total of 3 timers is needed.
The other is an issue with the coin input, it says "Coin Error" and resets when I try to insert a coin, but if I set the game to free play mode, it plays fine.
The third problem, the game isn't compatible with the FAST_OP_FETCH in the sh2 cpu, but I optimized the regular op fetching code to be almost (85%) as fast.

I'll post something as soon as I make progress!
best regards,
- dink

Please add your update to the svn, I think I can at least fix the coin issue.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on July 21, 2014, 02:26:14 AM
Hey guys,
I got the music to start, and the coin input to work, it was an irq triggering issue, although its not perfect, halfway through the first level, the music cuts out when its supposed to loop.  I think the irq's need to be tweaked a little bit, because when I get things working (in DrvFrame) for Sengeki, it breaks Cyvern(which runs perfect, otherwise).  Instead of creating a separate DrvFrame, I'm going to try to work things out, because something definitely is not right.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on July 22, 2014, 03:27:07 AM
Great news :) I've been working all day on the Kaneko Suprnova driver stuff & SH-2 CPU core. (actually, all the last 3 days)

Sengeki Striker is now 100% (although I only played until level 2's endboss, will do a full playthrough just to be sure soon)
Puzzloop, Teljan, Senknow works fine also!
Gals panic 2 and 3 sorta works, but it don't draw the lines. I suspect the graphics routines in the Suprnova driver need to be updated a bit.
That's it for now, I'm exhausted after this 3-day marathon debugging/code session  :p
EDIT: p.s. got music working in Sol Divide  :biggrin:

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Haze on July 22, 2014, 05:30:19 AM
the GP games make extensive use of the RAM based characters.

be sure to play Saru-Kani-Hamu-Zou instead of Vs. Block Breaker, if only for the bizzare intro song.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on July 22, 2014, 08:34:36 AM
Good call, it sorta reminds me of the Time Bokan a little bit :)

Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on July 22, 2014, 09:28:38 AM
Great news :) I've been working all day on the Kaneko Suprnova driver stuff & SH-2 CPU core. (actually, all the last 3 days)

Sengeki Striker is now 100% (although I only played until level 2's endboss, will do a full playthrough just to be sure soon)
Puzzloop, Teljan, Senknow works fine also!
Gals panic 2 and 3 sorta works, but it don't draw the lines. I suspect the graphics routines in the Suprnova driver need to be updated a bit.
That's it for now, I'm exhausted after this 3-day marathon debugging/code session  :p
EDIT: p.s. got music working in Sol Divide  :biggrin:

best regards,
- dink

Excellent job!!! i bet your glad that after 3 days of hard graft you've got something to show for it :wink:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on July 22, 2014, 10:33:23 AM
You desperately need to post some screenshots dink! Excellent work. :)

That also reminds me that I need to set up inputs for a few games.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on July 22, 2014, 02:26:30 PM
massive :D  You guys rock, I mean it :) 

iq_132, that would be great, v.Blockbrk/SaruKani seems like it would be a fun game with some sort of emulation for the paddle input.

Cyvern is the reason I bothered with Supernova in the first place - (its one of my favorite shooters with awesome dark/symphonicish music)

With Sengeki Striker, I had high expectations for this game, I told myself that I wouldn't play it until I got it working in FBA, and when I finally got it working I was kinda disapointed.  The music is kinda irritating.  Don't get me wrong, it is a good game, I just thought it would be better than it is.  The reason Sengeki Striker took so long to get working was due to a bug in the SH-2 cpu implementation.  And the other games (other than Cyvern) started working properly after I fixed up the irq's to get the music in Sengeki Striker working right. 

Puzzloop, it plays like Bust-A-Move aka Puzzle Bobble, Guts'n is kinda like Dr.Mario, VS. Block Breaker/SaruKani, another breakout-type game, I'm not too sure about SenKnow, it seems like a cross between Tetris and Pipe Dream (a C64 game).  Theres a couple of Mahjong games, too.....

Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on July 22, 2014, 02:28:10 PM
more :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on July 22, 2014, 02:28:53 PM
more...
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Romhack on July 22, 2014, 02:38:45 PM
Awesome work dink!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: vbt on July 22, 2014, 04:09:28 PM
Dink, your own ports ??  impressive !!!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on July 22, 2014, 04:35:44 PM
vbt, iq_132 did the driver about 5 years ago, but it was held back due to some show-stopping cpu bugs.

best regards,
-dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: JacKc on July 22, 2014, 05:25:44 PM
iq_132 and dink have made an impressive and awesome job on supernova driver  :smilie: !!!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on July 23, 2014, 12:52:53 AM
awesome, we now have 100% perfect music in Sol Divide!!  I'm excited about this, as I didn't think I'd ever come up with a solution.  :biggrin:

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: 7zxkv on July 27, 2014, 07:52:46 AM
Hi all,

I got error message ''Couldn't initialize DirectDraw7/ Direct3D7 Enhanced video output module'' with FBA 0.2.97.30.

(http://uppix.com/f-x53d4d85c001719c4.jpg) (http://uppix.com/)

XP build on XP
XP build or NT6 build (no 64) on Win7.

no problem in games but just to launch the interface (or to select a filter other than 3D Hardware and AdvanceMame).

A possible connection with the previous pages?

(system 100% up to date, dx/vc++ etc...)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Barry Harris on July 27, 2014, 08:24:28 AM
Hi all,

I got error message ''Couldn't initialize DirectDraw7/ Direct3D7 Enhanced video output module'' with FBA 0.2.97.30.

(http://uppix.com/f-x53d4d85c001719c4.jpg) (http://uppix.com/)

XP build on XP
XP build or NT6 build (no 64) on Win7.

no problem in games but just to launch the interface (or to select a filter other than 3D Hardware and AdvanceMame).

A possible connection with the previous pages?

(system 100% up to date, dx/vc++ etc...)

Have you tried deleting the ini? Given you are on XP, it would be fbaxp.ini.

dink made some changes in this area and you may have slightly strange ini values conflicting with the changes.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: 7zxkv on July 27, 2014, 08:32:59 AM
I have retried with a new install, same  :S
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on July 27, 2014, 09:31:44 AM
7zxkv:
Video -> Blitter Options -> Advanced Settings -> Force 16bit mode
Alternately, try to put your desktop in 32bpp mode.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: 7zxkv on July 27, 2014, 09:58:29 AM
already tested...it changes nothing^^

I honestly think this is a bug, there was no problem with the previous version.

Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on July 27, 2014, 02:56:11 PM
7zxkv,
Please attach a zipped fba*.ini that causes this problem. (I tried, but can't reproduce the problem)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on July 28, 2014, 02:25:06 AM
Hey guys, just a quick update on whats new today..
Added savestate support for Megadrive/Genesis games :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: 7zxkv on July 28, 2014, 05:21:37 AM
New test: windows 8.1 update 1 64bits (100% up to date, again), new install: 0 roms.

build XP or normal (not the 64-bit version because the mode "enhanced" is grayed)

Option: select blitter enhanced, soft algo: xbr or others (except "advanceMame or 3D Hardware" who do not have problems).

(http://uppix.com/f-win853d622a400171bce.jpg)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on July 28, 2014, 09:25:57 AM
7zxkv, thanks for the ini, I figured out where the problem is, now I just have to figure out whats causing it.  Will reply when I figure it out,

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on July 28, 2014, 02:21:33 PM
7zxkv, check your PM, I sent a debug test version that hopefully fixes the problem.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: 7zxkv on July 30, 2014, 10:44:20 AM
it's ok, 0.2.97.30."1" needed ^_^

Thanks Dink ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on July 30, 2014, 03:50:17 PM
it's ok, 0.2.97.30."1" needed ^_^

Thanks Dink ;)

Here: http://www.barryharris.me.uk/fba.php   :biggrin:

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: 7zxkv on July 30, 2014, 04:42:33 PM
 :biggrin: yeahh, thanks !
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on July 30, 2014, 06:08:34 PM
Tonight I fixed the missing piece to the Megadrive savestates puzzle.  The missing sound channel (dac), usually the drums or rhythm part would go missing after a savestate load.  It turns out that the postload function in the 2612 was indexing the wrong register for the dac enable status.  I also sent the code change to Haze via PM, since it applies to MAME/MESS as well as FBA :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on July 30, 2014, 06:37:57 PM
Tonight I fixed the missing piece to the Megadrive savestates puzzle.  The missing sound channel (dac), usually the drums or rhythm part would go missing after a savestate load.  It turns out that the postload function in the 2612 was indexing the wrong register for the dac enable status.  I also sent the code change to Haze via PM, since it applies to MAME/MESS as well as FBA :)

best regards,
- dink
Nice work! Things like that definitely help justify our using MAME as a base. At least that's how I rationalize it.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Freddy on July 31, 2014, 10:24:51 AM
Tonight I fixed the missing piece to the Megadrive savestates puzzle.  The missing sound channel (dac), usually the drums or rhythm part would go missing after a savestate load.  It turns out that the postload function in the 2612 was indexing the wrong register for the dac enable status.  I also sent the code change to Haze via PM, since it applies to MAME/MESS as well as FBA :)

best regards,
- dink

Nice work dink!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 01, 2014, 06:19:07 PM
Thanks guys! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 01, 2014, 06:21:33 PM
dink's FBA devlog update for.. today!

After tons of debugging & porting new sprite code and other fun things, I'm happy to say that Streets of Rage 1 & 2 now both work perfectly with FBA!   :biggrin:

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Barry Harris on August 01, 2014, 06:23:05 PM
dink's FBA devlog update for.. today!

After tons of debugging & porting new sprite code and other fun things, I'm happy to say that Streets of Rage 1 & 2 now both work perfectly with FBA!   :biggrin:

best regards,
- dink

Not sure any of them were necessary? Check the SVN.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 01, 2014, 07:40:47 PM
Treble, right, well, it looks like we came to the same conclusion re: timings. Although my way is slightly different, they both do the same in the end.

Great minds think alike :)

best regards,
- dink

Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 02, 2014, 02:45:45 AM
Not sure any of them were necessary? Check the SVN.

Oh, I meant to say re: porting the new sprite routines -  I was trying to get rid of that line of corruption in XDR (see the MD dev thread for a pic etc).  If you have any ideas re: this issue, please let me know :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on August 02, 2014, 03:15:26 AM
Oh, I meant to say re: porting the new sprite routines -  I was trying to get rid of that line of corruption in XDR (see the MD dev thread for a pic etc).  If you have any ideas re: this issue, please let me know :)

best regards,
- dink
That could very well be a timing/irq issue. Consoles are extremely sensitive.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Freddy on August 02, 2014, 11:38:31 AM
dink's FBA devlog update for.. today!

After tons of debugging & porting new sprite code and other fun things, I'm happy to say that Streets of Rage 1 & 2 now both work perfectly with FBA!   :biggrin:

best regards,
- dink

The improvements in Streets of Rage 1 are very obvious! the game is now much more fluid.
Great job, Dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 02, 2014, 03:21:43 PM
The improvements in Streets of Rage 1 are very obvious! the game is now much more fluid.
Great job, Dink

Thanks for helping me test things :D

best regards,
- dink

Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 03, 2014, 04:48:03 PM
Hi guys,
After 2 days of debugging (maybe I'm a little slow..) I found the cause and fixed a problem with some PCEngine games having static (or fast clicking) ontop of the music.  woohoo! :)  Splatterhouse being the one I used as a testcase, but there are several others that exhibit this behavior as well.

Another thing I am trying to find a good solution to is the conflicting romset names between systems.
For example, there's an arcade raiden.zip, Megadrive raiden.zip and PCEngine raiden.zip. The MD & PCE drivers will try to load the arcade raiden.zip, and that won't work.
On my personal version of FBA, I changed the Megadrive raiden.zip to raidenmd.zip and PCEngine version to raidenpce.zip, and it works good..

Do you guys think this is a good idea?  If yea, I could write a little proggy to find all the duplicates between the systems, and name them accordingly.. because there are quite a few.

Thats it for today...
best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Barry Harris on August 03, 2014, 04:50:42 PM
Hi guys,
After 2 days of debugging (maybe I'm a little slow..) I found the cause and fixed a problem with some PCEngine games having static (or fast clicking) ontop of the music.  woohoo! :)  Splatterhouse being the one I used as a testcase, but there are several others that exhibit this behavior as well.

Another thing I am trying to find a good solution to is the conflicting romset names between systems.
For example, there's an arcade raiden.zip, Megadrive raiden.zip and PCEngine raiden.zip. The MD & PCE drivers will try to load the arcade raiden.zip, and that won't work.
On my personal version of FBA, I changed the Megadrive raiden.zip to raidenmd.zip and PCEngine version to raidenpce.zip, and it works good..

Do you guys think this is a good idea?  If yea, I could write a little proggy to find all the duplicates between the systems, and name them accordingly.. because there are quite a few.

Thats it for today...
best regards,
- dink

dink,

Check the help file section on rom paths for full details the details about the last ten paths and their special usage.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 03, 2014, 05:30:55 PM
Thanks, TrebleWinner! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on August 03, 2014, 05:50:20 PM
Your fix actually improves a lot of games. They sound MUCH better. I was playing 1943 before the fix and it sounded like sh**.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Barry Harris on August 03, 2014, 06:23:01 PM
Your fix actually improves a lot of games. They sound MUCH better. I was playing 1943 before the fix and it sounded like sh**.

Nice work dink.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 03, 2014, 06:35:46 PM
:D
We are a great team!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Freddy on August 04, 2014, 09:21:24 AM

Another thing I am trying to find a good solution to is the conflicting romset names between systems.
For example, there's an arcade raiden.zip, Megadrive raiden.zip and PCEngine raiden.zip. The MD & PCE drivers will try to load the arcade raiden.zip, and that won't work.
On my personal version of FBA, I changed the Megadrive raiden.zip to raidenmd.zip and PCEngine version to raidenpce.zip, and it works good..

To avoid conflicts, I created two ROMs directories.
Shadow Dancer (arcade and mega drive) has the same file name too. Despite the same name, are entirely different games.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: JacKc on August 04, 2014, 09:24:15 AM
The best way to avoid conflict with zipnames ROMs is to create folders like this :

(http://i.imgur.com/y6978bK.jpg)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 04, 2014, 09:56:41 AM
Thanks for the suggestions, guys - I got it working good now w/o conflicts.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Barry Harris on August 04, 2014, 10:47:17 AM
Maybe we need to distribute an FAQ with the emulator for things like this?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 04, 2014, 02:48:41 PM
Treble Winner, thats a great idea - I can already think of some things that should be in it (stuff I'm always repeating to my friends when I ask them to try it, etc)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: JacKc on August 04, 2014, 05:52:38 PM
Why not also include all those folders by default?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Barry Harris on August 04, 2014, 07:01:41 PM
Why not also include all those folders by default?

Now that is a good idea - SVN incoming.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 05, 2014, 12:38:49 AM
Excellent idea :)
Personally, I'd prefer megadriv -> megadrive though.  We don't have to follow everything mess does, do we?  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Barry Harris on August 05, 2014, 04:52:09 AM
Excellent idea :)
Personally, I'd prefer megadriv -> megadrive though.  We don't have to follow everything mess does, do we?  :biggrin:

It makes life easier. Otherwise for people with the MESS software lists - you have to have the list stored twice. I just keep the MESS lists up-to-date and FB Alpha just plays nice. :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 06, 2014, 01:42:10 AM
Hello friends of FBA,
There hasn't been a lot of forum activity lately - this could only mean one thing - ya'll are busy playing games in you're favorite emulator  :wink:

Just a little update on whats going on behind the scenes:
Improved the stability of MD games a bit (especially after a reset, things would go bonkers sometimes)!  \o/
With the next release of FBA, the MD & PCE drivers will no longer just be considered an "extra".  I had been playing games on both drivers like mad the past couple days, and would now say that the status has been updated to "damn fine." :)

There is, however, one minor issue with the Megadrive driver, games that use SRam may bug-out a little, but out of 64 games in my MD collection, only one of them is affected.  Hopefully we can work this problem out (aka. guys, I need a little help - see my latest post in the Megadrive research thread regarding SRam.)

that's it for now...
best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Freddy on August 06, 2014, 12:03:40 PM
Hello friends of FBA,
There hasn't been a lot of forum activity lately - this could only mean one thing - ya'll are busy playing games in you're favorite emulator  :wink:

Just a little update on whats going on behind the scenes:
Improved the stability of MD games a bit (especially after a reset, things would go bonkers sometimes)!  \o/
With the next release of FBA, the MD & PCE drivers will no longer just be considered an "extra".  I had been playing games on both drivers like mad the past couple days, and would now say that the status has been updated to "damn fine." :)

There is, however, one minor issue with the Megadrive driver, games that use SRam may bug-out a little, but out of 64 games in my MD collection, only one of them is affected.  Hopefully we can work this problem out (aka. guys, I need a little help - see my latest post in the Megadrive research thread regarding SRam.)

that's it for now...
best regards,
- dink

MD is a kick ass console. And in the next version of FBA, we will play in Kaillera with a great emulator! TY dink!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 06, 2014, 02:22:17 PM
MD is a kick ass console. And in the next version of FBA, we will play in Kaillera with a great emulator! TY dink!

Meet me on irc sometime and we'll play a netgame or 2 :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: vbt on August 06, 2014, 03:42:47 PM
there was a #fbadev on irc(efnet) some years ago with Robert & Lantus
i'm sometimes on #smspower & #segaxtreme
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 07, 2014, 12:47:27 AM
Oh yea, I'm logged on ircnet #c64friends usually 7-9am, 11-3pm, 11-1am EST (detroit time) as derek, I'm not always at the computer though, so don't get discouraged if I'm there, but don't respond right away.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Freddy on August 08, 2014, 12:21:23 PM
Oh yea, I'm logged on ircnet #c64friends usually 7-9am, 11-3pm, 11-1am EST (detroit time) as derek, I'm not always at the computer though, so don't get discouraged if I'm there, but don't respond right away.

best regards,
- dink

... And all this time I was looking for "dink"... until I stopped to try.  :S
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 09, 2014, 01:45:18 AM
sorry about that!  I forgot to mention  :redface:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 12, 2014, 03:15:48 AM
Just some small updates from me over the past couple of days:
Added UWOL Quest for Money to Megadrive driver
Added Aetherbyte's Reflectron to PCEngine driver
Updated/fixed the Megadrive driver to load the latest (MESS) romsets of Ghouls 'n Ghosts & Ghouls 'n Ghosts rev.A (the rom data needed to be re-arranged a bit in memory)
Added the k005289 enhancement from MAME svn, makes the bgm in Nemesis sound more like how it should.
Fix Savestate undo bug - don't undo the last savestate, leaving no savestates to load  :redface:...  :p
Add Protection fix for (Megadrive) Puggsy, so the game can now be won without getting the piracy notice.  The code for this fix is so complex, it almost requires quantum computing to initialize properly.  :biggrin:
Add [a couple of internal enhancements that won't be noticable to the end user].
and..
Tried very (very!) hard to get music working in Sand Scorpion.. No luck, this time..  :redface:

take care, my friends :)
best regards,
- dink


Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 18, 2014, 04:25:13 AM
Hey guys,
This might not be everyone's cup-o-tea, but some serious oldschool is about to happen..

Incoming Sega SG-1000 driver for FBA - code by iq_132, bringing up to date, spiffing up, and fixes by dink

This is the Sega home console machine prior to the Master System, and shares hardware with the MSX1 and Colecovision.
[a Colecovision driver will be added very soon - also!]
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 19, 2014, 02:49:14 AM
ColecoVision comes to FBAlpha!
Big thanks to iq_132 for letting me resurrect, spiff up and fix this excellent drivercode :) (as legend has it: this CV emucode was almost lost forever on the deepest depths of his hard drive... hehe)

Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 19, 2014, 02:53:27 AM
..
Fans of Zaxxon, Gyruss, Defender, and Roc 'n Rope will love this one!  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Huggybaby on August 19, 2014, 10:25:40 AM
I'm a Zaxxon fan. Ah, the memories. Thanks again dink!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 19, 2014, 03:50:08 PM
I'm a Zaxxon fan. Ah, the memories. Thanks again dink!

Right on! You'll be happy to know that vbt is also working on a Zaxxon driver, so this will bring 3 completely different versions of Zaxxon to FBA.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 19, 2014, 03:55:50 PM
News for today:
Doing tons of play"testing" of the SG-1000 & ColecoVision games.  Ok, maybe I'm just having some fun...  :biggrin:
( if you've missed the SG-1000 and ColecoVision news w/lots of piccys, click this: http://neo-source.com/index.php?topic=2487.msg17329#msg17329 )

Also added hardware filters for SG-1000 and Coleco.  On a side-note: UI changes make me nervous, always too many things can go wrong, but so far things seem ok. *fingers crossed*
Made a script to re-build the gamedriverlist & compile the new driver, so if I add a new driver I don't have to wait for the make process to complete since it takes about 10-15 minutes even if theres just 1 change.  With these scripts I can compile new drivers/rebuild the game list & link the executable in a matter of seconds on my pc from the dark ages.

best regards,
- dink

Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 21, 2014, 03:39:54 PM
Coleco & SG1000 drivers are 100% complete now, now I'm working on title & preview pics for the new systems - actually all of Coleco games are done, and I just have about 80% left on the SG1000 pics.

Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Huggybaby on August 21, 2014, 04:13:19 PM
Neat, I'd rather use FBA than MESS.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 21, 2014, 11:57:59 PM
Neat, I'd rather use FBA than MESS.

Right on, thats why I'm doing this :)

Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on August 22, 2014, 01:11:18 AM
Agreed on that too!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 25, 2014, 04:34:05 PM
Hi guys, got a new issue - when playing netgames with Kaillera and lets say that the remote side has Assembly 68k core, and my side has Musashi -  the games get desynched really fast.  That's not good!  Me and a buddy got really frustrated because of this earlier, and after trying several different servers, games and pulling hair out / thinking I accidentally introduced a bug into FBA over the past week or so, I finally realized that it would be a good idea to check that the 68k cores are the same on both ends.

I was thinking of the following solution:
If the user has the Assembly 68k enabled and they do Game -> Play via Kaillera, it will pop up a little message telling the user to disable the Assembly 68k core under Misc -> Options.  Simple enough, what do you think?  It should save a lot of headaches in the future :)

best regards & happy gaming,
- dink


Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Barry Harris on August 25, 2014, 05:35:14 PM
Hi guys, got a new issue - when playing netgames with Kaillera and lets say that the remote side has Assembly 68k core, and my side has Musashi -  the games get desynched really fast.  That's not good!  Me and a buddy got really frustrated because of this earlier, and after trying several different servers, games and pulling hair out / thinking I accidentally introduced a bug into FBA over the past week or so, I finally realized that it would be a good idea to check that the 68k cores are the same on both ends.

I was thinking of the following solution:
If the user has the Assembly 68k enabled and they do Game -> Play via Kaillera, it will pop up a little message telling the user to disable the Assembly 68k core under Misc -> Options.  Simple enough, what do you think?  It should save a lot of headaches in the future :)

best regards & happy gaming,
- dink

Or we could go with kev's favourite solution of ripping out A68K? :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on August 25, 2014, 10:44:43 PM
I wouldn't complain. It adds unnecessary complexity.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on August 25, 2014, 11:55:06 PM
Night Slashers was close to working in FBA a few years back was wondering what was the issues that prevented it from being
Fully Playable
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on August 26, 2014, 12:23:21 AM
Night Slashers was close to working in FBA a few years back was wondering what was the issues that prevented it from being
Fully Playable
Got bored with it lol. That happens a lot.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on August 26, 2014, 10:10:56 AM
Got bored with it lol. That happens a lot.
Fair Enough :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: cmart on August 26, 2014, 09:55:17 PM
Any shot at seeing Ninja Baseball Batman
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on August 26, 2014, 11:38:48 PM
Any shot at seeing Ninja Baseball Batman

Fixed.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: csmart on August 27, 2014, 01:47:26 AM
You rule iq_
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 27, 2014, 02:33:59 AM
M92 savestates were working - I remember playing Hook a few weeks ago and using them to save my game, now they aren't.  This is weird  :eek:  Everything looks OK...
EDIT: Turns out my poor old computer can't take the heat.  :redface:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 27, 2014, 03:48:22 AM
While playing Ninja Baseball Bat man, the screen froze up in 2 separate games (the music kept playing - but everything else freezes).  Once during a boss fight with the airplane-boss and then again in level 2 on the ships deck right after I got into the car.

EDIT: I got it to happen again - this time I saved a state right before hopping into the car, and basically I hop into the car and go around the screen like mad crashing into enemies, after 5-10 times of re-trying this, it'll lock up solid.  It usually happens when the screen is really busy (lots of sprites crashing about).  After the screen locks up solid and I press a bunch of buttons, the screen goes really strange with numbers. (see pic)  Also attached in states.zip: state saved right @ the car (for jumping into and going nuts) and a state taken when its locked up (ala piccy)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 27, 2014, 10:22:06 AM
I thought it would be fun to try to reproduce the problem with the world version of the romset, and the first time I got it to freeze - in the car after beating windy airplane, I started hitting a lot of buttons, and the game just rebooted to the irem logo - this time, weird things would be flashing all over the screen while the game booted.  Here's a perfect recreation scenario:
unzip nbbincar into your savestates directory.
load the game/load hit f9(load state)
drive a bit - when you see the pile of toxic barrels, move your joystick / gamepad in circles as fast as you can whilst hitting the barrels - if it doesn't lock up after you crash into the barrels, try again (it might take a couple tries)

Ideas? :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 27, 2014, 10:43:17 AM
Good news - I updated the irem_cpu decode table for this game, and now the music doesn't sound like a horrible cacophony of Richard D. James' blenders.  I have to leave, so I won't be able to test if that fixed the lockup, but hopefully it does.  More news when I get back in a few hours...

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Barry Harris on August 27, 2014, 11:16:28 AM
I thought it would be fun to try to reproduce the problem with the world version of the romset, and the first time I got it to freeze - in the car after beating windy airplane, I started hitting a lot of buttons, and the game just rebooted to the irem logo - this time, weird things would be flashing all over the screen while the game booted.  Here's a perfect recreation scenario:
unzip nbbincar into your savestates directory.
load the game/load hit f9(load state)
drive a bit - when you see the pile of toxic barrels, move your joystick / gamepad in circles as fast as you can whilst hitting the barrels - if it doesn't lock up after you crash into the barrels, try again (it might take a couple tries)

Ideas? :)

Does the driver have code to avoid opposite direction presses?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 27, 2014, 03:31:16 PM
Does the driver have code to avoid opposite direction presses?

It didn't, but I added code to check & clear opposites (from d_m62.cpp) and tried again, no luck.. its still being troublesome.. :/
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 27, 2014, 04:04:07 PM
Here's a new savestate, for nbbatman - it freezes after about 3 seconds after it loads - nothing else needs to be done.  Was real lucky to catch this one!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 27, 2014, 05:19:02 PM
I think the problem w/nbbatman is solved! *awesome!*

Ok, let me start - whenever this lockup problem happened, there were a lot of sprite-type things happening on the screen, so this got me thinking - lets check the sprite stuff in the driver.  Turns out it throws a sprite buffer refresh interrupt when its done copying over the sprite buffer, so I thought I'd disable the interrupt just for the heck of it.  it caused the same exact kinda lockup that I was experiencing, so I figured the problem was in that area.   In the mame code, there is a comment that says "Major title 2 doesn't like this interrupt", which got me even better clue to as where the problem lies.  Time to add a new kludge for this game and do some playtesting!  None of my savestates lockup anymore, so thats good :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 27, 2014, 06:15:39 PM
Hey guys, one last message re: Ninja Baseball BatMan - the game is now fully playable without any freezeups! (woohoo!!)
I havn't had this much fun w/a game since Caveman Ninja :)

Big thanks to cmart for letting us all know about this awesome game & of course iq_132 for getting it to boot :)
On an unrelated note - thanks Treble Winner for the configurable directory option! (& sorry I didn't get to check out the bug-site yet, I was entirely focused on getting this game running stable today.)

Gonna take a nice long break now,
best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: cmart on August 27, 2014, 06:45:09 PM
Thanks to you guys for making it playable and all the hard work. Can't wait to play it in the next release.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 28, 2014, 09:19:10 AM
Re: Ninja Baseball Batman
In the cutscenes/intro/animations theres a bunch of flickers, and at the end of each fadeout theres also a flicker.  I was able to get rid of the flicker in the animations (which is where it looked the worst), but at the end of each fadeout, I couldn't fix that.  MAME also suffers from the same flickers, so at this point I don't think its fixable - but on the other hand, its not something that detracts from the game at all, and is hardly noticable.  Well, this is the best I can do for this awesome game :)

EDIT: I played the game to the end earlier to make sure everything checks out OK, and also Just finished the game 2player with Kaillera with my good friend Zazzone :) I won't spoil things too much, but heres a piccy from earlier...

thats all for now,
best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 29, 2014, 05:55:54 PM
Hello friends and fans of FBAlpha!
I have some more great news - Another longstanding bug has been squashed, the game is In The Hunt aka Kaitei Daisensou.  Lets let the pictures do the talking :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: csmart on August 30, 2014, 01:27:13 AM
Great job Dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: JacKc on August 30, 2014, 08:22:02 AM
.Nice job dink  :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on August 30, 2014, 10:16:06 AM
In The Hunt Nice game a good fix dink well done!!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 30, 2014, 11:12:46 AM
thanks guys, I appreciate the comments. :)  they keep me motivated!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 31, 2014, 04:47:27 PM
Since about the first week or so I started working on FBA, I've been trying to get savestates working on the IREM M62 system.  nomatter what I tried, the sound system would keep messing up on savestate load.   A few weeks ago, me and iq_132 tried fixing it together on irc, and we thought we had it.. but, false alarm, it only worked by coincidence.  Back to square one.
Today I dug really deep into the cpu core, and found a few variables that weren't getting saved in the savestate mechanism, I thought - hey! this should fix it..  Turns out I was wrong again...
Went out to eat, thought about it a bit... Seems like I'm turning into a code-zombie again...
Did a little more tracing, and relized, that none of the CPU registers were getting saved at all!  Deep in the cpu core(HD63701), there lies a static local structure/variable that contains the cpu registers, and this is never copied over to the interface-side of things.  Well derrrr!!

Fixed that up, and now things are working properly.  Something that had been a total mystery to me over the past 6 months, finally fixed.  wooohoo!!  :biggrin:

p.s. on top of the irem m62 states getting fixed, it should also fix states for Pac-Land and any other game that uses this cpu core.

Thats it for now!
best regards & happy gaming,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on September 01, 2014, 01:16:30 AM
Thanks to the fix to the m6800/hd63701 cpu core made earlier today, savestates are now enabled and working for Pac-Land (The arcade version), SkyKid, Dragon Buster, Alien Sector/Baraduke & Metro-Cross.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on September 02, 2014, 03:08:32 PM
Hi friends & fans of FBAlpha,
Not much news from me today, just fixed the music in Baraduke/Alien Sector and Metro-Cross.  These games sound great now :)
Think I might take a break from coding and play some games before I turn into a code-zombie permanently.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: cmart on September 02, 2014, 07:24:13 PM
Awesome job Dink. Your work is really appreciated.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on September 04, 2014, 03:02:40 PM
:D
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on September 04, 2014, 03:11:19 PM
Just a little update,
Yesterday: fixed a problem with Robocop 2 - the sprite layer was skewed by -64px & sporatic load problem with The King of Fighters 2003 - big thanks to c(s)mart and gamez fan for finding these bugs :)
Today:
Started doing some mega-debugging on Robocop2 / The Cliffhanger to try and get the driving scenes scrolling proper.  Since the column scrolling was completely broke ( remember Caveman Ninja?  http://neo-source.com/index.php?topic=2487.msg16406#msg16406 ), its possible that the rowscrolling is also broke in someway or another.  Either that, or the raster effects aren't implemented, which I'm worried might be the case.  Either way, expect a fix from me soon :)

best regards,
- dink

Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Haze on September 06, 2014, 09:28:00 AM
edward randy also uses rasters for the clouds on the plane scene fwiw
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on September 15, 2014, 02:22:33 PM
The other day I updated the DMA transfer routines in the Megadrive driver, which fixed a couple games, notably X-Men 2 - whenever something got killed, its sprite/bits of its body would stay on the screen.  Theres another game that it fixed, but I can't remember it at this time.. derr!  Well, big thanks to Freddy for finding the bugs and then testing the fix :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: JacKc on September 15, 2014, 04:01:41 PM
awesome job as always dink  ;p
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on September 16, 2014, 12:32:58 AM
Thanks JacKc!  and double thanks for helping with theglad (and everything else) :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on September 16, 2014, 01:20:00 AM
Possibly bug-related, but a call for help :)

FBA Always sets the default coin & start for player 3 and 4 (aka p3coin 7, start 3, p4 coin 8, start 4), and these macros always conflict with my gamepad macros.
I created a player3.ini preset with the following:
Code: [Select]
FB Alpha [DEBUG] - Hardware Default Preset

Generic hardware

version 0x029732

input  "P3 Coin"          undefined
input  "P3 Start"         undefined
input  "P4 Coin"          undefined
input  "P4 Start"         undefined

and in fbaxp.ini,
Code: [Select]
// Player default controls, number is the index of the configuration in the input dialog
nPlayerDefaultControls[0] 15
szPlayerDefaultIni[0] config\presets\preset.ini
nPlayerDefaultControls[1] 15
szPlayerDefaultIni[1] config\presets\preset.ini
nPlayerDefaultControls[2] 15
szPlayerDefaultIni[2] config\presets\preset3.ini
nPlayerDefaultControls[3] 15
szPlayerDefaultIni[3] config\presets\preset3.ini

But still, player 3 and 4's default settings are still set with the default values for coin/start.  So, the question is - how can I get it to blank out the values for player 3 and 4 by default, when a game configuration in config/games doesn't exist?

thanks and best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on September 16, 2014, 04:33:27 AM
edward randy also uses rasters for the clouds on the plane scene fwiw
Edrandy has some funkyness going on. Level 2's road is a broken mess.  Even with rasters hooked up.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Haze on September 16, 2014, 04:26:22 PM
Edrandy has some funkyness going on. Level 2's road is a broken mess.  Even with rasters hooked up.

It uses the protection there afaik
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on September 18, 2014, 03:23:16 AM
From the Wednesday night 2014 FBA-Code-a-Thon, starring iq_132 (Konami) and derek (inputdialogue), comes:

A New FBA Feature
--
Pause and FFWD can now be mapped via the input mapping dialogue for the default preset (global/every game) or per game :D

Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on September 19, 2014, 01:43:02 AM
Here's the 2nd revision of new & handy button mappings - this time we get Save/Load & Undo State (to the current active slot, of course).
p.s. To make the settings global/the same for every game: set these up in [any game of your choice] and save it to your default preset.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: csmart on September 19, 2014, 09:46:53 AM
Thanks Dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Gamera on September 20, 2014, 01:12:44 PM
From the Wednesday night 2014 FBA-Code-a-Thon, starring iq_132 (Konami) and derek (inputdialogue), comes:

A New FBA Feature
--
Pause and FFWD can now be mapped via the input mapping dialogue for the default preset (global/every game) or per game :D

Awesome news!  Thank you for implementing my request!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on September 21, 2014, 02:52:45 PM
You're most certainly welcome :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on September 23, 2014, 06:01:33 PM
Dear friends,
I think I'm loosing my mind!
o.O
I still have a crappy cold :(
have a nice day :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: csmart on September 23, 2014, 10:26:36 PM
hope you get better Dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on September 24, 2014, 04:08:07 AM
csmart: thanks buddy :)

Now, finally have some good news: I got nmk004 running stable, had a bit of trouble with this one because of some bugs in the tlcs90 port which were hard to track down.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Huggybaby on September 24, 2014, 09:28:49 PM
This fixes sound in some great games, thanks dink!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: WILOWAR on September 27, 2014, 05:54:17 PM
Hi Dink. Can you fix Guardians Banpresto (grdians) 1995 arcade beat up game ?? :S
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on September 27, 2014, 07:28:32 PM
Hi Dink. Can you fix Guardians Banpresto (grdians) 1995 arcade beat up game ?? :S
What's wrong with it?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on September 28, 2014, 01:22:02 AM
What's wrong with it?

I noticed that the music is missing the melody, right now its only playing drums and a bassline.
After you select your character, it brings you to this weird screen for a second or 2 (see pic) [to be fair, this part doesn't seem correct or fully emulated in MAME either]
Played the first 2 levels, didn't notice anything else other than the music missing its melody.

EDIT: err.. everything seems to check out ok comparing to older mame source :/

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on September 28, 2014, 10:32:00 AM
After you select your character, it brings you to this weird screen for a second or 2

Spooky :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on September 29, 2014, 05:11:33 PM
d's daily blurb:

I planned on taking a couple days break from doing any sort of code-related things, to get my head straight and have some fun, but I just had to (couldnt help it) go exploring and find more (mostly little) things to fix or improve..
Shooter fans (like myself) are going to love the next rel. of FBA.  New drivers like Raiden2 & Xexex are just amazing.  Massive thanks to iq_132 for bringing us these awesome drivers! The music of Xexex and Raiden2 has been stuck in my head for days now.  Air Duel, Kotetsu Yousai Strahl, GunNail, US AAF Mustang, Bioship Paladin, Black Heart and Hacha Mecha Fighter all have excellent music now!! 

Stay tuned..
best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: WILOWAR on September 30, 2014, 05:00:08 AM
Hi dink :) Do you really fix Kotetsu Yousai Strahl game ???
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on September 30, 2014, 08:32:02 AM
Hi dink :) Do you really fix Kotetsu Yousai Strahl game ???

Yep - Strahl is damn near perfect now :D
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on September 30, 2014, 02:36:32 PM
There's only a small problem left with Strahl, the noise when you insert a coin and at the beginning of level 1 where the guy says "be carefull" is missing.  All the music and all the other sounds are in perfect working order, though!  I can't quite figure this one out, but I won't give up on it.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on September 30, 2014, 04:31:09 PM
After some painstaking debugging, I figured out the cause of the missing samples in Strahl & Bio-Ship Paladin.  Aww yea! \o/
Technical info: it was down to a single type-o and incorrect sample-length checking in the msm6295 sound core.

Gonna play through the entire game of Strahl tonight to see how it stands up ;)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on September 30, 2014, 04:55:36 PM
Nice work Dink!!! im sure your glad to have finally got the nmk games at 100%
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on September 30, 2014, 05:25:07 PM
Thanks buddy :)

Some more great news - the frogs make their ribbit noise in VanDyke (Japan) with this fix, also :D
'Tis a great day!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on October 01, 2014, 03:11:52 PM
The Daily waffle, brought to you by dink!

Added a new little feature to the search box - now it will search the manufacturer & system type along with the usual gamename & romset name.  This way you can bring up a list of games by, for example: NMK - which don't have their own category in the hardware list.

I played through the entire game of Kotetsu Yousai Strahl, what an awesome game it is.  The music is so epic, especially on level 4 or 5 when it starts with no music but a spooky windy noise - then the music slowly builds up, it almost brought a tear to my eye *sniff*.  :biggrin:

I'm trying to conjure up a way to implement autofire into FBA, because a few of my friends keep bugging me to add it.  Stay tuned :)

Thats all for now!
best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on October 01, 2014, 04:24:34 PM
It's official, Auto-Fire has been added to FBA! :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on October 02, 2014, 02:18:58 AM
Here's how the new autofire feature works, the player firebuttons are duplicated at the bottom of the list in the input editor (F5) as "P1 AutoFire Button 1" (and so forth), you can then map that button to any button/key/etc. as your autofire button.  If you save it as your default preset, it will then be the same for every game - though games that need different button(s) mapped as AutoFire can be set separately.

I plan to add an option to tune the autofire rate later, but for now its tuned to be just about perfect for most shooters/beat 'em ups. EDIT: Done, see next message! :)

thats all for now,
best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on October 02, 2014, 04:58:53 PM
FBA Auto-Fire is here! :D

Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on October 02, 2014, 05:08:19 PM
Hey nice job im sure this will save alotta sore thumbs when playing shmups :D
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on October 03, 2014, 04:10:41 PM
Hey nice job im sure this will save alotta sore thumbs when playing shmups :D

Right on buddy! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on October 03, 2014, 04:12:21 PM
Did some tweaks to the irq timing in nmk16/nmk004 to get rid of the "flicker" of the life-bar in the game VanDyke.
Things are looking good :)

EDIT: the new Auto-Fire feature has been deemed worthy by a couple friends - so I checked it into the svn!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on October 04, 2014, 02:32:23 AM
And early the next day...

Added SMB4MD (Super Mario Bros. for Megadrive) 1.4.2 to the MegaDrive driver
Fixed the top line of the status bar in Acrobat Mission, Air Attack & S.S. Mission (nmk16)
Added a fix from AWJ (MAME svn) to Konami's pcm driver chip core (k053260) that improves the quality of the voice samples in The Simpsons and possibly other Konami games.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Huggybaby on October 04, 2014, 03:26:12 AM
Wow, more Simpsons audio fixes! Thanks dink!

(PS Does anyone suspect when the new FBA is coming out?)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on October 05, 2014, 03:29:54 AM
Huggybaby: you're welcome!  Possible release in a few weeks :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on October 05, 2014, 03:35:25 AM
dink's FBA News for today:
Fixed Alien Soldier on Megadrive
Fix/get rid of the usually garbage line of pixels at the bottom of most Megadrive games.  Spent half the day trying to figure out why this happens, and tried to fix it proper - but - that didn't work out, so I just masked out the last line.  Anyways, it looks a lot better now :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on October 05, 2014, 03:40:48 PM
[go back a page to see "earlier today..."!]
... later on that day...
Fixed the flickering score and player/life status in Konami's Sunset Riders, big thanks to Zazzone for finding the bug :)

The funny thing about this one - the solution was exactly the same as the flicker-fix for VanDyke by UPL on nmk16 hardware.

Fixed: some Megadrive games have corrupt graphics or other glitchy weirdness when reset (f3)

best regards & happy retro-gaming,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on October 10, 2014, 04:32:18 AM
So, whats new the last couple days..  I've been playtesting & testing a lot lately to make sure everything done lately is up to speed, so not too much new I'm afraid.  Anyways, here goes:

Mustache Boy was walking too slow, get him walking at the right speed by tweaking the irq's.
A couple minor improvements to the System macro's and auto-fire code.
In the input editor: change the "Cancel" button to "Clear Input", use the X on the top-right of the window to Cancel. - Because sometimes the input needs to be cleared.  Note: if the input keeps coming back after reloading the game, that key is probably set up in a default preset, or for some inputs FBA will auto-populate default values.  I'll try to come up with a better solution for this in the future, but in the meantime, the clear input feature is quite handy for macros and auto-fire keys.

p.s. The forum is back - hooray!!

best regards & happy gaming,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on October 10, 2014, 04:54:11 PM
After some thinking, I came up with some..
New input editor features!! :)

Ability to clear an input
Ability to clear-lock an input, so that a preset or system default value won't fill it in the next time you reload the game or preset.

The attached images show the new functionality in action :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on October 12, 2014, 02:50:04 AM
Fixed up the game S.S. Mission in the nmk16 driver a bit: the music tempo was too slow, it made annoying clicks when your ship fired and banking issues when savestates were used.

... a few hours later:

Music in Twin Action and Dolmen (nmk16) would cut out on level 2+, fixed sample loading & banking method & tweaked the irq's similar to nmk004.

Will this be the end to the bugs in nmk16?
.... is that even possible?  !

The day everything in nmk16 is perfect will be a great day indeed :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on October 12, 2014, 10:31:32 PM
Fixed up the game S.S. Mission in the nmk16 driver a bit: the music tempo was too slow, it made annoying clicks when your ship fired and banking issues when savestates were used.

... a few hours later:

Music in Twin Action and Dolmen (nmk16) would cut out on level 2+, fixed sample loading & banking method & tweaked the irq's similar to nmk004.

Will this be the end to the bugs in nmk16?
.... is that even possible?  !

The day everything in nmk16 is perfect will be a great day indeed :)

best regards,
- dink
I'm planning on re-writing the nmk16 driver to implement a few dozen or so bugs. :D
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on October 16, 2014, 02:14:49 AM
Patience Robert :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on October 16, 2014, 02:19:22 AM
Hey friends & fans of FBA, just a couple small changes today - barely worth mentioning..

Finally fixed a longstanding issue w/Green Beret where some notes/sfx would hang.  woohoo! :)
Tweaked loverboy a bit, now the game won't harm your ears.  Removed the "No sound" note.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on October 19, 2014, 05:12:04 PM
Toki was in much nead of some love..
between me and iq_132, I think we got the game 100% now!
yesterday iq got the cool titlescreen effect working, but the fix had a side effect of causing some text in the game to go missing, esp. at the bootup screen.
Did some tweaking a little to get the text back, and got the msm6295 samples to play!  Big thanks again to Zazzone for letting me know about them being missing.

Then the mess that is/was K054539 - Konami's sample synth.  I spent almost the entire day and previous night on it alone.
First there was a crash in it with Mystic Warriors.  Fixed that crash, but some sounds were missing.
Got some of the missing sounds to work, but I played Mystic W. in MAME, and realized even more sounds were missing, turns out our K054539 core was too outdated, crusty and beyond repair.
Ported the latest K054539Update() from MAME, and all sound-related problems solved. :)

Well, I'm kinda burnt out for today, gonna continue working on things tomorow!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on October 19, 2014, 10:36:00 PM
Thank you! I was dreading going back and fixing that. You know how I am. lol
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on October 20, 2014, 12:48:26 PM
iq_132 - its good teamwork, thats all :D

best regards,
- dink aka oops, wrong button!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on October 23, 2014, 03:48:42 PM
Thanks to gamezfan (and a little bit of updating from me), we'll have Zero Team in the next FBA :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: JacKc on October 23, 2014, 03:51:22 PM
...
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on October 28, 2014, 03:09:33 AM
Hello friends & fans of FBA,
I've been taking a much-needed vacation from code & debugging to finally play some games!!
The other day whilst hanging out on irc, iq_132 mentioned I should try a game called Biomechanical Toy, I got sorta hooked on this one, so I'm passing the info along and I suggest anyone that likes run 'n gun platformers to give it a try.

Then there's Zero Team, this game is really awesome.  There are a couple small issues with this game that are related to the protection and are currently unfixable that I should mention, but despite the issues - the game is still pretty damn awesome.  If you're a Double Dragon fan, give it a try.  Oh yea, the issues - you can "walk through" barrels & crates, and at the end of level 5, the game pauses for about 20 seconds - you might think its locked up, don't worry - it'll go to a cutscene then continue to the next level after a few more seconds.  That's it.. They don't really detract from the gameplay at all!

And a little post-release FBA "behind the scenes" info: JacKc's been going through the Megadrive games one-by-one and tidying up a bit, iq_132 fixed some layer alignment issues in Metamorphic Force which fixes that neat color-ring effect at the level-1 boss and intro/attract sequences, and me.. I tweaked the effect volume for Nostradomus and Magical Cat Adventure - as there were some ear-piercing sounds that needed a bit of level adjustment.

That's it for now...
best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Freddy on October 28, 2014, 05:41:50 PM
Hello friends & fans of FBA,
I've been taking a much-needed vacation from code & debugging to finally play some games!!
The other day whilst hanging out on irc, iq_132 mentioned I should try a game called Biomechanical Toy, I got sorta hooked on this one, so I'm passing the info along and I suggest anyone that likes run 'n gun platformers to give it a try.

Yeah dink, it's time to enjoy the work.
I will try Biomechanical Toy... And also recommend other run and guns games: The Adventures of Batman and Robin and Robocop vs Terminator... Hard games, dude!  Ah, Gunforce 2!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on October 29, 2014, 03:14:36 PM
Double Dragon 2 on Megadrive is fixed now :D

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on October 29, 2014, 05:14:35 PM
More fixes for today:
Surprise Attack (Konami) - player was moving sluggishly.  (moved irq to vbl-in)
Sunset Riders flickering status & score revisited, previous fix only fixed player1, not 2,3 or 4. (moved irq to vbl-out & tweaked interlace)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Freddy on October 29, 2014, 07:18:58 PM
Hi dink,
Same problem in KOF 2000, can't load the game (guru meditation).  :redface:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on October 30, 2014, 01:23:21 AM
Freddy, for now, go to Misc -> Options and uncheck "Use alpha blend effects..." to play the games w/o issues.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Freddy on October 30, 2014, 09:47:27 AM
Freddy, for now, go to Misc -> Options and uncheck "Use alpha blend effects..." to play the games w/o issues.

best regards,
- dink

Working fine now...
Thank you!  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on November 03, 2014, 05:48:57 PM
Sorry ya'll havn't heard much from me lately, I've been keeping busy working on
lots of little "behind the scenes" fixes & things, most of them not really worth mentioning, but in the long run they make for a better FBA for all of us :)
Anyways, some mentionables that happened today & yesterday:
Fixed Escape Kids crash while booting,
Fixed the sounds in Yie Ar Kung-Fu & some timing improvements.  Some sn soundchip commands were getting skipped (like in Shaolin's) because the chip updates needed to be interlaced.  Now the game sounds like it should :)
Fixed the buzzing dac sounds when compiled with gcc >= 4.8
EDIT: several hours later...
Give Mikie the Shaolin's Road / Yie-Ar treatment also.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on November 05, 2014, 02:24:45 AM
re: It's the little things (& the third try's a charm)

in Gradius III, the drumroll @ the beginning after the game boots up never sounded quite right - well, now it does :)  Technical info: the game sets the volume of the Konami PCM chip (k007232) starting at 0 and turns it up slowly as the drumroll plays.  The PCM chip was ignoring volume sets of 0, so it was using the default value of full volume for that channel to start the drum roll.

I also finally found the source of mixing crackles in some Sega games (Including the newly found Hammer Away), there was a little overflow whilst mixing the 16bit samples in the ym2612 core which wasn't being properly handled.  So thats fixed now, too :)

Today is a good day for FB Alpha!

Barry got the newly found/lost Sega game Hammer Away up and running.  iq_132 added a new driver for the classic games Time Limit and Progress, JacKc added a bunch of new clones plus he's doing a good job keeping the roms up-to-date.

Some piccys:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on November 05, 2014, 12:19:42 PM
Excellent work fellas!!!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on November 06, 2014, 04:15:56 PM
Today's happening(s):
Tweaked Xexex and Moo Mesa to get the music in-key, increased the sfx volume in Xexex to match MAME.
Gonna go play some more Hammer Away in FBA ;)  *awesome game!*

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on November 07, 2014, 04:35:39 PM
Today's FBA happenings, brought to you by dink.

Tag-team awesomeness for iq_132 and dink regarding compilation issues w/ newer versions of gcc

FIXED: Musashi 68k is fixed for newer gcc versions - this means no more missing zombie heads in Altered Beast or bullets shaped like plus. (dink)
FIXED: Weird buzzing/pops in the dac with signed writes only when compiled with gcc (iq_132)

Keep in mind, I spent part of last weekend trying to fix the dac, and iq_132 and Treble Winner and I spent countless hours/days/weeks on the Musashi bug.  Therefore I'm dividing up the awesome-points equally between the three of us.  That's 100 points each!  We rock!! \m/

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Barry Harris on November 07, 2014, 06:18:04 PM
Today's FBA happenings, brought to you by dink.

Tag-team awesomeness for iq_132 and dink regarding compilation issues w/ newer versions of gcc

FIXED: Musashi 68k is fixed for newer gcc versions - this means no more missing zombie heads in Altered Beast or bullets shaped like plus. (dink)
FIXED: Weird buzzing/pops in the dac with signed writes only when compiled with gcc (iq_132)

Keep in mind, I spent part of last weekend trying to fix the dac, and iq_132 and Treble Winner and I spent countless hours/days/weeks on the Musashi bug.  Therefore I'm dividing up the awesome-points equally between the three of us.  That's 100 points each!  We rock!! \m/

best regards,
- dink

Nice work dink. Musashi fix confirmed and tested with GCC 3.4.5, GCC 4.8.1 (x86 and x64) and MSVC (x86 and x64).
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on November 11, 2014, 04:50:01 AM
Hello friends and fans of FBA,
I havn't said much lately because I've been too busy working on our beloved emulator - thats good news, right? :)
What I've been up to lately:
Corrected some irq timing in Gradius 3, now the music plays back at the right speed
Added a game-specific hack/fix to Arbalester & x1-010, so that the music plays at the right speed
Spent 2 whole days trying to get Dream World to stop freezing up upon players death, no luck yet!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on November 14, 2014, 03:57:25 AM
Fixed the sound in Asura Blade / Asura Buster  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Barry Harris on November 14, 2014, 07:56:05 AM
Fixed the sound in Asura Blade / Asura Buster  :biggrin:

That should probably be "improved" rather than fixed? IIRC doesn't it use a YMF262 as well?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on November 14, 2014, 10:42:30 AM
Well, not improved, because I had unfortunately broke the sound which had once been working when I ported the new ymf278b core..  Ok, lets just say, "returned to its pseudo-working state"  :biggrin:

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on November 14, 2014, 11:51:27 AM
Added Oh Mummy (MD) and Lego Batman (MD) to FBA - They're free/indie/homebrew games
DL here and save for the next fba-rel: http://sharesend.com/6nod019z & http://sharesend.com/qfi30axr :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on November 14, 2014, 05:09:35 PM
In the game Black Tiger, the sfx are so loud the music can hardly be heard.  While mucking about with F1 Dream earlier, I figured out a way to lower the SFX volume and was surprized when I had applied it to Black Tiger - and it worked!!  All to get a nice/perfect music : sfx balance.  The fix is simple, but for some reason I'm really happy I finally got this one the way it should be :)  :biggrin:  ...   :cool:

Also, added a new macro(function) to burn_ym2203.h - BurnYM2203SetPSGVolume(chip, volume);

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on November 14, 2014, 05:47:48 PM
Here's my super-bug list.  All these bugs were verified on November 11, 2014...
x: Battle Shark still crashes/hangs at the end of level 1 (sometimes) & the cool Taito intro rasterfx are messed up (like Toki's titlescreen before we fixed it) FIXED! Nov 15, 2014
x: Pooyan is missing sounds: pigs marching, bubbles popping (needs filters hooked up like in the Galaxian driver) FIXED
x: DJ Boy - screen goes weird -like boot-up colors- after intro/attract mode repeats a few times, just hold ffwd for a bit.[/b] (probably can't be fixed)
x: Ken-go won't boot, needs separate irq routines(?) FIXED: Dec. 1, 2014
x: Staticky/bad noises in some Neo-Geo games with fm interpolation on (Art of Fighting, Football Frenzy, etc) FIXED: Dec. 2, 2014
x: Bucky O'Hare - music is broken FIXED: Dec 21, 2014
x: Gyruss - music is broken (it will play really really fast, then just stop... sometimes during the game) FIXED!!!!!!!!!!
x: Backfire crashes during boot - go to service mode -> game settings -> set single screen & exit, then reload fba, go back to service mode and try setting it to dual screen. (sooner or later it'll crash)
x: d_lwings.cpp: Trojan and Section Z have varying tempo in the FM (YM) music. (possibly because of the msm changing interlace?)FIXED: November 22, 2014
x: Dragon Breed(Both versions)  & ALL other m72 games with samples - the pcm samples have clicks in them. (at the beginning are most noticable) FIXED: Dec. 1, 2014
x: Terra Cresta - music plays way too fast FIXED: Jan 5, 2015
x: Mobile suit gundam - bad sound, left channel buzzing noise (maybe just needs some vol.tweaks)
x: dreamwld.c: Dream World screen freezes when player dies.
x: Kabuki-Z - start a game, and go to the right a bit, and you'll see some pretty heavily distored tiles going on in the background.
x: Mr. Heli (d_m72) graphics glitcheryFIXED: Dec 2, 2014 (revised Jan. 3, 2015)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on November 14, 2014, 06:08:41 PM
x: Backfire crashes during boot
Can't verify this one here. It works fine with every video mode, different bit depths, etc. :S
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: JacKc on November 14, 2014, 06:41:54 PM
x: Backfire crashes during boot

No problemo here dink  :cool:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on November 15, 2014, 12:52:37 AM
Oops, heres the full reproduction scenario:  (I forgot to delete my nvram and try from scratch! sorry!)
Go into service mode, set game options to 1 screen, get out of service mode and into game mode.
Exit game
Load game again, crash!

EDIT: it seems like the game only crashes on the second load.  Once FBA is restarted, it will happily run Backfire in a single screen :)
EDIT2: now, going back to service mode again, and selecting 2 screens, FBA crash again.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on November 15, 2014, 12:59:47 AM
Oops, heres the full reproduction scenario:  (I forgot to delete my nvram and try from scratch! sorry!)
Go into service mode, set game options to 1 screen, get out of service mode and into game mode.
Exit game
Load game again, crash!

EDIT: it seems like the game only crashes on the second load.  Once FBA is restarted, it will happily run Backfire in a single screen :)
EDIT2: now, going back to service mode again, and selecting 2 screens, FBA crash again.

best regards,
- dink
The single screen hack is about to go away. That will fix this. :(
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on November 15, 2014, 01:30:33 AM
The single screen hack is about to go away. That will fix this. :(

noooooo! it just needs a little tweaking :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on November 15, 2014, 03:20:12 AM
Some games like Gradius, when the screen gets busy, the slowdown actually is beneficial to your game, that is unfortunately not the case with FACE shooters.  I added a little OC tweak to Nostradamus, then played the game from beginning to end - its much better now :)  The horribly-unplayable slowdown has now become beneficial slowdown - its still there, but not as bad.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on November 15, 2014, 07:10:09 PM
Battle Shark is now completely fixed - got rid of that hang by moving the 10k-cycle INT6 timer into DrvTaitoZFrame(), its kinda simple really, just a few lines of code :)

Now I just need to test the other games that use the same timer mechanism & take action if necessary..

Scratched from my failure bugfix list!  C'mon guys, I need some help with the others! (clicky!) (http://neo-source.com/index.php?topic=2487.msg18259#msg18259)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on November 15, 2014, 07:15:59 PM
Battle Shark is now completely fixed - got rid of that hang by moving the 10k-cycle INT6 timer into DrvTaitoZFrame(), its kinda simple really, just a few lines of code :)

Now I just need to test the other games that use the same timer mechanism & take action if necessary..

best regards,
- dink

Lovely Work dink a long long standing issue finally fixed i'll happily test those games for ya ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: SeiferAlmasy on November 16, 2014, 01:47:24 AM
amazing... good work dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on November 17, 2014, 05:02:58 AM
Thanks guys!
Some more news...
Turns out Night Striker and Space Gun are succeptible to the hang also.  The hang in Night Striker happened 3/4 through level 1, and Space gun, right after you get to the first point where you can chose which way to go.  erm.  I don't know if these hangs were always there, or the new Musashi core brought it to light.. but the good news is, they're fixed now too :)
Space Gun, this is one unfair game.. designed to do nothing but take quarters..  Guess they knew what they were doing, eh?

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on November 17, 2014, 04:53:52 PM
and today...
Sokonuke - Fixed crash (or reset) when the game starts (.128u1 patch for Musashi) & fixed the audio panning - it was only coming out of the left speaker.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: csmart on November 17, 2014, 10:24:55 PM
Great job as always Dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on November 22, 2014, 03:58:41 AM
Spent a couple hours trying to get music synched properly in Pang - what a tricky b*stard - I finally managed to get it though! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on November 22, 2014, 04:15:28 PM
Zero Team USA (zeroteam) bad sprites priorities

Same in mame.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on November 22, 2014, 07:17:59 PM
Cross another one off the super-bugs list!   I didn't think I'd ever figure this one out....
Fixed Trojan & Avengers - perfectly synced fm music and adpcm samples \o/ no more warped-record wobble :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Huggybaby on November 22, 2014, 07:28:39 PM
Wow, Simpsons was broken forever even after I reported more than once (I mean, how hard is it to fix a left/right channel swap, forget about the distortion) and now sound is getting fixed left and right for stuff I didn't know about.

Sound is important!!

Thanks dink!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on November 23, 2014, 05:26:53 PM
dink's FBA-News for Sunday the 23rd of November,
Hooked up the guns to Konami's Lethal Enforcers, making the game playable.  Also tweaked a couple things here and there.

best regards,
- dink

p.s. you're welcome, Huggybaby!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on November 23, 2014, 05:31:32 PM
Marvellous work dink!!!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on November 23, 2014, 06:44:21 PM
I also made an enhancement to the gun interface, any game that uses a lightgun could possibly use this.
Basically, if the crosshair isn't moved for 2 seconds, it disappears. :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on November 23, 2014, 08:18:29 PM
I also made an enhancement to the gun interface, any game that uses a lightgun could possibly use this.
Basically, if the crosshair isn't moved for 2 seconds, it disappears. :)

best regards,
- dink

Now this was a good idea which works perfectly :D Nice work BTW
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: csmart on November 24, 2014, 12:03:49 AM
Great work Dink you're  :cool:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on November 24, 2014, 05:17:13 AM
Thanks guys!

I did some more work on the gun interface code - the automatic crosshair hiding is now added to every game by default, and disappears after 4 seconds of no movement.  Also, a bug was fixed that caused the crosshair to sometimes slowly walk across the screen when no movement was being made.

Drats, the svn server is down, I can't submit my changes :/  Will try again in the morning...

Thats all for now,
best regards,
- dink

Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: JacKc on November 24, 2014, 06:14:21 PM
Nice job dink !!!  :smilie:

It Works like a charm (tested on latest added zombie raid prototype sets); Crosshair is hiding after few second...Perfect for making title and preview snaps [see attached snaps] !!!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on November 25, 2014, 02:42:51 AM
JacKc, glad to hear it - times are good for FBA :)

I added a second button "simulated re-load", this button simulates moving the gun offscreen and pressing fire in 1 button press.  Enjoy :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: JacKc on November 25, 2014, 09:45:13 AM
Thanks a lot dink  :smilie:

Doing some tests i notice grapical problem only with Lethal Enforcers (ver JAD, 12/04/92 17:16) [lethalenj] (Parent and others clones are working fine):
- No sprites during play and/or attract mode

(http://i.imgur.com/PYC0n9w.png)

(http://i.imgur.com/cY89e2Y.png)

(http://i.imgur.com/8yNXttQ.png)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on November 25, 2014, 11:04:30 AM
Thanks a lot dink  :smilie:

Doing some tests i notice grapical problem only with Lethal Enforcers (ver JAD, 12/04/92 17:16) [lethalenj] (Parent and others clones are working fine):
- No sprites during play and/or attract mode

There's a message about this at the top of the driver.......

Quote
// japan version needs sprites fixed (x flipped not y flipped)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on November 25, 2014, 11:42:28 AM
JacKc, yep, thats a known issue, but forgot to mark the driver as so, oops!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: JacKc on November 25, 2014, 11:47:54 AM
my apologies...forgot to check top of the driver :p
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on November 26, 2014, 06:53:08 PM
Subject: On Weirdness and good news

A few days ago my good friend Zazzone reported a problem with Alien Syndrome where the sprite would go slightly corrupted, get stuck and stop animating.  I couldn't reproduce it to fix it, so I kept coming back to it over the past couple days & trying random different things.  In the end, it turns out he is using a keyboard to play, and if one presses up and down or left and right at the same time - by accident or something - the game totally spazzes out.  Now, the reason I couldn't reproduce it is that I am using a gamepad and pressing opposites is (almost)impossible.  A couple lines of code later - problem solved.. :)

That's it for today..

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on November 28, 2014, 04:57:00 AM
Fans of ESP Ra.De. are going to dig this one..
This great game has but one small defect, the sfx completely covers up the music - even when playing from pcb - and it was impossible to route the sfx and music separately at different volumes to overcome this, because everything goes right into 1 instance of the soundchip (ymz280b).  Internally, the ymz280b has 8 channels, after a bit of debugging we found that the game uses the last 2 to play music, and the first 6 for sfx.. so, what if we put the sound mixer inside the sound chip?  After a bit of trial and error: playing the game from beginning to end, doing a few tweaks, playing it again and adding the ability to enable / disable it (via Dip's) - we got it almost perfect.   :cool:  Coming soon to an FBA near you...

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on December 01, 2014, 04:02:03 AM
Ladies and Gentlemen, I bring some more good news:
VS Block Breaker and Saru-Kani are now 100% working in FBA :)

Technical info: Hooked up the paddles, fixed the missing background images / blocks & a problem with the nvram which caused the game to freak out every time it was reset.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on December 01, 2014, 05:51:40 AM
Ken-go lives!!!!!!!!!! (in FBA)

I'm so happy *sniff* didn't think I'd ever see this day...

Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on December 01, 2014, 11:13:18 AM
More bugs sqaushed you are the exterminator LOL
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on December 01, 2014, 05:38:24 PM
Thanks buddy :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on December 01, 2014, 05:53:04 PM
Another bug to scratch off the super-bug-list - got rid of the clicks in the irem m72 games' samples (dac) :D
Dragon Breed, Ken-go and the whole lot sound a lot better, now!
Check the attachment for 2 sound samples, old vs. new, from the game Hammerin' Harry.

Whist testing all the m72 games, I noticed Mr. Heli has some graphics glitching that needs to be fixed.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on December 01, 2014, 06:49:07 PM
It sure sounds better!!!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on December 02, 2014, 04:24:07 AM
Fixed the graphics glitches in Mr. Heli, improved the sampled speech/instrument quality even more in m72 :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: WILOWAR on December 02, 2014, 10:35:55 AM
I have found some several giltches on FBA 0.2.97.34:

- VS Gong Fight aka Ring Fighter (vsgongf)- player 1 sprite missing;

- Space Invaders/ Space Invaders M (invaders)  - no sound;

Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on December 02, 2014, 11:16:33 AM
I have found some several giltches on FBA 0.2.97.34:

- Space Invaders/ Space Invaders M (invaders)  - no sound;

Im sure this game needs a seperate samples file which gives it the sound
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on December 02, 2014, 02:06:12 PM
WILOWAR,
VS Gong Fighter - this is really how the game is :) (no kidding!)

Space Invaders - google space invaders mame samples, and put the zip in fbadir\support\samples

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on December 02, 2014, 02:20:44 PM
The sound Ken-go makes when he charges up his sword doesn't sound right.  Our ym2151 core is up to date, and the driver code checks out well too.  I think it might be timer related, as it seems like an LFO isn't going long enough. Do'h!  This is going to be tricky...

EDIT: Some good news, Ken-go sounds perfect with FM Interpolation on.  The problem is, it should sound almost the same, or at least similar with FM Interpolation off.  But, the sound is waay off.  Time to investigate further...
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: WILOWAR on December 02, 2014, 05:19:25 PM
How many games on FBA use samples ??
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on December 02, 2014, 05:34:53 PM
WILOWAR, not very many - the ones I can think of... donkey kong, dk jr, galaga, rally-x, space invaders, ghox, fireshark/samesamesame.  The last 2 games because of encryption, the rest because certain sounds are generated by non-digital electronics.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: WILOWAR on December 03, 2014, 12:32:37 PM
I have a question about MAME: Why I have FPS down on some 3D games - My current cpu is FX9590 4,7GHZ. Some games running 100% all time (Golgo 13, ACE COMBAT), but in some 3D games I have fps down - from 100  on beginning to 90%,80 or 70% (Alpine Racer 1, Gradius 4).

I test with 64 bit version on 64 bit 7 Windows.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Barry Harris on December 03, 2014, 01:04:57 PM
WILOWAR, not very many - the ones I can think of... donkey kong, dk jr, galaga, rally-x, space invaders, ghox, fireshark/samesamesame.  The last 2 games because of encryption, the rest because certain sounds are generated by non-digital electronics.

best regards,
- dink

Galaga and Rally X use one sample for the bang effect which is generated by discrete electronics. The rest of the sound is emulated "normally".

The Toaplan ones (Ghox, Same Same, Teki Paki and Virmana) as you say use samples as that's the best available at this time.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: WILOWAR on December 04, 2014, 12:38:06 AM
Hi. Where Can I get these samples for FBA ??
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on December 04, 2014, 12:40:07 AM
Hi. Where Can I get these samples for FBA ??
Twisty's is THE place for samples. :)
http://samples.mameworld.info/
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Barry Harris on December 04, 2014, 04:38:49 AM
Twisty's is THE place for samples. :)
http://samples.mameworld.info/

If you start at http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=40360, you will find the Toaplan ones too.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Barry Harris on December 04, 2014, 07:35:31 AM
All the links in there are dead.

If you follow the Sound Samples link in the second post they are alive for me.....
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: WILOWAR on December 04, 2014, 01:09:49 PM
Thx for samples, but I have problems with two samples for FIRE SHARK/ SAME SAME SAME and VIMANA, they don't work - I do everything.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on December 04, 2014, 02:58:24 PM
Hi WILOWAR,
Take samesame.zip and rename it to fireshrk.zip, and put it in fbadir/support/samples

For vimana, unrar both rars into a new folder, then zip all the .wavs up and name it vimana.zip - put in the same place as fireshrk.zip

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on December 05, 2014, 06:26:25 AM
The other day when I was giving the Irem m72 driver a bit of a makeover, (re: Ken-go) I had forgot to mention -
Armed Police Unit Gallop / Cosmic Cop plays a lot better now, too :)
Next up (and a self-reminder): get Pound for Pound working right.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on December 07, 2014, 06:28:28 AM
This one was tricky...
R-Type Leo, halfway through level 2 the background layer would jitter every once in a while.  I think I might have lost a little bit of hair while debugging this one.  I'm happy to say its fixed now... :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on December 15, 2014, 06:07:17 PM
Fixed a bug in the rf5c68 pcm core, the sound buffer wasn't being incremented properly - this caused samples to get cut short / clobbered / etc in Hammer Away and possibly other games that use this core.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on December 15, 2014, 08:11:40 PM
Fixed a bug in the rf5c68 pcm core, the sound buffer wasn't being incremented properly - this caused samples to get cut short / clobbered / etc in Hammer Away and possibly other games that use this core.

best regards,
- dink
Same as with the dac?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on December 16, 2014, 02:46:51 AM
iq_132, it was only incrementing the sound buffer once per sample, instead of twice (l+r samples).
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on December 16, 2014, 04:23:14 AM
It turns out that there were 2 separate issues contributing to the bad/broken drums in level 2+ of Hammer Away, now I feel bad I didn't notice / fix them before the last release - sorry guys!  Things will be perfect in the next one, though.  :)




Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: WILOWAR on December 16, 2014, 02:34:45 PM
Contra ( US Set 1) (contra) - graphic glitch on Waterfall stage 2.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on December 16, 2014, 04:40:05 PM
WILOWAR,  This one is actually due to a bug in the game itself - after game over: it counts down to 0 (for continue), and after 0 is displayed (or continued), it leaves a little piece of the number behind. 

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on December 17, 2014, 04:28:21 AM
Yay, another one of my fixes made it into MAME, https://github.com/mamedev/mame/commit/447822e40dc401218f27af90341e434aeb82e097

Basically what happened - after iq_132 ported the mystwarr driver and related/supporting konami chipset cores, we started getting some massive heap corruption issues which were very hard to track down, because the memory getting overwritten was allocated by fba thus the compiler/rtl couldn't detect it as an out of bounds write.  After spending a few days re-arranging code to get a reliable re-produce scenario, I painstakingly went through and commented out blocks of code until the problem stopped happening.  There were several dead-ends, if you can imagine, but sooner or later I came to a block of code which wasn't checking the bounds correctly (it wasn't accounting for the additiion of dst_pitch in K053936GP_copyroz32clip()).  The fix was simple, AWJ simplified it even further, and the result is - a much stabler & more reliable FBA & MAME for the masses :)

that's it for now..
best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: WILOWAR on December 18, 2014, 12:44:16 AM
Karnov (all versions - US and Japan) - game freeze after start (insert coin);
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on December 18, 2014, 04:17:53 AM
Thanks for your continued reports, WILOWAR!  Karnov is fixed and will be available in the next release,

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: WILOWAR on December 19, 2014, 01:29:59 AM
Vapor Trail - Hyper Offence Formation (World revision 1) (vaportra) - game running too slow.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on December 19, 2014, 02:47:43 AM
WILOWAR, thanks again for the bug report, the game is fixed now :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on December 19, 2014, 04:03:00 AM
Megadrive is slowly mega-driving me insane.  Get one game running right, and it breaks others, almost like the whole thing is a tower of jenga waiting to fall.  If only a handfull of games out of several hundred don't work [properly], thats still good, though, right?

Time to throw in the towel for tonight,
bye for now & best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: WILOWAR on December 19, 2014, 12:24:51 PM
Varia Metal (vmetal) - graphic glitch
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on December 19, 2014, 01:32:51 PM
Varia Metal (vmetal) - graphic glitch
Looks like an issue with either the tile decoding or more like flipping.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on December 20, 2014, 07:12:45 PM
BIG thanks to everyone who has reported problems/bugs in FBA!!  The greatness of future versions depends on you - keep up the great work guys!!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on December 21, 2014, 06:35:07 AM
Music & SFX in Bucky O'hare finally lives!!!  :D
iq_132 checked in a fix earlier to better synchronize the sounds in Bucky/Moo Mesa.
I wasn't happy with the music/sfx still being broken in Bucky, so I spent all night getting to the bottom of things..
3 1/2 hours of detective work on this sucker tonight, probably 3 or 4 more hours on other days. I was this close ->  <- to calling it quits.... then.... SUCCESS!!  Very happy with this one! \o/
time for some sleeep, its almost 5am |)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on December 21, 2014, 12:18:19 PM
Music & SFX in Bucky O'hare finally lives!!!  :D
iq_132 checked in a fix earlier to better synchronize the sounds in Bucky/Moo Mesa.
I wasn't happy with the music/sfx still being broken in Bucky, so I spent all night getting to the bottom of things..
3 1/2 hours of detective work on this sucker tonight, probably 3 or 4 more hours on other days. I was this close ->  <- to calling it quits.... then.... SUCCESS!!  Very happy with this one! \o/
time for some sleeep, its almost 5am |)

best regards,
- dink
Nice work!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on December 21, 2014, 12:53:05 PM
Just got done playing Bucky O'Hare from beginning to end, killer game and an awesome addition to FBA :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on December 23, 2014, 05:43:26 PM
FBA now plays Santatlantean by Aetherbyte software - http://www.aetherbyte.com/aetherbyte-santatlantean_for_pc-engine_and_turbografx-16.html

Merry Xmas :D
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: WILOWAR on December 24, 2014, 08:07:17 AM
Merry Christmas for FBA Team  :biggrin:

And more games for FBA from Santa  :wink:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Freddy on December 27, 2014, 10:30:06 AM
Merry Christmas for FBA Team  :biggrin:

And more games for FBA from Santa  :wink:

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, WILOWAR!  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on December 28, 2014, 06:51:21 PM
Fixed a small issue in the nec v35 cpu core where a pointer would get trashed on savestate load.
My Ken-go savestate from last night wouldn't work today, so a bit of investigating was in order... Luckily it was a very simple fix!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Freddy on December 29, 2014, 09:45:03 AM
Fixed a small issue in the nec v35 cpu core where a pointer would get trashed on savestate load.
My Ken-go savestate from last night wouldn't work today, so a bit of investigating was in order... Luckily it was a very simple fix!

best regards,
- dink

dink, Gargoyles is not working here. The game opens but I can't play with the character!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Barry Harris on December 29, 2014, 06:18:51 PM
dink, Gargoyles is not working here. The game opens but I can't play with the character!

Are you using the latest FB Alpha?

Actually, try disabling the ASM 68K core - it doesn't support the TAS callback (which Gargoyles requires). The MD driver should probably be updated to auto-switch to Musashi.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Freddy on December 30, 2014, 09:47:15 AM
Actually, try disabling the ASM 68K core - it doesn't support the TAS callback (which Gargoyles requires). The MD driver should probably be updated to auto-switch to Musashi.

That's the problem. Fixed! TY  :wink:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on December 30, 2014, 04:51:29 PM
Thanks to vbt, me and iq_132, we now have Zaxxon, Super Zaxxon and Congo Bongo in our favorite emulator! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Huggybaby on December 30, 2014, 05:26:58 PM
Hooray, what classics, thanks guys!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: WILOWAR on December 31, 2014, 11:53:39 AM
Happy New Year !!! :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on January 02, 2015, 03:29:37 AM
Finally got to the bottom of Battle Bakraid crashing in level 5.  Didn't think I'd ever figure this one out, which is why I never mentioned it.  I think its some sort of protection-type thing - at the first big ship (mid-boss) in level 5, the game tries to read 2 samples at around the 16meg mark, yet the game only uses a 12meg samplebank.  What made this one hard to track down is that it wouldn't always do the weird read at 16megs into the samplebank, it happened every couple of games at best - and reproducing it with a savestate is almost impossible - the game has to be played from the beginning to trigger it.
Anyways, its always a good feeling to have fixed an elusive crash/bug like this one.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Huggybaby on January 02, 2015, 03:43:41 AM
I'd love to hear the details of that detective job dink.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on January 02, 2015, 04:09:34 AM
Huggybaby right on :)  Here's the long/boring version: Well, when FBA crashes, basically you get an address where it crashed - and that translates to a line in the source code.  First thing I did was sorta trace out how the code executed (in my head) around the part that crashed, and see if anything leading up to it might have caused the issue,  but everything looked kinda alright, I even checked the other similar drivers, and they were using the same exact code, but not crashing.  I wasn't getting anywhere so I decided to check the MAME svn history for the ymz280b soundchip core, since our ymz280b core is probably more than a few years old, maybe something was done to the one in MAME to prevent a similar problem?  Luckily, there was, I went and added the rom size checking in a way similar to how they did it in MAME - but I had it pop up a little message if something went ary.  I then proceeded to play through Battle Bakraid 3 times, and on the third time, up came my message - and FBA didn't crash, so I knew I had it :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on January 02, 2015, 11:36:14 AM
Nice work dink!! it wasn't an easy one to track down your perseverance always impresses me
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on January 03, 2015, 04:54:56 AM
Added Battle Garegga Zakk version
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=20888

Changes:

1. Mahou characters are unlocked. No more konami code every credit!
2. Rank no longer gets worse with every game played. You won't have to
reset your board after a bunch of consecutive plays to restore default
rank

Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on January 03, 2015, 06:26:03 PM
A side effect of the previous Mr. Heli fix was yet another glitch further into the game.  Now they're both fixed, and hopefully it doesn't cause problems with any other irem m72 game.  *fingers crossed*

I can sorta see why there hasn't been any bug reports for this game, its hard as hell!!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on January 04, 2015, 07:33:22 PM
While playing some classic games today I noticed that the tempo of the music was all over the place in the classic Capcom shooter Exed Exes (also known as Savage Bees).  Kinda like a "warped record" effect, anyways, it sounds a lot better now :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on January 05, 2015, 07:41:58 PM
FINALLY! Fixed the music in Terra Cresta, both YM2203 & YM3526 versions! :)
Also, fixed jerky video & audio in Vulgus.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on January 06, 2015, 12:08:51 PM
Add another fix to long list 32 pages now and counting Nice work dink as always
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: samo79 on January 06, 2015, 04:08:59 PM
Well done dink ! :-)

Me just trying to complete The Punisher (Capcom 1993's game) but it freezed when i was fighting against the final boss, this on the AmigaOS port of FBA, don't know on the Windows version .. will try eventually
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on January 06, 2015, 06:49:48 PM
FBA has another new game: Grasspin by Zilec Electronics / Jaleco (c) 1983!!

Whilst fixing some music issues in the game Blueprint, I realized there was a game missing from the driver, all that was needed to add it was some simple modifications to the graphics banking and dipswitch handling.  As as side-effect of these new changes, Saturn (romset: saturnzi, same driver) scrolls a lot smoother, too.  Success!!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on January 06, 2015, 08:58:01 PM
FBA has another new game: Grasspin by Zilec Electronics / Jaleco (c) 1983!!

Whilst fixing some music issues in the game Blueprint, I realized there was a game missing from the driver, all that was needed to add it was some simple modifications to the graphics banking and dipswitch handling.  As as side-effect of these new changes, Saturn (romset: saturnzi, same driver) scrolls a lot smoother, too.  Success!!

Nicely done! Your first game added to fba :D

You should take a look at d_jack.cpp. It's missing one hilarious game.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on January 09, 2015, 08:21:56 PM
iq_132: thanks :) added the funny game to d_jack :) (just need a little help with the titlescreen palette? hrm...)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on January 09, 2015, 08:25:38 PM
2 whole days of insane debugging to bring you, the good people & fans of FBA, music and sfx in 2 of the games in the new dooyong driver which didn't want to cooperate.  I might be losing my mind now o.O

:D

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Huggybaby on January 10, 2015, 01:56:55 AM
Dink, I don't know how to thank you. I love FBA...it has needed fixes, but the audio fixes have been the weak link for so long, and you have fixed audio troubles like nobody's business.

Thanks man.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: SNK_Dude on January 11, 2015, 04:59:23 AM
Thanks for all your efforts Dink  :biggrin:

Can't forget all the other Devs of FBA as well  :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on January 11, 2015, 05:36:02 AM
Thanks guys - its a passion, and a lot of fun working on FBA :)
Just remember, I might have spent 2 days working out some sound issues, but iq_132 has spent nearly 2 weeks implementing the new games, and Barry has given us a nice new feature to the game list, as well;  I won't say what it is yet, but time will tell.. :D

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on January 12, 2015, 12:39:27 PM
I came up with a controversialbly horrible fix for the whineing/ringing noise in Wyvern-F0, basically it resets the AY soundchips when they are idle.  The game is now playable without making one go deaf, but, the code looks ugly. Maybe it will just be a temporary fix until we find a better way?  What do you guys think?

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on January 13, 2015, 05:42:14 PM
Here's my funny new addition to FBA:
"Let's Uncle Poo!"
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on January 13, 2015, 05:45:21 PM
Nice work Dink!! for once we can say a sh** game is good Ha Ha
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on January 13, 2015, 09:10:52 PM
Here's my funny new addition to FBA:
"Let's Uncle Poo!"

Excellent work! :D
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: WILOWAR on January 15, 2015, 02:37:44 PM
Operation Wolf has a bad sound quality.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on January 15, 2015, 04:56:54 PM
I compared FBA's Operation Wolf to MAME and they sound exactly the same, so I'm afraid it can't be improved any better than it is.  On the other hand, Operation Thunderbolt aka Operation Wolf 2 had recently got a little audio improvement.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on January 17, 2015, 07:43:34 PM
of craziness and trashed function pointers...
Spent from 2:30pm to 5:10pm today trying to figure out why my level 5 savestate of Star Fighter (v1)(SunA), was crashing - but not only crashing: it was executing functions in other parts of FBA totally unrelated to the game -- and crashing there. Not only that(++), it was crashing 20 seconds after the state loaded and the game continued as normal during those 20 seconds... 
Well, it turns out the pointers for the port handler functions in the ay8910 were getting trashed, and they play the pcm samples for the game - so when a certain sound triggered 20 seconds into the game after the state loaded, blammo!  Due to the intricacies of this event, it took nearly 3 hours to track down.  Near the end, there was almost more debug code in the SunA driver than there was code to emulate the game  :eek:

It might seem a bit daunting, but I enjoy these things  ;p  All for a better FBA!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on January 17, 2015, 09:14:32 PM
Well done dink tracking down the bug sounded like a pesky one for sure
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on January 18, 2015, 04:55:56 PM
thanks gamez fan, it sure was :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on January 18, 2015, 04:57:48 PM
Another new addition to FBA - Here's a newly discovered game which is based on the Snow Bros. code: Come Back Toto...

Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on January 18, 2015, 10:07:50 PM
Nice one dink another new game for FBA!!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on January 22, 2015, 05:35:51 AM
The other day I came across a game called Garyo Retsuden, a DataEast Dec8 game...
This is the kinda game I immediately fell in love with, but unfortunately there were some issues with the FBA emulation of it - such as: sprite flickering, FBA crashing on exit after the game(sometimes, not all), savestates worked but sometimes caused severe corruption (turned out to be a banking issue).  The good news: all the problems are now cleared up :)
Even better: after testing some other games in the driver, such as Shackled, The Real Ghostbusters, The Last Mission - I found even more bugs - and squashed them.  These older games need some love, too :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: WILOWAR on January 23, 2015, 01:06:15 PM
Hi Dink. Can you fix Line of Fire Sega arcade game, it's has several problems with emulation:  broken sound and slowndows.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on January 24, 2015, 06:04:12 PM
WILOWAR: I improved the sounds a bit: the machine gun was only coming from the left side.  can you tell me where the slowdowns are?  I played it a bit, and it seems OK here.  Also, make sure your soundrate is 44100hz (recommended) in audio -> plugin options, and try increasing your audio buffers to 8.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on January 24, 2015, 06:19:02 PM
Today I played Karnov to the end & did a few driver improvements/tweaks to improve its' emulation a bit.  One of the biggest problems was sounds getting stuck, but in 2 completely different ways..  In level 3 there is this weird worm-like thing (made of circles) and after it was killed, the irritating noise it made would keep going for the entire rest of the game, a couple other sounds would get stuck on like that, too - boosting the interleave to tighten up the sync between the 2 cpus solved that one.  Another issue: if a savestate was made while getting a powerup or dieing (or other PSG sounds/sfx being made), sometimes the ym2203 would get in a weird state and that sound would get stuck on forever.  Luckily, the ym2203 is only being used for its PSG, and resetting it on savestate load not only solves the problem, but doesn't cause any audible side effects.  Its an ugly way of doing things, but it works (and I tried everything else I could think of)....  Theres a couple other little improvements that aren't so noticable, and probably aren't worth mentioning, too.  :)

Been meaning to do this one for a while now, glad to have it done!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on January 26, 2015, 07:08:43 PM
Kinda a team effort between gamezfan and me, Birdie Try is now part of FBA!  Its a nice golf game which was only released in Japan on Dataeast's dec0 hardware.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on January 26, 2015, 10:54:52 PM
Nice work guys! :D Another missing game added.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: csmart on January 27, 2015, 01:21:56 AM
Awesome job guys.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on January 27, 2015, 04:35:34 AM
woohoo!! Solved the problem in VaporTrail where the music tempo goes up/fluctuates when firing!!  The game is now perfect in FBA (and possibly MAME too, soon) :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: csmart on January 27, 2015, 05:33:33 AM
Dink you are a all-star
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Haze on January 27, 2015, 08:07:09 AM
there are a LOT of bugs that can be fixed quite easily in MAME by fudging the clocks.

such chances simply won't be accepted vs. actual measured values unless you can prove them to be correct tho, the end result isn't proof in this case, other things could be slowing the CPU down (waitstates on RAM/ROM, ready lines on sound chips etc.)

that said I'm not 100% sure the clocks are properly verified in vaportra.c

crude buster, which uses the same sound system (and apparnetly suffers from the same problem in places) has the clock 'verified' at 6Mhz (derived from the main crystal, not the 32.2 one, which is apparently only used for the actual sound chips)  that's still some way off what you're suggesting tho, so you'd really need to prove there was an internal divider we're missing via CPU documentation or similar.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on January 27, 2015, 10:47:37 AM
I think the problem with Crude buster is interesting, it might or might not be related to the problem in Vapor Trail.  What I've noticed from a quick debugging: when the flamethrower guy shoots a flame, the game loads 0x1b into the soundlatch and does an interrupt on the h6280 44 times per blast, and each time an interrupt is made, it speeds up the tempo slightly.  I'd like to look into this more later on today.

(Regarding FBA only) Earlier today, after making the /3 modification to Vapor Trails soundcpu, I played the game from beginning to end - it works a treat, and is good enough for me until a better fix is available.   Who knows when that will be?  The people want to play the game ;)

bye for now & best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on January 27, 2015, 04:57:12 PM
I got Crude Buster at the flamethrower guy to sound right, now: [try] fix the sprite problem in Vapor Trail..

EDIT: problem fixed!  The torso of that spider-machine is actually a background layer, which was 8pixels askew causing the part of the the legs and feet which are sprites to not line up properly.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on January 28, 2015, 06:02:40 PM
Air Buster - fix slowdowns at mid-boss & busy screen
Arkanoid - was sometimes getting selected as a bootleg due to uninitialized variable, fixes some weirdness, also lowered volume a little so that it doesn't heavily distort with the lowpass filter enabled.

Big thanks to Zazzone for reporting these.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on January 29, 2015, 04:28:59 AM
Regarding the recent Armed Police Batrider bug in MAME... (I just had to test it...!)
Good news, our Gob-Robo is OK :) [see piccy]
Bad news, our dips for Stage Edit, Player Select and Guest Players are backwards (disable = enabled), and have been fixed.

thats all,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on January 29, 2015, 06:10:12 PM
More good news:
1942: improved sound quality
Pocket Gal Dx: fixed music

- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on January 29, 2015, 07:50:16 PM
A whole host of new fixes and improvements great to see
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: csmart on January 29, 2015, 09:16:29 PM
Great job Dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on January 30, 2015, 07:52:39 AM
thanks guys!

p.s. don't be afraid to report any bugs or quirks here (or in the FBA Bugs Thread: http://neo-source.com/index.php?topic=1731.0 (http://neo-source.com/index.php?topic=1731.0)) - even if you don't think its that important, we would still like to hear about it :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on January 30, 2015, 07:22:23 PM
Hi guys, some good news : Konami GT / RF2 & Hypercrash are now playable :)
If there are control issues with these games after upgrading to the new (future) version of FBA, you'll have to reset the dip's to default for both of these games. Ctrl-F5, click [Defaults] then [OK]

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on January 31, 2015, 08:16:05 PM
I'm quite happy about this one..
I got the MSX->SG-1000 ports of King's Valley, Knightemare & Twinbee to boot on the sg-1000 emu (in FBA!), also Q-bert and a few others that had problems now work :D (Yie Ar Kung Fu II, Rally-X, Konami's Road Wars, and some more I forgot)
These games were ported from MSX by some Taiwanese company in the early 80s.  The MSX has very similar to the hardware to the SG-1000 (99x8 vdp, sn soundchip, z80).  The carts have ram in them to make up for the lack of ram that the SG-1000 has (1k) and it wasn't being mapped properly.

Secondly, all of the SG-1000 games have been clonenized, so the game listing will look much nicer/cleaner now.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: vbt on February 02, 2015, 07:40:26 PM
I'm quite happy about this one..
I got the MSX->SG-1000 ports of King's Valley, Knightemare & Twinbee to boot on the sg-1000 emu (in FBA!), also Q-bert and a few others that had problems now work :D (Yie Ar Kung Fu II, Rally-X, Konami's Road Wars, and some more I forgot)
These games were ported from MSX by some Taiwanese company in the early 80s.  The MSX has very similar to the hardware to the SG-1000 (99x8 vdp, sn soundchip, z80).  The carts have ram in them to make up for the lack of ram that the SG-1000 has (1k) and it wasn't being mapped properly.

Secondly, all of the SG-1000 games have been clonenized, so the game listing will look much nicer/cleaner now.

best regards,
- dink
great job Dink (as always)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: JacKc on February 04, 2015, 11:03:34 AM
Really nice job dink for tracking and fixing bugs in various drivers :smilie:

I really like what you're doing in the Team since your arrival !!!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on February 04, 2015, 11:24:11 AM
Thanks JacKc, thanks vbt  :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on February 04, 2015, 11:55:11 AM
The daily waffle, by dink
~~
Gradius 2 savestate overhaul..
Bug #1
After loading a saved state from Gradius II / Vulcan Venture, you would be greeted with the playscreen for 1-2 frames, then it would crash and complain about the roms being bad.  Turns out that an irq on both cpu's was being lost, and this would somehow throw the games internal timers out of sync [or something like that].
Bug #1.5
Also fixed a problem with the k007232 soundchip & savestates, it was playing the wrong instruments after a state load -or- crashing sometimes, and has been fixed :)

There has also been a handfull of small bugfixes/tweaks to certain games that aren't really worth mentioning.

thats it for now,
best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on February 04, 2015, 06:54:58 PM
Donkey Kong Jr. - tweaked the sounds/sample volumes to make the game sound much, much better.  Its perfect now :)
Next up: try to get sfx working in Donkey Kong 3..... (maybe!)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on February 07, 2015, 05:15:22 AM
Big thanks to Zazzone for this one:
Marine Boy can now be played past level 4 with uncorrupted graphics :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on February 08, 2015, 12:04:41 PM
Another for my good friend Zazzone (and everyone else, of course): Hooked up the filters to Pooyan and also got the background music to work. :)
I learned a few tricks while working on Time Pilot - Pooyan uses the same sound system.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on February 08, 2015, 12:07:05 PM
Nice work. I'm planning on putting the sound system into its own shared file. It'll make improvements across games easier.
BTW gyruss uses those filters too.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on February 08, 2015, 12:42:42 PM
Nice work. I'm planning on putting the sound system into its own shared file. It'll make improvements across games easier.
BTW gyruss uses those filters too.

Thanks!
you know what, that gives me an idea.  Gonna try fixing that evil Gyruss again..  Been trying to fix that one since I hopped on the team in march 2014!  Think you can take a look and try to figure out why the sprites are flickering all over the place? (start the game, play for a second or 2..)

p.s. Oops, hit the wrong button when replying.  my bad, didn't mean to edit your message!
best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on February 08, 2015, 12:48:44 PM
I mean, nevermind about the flickering sprites in gyruss, the thing that caused the lines in the clouds is causing the same issue in gyruss :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Haze on February 08, 2015, 01:02:44 PM
IIRC Gyruss changes the spritelist mid-screen hence the 'partial updates' in MAME..  They do that as a smart trick to get more sprites on the screen, sometimes called 'sprite multiplexing' or better known to some as 'raster effects'

Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on February 09, 2015, 06:38:03 AM
Finally got the music sorted in Gyruss, going to implement the dac stuff (drum/hats/sample stuff) monday if things go right :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on February 09, 2015, 06:25:21 PM
After many, many, many failed attempts at fixing our Gyruss driver, I'm very happy to say that the Gyruss-overhaul project is complete \o/
Today I added the i8039 + dac, cleaned up a few things, tweaked a few things to perfection thus finally finishing this driver.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: csmart on February 09, 2015, 11:27:00 PM
As always great job Dink.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on February 10, 2015, 12:03:47 PM
Thanks Csmart! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on February 14, 2015, 05:11:04 PM
Hello friends and fans of FBA,
Just some small fixes for today:
Galaga - the explosion sample wasn't always triggering when your ship got hit.
Pac-Land, the score, life & Round # was skewed to the right a bit (and cut off)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on February 21, 2015, 05:15:42 AM
Hi guys,
Its been a while since the last update, been doing a lot of behind the scenes stuff.  I'm about due for a game-break.
bad: Spent a couple days trying to get a buggy game working, in the end it unfortunately didn't work out (Takeda Shingen, Japanese-English version crash in level 2).  On the other hand, the Japanese-Japanese version of Takeda Shingen plays just fine.
good:
Fixed the missing pcm sounds in Gemini Wing.
Updated the Sky Army tutorial driver to work with the current FBA code & fixed a sprite offset & wrapping issue.
Added a new irq flag (for Z80 only), CPU_IRQSTATUS_HOLD - similar to CPU_IRQSTATUS_AUTO but with a 100cycle runtime between ACK and NONE.

that's all for now,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on February 22, 2015, 04:21:28 AM
We now have Sega Master System & Game Gear \o/

Step 1: port smsplus to fba & graft into a driver *done*
Step 1.5: have it use fba's z80 and sn psg instead of smsplus's internal ones *not done yet*
Step 2: ???
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Freddy on February 22, 2015, 08:08:55 AM
There is a lot of great news lately...
Hope to see also NES and SNES in the future! Why?
Just to see this guy in action on FBA! \O/ \O/ \O/
(http://th00.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2014/016/0/4/super_metroid___running_the_gauntlet_by_soulstryder210-d72gge6.jpg)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: vbt on February 22, 2015, 06:04:31 PM
We now have Sega Master System & Game Gear \o/

Step 1: port smsplus to fba & graft into a driver *done*
Step 1.5: have it use fba's z80 and sn psg instead of smsplus's internal ones *not done yet*
Step 2: ???
Sure you can do it Dink :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on February 23, 2015, 05:09:45 AM
Some screenies:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Freddy on February 23, 2015, 09:14:27 AM
You're doing a great job, dink
I played Master System when I was a kid (in a friend house)... in the age of 6.
The game was Double Dragon and what a great game.
Then my father gaves me a Nintendo Console (NES).
He bought in USA, because here, in Brazil, the nes console came after some years.
But anyway, Master System was very, very popular in Brazil.
If was a request system, a bet it was from a brazilian fan!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on February 23, 2015, 11:38:21 AM
Freddy nice story :)  I added the sms because it was a favorite console of mine in the 80s, it wasn't very popular here in the u.s., but I always liked it better than NES.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Sturm on February 23, 2015, 11:13:46 PM
Such a wonderful work, dink! 1000 posts and 100 "applauds".  :)
Besides, hope you may finish the SNES port also! ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on February 24, 2015, 03:58:29 AM
A big thanks goes out to Kev for fixing the video and palette issues in our new SMS driver :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on February 24, 2015, 05:54:44 AM
Update: the SMS driver is almost done, woohoo!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on February 24, 2015, 09:34:31 AM
A big thanks goes out to Kev for fixing the video and palette issues in our new SMS driver :)

Agreed!

Update: the SMS driver is almost done, woohoo!

best regards,
- dink
How's it looking? Are our sound cores in yet?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on February 24, 2015, 09:45:28 AM
How's it looking? Are our sound cores in yet?

Looks friggin' awesome :)
No, see the dev thread for more info.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on February 28, 2015, 12:36:36 PM
Our SMS driver is now 100% complete!  Woohoo!!
I even added support for the SMS conversion of GG Aleste II, which is a game no shooter fan should be without. :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on March 03, 2015, 01:16:01 PM
Added the Gamegear game collection to the SMS driver, while the collection might not be the greatest, there are a few games which shouldn't be ignored, like: Columns, Devilish, Puyo Puyo 2, Mega Man, and, thats about it :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Sturm on March 03, 2015, 01:29:11 PM
Hip, Hip, Hurrah!  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: WILOWAR on March 05, 2015, 03:41:25 PM
Hi Dink. Can you fix Special Criminal Investigation  ? This game has several problems: no sound, glitchy graphic.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on March 06, 2015, 06:55:15 PM
WILOWAR, good news - its already been fixed :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on March 07, 2015, 12:31:45 PM
Today is a good day :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on March 07, 2015, 02:37:01 PM
Today is a good day :)

Agreed!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: WILOWAR on March 09, 2015, 05:44:28 AM
Hi Dink. Can you fix Super -X game: game freeze after start Stage 1 and shows error code 002C in the middle screen  (both NTC and MITCHELL versions) ??
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on March 09, 2015, 11:11:16 AM
WILOWAR, I can't reproduce that bug here.  Can you try the following, to see if it helps:
If you're using 64bit exe, use the 32bit one instead, or xp version (just try)
If Use Assembly 68k core is on, turn it off, Misc -> Options -> Use Assembly MC68000 core.
Then try?

thanks,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on March 10, 2015, 05:52:16 PM
Fixed the ai in The New Zealand Story on SMS, thanks to dapperozmo for reporting.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on March 13, 2015, 03:43:12 AM
With help from Barry / Treble Winner, we now have FM(YM2413) capability in the Sega Master System driver :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on March 14, 2015, 12:28:52 PM
Fixed a bunch of non-booting games in the SMS driver :D
Korean games which relied on the SMS's work ram set to a pattern of 0xf0
Ace of Aces & Shadow Dancer which relied on the Stack Pointer being set to 0xdff0 before boot.

that's all for now,
best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on March 14, 2015, 02:02:37 PM
Fixed a bunch of non-booting games in the SMS driver :D
Korean games which relied on the SMS's work ram set to a pattern of 0xf0
Ace of Aces & Shadow Dancer which relied on the Stack Pointer being set to 0xdff0 before boot.

that's all for now,
best regards,
- dink
Excellent work!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on March 14, 2015, 07:05:56 PM
Thanks IQ_132 :)

I'm pretty happy with this driver now, today all of the longstanding issues & problematic problems have been worked out.  Next step: more playtesting!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on March 19, 2015, 11:52:52 AM
For those who are wondering: what happened to dink?

SMS Game Binge!!!

Playing and tweaking, tweaking and playing.  Tweaking the driver to perfection, that is, (not the other kind!)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Huggybaby on March 19, 2015, 03:54:32 PM
SMS, as in Streets of Rage?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on March 19, 2015, 04:18:29 PM
Sega MasterSystem, of course :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Huggybaby on March 19, 2015, 05:54:40 PM
Exactly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fh6VGeulJkw

Of corse, SMS=Genesis to me.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on March 20, 2015, 07:08:16 PM
Some more SMS news:
Today I got the Korean Beat 'em up Janggun ui Adeul working in FBA!  It uses simple bit swapping encryption for a range of bytes in the rom.
Also got Pooyan, which is a port of the MSX version to SMS by HiCom working right - the game used to go berzerk after player death.

thats it for today...

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: csmart on March 21, 2015, 01:54:08 AM
Dink you have been a life saver since you joined this group. I've followed FBA since 2010 and is my favorite arcade emulator. Awesome job as always now if you can get iq to port Track n Field. lol just messing around better than asking for the Midway driver though I still love my cat.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on March 22, 2015, 05:45:31 AM
Thanks csmart :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on March 30, 2015, 06:33:48 PM
Added the newly found WildSnake GameGear game to FBA
JacKc added the new arrange versions of Japanese Fireshark (Same!Same!Same!) & Ketsui by trap15 (Thanks!!!)

The new Japanese Fireshark fixes a problem that every FireShark fan has run into - powerups that never leave the screen.  This is especially helpfull in the later levels when you need a certain weapon, and those powerup-hindenburgs keep coming by with powerups that actually downgrade you.   Its a very "hated" part of the game that most superfans know about and cringe every time they think about playing the game :)  Big thanks to trap15 for reverse-engineering the game and fixing things, and JacKc for adding the games to FBA!

best regards,
- dink

Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on March 31, 2015, 07:50:39 PM
Did a little fix for the map at the beginning of each level in Ninja Baseball Batman, the raster effect is askew by 24 pixels and just didn't look right.  Now its perfect.  :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 01, 2015, 04:27:35 AM
Remember when Ninja Baseball Bat Man's soundcpu wasn't being decrypted properly, and the music was all full of glitchy weirdness?  It turns out theres a few people that actually prefer the game to sound that way - so, to make everyone happy - I thought about adding a dipswitch/setting to switch between the proper and glitched music modes.  :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: jsjyqz on April 01, 2015, 04:54:57 AM
well,if the raster effect  fix in Ninja Baseball Batman will be help the Mame driver?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 01, 2015, 09:12:05 AM
well,if the raster effect  fix in Ninja Baseball Batman will be help the Mame driver?

The part where it flips the map around already was fine in MAME.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 06, 2015, 07:05:36 PM
SMS Homebrew authors have released 2 epic games this year: DARC and Bruce Lee.
Typically, homebrew games are nothing to write about - but these two are friggin' awesome! :)
Also, earlier today a rare/undumped SMS game was found and dumped!  Its a side-scrolling shooter called Hong kil Dong.  Here's some piccys of them running in your favorite emulator:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 07, 2015, 02:57:52 AM
Here's something special - Lambo by Genesis Project (from Revision 2015) in FBA:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 09, 2015, 04:48:39 PM
Hello friends & fans of FBAlpha!
I came across a nice re-work of Alex Kidd in Miracle World (SMS platformer) called Alex Kidd in Radaxian Rumble.  A lot of recoding/new graphics/music etc. has been done to make almost a totally different game, and it plays quite nicely too.

http://626535750121256080.weebly.com/alex-kidd-in-radaxian-rumble.html
This site contains a .ips patch that can be applied to your Alex Kid in Miracle World 1.1 rom, which creates a new rom of Alex Kidd in Radaxian Rumble!

(http://s26.postimg.org/5eheign1x/akrrtitle.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/5eheign1x/)

(http://s26.postimg.org/nvbt9a305/akrr.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/nvbt9a305/)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 17, 2015, 06:52:19 PM
Hi guys,
Earlier today Trap15 came up with a mod for the excellent shooter GunNail that quiets that loud/irritating "sheild low" warning beep, so its only right that we now have a dip switch setting to enable/disable this excellent mod :D

For those interested, here's the discussion @ the shmups forum regarding the issue and mod:
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=53276

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on April 29, 2015, 07:03:53 PM
Fixed the background noise in Galaxian and King & Balloon - been meaning to do this for ages, but couldn't figure it out!  Happy day :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on May 11, 2015, 04:46:05 PM
Hello friends and fans of FBAlpha,
Theres a problem with the excellent Capcom CPS2 shooter game Mars Matrix where all the sfx only come through the right speaker - this is especially annoying if playing with earbuds/headphones.  Been meaning to fix this one for ages, but couldn't come up with a good solution until now - so - happy day! :)

Here's 2 mp3 samples, Mars Matrix before and after the fix: http://sharesend.com/2hpjrw2p

That's it for now...
best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on June 23, 2015, 11:31:16 PM
*mr. d. clears tumbleweeds and dust off this thread*

big thanks to iq_132 for ninjakun!!
big thanks to vbt for nova 2001!!
*and a few tiny bugfixes by me*

Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: vbt on June 24, 2015, 04:31:05 PM
great job !! :cool: :cool: :cool: :cool:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on June 24, 2015, 04:48:56 PM
Nice Work Fellas!!!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: csmart on June 25, 2015, 01:18:01 AM
Awesome
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on June 25, 2015, 09:22:59 AM
Getting a small issue with the Japan version of Nova2001 when i try to coin it up the game just resets and does it's Arcade
bootup sequence again also player 2 coin isn't working  either if i set it to Free Play the game starts and plays fine

Not sure if it does this in FBA or it's a problem my end in FBL BTW the Nova 2001 USA version coins up and plays ok
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on June 25, 2015, 01:29:22 PM
Gamez Fan, thats a known issue with the rom, I'll see if theres a way around the problem.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: vbt on June 25, 2015, 02:11:02 PM
also there is one missing game : Raiders5, i add it ?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on June 25, 2015, 02:16:30 PM
also there is one missing game : Raiders5, i add it ?
I was hoping you would! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on June 25, 2015, 03:56:51 PM
Gamez Fan, thats a known issue with the rom, I'll see if theres a way around the problem.

Ok thanks for the heads up i take it this happens in latest MAME as well..??? Reason i ask is in my older xbox MAME Emulator
the game coins ok maybe a fix can be found in an older MAME84 driver..??? But it's no big deal really i cant see many folks using
the Jap rom when there's a USA version to be had
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on June 26, 2015, 08:27:37 PM
Raiden II / DX coin inputs are now perfect :)  Yay!!

Fix info:
part 1: Coin inputs need to be held for 4 frames, no more (like, if 5 is held down)
part 2: run 1 frame of the game, then reset it with a watchdawg. (yes, really)

I suspect some sort of banking issue or something which causes the need to rest the game after a frame.  Tomorrow I'll try to figure out the real cause so the dawg can be removed.

best regards,
- dink

Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on June 27, 2015, 09:30:50 AM
@dink good job!!!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on June 27, 2015, 09:49:17 AM
Fantastic! Care to see if you can do the same with the pgm games? IIRC some of them have trouble with the coin line not being held long enough.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on June 27, 2015, 09:56:14 AM
iq_132, which games?  All the ones I've tried works fine, so maybe its one I'm missing/forgot about?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on June 27, 2015, 10:35:12 AM
Raiden2/dx now fixed properly with hack removed. yay! :D
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on June 27, 2015, 12:56:30 PM
Nice work!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: SeiferAlmasy on June 27, 2015, 12:58:09 PM
Very nice, dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: csmart on June 27, 2015, 01:37:07 PM
Nice Dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on June 27, 2015, 03:05:37 PM
Raiden2/dx now fixed properly with hack removed. yay! :D

Fantastico!! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Freddy on June 27, 2015, 03:52:29 PM
Fantastico!! :)

Muito bom!!!  :cool:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on June 30, 2015, 05:49:33 PM
Irem M62 games now have drums! :)

Inspired by the recent analog-emulated drums added to MAME for Horizon & Kid Niki, I decided that the Roland TR-606 drumkit sounded better, used a lot less resources and wasn't so buggy/clicky ;)

Here's a zip with 3 mp3 recordings of the games playing in FBA: http://sharesend.com/0fkjgs8f

EDIT: a copy-right free tr-606 drumkit, put in fba\support\samples - http://sharesend.com/32ux720g and be ready for the next release.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on July 01, 2015, 10:24:16 AM
Drumkit enabled to Spelunker I and II & The Battle-Road also :) How awesome is that.. :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on July 01, 2015, 03:19:46 PM
Heres a little video demonstration of Spelunker with the new drumkit feature.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gdFjS5J_dY

Spelunker II
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lRVZmLXe0I

Horizon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjVjMulob7o

Kid Niki
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnV9mdUOQHM

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: JacKc on July 02, 2015, 04:50:34 AM
Nice job dink  :cool:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on July 02, 2015, 09:21:27 AM
thanks :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on July 02, 2015, 12:09:59 PM
Been busy working away on something the last couple of days and took my eye of the ball just seen this now and
wanna say Great Work Dink!!!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on July 05, 2015, 08:42:30 PM
More great news:

Konami's Finalizer has proper/working music/sound now

and even greater!!

Kabuki-Z finally lives in FBAlpha!!

(now if we can only come up with a crash-fix for tshingen / Takeda Shingen.....)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: megazoid on July 09, 2015, 11:16:40 AM
Hi guys
Is Overdrive by konami playable in FBA, sorry if this has been asked before but only just joined up and there is a sh** load of content to wade through.
Really dying to play this game it was one i really enjoyed during my childhood.
Cheers for any info.
Matt.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on July 09, 2015, 11:34:24 AM
Hi guys
Is Overdrive by konami playable in FBA, sorry if this has been asked before but only just joined up and there is a sh** load of content to wade through.
Really dying to play this game it was one i really enjoyed during my childhood.
Cheers for any info.
Matt.

Nope OverDrive is not playable in FBA or any Emulator for that matter
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: WILOWAR on July 09, 2015, 10:41:16 PM
Graphic glitch on Sand Scorpion (sandscrp)  game
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on July 10, 2015, 07:27:03 PM
Thanks for the report, WILOWAR :)
For reference, here's a savestate which brings you (me or iq) to the part where the background tiles start to go missing. 
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on July 10, 2015, 07:39:29 PM
I just spent the past few days working on Kozure Ookami, the excellent samurai game by Nichibutsu.  The game had a handfull of bugs and I'm happy to announce that they no longer exist :)

Here's some screenies...



Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on July 10, 2015, 07:44:52 PM
@Dink you finally got it well done im sure it feels good after all the hours of trying to get this game fixed
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: csmart on July 10, 2015, 11:37:27 PM
Way to go Dink. You da man.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: vbt on July 12, 2015, 02:47:02 AM
I was hoping you would! :)

wip with Dink :
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on July 12, 2015, 09:03:15 AM
Its way too early to post that picture.  :(
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: vbt on July 12, 2015, 11:11:28 AM
Its way too early to post that picture.  :(
ok, sorry dink :(
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on July 12, 2015, 02:34:37 PM
Looks pretty good to me!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on July 12, 2015, 03:06:45 PM
no, this does:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on July 13, 2015, 07:33:50 AM
Dink / vbt great work guys!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: WILOWAR on July 13, 2015, 01:44:09 PM
Graphic glitch on Varia Metal (vmetal) - special attack

Graphic glitch on Jail Break Konami (jailbreak)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on July 13, 2015, 05:49:38 PM
@vbt/dink nive job thats another driver completely done and dusted
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: WILOWAR on July 13, 2015, 11:36:55 PM
Graphic glitch on Onna Sansirou - Typhoon Gal (set 1) (onna34ro)

Gun Frontier (Japan) (gunfrontj), Gun & Frontier (gunfront) - Incorrect position of  sprite 1 player
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on July 15, 2015, 10:28:41 PM
Color lookup-table effect code added for Armed Formation, Legion - Spinner 87, Crazy Climber 2 & Kozure Ookami (Lone Wolf and Cub).

This gives these games a new depth of dimension by casting a neat shimmering effect on bullets/lasers/blood and so on.  Its kinda hard to capture in a picture, so.. look forward to it in the next release of your favorite emulator :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on July 16, 2015, 09:34:46 PM
Terra Force by Nichibutsu is finally fully-playable in FBAlpha!!!

Fixed scrolling fg layer
Fixed chaotic music tempo
Fixed missing text layer (by adding the nb1414m4 mcu/text blitter)
Fixed certain text effects by adding support for text-layer priorities
There is 1 small problem left with the text layer not clearing right in some situations, but.. saving that for tomorow :)fixed! see last piccy and compare with the first title screen :)
.. this was one of those games that I had tried and given up on several times, and deemed unfixable.  Times are good :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on July 25, 2015, 11:44:52 PM
Here's a gift for my good friend Zazzone - and everyone else :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on July 26, 2015, 03:47:45 PM
I really dig  dig-dug :) Nice work adding it!!!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on July 26, 2015, 09:22:02 PM
FBA: kid tested & approved :)

Saturday night when I finished the Dig Dug driver & got it into a playable state, my buddys nephew (10yrs) saw me playing it, and wanted to play - we both ended up playing it for the next hour and a half and having a blast. (literally!)

Sunday morning comes along, and my buddy is trying to get his nephew to play playstation with him, and the kid wants to play some more Dig Dug.  On top of it all, he ended up talking about it all day, too  :biggrin:

What a weekend!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: SeiferAlmasy on July 26, 2015, 09:38:13 PM
Nice work dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on July 28, 2015, 03:01:27 PM
Thanks :D
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on July 28, 2015, 03:07:20 PM
We now have a Pokey soundcore, which brings music&sfx to Tetris by Atari Games (romset: atetris.zip) :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on July 28, 2015, 03:20:53 PM
That makes me want to port Asteroids pretty bad. ^^
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on July 28, 2015, 03:47:07 PM
We now have a Pokey soundcore, which brings music&sfx to Tetris by Atari Games (romset: atetris.zip) :)

Hey nice job guys great to see it up and running in FBA sooooooo many great games use this sound core Alotta of them all
have analog controls though might be a pisser to hook those up in FBA But Asteroids cant wait for that one a real classic :D
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on July 28, 2015, 04:49:17 PM
I'd love to see Millipede in fba :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on July 28, 2015, 04:52:36 PM
I'd love to see Millipede in fba :)

Yeah Centipede and Millipede love those games as well Looking at the Atari Drivers obviously most folks would be after
atarisy1 and atarisy2 which would require alotta graft to port jedi.c for The Return Of The Jedi looks a good target small
single game driver
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on July 28, 2015, 11:59:52 PM
I'd love to see Millipede in fba :)

What a coincidence, I just happen to be writing a driver for Millipede!  Things are looking good :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on July 31, 2015, 07:18:09 PM
It's Millipede time in our favorite emulator!! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Romhack on July 31, 2015, 07:33:26 PM
Great work dink!

FBA needs Track 'n Field now :rolleyes:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on July 31, 2015, 08:37:19 PM
Centipede is up next, if I can get it to work with the joystick :)  I'd like to add high score support to Millipede / Centipede as well.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on July 31, 2015, 10:08:03 PM
it's... Centipede!!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on August 01, 2015, 09:31:14 AM
@dink nice work always great to see more classic Atari games playable in FBA
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: WILOWAR on August 02, 2015, 06:03:43 AM
Hi Dink. Can you add Pole Positon ? It's my favorite classic Namco arcade title.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: WILOWAR on August 13, 2015, 03:27:32 PM
Found a graphic glitch on Mikie (mikie) -
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: WILOWAR on August 13, 2015, 10:58:22 PM
Found a graphic glitch on Sonic Boom (FD1094 317-0053)(sonicbom)

Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: WILOWAR on August 14, 2015, 11:30:07 AM
Problem with sound (mute sound) on Mars Matrix (000412 USA) (mmatrix)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: WILOWAR on August 14, 2015, 11:31:25 AM
Found a graphic glitch on Wiggie Waggie (wiggie) left corner
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on August 14, 2015, 11:36:03 AM
Found a graphic glitch on Wiggie Waggie (wiggie)

Yip you cant Wiggle your Waggle if the game has bad graphics :D
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: WILOWAR on August 14, 2015, 11:56:38 AM
 Super -X (Mitchell) (superxm) Game freeze
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 14, 2015, 02:17:06 PM
WILOWAR: thanks for the reports!

for mars matrix:  edit game inputs (F5), set a key to "volume up" (you may need to scroll down a bit), press OK then start a game & press this key until its at the volume you wish.  also make sure "volume down" isn't conflicting with anything else - or just clear input with "clear lock" checked.

for Super-X: exit the game or close/reload FBA, go to "Misc" -> "Options" and uncheck "Use assembly MC68000 core".  If this doesn't help and you are using the 64bit FBA, get the 32bit one instead. and/or ctrl-F5 and set the dips to default.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 14, 2015, 10:21:01 PM
Takeda Shingen  aka  Shingen Samurai Fighter on Jaleco Megasystem 1.

This game has a sprite effect that is unemulated in MAME and FBA.  When your samurai has the flashing sword powerup and you kill a baddie, they die in a mess of pixelated blocks, its a neat effect - tonight I figured out how to emulate it :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on August 15, 2015, 10:02:33 AM
Nice work derek game sure looks better now with that graphical feature Emulated correctly
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 19, 2015, 09:38:14 PM
For my buddy Zazzone (again)

p.s. the request lines are not open, but as you can see - being a faithful tester has its benefits :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Barry Harris on August 20, 2015, 01:55:58 AM
Very nice work dink. :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on August 20, 2015, 06:52:08 AM
Wow! That was fast! Nice work dink!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: vbt on August 20, 2015, 07:55:55 AM
super job dink !
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on August 20, 2015, 08:14:11 AM
Fantastico!!!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Haze on August 20, 2015, 09:28:04 AM
take note, if you used MAME as reference for PopEye our emulation has some flaws / unemulated hardware limitations.

http://mametesters.org/view.php?id=3725
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on August 20, 2015, 10:48:03 AM
take note, if you used MAME as reference for PopEye our emulation has some flaws / unemulated hardware limitations.

http://mametesters.org/view.php?id=3725


Just for clarification, but is he saying that the transparent is set as black and covers the sprite behind it, or that it wipes out the sprite  behind it completely (overwrites a sprite framebuffer?) and is transparent, but without the sprite behind it? Also he mention sprite 0, is this only with the first sprite?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Haze on August 21, 2015, 08:03:17 AM
I believe sprites have no real transparency, so wipe out sprite pixels of the sprite behind if they cover them (IIRC I did implement this bit in MAME)

there's also some complex DMA / priority issue that affects which sprite has priority in certain cases, calculated by the hardware on a per-scanline basis, the game also runs in an interlace mode so technically it's only half the scanlines update each frame, MAME doesn't really have native interlace support and just ends up treating it as a higher resolution game.

all in all I understand what's written there about as well as you do tho ;-)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 21, 2015, 08:42:35 AM
Haze thanks for taking the time to explain these things :)

Until yesterday I had never seen level 2 and 3 - absolutely brilliant for a game from '82 :D

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 22, 2015, 12:25:39 AM
I'm having a little issue with Sky Skipper, a few of the sprites are incorrectly flipped, I just can't figure it out.  Specifically the plane, King and Gorilla characters.  any ideas guys?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 24, 2015, 09:03:04 AM
Another new addition to FBA - big thanks to iq_132 for help fixing the bad sprite issue :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on August 24, 2015, 06:11:16 PM
Nice going fellas Never played Sky Skipper Before and i kinda like it!!!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 25, 2015, 08:03:31 AM
Its a great game, I never played it until doing the driver and I got hooked on it quite a bit.  Absolutely love the character design - especially the chicken :)  Watch out for that second loop, its insane!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 25, 2015, 09:59:12 PM
in a joint iq_132-dink venture (teamwork).  jalecomegasys1 sprite mosaic effect emulated 99.5%

Video goodness: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdktT-UvFuo
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 29, 2015, 11:48:13 PM
Ever since the excellent mini-review of Mr.Do's Castle in RetroGamer had reminded me what a great classic game I had been missing out on, I have been wanting to get this game in my favorite emulator.  Sure - we already had the ColecoVision version of it, but I wanted the arcade version :D

Tonight I present, Mr. Do's Castle for FB Alpha...
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 30, 2015, 09:05:11 AM
The next day...
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: iq_132 on August 30, 2015, 09:53:11 AM
Nice!!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on August 30, 2015, 09:55:00 AM
Dink "do"'n the classics well done man
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on August 30, 2015, 03:03:46 PM
and a couple more...
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: vbt on August 30, 2015, 06:35:20 PM
great job dink !!! all these games in the same driver ?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Arcadez on August 30, 2015, 07:54:59 PM
great job dink !!! all these games in the same driver ?

Yip same driver daddy-oh!!!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on September 03, 2015, 11:11:25 PM
Friends,
Our Mr.Do (original Mr.Do!) driver got a nice make-over tonight, fixing a couple of bugs and bringing the emulation quality up all the way [to 11] :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: csmart on September 04, 2015, 12:26:04 AM
Great job as always Dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 06, 2015, 11:37:52 PM
A few weeks ago my heart sank as I realized that one of my favorite classic games ever (other than Centipede/Millipede) - Warp Warp aka Warp & Warp had used an i8080 cpu - a cpu which FBA doesn't support.  I was thinking, this game will probably never make it into my favorite emulator.  Drat.

2 days ago I noticed Space Invaders in our games list.  That game uses an i8080, how is this possible?  Digging a little deeper I see "they" (probably iq_132) used the Z80 core to run the i8080 code.  2 minutes and a quick google later, I found out that the Z80 is fully i8080-compatible.  "Wow, what a joyous day", he said.

Here's an early development video from several years ago... uh; - I mean, yesterday:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQsLjsmxge4

Fast-forward to today: (with sound! *click piccy for happy scanlines*)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 08, 2015, 08:09:59 AM
One neat factoid regarding Warp Warp, other than the bullet - everything is done with characters, if you pause the game in mid-action and step through it frame-by-frame with the f1 key, you'll notice that everything moves in half-character movements.  If you're not sure about what I mean by characters - think of back to the C64/Vic-20 days with magazine type-in programs & user-defined characters - like that :)  The only thing that sort-of resembles a sprite is the 4x4 pixel "bullet" that the main character fires - it can sorta do smooth-scrolling by moving in 2 pixel incremements.  They really did a good job considering the hardware limitations they had in 1981 :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on September 08, 2015, 08:20:16 AM
2 days ago I noticed Space Invaders in our games list.  That game uses an i8080, how is this possible?  Digging a little deeper I see "they" (probably iq_132) used the Z80 core to run the i8080 code.  2 minutes and a quick google later, I found out that the Z80 is fully i8080-compatible.  "Wow, what a joyous day", he said.
Yup! That one is mine. Nice work on Warp Warp :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 10, 2015, 11:35:47 PM
From the "Older games need love too" department:
Universal's Ladybug, Dorodon & Space Raider controls converted to 4-way inputs.
Ever notice, in older games, that the player stops dead in its tracks on some games when you try to move diagonally?  This process solves that problem :)

Recently a bunch of older games were converted this way, most notably of them was Pac-Man/MS Pac-Man.  The process is kinda convoluted at the moment - a chunk of code needs to be added to each driver where 4-way mode is needed.  In the future I would like to add this functionality to the FBA input-processing code, so that all that's needed is a simple flag in the game driver to enable 4way mode.  (who knows - maybe someone else wants to beat me to it? *hint*Barry*hint*)  :biggrin:

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 12, 2015, 03:39:08 PM
Another new driver, this time for Mirax by Current Technologies from 1985.  Its a Space-Harrier type game with music that reminds me of Zanac on MSX mixed with Gyruss in a weird way :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on September 12, 2015, 03:58:04 PM
Nice work dink chalk up another one and a good un at that
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: JacKc on September 12, 2015, 04:03:46 PM
Yes dink is actually on porting drivers MODE ON  :biggrin: and i won't complain about it.

Nice job dink !!!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: vbt on September 12, 2015, 04:23:56 PM
great job dink, don't stop :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: manliodp on September 14, 2015, 04:34:05 PM
May I dare to share a request Dink, since you're in porting drivers mode on? :P
It's Nintendo VS system.. I really think FBA needs some Super Mario Bros love for its 30th anniversary :P
Obv feel free to ignore this request if not possible.

Thank you very very much for all your effort on other tasks.


Manlio
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 14, 2015, 05:21:18 PM
Oldschool classics++;
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
8088 gamecode on FBA, but how is this possible??  No, I didn't port a new CPU core.  I had a dream, that it might have involved a large hammer.  :biggrin:

.........Really, just a NEC V20!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on September 14, 2015, 05:29:56 PM
@dink Sometimes you just gotta try sh** see if it'll work and it's great when it does well done man!!! i love Q-Bert
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on September 14, 2015, 05:38:32 PM
Oldschool classics++;
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
8088 gamecode on FBA, but how is this possible??  No, I didn't port a new CPU core.  I had a dream, that it might have involved a large hammer.  :biggrin:

.........Really, just a NEC V20!

That's awesome! I didn't know that. ^^ Nice work. Q*Bert has been on my list since I started working on FBA! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on September 14, 2015, 05:45:15 PM
That's awesome! I didn't know that. ^^ Nice work. Q*Bert has been on my list since I started working on FBA! :)

Yeah totally nice find that a 8088 CPU can double up as a v20 CPU makes me wonder what other CPU's are interchangeable like that
i guess the info's out there somewhere
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on September 14, 2015, 06:05:21 PM
Yeah totally nice find that a 8088 CPU can double up as a v20 CPU makes me wonder what other CPU's are interchangeable like that
i guess the info's out there somewhere
The only other one I can think of is the Z80 being compatible with the i8080.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 18, 2015, 09:07:49 AM
Almost forgot about these...
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on September 18, 2015, 09:23:21 AM
Nice addtions those games thanks for adding em
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on September 19, 2015, 12:43:56 AM
I noticed that you added the Namco's Warp Warp driver... would it be possible to add the drivers for other Namco's i8080 games? (Bomb Bee, Cutie Q, Gee Bee, Kaitei Takara Sagashi, Navalone and SOS)
Thanks a lot for your work! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on September 19, 2015, 07:57:32 AM
I noticed that you added the Namco's Warp Warp driver... would it be possible to add the drivers for other Namco's i8080 games? (Bomb Bee, Cutie Q, Gee Bee, Kaitei Takara Sagashi, Navalone and SOS)
Thanks a lot for your work! :)
I second that!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 19, 2015, 08:41:30 AM
I'm not really feelin' those other games. :/  but, uh, perhaps some day.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on September 19, 2015, 09:25:10 AM
I'm not really feelin' those other games. :/  but, uh, perhaps some day.

I hope in your goodwill !  :p
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 20, 2015, 10:43:45 PM
Gab75, I'm afraid you have used up all your driver requests until 2018 ;)

For everyone else, Kaitei, Navarone and Cutieq are at least somewhat playable.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on September 21, 2015, 03:27:51 AM
OH NO !  :eek: I had prepared a new "weighty" driver requests!!! I'm joking!  :p
Nice work Dink ... thanks a lot!  :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 23, 2015, 06:33:49 PM
Last night a friend had alerted me to some issues in the Capcom Commando driver:
*occasional flickering crap at the bottom of the screen
*music wasn't in sync with the game
*some sound effects were totally wrong (f.ex: heli landing/taking off noise)

All of these issues have been fixed.  The [boring] details/fix list:
sprite buffering had to be moved to vbl irq, instead of at the end of the frame.
the FM timers were not running at all, [oops! :)]
some small adjustments to timing.

Classics need lovin' too :)
best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on September 26, 2015, 10:57:54 AM
Nice work! So the short list of people who are cut off for the next few years - Gamez_fan and Gab75. lol
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on September 26, 2015, 12:16:22 PM
@Dink great to see some more classics improved in FBA nice job man!!!

@IQ_132 ya big Howler!!!!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on September 26, 2015, 02:25:57 PM
Nice work! So the short list of people who are cut off for the next few years - Gamez_fan and Gab75. lol

... for the "new requests" I'll have to come in the forum "under false pretences" !!!  :p
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 27, 2015, 11:16:46 PM
Recent small changes/fixes to FBA..
Pirate Ship Higemaru: Improved timing.  fixes & improves the sound/music and gets rid of slowdowns.  Changed the inputs to 4-way mode.

Ghosts and Goblins: Changed the sprite buffering timing, this fixes the problem where the gravestones jiggle as Arthur walks.

A joint-effort between iq_132 and dink: create generalized joystick processing code -> convert to 4way, convert to active=low, clear opposites.  Also compile the inputs in a nice fashion.

Son Son: fixed a sprite-wrapping issue that caused some sprites to get cut-off near the edges of the screen.

Commando: Improve sfx & music by actually running the fm timers, fix occasional ghost-sprite-garbage at the bottom of the screen by tweaking the sprite buffering timing.

Properly clone-ize the Coleco driver (aka fix parent/clone relationships)

Roc 'n Rope: Fix savestates

Lower the PSG volume for Neogeo, fixes the irritating beeping noise in Zupapa.  Funny coincidence - a similar change got checked in for MAME a day after I checked this in.  No joke :)  I had to check the logs just to see, great minds think alike... or, play the same game and get irritated by that annoying beeping sound ;)

that's all for now..
best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 28, 2015, 10:58:03 PM
Just a small update today: some of the ay8910 soundfx in Nemesis & Gradius never sounded right to me, but I could never figure out the cause of the problem.  today, after a bit of experimenting, I found that some of the commands to the 8910 were getting skipped - thus causing certain sfx to sound weird/bad.  Well, another problem solved - woohoo! :)
edit: ... a bit later on... noticed a slight video glitch in Nemesis every so-often.  easily fixed by correcting the vbl timing.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 05, 2015, 08:29:20 PM
So, in the next version of FBA - Ken-go aka Lightning Swords will actually be playable.  The game itself was fixed several months ago but I forgot to set it for non-debug builds - oops!  Also, thanks to the great system11 (and JacKc for adding it to FBA), it'll play Lightning Swords as well.

Earlier tonight Zazzone alerted me to a bug in Snow Bros - Nick and Tom, theres some pretty horrible slowdown later on in the game - and - especially during boss fights.  I used my frame-timing-fu move and all is well.  it ended well too.  Zazzone tested and approved.

that's all for today..
best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on October 06, 2015, 12:16:40 PM
Thanks for this other addition!  :wink:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 06, 2015, 03:49:14 PM
it's probably the greatest samurai game I know of :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 09, 2015, 07:23:09 PM
The next FBA will have an option to record an avi video of your game(s)!

This feature was ported over from FBA Plus and improved a little bit with flipped screen support, less leaky avi handles, pixel doubling and more :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on October 10, 2015, 01:28:31 AM
I'm looking forward to see (and try) the next FBA release! :)

... ehm, if I could have a dispensation for my "driver requests limit" ... I'm joking!  :p  :p
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 10, 2015, 08:33:04 AM
Yesterday was a nice day, I spent all day working on and tweaking the avi writer code.  First I had to write code to flip the screen so games like Mr. Do's Castle & Warp Warp wouldn't be upside-down and backwards.  This took nearly the entire day of trial and error because I didn't know a thing about processing raw screen data. (I'm a bit slow as well.)
At this point, all the games are now at their correct orientation when viewed from the recorded .avi. 
There was another problem - though - even at the highest compression rate, the video quality looked horrible, like an old vhs recording - even worse when uploaded to youtube. (see the first test, links below)  The resulting file size was huge as well.  At 1x1 pixel mode, especially on older games the compressor basically thinks data like that is static.  If you think about it - in tv/movies/etc even the smallest things usually tend to be bigger than a pixel or 2, and that's what the compressors are made for.  To get around this problem, I doubled-up the pixels before feeding them into the compressor - and - tada, perfect compressed video. (see the second test video, below)

First test of the avi writer, yesterday evening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPBKHlPY144

Second test, about 3 hours later.  Exact same compression settings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-FWlWTf_4o
Notice any differences? :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on October 10, 2015, 03:23:50 PM
The differences between two videos are "huge" ! Great work! ;)

To get around this problem, I doubled-up the pixels before feeding them into the compressor - and - tada, perfect compressed video. (see the second test video, below)

... indeed the native resolution is 240p in the first video, while it's 480p in the second one.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Haze on October 12, 2015, 03:44:05 PM
for YouTube videos you really want to be outputting in a format that ends up as a 60fps video, the difference is night and day.  I think that means at least 720p (so the vertical resolution of your upload must be 720 or above) and maybe some other bits and pieces.

You might not notice it on centipede, but any games which flicker sprites every other frame are unwatchable using the 24/30fps YouTube encodes most things at.


Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Haze on October 12, 2015, 05:05:58 PM
As a followup, check this as an example

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHK4jLW9jsc

0:25 seconds in

if you view the video in YouTube's 720p60 mode the flicker on the character looks correct, you can see the sprite flicker to show invulnerability as it would in the emulation

if you view it at the 480p mode (not 60fps) then the flicker doesn't render correctly - in some cases this can result in sprites that flicker becoming completely invisible in the emulation.  The charging effect on the sword used shortly after suffers from the same issue.

While YouTube isn't exactly helpful with this it simply doesn't make sense to upload emulation videos at anything less than 720p60 if you want to avoid them becoming mangled.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 12, 2015, 09:52:42 PM
Haze,
thanks for the tips & info.  I always hated that effect when every other frame caused the  sprite to flash, and the video encoder only sampled every other frame.  So the video really has to be in 720p for 60hz video?  YT won't allow any lower resolution run at 60fps? :/

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 12, 2015, 10:03:34 PM
FBA news for today...

fix-o-rama
Dingo, the classic by Ashby from '83 had issues with the music playing way too fast, its alright now.

Joe and Mac Returns, after playing the new version to the end with my buddy Zazzone over the 'net, I noticed a little bug in our deco16 rowscrolling.  oops.

Caveman Ninja, after fixing deco16's rowscrolling for Joe and Mac Returns, I wanted to play through Caveman Ninja to make sure I didn't mess IT up.  I remember spending a week fixing the rowscrolling in Caveman Ninja waaay back when I didn't know anything about graphics.  Graphics are OK. .. but...

Caveman Ninja pt.2, Some of the sound effects weren't right, and the tempo of the music would go offbeat sometimes.  now its perfect :D  timer issue.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on October 13, 2015, 03:16:40 AM
Haze,
thanks for the tips & info.  I always hated that effect when every other frame caused the  sprite to flash, and the video encoder only sampled every other frame.  So the video really has to be in 720p for 60hz video?  YT won't allow any lower resolution run at 60fps? :/

best regards,
- dink

Potentially the videos can run to 60 fps at any resolution, however (IIRC) the YouTube codecs support "60Hz" only in HD and FullHD resolutions (720p60 and 1080p60)...
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 14, 2015, 08:22:37 AM
this boggles my mind.  can't seem to get the rowscroll working right in the ending of Joe and Mac returns, the ending of Caveman Ninja and the intro to Mutant Fighter.  If I fix the clouds for Caveman Ninja[back layer], then the "Produced by..etc."[front layer] text is cut off.  And I definately can't get it working right in all 3 games at once.  I'm posting these states here so I can go back to it at a later time - or - if someone wants to join in on the  fun.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on October 14, 2015, 12:49:56 PM
I'd guess (without looking) that the issue is due to the y scrolling. It needs to be added to the row scroll offset selection. Not sure if before or after...
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 15, 2015, 11:49:53 PM
I'd guess (without looking) that the issue is due to the y scrolling. It needs to be added to the row scroll offset selection. Not sure if before or after...

I tried doing just that, similar to how the latest MAME does it, even.. no dice :/
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 15, 2015, 11:51:25 PM
Added some games to the Marine Boy driver.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on October 16, 2015, 01:42:38 AM
Added some games to the Marine Boy driver.

Thanks a lot!  :smilie:
I really like to see again the games of the early 1980s... they remind me the childhood !  :p
Watching SEGA Hopper Robo another SEGA '83 game came to mind (that I liked much)... Yamato...  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on October 16, 2015, 07:21:13 AM
Nice!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on October 16, 2015, 09:01:30 AM
@dink more new games up and running in FBA nice one!!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 17, 2015, 08:18:13 AM
Added the rest of the games to the Marine Boy driver... "Wanted" has 2 graphics issues, but the rest are fine.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 18, 2015, 10:52:22 PM
What's new for today...
Fixed the positional mini-map at the bottom-right area of the screen in Rygar.
Fixed a handfull of little bugs in the new games, thanks to some heavy playtesting by the best tester around.  Thanks Zazzone!

that's it for now,
best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on October 20, 2015, 07:42:48 AM
Graphic glitch on Onna Sansirou - Typhoon Gal (set 1) (onna34ro)

Gun Frontier (Japan) (gunfrontj), Gun & Frontier (gunfront) - Incorrect position of  sprite 1 player

WILOWAR:
I finally figured out the priority & layers for the flstory driver, thus fixing onna sansirou - typhoon gal.

regarding Gun & Frontier, I don't see anything out of order, please post a screencap?

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 21, 2015, 12:01:59 AM
FBA gets another game!  This time its Rumba Lumber.  You're a cave-hippie from the stoneages and one day your beard grew to enormous proportion.  You got the great idea to color it blue and chop wood.  From this point on, the game actually starts to get weird.  One would think that this game plays a bit like Pengo or Pirate Ship Higemaru, but it actually is more like Qix and the opposite of Qix all in one - with the ability to throw wheels.  Anyways, piccies:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on October 21, 2015, 01:30:04 AM
FBA gets another game!  This time its Rumba Lumber.  You're a cave-hippie from the stoneages and one day your beard grew to enormous proportion.  One day you got the great idea to color it blue and chop wood.  From this point on, the game actually starts to get weird.  Anyways, piccies:

Thanks! Your work is a great contribution to FBA !  :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on October 21, 2015, 08:29:24 AM
FBA gets another game!  This time its Rumba Lumber.  You're a cave-hippie from the stoneages and one day your beard grew to enormous proportion.  You got the great idea to color it blue and chop wood.  From this point on, the game actually starts to get weird.  Anyways, piccies:

I like the synopsis. :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on October 21, 2015, 11:48:41 AM
I like the synopsis. :)

Yip nice wee game pure Taito in style thanks dink for adding it
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 30, 2015, 07:22:50 PM
Some new additions:
Toki no Senshi / Chrono Soldier (it looks maze-ish, but it really isn't - it's more like Commando/Jackal)
This was originally added by vbt a few months back but it was bugged, today I managed to fix the bugs :)

UFO Senshi Yohko Chan - another good "walk around shooting the crap out of everything" sorta game.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: Gab75 on October 31, 2015, 01:03:01 AM
We now have a Pokey soundcore, which brings music&sfx to Tetris by Atari Games (romset: atetris.zip) :)

Out of curiosity... now, for a whole sound sub-system emulation of old Atari hardwares (like Atari System 1, System 2 and Star Wars Vector), is it lacking only the TMS5220 LPC core?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 31, 2015, 10:02:42 PM
Here's a really excellent new addition to the FBA's SMS driver, it's Geki Oko PunPun Maru - which, I think, roughly translates to "give me back my cake....-Maru."  As you start the game, it plays a little cut-scene comic where a little ninja steals the most tasty and delicious cake from your kitchen. The game plays almost exactly like the original Mario Bros. game, with more diverse enemies and yet completely lacking a [POW] whatchamacallit.  The music is rather nice and Japanese-inspired as well.
Grab the roms here: (yes, homebrew!) http://www.smspower.org/Homebrew/GekiokoPunPunMaru-SMS?sid=19f92e899cddeb7b86fa59d589174be7
Howto: after downloading rename the zip punpun.zip and toss it into your roms dir. [or SMS directory if you like to be organized] then wait patiently for the next FBA  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 04, 2015, 09:51:06 AM
I can hardly believe it, Donkey Kong 3 now has proper sfx & music in FBAlpha.
Proof: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Od7zbS8bp74
If you guys only knew the amount of hours I put into cracking this one.  yeeesh. :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on November 04, 2015, 09:58:01 AM
Lovely work! This one had me stumped. :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Romhack on November 04, 2015, 10:19:43 AM
Amazing!!! great work dink.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on November 04, 2015, 11:22:10 AM
@dink It's All Fan-Dabby-Dozy!!!  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: csmart on November 04, 2015, 06:15:38 PM
Great work Dink adding another classic to the working as it should list.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 14, 2015, 06:30:13 PM
Good news for Capcom's The Speed Rumbler / Rush & Crash, a couple bugs were fixed - layer priorities were arranged in the correct order and a "work-around/fix" to get rid of the horrible slowdown in the game.  The game would slow down to unplayable speeds when more than 1 car and a few bullets were onscreen.  Also uncovered another bug when I got to the 3rd or 4th level, so I ended up playtesting to the end just to be sure.
The last 2 levels are CRAZY-hard! :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Fixes thread (battle garegga, scramble, super cobra, tengai & more)
Post by: dink on November 17, 2015, 07:55:37 AM
Graphic glitch on Sand Scorpion (sandscrp)  game

This is finally fixed, thanks for the report! :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on November 17, 2015, 03:14:57 PM
@dink nice goin man!!! two more fixes done you'll run outa fixes to do at this rate :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on November 17, 2015, 03:34:19 PM
@dink nice goin man!!! two more fixes done you'll run outa fixes to do at this rate :)
I am a bug infestation. He will never run out of my bugs to squash as long as I'm on the FBA team. :D
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 19, 2015, 09:04:02 PM
Thursday Bugfix-o-rama!

Master of Weapon using savestates would crash.
Shadow Force - fixed oki msm6295 banking
Sky Army - sometimes the bridge-piece chinook (heli w/2 props) doesn`t deliver the pieces when at home base. (sprite wrapping issue)
Pass - music on level3+ would disapear
Nostradamus - fix wonky music tempo (in-game)
Haunted Castle - same as Nostradamus - big thanks to SNK_Dude for reporting & reminding me of this one

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 21, 2015, 07:28:17 AM
Fixed music in Knuckle Bash 2 :) (thanks to gamez fan for reporting!)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on November 21, 2015, 10:18:20 AM
Fixed music in Knuckle Bash 2 :) (thanks to gamez fan for reporting!)

Nice one hope it wasn't too much bother.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 21, 2015, 09:30:41 PM
fixed missing sprites in ZigZag (thanks Zazzone)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 22, 2015, 09:05:20 AM
so.. now FBAlpha is the first emulator with a working end(end)-boss in Nostradamus.

video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gni4IGPnx0
This is how it looked before & in MAME https://youtu.be/1oicnBZSX6M?t=27m8s

[click the little pic below]
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 22, 2015, 10:18:28 PM
MAME now also has a fixed Nostradamus. The legendary Haze came up with a more refined/much better way to solve the problem - shooter fans rejoice! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: JacKc on November 23, 2015, 04:51:30 AM
Well done dink :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 27, 2015, 11:52:48 AM
There was an issue that stumped me for a while, in the game Tiger Road when going through a doorway you would see the background from a different scene, the top of the current scene, or even a bunch of garbage tiles (later on in the game) for about 2 seconds as your player walked through the door.  Big thanks to iq_132, the problem has been solved :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on November 27, 2015, 01:05:11 PM
There was an issue that stumped me for a while, in the game Tiger Road when going through a doorway you would see the background from a different scene, the top of the current scene, or even a bunch of garbage tiles (later on in the game) for about 2 seconds as your player walked through the door.  Big thanks to iq_132, the problem has been solved :)
It's easier to fix the bug when you caused it. lol
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 28, 2015, 10:40:50 PM
From the "even turds need to be polished" files:
Several bugs in Varia Metal have been squashed tonight thanks to the combined efforts of iq_132 and dink(me).  yay!

Secondly: unlike in Gradius or Nemesis where slowdown is actually helpfull, the game Sand Scorpion stops processing input during slowdown.  This makes it at least 10x worse than slowdown in any reasonable game.  Even worse, our version of Sand Scorpion does this worse than MAME.  I've added a little a little tweak to help clear up the loss of input during the slowdown in the meantime until we come up with a better solution.

that's it for now...
- dink 
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: BisonSAS on November 29, 2015, 07:10:51 AM
Fixed music in Knuckle Bash 2 :) (thanks to gamez fan for reporting!)
I fixed this long time. (24-04-2010) Never added in FB Alpha. :redface:

Look: Toaplan cleaned up (http://http://neo-source.com/index.php?topic=1329.msg11275#msg11275)


Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 29, 2015, 09:12:40 AM
I fixed this long time. (24-04-2010) Never added in FB Alpha. :redface:

Look: Toaplan cleaned up (http://http://neo-source.com/index.php?topic=1329.msg11275#msg11275)

This was before my time here (I think I joined in 2014).  Do you have anything else that didn't get merged?  Please remember, before SVN it was hard to keep things organized.  I don't think your changes have been skipped on purpose!

EDIT: I merged your changes from d_toaplan.zip

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 04, 2015, 02:19:46 PM
So, I played a bit of Blood Bros. last night and after a few games made it to stage 2 on 1 coin.  (continues are no fun!)  It was also the first time I got to stage 2, and the first time I noticed the problem in the first picture (click it to expand).
After a few hours of debugging/hacking around I came up with a solution, it needed a little overhaul on the sprite/tile rendering code and order, and a priority buffer to keep track of the foreground/sprite relationships.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on December 05, 2015, 08:41:33 AM
BTW thats 50 pages full of fixes now well done man!!!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 05, 2015, 08:53:18 AM
Technos' Mysterious Stones had a few things going against it - the music and sfx wasn't right (2 separate issues) and the palette wasn't as good as it could be.  That has all been fixed, now Mysterious Stones fans can get their Mysterious Stones fix.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 14, 2015, 11:08:33 PM
FINALLY realized what was wrong with our Megadrive timing and fixed it.  It took long enough - sorry about that.

Fixes things like frame breaking up in Gunstar Heroes, Ayrton Senna's Super Monaco GP II.  Completely broken games like Rock and Roll Racing, Mickey Mania and probably some others.

- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on December 15, 2015, 01:42:04 AM
FINALLY realized what was wrong with our Megadrive timing and fixed it.  It took long enough - sorry about that.

Fixes things like frame breaking up in Gunstar Heroes, Ayrton Senna's Super Monaco GP II.  Completely broken games like Rock and Roll Racing, Mickey Mania and probably some others.

- dink

Great news! Thanks a lot! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 19, 2015, 09:56:08 AM
Re: FBA Megadrive core news
1> dozens of unworking games are now working, special thanks to Gab75 for testing infos.
2> Sonic swims through water now - Its about time... :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on December 19, 2015, 11:23:26 AM
Just out of curiosity, what games don't work on the MD driver?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Romhack on December 19, 2015, 11:45:40 AM
Just out of curiosity, what games don't work on the MD driver?
Pier Solar would be great :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on December 19, 2015, 01:51:52 PM
Just out of curiosity, what games don't work on the MD driver?

As far as I know, mainly just some "prototype ROMs" don't work... great job dink! :)

PS: Gargoyles <md_gargoyle> works without the "assembly 68k core"... as dink wrote to me: go to misc -> options -> and uncheck "Use Assembly MC68000 core"!  You must restart fba before loading Gargoyles after this change.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Barry Harris on December 19, 2015, 04:50:52 PM
How are Mega-Lo-Mania now? It always had corrupted graphics.

The inputs never worked properly on Jimmy White's Whirlwind Snooker either before. Do they work now? Still amazing what Archer MacLean did with that one.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 19, 2015, 05:54:37 PM
iq_132 waaay to many to list.  look at the svn for the ones marked working, also a lot that were marked working were broken but now working.  I guess I should have made a list while I was fixing/testing/fixing things.
Romhack pm me the rom (final/non-beta) pls? :)
Treble Winner Snooker works fine, Mega-Lo-Mania has weird tiles here and there on some maps yet.

thanks,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 19, 2015, 11:08:14 PM
Megadrive update:
Burning force scrolls now(!!) :D
Mickey Mania: the moose level scrolls/animates
Rocket Knight Adventures, the guy swims in water now, instead of "air" :)

Also fixed:
The top line was always missing. (derp!)
Random crashes when reset/f3 was used.

happy-fun game time!! :D woohoo!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on December 20, 2015, 08:58:19 PM
Please fix the Wolf Fang's sound problem too.  :smilie:

The arcade game Wolf Fang sounds like when a channel isn't playing. This bug was not present in the version 0.2.97.36. This is one of my all time favorite arcade games. I wanted to longplay it but the sound isn't too cool like this.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on December 21, 2015, 01:15:34 AM
The arcade game Wolf Fang sounds like when a channel isn't playing. This bug was not present in the version 0.2.97.36. This is one of my all time favorite arcade games. I wanted to longplay it but the sound isn't too cool like this.

As I wrote in the "FBA Discussion" section, I checked all "Rohga Armor Force" ROMs (obviously with the latest FBA release) and the drums sound effects seem to be missing...
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on December 21, 2015, 09:33:06 AM
As I wrote in the "FBA Discussion" section, I checked all "Rohga Armor Force" ROMs (obviously with the latest FBA release) and the drums sound effects seem to be missing...

Sorry for the double post. I will continue in the FBA Discussion.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on December 23, 2015, 10:24:22 AM
There are an another bug with the Shadow Force every version. It crash with this error:

Guru Meditation #C0000005.00911EB6

Here is the complete log:

Code: [Select]
FB Alpha v0.2.97.37 fatal exception report (Wed Dec 23 16:22:28 2015
)

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Exception 0xC0000005 (EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION) thrown.
EIP: 0x0091
 (attempting to write address 0x04CE4710)

EAX: 0x00000000, EBX: 0x7FFDB000, ECX: 0x00000000, EDX: 0x04CE4710
ESI: 0x04B65820, EDI: 0x0012F35E, ESP: 0x0012E8C8, EBP: 0x0012E92C

----------------------------------------------------------------------
System information:

OS:  Microsoft Windows XP Professional Szervizcsomag 3 (build 2600)
CPU: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.06GHz

Physical RAM: 2097151 KB (2047 MB) total, 1779832 KB (1738 MB) avail
Total RAM:    4194303 KB (4095 MB) total, 4194303 KB (4095 MB) avail
FB Alpha:       41416 KB in use (48864 KB peak, 47376 KB virtual)

Installed displays and display adapters:
    Plug and Play monitor on NVIDIA GeForce 9400 GT  (primary)

----------------------------------------------------------------------
FB Alpha information:

Built on Nov 3 2015, 18:51:37, using Visual C++ 2015 (XP).
    Optimised for X86 CPUs.
    Using Unicode for all text.
    Debug functionality absent.

MMX optimisations enabled.
Musashi emulation core enabled for MC680x0 family emulation.

Emulating shadfrce (Shadow Force (US Version 2))
    Vertical refresh is 60.00 Hz.
    CPU running at 100% of normal frequency.

Video settings:
    Selected module:    DirectDraw7 video output
    Interface settings: Running in windowed mode, $ix1054, 748bpp
                        Source image 320x256, 32bpp
                        Using generic software 15->32bpp wrapper
    Module settings:    Using Blt() to transfer the image
                        Using video memory for the final blit

Audio settings:
    Selected module:    DirectSound3 audio output
    Interface settings: Playback at 44100Hz, 100% volume
    Module settings:    Audio is delayed by approx. 83ms

Input settings:
    Selected module:    DirectInput8 input
    Interface settings: keyboard 0 System keyboard: Billentyűzet
                        mouse    0 System mouse: Eg?r

Profiling settings:
    Interface settings: Profiling module not initialised

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Detailed process information about fbaxp.exe:

fbaxp.exe (base address 0x00400000, size 34080 KB)

Exception occurred in module fbaxp.exe:
               fbaxp.exe (base address 0x00400000, size  34080 KB)

Modules loaded by fbaxp.exe:
               ntdll.dll (base address 0x7C900000, size    708 KB)
            kernel32.dll (base address 0x7C800000, size   1004 KB)
              USER32.dll (base address 0x7E360000, size    580 KB)
               GDI32.dll (base address 0x77F10000, size    292 KB)
            COMDLG32.dll (base address 0x76380000, size    292 KB)
            ADVAPI32.dll (base address 0x77DC0000, size    684 KB)
              RPCRT4.dll (base address 0x77E70000, size    584 KB)
             Secur32.dll (base address 0x77FE0000, size     68 KB)
            COMCTL32.dll (base address 0x773C0000, size   1036 KB)
              msvcrt.dll (base address 0x77C00000, size    352 KB)
             SHLWAPI.dll (base address 0x77F60000, size    472 KB)
             SHELL32.dll (base address 0x7C9C0000, size   8304 KB)
               WINMM.dll (base address 0x76B20000, size    184 KB)
               ole32.dll (base address 0x774D0000, size   1268 KB)
            SETUPAPI.dll (base address 0x77910000, size    984 KB)
             WININET.dll (base address 0x771A0000, size    680 KB)
             CRYPT32.dll (base address 0x77A70000, size    600 KB)
              MSASN1.dll (base address 0x77B10000, size     72 KB)
            OLEAUT32.dll (base address 0x77110000, size    556 KB)
            AVIFIL32.dll (base address 0x73AE0000, size     92 KB)
             MSACM32.dll (base address 0x77BD0000, size     84 KB)
             MSVFW32.dll (base address 0x75B80000, size    132 KB)
               IMM32.DLL (base address 0x76360000, size    116 KB)
                 LPK.DLL (base address 0x62E70000, size     36 KB)
               USP10.dll (base address 0x74D40000, size    428 KB)
              dsound.dll (base address 0x73EA0000, size    368 KB)
             VERSION.dll (base address 0x77BF0000, size     32 KB)
             dinput8.dll (base address 0x6D350000, size    228 KB)
               ddraw.dll (base address 0x736F0000, size    300 KB)
            DCIMAN32.dll (base address 0x73B50000, size     24 KB)
                d3d9.dll (base address 0x4FD10000, size   1688 KB)
             d3d8thk.dll (base address 0x6DED0000, size     24 KB)
            D3DX9_43.dll (base address 0x10000000, size   2044 KB)
             uxtheme.dll (base address 0x5B1D0000, size    224 KB)
               MSCTF.dll (base address 0x746D0000, size    304 KB)
            msctfime.ime (base address 0x75180000, size    184 KB)
                 HID.DLL (base address 0x68DF0000, size     36 KB)
            WINTRUST.dll (base address 0x76C20000, size    184 KB)
            IMAGEHLP.dll (base address 0x76C80000, size    160 KB)
              wdmaud.drv (base address 0x72CB0000, size     36 KB)
             msacm32.drv (base address 0x72CA0000, size     32 KB)
             midimap.dll (base address 0x77BC0000, size     28 KB)
              KsUser.dll (base address 0x73E70000, size     16 KB)
            RICHED20.DLL (base address 0x74DE0000, size    436 KB)

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on December 23, 2015, 04:11:48 PM
There are an another bug with the Shadow Force every version. It crash with this error:

Guru Meditation #C0000005.00911EB6

I checked all three "Shadow Force" versions (shadfrce, shadfrcej, shadfrcejv2) and they seem to work fine... I used FBA 0.2.97.37 32 bit, with basic and enhanced blitter. You can try to change the video settings and delete the related "shadfrce*.ini" files (*/config/games).

PS: truth be honest, I made a quick test, then I can't know if the game crashes during an advanced stage.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on December 23, 2015, 05:18:09 PM
PS: truth be honest, I made a quick test, then I can't know if the game crashes during an advanced stage.

Now as you say it really not happen anywhere in the game. It only occurs in the Scientific Laboratory stage, when the bridge collapse under you and you fall down. But it occurs every time I tried no matter how I set up the video settings.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 23, 2015, 10:00:31 PM
Please give me a savestate from right before it crashes, so I can debug it and fix it.
p.s. use the exe I pm'd you, as it contains a few fixes for shadow force from earlier this month and I can't debug older savestates.

thanks,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on December 24, 2015, 08:41:38 AM
I used the new .exe you send, the crash still occurs with "Shadow Force (US, Version 2)". I didn't tried it with other versions. Here is the save state and the log files attached to this post.

The save state is right before the crash. You just need to walk forward till the bridge break under you.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 25, 2015, 08:50:45 AM
Thanks!  I will debug the issue when I get home (I'll be away for a day or 2 yet and without a compiler).

Some good news/progress on the Megadrive driver that I did before I left:
The Chaos Engine, Outrunners, Sonic 3d and a few others runs perfectly now - it took days of debugging and re-writing before I could get it working right.  There was a few times where I thought it would be impossible to ever get them working right together.  :eek:  A fix for one game would break the other, and so on. :eek:  A big part of the problem is the fact that each frame can vary on cycles/total cycles due to dma transfers stealing cycles from the processor, and the BurnTimer system is a bit finicky in this situation. 
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on December 25, 2015, 09:06:38 AM
Oh that's right! Merry Christmas!  :biggrin:

You're welcome. I look forward to the new version. I hope the Wolf Fang's drum will be fixed too.  :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 31, 2015, 07:52:56 PM
Happy New Year everyone! :)

Been working nonstop on Megadrive, doing MD/Genesis research and so forth (for some reason it is really -addictively- interesting for me)

Fixed a ton of timing-related graphical quirks in the past couple days, added some vdp fixes/tricks and tonight I found a solution to a sound issue that has been bugging me (literally) for quite some time now - it was a 2 part fix - the irq's needed to be latched instead of held high for a line which fixed lost notes/too fast/too slow music during heavy video activity.  The second part was that we weren't carrying over the end of frame z80 cycle count, so every 60 frames or so, we running 1 scanline too many worth of z80 time on average.  The games which were affected the most by this are Williams Arcade Greatest Hits: the dac would get mucked up or disappear altogether in Sinistar and Doom Troopers: level 2's awesome music would drop notes or run too fast for a second or so every once in a while or when there was heavy player/screen movement. EDIT: also, Battle Squadron no longer requires a special fix/hack for the music :D

[and now for a bit of a rant that has nothing to do with FBA]

The Genesis/MD holds a special place in my nostalgia, because for me it was the last console to offer games that suits my generation / style.  I'll admit I'm a bit old-fasioned, but after the demise of this system sometime in the mid 90's, I had totally given up on games until late 2011.  Sure, there was a few good 2d game releases peppered in here and there in later consoles, but it was never the same. ;)

that's it for now,
best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 31, 2015, 07:56:39 PM
Oh that's right! Merry Christmas!  :biggrin:

You're welcome. I look forward to the new version. I hope the Wolf Fang's drum will be fixed too.  :smilie:

Do you by chance mean Tecmo's Wild Fang?  If thats the case, the drums are working fine in the latest FBA - they're louder/more prominent than in MAME anyways.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on December 31, 2015, 08:41:13 PM
Happy New Year everyone! :)

Happy New Year to you too... and to the other forum users! :)

Thanks a lot for your work... now the megadrive emulation is really improved !
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on January 01, 2016, 09:37:22 AM
Do you by chance mean Tecmo's Wild Fang?  If thats the case, the drums are working fine in the latest FBA - they're louder/more prominent than in MAME anyways.

best regards,
- dink

No, I mean Data East's Wolf Fang (or Rohga: Armor Force). The game alongside with Vapor Trail and Skull Fang on Arcade.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on January 01, 2016, 11:29:47 AM
No, I mean Data East's Wolf Fang (or Rohga: Armor Force). The game alongside with Vapor Trail and Skull Fang on Arcade.

For an easier identification, the zipnames of main ROM and clones are: rohga, rohga1, rohga2, rohgah, rohgau and wolffang.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Bonky0013 on January 01, 2016, 01:54:49 PM
Happy new year  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 01, 2016, 03:00:32 PM
Thanks, sometimes I get confused :)
EDIT: Wild Fang / Rohga is fixed now.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on January 01, 2016, 05:06:05 PM
Happy new year  :biggrin:

Happy new year to you too! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: samo79 on January 01, 2016, 05:25:02 PM
@dink

Ok maybe a bit unrelated but do you think it could be possible to increase the performance of the Megadrive emulation ?
In the AmigaOS4 port of FBA i'm using i conducted a lot test related to the MegaDrive and in all of them i noted that turning off the audio is often the best solution to gain decent performance reaching the famous 50/60 FPS

Of course my Amiga in general is a bit slow so i will never expect 100% speed for any emulated hardwares of FBA, however other platforms such CPS-1 and CPS-2 are both a lot faster compared to MegaDrive so i wonder if somethings can be done in term of optimization :-)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on January 01, 2016, 07:02:20 PM
Happy new year  :biggrin:

Happy New Year! :D

Thanks, sometimes I get confused :)
EDIT: Wild Fang / Rohga is fixed now.

Cool, now I can play on my favorite arcade game, and can record it. :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 01, 2016, 09:00:13 PM
Great :)  Shadow Force is now fixed as well!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on January 02, 2016, 07:13:09 PM
I have a question. Is it possible to add multiple keys to a single funktion?

For example in Double Dragon you can perform the round kick by pressing the two button together. Some of the emulators support to add more keys to a single button. So you can set the two button to an additional single one.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 03, 2016, 03:01:19 PM
2016 is starting off nicely, mostly thanks to shoutime of The Dumping Union for dumping quite an amazing discovery - Wing Force (c) 1993 Atlus on Kaneko16 hardware/pcb.  Somehow this rare pcb showed up on yahoo's Japanese version of ebay.  Read more about the find & game here: http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=56051
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: vbt on January 03, 2016, 04:30:58 PM
congrats dink !!!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on January 03, 2016, 06:42:26 PM
@derek nice work fella!!!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 04, 2016, 07:52:37 PM
The new sprite code for Wing Force also happens to fix a few errant sprites in BlaZeon, as well :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on January 04, 2016, 08:29:51 PM
The new sprite code for Wing Force also happens to fix a few errant sprites in BlaZeon, as well :)

Two for the price of one is always cool i like BlaZeon nice game and Wing Force sure is Tasty as well

(http://www.fshare.it/image.jpeg?i=bo1451955oc)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 05, 2016, 12:20:13 AM
Added the necessary code to FBAlpha so it can upload 720p/60fps vids to yt.  mmmm, pie!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6q5aCevm-0

best regards,
- dink
( on pie and things: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/119283 )
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on January 05, 2016, 03:57:50 PM
Where we can try this game? It looks fun. :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 05, 2016, 05:17:52 PM
Unfortunately, I can't really think of much that could increase the performance besides frame skipping - does the Amiga FBA have auto-frame skipping?  If not, you might want to try and ask HunoPPC to add that feature.
In the next release of FBA the Megadrive emulation will be slightly more cpu demanding, but the compatibility and emulation is now near perfect.  On my ancient p4 computer it barely touches the cpu, though, so you needn't worry too much.

best regards,
- dink

@dink

Ok maybe a bit unrelated but do you think it could be possible to increase the performance of the Megadrive emulation ?
In the AmigaOS4 port of FBA i'm using i conducted a lot test related to the MegaDrive and in all of them i noted that turning off the audio is often the best solution to gain decent performance reaching the famous 50/60 FPS

Of course my Amiga in general is a bit slow so i will never expect 100% speed for any emulated hardwares of FBA, however other platforms such CPS-1 and CPS-2 are both a lot faster compared to MegaDrive so i wonder if somethings can be done in term of optimization :-)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 05, 2016, 05:19:38 PM
Where we can try this game? It looks fun. :)

In the next release of FBAlpha, of course :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on January 06, 2016, 09:47:36 AM
In the next release of FBAlpha, of course :)

best regards,
- dink

Oh I see. Thanks. :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: samo79 on January 06, 2016, 12:10:09 PM
Unfortunately, I can't really think of much that could increase the performance besides frame skipping - does the Amiga FBA have auto-frame skipping?  If not, you might want to try and ask HunoPPC to add that feature.
In the next release of FBA the Megadrive emulation will be slightly more cpu demanding, but the compatibility and emulation is now near perfect.  On my ancient p4 computer it barely touches the cpu, though, so you needn't worry too much.

Yes, in our port we have also a proper auto-frame skipping support :-)
However what i noted in MD emulation (compared to other emulated platforms like for example CPS-1, CPS-2, NeoGeo ecc) is that in-game speed can varies depending on the game.

So while with other emulated platform we have always a fixed rate (slow of fast no matter) emulating MegaDrive give us different results depending on the game, for example i could got 30/35 FPS in Mortal Kombat 2 while at the same time i can't play decently Mortal Kombat 3 (because at max i got 10 or less FPS)

Of course there are also specific case when very simple MD game could reach 50 FPS quite easily, this is the case of some olders games (or very simple one), but newest and complex games are in most case too mutch demanding :-(

But in general and in any games i noted that speed can be increased a lot turning off the audio (atleast in our Amiga port), so maybe certain optimizations could be donee "workarounding" a bit the audio area .. maybe.
Aniway for now i will try increasing a bit the frame skip, let's see if i will found an interim solution for playing better :-)

P.S.
Happy that you are working so hard improving the MD quality emulation !
Title: Concerning : Neo Geo development in 2015...
Post by: Fred/FRONT on January 09, 2016, 11:14:03 AM
Concerning : Neo Geo development 2015...

First, Happy new year to you guys !

http://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=66697                      Twister in a mirror by Blastar (New Homepage: http://blastar.citavia.de   must to visit )
http://blastar.citavia.de/files/twister_in_a_mirror-intro.zip      ROM: Works on real hardware or in latest MAME as "Puzzle de Pon".
202-c1.c1 [72CEED51]
202-c2.c2 [27DA57EE]
202-m1.m1 [C1C27B33]
202-p1.p1 [514BF0FD]
202-s1.s1 [111EA86C]
202-v1.v1 [0C5E044C]

http://blastar.citavia.de/files/twister_in_a_mirror-intro-ngcd.zip   ISO (all needed data is inside the prg-file and uploaded by bios.)

Note: ROM works with MESS and MAME.  may Be with FBA (*)         <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
->Treble Winner,  I Hope you can add this 'Cool' feature In FBA Emu ...
Treble Winner -> Concerning twister_in_a_mirror, could you please post a screenshot, may be a Youtube Video ?
Thanks ...

Description:  After 10years He's came back to the Neo Geo homebrew scene ... With new Demo, new Greats Tools and many more problably for 2016....
Twister in a mirror intro by blastar (who has coded a few Neo-Geo homebrew demos and games before).
This prod is for the Neo-Geo (as well as the Neo-Geo CD). it's a simple oldschool intro, a twister in front of a moving transparent mirror with a sinescroller and a short chiptune loop.

(*)TechNotes: hw-timing and hw-compatibility most emulators will fail, only M.A.M.E. is good enough, Blastar's suprised how close M.A.M.E. is to real hardware. It's also Unibios combatible, no corrupt bootlogo or wrong colors in menus.
More Words By Blastar, on the French Forum  YARONET (Programmation & Homebrew on Neo Geo): http://www.yaronet.com/topics/171418-blastar-is-back


http://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=66723  Eira: NeoGeo CD intro by Resistance ;Very nice NG firstie from Nainain  coded in C code
http://resistance.no/files/neogeo/RSE-Eira.zip     ISO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8z4wpOPJ2M        Eira Video

other projects (in WIP):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAQaUw1F8UE   Hypernoid (Alpha Version) - Neo Geo MVS homebrew Hypernoid (work in progress)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvpX3_OXviY      Submarine Shooter - Animation Demo (Neo?Geo Dev / Wrote in C, using DATlib.) by  NeoHomeBrew
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWsBYi2r5qo     Neo Thunder X: Demo 01 (Neo Geo homebrew from Italy) by  7BlackJack8

Datlib Videos  by The Hpman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqRcdfSQhfU  NeoDev DATlib demo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqO7BVnGT2s  DATlib stress test - NeoGeo dev
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGE213yo6F8  More NeoGeo sprites Zorder
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9NqKXxS9Cw  Scrolling demo (update) - NeoGeo dev
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSXKIPdO-u8  Scrolling demo - NeoGeo dev

Some Rom & Iso are available in Pack datlib-update-02 & 0.1 : http://www.yaronet.com/topics/184910-datlib-update-02
https://www.dropbox.com/s/je72o63555mbvj1/DATlib_0.2.rar?dl=0
http://bit.ly/1gQccIR    DATlib_0.1 : Preview build can be downloaded

Screenshots  for FBA are welcome  of course

best regards,
Fred/FRONT !
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on January 09, 2016, 11:35:01 AM
I like the Submarine Demo, it rips graphics straight from In The Hunt on Irem M92 hardware. It's pretty fitting to have it on NeoGeo since IIRC the Metal Slug developers made it.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 12, 2016, 10:47:29 PM
Around X-Mas time, Nanochess's Princess Quest rom for Colecovision MegaCart was released freely here: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/233102-team-pixelboy-news-bulletin-december-25th-2014/
or http://nanochess.org/princess_quest.html (the authors page)

I added the necessary MegaCart emulation to our Colecovision driver, and ... surprise! :D
As with all of Nanochess's games, this one is great.  (ever play Mecha-8 on MSX? awesome.) Colecovision fans will especially dig this one...

BONUS: Digger and Quest for the Golden Chalice are also added * get the free roms in the urls above * :)

Now, for those that think the graphics are "too retro" to be enjoyable.. here's some things to consider..  Princess Quest does smoothe per-pixel scrolling, on a TMS9918 vdp - a chip that has no hw scrolling.  It also has a neat parallax effect in the background, weapon upgrades, smart enemies, continuous BGM, Boss fights and perhaps other neat things that I havn't noticed yet. 
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on January 13, 2016, 01:08:02 AM
Now, for those that think the graphics are "too retro" to be enjoyable.. here's some things to consider..  Princess Quest does smoothe per-pixel scrolling, on a TMS9918 vdp - a chip that has no hw scrolling.  It also has a neat parallax effect in the background, weapon upgrades, smart enemies, continuous BGM, Boss fights and perhaps other neat things that I havn't noticed yet.

Moreover (IMHO) an emulation is always good, regardless of game... it represents a little "piece of history" anyway! (for the recent creations too)
Thanks dink! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 23, 2016, 11:29:45 PM
The classic game Ambush now works properly when launching off.  The game is so quirky and horribly hard, nobody probably ever made it past take-off to notice things were broken :)

Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on January 27, 2016, 01:50:29 PM
I don't know if this is the right place for making a request, but the Psycho Soldier could be included in the new version?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psycho_Soldier (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psycho_Soldier)

It is an old classic, very important for me because it was the very first game with vocal track. It has two notable versions: one with English lyrics, and one with Japanese.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on January 27, 2016, 02:42:00 PM
I don't know if this is the right place for making a request, but the Psycho Soldier could be included in the new version?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psycho_Soldier (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psycho_Soldier)

It is an old classic, very important for me because it was the very first game with vocal track. It has two notable versions: one with English lyrics, and one with Japanese.

IIRC the Psycho Soldier hardware should be very similar to Chopper I, Guerrilla War and Victory Road hardwares (other good SNK games) ! ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on January 27, 2016, 03:40:13 PM
Then it should be no problem.  :biggrin:

We must ride the Phoenix Athena in multiplayer again!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 27, 2016, 04:41:32 PM
iq_132 had started a snk triple-z80 series driver a couple months back - maybe if you ask him nicely he will finish it :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on January 27, 2016, 04:58:55 PM
Oh, I don't want to ask for faster work. I can wait for the good things. And my primary request is already filled: the Wolf Fang -Kuhga 2001- sound problem will be fixed in the next version.  :smilie:

Oh, before I forgot. Is the Nebulas Ray planned to add to the emulator?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on January 27, 2016, 07:00:33 PM
iq_132 had started a snk triple-z80 series driver a couple months back - maybe if you ask him nicely he will finish it :)

Another very good news! We should thank for your work! ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on January 27, 2016, 07:17:11 PM
Oh, before I forgot. Is the Nebulas Ray planned to add to the emulator?

A new driver + M37710 CPU add to that two sound cores plus multiple video files i'd say you have more chance of seeing the
pope in a brothel than you have this game being playable in FBA  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on January 27, 2016, 07:42:28 PM
Oh I see, actually this isn't problem for me, since the old version of MAME 0.119 Plus run it and have multiplayer too. XD

However I found a bug with Cadash on both PCE and TG16. The screen always shaking no matter what option I use.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 27, 2016, 08:55:56 PM
However I found a bug with Cadash on both PCE and TG16. The screen always shaking no matter what option I use.

This is a known problem with Cadash in several emulators (not magic engine though), so in the meantime play the arcade version. :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on January 28, 2016, 09:04:59 AM
I never played the arcade version untile just know. Actually it is rather easy compared to other arcade games, but still harder than any other ports of Cadash.  :smilie:

Sadly the Psycho Soldier have no other ports, that is why I asked about it. It is from 1986 if my memory serves right. During that time there was no such a home console what could play that legendary vocal track.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on January 28, 2016, 09:08:41 AM
This is a known problem with Cadash in several emulators (not magic engine though), so in the meantime play the arcade version. :)


I remember porting PCE support to FBA and testing literally every game on the system. I remember Casash being a mess and could never get it to straighten out. It was the same way in MESS at the time (PCE has had a re-write since then, I don't know if it's better or not).
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on January 28, 2016, 09:20:05 AM
I remember porting PCE support to FBA and testing literally every game on the system. I remember Casash being a mess and could never get it to straighten out. It was the same way in MESS at the time (PCE has had a re-write since then, I don't know if it's better or not).

When I tried it the shaking will stop if I pause the game (the pause of the game, and not the emulator). I think the problem comes from the drawings. Maybe the emulator's screen re-draw function isn't in sync with the game's refresh rate when the pixels moving. I not understand a thing about console technology, this is just a thought.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on January 28, 2016, 09:56:24 AM
When I tried it the shaking will stop if I pause the game (the pause of the game, and not the emulator). I think the problem comes from the drawings. Maybe the emulator's screen re-draw function isn't in sync with the game's refresh rate when the pixels moving. I not understand a thing about console technology, this is just a thought.
It's possible. I don't really know :/
Here's the list from pce.cpp in FBA's source.

Quote
   There is no CD emulation at all.
   As this driver is based on MESS emulation, compatibility *should* be the same.

   Known emulation issues - also present in MESS unless noted.
   SOUND PROBLEMS
      Bouken Danshaku Don - The Lost Sunheart (not present in mess)

   GRAPHICS PROBLEMS
      Cadash - graphics shaking

   OTHER PROBLEMS
      Niko Niko Pun - hangs in-game
      Benkei Gaiden - hangs after sunsoft logo
      Power Tennis - frozen
      Tennokoe Bank - ??
      Air Zonk / PC Denjin - Punkic Cyborgs - hangs in-game
      Hisou Kihei - Xserd: black screen
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on January 28, 2016, 03:16:12 PM
Air Zonk, that was some kind of fun. But as far as I know it has no multiplayer option so the Magic Engine is enough. Someone mentioned the Guerrilla War and the Victory Road I would totally love to see those. But the legendary Psycho Soldier is the top. I still has the cassette single of that theme song, the first vocal game soundtrack ever.  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 01, 2016, 10:34:17 PM
All this scratchin' is making me itch.  *Qbert*
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on February 07, 2016, 09:42:45 AM
Lol, the Megadrive version of the Forgotten Worlds have a very strange bug. After you choose the start option and played through the very first cutscene, you can see the stage only for a moment and then it gives you the "GAME OVER" screen. XD
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 07, 2016, 11:22:45 PM
Hi, thanks for the report.  This issue is kinda funny - its actually in the game itself, see: Forgotten Worlds came out before the 6-button MD/Genesis controllers were available.  Due to a way the game erroneously detects the controller it triggers something which causes that funny game over problem due to a bug in the game.  It only happens if you use a 6-button controller - hardware or emulated.  As luck would have it, we only emulate a 6-button controller, ... In the future I will try to make a fix for this game.  Right now we're putting all time & effort into the new snk driver, its top priority :)

thanks & best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on February 08, 2016, 02:41:26 PM
I see, this is really a funny case. XD

The arcade version is better for me since I can use the mouse to control the aim of the gun. Kinda fun game if you ask me.  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 08, 2016, 08:30:17 PM
The problem is now fixed w/ Forgotten Worlds on Megadrive :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on February 09, 2016, 01:10:28 AM
The problem is now fixed w/ Forgotten Worlds on Megadrive :)

The next FBA release will have a very improved Megadrive core! Thanks! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on February 09, 2016, 10:42:05 AM
As Gab75 said. Slowly I can send the KEGA Fusion to pension when it comes to netplay.  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on February 16, 2016, 11:09:27 AM
Could the Revenge of Death Adder version of the Golden Axe added to the list? I would love to see that.  :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on February 16, 2016, 11:52:21 AM
Could the Revenge of Death Adder version of the Golden Axe added to the list? I would love to see that.  :smilie:

I don't think that it will be possible, at least in the near future... Golden Axe Revenge of Death Adder is based on SEGA System 32 hardware and the current FBA doesn't support many components of this hardware, e.g. the main CPU NEC V60 and the sound chip Ricoh RF5c68.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Barry Harris on February 16, 2016, 11:58:03 AM
I don't think that it will be possible, at least in the near future... Golden Axe Revenge of Death Adder is based on SEGA System 32 hardware and the current FBA doesn't support many components of this hardware, e.g. the main CPU NEC V60 and the sound chip Ricoh RF5c68.

We do support the RF5C68 - it's used in System 18. But the V60 is the bigger stumbling block anyway. :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on February 16, 2016, 12:12:30 PM
We do support the RF5C68 - it's used in System 18. But the V60 is the bigger stumbling block anyway. :)

My fault, I ignored that System 18 and System 32 use the same Audio Control IC... in any case, as you wrote, the "V60 core" emulation is the bigger stumbling block! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on February 16, 2016, 02:09:34 PM
It is sad. That is my favorite part of the Golden Axe series.  :p
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on February 16, 2016, 02:31:09 PM
We do support the RF5C68 - it's used in System 18. But the V60 is the bigger stumbling block anyway. :)
Not to mention the nasty looking video section. Blech.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on February 16, 2016, 03:03:07 PM
Then a question. What does the "Imperfect Protection Emulation" and the "Incomplete Dump" mean? Some games has these lines as note (for example some version of Knights of Valour, or the Oriental Legend Special Plus).
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on February 16, 2016, 03:45:14 PM
Then a question. What does the "Imperfect Protection Emulation" and the "Incomplete Dump" mean? Some games has these lines as note (for example some version of Knights of Valour, or the Oriental Legend Special Plus).
Knights of Valour should have both of those. What it means specifically for that game is that the game uses a custom CPU (ASIC27A / ARM7) to supply protection to the main CPU of the game (Motorola 68k). The protection CPU's ROM is stored inside the block that the CPU is in and is undumpable/undumped. Currently the protection CPU is simulated by writing code that returns (hopefully) the correct information to the main CPU to allow the game to work properly. However, it can't be guaranteed that everything is perfectly simulated, so you may get weird little bugs and edge cases because of this.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on February 16, 2016, 04:57:55 PM
Oh I see. Then it should work (yet not the most accurate way), however isn't guaranteed it always work. At least it is playable and can be played through if nothing happens. Or something like this. :S
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on February 16, 2016, 05:06:02 PM
Oh I see. Then it should work (yet not the most accurate way), however isn't guaranteed it always work. At least it is playable and can be played through if nothing happens. Or something like this. :S
Right. IIRC in kov there's a sword in the first area on the boat that cannot be picked up -- due to protection issues.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on February 16, 2016, 05:41:17 PM
That isn't make the game unplayable. Maybe one time there will be a more accurate dump. But the game is fun even with these little bugs too.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 17, 2016, 09:41:56 AM
Hey guys, this is my development thread :)  Let's keep it that way. ..  or else!!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 17, 2016, 09:45:20 AM
well, this is embarrassing.  looping of samples was broke in our sample player, well, now its fixed.  Luckily I realized the problem whilst enjoying a game of DonPachi w/cd-quality music, and when the music stopped in level 2 .... uhoh!  This bug affected all games that use samples for music in the last release of FBAlpha: Fire Shark, Ghox, Vimana, Teki Paki, DonPachi cdquality mod, etc..  sorry about that!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on February 17, 2016, 03:29:46 PM
Sorry about that. Since the Wolf Fang made its way to the perfection I'm happy no matter if the other games will never be added.  :biggrin:

===EDIT===

The Gradius 3's graphics is messed up, no matter how I change the settings. I not really tested all the things however since I like the Salamander more (which is works perfectly), only one of my friend said it. I just checked out if it really that messed.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on February 18, 2016, 01:08:08 AM
The Gradius 3's graphics is messed up, no matter how I change the settings. I not really tested all the things however since I like the Salamander more (which is works perfectly), only one of my friend said it. I just checked out if it really that messed.

I already asked dink about the Gradius 3 issues (through pm), this was the answer:
... about gradius 3, we know about these issues if we fix them, later on in the game it gets bad again.  So at the moment we put this aside until we come up with a good fix.  But on the other hand, we don't know everything, so please keep letting me know if you find a problem :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on February 18, 2016, 08:46:25 AM
He has right. It just slow down the development. If everything finished what are planned, then there enough time to fix this too. And what is better it will not mess up again since they not modify anything after that point. XD
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 24, 2016, 08:14:00 PM
After playing through Ikari Warriors and Victory Road, I realized we needed a better way to handle the rotary movements.  The "Joystick" bootleg versions of the games aren't great because of a few reasons.. there has to be something better... hmm...
So, I came up with an experimental new way of controlling rotary games - instead of buttons for rotate left / rotate right - how about a single button.. when this button is held, any joystick movement will move the rotation of your player/gun/etc in the direction the joystick is pressed.  Releasing the button goes back to regular player movement mode.

EDIT: - so, yea, this is quite unfortunate - the new code for this will only work in Ikari Warriors.  The other games which use rotation (tnk3, victory road, etc) get out of sync very easily - for example, 0 will be up and 4 will be down, but after the player dies, it could be 5 for up and 9 for down, but there is no way of knowing this at the moment.  Hmmm, maybe some debugging is in order?

That's it for now..
best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: BritneysPAIRS on February 24, 2016, 11:08:18 PM
I have done this for the xbox still needs a tiny bit of work for some games like heavy barrel as level 2 and level 5 point the gun to the right when it starts that level....

games like forgotten world I made them like robotron controls where the second stick point in the direction and shoots...let me know if you want to know how I did this or just the code...

think the way I had to do a lot was reset back to 0 if no shooting sound for one second...this way it resets at level start as well as player death
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: BritneysPAIRS on February 24, 2016, 11:14:30 PM
static READ16_HANDLER( forgottn_dial_0_r )
{
   const int dial_8[8]   = { 0,256,512,768,1024,1280,1536,1792 };
   int value3 = readinputport(7);

   if ((value3&0xf) == 15)
      directional = 0;
   if ((value3&0xf) == 14)
      directional = 0;
   if ((value3&0xf) == 10)
      directional = 1;
   if ((value3&0xf) == 11)
      directional = 2;
   if ((value3&0xf) == 9)
      directional = 3;
   if ((value3&0xf) == 13)
      directional = 4;
   if ((value3&0xf) == 5)
      directional = 5;
   if ((value3&0xf) == 7)
      directional = 6;
   if ((value3&0xf) == 6)
      directional = 7;

   ShootSound = ShootSound + 1;
   if (ShootSound >= 120)
   {
      ShootSound = 120;
      directional = 0;
   }

//   usrintf_showmessage("%i",ShootSound);

   return ((dial_8[directional] - dial[0]) >> (8*offset)) & 0xff;
}

static WRITE16_HANDLER( cps1_sound_command_w )
{

   if (ACCESSING_LSB)
   {
      soundlatch_w(0,data & 0xff);
      if (data == 47)
      {
         ShootSound = 0;
      }
      if ( data == 49)
      {
         ShootSound = 0;
      }
      //usrintf_showmessage("%i",data);
   }
}

Forgotten worlds example
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 24, 2016, 11:19:22 PM
thanks, for the tips.
I came up with a great idea - what if we monitor the ram where it holds the position of the gun?  this way it will _never_ get out of synch.  now, to find the memory locations of the gun positions for p1/2 on these games :)...
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: BritneysPAIRS on February 24, 2016, 11:33:55 PM
yeah I couldn't find that :) that would be best cause the sound one fails on a couple of games mainly heavy barrel the others seem to work well

each of the drivers work slightly diff some don't have a zero position the driver seems to position the gun then look for turning from the point. Some seem to look at the rotation value of the stick and use that. Some are rotary some are spinners I guess.

The SNK driver I did one that always points up...when you press the right stick in a direction it point the gun that way and shoots like total carnage or robotron that worked fine as well (had to add an autofire option for when you are holding the stick down)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 25, 2016, 05:29:32 PM
Mission accomplished:  The new button+joy to change the rotation direction feature is solid and working for Ikari Warriors, Victory Road, TNK3 & Guerilla War.  :D  It will never go out of sync, either...
...Coming to an FBAlpha near you :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on February 25, 2016, 05:50:34 PM
@dink Well done fella told ya you'd have it done by the days end :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: BritneysPAIRS on February 25, 2016, 08:08:13 PM
 :cool:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on February 26, 2016, 01:06:32 AM
Mission accomplished:  The new button+joy to change the rotation direction feature is solid and working for Ikari Warriors, Victory Road, TNK3 & Guerilla War.  :D  It will never go out of sync, either...
...Coming to an FBAlpha near you :)

Very good work! As always by your standards! ;)

PS: maybe a similar solution could be good for Capcom Forgotten Worlds too...
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 26, 2016, 08:47:57 AM
Gab75. Its possible for Forgotten Worlds to play perfectly in FBA without any changes to the code.  I made some nice settings for it a few months ago, but lost them and can't remember how I did it.  crap...  if I can remember how I did it, I will post the info..
On a brighter note, I plan to add the new code (from the snk driver) to Midnight Resistance & Heavy Barrel.  Since the new code is based on the rotation code from Midnight Resistance & Heavy Barrel, it will fit right in, its just a matter of finding where the game stores the p1/p2 rotation bytes.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 28, 2016, 12:01:13 AM
The new rotational controls have been added to Heavy Barrel and Midnight Resistance.  never before have these games played this good in emulation.*  I'm very happy.  :biggrin:

* unless, of course, you own a rotary joystick!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on February 28, 2016, 01:02:14 AM
* unless, of course, you own a rotary joystick!

My "intuition" says that only a "negligible amount" of users have a rotary joystick! :P Great work! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on February 28, 2016, 07:50:47 PM
All i can say is this new Rotary code is fantastico  :cool:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 04, 2016, 07:10:33 PM
Gradius 3 is fixed :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 08, 2016, 11:22:25 PM
Gradius 3 is running top-notch.

Tonight our cheat algo. got a massive bug-fix, it wasn't properly disabling certain cheats, and doing stupid things with memory.
I almost shot my pc over this one.  grrrr! :mad:   (I'm sorry - I love you, compy-p4! *hug*)   

couple other under-the-hood type bugfixes not worth mentioning.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on March 09, 2016, 01:22:16 AM
I almost shot my pc over this one.  grrrr! :mad:   (I'm sorry - I love you, compy-p4! *hug*)   

Please, don't "hurt" your poor pc... it has important FBA datas inside! :P

Joking aside, we really appreciate your "hard work" ! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on March 10, 2016, 03:49:39 PM
I almost shot my pc over this one.  grrrr! :mad:   (I'm sorry - I love you, compy-p4! *hug*)   
Next time I upgrade my pc you're getting my "gently used" old mobo, ram, etc.
Sorry about your luck and your power bill.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 11, 2016, 06:34:04 PM
SAR - Search and Rescue & Ikari 3 are now hooked up with the new rotational code.  The games are finally enjoyably playable in emulation w/o a rotating controller :D
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on March 12, 2016, 05:31:30 PM
Wow Guerilla War!  :biggrin:

I can't wait for the new release. It will be awesome.  :cool:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 12, 2016, 08:27:15 PM
Next time I upgrade my pc you're getting my "gently used" old mobo, ram, etc.
Sorry about your luck and your power bill.

The offer is very much appreciated.  With my custom scripts and things, I can compile/recompile a single driver and link it in about 20-25 seconds.  I remember when I first started working on fba, and used "make" after each change - it took literally 15 minutes to compile and link a single source change.  Sometimes if there were an error/typo in my changes, it would need another 15 minutes to make again. hehe.  Luckily I'm quite crafty with scripts 'n things.  :biggrin:

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 12, 2016, 08:30:24 PM
Wow Guerilla War!  :biggrin:

I can't wait for the new release. It will be awesome.  :cool:

Oh yea, you're going to dig the next release.  especially the innovative new rotation feature - which still blows my mind to this very second. :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on March 12, 2016, 08:59:07 PM
Oh yea, you're going to dig the next release.  especially the innovative new rotation feature - which still blows my mind to this very second. :)

best regards,
- dink

That for sure, there are many new games I never was able to play with my friends till this time.  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 20, 2016, 11:00:23 PM
A few months ago I wondered how the hell people get through certain spots in Jackal, it just seems impossible.  The trick is.. the game is actually made for a rotary-type joystick, and the non-rotary/"joystick" versions of game were most likely an afterthought by Konami to sell more boards to operators who didn't want to shell out for the rotary sticks.  While I was away for the past 2 days I realized I had forgotten to add the new rotary code to Jackal.  Oops.  The game is really quite playable and fun now; as it should be.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on March 21, 2016, 02:02:03 AM
I feel I can speak for all "FBA fans"... we are looking forward to see the new official FBA release! ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 22, 2016, 11:40:57 PM
Music is finally fixed in Guardians / Denjin Makai II.  :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 01, 2016, 11:12:58 PM
Some new games for FBA: Jungler and Tactician
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: vbt on April 02, 2016, 06:41:24 AM
great job dink !
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on April 02, 2016, 08:51:21 AM
@dink Nice work fella!!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 02, 2016, 09:35:23 AM
More... (click on each piccy)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on April 02, 2016, 11:50:56 AM
At the risk of repeating myself, I'm looking forward to see the new official FBA release! ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 07, 2016, 10:14:34 PM
Added 2 games from the SMS Power! coding competition: Bara Buru and Data Storm... to the SMS driver :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on April 13, 2016, 07:58:06 PM
Wow, we got even the Psycho Soldier, I didn't expected this. Japan and USA version. The legendary vocal theme back again!  :biggrin:

The Guevara (Japanese version of the Guerrilla War) can't start for some reason, the others works fine. And I must say that rotating method is far better than how I played the Forgotten Worlds.

Anyway I don't know if I did make something wrong, but the "autofire" buttons can't be configured.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 13, 2016, 09:32:44 PM
I love the english version of the Psycho Soldier song :D  Glad I'm not the only one..

gwarj is now fixed, Gab75 also reported this issue the other day.  Good work guys :)
I'm glad you dig the new rotation feature! 

Regarding Autofire, sometimes you have to click different places to configure the buttons, try clicking under the "mapped to" column in the input config.  Its a strange bug, I'm not sure why it happens - hopefully the mystery can be solved some day..

best regards,
- dink

Wow, we got even the Psycho Soldier, I didn't expected this. Japan and USA version. The legendary vocal theme back again!  :biggrin:

The Guevara (Japanese version of the Guerrilla War) can't start for some reason, the others works fine. And I must say that rotating method is far better than how I played the Forgotten Worlds.

Anyway I don't know if I did make something wrong, but the "autofire" buttons can't be configured.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 13, 2016, 11:09:17 PM
It's happy-fun fix time.  yay!  :smilie:

1: In the input editor, analogue and mouse inputs can now be clear & clear-locked.
A note on clear-locking:
  For those that don't know, Clear-locking is a function that will keep an input cleared permanently.  This is useful for those inputs that automatically get filled-in with defaults from your default preset (or hard-coded presets) when the game loads.

2: The Shots Factory (ctrl-f12) can now be closed with escape, and "All Sprites" is now labled as "Layer 1".

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on April 14, 2016, 08:16:31 AM
I love the english version of the Psycho Soldier song :D  Glad I'm not the only one..

gwarj is now fixed, Gab75 also reported this issue the other day.  Good work guys :)
I'm glad you dig the new rotation feature! 

Regarding Autofire, sometimes you have to click different places to configure the buttons, try clicking under the "mapped to" column in the input config.  Its a strange bug, I'm not sure why it happens - hopefully the mystery can be solved some day..

best regards,
- dink

Oh I see, then it works just not as it can be seen. For me the autofire isn't problem. I like pressing the button rapidly like back then (poor arcade machine... XD ). I have no problem with the English version of the Psycho Soldier song, but I prefer the Japanese. I even have the extremely rare cassette single.  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 14, 2016, 06:14:25 PM
Hehe right on :)  I wore out 4 gamepads between 2011 and fall-2013 because I loved to mash on the buttons one the good old classic games.  They were the wireless Dreamgear Shadow 6 gamepad for ps3 and windows.  I got tired of wearing the buttons out, but loved the gamepad style....  Eventually I finally gave in and got a quality Sony Dualshock 3 gamepad w/bluetooth dongle and the same controller has been going strong since fall 2013.  I think they're impossible to wear out as long as you treat them well and don't like let the dog chew on them..right.. :)
On the other hand, there are some games where autofire comes in handy.

best regards,
- dink

Oh I see, then it works just not as it can be seen. For me the autofire isn't problem. I like pressing the button rapidly like back then (poor arcade machine... XD ). I have no problem with the English version of the Psycho Soldier song, but I prefer the Japanese. I even have the extremely rare cassette single.  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 14, 2016, 06:18:02 PM
There is an issue in .38 where E.D.F. (parent and bootleg) can't be started, a little bug crept in. derp!  The good news: it's fixed now.  Big thanks to Gab75 for the bug report earlier today.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on April 14, 2016, 06:42:48 PM
There is an issue with the Shadow Force too. The button 4, 5, and 6 isn't work. Can't be used in game. If I remember correctly these are in order: strong punch, strong kick, and possession.

Yes, in some games it is really handy. Especial in scrolling shooters like Vapor Trail. In the case of arcade I use it too, but there isn't any other console I like to utilize. It feels like cheating for me in SNES or PS1. XD
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 14, 2016, 11:12:40 PM
Hi, try the US version 2 of the game, it has those extra buttons enabled.  Some versions of the game don't have them enabled - or it could be something where you need a certain powerup to enable them in those versions.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on April 15, 2016, 01:32:12 AM
There is an issue in .38 where E.D.F. (parent and bootleg) can't be started, a little bug crept in. derp!  The good news: it's fixed now.  Big thanks to Gab75 for the bug report earlier today.

Thanks to you for the fast fix! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on April 15, 2016, 08:09:54 AM
Hi, try the US version 2 of the game, it has those extra buttons enabled.  Some versions of the game don't have them enabled - or it could be something where you need a certain powerup to enable them in those versions.

I see, thanks.  :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 16, 2016, 09:09:55 AM
Last night was a bugfix-o-rama.  Here's whats new..

The palette viewer had some deep emotional issues.  Sometimes it was happy and showed the correct colors, other times it a bit bonkers and would show colors - but they made no sense at all.  Now that is fixed and everyone is happy.  I almost forgot, if you click on a color in the palette viewer, the viewer will tell you the RGB values for that color - it always did, you just couldn't see it.  After carefully excising the RGB color value coverup-jeebies, its no longer in hiding.

The classic game Pooyan can now properly display the falling apple without weird black pixels behind it.  This apple-bug was reported over a year ago by the one and only Zazzone of FBA-tester fame.  This one was confusing, because I couldn't find the apple in the sprite list.  As it turns out, this missing apple sprite was hard to find, because it wasn't just an apple, but a strange apple-strawberry hybrid.  Depending on the palette index of the sprite, this character could be either a solid red apple with green stem, or a strawberry with dots and a green leafy thing at the top.  As you could imagine, we needed to add a little extra transparent color checking to get it right.

Lastly, the assembly 68k-core has been a come up quite often as being the problem in bug reports, so this core will no longer be available in release builds.  In debug builds, if its enabled, it will only stay enabled for that session.  Once FBA is closed/reloaded, it will automatically default to the Musashi-68k core.  For classic gamers, there is nothing to be gained from using this core.  There is 1 exception: Takeda Shingen / Shingen Samurai Warrior on Jaleco Megasystem 1 - the game like to crash - it will go from playing to random funny patterns on the screen around the second stage when a certain item is picked up or character is defeated.  With the assembly 68kcore this game doesn't crash.  Its not currently known why this game has problems with Musashi-68k (cpu core) - Musashi is far more accurate/stable, so as a bit of a hack, FBA will automatically switch to the assembly 68kcore for this game, and back to Musashi upon exit behind the scenes, and transparent to the user.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on April 16, 2016, 12:23:33 PM
... it was a very fruitful night! :)

PS: finally the "assembly 68k core" will no longer be my "Achilles' heel" ! :P
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on April 16, 2016, 03:32:56 PM
Nice few fixes there regarding the a68k CPU core i read with interest that a certain game in the Jaleco Mega System 12 driver would
only work with this core and has issues when using the m68k CPU core this reminded me of a game called Asura Buster it locks up
on level 3 i remember iq_132 posting he thought it might be an issue with the mushi core Also Taito's F3 driver springs to mind maybe
these games would work correctly also if switched to use the a68k..?? as they seem to not work currantly with the mushi core.

Worth a Try maybe or not ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on April 16, 2016, 05:26:15 PM
A halfway (provisional) solution could be leave it (assembly 68k core) available in the release build, but set it unchecked (off) by default...
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 16, 2016, 06:55:46 PM
@gamezfan, the issues with taito-f3 (darius lockup when the game starts) and asura buster lockup on the jelly-monster happens with either core.

@Gab75, the core was always disabled by default, of course.  The problem is that people see "assembly" and think its better, so they turn it on, and forget about it.  The changes have already been made regarding what was said about this core.  There is absolutely no benefit for running this core for the classic gamer.  Also, when the protection / irq controller / exceptions(?) is better understood for tshingen and a fix is implemented, we will no longer have to switch to the a68k core "behind the scenes" for this game.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on April 17, 2016, 01:28:12 AM
@Gab75, the core was always disabled by default, of course.  The problem is that people see "assembly" and think its better, so they turn it on, and forget about it.  The changes have already been made regarding what was said about this core.  There is absolutely no benefit for running this core for the classic gamer.  Also, when the protection / irq controller / exceptions(?) is better understood for tshingen and a fix is implemented, we will no longer have to switch to the a68k core "behind the scenes" for this game.

My fault, I was sure that this core was enabled by default (I remembered wrong)... an advantage of assembly 68k core could be a greater execution speed using the older systems, like computers based on Intel Pentium (P5*) or AMD K6 CPUs (but today, probably, nobody uses these systems to perform an arcade/console emulation).
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 17, 2016, 08:56:38 AM
My fault, I was sure that this core was enabled by default (I remembered wrong)... an advantage of assembly 68k core could be a greater execution speed using the older systems, like computers based on Intel Pentium (P5*) or AMD K6 CPUs (but today, probably, nobody uses these systems to perform an arcade/console emulation).

My computer is a Pentium 4, and I don't see a benefit to using a68k... except for the special cases I've mentioned earlier.  These days you don't need to have much luck to find a much-better computer at the side of the road on garbage-day.  :)

Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on April 17, 2016, 02:22:21 PM
My computer is a Pentium 4, and I don't see a benefit to using a68k... except for the special cases I've mentioned earlier.  These days you don't need to have much luck to find a much-better computer at the side of the road on garbage-day.  :)

So, I'm not the only who still use a P4 instead of multi-core. I still have Windows XP installed because there is nothing that require Win7 and I want to use it. XD
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 24, 2016, 08:51:57 AM
Sega Master System Brawl added to the Megadrive stuffs
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 24, 2016, 08:59:20 AM
Also fixed sound in Porkys - you know, that game where you are a pig driving a car, and you have to shoot bacon at wolves.  :biggrin:
Some people often ask, why do we sometimes forget things in the whatsnew file...  well, the answer is simple.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 24, 2016, 08:59:14 PM
A month ago I saw Vetea was working on a new game - Bomb on Basic City - starring Papi from Papi Commando, I thought some day I'll get around to adding it to FBAlpha.   Tonight I saw that he added a level where you get to blow up a ZX Spectrum, so I immediately added it to our favorite emulator... :)

Vetea's dev-forum-*log: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/251258-new-homebrew-genesis-game-bomb-on-basic-city/
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 26, 2016, 09:40:55 PM
So, I'm not the only who still use a P4 instead of multi-core. I still have Windows XP installed because there is nothing that require Win7 and I want to use it. XD

This is exactly the same reason for me. :)  Here's a funny bit of info...  I know someone (personally) who's highlight of the year with computers is to buy and install a new version of MS Windows - then talk about it for a month afterwards, get bored, then put away their computer until the next version of MS Windows.   I'm not kidding, at all.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 27, 2016, 08:50:29 AM
Robert,
Eek, thanks for the heads-up on sharesend.  I'm using ublock with firefox, so it could be possible that there is some uncool stuff hidden in that page and I'm just not seeing it.  I attached the pd-rom to the original message (up above) and also added a link to the authors dev-page.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 28, 2016, 08:18:25 PM
On a suggestion from iq_132, I did a FBA-driver for Cheeky Mouse.  After getting everything finished and up & running, I was kinda bummed to find out that the game was silent - aside from a little start jingle.  What fun is a silent game, anyways.. no sfx or anything..?  That had to change.  I hooked up some simple samples of mouse noises and other blurps and blips so classic gaming fans can enjoy a nice game, full of blips and blurps. (and mousey-noises in general - especially those of mice getting smashed with an 80s-era digital hammer.)
Note: I wasn't going to try to match the original pcb's sounds 1:1, for that we can find someone with a pcb and do a high quality recording.  But in the meantime, this is what I came up with.  [watch the video and listen...]

Youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ie8Xd4oKQ1w

Grab the bottom attachment: cheekyms.zip, and put it in your "fba folder\support\samples" folder to stay ahead of the game & be ready for the next release :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on April 29, 2016, 01:45:59 AM
Excellent work! ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 11, 2016, 10:21:40 PM
4 new classic games for FBA: Yamato, Crazy Climber, Guzzler and Swimmer.  Click the pics to make them the right size.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on May 12, 2016, 12:54:29 AM
4 new good additions... thanks! :) Especially Sega Yamato (maybe I'm a "little bit biased" ! :P )
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on May 13, 2016, 05:37:58 PM
@dink 4 more for the pot nice job you did wiht these ones
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on May 14, 2016, 02:50:25 PM
I start with the fact, there is no problem with the game itself. The Shadow Force is fixed, I finished the game and even recorded it with Bandicam.

But the Shadow Force versions are messed up. The new dump works good, but the clones requires the old dump. The emulator also can't recognize the Japanese version. This isn't a problem, but it would be good if the emulator can start the clones with the new dump.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 14, 2016, 07:59:27 PM
I start with the fact, there is no problem with the game itself. The Shadow Force is fixed, I finished the game and even recorded it with Bandicam.

But the Shadow Force versions are messed up. The new dump works good, but the clones requires the old dump. The emulator also can't recognize the Japanese version. This isn't a problem, but it would be good if the emulator can start the clones with the new dump.

Pityesz: JacKc, the guy in charge of the parent/clones up-to-date, will need to have a look at this, I noticed our roms were kinda funky in this regard, also.  Thanks for letting us know & reminding me :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 14, 2016, 08:10:28 PM
Some new games, this time from Orca:
Zodiack, The Bounty, The Percussor, Dog Fight & Mogu Chan.  Regarding Mogu Chan...this is a weirdly-excellent little game and the reason I did this one.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on May 14, 2016, 09:12:33 PM
Oh, then someone already said that. XD

Dog Fight! This is what I haven't seen since half of my life! I look forward to this release.  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 14, 2016, 11:57:17 PM
As a special bonus, Van-Van Car will finally not look totally screwed up in the next release.  yay!  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: JacKc on May 15, 2016, 05:07:28 AM
Pityesz: JacKc, the guy in charge of the parent/clones up-to-date, will need to have a look at this, I noticed our roms were kinda funky in this regard, also.  Thanks for letting us know & reminding me :)

best regards,
- dink
Well if we are talking about Shadow Force by Technos (d_shadfrce.cpp), i see nothing wrong in Parent/Clones ROMs. Our driver is up--to-date with MAME 0.173.

http://git.redump.net/mame/tree/src/mame/drivers/shadfrce.cpp

http://www.progettoemma.net/index.php?gioco=shadfrce

I don't see anything funky in our roms and clones are recognized and work fine.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Barry Harris on May 15, 2016, 07:22:44 AM
Well if we are talking about Shadow Force by Technos (d_shadfrce.cpp), i see nothing wrong in Parent/Clones ROMs. Our driver is up--to-date with MAME 0.173.

http://git.redump.net/mame/tree/src/mame/drivers/shadfrce.cpp

http://www.progettoemma.net/index.php?gioco=shadfrce

I don't anything funky in our roms and clones are recognized and work fine.

mamediff is always happy with that driver also. Never any issues. :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 15, 2016, 07:53:09 AM
Sorry JacKc, it must be my roms are funky then (and out of date).  Thanks for checking.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on May 15, 2016, 11:09:48 AM
It is strange. For me the different clones requires different parent roms.For example the US version 2 isn't works with the new parent dump.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: JacKc on May 15, 2016, 04:06:43 PM
It is strange. For me the different clones requires different parent roms.For example the US version 2 isn't works with the new parent dump.
maybe your ROMset is not up-to-date with latest FBA version (0.2.97.38). i've checked twice and all seems ok.

(http://i.imgur.com/1YGsZfM.jpg)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on May 15, 2016, 08:21:11 PM
Thanks, I will look for the newer dumps.  :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 15, 2016, 10:20:04 PM
Another nice game added to FBAlpha, Dr. Micro...
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 17, 2016, 11:13:36 PM
Here's a silly game, thats actually quite fun as well.. Calorie Kun vs. somethingorother:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 19, 2016, 10:06:54 PM
This one - Jr. Pacman - was resurrected from secret lost code of the almighty iq_132, and finished & spiffed up over a 2-day period by the one they call dink.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on May 20, 2016, 01:25:00 AM
Great... another classic added ! ;) This should be the only game of "Pac-Man series" directly developed by Bally Midway (moreover a "not official" derivate)...
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on May 20, 2016, 08:46:32 AM
This one - Jr. Pacman - was resurrected from secret lost code of the almighty iq_132, and finished & spiffed up over a 2-day period by the one they call dink.

You guys must be eating some power pills to be able to port all these new drivers :) Nice work BTW!!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on May 20, 2016, 09:20:12 AM
This one - Jr. Pacman - was resurrected from secret lost code of the almighty iq_132, and finished & spiffed up over a 2-day period by the one they call dink.
Nice work! Especially catching that one very hard to spot bug. :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 24, 2016, 10:52:13 PM
I'm a big fan of Burgertime on Colecovision.  I always wanted to emulate the arcade version in FBAlpha, but never got around to it.. until the other day.  After finishing the emulation, I was rather sad to find out that the game has a horrible and incredibly irritating hissing noise in the background of the games' music...  The noise was somewhat reminiscent of those huge old tv's, but times 100 in volume.
I spent almost the entire day trying different things to get rid of the hissing noise...  Since I like to take the hardest route(s) first - I tried filtering the commands sent to the ay(8910).. no luck, then doing some hacks to the ay core itself... even more "no luck.".  Finally came up with using a gang of lowpass filters to do the job.  Yay, the game is now playable without a migraine-inducing headache caused by high-pitch hissing.  Here's some pics for now...

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on May 25, 2016, 01:10:46 AM
I'm a big fan of Burgertime on Colecovision.  I always wanted to emulate the arcade version in FBAlpha, but never got around to it.. until the other day.  After finishing the emulation, I was rather sad to find out that the game has a horrible and incredibly irritating hissing noise in the background of the games' music...  The noise was somewhat reminiscent of those huge old tv's, but times 100 in volume.
I spent almost the entire day trying different things to get rid of the hissing noise...  Since I like to take the hardest route(s) first - I tried filtering the commands sent to the ay(8910).. no luck, then doing some hacks to the ay core itself... even more "no luck.".  Finally came up with using a gang of lowpass filters to do the job.  Yay, the game is now playable without a migraine-inducing headache caused by high-pitch hissing.  Here's some pics for now...

Thanks for your hard work! BurgerTime is a Data East classic and it will be a great addition to the FB Alpha! :)

PS: IIRC the game (arcade version) should be supported by two different drivers ("btime" and "decocass").
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on May 25, 2016, 09:10:14 AM
Well Burger me another classic in FBA @dink nice job you did both on the driver and sorting the background hiss in the sound
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on May 25, 2016, 10:06:18 AM
I'm a big fan of Burgertime on Colecovision.  I always wanted to emulate the arcade version in FBAlpha, but never got around to it.. until the other day.  After finishing the emulation, I was rather sad to find out that the game has a horrible and incredibly irritating hissing noise in the background of the games' music...  The noise was somewhat reminiscent of those huge old tv's, but times 100 in volume.
I spent almost the entire day trying different things to get rid of the hissing noise...  Since I like to take the hardest route(s) first - I tried filtering the commands sent to the ay(8910).. no luck, then doing some hacks to the ay core itself... even more "no luck.".  Finally came up with using a gang of lowpass filters to do the job.  Yay, the game is now playable without a migraine-inducing headache caused by high-pitch hissing.  Here's some pics for now...

best regards,
- dink

Great work! I tried to port this thing multiple times and failed. :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 27, 2016, 11:45:21 PM
Here's a few more... :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on May 28, 2016, 09:31:57 AM
Here's a few more... :)

Nice job adding these BTW as i know you put alotta effort into getting em playable
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 29, 2016, 11:36:19 PM
Classic '82 Kaneko w/bonus Atari licensee.  Found in the secret lost driver graveyard of the magnificent iq_132. brought up to date/overhauled/bugfixed and all that goodness.  Probably more to come...
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 30, 2016, 11:41:36 PM
Here's some more Kaneko classics...
Boggy '84, its kinda like Kicker, Red Robin - Kaneko's version of Pac-Land(maybe?), Jump Coaster - it might look like mr. Do's Wild Ride, but its a lot different.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on June 01, 2016, 07:40:13 AM
Nice work! Red Robin looks like it could either be awesome or really terrible.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on June 01, 2016, 08:31:10 AM
It's not bad, its kinda like a spin on Pac-Land.  I really dig Boggy'84 though, its kinda like Kicker/Shaolin and Ninja Kun mixed.  It unfortunately suffers from the same high pitched noise that Burger Time does (as some ay8910-containing games do), so I might have to throw a few filters on it.  The others don't.  I'm going to collaberate with a buddy of mine who is a soundchip afficianado/hacker, and see if there is a way we can filter this at the chip/core level so filtering won't be necessary.  I spent about a day and a half trying to do it myself, but failed though..  I still think it might be possible.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: WILOWAR on June 07, 2016, 07:17:34 AM
Hi.. Could you add Super Cassette Vision, it has funny Dragon ball game: Dragon Ball: Dragon Daihikyō??
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on June 07, 2016, 11:31:28 PM
Tonight I made an awesome breakthrough with BurgerTime.  The migraine-inducing high-pitched hiss has been completely removed - not just filtered or eq'd out.  It sounds great :) Since finishing the driver I spent hours upon hours trying to kill this one, and I am quite happy and relieved to finally be able to close the book on it.

Watch/listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYmZq6usyUk

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on June 08, 2016, 03:00:50 AM
Tonight I made an awesome breakthrough with BurgerTime.  The migraine-inducing high-pitched hiss has been completely removed - not just filtered or eq'd out.  It sounds great :) Since finishing the driver I spent hours upon hours trying to kill this one, and I am quite happy and relieved to finally be able to close the book on it.

Great work! The "night shift" has borne fruit! ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on June 08, 2016, 03:05:58 PM
Tonight I made an awesome breakthrough with BurgerTime.

Well done man at least after all that time you spent on it there's a happy ending i love those :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: WILOWAR on June 10, 2016, 03:37:20 AM
Hi. Add Sega Light Phaser emulation for Sega Master System and Konami Justifier and Menacer Gun for Sega Megadrive-Genesis. Please :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on June 12, 2016, 11:36:32 PM
What's happenin':
FBA Fixes:
While recording an avi, pressing f1 to ffwd won't skip frames written to the avi.

Fixed the graphical scrolling glitches in the endings of Joe and Mac Returns & Caveman Ninja. Also the tops of the trees in the dino-riding water stage of Caveman Ninja, as well as the colosseum-intro to Mutant Fighter.

General emulation fix: I don't usually talk about fixes for games we didn't release yet, but this one is of the exception.  Those familiar with Ninja Emaki knows something is really wrong with the continue screen.  The next version of FBA will not only include this great game, but also be in 100% working order emulation-wise.  For those not familiar with this game, imagine Ikari Warriors or Commando, but with a ninja, and some very very awesome music.  Somewhat leaning more to the shoot-em-up side of the genre-belt than the overhead run'n'gun.  The sheer awesomeness of this game inspired me to sink some hefty debug-time into it to get things working correctly.  Big thanks to iq_132 for doing the Galivan/Dangar/Emaki driver for our precious emulator :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: synnchan on June 12, 2016, 11:41:18 PM
Oh. Nice to see the frame skipping bug and Caveman Ninja will be fixed. Thanks dink! :D

I'm also looking forward to this new game I'm unfamiliar with. Please, keep up the good job. :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: WILOWAR on June 13, 2016, 06:47:52 AM
Couple games have issuses on 64 bit version FBA :


bcruzm - game freeze on start and don't run

mainsnk - game won't run - black screen

Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on June 13, 2016, 02:31:37 PM
WILOWAR: Thanks for the reports.  Main SNK was fixed shortly after the last release.  Battle Cruiser M12 is just really slow to boot, press f1 to speed it up a bit :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on June 13, 2016, 09:14:27 PM
Mega Q-Bert for Megadrive/Genesis by Jaklub 2016
A 16bit version of the classic arcade game, with classic mode and new weird & wonderful original level mode. :)
ROM D/L: http://www79.zippyshare.com/v/2iNHsJy9/file.html
Original Dev-thread: http://gendev.spritesmind.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2456
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: WILOWAR on June 14, 2016, 04:09:42 AM
Racing Beat (World) racingb - graphic issues
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on June 14, 2016, 07:38:42 AM
WILOWAR, that's actually normal for this game.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: WILOWAR on June 21, 2016, 10:29:27 AM
hi. Dink, Can you separate paths for Sega Master System and Game Gear roms in FBA ? Fba can't find roms with the same name like :
aliensyn (alien syndrome) for both systems (sms,gg. When I got gg rom fba find sms rom the same game and ex. I separate folders for diffrerent systems.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on June 21, 2016, 05:16:21 PM
WILOWAR, Yes, of course they can be separated.  Set your rom paths for GG & SMS (and other consoles) in path slots #11 - #20 and it will find them alright. 
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: WILOWAR on June 22, 2016, 03:22:20 AM
ok. I do and it works. Thanks very much  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 01, 2016, 11:53:35 PM
hachamfb (hacha mecha fighter bootleg) titlescreen sprite fixed.  big thanks to wishes_to_be_nameless for alerting me of the bug.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: WILOWAR on July 02, 2016, 12:35:58 PM
Hi dink. Could you add light gun support for Sega Master system and Megadrive ? :S
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 02, 2016, 06:19:03 PM
I don't know, maybe in the future. 
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 06, 2016, 10:24:40 PM
Another iq_132 & dink co-venture, we present the Sunset Riders saloon dancers' lights fix.
Zazzone reported this one back in September 2015.  Better late than never :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: synnchan on July 07, 2016, 01:26:52 PM
Yay! Nice to see this bug was fixed. Thanks. :D

By the way, Mystic Warriors is pretty similar to Sunset Striders. Does that game have some emulation glitches as well or is it good already?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on July 07, 2016, 01:54:58 PM
Yay! Nice to see this bug was fixed. Thanks. :D

By the way, Mystic Warriors is pretty similar to Sunset Striders. Does that game have some emulation glitches as well or is it good already?
A couple of very minor visual bugs iirc. Nothing that would make the game unplayable or anything. ^^
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 07, 2016, 01:58:24 PM
Yay! Nice to see this bug was fixed. Thanks. :D

By the way, Mystic Warriors is pretty similar to Sunset Striders. Does that game have some emulation glitches as well or is it good already?

Mystic Warriors is pretty solid, there is a little glitch when the water washes the player down the screen (for 1/4 second), but the same issue also exists in other emulators.

Also re: Metamorphic Force, I havn't figured that issue out yet though.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on July 07, 2016, 02:07:05 PM
Mystic Warriors is pretty solid, there is a little glitch when the water washes the player down the screen (for 1/4 second), but the same issue also exists in other emulators.

Also re: Metamorphic Force, I havn't figured that issue out yet though.

best regards,
- dink
Looking back, I think that mystic warrior glitch is due to the game alpha blending stuff that it has already alpha blended (just a guess).
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 08, 2016, 09:45:01 AM
Happy fun Konami custom debug-time
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on July 08, 2016, 10:36:16 AM
Happy fun Konami custom debug-time
Thank you! This has been bugging me for ages. Make sure to mark it as working.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on July 08, 2016, 10:55:10 AM
Another iq_132 & dink co-venture, we present the Sunset Riders saloon dancers' lights fix.
Zazzone reported this one back in September 2015.  Better late than never :)

best regards,
- dink

Happy fun Konami custom debug-time

BTW Nice job you did on both of these!!!.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 09, 2016, 11:26:22 PM
message deleted.  The batrider issue was created by me both times, it just took me some time to realize it..
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 11, 2016, 08:39:57 PM
On the topic of input recording enhancements. I managed to transplant the re-recording modifications from FBARR, which is a long-dead fork of the FBA project (2011, rip)

What does it do?
1: you can continue to record onto the end of your (input) recording.
2: ability to savestate and loadstate while recording.

thanks to synnchan for bringing this neat feature to my attention.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: synnchan on July 12, 2016, 01:53:32 PM
Thank you so much, dink. I think now fba is the definite arcade emulator. :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 12, 2016, 06:08:10 PM
Yea for sure.  The inputs recording was really quite crap before this.  I wonder why nobody tried to improve it earlier :/
I'm going to work on adding a "Favorites" thing to FBA's game selector.  It's something that all of my friends keep bugging me about that FBA is really in need of.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: synnchan on July 13, 2016, 09:07:18 PM
Indeed. With the improved input recording, fba has an advantage over mame. I also prefer fba's interface much more. I don't think I will bother with mame anymore from now on. Most of my favorite arcade games are already emulated on fba anyway so I'm not really missing much.

Only thing I can't play on fba yet are some Namco classics I really enjoy (Valkyrie no Densetsu, Purikura Daisakusen, Burning Force, Marvel Land... etc etc). There are no namco drivers on fba at all yet, but I'm still hoping they will eventually be added someday. :)

The favorites feature sounds interesting by the way. It will certainly be nifty having it on the official fba. Good luck! ^-^

Late correction: Purikura Daisakusen was actually made by Atlus, not Namco. Sorry for the confusion.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 13, 2016, 11:50:02 PM
For now in FBA, one can play the console ports of Valkyrie Densetsu (look for Walkuere no Densetsu under PCE) and Burning Force (under Megadrive).
I know what you mean re: the interface, it's got that "classic" emulator feel to it.  You wont see me venture outside of FBA for any sort of gaming - except to verify emulation - like a side-by-side comparison or something.  When it came to doing the BurgerTime driver, I actually had never played the arcade version of the game until I got it running in my own weird style of emulation.  Its also because of that, that we have the best emulation of the game in existence right now.  Some of my friends who are avid(obsessed) BurgerTime fans will back me up on this.  :)

that's it for now,
best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 17, 2016, 10:46:22 PM
New features part 1/2:
re: Search Box in the game selector list improvement

For those who have used the search box in the game selector, you know how frustrating it can be to wait .. and wait.. and watch the list redraw for every searched character that is typed in.  In fact, if you have 3000+ games installed, searching for something simple like "cyvern" can take just under 10 seconds just to wait for all of the letters you type in to show up... and if you have made a mistake in the spelling, you might as well throw your damned pc out the window. 

Hopefully I didn't bring back too many bad memories :D

Based on my calculations** the search box has seen a 300% improvement in input/search speed.

** using random numbers I've basically pulled out of the sky and rearranged to my liking.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 17, 2016, 10:49:09 PM
New features part 2/2:
1: The avi writer now has a selectable 1x/2x/3x pixel mode.
2: Ghouls 'n Ghosts no longer goes out of sync with savestates, input recording & (most probably) netplay.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 20, 2016, 11:35:41 PM
Now there's an option to show the joystick movements & button presses while playing back a recording (recorded inputs).
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 21, 2016, 03:27:54 PM
Show movements (optional) feature during recorded inputs playback, note the bottom-left :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: synnchan on July 21, 2016, 03:41:01 PM
lookin' good. :D
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 22, 2016, 06:24:04 PM
Hey there..

While debugging some PGM stuff, I came across an old bug that sorta bothered me.  It happens in DDP2 Bee Storm when the music fades out after boss fights, it sounds really clicky and weird.  With the old ICS2115 soundcore, it sounded fine, but with the new one which was added last fall, DDP2 sounds kinda horrible.  On the other hand, the new ICS2115 soundcore improved the sound quality in just about every other PGM game.  Now we have the best of both worlds, I made a little fix/kludge to the ICS2115 soundcore just for Bee Storm, it disables the volume envelopes which is the thing thats causing the issue.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 23, 2016, 11:05:14 PM
Happy-fun FBA "fixes" of the day..

Continental Circus: fixed the gear shifter, thanks to Gab75 for reporting this issue!
Data East Backfire! random crash on game load. (workaround)
Alt-S - mute/unmute the sound.  Now it unmutes :)

From the happy-fun new features department:
Shift+F1 will toggle fastforward on/off

From the happy-fun "incase-you-didn't-know-about-these-preexisting-features" department:
F1 still fastforwards as usual.
While the game is paused, F1 will advance a frame each time you press it.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on July 24, 2016, 12:59:11 AM
Thanks a lot for the various fixes and improvements! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 26, 2016, 11:01:38 PM
On request from *nameless*, added Mr. Do's Nightmare, Metal Slug 3 Enhanced Violence Version and 1942: C64 Music version to our favorite emulator.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 04, 2016, 10:19:51 PM
Taito's Top Speed / Full Throttle got an overhaul.  Added a priority bitmap to fix a bunch of graphics glitches, missing soundeffects, broken gear shifter & a handfull of other small things that aren't worth mentioning.  The game is now fully playable and quite fun, its basically an OutRun-style game, but with a nitro booster.  Like OutRun the music is quite catchy too :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on August 05, 2016, 12:56:05 AM
Thanks for your work! :)
Yes, Top Speed is an Out-Run style game with a pinch of "Initial D"... indeed, the virtual sport car should be ispired to a Mazda RX-7 second generation! ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: synnchan on August 05, 2016, 07:58:51 AM
Taito's Top Speed / Full Throttle got an overhaul.  Added a priority bitmap to fix a bunch of graphics glitches, missing soundeffects, broken gear shifter & a handfull of other small things that aren't worth mentioning.  The game is now fully playable and quite fun, its basically an OutRun-style game, but with a nitro booster.  Like OutRun the music is quite catchy too :)

best regards,
- dink

Thanks dink ^-^
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on August 05, 2016, 08:45:34 AM
Taito's Top Speed / Full Throttle got an overhaul.  Added a priority bitmap to fix a bunch of graphics glitches, missing soundeffects, broken gear shifter & a handfull of other small things that aren't worth mentioning.  The game is now fully playable and quite fun, its basically an OutRun-style game, but with a nitro booster.  Like OutRun the music is quite catchy too :)

best regards,
- dink

Nice work big fella!! Not a bad game Taito's Top Speed a precursor to the more famous Chase HQ.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: csmart on August 05, 2016, 10:08:08 AM
That's awesome Top Speed was one of my favorite racing games while I was growing up. Great fix.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 05, 2016, 09:49:22 PM
Ufo Senshi Yohko Chan got a fix today, the platform part wasn't scrolling properly.  Big thanks to Gab75 for reporting this bug.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 08, 2016, 10:44:39 PM
this needs to be mentioned.
good, bad & ugly:

ym2151, states no longer rely on having the same samplerate & interpolation settings on the machine that loads them as the machine that saved them.  cons: breaks all old savestates from prior fba versions for games that use ym2151.

msm6295, massive rewrite which also breaks prior states for games using this chip.

sorry about that!
best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on August 11, 2016, 09:39:28 PM
Could be Dungeon Magic / Light Bringer added to the emulator? Haven't played that game since ages.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on August 12, 2016, 01:12:14 AM
Could be Dungeon Magic / Light Bringer added to the emulator? Haven't played that game since ages.

IIRC Dungeon Magic/Light Bringer should be a game based on Taito F3 System arcade board... There are a lot of very good games based on this hardware (e.g. Bubble Memories, Darius Gaiden, Elevator Action II, Puzzle Bobble 3, etc.), but to add them to the FBA it's not an easy task... moreover the emulation of Ensoniq ES5505 sound chip is totally absent among the supported cores. In few words, I don't think that we will see soon the Taito F3 games emulated, maybe one day (I hope in the not too distant future! :P )
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 12, 2016, 08:16:29 AM
IIRC Dungeon Magic/Light Bringer should be a game based on Taito F3 System arcade board... There are a lot of very good games based on this hardware (e.g. Bubble Memories, Darius Gaiden, Elevator Action II, Puzzle Bobble 3, etc.), but to add them to the FBA it's not an easy task... moreover the emulation of Ensoniq ES5505 sound chip is totally absent among the supported cores. In few words, I don't think that we will see soon the Taito F3 games emulated, maybe one day (I hope in the not too distant future! :P )

We have a partial f3 driver that needs a lot of work, esp. with the soundcore and graphic:layers priorities and such.  I gave up trying to get anything useful out of it because the amount of work required to get it right is astronomical, and f3 games don't really interest me.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on August 12, 2016, 08:47:30 AM
I see. There are games I like and games that I don't like. But this decision isn't based on the fact what system it runs on. Actually if I must chose a system then PC88 or PC98 just could ruin any other emulator because it has far more interesting and unique games, and even better chiptunes.  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on August 12, 2016, 09:23:07 AM
We have a partial f3 driver that needs a lot of work, esp. with the soundcore and graphic:layers priorities and such.  I gave up trying to get anything useful out of it because the amount of work required to get it right is astronomical, and f3 games don't really interest me.

best regards,
- dink
If I ever get another solid block of time, I would love to get that doing something more than it is, but I just have no time. :(

I see. There are games I like and games that I don't like. But this decision isn't based on the fact what system it runs on. Actually if I must chose a system then PC88 or PC98 just could ruin any other emulator because it has far more interesting and unique games, and even better chiptunes.  :biggrin:

http://http://neo-source.com/index.php?topic=980.msg15184#msg15184
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on August 12, 2016, 02:30:13 PM
@iq_132: snooping through your old posts I noticed that you made a preliminary driver for the SEGA G80 Vector games... didn't you finish the driver porting for "lack of time/interest" or for "technical issues" ?
http://http://neo-source.com/index.php?topic=980.msg14652#msg14652

PS: please excuse me for the OT... but I'm pretty curious! ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 12, 2016, 03:00:57 PM
If I ever get another solid block of time, I would love to get that doing something more than it is, but I just have no time. :(

http://http://neo-source.com/index.php?topic=980.msg15184#msg15184

I would like to work on this with ya when the time is right.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on August 12, 2016, 03:43:32 PM
@iq_132: snooping through your old posts I noticed that you made a preliminary driver for the SEGA G80 Vector games... didn't you finish the driver porting for "lack of time/interest" or for "technical issues" ?
http://http://neo-source.com/index.php?topic=980.msg14652#msg14652
Lack of interest, then a hard drive getting wiped. Sadly.
Quote
PS: please excuse me for the OT... but I'm pretty curious! ;)
No worries!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on August 14, 2016, 02:39:55 PM
There is a graphical error with the Sunset Riders. It occurs after you defeat the brothers and the girls start to dance.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: synnchan on August 14, 2016, 02:43:26 PM
There is a graphical error with the Sunset Riders. It occurs after you defeat the brothers and the girls start to dance.

this was already fixed on 0.2.97.39. :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on August 14, 2016, 03:03:50 PM
Good to know, thanks.  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 14, 2016, 09:12:17 PM
Pityesz, thanks for the report.  The bug in question was fixed a few weeks ago :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on August 15, 2016, 02:24:16 PM
No problem, then an another report...  :biggrin:

The Metamorphic Force has some transparency glitches on the character sprites/models. I haven't checked this with every ROM, only with the parent. Especial the bear-guy suffers from this, but it happen on bosses too.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on August 15, 2016, 03:13:56 PM
No problem, then an another report...  :biggrin:

The Metamorphic Force has some transparency glitches on the character sprites/models. I haven't checked this with every ROM, only with the parent. Especial the bear-guy suffers from this, but it happen on bosses too.
IIRC that's already been reported. You can see on the hands of the characters.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 15, 2016, 04:56:01 PM
No problem, then an another report...  :biggrin:

The Metamorphic Force has some transparency glitches on the character sprites/models. I haven't checked this with every ROM, only with the parent. Especial the bear-guy suffers from this, but it happen on bosses too.

Keep the reports coming.. :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: mynamesnotlars on August 15, 2016, 06:24:21 PM
Hey everyone, I got routed to this thread via the TASVideos IRC. First I want to give a huge thank you to Dink for obsoleting FBA-rr. That thing gives us nightmares.

I'm not sure if this is the correct thread, but I'd like to request that with the next build of FBA you add support for the Taito/SNK game Kaiser Knuckle. It's famous for it's nigh unbeatble final boss and we'd like to show off us killing him.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on August 20, 2016, 01:39:16 PM
The Warrior Blade: Rastan Saga Episode III's color looks a little messed up. I haven't played it on real arcade machine, but seems to be different from how it looks on the videos on YouTube.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 22, 2016, 08:51:04 AM
Re Rastan III - The Warrior Blade: running FBA side-by-side with MAME there is no difference in color.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on August 22, 2016, 02:34:42 PM
Then I think even the MAME have the same problem with Rastan III lol.  :eek:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 23, 2016, 07:32:02 AM
More good news: the track and field driver is done :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on August 23, 2016, 08:32:05 AM
Excellent work guys! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on August 23, 2016, 09:12:33 AM
The FBA boys are busy busy good job fellas!!!!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 27, 2016, 10:48:42 PM
Recent fixes:  (big thanks to Gab75 for reporting them)
Konami GT / RF2 & Hyper Crash have improved analog controls
Konami GT / RF2 now have a proper gear shifter also...
Fixed voice (VLM5030) samples in Hyper Crash
US AAF Mustang: Fixed background movement and sprite priority issues, also applies to Twin Action

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on August 28, 2016, 12:37:52 AM
Recent fixes:  (big thanks to Gab75 for reporting them)

Thanks to you for your work! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on August 28, 2016, 08:50:16 AM
@dink some nice fixes and improvements there!!!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: synnchan on August 28, 2016, 01:49:02 PM
nice to see more fixes! ^^
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on August 30, 2016, 08:42:58 AM
The Bucky O'Hare has some transparency glitches during the second stage's cages.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on August 30, 2016, 01:19:51 PM
The Bucky O'Hare has some transparency glitches during the second stage's cages.

Can you take some screenshots for a better understanding of supposed bug? :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on August 30, 2016, 03:21:49 PM
Here you go:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on August 30, 2016, 03:59:48 PM
Thanks for sending the screenshot... it seems to be an issue related to the sprite priority...
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on August 30, 2016, 04:43:26 PM
Thanks for sending the screenshot... it seems to be an issue related to the sprite priority...
Definitely. ^^
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 30, 2016, 10:31:54 PM
In the current dev. build of FBAlpha that Bucky O'Hare priority bug is already fixed.  I can't tell you when it was fixed, but I just played to the 3rd level and everything is in order :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on August 31, 2016, 02:10:35 AM
So, at present, the only graphic glitches should be some little bugs with the translucent shadows and with the sprites/objects scaling code... as far as I know, these "bugs" are also in the MAME emulation...

On the "mobile platform" (second part of stage 2) the characters and enemies shadows are not visible, maybe a priority issue (as you can see in the screenshot 1).

Sometimes, when the sprites zoom, they don't stick well among them and this produces vertical split lines (as you can see in the "blasts" of screenshot 2)... probably a perfectible math for the sprite zooming.

PS: "for the record", these are very minor bugs! ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 31, 2016, 08:15:56 AM
It's similar to the Jackie Chan/suprnova roz line issue, which is nearly unfixable in emulation.  Also note, in MAME the graphics share the same issues.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: vbt on August 31, 2016, 10:04:16 AM
It's similar to the Jackie Chan/suprnova roz line issue, which is nearly unfixable in emulation.  Also note, in MAME the graphics share the same issues.
can someone do a capture of the arcade game ? maybe it happens also there.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on August 31, 2016, 11:25:33 AM
can someone do a capture of the arcade game ? maybe it happens also there.

Here the link to a video captured from the original arcade board: https://youtu.be/l-K1bhAxqSU

The video quality isn't very good,, but enough to give a comparison... the sprite scaling and traslucent shadows haven't the issues observed in the emulated version.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on August 31, 2016, 11:28:47 AM
Here the link to a video captured from the original arcade board: https://youtu.be/l-K1bhAxqSU

The video quality isn't very good,, but enough to give a comparison... the sprite scaling and traslucent shadows haven't the issues observed in the emulated version.
Holy potato quality.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on August 31, 2016, 11:41:33 AM
Holy potato quality.

This video should be a little better... semi-"holy potato quality"! :P
https://youtu.be/ZmeyR0rMPo4
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: synnchan on September 01, 2016, 09:12:48 PM
Speaking of beat 'em ups, there's a really great one that's not on FBA yet: Captain America and the Avengers by Data East (rom name = captaven). I was searching what Data East driver this game belongs exactly, but didn't have luck. Is the driver in question emulated by FBA already?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 01, 2016, 11:52:36 PM
synnchan: Try the megadrive version :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on September 02, 2016, 12:48:35 AM
Speaking of beat 'em ups, there's a really great one that's not on FBA yet: Captain America and the Avengers by Data East (rom name = captaven). I was searching what Data East driver this game belongs exactly, but didn't have luck. Is the driver in question emulated by FBA already?

Currently, DECO-32 (deco32.c driver) games aren't supported by FBA. Maybe in the future...  keep your fingers crossed ! ;)

PS: IMHO another excellent DECO-32 side-scrolling beat'em up is Night Slashers.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: synnchan on September 02, 2016, 08:35:00 PM
Oh, so it's DECO-32.

Is there a way to find what driver a game belongs to through mame? I haven't used mame in a while, but I noticed the most recent versions include a small info list about every game, but I could not find specific things like drivers listed there (maybe it could be there but I'm just blind...)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on September 03, 2016, 12:31:26 AM
Oh, so it's DECO-32.

Is there a way to find what driver a game belongs to through mame? I haven't used mame in a while, but I noticed the most recent versions include a small info list about every game, but I could not find specific things like drivers listed there (maybe it could be there but I'm just blind...)

Maybe this website can be useful for your request: http://www.progettoemma.net/

- Use the "Search tools" option (menu on the left) to find a specific game;
- among other things/informations, when you select a game, in "emulation box" there is the MAME driver used for the emulation (The MAME driver of this machine is:);
- moreover, if you click on driver name you'll get a list of all games that use this driver.

... I hope to have been a help to you! ;)

PS: excuse me for the little OT ! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: synnchan on September 03, 2016, 01:10:50 PM
Seems to be a nice site, but I only see the manufactures listed. I actually meant drivers in a more specific way. You know, things like CPS2, DECO IC16, Sega System 32, CAVE CV1000B, etc etc.

Is there a way to search for this kind of information? If there's none, then no worries. :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on September 03, 2016, 01:52:26 PM
Seems to be a nice site, but I only see the manufactures listed. I actually meant drivers in a more specific way. You know, things like CPS2, DECO IC16, Sega System 32, CAVE CV1000B, etc etc.

Is there a way to search for this kind of information? If there's none, then no worries. :)

If you use the "Advanced Search" there is an option where is possible to select a specific driver (Source:)... in any case, if you want  to have a subdivision of games according to the arcade boards (Neo Geo MVS, CPS1, CPS2, System 16, System 24, etc.) you can try this website: http://www.system16.com/
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: synnchan on September 03, 2016, 03:34:45 PM
Thank you. Those seem to work. :D
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 06, 2016, 07:55:20 AM
this took literally weeks to figure out, but now its fixed :D
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: synnchan on September 06, 2016, 07:01:47 PM
Wow! Thank you so much, dink. This is one of the best Konami beat 'em ups so it's nice to see it fixed. Great job! :D
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on September 07, 2016, 06:17:14 AM
this took literally weeks to figure out, but now its fixed :D

Excellent work, thanks dink! :)

PS: maybe a similar graphic glitch is in Konami Violent Storm (some pixels of the sprites are trasparent, while they should be opaque). If you watch the attached screenshots you can observe that some parts (pixels) of the belt and gloves are in trasparency with the background.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 07, 2016, 07:08:35 AM
Gab75 yes its the same problem, nice catch!  It's funny how in both games the issue affects the armbands :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on September 07, 2016, 08:59:12 AM
Yes, a very similar bug "in every respect"... after all both games use almost the same arcade board and, probably, also the related game engines are rather similar! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on September 07, 2016, 03:52:05 PM
I did a quick test with the other games based on "mystwarr.c" driver (Gaiapolis, Monster Maulers and Mystic Warriors) and, at first glance, they seem to be free from "trasparent pixels bug" ! :)

PS: unfortunately, I was unable to test "Martial Champion", because it doesn't work in FBA.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 10, 2016, 07:11:20 PM
Updated our cheat engine a little bit:

One-shot cheats like "Finish this level now!" (and such) now work as they should.

EDIT: (later that day...) Level selection cheats are now supported as well.
EDIT: (even later that day.. or next morning) Wait for modification cheats are also supported.

Watch-mode is added - for the "Watch *stuff*" cheat options.  For example: in Battle Garegga, there is a cheat to "Watch game rank".  This will show the rank value at the bottom-right of the screen.

Other stuff:
Added support for KOF98AE >16mbyte adpcm sample rom banking, for the new character voices.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 11, 2016, 09:36:12 PM
Metamorphic Force "Break The Statue"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOO_WfGFAmQ

Wheres the "Start" text in this picture?  Watch the video and find out...
p.s. thanks Gab75 for the savestate and reminding me to try to fix this

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on September 11, 2016, 11:01:03 PM
I think that may be broken in MAME too. ^^
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: synnchan on September 11, 2016, 11:05:15 PM
Whoa! I didn't know the statue thing was broken. Thanks again, dink. :D
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on September 12, 2016, 12:33:31 AM
Metamorphic Force "Break The Statue"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOO_WfGFAmQ

Wheres the "Start" text in this picture?  Watch the video and find out...
p.s. thanks Gab75 for the savestate and reminding me to try to fix this

Thanks to you to fix it! :)
Now the Metamorphic Force emulation is perfect! ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on September 12, 2016, 12:48:41 AM
I think that may be broken in MAME too. ^^

Yes, at present, the "MAME version" should be unfixed yet!
Hereunder two explanatory screenshots... :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 12, 2016, 07:59:01 AM
It's not perfect, there's at least a handfull of bugs left in the graphics emulation, and one of them is exclusive to fbalpha (titlescreen should fade to a black background - but doesn't).  This one, though, is (was)just horrible and very obvious.  The first 2 times I got here I didn't realize that one had to break the statue - I was just collecting powerups that were being tossed out. (derp!)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on September 12, 2016, 09:12:30 AM
There is a monir graphical problem with Ufo Senshi Yohko Chan. At the screen's bottom the weapons' name are invisible. If you move between screens however partially visible.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on September 12, 2016, 09:54:41 AM
It's not perfect, there's at least a handfull of bugs left in the graphics emulation, and one of them is exclusive to fbalpha (titlescreen should fade to a black background - but doesn't).  This one, though, is (was)just horrible and very obvious. 

So I rectify: the game emulation is near to be "perfect"... in any case, nice work dink! ;)

The first 2 times I got here I didn't realize that one had to break the statue - I was just collecting powerups that were being tossed out. (derp!)

I had the "inverse issue"... the first time I only broke the statue and I overlooked all powerups! :P
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on September 12, 2016, 10:35:14 AM
There is a monir graphical problem with Ufo Senshi Yohko Chan. At the screen's bottom the weapons' name are invisible. If you move between screens however partially visible.

I'm not 100% sure, but it should be normal, a specific weapon's name is visible if and when you buy it in the shop. As you wrote, when you move between screens, sometimes all weapons' names appear for a short amount of time, however I don't know if this is "normal" or it's a "small bug"...
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 12, 2016, 10:45:02 AM
There is a monir graphical problem with Ufo Senshi Yohko Chan. At the screen's bottom the weapons' name are invisible. If you move between screens however partially visible.

Thanks!  It will probably be fixed in the next version :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 12, 2016, 11:24:49 AM
Added River Patrol & Silver Land:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on September 12, 2016, 11:25:35 AM
Excellent work btw! You've been on fire lately.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on September 12, 2016, 09:28:38 PM
Yeah, I checked it, the UFO Senshi Yohko Chan really doesn't have visible weapon names till you bought it. Sorry for the wrong feedback. XD
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 13, 2016, 07:02:23 PM
One of my favorite homebrew games got a sequel, this time with 2player mode - at the same time w/optional vs. mode.  It's Super UWOL! SG-1000, on the Sega SG-1000 :)

Little gameplay video I recorded... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAFzbL9AOGs

D/L / INFO
Get some free roms and source code here: http://www.mojontwins.com/juegos_mojonos/super-uwol-sg-1000/
ROMset zipped and ready for the next version of FBAlpha: http://www62.zippyshare.com/v/nB1A7PPI/file.html
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 13, 2016, 10:05:48 PM
Some behind the scenes fixes:
fixed: oddly-placed black lines and opaque windows (when they should be transparent) in Lethal Enforcers
fixed: the spotlight on the bellydancer in Violent Storm (thanks gab75)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 16, 2016, 09:14:12 AM
updated the tms9928a vdp core to scanline based, this fixes the mini radar in Colecovision Defender. (and possibly more accurate video emulation in other Coleco/SG-1000 games)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 16, 2016, 11:40:21 PM
A new classic comes to FBA (MSX fans will recognize this)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 18, 2016, 06:06:40 PM
MSX1 Carttridge-games come to FBAlpha!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: vbt on September 18, 2016, 06:22:50 PM
great job dink !!!!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: synnchan on September 18, 2016, 11:15:41 PM
Happy fun times! :D
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on September 19, 2016, 12:26:51 AM
MSX1 Carttridge-games come to FBAlpha!

A very good news! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on September 19, 2016, 08:52:42 AM
MSX1 Carttridge-games come to FBAlpha!

Fantastico!!!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on September 19, 2016, 08:25:40 PM
Oh the MSX games... my childhood...  :smilie:

Does you planning to add Phelios' arcade version also?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on September 20, 2016, 12:48:34 AM
Does you planning to add Phelios' arcade version also?

Phelios is based on the Namco System 2 arcade board and I don't think that a porting will be available soon... in any case, I will be happy to be proved wrong! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on September 20, 2016, 09:52:24 PM
Phelios is based on the Namco System 2 arcade board and I don't think that a porting will be available soon... in any case, I will be happy to be proved wrong! :)

I don't want to sound rude... but I hope so too. I'm not really that good in shmups (to be exact I'm suck in that genre, my reflex doesn't support scrolling lol ) but for some reason Phelios is a way too easy on the Megadrive for me. And I think it still has more chance to happen than Nebulas Ray. :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on September 21, 2016, 01:08:36 AM
I don't want to sound rude... but I hope so too. I'm not really that good in shmups (to be exact I'm suck in that genre, my reflex doesn't support scrolling lol ) but for some reason Phelios is a way too easy on the Megadrive for me. And I think it still has more chance to happen than Nebulas Ray. :)

IIRC Nebulas Ray is based on the Namco System NB1, a newer arcade board than the Namco System 2... personally, I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for the porting of Namco System 1 games (e.g. Dragon Spirit, Galaga 88, Pac-mania, Rompers, Splatterhouse, etc.) ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 21, 2016, 07:40:33 AM
Regarding MSX1, are there any games (cart-rom only!) that I should make sure is in the list?
Last night, I added (by hand) all of the decent MSXDEV games from the last few years, some bad ones were left out though. :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on September 21, 2016, 08:09:32 AM
Maybe the Valis games. I think those are carts, or at least the first game was cart.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: synnchan on September 22, 2016, 04:09:07 PM
As for MSX, I like Psycho World. It's best version of the game (superior to the SMS and GG versions). :) not sure if it's cart, though.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on September 22, 2016, 05:30:57 PM
As for MSX, I like Psycho World. It's best version of the game (superior to the SMS and GG versions). :) not sure if it's cart, though.

The original game should be available on cartridge, but (IIRC) it's an MSX2 game (I don't know if there is an MSX version too)...
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 22, 2016, 06:15:13 PM
Psycho World is a great game, but its MSX2+ and disk only.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on October 03, 2016, 09:04:40 PM
There was a less known Godzilla arcade game. Never played or seen it yet, but I'm curious if that can be added to the list.  :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on October 04, 2016, 01:14:35 AM
There was a less known Godzilla arcade game. Never played or seen it yet, but I'm curious if that can be added to the list.  :smilie:

Your informations are too general... maybe you are talking about Banpresto Godzilla (legionna.c driver)... YouTube video: https://youtu.be/hnF7gKTY22M

... in any case, now dink is doing an excellent work with the MSX driver! ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on October 04, 2016, 08:31:17 AM
It is general, because I never seen it lol. The one you linked is pretty much the same as the one I heard. Godzilla was always a good show, would be awesome to have this game in FBA. XD

P.S.: I have the PC-Engine CD Godzilla, and this one looks a way more better.

I look forward to the MSX games. I haven't played those one since 15 or even more years. But I only know the Valis as ROM.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on October 04, 2016, 10:01:16 AM
It is general, because I never seen it lol. The one you linked is pretty much the same as the one I heard. Godzilla was always a good show, would be awesome to have this game in FBA. XD

The problem with games in the Legionnare driver is that only Denjin Makai is currantly fully playable, Godzilla is thought of as being
fully playable but the MAME dev's are not 100% sure, all the other games Heated Barrel, Legionnare, SD Gundam Rainbow Trout and
Seibu Cup Soccer dont work just now to varying degress due to problems emulating the protection schemes they used.

I cant speak for FBA devs here but i think the chances of this driver ever being ported across from MAME to FBA are zero maybe until such a time that all the games are fully working.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on October 04, 2016, 10:49:46 AM
The problem is that everyone want perfect emulation. This is a PC, far more superior compared to the 20 years old machines in every possible aspect. If the game not run like as it did back then is no problem for me, neither for my friends I play often online with emulated games. If it runs a little faster or such actually good since the old games are often feels too slow after I play a little on UT2004.

Most of the arcade games doesn't have sprite flickering and I haven't remember seeing it in games I play on FBA, but an unlimited sprite option would be also cool. Maybe overclock to some games that slow down because of the too much in-games happenings. Of course a special sync feature would be required for online play to make the emulation identical to each other (autoset the client's hardware settings to the server's, but doesn't touch filters and such).
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on October 04, 2016, 05:20:32 PM
The problem is that everyone want perfect emulation.

Sure but broken emulation is another matter..............

Legionnare : Enemies move away from ya and disappear off the screen if you are lucky enough to catch them before they do that
then the level one boss for good measure just drops through the floor meaning you cant progress past level one.

Heated Barrel : This game Locks up on level 3 boss although sometimes it doesn't and you can get as far as the start of level 4 then
it's 100% guaranteed to do so.

Seibu Cup Soccer : Game locks up as soon as the teams run onto the pitch

SD Gundam Rainbow Trout : Playable to the end but can lock up at any time depends on your luck i suppose

GodZilla : Playable according to MAME Dev's but with an unemulated Protection Scheme who knows how it functions maybe it
locks up as well..??

Denjin Makai : Nice game doesn't use the Seibu Cop Protection meaning it's fully playable

I just cant see FBA dev's wanting to take the trouble of porting the legionnare driver across to FBA ATM because with nearly
all of the games in the driver Broken it would make no sense :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Haze on October 04, 2016, 05:47:05 PM
There was a less known Godzilla arcade game. Never played or seen it yet, but I'm curious if that can be added to the list.  :smilie:

a lot of people called this 'Godzilla' before it was emulated and the real title known.

http://www.progettoemma.net/?gioco=daikaiju
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on October 04, 2016, 08:28:49 PM
a lot of people called this 'Godzilla' before it was emulated and the real title known.

http://www.progettoemma.net/?gioco=daikaiju

I think the fighting one was the one I look for. It was mentioned when we played on the PC-Engine Godzilla fighting game, I'm sure this has connection.  :smilie:

I've just seen Pulstar in the game list of FBA. Would be awesome if Blazing Star make its way here too.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: synnchan on October 09, 2016, 02:12:34 PM
I just remembered a MSX game that would be interesting to add: Tower of Druaga. :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on October 09, 2016, 02:18:00 PM
I just remembered a MSX game that would be interesting to add: Tower of Druaga. :)

Already done... thanks to dink! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 09, 2016, 05:31:35 PM
Thanks to a long night of coding, we can even play rare tape games on MSX.  Koichi Nishida created this awesome game called Super!! Ilevan.  Its kinda similar to QUOD: INIT EXIT on c64, just kinda.  You are a little pixelated blob with special super teeth that can eat endless amounts of cake.  One day, whilst eating infinite cakes - these pesty alligators decided to gang up and steel your super-teeth...  and when they do, there's only one way to get them back.  Watch this little video to find out how :)

btw, all loading is automatic, you don't have to type anything.  I have programmed a little robot to do the typing for you when a game is selected.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOG1rb_VPzQ

- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 11, 2016, 08:32:27 PM
PSA:
Update your Capcom CPS2 romsets!  None of them will work with the new release of FBAlpha unless you do.  The new romsets put the keyfiles into the romsets, and not in the code/exe like before.

p.s. new release in a few days :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: synnchan on October 12, 2016, 07:58:39 AM
Oh. Silly me, I didn't know Tower of Druaga was already emulated. :redface: Thanks dink!

New release in a few days? Awesome news! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 15, 2016, 07:33:01 PM
Did a little "longplay" of Temptations for MSX in FBA.
Its one hella hard, yet addictive game - mostly because the little monk-guy is
drunk and trying to control him is at least half of the insanity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0y_2FRYbx8
Hint: click show more for free pie!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on October 17, 2016, 05:57:15 PM
I asked it previously but since I just edited one of my older posts it wasn't that conspicuous. Does the Blazing Star will be added sometimes? It is very similar to Pulstar, that already here.  :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 17, 2016, 06:12:03 PM
I asked it previously but since I just edited one of my older posts it wasn't that conspicuous. Does the Blazing Star will be added sometimes? It is very similar to Pulstar, that already here.  :smilie:

We already have Blazing Star in the NeoGeo section. :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on October 17, 2016, 08:19:25 PM
We already have Blazing Star in the NeoGeo section. :)

best regards,
- dink

Lol, I'm sorry. I haven't seen I already have the ROM. Don't know how but it was already in the folder.

Anyway what mean "Update your Capcom CPS2 romsets"? New dumps or BIOS files?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on October 17, 2016, 10:11:39 PM
Lol, I'm sorry. I haven't seen I already have the ROM. Don't know how but it was already in the folder.

Anyway what mean "Update your Capcom CPS2 romsets"? New dumps or BIOS files?
Someone reverse engineered how to reprogram dead cps2 boards. The new files contain the decryption keys and some other configuration data
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Combone on October 18, 2016, 04:46:29 PM
Have plans for add Konami GX Hardware? (This run in MAME).

http://www.system16.com/hardware.php?id=574

Have nice Fighting Game called Dragoon Might :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiAcA7kurug

------------------------

About MegaDrive, possible fix Ultimate Mortal Kombat Trilogy (Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 hack by Kabal). Need increase capacity Rom (Limit is 4Mega).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2hY57AwCIc

I have latest version Ultimate Mortal Kombat Trilogy. You need for test/fix?.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 19, 2016, 08:56:48 AM
Me and Gab75 worked hard to create the most perfect collection of msx-1 games, including all the latest (and not latest) homebrew stuff, and even some demos (demoscene stuff).  Nearly every game (out of 1000 or so) has been tested and nice title/game pics created by Gab75. 

If you happen to be interested in this collection and can't find it via the normal venues, PM me and I will point you in the right direction.

Also don't forget to get all the title/game pngs for the FBA interface @ http://http://neo-source.com/index.php?topic=2838.0

Note: if ya having issues controlling a certain game, check the game "Notes:" in the game list.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on October 19, 2016, 09:32:14 AM
Have plans for add Konami GX Hardware? (This run in MAME).

http://www.system16.com/hardware.php?id=574

Have nice Fighting Game called Dragoon Might :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiAcA7kurug

------------------------

About MegaDrive, possible fix Ultimate Mortal Kombat Trilogy (Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 hack by Kabal). Need increase capacity Rom (Limit is 4Mega).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2hY57AwCIc

I have latest version Ultimate Mortal Kombat Trilogy. You need for test/fix?.
FBA's M680EC20 is buggy. I'm about 95% sure of it. It's what's holding back my Taito F3 port, my Semicom Dreamworld/Baryon port, and is causing a lockup in one of the FuukiFg3 games.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Combone on October 19, 2016, 01:39:46 PM
FBA's M680EC20 is buggy. I'm about 95% sure of it. It's what's holding back my Taito F3 port, my Semicom Dreamworld/Baryon port, and is causing a lockup in one of the FuukiFg3 games.

Ok :( Thanks for reply :)

Good Luck ^_^
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 19, 2016, 08:41:29 PM
Combone, pm me a link to this ultimate mortal kombat megadrive rom and I'll try to add it.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Trick on October 20, 2016, 05:44:55 AM
Hi, I was wondering if you guys might add support for the arcade versions of Double Wings, Twin Cobra & Flying Shark in a future release of FBA?, love the emulator, thanks.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on October 20, 2016, 04:04:27 PM
I downloaded the Armored Warriors from many different source and the new version can't start it. It never mark the game as available, and if I try to start it always got black screen. I really not got this thing.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 20, 2016, 05:09:06 PM
All Capcom CPS2 roms need to be updated to the 0.178 version to work.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on October 20, 2016, 05:39:55 PM
Thanks for your patience, now it works great.  :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on October 20, 2016, 06:56:57 PM
Hi, I was wondering if you guys might add support for the arcade versions of Double Wings, Twin Cobra & Flying Shark in a future release of FBA?, love the emulator, thanks.

Double Wings would require the FBA Dev's to rework a shitload of Deco Protection source files so i'd rule that one out as for
the other two well you might just get your wish :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on October 20, 2016, 08:45:33 PM
Everything works fine now, except Demon's World Set 2. It ask for "o16n-10.bi" however it can't be find anywhere. Also this ROM set's order are messed up and had to rename them.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Trick on October 20, 2016, 10:05:18 PM
Double Wings would require the FBA Dev's to rework a shitload of Deco Protection source files so i'd rule that one out as for
the other two well you might just get your wish :)

That'd be great, pity about Double Wings. Thanks for the reply.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on October 21, 2016, 12:48:13 AM
Hi, I was wondering if you guys might add support for the arcade versions of Double Wings, Twin Cobra & Flying Shark in a future release of FBA?, love the emulator, thanks.

Twin Cobra and Flying Shark/Sky Shark are certainly two good shoot'em ups, but they request the TMS32010 core emulation (among other things) and, as far as I know, it's not supported by the current version of FBA...
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on October 21, 2016, 01:10:27 AM
Here's a Dink / IQ_132 co-venture. I wrote the driver, Dink ported the tms32010 core!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on October 21, 2016, 01:20:16 AM
You are great... guys! :)

PS: if I'm not wrong, also Toaplan Wardner/Pyros should use the TMS32010 DSP... ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Trick on October 21, 2016, 04:36:58 AM
Wow, thanks for filling my request in record time, Dink & IQ_132, I'm blown away guys, thank you.  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Trick on October 21, 2016, 08:32:00 AM
I was looking at some more games in FBA and noticed that the video for Gemini Wing is upside down. Don't know if this is a known bug or not with 0.2.97.39.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 21, 2016, 08:40:28 AM
Wow, thanks for filling my request in record time, Dink & IQ_132, I'm blown away guys, thank you.  :biggrin:

Think of it more like a reminder, because we've been wanting to do this for a long time and got sidetracked.  SkyShark (u.s. version of Flying Shark) was my top3 arcade games of back in the day. (along with Centipede and Gyruss)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on October 21, 2016, 01:04:00 PM
I was looking at some more games in FBA and noticed that the video for Gemini Wing is upside down. Don't know if this is a known bug or not with 0.2.97.39.

Try to set the blitter's type to DirectX 9. That solved the upside down problem for me with all the games.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on October 21, 2016, 02:47:31 PM
I was looking at some more games in FBA and noticed that the video for Gemini Wing is upside down. Don't know if this is a known bug or not with 0.2.97.39.

The issue is only with the "Basic" blitter, you can select a different blitter in the "Video>>Select blitter" sub-menu... personally I use the "Enhanced" blitter.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Trick on October 21, 2016, 08:57:56 PM
Thanks, Pityesz & Gab75, both ways worked a charm. I'm having a problem though going to full screen, I get a "FB Alpha Error, Problem setting '640x480x23bpp (60Hz)' display mode", seems no matter what resolution I set it at I get this message, also tried different blitters with the same FB Alpha error. I have an Asus N53S laptop, Windows 10 Pro, Intel Core i7 2670QM with two graphics cards (one on board I believe), a Nvidia GT540M 2Gb & Intel HD Graphics 3000. Using either card to display FB Alpha results in the same error. Anyone got any ideas why this might be happening?.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 21, 2016, 09:47:06 PM
Trick, try setting different values for the Fullscreen Horizontal/Vertical and Fullscreen BPP entries under the Video pulldown.
Also, I get the best results with the Enhanced Blitter, but my pc is ancient (p4/2.99ghz/winxp).  It might be worth a try to try this blitter too.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Trick on October 21, 2016, 10:07:19 PM
Thanks, Dink. Changing the 'Fullscreen bitdepth' to 32bit and changing the fullscreen horizontal & vertical resolutions to 1366x768 stopped the error. Other resolutions either distort the image or result in the same error.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: WILOWAR on October 22, 2016, 04:53:07 AM
180 Degrees - msx_180 - game freeze on start

Main Event (1984) - mainsnk- not work anyway - stil black screen
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on October 22, 2016, 07:03:43 AM
180 Degrees - msx_180 - game freeze on start

Main Event (1984) - mainsnk- not work anyway - stil black screen

Both games work for me (I tested them with the official FBA 0.2.97.39).

Are you sure to have the right ROMs?

If so, you can try to delete the specific .ini files (mainsnk.ini and msx_180.ini) in "*FBA>>config>>games" folder and after reload the games.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 22, 2016, 08:08:33 AM
After 180 loads, press space at the loading screen, fire on the titlescreen, and select a game by pressing #1-#4

For the main event, load the game and ctrl-f5 then hit Defaults button, OK and re-load the game.  Due to a bug in the last version, It wrote bad data to the dips.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: JacKc on October 22, 2016, 02:14:31 PM
Yes Twin Cobra is now alive on FBA !!! It remembers me a lot of memories on a Arcade center when i was young :)

Thanks to the team iq_132/El dinko !
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on October 23, 2016, 02:50:11 PM
I don't know if it is possible but could be Salamander 2 and the Sexy Parodius added sometimes?  :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Combone on October 23, 2016, 06:52:45 PM
Hi :)

I found bug in International Superstar Soccer Deluxe / Ronaldinho Soccer 98 (MegaDrive).

(http://i.imgur.com/6hIVT2P.png)

Tested in all Blitter options :(
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 23, 2016, 10:15:11 PM
Thanks for the bug report.  Unfortunately at this time there's nothing more we can do for the pceengine and megadrive code in fbalpha, a lot of games do work perfectly, but there is a handfull of games on each system which have a few issues that can't be fixed without ripping out the current code and replacing it with something better.  Sorry about the bad news,

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Combone on October 24, 2016, 12:12:45 AM
Thanks for the bug report.  Unfortunately at this time there's nothing more we can do for the pceengine and megadrive code in fbalpha, a lot of games do work perfectly, but there is a handfull of games on each system which have a few issues that can't be fixed without ripping out the current code and replacing it with something better.  Sorry about the bad news,

best regards,
- dink

Ok :( I understand.

Thanks for all :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on October 24, 2016, 09:53:05 AM
Here's a Dink / IQ_132 co-venture. I wrote the driver, Dink ported the tms32010 core!

It's all Fandabbydosy :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: IPLA on October 24, 2016, 10:31:54 AM
Here's a Dink / IQ_132 co-venture. I wrote the driver, Dink ported the tms32010 core!

Flying Shark!

Thanks to the FBA Team  :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on October 24, 2016, 01:15:02 PM
Seems like the 64 bit version of FBA can't find the Kaillera library. The XP version works perfectly anyway.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 24, 2016, 03:59:56 PM
I recommend to stay away from anything but the winxp version - regardless of your OS & bits.  I got a lot of bug reports which were solved just by using this version (neogeo going bonkers, recorded inputs going out of sync, off the top of my head).  In fact, it shouldn't even be called the winxp version, it should be called the gcc version, also gcc is what the active devs use (iq, dink, JacKc).

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on October 24, 2016, 04:34:43 PM
I see, then that is what I will do. Thanks.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on October 25, 2016, 10:07:22 AM
The Rampage: World Tour has no sound at all. I read on some forums the game had some problems with emulators but most of the times they only say slow downs. Could this be fixed?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on October 25, 2016, 11:05:07 AM
The Rampage: World Tour has no sound at all. I read on some forums the game had some problems with emulators but most of the times they only say slow downs. Could this be fixed?

First of all, you need to consider that all "Midway Wolf Unit" games* are in "pre-alpha" phase... at the current stage the audio sub-system (ADSP-2105 + DCS Sound System) isn't emulated by FBA, maybe in a next release, but I don't think in a near future...

*2 On 2 Open Ice Challenge, Mortal Kombat 3, NBA Hangtime. NBA Maximum Hangtime, Rampage World Tour, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 and WWF Wrestlemania.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on October 25, 2016, 11:10:09 AM
First of all, you need to consider that all "Midway Wolf Unit" games* are in "pre-alpha" phase... at the current stage the audio sub-system (ADSP-2105 + DCS Sound System) isn't emulated by FBA, maybe in a next release, but I don't think in a near future...

*2 On 2 Open Ice Challenge, Mortal Kombat 3, NBA Hangtime. NBA Maximum Hangtime, Rampage World Tour, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 and WWF Wrestlemania.
I think he means the Sega MegaDrive version. ^^
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on October 25, 2016, 11:29:18 AM
I think he means the Sega MegaDrive version. ^^

As far as I know, there isn't a Mega Drive version of "Rampage World Tour"... maybe you're confused with "Mortal Kombat" games...  :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on October 25, 2016, 01:07:16 PM
I mean the arcade version. I have the N64 version, and the only game I still have for that console. I just wanted to try the arcade one and maybe to do some netplay for nostalgic purpose. Anyway thanks for the info, I wait till it will have a working build.  :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on October 27, 2016, 07:42:48 PM
Sorry for posting again, but seems like the Demon's World is a little disoriented.

Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 27, 2016, 09:40:54 PM
Thanks, it's been fixed :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 30, 2016, 09:01:58 PM
Introducing: Favorites
(https://s26.postimg.org/olkqyc8mx/fbderpsagain.png)

The only drawback is that if you favorite-ize a clone, it puts the parent in there as well - but that's no big deal.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on October 31, 2016, 08:41:08 AM
bagmanm2 seems to freeze on title screen (both on fba standalone and fbalpha-libretro), it seems it also froze in previous releases.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 31, 2016, 08:56:26 AM
It looks like the game was supposed to be marked as unworking but wasn't.  sorry about that.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on October 31, 2016, 09:22:00 AM
Introducing: Favorites
(https://s26.postimg.org/olkqyc8mx/fbderpsagain.png)

The only drawback is that if you favorite-ize a clone, it puts the parent in there as well - but that's no big deal.

best regards,
- dink
Great! This will help with playtesting for me. ^^
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 31, 2016, 09:59:44 AM
It's really fast too :D
Though you guys probably don't see it on your newer pc's.. on my p4 it takes several seconds to bring up the list of games. yeesh.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on October 31, 2016, 10:18:01 AM
Secondary question, does it apply the hardware masks? or does it show all favorites regardless of those checkboxes?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on October 31, 2016, 12:27:46 PM
Secondary question, does it apply the hardware masks? or does it show all favorites regardless of those checkboxes?

From what I saw, the favorites filter is subordinate to the hardware masks!

PS: I also agree that the addition of this new filter (Favorites) is very useful... thanks dink! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 31, 2016, 05:28:54 PM
Secondary question, does it apply the hardware masks? or does it show all favorites regardless of those checkboxes?

yes, of course!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on November 01, 2016, 01:44:18 PM
While testing games on fba standalone to see if they had the same input issues as the libretro port, i came upon those input issues on standalone :

aceattac : non working parent ? clone seems fine
fsoccerb : can't move or shout
fsoccerba : can't pass select screen
sbm : can't pass select screen
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on November 01, 2016, 02:12:54 PM
- aceattac: I confirm the issue in SEGA Ace Attacker (aceattac) with the input controls, the clone (aceattaca) seems to work fine.
- fsoccerb: IIRC the input controls bug in SNK Fighting Soccer (all versions) is a known issue.
- sbm: you can press the key "2" (P2 Start) to pass the select screen; in any case, Sonic Blast Man is a "punching-ball arcade game", then it's very difficult to emulate with a keyboard and/or a joypad.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on November 02, 2016, 03:14:56 PM
Player 2 can't join game in asterix (parent and clones), by looking at the driver file, i can say there is no "p2 start" defined.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 02, 2016, 06:29:53 PM
add this under the P2 Coin line:
   {"P2 Start",      BIT_DIGITAL,   DrvJoy2 + 7,   "p2 start"   },
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on November 03, 2016, 02:44:41 AM
Thanks :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on November 13, 2016, 09:09:38 PM
There is a little problem with G.I. Joe on Arcade. Seems like the sprites placed wrong.

Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on November 14, 2016, 04:15:11 AM
There is a little problem with G.I. Joe on Arcade. Seems like the sprites placed wrong.

I can confirm... there seems to be a wrong vertical alignment between the sprites/objects and the background (all Konami G.I. Joe versions). In MAME the issue doesn't exist (for a better explanation I attached some snapshots).
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on November 14, 2016, 07:12:28 AM
Could be related to an issue i didn't look into yet : G.I.Joe seems to freeze on fbalpha-libretro (whatever the platform) on title screen, and it tends to be quite sensitive to small bugs that don't break standalone.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 14, 2016, 08:11:59 AM
Pitysz, thanks, thats an easy one to fix (sprite offsets)

Unfortunately the problems are a lot deeper, and gi.joe is in a state of disrepair at the moment.  I spent several hours on it last night but no luck. 

I noticed was the tilemaps go completely bonkers in later levels, like clouds covering up half the top of the screen on an elevator level, and on the next attract sequence (like the 3rd of 4th) the tilemaps become even more broken.

barbudreadmon: Can you explain these little bugs a bit more, because maybe they will help me track down the issue?  is anything else happening besides the freeze on title?

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on November 14, 2016, 12:09:24 PM
I'll try to get you as much information as i can. I didn't look into it yet, it was reported as an input issue to me (because people couldn't press start) but when i tried it on both standalone and libretro, i noticed it seemed more like some kind of freeze, also i remember being able to press start on one of the clone (but it would freeze on next screen). I suppose putting a lot of bprintf in d_gijoe.cpp to see when and why it stops (if it stops) could be a good start.

Edit : the clone thing seems like a fluke, actually the game seems to freeze after some time, and i can go to next screen only if i'm quick on the "press start".
Edit2 : gdb says nothing, game keep running, it just seems to draw nothing new, i don't know where to start, any suggestion ?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 15, 2016, 12:02:05 AM
re: g.i.joe: ugh.  I spent nearly all day one this one.  and a few hours the day before... gonna can it for now before I get burnt out.  :(

What I learned though:
I think the problem is in k056832.cpp, and it seems like the same or similar problem to mtlchamp, where certain tilemaps are covering up things that shouldn't be covered up.  like they aren't properly disabling, or being transparent.  in gijoe, (K056832ReadRegister(0x14) == 2) when things get screwy.  Seems like leftover tilemaps from the previous scene are being erraneously enabled on the next scene.  (fast forward to the elevator scene and the 2nd one after it to see)

Regarding the lockups in gi.joe, there's probably a memory overwrite in k056832.cpp or something or one of the other konami customs, and it may even be related to the problem above.  arm gets a freezeup, x86 gets screwy tilemaps.  seems fair, eh? :)

If you have any tools to validate variables/memory etc, and think they might help, please try.   I know this old p4 running winxp is probably no use for that kinda stuff.  iirc there is a commandline for gcc on linux that does this, but I honestly can't remember what the name is/was.  it had to do with checking memory overruns/out of bounds/mem validation.  anyone remember this?

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Haze on November 15, 2016, 08:54:22 AM
fwiw the elevator scene is broken in MAME too because old versions of MAME contained some truly horrific code to write directly to the tilemap rendering cache to implement some weird mode they use (which once the code was cleaned up to proper c++ and that bitmap made non-accessible outside the tilemap system couldn't be done for obvious reasons - it should never have been done like that)

the code in MAME is still very much not safe tho, makes lots of assumptions, so I wouldn't use that as a reference here ;-)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 15, 2016, 11:54:35 PM
wow, the amount of time into just fixing g.i.joe is astronomical at this point, and I'm going to need a good break now to ward off burn-out.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on November 16, 2016, 08:42:53 AM
If you have any tools to validate variables/memory etc, and think they might help, please try.
By the way, do you mean this ? http://www.gnu.org/software/libc/manual/html_node/Heap-Consistency-Checking.html
Or perhaps this ? https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Code-Gen-Options.html
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on November 16, 2016, 09:09:39 AM
wow, the amount of time into just fixing g.i.joe is astronomical at this point, and I'm going to need a good break now to ward off burn-out.

best regards,
- dink

Nice work!!!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: csmart on November 16, 2016, 08:30:36 PM
Awesome work Dink or should I call you Dink the Magician
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: synnchan on November 17, 2016, 10:21:35 PM
Thank you so much for the hard work. :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 18, 2016, 05:37:01 PM
thanks for the awesome feedback :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 18, 2016, 05:49:54 PM
Unfortunately Bump & Jump (aka Burnin' Rubber) and Joyful Road (aka Munch Mobile) were broken in this last release of FBAlpha.  Sorry about that, guys!  They have been fixed, though, and will be in the next version.



best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: synnchan on November 21, 2016, 05:45:29 PM
err... I don't know where to post this so I guess I will post it here.

I found a bug on the Japanese version of the Sailor Moon beat'em up. Basically, after clearing Stage 2, some dialogue is supposed to show up, but it doesn't. I made a short video about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ggnbJBPrcs

As you can see, some dialogue is obviously exchanged between the two characters, but the dialogue boxes are empty.

The dialogue seems to only exist on the JP version, btw (romname = sailormnj).
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 21, 2016, 11:14:41 PM
synnchan thanks for the report! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 21, 2016, 11:23:49 PM
(https://s21.postimg.org/wmtnqqedv/supercheese.png)

Taito's Super Chase finally has proper soundfx/music in FBAlpha!!!
It took literally ages of work to get this going right.
Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNZ_1-3oLwY

There's only a little work needed to get the game 100% - proper analogue inputs need to be set up, but that's no problem - I'll save it for tomorow :)

Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on November 22, 2016, 12:45:23 AM
Very good news! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on November 22, 2016, 02:06:17 AM
err... I don't know where to post this so I guess I will post it here.

I found a bug on the Japanese version of the Sailor Moon beat'em up. Basically, after clearing Stage 2, some dialogue is supposed to show up, but it doesn't. I made a short video about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ggnbJBPrcs

As you can see, some dialogue is obviously exchanged between the two characters, but the dialogue boxes are empty.

I attached a savestate file to simplify the check... :)

The bug seems to concern the writes and the frames of the dialogue boxes (hereunder some comparison screenshots, "FBA Vs MAME" )

The dialogue seems to only exist on the JP version, btw (romname = sailormnj).

Obviously, it also happens in sailormnoj ROM.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on November 22, 2016, 02:27:06 AM
add this under the P2 Coin line:
   {"P2 Start",      BIT_DIGITAL,   DrvJoy2 + 7,   "p2 start"   },
By the way, i forgot to mention this, but we had to remove this from fbalpha-libretro (the game will hang at a screen saying "test switch is still on please release it or repair" with it).
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 22, 2016, 07:35:59 AM
barbudreadmon,
I totally forgot - whenever an input is changed, the dip offsets need to be updated too. (sorry!)

Put it back then change all the 0x11's in the first column of the asterix dips to 0x12. fyi: 0x12 is the number (starting at 0) of the DrvDips line in the inputs.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 22, 2016, 08:05:52 AM
superchase is now completely finished, with added analog steering! :)
original message w/video: http://http://neo-source.com/index.php?topic=2487.msg22771#msg22771

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on November 22, 2016, 09:15:34 AM
barbudreadmon,
I totally forgot - whenever an input is changed, the dip offsets need to be updated too. (sorry!)

Put it back then change all the 0x11's in the first column of the asterix dips to 0x12. fyi: 0x12 is the number (starting at 0) of the DrvDips line in the inputs.

best regards,
- dink

Does this look correct dink..???

Quote
static struct BurnDIPInfo AsterixDIPList[]=
{
   {0x12, 0xff, 0xff, 0x04, NULL      },

   {0   , 0xfe, 0   ,    2, "Service Mode"   },
   {0x12, 0x01, 0x04, 0x04, "Off"      },
   {0x12, 0x01, 0x04, 0x00, "On"      },
};

EDIT yeah the above did the trick after i removed all previous saved files for this game.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on November 22, 2016, 10:09:29 AM
That's what i did and it seems to work.

Thanks dink !

PS : what i feared happened, so i'll try to take a look at youknowwhat in the next few days
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Barry Harris on November 22, 2016, 04:42:20 PM
superchase is now completely finished, with added analog steering! :)
original message w/video: http://http://neo-source.com/index.php?topic=2487.msg22771#msg22771

best regards,
- dink

Nice work!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: synnchan on November 23, 2016, 03:50:33 PM
I want to report another bug I just found. If you load kof2001 on AES mode, the title screen shows messed up graphics:

(http://i.imgur.com/6Ttf2dp.png)

It shows correctly on kof2001h, though. But what could be causing the bug on kof2001?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on November 23, 2016, 04:06:01 PM
I want to report another bug I just found. If you load kof2001 on AES mode, the title screen shows messed up graphics:

(http://i.imgur.com/6Ttf2dp.png)

It shows correctly on kof2001h, though. But what could be causing the bug on kof2001?
That's not a bug. That games AES menu was not finished in the MVS version. 
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: synnchan on November 23, 2016, 04:24:07 PM
That's not a bug. That games AES menu was not finished in the MVS version.


Oh. Thanks for the correction.

Is this the only exception or are there any other NeoGeo games with the same problem (unfinished AES in the MVS version)?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 24, 2016, 10:35:10 PM
Small bit of news:
Alien Sector/Baraduke: fixed the dac speech
Pac-Land: fixed the missing sounds

Regarding the M65c02 subcpu's in the (older) Seta driver - games like TwinEagle, Caliber 50 etc:  I tried, and tried, and tried... and tried.. but can't get the subcpu to work.  At this point, I don't think they will ever work properly :(  On the bright side, they probably aren't games that anyone will ever miss... it is certainly a challenge that has outdone me.

that's all for now,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on November 25, 2016, 01:03:50 AM
In any case, thanks a lot for your hard work! :)

PS: can you add the latest "rotary code" to Caliber 50? In the current version it's impossible to rotate the player character...
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 25, 2016, 08:24:57 AM
In any case, thanks a lot for your hard work! :)

PS: can you add the latest "rotary code" to Caliber 50? In the current version it's impossible to rotate the player character...

Thanks, btw, I'm not doing anything else with calibr50 until the subcpu works.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on November 25, 2016, 09:02:38 AM
I've been wondering, what's the current status of spu emulation on system16 ? Some people mentioned that libretro-fbalpha have "garbled sound" on golden axe, while libretro-mame2010 (which is a port of mame 0.139) doesn't. Is that an issue in my libretro port or is that a known issue for this game ?

Edit : i think i've got my answer : i need to set samplerate to 44100 ?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: synnchan on November 25, 2016, 01:48:41 PM
I want to report another weird thing I found. The game is Nam-1975 (NeoGeo) - I made a short video about it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aOG1QzsQA0

At 0:42~0:48, can you see a couple odd lines appear and disappear suddenly? Not sure if it's normal of the game or not, but it looks like a graphic glitch to me.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 25, 2016, 04:38:54 PM
I've been wondering, what's the current status of spu emulation on system16 ? Some people mentioned that libretro-fbalpha have "garbled sound" on golden axe, while libretro-mame2010 (which is a port of mame 0.139) doesn't. Is that an issue in my libretro port or is that a known issue for this game ?

Edit : i think i've got my answer : i need to set samplerate to 44100 ?


It sounds perfect on my side :)  btw, a lot of soundcores need 44100 or 48khz to operate properly.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 25, 2016, 04:49:14 PM
Hi, I played it here on my side and I don't get those lines. I'll need a .fs and your current fba ini file to check it out.

best regards,
- dink

I want to report another weird thing I found. The game is Nam-1975 (NeoGeo) - I made a short video about it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aOG1QzsQA0

At 0:42~0:48, can you see a couple odd lines appear and disappear suddenly? Not sure if it's normal of the game or not, but it looks like a graphic glitch to me.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on November 26, 2016, 12:45:25 AM
I want to report another weird thing I found. The game is Nam-1975 (NeoGeo) - I made a short video about it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aOG1QzsQA0

At 0:42~0:48, can you see a couple odd lines appear and disappear suddenly? Not sure if it's normal of the game or not, but it looks like a graphic glitch to me.

I tested the game, but (like dink) I didn't get those lines... did you try the game with different FBA settings?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on November 26, 2016, 03:00:06 AM
I didn't get those lines either on fbalpha-libretro, so it is probably a graphic driver / blitter / shader issue ?

@dink : thanks, are there soundcores that needs 48000 instead of 44100 to work properly ?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on November 26, 2016, 05:12:46 AM
@dink : thanks, are there soundcores that needs 48000 instead of 44100 to work properly ?

As far as I know, the sample rate needs to be set to 48 KHz in all Jaleco "Mega System 1" games (megasys1.c) and in Konami's Contra (probably there are also other games with this "restriction").
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on November 26, 2016, 07:31:01 AM
As far as I know, the sample rate needs to be set to 48 KHz in all Jaleco "Mega System 1" games (megasys1.c) and in Konami's Contra (probably there are also other games with this "restriction").
Thanks, out of curiosity, is there any reason why someone with a 48kHz capable soundcard would want to run fba with a samplerate below 48kHz ? Resources ? Games that won't work well at 48kHz ?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 26, 2016, 07:43:15 AM
I didn't get those lines either on fbalpha-libretro, so it is probably a graphic driver / blitter / shader issue ?

@dink : thanks, are there soundcores that needs 48000 instead of 44100 to work properly ?

There's a few later konami games like xexex, moomesa, etc. all jaleco megasys1 games & contra run at a slower tempo w/41khz - (but I sorta like that personally, so I leave it set at 41khz).  The later konami games have a patch to run fine at 41khz.  Maybe it would be best to default to 48khz? hrmm..

Also the game Ken-Go (Lightning Swords), some of the sound effects don't sound right with FM Interpolation set to off.  my suggestion is to default that on.  re: sample interpolation, leave that at the lowest setting (aka set at 2-point interp.) because it causes clicks in some games with a msm6295 (boogie wings comes to mind here).

best regards,
- dink

Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 26, 2016, 07:44:40 AM
Thanks, out of curiosity, is there any reason why someone with a 48kHz capable soundcard would want to run fba with a samplerate below 48kHz ? Resources ? Games that won't work well at 48kHz ?


Only if they're weird like me and like certain games to run at a slower tempo. :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on November 26, 2016, 08:04:12 AM
So, if I understood well, the best audio setting should be:
48000 Hz samplerate;
2-point 1st order sample interpolation;
4-point 3rd order FM interpolation;
Buffer size "8".
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on November 26, 2016, 08:25:45 AM
Thanks for all those precious informations :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 26, 2016, 08:55:41 AM
now for some ontopic stuff:
imagine meatwad from athf narrating this one:
our 6502 core was bonkers.  yea, that's right.  bonkers.  it nearly jumped out the damn screen and beat me with a rubber baseball bat. 

oh yea, and seta w/65c02 subcpu is fixed.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on November 26, 2016, 09:05:28 AM
now for some ontopic stuff:
imagine meatwad from athf narrating this one:
our 6502 core was bonkers.  yea, that's right.  bonkers.  it nearly jumped out the damn screen and beat me with a rubber baseball bat. 

oh yea, and seta w/65c02 subcpu is fixed.

best regards,
- dink

Finally got it eh well done !! your perseverance paid off in the end.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 27, 2016, 09:56:42 PM
After wrestling with the Seta m65c02 subcpu for Caliber 50, DownTown, Thundercade, Twin Eagle, Arbalester, MetaFox (and a few others) for ages, I finally figured out that the bug was in our 6502 cpu core and not the game emulation.  Now that has been cleared up, these games are finally fully playable in FBAlpha!
Also, Caliber 50 and DownTown have the same excellent rotation code that Midnight Resistance, Heavy Barrel and the SNK Games (Ikari, TNK3, Gwar, etc) - makes playing them in emulation very nice.

Some pics:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 27, 2016, 10:49:00 PM
Bonus (see prev. message): Ultra Toukon Densetsu now has sound (x1-010 samples + ym3438 fmsynth)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on November 28, 2016, 01:35:34 AM
Well done :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: synnchan on November 28, 2016, 12:31:49 PM
Awesome job as always! :D
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 28, 2016, 03:34:39 PM
thanks :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 28, 2016, 07:42:05 PM
This was supposed to be done a year ago (a year and 2 months to be exact), so my apologies, Zazzone, for your report getting lost in the crazy space called my head. ..  It would appear like several video bugs had been squashed here in Rolling Thunder, but really, just the layer offsets needed to be tweaked.  SkyKid DX and Hopping Mappy had some layer offset issues as well, but they were hardly noticable.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 28, 2016, 10:26:24 PM
Toaplan/Taito RallyBike now has a proper titlescreen :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on November 29, 2016, 12:42:55 AM
The next official FBA release looks with a lot of news (new games/cores, many fixes, improved user interface)... excellent job, a big thanks! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: synnchan on November 30, 2016, 10:58:24 PM
Let me report a few bugs I found.

Lightning Fighters / Trigon
The game looks too dark on fba, to the point it can get a little hard to play on some parts. The colors show correctly on mame:

FBA
(http://i.imgur.com/6zkgafT.png)

MAME
(http://i.imgur.com/uJepP9A.png)


Thndrx2j (Thunder Cross II JAA)
Game won't even load at all. It works perfectly on mame, but on fba it shows an error on the romram check screen, making it impossible to go further:

(http://i.imgur.com/1AMlj01.png)


Xexex
This one is a little hard to explain, but basically, the opening cutscene doesn't animate correctly. The audio is also pretty bad (the princess' voice can barely be heard, etc). I made two comparison videos:

xexex FBA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ypdOk-5jmE

xexex MAME: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HbC_yir49c
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 01, 2016, 12:01:53 AM
Thanks for the reports!

Thndrx2 is now fixed, I'm afraid Xexex's intro is currently unfixable unless iq_132 has any ideas (I tried a few times and failed).  It's probably related to the k056832 priority issue that is also plaguing a few other games (mtlchamp, yeesh, I forgot the others.)

re: lightning fighters, neither MAME nor fba's colors for this game are correct - look at a pcb version of this one :)  Personally I like our darker palette for this game, MAME's is definitely way too bright here.  But if you really are going for a "correct" look, then the pcb is the only option IMO.

Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: synnchan on December 03, 2016, 08:53:26 PM
thanks for the thndrx2 fix, dink. :)

I want to report another thing. On Surprise Attack's level 3, the sprites behind the black glass should have a darker tone, due to the glass' effect:

(http://i.imgur.com/NsdwUBz.png)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 03, 2016, 11:29:38 PM
thanks for the thndrx2 fix, dink. :)

I want to report another thing. On Surprise Attack's level 3, the sprites behind the black glass should have a darker tone, due to the glass' effect:

You're welcome!

P.S. it looks fine to me.  Here's a comparison MAME(left) vs. FBA(right)

P.S.#2: I enabled the highlight over sprite code which I wrote for ssriders for surpratk, and it looks quite fab in this game.  look at this picture.  (click the picture(s) to make it the right size first.)  Would you be willing to test this game from beginning to end with the new code?  just to make sure it doesn't break anything?

best regards,
- dink

Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: synnchan on December 03, 2016, 11:50:55 PM
I know, but seems like mame is also wrong. At least according to this page:
https://github.com/mamedev/mame/blob/master/src/mame/video/konamiic.txt

Unfortunately, I've never had the chance to play this game on a PCB, so this is all I can do. :(

EDIT:

P.S.#2: I enabled the highlight over sprite code which I wrote for ssriders for surpratk, and it looks quite fab in this game.  look at this picture.  (click the picture(s) to make it the right size first.)  Would you be willing to test this game from beginning to end with the new code?  just to make sure it doesn't break anything?

Yes, I'd be happy to test stuff out. I've never played this game until the end so now I have a good reason to do so. :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 04, 2016, 11:05:37 PM
Xexex prologue is _finally_ fixed.  I literally spent weeks debugging this issue.  I wasn't going to let one of my favorite games look like turd - so I refused to give up! ( though, others have... ehehe. sorry iq :P )  anyways, here's a piccy:

p.s. Up next: Xexex timing fixes, to take care of the unsmoothe / flashy transitions in the intro sequence.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on December 05, 2016, 01:41:34 AM
Congratulations :wink:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Trick on December 05, 2016, 04:54:20 AM
Cool, thanks for adding the new games, dink, especially Thundercade & Cal.50, I remember enjoying those back in the day.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 05, 2016, 08:07:09 AM
Cool, thanks for adding the new games, dink, especially Thundercade & Cal.50, I remember enjoying those back in the day.

You're welcome!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 05, 2016, 09:53:47 AM
More great news for Xexex fans aka Xexex bugfix status aka Things to look out for / bugs that were fixed:

1: The scene transitions in the Attract Mode sequence flash after it fades from a black background to a white background.

2: When you insert a coin:  Next to the anime girl a yellowish box is always on the screen, it moves towards the girl every now and then.  Initially it should actually appear after some text goes by; coming onto the screen using a neato corner-pinching effect.

3: A dip option to increase the pcm sound has been added (suggested by synnchan)

Here's a video showing the results (minus #3):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=611qrgWga3s
Please watch the attract sequence of Xexex in a current version of FBAlpha before watching this video to get a better impression on the things that were fixed/changed.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on December 05, 2016, 10:15:59 AM
Here's a video showing the results (minus #3):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=611qrgWga3s
Please watch the attract sequence of Xexex in a current version of FBAlpha before watching this video to get a better impression on the things that were fixed/changed.

Excellent work! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on December 05, 2016, 11:29:43 AM
More great news for Xexex fans aka Xexex bugfix status aka Things to look out for / bugs that were fixed:

1: The scene transitions in the Attract Mode sequence flash after it fades from a black background to a white background.

2: When you insert a coin:  Next to the anime girl a yellowish box is always on the screen, it moves towards the girl every now and then.  Initially it should actually appear after some text goes by; coming onto the screen using a neato corner-pinching effect.

3: A dip option to increase the pcm sound has been added (suggested by synnchan)

Here's a video showing the results (minus #3):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=611qrgWga3s
Please watch the attract sequence of Xexex in a current version of FBAlpha before watching this video to get a better impression on the things that were fixed/changed.

best regards,
- dink

That's excellent sleuthing! What a pain in the butt!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: synnchan on December 05, 2016, 12:15:39 PM
More great news for Xexex fans aka Xexex bugfix status aka Things to look out for / bugs that were fixed:

1: The scene transitions in the Attract Mode sequence flash after it fades from a black background to a white background.

2: When you insert a coin:  Next to the anime girl a yellowish box is always on the screen, it moves towards the girl every now and then.  Initially it should actually appear after some text goes by; coming onto the screen using a neato corner-pinching effect.

3: A dip option to increase the pcm sound has been added (suggested by synnchan)

Here's a video showing the results (minus #3):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=611qrgWga3s
Please watch the attract sequence of Xexex in a current version of FBAlpha before watching this video to get a better impression on the things that were fixed/changed.

best regards,
- dink

Thank you so much, dink the wizard! :D
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 05, 2016, 09:21:23 PM
A masive big thanks to synnchan for finding a handful of other bugs in the game Xexex, and providing savestates & hanging out while I fixed them tonight.  We have an extra-perfect emulation of this game now :biggrin:

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: synnchan on December 07, 2016, 11:15:31 PM
@dink: I'm happy to help! :)

And I have a new report. The game Shackled / Breywood has priority issues. It works correctly in mame.

(http://i.imgur.com/4MWffPu.png)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 07, 2016, 11:30:55 PM
Thanks, its fixed now :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: synnchan on December 08, 2016, 10:42:08 AM
Thanks, its fixed now :)

Thanks! :D
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 08, 2016, 08:53:13 PM
Mini Planets added to FBAlpha.  This game is great, its kinda like a space-aged version of frogger.  or not.  I can't describe it, but its awesome!

Grab it here: https://sik.itch.io/miniplanets zip the bin to miniplanets.zip, toss in your megadrive directory, wait for next fba :P

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on December 09, 2016, 12:39:56 AM
Mini Planets added to FBAlpha.  This game is great, its kinda like a space-aged version of frogger.  or not.  I can't describe it, but its awesome!

I agree... Mini Planets is a very fun "pseudo 3d" platform game... thanks for the addition! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 10, 2016, 08:57:52 AM
R-Type LEO Bootup screen sprite masking effect finally fixed and working in FBAlpha.  YAY \o/

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvOMTU8ZRWc

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: vbt on December 10, 2016, 12:09:12 PM
R-Type LEO Bootup screen sprite masking effect finally fixed and working in FBAlpha.  YAY \o/

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvOMTU8ZRWc

best regards,
- dink
great job dink ! it deserved a video :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: synnchan on December 10, 2016, 12:23:32 PM
R-Type LEO Bootup screen sprite masking effect finally fixed and working in FBAlpha.  YAY \o/

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvOMTU8ZRWc

best regards,
- dink

Thanks dink! It looks awesome. :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: synnchan on December 11, 2016, 07:03:17 PM
I have a few new reports:

1) shogwarr/fjbuster:

There's a bug on Kabuki's stage. Basically, constant glitched sprite flickering (look at the far right of the screen):

(http://i.imgur.com/CT6Q4Ni.png)

(http://i.imgur.com/Kj6mDlf.png)

2) xsleena

More or less the same bug as shogwarr (glitched sprite flickering on some areas):

(http://i.imgur.com/6w33UWk.png)

(http://i.imgur.com/SQhDbW1.png)

(http://i.imgur.com/pRqyWxA.png)

(http://i.imgur.com/gq7ANs1.png)

I made save states for both games on the glitched areas:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xj8v2u4f58ykgki/shogwarr%20slot%2001.fs?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1nz53n6pzrp3xxm/xsleena%20slot%2001.fs?dl=0
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on December 12, 2016, 02:06:47 AM
- I checked "Xain'd Sleena", the bug happens when there are various sprites on screen... the MAME counterpart has not this bug.

- In "Shogun Warriors" the bug seems a bit different... there's a wrong position of some background sprites/tiles during the animations (look the musicians on the right).
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 16, 2016, 11:34:26 PM
News for the past couple days..

Fixed some issues in Cosmic Cop, it wouldn't reboot & some tiles were corrupt-looking.

Ninja Baseball Batman: added a dip option (hack) to enable the old style of soundcpu emulation, which makes the music sound all sorts of quirky.  (at least 2 people have suggested this)

All Taito B-system games suffer some sort of sprite issue. This was due to a core tilemap update, Joyful Road/Munch Mobile and Bump 'n Jump also suffer from similar issues but in the backgrounds.  All games have been updated to use the new tilemap core properly and are fixed.

Fixed a glitch in restoring the vidram pointers on savestate load w/Toaplan GP9001 hw.  The problem caused bg tiles to go bonkers sometimes.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 18, 2016, 09:12:10 AM
Introducing..  A little shift indicator for racing games which use a toggle-type shifter.
It will be disable/enable-able in the ui options (for those that don't want it, or making a video) for games which support it.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on December 18, 2016, 01:55:03 PM
Introducing..  A little shift indicator for racing games which use a toggle-type shifter.
It will be disable/enable-able in the ui options (for those that don't want it, or making a video) for games which support it.

Thanks! :) IMHO the shift indicator L/H is very useful... remember the selected gear it won't be a problem anymore! ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on December 18, 2016, 06:22:40 PM
@dink nice work big man!!.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 22, 2016, 10:07:45 AM
Chase HQ (taito-z hw) now uses a priority bitmap between the tc0100scn (tilemap / background&foreground)/tc0150rod (road generator) & sprites.  This fixes sprites that should be covered up by hills and stuff in the road.  Bug found/reported by Gab75.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on December 22, 2016, 04:36:39 PM
Chase HQ (taito-z hw) now uses a priority bitmap between the tc0100scn (tilemap / background&foreground)/tc0150rod (road generator) & sprites.  This fixes sprites that should be covered up by hills and stuff in the road.  Bug found/reported by Gab75.

Thanks a lot for the fix! :)
In the screenshot below it's possible to have a view of the bug...
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 22, 2016, 05:07:31 PM
SCI fixed too
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 22, 2016, 05:18:28 PM
Night Striker before & after.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 22, 2016, 07:09:08 PM
FireShark, Teki Paki and Vimana's MCU has been finally dumped - here's a nice little blog on how it was done: http://caps0ff.blogspot.com/

So far I hooked it up in FireShark and removed the samples hack :)  Others shall follow shortly.
tip to emucoders: the FireShark MCU is a Hitachi HD647180, with is basically a Z180 processor with rom+ram.  The code in this MCU is 100% Z80 code, though, and will work fine with any Z80 core. It doesn't use any Z180 extensions (opcode or peripheral). Big thanks to gamezfan for testing this before I went ahead with the code in FBA :)  I suppose they used this chip because of its ability to protect the internally programmed rom from being read or dumped.  Its a good time for emulation, we got some really awesome games in the past couple years - Wing Force, Hammer Away (amongst many others), and now a Toaplan mcu's finally dumped - I thought I'd never see the day :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: synnchan on December 23, 2016, 01:30:24 PM
Awesome news about the Toaplan stuff! Now we can finally listen to the music while playing those great shooters. :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on December 26, 2016, 01:41:55 AM
While speaking about samples being removed, any hope to see mario with full sound support ?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 26, 2016, 09:26:06 AM
I wish it was as simple as removing samples :)
The 3 toaplan games mentioned (fireshark, tekipaki, vimana) were written to the mcu chip with the protection bit set, that means you can program the chip and the chip can execute the program, but you can't read out the data externally for an anti-copy/bootlegging measure.  The chip itself is a beefed up z80(really z180) with ram & rom.  Recently the chip was decapped (caps0ff.blogspot.com) and the protection bit was erased so the program code could be read out.  It took under an hour to get all 3 games up and running with the new soundcpu code, because the drivers themselves were very similar to other toaplan drivers of the era.

On the other hand, Mario uses discrete / analog circuitry to generate its sounds.  Mame has discrete and now netlist emulation, which allows for emulation of such analog circuitry.  Even the simplest discrete and netlist stuff won't run on my mighty 3ghz p4 computer, so emulating it on the more compact devices such as the rpi is probably out of the question.  On top of that, it would probably take a week and a half to graft such code into fbalpha for mario..  On the bright side, if you want to, you can sample mame or a real circuit board and add more samples to the game that are missing, using one of the first versions of mame as a guideline for the memory addresses where the samples are triggered. 
The first versions of mame played the game fine with all the samples, but they were recorded so badly (hiss+static) they were removed over the years, then finally replaced with netlist or discrete.  but thats a good starting point if you wanted to do such a thing.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on December 26, 2016, 10:32:57 AM
On the other hand, Mario uses discrete / analog circuitry to generate its sounds.  Mame has discrete and now netlist emulation, which allows for emulation of such analog circuitry.  Even the simplest discrete and netlist stuff won't run on my mighty 3ghz p4 computer, so emulating it on the more compact devices such as the rpi is probably out of the question..

Just a heads up i've just noticed that in older MAME builds Mario Bros has full sound by way of a Dac/Samples combo the discrete sound was only added from this build onwards.....

Quote
- 0.122u5: Mario driver improvements [Couriersud]: Discrete sound. Hooked up Z80DMA. Combined memory maps. Statics in mario_state struct. Fixed save state issues. Combine sh_* writes into one routine. Replaced Samples/DAC sound with Discrete.

Maybe an older Mario driver and Mario Audio could be ported and hooked up to the Dac sound core in FBA..?? Anyway failing that there's always the Masio Bros Bootleg which has full sound already.

Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 27, 2016, 11:24:09 PM
Caps0ff did it again, this time it was even more near-impossible-er than last time.  http://caps0ff.blogspot.com

Tatakae! Big Fighter / SkyRobo protection MCU dumped, making the games finally playable.  As soon as I got the new mcu code I was quite eager to get this in FBAlpha and play it in my favorite emulator as quickly as possible :)

Big Fighter starts out like more of a traditional shooter, whereas SkyRobo is a little harder and you need to be in your robot form right away at the beginning (kinda..).  Screencaps tell it best:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on December 28, 2016, 05:35:10 PM
Good Stuff!!!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 02, 2017, 12:22:33 AM
quick and dirty new FBA stuff & happenings for the past few days:
1: ported new i8051/i8751/ds5002fp core
2: hooked up heavy barrel's protection mcu with the above
3: iq_132 added Hangzo (!!!)
4: fixed some bugs in bigfighter/skyrobo emulation, which took me nearly forever.
5: iq_132 ported wrally, I helped hook up the ds5002fp.  there's still a quite bit left to be done before it's playable.
6: fixed crashyness/corruption when loading a game with missing roms.  this possibly won't affect you guys, just dev's who don't want to rescan their romsets each day when something is added or changed to the rom database.  basically it goes like this: precautions have been made to never try to exit/uninit a cpu or sound core which hasn't been initted in the first place.
7: added a hidden option in config/fba*.ini, "bSkipStartupCheck".  For devs or people who don't ever want to scan their romsets and just have the selection dialog show all roms available/unavailable.  This gets rid of that auto-romscan at startup.

best regards, bye for now and happy new year!
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on January 02, 2017, 01:06:05 AM
The Devs' Team never goes on holiday! ;)
Happy new year to you and to the other devs, administrators and users! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: KaaMoS on January 02, 2017, 08:36:37 AM
Thanks for the great news!
It seems to be that the word "tired" isn't in your dictionary!! (^_^)'

Have a happy new year, dear friends!!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: furiadeoso on January 05, 2017, 07:58:05 PM
Have a happy new year!

When will be released the new version?. I'm excited!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: furiadeoso on January 06, 2017, 06:04:54 AM
Another matter. Can you give me a beta version, so we could test kaillera online netplay? We have a 40 members arcade online players team. Thanks!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on January 07, 2017, 05:42:05 PM
quick and dirty new FBA stuff & happenings for the past few days:
1: ported new i8051/i8751/ds5002fp core
2: hooked up heavy barrel's protection mcu with the above
3: iq_132 added Hangzo (!!!)
4: fixed some bugs in bigfighter/skyrobo emulation, which took me nearly forever.
5: iq_132 ported wrally, I helped hook up the ds5002fp.  there's still a quite bit left to be done before it's playable.


best regards, bye for now and happy new year!
- dink

Alotta graft in those 5 code changes above thanks guys for taking the time to work on it Cheers!!!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 13, 2017, 12:22:31 AM
Yesterday when I posted the news(vid) about Asura Buster, the problem was only halfway solved. So... I bring good news:

The horrible and fameous (or horribly fameous) fbalpha-68x020 bug has been squashed.  big thanks to iq_132 and myself for doing some amazingly awesome teamwork!  This time it took 4 days of intense research and data logging, and a couple late nite coding sessions.  If you add up all the other failed attempts over the past years at killing this bug, it probably adds up to a couple of weeks work total.  So - you can see why iq_132 and dink are beyond insanely happy and relieved to finally put a close on it. (yay!)

Since Asura Buster no longer freezes up at the jello-tentacle boss, I thought it would be worthwhile to fix the other small bugs
in this driver.  (This includes Asura Blade, too)
. Music is now properly synchronized to the attract mode (and other things),
. Sprite and tile glitches are fixed.

Now I think it's as good as it possibly can get :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: furiadeoso on January 13, 2017, 03:23:26 AM
You are great! :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 15, 2017, 04:12:12 PM
You are great! :biggrin:

thanks, but don't forget about iq_132 as well, we worked together on this! :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: furiadeoso on January 15, 2017, 05:35:27 PM
thanks, but don't forget about iq_132 as well, we worked together on this! :)

best regards,
- dink

Both of you, of course :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 15, 2017, 10:17:15 PM
Just incase anyone missed the video... :D
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 17, 2017, 08:09:01 AM
Task Force Harrier by UPL (nmk16 hw) got some nice improvements:
sprite priority fixes (thanks Gab75 for reporting these!)
music slowdown fix
shakey-ship during level transitions kludgey-hack-fix.  This one is kinda weird, when you exit a level, sometimes your ship would start shaking like crazy.  It's probably a bug in the original game.  When the ship starts shaking, the game sets 0xf3310 and 0xf3410 to 0x100, so that made it easy to know when its happening, then I just created an extra sprite buffer, and chose it on the odd frame during this period.  I wanted to fix this one years ago, but didn't think of a good way to do it until today.

that's all,
best regards,
- dink

Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 18, 2017, 11:28:33 PM
Ancient games need love too!
Time Limit is missing the color prom for sprites, which means FBA or MAME has to fill in seemingly random values for this prom to get the sprites to show up.... And it looks horrible.  I spent a couple hours synthesizing a prom just for this game.  Enjoy some before and after piccys: (click images to zoom in/show the images properly)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on January 20, 2017, 09:20:31 AM
Sorry, I don't know if this is the right place to post this, but may I suggest a new feature?

It would be awesome to have option for mapping more keys to the same button. For example Samurai Shodown 6 requires to press "A" and "B" at the same time to perform the heavy slash. If one could set button "A" and "B" to the same key on the keyboard it could be used more easily. Of course it would be only a secondary key so the original "A" and "B" button still could be used seperately.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 20, 2017, 08:46:00 PM
Did you try going to the inputs editor and scrolling down past the autofire buttons? :)  I think all Neogeo and PGM games have this feature.

best regards,
- dink

Sorry, I don't know if this is the right place to post this, but may I suggest a new feature?

It would be awesome to have option for mapping more keys to the same button. For example Samurai Shodown 6 requires to press "A" and "B" at the same time to perform the heavy slash. If one could set button "A" and "B" to the same key on the keyboard it could be used more easily. Of course it would be only a secondary key so the original "A" and "B" button still could be used seperately.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pityesz on January 20, 2017, 08:57:42 PM
Did you try going to the inputs editor and scrolling down past the autofire buttons? :)  I think all Neogeo and PGM games have this feature.

best regards,
- dink


Holy cows, never tried. Thanks for the answer, that was exactly what I looking for. Since we're loves taking challenges I've not really used even the autofires thus never checked all the non-basic options. It is awesome how much this little emulator can do. :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Haze on January 21, 2017, 04:31:25 PM
Task Force Harrier by UPL (nmk16 hw) got some nice improvements:
sprite priority fixes (thanks Gab75 for reporting these!)
music slowdown fix
shakey-ship during level transitions kludgey-hack-fix.  This one is kinda weird, when you exit a level, sometimes your ship would start shaking like crazy.  It's probably a bug in the original game.  When the ship starts shaking, the game sets 0xf3310 and 0xf3410 to 0x100, so that made it easy to know when its happening, then I just created an extra sprite buffer, and chose it on the odd frame during this period.  I wanted to fix this one years ago, but didn't think of a good way to do it until today.

that's all,
best regards,
- dink

There's a protection MCU on the board, could be related as it really isn't used for much otherwise.

Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: bigboo on January 30, 2017, 04:51:07 AM
Hi
Thank you very much to all fba developers, it seems all major classic arcade games will soon be supported. I think it's a good thing because fba is much faster than recent mame version on low-end hardware like rpi. I hope that we can get rid of old mame versions on this kind of machine (like mame2003 libretro).

I checked my personal "bestof" arcade romset and found some 68000 and 68020 games/hardware currently not supported. Do they have something special/difficult to support or it's just lack of interest from developers to add them for the moment?

Atari 68000
Bad Lands 1989
Cyberball   1988
Rampart   1990

Atari Dual 68000
Escape from the Planet of the Robot Monsters   1989

Atari G1
Hydra 1990
Pit Fighter 1990

Bally Midway MCR-68k
Arch Rivals 1989
Pigskin 621AD 1990

Banpresto 68000
Super Slams 1995

Data East MEC-M1
Stadium Hero   1988

Fuuki FG-2
Gyakuten!! Puzzle Bancho 1996

IGS 68000
Virtua Bowling   1996

Konami Dual 68000
WEC Le Mans 24   1986

Namco 68000
Thunder Ceptor   1986

Namco System 2
Assault   1988
Dragon Saber   1990
Ordyne   1988
Phelios   1988
Rolling Thunder 2   1990

Namco System NA-1
Super World Court   1992
Tinkle Pit   1993

Playmark 68000
World Beach Volley   1995

Sega System 24
Bonanza Bros   1990
Gain Ground   1988

Sega System C-2
Borench   1990
Columns   1990
Columns II: The Voyage Through Time   1990
Puyo Puyo 2   1994
ThunderForce AC   1990

SNK Alpha 68000
Time Soldiers   1987

Technosoft 68000
Hyper Duel   1993



and for 68020 hardware:

Strata/Incredible Tech 32
Blood Storm   1994

Banpresto 68EC020
Macross Plus   1996

Konami GX System
Fantastic Journey   1994
Salamander 2   1996
Sexy Parodius   1996
Winning Spike   1997

Namco System NB-1
Great Sluggers '94   1994
J-League Soccer V-Shoot   1994
Nebulas Ray   1994

Namco System NB-2
Mach Breakers - Numan Athletics 2   1995
Outfoxies   1994

Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 30, 2017, 08:01:53 AM
Thanks, that's a good list.  Its not a lack of interest, sure it would be nice to have every game supported, but you have to realize some simple facts:  we're just a very small group of people working on this project.  Let's put it into perspective: It took the past 2 and a half weeks of all the free/hobby time between 2 people to get Taito F3 running smoothly.  So basically things take time.  This is a really great time for this emulator, we have added countless games to the emulator lately - just look at the dev logs in this forum.  So yea, just be patient.  also, you'll be pleased to know that Macross Plus was recently added.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on January 30, 2017, 03:32:12 PM
Damn that might be a record here, the biggest request list ever in the history of neosource  :p
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 31, 2017, 07:03:06 PM
Buggy Grid Seeker: Project Storm Hammer

After we got done with Taito F3, Grid Seeker quickly became one of my favorites in the driver.  The music is awesome, the game is awesome.  Then I got to the end of stage 5, and my heart sank... It looked like someone had barfed on the screen.  The game was nearly unplayable at this point...
After a full day of recon, debugging & digging I came to find out that the game itself was buggy - not the emulator.. (every emulation and video I can find about this game exhibits the problem, except in some circumstances where the bug isn't triggered aka no shooting/extra sprites on the screen when the st.5 boss blows up)  Whenever the number of sprites on the screen gets really high, it just sorta forgets about some of them and leaves them stuck to the screen. (see pictures below!)  Even after the game ends, and it goes back to the beginning of the attract sequence, they still remain (see last 2 pics)...

At this point I spent 2 solid days trying different methods of identifying these bad sprites and keep them from covering the screen.  The only thing I have to go on here is that the stuck sprites are always at the end of each spritebank, and there is always a nice gap between the bad sprites and the good sprites, but there can be little gaps between the bad sprites.  Sometime last night I finally came up with the right algo to cancel out the bad sprites, and after lots of playtesting this morning and afternoon, and several little tweaks to the algo.. we have some good results!!  This feature will be toggleable in the dip settings.  :)

p.s. the pictures: first one is normal, second is with the fix toggled on.

Enjoy & best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: furiadeoso on February 02, 2017, 04:02:26 AM
Great! :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 03, 2017, 12:41:06 AM
kaneko supernova news:
1: Finally got rid of that screen garbage when starting a game in Vs Block Breaker / Saru Kani!(!!)
2: Added a dip option and a newly formulated cpu-based speedhack to supernova games. all games that studdered and had low fps on my mighty P4 computer now work at a solid 59.5971fps with this.  The dip option will default to "off", though.  Not all supernova games need speedhacks on lowly computers like mine - for example: Cyvern. - and its best to only use when necessary.
2.5: improved the tile-based speedhacks a bit, reducing cpu load a little bit.
3: Synced up the music a bit better in most games.
4: "Gals Panic S - Extra Edition" has sfx/music issues still, can't figure it out :( (even with all hacks disabled).  This is the only game with issues, though.  Will have to dig deeper, it's probably another issue with the sh2 timers that I havn't forseen.  Will revisit this one later.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on February 03, 2017, 06:23:33 AM
Nice work, definitely interested in this :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 03, 2017, 09:50:47 PM
kaneko supernova news:
4: "Gals Panic S - Extra Edition" has sfx/music issues still, can't figure it out :( (even with all hacks disabled).  This is the only game with issues, though.  Will have to dig deeper, it's probably another issue with the sh2 timers that I havn't forseen.  Will revisit this one later.

I'm happy to say this has been fixed!  It was yet another bug in the sh2 cpu core, which was throwing off one of the timers.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on February 04, 2017, 12:41:35 AM
Great work! Always more games have an excellent emulation on FBA! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: robsons2007 on February 04, 2017, 01:40:15 PM
Great work! dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on February 05, 2017, 03:55:23 AM
Now that sh2 cpu core got a lot of care, i'm dreaming about seeing some ST-V games on fbalpha (there are some 2D games on this hardware, even if my favorite one, radiant silvergun, is 3D)

Anyway, great work dink :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: vbt on February 05, 2017, 05:34:43 AM
Now that sh2 cpu core got a lot of care, i'm dreaming about seeing some ST-V games on fbalpha (there are some 2D games on this hardware, even if my favorite one, radiant silvergun, is 3D)

Anyway, great work dink :)
and sega saturn which runs fba !
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on February 05, 2017, 08:51:16 AM
Now that sh2 cpu core got a lot of care, i'm dreaming about seeing some ST-V games on fbalpha (there are some 2D games on this hardware, even if my favorite one, radiant silvergun, is 3D)

Anyway, great work dink :)

I agree, the ST-V hardware has some excellent games, but I think that an hypothetical emulation would be a very difficult and complex task! For now, I keep my fingers crossed for another SEGA hardware... System 32 ! ;)

PS: I would also like to thank dink (and iq_132) for their great work!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 07, 2017, 11:54:15 PM
Mighty Warriors has a bunch of fixes, thanks to gab75 for the bug reports!
Twin Brats is now added and fixed up as well (it was in the debug builds, but not playable until now)
(oops: ignore that pink line on the right, for now...)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: WILOWAR on February 10, 2017, 12:56:35 AM
Silent Dragon (world) silentd - background graphic glitch found
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on February 10, 2017, 03:45:53 AM
Silent Dragon (world) silentd - background graphic glitch found

This bug has been resolved ! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 11, 2017, 10:56:47 PM
ESD16 driver needed a little TLC: added the flashing sprite effect, fixed tile offsets in head panic & swat police, and a x-scrolling issue that was apparent in head panic.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: JacKc on February 12, 2017, 07:52:51 AM
Thanks dink :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 26, 2017, 09:50:13 PM
Did a little research tonight and found & quenched the source of that nasty distorted crackling noise in Darius 2.  Personally, I'm very happy about this one, it's bothered me for quite a while :)

The other day fixed a few bugs in the Kangaroo driver, thanks to Gab75 for finding a graphics bug.

Together me and barbudreadmon found and fixed some more crash issues in a few games with -O3 (high optimization) with later versions of gcc.  It turns out that vectorized/simd operations need 32bit integers to be aligned on a 4byte boundary.  Because of this, FBAlpha will run much better on Raspberry Pi and other smaller/embedded systems.  Note: barbudreadmon did mostly all of the hard work here, so big thanks!

Also, lately I've been really busy playtesting / tweaking / fixing up some of the newer games.  I think a new release might be happening soon.... :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on February 27, 2017, 12:42:23 AM
Thanks for your work guys! The next FBA release will be full of excellent additions and improvements! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on February 27, 2017, 07:54:41 AM
Together me and barbudreadmon found and fixed some more crash issues in a few games with -O3 (high optimization) with later versions of gcc.  It turns out that vectorized/simd operations need 32bit integers to be aligned on a 4byte boundary.  Because of this, FBAlpha will run much better on Raspberry Pi and other smaller/embedded systems.  Note: barbudreadmon did mostly all of the hard work here, so big thanks!
Awesome, many thanks to both of you. Nowadays, I only play FBA on my Pi (in an arcade cab). I was keeping MAME on the side for a few games (mostly Taito F3 games), but with the next FBA release, I'll be able to ditch MAME without looking back. :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: robsons2007 on February 27, 2017, 08:17:05 AM
"Together me and barbudreadmon found and fixed some more crash issues in a few games with -O3 (high optimization) with later versions of gcc.  It turns out that vectorized/simd operations need 32bit integers to be aligned on a 4byte boundary.  Because of this, FBAlpha will run much better on Raspberry Pi and other smaller/embedded systems.  Note: barbudreadmon did mostly all of the hard work here, so big thanks! "


Excellent work from both
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 03, 2017, 11:03:52 PM
This is the 3rd of 4th attempt at fixing this - and this time was finally a success!  ...So I'm really happy to bring this news:
Xain'd Sleena is working perfectly now.  2 deadlocks and a bunch of flickering sprites are gone :)
EDIT: ...a couple hours have passed since this post... To be sure the new fixes hold up, I playtested the game all the way to the end, and its quite awesome.  especially that last level when all the prior bosses start chasing you through the level to your spaceship as their planet is rigged to blow up.  wow, what a rush :)  Did I mention that I was super happy that this game is now perfect in FBAlpha?  Hopefully we can have a release soon.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: WILOWAR on March 10, 2017, 02:39:05 PM
Super-X (NTC) superx - game freeze with glitch on screen.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on March 10, 2017, 06:35:57 PM
Super-X (NTC) superx - game freeze with glitch on screen.

If I'm not wrong, the attached screens should be grabbed from second stage... I played until the third stage and the game seems to work properly.
Are you able to create a savestate just before the game freezes?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 10, 2017, 06:40:18 PM
Hi, Willowar - I think I know the problem with Super-X.  Are you using a keyboard?  Can you try using a Joystick or gamepad instead?

thanks,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on March 11, 2017, 12:33:27 AM
The game seems to freeze when you push up and down at the same time... logically this can happen when you use keyboard controls (as dink pointed out); with a pad or a stick it's impossible to press up and down at the same time...
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on March 11, 2017, 02:49:49 AM
with a pad or a stick it's impossible to press up and down at the same time...
On a side note :
Just remembered some guy years ago who won a mario kart championship because his controller was in such a bad shape he was able to press left and right at the same time (shifting left and right rapidly while drifting enable turbo boost in many mario kart).
So it's actually possible to press opposite directions with a pad in a bad shape, or modded, because of course some people modded their controllers following this story :p.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on March 11, 2017, 04:53:42 AM
Just remembered some guy years ago who won a mario kart championship because his controller was in such a bad shape he was able to press left and right at the same time (shifting left and right rapidly while drifting enable turbo boost in many mario kart).

... a symbolic case, when a defect becomes a merit! :P

So it's actually possible to press opposite directions with a pad in a bad shape, or modded, because of course some people modded their controllers following this story :p.

Moreover you could map the joypad buttons as directional inputs... so you would be able to press all directions at the same time!  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 14, 2017, 11:18:47 PM
Fixed a shedload of driver-bugs, big thanks to gab75, Pityesz and WILOWAR for reporting!

Wall Crash - fixed paddle inputs / default settings
Taito's Operation Wolf 3: automatically use default gun calibrations on first boot
The Karate Tournament: missing button #2 and sprite:tile offset glitch
Quartet, Quartet 2: cracking/popping noises from the dac have been quenched.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 16, 2017, 09:23:29 AM
Operation Wolf 3-day (in the slapshot driver)

To get the graphics right, I set up a priority bitmap between the TC0480 (Taito tilemap chip) and the Taito F2 sprites code. 

Before and After pictures below...
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on March 16, 2017, 09:59:31 AM
Now the sprites/objects priority is almost perfect! Thanks! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on March 16, 2017, 10:45:30 AM
I'm hoping you named those incorrectly. The second one is definitely worse. ^^
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on March 16, 2017, 11:50:33 AM
Really... you are too strict! :P The second screenshot is not worse! There's only a "priority issue" with the truck and the tubulars...
in the first one the enemy soldier and the civilian seem to be inside the barrels! :P
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 16, 2017, 01:19:41 PM
OOps, you're right, the tubes on the left side definitely should be infront of the truck, investigating..
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 16, 2017, 02:55:56 PM
gab75: Thanks for pointing out the issue with the pipes :)  Here's a new piccy:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on March 16, 2017, 05:20:53 PM
Perfect! What was the problem?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on March 16, 2017, 06:32:30 PM
gab75: Thanks for pointing out the issue with the pipes :)  Here's a new piccy:

Now the sprites/objects priority is almost perfect! Thanks! ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on March 16, 2017, 06:45:47 PM
Perfect! What was the problem?

I try to surmise... maybe a flawed implementation of priority code between the bitmap objects created by TC0480 Tilemap chip and the bitmap objects created by Sprites Generator chip... in any case, dink will be able to say with certainty! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 16, 2017, 11:48:44 PM
A little leftover code from the previous prio attempt needed to be removed, that's all :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 18, 2017, 07:58:07 AM
It looks like its time to hook up the priority bitmap in Taito F2.  Unfortunately a lot of games are broken in this regards, but, on the bright side, the work done for opwolf3 and taito-z (Night Striker, Chase HQ.etc.) means we're about 1/4 the way there.

Big thanks to Gab75 for helping out and doing some investigative work (tests,etc)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 22, 2017, 10:51:04 PM
dink's fbalpha-news march.22
1: Capcom Bowl (&clones) and Sammy's Krazy Bowl are now playable in FBAlpha!

2: F2 sprite prio stuff has been put off until next week (or 2), due to some newer more exciting stuff going on behind the scenes :)  At this time the bug only affects PuliRula, Liquid Kids (cutscene stuff only), and Crayon Shinchan.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 23, 2017, 10:11:29 PM
Big thanks to Pityesz for finding a crash situation with Megadrive and the Force 16bit emulation option in the Enhanced and DirectX9 blitters.  The problem has been fixed of course :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 23, 2017, 10:22:20 PM
Sprite lag issues in Taito's Gun & Frontier have been fixed, big thanks to Gab75 for finding this one :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on March 24, 2017, 01:54:06 AM
A big thanks to you for the fix! ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 01, 2017, 09:15:46 AM
It all started 2 days ago when I recorded a game of Ghosts 'n Goblins to render to a longplay video for a buddy of mine.  Since I can't record directly to avi (pc is a little slow), I went for the record inputs method while playing the game, then playback the inputs while writing an avi.  After I got done with the 2-game completion and played the recording back, it quickly went out of sync. ...bummer. 

Something good came out of it, though:

Updated the Ghosts n Goblins driver to run at the proper frequency (59.59hz) & fixed some savestate banking & cycle loss issues.

Tracked down and killed a horrible bug in the input recording mechanism which caused some desync issues.  It would usually happen if you played back an input recording right after recording an input recording, or if you started out paused when recording or playing back.  Very happy to kill this bug. :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 03, 2017, 10:13:11 PM
Killed a little bug in Toki that occasionally caused certain tiles on the map-screen to jitter.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 05, 2017, 10:57:52 PM
Hit the Ice.
This game was plagued with multiple issues.  The first one being p3 and p4's inputs were all stuck-on.  This made the game impossible to play, because as soon as you inserted a coin p3 or p4 would immediately "press start" with its stuck buttons, and then you wouldn't be able to control anything.  Thanks to gamez fan for reporting this bug.

After fixing that, I did a few test plays and noticed that the skate-marks on the ice never cleared.. Not even on the titlescreen/attract mode! (see piccys below)  [MAME is exactly the same way] After doing some debugging I found a simple test to know when the skate-marks buffer needs to be cleared, and now the game is perfectly playable.   There is one last little issue - the character selection screen is skewed over 5pixels or so, but I think the original pcb most likely did this too, because everything else in the game lines up perfectly, except for that screen.  Unfortunately I don't know anyone with this pcb and also can't find a video on the web to test this theory.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 08, 2017, 11:37:01 PM
U.S. Classic
Had to do a lot to get this one running: hook up 65c02 subcpu, fix palette issue, write some funky analog -> trackball code.  It's really a nice golf game :)
...Also improved Krazybowl's video offsets a bit.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on April 09, 2017, 03:03:38 AM
Moreover you also added the "trackball code" in Capcom Bowling and now it's fully playable... thanks a lot for the fixes! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: WILOWAR on April 18, 2017, 11:05:19 AM
Bal Cube - balcube - wrong colors

Bang Bang Ball (v1.05) - wrong colors
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on April 18, 2017, 12:07:45 PM
Bal Cube - balcube - wrong colors

Bang Bang Ball (v1.05) - wrong colors
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWmF_2u-9nk Muahaha!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on April 18, 2017, 12:35:31 PM
Bal Cube - balcube - wrong colors

Bang Bang Ball (v1.05) - wrong colors

Probably the issue is related to "16 bit emulation"... to activate/deactivate it: Video=>Blitter options=>Advanced settings=>Force 16-bit emulation

PS: obviously the computer screen bitdepth must be set on 32 bit, but today it's the default setting on 99% of PCs.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on April 18, 2017, 12:41:30 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWmF_2u-9nk Muahaha!

:P :D :P
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: JacKc on April 18, 2017, 12:53:30 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWmF_2u-9nk Muahaha!
LOL  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 18, 2017, 07:15:19 PM
Here is my favorite edition addition added to FBAlpha so far, it has free shaking in attract mode. 

That's right, free shaking in attract mode.

video news @ here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wBE2m_9Jkc
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on April 18, 2017, 08:26:13 PM
Here is my favorite edition addition added to FBAlpha so far, it has free shaking in attract mode. 

That's right, free shaking in attract mode.

video news @ here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wBE2m_9Jkc

There's a whole lotta shakin goin on  :wink:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on April 19, 2017, 01:14:48 AM
Here is my favorite edition addition added to FBAlpha so far, it has free shaking in attract mode. 

That's right, free shaking in attract mode.

video news @ here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wBE2m_9Jkc

It's a "dangerous edition" for a cabinet coin-op... many guys might prefer to play free of charge in "shaking mode" rather than use coins to play in "arcade mode" ! :P :P
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on April 19, 2017, 11:11:42 AM
It's a "dangerous edition" for a cabinet coin-op... many guys might prefer to play free of charge in "shaking mode" rather than use coins to play in "arcade mode" ! :P :P

It can be turned off in the Service mode, You have the same deal in Gals Panic 4 although there is dialog from the Gal when ya
shake em i wonder what she says :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on April 19, 2017, 11:33:06 AM
Probably the issue is related to "16 bit emulation"... to activate/deactivate it: Video=>Blitter options=>Advanced settings=>Force 16-bit emulation

PS: obviously the computer screen bitdepth must be set on 32 bit, but today it's the default setting on 99% of PCs.
Fixed this last night. It should affect pretty much any games that use konami chips. Life is good.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 19, 2017, 11:38:56 PM
Arabian Magic on Taito F3 has this buggy line down the screen during scene transitions.  I never liked that, so, it had to be fixed :) [this bug affects fbalpha and mame]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMGlCf09Rx8

Incase you don't know what I'm talking about, watch this other video to see:
https://youtu.be/aYPzNZa-sIc?t=53s
or load Arabian Magic in FBAlpha .40 and start a game...

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on April 20, 2017, 10:00:27 AM
Arabian Magic on Taito F3 has this buggy line down the screen during scene transitions.  I never liked that, so, it had to be fixed :) [this bug affects fbalpha and mame]

A small, but "irritating" bug/glitch... excellent work! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on April 21, 2017, 12:48:44 PM
Arabian Magic on Taito F3 has this buggy line down the screen during scene transitions.  I never liked that, so, it had to be fixed :) [this bug affects fbalpha and mame]
To clear things up, did the original game suffer from this or not? In other words, is that a hack or a proper fix?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 21, 2017, 02:25:15 PM
To clear things up, did the original game suffer from this or not? In other words, is that a hack or a proper fix?

Here's a recording from an original PCB: https://youtu.be/IkfjUvSlSiE?t=17s

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 21, 2017, 06:37:41 PM
Taito F3 video fixes, volume #2.

Arabian Magic Cut-Scene text.  (This text is missing in nearly every emulation of the game.)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on April 22, 2017, 02:50:20 AM
Nice. Funny that emulators would have the exact same bugs. Is that due to shared code, or maybe certain things the game does that tend to fail the same way even if the source issue is different?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 22, 2017, 09:27:25 AM
Nice. Funny that emulators would have the exact same bugs. Is that due to shared code, or maybe certain things the game does that tend to fail the same way even if the source issue is different?

Usually we have our own video code for things (well, iq_132 writes it), but taito f3 is a very complex beast, so we're using the video code from MAME.  It's funny because even Taito Legends for ps2/xbox have these same bugs :)
Before we ported the F3 driver, I'd never played any F3 game before.  Seeing these great games in such a sad state was heartbreaking, really.  Especially after putting weeks into perfecting the driver for FBAlpha.  Due to the complexity of the F3 video code, it's no wonder that it's been broken for so long, nobody wanted to take the time to figure out how it worked and try to fix it.  There are 3 other video bugs left, and I plan to focus on them for the time being.  Luckily, some of the fixes I make made it back into MAME.  Maybe these will :)

The same exact thing happened with Beast Busters / Mechanized Attack - iq_132 did a driver for these, and having never played the games before, I quickly fell in love with them (Beast Busters especially), but when I finally made it to the end of the game, the ending scene was all broken. (also a few things in Mechanized attack, like the Helicopter in stage 2 or 3) This time we didn't use any code from MAME, but the bug existed in both emulators because it was simply not known how the yscroll+wrapping worked.  Since it was the last games SNK made before Neogeo, a hint on how to fix it was in the Neogeo video code, but it still took a week or 2 of trying things before I got it.  In the end, just like the arabianm fix above, it only required changing 2 lines of code.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on April 22, 2017, 02:38:56 PM
Very interesting, thanks for the info. Yeah, bugs are often about analyzing rather than coding.

The bit about Taito Legends is not so surprising, considering many companies have been known to sell bad Internet dumps of their own games... but it's still shameful and unprofessional. Isn't Taito violating the MAME license by using it without making it clear? Sorry, this is getting off topic.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 22, 2017, 06:26:03 PM
Stifu, actually, the MAME guys (Bryan McPhail, et. al) behind the Taito F3 driver worked with the company that brought us Taito Legends.  Since each driver was under the writers own license, I believe it was OK for it to be like that.  See the credits listed here: http://www.mobygames.com/game/ps2/taito-legends/credits

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: WILOWAR on April 23, 2017, 04:55:58 AM
Ashura Blaster (World) ashura - graphic glitch found
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 23, 2017, 04:37:55 PM
many many hours later, another Taito F3 bug fixed!  Compare the 2 pictures :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 23, 2017, 11:33:38 PM
LandMaker has text on the "you lose, you win" screen now!  ;p
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 24, 2017, 09:52:52 AM
Problem solved, thanks for your report!

Ashura Blaster (World) ashura - graphic glitch found
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on April 24, 2017, 02:47:15 PM
Great fixes again (although I guess we won't get our hands on them before another 6 months).
I never noticed the missing Land Maker win quotes before. I hope the MAME guys backport it all.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 29, 2017, 08:17:09 AM
Fix news from the last couple days...
Came up with a much better fix for gseeker's missing continue screen, this time it looks more accurate to how the real pcb is.  Now it fades out to a black screen & displays the continue message, when coined back up, it'll fade back up.  I'm happy with that.

Warrior Blade / Rastan III had an issue where the controls would stop responding, and...

Space Raider was missing the animated background and had an issue with some sprites being blocky, those are fixed now.  thanks to Gab75 for finding the last 2.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: WILOWAR on May 02, 2017, 05:10:09 AM
VS Block Breaker (Europe) vblokbrk - graphic glitch found on title screen

Kirameki Star Road kirameki - no sound

Dan-Ku-Ga dankuga - graphic missing

Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on May 02, 2017, 07:33:08 AM
Concerning to Dan-Ku-Ga... the game is a prototype, so (IIRC) the graphics missing should be not a bug, but the outcome of an "unfinished product" !
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 02, 2017, 07:40:15 AM
Vs. Block Breaker does this the first run (when it creates nvram).  Second run it will be OK.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: WILOWAR on May 03, 2017, 10:05:38 AM
Sankokushi (Japan) 3kokushi - graphic glitch on intro found
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: WILOWAR on May 03, 2017, 10:39:39 AM
Super Real Darwin (World) srdarwin - sprite priority problem - dinosaur on left and bottom
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on May 03, 2017, 12:54:26 PM
Sankokushi (Japan) 3kokushi - graphic glitch on intro found

Unfortunately (IIRC) the graphic glitch in the intro is related with a corrupt ROM image, so it's not fixable (a new ROM dump would be needed)...
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on May 04, 2017, 01:07:50 AM
Super Real Darwin (World) srdarwin - sprite priority problem - dinosaur on left and bottom

I tested the MAME version and here the "dinosaur/big lizard" sprite priority is accurate... I also attached a savestate (FBA release) to help the check...
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 06, 2017, 10:36:09 PM
Gab75, thanks for srd state!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 06, 2017, 10:41:06 PM
Megadrive emulation has improved a bit more, thanks to Pityesz for letting me know about this bug.
highlight/shadow needed to be implemented for the 2-cel vscroll tile mode, after that, the Trouble Shooter / Battle Mania intro looks much better...  See the before/after pics:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 06, 2017, 11:25:26 PM
srdarwin lizard fixed :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 10, 2017, 08:42:46 PM
some of my f3 fixes made it into MAME  :biggrin:
https://github.com/mamedev/mame/commit/e103368214bf619ea6806247c29bf15c8682447b

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on May 11, 2017, 03:38:25 AM
not for long.
I wonder what regressions you found, exactly. But I guess you gave the details to dink.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 11, 2017, 07:57:41 AM
quizhuhu is a bit beyond repair, unfortunately.  That one should probably have been left out.  The others are very solid though.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on May 11, 2017, 08:01:39 AM
I wonder what regressions you found, exactly. But I guess you gave the details to dink.
The only thing I saw referenced
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 11, 2017, 08:10:24 AM
The taito bootup logo is missing too.  quizhuhu kludge was more like a crapshoot, at least some text was shown (just like in mame .97)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Barry Harris on May 11, 2017, 08:33:52 AM
Don't expect any consistency to be applied. Games being playable, but emulated completely incorrectly are preferable for MAME, despite the projects supposed intended mission.

This is why FB Alpha is ahead of MAME for CPS-1 bootlegs, even though most of my work has been ported across now.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: WILOWAR on May 16, 2017, 12:16:56 PM
Crossed Swords 2 crswd2bl - occasionally sprite tearing
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 18, 2017, 10:53:24 PM
I always avoided Nitro Ball because I thought it was a ball/sports game.   As it turns out, I was wrong... its really an awesome game sorta like Heavy Barrel!

As Gab75 pointed out the other day, Nitro Ball had some sprite priority issues, those were fixed.   Also translucent/alpha support was enabled.

The last picture shows how things were before the priority fix.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on May 20, 2017, 01:01:46 AM
Excellent work! :)

PS: as dink wrote me, to enable the alpha compositing (translucent) effects it's necessary to set a full 32-bit "color depth" mode...
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 24, 2017, 08:38:35 AM
Recent news from my side..
Dataeast deco16 games all had their prot sims removed, and replaced with propler emulation.  This made it possible to port and play Double Wings without any issues.

Fixed raster effects in Ed Randy / The Cliffhanger, now the road and flying w/clouds scenes look alright :)

Tuned the sprite:tile priority in Nitroball, this leaves all but 2 sprite priority issues left, but that's not bad considering there were about 20 before I started :)  I think the only way to fix the remaining 2 issues is with a silly kludge.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 25, 2017, 07:44:39 AM
Hello everyone, here's some fba-emu news for today:

Fixed lots of timing issues with Data East 16bit games when sound runs at 44100hz, among the improved games: Caveman Ninja, Robocop2, Desert Assault/Thunder Zone.

Fixed a banking issue in Boogie Wings, some pcm sounds (f.ex: rhythm section in music) were missing.   Along with all the other recent fixes/upgrades, deco16 games are very solid now. 

Lastly, Pitfall II on Sega System 1 was leaving a mess of sprites on the screen during transitions.

That's all for now...

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Trick on May 25, 2017, 10:53:15 PM
Recent news from my side..
Dataeast deco16 games all had their prot sims removed, and replaced with propler emulation.  This made it possible to port and play Double Wings without any issues.

Thanks for adding that dink!.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 26, 2017, 05:36:10 AM
iq_132 did the Double Wings driver, I just ported the protection it needed :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 26, 2017, 06:32:33 PM
A little more progress with Data East's Nitroball - the last sprite:tile priority issue got fixed in Aliens World.  Previously, fixing this one cause priority issues between other sprite:tiles in Ghost Town, in particular the Ghost Town neon sign when the stage starts would be above the player.  It turns out that we have to do things differently depending on the global priority register.  Aliens World sets it to 0x20, and Ghost Town sets it to 0, so we can adjust our sprite:tile priorities depending on this and get both stages perfect :)

So what does this mean?  There is just one small sprite:sprite priority issue left, and it only happens 3 times in the entire game.  If this last one can't be fixed, the game will still be lightyears better than any previous emulation of it.  and if it can be fixed, even better :)   Until next time...

best regards,
- dink

Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on May 26, 2017, 11:44:34 PM
Excellent work! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Trick on May 28, 2017, 03:39:29 AM
iq_132 did the Double Wings driver, I just ported the protection it needed :)

Thanks to both of you!.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 30, 2017, 11:34:05 AM
fix news for today...
"Sound Rate Issues"

Resampler added for Konami K054539 PCM / Sound core, used by Mystic Warriors, Violent Storm, Xexex, Metamorphic Force, Bucky O'Hare and Moo Mesa, G.I. Joe and a few others.  Now the pitch of the music/voices/sfx will stay the same regardless of sound rate is selected.

Quite a few games using the YM2151 suffered from a slow music tempo when the sound rate is set at 44100, or anything but 48000.  This has been fixed for:
Contra, all Jaleco MegaSystem 1 games: St. Dragon, Astyanax, Rod Land etc., and Konami Surprise Attack. 

Calling all FBAlpha fans:
If you can think of other games which suffer a slow tempo, or any other general sound issues, please post info about them here or send me a PM.  ..Of course, any other bug reports are welcome, too. :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: vbt on May 30, 2017, 05:13:53 PM
about them here or send me a PM.  ..Of course, any other bug reports are welcome, too. :)
even better, send bug  fixes to dink ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: pacioso on May 31, 2017, 10:10:08 AM
In Psychic5 explosions when you kill an enemy should be transparent (like in MAME, see attached pics), instead in FBA they are solid color. Also sound in this game should be fixed. Thanks in advance!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on May 31, 2017, 10:18:52 AM
In Psychic5 explosions when you kill an enemy should be transparent (like in MAME, see attached pics), instead in FBA they are solid color. Also sound in this game should be fixed. Thanks in advance!
The explosions are alpha blended. If you set the renderer to a 32/24 bit depth it shows fine.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: pacioso on May 31, 2017, 11:47:38 AM
The explosions are alpha blended. If you set the renderer to a 32/24 bit depth it shows fine.

Thank you for helping! I always use 32 bit depth, so it seems the problem is the DirectX9alt blitter, because with the experimental blitter colors are fine. The same happens with konami games: DirectX9alt blitter with 32bit depth only blue color is shown, experimental blitter with 32bit depth all is fine. Can this be fixed? I prefer the DirectX9alt because of softfx algorithms.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 31, 2017, 06:01:43 PM
pacioso: please send me a pm with your fba*.ini file (in the config subdirectory), I will look into the problem deeper.  On my system the blue is fully transparent with the alt blitter, so I'll need to check w/your ini to see what's going on.
p.s.I'll check into the sounds issues, too, thanks!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 31, 2017, 11:05:28 PM
Psychic 5 gets the dink-treatment :)

x fixed titlescreen effect / glitch
x fixed minor graphic glitch
x improved timing
x fixed music (it was simply an issue of one of the soundchips being too low)
x color glitch on the cut-scenes

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: pacioso on June 01, 2017, 04:33:49 AM
Thank you Dink for the Psychic5's fixing and helpful attitude! :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on June 01, 2017, 09:09:22 AM
You're welcome!

To recap what I said via PM: some shaders only work on 16bit video, like xBR which you had selected - so it puts the video into 16bit mode when enabled.    Another thing I just noticed - the 16bit forced option from the enhanced blitter actually affects the Alt. blitter, and the Alt. Blitter doesn't even have this option - so you'll temporarily have to switch to the Enhanced blitter, select blitter options -> advanced options -> uncheck "force 16bit mode", then go back to the directx9 alt. blitter.  Maybe we'll add that option to all the blitters so switching around isn't necessary :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on June 01, 2017, 09:38:25 AM
YM2151 Users Manual pdf, reprocessed edition by gab75 & dink.  Original scans by Neill Corlett
sendspace link: https://www.sendspace.com/file/05a70j
zippyshare link: http://www25.zippyshare.com/v/6BLYSlCc/file.html

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: pacioso on June 01, 2017, 01:23:47 PM
You're welcome!

To recap what I said via PM: some shaders only work on 16bit video, like xBR which you had selected - so it puts the video into 16bit mode when enabled.    Another thing I just noticed - the 16bit forced option from the enhanced blitter actually affects the Alt. blitter, and the Alt. Blitter doesn't even have this option - so you'll temporarily have to switch to the Enhanced blitter, select blitter options -> advanced options -> uncheck "force 16bit mode", then go back to the directx9 alt. blitter.  Maybe we'll add that option to all the blitters so switching around isn't necessary :)

best regards,
- dink

Clear! Thanks again :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: pacioso on June 05, 2017, 04:46:14 PM
You're welcome!

To recap what I said via PM: some shaders only work on 16bit video, like xBR which you had selected - so it puts the video into 16bit mode when enabled.    Another thing I just noticed - the 16bit forced option from the enhanced blitter actually affects the Alt. blitter, and the Alt. Blitter doesn't even have this option - so you'll temporarily have to switch to the Enhanced blitter, select blitter options -> advanced options -> uncheck "force 16bit mode", then go back to the directx9 alt. blitter.  Maybe we'll add that option to all the blitters so switching around isn't necessary :)

best regards,
- dink

Would'n xBRZ (instead of xBR) solve the problem? In MAMEplus xBRZ works in 32bit mode without excluding alpha blending.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on June 17, 2017, 08:52:31 AM
Incase anyone has been wondering why I'd been so quiet lately - I've been working hard finishing up the Namco system 2 driver.  It's finally done.  What a relief :)
Tally: iq_132 spent about 3 weeks writing the initial driver, dink spent about 3 weeks finishing it.  I think this one somehow took longer than the initial F3 code.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on June 17, 2017, 03:28:51 PM
Thanks guys... outstanding work! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on June 28, 2017, 12:30:09 AM
news...
I think Namco System 2 is finally done.  I mean - I hope it's done :)  There are few people who know how much time I put into perfecting this one, so.. fingers crossed..

Games using a random number generator will now work properly with states/input recordings. (Centipede, Millipede, everything in Namco S2, and a few others...)

bye for now,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 02, 2017, 08:38:27 AM
Shaved 4 seconds of the f6/gamelist window.  (in 2.999ghz compy-p4 time)

Very happy about this!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on July 02, 2017, 09:47:56 AM
Shaved 4 seconds of the f6/gamelist window.  (in 2.999ghz compy-p4 time)

Very happy about this!

Excellent work! :)

On my old laptop I5-2430M it's about three times faster! From 2.5-3 seconds to less than a second!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 07, 2017, 09:31:36 AM
Here's a little video showing off my recent work on Mystic Warriors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Qyb2QrVaLs

There are still a few emulation-related glitches, but they are almost unnoticable compared to how it used to be..

Check out how awesome that intro/title screen scene is now!  <3
Also, the cargo-plane scene where you fly atop the green plane into the back of the cargo plane is perfect.  At first, this was the only part I was aiming to fix.

As a bonus, its a 1cc/longplay recorded without using any states or cheats.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 19, 2017, 11:52:23 PM
dink's news & stuff:

One of the last issues with Megadrive has been quenched tonight.  I created a new soundchip for FBA called MD2612, which is a high quality ym2612 emulation based on eke-eke's gensplus-gx ym2612 core, which is based on the original MAME fm core.  It would have never been possible to backport the changes from eke-eke's gensplus-gx ym2612 core to ours, so the new one was created.  Also, the old one will be left alone for the time being.  This new core is running at the Megadrive's ym2612 native 53267hz (NTSC) and interpolatively resampled to your soundrate.

Good things noticed so far:
Mega Turrican's intro song is perfect(!)
Streets of Rage 2 "Punch & Jump" sfx fixed.

bye for now,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Combone on July 20, 2017, 12:27:36 AM
dink's news & stuff:

One of the last issues with Megadrive has been quenched tonight.  I created a new soundchip for FBA called MD2612, which is a high quality ym2612 emulation based on eke-eke's gensplus-gx ym2612 core, which is based on the original MAME fm core.  It would have never been possible to backport the changes from eke-eke's gensplus-gx ym2612 core to ours, so the new one was created.  Also, the old one will be left alone for the time being.  This new core is running at the Megadrive's ym2612 native 53267hz (NTSC) and interpolatively resampled to your soundrate.

Good things noticed so far:
Mega Turrican's intro song is perfect(!)
Streets of Rage 2 "Punch & Jump" sfx fixed.

bye for now,
- dink

Amazing News  :smilie: Congratulations dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 10, 2017, 09:17:32 AM
Over the past couple days I'd been investigating a problem with games flagged BDF_16BIT_ONLY.  This includes Megadrive, Cave (not PGM Cave), CPS3.. So, when a game is paused and a mode change happens, such as going from windowed to fullscreen or back again, the screen would be blank.  It's a bug that's been illusive and bothered me for years..
It turns out the reason for this issue is nastier than I thought - If you're not @ 16bpp native, these systems will render +1 frame behind emulation.  Ouch.  :redface:  But.. its fixed now.  Any projects using FBAlpha as a core will have to c&p 2 lines of code from one of our default video cores (video/win32/vid_d3d.cpp:vidFrame()) to their core @ the next release. (unless something changes).

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: jan_klaassen on August 10, 2017, 02:34:04 PM
You're right about the delay, it's about time to get rid of that.

However, using 3d hardware gets you the conversion from 15/16bit to 32bit for free, so you shouldn't be using any software conversion inside fba in that case -- it should only be used for the ddraw blitter (or when software gamma correction is enabled).
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 21, 2017, 06:36:53 PM
While I was fixing more issues and improving the Megadrive emulation core,  Combone added a bunch of nice Sonic mods/hacks.  One of them in particular that stands out is Sonic Classic Heroes.  You start by controlling Sonic, and your 2 pals Tails and Knuckles follow along, and at any time you can switch between the other 2 characters - that's right - the game has double-AI and in-game character selector :)
I found a bunch of nice homebrew and demoscene stuff to add, also, including Monster World IV English, Mega Cheril Perils by the Mojon Twins, the new Maiaka demo from Resistance rel'd at Evoke 2017 a few days ago, Alex Kidd 2 for SMS final - we had a few requests for this over the past year and a half, but it was still in beta so I didn't add it.  Luckily MAME's git history reminded me that the final had been released ;)  Some piccy's:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: robsons2007 on August 22, 2017, 11:19:29 AM
While I was fixing more issues and improving the Megadrive emulation core,  Combone added a bunch of nice Sonic mods/hacks.  One of them in particular that stands out is Sonic Classic Heroes.  You start by controlling Sonic, and your 2 pals Tails and Knuckles follow along, and at any time you can switch between the other 2 characters - that's right - the game has double-AI and in-game character selector :)
I found a bunch of nice homebrew and demoscene stuff to add, also, including Monster World IV English, Mega Cheril Perils by the Mojon Twins, the new Maiaka demo from Resistance rel'd at Evoke 2017 a few days ago, Alex Kidd 2 for SMS final - we had a few requests for this over the past year and a half, but it was still in beta so I didn't add it.  Luckily MAME's git history reminded me that the final had been released ;)  Some piccy's:

Excellent work as always  dink :biggrin: :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on August 22, 2017, 01:31:08 PM
By the way, i think there are some big endian issues with system 16 and megadrive drivers in fba (those games doesn't seem to work properly on ps3's libretro-fbalpha). If anyone got information on how to fix those (perhaps gamez fan if he still working on its xbox360 port ?), i would be interested.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on August 22, 2017, 01:55:30 PM
By the way, i think there are some big endian issues with system 16 and megadrive drivers in fba (those games doesn't seem to work properly on ps3's libretro-fbalpha). If anyone got information on how to fix those (perhaps gamez fan if he still working on its xbox360 port ?), i would be interested.
The original Xbox is x86. Not going to be much help for arm endianness unfortunately.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on August 22, 2017, 02:01:04 PM
The original Xbox is x86. Not going to be much help for arm endianness unfortunately.
Both ps3 and xbox360 are supposed to share the same kind of cpu (a PowerPC big endian). The original xbox is indeed x86, but i thought gamez fan wrote a xbox360 port ?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on August 22, 2017, 03:02:34 PM
Both ps3 and xbox360 are supposed to share the same kind of cpu (a PowerPC big endian). The original xbox is indeed x86, but i thought gamez fan wrote a xbox360 port ?
Nope, that's Lantus (iirc). Gamzefan maintains the FBA port to OG Xbox.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on August 22, 2017, 03:25:32 PM
Nope, that's Lantus (iirc). Gamzefan maintains the FBA port to OG Xbox.
Thanks for the information, it allowed me to find a repository of this port on github :).
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 22, 2017, 07:00:41 PM
Thanks to Gab75, Konami's '88 Games archery level is now playable. 

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on August 23, 2017, 04:58:47 AM
Thanks to Gab75, Konami's '88 Games archery level is now playable. 

Thanks to you for the fix! :)

Hereunder two snapshots before the fix... as you can see, the archery level was unplayable...
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dma on August 31, 2017, 01:22:11 PM
I hope it's the good place to post this.
It seems that Special Criminal Investigation doesn't progressively turn left on analog steering control (when it does correctly to the right). It only turns left on full left.
Steering control working fine in Top Speed, Chase HQ, and Super Chase Criminal Termination (some other Taito driving titles).
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 31, 2017, 06:30:01 PM
I hope it's the good place to post this.
It seems that Special Criminal Investigation doesn't progressively turn left on analog steering control (when it does correctly to the right). It only turns left on full left.
Steering control working fine in Top Speed, Chase HQ, and Super Chase Criminal Termination (some other Taito driving titles).

Nice find! thanks for the bugreport :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on September 01, 2017, 05:08:34 PM
The priority issue of countdown signs is solved (1000 Miglia: Great 1000 Miles Rally, parent and clones ROMs)... a big thanks to dink! :)

Hereunder some explanatory snapshots...
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 14, 2017, 11:59:12 PM
Some misc fixes from the past couple days:
Time Pilot '84: fixed some bad/distorted sounds
Wonder Boy in Monster Land: graphics corruption in 2player mode, coinage issues
Fixed leaks in dynhuff compression, which is used for input/replay recordings
Sync'd autofire to the frame#.  There are certain games [which I forgot atm, d'oh!] where the autofire acts differently depending on when you load a savestate, its funny when it happens, and this will hopefully prevent that from happening.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 18, 2017, 12:04:30 AM
more fix news:
a: fixed illegal inst. crash in arbalester if playing w/keyboard and opposite directions simultaneously pressed.
b: fixed distorted sounds in time pilot, tutanham and commando sega
c: integrated iq_132's wrally2 code into the gaelco2 driver & added a nice single-screen mode
d: fixed v-scrolling in sega system e driver, vbt says he'll add the rest of the games now :)
e: added single screen mode to Data East's Backfire, changeable via dips.  Service mode now accessible via F2 instead of dips.

dink's recommended game of the week, platform gaming awesomeness at its best:
New Adventure Island on Turbogfx-16 (tg_advislnd)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 16, 2017, 12:30:22 AM
Hi friends of FBA!  2 small modifications to the search box in the game lister have been made:
1: the search text will stay there between game loads, so playing all games on a certain system is now a lot more fun.
2: search has been made slightly more flexible, now one can search for "namco system 1" to bring up all Namco System 1 games.  Previously only "namco" or "system 1" worked, but that would either bring up every game by namco -or- all "system 1" games, including Sega System 1.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 25, 2017, 12:45:52 AM
dink's fbalpha fixnews:
1: rewrite the paddle code in Bomb Bee, Gee Bee and CutiqQ.  Now these games play quite nicely :)
2: increase the volume for taitof3 games
3: fixed the savestates when playing Phoenix - the music would sometimes break.
4: Madgear/Led Storm: Fixed a couple color & transparency issues - it went unnoticed because the issues didn't start until level 3+.  oops!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 26, 2017, 12:12:44 AM
Next day...  "Still working on the Led Storm/MadGear/Last Duel driver"
part 1: graphics problems in Last Duel
Fixed a couple bugs which made the game unplayable past level 1:  The track would almost completely dissapear when traversing through the part of level 2 where you have to "shoot your way through".  This was fixed by implimenting transmask/group code instead of a simple priority-hack.  The stage 2 boss (and possibly other stages) would disapear as the boss scrolled down the screen, this was caused by incorrect masking of the scroll registers. 
part 2: sfx balancing and cleanup
Balanced out the sfx a bit so that the music can still be heard during heavy shooting and explosions :)

I'm not sure how or why these went broken and unnoticed for so long, but, I'm happy that the games on this classic Capcom hardware are now fully working / playable and fun to play... in our favorite emulator :)

best regards,
- dink

Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on October 26, 2017, 12:37:14 AM
As usual, really good job dink! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Bad Dude on October 26, 2017, 06:20:23 PM
Hi Dink. Nice work with MD, this amazing console, wich is based on arcade, because Sega made MD to be a home arcade. But I miss one of the greatness shut em up of all time, which is The Adventure of Batman and Robin. Is there some plan to emulate this game on the future: Thanks.



Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 26, 2017, 06:44:47 PM
Hi, thanks!
We support this game of course, look for "advbatr" in the search box :)

best regards,
- dink

Hi Dink. Nice work with MD, this amazing console, wich is based on arcade, because Sega made MD to be a home arcade. But I miss one of the greatness shut em up of all time, which is The Adventure of Batman and Robin. Is there some plan to emulate this game on the future: Thanks.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Bad Dude on October 27, 2017, 10:00:43 PM
Hi, thanks!
We support this game of course, look for "advbatr" in the search box :)

best regards,
- dink

I found the game... and man, I just tested the last release of FBA. Just amazing. The best version ever. You guys are doing a great job.  Thank you, my friend.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 29, 2017, 09:27:39 AM
While playing Magic Crystals last night I realized there was a missing sprite framebuffer effect.  This game recently became one of my favorite games, so, something must be done about that!

Notes: the effect happens very fast and is part of an animation, so, the effect might look weird, but when combined with the animation, its great!  Also fixed, but not reflected in the below images were a few tiny issues with this game.  Timing was improved, to fix some rare but ugly single-frame sprite glitches, and proper sprite-tile-sprite priorities were implimented to fix an issue with the player falling off a moving platform.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on October 29, 2017, 03:02:30 PM
@dink nice job on Magical Crystals
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 21, 2017, 09:38:27 AM
So, iq_132 did an amazing job on the deco32 emulation :)
I always heard about Night Slashers, but never played it until it was emulated in FBAlpha.
At first I was kinda bummed out about all of the video bugs, but then this turned into a real
fun project.  Also, it was something to do while the forum was down....
Pics of the new video emulation follow.... If you know Night Slashers, then you know how horribly broken these scenes were in emulation..... until now!

NEW vs. old.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on November 21, 2017, 10:04:05 AM
Excellent work! Now FBA has the best emulated version of Night Slashers! The alpha blended objects are rendered very well ! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Combone on November 23, 2017, 01:09:05 PM
Wonderfull work in Night Slashers :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 25, 2017, 10:33:49 PM
Gab75 & Combone, thanks! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 29, 2017, 10:36:45 PM
Major Title (Irem M72 Hardware) is now working in FBAlpha :)

after / before fix s.shots:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on November 30, 2017, 05:07:18 PM
My comment comes a bit late, but about the 3rd Night Slashers screenshot, I feel like the old guy's portrait should be displayed above the dialogue box (as it used to be). Unfortunately, I have no way to check whether this is really how it's supposed to be...
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 30, 2017, 06:23:31 PM
My comment comes a bit late, but about the 3rd Night Slashers screenshot, I feel like the old guy's portrait should be displayed above the dialogue box (as it used to be). Unfortunately, I have no way to check whether this is really how it's supposed to be...

I thought so too, and thats how I had originally had it... but, after watching some recordings from PCB - the way it's displayed now is correct.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on November 30, 2017, 06:35:41 PM
Alright, thanks for confirming.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 03, 2017, 12:32:27 AM
I have some more good news to announce, it's something that I wished was fixed since Moo Mesa, Bucky O'Hare & Mystic Warriors / Violent Storm was first emulated in FBAlpha. (.32!)  If you've played these games theres no doubt you've noticed the clicks that play audibly whenever certain sfx or voices play in these games...which can be super annoying especially if you're playing with headphones.  Well, after a couple days of messing around / trying different things I finally conjured up a perfect fix for all of the clicks in the K054539 chip.  I tried several times in the past to get it right, but with little luck - so I'm really happy about this :)   So, with the next version of FBAlpha you'll not only be able to play Moo Mesa to the end without crap covering the endboss scene, you'll also get click free sound..  both for the first time, in any emulator.   Oh yea! \o/

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: hursit on December 03, 2017, 06:37:59 AM
I have some more good news to announce, it's something that I wished was fixed since Moo Mesa, Bucky O'Hare & Mystic Warriors / Violent Storm was first emulated in FBAlpha. (.32!)  If you've played these games theres no doubt you've noticed the clicks that play audibly whenever certain sfx or voices play in these games...which can be super annoying especially if you're playing with headphones.  Well, after a couple days of messing around / trying different things I finally conjured up a perfect fix for all of the clicks in the K054539 chip.  I tried several times in the past to get it right, but with little luck - so I'm really happy about this :)   So, with the next version of FBAlpha you'll not only be able to play Moo Mesa to the end without crap covering the endboss scene, you'll also get click free sound..  both for the first time, in any emulator.   Oh yea! \o/

best regards,
- dink

That is the great info.
So, in the mame there is some graphical glitches and some problems. Especially with Bucky. Can we say FBA is emulated these games %100 perfectly with this latest sound fix ?

Thanks...
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 03, 2017, 08:48:47 AM
That is the great info.
So, in the mame there is some graphical glitches and some problems. Especially with Bucky. Can we say FBA is emulated these games %100 perfectly with this latest sound fix ?

Thanks...

I really only worked on the video issues in Moo Mesa, could you give me some examples of graphics glitches in Bucky, so I can check them out? (screenshots are preferrable)  I was really only aware of the occasional lines in the expanded/zoom sprites. 

thanks,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: hursit on December 03, 2017, 04:17:37 PM
I really only worked on the video issues in Moo Mesa, could you give me some examples of graphics glitches in Bucky, so I can check them out? (screenshots are preferrable)  I was really only aware of the occasional lines in the expanded/zoom sprites. 

thanks,
- dink

Hello
There is a problem in the main intro. The logo is showing up but when it will disable there is a small problem in MAME. But there is not in FBA.I couldn't catch it well but when you test it you can see.

https://i.hizliresim.com/8NRX4a.png (https://i.hizliresim.com/8NRX4a.png)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 03, 2017, 08:46:48 PM
Hi hursit,
Here's a quick test-video to show how it looks in the current development version of FBA:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTts_20nuvg
At first when I enabled the alpha blending for bucky, we had the same problem as MAME (seen in your picture below), but after a little debugging I found that the alpha layer needs to be displayed after the sprites under a certain priority condition, and this made the blending/fades look really smooth without any empty space behind the title logo :)

best regards,
- dink

Hello
There is a problem in the main intro. The logo is showing up but when it will disable there is a small problem in MAME. But there is not in FBA.I couldn't catch it well but when you test it you can see.

https://i.hizliresim.com/8NRX4a.png (https://i.hizliresim.com/8NRX4a.png)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on December 04, 2017, 01:41:26 AM
Nice work :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: hursit on December 05, 2017, 05:21:54 AM
Hi hursit,
Here's a quick test-video to show how it looks in the current development version of FBA:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTts_20nuvg
At first when I enabled the alpha blending for bucky, we had the same problem as MAME (seen in your picture below), but after a little debugging I found that the alpha layer needs to be displayed after the sprites under a certain priority condition, and this made the blending/fades look really smooth without any empty space behind the title logo :)

best regards,
- dink

Wow it is great now. Thanks..
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on December 05, 2017, 03:08:14 PM
@dink: you are the "alpha blending emulation" magician! ;)

... a little O.T. : I remember my "SEGA Saturn" days (about 21-22 years ago), the hardware management of translucencies (alpha blending effects) was very limited... IIRC the Saturn can only manage the alpha channel between the layers... in few words, all sprites/polygons are generated in the same layer, so they can be translucent with other layers (e.g. with the background layer/s), but they can't be translucent among them (in a 3D object this is a big limitation)...
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 07, 2017, 07:38:01 AM
Here's a full game of Moo Mesa w/new video & sound fixes.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGxklWxgztk [2nd try/60fps video]

There are 3 remaining emulation glitches left in this game, 100 points for finding them.  150 points if you can find one that I didn't notice yet :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 07, 2017, 11:05:33 AM
hursit, I'm afraid all of those you listed are just a side effect of playing video at 30fps.  The video is recorded at 60fps, and to get a flashing effect, the game turns off the sprite every other frame.  When youtube plays a 60fps video at 30fps, it basically plays every other frame, so sometimes you will get only the frames with the off sprites when they're flashing.  To see any of the issues I've noticed you'll have to play it at 720p / 60fps. :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: hursit on December 07, 2017, 04:21:27 PM
hursit, I'm afraid all of those you listed are just a side effect of playing video at 30fps.  The video is recorded at 60fps, and to get a flashing effect, the game turns off the sprite every other frame.  When youtube plays a 60fps video at 30fps, it basically plays every other frame, so sometimes you will get only the frames with the off sprites when they're flashing.  To see any of the issues I've noticed you'll have to play it at 720p / 60fps. :)

best regards,
- dink

opps. Im so so sorry  :redface:  :eek:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 15, 2017, 06:32:15 PM
Added Weka Invaders to FBAlpha, big thanks to Disjointed Studio for releasing this quality game for free on the Sega MasterSystem!  http://disjointedstudio.blogspot.it/2017/12/weka-invaders-is-here.html

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: WILOWAR on December 19, 2017, 01:11:38 PM
Air Duel (World m82 a-a+ m82 b-a), airduel - Empty Pixel Line on mother tank:

Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 19, 2017, 07:11:10 PM
Thanks WILOWAR, the problem is fixed and will be available in the next version of FBAlpha.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: WILOWAR on December 23, 2017, 01:19:15 PM
Arbalester (arbalest)- game crash after star and I have got this error message on black screen:

Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on December 23, 2017, 02:44:25 PM
Arbalester (arbalest)- game crash after star and I have got this error message on black screen:

Arbalester should work properly... first make sure to use a correct ROMset, then try to delete the related config files in "*/config/games" folder (arbalest.fs and arbalest.ini)...
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 23, 2017, 06:22:43 PM
Arbalester fix will be available in the next release of FBAlpha :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: WILOWAR on December 25, 2017, 06:54:26 AM
VS Gong Fight  vsgongf - Player 1 sprite missing:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: WILOWAR on December 25, 2017, 07:00:00 AM
Martial Champion (ver. UAD) mtlchampu1 - sprite priority problem
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 25, 2017, 08:44:25 AM
Thanks WILOWAR,
Unfortunately VS Gong fight is not a bug, but a missing sprite data for player 1 :(

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 01, 2018, 06:53:48 PM
Amazing new SMS game by Enrique Ruiz / MIKGAMES.  Awesome boss fights & excellent platform action and also great music and polishing you won't find in most homebrew games.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: thylacine on January 07, 2018, 06:47:04 PM
would heated barrel and Legionnaire be possible on fba now that they work better on mame
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on January 07, 2018, 07:39:24 PM
would heated barrel and Legionnaire be possible on fba now that they work better on mame

Right just wanna say this isn't me under a different ident :D
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: thylacine on January 08, 2018, 01:36:58 AM
I was just asking for you :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: vbt on January 22, 2018, 03:15:13 PM
just to point a bug that can be solved quickly, in black tiger intro the dragon must be behind the mountain.
in order to fix it, just uncomment this :

// Priority masks should be enabled, but I don't see anywhere that they are used?
#define USE_MASKS
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 22, 2018, 06:20:24 PM
just to point a bug that can be solved quickly, in black tiger intro the dragon must be behind the mountain.
in order to fix it, just uncomment this :

// Priority masks should be enabled, but I don't see anywhere that they are used?
#define USE_MASKS

Thanks vbt :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 29, 2018, 08:07:48 AM
news:
1: Ported over Jan's awesome ICS2115 soundcore & fixed issue with beestorm.
2: Started working on BurnFM*Init()'s without need for gettime/streamupdate params, thanks Jan for the excellent idea and exposing the totalcycles & clockrate of the BurnTimer
3: fixed inputs in Bang! (broken since .39 - sorry!)
4: fixed bad clicky sounds in Gaelco 2 soundcore & shared the fix w/MAME
5: added interpolater to Gaelco 2 soundcore, and Namco S2's c140, and Konami's k054539 (moo,bucky,mystwarr,xexex,etc) for seriously awesome sound quality

bye for now,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 29, 2018, 10:17:39 PM
...continued: added proper resampling (cubic interpolation) to ES5505/6 (Taito F3 & SSV).  The amazing music of Grid Seeker and Darius Gaiden sounds even better now.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on January 30, 2018, 01:05:58 AM
Great work! The new high-quality sound resampling techniques are outstanding! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: jan_klaassen on February 01, 2018, 06:42:15 AM
Great work! The new high-quality sound resampling techniques are outstanding! :)

Thre's nothing new about the interpolator itself, that was contributed forever ago.  But incorporating it in more places is certainly a very good thing. Takes work though, and will take lots more work to do across all sound cores. (but the ics2115 core serves as a nice example of just how big a difference it can make when you don't ignore the mathematical or physics principles at play, and there will be more as Dink progresses.)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on February 01, 2018, 01:03:17 PM
In this case we can say: "the mathematics (and the physics too) is not an opinion!" :P :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: WILOWAR on February 03, 2018, 01:54:24 PM
Magical Chase - tg_magchase - empty pixel line
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: WILOWAR on February 03, 2018, 01:56:17 PM
Popeye no Beach Volleyball (Jpn) - gg_popeye - screen disorder-
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 05, 2018, 08:01:35 AM
Thanks for the reports, WILOWAR :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 05, 2018, 08:14:27 AM
General fba-news / in the works:
The original Mario Bros. game now has fully implimented sound, and some general driver tweaks to make this game as great as it can be.

We (Barbudreadmon, dink) did some more work on 32/64bit state compatibility, hopefully now the last of the issues are sorted!

iq_132 did a major revamp to the ay8910 interface, making this soundcore a lot easier and nicer to deal with.

JacKc is doing a great job keeping things up-to-date :)

bye for now,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: robsons2007 on February 05, 2018, 09:58:42 AM
General fba-news / in the works:
The original Mario Bros. game now has fully implimented sound, and some general driver tweaks to make this game as great as it can be.

We (Barbudreadmon, dink) did some more work on 32/64bit state compatibility, hopefully now the last of the issues are sorted!

iq_132 did a major revamp to the ay8910 interface, making this soundcore a lot easier and nicer to deal with.

JacKc is doing a great job keeping things up-to-date :)

bye for now,
- dink


good work from dev team as always fba.

super mario (snes) or (megadrive) ,dink?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on February 05, 2018, 10:12:17 AM

good work from dev team as always fba.

super mario (snes) or (megadrive) ,dink?
Arcade! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on February 05, 2018, 10:14:29 AM
super mario (snes) or (megadrive) ,dink?

You made a mistake... dink refers to Mario Bros (watch the snapshots) ! :)

PS: "Super Mario Bros" is a NES game, not a SNES or a Mega Drive game! ;)
Super Nintendo => Super Mario World
Mega Drive => only unofficial hacks
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: robsons2007 on February 05, 2018, 10:25:16 AM
You made a mistake... dink refers to Mario Bros (watch the snapshots) ! :)

PS: "Super Mario Bros" is a NES game, not a SNES or a Mega Drive game! ;)
Super Nintendo => Super Mario World
Mega Drive => only unofficial hacks

Thank you for explaining, my friends.
very good.
 :smilie: :biggrin:

Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Bad Dude on February 05, 2018, 03:05:34 PM
Thank you for explaining, my friends.
very good.
 :smilie: :biggrin:

There is also an arcade machine with NES games, called PlayChoice-10, with Super Mario Bros, but not emulated in FBA.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on February 05, 2018, 03:12:53 PM
General fba-news / in the works:
The original Mario Bros. game now has fully implimented sound, and some general driver tweaks to make this game as great as it can be.

Lovely work and thankyou!!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 11, 2018, 08:27:40 AM
what's happening:
Fixed up the audio in Donkey Kong a bit, mostly to get rid of the clicks that happen between decaying notes (added a simple attack mode), improves sound quite a bit!

re-did the audio mixing in Gyruss so things are a bit louder, fixed a few small bugs

Added states support to irem m90

Fixed video offsets in turbo force (line on left side)

bye for now,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 22, 2018, 10:15:47 PM
Hi guys, we have been very busy making FBAlpha the best.  I think we're due for a new release sometime soon.... maybe ;)

Some stuff worked on lately:
First, this was a joint-effort between me and iq_132.  Several soundchips need
driver-level support-code, between 1/2 and 1 page (or more on huge drivers) is
needed to set up the FM and AY8910 chips.  iq_132 did the AY8910 and I worked on
the FM chips, removing the need to set up buffers for the 8910 and the 2 callback
functions per cpu-rate (*GetTime/StreamPos) for the FM chips.  Of course, now the
soundcores handle this stuff internally and we happily removed the support code from
all of the drivers. 

Sound chip ymf278b, used by Psikyo/Metro/Fuukifg3 & LordofGun now runs at the correct hw rate
of 44100hz and uses cubic interpolation resampling to playback at the user-selected rate.

Slight improvement of timers in YM2151 fix the tempo fluxuations in Rohga's attract music, and sometimes in Caveman Ninja.

With the excellent help of barbudreadmon from libretro-fbalpha, I added Sega TeamPlayer
support to the Megadrive driver, giving several games more than 2 player ability. (Gauntlet 4, Columns 3, International Superstar Soccer Deluxe, Mega Bomberman, Street Racer, MK3, and a few others)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Combone on February 22, 2018, 10:56:54 PM
Hi guys, we have been very busy making FBAlpha the best.  I think we're due for a new release sometime soon.... maybe ;)

Some stuff worked on lately:
First, this was a joint-effort between me and iq_132.  Several soundchips need
driver-level support-code, between 1/2 and 1 page (or more on huge drivers) is
needed to set up the FM and AY8910 chips.  iq_132 did the AY8910 and I worked on
the FM chips, removing the need to set up buffers for the 8910 and the 2 callback
functions per cpu-rate (*GetTime/StreamPos) for the FM chips.  Of course, now the
soundcores handle this stuff internally and we happily removed the support code from
all of the drivers. 

Sound chip ymf278b, used by Psikyo/Metro/Fuukifg3 & LordofGun now runs at the correct hw rate
of 44100hz and uses cubic interpolation resampling to playback at the user-selected rate.

Slight improvement of timers in YM2151 fix the tempo fluxuations in Rohga's attract music, and sometimes in Caveman Ninja.

With the excellent help of barbudreadmon from libretro-fbalpha, I added Sega TeamPlayer
support to the Megadrive driver, giving several games more than 2 player ability. (Gauntlet 4, Columns 3, International Superstar Soccer Deluxe, Mega Bomberman, Street Racer, MK3, and a few others)

best regards,
- dink

Amazing News :) 4 Players very fun.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 26, 2018, 07:07:33 PM
More dink's fba news:

super mega megadrive re-vamp version 11.0.0.5.3.1:
  x emulate EA 4Way Play, add 4player ability to 4-way games not supported by the sega teamplayer adapter
  x re-do the SRam handling, it never really worked right, so it's time to fix that :)

irem m90 system (bomberman, bomberman world, risky challenge, match-it 2, etc..)
  x fix a bunch more video bugs, all games seem to run great now, including pseudo-raster
effects
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 08, 2018, 07:48:08 AM
more fixnews:
x gyruss: volume levels better, improved timing, fixed issue with holes in Jupiter and occasional flickering line in Neptune.

x labrinth runner/trick trap: fixed ending/credits scene, sprite priorities when going into doors, and the rock wall dragon boss now moves correctly

x ymf278b added proper resampling

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 19, 2018, 12:37:24 AM
fixnews:
death to microstutter!
perfect sync with win7 and near perfect with win10 using D3DKMTWaitForVerticalBlankEvent()
note: run monitor at 60hz or multiples of 60hz for best results

sf2ce was running too slowwwwww

big thanks to RN for working with me over the past several days to get this right.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Barry Harris on March 19, 2018, 05:00:36 AM
fixnews:
death to microstutter!
perfect sync with win7 and near perfect with win10 using D3DKMTWaitForVerticalBlankEvent()
note: run monitor at 60hz or multiples of 60hz for best results

sf2ce was running too slowwwwww

big thanks to RN for working with me over the past several days to get this right.

best regards,
- dink

sf2ce needs to be reverted. We don't emulate M68K wait states and the CPU running slow was deliberate and compared with PCB to get similar timings.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 19, 2018, 08:29:20 AM
sf2ce needs to be reverted. We don't emulate M68K wait states and the CPU running slow was deliberate and compared with PCB to get similar timings.

I think that's wrong, try this: 
open a mame window with sf2ce, open a fba window with sf2ce. reset both at the same time with f3.
fba's sf2ce runs slow and crappy lagging behind at 7mhz, mame runs perfect.
Also, our version at 12mhz runs comparible to pcb videos at 12mhz.  at 7mhz its nowhere near pcb, in videos. (there's many on yt..)

at 12mhz:
fba and mame run exactly the same, with the exact same timing.

If you can make sf2ce run as good as mame at 7mhz, no problem, otherwise its needed.  That 7mhz might have been needed back when we had an ancient m68k core, but now its fine.


best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Barry Harris on March 19, 2018, 09:21:36 AM
I think that's wrong, try this: 
open a mame window with sf2ce, open a fba window with sf2ce. reset both at the same time with f3.
fba's sf2ce runs slow and crappy lagging behind at 7mhz, mame runs perfect.
Also, our version at 12mhz runs comparible to pcb videos at 12mhz.  at 7mhz its nowhere near pcb, in videos. (there's many on yt..)

at 12mhz:
fba and mame run exactly the same, with the exact same timing.

If you can make sf2ce run as good as mame at 7mhz, no problem, otherwise its needed.  That 7mhz might have been needed back when we had an ancient m68k core, but now its fine.


best regards,
- dink

Try sf2hf - it's unplayable at 12MHz. No version of M68K supports wait states.....

See this for some discussion - http://mametesters.org/view.php?id=408

sf2ce and hf should actually be running at 8.88MHz (to compensate for the wait states) - no idea where the 7 came from.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 19, 2018, 09:27:12 AM
Try sf2hf - it's unplayable at 12MHz. No version of M68K supports wait states.....

See this for some discussion - http://mametesters.org/view.php?id=408

sf2ce and hf should actually be running at 8.88MHz (to compensate for the wait states) - no idea where the 7 came from.

Thanks, that explains why the tester had a perfect game overclocking the cpu
to 105%.  8.88 sounds just right.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Barry Harris on March 19, 2018, 09:30:07 AM
Thanks, that explains why the tester had a perfect game overclocking the cpu
to 105%.  8.88 sounds just right.

Actually reading some more 8.88 is too fast, that suits CPS-2.

7-8 was measured "accurate" for sf2ce and hf. Set it at 8.....

Quote
Setting the CPU to 65% (which results in arcade perfect speed--remember folks, SF2:HF plays too fast at anything higher than 8 mhz) in SF2: turbo hyper fighting, still does not fix the EEPROM test. Even setting the CPU to 60% (slower than a real machine) has the test run too fast.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 26, 2018, 12:23:52 AM
rainbow islands is now working with real c-chip emulation - yay! :)
(the rest of c-chip games will be hooked up to real c-chip's very soon)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on March 26, 2018, 04:10:57 PM
rainbow islands is now working with real c-chip emulation - yay! :)
(the rest of c-chip games will be hooked up to real c-chip's very soon)

Nice one man, you'll be loving this having wanted Rainbow Island to be perfectly emulated
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: furiadeoso on March 31, 2018, 12:09:19 PM
Hi!
Is there any news of the DCS audio system  (midway games)?

Regards.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on March 31, 2018, 04:18:29 PM
Hi!
Is there any news of the DCS audio system  (midway games)?

Hi furiadeoso,
I don't know for sure, but IIRC Romhack was working on the ADSP2105 core porting and he dropped out of project a while back... maybe in a near or far future the project will be resumed by him or other DEVs.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 31, 2018, 10:07:57 PM
dink's news for fba
x create c-chip device and hook up to all games w/a dumped c-chip
x fix a derp-load of bugs in the upd7810 core which caused issues with bonzeadv
x re-vamped priority system in Taito F2.
   -> fixes all sorts of priority bugs in PuLiRuLa
   -> fixes the cut-scene/story in Liquid Kids
   -> fixes missing moving letters right before the Metal Black titlescreen appears

Happy Hoppy-Bunny day!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: furiadeoso on April 01, 2018, 04:36:46 AM
Hi furiadeoso,
I don't know for sure, but IIRC Romhack was working on the ADSP2105 core porting and he dropped out of project a while back... maybe in a near or far future the project will be resumed by him or other DEVs.
Hopefully. Thanks, Gab75!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on April 01, 2018, 02:24:36 PM
Hopefully. Thanks, Gab75!

You're welcome! :)
Sincerely I don't like much the Mortal Kombat series, but, in any case, the Midway TMS34010 games emulated on FBA would be a great addition! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Fulg0re on April 01, 2018, 02:27:32 PM
I am really addicted to MK Series ... so i really appreciate the MK integration !
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on April 01, 2018, 02:32:21 PM
dink's news for fba
x create c-chip device and hook up to all games w/a dumped c-chip
x fix a derp-load of bugs in the upd7810 core which caused issues with bonzeadv
x re-vamped priority system in Taito F2.
   -> fixes all sorts of priority bugs in PuLiRuLa
   -> fixes the cut-scene/story in Liquid Kids
   -> fixes missing moving letters right before the Metal Black titlescreen appears

Happy Hoppy-Bunny day!


Great work! Now also the Taito F2 emulation is almost perfect!

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you (and to the other DEVs and users) a Happy Easter! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Fulg0re on April 01, 2018, 03:12:13 PM
so will be soon a updated version of FBA announced ?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: furiadeoso on April 08, 2018, 07:50:58 AM
Hi! A good friend is willing to play with Heavy Smash (Data East). It seems to be using DECO156 driver. Is it also included in future updates? Thank you.

Regards.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on April 08, 2018, 08:30:37 AM
Hi! A good friend is willing to play with Heavy Smash (Data East). It seems to be using DECO156 driver. Is it also included in future updates? Thank you.

I guess you got your wish... or perhaps I should say, the next FBA release will accomplish your wish... ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 14, 2018, 08:27:39 AM
About a week ago, iq_132 did a driver for the awesome Konami game Flak Attack / MX5000.
I was quick to find out that this game suffered from severe priority issues, for example, the boss would cover up the bullets it shot out, ground turrets would be over the enemies and bullets, etc.  I thought, this will be an easy fix... right? ....
well, 6 days later, and trying about 20 different ways to go about this problem: 1 area would be fixed, yet the next area would not.  Then I got 2 areas fixed, and found yet another one that didn't work right.   Ouch...
I was ready to give up and just kludge out the sprite code#'s, which really is a horrible and last-ditch-effort to do things, the game will appear correct, but doing it this way doesn't look very nice.. and spending this much time working on something, you want it to be the best...  so I took a good 6-7hour break, and thought about it a bit, came back and tried a few things and finally got it when I separated the sprite draws - 1 for low priority, 1 for high priority sprites...  That did the trick, all of the problematic areas are now perfect!  Why is this a big deal?  The game was first emulated in 1999 w/MAME, and since then it has been broken.  If everything goes well, this fix will also make it into MAME as well as FBAlpha, and arcade enthusiasts will be able to finally enjoy a graphically-perfect game.

Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 20, 2018, 08:33:08 AM
Just some random fixups info:

Heavy Unit: improved the cpu sync a bit, now the attract demos run to their correct spot w/o dieing right away
Double Dribble (upcoming): also improved cpu sync, player dribbles the ball a bit more smoothly
6809/hd6309 cpu cores: removed the ancient busyloop speed hacks, these are totally unnecessary today and are most likely the reason some games using these cpus need even more hacks to run at the right speed.
konami gt/rf2: improved analog controls a bit (revisited)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 04, 2018, 10:16:02 PM
dink's fba-fix news

x Super Hang-On no longer freezes when going to attract mode
x Super Sidekicks / Tokuten Ou & Fatal Fury 2: protection gets disabled on savestate load causing weird issues like frozen controls etc.
x irem m72 dac sound quality improved slightly
x msm6295 could read out of bounds with the cubic interpolater.  thanks barbudreadmon for the *sanitizer report
x fixed crash in the kof2k2 omega hack versions
x raiden 2 sprite issues on arm systems - credits to barbudreadmon for coming up with a fix.  both of us spent way too much time on this one.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on May 04, 2018, 11:18:20 PM
Excellent work dink! Finally also Super Hang-On "bug" is solved ! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 08, 2018, 09:50:37 PM
Gab75: yes, it was quite elusive.. to say the least!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 08, 2018, 09:58:48 PM
Kaillera netgaming improvement:

To make setting up & hosting a game a lot easier: games in your Favorite's list are now added to the top of the Kaillera game list.

Anyone who has done this before knows how painfull it is to scroll through the Kaillera gamelist to find a game to host - especially if the game is very far down the list!  Now, just add the game(s) you want to host to your favorite's list before starting a Kaillera net-game (right click & select Favorite in FBA's game list), and it will be near the top of the list :)

... Coming soon to an FBA near you!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 08, 2018, 10:12:41 PM
I added a Headache Filter (hack/dip option) to Cyvern.  If you're interested, read on...

Cyvern is probably one of the greatest shooters ever made, it's up there with the likes of DonPachi/Anything by Toaplan & Raizing, etc. (of course, this is completely my opinion)
That being said, there is something wrong with it - the game generates some very loud sounds in the mid-upper frequency band.  If you play the game with headphones, especially when doing a 2-ALL run, and you like to play it LOUD, then you're most likely going to end up with a headache before the game is over.  I theorize that the original game/system had a slight filter on the audio output stage, well.. it's probable, anyhow.  A dip option has been added to mimic this theoretical filter, bringing the mid-upper freq's down a bit so that a 2-ALL game will no longer result in a nasty headache. 
Most people won't play the game that long, or that loud with headphones - but for those that do.. there will be an option for you :)

best regards,
- dink

Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: el_rika on May 09, 2018, 08:37:29 AM


Cyvern is probably one of the greatest shooters ever made, it's up there with the likes of DonPachi/Anything by Toaplan & Raizing, etc. (of course, this is completely my opinion)

i think it is amazing as well. When i will have a hardware capable of playing it full speed, i will get into it more seriously.

Can't say i noticed that audio flaw, but any small improvement is welcome  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 10, 2018, 11:38:55 PM
el_rika, Cyvern runs at fullspeed with my 2006-era P4 :)  It doesn't need too much cpu power.  I've seen PC's in the garbage that are more powerful than my pc, so look around.  This game is amazing and must be played :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 10, 2018, 11:49:09 PM
A heavy-barrel of confusion...
I finally figured out the cause of recordings/replays to de-sync with the game Heavy Barrel.  While I was testing some new cpu sync. code w/Hbarrel I noticed that the frame advanced while switching windows.  That's not good - it's supposed to just redraw the screen when Windows(TM) asks a window to re-paint.  Turns out proper redraw support wasn't added to the Dec-0 driver, so the only way it could possibly update is to frame advance - and of course this is going to throw the recording off.  Derp!  Wish I would have noticed this before...  That's fixed now.

Also 2nd player inputs for Snow Bros. 2 have been fixed as well.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: el_rika on May 11, 2018, 04:51:25 PM
el_rika, Cyvern runs at fullspeed with my 2006-era P4 :)  It doesn't need too much cpu power.  I've seen PC's in the garbage that are more powerful than my pc, so look around.  This game is amazing and must be played :)

best regards,
- dink

Ok, so i've tested a bit more of Cyvern (on Android, as i do not currently have any other means to play it  :smilie: ). The game acts very strangely.  In Fba core .39 with the hack ON, the video plays perfectly smooth, while the sound of course randomly cuts. With hack OFF, it plays full speed, with perfectly stable framerate numbers, flawless audio, but slight video stutter. I even overclock my CPU to 2.7 Ghz and no change, same slight stutter in the video.

In Fba core .43, with speed hack ON it has good sound but similar video stutter (a bit more stutter i'd say), while with speed hack OFF, it runs abysmally bad, half the framerate and very bad cracky sound as well. There is something here i think, some form of regression. Maybe someone could test/compare, with numbers.

aedit: as reference, i play CPS3 games, Cave shmups (PGM), perfectly smooth, not a single stutter with underclocked CPU (1.7 Ghz) and plenty room to spare.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 26, 2018, 12:14:11 AM
el_rika, sorry about the late response.  I will do some research and see what has changed on a good day :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 26, 2018, 12:21:38 AM
Double Dragon.
This game has been kinda bugged since before I can remember.....  With the first report coming from my friend Zazzone back in 2014.  Weird slowdowns, flickering sprites, crash at end of game w/2players (I've personally experienced this happen -twice-.  It's heartbreaking.).  eek.   Well, finally some good news: this has all been fixed with a few small changes to lessen contentions caused by the subcpu and main<->sub comm. ram.

Best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Barry Harris on May 26, 2018, 05:23:59 AM
Is it this crash?

If so, it also happens on hardware at random too.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 26, 2018, 11:27:51 PM
Re: ddragon crash at end:
all of the evidence I can find of this is just recordings from mame.
There's one guy that says it happened on a real machine from a recollection that he saw it happen in an arcade once.
Of course, I'm not doubting that guy, perhaps it did crash.  But after the fixes to our driver, I am unable to reproduce the crash any longer (and I've been trying for quite a while today, 1p and 2p games)  Here's a little testvid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1MT_-G2eys

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 30, 2018, 07:38:12 AM
After what was one of the weirest week-long debugging sessions I've ever had, d_raiden2 (raiden2,dx,zeroteam,etc) and d_dynduke are now working on big endian systems.  (wii-u, xbox360, ps, etc)

also, for arcade games only: everything in the "Misc" category which didn't belong there has been properly categorized.  Hopefully someday we'll get the console games categorized, but we'll need computer-usable data for that.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on May 30, 2018, 08:45:39 AM
Nice work!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on May 30, 2018, 01:52:27 PM
also, for arcade games only: everything in the "Misc" category which didn't belong there has been properly categorized.
Nice, thanks!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 30, 2018, 10:02:32 PM
thanks guys! :D
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on May 31, 2018, 01:53:56 AM
After what was one of the weirest week-long debugging sessions I've ever had, d_raiden2 (raiden2,dx,zeroteam,etc) and d_dynduke are now working on big endian systems.  (wii-u, xbox360, ps, etc)
Thanks again ;p.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on June 03, 2018, 08:40:00 AM
On Genre filters and such

1: added 3 new filters - Action (classic), Run 'n Gun and Strategy
Action is basically for classic games that don't fit any regular genre - such as Qbert, Food Fight, Cheeky Mouse, Dock Man, etc.
Run 'n Gun for anything in the style of Contra, Ikari Warriors, Metal Slug
Strategy - well, there's only really 1 arcade strategy game I know of that we support, "Command War" on Taito F3...But there are several in the consoles, so it will be there for when we finally genre-ize them.

2: fixed the genre filters to be inclusive instead of exclusive, this way a game can have more than 1 genre, and the game will show up in each genre's section when the filters are used.  For example, Bump 'n Jump is racing and action.  or the "20th Annaversary MS Pacman/Galaga" can be in both maze and shooter sections.

3: went through every arcade game and verified the genre - this took a couple days...

As a bonus, all the Run 'n Gun games in the Megadrive section got categorized.  I set a goal to have the rest of the console games categorized by 2024.

best regards,
- dink


Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on June 23, 2018, 09:15:36 AM
Wow - I just realized, this thread is at the 99 page mark :) 

Back to fix news:
The New Zealand Story driver: a bunch of games were broken in the last release.  It happened when changing over to the new soundcore w/"less driver helper" code.  Sorry about that.  A few things have been improved in this driver, as well.

While iq_132 was busy emulating a new(-old) game (el fin del tiempo), we had some silly troubles with the soundcpu.  It didn't want to make any sound.  After several days of chasing random things down the rabbit-hole.. and porting over some fixes to the m6800 cpu core, the problem turned out being something really silly - the sound latches weren't being initialized right.  oops.

Silly fix for a bug - possibly in my video driver - or the d3d "enhanced" blitter.  I'm not sure.  If the game is paused then switched to fullscreen w/some resolutions, the screen will be blank.  Although for a split second, the image will be there. 

bye for now,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 01, 2018, 09:57:45 AM
dink's fix/dev news:
Konami's Martial Champion: all gfx bugs fixed
Mystic Warriors: correct a timing issue so the attractmode music fully ends and says "Mystic Warriors!" when it gets to the titlescreen.
All games in the Mystic Warriors driver: F2 to enable service mode
Fixed region dips in some toaplan games (vfive, grindstormer, batsugun, dogyuun)
Fixed freeplay mode in galaga
Sprite offsets in Guts'n so the end-of-levels progress screen is lined up
VS Block Breaker/Saru Kani, graphics issue due to disabled layer's priorities buffer not being cleared
Bump 'n Jump/Burnin' Rubber: make the engine sound louder/more bassy in the PCB (non-decocassette) version
Fixed dips in SideArms Hyperdyne

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 05, 2018, 08:48:26 AM
Dragon Gun
Due to the sheer unfairness of this game, the game didn't get as much testing as it deserved.  A quick trip to the service mode settings and putting the game in Easy mode solves that problem, and it turns out being quite a nice lightgun shooter.
Anyhow, a bunch of video & a game-related issue was fixed:
Ability to fully beat the end boss
Neat masking effect with the fire/dragon as the titlescreen comes in
Raster drawing to stretch the tilemaps (mostly stage 3/water level)
ugly black rectangle in the water as the stage 3 boss approaches & the water splits

There are still a couple minor sprite:sprite priority issues that I can't quite figure out, but they barely affect the gameplay.

best regards,
-dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 18, 2018, 11:08:22 PM
Air Buster driver had an iq_132 vs. dink re-work
iq_132: convert to new tilemap system, clean up driver, nicer memory mapping, etc.
dink: re-write the timing, game now runs at the right speed without any hacks

The FBA fan who requested this below wishes to remain anonymous:  I can't see why ;)
Crazy Kong and Crazy Kong Pt2 are now working.
Sample player hooked up to cclimber, ckong, ckongpt2.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 06, 2018, 12:12:51 AM
Tempest now emulated in FBA!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on August 06, 2018, 12:33:07 AM
The most representative vector game of early 80s is now among the FBA's "troops" ! Excellent work! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 07, 2018, 11:10:01 PM
more news:

Fixed an overflow bug in the mouse handling direct input code. This caused erratic movement in lightgun games when moving the mouse really fast.  This had to be fixed for the next one....

Added an analog paddle/dial with velocity to the burn_gun interface, this makes hooking up dial-type devices (or mouse, analog joystick) quite nice.  Inspired by my Tempest Dial project (TBA).

When I first started to emulate Tempest, I was presented with this silly screen, below.  After a few minutes I realized that I had seen this exact screen before on a broken Tempest machine at a seaside arcade in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in the late 80's.  Memories... :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 11, 2018, 11:12:28 PM
Asteroids and Asteroids Deluxe, a dink and iq_132 endeavor
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on August 12, 2018, 04:30:54 PM
Moreover you added an anti-aliasing vector drawing too... excellent work! ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 22, 2018, 10:13:37 PM
Some great news: Caps0ff successfully dumped Operation Wolf's C-Chip!
With that, I hooked it up to our Operation Wolf and it runs great :)

From the "I need vacation. Hmmm."* department:
Star Wars and Empire Strikes back really played hard to get.  My buddies know how frustrated I was towards the end there with Empire Strikes Back - the game would boot into service mode w/ no errors, but I couldn't get it to boot at all into the game.  I think it was maybe 3 solid days of poking around, and then finally the answer was right in front of me.  I thoroughly played both games later on and then realized it was worth every second.

* bonus points if you can guess where this quote came from :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 29, 2018, 10:03:44 AM
In recent happenings:
Sega G80v is finally done, yay! :)  Lots of work on iq_132 and my behalf to get this one complete and awesome.

Gab75 found some nice bugs, one of them relating to a change made to the tilemap system which had negatively affected Sigma's Submarine.  The other being some offset issues in Konami's Finalizer.  Excellent work!

Maybe I forgot to mention, all of the Taito C-Chip games simulation code has been completely removed now that all of the games using the C-Chip have been dumped.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 25, 2018, 10:07:06 AM
Wow, it's been a while since I posted anything here..

Been working very hard on new drivers w/iq_132, so the normal bugfix/improvement stuff had been on hold, but a couple things got in:
* added a feature/option to bring up the gamelist on launch of fbalpha
* added a hotfix for Sega Mastersystem's Rainbow Islands that causes the ending scene to crash.  This happens on real HW w/cart, too.
* fixed a state problems in upd7759 sound chip, which can cause horrible distortion in games that use it if the state is saved/loaded while its playing something. (altered beast and probably a few other Sega-16 games use this)
* added an analog paddle emulation w/velocity to the burn_gun device, this is good for certain trackball and spinner games.
* fixed several video bugs in pac-land, mostly due to video offsets and flipping
* added service coin button to donkey kong 3 - when held at boot this brings into a service mode
* added a fix for gun positioning issues in laser ghost (fix from mame)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 28, 2018, 08:25:16 AM
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure / CPS3 had some bugs:
I noticed a few gfx-wise bugs in JoJoba, which all stem from the same thing.  Basically the first sprite in the character ram was getting ignored.  D'oh!  Sometimes the bug wouldn't happen, because the first sprite was behind something, but most of the time it would look like...

Before/after pics:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on September 28, 2018, 10:57:41 AM
Sometimes the bug wouldn't happen

Funny thing, i noticed this bug months ago in the libretro port, but wasn't able to reproduce it on standalone, so i thought it was specific to the port...
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 03, 2018, 07:42:42 PM
P2 Hit Counter is fixed in JoJo's Venture / Bizarre Adventure, big thanks to Haze for sharing the fix with us :)

Read about it on Haze's blog @ https://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 05, 2018, 12:35:31 AM
Argus.  A game this legendary deserves a proper title screen.
Video Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Kejc5Y4NFw

after / before piccys:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 08, 2018, 10:30:59 AM
Konami's Devil World HW (twin16) has a nice feature in which sprites can create a shadow by darkening the background layer below it.  The hardware presumably is incapable of shadowing ontop of another sprite.  So, what happens when the background layer is a lake of lava, and the platform is a sprite?   Unfortunately, the shadow looks like darkened lava, which is really ugly. (first pic).

To take care of this issue, I created a new priority tag for background tilemap mode 0 layer 1 (lava):
   TWIN16_BG_DEF_SHADOW   = 0x08  // BG pixel can't be shadowed, use a default shadow  -dink
... and draw the first layer of mode 0 w/that priority.

Then take care of the rest in the shadow handling section of the sprites drawing function:
Code: [Select]
    if (pdest[sx] & TWIN16_BG_DEF_SHADOW)
        dest[sx] = 0x801; // this is the palette index for the default shadow, rgb 0x282828.
    else // normal shadow handling check here

How does it look?
First pic: before - FBA (dev build) and MAME. (it looks much worse when animating)
Second pic: after - note, the small platforms are sprites, and the large platform is the background tilemap.
Third pic: when the platform below the characters is a tilemap.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on October 12, 2018, 09:17:33 AM
@dink nice work!!!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Haze on October 12, 2018, 09:52:45 AM
I think this was an intentional effect in the game to make it look like you're walking on something that's burning hot?

Don't think this is a fix so much as injecting personal preference into the emulation?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 12, 2018, 10:03:55 AM
Re: Devilw: when it animates it looks absolutely horrible, like a gfx bug.   Also watch when the player dies, he comes back as a shadow - it looks even more wrong.   I can see it being right if they were walking on the actual lava, though.  Either way we'll know for sure when a pcb recording surfaces :)  Until then...

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 12, 2018, 10:06:18 AM
FBAlpha finally gets Crystal Castles!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 23, 2018, 07:17:58 PM
Since the we're now working with a public GIT repo, I'll periodically post my current development .exe for win32 here in this thread.
This exe is:
x my personal debug exe, compiled with debug support
x has all the latest features, fixes, drivers, etc on par with the git repo
x not to be confused with a release build - some things may be work-in-progress / unfinished

If you enjoy this stuff, please take the time to report any problems you may have...
here in this forum: http://neo-source.com/index.php?topic=1731.msg12476#msg12476
on the git repository: https://github.com/barry65536/FBAlpha

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on October 24, 2018, 03:28:19 AM
Very nice! Thanks for the more open process. I'm sure it'll increase the quality of the next releases.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 25, 2018, 12:01:24 AM
Stifu, that's the whole plan :)  Thanks :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 25, 2018, 12:23:08 AM
Noticed a bug in the title fade-up in Driftout (Taito F2 hw) the other day, fixed it and forgot about it.  oops :)
Here's a little recording w/ the fix: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lH7ctGzUaCc

This game uses priority of 0 for the roz layer as layer disable.

bonus: this fix made it into my test exe a few messages above, enjoy!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: antiriad on November 17, 2018, 11:46:51 AM
Hey dink,
I've just registered to say a big THANK YOU for that Undercover Cops bug fix!
Irem games are rare nowadays, so M92 emulation needs some love! ;)

Thanks again
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 17, 2018, 09:02:29 PM
Hey dink,
I've just registered to say a big THANK YOU for that Undercover Cops bug fix!
Irem games are rare nowadays, so M72 emulation needs some love! ;)

Thanks again

You're welcome :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 21, 2018, 09:44:18 AM
Good news: development of atari can continue!  Spent the past 2 weeks on a bug that affected nearly every game.  Somehow the solution popped (magically arrived?  who knows) in my head last night during dinner, and after implementing it 3 different ways it ended up working.  yay! :)  Luckily iq_132 was there to witness my nearly 2 weeks of frustration+joy come to an end last night..    :eek:

Now it's back to the simple joys of tweaking timing and hooking up analog inputs.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Ashura-X on November 23, 2018, 07:42:25 AM
Hi folks!

I?m trying to compile from the GIT source using the M2 enviroment for MAME tools but no luck.
How do I do a compile from the GIT repo? Any help please?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Barry Harris on November 23, 2018, 08:25:56 AM
Hi folks!

I?m trying to compile from the GIT source using the M2 enviroment for MAME tools but no luck.
How do I do a compile from the GIT repo? Any help please?

Compiles fine using the MAME tools. Make sure perl and nasm are in your path and compile with;

Code: [Select]
make mingw510
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Ashura-X on November 23, 2018, 09:48:52 AM
Code: [Select]
$ make mingw510
Making debug build...

make[1]: *** No rule to make target 'd_arcadecl.cpp', needed by 'all'.  Pare.
make: *** [makefile:87: mingw510] Error 2

Tried with  make mamemingw also and doesn?t run it?s like failed to creat dirs...

$ make mamemingw
Making debug build...

make[1]: mingw-mkdir: Command not found
make[1]: *** [makefile.mamemingw:642: init] Error 127
make: *** [makefile:90: mamemingw] Error 2

Are you sure if it compile with M2 enviroment or I need old mame tools to do it?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 23, 2018, 09:57:17 AM
make[1]: *** No rule to make target 'd_arcadecl.cpp', needed by 'all'.  Pare.


I broke the makefile yesterday, sorry about that!  please re-get from github and try again.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Ashura-X on November 23, 2018, 10:07:29 AM
LOL ! Ok now it compiling  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Barry Harris on November 23, 2018, 11:04:08 AM
Are you sure if it compile with M2 enviroment or I need old mame tools to do it?

MSYS2 environment is fine - I use it to compile.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Ashura-X on November 23, 2018, 11:13:07 AM
MSYS2 environment is fine - I use it to compile.

Lot of erros when finishing the compilation here....
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Barry Harris on November 23, 2018, 11:21:26 AM
Lot of erros when finishing the compilation here....

What are they?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Ashura-X on November 23, 2018, 11:39:08 AM
What are they?

Sorry for the flood... so lets go:

Code: [Select]
Generating src/dep/generated/ctv.h...
C:/build_tools/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/8.2.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: skipping incompatible C:/build_tools/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/8.2.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/lib\libmingw32.a when searching for -lmingw32
C:/build_tools/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/8.2.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: cannot find -lmingw32
C:/build_tools/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/8.2.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: skipping incompatible C:/build_tools/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/8.2.0\libgcc.a when searching for -lgcc
C:/build_tools/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/8.2.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: cannot find -lgcc
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C:/build_tools/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/8.2.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: skipping incompatible C:/build_tools/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/8.2.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/lib\libmsvcrt.a when searching for -lmsvcrt
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C:/build_tools/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/8.2.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: cannot find -lcomdlg32
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C:/build_tools/msys64/mingw64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/8.2.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: cannot find -ladvapi32
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collect2.exe: error: ld returned 1 exit status
make[1]: *** [makefile.mingw:616: src/dep/generated/ctv.h] Error 1
make: *** [makefile:87: mingw510] Error 2
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Barry Harris on November 23, 2018, 11:57:18 AM
You're compiling with the 64-bit tools. Either use the 32-bit tools or build an "experimental" 64-bit build by editing the makefile and uncomment the BUILD_X64_EXE = 1 line.

Probably better off using the 32-bit tools though.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Ashura-X on November 23, 2018, 12:26:05 PM
You're compiling with the 64-bit tools. Either use the 32-bit tools or build an "experimental" 64-bit build by editing the makefile and uncomment the BUILD_X64_EXE = 1 line.

Probably better off using the 32-bit tools though.

Nahhh when using WIN32 enviroment the NASM issues appears on my PC :(

$ make mingw510
Making debug build...

Generating depend file for src/burner/win32/about.cpp...
Generating depend file for src/burner/win32/resource.rc...
Assembling src/burn/burn_sound_a.asm...
make[1]: nasm: Command not found
make[1]: *** [makefile.mingw:729: burn_sound_a.o] Error 127
make: *** [makefile:87: mingw510] Error 2
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Barry Harris on November 23, 2018, 05:34:28 PM
Like I said at the beginning - you need nasm in your path......
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on November 23, 2018, 06:03:44 PM
I usually just put nasm in mingw/bin
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Ashura-X on November 23, 2018, 07:06:04 PM
Like I said at the beginning - you need nasm in your path......

Ok and where do I got the nasm?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Ashura-X on November 23, 2018, 07:10:19 PM
I am asking permission to all devs here about insert those git builds on my mame compilation web.
Could I do it? Will broke any rule from main FBA project?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on November 23, 2018, 08:12:07 PM
Assuming you aren't hosting roms on your site, I think that'd be great!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Ashura-X on November 23, 2018, 08:28:47 PM
Assuming you aren't hosting roms on your site, I think that'd be great!

Dave old friend you know me for long date. No Roms and my web space is locate at mameworld site.
So do I have the approval from you all?

Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on November 23, 2018, 08:33:29 PM
Dave old friend you know me for long date. No Roms and my web space is locate at mameworld site.
So do I have the approval from you all?


I forgot you were on mameworld! We should meet up on irc sometime.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 23, 2018, 10:19:56 PM
Asura-X: yes, I think it is great if you'd host a current WIP build :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Ashura-X on November 24, 2018, 09:38:51 AM
http://ashura.mameworld.info/nightlybuilds/builds.html

Thx for all hard work from you!
If exists anything wrong on there, please, let me know!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 09, 2018, 07:37:17 PM
Kagesan - the author of Bara Buru and Bruce Lee for SMS - brings another great game to SMS!
Flight of Pigarus v1.0
It bears some resemblance to Zanac.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 10, 2018, 09:14:29 AM
And now, back to my thread.. :)

news:
Midway W-Unit is complete, the working games right now are: rampage world tour, mk3 and umk3.  wwfmania, openice, nbaht rely on upgrades to Romhack's TMS32010 core.

Last night I added the support code to get sound in Mortal Kombat 1 w/ Treble Winner's new T-Unit core.  This driver is moving along nicely.  MK1 seems to play well, but there's still a lot of work yet to be done for the rest of the games.

That's it for now..

best regards,
- dink


Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Vantier on December 23, 2018, 12:45:15 PM
Hi Dink! I've been reading this post for a while and I realized that you fixed the sound problems in Dark seal, the tempo and the "glitches" in music.
I'm posting to asking you if it's possible to fix the tempo one more time, cause now it's slower than the original.
You can check in youtube "dark seal pcb" and see that it match with its OST but it doesn't at all for fba.
It's very annoying that this great music can't be reproduced as it desserves (In Mame the tempo is better but has crackles and low quality sound).
Hope there's an "easy fix". Greetings! and congrats for your work.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 24, 2018, 11:34:59 PM
Vantier, thanks for the info, I'll see what can be done :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 24, 2018, 11:52:13 PM
fba news / aka a problem with psikyosh games (gunbird2, etc) lead to all of this nice stuff below:

couple days ago we got a report about sound being too fast in gunbird2, after fixing the ymf278b sound core to calculate the correct samplerate based on the clock frequency, it totally broke fuukifg3 games.  It turns out we were using a hack in the fuukifg3 games to get the right timing due to lack of a ymf262 core, so the ymf278b was erroneously generating the hacky timing afterwards...  After adding another hack to make the hacky hack work again, I thought that it might be a good idea to just port a ymf262 core & create an interface for it.  This way I could get rid of both hacks, add missing sounds to fuukifg3 games, and even get the soundless tecmosys driver working.  Here's a pseudo-changelog:

x ported and hooked up a ymf262 core to fuukifg3 - fixing some missing sounds in Asura Blade and Asura Buster
x hooked up ymf262 core to tecmosys, now that the soundcpu has an irq source - Deroon and tkdensho have sound. well, unfortunately there are some glitches in the audio.  after some investigation, they are actually coming from the ymz280b chip.

.. after a while ..

x tracked down the problem with the ymz280b - register 1 needs to be able to stop looped samples, but it doesn't.  now tecmosys games have perfect sound! :)

Merry X-mas everyone!
best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on December 25, 2018, 12:18:58 AM
Nice work and merry X-mas :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 25, 2018, 12:53:31 AM
Vantier, using the latest debug exe and the last released version (.43), the sound tempo is nearly spot on with the dark seal pcb video (the one with the Japanese guy).  I mean it almost stays in sync if I play it along with the video.  Can you tell me if its a big difference in tempo you get?  Could you make a recording from your side so I can compare against mine?  (have to start somewhere) :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on December 25, 2018, 01:21:06 AM
I just found this issue in dark seal, all pictures are truncated in the intro :
(https://i.ibb.co/wp99PMm/darkseal-181225-071936.png) (https://ibb.co/3SDDjBZ)

It shouldn't be the case from what i'm seeing there : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2cwWIInp1w
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 26, 2018, 01:12:42 AM
thanks barbudreadmon!
(fix on git tomorrow morning, its too late for review)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Vantier on December 26, 2018, 06:54:05 PM
Hi Dink! sorry for the delay, these holidays are being crazy.
I've prepared you a rar with the differences in tempo betwen the original pcb from our korean friends and my fba. I'm using de last release (.43).
The pcb is at 60 beat per minute, the same for its original sound track. The fba version is at 55. If you are used to the game you'll notice that is something wrong with the rhythm.
Note: For the comparison I used a metronome and I integrated it.

Merry Christmas to all!

https://mega.nz/#!fAlyUIib!vqN45uc14N7_3IroluUYZK7TBfQM0LnBQvpahIoM-ws
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 29, 2018, 10:49:24 PM
Vantier, thanks for the recordings - I got the tempo pretty close to the pcb recording.  Please try this test-exe and let me know what you think:
https://www.sendspace.com/file/fp7jnm

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 29, 2018, 11:08:34 PM
And now, for a bit of sad news:
compy-p4 never gave up the good fight.  [insert some nice things to say about compy-p4 here] but, as all good things must come to an end, life support was removed thursday @ 7:34pm EST.  no more shall he endure the pain of full rebuilds (*ahem*.. Treblewinner...)

long live compy-p4!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Vantier on December 30, 2018, 10:25:59 AM
First of all, thanks for the efforts on this subjet, Dink
I've just test the debug exe you uploaded and it's still slower than the original :/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WzahQBA1RE&t=143s
Check this from 4:11. Compare that part where beats are more recognizable with the one you built.
Very Thank you, pal. 
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 30, 2018, 10:46:38 AM
First of all, thanks for the efforts on this subjet, Dink
I've just test the debug exe you uploaded and it's still slower than the original :/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WzahQBA1RE&t=143s
Check this from 4:11. Compare that part where beats are more recognizable with the one you built.
Very Thank you, pal.

Can you please tell me how to get something to count the bpm, because I personally can't perceive the tempo differences.
also can you try setting your audio rate(hz) to 48000 in fbalpha, and see if that helps at all?

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Vantier on December 30, 2018, 01:19:09 PM
Can you please tell me how to get something to count the bpm, because I personally can't perceive the tempo differences.
also can you try setting your audio rate(hz) to 48000 in fbalpha, and see if that helps at all?

best regards,
- dink
Yes, that help. Now with 48000hz in fba settings sound exactly the same as the pcb.
Thanks a lot. Keep up the good work!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 30, 2018, 06:40:19 PM
Yes, that help. Now with 48000hz in fba settings sound exactly the same as the pcb.
Thanks a lot. Keep up the good work!

Can you please tell me the rate you had selected before? :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 31, 2018, 12:50:42 AM
Vantier,
Here's a new test exe, now it should have the same tempo at any selected soundrate.
https://www.sendspace.com/file/qw82wm
now compiled with gcc 8.2.0 :)
& includes the eagleshot gfx fix c/o Haze (thanks!)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Vantier on December 31, 2018, 05:10:17 AM
Hi Dink, Yes, now it's perfect at any rates. Very thank you!

I didn't test to change the sample rates cause it's normally sound quality related and not speed.
About how can you count the bpm without complications it's very simple. You can use this:
http://www.beatsperminuteonline.com/
If you have a little sense of rhythm you can tap with space key at tempo during a minute or less and see what's showing. (start tapping when you're sure of the rythym).
For me, using the first stage song, with your last fixes is 58bpm versus 60/61 with the korean video.
I don't want to be a pain in the ass, so for me it's ok. If you want perfection, increase just a little bit the sound speed.

BTW Very thank you, man and happy new year!!   
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 31, 2018, 09:17:17 AM
Vantier, thanks for the info :)
I actually didn't increase the music speed at all, the problem was the ym2151 sound chip - it was using an old/buggy method to sync to the sound buffers for the timers - which is why the rate change caused the difference in tempo.   A couple other DataEast games had this issue (Caveman Ninja, Rohga IIRC).  There really is no easy/elegant way to change the speed of the music without affecting other things.  Basically the soundcpu sends a command to the ym2151 sound chip to fire the timers at a specific rate, and these timers generate irq's (for the soundcpu) at that rate which controls the tempo of the music (and other things).  What I'm trying to say is, that's as good as it can get for now. 

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 11, 2019, 12:13:08 AM
FBAlpha fix/improvement news! (aka how to kill 2 weeks worth of free-time)
fixed crackly sounds in some Puchi Carat tunes
fixed crackly sounds in Xexex's attract mode during lots of explosions (entirely unrelated to Puchi Carat fix)
fixed tetris the grand master 2 - running at half-speed
fixed missing text in Magical Crystals Bonus game (prio issue)
fixed possible unwanted frame advance while paused in all Kaneko16 games
fixed crash loading 1000 Miglia (gtmr) after loading Magical Crystals or Wing Force
fixed random crash in Mazinger Z
fixed taitof3 states, missing graphics after state load from a cold-boot
added missing p2 button 3 to Violence Fight
fixed NeoGeo memory cards [Barry]
update fd1089 games to use sega-style format [Barry] *update your romsets!!*
improved JoJo/JoJoba inputs [barbudreadmon]

Latest test/debug exe: https://www.sendspace.com/file/k9mjfk

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 14, 2019, 07:57:23 PM
Whilst working on the Dragon Ballz driver - I noticed some ugly bugs:
missing sprites
flickering sprites
missing text

looking at the sprites in ram: I noticed a ton of space between sprites.  doing the math, this limited the # of sprites to 256/4, when the chip can actually display 256.
Where did I see this before..  I think moo mesa or xexex, which used a very simple dma transfer func. to copy the sprite data out of the dma-ram and into a nicely formatted sprite buffer.  After implimenting this into dbz - all problems solved!

The nicest fix is in dbz2 - attract mode where they fight in the clouds - the cloud(s) next to the player(s) would flicker.  now they don't.  I can't really show that in a still image, but, here's some other things it fixed:

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on January 15, 2019, 02:12:33 AM
Cool. I assume the "Vegeeta" name is not a bug but the way they romanized his name in this game? Just pointing it out because it was "Vege ta" before your fix. Couldn't quickly find out how it looks in MAME.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 15, 2019, 09:03:03 AM
Cool. I assume the "Vegeeta" name is not a bug but the way they romanized his name in this game? Just pointing it out because it was "Vege ta" before your fix. Couldn't quickly find out how it looks in MAME.

Its a badly translated game as usual :)
edit: that extra E is really in the sprite list (along with all the other missing text), I painstakingly checked!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on January 15, 2019, 09:47:02 AM
Its a badly translated game as usual :)
Yeah, unlike France where it was aired on national tv in early 90s (wednesday afternoon, with saint seiya and hokuto no ken xD), i think this anime came late in USA, most likely the video game was prior to airing in USA.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on January 15, 2019, 05:49:22 PM
The DBZ games still had bad (https://youtu.be/BaHJ3tWBVc8?t=237) French (https://youtu.be/BaHJ3tWBVc8?t=505) translations (https://youtu.be/BaHJ3tWBVc8?t=780) back then, despite being popular on TV...
Thanks for double checking, dink.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 19, 2019, 09:12:13 AM
Finished the Carnival (vic dual) emulation last night - what a great game! :)
This exe contains the latest GIT as well.

D/L: https://www.sendspace.com/file/ottxho (includes whatsnew)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 24, 2019, 09:51:46 PM
Neo Geo CDRom gets a real nice fix: Z80 Program & ADPCM transfers derpy impl. fix.

Silanda reported a bug in Galaxy Fighter where certain sound-fx were not being played.  After trying for several hours to fix it and failing.. ..and.. after nearly giving up, a little poking around the ISO lead me to find that the game actively uploads new data for the audiocpu to run, as well as different PCM data depending on the characters being played.  Turns out we weren't handling the transfers right, a couple of tests later and I was delighted to hear the SFX playing! :)
BONUS: this also fixes audio in Real Bought Fatal Fury, SFX in Fatal Fury 3 and a minor sound issue in King of Fighters '97 (CDRom versions).  Yay :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 26, 2019, 12:16:58 AM
The other day while debugging a cdz game, I realized how painful it is to not have working states.  Thus, I bring ye:
NeoGeo CD states WIP
This one is quite involved, to say the least.. and there is a lot more to do - but here's what we got so far:
States with CD games.  They aren't perfect - but at least they are possible now :)
Right now they are quite limited, for example - they can only be used in-game only after a game has loaded.

Hoping to clear the rest of the issues up, but there is a lot to do!
trivia: this is my 3rd attempt at fixing the cdz states (since 2014), finally with a positive result  :p
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 28, 2019, 12:08:41 AM
Another Neo Geo CD fix: game can now stop cd audio playback - which is nice for end of round music stopping etc.  (Galaxy Fight), or weirdly graphically-buggy Games like League Bowling, where the titlescreen music needs to be stopped.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 31, 2019, 10:57:09 PM
Hi guys, been working on neogeo cdz nonstop lately - things are quite spiffing now :)
Double Dragon CD boots!

a little video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KLYf6OkqzM
note, I didn't capture the CD-Audio soundtrack in this video, but, it does indeed work when playing. :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: kev on February 01, 2019, 07:36:13 AM
Nice work!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 01, 2019, 08:44:13 AM
thanks kev :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 05, 2019, 12:09:38 AM
Neogeo CD now has .bin/.cue (c/o me) and .ccd/.img-trurip style (c/o Jan Klaassen) image support.

benefits: games load very fast, cd-audio starts instantly, s.s. rpg works, savestates work

anti-benefits: no more mode1/2048 support!! (or multi .bin/.wav/audio file support)
**if you play neogeo cd games, be sure to collect trurip or bin/cue images of your favorite games**
the old cue/iso/.wav mode 2048 has gone the way of the dodo. 

If the idea of "updating" your collection pisses you off for the new cd support, just wait and try it.  The old mode1/2048+wav's was a bugload of crap compared to how slick the new stuff works.  I promise :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on February 07, 2019, 11:13:01 AM
anti-benefits: no more mode1/2048 support!! (or multi .bin/.wav/audio file support)
**if you play neogeo cd games, be sure to collect trurip or bin/cue images of your favorite games**
the old cue/iso/.wav mode 2048 has gone the way of the dodo. 

I found an awesome freeware to convert pretty much any kind of iso to "single file bin+cue" (which is the bin/cue format accepted by fbalpha), it's called CDmage (there is no homepage but you'll find it easily with your favorite search engine) :
1. File > Open > select your iso
2. File > Save As > write the name of your new file
3. Make sure you select MODE1/2352 in the second drop-down
4. Press OK, wait for the process to finish, and it's done !

Get 1.02.1 from https://www.videohelp.com/software/CDMage *no-garbage Freeware*
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 07, 2019, 06:52:06 PM
barbudreadmon, this works great and is really simple to use - thanks for sharing!! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 08, 2019, 11:27:09 PM
neogeo cd support re-doo is finished!
-> DAO .bin/cue and TruRip (.ccd/.sub/.img [based on Jan Klaassen's work]) support added
-> cd game selector and cd game info updated to work with mode1/2352
-> all hacks removed for the Z80 ROM transfers w/proper emulation impl.
-> game loading is ffffffffffffast! now, even faster with ffwd (F1) :)
-> savestates work perfectly, per-game(!)
-> ssrpg works ;)
-> at least 25, but up to 100 other bugs fixed ;)  I stopped counting at one point..

Big thanks to Silanda and barbudreadmon for bug reports, ideas, talks and etc.  Even more big thanks to Silanda for doing hw tests for me :)

.. all these years I avoided neogeo-cd, because I knew that the work involved to make it where it is today, would be CRAZY.

well, maybe 2 weeks ago I decided that it was time to take the challenge.  On that particular day, it was -25c/-14f outside, and It was during the bikeride to my friends house (across town, 1.5mile/2.4km) that I thought it might be a good idea to get started.  :eek:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 18, 2019, 09:26:39 AM
Another new FBAlpha test exe :)

NeoGeo CD:
adds input mapping per-game
fixes:
state issues
cd-loading a bit faster than the last test-exe
and nvram(internal memcard) is saved properly now.  due to a bug in the last exe, it was saving it per-game - now saved as neocdz.fs again  sorry about that :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 19, 2019, 12:27:15 AM
Regarding the feb.18 test exe, the per-game input mapping didn't quite work right yet.  sorry about that :)
Fix and new test .exe will be available shortly...
UI stuff really is a thorn in my side!  :p

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on February 19, 2019, 01:39:38 PM
I tried various NeoGeo CD games and all of them seem to work very well (I used cue+bin format)... the CD-DA tracks sound very fine, moreover the loading times of original hardware are just a "distant memory" !  :p

Excellent work guys!  :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 19, 2019, 06:24:57 PM
I tried various NeoGeo CD games and all of them seem to work very well (I used cue+bin format)... the CD-DA tracks sound very fine, moreover the loading times of original hardware are just a "distant memory" !  :p

Excellent work guys!  :smilie:

Thanks for testing :)  I have a job for you, check your PM :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 22, 2019, 12:33:29 AM
Here's a new FBAlpha test exe

What's changed?
-Per-game input config for NeoGeo CD is fixed
-Graphics issues fix for Irem M92 games: Superior Soldiers (background gfx in-game) and Gunforce (titlescreen)
-NeoGeo CD Overclock test-idea: loads in half-time as usual (even faster w/FFWD(f1) - of course!)

have fun & best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Neildark on February 22, 2019, 07:35:57 AM
Hello. First of all, thank you very much for all the effort that you are devoting to the emulation of Neo Geo CD, in the last exe the loads of the game are much faster, and with the F1 hardly noticeable. I've tried it with the KOF and it shows a lot. Only one thing, ?would it be possible that, precisely in the KOF, the music continued at the same point that the round ends on the next load? The problem with these games in particular is that every time a fighter loads the song starts again from the beginning, so that you are always listening to the same part over and over again. I mention it from the total ignorance of course, in the original machine loaded another part of the track and returned to the main in the next load.
Greetings, and again, thank you very much for all your effort. :smilie: :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 22, 2019, 08:23:50 AM
Neildark you're welcome.
The way it is now, is just like the original hw.  I even just tried in kof'97 (cd), each round plays a new track on the cd.
It's impossible to change it the way you'd like it, because it's the game(machine) itself that that chooses when and how to play a track.  On the other hand, if you think there's a bug causing a certain game to play the same track, please let me know which game (version, etc) you used.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Neildark on February 22, 2019, 09:27:27 AM
Hello again. Yes, I have tested it with several games and it only happens with the KOF 98 King of Fighters '98, The Slugfest NGCD-ID: 0242. It always jumps the same track of each stage, it does not have a second version.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 24, 2019, 10:56:13 PM
NeilDark, the NeoGeo CD HW does it exactly the same way for this game.  Each match "location" has a track associated with it, and every time a round begins the track starts from the beginning.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 24, 2019, 11:01:10 PM
Up for grabs is a shiny new FBAlpha test exe!

What's new since the last one? (2 days ago!)
Added driver for Taito's Ground Effects / Super Ground Effects
Added driver for Taito's Gunbuster
Added driver for Liberation, Kamikaze Cabbie and Boomber R'angr by Data East
NeoGeoCD super-rework is officially "done".  Enjoy it :)  All new drivers by iq_132, with a little help from dink.

We need victims I mean helpful friends of FBAlpha to test these games and let us know if any bugs (or etc) comes up :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on February 25, 2019, 03:16:50 AM
Thanks a lot for the new exe!  :smilie:

The new games seem to work fine, except for two "small issue":
1) Boomber R'angr is set with invulnerability by default, probably not a good option for a coin-op! :P
2) Gunbuster has some sprite flickering issue during the enemy explanation phase (before to begin an interactive level).

Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on February 25, 2019, 03:23:13 AM
Hereunder some snapshots of new added games!  :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 26, 2019, 11:59:51 PM
Gab75, thanks for the bugreports and pics :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 06, 2019, 10:01:25 PM
Here's a fresh FBAlpha test version for download!

What's new?
--> Taito QIX hw
Qix, Zookeeper, Kram, Complex X, Slither, Space Dungeon, Electric YoYo

Enjoy!!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 09, 2019, 09:22:44 AM
Yet another test exe for download!

changes:
Fix sound in Baseball Stars and NAM-1975 when using alternate MVS bioses
new driver for Kiki KaiKai / Kick 'n Run (mexico86)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 13, 2019, 09:15:21 AM
Spent a week tweaking Spy Hunter to perfection.

Just getting spyhunter emulated wasn't enough, there were some issues that needed to be addressed:
x The game has lights to show which special items you have
x The emulated engine noise sounds like a "whine" than a rumble, as it does on the arcade machine.
x The emulated sound is chock-full of horrible clicks and pop-sounds, especially when the music starts or stops

The first one was easy, I didn't like the idea of having a line of text at the bottom of the screen - and thought, there has to be a better way.  After some conspiring with iq_132, he cooked up a nice little secondary-"hud" using icons from the game to represent the powerup items.

Regarding the engine sound:
The game designers were smart, instead of mixing the engine noise in there with every other sound, they had it output on one of the ay8910's channels.  I split this output from the others, ran it into a double resonant lowpass filter w/high q, and now it sounds almost exactly like how it does in the real sit-down Spy Hunter cabinet.

Lastly, the bane of the entire project - the Cheap Squeak Deluxe board.  This is the board that plays the "Peter Gunn" theme song.  Why was it so bad....?  It had no status of when songs started/stopped, and outputs -dc to the dac when the song isn't playing.  This simply resulted in nasty clicks/pops at bootup, whenever a song started or stopped - even though it has a status register, it's always 0 (unused).  Even worse, when the dac is left in a dc state, the value was always different, so we couldn't just filter it out.  A dc blocking filter helped a little, getting rid of the steady dc offset, but the spike to dc at the end of song still resulted in the horrible pops and clicks.  Even double-worse, there isn't even a status bit/byte in the ram of the emulated soundboard.  In order to reliably start/end "dirty" dac sounds without clicks, we need a reliable start and stop point to ramp the signal back to the 0-point.
So what now?  I wasn't going to leave my second-favorite game of all time in a headache-inducing clickfest like it has been in other emulation for the past 20-some years.  And buying a cab is out of the question...
After much poking around memory of this beast, I found a counter that only counts down when the music is playing, once per sample - which ended up being the thing I needed to actually know when the song starts/stops.  Yay!  a simple mute logic was hooked up to this counter, and, for the first time - the clicks & pops were gone.   I ended up taking it a bit further, using a technique once used for some clicky Konami games *mystwarr hw*, played the game for a few hours, and after a long week and 1/2, I'm finally happy with the results.

Oh, and now FBAlpha finally emulates all of the classics I played in the 80's.  Maybe we should celebrate or something :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on April 13, 2019, 10:55:37 AM
Congratz ! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Bad Dude on April 13, 2019, 12:18:28 PM
Yet another test exe for download!

changes:
Fix sound in Baseball Stars and NAM-1975 when using alternate MVS bioses
new driver for Kiki KaiKai / Kick 'n Run (mexico86)


tested and approved  :cool: :cool:
Wainting for the official release!
Congratulation, FBA team!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 14, 2019, 12:33:12 AM
Here's a new debug exe with the finished spyhunter/rampage driver!
enjoy guys!! :)

file link: https://www.sendspace.com/file/gawe1y

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: kev on April 14, 2019, 08:46:44 AM
Here's a new debug exe with the finished spyhunter/rampage driver!
enjoy guys!! :)

file link: https://www.sendspace.com/file/gawe1y

best regards,
- dink

I'm also a big fan of Spy Hunter. This build is amazing! Great works as usual!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 14, 2019, 10:41:14 PM
Thanks guys! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 14, 2019, 11:00:23 PM
Emulated Rampage has an even worse problem than spyhunter.  While booting up, it holds the dac at +fullDC for 2 seconds.   I feel my soundcard/headphones' pain.

Added some muting logic and a dc-blocking filter to clean things up nicely, and get a perfect audioform.  Below are before/after pictures of Rampage booting up and insert coin at the title screen.  Of course, other emulations of Rampage output the same bad waveform.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: gxb on April 18, 2019, 04:40:28 AM
@dink Can you run "Shinsetsu Samurai Spirits - Bushidou Retsuden (Japan)" correctly with your lastest build? I compiled one on Apr 5. The game ran well until title screen. When I chose start game, there poped up an IO error about CD loading in game. Could that cause by fast loading codes?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 18, 2019, 09:58:52 AM
gxb, that was actually just fixed the other day, big thanks to barbudreadmon.  I'll post a new exe in sometime today :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 18, 2019, 10:49:39 AM
Updated fba exe, for friends and fans of FBAlpha!

what's new:
x combat school crash bug fixed
x ssrpg fix from barbudreadmon
x rampage arcade "nice" sound
PM me if you find the easter-egg in this exe :) (to let people play along, don't post about it here)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: kev on April 18, 2019, 11:24:42 AM
Really like the Rampage sound :)

For some reason, Star wars crashes in this build on my PC but works in the last build I did, and the last one you did... Does it do that for you or is it my PC?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on April 18, 2019, 01:54:17 PM
For some reason, Star wars crashes in this build on my PC but works in the last build I did, and the last one you did... Does it do that for you or is it my PC?

I tested all three Star Wars releases (rev 1 and set 2 and 3) and all of them work without issues (my OS is Windows 10 64 bit Home Edition)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 18, 2019, 06:46:26 PM
Really like the Rampage sound :)

For some reason, Star wars crashes in this build on my PC but works in the last build I did, and the last one you did... Does it do that for you or is it my PC?

Hi Kev,
nice, I'm glad you dig it :)  Fortunately the Rampage soundfix only took a little while compared to the spy hunter fix.

Regarding Star Wars crashing - that sucks! :(
Can you please give me the crash address from the guru meditation window? (like c000000053:0000fa313)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: gxb on April 19, 2019, 03:55:58 AM
gxb, that was actually just fixed the other day, big thanks to barbudreadmon.  I'll post a new exe in sometime today :)

best regards,
- dink
Thank you. Just noticed it.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Fulg0re on April 19, 2019, 04:13:11 AM
I m not sure if this bug is already known...

Gun Force 1 ARCADE

When starting screen should appear it immediately turn black without any ongoing process.
So if you hit the coin button you?ll recognize the count of credits. Screen will be still black.
If you wanna play just press start. Game is full playable without any problem.
It is just the titel screen which aint visible.

<<< NEO GEO CD >>>

- Viewpoint After Loading Controls are not working.
  I remapped Stick a couple times. Not able to control or start game

- Last Resort same Issue

And how to enter the Setup Menu for Games ( Blood Metal Slug etc )

Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 19, 2019, 07:58:30 AM
Fulg0re,
Thanks for bug the report.
Some good news: gunforce 1 was fixed the other day, please use my test exe (few messages above this one) for the fix.

Also viewpoint & last resort ngcd works fine here, please also try the latest exe :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Fulg0re on April 19, 2019, 09:58:40 AM
Hi Dink,


check !

Gun Force with latest Exe is working witouh any failure. Tested it.

For the 2 Neo Geo CD Games i figured out what was wrong.
The main difference between AES and CD Rom ist that on AES you hear / recognize a
jingle after hitting the Coin Button. On CDZ you dont. So if playing Viewpoint and Last
Resort just hit the coin Button than it is no problem to start game and take control of it !

Thats all so far... gonna test my other games.

BTW: What about the F2 Service Menue from NEO GEO AES ... is it also able to navigate to the
menu on the CDZ ? If yes how  ? F2 dont work
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 19, 2019, 06:53:21 PM
Hi Fulg0re,
Neogeo CD games run in AES-like mode, which is the console (not arcade) version.  It means there are no coin inputs for these games :)

NeoCD menu: press the first 2 buttons when you see the animating cd, it will bring you to a cd player(it only somewhat works) and cdz-internal memory card manipulation menu.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Fulg0re on April 20, 2019, 12:57:31 PM
Hi there

just some small issues or requests...

1.)

Breakers AES sometimes switch symbol from working to non working rom but u can
play and run game all the time... Just a cosmetic stuff....

2.)

On latest FBA EXE it aint possible to play Jojo Bizzare Adventure and Jojo Venture
thats too bad cause it is a great funny game :)

Edit.
I finally found lots of files and built a custom set from
both games which are running in all versions on current
FBA exe. The problem is that lots of files and version are filled with mixed dataset.

Thats all for now ... CU L8tr
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 20, 2019, 07:11:30 PM
Fulg0re, all of these games work fine, just need to get the latest romsets for them :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Fulg0re on April 21, 2019, 06:48:36 AM
HI Dink,

sorry for confusing here :)
It is possible to built older sets to working but you?re right.
Its way more easier to take the current roms :)
Jojo 1 and 2 are working perfect !

Thanx so far
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 24, 2019, 11:44:09 PM
Francisco Del Pino ported his awesome MSX game - Wing Warriors - to SMS!
... of course it gets added to FBAlpha :)
note: first attachment is the romset, April 18 test-ver. (it's near-final release now)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on April 25, 2019, 01:16:23 AM
Francisco Del Pino ported his awesome MSX game - Wing Warriors - to SMS!
... of course it gets added to FBAlpha :)
note: first attachment is the romset, April 18 test-ver. (it's near-final release now)

Thanks for the addition dink! :)
The graphic style of this game looks like Psikyo's Gunbird ! ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 25, 2019, 11:37:32 AM
New fba "testversion" exe!

new:
x support for .ips patches which "grow" the romsize, for Megadrive only. (if one is found for another system, let us know!)
x fixed lots of small UI bugs in ips patching stuff, also support roms and ips filenames with spaces - just encapsulate the name in ""
x added Wing Warriors to SMS (see 2 messages above this one for rom link) (very high quality homebrew)
x added "enhanced" versions of outrun, shangon & shangonle - v2.0.2 patches here: https://reassembler.blogspot.com/2011/08/outrun-enhanced-edition.html
x fix for crash in Combat School
x un-break ssrpg (thanks barbudreadmon)

best regards,
- dink


Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: el_rika on April 25, 2019, 03:55:26 PM
Thanks for the addition dink! :)
The graphic style of this game looks like Psikyo's Gunbird ! ;)

Reminds me more of Espgaluda 2...which btw, could be a great addi....Never mind, back to my hole  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on April 26, 2019, 01:02:00 AM
Reminds me more of Espgaluda 2...which btw, could be a great addi....Never mind, back to my hole  :biggrin:

Maybe in a "near or far" future the Cave CV1000 games (cv1k.c) will be supported by the FB(fork) ! Keep your fingers crossed! ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: el_rika on April 26, 2019, 03:00:26 PM
Maybe in a "near or far" future the Cave CV1000 games (cv1k.c) will be supported by the FB(fork) ! Keep your fingers crossed! ;)

Next month i'm getting a new smartphone (with the latest CPU) literally just for these games, which are hopefully full speed in Retroarch with one of the Mame cores.

Having them in FBA...priceless, so fingers crossed  :biggrin:

Small on topic: did anyone notice a bit more input lag in the game ESprade? I always played it in FBA, but recently i tested it in Mame and it seemed more responsive. Is it placebo or a couple of frames less lag?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 26, 2019, 11:46:41 PM
hi el_rika, I investigated Esp.Ra.De and found that it and Guwange had 1 extra frame of lag (like dodonpachi a while back).  It now responds after 2 frames, just like other emu.
Do you know Guwange?  When you really understand this game, and can keep a chain from beginning until more than halfway through the game, it is the best feeling -- I can't explain it :)  I get the same feeling when doing 2-ALL of Cyvern on 1 coin, but for Guwnge..  it starts with the first level!!

Regarding cv1k - this has already been discussed (though, probably not publicly)
Here's the current cv1k deal, broken down into needed components:
soundcore+finishing+dbug+etc - dink
driver+vid - iq_132
cpu(sh4) - ? (not iq_132 or dink)

When we have sh4, the rest will happen.  basically, we need help w/this one.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 27, 2019, 12:18:44 AM
Added support for the ColecoVision SuperGame Module, which adds 32k of ram + ay8910chip.  Thanks to the nice writeup @ atariage forum: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/203851-super-game-module-technical-forum/ - it was a very easy add.

Also added are the "non MSX-hack" games from Team Pixelboy.  Why did I leave out the MSX-hack games: the MSX versions are much better, and we already support those..  (Cold blood is the exception, though)

Some neat games added w/notes:
Cold Blood is a PacMan style game mixed with Metal Gear.  Its weird and neat, and has powerups :)
Frostbite and Kaboom! classic Atari2600 games "remade" for Colecovision.  Very quality stuff here, I've been playing these quite a bit :)
Zaxxon SuperGame: its a beefed up version of Zaxxon, with SGM support
Mecha-8: originally programmed for MSX, Oscar Toledo G. ported this to ColecoVision+SGM himself
Dragon's Lair SGM: based on the Prototype, this one has been finished and niceified by the Pixelboy team
All roms can be downloaded from the first post on AtariAge forum's "Team Pixelboy news" post: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/273502-team-pixelboy-news-bulletin-december-25th-2017/
or the last link in this message (pixelboy_fba.zip)

also find fba "test" exe with these games+esprade/guwange lagfix attached!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on April 27, 2019, 01:10:26 AM
Thanks a lot for the additions! :)

Dragon's Lair! During the 80s I was a big fan of this game... I loved the coin-op version and I played a lot with the C64 version (very similar to the Coleco SGM release, as I recall) ! ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on April 27, 2019, 04:17:20 AM
Awesome work as always :) (NB : i'll send a PR for the other sgm games later so don't bother adding them)

About the sh4 dynarec, i'm a bit curious, i know someone who wrote 2 of them (x64 and aarch64) under GPL license : hypothetically could he write one for fba (most likely using a lot of code from his GPL one) and say this new one is under fba license ?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: el_rika on April 27, 2019, 04:23:14 AM
hi el_rika, I investigated Esp.Ra.De and found that it and Guwange had 1 extra frame of lag (like dodonpachi a while back).  It now responds after 2 frames, just like other emu.
Do you know Guwange?  When you really understand this game, and can keep a chain from beginning until more than halfway through the game, it is the best feeling -- I can't explain it :)  I get the same feeling when doing 2-ALL of Cyvern on 1 coin, but for Guwnge..  it starts with the first level!!

Regarding cv1k - this has already been discussed (though, probably not publicly)
Here's the current cv1k deal, broken down into needed components:
soundcore+finishing+dbug+etc - dink
driver+vid - iq_132
cpu(sh4) - ? (not iq_132 or dink)

When we have sh4, the rest will happen.  basically, we need help w/this one.

best regards,
- dink

Heya man

Hopefuly theew will be someone willing to participate in the the great effort of bringing cv1000 to FB?.

Regarding ESprade, i can't wait to test it with minus 1 frame of lag (which really counts for those tight evading) :biggrin: Could the powers that be compile the new changes into the Android fba core of Retroarch maybe? Thannkks!!  :biggrin:

Ps: Never played Gwange seriously but i always loved the aestethics, and now with your recommandation, i will certainly get into it soon!  Cyvern is absolutely amazing but i still find it very tough to play right... :redface:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on April 27, 2019, 07:51:07 AM
About the sh4 dynarec, i'm a bit curious, i know someone who wrote 2 of them (x64 and aarch64) under GPL license : hypothetically could he write one for fba (most likely using a lot of code from his GPL one) and say this new one is under fba license ?

This would be great! :)
IIRC the main CPU of Cave CV1000 arcade board is a Hitachi SH3, so also a "simple" SH3 dynarec should be enough! :P
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 27, 2019, 08:36:46 AM
Barbudreadmon, if he is willing to double-license it, that would be great :)  Also it would need a non-dynarec version also, so we can support everyone.  I'm against supporting only the 64bit version of fbalpha, because it is a buggy heap of derp and missing the only complete blitter.

Gab75, you're being silly:)

el_rika, good luck!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on April 27, 2019, 11:42:58 AM
Gab75, you're being silly:)

 :redface: ...  :p
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: xerf84 on April 28, 2019, 12:08:09 PM
Hi guys, I would like to report a detail, at the beginning of the game Marvel vs capcom the announcer says Colossus. This does not happen in MAME ... Greetings.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: DarkShadowMD on April 28, 2019, 06:51:52 PM
If it helps, I noticed a little bug in the Jamma PCB version of Kof2003, the first time you load the game, all runs good, but, if you close emulation and restart the game, sound is completely lost, and you can't access dip switches (its like gone or corrupted)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 28, 2019, 07:52:31 PM
DarkShadowMD, I am having a little trouble reproducing the problem on my side, could you please attach the following files to help:
config/games/kf2k3pcb.ini
config/games/kf2k3pcb.fs
config/fba*.ini
thanks :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Fulg0re on May 04, 2019, 06:27:05 AM
Hi Ding,

i just tested some more Games which i have installed and use nearly at least on time per week.
Demon Front ... A very cool Metal Slug clone does not work with the new Mame 208 Roms.
I have some older Version of the game which is working fine but still tagged as imperfect.
Ketsui do work with lates FBA and 208 Mame Roms perfect. No Issue.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on May 04, 2019, 06:31:56 AM
Demon Front ... A very cool Metal Slug clone does not work with the new Mame 208 Roms.

A lot of pgm games won't work OOTB with mame roms, you need to rebuild the romsets for fba.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Fulg0re on May 04, 2019, 06:45:23 AM
I see ...

well i will try it :)

EDIT: Found a PGM Zip File with the missing Bios.
Demonfront runs on latest FBA now great. Every Version

Version 102 China
Version 103
Version 105
Version 107 Korea SIngel PCB

Great :)
One last thing regarding this game.
Is it possible to enable blood ?

Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Ryvius86 on May 04, 2019, 08:25:23 AM
Unfortunately not dude - I checked the all the settings and cheat files. Which is a shame, I know you can in Metal Slug.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 04, 2019, 09:26:57 AM
a big small news
~
Added buffered stream syncing to the ay8910 and sn764_96/89/89a chips.  With this change, now its possible to remove about 15-lines of support code from drivers that use these chips, and replace with 2 lines of  code.  It also improves the sound quality and uses less cpu - because now we're syncing the chips when they are accessed, instead of just doing it several(mostly unneeded) times per frame. 
For me, this is big - I always disliked the mess these chips caused in the drivers due to the non-buffered implementation.  But in reality, most people won't even realize a difference - except for things that use these chips as a sort of rudimentary DAC:
For Coleco, MSX and SMS: Squish 'Em Sam(coleco), 180deg(msx), and Lemmings(sms) - the digital voices emitted by these chips are now super-clear.

There's still a lot to do, almost every driver using these chips needs to be modified & tested.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: JohhnnyB on May 04, 2019, 02:50:04 PM
@dink

Thank you for the ongoing support for FBA, even after the recent drama.
You guys are making a lot of people happy with this piece of software (which I have been using myself for the last 10+ years and prefer it over any version of MAME).

A quick question - is synching romsets with the current version of mame (0.209) on your todo list? I'm building an arcade cabinet for my old-school needs and it would seem FBA is synched to 0.208 currently. No biggie, just a question.

Unless anyone knows a way of doing it on the source level without programming knowledge then I could try.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 04, 2019, 07:12:08 PM
JohhnnyB, glad you dig it!  I found FBAlpha in 2014 and haven't looked back.  :)

I don't think there are much changes between .209 and .208 regarding romsets, I'd be surprized if one doesn't work in fbalpha.
When mr.Barry synched the romsets from .207 to .208 even, there were only a couple of internal rom-filename changes - but fbalpha loads the roms via the crc and not the filename, so even those wouldn't have made much of a difference - the new set would load fine.
I guess what I'm saying is, that in the longrun we'll need to come up with something to synch the romsets like Barry did.  Maybe JacKc will come back? :)  But for the short-term, I think we'll be alright.  If there is a breaking/serious change, like a parent changes to a clone, and a new romset-version is made a parent, me or iq_132 usually takes care of this.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: el_rika on May 05, 2019, 04:37:33 AM
I remember this being a sensitive subject some years back..but, is it possible to reduce Battle Gregga's input lag to PCB levels?

We now have most Cave shmups (except the SH3 bunch) to almost PCB level input lag. However Battle Garegga is still on the laggy side, with, by my estimation, around 5 frames compared to the original 2 (even 1 on Saturn but that's another story).
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on May 05, 2019, 05:21:37 AM
is synching romsets with the current version of mame (0.209) on your todo list?
I'll add it on mine, i just need to come up with a good way to detect those romset changes (i'm thinking about parsing and comparing mame/fba dat files to generate a listing).
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 05, 2019, 08:21:40 AM
That would be great!!:)

I'll add it on mine, i just need to come up with a good way to detect those romset changes (i'm thinking about parsing and comparing mame/fba dat files to generate a listing).
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: JohhnnyB on May 05, 2019, 07:00:58 PM
That would be great!!:)

Good news! Thanks for a quick reply.  :biggrin:

Another topic worth mentioning - autobuilds. I remember seeing that question somewhere on the forum.

Currently the only way to get a working Windows binary (until the team decides to release an official rls) is to compile the source from GitHub.
BUT

you can get already compiled Windows builds from

http://ashura.mameworld.info/nightlybuilds/fba_builds.html
or
http://www.emucr.com/search/label/FBA?&max-results=16

Both point to Barry's Git.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 07, 2019, 10:14:50 AM
Thanks for posting those links, JohhnnyB :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 07, 2019, 10:24:55 AM
On buffered soundchips.

Recently I buffered the AY8910, SN76496/89[a], and now the Namco WSG chips.
What's this mean?  Simply put, less cpu usage and better sound.  For the developer, it makes working with the sound chips a lot nicer as well, due to dealing with less code in the drivers.  Take a look at the pacman driver's sound update routines in the attachment below.

The first block of code (- prefixed) was called every time the cpus ran, the second block was called at the end of a frame, to make sure the sound buffer was completely filled.  In some games, this would have to be called up to 262 times per frame (and there are usually 60 frames in a second!)  Each call is basically a call to emulate the soundchip.

The buffered approach does things a bit smarter, it only updates the sound buffers when the game writes to the soundchip.  On average, it updates 1-5x per frame, but if a certain game were to use the chips as a rudimentary dac, it could be called hundreds of times per frame.

Out of the FM chips, they're all buffered except for the YM2151 and YM2413.  Going to have to tackle those next.. :)

For those that don't know -
The code removed has a - in front of it, the code added/replaced has a +.
(the green block at the bottom of the image replaces all that code above it!)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on May 07, 2019, 10:57:51 AM
@dink great !

@JohhnnyB i synced the romsets with MAME 0.209, we might be missing some new working clones though
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: JohhnnyB on May 07, 2019, 07:24:36 PM
@barbudreadmon

Great, thanks!

@dink

Thanks for posting those links, JohhnnyB :)

Every little bit helps I think.
On another note I found out that Ashura-X's builds are kinda based on Barry's Git if I'm not wrong.

Since we don't have any Windows builds for the NEW FBA currently I could step up and start compiling them from the GIT let's say every week/two weeks and posting them to a public place for people to download.

I'm thinking x86 and x64 builds only, unless someone is really desperate for the WinXP or Debug ones.

Let me know if that's okay with you and which compiler would be best (I'm thinking Mingw-w64 or MS Visual Studio).
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: vbt on May 07, 2019, 10:15:38 PM
On buffered soundchips.

Recently I buffered the AY8910, SN76496/89[a], and now the Namco WSG chips.
What's this mean?  Simply put, less cpu usage and better sound.  For the developer, it makes working with the sound chips a lot nicer as well, due to dealing with less code in the drivers.  Take a look at the pacman driver's sound update routines in the attachment below.

well done dink ! it deserves a study :wink:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 08, 2019, 12:48:51 AM
JohhnnyB, thanks for the offer regarding exe's, but Ashura-X had updated his build stuff to pull from our new git instead of Barry's.  I think his build script is stuck though, I'll let him know.
Personally, I post a exe whenever I feel that the exe is worthwhile for people to try.  Over the past several days a lot of writing/rewriting has been going on, and its probably best that I finish everything & remove debug code before using an exe from the current code.  Of course, anybody is free to make an exe and try if they want - though :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on May 08, 2019, 04:41:27 PM
Great work on the buffered sound chips, dink! I wonder how much this will improve performances on the Raspberry Pi, and which arcade systems / drivers are concerned by those improvements. Like, will the Taito F3 benefit from this? It apparently uses ES5505 and ES5510 sound chips, but you didn't mention those.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 08, 2019, 07:03:41 PM
Stifu, thanks :)

The 550x chips are already buffered, I'm afraid!  There isn't much that can be improved for f3, the bottleneck really is the vdp - it's very complex.

Best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: DarkShadowMD on May 11, 2019, 05:32:35 PM
Hey Dink, Sorry for the late answer, seems the latest debug build of FB Alpha fixed the bug I described. Sorry about that ^^

Cheers!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 12, 2019, 07:41:25 PM
DarkShadowMD,
That's good to know :)  thanks

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 12, 2019, 08:01:28 PM
dink vs.  Ryvius86: Game Selector Filter fun
The idea arose sometime yesterday - wouldn't it be great if the expanded state of the filter tree were saved?

For example: let's say you only use the "Genre" section of the Filters - you would want that section to be open every time you went to the game list, right?

Consider it done! :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: DarkShadowMD on May 16, 2019, 10:30:48 PM
Hey there!

I'm here bugging again!

Well, for some reason, I'm able to reproduce the bug I mentioned about Kof2003 PCB in the latest 2.97.44 build (or at least the latest build I have):
- Load the game (no fs file or ini file present)
- Sound works
- Press F2 to load game settings
- Text is garbled and corrupted (I'm attaching image)
- Reset with F3
- No sound is heard now.

If you close the game and launch again, you also get no sound until you erase the kf2k3pcb.fs file. I haven't tested if launching, closing and not trying to enter the BIOS settings renders the sound muted.

EDIT: I tested launching the game, not touching anything, closing and then relaunching, same no sound bug as the former description. You only get sound back when you delete the fs file prior to loading the game.

I'm attaching the files you requested since last time.

Cheers!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 17, 2019, 09:16:31 AM
DarkShadowMD, thanks for the info!
I'll try to figure it out.  First attempt was unsuccessfull :(

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 19, 2019, 09:56:22 AM
Newy newness:
superctr ported his super-accurate QSound HLE engine to FB, games using QSound really sound great now :)
Adds delay/filtering effects that the original chip had to give it super nice stereo effects.

CupcakeFan re-wrote the galaga/digdug driver, adding the excellent classic Xevious

A few days back superctr posted a change that fixed an issue with parallel make.  I found another issue when compiling cleanly and patched that as well.  Now fb can be compiled super-fast with make -jXX in 1 pass, instead of several.

How to build FinalBurn Neo super-fast with MingW/gcc?
edit makefile.mingw, find this like:  (note: don't change to DEPEND = 0)
DEPEND = 1
change it to:
#DEPEND = 1

from MingW/gcc 6.3 or 8.x shell in the fbneo source tree, run:
make -j20 mingw510

All attached is a new exe for your enjoyment/testing/etc :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: DarkShadowMD on May 19, 2019, 04:48:40 PM
Thank you so much for this hard work!

Oh, I noticed the about menu still says "About FB Alpha", just in case you missed it :P

I can't wait to test some games on it!

Cheers!

EDIT: I tested kf2k3pcb again, the sound problem when resetting is gone, but the BIOS settings still look like corrupted for some reason... I tested on MAME (how sluggish that thing is even in my system with 16 GB... geez!) and you can see the BIOS... in japanese and you understand nothing, but at least you can see it and configure what you kind of know it's the difficulty and other stuff...
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 19, 2019, 07:05:50 PM
DarkShadowMD, thanks :)
We have a lot of changes to make yet, regarding FBAlpha -> FB Neo.   Also, the kf2k3pcb bios issue is a tough one, please bear with us for now :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: DarkShadowMD on May 19, 2019, 07:12:43 PM
No problem man, you are already doing a magnificent job with the emu and the team. I know this takes some time! (while you were rather quick to address stuff tbh)

Take your time, I just report this bug for you to know, but yo do you!

Thank you so much!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 20, 2019, 12:20:16 AM
Debug versions of FBNeo are great for a couple reasons:
1: When someone finds a bug or problem, it helps me find the bug easier.
2: When you download the debug/test exe's *from my post*, you can be assured that the exe has come from a reliable source.
3: It's always fun to test the latest stuff (games added, fixes, etc)!

That being said, a lot of people get irritated by the extra "Debug Console" Window..  Sorry about that! :redface:

Starting with this test-exe, it is disabled by default, and can be re-enabled by checking Misc -> Options -> Show debug console

enjoy :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: DarkShadowMD on May 20, 2019, 03:48:58 AM
Lol... It's supposed to be a debug version, if people is annoyed by the console, they should be patient and wait for the final release XD.

In any case, I think this new option you added will keep them happy now!

Thank you dink! <3
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: snickerbockers on May 27, 2019, 01:13:51 PM
Regarding the SH3 stuff for cv1k, I am the sole author and copyright holder of a SEGA Dreamcast emulator which includes an SH4 interpreter and JIT.  I am willing to do the work to get it ported over to FinalBurn and relicense it under a compatible license.

I can't actually get started until August due to some IRL problems that will prevent me from getting any work done, but I can get the license changed now.  Is 3-clause BSD considered compatible with FB?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on May 27, 2019, 02:24:04 PM
Hello and thanks for offering your help !

Afaik (i'm not an expert) you can double-license your work, which means you can keep using GPL in washingtondc and use FBNeo's non-commercial license for your contribution here (the case of ian karlsson's QSound emulation was akin). Let's wait for a confirmation from dink or iq_132 though :).
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 27, 2019, 06:42:51 PM
Regarding the SH3 stuff for cv1k, I am the sole author and copyright holder of a SEGA Dreamcast emulator which includes an SH4 interpreter and JIT.  I am willing to do the work to get it ported over to FinalBurn and relicense it under a compatible license.

I can't actually get started until August due to some IRL problems that will prevent me from getting any work done, but I can get the license changed now.  Is 3-clause BSD considered compatible with FB?

Awesome, that's perfect!! (re: licensing) :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 30, 2019, 09:59:55 PM
FinalBurn Neo News
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FBN now has rewritten Ghosts'n Goblins driver/emulation!
features: very precise emulation
1 frame less input-lag than before :)
conforms to iq_132_v2018 driver-specification
very heavy testing went into making sure it was bug free (about 10 2-all games in total.. frig, my hand hurts)

Sega Analogs
Sega games have proper analog inputs now!
Games such as Outrun, Hangon, Super Hangon, Enduro Racer, Gloc, Galaxy Force2, ABCop, GPRider, SMGP, Racing Hero, After Burner I and II, Space Harrier, Power Drift. Lots of bugs fixed with this massive update!
F.ex: Enduro Racer is actually playable now w/proper up/down banking :)

Battle Bakraid would sometimes skip a soundcommand, it was a simple fix, but big thanks to Awakened0 for noticing and reporting the issue!

PGM games w/arm7 protection such as Demon Front have been broken for the past 2 weeks. Sorry about that, guys!  Problem is fixed now.

edit: I'll post an updated test-exe soon, there are a few small issues that need to be fixed...

best regards,
- dink

Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: samo79 on June 02, 2019, 04:46:29 PM
A little report by me :-)
In the text file "gamelist.txt" still a reference for the old name (FBAlpha) instead of the new name, perhaps it should be updated according :-)

By the way, i wonder if this file could included on the official repository aswell, at the moment the list of the games supported is only present into the forked repo (libretro)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on June 02, 2019, 05:30:41 PM
Thanks for the report, i just updated the script generating this file, the change will be visible in the libretro fork next time i generate this file.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: el_rika on June 06, 2019, 01:39:20 PM
Regarding the SH3 stuff for cv1k, I am the sole author and copyright holder of a SEGA Dreamcast emulator which includes an SH4 interpreter and JIT.  I am willing to do the work to get it ported over to FinalBurn and relicense it under a compatible license.

I can't actually get started until August due to some IRL problems that will prevent me from getting any work done, but I can get the license changed now.  Is 3-clause BSD considered compatible with FB?

Wow man! Having those absolute gems in FbN will be a dream come true! 
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on June 08, 2019, 01:04:29 AM
new fbn testversion!

adds Berzerk and Frenzy drivers
speed up romscanning a bit
..other stuff in whatsnew file!
please post bugs and stuff here :)

thanks to iq_132, kev, barbudreadmon, me, Gab75 and all friends and fans of fb for making this great!!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on June 10, 2019, 01:00:15 AM
Pitapat Puzzle (a fun arcade puzzle game) has been added to the FBN roster... by dink with help from arnoldsecret and barbudreadmon! ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on June 10, 2019, 02:14:04 AM
I think this game got dumped for the first time last year, it's a pretty decent puzzle game.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on June 10, 2019, 08:41:57 AM
I couldn't figure out how to play it :/
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on June 10, 2019, 10:18:00 AM
I couldn't figure out how to play it :/
I think it goes like this : you switch the pieces from an area to another, when 3 round ones of the same color are next to each other, it starts a chain, also destroying the squared ones in the process.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on June 10, 2019, 11:15:06 AM
I think it goes like this : you switch the pieces from an area to another, when 3 round ones of the same color are next to each other, it starts a chain, also destroying the squared ones in the process.

From what I can see, a chain begins when three or more round/spherical pieces are put together, moreover the adjacent square pieces are not destroyed, but converted in round/spherical pieces.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Zazie on June 14, 2019, 12:59:07 PM
FBA can include GGPO online? Fightcade 2 is in standby...
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on June 14, 2019, 02:20:11 PM
FBA can include GGPO online? Fightcade 2 is in standby...

FBNeo only supports "classic" netplay, for ggpo-like netplay you'll have to use fightcade or libretro ports (there might be other ports using ggpo-like netplay but i'm unaware of them).
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on June 14, 2019, 06:52:12 PM
Thanks for the info, I will have to try again :)

From what I can see, a chain begins when three or more round/spherical pieces are put together, moreover the adjacent square pieces are not destroyed, but converted in round/spherical pieces.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: xerf84 on June 20, 2019, 04:37:20 PM
Hi dink, I would like to report a guru meditation with the Vandyke rom which I do not have and despite that is marked on the list of available, I have Hacha Mecha Fighter and maybe that's why it marks the error.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on June 20, 2019, 07:25:16 PM
xerf84, I fixed the issue that would cause it to crash, could you please try running it again with the latest code and see what it says when you try to load it?

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: xerf84 on June 20, 2019, 07:55:36 PM
I would need the executable because I'm not a developer, I'm sorry about that.   :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on June 20, 2019, 09:21:25 PM
Here's an up to date test exe: https://www.sendspace.com/file/1nr466

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: xerf84 on June 20, 2019, 09:49:23 PM
All good, although for some reason these games appear on the list yet.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: xerf84 on June 20, 2019, 09:53:19 PM
Forget it, I scanned again and they simply disappeared.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on June 20, 2019, 11:56:15 PM
xerf84, that's good :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: xerf84 on June 21, 2019, 06:21:29 PM
Hello again Dink, I have a question, It is a detail in the graphics between the Space Invaders DX version of the taito b system and f3 hardware. In the option to play the classic mode with cellophane, the game is not well distinguished in the f3 version, this also occurs in MAME. Is this normal in the original arcade?
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on June 21, 2019, 07:34:28 PM
xerf84, yes, the cellophane mode with Taito B-system is actually correct - as weird as it looks :)
Though on the F3 hw, I think there might be something wrong - the F3 hw was never perfectly emulated, and there are some glitches w/a few games.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: xerf84 on June 21, 2019, 08:02:08 PM
Thanks for getting me out of doubt. Greetings.  :cool:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Riddler on July 01, 2019, 03:56:50 AM
Hi All. Is this Thread still valid for posts about FBA/FBNeo?

Can i post fix/update queries for FBNeo here?


Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 01, 2019, 07:18:27 AM
Riddler: yes, of course :)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 02, 2019, 09:45:52 AM
some dinkdev news:
Art of Fighting (the first one) Neogeo CD: Fixed freeze on bonus stage.  Big thanks to Neildark for providing info, savestates and recordings to help me solve this one!
info on the bug: seems like the program that runs the bonus rounds either has a bug or crashes a little bit, and starts writing bad registers - first it writes bad dma transfer requests (which has been known for some time), but the other part is that it writes corrupted registers to the lc8951 controller chip.  Funny thing is - you can "influence" the bug by skipping or holding certain button combinations on the motorcycle cutscene right before the bonus stage.

For the past several weeks, been trying to get recordings to stay synchronized with Neogeo CD.  Not having much luck, but it is a lot better than it was.  Some games don't seem to have a problem (sonic wings3), but others do (art of fighting, rbffs...).

Fixed music bug in Sand Scorpion - it was fixed before yrs ago, but decided to come back after some cycle-fixing to the z80 core.  :P

Konami's Xexex: fixed swapped pcm channels (l/r -> r/l)

Rainbow Islands Extra: Added proper C-Chip dump.  Thanks to Kevin Escbach for donating the chip and Caps0ff for dumping it.

Wonder Planet got broke after an update a while back, sorry about that!  It's fixed now.

Vanguard 2: another sprite flip bug.  ooops.

I'll post an official-ish test exe tonight, after cleaning up the Neogeo CD stuff!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Riddler on July 03, 2019, 03:37:22 AM
OMG!!!
I was going to post today about the Sand Scorpion stage music not playing in 2.97.44 as it was working in 2.97.42 and .43.

You guys are just on it! Much love!


Other things i found with 2.97.44.......

Ashura Blaster (Ashurau) d_taitob.cpp
-High score entry issue with the third character
-Unable to enter the letter "T" as the third character of your name. It changes to "R".
-E.g I want to enter "KNT" but it displays "KNR".
-Happens in MAME also but maybe bacuse it uses the same driver.


Demon Front (dmnfrnt)
-Game stops working after choosing your character
-Emulator still running but black screen, no sound, no music

Ignore me, i see you fixed it !

Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 06, 2019, 12:29:06 AM
Thanks Riddler, I'll look into it soon :)

guys, when I said "tonight" about posting the official-ish exe, I didn't mean to make it take 3 days.  The heatwave that is currently is starting to negatively affect my memory!  d'oh!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 06, 2019, 11:57:33 PM
I did a bit of recon and found that this is the actual game code that is changing the high-score name, and not the emulation.   Unfortunately there isn't much that can be done about this.

best regards,
- dink

Ashura Blaster (Ashurau) d_taitob.cpp
-High score entry issue with the third character
-Unable to enter the letter "T" as the third character of your name. It changes to "R".
-E.g I want to enter "KNT" but it displays "KNR".
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 07, 2019, 12:21:31 AM
Here's a new test exe :)

- new drivers finished! (Ring King / King of Boxer, Dead Angle, Legionnaire, Heated Barrel, etc.)
- lots of new fixes

see incl. whatsnew.html for more info!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Neildark on July 07, 2019, 08:47:35 AM
Many new features, new games and several arrangements, thank you very much for all your work, especially for the part Improve input recordings CPS1 and CPS2 and for the part of Neo Geo CD, Greetings! :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Bad Dude on July 07, 2019, 12:02:42 PM
Here's a new test exe :)

- new drivers finished! (Ring King / King of Boxer, Dead Angle, Legionnaire, Heated Barrel, etc.)
- lots of new fixes

see incl. whatsnew.html for more info!

best regards,
- dink

(https://media1.tenor.com/images/eec4d7d84836d936f96de9c307be53b2/tenor.gif?itemid=10474493)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on July 07, 2019, 01:02:57 PM
Here's a new test exe :)

- new drivers finished! (Ring King / King of Boxer, Dead Angle, Legionnaire, Heated Barrel, etc.)
- lots of new fixes

see incl. whatsnew.html for more info!

Thanks a lot! The FB Neo becomes better and better! ;)

PS: I presume that the System 24 games are still in "alpha stage"... in other words, it's too early for test them.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 07, 2019, 06:19:52 PM
:)
yes, that is the first prelim version of the s24 driver, please completely ignore it.  I forgot to remove it for the exe

best regards,
- dink

Thanks a lot! The FB Neo becomes better and better! ;)

PS: I presume that the System 24 games are still in "alpha stage"... in other words, it's too early for test them.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Bad Dude on July 08, 2019, 08:53:31 AM
This last version is not saving my settings...  :p
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 08, 2019, 10:24:58 AM
Bad Dude, which settings for example?

thanks,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Bad Dude on July 08, 2019, 11:02:29 AM
Bad Dude, which settings for example?

thanks,
- dink

Ah, sure... my Pre-Scale setting. The older test version was also saving the "manually select RGB preset", which is great! You guys should keep that! 

and.... CHEERS!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 08, 2019, 07:16:44 PM
Bad Dude,
We didn't change anything related to saving settings, but maybe a certain bug has appeared out of nowhere (it happens..).
Could you please attach a copy of your config/fbn.ini and tell me which manual rgb preset/setting is not being saved?

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 08, 2019, 10:12:07 PM
FB fix news / work in progress:

Xexex, finally fixed the line 0-6 scrolling issue bug, which is apparent in level 3 and the game's ending.  It's hardly noticeable - but something that bothered me and was quite a challenge to fix, too!  I won't even go into how many attempts were made over the past few years to try to fix it...  :P

Hiscore System,
The cpu interface to the highscore system has been reworked, big thanks to iq_132!  This will make the highscore system about 1000x more reliable in the longrun.

I will post a new exe after I am confident that all of the little "quirks" have been worked out.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: fastpop72 on July 09, 2019, 04:51:38 AM
FB fix news / work in progress:

Xexex, finally fixed the line 0-6 scrolling issue bug, which is apparent in level 3 and the game's ending.  It's hardly noticeable - but something that bothered me and was quite a challenge to fix, too!  I won't even go into how many attempts were made over the past few years to try to fix it...  :P

Hiscore System,
The cpu interface to the highscore system has been reworked, big thanks to iq_132!  This will make the highscore system about 1000x more reliable in the longrun.

I will post a new exe after I am confident that all of the little "quirks" have been worked out.

best regards,
- dink

Thank you!!!

It's possible to have support for the bloxeedc (Bloxeed in english) rom? I suppose the driver is the same as bloxeed... ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Bad Dude on July 09, 2019, 07:47:03 AM
FB fix news / work in progress:

Xexex, finally fixed the line 0-6 scrolling issue bug, which is apparent in level 3 and the game's ending.  It's hardly noticeable - but something that bothered me and was quite a challenge to fix, too!  I won't even go into how many attempts were made over the past few years to try to fix it...  :P

Hiscore System,
The cpu interface to the highscore system has been reworked, big thanks to iq_132!  This will make the highscore system about 1000x more reliable in the longrun.

I will post a new exe after I am confident that all of the little "quirks" have been worked out.

best regards,
- dink

I'll put some gif to comemorate that, but dink edited my last post, so... is better not.
Hey dear Dink  :cool: Here's the attachment that you request from me! I'm using the "small faint RGB mask"
Thank you, god bless!
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on July 09, 2019, 08:53:03 AM
Thank you!!!

It's possible to have support for the bloxeedc (Bloxeed in english) rom? I suppose the driver is the same as bloxeed... ;)

You suppose wrongly :) The game you speak of runs on Sega System C hardware totally different driver.
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: fastpop72 on July 09, 2019, 05:14:55 PM
You suppose wrongly :) The game you speak of runs on Sega System C hardware totally different driver.

Same game and different hardware!!  :confused:
Tricky!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 10, 2019, 09:14:16 AM
Missing gfx layer added to GIJOE:
old vs. new
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on July 10, 2019, 03:21:09 PM
Excellent work! ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on July 11, 2019, 09:02:18 AM
@dink good job bigman!!, although looking at pic two you'd be forgiven for thinking it was actually correct beforehand.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 12, 2019, 01:04:48 AM
Thanks guys!!
Thanks to gab75 for finding issues, now its almost impossible to tell the difference between emulation and pcb! (there's one scene left when the ending explosion fades out where you can tell..  I shall work on that tomorrow though.)

Thanks to iq_132 for help with simplifiying some ugly code :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on July 12, 2019, 08:29:41 AM
Thanks a lot! Great work! Now we have almost a perfect arcade emulation... the only noticeable difference is the "fades issue" at the end of the final boss fight... which is a very small bug... ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 12, 2019, 08:11:19 PM
Gab75,
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on July 13, 2019, 12:16:36 AM
As far as I know, at the moment, the FinalBurn Neo is the only emulator where Konami's G.I. Joe can boast a perfect emulation! ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 15, 2019, 07:32:57 PM
Hi friends!
I finally came up with a good way to work around input recordings and games which use a RTC(clock) chip..  First, about the problem:
There are some issues with recording games (or netgames) that use a realtime clock.  For example: the PGM bios uses time from the RTC @ bootup to generate random numbers.  This will cause recordings to fail sooner or later with desynchs...  A few systems use this: PGM, some NeoGeo, a few games in itech16/32 and Taito's Operation Wolf.
Solution: I started working on a generic way of returning the localtime of the machine (for all games/systems which use RTC) with tweaks.  For example: if we are recording, playing back - we will now use the time from when the recording started.  For normal/non recorded games, we just return the time of the machine (PC, etc).  For net-games, all systems agree to use the same pre-determined clock values and random# seed.
So far, after a bit of experimenting/implementing and testing things.. I recorded several levels of ddp2 - bee storm from "power-on", and the recording played back perfectly.  So far, success! :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 28, 2019, 01:02:47 AM
Happy day for St. Dragon Fans
Something that has bothered me for EONS:
St.Dragon on Jaleco Megasys - one of my favorite manic-shooters - had some issues in FB:
1: Sometimes crash in level 4 (68k crash / game hang)
2: Input recordings would desync. mostly in last level, but could be anywhere

I tried to fix these many times without any luck... (since 2015)
Tonight I'm happy to say that both are fixed! :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on July 28, 2019, 03:28:50 PM
Hi, I'm new to the forum.

Download the version (fbn_test_july7.zip) of dink and I found errors in the music of the game "Sokonuke Taisen Game". The error in question is that the music goes like accelerated and you hear "ugly".

This error is not in version 0.2.97.43.

Greetings.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 29, 2019, 12:36:55 AM
Hi Pelucon8, welcome aboard :)
Thanks for the bug report, I fixed the problem and here's a new exe to try: https://www.sendspace.com/file/hanods

best regards,
- dink

Hi, I'm new to the forum.

Download the version (fbn_test_july7.zip) of dink and I found errors in the music of the game "Sokonuke Taisen Game". The error in question is that the music goes like accelerated and you hear "ugly".

This error is not in version 0.2.97.43.

Greetings.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: el_rika on July 29, 2019, 02:00:39 AM
Hello there guys,

I think there's been a regression of some sort regarding Dodonpachi Daioujou BL in latest .44 fbn (possibly in .43 as well). The normal parent White Label ddpdoj is working well, but the Black Label ddpdojblk is not working anymore. I tried a few different sets (some of which wok well in .38) but none are working. All other games on that driver - Ketsui and Espgaluda - are working well.

Tested on Android - Retroarch - FB .44 core.

Thank you!!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 29, 2019, 07:13:24 AM
Hi el_rika,
I just tried ddpdojblk and it works fine here, what kind of error do you get?

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: el_rika on July 29, 2019, 08:18:00 AM
Oh, it simply exits the FB Core back to the Retroarch menu, and it says "failed to load content". It could be something wrong with the Core only on Android..? 

Maybe i have a wrong rom, though i tried 3 working (in previous builds)  versions.  Could you please tell me the exact size of your roms both parent and black? (i don't want to break any rules here  :redface: )

Thanks man
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on July 29, 2019, 08:31:10 AM
Hello there guys,

I think there's been a regression of some sort regarding Dodonpachi Daioujou BL in latest .44 fbn (possibly in .43 as well). The normal parent White Label ddpdoj is working well, but the Black Label ddpdojblk is not working anymore. I tried a few different sets (some of which wok well in .38) but none are working. All other games on that driver - Ketsui and Espgaluda - are working well.

Tested on Android - Retroarch - FB .44 core.

Thank you!!

It's running fine here with the libretro core if you have the good romset, so most likely you don't.

NB : until ~2 months ago i tolerated wrong crcs in romsets, i removed this behavior (except for unibios) because people kept reporting issues without checking their romsets, now it won't start if it fails crc verification.

PS : i keep an up-to-date datfile at https://raw.githubusercontent.com/libretro/FBNeo/master/dats/FinalBurn%20Neo%20(ClrMame%20Pro%20XML%2C%20Arcade%20only).dat, use it with clrmamepro (it's also supposed to work with romcenter iirc).
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: el_rika on July 29, 2019, 12:36:10 PM
I understand.

Can I modify the file myself then? Is there a way to make an older ddpdojblk version, compatible with the new core?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on July 29, 2019, 01:47:30 PM
Thanks for answering, @dink. Yes, the music now seems to be working well.

Thank you so much for fixing it.

I have another doubt... In the FBN can the games be configured individually as in mame?

For example, leave vertical games with the "SuperScale" filter and horizontal games with the "SuperScale (75% Scanlines)" filter. Is that possible? In mame you just have to right click on the game but here I can't find how to do it.

Greetings

Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 29, 2019, 07:31:58 PM
Pelucon8: it's not possible to do this currently, but the source code is available if you'd like to take on such an endeavor. :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on July 29, 2019, 08:35:03 PM
 @dink: I have no idea about programming, xD. Anyway it's not something that bothers me.

I found some minor bugs in the game G.I. Joe. You can see them in some cutscenes:

(https://i.postimg.cc/Y21bYssb/f1.jpg)
(https://i.postimg.cc/y8rP74DY/f2.jpg)

It's not something that affects the game at all, but this doesn't happen in mame or on the game board. I present it here in case you are interested.

Greetings.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: el_rika on July 30, 2019, 03:11:52 AM
Guys, thousand appologies for my previous posts. I am such an ignorant when it comes to the tehnical parts of emulation/romsets.
I tried to educate myself for a few hours last night and managed to learn about the romsets and eventually made it work  :biggrin:

Thanks again friends!

Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 30, 2019, 09:05:13 AM
Pelucon8, thanks for the info re: G.I.Joe, it's fixed now :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on July 30, 2019, 01:48:22 PM
Dink, thank you for fixing it.  :smilie:

Modify:

Is it normal that the "PGM Polygame Master" logo is shown backwards in the game "Bee Storm - DoDonPachi II"?

(https://i.postimg.cc/g0SHSmxR/F1.jpg)

Obviously after that the game shows normal.

Saludos
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: el_rika on August 01, 2019, 02:54:47 AM
I think it's like this on PCB as well.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 01, 2019, 08:34:38 AM
Yes, that's right :)
Another known bug regarding Bee Storm: when the first big bee (at the beginning) is nearly finished, a "black grain of rice" kinda thing starts bouncing on the screen near the bee's stinger.  I think perhaps they had a problem dumping the gfx roms on that one.  Who knows, but it shows up in other emulators too.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on August 01, 2019, 02:55:24 PM
el_rika, dink: Thank you for answering. So from what I've read, this is normal.

Dink: I could see the mistake you're referring to and the truth is very subtle... but there it is.

I have another doubt. In the game World Rally 2: In the GUI of the emulator the screenshots don't look good it's as if they were "crushed" compared to other titles:

(https://i.postimg.cc/qMTbhCvg/F1.jpg)
(https://i.postimg.cc/T3hrpRgp/F2.jpg)

Is this normal?

Greetings.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 01, 2019, 07:41:07 PM
Pelucon8, thanks for the bug report, fix is in :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on August 01, 2019, 11:05:24 PM
Great, that's fast!

Now the photos look right:

(https://i.postimg.cc/mZXMwgzS/F1.jpg)

Thank you very much :)

Greetings

Modify:

I don't know if it's an emulation error or if it's the same in the real machine, but in the world rally, in the first screen (easy I think) there are elements in the screen that are not loaded simultaneously but they do it later in less than a second. I'll leave it marked with three arrows:

(https://i.postimg.cc/pT0KTXRd/F1.png)(https://i.postimg.cc/Fsk0r4q9/F2.png)

It's a matter of blinking. I've seen some videos and this doesn't happen and that's why I'm confused if it's an emulation error or if it's like that on the machine.

Here's a video where you load everything simultaneously (2:03):

https://youtu.be/Z8VpFlRTrPY?t=121

I don't know if this "mistake" will happen in other scenes of the game...

Well, seeing the next scene (Medium), the "error" also occurs but is more subtle (6:06):

(https://i.postimg.cc/9MZNnQwz/F1.png)(https://i.postimg.cc/2yCT9FfX/F2.png)

Well, so far I've seen nothing else...

Greetings
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on August 02, 2019, 04:01:32 PM
Great, that's fast!

Now the photos look right:

(https://i.postimg.cc/mZXMwgzS/F1.jpg)

Thank you very much :)

Greetings

Modify:

I don't know if it's an emulation error or if it's the same in the real machine, but in the world rally, in the first screen (easy I think) there are elements in the screen that are not loaded simultaneously but they do it later in less than a second. I'll leave it marked with three arrows:

(https://i.postimg.cc/pT0KTXRd/F1.png)(https://i.postimg.cc/Fsk0r4q9/F2.png)

It's a matter of blinking. I've seen some videos and this doesn't happen and that's why I'm confused if it's an emulation error or if it's like that on the machine.

Here's a video where you load everything simultaneously (2:03):

https://youtu.be/Z8VpFlRTrPY?t=121

I don't know if this "mistake" will happen in other scenes of the game...

Well, seeing the next scene (Medium), the "error" also occurs but is more subtle (6:06):

(https://i.postimg.cc/9MZNnQwz/F1.png)(https://i.postimg.cc/2yCT9FfX/F2.png)

Well, so far I've seen nothing else...

Greetings
Dink recently fixed some problems with our tilemap routines' priorities. I imagine that this is related.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 02, 2019, 06:58:49 PM
Pelucon8, iq_132, there's nothing wrong with wrally - it draws the extra elements exactly 1 frame after it draws the main scene - this is normal :)  It does exactly the same thing in other emulators.  Pause then single-step with F1 to see in FB or P in mame with shift-P to single step.

Never trust a video on yt, unless you download the 50 or 60hz version of the video file from yt and play it back locally in vlc.  yt usually plays in 30fps (unless you set it, and the video supports higher), meaning it would seem like everything is on the screen instantly.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on August 02, 2019, 09:54:34 PM
iq_132, dink: Thank you very much for answering :). So this compartment is normal, great.

As for the videos on youtube you're right, I had forgotten that detail of 50 or 60hz. Something similar happens in the megaman X2 or X3 (I do not remember), there is a stage that goes all the time trembling but in YT is not appreciated by what is said of the 50 or 60hz, however in emulator if you appreciate ....... XD

That said, thank you very much :)

Greetings.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 03, 2019, 08:51:00 AM
Pelucon8, it's a good spot anyways, usually glitches between scene changes (like that) are due to a bug in emulation, but there is always the exception (like wrally)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 03, 2019, 08:53:30 AM
Hello friends and fans of FB,
We finally have a per-game analog sensitivity option in the input dialog! :)
... previously you could only change this by editing the games' ini file..

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on August 03, 2019, 02:54:53 PM
Thanks a lot for this new and very useful (user friendly) feature in the input dialog panel! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on August 03, 2019, 07:33:04 PM
dink, of course. If I see any error of that kind or another, obviously I will go to consult it at yt and of course, here in the forum :)

By the way, thanks for the improvements of the emulator, it gets more and more comfortable :)

Greetings
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 09, 2019, 12:42:35 AM
System 24 finally conquered! yay  :biggrin:
(probably makes it to git tomorrow)

RETURN TO STARTING POINT - CHALLENGE AGAIN!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Combone on August 09, 2019, 12:53:48 AM
System 24 finally conquered! yay  :biggrin:
(probably makes it to git tomorrow)

RETURN TO STARTING POINT - CHALLENGE AGAIN!

best regards,
- dink

Amazing News  :smilie: Go Go System 24
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: fastpop72 on August 09, 2019, 02:29:52 AM
GREAT NEWS!! At last i can revert my System24 games from mame to FBNeo!!!!

System 24 finally conquered! yay  :biggrin:
(probably makes it to git tomorrow)

RETURN TO STARTING POINT - CHALLENGE AGAIN!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: csmart on August 10, 2019, 05:09:34 AM
Next stop System 32. lol
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Kev on August 10, 2019, 01:15:48 PM
I never tried system 24. There are some great games on it, so that's a poor effort on my part.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 10, 2019, 07:01:53 PM
Kev, I haven't either until recently :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: fastpop72 on August 13, 2019, 06:58:30 AM
Regarding cv1k - this has already been discussed (though, probably not publicly)
Here's the current cv1k deal, broken down into needed components:
soundcore+finishing+dbug+etc - dink
driver+vid - iq_132
cpu(sh4) - ? (not iq_132 or dink)

When we have sh4, the rest will happen.  basically, we need help w/this one.

Any news about cv1k deal?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: furiadeoso on August 17, 2019, 01:36:15 PM
Hi, Dink! Do you know if someone is working on the konami System GX driver?  We thought it was already in FBN but a few days ago we wanted to play some Sexy parodius and I didn't see him on the gamelist.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 17, 2019, 06:53:05 PM
not yet!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: furiadeoso on August 18, 2019, 05:37:03 AM
not yet!
Ok.  Thank you.  Surely one day we will see it!  ;p
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 28, 2019, 12:59:17 AM
Hi friends and fans of FBN!

We need some help with testing new things..
Newly added driver:
Sega System 24 games: Bonanza Bros., Rough Racer, Hot Rod, Scramble Spirits, Gain Ground, Crack Down, Super Masters Golf..

Sega Master System / GameGear got some supermassive bugfixes and rework c/o Kev and dink..
From the whatsnew:
SMS Fix-a-Thon [Kev, dink]
   Fix all known broken games (SF2, Popeye (GG), Back to the Future 2, T2 and others..)
   Support per-line palette changes (For Sonic in water, etc)
   Disable sprite limit DIP improves flickering sprites in some games
   Improve fidelity for games which use the PSG as a DAC
So, test your favorite SMS / GameGear games and make sure everything is OK :)

Please post your results here - good or bad!

Grab latest exe here: https://github.com/finalburnneo/FBNeo-WIP-Storage-Facility/releases/tag/appveyor-build
recommendation: fbn-win32-gcc.7z or fbn-win32-debug-gcc.7z
personal recommendation: avoid 64bit and VS builds like the plague!!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: fastpop72 on August 28, 2019, 11:48:59 AM
Hello @dink. How accurate is the emulation of the Megadrive in FBNeo?

Could be the Sega System C2 ported to FBNeo using the Megadrive source?

I read it share almost the same hardware....

There are some interesting games in System C2 like both Columns or Puyo Puyos...
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 28, 2019, 08:01:00 PM
fastpop72, its pretty damn good - I've spent years perfecting it and fixing games that have very tight tolerances.
I don't know much about System C/C2, the games were never interesting enough for me to really look into it - nearly everything it has is already available on MD/Genesis.
OTOH, Someone recently ported the C2 game "SegaSonic Bros." to Megadrive, so anything is possible :) 

best regards,
- dink

Hello @dink. How accurate is the emulation of the Megadrive in FBNeo?

Could be the Sega System C2 ported to FBNeo using the Megadrive source?

I read it share almost the same hardware....

There are some interesting games in System C2 like both Columns or Puyo Puyos...
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 28, 2019, 10:19:16 PM
New additions to the Megadrive driver:
Old Towers v1.2 homebrew - this one is a keeper!! 
Info: http://www.retrosouls.net/?page_id=915
Rom d/l: https://retrosouls.itch.io/old-towers

SegaSonic Bros. C2 Megadrive Port by Dustin O'Dell

Grab latest exe here: https://github.com/finalburnneo/FBNeo-WIP-Storage-Facility/releases/download/appveyor-build/fbn-win32-gcc.7z
note: exe with new games probably available later today!

enjoy!! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: fastpop72 on August 29, 2019, 04:48:34 AM
Cool thanks!!!!

I made SegaSonic Bros working on mame renaming the borench rom but now i can play it with FBNeo & megadrive rom!!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 03, 2019, 12:40:17 AM
Added Tom Tom Magic (pinball) to NMK16
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: fastpop72 on September 03, 2019, 12:53:26 AM
Love It!! Thx
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: fastpop72 on September 04, 2019, 04:49:18 AM
I know that FBN doesn't accept requests...

But i have a question for @dink: Why such a classic like Missile Command is not supported? Runs on particular hardware?

Thanks...
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Bad Dude on September 04, 2019, 07:46:41 AM
Great progress!! Keep posting the exe version here, dink!  :wink:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on September 04, 2019, 08:17:45 AM
But i have a question for @dink: Why such a classic like Missile Command is not supported? Runs on particular hardware?

As far as I know, Missile Command (official and unofficial releases) uses a own specific driver and the current FBN version doesn't support it.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 04, 2019, 08:19:01 AM
fastpop72, we just didn't get to it yet.  A few years ago, FB didn't have many classics at all, so if you look at the whatsnew file from the recent years you'll see we've come quite far.  Also you have to understand that a single driver can take up to a week (or 3-4 for huge ones like sega system 24 - this took 3 weeks on iq_132's side and 3 on my side, there was a lot of insanity involved), we're only 2 people doing this[main driver dev]...  Though I must mention all the awesome work Kev, JacKc, barbudreadmon, Gab75 and all the great bug reporters/supporters like you and others do to keep things working smoothly, q/a and up-to-date :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: hursit on September 08, 2019, 04:16:23 PM
Hello people
i do not know isit right place or not but

i have seen this on the mame page about of the CPS3 emulation.

Quote
cps3.cpp: remove "imperfect graphics" flag, improve save states, fix eeprom size, document known issues

https://git.redump.net/mame/commit/?id=e26914f3a3e114bca64105bc7f67003b457f202d

Can you guys make it for FBN too ?

thanks...
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 08, 2019, 06:56:53 PM
already there :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: JacKc on September 09, 2019, 12:38:00 PM
Hiya dink,

some cps3 fix and tweak :

fix prev (nw)
https://github.com/mamedev/mame/commit/9dfb61f4ef68baea200f1d789de86402a85916df

tweak screen rates as per new measurements (nw)
https://github.com/mamedev/mame/commit/a2f4131c8907b6b164b65239f92d5e4538fcc44d

sprite list caching (fixes warzard 2p VS screen and jojo intro "enemies" text appearance)
https://github.com/mamedev/mame/commit/3f4fcc06b890e96d08f8d7f05e6ec1bc8bfd8598
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: acd2001 on September 13, 2019, 10:40:14 PM
Hallo dink, vertical games in window mode aren't centered.
Can you correct it ?
Thank you for your patience.

Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 16, 2019, 10:35:27 AM
Hi guys, I havn't disappeared, just been working hard on a new fb-project :)
everything else has been put on hold until it's finished!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: fastpop72 on September 16, 2019, 04:22:04 PM
New fb-project???

WE NEED DETAILS PLEASEEE!!! :biggrin: :biggrin: :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on September 17, 2019, 01:00:52 AM
Good things come to those who wait! :P
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Bonky0013 on September 18, 2019, 08:45:15 AM
Hi Dink ^^

I have see the dips switch for dai makaimura are wrong.
I have the pcb resale version and on DIP C , the four first switch are for the select level, not for life.
On FBN, if you change the dip of life before start the game, you don't start at the first stage ;).

http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showthread.php?243047-Daimakaimura-Dip-Switch-Stage-Select (http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showthread.php?243047-Daimakaimura-Dip-Switch-Stage-Select)


+1 for the sega system C/C2..... Thunder force AC , Puyo puyo ....Rhaaaaaa  :biggrin:
Hope  :smilie:


Thanks for all your work :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: el_rika on September 20, 2019, 07:31:48 AM
Good things come to those who wait! :P

I think we all know what the secret project is, right?  :wink: (right?)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on September 20, 2019, 10:59:40 AM
I think we all know what the secret project is, right?  :wink: (right?)

Sorry, I can only repeat my previous expression... "good things come to those who wait" ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: fastpop72 on October 14, 2019, 09:57:07 AM
Hi guys, I havn't disappeared, just been working hard on a new fb-project :)
everything else has been put on hold until it's finished!

best regards,
- dink

Almost a month... still no teaser either!  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on October 14, 2019, 11:31:02 AM
I think we all know what the secret project is, right?  :wink: (right?)

I have a pretty good guess at what you think, but work on cv1k won't start before someone outside the team write us a sh3 cpu core.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: el_rika on October 14, 2019, 03:03:11 PM
I have a pretty good guess at what you think, but work on cv1k won't start before someone outside the team write us a sh3 cpu core.

Hahahaha  :redface:

edit: i actually have inside information that this is what the team is working on (sorry for spoiling it guys :cool: )
https://sp.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm2942205
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 03, 2019, 07:43:20 PM
Mecha-9 - Sequel to Mecha-8 (MSX or ColecoVision) released recently by Oscar Toledo as free .rom download
has been added to our ColecoVision emulation :D
Game features Smooth scrolling on CV, very polished
nice frantic shooter with upgrades
huge near-full screen bosses :)
etc..

"still frame" picture of game doesn't look great, but in animation, its very nice.
read about it - get rom @ Oscar Toledo's site: https://nanochess.org/mecha9.html
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on November 05, 2019, 12:22:06 PM
Great Job guys as usual. Thanks!  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: xerf84 on November 10, 2019, 04:33:16 PM
Well I have a problem, once I configure the directories for the roms and they have been scanned, FBN sends me back to configure the directories and nothing appears on the roms selection screen. If I put roms unavailable and select one, it sends me the guru meditation screen.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 25, 2019, 08:26:48 PM
Xerf84, sorry about that problem - also sorry that it took me so long to respond (somehow I missed your message!)
Are you still having this problem?  Can you make sure to put a \ at the end of each directory in the rom directories?

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: xerf84 on December 26, 2019, 12:37:56 AM
Hello, happy holidays and thanks for the support. Everything is going well now. Greetings.  :cool:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on December 26, 2019, 05:55:27 PM
@dink

I know you've already uploaded in another thread an XP version of FBA with     
Zombie Raid fixed, but I wanted to ask you a favor... could you upload the same file but not the debug version?

I mean:

(https://i.postimg.cc/GtLgBz4Q/F1.jpg)
(https://i.postimg.cc/MHJMtr77/F2.jpg)

I'd really appreciate it. Obviously for XP.

Greetings
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 26, 2019, 10:15:55 PM
Here's the latest exe, it includes the new driver for Technos' Super DodgeBall which was added last night.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on December 26, 2019, 11:58:23 PM
@dink

Thank you very much!,  :smilie:

Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: KaaMoS on December 27, 2019, 08:58:15 AM
Here's the latest exe, it includes the new driver for Technos' Super DodgeBall which was added last night.

best regards,
- dink
Thanks dink!
So kind! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: SeiferAlmasy on December 27, 2019, 12:52:11 PM
dink, congratulations... from contributor to administrator and lead programmer of FBNeo, really congrats...

PGM2 is any chance of being ported to FBNeo?

Thanks in adv
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on December 27, 2019, 05:14:50 PM
dink, congratulations... from contributor to administrator and lead programmer of FBNeo, really congrats...

PGM2 is any chance of being ported to FBNeo?

Thanks in adv

I want this sauce so badly...
And... check Final Burn Shuffle too, you can play pgm1 games are not working in mame, you need to try it out.
It's a old source but at least all of them is playable.
It seems no one knows this yet, maybe me.
Get them on emufrance.
Enjoy!  :cool:

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on December 27, 2019, 06:17:55 PM
I want this sauce so badly...
And... check Final Burn Shuffle too, you can play pgm1 games are not working in mame, you need to try it out.
It's a old source but at least all of them is playable.
It seems no one knows this yet, maybe me.
Get them on emufrance.
Enjoy!  :cool:

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!

In FBA, pgm is also playable and they load their games. Although I have to be honest, I haven't played all of them from start to finish, except the "Demon Front". But I guess the others could be completed as well.

As for pgm2, this thread talks about it:

https://neo-source.com/index.php?topic=2979.0

Greetings and Merry Christmas to you and all the friends on this forum.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 27, 2019, 07:39:38 PM
You're welcome guys, thanks or all the support :)

dink, congratulations... from contributor to administrator and lead programmer of FBNeo, really congrats...

PGM2 is any chance of being ported to FBNeo?

Thanks in adv

I just need to point this out: there's no lead programmers of fbn - the current active members are doing so much great stuff for fbn, and a lot of it is behind-the-scenes stuff, all of us are doing an equally awesome job with this project: dink, iq_132, JacKc, kev, barbudreadmon.

Lately we have a new member: 0xe1f - he's writing a MacOS fbn-ui from the ground-up!  This is great because now we can reach a wider audience! :)

barbudreadmon and I had been working hours-ontop-of-hours trying to fix a silly little bug in the SSV game Eagle Shot Golf which causes the game to bug out on ARM systems.  Every time we got an idea as to what the possible cause would be, it turned out to be wrong.  ..so many hours into this between the both of us, over several months..  And just when we we're almost ready to give up - barbudreadmon came up with the winning and proper solution to the problem just the other day :)

Kev is working on a crossplatform SDL ui, helping with tons of things on git and helping me test a super-top-secret driverproject (which he started!). 

That's just a little bit of the things that have been going on lately :)

I'm afraid PGM2 isn't really my cup of tea, sorry about that!  It might happen in the future, though.
as for PGM1 games that work in FB Shuffle and not FBNeo, please tell us which games and we'll attempt to get them working.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: SeiferAlmasy on December 27, 2019, 10:01:20 PM
I use a port of Finalburn Neo in Playstation Classic (Retroarch), works a charm, but i dont play Neogeo CD games in FBNeo, the emulator works, load bios etc, but game not work properly... in retroarch neocd core, works properly.

Thanks dink, and forgive me a mistake about "lead prog" in FBN... :)

Perhaps one day, FBN emulates PGM2... i waiting for this day

PS: the FBN Team, maintain FBN Retroarch core or its a port of third person?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 27, 2019, 10:16:16 PM
I use a port of Finalburn Neo in Playstation Classic (Retroarch), works a charm, but i dont play Neogeo CD games in FBNeo, the emulator works, load bios etc, but game not work properly... in retroarch neocd core, works properly.

First make sure neocd games work fine in windows standalone fbn to see if the problem is in the core or not.  Also make sure your neocd games are in the right format (.bin/.cue, or .ccd truerip) only are supported.
Barbudreadmon can help with some core-specific stuff, this forum is mostly for the windows fbn exe, but we can try to help with common problems in libretro cores as well.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: SeiferAlmasy on December 27, 2019, 10:30:12 PM
First make sure neocd games work fine in windows standalone fbn to see if the problem is in the core or not.  Also make sure your neocd games are in the right format (.bin/.cue, or .ccd truerip) only are supported.
Barbudreadmon can help with some core-specific stuff, this forum is mostly for the windows fbn exe, but we can try to help with common problems in libretro cores as well.

best regards,
- dink


runs fine in Neocd core on PSC Retroarch... but in FBN only load the bios, and CD Player... FBN on Retroarch has support a CHD format too (if i am not wrong), but my ISOs is BIN+CUE...

But i try to load neocd games again and look a log of PSC Retroarch to solve my problem

thanks

Edit: FBNeo only accept BIN+CUE if have one BIN file, multiples bin files not work with FBNeo... problem solved, i think, just test it now :)

Edit 2: Just converted my BIN+CUE image in CDMAGE, and the game loads properly :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 28, 2019, 01:23:48 AM
SeiferAlmasy, enjoy :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on December 28, 2019, 10:41:07 AM
As for PGM1 games that work in FB Shuffle and not FBNeo, please tell us which games and we'll attempt to get them working.

I already try to ask mamesick to do it on arcadeui but it seems is not possible, the source i send him is very old, but... if you insist to see witch games are working here it is...
It's a dream come true if mame accept your fixes.

Here's the old source from the website: https://www.ppxclub.com/684707-1-1?fbclid=IwAR0w2uNP7s3LBIIZBubZ2eFzYr67o2FuKtJWfTmwMMNlTW3viWfhUplKx0s

Here's the download from mega i upload from the old source:  https://mega.nz/?fbclid=IwAR08xEgI_VAEq7ldgZRbF6BoTLCvagnAaDHQQ7nkSNJCoi6FB0VII060-g8#F!YHhFyAjL!QhnRt7eBQDhBqEQ_Q6ZKnA

List of games are... checked on mame as not working.

Demon Front 4th game Works if we play coin up - It seems works good on FB Neo, but appears a error in the screen of FB Shuffle before i coin up. "Versions are not Matched".
Dragon World 3 and EX works ok on FB Shuffle (As been fixed the crashed chinese version on Expert Mode) but in your FB Alpha are all not working.
KOV Super Heroes Plus - 7 Clone games doesn't work on FB Neo but on FB Shuffle have 5. (Ao Shi San Guo - Luan Shi Jie Ba - Luan Shi Quan Huang I and II.) Maybe you can make it working good.  :wink: Crossing Fingers.
One Martial Masters Doesn't work in both emulators.
Photo Y2K 2 (3-in-1) works on FB Shuffle and not in FB Neo.
Photo Y2K 2 Both 2 games works on FB Shuffle and not in FB Neo.
One S.V.G. Spectral vs Generation Doesn't work on FB Neo, but it works on FB Shuffle.

The small issues i was talking about you will find it if you test the emulator.

A few of them are clones you need to investigate more FB Shuffle.

I checked all roms, i didn't see any changes on the crc or size, it seems is a code inside to make it working?  :eek:

Gameplay of one game - Photo Y2K 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wFJVVgg4D4

I don?t know if i miss something.

Cheers. 😉
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on December 28, 2019, 08:17:36 PM
Photo Y2K 2 (3-in-1) works on FB Shuffle and not in FB Neo.
Photo Y2K 2 Both 2 games works on FB Shuffle and not in FB Neo.

That FB Shuffle source you sent does not support either of the Photo Y2K 2 games in the PGM driver from what i can tell.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on December 29, 2019, 11:41:01 AM
That FB Shuffle source you sent does not support either of the Photo Y2K 2 games in the PGM driver from what i can tell.

Yeah, that's why i was concern about that. Sorry.  :redface:
Let's see if dink do some magic.  :smilie:

Hey Arcadez, do you try it to export the compiled version of Final Burn Shuffle? The emulator is avaliable on emu-france but i can?t see no tools how to unpack the .exe and find the code to make it working. I'm not expert on this, but maybe a tool to uncompiled the version this works if exists.  ;p
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 31, 2019, 10:25:31 AM
Ashura-X changed his compiler to fix problem with WinXP build, please try this link for today's build:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QTi7kUsGwU11DPN8AcaQQRiRwzz0Djt_/view?usp=sharing

And let us know if its OK on WXP :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on December 31, 2019, 12:01:42 PM
Ashura-X is the best friend we have to release builds.  :wink: Thanks for the update announcement dink.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 08, 2020, 10:23:06 AM
So, back in September '19 Kev showed me a driver that played Super Mario Bros.
"Fantastic!", I thought!
Now, to add more games I cooked up a mapper system.  Coded in the popular mappers (mmc1,3,etc) - "we'll be done with this driver in a few days.  Yepper!", I thought. 

Nearly 4 1/2 months later @ ~6h/day, several re-writes, re-rewrites and re-re-rewrites, adding every mapper under the sun, getting tons of help/testing/code/imagery from Kev, iq_132 and Gab75. :)

Presenting...
NES/Famicom/Famicom FDS driver for FBN

FDS disk saves are even saved in a format that is compatible with other emulators :)

It will probably be on git in a few days...
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Kev on January 08, 2020, 03:48:12 PM
I've said it before, but you have done great work there dink :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on January 08, 2020, 04:18:02 PM
congratz on finishing it :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on January 08, 2020, 05:23:42 PM
Finally! Get working on the backlog! :D
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on January 08, 2020, 05:42:38 PM
Great work! Now the most representative 8 bit game-home system has an excellent emulation on FB Neo! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on January 08, 2020, 05:48:22 PM
More good Stuff...  :cool: thanks!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on January 09, 2020, 04:32:54 AM
Ashura-X changed his compiler to fix problem with WinXP build, please try this link for today's build:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QTi7kUsGwU11DPN8AcaQQRiRwzz0Djt_/view?usp=sharing

And let us know if its OK on WXP :)

best regards,
- dink

I have downloaded your latest build from your official website and it is already running on XP.  :smilie:

Thanks for letting us know!  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 12, 2020, 12:59:01 AM
Thanks for the support guys, I've got a little delayed w/NES, but hope to have things ready within the next few days (or by latest, next weekend...)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 12, 2020, 01:00:09 AM
Pelucon8, nice, so you're saying that the build from here now works on WinXP again? :) ( file fbn-win32-gcc.7z )
https://github.com/finalburnneo/FBNeo-WIP-Storage-Facility/releases/tag/appveyor-build

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on January 12, 2020, 05:22:51 AM
Pelucon8, nice, so you're saying that the build from here now works on WinXP again? :) ( file fbn-win32-gcc.7z )
https://github.com/finalburnneo/FBNeo-WIP-Storage-Facility/releases/tag/appveyor-build

best regards,
- dink

Hello @dink  :biggrin:

I was referring to the official website of Ashura X. Downloading it from there works in XP (as you told us)  :smilie:

Downloading it from github (appveyor-build) does not work in XP yet.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on January 21, 2020, 09:55:18 AM
Edit:

It's already solved.  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: WILOWAR on January 25, 2020, 04:25:39 AM
Hi. Could you add MSX2 and C64 games?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 29, 2020, 01:51:58 AM
Hi friends & fans of FB!
I had to take a little time off due to an illness, but everything is good now.  Last couple days I've been busy killing reported bugs over on the github project-page and finishing up the NES emulation.  It's getting really close now :)

From now on (new installations of) FB will put all rom-related subdirectories inside of roms/, like:

roms /  arcade roms here
roms / megadrive / megadrive games here
roms / nes / nes games here
... and so on ...

also note: megadrive has an 'e' now :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: fastpop72 on January 29, 2020, 02:06:00 AM
Hello @dink

With the new NES driver could be possible to add the VS. games to arcade emulation?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_VS._System
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 29, 2020, 08:36:11 AM
Anything is possible
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: hursit on February 02, 2020, 04:18:37 AM
Hello Guys

Is there any news about of the Moo Mesa Attratch Mode Glitch ?

(https://i.imgur.com/CUqByR3.png)


This is from actual PCB

(https://i.imgur.com/4jwF20G.png)

thanks for your all efforts for this great Emu
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 02, 2020, 08:39:46 AM
hursit, what exactly is the glitch?  they both look exacty the same to me.
Here's a video of game from the real arcade cabinet: https://youtu.be/_BBJELUlzq0?t=5m3s
and it looks the same on my side.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on February 02, 2020, 12:38:58 PM
From what I can see: in the first snapshot there's a "purple blur effect" around the little stars. Moreover in the first snapshot there's a bilinear filter while in the second one there's a scanlines filter (but probably they are related with the configuration/monitor used)...
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 05, 2020, 01:18:58 AM
I recorded a little video titled "How to kick-ass nonstop for about 30 minutes"

Aka Ghouls 'n Ghosts on Megadrive (recorded/played in fbn!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiE6kCJlTmE

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Kev on February 05, 2020, 03:49:33 AM
I recorded a little video titled "How to kick-ass nonstop for about 30 minutes"

Aka Ghouls 'n Ghosts on Megadrive (recorded/played in fbn!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiE6kCJlTmE

best regards,
- dink

Most of the time I can't even get off the first level without dying, so I find that quite impressive :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 06, 2020, 08:23:09 AM
Kev, if you concentrate/play only these 2 games - it's a lot easier than it seems.
Funny fact:
Even though it came out in '85 or so, it didn't become popular here until '87 or '88 here.

When Ghosts'n Goblins came out in the arcades, it was my most-hated game.  I put the quarter in and died right away - quarter over in 1/2 minute.  I remember thinking "I'll never play this one again.".  Now it's one of my most beloved favorites :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Kev on February 06, 2020, 09:34:20 AM
The one I played the most was Mr do. When I was 6 or 7 I had access to a free play cabinet of it and got quite good, and also played it loads on my dads BBC Micro. 30+ years later I am terrible at it. However, I can still play Star Wars and operation wolf for ages without losing a credit but I guess those are more forgiving games. the gng series is brutal in every version.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 12, 2020, 09:32:23 AM
Kev, Mr.Do is great!  I remember a few years back when I rewrote the driver - ended up playing it tons and didn't even know about(or use) the projectile ball.  My buddy Zazzone (FB-supertester at the time) found a bug in the driver when the ball hit the left side of the screen, I was like .. what ball? derp. :)
I might be good at GNG, but when it comes to Operation Wolf - I can't even make it past the first level on 1 coin...

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 12, 2020, 09:42:33 AM
Denjin Makai II / Guardians is emulation is now up to date.  barbudreadmon hooked up the new video code, dink hooked up the rasters.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on February 12, 2020, 09:51:09 AM
Denjin Makai II / Guardians is emulation is now up to date.  barbudreadmon hooked up the new video code, dink hooked up the rasters.

Finally the graphic issues in Denjin Makai II/Guardians are solved... a big thanks to dink and barbudreadmon! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on February 12, 2020, 10:15:47 AM
Finally the graphic issues in Denjin Makai II/Guardians are solved...
Not yet, the "mission screen" is still a bit off, but that's a fix for another day :).
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on February 12, 2020, 11:59:36 AM
Not yet, the "mission screen" is still a bit off, but that's a fix for another day :).

There's no hurry... this game has been waiting for years a "graphic fix"... few more days make no difference! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on February 13, 2020, 04:16:25 PM
I did some update to the video code for cps3 :
- fixed fade effects (jojoba, sfiii3)
- fixed a ton of glitches in jojo/jojoba intro (missing star sprite, sprites appearing when they shouldn't, ...)
- fixed missing parts in the background in alex stage (sfiii)
- fixed plank aspect on floor in ryu stage (sfiii)
- probably others
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 13, 2020, 05:56:00 PM
barbudreadmon awesome :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on February 13, 2020, 09:00:30 PM
I did some update to the video code for cps3 :
- fixed fade effects (jojoba, sfiii3)
- fixed a ton of glitches in jojo/jojoba intro (missing star sprite, sprites appearing when they shouldn't, ...)
- fixed missing parts in the background in alex stage (sfiii)
- fixed plank aspect on floor in ryu stage (sfiii)
- probably others
Great work! Thanks for this one! Did it affect the speed much?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on February 14, 2020, 01:48:28 AM
Did it affect the speed much?

The performance impact should be minor, but i didn't confirm on my rpi3 yet.

Edit : overall, it seems the cps3 driver is actually slightly faster now !
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on February 14, 2020, 07:20:47 AM
The performance impact should be minor, but i didn't confirm on my rpi3 yet.

Edit : overall, it seems the cps3 driver is actually slightly faster now !
Fantastic! :) Thanks for checking it out!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on February 14, 2020, 05:39:49 PM
Great Job as always, i will update my emu when get's released a nother new version.  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: WILOWAR on February 16, 2020, 11:53:08 AM
Killer Instinct - kinst - Missing and glitch boxing gym stage  -
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on February 20, 2020, 02:31:35 PM
Killer Instinct - kinst - Missing and glitch boxing gym stage  -

 :eek: :cool:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: fastpop72 on February 22, 2020, 02:22:42 AM
Killer Instinct - kinst - Missing and glitch boxing gym stage  -

AFAIK the driver for KI is preliminary.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: xerf84 on February 26, 2020, 03:18:21 PM
Hi Dink, there will be a way to add kof2002 ps2 v1.0 (2018-12-17) to FBN, the voices of the exclusive ps2 characters can already be heard.
In version 0.4 present in FBN this does not happen.
 
Saludos...  :cool:

https://neo-source.com/index.php?topic=3559.msg28217#msg28217
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 26, 2020, 03:23:04 PM
xerf84, no - it's impossible - sorry about that!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: xerf84 on February 26, 2020, 09:20:01 PM
Gracias dink, ni hablar.   :redface:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on February 27, 2020, 04:41:33 PM
Gracias dink, ni hablar.   :redface:

Lo intenta perguntar a mi amigo MasterStiller aca: *no piracy* - iq_132  :wink:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 02, 2020, 11:52:27 PM
NES / FDS emulation comes to FBNeo
It took almost 5 months to make this!

Supports:
FDS + saves via .ips files (in config/games)
Zapper games
almost all mappers

Besides the fact that everything about this emulator is _freakin' awesome_, there are some drawbacks / notes:
game name prefixed with NES or FDS
if your game isn't in the DB, please tell me and I will add it!
high accuracy PPU is cpu-hungry (like pacman, or wonderboy... but for ghz!)
only square pixels, but aspect 3:4 support coming soon

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Kev on March 03, 2020, 02:48:34 AM
NES / FDS emulation comes to FBNeo
It took almost 5 months to make this!

Supports:
FDS + saves via .ips files (in config/games)
Zapper games
almost all mappers

Besides the fact that everything about this emulator is _freakin' awesome_, there are some drawbacks / notes:
game name prefixed with NES or FDS
if your game isn't in the DB, please tell me and I will add it!
high accuracy PPU is cpu-hungry (like pacman, or wonderboy... but for ghz!)
only square pixels, but aspect 3:4 support coming soon

best regards,
- dink

This is awesome work :) congrats! I know you spent a long time on this but it shows in the results :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: retroFuture on March 03, 2020, 03:25:41 AM
Bug report: Shinobi on the Sega System 16A board has an occasional visual glitch on the lower part of the display which resembles a type of screen-tearing. Haven't tested Alex Kidd, Fantasy Zone or any of the other System 16A games to see if the glitch appears there.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on March 03, 2020, 06:20:39 AM
Bug report: Shinobi on the Sega System 16A board has an occasional visual glitch on the lower part of the display which resembles a type of screen-tearing. Haven't tested Alex Kidd, Fantasy Zone or any of the other System 16A games to see if the glitch appears there.
Do you have more informations about this ? Maybe a video or a sure way to reproduce it ? I don't see this issue. Worst case it could also be frontend/settings related.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 03, 2020, 09:07:44 AM
This is awesome work :) congrats! I know you spent a long time on this but it shows in the results :)

Thanks buddy :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on March 03, 2020, 12:16:42 PM
Now FB Neo has an excellent NES/FDS emulation... moreover also many great homebrew NES games are emulated !
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 03, 2020, 04:03:43 PM
Bug report: Shinobi on the Sega System 16A board has an occasional visual glitch on the lower part of the display which resembles a type of screen-tearing. Haven't tested Alex Kidd, Fantasy Zone or any of the other System 16A games to see if the glitch appears there.

I played the first level twice but I don't see it, is there a certain place that it happens at?  Did you try enabling Vsync or DWM sync (under the video tab)?

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: xerf84 on March 03, 2020, 07:54:02 PM
Lo intenta perguntar a mi amigo MasterStiller aca: *no piracy* - iq_132  :wink:

  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 03, 2020, 08:00:37 PM
  :biggrin:

whats this even mean?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on March 04, 2020, 02:51:59 PM
Thanks! Praying only now for Pocket NeoGeo, SNES, Gameboy and Gameboy Colour and my life is completed.  :biggrin:
No need to collect no-intro sets anymore.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Bad Dude on March 04, 2020, 02:56:31 PM
NES / FDS emulation comes to FBNeo
It took almost 5 months to make this!

Supports:
FDS + saves via .ips files (in config/games)
Zapper games
almost all mappers

Besides the fact that everything about this emulator is _freakin' awesome_, there are some drawbacks / notes:
game name prefixed with NES or FDS
if your game isn't in the DB, please tell me and I will add it!
high accuracy PPU is cpu-hungry (like pacman, or wonderboy... but for ghz!)
only square pixels, but aspect 3:4 support coming soon

best regards,
- dink

That's great! I love NES! So, is there any release yet?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on March 04, 2020, 03:47:15 PM
Can someone post the title and snapshot of all snes and fds version?
Thanks.

Update: Bug found on a few games in FDS version.
When i press Start to play always appears this text and it doesn?t do anything.
"Set Side B"  :eek:

Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: SeiferAlmasy on March 04, 2020, 04:18:38 PM
There is one version avaliable on emucr using zippyshare, i just checked there is no virus. Please enjoy.
Can someone post the title and snapshot of all snes and fds version?
Thanks.

Update: Bug found on all games in FDS version.
When i press Start to play always appears this text and it doesn?t do anything.
"Set Side B"  :eek:



Not exactly a bug, FDS discs have 2 sides, just switch to side B
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 04, 2020, 04:22:09 PM
There's a button called "Swap Disk Side" :)
map it! :)  I use 'S' key on mine.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on March 04, 2020, 04:25:48 PM
There's a button called "Swap Disk Side" :)
map it! :)  I use 'S' key on mine.

Thank You! Please Map it next time for Joy 0 Button 4 in XBOX360 Controler. (LB) Button.  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 04, 2020, 08:05:34 PM
map it what you want and then put it in your preset file :)
(copy line from set-up game config/games/fds_xx.ini into config/presets/preset.ini w/text editor)
line will look like:
input  "Swap Disk Side"   switch 0xXXXX

edit: or ignore above just put this in config/presets/preset.ini:
input  "Swap Disk Side"   switch 0x4084

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 05, 2020, 12:49:41 AM
That's great! I love NES! So, is there any release yet?

Hi Bad Dude,
Here's the url w/ always the latest compiled version: (about 1 hour old from the time of this posting..)
https://github.com/finalburnneo/FBNeo-WIP-Storage-Facility/releases/tag/appveyor-build

Our pet robot compiles and uploads the new zips there up to 20 times a day!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Bad Dude on March 05, 2020, 05:38:33 AM
Hi Bad Dude,
Here's the url w/ always the latest compiled version: (about 1 hour old from the time of this posting..)
https://github.com/finalburnneo/FBNeo-WIP-Storage-Facility/releases/tag/appveyor-build

Our pet robot compiles and uploads the new zips there up to 20 times a day!

best regards,
- dink

Thank you. I have the NES roms here, but FBN don't recognize them. I think it's another kind of roms. 
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on March 05, 2020, 05:56:19 AM
Thank you. I have the NES roms here, but FBN don't recognize them. I think it's another kind of roms.

Make sure you are using clrmamepro/romcenter to rebuild your romsets
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 05, 2020, 08:46:11 AM
Recent changes & fixes to FBN:
new feature for msx, coleco, sg1000: disable sprite limit option in DIPs.  It's a good way to reduce sprite flicker on this HW.  Some games may have problem with it - which is why its configurable per-game.

Eeekk! parent fixed / stuck @ boot
Tail 2 Nose slight gfx missalignment issue
The Main Event (Konami wrestling game) sprite priorities issue
Trio the Punch background don't scroll issue
Trick Trap/Labyrunner, The Next Space: 2p fixed
Super Chase gets analog smoothing for less glitchy inputs
1942 capcom logo-animation fixed [barbudreadmon ported from mame]
Baraduke/Alien Sector boss sprite corruption [iq_132 fixed]
Double Dragon: boss music glitch-fix
Pac-Man collection added to coleco, rom here: https://www.sendspace.com/file/1adx4c (it's public domain/homebrew)
dig-dug, highscore saving fixed
ufosenshi yohko chan: scrolling issue + buttons swapped (fire/jump)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on March 05, 2020, 10:00:21 AM
new feature for msx, coleco, sg1000: disable sprite limit option in DIPs.  It's a good way to reduce sprite flicker on this HW.  Some games may have problem with it - which is why its configurable per-game.

Excellent, IIRC the original hardwares (MSX-1, Coleco Vision and Sega SG1000) are limited to only 4 sprites per scanline, so a "disable sprite limit" option is a very useful hack to solve the annoying sprites flickering! Thanks! ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on March 05, 2020, 10:09:28 AM
map it what you want and then put it in your preset file :)
(copy line from set-up game config/games/fds_xx.ini into config/presets/preset.ini w/text editor)
line will look like:
input  "Swap Disk Side"   switch 0xXXXX

edit: or ignore above just put this in config/presets/preset.ini:
input  "Swap Disk Side"   switch 0x4084

best regards,
- dink

How about me create each .ini file as present and rename it each system and backup it for new versions? Will work? There will be no chances?  :eek:

Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 05, 2020, 06:47:02 PM
How about me create each .ini file as present and rename it each system and backup it for new versions? Will work? There will be no chances?  :eek:

I think the best way is to make a master preset file, see this: https://neo-source.com/index.php?topic=2835.0

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on March 06, 2020, 11:39:39 AM
Problem Solved.  :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 09, 2020, 11:46:03 AM
Hi,
If a game you want to play is missing from nes, fc, fds (only!), please let me know here.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on March 09, 2020, 03:27:44 PM
Found some errors on this soccer games in the Editor Mod.
System: Mega Drive
Game List

Dino Dini's Soccer (Euro) - Missing Name and Player Teams in all most european teams.
Striker (Euro): Only Appears Aston Villa in the editor, and ingame we press the A button and the game stops.
World Championship Soccer II (Euro) - Some glitch from the net appears in the middle of the screen.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on March 09, 2020, 06:33:13 PM
If a game you want to play is missing from nes, fc, fds (only!), please let me know here.

Maybe tetris tengen ? It was arguably better than the nintendo version, and the mapper is already supported.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on March 12, 2020, 07:33:37 PM
Maybe tetris tengen ? It was arguably better than the nintendo version, and the mapper is already supported.

Here's a picture of Tetris and a few missing soccer games in the list.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 12, 2020, 08:32:05 PM
Joaquim2020, added those games :)
Also, fixed some megadrive games - dino dini, striker.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 13, 2020, 01:28:07 AM
While attempting to fix wcs2 "net glitch" on megadrive I managed to properly implement hscroll mask, this fixes some neat linescroll effects in Gynoug (f.ex. before the first boss when the background disappears in a swirl).  This is a problem that had been haunting me for quite a long time!   anyways, maybe better luck w/wcs2 tomorrow.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 13, 2020, 09:16:32 AM
md_wcs2 net-bug fixed :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on March 13, 2020, 11:34:45 AM
Thanks dink. Amazing.
Check Gamefaqs for more information, go to systems and select NES, you will find all the games information of all official releases, and i perhapps if i find more i will continue to post it.

--update--

Striker (Euro) - Mega Drive now have this.
And the Prototype looks so different?  :eek:

Ashura-X maybe release a bad compile i don?t know.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 13, 2020, 12:22:38 PM
Joaquim2020, you're welcome, thanks for bug reports :)
md_striker: go to DIP's and change Hardware to Europe.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on March 13, 2020, 02:44:46 PM
Joaquim2020, you're welcome, thanks for bug reports :)
md_striker: go to DIP's and change Hardware to Europe.

best regards,
- dink

Well after i remove the configuration, it was restart it now works.  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: charles32k on March 14, 2020, 08:25:35 AM
Hi,
If a game you want to play is missing from nes, fc, fds (only!), please let me know here.

best regards,
- dink

hi can you add mortal kombat II special 14 peoples to nes??

In the future the euro and jap versions of the usa games will be added ?
For example:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III - The Manhattan Project (USA)
 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II - The Manhattan Project (Japan)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II - The Arcade Game (USA)
 Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles II - The Arcade Game (Europe)
 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Japan)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 18, 2020, 11:52:30 PM
I have to finish the jy company mapper before can add any "Hummer/JY Co."-mapper games.  It's kind-of advanced so it might take a week or so, then it will be possible to add the Chinese Mortal Kombat games.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on March 19, 2020, 08:44:41 AM
Is not possible to make the emulator read the previous Scans before it does a new scan in the new version? That helps to see witch system need to be scanned. No need to scan twice. Thanks  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 19, 2020, 09:17:05 AM
Joaquim2020, not without making it slower to scan :(
But good news: you _never_ need to scan roms!
EDIT:
How-to: https://neo-source.com/index.php?topic=3611.0

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on March 19, 2020, 09:46:30 AM
Joaquim2020, not without making it slower to scan :(
But good news: you _never_ need to scan roms!

How-to:
In game-Selector: check "show unavailable"

edit config/fbn.ini:
find this: "bSkipStartupCheck 0"
change to: "bSkipStartupCheck 1"

later, I'll make a menu option for this feature. :)

best regards,
- dink

Thank's dink!  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Bad Dude on March 24, 2020, 03:56:38 PM
Dink, Super Mario 3 is freezing when I start the game.  :eek:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 24, 2020, 07:09:38 PM
Dink, Super Mario 3 is freezing when I start the game.  :eek:

Thanks for letting me know, looks like an experimental change to fix something else is causing conflict with SMB3.  Sorry about that!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 24, 2020, 11:06:42 PM
Bad Dude, SMB3 is OK now, sorry about that bug.  It's hard to know if there will be collateral damage when fixing other things, due to the complexities involved.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Bad Dude on March 25, 2020, 10:55:52 AM
Hi,
If a game you want to play is missing from nes, fc, fds (only!), please let me know here.

best regards,
- dink

There's some games, but I forgot the titles. But there's one that I remember, which is Micro Mages. But is an Indie rom. I don't know if you can emulate without permission.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on March 25, 2020, 11:33:58 AM
There's some games, but I forgot the titles. But there's one that I remember, which is Micro Mages. But is an Indie rom. I don't know if you can emulate without permission.

Micro Mages is already emulated... obviously you have to buy the original ROM for a "legal use" ! ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: charles32k on March 25, 2020, 12:16:56 PM
hi this  happen sometimes in varius levels
 but game works veri well
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on March 25, 2020, 12:24:02 PM
Micro Mages is already emulated... obviously you have to buy the original ROM for a "legal use" ! ;)

Any news about the homebrew Paprium? I already know they release a beta version in the last show in france and it was a scam for the buyers, but it seems no one find the junk data yet for a dump.  :biggrin:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DH3tIu7YB4
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on March 25, 2020, 03:53:33 PM
Any news about the homebrew Paprium? I already know they release a beta version in the last show in france and it was a scam for the buyers, but it seems no one find the junk data yet for a dump.  :biggrin:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DH3tIu7YB4

As far as I know, there's still no a dump for the game...
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on March 25, 2020, 05:54:27 PM
As far as I know, there's still no a dump for the game...

There needs to be a game before there can be a dump.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 25, 2020, 06:39:15 PM
hi this  happen sometimes in varius levels
 but game works veri well

Hi charles32k,
I can't seem to make it happen on my side,  can I possibly get a savestate or input recording at this part, or any part that causes the glitch?  It would help me better to fix the problem.

edit: I played until right after the Wolf boss that throws rocks, and it didn't happen for me.  Maybe the update from yesterday fixed the problem?  I hope..

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: gxb on March 25, 2020, 08:17:02 PM
Dink, could you add support for Family Pocket 638 in 1(fapocket.zip) which is supported by MAME? It's a handheld machine based on NES, and has a great collection cartridge built-in.
MAME also support several NES clone handheld machines, they are intersting and are worth to take a look.
Hope you can spend some time on it, thanks a lot.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 25, 2020, 08:29:19 PM
gxb, it won't be possible right now, vt03 will practically require an entire re-write of the nes emulation, it is not simply an add-on or mapper for nes.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: gxb on March 25, 2020, 08:46:07 PM
gxb, it won't be possible right now, vt03 will practically require an entire re-write of the nes emulation, it is not simply an add-on or mapper for nes.

best regards,
- dink
Understood, thanks. :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on March 26, 2020, 11:51:37 AM
In the Kung-Fu Master game (arcade), I noticed that the FX effects of the character's voice when punching, kicking, etc., feel more "low" compared to the mame version. In mame those sound effects feel stronger...

I don't know, maybe I'm wrong, but I hear them with less volume.

Greetings
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 26, 2020, 12:16:16 PM
Pelucon8, I tried in the latest MAME and Kung Fu Master has quieter SFX than FB.
Comparison recordings attached:
1: FBN
2: FBN with "Audio -> Plugin Options -> Low Pass Filter" enabled
3: MAME
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on March 26, 2020, 12:29:17 PM
Pelucon8, I tried in the latest MAME and Kung Fu Master has quieter SFX than FB.
Comparison recordings attached:
1: FBN
2: FBN with "Audio -> Plugin Options -> Low Pass Filter" enabled
3: MAME

My mistake, dink.
 
I tried it in a previous version of mame (mameplus 106) and not in the current one.

On the other hand, when you change the option that says: FBN with "Audio -> Plugin options -> Low Pass Filter" activated

Would it negatively affect other games?

o

Is it just a change for that specific game?

Greetings!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on March 26, 2020, 05:34:54 PM
As far as I know, there's still no a dump for the game...

There needs to be a game before there can be a dump.

Alright then.  :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 26, 2020, 06:19:37 PM
On the other hand, when you change the option that says: FBN with "Audio -> Plugin options -> Low Pass Filter" activated

Would it negatively affect other games?

o

Is it just a change for that specific game?

Greetings!

The filter option is a nice bass enhancement & makes a lot of games sound nice'n heavier - but there are a few games that distorts a bit with this on.  I usually leave it on all the time, but if sound is distorting, then I turn it off for that game.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on March 26, 2020, 08:05:30 PM
The filter option is a nice bass enhancement & makes a lot of games sound nice'n heavier - but there are a few games that distorts a bit with this on.  I usually leave it on all the time, but if sound is distorting, then I turn it off for that game.

best regards,
- dink

It's clear to me. Thanks a lot, Dink.

Every day I move the Mame games to the FBN. The idea is that eventually it will become my default emulator for arcade games.

Hopefully someday we'll get to see the raiden fighters on this big emulator.

Greetings.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: xerf84 on March 29, 2020, 06:27:44 PM
Hi, I'm not sure if this is an error but the description doesn't match the rom * .p1. Regards...
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 29, 2020, 07:22:39 PM
xerf84, thanks for letting us know - it looks like a mixup on our side, it's fixed now :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on March 30, 2020, 10:34:45 AM
In clrmamepro works fine.  :wink:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: xerf84 on March 30, 2020, 02:52:39 PM
Sounds great, regards.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on March 30, 2020, 04:36:25 PM
Blomby Car (blmbycar). Graphic error in FBN?

In the parts where there is a bridge, in FBN the background looks black but in mame it looks with water.

The version of mame that tested the game is a MAME Builds v0.220 32-bit, and in FBN the last builds.

Mame version:

(https://i.postimg.cc/rFQrFqq0/MAME.png)

FBN version:

(https://i.postimg.cc/dVJcnKCB/FBN.png)

No idea what the right one is.

Greetings  :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on March 30, 2020, 04:44:37 PM
Blomby Car (blmbycar). Graphic error in FBN?

In the parts where there is a bridge, in FBN the background looks black but in mame it looks with water.

The version of mame that tested the game is a MAME Builds v0.220 32-bit, and in FBN the last builds.

Mame version:

(https://i.postimg.cc/rFQrFqq0/MAME.png)

FBN version:

(https://i.postimg.cc/dVJcnKCB/FBN.png)

No idea what the right one is.

Greetings  :smilie:

Blue = Water  :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on March 30, 2020, 04:54:22 PM
Blue = Water  :smilie:

I know :p. But in video games you never know... It might be an oil spill,  :biggrin: :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on March 30, 2020, 05:33:21 PM
I know :p. But in video games you never know... It might be an oil spill,  :biggrin: :biggrin:

No one is interrested in pollution.  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 31, 2020, 01:19:23 AM
Pelucon8,
thanks for your bug report, the problem has been fixed :)  Please give it another try.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on March 31, 2020, 11:58:53 AM
It's working well now:

(https://i.postimg.cc/VsXz23gH/p1.jpg)

Thanks for fixing it, Dink.  :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on March 31, 2020, 03:43:44 PM
That eye-burning blue is supposed to be water (or maybe the sky)? :p I guess they just didn't care.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on March 31, 2020, 08:46:38 PM
Yeah, it's actually pretty weird the shape of the water in that game.  :biggrin:

Edit:

I have a question.

I downloaded the last emulator build from appveyor, and the following message appeared when I wanted to play the dodonpachi 3:

(https://i.postimg.cc/zXFL5d1J/1.jpg)

I don't see it in the "available" list, but if I can load it from "unavailable"...

Does it mean that I will have to update the rom of that game?

Greetings.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on April 01, 2020, 03:55:07 AM
Does it mean that I will have to update the rom of that game?
Yes, this ROM was corrupt and got redumped recently.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on April 01, 2020, 06:03:22 AM
All this excitment for a new prototype and it's ddp3 redump.  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 01, 2020, 09:18:58 AM
ddpdoj (ddp3) is an amazing game, I'm glad the bad rom got redumped, and location test version made available. (proto? about 1.5 months "younger" than the final version)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on April 01, 2020, 12:16:14 PM
Thank you for answering  :smilie:

And how do we update those who don't have the full romset?

I know you can do it with the clrmamepro, but as far as I know, it's usually done with full romsets and not individual roms...

We'll have to wait until some individual roms page uploads it already updated... ??

Greetings.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: el_rika on April 01, 2020, 01:40:56 PM
ddpdoj (ddp3) is an amazing game, I'm glad the bad rom got redumped, and location test version made available. (proto? about 1.5 months "younger" than the final version)

Wow, never knew that.

Any noticeable differences to the known version?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on April 01, 2020, 07:35:23 PM
Thank you for answering  :smilie:

And how do we update those who don't have the full romset?

I know you can do it with the clrmamepro, but as far as I know, it's usually done with full romsets and not individual roms...

We'll have to wait until some individual roms page uploads it already updated... ??

Greetings.

When i was a wee boy my granny used to spoonfed me castor oil, i hated it at the time but now i know it did me a world of good in the end  :wink:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on April 02, 2020, 06:26:59 AM
There's a mistake at Megatwins.

In the first stage, in the part where the moving stone stakes are:

Mame:

(https://i.postimg.cc/Wp903XhJ/1.jpg)

Final Burn Neo:

(https://i.postimg.cc/15cvRbLc/2.jpg)

Greetings
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on April 02, 2020, 08:37:51 AM
Thanks for the report, actually it made me remember this one in 3wonders (in mame, the gun stays in the frame), it seems there are some priority issues in our cps1 driver.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on April 02, 2020, 09:49:32 AM
Thanks for the report, actually it made me remember this one in 3wonders (in mame, the gun stays in the frame), it seems there are some priority issues in our cps1 driver.

Wow, I didn't notice that detail in the 3wonders. Is that a mistake that's still going on or has it been fixed?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on April 03, 2020, 01:47:35 AM
Wow, I didn't notice that detail in the 3wonders. Is that a mistake that's still going on or has it been fixed?

No, it wasn't fixed : long story short, there are other plans for the cps1/2 driver, see https://github.com/libretro/FBNeo/issues/143#issuecomment-547408491
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 03, 2020, 10:03:25 AM
Those 2 cps1 sprite masking bugs are known, but fixing them in the current cps impl. is quite a puzzle. 
With the current "ancient" cps1,2 code, its very tricky to work with.
There was works to replace all of it, but I think interest has been lost..
I will try again to fix this mess tonight!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 04, 2020, 01:13:06 AM
Fixed the priority issue with Mega Twins / Chiki Chiki Boys
..Will try to figure out the issue with 3Wonders: Midnight Wanderers intro soon.

Guys, please test some CPS1/2 games to make sure there aren't any collateral damage due to this fix! :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on April 04, 2020, 03:35:19 AM
Thanks a lot, dink.  :smilie:

I will be informing you if I notice any anomalies in other CPS1/2 games.

Greetings
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 04, 2020, 08:34:50 AM
Pelucon8, thanks for finding the problem and testing :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 04, 2020, 08:35:37 AM
Thanks for the report, actually it made me remember this one in 3wonders (in mame, the gun stays in the frame), it seems there are some priority issues in our cps1 driver.

barbudreadmon, this is not a bug in our emulation - watch this video:
https://youtu.be/UiJeLfruoh4?t=71
then skip near the beginning to see the pcb :)
What caused me to seek out a video:  I tried 3w in M*** and on that scene I noticed something peculiar about the way it clipped the gun from the picture  - it just didn't look right - in fact, it looked completely wrong.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on April 04, 2020, 09:04:33 AM
Nice find. Makes you wonder how many "bugs" were "fixed" by assuming MAME's behavior is correct.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 04, 2020, 09:52:28 AM
Nice find. Makes you wonder how many "bugs" were "fixed" by assuming MAME's behavior is correct.

I use pretty good judgement regarding this, having been burned a few times over the years.. :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on April 04, 2020, 10:34:19 AM
Ok, that's surprising, at the time i saw this bug i searched for a video of the pcb and failed finding one, so i relied on a video of the sega saturn port which actually had the gun cut.
Seems like the company that did that port messed up then :P, thanks for doing that research.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on April 05, 2020, 11:30:41 AM
Nother idea for Final Burn Neo and i want it to say this is a must need.
Crlmamepro in a scan will delete the folders so i decided to simply add a folder called consoles and i put everything inside including neogeocd. Lucky i had the roms out of roms folder.
What you need to do is simple, change the folder name in the browser option to consoles/neogeocd as example.  :cool:
Title: Re: dink's FBA Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on April 07, 2020, 06:41:09 AM
I found an awesome freeware to convert pretty much any kind of iso to "single file bin+cue" (which is the bin/cue format accepted by fbalpha), it's called CDmage (there is no homepage but you'll find it easily with your favorite search engine) :
1. File > Open > select your iso
2. File > Save As > write the name of your new file
3. Make sure you select MODE1/2352 in the second drop-down
4. Press OK, wait for the process to finish, and it's done !

Get 1.02.1 from https://www.videohelp.com/software/CDMage *no-garbage Freeware*

Thank you so much!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: WILOWAR on April 11, 2020, 11:10:14 AM
King of fighters 94 CD Version NGCD ID 1055 World - Empty line on right side
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 11, 2020, 01:23:10 PM
King of fighters 94 CD Version NGCD ID 1055 World - Empty line on right side

WILOWAR, this is normal on NeoGeoCD: we show the overscan area for all games.  Some games use it & some games don't.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: WILOWAR on April 15, 2020, 03:02:49 PM
Veigues - Tactical Gladiator tg veigues - black pixle line on stage 3
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 29, 2020, 12:32:02 AM
Look at the picture below..
What this - you might ask?  "Kick 'n Run?  Who cares about Kick 'n Run?", you might be saying..

The current "Kick 'n Run" we know used a hacked version of the bootleg's (mexico86's) protection MCU.
This bootleg MCU thoughtlessly told the game what it wanted to hear, just to get it going.

After spending 3.5 solid days going through the real MCU's disassembly and figuring out how to hook it all up,
it's finally running using 100% non-hacked Taito code :)
Since Kiki Kaikai runs on the same board, it will be a simple drop-in if/when the MCU is dumped.

Big thanks to Sean Riddle for dumping the MCU from an original Kick 'n Run MCU.  He painstakingly decapped the chip and visually dumped each bit.  What a trooper!
Secondly big thanks to "an unmentionable certain thing" for giving me a lot of extra time lately to do this kinda stuff.

note: it'll probably be another day of clean-up/etc before code is ready.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on April 29, 2020, 09:05:50 AM
Who cares about Kick 'n Run?", you might be saying..

Whatever, is a nother game less to work with.
Great Job Guys! :cool:
PS: I'm still playing Great Soccer Penalty Kick from SMS.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Kev on April 29, 2020, 04:06:56 PM
Look at the picture below..
What this - you might ask?  "Kick 'n Run?  Who cares about Kick 'n Run?", you might be saying..

The current "Kick 'n Run" we know used a hacked version of the bootleg's (mexico86's) protection MCU.
This bootleg MCU thoughtlessly told the game what it wanted to hear, just to get it going.

After spending 3.5 solid days going through the real MCU's disassembly and figuring out how to hook it all up,
it's finally running using 100% non-hacked Taito code :)
Since Kiki Kaikai runs on the same board, it will be a simple drop-in if/when the MCU is dumped.

Big thanks to Sean Riddle for dumping the MCU from an original Kick 'n Run MCU.  He painstakingly decapped the chip and visually dumped each bit.  What a trooper!
Secondly big thanks to "an unmentionable certain thing" for giving me a lot of extra time lately to do this kinda stuff.

note: it'll probably be another day of clean-up/etc before code is ready.

best regards,
- dink

Good work buddy :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on April 29, 2020, 07:18:19 PM
@dink real nice job ya did on this.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 01, 2020, 08:52:40 PM
Thanks guys! :)

The code is on git, along with updated mame driver code (attached at the bottom of the git commit).  Get latest exe's and play if you want :)

code commit: https://github.com/finalburnneo/FBNeo/commit/2b040632a758eecae5d4bf1f54cfcc6a8cd9caf2

latest exe: https://github.com/finalburnneo/FBNeo-WIP-Storage-Facility/releases/tag/appveyor-build (updated about 10 minutes ago)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on May 02, 2020, 05:40:16 AM
latest exe: https://github.com/finalburnneo/FBNeo-WIP-Storage-Facility/releases/tag/appveyor-build (updated about 10 minutes ago)

Why the date in the page is still 2019 and not 2020?  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 02, 2020, 08:11:17 AM
Why the date in the page is still 2019 and not 2020?  :biggrin:

Date is when the page was created - files updated all the time via robot.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on May 03, 2020, 12:03:20 AM
Red Earth / War-Zard

In the game intro, several graphic errors appear:

(https://i.postimg.cc/JzChwrX1/f1.jpg)
(https://i.postimg.cc/xCXkfs1Y/f2.jpg)

Then, before reaching the title screen, another error appears:

(https://i.postimg.cc/HLRY2TTD/f3.jpg)

And when you are in the player selection, as you change, certain errors appear as a vertical line:

(https://i.postimg.cc/ZqdtJpz2/f4.jpg)

Try the game in mame (0.220) and these errors do not appear.

Greetings  :smilie:

PD: With the game in motion it is better appreciated.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 03, 2020, 01:23:12 AM
Pelucon8, hmm, this didn't happen before the recent changes, I wonder what's going on..  Will have to look into this tomorrow, maybe barbudreadmon can help :)
regarding lines in select between characters, are you sure this doesn't happen in mame? (I can't run it in mame to see)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on May 03, 2020, 01:59:55 AM
@dink

Yes, before writing the post I tested the game to see if it behaved like the FBN. And well, in mame you don't have those vertical lines when you change characters in the selection menu.

The mame I used was one called "Arcade 0.220". Although I don't know if there will be any difference in the emulation with the official mame (except that the first one only loads arcade games).

Greetings
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on May 03, 2020, 04:53:02 AM
Actually i can reproduce those issues with commits from 3 january, so it's not a regression (my first cps3 commit, the refresh rate change, was from 9 january). I think i mentioned some attract mode glitch (some vertical line appearing for 1 frame, mentioned somewhere on the libretro forum) on irc last year, i never noticed there were other ones.

There are lots of cps3 commits that i didn't backport from mame, what worries me though is the potential impact on performances.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on May 03, 2020, 05:37:35 AM
Date is when the page was created - files updated all the time via robot.

(https://media1.tenor.com/images/f9a9365f8b7b171ab5c5841f9a4907d2/tenor.gif)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on May 05, 2020, 10:30:09 AM
Looking further into the warzard/redearth issue, https://i.postimg.cc/JzChwrX1/f1.jpg & https://i.postimg.cc/xCXkfs1Y/f2.jpg were regressions, i just committed the fix (thankfully, i remembered how i dealt with a similar issue on sfiii).
I confirm the other 2 have been there for a long time, actually you can see the vertical line a lot in the attract (see attachments)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 05, 2020, 01:35:03 PM
barbudreadmon, it seems to happen when the sprites get zoomed, so I wonder if the key to the fix lies in the zooming code.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on May 05, 2020, 04:45:49 PM
Thank you, barbudreadmon.

By the way, the error in the third photo was also solved:

(https://i.postimg.cc/JhnNpLkm/F1.jpg)

(https://i.postimg.cc/k5pxZpQS/F2.jpg)

The blue horizontal line is no longer shown.

Greetings
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on May 05, 2020, 04:55:51 PM
Hmm that's kinda weird, i'm getting a similar screen with both old and new cps3 code, not exactly the same though, only the bottom part (i assumed the difference might be related to refresh rate or something), and still got the bug.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 06, 2020, 01:21:32 AM
Pelucon8, please try now, I think the vertical lines in character select are fixed as well.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on May 06, 2020, 02:35:07 AM
Thanks, dink.  :smilie:

All previous problems have been solved.

You guys are great.  ;p
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on May 08, 2020, 12:48:27 AM
Other new Master System games are fully emulated on FBN (powered by dink, with a little help by me)

- Heroes Against Demons (Ichigo - 2020)
- Lucky Penguin (Denine - 2020)
- Monster Crunch (Ichigo - 2020)
- Sydney Hunter and the Sacred Tribe (CollectorVision/Acclaim - 2017)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Bad Dude on May 08, 2020, 04:46:30 PM
dink is a good man, ahow, ahow.... dink is a good man, ahow, ahow!!!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on May 09, 2020, 12:57:50 AM
... and now it's the time of some Megadrive homebrews by alekmaul/PortableDev. Deflektor and Rick Dangerous II are direct conversions from Atari ST, while Chip's Challenge is an adaptation from Atari Lynx.
(Emulation powered by dink, with a little help by me)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 09, 2020, 08:50:21 AM
Thanks Gab75 :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on May 09, 2020, 02:32:45 PM
Sydney Hunter recomended 100%!  :cool:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on May 09, 2020, 04:11:59 PM
Sydney Hunter recomended 100%!  :cool:

IMHO this game takes the spiritual heritage of a "real classic", Montezuma's Revenge! ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on May 10, 2020, 03:58:15 AM
IMHO this game takes the spiritual heritage of a "real classic", Montezuma's Revenge! ;)

I never played Montezuma's Revenge, but it does look similar. The visuals remind me a bit of Rick Dangerous, except it looks much less brutal.
I see there were Mega Drive (https://youtu.be/UEHO4Y9H0SM) and SNES (https://youtu.be/CfLJfpdQ4J0) versions in development, but they're unreleased from what I can tell. :(
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on May 10, 2020, 05:53:09 AM
I never played Montezuma's Revenge, but it does look similar. The visuals remind me a bit of Rick Dangerous, except it looks much less brutal.

Montezuma's Revenge was made in the distant 1984 by Parker Brothers for almost all home systems of the period (IIRC a Master System conversion was made some years later)... probably the first Rick Dangerous was inspired by this game! :)

I see there were Mega Drive (https://youtu.be/UEHO4Y9H0SM) and SNES (https://youtu.be/CfLJfpdQ4J0) versions in development, but they're unreleased from what I can tell. :(

The SNES version is out for about two years (Sydney Hunter and the Caverns of the Death) ;)
https://www.portabledev.com/jeux/supernes/sydney-hunter-snes/
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on May 10, 2020, 06:57:49 AM
The SNES version is out for about two years (Sydney Hunter and the Caverns of the Death) ;)
https://www.portabledev.com/jeux/supernes/sydney-hunter-snes/

Cool, thanks! I'm a Mega Drive guy, but the SNES version looks awesome.
That said, I clicked the order link, and it led me to an "Oops! That page can't be found." page.
I was hoping for a downloadable ROM (I don't mind paying for it), but it seems they only sell physical copies. Oh well.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on May 10, 2020, 08:50:56 AM
Cool, thanks! I'm a Mega Drive guy, but the SNES version looks awesome.
That said, I clicked the order link, and it led me to an "Oops! That page can't be found." page.
I was hoping for a downloadable ROM (I don't mind paying for it), but it seems they only sell physical copies. Oh well.

... hope springs eternal !  :wink:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on May 10, 2020, 08:55:25 AM
IMHO this game takes the spiritual heritage of a "real classic", Montezuma's Revenge! ;)

Poor hunter got a fleshed over is :biggrin:. It's hard to beat this. Only used save stages.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on May 10, 2020, 09:40:18 AM
I tried the SNES game. I'm disappointed. :\
The graphics are good, but it is buggy, unpolished and lacks depth.

I see the SMS game is not the same. I hope it's better.
Edit: actually I see there's more than one Sydney Hunter on the Master System. The Sacred Tribe and the Caverns of Death. Both look pretty similar.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on May 10, 2020, 10:01:21 AM
I tried the SNES game. I'm disappointed. :\
The graphics are good, but it is buggy, unpolished and lacks depth.

I see the SMS game is not the same. I hope it's better.
Edit: actually I see there's more than one Sydney Hunter on the Master System. The Sacred Tribe and the Caverns of Death. Both look pretty similar.

Actually there's only one Sydney Hunter on SMS, "The Sacred Tribe". As far as I know, SMS "The Caverns of Death" is still in a "alpha-stage" of development...
I like much Sydney Hunter Master System version! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: JacKc on May 10, 2020, 12:06:09 PM
New update for Chips Challenge. It is now v1.3 ;)

Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on May 10, 2020, 01:10:37 PM
New update for Chips Challenge. It is now v1.3 ;)

Thanks for the info! :)

EDIT: version updated
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on May 12, 2020, 03:30:56 PM
Other two Master System "HB" games are fully emulated on FBN (powered by dink, with a little help by me)

To be honest, they are "Alex Kidd in Miracle World" hacks, but the "final result" is totally different from the source...
Galactic Boogers
Tower of Sorrow


Ehm, I almost forgot, SMS "Voyage a Sorceress' Vacation" has been updated to v1.03 ! ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: JacKc on May 12, 2020, 03:33:17 PM
Nice work dink & Gab75...or maybe Gab75 & dink ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on May 13, 2020, 12:40:20 AM
Nice work dink & Gab75...or maybe Gab75 & dink ;)

You're welcome! :) dink is always the "main engine" ! ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on May 13, 2020, 05:42:25 AM
Since FBN decided to release console games, is not worth to collect no-intro.  :wink:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on May 13, 2020, 08:02:13 AM
Since FBN decided to release console games, is not worth to collect no-intro.  :wink:

From this point of view (and more), the recent addition of NES/Famicom emulation is an outstanding improvement ! ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 13, 2020, 09:29:23 AM
The Great dink's Data East DEC8 Protection-MCU Charrenge w/ Captain Silver!
~~
I ripped out all the protection MCU simulations & old emulation for ghostb...
Spent a week+1/2 studying Captain Silver's MCU, cross referencing it with the code of other DEC8 MCU's & found 3 bad bits in the dump.  Since we probably won't get another dump any time soon, this sounds like the next best thing.

Then re-emulated all of the DEC8 MCU's from scratch, only using my research as a reference.

Thanks to:
Lord Nightmare for advice
IDA for being a pain in the ass when decoding i8051 code......
IDA for being great after dealing with the above. :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Kev on May 13, 2020, 11:04:23 AM
The Great dink's Data East DEC8 Protection-MCU Charrenge w/ Captain Silver!
~~

That is awesome. :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on May 13, 2020, 02:16:33 PM
From this point of view (and more), the recent addition of NES/Famicom emulation is an outstanding improvement ! ;)

After this i want SNES and NeoGeo Pocket so badly.

Hey check Master's Fury on MAME, i believe that game is a similiar clone of unknown fighting game "BB".  :eek:
Dink can fix it?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: BrianT on May 13, 2020, 08:25:29 PM
RE: Master's Fury...

As far as I know, the set that was sent to a dev has 2 ROMs dumped at half size.  Based on a picture of the PCB there are 4 mask ROMS:

MF0016-3 & MF0016-4
MF0032-1 & MF0032-2

All 4 were dumped as 16megabit but the later 2 as the MF0032-x would suggest are 32megabit.  So these 2 that are data for the sprites are missing half the data.  That was my original assumption when the dump first came in and later basically verified by Haze who added it to the MAME driver.

As the PCB is super rare and was ROM file submission, I've tried to reach the original supplier who hasn't answered.  So we're stuck until we have access to a PCB to dump or a redump is made available.

Then there's this issue:
 https://twitter.com/Pikointeractive/status/1246972216606105600

And they aren't happy the ROMs are out in the wild, with that and Goori Goori.

BrianT
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on May 14, 2020, 04:39:50 AM
RE: Master's Fury...

As far as I know, the set that was sent to a dev has 2 ROMs dumped at half size.  Based on a picture of the PCB there are 4 mask ROMS:

MF0016-3 & MF0016-4
MF0032-1 & MF0032-2

All 4 were dumped as 16megabit but the later 2 as the MF0032-x would suggest are 32megabit.  So these 2 that are data for the sprites are missing half the data.  That was my original assumption when the dump first came in and later basically verified by Haze who added it to the MAME driver.

As the PCB is super rare and was ROM file submission, I've tried to reach the original supplier who hasn't answered.  So we're stuck until we have access to a PCB to dump or a redump is made available.

Then there's this issue:
 https://twitter.com/Pikointeractive/status/1246972216606105600

And they aren't happy the ROMs are out in the wild, with that and Goori Goori.

BrianT

Thanks for the info.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 14, 2020, 11:00:14 PM
Gondomania (c) 1987 DataEast (gondou) now fully working in FBN!
A nice little shooter game with tons of powerups and tough boss encounters.

should be up on github in a few hours :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on May 15, 2020, 06:38:01 AM
Nice work!
Gondomar!  Gondomar! :biggrin: It's a portuguese town.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: klaus2018 on May 22, 2020, 08:55:34 PM
hi,
The King of Fighters '96 The Aniversary Edition 2.0 update 2020.03.20
Build 2.3.0320
http://www.nesbbs.com/bbs/thread-47565-1-1.html
ROM:kof96ae20

214ae-p1.p1        0de08cc3  ===>  c718ea76
214ae-p2.p2        221d1d54  ===>  2638be07

214ae-s1.s1         b9626494
214-c1ae2.c1       a7466eea
214-c2ae2.c2       6ff22256
214-c1ae2.c3       48d81318
214-c1ae2.c4       d69836e6
214-c1ae2.c5       ed71e6bb
214-c1ae2.c6       059fa364
214-m1ae2.m1    3a4a7c21
214-v1.bin           63f7b045
214-v2.bin           25929059

214ae-v3.v3        3cfd1295  ===>  f85673b0
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 23, 2020, 08:55:52 AM
klaus2018 thanks for the update
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on May 23, 2020, 09:57:45 AM
klaus2018 thanks for the update

My mistake I'm sorry.  :redface:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: JacKc on May 23, 2020, 12:38:25 PM
@ klaus2018 : could you make some ips file?

Thanks
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: klaus2018 on May 23, 2020, 09:18:36 PM
@ klaus2018 : could you make some ips file?

Thanks
emmm,i am not good at making ips,
*no rom links please* take stuff like this to pm.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: JacKc on May 24, 2020, 08:01:37 AM
emmm,i am not good at making ips,
*no rom links please* take stuff like this to pm.

kof96ae20 update ips files [see attached files]

Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Igor_Arabe on May 24, 2020, 02:43:53 PM
Hi there. 1st all, thanks for support for ngp games.

I have an question: the generated dat, says then all roms (ngp) are named with "ngp_" /"ngpc_". but the emulator don't detect him.

in short words: "ngp_mslug2nd" = don't detect, "mslug2nd" = detect.
And the emulator don't create an exclusive folder like "sms, megadrive..."

Maybe the scheme like of the Capcom and Sega is better:

example: SNK (main)
SNK (Other); <-arcade games released by SNK (ikari warriors...)
SNK Neogeo;
SNK NGP (create folder 'ngp');
SNK NGPC (create folder 'ngpc');

Sorry my bad english.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on May 24, 2020, 03:00:00 PM
Hi  Igor_Arabe,
don't worry, the UI to select the Neo Geo Pocket games isn't done yet (WIP), we need to have a little patience! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Igor_Arabe on May 24, 2020, 03:17:15 PM
Ok thanks
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: klaus2018 on May 25, 2020, 03:45:35 AM
kof96ae20 update ips files [see attached files]
thanks   
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 25, 2020, 08:53:16 AM
Joaquim2020 romset name isn't supposed to have ngp_ prefix, this is only used internally.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on May 25, 2020, 11:33:24 AM
Joaquim2020 romset name isn't supposed to have ngp_ prefix, this is only used internally.

Ok! Thread deleted.
Next week will be fixed to play this games?
Thanks.  :cool:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on May 25, 2020, 12:56:48 PM
Next week will be fixed to play this games?
They should already work with latest exe ?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on May 25, 2020, 01:23:42 PM
They should already work with latest exe ?

I check today, not yet.  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 25, 2020, 07:44:14 PM
Joaquim2020 they work since yesterday :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on May 26, 2020, 06:36:17 AM
Joaquim2020 they work since yesterday :)

Yes, i was mentioned the git update.  :biggrin:
Everything now is correct.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on June 09, 2020, 08:36:04 PM
Hi everyone, I haven't talked here lately - here's an update of the behind-the scenes fixing and other stuff:

Been working hard adding the finishing touches to WEC Lemans / Hot Chase, they're almost done.

Also working hard on Cisco Heat HW.  Unfortunately, Cisco Heat isn't really playable due to unemulated video issues - but, we get Big Run, F1 Grand Prix Star 1 and 2 - which are awesome games.  Especially Big Run :)

Added the spritemasking effect to Fuukifg3 / Asura Blade.  This fixes the match with DoppleGanger - see the attached screenshot, it looks sorta like an alpha-transparency effect.  To make this effect, they drew the background normally, then again in a deep red color, but hidden from view.  When the DoppleGanger sprite passes over the background, it blocks the normal background so only the deep red background passes through - thus creating such a neat effect.  When the character goes into Special mode, game uses a wavey-raster effect on the deep red background layer, so now it looks like DoppleGanger is on fire :)

Lastly, savestates for games using cpus: 68k, 6809, 6502 are updated, meaning old savestates won't work with the new version.  Terribly sorry about this guys!  There were some nasty bugs in our cpu handling that needed to be fixed, working on the WEC Lemans driver actually exposed one of them, which lead to fixing the same issue in other cores.

What's this mean?  If you're playing a game using states, don't upgrade fbneo until you've finished the game(s), as the states will be incompatible with the new version.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on June 10, 2020, 01:38:01 AM
Thanks a lot for your hard work! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Al82 on June 13, 2020, 09:32:45 AM
Lastly, savestates for games using cpus: 68k, 6809, 6502 are updated, meaning old savestates won't work with the new version.  Terribly sorry about this guys!  There were some nasty bugs in our cpu handling that needed to be fixed, working on the WEC Lemans driver actually exposed one of them, which lead to fixing the same issue in other cores.

Far more important to have stuff working properly - keep up the excellent work!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on June 19, 2020, 07:39:47 PM
Thanks Al82!  Thanks Gab75! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on June 19, 2020, 07:46:48 PM
another iq_132 vs. dink thing:
d_qbert.cpp has been updated to support nearly all the Gottlieb/Mylstar games, here's some pics:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on June 20, 2020, 12:03:13 AM
Excellent work guys! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on June 20, 2020, 07:37:08 AM
Good Stuff Dink!
Title: Konami related bugs for 2d arcade side scrollers
Post by: the_maq on June 29, 2020, 11:25:36 PM
How u doing Mr dink just to let u know there's a bug issue with turtles in time arcade version by konami on the fba emulator when the foot clan enemies explode there's a couple of horizontal sprite gaps in the explosion which don't happen on the real arcade board and there is also a similar problem with the simpsons arcade when u blow up the ballon in the bonus stage u can see the horizontal sprite gap on homer and bart and vertical sprite gaps in the intro for bucky 'o' hare arcade with the fierball attack on there ship so will this be an easy fix? I'm really hoping you will address this issue..and btw Great job on fixing G.I. joe and metamorphic force they play flawlessly.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 01, 2020, 11:46:31 PM
Opa Opa on Sega System E got fixed tonight and is now marked working.  Didn't think I'd ever figure this one out!
I'm sure vbt and arcadez will be happy about this :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on July 02, 2020, 08:56:30 AM
Opa Opa on Sega System E got fixed tonight and is now marked working.  Didn't think I'd ever figure this one out!
I'm sure vbt and arcadez will be happy about this :)

best regards,
- dink

Ha ha you got it then well done man, part of me thought you would if you took another run at it.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on July 03, 2020, 11:03:20 AM
I was nearly ask this one, but i forget it.  :biggrin: Great job!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: littlebear on July 04, 2020, 02:55:09 AM
I am getting directory problem starting with build 1.0.8521.  i can't not save save directory path and when load game it go back to directory setting.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on July 04, 2020, 07:58:46 AM
The latest debug emulator can't scan roms. Please fix.
For lucky i have the ashura-x build from yesterday.  :smilie: - works ok. Stick with it.

Arm Champs II miss one game and i don?t know why in mame it doesn?t work too. I think was able to work before...
Motor Test Error.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 04, 2020, 09:45:19 AM
The latest build is screwed up really bad.  Terribly sorry about this, guys!  I don't know where the problem lies, but I'm working on it.  My ini file just got trashed for no reason, terribly sorry for anyone having to deal with this issue.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 04, 2020, 10:11:10 AM
It turns out that the builds in the git repo are corrupted:
fbn-win32-debug-gcc.7z
fbn-win32-gcc.7z

these are OK:
fbn-xp-gcc.7z
fbn-xp-debug-gcc.7z

and Ashura-X build is OK:
https://ashura.mameworld.info/nightlybuilds/builds.html

This is all I know right now.

If you run the corrupted builds (fbn-win32-debug-gcc.7z, fbn-win32-gcc.7z) they will break your ini file.
Terribly sorry about that, I don't know what's going wrong right now :(

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on July 04, 2020, 10:38:06 AM
If you run the corrupted builds (fbn-win32-debug-gcc.7z, fbn-win32-gcc.7z) they will break your ini file.

If you go back to the Ashura's-X Build it wont break the ini file.
The emulator causes a new clean restart from 0, and after he scans, the window FB Neo numbers dissapears, he can?t load roms and scan.
Do you have the latest source before this error being added?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 04, 2020, 10:53:19 AM
It's not the source, something is wrong with the build-bot.  sometimes robot is stupid (like the other stupid robot we got rid of, but not as bad).

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Kev on July 05, 2020, 11:49:57 AM
The next build should work again when it finishes. Something wrong with the appveyor VM I think. I just downloaded the first artefact and it works ok here at least.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 05, 2020, 07:47:46 PM
Nice work Kev, thanks for fixing it!  I also checked the latest exe and it works fine :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on July 06, 2020, 05:42:05 AM
Thank you Team!  :cool:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: the_maq on July 06, 2020, 09:15:42 PM
There's some floor flickering problems in galaxy fight neo cd version - aes is works fine thought you should have a look, its more prominent where the fighters duke it out on the space station - thanks.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 07, 2020, 12:43:05 AM
the_maq:
unfortunately the flickering can't be fixed in the neocd version of galaxy fight, basically the game is using more cycles than has for game logic in the frame before the flicker, this cuts into the sprite rendering - which ends up leaving out part of the ground sprites - thus a flicker is presented.
It works fine in aes/mvs because those machines don't have to deal with the overhead of the cd system.

On the other hand, you can fix this problem by overclocking the cpu for this game.  After loading the game / as it boots up, go to "Game -> Adjust CPU Speed", then type in "101" in the little white box.  fbn will even save this setting just for this game.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: the_maq on July 07, 2020, 01:11:24 AM
Thanks for that..  :cool:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: vbt on July 22, 2020, 02:37:34 PM
finally opa opa !!! thanks Dink Dink :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: paullogan on July 24, 2020, 04:55:29 PM
Dink, I wanted to thank you for backporting the X-Men 6P changes back to MAME. If it's something that wouldn't be difficult for you, could you also please look into why the screens seem to be desynced in MAME?

In FBNeo, it's fine, but in MAME, you can see that when scrolling one of the screens seems to lag behind the other. It's particularly noticeable during the intro when its scrolling up over the planet.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 24, 2020, 08:16:11 PM
the_maq, vbt, paullogan: you're welcome - thanks for being here :)

paullogan: regarding the screen synchronization:
Instead of updating each screen-side every other frame as it is now, I have it update both sides every frame.  Unfortunately I'm not familiar enough with MAME's video system to implement it on their side, but it should be rather trivial to implement should you find someone able and willing to do so.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on July 31, 2020, 06:14:06 AM
Just to inform you, the last git got damaged again, lucky i still have a backup as always.  :cool:
Appears in the scan roms option a d word instead of /roms and etc...
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Kev on July 31, 2020, 09:14:32 AM
Hopefully the version that is currently building will fix that issue, appveyor updated the VM again so now the "previous" version has been replaced with the broken one. If that doesn't work I will downgrade it to 2017 VM and see if that fixes it
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Kev on August 02, 2020, 07:02:49 AM
Although I've not tested myself should be sorted now
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on August 03, 2020, 06:25:51 AM
Although I've not tested myself should be sorted now

It is now. Thanks.  :cool:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 04, 2020, 01:05:02 AM
ColecoVision update: Controller handling re-written & added support for the Super Action & Roller Controllers
Hooked-up to the following CV games:
Destructor, Front Line, Kaboom, Slither, Super Action sports games, Super Controller Test Cart, Victory, War Games, Star Trek, Spy Hunter

The rewrite also fixed some regular controller games, such as Deep Dungeon Adventure & Sewer Sam.

Also emulated was the chip-enable wait on register writes to the SN PSG, which fixes the pitch on sounds that use the SN PSG as a PCM sample playback device.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 06, 2020, 07:58:40 PM
Behind the scenes stuff w/FBNeo
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Operation: Big Endian
In an effort to make FBNeo more playable on BE (Big Endian) systems (PSP, PS3, WiiU, *anything else?*) - barbudreadmon, me and crystalct have BE-fixed lots of games & systems.. such as:
NeoGeo CD
PGM
SSV
Seta2
any game using the Samples engine (for example, Donkey Kong, Zaxxon)
any game using I8039 (Donkey Kong, Gyruss, Mario Bros., Space Firebird, Juno First, Pandora's Place, MegaZone, etc)
Beast Busters / Mechanized Attack
Food Fite
Deco16IC games
Vamf 1/2
Gradius 3
Blades of Steel,
and many many others.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on August 07, 2020, 02:50:27 AM
BE (Big Endian) systems (PSP, PS3, WiiU, *anything else?*)

Anything using ppc cpu (ps3, xbox360, wiiu, wii, gamecube, older macs like G3/G4/G5, ...), and supposedly some arm based devices are big-endian too. I think psp is little endian
Not sure how many of those machines got a working port though, i know ps3/wiiu got a working fbneo port through libretro, and i think xbox360 has a standalone port written by lantus (i'm not sure he is still maintaining it though).

Just before, there was also behind the scene stuff by dink and me with savestates, from time to time they could happen on standalone but they were mainly visible with savestates based features from other ports (fightcade, libretro), such as :
- games using ym2151,ym2203,2608,2610,2612
- neogeo
- cps1
- pgm
- irem m92
- sega sys1
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 07, 2020, 07:56:43 PM
Barbudreadmon, ahh yes, how can I forget.  We really did a nice job hardening the savestate system :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 07, 2020, 08:12:42 PM
Operation S18: improving Sega System 18's broken video system.
(bug only affected fb)
This time I'll let the pictures do the talking :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 16, 2020, 09:30:35 AM
sorry, we're not accepting requests right now!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 21, 2020, 12:01:13 AM
Something I've been working on the past couple days.
K054539 + dink's echofx(-izer) v.00001
basically: I made a delay line using a circular buffer w/ 2 biquad filters (1HP, 1LP): HP tapped onto the delay input and LP tapped onto the output + a buffer feedback tap coming back from the LP's output.

Xmen "Go and save the city."
this + the "Low Pass Filter" option under audio -> plugin opts. sounds almost exactly like the pcb.
Here's what it sounds like without the "Low Pass Filter", though.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Fulg0re on August 22, 2020, 04:38:33 PM
Hi

I have some maybe strange request.
Is it possible to add scanlines which are able
to set on its thickness and visibility stenght?

Kind regards
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 24, 2020, 01:40:15 AM
K054539 w/Echo FX is on git, enjoy :)
Games like "Violent Storm, Monster Maulers, Moo Mesa, X-Men, G.I. Joe, etc" benefit from this.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 26, 2020, 09:37:11 AM
Isn't anyone going to try the new k054539 and say something?  the_maq? :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Kev on August 26, 2020, 04:35:32 PM
K054539 w/Echo FX is on git, enjoy :)
Games like "Violent Storm, Monster Maulers, Moo Mesa, X-Men, G.I. Joe, etc" benefit from this.

best regards,
- dink

Again, with really limited time for testing, I think this sounds awesome :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: the_maq on August 26, 2020, 09:10:29 PM
Isn't anyone going to try the new k054539 and say something?  the_maq? :)

best regards,
- dink
Howz it going just been busy lately and all, but yeah i managed to check the latest k054539 fix and the echo effects sound bang on, great job, but the hydraulic sound effect is still low in xmen?? the one i mentioned about earlier, sounds better on mame though..!! Could be something to do with the YM2151 sound chip and maybe needing some reworking on? i'm just spitballing here - regards  :confused:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 26, 2020, 10:36:44 PM
the_maq, hey thanks for checking it out!
The option under Audio -> Plugin Options -> Use Lowpass Filter attempts to emulate the filters in the 2x amplifier stages that most pcb's have.  Enable this and the lift section sounds almost identical to the pcb video link you posted.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on August 27, 2020, 08:26:22 PM
I downloaded this build from github:

(https://i.postimg.cc/V6gVjK6B/1.jpg)

The problem is that the emulator exe does not show me any icon:

(https://i.postimg.cc/d3SNfDGh/2.jpg)

I don't know if it's a mistake or something, but the emulator opens and loads perfectly.

I use the XP version.

Greetings
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 27, 2020, 08:45:08 PM
Pelucon8, I see the problem - the new icon is 256x256, but XP doesn't support this (XP does 128x128 max, I think).  I'll try to find a solution!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on August 27, 2020, 08:49:38 PM
Actually, the last buid I downloaded was from July or so, it had the old icon and looked good, now I download a new build and it looks blank.

I had no idea they had changed the icon, hehehe.

Edit: I see you edited your post, the truth is not something that really bothers me, but I would appreciate very much if you give us a solution to XP users.

Thanks, my friend.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on August 28, 2020, 02:26:05 AM
Isn't anyone going to try the new k054539 and say something? :)

The K054539 was a very impressive PCM audio chip for the arcade cabinets of early 90s... and now also the echo effect is emulated by FBN... great work! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 29, 2020, 12:44:23 AM
Thanks for checking it out, Gab75! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 29, 2020, 01:13:28 AM
Some "behind the scenes" fixes & additions:
big thanks to stoo(adelpha) for reporting a metric ton of good bug reports :)
the_maq, Agozer, for bug nice reports as well
Gab75 for extra special testing
& everyone, of course! :)

Dark Planet (darkplnt): dial is fixed
Blockade/Hustle: sound-fx improved & missing fx fixed.  Also added a phosphor-type dip (green, amber, b&w)
Battle Garegga location test pcb dumped and added (thanks Mikejmoffitt, who did the finding & dumping)
added 2 Sun Mixing arcade games based on Megadrive HW: Super Bubble Bobble, Top Shooter [iq_132]
Seta 2 HW video-perfected by Haze, ported to FBNeo by Barbudreadmon - Guardians "Denjin Makai II" map screen, super-cool zoom-effect in Penguin Bros, hunting games, etc.
SuperEndiFIXec020 v2.01, now Taito F3 games work on big endian machines like PS3, wiiu, etc.
Default Directory changes: arcade roms now in roms/arcade, "nes_hb" merged with "nes", and "nes_fds" renamed to "fds"
"All Dat" files still created if cancel is pressed (win10?) [voodoo84]
Konami Bubble System version of Gradius and Twin Bee added [iq_132], nemesis hw driver cleaned up a bit [dink]
Omega Race P2 input decrypted by dink (yay!)
Shackled, fix hang @ continue with a nice kludgy hack
Subroc-3d now fully playable
dbz was running too slow

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on September 02, 2020, 09:58:00 PM
I downloaded this build from github:

(https://i.postimg.cc/264xsX4j/1.jpg)

And the icon can be seen again in the XP versions:

(https://i.postimg.cc/90CBCtpd/2.jpg)

Thank you very much!  :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 03, 2020, 01:26:43 AM
Pelucon8 - thanks goes to JacKc :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on September 03, 2020, 01:41:02 AM
Pelucon8 - thanks goes to JacKc :)

best regards,
- dink

Yes, both received a +1. Jack for solving it and you for reading and posing the problem to find a solution.  :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on September 03, 2020, 09:06:25 AM
Why you guys don?t create a Console Folder for all the systems incluied neogeocd? Is more organized, Consoles and Roms Folder.  :wink:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 03, 2020, 03:31:23 PM
Joaquim2020, it was suggested that we leave the default neocd directory as it is.  It is just a default though, and you can have it set anywhere you'd like.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on September 04, 2020, 08:11:02 AM
Joaquim2020, it was suggested that we leave the default neocd directory as it is.  It is just a default though, and you can have it set anywhere you'd like.

best regards,
- dink

Works nice for me.  :cool:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on September 18, 2020, 03:44:26 AM
Hijacking dink's thread to say i added a wide screen mode to "Street Fighter 3: the new generation" yesterday, it's togglable through dipswitches. This dipswitch is also available for sfiii2 (no need to go through service menu to enable it anymore). Found information about this through https://tcrf.net/Street_Fighter_III:_New_Generation#Unused_Wide_Screen_Mode . sfiii3 also has this hidden mode, but it's so glitched that it's not worth adding.

Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 18, 2020, 10:09:43 AM
barbudreadmon, looks good :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 05, 2020, 08:45:17 AM
Something I'd been waiting for...  for ages:
Karnov's MCU was finally dumped!  Thanks The Dumping Union / TeamEurope!
For those that don't know, a MCU is basically a full computer on a chip that is protected from being read out... Which is why a lot of games didn't get their MCU dumped until recently.  Often times a protection MCU goes beyond simply allowing the game to boot - it also influences the gameplay / levels / level order and in some cases sprites & weapons.  The MCU chip sometimes has to be sacrificed to read out the program data, but some are vulnerable to glitching or other nifty ways of recovering the data without breaking the top off  / harming the physical chip.

I started emulating it last night, and almost done.  It's quite similar hookup to that of DEC8/DEC0.
For extra fun and like dec8, I'm doing it from scratch / without using mame as a reference.  Although the code copied and pasted from DEC0 is almost there to begin with..

So far the game is a little different than with the protection "sim" code.  While most of the enemies are in their same places, different ones spawn here and there than did previously.  It's always a good feeling to get rid of the old sim code for this reason.  IMO a game is basically a bootleg quality unless it has the full protection emulated - especially if the protection MCU influences the game.  There is the exception - if the game only checks the protection MCU for a challenge/response to boot up, and does nothing else. (f.ex. IREM m72 games).

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: hursit on October 05, 2020, 05:13:37 PM
Hijacking dink's thread to say i added a wide screen mode to "Street Fighter 3: the new generation" yesterday, it's togglable through dipswitches. This dipswitch is also available for sfiii2 (no need to go through service menu to enable it anymore). Found information about this through https://tcrf.net/Street_Fighter_III:_New_Generation#Unused_Wide_Screen_Mode . sfiii3 also has this hidden mode, but it's so glitched that it's not worth adding.

How can i tested it ?
Retroarch core has it already ?

thanks
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: the_maq on October 05, 2020, 05:41:06 PM
Something I'd been waiting for...  for ages:
Karnov's MCU was finally dumped!  Thanks The Dumping Union / TeamEurope!
For those that don't know, a MCU is basically a full computer on a chip that is protected from being read out... Which is why a lot of games didn't get their MCU dumped until recently.  Often times a protection MCU goes beyond simply allowing the game to boot - it also influences the gameplay / levels / level order and in some cases sprites & weapons.  The MCU chip sometimes has to be sacrificed to read out the program data, but some are vulnerable to glitching or other nifty ways of recovering the data without breaking the top off  / harming the physical chip.

I started emulating it last night, and almost done.  It's quite similar hookup to that of DEC8/DEC0.
For extra fun and like dec8, I'm doing it from scratch / without using mame as a reference.  Although the code copied and pasted from DEC0 is almost there to begin with..

So far the game is a little different than with the protection "sim" code.  While most of the enemies are in their same places, different ones spawn here and there than did previously.  It's always a good feeling to get rid of the old sim code for this reason.  IMO a game is basically a bootleg quality unless it has the full protection emulated - especially if the protection MCU influences the game.  There is the exception - if the game only checks the protection MCU for a challenge/response to boot up, and does nothing else. (f.ex. IREM m72 games).

best regards,
- dink
That's interesting so will this help and further improve emulation in general..? :S
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 05, 2020, 08:41:01 PM
That's interesting so will this help and further improve emulation in general..? :S

the_maq, basically it boils down to the arcade games' Karnov (and Chelnov Atomic Runner, which uses the same DataEast PCB) are now running with PCB accuracy.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 07, 2020, 09:37:22 AM
Emulated the "Floating Bus" feature of the ZX Spectrum, it's functionality is used (as a code trick) by a couple games to synchronize the cpu with the screen, similarly to how the sprite0hit function works on NES.
This feature fixed compatibility with a few games (Sidewize, Arkanoid, others I forget)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 24, 2020, 09:04:40 PM
Ghox now has spinner support as well as digital inputs for those that wish to play ghox with an analog stick or spinner.

best regards,
- dink

Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 25, 2020, 12:35:57 AM
ZX Spectrum re-write is almost complete!

to eliminate hw conflicts and make things a bit more clear to everyone, there's now a joystick interface selection DIP, with the options:
Kempston
Sinclair Intf. 2
QAOP M
QAOP Space
Disabled

This whole rewrite-zx-project is taking a lot longer than I expected.  I learned a lot of things, though.  Notably: the ZX Spectrum isn't the simple machine I thought it was, and some of the games are really fun and creative - though, one has to plow through a lot of crap to find them.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Neville on October 25, 2020, 06:41:55 AM
"Programmer, beware of so-called simple things
for they hide tons of work for thee"

Ancient proverb
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 25, 2020, 09:41:14 AM
Indeed :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Neville on October 25, 2020, 09:46:42 AM
I've been doing some research on the subject for myself. There's probably nothing new to you, but I found this article very informative:

http://www.retroisle.com/general/spectrum_joysticks.php
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Haze on October 25, 2020, 10:32:42 AM

This whole rewrite-zx-project is taking a lot longer than I expected.  I learned a lot of things, though.  Notably: the ZX Spectrum isn't the simple machine I thought it was, and some of the games are really fun and creative - though, one has to plow through a lot of crap to find them.


right, once you dive into the timings (to get it 100% perfect you need fully stallable mid-instriction interruptable z80 core) it becomes very complex.

and yes, the 8-bits had some amazing games back then, and today.  If you've not checked out the recent Amstrad CPC port of Pinball Dreams I highly suggest you do (MAME isn't good enough to run it) you could easily forget that's on an 8-bit, it plays just as well as the Amiga original.

Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Neville on October 25, 2020, 11:07:10 AM
If you are looking for a good CPC emulator I can't recomend CPCEC (http://cngsoft.no-ip.org/cpcec.htm) enough. It emulates the entire range (many other emus still struggle with the CPC+ carts) and can auto-start games.

The author cngsoft is well known in the Spanish CPC scene, he even programmed a pretty cool remake of "Bubble Bobble". (https://www.amstrad.es/doku.php?id=juegos:bubble_bobble_4cpc)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: charles32k on October 29, 2020, 06:54:03 PM
Hi md_ddragon2 is in the src but not apear in the megadrive games list!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 29, 2020, 07:37:28 PM
Hi md_ddragon2 is in the src but not apear in the megadrive games list!

charles32k, it shows here - see pic below.  Is your romset ok?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: charles32k on October 29, 2020, 07:55:43 PM
i compiled in not debug version
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: charles32k on October 29, 2020, 08:02:54 PM
now i test in x64, x86 and debug
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: charles32k on October 29, 2020, 08:22:21 PM
in x64 not apear
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 29, 2020, 08:29:00 PM
x64 version has bugs that I can't fix.  :(

Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: charles32k on October 29, 2020, 08:32:46 PM
I rewrote the code and it appeared
now I'm compiling in debug to see what happens
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: charles32k on October 31, 2020, 07:34:52 PM
// double dragon II - the revenge (jpn)
static struct BurnRomInfo md_ddragon2RomDesc[] = {
   { "double dragon II - the revenge (jpn).bin",524288, 0xa8bfdbd6, BRF_PRG | SEGA_MD_ROM_LOAD16_WORD_SWAP | SEGA_MD_ROM_OFFS_000000  },
};

STD_ROM_PICK(md_ddragon2)
STD_ROM_FN(md_ddragon2)

struct BurnDriver BurnDrvmd_ddragon2 = {
   "md_ddragon2", NULL, NULL, NULL, "1991",
   "Double Dragon II - The Revenge (Jpn)\0", NULL, "PalSoft", "Sega Megadrive",
   NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL,
   BDF_GAME_WORKING | BDF_16BIT_ONLY | BDF_CLONE, 2, HARDWARE_SEGA_MEGADRIVE, GBF_MISC, 0,
   MegadriveGetZipName, md_ddragon2RomInfo, md_ddragon2RomName, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, MegadriveInputInfo, MegadriveDIPInfo,
   MegadriveInit, MegadriveExit, MegadriveFrame, MegadriveDraw, MegadriveScan,
   &bMegadriveRecalcPalette, 0x100, 320, 224, 4, 3
};
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 31, 2020, 07:53:54 PM
charles32k, the real problem: it had BurnDriverD, notice the D at the end ?  this means it only shows up in debug build.
I remove just the D, it's OK now.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: charles32k on October 31, 2020, 08:26:09 PM
Yes jeje thanks!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 07, 2020, 01:10:28 AM
Hi,
Added a little stereo-izer effect to the NES emulation in FBNeo - it's accessible via the DIPs.
Code is on github, if you'd like to try it :)

Here's a video demonstration
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miptXdz09p0
0-23 seconds: normal recording with effect off
25-end: recording with stereoized effect ON

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Neville on November 08, 2020, 09:41:18 AM
Don't have headphones plugged to the PC, but it does sound more "spacey" even on my desktop speakers. Tried it with "Super Mario Bros. 3".
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 19, 2020, 11:15:29 PM
Thanks Neville :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 19, 2020, 11:27:55 PM
Cheeky Mouse

Many, many moons ago - without even knowing what a Cheeky Mouse Cab/PCB sounded like - I created some synth-mouse sounds to make the game more fun.

Recently Otto Pylotte contacted me and sent in some high quality samples sourced from his real Cheeky Mouse PCB, now we can play the game as it is supposed to sound! :)
..also, a bug was squashed where the mice were the wrong color.  oops - my bad..

Attached, find the new samples for Cheeky Mouse - have fun smashing mice :)

Edit: attachment updated to v1.1 November 23, 2020
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 23, 2020, 09:47:16 AM
Cheeky Mouse sample pack, version 1.1.  Fixes some issues with the cheekyms.zip sample pack from 4 days ago.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on November 23, 2020, 03:36:16 PM
Cheeky Mouse sample pack, version 1.1.  Fixes some issues with the cheekyms.zip sample pack from 4 days ago.

best regards,
- dink

Nice, but damn... Your made up samples are much easier on the ears.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 23, 2020, 08:04:08 PM
tip: play with a little less volume than before :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 08, 2020, 10:18:21 AM
Caps0ff did a great job figuring out how to dump the tms32010 mcu's & re-order the data w/a little community help, a nice story/write-up about it can be found here: http://caps0ff.blogspot.com/

I hooked up the new dumps to ktiger, fshark, skyshark, hishouza - now these games are no longer running a bootleg MCU.  I think Twin Cobra had a real dump from the start, so that one is unaffected.
If you're having trouble loading these games, make sure to update your roms! :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 10, 2020, 02:03:02 AM
Syvalion
Dragon games in FBNeo are usually pretty killer.  Take for instance St. Dragon, Dragon Breed, Dragon Spirit or Dragon Saber - they have kick-ass music & excellent fast-paced gameplay.  Syvalion is a little lesser known of the dragon games.  It's a little slower-paced, and controls a bit differently, but once you get the hang of it -- it kicks just as much ass  :wink:
tip: press button and do a full-circle on joystick to kill all enemies approaching from all directions at once.

Tonight I hooked up the trackball device to Syvalion, now it controls even better when mapped to an analog thumbstick/joystick or a trackball if you have one.  The game is playable w/digital dpad too, though not as precise.  give it a try :)

bye for now,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 01, 2021, 01:29:29 AM
Hi all and happy new year!

Did some pretty major re-working of the UPD7759 sound core over the past few days, it's used for PCM samples in Sega 16b games such as Altered Beast & Golden Axe (and a bunch of other system 16b games.. Ace Attack, Alien Syndrome, Aurail, Bayroute, Cotton, Ddux, Dunk Shot, Eswat....)
Konami Twin 16 HW (Vulcan Venture/Gradius 2)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT)
'88 Games
Blades of Steel
The Main Event
Combat School
Rabbit Punch / Rabio Lepus
Prehistoric Isle in 1930
Snk68k HW: Ikari3, Street Smart, SAR - Search And Rescue, P.O.W. - Prisoners of War

If someone would like to help out by testing these games/systems and try to find sound-related problems/glitches or just say everything(or some) is OK, that would be awesome :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: geese howard on January 01, 2021, 07:14:35 AM
Hi all and happy new year!

Did some pretty major re-working of the UPD7759 sound core over the past few days, it's used for PCM samples in Sega 16b games such as Altered Beast & Golden Axe (and a bunch of other system 16b games.. Ace Attack, Alien Syndrome, Aurail, Bayroute, Cotton, Ddux, Dunk Shot, Eswat....)
Konami Twin 16 HW (Vulcan Venture/Gradius 2)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT)
'88 Games
Blades of Steel
The Main Event
Combat School
Rabbit Punch / Rabio Lepus
Prehistoric Isle in 1930
Snk68k HW: Ikari3, Street Smart, SAR - Search And Rescue, P.O.W. - Prisoners of War

If someone would like to help out by testing these games/systems and try to find sound-related problems/glitches or just say everything(or some) is OK, that would be awesome :)

best regards,
- dink

Where can i download this build?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on January 01, 2021, 08:04:53 AM
This stick thread. (https://neo-source.com/index.php?topic=3509.0)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: geese howard on January 01, 2021, 03:41:22 PM
Hi all and happy new year!

Did some pretty major re-working of the UPD7759 sound core over the past few days, it's used for PCM samples in Sega 16b games such as Altered Beast & Golden Axe (and a bunch of other system 16b games.. Ace Attack, Alien Syndrome, Aurail, Bayroute, Cotton, Ddux, Dunk Shot, Eswat....)
Konami Twin 16 HW (Vulcan Venture/Gradius 2)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT)
'88 Games
Blades of Steel
The Main Event
Combat School
Rabbit Punch / Rabio Lepus
Prehistoric Isle in 1930
Snk68k HW: Ikari3, Street Smart, SAR - Search And Rescue, P.O.W. - Prisoners of War

If someone would like to help out by testing these games/systems and try to find sound-related problems/glitches or just say everything(or some) is OK, that would be awesome :)

best regards,
- dink

Tested Golden axe, Eswat, Prehistoric isle 1930 and TMNT..sound problems are totally fixed.
Thanks for let me help you for a perfect emulation.

I almost forget: midway w/tunit games + scanlines on experimental blitter issue is fixed too. Awesome work!!

Happy New Year for all!!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: xerf84 on January 01, 2021, 08:02:38 PM
Guru meditation in wonder boy III. Feliz a?o!!!

Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 02, 2021, 12:41:17 AM
Tested Golden axe, Eswat, Prehistoric isle 1930 and TMNT..sound problems are totally fixed.
Thanks for let me help you for a perfect emulation.

I almost forget: midway w/tunit games + scanlines on experimental blitter issue is fixed too. Awesome work!!

Happy New Year for all!!

Thanks for the bug reports and testing!  Happy new year!!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 02, 2021, 12:42:22 AM
Guru meditation in wonder boy III. Feliz a?o!!!

Oops, I made a slight oversight while re-working upd7759.  Fix is in :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 03, 2021, 12:10:25 AM
Found some sprite priority issues in Sega 16B hw.  Game: Alien Syndrome
Instead of the snakey-aliens slithering out from the walls, they slithered out from under the walls.

The good news: the System 18 is basically System16B with a Genesis/Megadrive VDP added.  So: the gfx re-work I did not too long ago on System 18 backported to System16B in a matter of minutes - happy day! :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on January 03, 2021, 04:03:20 AM
Howz it going chief - Michael Jacksons Moonwalker on System 18 is still marked imperfect (Graphics issues) i think that's needing an update..?? - Thanks.

Might be a leftover we forgot to remove, except if there are still issues i'm unaware of with sys18 ?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 03, 2021, 08:41:49 AM
Howz it going chief - Michael Jacksons Moonwalker on System 18 is still marked imperfect (Graphics issues) i think that's needing an update..?? - Thanks.

Oops, I forgot to remove the tag  :S
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 07, 2021, 11:16:08 AM
Hi all,
I ported a different tms340x0 core, this fixes the previously broken Midway games:
2 on 2 Open Ice Challenge
Judge Dredd proto
NBA Hangtime
NBA Jam
NBA Jam TE
NBA Maximum HT
WWF: Wrestlemania

Also fixed broken player#2 in Rampage: World Tour, and a few small misc bugs in the MK series.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: charles32k on January 07, 2021, 11:37:21 AM
thanks you are a genius!!!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Agozer on January 08, 2021, 02:10:14 PM
In the Judge Dredd prototype, pressing F2 to go to the Service Menu resets the game. So you can't change the coinage or any other game options. Don't know if this is a quirk of the location test prototype or FBNeo.

In NBA Maximum HangTime let the attract mode play, and wait for it to get the the part where the game is selecting its player and parameters. There this sort of scratchy audio playing every now and then as the "computer" is making the different selections.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on January 09, 2021, 02:38:23 AM
so will this bode well with the other midway titles for eg: T2 arcade and revolution X.?

the new tms340x0 cpu core should be ok with those games, but someone will have to write those drivers, you maybe ?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: charles32k on January 09, 2021, 08:19:46 AM
hi NBA Games are sow slow
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on January 09, 2021, 09:08:43 AM
hi NBA Games are sow slow

You might be right, i was looking at some pcb videos like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8J0u-ds7v2c , and i think the characters look a bit faster.

Edit : or maybe more like they have weird accelerations/slowdowns in our emulation.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 09, 2021, 10:50:52 AM
Yes they do seem slow, will fix as soon as "project: top secret" is finished :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: the_maq on January 09, 2021, 07:13:01 PM
the new tms340x0 cpu core should be ok with those games, but someone will have to write those drivers, you maybe ?
Well look man, if I knew how I would..
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 13, 2021, 12:58:06 AM
And now, a very special late x-mas gift from dink and iq_132:

Battle Toads Arcade!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: charles32k on January 13, 2021, 06:45:18 AM
Cool!!thanks!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Bad Dude on January 14, 2021, 10:42:23 AM
And now, a very special late x-mas gift from dink and iq_132:

Battle Toads Arcade!

Niiiiiiiiiiiiice!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: geese howard on January 14, 2021, 02:48:48 PM
And now, a very special late x-mas gift from dink and iq_132:

Battle Toads Arcade!

Is it on latest source??
I?ve compiled x64 version and not found this game.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: IPLA on January 14, 2021, 02:54:45 PM
And now, a very special late x-mas gift from dink and iq_132:

Battle Toads Arcade!

Awesome!!!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 14, 2021, 08:19:53 PM
yes get the latest source from github then compile again :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 14, 2021, 08:38:35 PM
Hi guys,
I was really busy working on Battle Toads; sorry for the late fix:
Williams NBA Jam / Hangtime now work at correct speed
F2 button for diagnostics fixed (Judge Dredd, etc)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 30, 2021, 10:33:44 AM
Hi guys,
FBNeo now emulates Midway Y-System - Terminator 2, Total Carnage, NARC, Smash TV, Trog, and etc, :)
Please keep an eye out for emulation bugs and post them if you find them. (savestate and screencaps to show the bugs are helpful!)
enjoy!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Al82 on January 30, 2021, 12:57:14 PM
Hi guys,
FBNeo now emulates Midway Y-System - Terminator 2, Total Carnage, NARC, Smash TV, Trog, and etc, :)
Please keep an eye out for emulation bugs and post them if you find them. (savestate and screencaps to show the bugs are helpful!)
enjoy!

best regards,
- dink

Awesome work!!! Great to see Smash TV added to this awesome emulator.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Wtorm on January 31, 2021, 09:50:50 AM
In FBNeo both eeekk and eeekkp are parents, but in MAME eeekkp is a clone of eeekk
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 02, 2021, 01:30:41 AM
Wtorm, thanks - it's been corrected. :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 02, 2021, 01:31:18 AM
Public service announcement

Try to understand, this is not an exaggeration: It took 9 solid days on my side, a couple on iq_132's plus a boatload of work on the cpu core side just to get Midway's Y Unit up and running. 

Really getting tired of the "OK thanks, now please give me more!!" posts.  This kind of rudeness is starting to wear me down..

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Bad Dude on February 02, 2021, 07:23:55 AM
Public service announcement

Try to understand, this is not an exaggeration: It took 9 solid days on my side, a couple on iq_132's plus a boatload of work on the cpu core side just to get Midway's Y Unit up and running. 

Really getting tired of the "OK thanks, now please give me more!!" posts.  This kind of rudeness is starting to wear me down..

best regards,
- dink

As far as I know, most comments are thanking you for the work. There are some requests, but usually for hacks and translations. For my part, if that makes you upset, it is better for the fanbase to stop using the emulator and let only the developers enjoy their work. I like Final Burn, but that kind of attitude makes me want to stop using it. I know this is not going to make a difference in your life, but it?s OK, I have my way of thinking about this subject.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on February 02, 2021, 08:00:09 AM
There are some requests, but usually for hacks and translations.

That's because lots of those are moderated, as a matter of fact dink wrote this post after indeed moderating several "thanks, now i want blahblahblah" posts. Maybe he even got some new requests by pm, since that's something some users are apparently doing.

Anyway, if you think dink is the one having a bad attitude here, while he has been one of the most tolerant amongst us regarding hardware requests (which we don't accept, as said countless times), you are welcome to stop using our project indeed. Bye.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Bad Dude on February 02, 2021, 08:20:47 AM
IF there is some request, it is definitely not one of the people who are really fans and who follow the work for years and years, like me and others. Probably some who sign up and in a few days make requests.

Dink always said that the group doesn't accept requests, so I don't ask for anything. I've asked in the past, but I don't see a problem, if it's not common thing.

I already imagined this response from the developers, who don't really care who really likes the emulator. So I expected a dry and rude "BYE". So, Bye! I don't have to enter in this forum and I don't need that emulator either.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on February 02, 2021, 08:34:25 AM
Probably some who sign up and in a few days make requests.

Even IF that was the case (it is, but only for 1 of those), that still doesn't make dink's post unreasonable.

So I expected a dry and rude "BYE". So, Bye! I don't have to enter in this forum and I don't need that emulator either.

And we don't need to read replies saying we have a "bad attitude" for speaking our minds on our forum, so now everyone will be happy.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 02, 2021, 09:09:50 AM
Bad Dude, I deleted the posts, because they were bothering me.  You, of course, have always been a helpful, good and loyal fan :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Bad Dude on February 02, 2021, 09:15:16 AM
Bad Dude, I deleted the posts, because they were bothering me.  You, of course, have always been a helpful, good and loyal fan :)

best regards,
- dink

you're "the man", my friend!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on February 02, 2021, 09:58:21 AM
Bad Dude, I deleted the posts, because they were bothering me.  You, of course, have always been a helpful, good and loyal fan :)

best regards,
- dink
But... is he a bad enough dude to rescue the president?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Bad Dude on February 02, 2021, 11:35:10 AM
Bad Dude, I deleted the posts, because they were bothering me.  You, of course, have always been a helpful, good and loyal fan :)

best regards,
- dink

I think I was out of touch with what happened and I misinterpreted what you have said. Sorry about that. You're also too polite to get angry with. I nice person, indeed.
But... is he a bad enough dude to rescue the president?

 :biggrin:

Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Samus12345 on February 02, 2021, 12:33:47 PM
I posted one of the offending posts, and I feel terrible that it upset dink. It was said in ignorant excitement. I'll be more careful with how I'm coming across when posting in the future.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: JoelH on February 02, 2021, 06:05:57 PM
Sorry Dink. I wasn't intending to make requests but if that's what it came off as I apologize.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on March 06, 2021, 08:58:30 AM
Hello Dink. Thank you so much for fixing the last and original games of PGM, is all now 100%. Now we have at least 5 clone hacks need to be working, but that is a nother different part of the story.  :smilie:

I found something interresting on World PK Soccer V2.
MAME Version have Asian/American Teams, in FB Neo have European/American Teams.
This game have bios?
I just check the first game, it have 2 versions one have european teams and the other called Kick for the Goal have a few Asian Teams, maybe the Asian Teams in the V2 game version must be Kick for the Goal V2 version.  :biggrin: (I think)
Check it.

Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 06, 2021, 10:49:59 AM
Joaquim, check the DIPS
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on March 07, 2021, 07:54:01 AM
Joaquim, check the DIPS

Ah... the reason why is changed. Thanks dink.  :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 19, 2021, 12:29:20 AM
In recent news...
Seibu SPI is in - had to do a lot of playtesting, fix some bugs, add alpha transparency, etc.  This one was mostly iq_132's work though!
Note: some of the games have a "single board version" that don't have to wait for it to count down from 999 (basically, the game has to flash-update the roms from the "cartridge" to the motherboard, this is what the wait is for).  For the games where no "single board" version exists (viper phase 1,  the first "raiden fighters"), it only has to do the countdown once - then the game will boot normally.

We have another big surprise that is basically done - but being held up by a little bug in the star game.  I hope to have it sorted by Monday!

A fun new homebrew game on NES:
Space Gulls, written by miau / same guys who did Micro Mages & BOBL.  The game is sorta like a mixture between Joust, Flappy Bird and Megaman, its very fun - give it a try!  rom @ http://forums.nesdev.com/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=22085

bye for now,
- dink

Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on March 19, 2021, 07:17:07 AM
Thanks a lot for your work (dink and iq_132 on the "front line")... ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: fastpop72 on March 19, 2021, 08:39:53 AM
Seibu SPI is in - had to do a lot of playtesting, fix some bugs, add alpha transparency, etc.  This one was mostly iq_132's work though!
Note: some of the games have a "single board version" that don't have to wait for it to count down from 999 (basically, the game has to flash-update the roms from the "cartridge" to the motherboard, this is what the wait is for).  For the games where no "single board" version exists (viper phase 1,  the first "raiden fighters"), it only has to do the countdown once - then the game will boot normally.

Few of the more brilliant shooters are on FBNeo now!!!!! Thank you iq_132 & dink!!! Love it!

Time to beta test the Seibu driver!!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: MTR on March 19, 2021, 11:10:48 AM
Awesome!

From quick testing the games work great.
Always loved the hyper detailed look of them. Great pixel art.

Thanks a lot iq_132 & dink.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: el_rika on March 20, 2021, 03:04:22 AM
In recent news...
Seibu SPI is in - had to do a lot of playtesting, fix some bugs, add alpha transparency, etc.  This one was mostly iq_132's work though!
Note: some of the games have a "single board version" that don't have to wait for it to count down from 999 (basically, the game has to flash-update the roms from the "cartridge" to the motherboard, this is what the wait is for).  For the games where no "single board" version exists (viper phase 1,  the first "raiden fighters"), it only has to do the countdown once - then the game will boot normally.

We have another big surprise that is basically done - but being held up by a little bug in the star game.  I hope to have it sorted by Monday!

A fun new homebrew game on NES:
Space Gulls, written by miau / same guys who did Micro Mages & BOBL.  The game is sorta like a mixture between Joust, Flappy Bird and Megaman, its very fun - give it a try!  rom @ http://forums.nesdev.com/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=22085

bye for now,
- dink

Like we don't all know what that is  :wink:

Seriously now, thanks for all the hard work!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: fastpop72 on March 20, 2021, 05:42:22 PM
Like we don't all know what that is  :wink:


I really don't know!! What's the monday surprise?!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 20, 2021, 08:16:11 PM
It's a surprise!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: el_rika on March 21, 2021, 03:42:02 AM
I really don't know!! What's the monday surprise?!

Let's say...being held up by a "bug" is a dead giveaway  :rolleyes:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: fastpop72 on March 21, 2021, 03:56:17 AM
Let's say...being held up by a "bug" is a dead giveaway  :rolleyes:

Groping in the dark... :confused:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on March 21, 2021, 04:01:03 AM
Let's say...being held up by a "bug" is a dead giveaway  :rolleyes:

Oh, now i understand, and you are just obsessed tbh. We don't plan on adding cv1k to FBNeo, as said several times the only trigger that could change this is an external contributor who would contribute a sh3 cpu core, but i don't see anything of the sort on github.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 21, 2021, 08:29:03 AM
you'll be really surprized then, because it's not what you think.

barbudreadmon, actually I hope to get that in by the end of the year, it will probably be just me and iq_132.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: el_rika on March 21, 2021, 11:31:21 PM
@barbu

Hey man (omule),

Don't take it personal, we're just having fun and smiling here, with our alter egos  :wink:

@dink

Whatever it is, it will be great as always  :biggrin:

(regarding the cv driver, wow, great unexpected news, and as an enthusiast who played the games extensively, i have to underline the fact that a blitter delay implementation similar {or even better, per blending mode} to the one in mame is mandatory for the games to run well. I can actually help with achieveing better calculus for it, as i already tested the existing mame algorithm quite a lot).
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 22, 2021, 09:05:56 AM
Well, it turns out things got delayed a few days due to more bugs popping up out of thin air (I have the ability to make that happen, it seems)
Or maybe I really meant next monday?  Well either way - stay tuned :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: SirHenrythe5th on March 23, 2021, 09:46:34 AM
I just registered to say thank you for this awesome work on FBNeo.
I know FinalBurn from the start, i was pretty impressed of its perfomance with ATARIs Afterburner as a single emulator, when Dave released it about 20 years ago.
What you are doing is really awesome, it seems you even shifted gears up after the the desaster (if i may call it so) with FBA and the Capcom-Console.
Thumbs up, much appreciated!

kind regards from germany,
SirHenry aka Alex
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 28, 2021, 01:52:40 AM
Welcome SirHenrythe5th!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 28, 2021, 01:55:24 AM
After a nice debugging session I came up with a fix for Stadium Cross's missing engine sound.
Looking for some nice people to test for bugs in any multi32 game that might have happened as a side-effect of this fix, the games are: scross, orunners, harddunk, titlef

Thanks and best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 08, 2021, 09:22:54 AM
Slightly Complex Cheats

Rarely, some games use a linked list for the player & enemies, and the place the player's status etc. is held in memory always changes, but there is a location that points to this list that never changes.  In the past FBN ignored these cheats, but as of today, we support them (in cheat.dat format!) :)

For example:
rdft* - Raiden Fighters 1/2 "Invincibility"
androdun - Andro Dunos "Invincibility"
dreamwld - Dream World "Invincibility"
There's a couple more, but there aren't many :)

Even if you're not a fan of using cheats, they have their uses - for example: they help us debug the emulation, take screenshots and other such technical things.

My cheat.dat (attached file) is based on Pugsy's cheat.dat for MAME 0.126, found here: http://cheat.retrogames.com/mame_downloads.htm
With a couple updated entries.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: fastpop72 on April 08, 2021, 09:44:37 AM
Slightly Complex Cheats

Rarely, some games use a linked list for the player & enemies, and the place the player's status etc. is held in memory always changes, but there is a location that points to this list that never changes.  In the past FBN ignored these cheats, but as of today, we support them (in cheat.dat format!) :)

For example:
rdft* - Raiden Fighters 1/2 "Invincibility"
androdun - Andro Dunos "Invincibility"
dreamwld - Dream World "Invincibility"
There's a couple more, but there aren't many :)

Even if you're not a fan of using cheats, they have their uses - for example: they help us debug the emulation, take screenshots and other such technical things.

My cheat.dat (attached file) is based on Pugsy's cheat.dat for MAME 0.126, found here: http://cheat.retrogames.com/mame_downloads.htm
With a couple updated entries.

best regards,
- dink

Thank you dink!!! Just tried rdft cheats and works like a charm!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 08, 2021, 07:52:51 PM
fastpop72, thanks for giving it a try! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on April 09, 2021, 02:03:47 AM
On a sidenote :
- cheats are now available on the sdl/sdl2 builds
- cheat.dat format is now available on non-windows builds
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on April 09, 2021, 09:41:30 PM
After a nice debugging session I came up with a fix for Stadium Cross's missing engine sound.
Looking for some nice people to test for bugs in any multi32 game that might have happened as a side-effect of this fix, the games are: scross, orunners, harddunk, titlef

Thanks and best regards,
- dink

I had not read this, thank you very much!

Slightly Complex Cheats

Rarely, some games use a linked list for the player & enemies, and the place the player's status etc. is held in memory always changes, but there is a location that points to this list that never changes.  In the past FBN ignored these cheats, but as of today, we support them (in cheat.dat format!) :)

For example:
rdft* - Raiden Fighters 1/2 "Invincibility"
androdun - Andro Dunos "Invincibility"
dreamwld - Dream World "Invincibility"
There's a couple more, but there aren't many :)

Even if you're not a fan of using cheats, they have their uses - for example: they help us debug the emulation, take screenshots and other such technical things.

My cheat.dat (attached file) is based on Pugsy's cheat.dat for MAME 0.126, found here: http://cheat.retrogames.com/mame_downloads.htm
With a couple updated entries.

best regards,
- dink

Thanks for this too, now the invincibility cheat for ultimate mortal kombat 3 works too.  :biggrin:

Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 16, 2021, 09:40:13 AM
Pelucon8, I'm glad it worked out :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 16, 2021, 10:24:18 AM
Project: LowPass Filter ..fixing!

Some know how great this option is under Audio -> Plugin Options -> Use Lowpass Filter, technically it's a 2x resonant lowpass filter which is set-up to mimic the amp section found on most pcb's.  For a good 95% of games, it makes the sound a bit more rich/bassy.  You'll probably never want to turn this option off after getting used to how nice it sounds. -except!-

There's only one problem with this: about 5% of games cause digital clipping/distortion with this option enabled.  I've fixed about 100 games in the past week so they don't cause issue any longer.  But there are more - I'm going to need help with this one, the idea is - ask everyone to turn on this option, and if/when you come across a game that distorts, please post here :)

Basically: distortion/clipping will sound like when you turn up the volume up way too loud and it sounds bad.  So, look-out (or listen for) that :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on April 16, 2021, 01:01:53 PM
For the libretro users, the lowpass filter is also available through the core options in the libretro port :).
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on April 16, 2021, 04:47:51 PM
It sounds much better with low-pass on. Sweet. I tried some of my favorite games and none of them had any issues with it.

Barbudreadmon, could you confirm the setting name for libretro? I looked around but could not find it. Thanks.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on April 17, 2021, 02:31:58 AM
Barbudreadmon, could you confirm the setting name for libretro? I looked around but could not find it. Thanks.

LowPass Filter, it's right below FM Interpolation. I added it only recently (maybe 2 weeks ago ?) so make sure your core is up-to-date.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Neildark on April 18, 2021, 04:23:45 AM
Hi! I have the sound option always activated. In Neo Geo games, CPS1, CPS2 and CPS3 it does not give any problem. In Tetris (set 1) (atetris), for example, just at the end of the level or at the end of a group of levels the sound degrades a lot. It also happens in Operation Wolf (World, set 1) when there are a lot of explosions. I will try more old games, and if I find something I will tell you about it. Greetings.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 18, 2021, 10:15:38 AM
Hi Neildark,
Thanks, that's a big help - Atari Tetris and Operation Wolf have been fixed :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on April 20, 2021, 03:18:49 AM
It's not very important, but I think there is a bug in the sound when inserting the first credit in CONTRA game.

When you insert the first credit in mame, it gives a particular sound, but in FBN the sound sounds like choppy or different. I don't mean the second credit inserted immediately after the first one (which the sound is longer), but the first one.

I have tested it in mame version 220 (beyond that version, some games slow down for me.

Greetings.

I have made a recording by inserting the first coin, it will play after a part of the intro music of the game finishes. Maybe you have to give it volume since I recorded it with the phone.

https://www.mediafire.com/file/4jhcjo81aa3b7m7/Sounds.rar/file (https://www.mediafire.com/file/4jhcjo81aa3b7m7/Sounds.rar/file)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 20, 2021, 10:35:00 AM
Pelucon8, I think the problem is solved, please give it a try:)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on April 20, 2021, 04:33:34 PM
Now you can hear it very well. Thanks for fixing it, dink.  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on April 22, 2021, 10:37:24 PM
Slightly Complex Cheats

Rarely, some games use a linked list for the player & enemies, and the place the player's status etc. is held in memory always changes, but there is a location that points to this list that never changes.  In the past FBN ignored these cheats, but as of today, we support them (in cheat.dat format!) :)

For example:
rdft* - Raiden Fighters 1/2 "Invincibility"
androdun - Andro Dunos "Invincibility"
dreamwld - Dream World "Invincibility"
There's a couple more, but there aren't many :)

Even if you're not a fan of using cheats, they have their uses - for example: they help us debug the emulation, take screenshots and other such technical things.

My cheat.dat (attached file) is based on Pugsy's cheat.dat for MAME 0.126, found here: http://cheat.retrogames.com/mame_downloads.htm
With a couple updated entries.

best regards,
- dink

@dink

The invincibility trick doesn't work in the "shinobi" and "shadow dancer" games. All other cheats, in both games, work perfectly. The cheat.dat that I use is the "cheat_dink_march9 -2021"

Greetings.

I forgot, I use this emulator update:
(https://i.postimg.cc/LsJztnhF/33.jpg)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 23, 2021, 09:21:21 PM
Pelucon8,
The invincible cheat should be OK for Shinobi and Shadow Dancer now, please give it a try.  Do let me know if any new problems spring up with cheats, because the fix for this specific problem needs a bit of testing :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on April 24, 2021, 01:44:35 AM
@dink

Now it works! Thank you very much  :smilie:

If I find any other cheat that doesn't work I will inform you here.

Regards
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 24, 2021, 09:16:36 AM
Pelucon8, excellent - thanks :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 29, 2021, 12:24:43 AM
Hooked up buffering + timer to the YM2151 in CPS1 games (the games without QSound).
If you notice any weirdness with CPS1 games after this update, please let me know! :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 01, 2021, 01:51:31 AM
I added GameGenie code support to NES emulation, one can easily add gamegenie codes using your favorite text editor...

Cheat files for Contra and SuperC were posted over here: https://neo-source.com/index.php?topic=139.msg32107#msg32107

If you'd like to make your own cheat files, just paste this into a text file, name it nes_ROMNAME.ini, and put the file in support/cheats.

Code: [Select]
cheat "Description of Cheat"
0 "Disabled"
1 "Enabled", "CODE"

Let's say you want to add the Infinite Lives code for Super Mario Bros, and the gamegenie code is SXIOPO

Paste this into a text file named nes_smb.ini:
Code: [Select]
cheat "Infinite Lives"
0 "Disabled"
1 "Enabled", "SXIOPO"

If you come across a GameGenie cheat that uses more than 1 code, for example:
Always keep Fireflower power-up, codes: OZTLLX + AATLGZ + SZLIVO
do it like this:
Code: [Select]
cheat "Always keep FireFlower Power!"
0 "Disabled"
1 "Enabled", "OZTLLX", "AATLGZ", "SZLIVO"

TIPS:
grab the latest exe at the usual place before trying this :)
After loading the game press Ctrl+F1 or menu "Misc -> Enable Cheats" to bring up the list.
https://github.com/finalburnneo/FBNeo-WIP-Storage-Facility/releases/tag/appveyor-build
If you don't know which exe to get, get fbn-win32-gcc.7z

bye for now, have fun!
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Neville on May 03, 2021, 05:22:41 AM
Two small issues with "Operation Thunderbolt":

1) The FB crosshairs are a bit off, a bit too low, evidenced when you pick the laser sights.

2) The image of the airplane at the end of the game is duplicated. I think the same happens in MAME.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on May 03, 2021, 05:49:22 AM
The image of the airplane at the end of the game is duplicated.

Thanks for the report, it would help if you could provide a savestate.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Neville on May 03, 2021, 11:23:59 AM
It's at the very end, in the final cutscene... I will try to upload a savestate in the following days.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 08, 2021, 09:41:23 AM
Neville any luck with the state? :)
p.s.Please try to make the state before the broken scene is displayed.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 08, 2021, 10:00:26 AM
Hi everyone,
Just a quick update:
Asteroids by Atari - the sound in fbneo is very broken.. Spent almost an entire week just trying to get it right, and it's almost there.
so far fixing each sound took 1-2 days, now I'm just down to tweaking the mixing and filters. 

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Neville on May 09, 2021, 05:28:46 AM
Neville any luck with the state? :)
p.s.Please try to make the state before the broken scene is displayed.

best regards,
- dink

Sorry. Just been very busy.

EDIT: Here it is.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 10, 2021, 01:31:00 AM
Added MS Pacman Twin to fbneo today, big thanks to Roberto Fresca & friends for hunting this one down!
What a great game - It's a simultaneous 2 player MS Pacman game, released sometime in '92 or '93 in Argentina.  Basically a super nice hack that was sold as a new arcade machine.

Roberto's page w/game pics & pcb pics.  hand-written pcb lable "MS PACMAN DOBLE"
https://robbie.mameworld.info/

Haze made a nice video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YW-0G9sRrTE

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on May 11, 2021, 01:10:04 AM
Added MS Pacman Twin to fbneo today, big thanks to Roberto Fresca & friends for hunting this one down!
What a great game - It's a simultaneous 2 player MS Pacman game, released sometime in '92 or '93 in Argentina.  Basically a super nice hack that was sold as a new arcade machine.

As usual, excellent work! ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 12, 2021, 05:38:35 PM
*Now Playable in FBNeo*

Turn back the clock to 1983 and Play the hot new action game `Harem'!

Life-like, real, synthesized digital voices!
Shoot the camel, take the women before she runs off, or gets run over!
Legally kidnap women and put them on your (6) bed(s)!
Life-Like trees and oil well bring out a good sense of nature.
Watch out for the pesky monkey and his coco-nuts!
The suicide-bombers can't wait to blow themselves up, along with you!  Don't let them get too close.

Brought to you by I.G.R.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on May 15, 2021, 11:54:58 AM
Hey dink. I've found that SegaSonic is a bit ear grating with the Low-pass filter enabled, when you finish a stage (that happy "stage clear" jingle).
Here's a save state attached, right next to the exit. Thank you.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 15, 2021, 08:45:19 PM
Added Namennayo Cat's
Kinda silly game from '82, based on the cat photography style of Satoru Tsuda ( google imagesearch: https://www.google.com/search?q=namenayo+cats&tbm=isch )

Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 15, 2021, 09:08:36 PM
Hey dink. I've found that SegaSonic is a bit ear grating with the Low-pass filter enabled, when you finish a stage (that happy "stage clear" jingle).
Here's a save state attached, right next to the exit. Thank you.

Thanks, I've tweaked it a bit, it should be ok now :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on May 16, 2021, 03:26:00 AM
Thanks, I've tweaked it a bit, it should be ok now :)

best regards,
- dink

It is better now. Thank you.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 17, 2021, 02:08:48 AM
Sorry. Just been very busy.

EDIT: Here it is.

Thanks Neville, othunder ending has been fixed :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 17, 2021, 02:10:47 AM
Dear friends & fans of FBNeo
Due to a bugfix and change to the 68k cpu, all savestates for games using a 68k cpu won't work with the new exe from May 17+
Please finish your game(s) before upgrading exe, or rename and save old exe just for finishing the games!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: ClessxAlghazanth on May 17, 2021, 02:28:40 AM
Dear friends & fans of FBNeo
Due to a bugfix and change to the 68k cpu, all savestates for games using a 68k cpu won't work with the new exe from May 17+
Please finish your game(s) before upgrading exe, or rename and save old exe just for finishing the games!

best regards,
- dink

Will it only effect save states created by the user ? Nvram and .hi files are not effected ?

Best regards and thanks for all the great work
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on May 17, 2021, 03:14:28 AM
Will it only effect save states created by the user ? Nvram and .hi files are not effected ?

Best regards and thanks for all the great work

hiscore files won't be affected, and i believe nvram shouldn't be either (it might be some kind bug if they are)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: fastpop72 on May 21, 2021, 05:06:50 AM
@dink

The new namcos2 commit fixes the audio part?

We could see the "forget" list games added soon?

//forget:
// finallap   - some bad gfx (title sprites), bad sound, no inputs
// finalap2   - "...all finallap-based games (incl. fourtrax & suzuka) are bugged and unplayable, even in mame"
// finalap3   - ""
// fourtrax   - ""
// suzuk8h   - ""
// suzuk8h2   - ""
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 21, 2021, 08:50:24 AM
we'll see.  I got fourtrax to work fine last night.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: fastpop72 on May 21, 2021, 10:44:13 AM
we'll see.  I got fourtrax to work fine last night.

Glad to hear!!!!

I have a question... since in FBNeo you can't map an "action" to two keys at the same time, there are few games like Krull, Total Carnage or Smash TV that needs two joystick to play (one move, the other fires) but is almost impossible to play with a gamepad with a normal 6buttons layout...

Why don't you map an additional "fake" fire button which when pressed together with a direction produces the function of the second joystick?
 
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 21, 2021, 10:50:36 AM
FBNeo has no problem mapping mapping both ups/downs/lefts/rights to the dpad, I just tested.
To really enjoy those games, get a playstation dualshock controller with 2 thumbsticks, it's the best way to play those games besides a 2-stick real arcade panel.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: fastpop72 on May 21, 2021, 11:11:37 AM
FBNeo has no problem mapping mapping both ups/downs/lefts/rights to the dpad, I just tested.
To really enjoy those games, get a playstation dualshock controller with 2 thumbsticks, it's the best way to play those games besides a 2-stick real arcade panel.

best regards,
- dink

Yes sure but you can't map two keys together to a stick, and playing in an arcade panel in a two-players game you need four stick!

Anyway, no problem... thank you for the quick reply!!!  ;p
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 21, 2021, 02:54:56 PM
fastpop72 perhaps something like Joy2Key will be helpful for what you're trying to do?
Search for v3.7.9, it's the last freeware version, and arguably the last best version.
I use it (since 2011) to map my analog thumbstick to 4 keyboard keys (6789) and also the d-pad to the same keys.  It's nice to seamlessly switch between thumbstick and d-pad for digital (UDLR) games.  For most people I'd suggest mapping to the arrow keys though :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: fastpop72 on May 21, 2021, 03:55:36 PM
fastpop72 perhaps something like Joy2Key will be helpful for what you're trying to do?
Search for v3.7.9, it's the last freeware version, and arguably the last best version.
I use it (since 2011) to map my analog thumbstick to 4 keyboard keys (6789) and also the d-pad to the same keys.  It's nice to seamlessly switch between thumbstick and d-pad for digital (UDLR) games.  For most people I'd suggest mapping to the arrow keys though :)

best regards,
- dink

I'll try it thanks....

Anyway i noticed that in few games like Gondomania for example you added a third "rotate" button that works exactly like i intended.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 21, 2021, 08:41:11 PM
games with a twisty joystick are a different beast altogether :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 22, 2021, 10:19:55 AM
fastpop72,
so - I spent the past 2 days working on final lap, suzuka, fourtrax, got them all mostly working fine.  But then I remembered the catch with these games:
1: they all use the same "engine", or mostly the same w/simple changes
2: you're not going to play them long, because there are _no_ computer opponents.  Sure, you'll see a couple pass you when the race starts if you wait long enough, but; they don't think, they go 1/10th of the speed of anyone else, and eventually they just disappear altogether.

These games were meant for 1 thing only: linked arcade machines.  I remember in the late 90s at the big "arcade" places, they'd have 4-6 of these machines linked together, an announcer guy with a mic would pull in people to play, and start all the games at the same time, and basically you just race against the other human players at the arcade. 

It probably won't be committed to the repo until I cleanup the code a bit (probably between now and monday).  I feel like I completely wasted a good 2 days here, so going to take a nice break and work on something else for now.

EDIT: I forgot to mention, one of the best features is that you're always the winner, even if you don't move.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: fastpop72 on May 23, 2021, 09:29:50 AM
fastpop72,
so - I spent the past 2 days working on final lap, suzuka, fourtrax, got them all mostly working fine.  But then I remembered the catch with these games:
1: they all use the same "engine", or mostly the same w/simple changes
2: you're not going to play them long, because there are _no_ computer opponents.  Sure, you'll see a couple pass you when the race starts if you wait long enough, but; they don't think, they go 1/10th of the speed of anyone else, and eventually they just disappear altogether.

These games were meant for 1 thing only: linked arcade machines.  I remember in the late 90s at the big "arcade" places, they'd have 4-6 of these machines linked together, an announcer guy with a mic would pull in people to play, and start all the games at the same time, and basically you just race against the other human players at the arcade. 

It probably won't be committed to the repo until I cleanup the code a bit (probably between now and monday).  I feel like I completely wasted a good 2 days here, so going to take a nice break and work on something else for now.

EDIT: I forgot to mention, one of the best features is that you're always the winner, even if you don't move.

best regards,
- dink

Didn't knew about this mode of play... surely won't be funny to play... just for driver completion.

Did you managed to fix the annoying engine sound in suzuka?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 23, 2021, 10:09:25 AM
Didn't knew about this mode of play... surely won't be funny to play... just for driver completion.

Did you managed to fix the annoying engine sound in suzuka?

I'll let it be a surprise :)  try ..

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: fastpop72 on May 24, 2021, 01:37:15 AM
I'll let it be a surprise :)  try ..

best regards,
- dink

Thank you dink!!! Another step in front of Mame!!!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 24, 2021, 09:08:35 AM
fastpop72, Angelo Salese from MAME made the fix, so they got it first of course.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: retroFuture on May 25, 2021, 05:50:08 AM
Apologies if this has already been reported.
I learned that MAME has recently fixed a longstanding bug in Contra (the rolling mines on pseudo-3D level 1-2 always drift right.)
Is it possible for the FBNeo team to fix this?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on May 25, 2021, 07:59:59 AM
@retroFuture : it was fixed last month
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: retroFuture on May 25, 2021, 10:50:02 AM
@retroFuture : it was fixed last month
Awesome! Is this change in the latest Lakka core?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 25, 2021, 10:55:54 AM
It's in the latest codebase for fbneo (windows version) and libretro (everything version), I don't know about lakka, but if it is up to date, then yes.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on May 25, 2021, 12:17:24 PM
@retroFuture : test, and let the lakka maintainers know that they should update FBNeo more regularly if it's still broken, we can't keep tabs on every side-projects using our emulator
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: retroFuture on May 26, 2021, 04:56:21 AM
@retroFuture : test, and let the lakka maintainers know that they should update FBNeo more regularly if it's still broken, we can't keep tabs on every side-projects using our emulator
I will do that :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 30, 2021, 09:46:48 AM
Hi guys,
Added a WIP driver for Zero Hour / Red Clash.
Zero Hour is fully playable with sound.
Red Clash is fully playable, with no sound.

Samples for Zero Hour were created by Otto_Pylotte [he also did Cheeky Mouse!].

Here's the SamplePack *attachment*, toss it in support/samples

Note: games have imperfect colors, hence the WIP status.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on May 30, 2021, 03:14:17 PM
Hey dink. I think the voices in OutRunners sound pretty bad with the Low-pass filter on. Just insert a coin and press start to get your ears violated. Thanks for your time.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 31, 2021, 12:35:25 PM
Stifu,
Thanks for letting me know, please give it a try now :)
Keep in mind: some of the game's samples were recorded a bit hot (distorted), and don't sound great even without a filter.  F.ex. the car "start-up" sound & announcer.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 31, 2021, 12:48:01 PM
FBNeo emulates Mrs. Dynamite now, too!
Big thanks to Marco Kerstens, Sam Grech, Frank Palazzolo for procurement of the pcb, dumping the roms and emulating it first in MAME.

It's kinda like the bomb level in Warp & Warp, some say it's like Bomberman.

https://www.pcgamesn.com/emulation/mame-232-mrs-dynamite

have fun :)  Should be available in all FBNeo builds right now.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on May 31, 2021, 02:05:22 PM
Stifu,
Thanks for letting me know, please give it a try now :)

It's better, thank you!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on June 08, 2021, 10:15:00 AM
Auto-Fire updates

Auto-Fire has a new rate selection: "Faster".
For when you need to go faster than "Fast" and slightly slower than "Very Fast".  In some games, "Very Fast" is too fast for the game to even register button presses, and the "Fast" option is not fast enough.  Get it? :)  On a scale of 1-10: Think of "Slow" as a 1 and "Faster" as 10.  "Very Fast" goes to 11.

Button Staggering: If you set up more than 1 autofire button, the buttons won't hit at the same exact time.
This is especially useful for games like Konami's Track and Field / 88 Games

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on June 13, 2021, 01:22:23 AM
Hello friends and fans of FBNeo,

Megadrive now has a resize window/screen option for games that use 32col mode (256x224) - this will correctly preserve aspect ratio and just look better than the previous method of resampling the screen into the 320px window.  It's in the DIP's and will be the default for games that haven't been previously ran.  Some games that use this mode are:
Megaman - The Wily Wars / Rockman Mega World
Flicky
XDR - X Dazedly Ray
Fushigi no Umi no Nadia
And a huge full list, here: http://www.firebrandx.com/OSSC/Genesis 256 Mode List.txt

A bunch of "behind the scenes" stability fixes to Sega System 16/18 games for hiscores and cheats.  Big thanks to barbudreadmon for the leads, help and testing!

*Brace for impact* Feature removal: 11khz and 22khz audio rates have been removed from the Windows and libretro versions of FBNeo, due to some pretty nasty bugs which would take equally nasty kludging to fix.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on June 13, 2021, 04:42:50 AM
Thanks a lot for improvements! :)

*Brace for impact* Feature removal: 11khz and 22khz audio rates have been removed from the Windows and libretro versions of FBNeo, due to some pretty nasty bugs which would take equally nasty kludging to fix.

Moreover currently there's not a real reason to use 11/22 KHz instead of 44/48 KHz audio sample-rates... the impact on performance is irrilevant, also if you use a low-end hardware...  ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on June 13, 2021, 04:43:58 AM
Coin setting problem in the game: Snow Board Championship (Version 2.1)

The game always starts in free play mode. When I go to configure it to accept coins (F2 Dip Switches), then when I save the configuration it accepts coins to start the game, the problem is that when I exit and put the game back on (or when I restart it), it goes back to free play mode ..... It's like it doesn't save the configuration or it only keeps it while the game is on.

In Dip Switches, when I configure the coins, I always put the "save & exit" option, but it doesn't save the configuration.

I don't know if this happens in mame as well.

Greetings.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on June 14, 2021, 12:11:58 AM
Pelucon8, thanks for letting us know; it's fixed now :)

Bonus: eeprom also fixed for Bang! & analog steering option for wrally2 hooked up (needs to be set in the game's dips first)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on June 14, 2021, 04:49:29 AM
@dink Thank you very much, now everything is OK.  :smilie:

Oh, and thanks also for the bonus  :biggrin:

Greetings.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on June 26, 2021, 01:42:34 AM
Interlace mode 2 on Megadrive gets an upgrade, old vs. new pics. 
Pay close attention to the little sonic/tails icon on the mid/bottom lefts of the screen & the pixels surrounding the clouds. (also the fonts and ring sprites)

The only games to use this mode are Combat Cars and Sonic 2 in 2player versus mode.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 11, 2021, 08:22:29 PM
Hi friends & fbneo fans,
Some changes over the past 2 weeks:
Improved sound in Phoenix, still needs a bit of work for perfectionism sake, but, at least most of the sounds are correct now. 

Fixed some video bugs in Irem's Moon Patrol

Added Alpha One (alpha1v)

Added Exerion [iq_132 + dink]

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: ClessxAlghazanth on July 11, 2021, 09:22:34 PM
Wow ! Thanks for these updates  :smilie:

Exerion is a game I used to play the nes port as a child , and happy to be able to play the original too on my favorite emulator  :smilie:

In fact it was on my wishlist (the games I'd like to see on FBNeo some day) along with Bosconian and Missile Command  ;p

Thanks for all your efforts on this excellent emulator , Dink  :cool:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on July 12, 2021, 12:59:00 AM
As usual, excellent work... thanks! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: JacKc on July 12, 2021, 03:09:07 AM
Well done :cool:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 19, 2021, 01:23:30 AM
Great new happenings:

added driver for N.Y. Captor w/perfect gfx, an iq_132/dink endeavor.
It's a super-fun lightgun game, Taito's first lightgun game!

Fixed a bug where Battle Bakraid would go bonkers if you left attract mode go for a long time.

Liquid Kids level 6-1 had a strange issue w/background scrolling, fixed that.

Hooked up mcu's and remove mcu simulation for victnine and typhoon gal (onna34ro)

Working on 2 other new drivers with iq_132, they'll be a surprize!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on July 19, 2021, 06:23:31 AM
Thanks guys, excellent work!
... I agree, N.Y. Captor is a very funny light-gun game and FBN emulates it very well! ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: spkleader on July 19, 2021, 04:25:20 PM
Awesome work! Can't wait to play Exerion!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 20, 2021, 01:15:30 AM
Hi Friends & fans,

Another new driver, this time emulating Missile Command and Super Missile Attack.  An iq_132 vs. dink endeavor :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on July 20, 2021, 04:59:00 AM
Atari Missile Command... a very classic from 1980 ! Thanks a lot! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: fastpop72 on July 20, 2021, 06:15:34 AM
Hi Friends & fans,

Another new driver, this time emulating Missile Command and Super Missile Attack.  An iq_132 vs. dink endeavor :)

best regards,
- dink

THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: ClessxAlghazanth on July 20, 2021, 07:24:27 AM
Missile Command !!!  :biggrin: :biggrin: :biggrin:

Thanks a ton !  :smilie: I'm very happy to be able to play one of my all-time favorite games on my favorite emulator !!

Keep up the excellent work  ;p
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: retroFuture on July 23, 2021, 03:26:27 AM
I just want to notify you of an audio bug in Kabuki Z (歌舞伎Z) (kabukiz.zip)
Many of the sound effects are jumbled.
They are not glitched or broken, rather the incorrect sound effect is played back. (eg. skeleton ninjas trigger player jumping sound when they appear, sword impacts trigger the child/imp enemy voices etc.)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 23, 2021, 09:20:24 AM
retroFuture, it should be fixed now, thanks!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: geese howard on July 23, 2021, 11:10:14 AM
What is ?cps3 speedhack? from latest build?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on July 23, 2021, 12:03:29 PM
What is ?cps3 speedhack? from latest build?

A speedhack to prevent a block of code from being re-executed several times with exactly the same parameters, it improved cps3 performance quite nicely on my setup.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 24, 2021, 08:34:29 PM
nice work barbudreadmon!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 24, 2021, 08:43:47 PM
Cleaned up/modernized the Tiger Road driver a bit, highlights:
Capcom's F-1 Dream (romset f1dream): hooked up protection MCU, game is now working

Improved fidelity in Tora e no Michi (romset: toramich)'s msm5205 (adpcm samples)
toramich is the Japanese version of Tiger Road, it's PCB is slightly more advanced w/added adpcm samples - give this one a try if you havn't - you might like it better than Tiger Road!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 26, 2021, 12:24:23 PM
Hi everyone,
Help needed!  Want something to do?
Play/Try/Test games in the following list and let us know if there are any problems / bugs / "weirdness" with the new stuff.

These games, for example:
Disco Boy (discoboy)
F-1 Dream (f1dream)
Tiger Road (tigeroad)
Tora E No Michi (toramich)
Missile Command (missile)
Exerion (exerion)
N.Y. Captor (nycaptor)
Moon Patrol (mpatrol)
Alpha One (alpha1v)

Game Name (romset name)

Even if you're not sure if its a bug, please let me know :)  VIA PM if you prefer!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: ClessxAlghazanth on July 28, 2021, 08:12:10 PM
Hi  :cool:

I've been playing Missile Command , Exerion and Moon Patrol on FBNeo these days and haven't noticed any issues so far  :smilie:

(By no means I'm a gaming guru  ; never played those on a real pcb or anything)   ;p
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on July 29, 2021, 01:22:50 AM
I'm playing Tiger Road and the game (until now) seems to run very well! ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 29, 2021, 09:03:59 AM
ClessxAlghazanth & Gab75, thanks for testing :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on July 30, 2021, 12:58:40 AM
ClessxAlghazanth & Gab75, thanks for testing :)

You're welcome! :)
I also tried Alpha One (alpha1v), the game works very well... ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 01, 2021, 10:07:34 AM
Hi friends & fbneo fans,
This one's big, it's going to be a 2-parter.

First part: added RunAhead feature to fbneo, it's really a nice feature:  seeing mario jump (nes_smb), a ship shoot (any shooter) or guy punch/kick instantly when you press a button is a good thing.  Really, it's a great thing!  Getting this working perfectly took about 1+1/2 days.

Second part: Working on fixing bugs...
Something I noticed right away: a lot of games - about 25% of them, have little glitches in the audio caused by the RunAhead feature.

The plan is to keep the new feature off github until all games are working flawlessly.  Hoping to be done by Wednesday (August 4th) or sooner!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: el_rika on August 01, 2021, 10:57:45 AM
I assume the performance penalties will be similar to Retroarch's, right?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on August 01, 2021, 11:43:33 AM
I assume the performance penalties will be similar to Retroarch's, right?

Knowing how the whole savestate process is a bit crazy in RA, i assume there will be slightly lower overhead.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 01, 2021, 03:12:18 PM
I assume the performance penalties will be similar to Retroarch's, right?

I havn't tried Retroarch's Runahead to compare, but...
Regarding standalone performance: it's lightweight and almost transparent.  I'm really quite happy with how it has turned out. 
Let's take for example, Heavy Unit (hvyunit).  With vsync / windowed 2x size it takes 9-10% (task manager), with runahead enabled, it's 10-11%.
With Cyvern, it's 9-11% and w/runahead 11-13%.  Cyvern on Kaneko Suprnova HW is a Hitachi SH-2 game that uses every single cycle of it's emulated 28mhz cpu.  (it doesn't benefit from speedhacks like other Suprnova games)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on August 01, 2021, 07:20:37 PM
I havn't tried Retroarch's Runahead to compare, but...
Regarding standalone performance: it's lightweight and almost transparent.  I'm really quite happy with how it has turned out. 
Let's take for example, Heavy Unit (hvyunit).  With vsync / windowed 2x size it takes 9-10% (task manager), with runahead enabled, it's 10-11%.
With Cyvern, it's 9-11% and w/runahead 11-13%.  Cyvern on Kaneko Suprnova HW is a Hitachi SH-2 game that uses every single cycle of it's emulated 28mhz cpu.  (it doesn't benefit from speedhacks like other Suprnova games)

best regards,
- dink
Cpu specs for scale? :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 01, 2021, 08:17:17 PM
i7 2600
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: el_rika on August 02, 2021, 11:05:04 PM
Sounds amazing   :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: retroFuture on August 03, 2021, 06:15:34 AM
Last night I noticed a game-breaking graphical error on Pank Panic (bankp.zip)
[Lakka 3.3 / RetroArch 1.9.7 - FBNeo Core V1.0.0.03]
Large sections of the display are black on both the title screen and in-game.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: retroFuture on August 03, 2021, 06:31:43 AM
Extremely minor/trivial glitch on Air Buster (airbustr.zip)
[Lakka 3.3 / RetroArch 1.9.7 - FBNeo Core V1.0.0.03]
Level intro text has 1 frame of glitched text as it types out.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: retroFuture on August 03, 2021, 06:45:33 AM
More (extremely minor) glitches.
[Lakka 3.3 / RetroArch 1.9.7 - FBNeo Core V1.0.0.03]
Glitched level transition frames in Ghosts 'n Goblins (gng.zip) and Rolling Thunder 2 (rthun2.zip)

There are other games that have these tiny level transition bugs, but these are the 2 I've spotted so far.

Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 03, 2021, 10:20:04 AM
Hi retroFuture,
thanks for the nice reports!

So far I fixed Air Buster and Bank Panic.

Rolling Thunder 1 & 2 and Ghosts'n Goblins screen transition weirdness is known to be like that even on the real pcb - what's happening is the game takes several frames to update the vram because the cpu/bus speed on the pcb is a little slow.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on August 03, 2021, 10:24:35 AM
Ghosts'n Goblins screen transition weirdness is known to be like that

That's indeed how i remembered them, but since i didn't play on the actual cabinet for 30 years now, i was wondering if my memory was wrong.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: retroFuture on August 03, 2021, 10:48:29 AM
Hi retroFuture,
thanks for the nice reports!

So far I fixed Air Buster and Bank Panic.

Rolling Thunder 1 & 2 and Ghosts'n Goblins screen transition weirdness is known to be like that even on the real pcb - what's happening is the game takes several frames to update the vram because the cpu/bus speed on the pcb is a little slow.

best regards,
- dink
Oh wow! That was fast! Good job!
Glad I can contribute to this project with my reports.
Really interesting to hear about GnG & RT1+2 behaving the same way on PCBs.
I should have checked them out on MAME as well to see if I could spot the same thing.
Anyway, I'll post bugs as I find them.
Your work is much appreciated :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Tatsuya79 on August 03, 2021, 01:07:19 PM
First part: added RunAhead feature to fbneo, it's really a nice feature:  seeing mario jump (nes_smb), a ship shoot (any shooter) or guy punch/kick instantly when you press a button is a good thing.  Really, it's a great thing!  Getting this working perfectly took about 1+1/2 days.

Not touching that one with a 40ft pole :) sorry.

'-No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.'

― Heraclitus

 :smilie: On a more serious note, to really see run ahead impact you have to stress the input a lot.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Bad Dude on August 03, 2021, 01:37:24 PM
Hello, Warriors!
Yes, I found a bug in the emulator. A very simple one. SoftFX Algorithm 3xBR when Enhanced (Direct3D 7) is enable, the game screen appears very small.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 03, 2021, 08:41:47 PM
Hi BadDude,
Can you please post a picture of your fbn window with the game loaded, and also your fbneo.ini from config subdir?

thanks and best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Bad Dude on August 04, 2021, 09:41:54 AM
Hi BadDude,
Can you please post a picture of your fbn window with the game loaded, and also your fbneo.ini from config subdir?

thanks and best regards,
- dink

Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: retroFuture on August 07, 2021, 05:04:10 PM
Galaga (Midway set 1 with fast shoot hack) (galagamf.zip)
[Lakka 3.3 / RetroArch 1.9.7 - FBNeo Core V1.0.0.03]

Game gets stuck at the end of the bootup sequence
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on August 08, 2021, 02:02:42 AM
Galaga (Midway set 1 with fast shoot hack) (galagamf.zip)
[Lakka 3.3 / RetroArch 1.9.7 - FBNeo Core V1.0.0.03]

Game gets stuck at the end of the bootup sequence

I tested Galaga (Midway set 1 with fast shoot hack) [galagamf.zip] with the latest Windows exe and the game works fine... did you delete the related ini file in the "config" folder? In Windows the default path is *FBN/config/games.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on August 08, 2021, 02:31:03 AM
Galaga (Midway set 1 with fast shoot hack) (galagamf.zip)
[Lakka 3.3 / RetroArch 1.9.7 - FBNeo Core V1.0.0.03]

Game gets stuck at the end of the bootup sequence

It doesn't seem to happen on my side (libretro too), i know lakka is always using "older" versions of the core, so maybe that's an issue that has been fixed since then ?
Or maybe you mistakenly set the "Freeze" dipswitch to "On" ? I get the exact same screen if i do that.

Edit : looking at https://github.com/finalburnneo/FBNeo/commit/635e24b2447bbea0171808a15a12058276159a0f, the issue might indeed be about lakka using an older version.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: retroFuture on August 08, 2021, 03:01:43 AM
Edit : looking at https://github.com/finalburnneo/FBNeo/commit/635e24b2447bbea0171808a15a12058276159a0f, the issue might indeed be about lakka using an older version.
That is probably the case.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 08, 2021, 10:09:29 AM
retroFuture, I remember fixing that problem a few days back (maybe a week ago?).  :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: retroFuture on August 09, 2021, 01:36:36 PM
FixEight (fixeight.zip)
[Lakka 3.3 / RetroArch 1.9.7 - FBNeo Core V1.0.0.03]

Game does not boot up and screen stays black
(I pre-emptively apologize if this was recently fixed)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on August 09, 2021, 02:21:14 PM
FixEight (fixeight.zip)
[Lakka 3.3 / RetroArch 1.9.7 - FBNeo Core V1.0.0.03]

Game does not boot up and screen stays black
(I pre-emptively apologize if this was recently fixed)

Confirmed with a recent build. I get a pink flash then it stays black.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 09, 2021, 03:27:06 PM
Thanks retroFuture, fix is in!  this was caused by a little goofup on my side, oops :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on August 09, 2021, 03:50:45 PM
The music of Evil Stone is very glitchy when the Low-pass filter is enabled.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 09, 2021, 08:48:55 PM
The music of Evil Stone is very glitchy when the Low-pass filter is enabled.

Thanks!  a fix has been made :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: retroFuture on August 10, 2021, 04:26:02 AM
Not sure if this is a bug. It really looks like it's a layer-ordering bug, but this is also how it looks on MAME and all other YT footage seems to show the same thing. I may be wrong, but this doesn't look right.

Terminator 2 (term2.zip) -  Terminators stand right in front the NPCs in the foreground, when it seems like they should be standing between the NPCs and the player.
https://youtube.com/clip/UgzuiUCrRDZO9OMssLN4AaABCQ
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 10, 2021, 09:10:36 AM
retrofuture, this hw is a weird one - it's main cpu synthesizes all of the gfx on the screen, we have no control over it unlike most arcade games.  The cpu is actually an early gpu/dsp called the TMS34010.  It has to be correct, or at least how the designers envisioned it, otherwise there would be a lot more gfx issues on this system.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: retroFuture on August 13, 2021, 04:45:01 PM
Audio bug in Ginga NinkyouDen (ginganin.zip)
[Lakka 3.3 / RetroArch 1.9.7 - FBNeo Core V1.0.0.03]

Player death music does not play when player dies. Music continues as if player is still alive.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 13, 2021, 08:44:34 PM
retroFuture, thanks for the report, problem solved :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: retroFuture on August 16, 2021, 04:32:14 PM
Dynamite Duke (dynduke) & The Double Dynamites (dbldynj)
[Lakka 3.3 / RetroArch 1.9.7 - FBNeo Core V1.0.0.03]

Player sprites cut off before reaching the bottom of the screen (incl. enemies and bosses)
FBNeo snaps attached with MAME comparison snap.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 16, 2021, 08:56:52 PM
Dynamite Duke (dynduke) & The Double Dynamites (dbldynj)
Player sprites cut off before reaching the bottom of the screen (incl. enemies and bosses)

retroFuture,
the problem has been fixed, thank you for the report :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: retroFuture on August 17, 2021, 03:13:14 AM
retroFuture,
the problem has been fixed, thank you for the report :)

best regards,
- dink

You're a bug-fixing machine! I'll happily keep sending you reports  :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 17, 2021, 09:24:02 AM
:)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: retroFuture on August 19, 2021, 08:04:54 AM
Tetris [Atari] (atetris)
[Lakka 3.3 / RetroArch 1.9.7 - FBNeo Core V1.0.0.03]

Audio issue -  mismatch in line-clearing audio FX when compared to MAME.
FX sounds weaker and has less 'texture'.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 19, 2021, 09:42:11 AM
Tetris [Atari] (atetris)
[Lakka 3.3 / RetroArch 1.9.7 - FBNeo Core V1.0.0.03]

Audio issue -  mismatch in line-clearing audio FX when compared to MAME.
FX sounds weaker and has less 'texture'.

Is there any chance you're using the bootleg set?  When I compared to latest MAME, it sounds exactly the same to me, maybe I'm missing something?
btw, The bootleg set uses a different soundsystem, and sounds different.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: retroFuture on August 19, 2021, 10:38:13 AM
Is there any chance you're using the bootleg set?  When I compared to latest MAME, it sounds exactly the same to me, maybe I'm missing something?
btw, The bootleg set uses a different soundsystem, and sounds different.

As far as I can tell I'm using the original set (ie Set 1)
I tested the same ROM with FBNeo and MAME2015.
It isn't a huge difference, but it may be something on my side.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on August 19, 2021, 11:08:17 AM
@retroFuture Please always use current MAME as a material for comparison, as far as we know sound could be broken in that vintaged mame snapshot. FWIW, i can't hear any difference between FBNeo and current MAME, but my hearing was never perfect and i suppose it has been getting worse with age
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 19, 2021, 12:12:01 PM
As far as I can tell I'm using the original set (ie Set 1)
I tested the same ROM with FBNeo and MAME2015.
It isn't a huge difference, but it may be something on my side.

Please make a recording with fbneo and mame so I can hear how it sounds on your side, then perhaps I can help diagnose what the source of the problem is. :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 22, 2021, 08:39:30 PM
Knuckle Joe has hw-accurate sprites now :)
For years this game used a really broken hack to get rid of corrupted sprites, came with it the unwanted side-effect of getting rid of good sprites too, and also missing some corrupted sprites.  Several days of hacking around and studying pcb videos helped me figure out that each bank of sprites is assigned to 64vertical pixels on the screen; 4 banks taking up the whole screen.  Once implemented, the corrupted sprites go away, and some of the neat intended features of the hw become evident - enemies can fall off behind walls when you hit them.  There are also a couple of glitches caused by the hw, those are emulated as well :)

Here's a short video clip showcasing the falling off behind a wall thing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EqOqQc6UO4

This fix is in the current FBNeo & has also made its way into MAME with help from hap.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on August 23, 2021, 03:03:05 AM
Awesome, thanks for your ongoing work, dink!

In my mind, this is the classic dink routine:
Quote
Dink: "This is a legendary bug that has been known for 30 years, no one has ever managed to fix it. Last time I spent weeks on it and couldn't find a proper fix. It's too difficult, I'd better work on something else instead."

*a few hours or days later*

Dink: "I did it!"

The fact it helps fix MAME too is the cherry on top.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 23, 2021, 09:11:02 AM
Stifu, how did you know?? :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: retroFuture on August 25, 2021, 02:18:16 PM
Please make a recording with fbneo and mame so I can hear how it sounds on your side, then perhaps I can help diagnose what the source of the problem is. :)
Apologies for the delay. Having some trouble with recording on my my RPi4.
Will make a recording as soon as I can.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: retroFuture on August 25, 2021, 02:21:13 PM
1943 Kai: Midway Kaisen (1943kai)
[Lakka 3.3 / RetroArch 1.9.7 - FBNeo Core V1.0.0.03]

Cloud layer isn't displaying transparencies correctly.
Black blocks around cloud tiles.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: retroFuture on August 25, 2021, 02:32:33 PM
Air Assault / Fire Barrel (airass)
[Lakka 3.3 / RetroArch 1.9.7 - FBNeo Core V1.0.0.03]

Unsure if this is a bug, but there may be an issue with audio balance.
Explosions are almost inaudible.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 25, 2021, 03:48:03 PM
retroFuture, thanks for the info! - I've increased the volume for Fire Barrel / Air Assault.  Regarding 1943kai, a similar issue was fixed in May 2020, can you try upgrading to the latest fbneo code?
EDIT: if you already have the latest code, source a fresh copy of the 1943kai romset and see if that helps?

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 26, 2021, 01:12:19 AM
RunAhead fixes update:
I've made it to Pre90's section @ games starting with 'C' :)

What's this about?
RunAhead is an awesome pseudo-modern emulator feature that reduces input lag associated with emulation.

The state-system in each driver has to be no less than 100% perfect in order for it to work.  There are also little driver-bugs that will break the RunAhead feature.  As you can imagine, going through thousands of games and hundreds of drivers (driver = code which defines emulation for a specific system) is a lot of work.  Luckily I find fixing things relaxing :)
So even if you have no use for the feature; consider that it has been a good "tool" for exposing driver, device and state bugs - which can only lead to a better, more stable FBNeo.

bye for now / best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: retroFuture on August 26, 2021, 10:13:20 AM
Noob question here about the standalone version.

So far I've been testing arcade ROMs on my RPi4 using Lakka 3.3
However I would like to use the latest standalone version so that I don't report bugs that have already been fixed.
I see that the FBNeo core in Lakka 3.3 is at version 1.0.0.03
However, according to the FBNeo GitHub page (https://github.com/finalburnneo/FBNeo), the standalone version I'm using to test is only at version 1.0.0.02

Where can I find the latest build to test?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 26, 2021, 02:36:16 PM
retroFuture,
The wip builds are available, which are usually built 5-10 minutes after we submit code to github.  They can be found here:
https://github.com/finalburnneo/FBNeo-WIP-Storage-Facility/releases/tag/appveyor-build
I recommend getting https://github.com/finalburnneo/FBNeo-WIP-Storage-Facility/releases/download/appveyor-build/fbn-win32-gcc.7z

Ignore the 2019 date on that page, that was when the page was created - the actual files are very much up-to-date :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 29, 2021, 01:52:53 AM
RunAhead wip:
fixed cheats, hiscore, gun & trackball games
... got a bit more to go! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: JoelH on August 30, 2021, 12:34:48 PM
May be a little late but I'm digging the low pass filter. Really adds a lot to those Williams games that had built in subwoofers!  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 30, 2021, 01:55:38 PM
May be a little late but I'm digging the low pass filter. Really adds a lot to those Williams games that had built in subwoofers!  :biggrin:

we always appreciate comments, thanks :)
I'm doing my best to fix any games that are incompatible with the filter, if you find any - please let us know, and they'll get fixed ASAP :)

Incompatibilities can be like: sound drops out in parts or completely, get distorted or just sound bad.

best regards & thanks,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: JoelH on August 30, 2021, 03:21:22 PM
The only problem I've run into is I can't seem to get DonPachi to run, it just crashes Retroarch on my Nvidia Shield. But I doubt that's the result of the filter since other games that ran on that driver work fine.  :S
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 30, 2021, 04:23:41 PM
The only problem I've run into is I can't seem to get DonPachi to run, it just crashes Retroarch on my Nvidia Shield. But I doubt that's the result of the filter since other games that ran on that driver work fine.  :S

Try going to support/samples under the fbneo directory and rename donpachi.zip to donpachi.temp then give it a try...  With the cdquality soundtrack, it requires 277megs of ram, without samples about 18megs. 

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: JoelH on August 30, 2021, 06:01:57 PM
Try going to support/samples under the fbneo directory and rename donpachi.zip to donpachi.temp then give it a try...  With the cdquality soundtrack, it requires 277megs of ram, without samples about 18megs. 

best regards,
- dink

Tried it. Same result. Oh well.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 30, 2021, 08:22:09 PM
JoelH,
This is concerning, could you please post your logfile after trying to start the game? 

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: JoelH on August 30, 2021, 08:58:53 PM
JoelH,
This is concerning, could you please post your logfile after trying to start the game? 

best regards,
- dink

Nevermind, I'm a dummy. There were two sets of samples with the same name in the Retroarch folder and I apparently renamed the wrong one.  :rolleyes:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on August 31, 2021, 03:09:53 AM
@JoelH So you confirm the game is working properly after you remove the samples ? If so, could you confirm the format you were using ? Does the crash happen with the other format ? I have a feeling you were using 7z and the crash won't happen with zip.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: JoelH on August 31, 2021, 08:46:12 AM
@JoelH So you confirm the game is working properly after you remove the samples ? If so, could you confirm the format you were using ? Does the crash happen with the other format ? I have a feeling you were using 7z and the crash won't happen with zip.

It was a .7z yes. I'd probably have to download a new set or rezip it as a .zip but none of the other samples have given me any trouble.

EDIT: I'll be damned! .zip works. Thanks!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on August 31, 2021, 09:01:55 AM
none of the other samples have given me any trouble.

Then it's probably about the size of donpachi's sample file, extracting that 7z will take several dozens of seconds on your android device (it already does on my old i7-2600), probably causing one of those annoying ANR issues (meaning android kills the app because it considers it's unresponsive). On the other side, extracting zip is almost instant. 7z is a format i would never recommend tbh...
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: JoelH on August 31, 2021, 09:18:14 AM
Then it's probably about the size of donpachi's sample file, extracting that 7z will take several dozens of seconds on your android device (it already does on my old i7-2600), probably causing one of those annoying ANR issues (meaning android kills the app because it considers it's unresponsive). On the other side, extracting zip is almost instant. 7z is a format i would never recommend tbh...
Alas that's what Retroarch automatically downloads in. At least its just that one set that causes problems.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on August 31, 2021, 09:27:35 AM
Alas that's what Retroarch automatically downloads in.

What do you mean ? I never heard of RetroArch automatically downloading those sample files ?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: retroFuture on August 31, 2021, 03:53:51 PM
retroFuture,
The wip builds are available, which are usually built 5-10 minutes after we submit code to github.  They can be found here:
https://github.com/finalburnneo/FBNeo-WIP-Storage-Facility/releases/tag/appveyor-build
I recommend getting https://github.com/finalburnneo/FBNeo-WIP-Storage-Facility/releases/download/appveyor-build/fbn-win32-gcc.7z

Ignore the 2019 date on that page, that was when the page was created - the actual files are very much up-to-date :)

best regards,
- dink

Thanks! This build worked. All the errors I previously reported (incl. 2 new ones I was about to report from Lakka/RPi4) are fixed in this version. Looking forward to the new build bundled with the upcoming Lakka 3.4
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: retroFuture on August 31, 2021, 04:05:14 PM
retroFuture, thanks for the report, problem solved :)

Re: Audio bug in Ginga NinkyouDen (ginganin.zip)
I noted that you fixed the death music jingle (good job!)
However, the player's death scream sfx is missing.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 31, 2021, 08:24:41 PM
Re: Audio bug in Ginga NinkyouDen (ginganin.zip)
I noted that you fixed the death music jingle (good job!)
However, the player's death scream sfx is missing.

Thanks, well, the death sfx is chosen randomly, and one of the choices is nothing, try it a couple times :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 31, 2021, 08:31:26 PM
Thanks! This build worked. All the errors I previously reported (incl. 2 new ones I was about to report from Lakka/RPi4) are fixed in this version. Looking forward to the new build bundled with the upcoming Lakka 3.4

That's great :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: KOF2112 on September 01, 2021, 03:48:32 AM
Could you change the layout of the preview pictures?  The preview pictures in the game information could be also displayed as a window in the gamelist interface, in which different preview pictures (title, snap, flyers, bosses, end .....) can be displayed by switching the tags.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: JoelH on September 01, 2021, 09:28:55 AM
we always appreciate comments, thanks :)
I'm doing my best to fix any games that are incompatible with the filter, if you find any - please let us know, and they'll get fixed ASAP :)

Incompatibilities can be like: sound drops out in parts or completely, get distorted or just sound bad.

best regards & thanks,
- dink

I found some cackle on Superman and Rolling Thunder 2. Might just be my sound output though.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 01, 2021, 09:51:23 AM
KOF2112, that's a good idea - I'm not just not very good at adding functionality to the UI, maybe someone else will like to do this? :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 01, 2021, 09:55:26 AM
I found some cackle on Superman and Rolling Thunder 2. Might just be my sound output though.

I'm afraid I can't reproduce it in either game - is there a specific place where it happens?  If you think the problems is on your side, a good indicator is to enable the fps counter (backspace) and see if the fps dips too low - more than a couple fps low will cause crackles.  Another thing, try to add 1 or 2 more buffers to the sound buffers under "Audio".  Or even switch to XAudio2, sometimes XAudio2 works better than DirectSound on some systems.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: thylacine on September 01, 2021, 09:39:59 PM
I dont know if this is a fault or not if you get to the 3rd level on heated barrel without dying it gets insanely hard never played the real arcade machine so not sure
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 02, 2021, 09:44:06 AM
thylacine, thanks for the tip - I'll have to give it a try some time, sadly I don't have much time to play games lately though.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 02, 2021, 09:51:40 AM
Some improvements
Carnival (parent only), fixed some bugs and improved sound a bit, make sure to have the samples handy.

Heiankyo Alien, this classic game, which was very popular in Japan is now working with sound, grab the samplepack attached to this message.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: JoelH on September 02, 2021, 01:28:04 PM
Some improvements
Carnival (parent only), fixed some bugs and improved sound a bit, make sure to have the samples handy.

Heiankyo Alien, this classic game, which was very popular in Japan is now working with sound, grab the samplepack attached to this message.

best regards,
- dink

Is there an updated set for that? I'm getting a Romset is unknown error.

(https://i.imgur.com/qn5KMjA.png)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on September 02, 2021, 02:48:44 PM
Heiankyo Alien, this classic game, which was very popular in Japan is now working with sound, grab the samplepack attached to this message.

Excellent work! Thanks!  :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: geese howard on September 02, 2021, 06:39:45 PM
Is there an updated set for that? I'm getting a Romset is unknown error.

(https://i.imgur.com/qn5KMjA.png)

Use a rom manager and fbneo dats to scan your roms.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: JoelH on September 02, 2021, 07:38:10 PM
Nah its probably Libretro hasn't been updated yet/had a nightly released.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 02, 2021, 08:29:07 PM
JoelH,
When I post here about something new, it's available in the Windows version (aka main version) of FBNeo at the time of posting, the libretro core follows with a bit of a delay depending on how busy the maintainer is at the time.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on September 03, 2021, 03:04:34 AM
Is there an updated set for that? I'm getting a Romset is unknown error.

I usually sync the repos once every 1-2 days, the morning before starting work (meaning now :))
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: retroFuture on September 08, 2021, 01:43:02 PM
Great 1000 Miles Rally: Evolution Model!!! (gtmre)
[Lakka 3.4 / RetroArch 1.9.9 - FBNeo Core V1.0.0.03]

Vehicle select screen glitches car portraits for about a frame before displaying them correctly.
Initial frames when screen first loads also seem glitchy.
Vehicle graphics also glitch when their colors automatically change.,
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 13, 2021, 08:32:44 PM
retroFuture, thanks for the bug report and reminder - gtmre is good now :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: retroFuture on September 26, 2021, 02:38:22 PM
Turbo Outrun (toutrun)

Minor gfx glitch when screen fades dark on high score table / title screen.
Vehicle shadow turns yellow.
The glitch can also be seen inside the top half of the speedometer

I have attached comparrison shots from FBNeo and MAME

(Out of interest, I also noticed that when flicking between the 2 images, the foreground elements (incl title) seem to offset by about 1-or-2 pixels.
The background layers stay consistent.)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 27, 2021, 12:00:39 AM
retroFuture,
Thanks for your bug report, the shadows have been fixed.  I'm not too sure about the positioning, so I'll just leave that as-is for now :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on September 29, 2021, 12:56:00 PM
Ultimate mortal kombat 3

I have no idea if they have solved it in the most current versions of mame (I stayed in v0.220), but I have always noticed a sound error in umk3, to be more precise, in the scorpion power when it launches the harpoon.

It is supposed to say the phrase "get over her" or "come here" when he throws the power and catches the rival, however in the mame versions the phrase is not completed, remaining only in a simple "get ov.... or "come...".

And I'm sure that in the original board (I had the revision 1.2) it completed the phrase since I had it around 2006 and I sold it around 2009, and I got a lot of juice out of it... besides my fighter was scorpion.

Reading in internet, I knew that the original board (revision 1.0) had this problem but it was solved in the revisions 1.1 and 1.2, however in these last ones the bug is still in mame... at least in the 0.220. I haven't tested the last one since it goes to pedals in XP.

Ah, of course, the bug is also in FBN.

Greetings
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 29, 2021, 10:58:30 PM
Pelucon8, the problem here is that the dcs rom & program data for the adsp cpu core (which controls dcs) is the same for all umk3 versions, which most likely(probably) means that they dumped it from a first version board.  To get the fix, it would most likely need a dump of the dcs roms from a version 1.2 board.  If someone has more info about this, or cares to correct me, do chime in..

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Osso on September 30, 2021, 11:17:06 AM
FWIW here are some video that alledgedly prove that the bug is present even on real hardware on version 1.2:
https://mametesters.org/view.php?id=751
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on September 30, 2021, 01:30:26 PM
Well, if the pcb's in the videos show the same sound "error", then nothing to do. It must be like that.

Who knows, maybe I was lucky enough to have a pcb with some modification that fixed the scorpion sound.  :biggrin:

Thank you very much.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 30, 2021, 03:48:11 PM
... Inspired by VS. From Below @ https://mhughson.itch.io/from-below

VS. Unisystem is added to the NES emulation :D

It supports VS. Unisystem roms in .nes format w/ NES v2.0 header, the v2.0 header can specify all of the important stuff the VS. games need to run properly.  Plus they are compatible with other NES emulators.
I've attached all the NES 2.0 headers, as I painstakingly configured each game, and -except for VS. From Below - VS. roms with perfect headers don't exist in the wild yet.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: JacKc on September 30, 2021, 05:57:20 PM
@ dink

VS. Unisystem added to NES emulation but in Arcade Games datafiles, right?

(https://i.imgur.com/PMgMPbD.png)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 30, 2021, 08:12:36 PM
JacKc, yes, it's an arcade machine :)  p.s. please see pm about a detail

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: JoelH on September 30, 2021, 10:32:58 PM
Got major sound distortion playing Dead Angle with Low Pass on.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 30, 2021, 10:43:35 PM
Hi JoelH,
Thanks for letting me know, though - this one was recently fixed, please update and give it a try :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on October 01, 2021, 12:47:35 AM
Great! Now also the coin-op version of NES/Famicom is emulated on FBN...  :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: WILOWAR on October 01, 2021, 08:50:45 AM
Playchoice 10 is another or similar to Vs
Arcade  Version  of Nes???
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 01, 2021, 09:18:06 AM
WILOWAR,
Playchoice 10 is useless to emulate for FBNeo.  It just is a regular nes - which we already have, with a timer that counts down while you play the game which is controlled by the amount of coins you put in.  Please read about it.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: JoelH on October 01, 2021, 09:55:08 AM
Hi JoelH,
Thanks for letting me know, though - this one was recently fixed, please update and give it a try :)

Must not have flown down to libretro yet then. I'll keep trying.

EDIT: Ok I just found out something. When you get hit, the game's sound suddenly gets filled up by what could be best described as white noise. That might be the source of the problem.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on October 01, 2021, 11:27:40 AM
Must not have flown down to libretro yet then. I'll keep trying.

Hmmmm the libretro port is in sync though, can you still reproduce this if you set the libretro port to 44100 samplerate & disable both interpolations ?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: JoelH on October 01, 2021, 02:44:42 PM
Yes. Its got to be an emulation glitch because you hear what's causing the distortion with low pass off too.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 01, 2021, 03:59:50 PM
Hi JoelH,
Regarding Dead Angle:
Thanks for figuring out the source of the problem! I've updated the fix & it should be available soon. :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 22, 2021, 01:43:41 AM
Hi guys, not a lot of news lately, but, some small things:

1. megadrive nonlinear-palette, for more hw-accurate colors inc. shadow+highlight.  thanks to Rupert Carmichael for infos!
2. berzerk/frenzy/moonwarp: occasionally lost words in the speech synth fixed (my bug, oops).  occasionally crackly sounds, fixed by porting more accurate core
3. moonwarp, hooked up analog dial/spinner
4. added mappers 77 and 82 for games Gab75 added to nes
5. fixed pcm sfx sounds in Kickoff (megasys1)
6. fixed bug: when game ran from cmdline, it locked hz @ 60hz for audio, causing the sound pitch to be off for some games which don't run at 60hz.  thanks matead92 for fix!
7. added "map joystick to cursor keys" for zx spectrum, gab75's idea:)
8. state of runahead:  fixes for Pre 90's m-z and Post 90's a-z are all that's left.  This is taking longer than expected, but, when finished - all games in fbn's library should have perfect runahead!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on October 22, 2021, 02:52:56 AM
As usual, excellent work! ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: ClessxAlghazanth on October 22, 2021, 09:52:46 AM
Thanks for the great work as usual , dink  :cool:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Kev on October 22, 2021, 11:11:11 AM
Awesome work as always :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 27, 2021, 09:14:17 AM
Thanks for the kind words :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 27, 2021, 09:19:18 AM
PCEngine / TG16 got a rework:
All previously non-working/broken games now work:
Cadash
Niko Niko Pun
Dragon Egg
Ghost House
Air Zonk / PC Denjin - Punkic Cyborgs
Benkei Gaiden
Power Tennis
Xserd

+ a few games that broke 2 days ago when I had accidentally committed a bad experimental fix... :)  oops!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on October 28, 2021, 01:31:12 AM
A big thanks for your excellent work! :)
hereunder the snapshots of "now working" games...
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 29, 2021, 05:51:38 PM
thanks Gab75 and everyone:)

I'm still working hard on PCE/TG16, even though all games are now working there were still some small visual glitches in a few games.  It didn't really bother me until I started playing a 2-all run of Dai Makaimura (ghouls'n ghosts) I noticed some white dots on the top of the screen on the 3rd stage - when it starts..  I had to end the game right there :P

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: ClessxAlghazanth on October 29, 2021, 07:04:40 PM
thanks Gab75 and everyone:)

I'm still working hard on PCE/TG16, even though all games are now working there were still some small visual glitches in a few games.  It didn't really bother me until I started playing a 2-all run of Dai Makaimura (ghouls'n ghosts) I noticed some white dots on the top of the screen on the 3rd stage - when it starts..  I had to end the game right there :P

best regards,
- dink

Great to hear  :cool:

The PCE has some of the best shmups ever , along with JP-only hidden gems

Happy to be able to play them all on my favorite emulator

Thanks for the fantastic work as usual , dink  :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 01, 2021, 10:24:36 AM
ClessxAlghazanth, great! :)

Well, I finished the pce improvements last night, enjoy :)

as always, should a bug come up, do let me know!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on November 01, 2021, 12:23:19 PM
Hi dink.

Is there a reason why the PC-Engine uses different key defaults than other systems?
I was surprised it uses the num pad rather than the arrows by default.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 01, 2021, 11:26:49 PM
Hi dink.

Is there a reason why the PC-Engine uses different key defaults than other systems?
I was surprised it uses the num pad rather than the arrows by default.

Hi Stifu,
It was actually down to a bug in the inputs default-izer code - it should be sorted now :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: KOF2112 on November 02, 2021, 12:57:38 AM
Cannot run game  Hua Mu Lan - Mulan (Chi)   md_huamul.zip
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: geese howard on November 08, 2021, 10:44:21 AM
Generating Arcade.dat in latest build, show nes games.
Is it and FBneo or Romcenter fault?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on November 08, 2021, 10:55:29 AM
Generating Arcade.dat in latest build, show nes games.
Is it and FBneo or Romcenter fault?

Those are not NES games but VS games. They're actual arcade games, so this is the expected result.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: geese howard on November 08, 2021, 11:08:30 AM
Those are not NES games but VS games. They're actual arcade games, so this is the expected result.

Ok, thanks!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 09, 2021, 01:38:54 AM
Cannot run game  Hua Mu Lan - Mulan (Chi)   md_huamul.zip

Thanks for your report, it's fixed :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 09, 2021, 09:10:25 PM
Hi Friends & fans,
Latest news's

midway y/t/w-unit, removed 1 frame of input lag. for example, punching in umk3 now reacts on the 4th frame instead of 5th frame.

megadrive: fixed some unlicensed pirate game's mapper: lion king 3, hua mu lan, pokemon 2

cps-1: fix stars in strider and forgotten worlds, thanks to RE (reverse engineering or research) by loic.petit and also big thanks to hap for finding a bug in my impl.  This is the first improvement to CPS-1 in a long time :)

strider: fix palette fadeout when game starts

PCEngine-more: fix for "Bouken Danshaku Don - The Lost Sunheart", remove the ugly high pitched noise in the background.
PCEngine-more2: ported some fixes from cam900/Charles MacDonald to the C6280 soundchip, includes fixes for volume calculation and implements proper noise LFSR.

recent thank's
all who reports bugs are the reason this project is great :)
iq_132 for Pocket Gal
barbudreadmon for helping me test lots of stuff
Gab75 for finding lots of neat games to try

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on November 10, 2021, 12:45:10 AM
Excellent work guys! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: ClessxAlghazanth on November 10, 2021, 07:21:34 AM
Thanks for the excellent work as usual  :cool:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Bad Dude on November 10, 2021, 09:46:35 AM
Great news, dink! Thank's for the PCE new titles!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: bytestorm on November 11, 2021, 12:16:14 AM
Awesome job! Big thanks to everyone involved in making FBN even better!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: retroFuture on November 14, 2021, 02:01:12 AM
Bug report
Vigilante (vigilant)

[Raspberry Pi 4 / Lakka 3.5.2 / Retroarch 1.9.12]
Music playback issues on intro section and main game. Notes stretch and hang and playback occasionally stops.

I think this issue affects other games on the same vigilant.cpp driver. I tested Meikyu Jime / Kickle Cubele (kikcubic) and noticed the same in-game music playback bug.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on November 14, 2021, 02:32:00 AM
@retroFuture The vigilant issue was fixed last week, i guess lakka's build is yet again outdated
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: retroFuture on November 14, 2021, 03:01:41 AM
@retroFuture The vigilant issue was fixed last week, i guess lakka's build is yet again outdated

Ah, great. Thanks for the feedback. I'll just wait for the new Lakka update.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 27, 2021, 09:49:05 AM
Recent fixes:
SSV: all games, impl. sprite buffering to match pcb, noticable fixes:
Storm Blade: st. 6 "falls apart" when moving around
Survival Arts: guys torso "disconnects" from body, etc, in attract mode
Twin Eagle 2: sprites/tilemaps scrolling in-sync
Dyna Gear: fix sound clipping on st. 2 mid-boss

In Your Face, fix priority on the basket/defense cutscene - this was a bug in the prom file I made for the game - should be fixed in mame too shortly

Williams: Added Playball!, fix LottoFun

Chase Bombers / Under Fire: add contrast/luma correction to the palette generation.  Chase Bombers is perfect now, Under Fire is slightly improved.

Midway Y/W/T-Unit: lose 1 frame of input lag by starting frame at vblank

Big thanks to Tatsuya79 for finding the bugs in SSV, as well as suggesting contrast/luma correction for Chase Bombers.
Big thanks to Haze for finding the In Your Face bug and for turning me on to Playball!
and to KOHR for finding that we have 1 extra frame of input lag on Midway

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: caius on November 29, 2021, 11:48:25 AM
Recent fixes:
SSV: all games, impl. sprite buffering to match pcb, noticable fixes:
Storm Blade: st. 6 "falls apart" when moving around
Survival Arts: guys torso "disconnects" from body, etc, in attract mode
Twin Eagle 2: sprites/tilemaps scrolling in-sync
Dyna Gear: fix sound clipping on st. 2 mid-boss

In Your Face, fix priority on the basket/defense cutscene - this was a bug in the prom file I made for the game - should be fixed in mame too shortly

Williams: Added Playball!, fix LottoFun

Chase Bombers / Under Fire: add contrast/luma correction to the palette generation.  Chase Bombers is perfect now, Under Fire is slightly improved.

Midway Y/W/T-Unit: lose 1 frame of input lag by starting frame at vblank

Big thanks to Tatsuya79 for finding the bugs in SSV, as well as suggesting contrast/luma correction for Chase Bombers.
Big thanks to Haze for finding the In Your Face bug and for turning me on to Playball!
and to KOHR for finding that we have 1 extra frame of input lag on Midway

best regards,
- dink

Hi,
it would be possibe to have the 'In Your Face' BPROM file?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 29, 2021, 08:20:06 PM
caius, of course - attached to message.

I meant to attach it to the original message, but forgot.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 10, 2021, 10:10:13 AM
Guys,
Had to take a break from the new driver because it's good to take breaks.  But that means something nice is going to happen very soon now - I'll leave it as a surprise!

Something that had been messed up for a long time - windows that require hw flipping that aren't vertical games - they would get morphed into an opposite aspect ratio due to a bug.  The same bug that made Wily Tower (irem) & The FairyLand Story look like a vertical game.  This is now fixed.

Hopefully this fix doesn't cause any collateral damage (side effects), because the blitters are very complex things.. It seems like every time I touch something there, look out!

bye for now,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: el_rika on December 11, 2021, 06:22:44 AM
A well deserved rest dink. Than you for all you effort, and have a great end of the year !
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 11, 2021, 08:07:50 PM
A well deserved rest dink. Than you for all you effort, and have a great end of the year !

Thanks buddy, you as well :)
p.s. the original plan didn't pan out, hope you won't be too disappointed.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: el_rika on December 12, 2021, 05:53:08 AM
Thanks buddy, you as well :)
p.s. the original plan didn't pan out, hope you won't be too disappointed.

best regards,
- dink

Oh, no worries friend  :smilie:
Keep doing your own thing, your work is invaluable for us enthusiasts!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 19, 2021, 01:17:37 AM
thanks :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 19, 2021, 01:29:42 AM
fbnews:
Auto-Fire improvement, ON sequence begins on the frame AF button was pressed on.  Added Very Fast(er) option, for more fasty-ness.

Fixed some bugs in the cheat engine + added support for "compare memory to X value before changing"

Sega's N-Sub emulation finished in the WIP vicdual driver.  So far 100% games in vicdual: Carnival, Heiankyo Alien and N-Sub

Added Haze's recent improvements to Gaelco, to fix audio issues & randomization in Touch & Go, bugs in Squash and super awesome RE-work w/peterferrie to fix the level 4 crash in Thunder Hoop (thoop)!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 23, 2021, 01:28:15 AM
DX9 blitters get a nice little upgrade!

The missing Pause, Record / Playback / Netgame status symbols have been added

A bug in the DX9 Alt blitter which caused a slightly blurry image due to a miscalculation was fixed

Some fbneo-DX9 blitter fans might want it the old way without the "pause, .. etc." status symbols, "Misc -> Options -> Display Mode Indicator" is for you :)

Code will be on github tomorrow sometime, stay tuned!! :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: ClessxAlghazanth on December 24, 2021, 08:16:29 AM
Wow , great Xmas present , dink !

The pause etc buttons could be a minor issue , but was bugging me all the time  ;p

Thanks for the excellent work and happy holidays  :cool:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 01, 2022, 09:23:24 AM
ClessxAlghazanth thanks buddy, happy new year :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 01, 2022, 09:40:46 AM
FBNews:
Happy New year!

Spent the past week and a half finishing, fixing and reworking the DX9 blitters.
They're mostly finished now & the latest code is on github :)

All known bugs are fixed, status & other messages are implemented.  Here's what it looks like now...

The first scene is from Ghosts'n Goblins, playing back one of my 2-ALL recordings.
Notice the mini transparent gamepad at the bottom left?  That's optional during playback of recordings, of course :)

The second scene is from Battle Garegga, with the Cheat "Watch Rank" active, this is shown in the hex value at the lower-right of the screen.

The only thing left to add is the netplay (Kaillera) chat...  Stay tuned for that!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on January 01, 2022, 11:13:06 AM
Excellent work! :)
Now, with the various improvements/fixes, the DX9 blitter Experimental is no longer "experimental", so it should be renamed... ;)

Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: ClessxAlghazanth on January 02, 2022, 08:03:29 AM
Excellent work! :)
Now, with the various improvements/fixes, the DX9 blitter Experimental is no longer "experimental", so it should be renamed... ;)

Does it mean the 'experimental' biltter is the best one among the dx9 blitters ?

I've been using the alt. one for some time and don't quite know the difference between them  :rolleyes:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 02, 2022, 09:17:25 AM
Thanks guys :)

ClessxAlghazanth, regarding the 2 dx9 filters, they're pretty much the same if you disable all the features and use no filter (point filtering, which should be renamed)  So then it's just down to the features: Alt. has the SoftFX filters and Experimental has Scanlines & the nice Cubic filtering option.
Basically it comes down to, if you don't use filters then just use the blitter that works best with your system.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on January 02, 2022, 09:34:24 AM
I believe the "Scanlines filter" is an important feature, so I'm biased and I prefer the DX9 "Experimental"... ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: ClessxAlghazanth on January 03, 2022, 06:42:17 AM
Thanks guys :)

ClessxAlghazanth, regarding the 2 dx9 filters, they're pretty much the same if you disable all the features and use no filter (point filtering, which should be renamed)  So then it's just down to the features: Alt. has the SoftFX filters and Experimental has Scanlines & the nice Cubic filtering option.
Basically it comes down to, if you don't use filters then just use the blitter that works best with your system.

best regards,
- dink

Heads up for the kind answer , dink  :wink: I use no filters (point filter) and been using alt. for all the time so sticking with it  :cool:

Thanks for all the great work as usual ;p
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 06, 2022, 02:14:24 AM
Hi guys,
ported the Hardware FX Shaders from Fightcade (by JordiRos / shine)
They are available under the Alt blitter's options under HardFX.
The attached shaders zip will need to be unzipped into fbneo's support subdirectory!
Some need atleast window of 3x size to work properly(!)
A decent (not onboard) video card is recommended for performance
NOTE: Zoom (click) the images to see each effect :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on January 06, 2022, 02:23:53 AM
FWIW, those shaders look quite similar to the ones from https://github.com/libretro/common-shaders, so anybody interested could probably port more shaders to FBNeo
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 07, 2022, 09:33:01 AM
barbudreadmon thanks, I'm not familiar enough with this language yet to be able to port them - I'm learning about it though!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 07, 2022, 09:49:41 AM
Some happenings:

Input Replay - Start Paused function - starts playback of input recording @ frame 0, to make easier for recording every single frame of video, etc.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: ClessxAlghazanth on January 08, 2022, 06:26:29 AM
Hi guys,
ported the Hardware FX Shaders from Fightcade (by JordiRos / shine)
They are available under the Alt blitter's options under HardFX.
The attached shaders zip will need to be unzipped into fbneo's support subdirectory!
Some need atleast window of 3x size to work properly(!)
A decent (not onboard) video card is recommended for performance
NOTE: Zoom (click) the images to see each effect :)

best regards,
- dink

Great additions , dink  :cool: love thr look of some of these shaders  :wink:

Will they be embedded into FBNeo in the next official release ?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on January 08, 2022, 11:45:15 AM
Thanks for Hypernoid!  :cool:

Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 08, 2022, 05:20:58 PM
Great additions , dink  :cool: love thr look of some of these shaders  :wink:

Will they be embedded into FBNeo in the next official release ?

Yes, they sure are nice! :)
They'll be in the next release, but, you don't have to wait for it - just grab the latest exe from github @ the usual place, and the shaders zip file from my message a few posts ago & unzip it under support so it creates a shaders subdirectory & files.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 23, 2022, 10:40:50 AM
Recent Happenings

Fixed glitchy scene transitions in the awesome shooter Rabio Lepus / Rabbit Punch.
Fans of Gradius should check this one out, if you don't know it!

Fixed a glitch in the ZX Spectrum 128 demo 70908

Fixed glitchy scene transitions in Sega System16 game Fantasy Zone

Fixed Run-Ahead with Jaleco's Psychic5, also partially de-barryficate & modernize the driver. 
Fixed Run-Ahead for Pac-Land

Fixed Glitches in Cadash intro scene

Fixed clicks in Power Drive music

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: ClessxAlghazanth on January 23, 2022, 06:57:37 PM
Thanks for the great work as usual , dink ! :cool:

I've never gotten to play Rabio Lepus , maybe it's time to give it a run  :wink:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 25, 2022, 12:07:53 AM
thanks for the nice words, ClessxAlghazanth!
hope you find a new game to add to your favorites list :)
Rabio Lepus has some really nice and unique bosses, just as another favorite of mine - Mahou Daisakusen aka Sorcer Striker - it has a boss rush at the end!
TIP: the final boss is an illusion, get behind him and shoot to reveal the real final boss.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 27, 2022, 01:46:59 AM
Here's a small bit news:

XAudio2 plugin: more closely match the volumes of DirectSound

fixed: After adding the Audio Volume menu a few weeks back, caused a bug in the Alt+ / Alt- keys which would make ugly popping/clicks when change the volume with them. oops!

Impl'd a nice little feature for the Midway SoundsGood soundboard: used in Rampage, Star Guards and Power Drive: mutes audio until game starts producing sounds, as these games have a very noisy (poppy/clicky) bootup.

finalizer got a proper dump of the audio cpu program from the konami custom cpu, thanks hap and [anonymous] for making this happen

Big thanks: iq_132, gab75, barbudreadmon, JacKc, kev, all fans of fbneo! :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 27, 2022, 08:49:31 PM
Added The Dice Game! on IREM m90 hw, big thanks to Jonas Jago for dumping and Arcadez for letting me know about it :)
Appears to be a nice little action-puzzler type game, where you can smash enemies with dice and also line up the dice to eliminate them from the field.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Voljega on January 28, 2022, 02:34:23 AM
hmm the rom name is dicegame ? doesn't seem to be in http://adb.arcadeitalia.net ?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on January 28, 2022, 02:57:36 AM
hmm the rom name is dicegame ? doesn't seem to be in http://adb.arcadeitalia.net ?

https://github.com/mamedev/mame/commit/7b947eb7f0287f14f3f847b2686da7b7e396fdcd
That game is too fresh, it was added to MAME right after it was added to FBNeo. I believe arcadeitalia only updates its database at mame releases.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on January 28, 2022, 03:03:58 AM
Thanks for adding it (the Dice Game)... The old IREM coin-ops are always a guarantee of quality! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: retroFuture on January 28, 2022, 02:58:30 PM
Daiku no Gensan (dkgensan)
[RetroArch 1.10.0 - FBNeo Core V1.0.0.03]

On the intro cut-scene, there is a thin exposed vertical strip on the right that the black 'mask' does not fully cover.
This glitch is only on the Japanese Daiku no Gensan clone and not on the parent Hammerin' Harry ROM (hharry)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on January 29, 2022, 12:11:07 PM
"Bomber Man World / New Dyna Blaster - Global Quest".

This game no longer appears to me in the "Show available" list, however I can select it and play it from the "Show unavailable" list?

any idea what could be going on?

I have the latest version (nightly builds): "update title [happppp] (JacKc029735)".

Regards.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on January 29, 2022, 07:34:23 PM
"Bomber Man World / New Dyna Blaster - Global Quest".

This game no longer appears to me in the "Show available" list, however I can select it and play it from the "Show unavailable" list?

any idea what could be going on?

I have the latest version (nightly builds): "update title [happppp] (JacKc029735)".

Regards.

Thanks for the report, i pushed a blind fix for what i believe might be the issue :).
I'll look further into this tomorrow if the issue persists.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 29, 2022, 08:07:58 PM
Daiku no Gensan (dkgensan)
[RetroArch 1.10.0 - FBNeo Core V1.0.0.03]

On the intro cut-scene, there is a thin exposed vertical strip on the right that the black 'mask' does not fully cover.
This glitch is only on the Japanese Daiku no Gensan clone and not on the parent Hammerin' Harry ROM (hharry)

Thanks for letting us know, it's been fixed :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on January 30, 2022, 01:42:40 PM
Thanks for the report, i pushed a blind fix for what i believe might be the issue :).
I'll look further into this tomorrow if the issue persists.

Thanks, @barbudreadmon, the game now appears in the "Show Available" list.  :cool:

Now the game that disappeared from the "Show available" list was the "Finalizer - Super Transformation (set 1), but when I clicked on it, it said there was a file missing or something, apparently they updated the rom. But no problem, I downloaded the updated rom and it is already available in the "Show available" list.

Thank you very much for resolving this :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 06, 2022, 09:54:23 AM
YAY!

Fixing age-old emulation bug w/Konami without side-effects!

Before and After pics:

(will be on git tonight pending clean-up)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on February 06, 2022, 10:22:25 AM
I remember well this "old" emulation issue related with the scaling/distortion effects... nice work! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 07, 2022, 09:31:28 AM
Thanks Gab75 :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 07, 2022, 09:52:52 AM
Grrr, k053245, the sprite chip used in TMNT2, Asterix, Roller Games, Surprise Attack..  (..a different chip than used by The Simpsons & Bucky)

Using the same fix on this chip eliminated the 1px lines in the Asterix logo animation, but, the problem with TMNT2 (Turtles in Time) zoom'd sprites is a different kind of beast altogether.

Back to the drawing board..

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: hursit on February 08, 2022, 12:50:48 AM
Hello
i remember , i have mentioned about this problem many years ago :D
it is great to see that fixed
thank you people for your all efforts
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 10, 2022, 01:25:23 AM
The fix finally made it in to git, please give it a try - should anything weird come up, say something :)
It should only affect games using the k053247 sprite chip (bucky, simpsons, xexex and a few others)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: geese howard on February 10, 2022, 11:01:28 AM
Thanks dink!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: the_maq on February 10, 2022, 11:02:31 PM
The fix finally made it in to git, please give it a try - should anything weird come up, say something :)
It should only affect games using the k053247 sprite chip (bucky, simpsons, xexex and a few others)

best regards,
- dink
@Dink, Excellent work, as far as tmnt (turtles in time) is concerned the issue isn't the sprite zooming, it's the explosion with the foot soldiers..How soon you reckon this and the problem with the asterix screen title will be solved ?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 11, 2022, 09:37:53 AM
Hi the_maq,
Well here's what I found out recently:

Asterix titlescreen: on the PCB as the Asterix logo gets squished, it has a horizontal line through it.  On current emulation (fb, mame), you'll see vertical lines also.  With the new fix I'm working on, it functions just like the PCB.. it's still going to have 1 line for a few frames.

The problem with TMNT2 (turtles in time) is due to an unemulated protection mcu which generates the sprite scaling (to control the sprite size), so most of the sizes are generated algorithmically, but, it's not perfect.  It should be an easy fix though once I get to it.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: the_maq on February 11, 2022, 05:01:27 PM
Hi the_maq,
Well here's what I found out recently:

Asterix titlescreen: on the PCB as the Asterix logo gets squished, it has a horizontal line through it.  On current emulation (fb, mame), you'll see vertical lines also.  With the new fix I'm working on, it functions just like the PCB.. it's still going to have 1 line for a few frames.

The problem with TMNT2 (turtles in time) is due to an unemulated protection mcu which generates the sprite scaling (to control the sprite size), so most of the sizes are generated algorithmically, but, it's not perfect.  It should be an easy fix though once I get to it.

best regards,
- dink
Cool, so will this fix the sprite gaps in the foot soldier explosion ?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on February 12, 2022, 05:37:17 AM
Cool, so will this fix the sprite gaps in the foot soldier explosion ?

No, the problem you mention is not solved:

(https://i.postimg.cc/FsYnXChC/1.jpg)

Anyway, these are details that for me are not so important, I didn't even notice them in the original machine at the time. I don't know if it will also happen in mame.

Anyway, knowing the programmers of this emulator and their ability to solve this kind of details, I'm sure that someday they will fix it... these guys are miracle workers....  Time to time.  :smilie:

Greetings
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 12, 2022, 09:05:25 AM
the_maq yes, well, I'm hoping for at least.  Trying to take a break from the konami stuff for a few days as it's had me tied up for a week now.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 12, 2022, 10:10:59 AM
Pelucon8, the broken explosion in tmnt2 only happens in emulation (fbn, mame), of course, it will be nice to get it fixed.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: the_maq on February 12, 2022, 11:43:49 AM
the_maq yes, well, I'm hoping for at least.  Trying to take a break from the konami stuff for a few days as it's had me tied up for a week now.

best regards,
- dink
Thanks for clarifying that mate, take it easy and take all the time that u need..👍
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 12, 2022, 09:06:52 PM
the_maq, when you get a chance please try with the new exe's from the usual place

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: the_maq on February 13, 2022, 11:57:13 AM
the_maq, when you get a chance please try with the new exe's from the usual place

best regards,
- dink
How u doing, had a nightshift so I couldn't try it earlier, but just did a full play through the now and it looks spot on. Thanks a million mate, in your expert opinion is this theoretically pcb perfect now?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 13, 2022, 03:45:15 PM
the_maq, thanks for checking it buddy, it's pretty close!  I found a couple of issues with the new code - a few side-effects so to speak.
I'll have to come up with another solution to the problem, I have a few in mind.  Fixing it is one thing, fixing it without breaking something else is the hard part!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: bytestorm on February 17, 2022, 02:42:52 AM
Awesome progress with the konami games Dink! Thank you :D
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 25, 2022, 12:23:36 AM
byetstorm, you're welcome!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 05, 2022, 08:50:57 PM
Some updates from recently
All features are available and ready to try w/current exe's, which can be found here: https://github.com/finalburnneo/FBNeo/releases/tag/latest

All of the rotary-stick games now feature dual-stick support for movement & fire or just movements (dip-selectable), big thanks to user pjft on github!
Games like Heavy Barrel, Midnight Resistance, Ikari Warriors, TNK3, Guerilla War, Caliber 50, Downtown, Search and Rescue, Time Soldiers, Ikari 3, Gondomania
* The rotation button method is still available for those with a single stick gamepad/joystick

Furrtek did some new silicon RE which lead to fixing the shadows in Konami's Devastators, you might remember him from the Contra "3d" level fixes a short while ago.

A year ago I figured out that Namco S2/NB1 sprites use a palette offset for sprite operation 0xfe instead of a "shadow palette" which fixed color issues in a few of the games (most notably the sws/baseball games).  It had a little side effect of breaking shadows in the first level of Valkyrie, hap jumped on it and found that the 0xfe sprite-op was conditional - depending on the layer it was being performed on.  This gives the games the option of making a black shadow or using a palette offset (as before).  Valkyrie now has pcb-perfect shadows, thanks hap! :)

iq_132 re-wrote the Xain'd Sleena driver, fixing a bunch of little issues the previous driver had

Fixed a little issue with the .tap dma loader in ZX Spectrum that caused the 128K version of Blink's Scary School to crash at the titlescreen (oops, my bad...again.. -dink)

that's all for now,

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 27, 2022, 11:21:25 PM
Hi friends & fbneo fans,
NeoGeo Pocket Color has achieved a great status - the game "SNK vs. Capcom - Card Fighters 2 - Expand Edition (Jpn)"
now works free of gfx glitches and lock-ups while moving about in the city / story mode map screen.  It even has an English translation!

While I don't play this type of game (card-fighter / rpg), it is really nice to fix the only broken game on this platform, I have also shared the fix with friends @ MAME.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on March 30, 2022, 01:42:28 AM
I downloaded the latest nightly builds (neogeo, Combone adds kof98bc2nd (dinkc64) and I get a rom detection error or something.

I have two versions of the game, the "Demon Front (M105XX, S105XX)" and the "Demon Front (VM105XX, S105XX, China, Single PCB Version)" version, the problem is that the "Demon Front (M105XX, S105XX)" version loads as if it was the "Demon Front (VM105XX, S105XX, China, Single PCB Version)" version.

Before the update, when starting "Demon Front (M105XX, S105XX)" I got this startup screen:

(https://i.postimg.cc/sxw80gfn/dmnfrnt.png)

Now, when updating, that version of the game loads as "Demon Front (VM105XX, S105XX, S105XX, S105XX, China, Single PCB Version)":

(https://i.postimg.cc/TPgsv9Y5/dmnfrntpcba.png)

In short, the "Demon Front (M105XX, S105XX)" version loads as if it were the "Demon Front (VM105XX, S105XX, China, Single PCB Version)" version.

Regards
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: JacKc on March 30, 2022, 03:40:56 AM
@ Pelucon8,

You can change the region with the dips (ctrl + f5).
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on March 30, 2022, 03:49:24 AM
It's probably a bug though, "World" region is probably supposed to select english language.
There was a big rewrite of our pgm emulation, something about regions was probably overlooked, i'll take a look.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on March 30, 2022, 04:36:11 AM
@JacKc

I did what you asked, but it didn't work.

It works on this nightly build:

(https://i.postimg.cc/wTnKy1mQ/1.jpg)

But if I go to the latest released, the problem reappears.

Maybe @barbudreadmon is right, since in the middle of the last 3 releases there is a nightly build that has something related to PGM:

(https://i.postimg.cc/638gpwpm/2.jpg)

Greetings and thanks to both of you  :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on March 30, 2022, 05:21:41 AM
I pushed a test fix for the region hack issue in dmnfrnt
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on March 30, 2022, 05:40:38 AM
@barbudreadmon

It is now displayed correctly. Thank you for resolving it  :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: KOF2112 on April 01, 2022, 04:08:51 AM
PGM game dip area errors
Invalid switching area

cannot execute
killbld
killbld100
killbld104
killbld106
killbld109
thegladpcba
thegladpcb
svgpcb
orlegend105k
orlegend105t
dmnfrntpcba
dmnfrntpcb
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on April 01, 2022, 11:08:45 AM
PGM game dip area errors
Invalid switching area

cannot execute
killbld
killbld100
killbld104
killbld106
killbld109
thegladpcba
thegladpcb
svgpcb
orlegend105k
orlegend105t
dmnfrntpcba
dmnfrntpcb

Most of those work fine on my side, only the following three gave me an error :
- orlegend105k
- orlegend105t
- dmnfrntpcb (error msg but you can insert coin and play nonetheless)

Note that the pgm update might require that you cleanup your old ini and nvram files.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on April 05, 2022, 06:59:31 AM
Most of those work fine on my side, only the following three gave me an error :
- orlegend105k
- orlegend105t
- dmnfrntpcb (error msg but you can insert coin and play nonetheless)

Note that the pgm update might require that you cleanup your old ini and nvram files.

dmnfrntpcb is fixed, but both orlegend says incorrect version !!!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 16, 2022, 10:08:28 AM
some good news incoming in a few days :)
stay tuned!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on April 17, 2022, 03:47:55 PM
Zero Team USA has priority / z-index issues. I guess this is known and related to the "Unemulated protection" note on that game, correct? Thanks.

Edit: ah, I see New Zero Team (clone) has neither that note nor that issue, so I guess that's it.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 17, 2022, 08:07:20 PM
Zero Team USA has priority / z-index issues. I guess this is known and related to the "Unemulated protection" note on that game, correct? Thanks.

Edit: ah, I see New Zero Team (clone) has neither that note nor that issue, so I guess that's it.

The protection chip is still a mystery on that game, luckily we have "New Zero Team" and "Zero Team 2000", which are not too different from the main set - aside from working :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on April 18, 2022, 03:19:31 AM
Alright, thanks.

By the way, I've just come across this Strider patch (https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/6758/). You might be interested in adding it into FBN.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on April 20, 2022, 01:28:08 AM
Is there any way to make both "cheat.dat" and some cheats in "ini" format work together?

I have the latest "cheat.dat" from dink or at least the last one I saw that in download (cheat_dinkupd - 16-02-2022) and in it there are no cheats for "Demon Front (M105XX, S105XX)" (dmnfrnt) or "Street Fighter III 3rd Strike: Fight for the Future (USA 990608)" (sfiii3u) so I have them in "ini" format both games.

The problem is that if I have the "cheat.dat" together with both cheats in "ini" format in the same "cheats" folder, the "cheat.dat" cancels the cheat in "ini" format, however, if I delete the "cheat.dat" and leave only the cheat in "ini" format, the cheats load perfectly.

In other versions of the emulator, the "cheat.dat" and the cheat "ini" could work together, but apparently not now.

Cheers.

PS: Anyway I leave the "ini" files of the games, to see if dink can add them to the "cheat.dat".

https://mega.nz/file/70511a6T#qsNkKBOpQrmEzlM5-whERQZOt8Bpa8TpfWJHIunh5F4
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on April 20, 2022, 02:16:06 AM
I have the latest "cheat.dat" from dink or at least the last one I saw that in download (cheat_dinkupd - 16-02-2022) and in it there are no cheats for "Demon Front (M105XX, S105XX)" (dmnfrnt) or "Street Fighter III 3rd Strike: Fight for the Future (USA 990608)" (sfiii3u) so I have them in "ini" format both games.

The problem is that if I have the "cheat.dat" together with both cheats in "ini" format in the same "cheats" folder, the "cheat.dat" cancels the cheat in "ini" format, however, if I delete the "cheat.dat" and leave only the cheat in "ini" format, the cheats load perfectly.

In other versions of the emulator, the "cheat.dat" and the cheat "ini" could work together, but apparently not now.

Cheers.

PS: Anyway I leave the "ini" files of the games, to see if dink can add them to the "cheat.dat".

https://mega.nz/file/70511a6T#qsNkKBOpQrmEzlM5-whERQZOt8Bpa8TpfWJHIunh5F4

Yeah, cheat.dat has been the recommended format for some time now (it supports more features), which is why i inversed their priority some time ago.
Hmmm i don't want to revert to the previous state where ini has the priority and cheat.dat will be ignored if an ini exists, maybe i can find a way to load both at the same time.
Right now i'd recommend adding the cheats to your cheat.dat file, it should be pretty straightforward.

Edit : i pushed a test fix for this, it'll also try to load cheats from parent romset if you are running a clone and no cheats for that clone can be found
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on April 20, 2022, 08:19:32 AM
@barbudreadmon

Thank you very much, now the 2 cheat "ini" are loaded when they are in the same folder together with the cheat.dat, but there is a problem, now it doesn't load any cheat from the "cheat.dat", even if I delete the 2 cheat "ini" and leave only the "cheat.dat", it doesn't give me the option to choose them (Misc/enable cheats...)

 
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on April 20, 2022, 08:28:08 AM
That's weird, it seems to work properly on my side, i'll investigate.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 20, 2022, 08:34:29 AM
barbudreadmon, imo how it should work:
cheat.dat cheats should take priority
if an ini file exists, it should use that if its not in cheat.dat

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on April 20, 2022, 08:46:33 AM
@dink Yeah, that's what i tried implementing, and it works properly here, i'm not sure but i think there might be some char/TCHAR shenanigans, which is why it doesn't affect me on linux :P, i just pushed another test fix.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on April 20, 2022, 09:21:28 AM
@barbudreadmon

Now both files ("cheat.dat" and "ini" cheats) seem to coexist, although I only get the "ini" cheats for the game "Street Fighter III 3rd Strike: Fight for the Future (USA 990608)", the game "Demon Front (M105XX, S105XX)" (dmnfrnt), although I can select them in "Misc/enable cheats...", I get the following screen:

(https://i.postimg.cc/pdqxmHjb/1.jpg)

If I take the "cheat.dat" file out of the "cheats" folder, the cheats for the "demon front" game load and work correctly.  :S
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on April 20, 2022, 10:00:06 AM
I only get the "ini" cheats for the game "Street Fighter III 3rd Strike: Fight for the Future (USA 990608)"

Actually, i believe the ini file is ignored, the loaded cheats are probably from cheat.dat's sfiii3 section, which seems fine to me.

About dmnfrnt, nothing i can do about : there is a section about the romset in cheat.dat so it will be detected and will prevent the ini file from loading. I can only recommend deleting that section from cheat.dat.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on April 20, 2022, 08:49:05 PM
Thank you for your help @barbudreadmon
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 21, 2022, 12:26:56 AM
Hi,
Sometime i'd like to make it ignore loading of those empty cheats in cheat.dat.  Unless someone beats me to it!
.. I need to finish up a project before I can do anything like that, though!  It might be a week or 2.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on April 21, 2022, 02:27:58 AM
@dink

That would be great. No rush, do it when you see fit.  :smilie:

Regards

Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on April 21, 2022, 04:47:26 AM
i managed to find a way to ignore empty cheats, fix is on git
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on April 21, 2022, 08:02:02 AM
@barbudreadmon

All cheats now load perfectly fine. Thanks for solving it.  :smilie:

Regards
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 05, 2022, 12:45:28 AM
new driver time!
cave 1000

test video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pgnb60f2WvI

*despite what is written below, all games are playable and work great*

WIP limitations: (will be fixed within the next week or 2)
0: need 32bpp video. fixed, supports 15/16, 24 and *of course* 32bpp
1: cpu rate selector must be 25,50,75,100% anything in-between will cause the music to screw up (especially in ddpdfk) FIXED :)
2: some bugs
3: even more bugs

limitatations that will not be fixed:
1: you'll need a nice cpu for this, my dumpster-find i7-2600 runs all games just fine though!  If you have trouble getting 60fps, time to go pc hunting on night before garbage day!  or talk to some scrappers.  or try some tips below...

tips:
1: turn OFF vsync / dwm sync
2: use XAudio2 audio plugin, with 6-8 buffers
3: use auto frameskip function - it helps with audio buffering, even if frames never get skipped

bonus:
savestates work
threaded blitter thanks to Thready! (pre-cursor to towelie)

thanks-to: iq_132 for driver skeleton, barbudreadmon for testing

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on May 05, 2022, 02:32:30 AM
Excellent work guys!!!
The most powerful hardware ever emulated by FBNeo... by far!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Arcadez on May 05, 2022, 06:17:25 PM
Nice to see this, to see this nice!!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on May 06, 2022, 09:14:11 AM
Great release thanks dink.  :cool:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: el_rika on May 08, 2022, 02:22:19 PM
Finally cv1000 in fbn! Amazing job man, just amazing!

(I guess android devices don't cut it in terms of performance for this one)

Note regarding slowdown: For accuracy close to pcb, full CPU underclock control is needed, and also a "blitter delay" implementation similar to the mame hack (which against popular opinion, works excellently).

I spent ~ 2 years testing the emulation vs pcb in terms of accuracy of the slowdowns and the results are fantastic for all games (except Pink Sweets... never got around to properly test that one).

If the mame CPU and Blitter tweaks are of any value for this project, i'll be happy to provide them.

If/when the CPU and Blitter hacks will be implemented, it would be a simple job of comparing the numbers for a couple of games and everything else will fall into place.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on May 08, 2022, 04:20:04 PM
(I guess android devices don't cut it in terms of performance for this one)

Apparently, after downclocking, it run fairly well even on a pi4, so recent smartphones shouldn't have major issues running this.

I spent ~ 2 years testing the emulation vs pcb in terms of accuracy of the slowdowns and the results are fantastic for all games (except Pink Sweets... never got around to properly test that one).

If the mame CPU and Blitter tweaks are of any value for this project, i'll be happy to provide them.

If/when the CPU and Blitter hacks will be implemented, it would be a simple job of comparing the numbers for a couple of games and everything else will fall into place.

I've been thinking it would be a nice idea to implement some kind of on/off fake dips to enforce some preset blitter & clock values.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Tatsuya79 on May 08, 2022, 05:28:12 PM
Awesome work!

It's twice faster than MAME (as there's no dynarec for ARM) on my android phone (Poco F3, snapdragon 870).
100~150 fps for Akai Katana.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 08, 2022, 08:48:37 PM
some happenings since the first cv1000 wip:
A little while ago I checked in an optimization that improves speed/performance (and reduces the cpu load / requirement)
Added support for 16,24bpp gfx modes

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 08, 2022, 09:08:44 PM
thanks guys, I'm glad you're excited about this, I have been wanting to do this since 2015! (or earlier?)

el_rika, it has blitter delay and cpu speed changer.  currently cpu speed changer has issues with odd percentages (anything not 25,50,75,100%), it causes skips in the music.  I understand that it "needs" to be fixed, but it's very difficult to fix.  please understand that I've spent weeks on this without luck so far.  it will be fixed hopefully soon as I explore new ideas. (as the original post said).

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: el_rika on May 09, 2022, 03:33:45 AM
Got around to test a couple of games (Ibara BL and Mushihimesama).

Emulation is amazing, fantastic job dink and everyone involved!
My measurements put input lag at 2 frames (mame is 3 in Retroarch for cv1000).
The blitter delay works as it should, absolutely no issues.

Ibara has zero issues, Mushihimesama, at least in Retroarch android, has the clasic layer issues where some layers/elements are not displayed properly (ex. at the ship selection).
This is fixed by deleting the "game.cfg" before each run, though here it doesn't seem to work.

The performance is way way better than latest mame. Amazing job here as well!

Can't wait to test some more 🤜🤛

Edit: With the risk of being punched in the face, i can not stress enough how this driver needs a sync_to_exact content, at least in Retroarch. It needs perfect smoothness..it' s just too good for anything less than that.

Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on May 09, 2022, 04:08:00 AM
Edit: With the risk of being punched in the face, i can not stress enough how this driver needs a sync_to_exact content, at least in Retroarch. It needs perfect smoothness..it' s just too good for anything less than that.

Hmmm, what do you mean, are you talking about the refresh rate ? I see pcb was measured at 60.024Hz, are you asking for it to be set at that value ? There is more or less a policy of not handling refresh rates beyond 60Hz in FBNeo (i believe because compatible screens are considered uncommon ? Or maybe some kind of directx blitter limitation in standalone ?) but maybe we could add some kind of kludge to allow it in the libretro port if retroarch handles this well ? Except if there are other technical reasons i'm not aware of ?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: bytestorm on May 09, 2022, 04:31:20 AM
holy smokey YES!!! Oh man, thanks for the cv1k news!!! IBARA here we go! Damn what a start on a monday.. reading these news WHOOho!
 :smilie: :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Tatsuya79 on May 09, 2022, 05:44:58 AM
My measurements put input lag at 2 frames (mame is 3 in Retroarch for cv1000).

Input lag is the same now, it has been fixed for a couple of MAME versions.
Try updating your core (main MAME without date).
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: el_rika on May 09, 2022, 06:20:20 AM
Hmmm, what do you mean, are you talking about the refresh rate ? I see pcb was measured at 60.024Hz, are you asking for it to be set at that value ? There is more or less a policy of not handling refresh rates beyond 60Hz in FBNeo (i believe because compatible screens are considered uncommon ? Or maybe some kind of directx blitter limitation in standalone ?) but maybe we could add some kind of kludge to allow it in the libretro port if retroarch handles this well ? Except if there are other technical reasons i'm not aware of ?

Retroarch seems to not be friends with high refresh rate screens (ex.160 hz). It always tends to produce the strangest results (wildly uneven frame pacing and stutters, which should actually happen to some extent, as 160 is not a multiple of any conventional arcade framerate).
However as strange as it sounds, the moment the game is locked/throttled to its original intended framerate (ex. 59.6 cps driver or 57.5 cave 1st gen or 60 for cv1000) at the core/driver level (the frontend seems to not be able to do such a good job), the smoothness is top notch. I don't know honestly why it works the way it does, but it works as long as the sync to original framerate is overriding the rest.

@Tatsuya
Yes, i know the recent mame cores have the extra frame eliminated, but in terms of using latest mame for cv1000, it's out of the question, as it became ~ 3 times slower than the older cores. All the recent work i know that's been done to the actual mame cv1000 driver has been to speed it up, so the massive regeession in performance it's a bit of a mistery to me, but it is what it is.

Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on May 09, 2022, 06:21:58 AM
Hi dink please check hbmame for more additions.

Death Smiles with hidden elements and charather unlocked.

Dodonpachi & Knuckles.

Dodonpachi Saya Texture Type B. - No one made Saya texture appear in the beggining of the game yet, because it's to dificult to combine the texture to import it. If you check the original game you will find the textures are missing. If eventually someone made it. It will be great.

There is a nother 3 hacks, but i believe is not necessary.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on May 09, 2022, 06:58:16 AM
Retroarch seems to not be friends with high refresh rate screens (ex.160 hz). It always tends to produce the strangest results (wildly uneven frame pacing and stutters, which should actually happen to some extent, as 160 is not a multiple of any conventional arcade framerate).
However as strange as it sounds, the moment the game is locked/throttled to its original intended framerate (ex. 59.6 cps driver or 57.5 cave 1st gen or 60 for cv1000) at the core/driver level (the frontend seems to not be able to do such a good job), the smoothness is top notch. I don't know honestly why it works the way it does, but it works as long as the sync to original framerate is overriding the rest.

Hmmm so i'm still not sure what you are asking exactly here. Are you asking that those games stay throttled at 60Hz like they currently are ? Or are you asking for them to be throttled at 60.024Hz ?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: el_rika on May 09, 2022, 08:34:21 AM
Hmmm so i'm still not sure what you are asking exactly here. Are you asking that those games stay throttled at 60Hz like they currently are ? Or are you asking for them to be throttled at 60.024Hz ?

What i'm saying is that the core (or just this driver), would benefit from a throttle to native framerate as an on/off option (in this case lets round to 60) that would have absolute priority over the frontend Vsync settings (ex. if i'm playing SfZero3 and i have the throttled option checked in core settings, but i have the Retroarch refresh set at 60, the game will ignore Retroarch and go to native 59.6. Without the throttle option, it will automatically be run at 60 and the trouble of inconsistent frames, would start when playing in 160hz mode).
 Mame core has this exact same setting and it just works wonders.



Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on May 09, 2022, 09:05:33 AM
What i'm saying is that the core (or just this driver), would benefit from a throttle to native framerate as an on/off option (in this case lets round to 60) that would have absolute priority over the frontend Vsync settings

Not gonna happen, if you want to fix a retroarch issue, fill the issue to the retroarch team. That kind of features goes against the libretro concept, would prevent libretro features from working properly, and the only reason it exists for the mame core is because this core wasn't properly libretroized.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 09, 2022, 09:13:02 AM
Mushihimesama, at least in Retroarch android, has the clasic layer issues where some layers/elements are not displayed properly (ex. at the ship selection).
This is fixed by deleting the "game.cfg" before each run, though here it doesn't seem to work.

Can you explain this a little more, and give some good/bad pictures so I can see what to look for? Does it affect anything other than the ship selection screen?

I've tried current mame and mame 0.155, tried deleting the game file as you mentioned before, but, the ship selection screen always looks exactly the same for me across mame and fbneo (windows version) - I even checked pcb videos, and they all look alike.

A few hours ago I fixed a race condition with the threading, maybe this has something to do with it?  Can you make sure your core has this fix: eda8ae4
(9h ago from when I posted this)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: neokyo on May 09, 2022, 09:35:08 AM
Thanks!!!! Incredible work!!!!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: el_rika on May 09, 2022, 09:35:34 AM
Ship selection:

https://ibb.co/LCFDrNQ
https://ibb.co/8B8Ffbn


Missing bullets and a couple of gui elements:

https://ibb.co/0mz3Y1D
https://ibb.co/pdf1mpk

Seems that somtimes there are other layers/elements missing.
Deleting mushisam.fs partially fixes stuff, but haven't tested more than a few times.

So the code is based on 0.155? That's the one i've been using.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 09, 2022, 09:45:18 AM
el_rika, the pcb video looks similar to the "broken" version, at least on the ship selection - your thoughts?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVvKqJrU7N0
some parts are from 0.155 (blitter, cpu), some from latest (devices)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: el_rika on May 09, 2022, 09:49:48 AM
Just watch carefully, the actual ship selection does not have a dialog box on the lower screen, just the difficulty selection has one.

In the FBneo screen, the dialog box got "stuck" into the ship selection screen  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: el_rika on May 09, 2022, 09:58:57 AM
some parts are from 0.155 (blitter, cpu), some from latest (devices)

best regards,
- dink

Fantastic, then my CPU and Blitter values will be entirely the same.
(after mame 0.192, the dynarec slightly changed the equation).
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on May 09, 2022, 09:59:26 AM
Just watch carefully, the actual ship selection does not have a dialog box on the lower screen, just the difficulty selection has one.

In the FBneo screen, the dialog box got "stuck" into the ship selection screen  :biggrin:

Make sure you are using the latest version of the core, there is no such issue on my side so maybe you are using one of the prior builds with the race condition issue.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on May 09, 2022, 03:19:13 PM
Can you explain this a little more, and give some good/bad pictures so I can see what to look for? Does it affect anything other than the ship selection screen?

It doesn?t affect anything, just missing one texture. Just saya texture.

Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Tatsuya79 on May 09, 2022, 03:46:07 PM
There's Garfield also instead of the commentary girl on the top right in game.
I think it's trash. :confused:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: el_rika on May 09, 2022, 03:55:37 PM
The full unaltered rom is out for many months now. No need for that hack.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 09, 2022, 08:18:54 PM
el_rika, can you try toggling off the the threaded blitter and see if it helps at all?
Is there something that needs to be done in order to get the issues in mushisam to appear?

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: el_rika on May 09, 2022, 11:38:50 PM
el_rika, can you try toggling off the the threaded blitter and see if it helps at all?
Is there something that needs to be done in order to get the issues in mushisam to appear?

best regards,
- dink

This fixes the issue (disabling threaded blitter)

The performance takes a big hit though.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 10, 2022, 12:35:35 AM
This fixes the issue (disabling threaded blitter)

The performance takes a big hit though.

Thanks, its just a test to help me understand what is going wrong - I don't actually recommend to use it like that.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: el_rika on May 10, 2022, 01:49:59 AM
My pleasure dink.

Thanks so much for all your hard work!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on May 10, 2022, 03:30:36 AM
There's Garfield also instead of the commentary girl on the top right in game.
I think it's trash. :confused:

Saya version it doesn?t have. Knuckles version is not necessary at all, just remind the hack of Saya, because she is exclusive.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 10, 2022, 09:52:23 AM
updated happenings re: cave
last night I came up with a nice fix for music when using [any cpu rate] :)
I'm surprized - I didn't think it would have been fixed so soon because I had tried many many times without luck!

thanks for all the positive comments, I think this has been a good source of my success last night!

el_rika, next I will try to come up with a better solution for the threaded blitter on android - stay tuned!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on May 10, 2022, 09:57:42 AM
updated happenings re: cave
last night I came up with a nice fix for music when using [any cpu rate] :)
I'm surprized - I didn't think it would have been fixed so soon because I had tried many many times without luck!

thanks for all the positive comments, I think this has been a good source of my success last night!

el_rika, next I will try to come up with a better solution for the threaded blitter on android - stay tuned!

best regards,
- dink

Way a go dink! Nice one!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 10, 2022, 01:04:38 PM
Joaquim2020 thanks!
Where did you get the ddpsdoj hack with knuckles?  I want to try it! :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joaquim2020 on May 12, 2022, 03:28:01 AM
Joaquim2020 thanks!
Where did you get the ddpsdoj hack with knuckles?  I want to try it! :)

best regards,
- dink

http://www.emuline.org/topic/2626-shmup-dodonpachi-saidaioujou-knuckles/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RClniFO7Jf0
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: el_rika on May 12, 2022, 10:55:31 AM
So, the latest improvement fixed the libretro core for android to the level of mame_0.155.
Mushihimesama, Futari and Daifukkatsu (the other games are not affected by the issue) now play without errors if:
- delete game.fs before starting game
- after starting the game, go back to Retroarch gui and "reset".

(I've only tested Mushihimesama, but based on the identical behaviour to mame, all should work fine.) Will test further.

Have a great day guys!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on May 12, 2022, 12:36:51 PM
@el_rika make sure you are using the latest version of the core (whenever it'll be available from the libretro buildbot), there was a fix for a race condition issue around 2 hours ago, it would sometimes cause glitches in mushisam
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: el_rika on May 12, 2022, 03:08:58 PM
Thanks barbu,

I will test it as soon as it becomes available.

Regarding my previous post, i think i made a mistake.
The most consistent way of having Mushihimesama error free is this:
- ignore the .fs file
- start the game
- go into core options and disable Threaded Blitter
- restart/reset
- go back to core options and enable Threaded Blitter

(My previous test still had missing bullets, but only in some small parts of the level/boss, so i missed it initially).

Now it's error free and the new additions to the core will most likely fix things further.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: filianore on May 17, 2022, 01:44:57 AM
el_rika, can I ask how you are running these new games in FBN on Android? I'm getting an error that the roms (does it for all CV-1000) aren't part of the rom set, but my core is on 1.0.0.3 and the roms work fine on my PC in FBN. Any idea?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: el_rika on May 17, 2022, 02:11:45 AM
Be very sure you are actually on the latest FBNeo core. To be sure, download/update it again.
Try moving the roms that give some kind of CRC error to Retroarch - system - fbneo - patched  (you need to create the last two folders, fbneo and patched).

Some roms need repackaging, but Mushihimesama and Ibara Black Label should work in their default state.


As of latest core revision, Mushihimesama, Futari and Daifukkatsu no longer need any reset trick to load the layers properly. They work perfectly from the get go.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on May 17, 2022, 03:43:22 AM
but my core is on 1.0.0.3

All builds from the past year are 1.0.0.03, this is the ongoing wip version, you'll need to make sure you are using latest build and not one from weeks/months ago.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: filianore on May 17, 2022, 05:41:35 PM
Thanks, was able to get them going!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Shin on May 19, 2022, 03:42:07 PM
I like where this is going :cool: (android10 on switch, flipgrip)
https://streamable.com/5g4wsz
(oc is on in android's system settings.)

(should be faster on lakka for switch, probably even faster on linux os (I know lakka is linux), not sure about horizon (nintendo switch OS), probably slower even with OC on)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 26, 2022, 09:17:26 AM
Hooked up the cheat subsystem to Cave-1000 and ported over a few pages worth of cheats, here's my updated cheat.dat (it's Pugsy's cheat.dat with some changes/additions by me)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Hellwar on May 26, 2022, 03:24:37 PM
Hello, I want to test the core with a Raspberry Pi4 to see how the CV1000 games work, is there a version for the RPi available? or is it possible to compile it myself? I'll test it with RetroPie.

Not experienced with compiling stuff so if someone can point me to the right direction would be nice.

Thanks!.

Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on May 27, 2022, 01:37:41 AM
Hello, I want to test the core with a Raspberry Pi4 to see how the CV1000 games work, is there a version for the RPi available? or is it possible to compile it myself? I'll test it with RetroPie.

FBNeo is available on retropie, you just need to update it from source using their setup script.

As for performance on pi4, i heard it's very good as long as your pi4 is overclocked and the emulated cpu is downclocked (and you should to reproduce pcb slowdowns, see this topic (https://neo-source.com/index.php?topic=3934.0) for recommended values).
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: el_rika on May 27, 2022, 05:46:54 AM
Hooked up the cheat subsystem to Cave-1000 and ported over a few pages worth of cheats, here's my updated cheat.dat (it's Pugsy's cheat.dat with some changes/additions by me)

best regards,
- dink

Helluva job dink, helluva job  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: ClessxAlghazanth on May 27, 2022, 08:16:15 AM
Hooked up the cheat subsystem to Cave-1000 and ported over a few pages worth of cheats, here's my updated cheat.dat (it's Pugsy's cheat.dat with some changes/additions by me)

best regards,
- dink

Sounds great , where should the cheats file go to ?

Outstanding work recently , dink  :cool:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 27, 2022, 08:59:04 AM
Thanks guys :)


Cheats go into support\cheats subdir!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Nick Reynolds on May 28, 2022, 09:54:02 PM
Hello,

I would like to thank the developers for this emulator, and more recently, for adding Marble Madness 2. I don't think that too many people use the emulator for this purpose, but because the game was added to FB Neo, I was able to play online using Kaillera netplay.

There are a few things I wanted to mention. First, it seems to me like in Zero Team, the pitch is too high for the voice samples. This can easily be compared with MAME, which I think sounds correct in that emulator.
Everything else I have to say here is related to Kaillera.

First, I didn't see any mention of it, but is it already known that analog input, such as the lightguns in Laser Ghost, or the trackball in SegaSonic don't work at all in netplay?

The game "Where's Wally" for some reason doesn't seem to be mapped as a trackball like it is on MAME, and while it works on Kaillera because of that, it doesn't have as precise movement as the emulated trackball.

The last thing is related to the lack of save states on Kaillera. The feature "restore full state on load" is disabled when using Kaillera. Because it's disabled, I haven't been able to test it, but my guess is that there is a chance that the save states would load in sync if all of the players shared the same save state and were able to use that feature with Kaillera.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 30, 2022, 12:00:51 AM
Hi Nick thanks for the feedback.
I've fixed the problem with zero team's sample clock.
Regarding Kaillera, getting analogs to work properly is on my todo list, I'll post back here when more stuff gets fixed!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: ClessxAlghazanth on May 30, 2022, 08:27:48 AM
Would it possible to update version of zakk's Battle Garegga hack to FBNeo ?  :rolleyes:

https://github.com/zakk4223/battle-garegga-patches

The currently included version is like from 2008 , and I believe there has been lots of updates to rank display and other Qol changes after that , the most recent build released in 2021 I believe

I'm sure Garegga fans appreciate having the latest version of this great hack in FBNeo  :smilie:

Thanks for reading and keep up the outstanding work , dink  :cool:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 30, 2022, 09:14:54 AM
ClessxAlghazanth, of course!  I'll have to go with the Sept.1.2019 version, (latest one available by the author)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Nick Reynolds on May 30, 2022, 03:32:25 PM
Hi Nick thanks for the feedback.
I've fixed the problem with zero team's sample clock.
Regarding Kaillera, getting analogs to work properly is on my todo list, I'll post back here when more stuff gets fixed!

best regards,
- dink
Thank you for fixing Zero Team. Also, thanks for looking into the analog input situation.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 31, 2022, 12:38:54 AM
Thank you for fixing Zero Team. Also, thanks for looking into the analog input situation.

You're welcome

For Kaillera: Analog inputs are fixed now, so far I only tested with centipede (2player version), SegaSonic the Hedgehog, and Laser Ghost.
Laser Ghost is a bit of a pain to get going, but it will work.  Guns will need to be calibrated @ start because with Kaillera - the games' nvram doesn't get saved or loaded.  It has to be done this way to prevent desynchs.

p.s. gotta love what Sonic says when he gets hurt :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: ClessxAlghazanth on May 31, 2022, 07:17:12 AM
ClessxAlghazanth, of course!  I'll have to go with the Sept.1.2019 version, (latest one available by the author)

best regards,
- dink

Wow , thanks a ton for your kindness , dink  :smilie:

Looking forward to it :cool:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Nick Reynolds on June 02, 2022, 11:58:43 PM
You're welcome

For Kaillera: Analog inputs are fixed now, so far I only tested with centipede (2player version), SegaSonic the Hedgehog, and Laser Ghost.
Laser Ghost is a bit of a pain to get going, but it will work.  Guns will need to be calibrated @ start because with Kaillera - the games' nvram doesn't get saved or loaded.  It has to be done this way to prevent desynchs.

p.s. gotta love what Sonic says when he gets hurt :)

best regards,
- dink
Thank you very much. I was able to play through Laser Ghost 3p and it worked without any problems. The only other game I have tested so far is Lethal Enforcers, but it also worked.

Edit:
Hello again. I hope I'm not being too much of an annoyance, but I realized that there is a problem with the sprites on Zero Team, which isn't a problem on Zero Team 2000. Comparison images are here. https://imgur.com/c5JmE1m https://imgur.com/nMHWOwG
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on June 06, 2022, 06:15:03 PM
Hi Nick Reynolds,
You're welcome, I'm glad it worked!
Regarding Zero Team: this game has unemulated protections (Look at the Notes: field), and due to this there are several issues in the game, including the sprite priority problem.  Zero Team 2000 and New Zero Team are working perfectly though.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: geese howard on June 14, 2022, 04:53:50 PM
Fom the latest changelog, what is "sys16 wip"?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on June 14, 2022, 11:18:07 PM
geese howard, just working on modernizing a few things, it's part of the previous commit for the same file.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: windale on June 15, 2022, 12:19:19 PM
This is almost my favourite Arcade emulator! I see you added 'Marble Madness II' but there's still no 'Marble Madness' ? Are there any plans to add these drivers -

atarisy1
atarisy2
leland

Some classic games on those!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on June 15, 2022, 12:26:53 PM
windale, yes, they will be added some day :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: INVICTA on June 16, 2022, 06:12:26 AM
Lately, I am enjoying the sweet Cave CV1000 goodness all thanks to your endeavours. But playing Mushihimesama again has made be cognizant towards the pertinence of auto/rapid fire function. I know it is frontend thing but can I politely request the inclusion of auto/rapid fire in FB Neo core options. I cannot for the life of me get the RA frontend turbo fire option to work with the touchscreen input (I use RA Android).
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on June 22, 2022, 08:32:13 PM
Hi INVICTA,
Any luck finding the autofire option in RetroArch?

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on June 22, 2022, 11:13:27 PM
Hi friends & fans of fbneo, here's a little rundown of what's happening over the past couple weeks:

Added SlowMo T.A. feature for slowing down framerate of games, compatible with recording, re-recording(states while recording) :)
Access via Game -> SlowMo, and/or set up keys in the inputs editor

Fixed rounding error in the CPU Speed selector, bug thanks to el_rika for finding this problem!  Also super big thanks to el_rika for continuously working with me to improve things :)

NBeing added support to lua scripting to hook memory maps and pc on 68k

Fixed bug in win-ui: if a state is loaded which loads a game - cheats would be disabled for that game. 

Trackball driver (aka general dial/wheel/paddle driver): improved synchronization (states, replay, netplay)

System 16*-18, standardized inputs, modernized frame loops a bit

Kaillera, add support for analog inputs

Taito F2, standardized inputs (for kaillera netplay support)

5 years ago I made a nice anti-click hack for k054539 Games like moo mesa, violent storm, mystic warriors, ... would make a nasty click or popping noise at the end of any sample, like a punch sound. or character dialog.  SaxxonPike took things a step further and came up with the proper dpcm table for the chip, which gets rid of the pops and clicks without any sort of hack.  very nice.  Upgraded to his method, of course! :)

Fixed the "unable to go fullscreen" error message, finally.  Wow, that looked bad for so long :P

iq_132 Added Varia Metal to the Metro HW driver, so we finally got rid of the old buggy "varia metal" driver.

barbudreadmon improved the gun inputs for Cyber Tank, and added ability to set coordinate extents to the gun driver.

supernova driver got some little fixups: better paddle inputs for vs block breaker/saru kani and proper music looping for Sengeki Striker and Puzzloop.

taoenwen did nice improvements to IPS patching

Gab75 constantly doing great work keeping our consoles section up-to-date :)

cjom adds support for Cheats along with other nice game/menu improvements for the SDL2 version of fbneo

bye for now & best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: bytestorm on June 23, 2022, 04:32:03 AM
Big thanks to all of you involved in this wonderful emulator.. such an awesome thing made possible by you all!! THANK YOU
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: el_rika on June 23, 2022, 04:48:42 AM
My pleasure dink!

Thank you and the rest of the team, so much for doing such a fantastic job :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Luna on July 04, 2022, 07:22:02 AM
new driver time!
cave 1000

test video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pgnb60f2WvI

*despite what is written below, all games are playable and work great*

WIP limitations: (will be fixed within the next week or 2)
0: need 32bpp video. fixed, supports 15/16, 24 and *of course* 32bpp
1: cpu rate selector must be 25,50,75,100% anything in-between will cause the music to screw up (especially in ddpdfk) FIXED :)
2: some bugs
3: even more bugs

limitatations that will not be fixed:
1: you'll need a nice cpu for this, my dumpster-find i7-2600 runs all games just fine though!  If you have trouble getting 60fps, time to go pc hunting on night before garbage day!  or talk to some scrappers.  or try some tips below...

tips:
1: turn OFF vsync / dwm sync
2: use XAudio2 audio plugin, with 6-8 buffers
3: use auto frameskip function - it helps with audio buffering, even if frames never get skipped

bonus:
savestates work
threaded blitter thanks to Thready! (pre-cursor to towelie)

thanks-to: iq_132 for driver skeleton, barbudreadmon for testing

best regards,
- dink

Might be a silly question but how do we get CV1000 support on android retroarch?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: el_rika on July 04, 2022, 08:10:50 AM
Just download the latest FBNeo core. Nothing more.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Luna on July 04, 2022, 09:12:59 AM
Just download the latest FBNeo core. Nothing more.

I'm downloading the core through Retroarch Plus, it's (V1.0.0.03 ed67f0d). Can get everything up to a CPSIII and first gen cave stuff running nicely, but CV1000 stuff not a single ROM works. It's very confusing because I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. I keep getting the "ROMset is unknown" error, even though the ROMs work fine on my PC with windows version of Finalburn Neo....


__________

edit:

OK I think I solved it.

I needed to go to here: http://buildbot.libretro.com/nightly/android/

and download the most recent nightly build of retroarch, then install FB NEO, then it correctly will play the CV1000 games.

I guess the PLAY store version of retroarch is out of date
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: el_rika on July 04, 2022, 11:42:05 AM
Glad you solved it   :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 26, 2022, 10:32:01 AM
Howdy folks!

Input Recording feature improvement
Added a "With NVRAM" option to "Record from Power-On".  This will include a snapshot of the game's NVRAM in the recording.  Previously: recording from Power On ignored NVRAM altogether to improve synchronization. but, for some games it is necessary or wanted to have the game configured differently.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 30, 2022, 10:22:37 AM
Rewind feature
Started working on the rewind feature last tuesday night, (it's saturday morning now) - it's really quite nice at this point:
x got the input recording stuff synchronized last night.
x systems with growing/shrinking state-sizes working the night before

The next big hurdle to jump over is dealing with running out of memory.  When the rewind memory is used up, I want to have it granularize the earliest recordings to free up half the space.  basically: delete every other rewind chunk(frame), then defrag the list.  Of course, this will happen every time the emulator reaches the end of the rewind memory.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Al82 on July 31, 2022, 09:53:05 AM
Rewind feature
Started working on the rewind feature last tuesday night, (it's saturday morning now) - it's really quite nice at this point:
x got the input recording stuff synchronized last night.
x systems with growing/shrinking state-sizes working the night before

The next big hurdle to jump over is dealing with running out of memory.  When the rewind memory is used up, I want to have it granularize the earliest recordings to free up half the space.  basically: delete every other rewind chunk(frame), then defrag the list.  Of course, this will happen every time the emulator reaches the end of the rewind memory.

best regards,
- dink

Thank you for all the awesome features you and the team continue to work on!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Kev on July 31, 2022, 04:26:41 PM
Rewind feature
Started working on the rewind feature last tuesday night, (it's saturday morning now) - it's really quite nice at this point:
x got the input recording stuff synchronized last night.
x systems with growing/shrinking state-sizes working the night before


Nice work!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 31, 2022, 08:07:49 PM
Hi Kev, thanks buddy :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Neildark on August 01, 2022, 07:13:34 AM
Thank you very much for your work and effort, eager to try the new feature  :cool: :biggrin: :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Bad Dude on August 05, 2022, 07:58:52 PM
So many great additions are being made.
Congratulations to everyone involved in this project.
These games of bullet hell made by Cave, like DoDonPachi Dai-Fukkats and Deathsmiles, there are so many bright colored lights, that gets to irritate. The classic DonPachi is so much better!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Harpuia on August 06, 2022, 09:55:30 AM
Is there any way to set up automatic input recording? As in, getting it to record every time I start up a game.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 06, 2022, 08:07:10 PM
Thank you very much for your work and effort, eager to try the new feature  :cool: :biggrin: :biggrin:

Neildark,
I'm working hard on it, hopefully will be done soon! 
Setting up a crude rewind feature took an hour and a half, but accounting for all of the nice things that make rewind perfect is taking a lot of time, such as: keeping input recordings synched, dealing with games that have growing savestates, what to do when you run out of memory.  It gets a lot deeper, too :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 06, 2022, 08:14:34 PM
So many great additions are being made.
Congratulations to everyone involved in this project.
These games of bullet hell made by Cave, like DoDonPachi Dai-Fukkats and Deathsmiles, there are so many bright colored lights, that gets to irritate. The classic DonPachi is so much better!

well, nothing beats the original DonPachi IMO :) 
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: SirHenrythe5th on August 08, 2022, 03:36:59 AM
well, nothing beats the original DonPachi IMO :)
Wingleader to Base: full ack! :D
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 09, 2022, 12:12:12 AM
Wingleader to Base: full ack! :D

\o/ yea!!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 11, 2022, 10:13:48 AM
Dear friends & fans of FBNeo

Rewind feature is in!

Set up your rewind and rewind cancel keys or buttons in the inputs of _anygame_ and copy it into preset.ini* :)
or just use the hard-coded Pg-UP button for Rewind.  either way!

*(config\presets\preset.ini)

Inputs -> Rewind Settings, enable / set memory for rewind

Don't forget about Rewind Cancel
Whilst holding the rewind button/key, if you've gone back too far - the cancel button will undo the rewind.

Rewind + Fast Forward?
Yes

.....Rewind + cv1000, at 168+megs per frame/state?
no.

Rewind + Recording?
From Power-On: Yes
Not Power-On: Yes (was BE CAREFUL.  if you rewind before started recording, it will EXPLODE like a ruski ammo depot!)

Notes:
When memory limit is reached, it will go back and delete every 2nd rewind-frame from memory, to free up new rewind-spots.
In the debug version of FBNeo, you can see when this happens in the debug console (Misc -> Options -> Show Debug Console)
If you get studders every once in a while with rewind enabled: reduce the amount of rewind memory.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: SirHenrythe5th on August 12, 2022, 02:53:07 AM

Not Power-On: BE CAREFUL.  if you rewind before started recording, it will EXPLODE like a ruski ammo depot!


LOL, made my day!!! :D
Thanks a lot for this great feature Dink!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Neildark on August 12, 2022, 07:12:19 AM
Great, a huge addition to FB Neo, especially for fans of TAS, and also modern shoot 'em up. Thank you very much for your effort!  :biggrin: :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 12, 2022, 09:07:49 AM
LOL, made my day!!! :D
Thanks a lot for this great feature Dink!

No smoking next to the salt peter!! XD
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 12, 2022, 08:50:57 PM
LOL, made my day!!! :D
Thanks a lot for this great feature Dink!

Great :D

Great, a huge addition to FB Neo, especially for fans of TAS, and also modern shoot 'em up. Thank you very much for your effort!  :biggrin: :biggrin:

both: you're welcome! :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Al82 on August 13, 2022, 07:26:00 AM
Dear friends & fans of FBNeo

Rewind feature is in!

Set up your rewind and rewind cancel keys or buttons in the inputs of _anygame_ and copy it into preset.ini* :)
or just use the hard-coded Pg-UP button for Rewind.  either way!

*(config\presets\preset.ini)

Inputs -> Rewind Settings, enable / set memory for rewind

Don't forget about Rewind Cancel
Whilst holding the rewind button/key, if you've gone back too far - the cancel button will undo the rewind.

Rewind + Fast Forward?
Yes

.....Rewind + cv1000, at 168+megs per frame/state?
no.

Rewind + Recording?
From Power-On: Yes
Not Power-On: BE CAREFUL.  if you rewind before started recording, it will EXPLODE like a ruski ammo depot!

Notes:
When memory limit is reached, it will go back and delete every 2nd rewind-frame from memory, to free up new rewind-spots.
In the debug version of FBNeo, you can see when this happens in the debug console (Misc -> Options -> Show Debug Console)
If you get studders every once in a while with rewind enabled: reduce the amount of rewind memory.

best regards,
- dink

Outstanding work!! Thanks for all the hard work on this!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 13, 2022, 12:20:23 PM
Outstanding work!! Thanks for all the hard work on this!

You're welcome!

I'd love to know what you and everyone thinks about it after testing it out! :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Neildark on August 17, 2022, 03:49:00 PM
Hello! :cool: I've been testing the new rewind option, and it works great, but... when recording play and then replay input it tends to get out of sync  :redface:. I've tried it with several shotem up, like Blazing Star, and with old games, like Black Tiger, and it happens with all of them. I have tried with different amounts of memory, selecting, in case it had something to do with it, in short files -two minutes- and long ones, and it always happens if you abuse the option a little. In any case, thanks for your work.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 17, 2022, 11:06:02 PM
Hi Neildark, thanks for letting me know about the problem - will try to fix it asap!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 18, 2022, 09:08:43 PM
Neildark,
Problem w/rewind & recordings is solved!  Please give it a try, it needs some more thorough testing :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 19, 2022, 01:35:06 AM
Had to replace the dynamic huffman compression in the input recordings with raw (uncompressed) for several reasons:
x too many file writes when using rewind (this is bad for sdd's)
x leaky, buggy, slower
x source is impossible to maintain or fix

The downsides to using raw/uncompressed is..
x size, f.ex: 1 level in blazing star: 6k (compressed)  14k (raw) ...basically a non-issue these days :)
x new exe's won't load old .fr recordings

but, it's faster, more reliable, only writes data at the end of recording or state save (none during rewind!)
Also it makes possible to edit the input data for tas-ing.  (if someone writes an editor)

Any help testing this new code by recording something and making sure it plays back OK will be appreciated!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on August 19, 2022, 01:53:39 AM
Thanks a lot for your hard work! :)

The downsides to using raw/uncompressed is..
x size, f.ex: 1 level in blazing star: 6k (compressed)  14k (raw) ...basically a non-issue these days :)
x new exe's won't load old .fr recordings

Indeed, since we are talking about few kbytes, it makes little sense to "complicate their lives" with compression algorithms! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Neildark on August 19, 2022, 04:23:06 AM
Hello! I have tried several games, a long game of twenty minutes, and a short one of two minutes but making intensive use of rewind, and I have been able to replay input without errors :cool:. I'll keep testing over the weekend, but it seems to be working fine. Congratulations.

PS: A curiosity, can the FFWD (Forward Fast) option be modified so that it goes faster? :confused: In long videos it takes a long time to check if everything is correct xD Greetings!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 19, 2022, 06:14:02 PM
Neildark, thanks for testing! :)
FFWD speed really depends on 2 things: the resource requirements by the system being emulated and the cpu of your pc.
Though - there might be some tweaks that can be done to speed certain things up, I'll look into it and see if something can be improved.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 28, 2022, 09:40:52 AM
Added a new CRT SoftFX by Kannagichan

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 29, 2022, 01:22:24 AM
Hi friends & fans of fbneo,
The Rewind + re-recording has gone through some pretty hefty testing and fixes over the past 5 days.  It seems to be very solid at this point.  Calling this one finished!

Grab latest exe here, if interested: https://github.com/finalburnneo/FBNeo/releases/tag/latest
Original post about Rewind / how to set-up (from Aug.11): https://neo-source.com/index.php?topic=2487.msg34417#msg34417

NOTE: Using one of the very first WIP/test-versions of rewind+rerecording?  The .fr movie files won't be compatible with latest version.  Finish your games before upgrading!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Neildark on August 29, 2022, 06:56:38 AM
Great, thanks for your work! :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: ClessxAlghazanth on August 29, 2022, 09:07:30 AM
Thanks for these great updates , dink  :cool:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: geese howard on August 30, 2022, 04:22:08 PM
Added a new CRT SoftFX by Kannagichan

best regards,
- dink

CRT 4x4 is so slow in my pc....ryzen 3700x + GTX 1080 + 16gb ram
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 30, 2022, 08:11:55 PM
geese howard, sometimes there's a bug with enhanced blitter which slows down after changing some options.  try restarting fbneo.  I've been trying to figure out why for years but no luck  :redface:  It usually goes away after restart though.  If it's still slow can you please send me your config/fbneo.ini file?

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Kannagichan on August 31, 2022, 03:56:58 AM
Hello, I come here to see the feedback for my CRT filter ah ah
Yes, it's long, but it shouldn't be on your computer (I have a PC that dates from 2013 and it runs without slowing down).
I hope it's a bug.
In my case it runs smoothly.

Besides, I made a fast CRT filter, but inevitably, it is less "beautiful" than the CRT4x4.

Scrrenshot :
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Kannagi/CRT/main/screen_emu/mslugx.png
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Kannagi/CRT/main/screen_emu/SSF2X_HD.png
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: INVICTA on August 31, 2022, 10:48:09 AM
Hi,

Although Retroarch provides a frontend level autofire function, the said function does not works with on-screen gamepad. So, playing shmup games by pressing the same button all the time gets the thumb sore real fast. Is it possible to implement a FB Neo core level function for enabling autofire?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: geese howard on August 31, 2022, 05:36:04 PM
geese howard, sometimes there's a bug with enhanced blitter which slows down after changing some options.  try restarting fbneo.  I've been trying to figure out why for years but no luck  :redface:  It usually goes away after restart though.  If it's still slow can you please send me your config/fbneo.ini file?

best regards,
- dink

No change.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 01, 2022, 12:31:40 AM
geese howard,
SoftFX blitter is absolutely last-resort blitter - its not hw-accelerated.  It's for if nothing else will work on the pc.  (For example: Make useful Russian S-500 system control module)
Try:
Video -> Select Blitter -> Directx9 Alt
Set to Point Filtering (if it isn't) and SoftFX -> Crt 4x4 under Video -> Blitter Settings

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on September 01, 2022, 03:13:26 AM
Hi,

Although Retroarch provides a frontend level autofire function, the said function does not works with on-screen gamepad. So, playing shmup games by pressing the same button all the time gets the thumb sore real fast. Is it possible to implement a FB Neo core level function for enabling autofire?

Retroarch issues should be reported to retroarch team.

Due to their api limitations (https://github.com/libretro/RetroArch/issues/11273), no it's not possible to implement this.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Bad Dude on September 02, 2022, 11:28:01 AM
Hello, I come here to see the feedback for my CRT filter ah ah
Yes, it's long, but it shouldn't be on your computer (I have a PC that dates from 2013 and it runs without slowing down).
I hope it's a bug.
In my case it runs smoothly.

Besides, I made a fast CRT filter, but inevitably, it is less "beautiful" than the CRT4x4.

Scrrenshot :
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Kannagi/CRT/main/screen_emu/mslugx.png
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Kannagi/CRT/main/screen_emu/SSF2X_HD.png

Looks great, man!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: geese howard on September 03, 2022, 04:30:58 PM
geese howard,
SoftFX blitter is absolutely last-resort blitter - its not hw-accelerated.  It's for if nothing else will work on the pc.  (For example: Make useful Russian S-500 system control module)
Try:
Video -> Select Blitter -> Directx9 Alt
Set to Point Filtering (if it isn't) and SoftFX -> Crt 4x4 under Video -> Blitter Settings

best regards,
- dink

Worked!
Can you explain this issue?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 05, 2022, 09:12:39 AM
Worked!
Can you explain this issue?

Blitter named "SoftFX" is not hardware-accelerated, it's a left-over from the win98 days...
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: xerf84 on September 09, 2022, 08:14:50 PM
Hi guys, how you have been?, I know it's out of topic, but I have a question, how can I play online with kaillera with fbn for windows?. I want to try marvel vs and kof series whit a friend. Saludos.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 09, 2022, 08:28:52 PM
Hi guys, how you have been?, I know it's out of topic, but I have a question, how can I play online with kaillera with fbn for windows?. I want to try marvel vs and kof series whit a friend. Saludos.

Hi xerf84,
Yes of course, all you need is the kailleraclient.dll in the same directory as fbneo.exe. 
Some tips to make it smoother:
Mark the games you want to play as Favorite in the game list, (right click -> favorite) to make it easier to find them in the kaillera list
turn off vsync & dwm sync (under video tab) on both you and friends pc.
Put audio buffers (Audio -> Buffer size) to 8 if you get a lot of audio glitching

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: xerf84 on September 09, 2022, 09:28:25 PM
Thanks dink, I'm going to try what you mention to me, so I can play online.  :cool:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: geese howard on September 15, 2022, 05:16:03 PM
@dink Can be added an option to do updates directly from emulator, like duckstation and rpcs3?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 11, 2022, 09:20:57 AM
it can, but not for me to do.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 11, 2022, 09:37:55 AM
Dear FBNeo fans,
been busy lately finishing up emulation on some of iq_132's wip drivers, as you've probably already seen:
Midway 68k games:
Arch Rivals, a BasketBall game where you can steal the ball from opponent by punching them - it's really great!)
Tri-Sport, pool, mini-golf and bowling, it's unreal how well this plays.  Most certainly worth a try
Zwackery - A flick-screen platformer, controls are hard to get used to - but worth it!
Lady Frog and Touche Me, interesting but not great version of frogger and crush roller

new stuff
Atari Rampart - this one was in the FBNeo source for a few years but wasn't working.  Now it is :) Awesome game!  Imagine Missile Command where you get to rebuild your bases (castle walls?) with Tetris pieces. I always avoided this one because thought it was one of them strategy games..  That was a mistake :)

of course, all of this new stuff is in the github nightly builds of FBNeo!

best regards & have fun,
- dink

Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 11, 2022, 08:28:17 PM
Hi guys,
Some fix news of lately:

Fixed hiscores in Dragon Breed (parent) - the titlescreen no longer gets stuck when using hiscores (it didn't happen every single time)
Vastar - fixed shooting sound
SegaSonic The Hedgehog - fixed sprite timing, was noticeable in level 3 when sprites are used as parts of the background, things would start to fall apart
Fixed "View in Arcade Database" for Nintendo VS. System games
Oli Boo-Chu - properly emulated sound HW, big thanks to Hap for figuring it all out.  This is a super fun 'kinda' like Pac Man, but also totally different - give it a try :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: ClessxAlghazanth on November 11, 2022, 08:34:00 PM
Thanks for another great update , dink  :cool:

Time to give Rampart a try ! ;p
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: geese howard on November 24, 2022, 10:02:06 AM
@dink Can you expain "Emulate undocumented NeoGeo hardware feature"??
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: iq_132 on November 24, 2022, 12:07:27 PM
@dink Can you expain "Emulate undocumented NeoGeo hardware feature"??
It's a small change that likely won't affect anything. It is really more for documentation/accuracy. I found it when I was running hardware tests on my neogeo mobo. I can give details if you like.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: geese howard on November 24, 2022, 01:01:23 PM
It's a small change that likely won't affect anything. It is really more for documentation/accuracy. I found it when I was running hardware tests on my neogeo mobo. I can give details if you like.

Emulation accuracy is always welcome?
Thanks!!!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 30, 2022, 08:37:10 PM
Hi friends & fans of fbneo!
The other day I reworked my Millipede driver, spent about a week studying and debugging the game just to figure out how the game really utilizes its palette.  Ended up creating a custom draw routine which is a little bit more like how the hw works.

New games added: Maze Invaders proto. and Warlords, by Atari

Added Hap's lsrd fix to the konami cpu for proper parallax clouds in Parodius Da!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on December 30, 2022, 11:53:01 PM
As usual, nice work! ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on January 06, 2023, 05:22:36 AM
This is not a mistake, but I would like to be cleared of doubt.

In the game "thunder hoop", when I play it in arcade 0.220, it goes smoothly in the scroll, it tells me: 320x240 (H) 60.000000 Hz. On the other hand in FBN the scroll makes me small jerks, as if it was at less Hz.

In the current versions of mame, does this game lower the amount of Hz?

As I say, it is a doubt more than a bug.

Regards.

I have not checked the new updates of mame, as they are too slow or do not load in XP.

Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on January 06, 2023, 06:39:11 AM
The accurate refresh rate for Thunder Hoop is 57.42Hz, and this is what FBNeo is using, however you should be able to override it by using our "force 60Hz" setting to match your monitor's refresh rate. Note that the game will run faster by doing this.

Also note that earlier versions of MAME/FBNeo had this refresh rate wrong, and it was actually causing a black screen when dying in 4th stage. It was fixed sometime in late 2021 (and should be fine even if you force 60Hz), so arcade 0.220 is probably affected.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 06, 2023, 09:24:41 AM
Pelucon8, a little while back we changed the refreshrate to 57.42, it was found that this is the refreshrate thoop pcb uses, and if you don't use this refreshrate internally, it will crash on level 4.  A big thanks to Peter Ferrie for doing RE and figuring out this emu-bug.  Newer version of arcade (.250) has this same rate.  In fbneo you can set it to "force 60hz" refresh rate option and play it more smoothly, it will still use 57.42 for its internal calculations to prevent crash in level 4. (in theory, I haven't tested this)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on January 06, 2023, 01:28:22 PM
@barbudreadmon y @dink

Doubts clarified. Thank you for your response.  :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 11, 2023, 01:16:58 AM
Dear friends and fbneo fans - a little news update:
Spent the past week and 1/2 getting ZX Spectrum emulation to pass every single timing test for 48k and 128k.  The timing was previously pretty good - it could do all multicolor efx, and demos, .. but recently Gab75 found a HB game called Castle Escape... which gave us some glitches.   First I tackled all of the timing problems reported by the tests, but the game still glitched.  The problem turned out being something more simple, the ula drawing code was off by 4 cycles every other line in 128k mode.... d'oh!!    Well - it was fun, at least :)

barbudreadmon and dink finished emulation of Nintendo's Radar Scope, you'll want to use this samples file, because it can't be found anywhere else (linked below)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Haze on January 11, 2023, 07:53:38 AM
This is not a mistake, but I would like to be cleared of doubt.

In the game "thunder hoop", when I play it in arcade 0.220, it goes smoothly in the scroll, it tells me: 320x240 (H) 60.000000 Hz. On the other hand in FBN the scroll makes me small jerks, as if it was at less Hz.

In the current versions of mame, does this game lower the amount of Hz?

As I say, it is a doubt more than a bug.

Regards.

I have not checked the new updates of mame, as they are too slow or do not load in XP.

The game has protection checks relating to the speed the game runs at.  If you run the game at 60hz it will crash when you die on level 4.

If you run the game at the correct hz, as current MAME does, and FBN does, the protection passes and the game does not crash.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on January 11, 2023, 12:44:19 PM
The game has protection checks relating to the speed the game runs at.  If you run the game at 60hz it will crash when you die on level 4.

If you run the game at the correct hz, as current MAME does, and FBN does, the protection passes and the game does not crash.

Thank you, @haze for the explanation  :smilie:

regarding @dink statement: "In fbneo you can set it to "force 60hz" refresh rate option and play it more smoothly, it will still use 57.42 for its internal calculations to prevent crash in level 4. (in theory, I haven't tested this)"

@dink, I put the option you pointed out to me:

(https://i.postimg.cc/V6NrzKLw/f1.jpg)

And the game runs smoothly and the black screen error does not appear on level 4. I have let myself get lost about 5 times and the error has not appeared. The game is fully playable at 60hz with that option enabled and, of course, can be finished without problems:

(https://i.postimg.cc/hj3s9CC4/f2.jpg)

And regarding @barbudreadmon comment: "Note that the game will run faster by doing this". The truth is that I don't notice such a noticeable increase in speed, it seems normal to me. In sound either, maybe it's because I have a bad ear :biggrin:, but it doesn't bother me.

In fact, I play pretty much the same as before after they upgraded to 57.42 Hz with the "force 60hz" option enabled.

Thanks so much to all 3 of you, you guys are great.  ;p
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 11, 2023, 06:25:35 PM
Pelucon8, excellent!  thanks for testing the theory :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 16, 2023, 09:10:08 PM
Hi Friends and FBNeo fans,
Here's some recent fixes I forgot to mention:

Added support for 2bpp sprites in PCEngine, fixes the game Fighting Run
Fixed a glitch w/Deep Blue - Kaitei Shinwa on PCEngine (glitches on the inactive area of the screen)
Honoo no Toukyuuji - Dodge Danpei (Jpn) fixed on Megadrive, wouldn't boot
* thanks Gab75 for finding the bugs :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Bad Dude on January 28, 2023, 07:52:58 AM
Hi guys,
ported the Hardware FX Shaders from Fightcade (by JordiRos / shine)
They are available under the Alt blitter's options under HardFX.
The attached shaders zip will need to be unzipped into fbneo's support subdirectory!
Some need atleast window of 3x size to work properly(!)
A decent (not onboard) video card is recommended for performance
NOTE: Zoom (click) the images to see each effect :)

best regards,
- dink

I love shaders effects, especially those that remind old tv monitors, like CTR effects and Scanlines. But I don't know why, when you put it on fullscreen, all shaders effects and scanlines looks distorted. Too bad. 
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Joni422 on February 13, 2023, 03:37:06 PM
I love shaders effects, especially those that remind old tv monitors, like CTR effects and Scanlines. But I don't know why, when you put it on fullscreen, all shaders effects and scanlines looks distorted. Too bad.

Hi Bad Dude,

you solve this by setting Blitter options -> "Point filtering" and then selecting the desired shader under HardFX.   
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Bad Dude on February 14, 2023, 06:38:57 AM
Hi Bad Dude,

you solve this by setting Blitter options -> "Point filtering" and then selecting the desired shader under HardFX.

Thanks for the reply! I appreciate your attention!
In older versions of FBN or FBA, the scanlines were perfect, but in fullscreen there were black bars decreasing the screen size. They remove the black bars, but the effect was never perfect again! 
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 14, 2023, 10:45:06 AM
Thanks for the reply! I appreciate your attention!
In older versions of FBN or FBA, the scanlines were perfect, but in fullscreen there were black bars decreasing the screen size. They remove the black bars, but the effect was never perfect again!

Hi Bad Dude,
Can you make sure that your Fullscreen Resolution (Vertical and Horizontal) are set properly, I think this and the setting under "Video -> Monitor Properties" being set wrongly will be the main factor for things not looking perfect.  I think it's most important that the Fullscreen Resolutions are set to the native resolution of your monitor.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Bad Dude on February 14, 2023, 01:13:38 PM
Hi Bad Dude,
Can you make sure that your Fullscreen Resolution (Vertical and Horizontal) are set properly, I think this and the setting under "Video -> Monitor Properties" being set wrongly will be the main factor for things not looking perfect.  I think it's most important that the Fullscreen Resolutions are set to the native resolution of your monitor.

best regards,
- dink

Don't worry about that. I'm using "Small faint RGB mask" which looks the same in all games. In think the problem is that some games have different resolutions, so the scanline looks distorted, depending on the game you are playing. In older versions, this problem was solved because the emulator changed the resolution of the game in full screen and effect looks proportional. I'm downloaded the Final Burn Alpha to demonstrate. You can see that in FBA the image is scaled down so that the effect appears in the correct proportion! You can see the difference between the two images. The fist one is FBN and the second, FBA.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 14, 2023, 02:44:42 PM
Don't worry about that. I'm using "Small faint RGB mask" which looks the same in all games. In think the problem is that some games have different resolutions, so the scanline looks distorted, depending on the game you are playing. In older versions, this problem was solved because the emulator changed the resolution of the game in full screen and effect looks proportional. I'm downloaded the Final Burn Alpha to demonstrate. You can see that in FBA the image is scaled down so that the effect appears in the correct proportion! You can see the difference between the two images. The fist one is FBN and the second, FBA.

Can you send me your ini file from fba (config\fba*.ini) and ini file from fbneo (config\fbneo*.ini) so I can investigate?

thanks & best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Bad Dude on February 14, 2023, 04:03:05 PM
Can you send me your ini file from fba (config\fba*.ini) and ini file from fbneo (config\fbneo*.ini) so I can investigate?

thanks & best regards,
- dink

I send you a private message too.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 15, 2023, 08:08:36 PM
Bad Dude, please see the pm I sent :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 15, 2023, 08:29:48 PM
The past couple days I've been playing NES Megaman 1, 2 and 3 - from beginning to end, while recording in fbneo.
Came across a bug in Megaman 3, the bug happens in Gemini Man's level, and during the "decoy" endboss fight.  The pause menu (weapon-select) becomes distorted (see picture, below).
After digging into the code for a few hours, it's fixed :)

note: that glitchy menu-outline on the good picture below is actually normal (on hw, does the same thing - a game "feature")

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 18, 2023, 02:04:42 AM
More fbneo-news:
restored the cpu adjustment to Irem M72 (r-type 1,2, mr heli, etc)

Neo Geo: removed all the buggy "sound speed-hacks" and replaced with proper timing to fix a "sound dies" bug in Sonic Wings 2 / Aero Fighters 2.
Help Wanted: test your favorite NeoGeo games and let us know if there are any sound issues :)

Midnight Resistance: some tweaks, fixes and cpu speed adjustment for overclocking

Grab the latest exe updates here: https://github.com/finalburnneo/FBNeo/releases/tag/latest

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: geese howard on February 18, 2023, 03:34:28 PM

Neo Geo: removed all the buggy "sound speed-hacks" and replaced with proper timing to fix a "sound dies" bug in Sonic Wings 2 / Aero Fighters 2.
Help Wanted: test your favorite NeoGeo games and let us know if there are any sound issues :)


Tested kof94, kof95 and kof97...perfect!
Does this fix also affect neocd?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 18, 2023, 04:33:49 PM
Tested kof94, kof95 and kof97...perfect!
Does this fix also affect neocd?

Thanks for testing!  Yes, it also affects neogeo cd.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 22, 2023, 10:58:58 AM
nevermind, failure idea... :P
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on February 22, 2023, 02:29:54 PM
I found that by disabling vblank wait / dwm wait when doing fast-forward is beneficial, for example: NES will gain 20-30fps more FFWD speed on my lowly i7 machine. 

So - what do you think.  vsync/dwm sync-wait (if enabled) will be disabled for ffwds.  Good idea, great idea or bad idea?

Good idea! (IMHO) add an option to force the disabling of vsync/dwm during the "fast-forward" would be the best solution! :)
In this way "all users" should be satisfied... ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 22, 2023, 08:38:09 PM
Gab75, unfortunately one can only set vsync status when creating the directx device, so the idea won't work.  Oh well!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 24, 2023, 01:37:21 AM
Seriously offtopic this time!

Nothing like not having power for... 27 hours now., in Michigan.. in February.  yay!

It's not all bad:
Managed to get an inverter today, for free.  Neighbor thought it was a car battery charger, when I told them what it was, they chucked it in the trash.  And I'm using the battery from another neighbor's boat to power dumpster-compy-i7 with my new inverter :)
tomorrow i'll probably take it up to mcdonalds and to charge it up.  imagine that.

ghettotek m*f*

- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: el_rika on February 26, 2023, 08:53:14 AM
Seriously offtopic this time!

Nothing like not having power for... 27 hours now., in Michigan.. in February.  yay!

It's not all bad:
Managed to get an inverter today, for free.  Neighbor thought it was a car battery charger, when I told them what it was, they chucked it in the trash.  And I'm using the battery from another neighbor's boat to power dumpster-compy-i7 with my new inverter :)
tomorrow i'll probably take it up to mcdonalds and to charge it up.  imagine that.

ghettotek m*f*

- dink

Those little things that make us so happy  :smilie:

Hopefuly all is well now my friend!

Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 26, 2023, 09:11:01 AM
Those little things that make us so happy  :smilie:

Hopefuly all is well now my friend!

In all, it was 42 hours without power *yikes*   But it wasn't too bad, except for the cold in the house.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on February 26, 2023, 11:23:47 AM
In all, it was 42 hours without power *yikes*   But it wasn't too bad, except for the cold in the house.

Welcome back in the "electrification" world... and, above all, in the "home heating" world ! ;)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 26, 2023, 08:12:08 PM
Welcome back in the "electrification" world... and, above all, in the "home heating" world ! ;)

thanks :)  modern times are nice, when they work!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 20, 2023, 09:58:02 AM
Hello my friendly bio-logical beings,
Here's a little update on what's new from me:

Fixed up the Sega System 1 / 2 driver a bit:
Choplifter parent works
Noboranka works
add game Shooting Master
add analog inputs for Blockgal

Atari Tetris (atetris): added start buttons for p1/p2

NES: Fix game Quinty aka Mendel Place

Total Carnage: fix bad-line at end of screen

Baseball Stars, fix Homerun screen

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 20, 2023, 09:06:03 PM
News continued:

Fixed Fast Forward (FFWD) while avi-writing, some statistics:

NES Megaman 1
210fps FFWD
131fps FFWD while writing AVI (x264 lossless, with settings below)

NeoGeo Baseball Stars Professional
418fps FFWD
183fps FFWD while writing AVI ""

Codec and Settings
Codec: x264vfw ( https://sourceforge.net/projects/x264vfw/files/latest/download )
Preset: Ultrafast
Zero Latency: Checked
Rate Control: Single Pass - lossless

New FBNeo exe's available at the usual place: https://github.com/finalburnneo/FBNeo/releases/tag/latest
Note: FFWD toggled with Shift-F1

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 02, 2023, 12:26:07 AM
Konami Gradius-era HW megafix

Konami GT / RF2
So, was talking with a friend the other week, he was saying how great this game was in the 80's.  Over the years he's tried playing it in MAME & FB, but the game "controlls like absolute garbage".
I came up with a little fix for the steering, and would like to ask anyone interested in racing/driving games to check it out.  Getting around big turns can be tricky - downshifting & braking will help :)

Hyper Crash
Steering was also broken, but may need to go to the DIPs and click "[Defaults]" button & restart before it will work correctly.

Salamander
Music tempo was wrong -- oops!

Kitten Kaboodle / Nyan Panic
Slotmachine mini-game fixed

all: improved sync. with input recordings/netgame

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 02, 2023, 12:32:32 AM
other misc fixes:

Neogeo: fixed: svcpcb, setting region in DIPs other than Japan was broken

Tetris (Japan, System E): fix "Insert Coin" message and possibly others cut short
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 10, 2023, 02:53:28 PM
Hi volvox,
Please give me some patches so we can test & debug the problem :)

( attach zips here or use a place like https://anonfiles.com/ or https://www.sendspace.com/ )

best regards,
- dink

Ninja Baseball Batman (US) not working properly ips patches
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: volvox on April 11, 2023, 12:02:14 AM
Ninja Baseball Batman (US)  ips pack

https://anonfiles.com/o8M339kczc/nbbatmanu_zip

in previous revisions it worked
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 19, 2023, 08:44:40 PM
Hi Friends and FBNEO Fans!

Some (small) news:

CPS-3, fixed bad palette issue in Street Fighter III on VS Screen
Also, fixed recording sync with all CPS3 games

Pacman and Qbert (gottlieb hw), fixed recording sync & run-ahead on these systems

Fixed music tempo for Konami's Violent Storm

Gunlock / Rayforce gets a dip-hack label'd "Gamma Brightness Hack", which improves the game a bit and brings it closer to how it looks on PCB.

extra-awesome news
shaunquick added hiscore support to every arcade game!!

Leezer updated hiscore.dat last December, get it here: https://highscore.mameworld.info/download.htm
It's the first red button on the left!

Grab latest exe's at the usual place: https://github.com/finalburnneo/FBNeo/releases/tag/latest


best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: ClessxAlghazanth on April 21, 2023, 07:59:24 AM
Wow , great stuff a always , dink  :cool:

The new hs support sounds awesome !

Will try it asap  :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on April 25, 2023, 09:12:28 AM
Wow , great stuff a always , dink  :cool:

The new hs support sounds awesome !

Will try it asap  :biggrin:

Thanks for paying attention :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 03, 2023, 09:27:31 AM
The Double Dragon 1 and II driver got a complete re-write, since the old one was as smoldering dumpster fire which had been put out several times in the past, it started to smell. (Hi Barry!)

Bonuses:
3 new games, Toffy, Super Toffy and Thunder Strike

I need a favor:
The old driver would crash on a 2 player game at the end, and I want to make sure this never happens.
I need an input recording of a 2 player game of Double Dragon 1, from beginning to end.  Both players have to start at the beginning, use all the coins and states/rewinds you want. 

Game -> Replay -> Record Input: Make sure "Record from Power-On" is checked!  :)

Please don't overclock, I know the game has slowdown :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on May 05, 2023, 12:53:16 PM
The Double Dragon 1 and II driver got a complete re-write, since the old one was as smoldering dumpster fire which had been put out several times in the past, it started to smell. (Hi Barry!)

Sounds good, thanks for your work!

I'd like to help with that DD1 2P test, but I'm only one person. Is it OK if P2 barely moves at all and moves just the bare minimum to keep the game scrolling until the end? If so, I'll do it.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 05, 2023, 08:28:02 PM
Sounds good, thanks for your work!

I'd like to help with that DD1 2P test, but I'm only one person. Is it OK if P2 barely moves at all and moves just the bare minimum to keep the game scrolling until the end? If so, I'll do it.

You're welcome!   That would be great, yes - give it a try :)

It would be OK to even link the 2p controls to 1p and play both players at the same time...up until the face-off, of course :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on May 06, 2023, 05:44:54 PM
Here we go. I hope I did it right.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 06, 2023, 08:17:10 PM
Here we go. I hope I did it right.

Hi Stifu,
Thank you, it's perfect! :)  The emulation seems fine, too - fantastic! :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on May 08, 2023, 01:02:25 AM
As usual, excellent work! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 09, 2023, 09:41:46 AM
Stifu, again, nice play!  It's funny how your idle player didn't attract much attention the entire game :)

I'll share a trick I had just learned about:
In the end fight against the guy with the gun, you can skip fighting with nearly everyone on that scene and just kill the guy with the gun by getting the Abobo character to flip you backwards up onto the second level over on the right hand side of the screen.  (that is - right when you enter the big room).  He'll "overhead-flip" you up onto the second level where the guy with the gun is watching the fight, where you can beat him.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on May 09, 2023, 12:23:26 PM
Stifu, again, nice play!  It's funny how your idle player didn't attract much attention the entire game :)

Thanks. I'm rusty, and failed to make any enemy fall in holes, so it was more tedious than it could have been. :p
Anyway, glad it was useful. I also learned about a funny trick recently: the "ghost" bug (https://youtu.be/3iBmmwsn_oM).
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 09, 2023, 08:29:25 PM
Thanks. I'm rusty, and failed to make any enemy fall in holes, so it was more tedious than it could have been. :p
Anyway, glad it was useful. I also learned about a funny trick recently: the "ghost" bug (https://youtu.be/3iBmmwsn_oM).

Wow neat - I didn't know about this ghost bug, thanks for sharing!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on May 09, 2023, 08:40:34 PM
Today user nll5171 submitted code to create duplicate(macros) for all input buttons, including start/select/coin.  These can also be toggled to autofire buttons (checkbox on the left side of the button name).

I've been wanting this for a while now, hooray! :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on June 14, 2023, 04:19:08 AM
Hi dink and whoever wants to help,

Not sure where to post this, but there's an English patch for Land Maker: https://www.romhacking.net/translations/6968/
Would be nice to have in FBN. It's a pretty nice game. Thank you!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on June 14, 2023, 04:21:53 AM
Hi dink and whoever wants to help,

Not sure where to post this, but there's an English patch for Land Maker: https://www.romhacking.net/translations/6968/
Would be nice to have in FBN. It's a pretty nice game. Thank you!

Support was added a few days ago.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on June 14, 2023, 04:45:00 PM
Nice, thanks for the info.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 05, 2023, 12:05:15 AM
Hi guys,
Neo Geo CD now supports Universe Bios, it comes with built-in cheats and a couple other options - enjoy :)  (note: select via DIPS)

A couple bugfixes to NeoGeo CD lead to the above support - big thanks to nicobat87 for reporting them!
These are the bugs that were reported/fixed:
 x After formatting a memory card in the bios, couldn't load the CD game without first resetting (F3)
 x Street Hoop could take up to 8 minutes to load
 x Puzzle Bobble wouldn't load

More de-barryfication, this time brought to you by iq_132:
Terra Cresta, Soldier Girl Amazon & Hore Kids arcade driver was re-written - would you like to test it and report any issues to help us keep up the high standards of FB Neo? :)

ZeroTeam, big thanks to [not very]OpenAI's ChatGPT for fixing the sprite priority issue in this game. 

BurnTimer unification project
This one was huge, and affected nearly every driver which has fm soundchips.  Previously BurnTimer only supported 2 timers, each fm chip requires 2 timers, so on games that used more than 1 fm chip, things got really really copy&pastey-hacky.  That has all been fixed and cleaned up, with over 100 drivers / files modified in the process. Sorry about any trouble that was caused by this humungous change - we had a few broken systems (Sega System16+, 32, ..).. they were fixed within a few hours of problems being reported. :)  How to check if your fbneo exe is affected?  Run ddcrew, sonic, or astorm.  If it crashes, grab an update at the usual place:
https://github.com/finalburnneo/FBNeo/releases/tag/latest


best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: ClessxAlghazanth on July 07, 2023, 06:31:09 AM
Wow , thanks for the updates , dink :) especially NeoCD stuff  :biggrin:

Been wanting to try NeoCD games with FBNeo for some time and now seems like the best time to do so  :cool:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 22, 2023, 08:16:30 PM
ClessxAlghazanth, hope you had a nice time with the NeoCD emulation, it sure is an interesting system :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 22, 2023, 08:38:18 PM
Hi friends & fans of FB Neo,

2 neat features added to the shots factory today: [tag-team iq_132 vs. dink]

[iq_132]
1: Neo-Geo can now have sprite-layers enabled/disabled - this required some krafty code because damn near everything on Neo Geo is a sprite.

[dink]
2: Shots factory's disabled layers can now stay active while the game is playing, just hit the "[ ] Keep" checkbox before hitting OK (see the green arrow in the first picture) :)

Grab the update from our nightly builds section on github & give it a try:
https://github.com/finalburnneo/FBNeo/releases/tag/latest

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: geese howard on July 27, 2023, 06:15:14 PM
Hi guys,
Neo Geo CD now supports Universe Bios, it comes with built-in cheats and a couple other options - enjoy :)  (note: select via DIPS)

A couple bugfixes to NeoGeo CD lead to the above support - big thanks to nicobat87 for reporting them!
These are the bugs that were reported/fixed:
 x After formatting a memory card in the bios, couldn't load the CD game without first resetting (F3)
 x Street Hoop could take up to 8 minutes to load
 x Puzzle Bobble wouldn't load

More de-barryfication, this time brought to you by iq_132:
Terra Cresta, Soldier Girl Amazon & Hore Kids arcade driver was re-written - would you like to test it and report any issues to help us keep up the high standards of FB Neo? :)

ZeroTeam, big thanks to [not very]OpenAI's ChatGPT for fixing the sprite priority issue in this game. 

BurnTimer unification project
This one was huge, and affected nearly every driver which has fm soundchips.  Previously BurnTimer only supported 2 timers, each fm chip requires 2 timers, so on games that used more than 1 fm chip, things got really really copy&pastey-hacky.  That has all been fixed and cleaned up, with over 100 drivers / files modified in the process. Sorry about any trouble that was caused by this humungous change - we had a few broken systems (Sega System16+, 32, ..).. they were fixed within a few hours of problems being reported. :)  How to check if your fbneo exe is affected?  Run ddcrew, sonic, or astorm.  If it crashes, grab an update at the usual place:
https://github.com/finalburnneo/FBNeo/releases/tag/latest


best regards,
- dink

Hi dink,

Any plans to "remove" loading screens in neocd?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 28, 2023, 01:40:34 AM
Hi dink,

Any plans to "remove" loading screens in neocd?

Hi geese howard,
I figure now is a good time - it's a dip option: "CD Loading Speed", set to "Super Speed"

If you'd like to enable it for all neogeo cd games, do this:

set this dip in any neogeocd game, then go to "map game inputs" and hit "save preset"
then delete ngcd_*.ini from support/games

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 30, 2023, 09:31:38 AM
Neo Geo CDz Super Speed-Loader
refined this feature a bit & fixed some bugs, now it's enabled by default.  :)

Load time difference: (timed from end of bios animation&sound to titlescreen of a random game)
Enabled:  1.5 seconds
Disabled: 14 seconds

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on July 30, 2023, 01:22:19 PM
Thanks for your continued hard work, dink!
Great to read about all of these improvements.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: geese howard on July 31, 2023, 08:56:59 AM
Neo Geo CDz Super Speed-Loader
refined this feature a bit & fixed some bugs, now it's enabled by default.  :)

Load time difference: (timed from end of bios animation&sound to titlescreen of a random game)
Enabled:  1.5 seconds
Disabled: 14 seconds

best regards,
- dink

Awesome!!!
You are the best dink!!

Thanks!!!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Neildark on July 31, 2023, 11:02:48 AM
Fantastic! I've been waiting years for you to add this option to give me an excuse to play these games again, with  CD-quality. I am a TAS fan and I will try to record and replay gameplays some of these games several times, to test that everything is ok, if I find any error I will notify you in the forum. Many thanks for your work! :biggrin: :biggrin:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on July 31, 2023, 05:46:42 PM
Stifu, geese howard, Neildark,
always thanks for your support via attentio & kind words - and of course, bug reports! :)

Neildark,
There's some bugs with recording with the new Neo Geo CDz speedloader, please avoid recording with the new feature enabled for now - I'll announce it here when it's fixed - I hope to have it fixed very soon, probably 1-3 days at the most :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 06, 2023, 01:43:31 AM
Hio friends & fans of FBNeo,
Neo Geo CD update - again!

A bunch of games were added to the cd list, thanks to NeilDark and littlebear!
NeoCDz game list enhancement: added sorting, type-to-find, fixed a bunch of little bugs, speed up the initial listing a tiny bit

Emulation: fixed slow loading with Street Hoop/Dunk Dream, cd irq's were getting skipped when lots of raster irq's were enabled - now fixed without a hack :P

Recordings (aka Replay -> Record input) should be OK now!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: the_maq on August 06, 2023, 08:18:36 PM
Hio friends & fans of FBNeo,
Neo Geo CD update - again!

A bunch of games were added to the cd list, thanks to NeilDark and littlebear!
NeoCDz game list enhancement: added sorting, type-to-find, fixed a bunch of little bugs, speed up the initial listing a tiny bit

Emulation: fixed slow loading with Street Hoop/Dunk Dream, cd irq's were getting skipped when lots of raster irq's were enabled - now fixed without a hack :P

Recordings (aka Replay -> Record input) should be OK now!

best regards,
- dink
Great work as always mate your the best. :cool:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 07, 2023, 09:15:34 AM
Great work as always mate your the best. :cool:

thanks buddy :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: littlebear on August 07, 2023, 05:33:02 PM
Found another one call Time's Up . It is a nice little shooter. can you add it too? Thank you.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 08, 2023, 09:20:00 AM
Found another one call Time's Up . It is a nice little shooter. can you add it too? Thank you.

It's in, thanks for the recommendation!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: geese howard on August 09, 2023, 05:54:14 PM
Hio friends & fans of FBNeo,
Neo Geo CD update - again!

A bunch of games were added to the cd list, thanks to NeilDark and littlebear!
NeoCDz game list enhancement: added sorting, type-to-find, fixed a bunch of little bugs, speed up the initial listing a tiny bit

Emulation: fixed slow loading with Street Hoop/Dunk Dream, cd irq's were getting skipped when lots of raster irq's were enabled - now fixed without a hack :P

Recordings (aka Replay -> Record input) should be OK now!

best regards,
- dink

dink, can you add CHD file support?
Now with NeoCD speedloader feature, FBneo is my main emu in retropie...thanks a lot!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on August 09, 2023, 08:33:26 PM
geese howard, great, glad you like it!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: geese howard on September 02, 2023, 04:17:11 PM
Dink, can you add cps1, 2 and 3 in "generate dat file"?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on September 03, 2023, 12:35:41 AM
Dink, can you add cps1, 2 and 3 in "generate dat file"?

It might be a better idea in the long term to add the "sourcefile" attribute to our datfile (sourcefile="d_cps1.cpp", ...) so that it can be sorted with 3rd party tools (i think datutil does that).

@dink not sure what would be the best way to achieve this, maybe modifying some existing macro from stdfunc.h to have a mean to retrieve __FILE__ ?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 03, 2023, 09:30:08 AM
geese howard, at some point - sure

barbudreadmon, will probably have to add that to every single BurnDriver struct, that sounds like a hell.  If you can find a better way, go for it, but please don't do what I just said. :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on September 03, 2023, 11:44:27 AM
I was thinking that STD_ROM_FN used romset name as the argument and that we could add the following code to the macro :
Code: [Select]
const char* Name##Sourcefile()
{
return __FILE__;
}

It turns out my first assertion was wrong :/

The only other way i can think of would be to modify the driver structs indeed.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on September 03, 2023, 01:22:34 PM
@dink actually, adding a new member to every single BurnDriver struct is not as bad as it seems (using sed), i have a wip that can produce those dat with the sourcefile attribute, should i go and commit it ?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on September 03, 2023, 06:07:40 PM
@dink actually, adding a new member to every single BurnDriver struct is not as bad as it seems (using sed), i have a wip that can produce those dat with the sourcefile attribute, should i go and commit it ?

I really don't like that idea, will have to think about it for a while...
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on September 09, 2023, 02:32:34 PM
I really don't like that idea, will have to think about it for a while...

It might be possible to modify gamelist.pl so that it builds a new header with a lookup table for this.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on September 10, 2023, 04:14:37 AM
"sourcefile" support added with https://github.com/finalburnneo/FBNeo/commit/90d34af55396c0e9443cb2cd1243360ee7d99bb2
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on September 10, 2023, 01:10:05 PM
@geese howard

So if you want to create a dat file for a specific driver, you can now do the following :

Download DatUtil (http://www.logiqx.com/Tools/DatUtil/).
Use the following command line (DatUtil is a command line utility) :

Code: [Select]
datutil.exe -G d_cps2.cpp -c -f generic -o CPS2_Datfile.dat "FinalBurn Neo (ClrMame Pro XML, Arcade only).dat"

Where :
- d_cps2.cpp is the filename of the driver
- CPS2_Datfile.dat is the filename of the new dat file
- "FinalBurn Neo (ClrMame Pro XML, Arcade only).dat" is the filename of the original dat file
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: geese howard on September 14, 2023, 10:30:38 AM
thanks for all!!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 12, 2023, 12:28:52 AM
Hi guys,
Just a couple little changes lately:
1: Martial Champion, fixed shadows & added a speedhack for Chaos' level (this level doesn't play nice on low systems, like pi4.  speedhack option, in dips, will fix.)
2: Added Angelo Salese's protection fix for Super Trio (suprtrio), it fixes the protection-reset on the bonus stage after level 9.
3: The final/non-prototype version of Pack'n Bang Bang was added to fbn!  Thanks to arcadez for adding it to fbn, and twistedsymphony, Hammy, ekorz, rtw for finding & purchasing the pcb/dumping it & etc

As for the slow news - I'm working on a little side-project started by Kev that may or may not be added to fbn in the future.  It's very cpu-hungry, but, I'm having fun here... :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: geese howard on October 13, 2023, 09:35:52 AM
Hi guys,
Just a couple little changes lately:
1: Martial Champion, fixed shadows & added a speedhack for Chaos' level (this level doesn't play nice on low systems, like pi4.  speedhack option, in dips, will fix.)
2: Added Angelo Salese's protection fix for Super Trio (suprtrio), it fixes the protection-reset on the bonus stage after level 9.
3: The final/non-prototype version of Pack'n Bang Bang was added to fbn!  Thanks to arcadez for adding it to fbn, and twistedsymphony, Hammy, ekorz, rtw for finding & purchasing the pcb/dumping it & etc

As for the slow news - I'm working on a little side-project started by Kev that may or may not be added to fbn in the future.  It's very cpu-hungry, but, I'm having fun here... :)

Give us at least a little tip about this project... :cool:

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: tmznix on October 16, 2023, 07:28:24 PM

As for the slow news - I'm working on a little side-project started by Kev that may or may not be added to fbn in the future.  It's very cpu-hungry, but, I'm having fun here... :)

best regards,
- dink

SNES ?  :eek:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 24, 2023, 10:37:45 AM
TBA :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 24, 2023, 10:39:30 AM
Takeda Shingen (tshingen) on the Jaleco Mega System 1 has finally been fixed, yay!
Big thanks to Haze for cracking this nut :)

Saint Dragon (also on Mega System 1), fixed a bug that would occasionally cause a hang about halfway through level 4

Also thanks to Arcadez for the heads-up!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: ClessxAlghazanth on October 26, 2023, 07:55:48 AM
Thanks for the Saint Dragon fix , dink  ;p
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on October 29, 2023, 09:06:51 AM
Thanks for the Saint Dragon fix , dink  ;p

Always welcome! :)

You might want to try stdragon after updating exe again, I added support for the raster effect that Haze worked out the other day.  It only appears on the start screen, but it's neat :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on November 02, 2023, 08:36:22 PM
Hi guys,
Just a couple small updates from me:

Added the sprite trails feature to Jaleco Megasystem 1, this effect can be seen on the Jaleco logo on P-47 - The Phantom Fighter (romset p47).  Big thanks to Haze for figuring out how that works.  (He figured it out several years ago, I just forgot to add it.., oops!)

Replaced libpng with libspng after a png was found to not only cause fbneo to crash, it caused some random code within fbneo to run as well, before crashing.  o.O  Yikes.  To libpng's credit: sometimes it didn't crash, but gave us the png graphics with distorted / weird lines in it.  Let's not take any chances here..

Fixed a bug in Athena, Ikari Warriors and Victory Road (Ikari Warriors 2), the sound tempo was running a little too fast, thanks to Peter Venkman for letting us know

Please let us know if any sorta issues arise from the changeover, so they can be fixed! :)

Super big thanks:
barbudreadmon, he's currently on a mission to update all the arcade romsets, add missing clones, and such!
Gab75, for always keeping the console / home computer games up to date & adding new stuff!
Bug reporters, the highest regarded of FBN fans!  Thanks for taking the time to make FBNeo better!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on November 03, 2023, 02:09:01 AM
The new "libspng" renderer code seems to work very well... thanks a lot for your work! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: ClessxAlghazanth on November 04, 2023, 06:49:50 AM
Thanks once again for all the great fixes & updates , dink   :cool:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 02, 2023, 09:07:59 PM
Street Fighter Zero 3 Mix 0.22 added to FBNeo
This took a week of hacking the cps2 code, but, its finally in! :)
Samples untested, but should be hooked up!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on December 03, 2023, 07:36:10 AM
Thanks a lot, dink!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 11, 2023, 12:44:30 AM
Stifu, always welcome :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 11, 2023, 01:04:16 AM
Hi guys, just a little news this time, with some old news mixed in:

fixed the samples loading progress-bar
emulated shadows on Shuuz [by codefrog2002]
Donpachi, fixed a weird click on the coin-up sound
Fixed black line at the top of the emulated screen when compiled with MS Visual Studio
Fixed FPS counter on 64bit exe's
added support for zero800's CPS2-Turbo (sfz3mix .22)
widescreen support for CPS-1, too

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on December 11, 2023, 04:02:57 AM
Thanks a lot for your work! :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Neildark on December 11, 2023, 09:12:53 AM
Thank you very much for your work, widescreen support for CPS-1  :eek:, it seems incredible to me, especially for the new hacks, The king of dragons and other cps1 games have new life, ?Thank you! :cool: :cool:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 16, 2023, 08:44:25 PM
Gab75, Neildark: Thanks for thanks, I mean it! :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: xerf84 on December 21, 2023, 11:38:40 PM
Hi guys, some errors in sound samples in The King of Fighters '99 - Millennium Battle (Remix Pro v2.01 Final, Hack), when updating the romset appeared. Kyo: 427 shiki hikigane, 182 shiki
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on December 22, 2023, 02:07:34 AM
Hi guys, some errors in sound samples in The King of Fighters '99 - Millennium Battle (Remix Pro v2.01 Final, Hack), when updating the romset appeared. Kyo: 427 shiki hikigane, 182 shiki

Hi,

We are not the authors of those hacks, you should probably try contacting the author instead ?

Edit: it turns out the rom definition might be wrong, i'll let taoenwen know since he is the main maintainer of those hacks hence more knowledgeable about them.
Edit2 : Typo confirmed, the fix is in.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: xerf84 on December 22, 2023, 09:40:36 PM
Thanks, I'll view it as soon as I can. Best regards.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: test on December 24, 2023, 04:57:18 AM
is it possible to add support for .xml cheats ?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Silence4life on December 25, 2023, 03:43:13 PM
Bells,&Whistles(world,version (L),Asia, version (M),japan,version( j) Konami Gx060 Hardware
Rom ram eeprom check not working..game
Finalburn v 1.0.0.03
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 25, 2023, 08:22:35 PM
Hi,
delete config/games/blswhstl*.nv and see if it will then boot?

edit:: If the problem still happens after deleting nvram, grab an updated fbneo exe from here:
https://github.com/finalburnneo/FBNeo/releases/tag/latest

If the problem still happens after update, please link your config files, especially these:
config/fbneo*.ini
config/games/blswhstl*.ini

These files will help me to find/re-create the problem and fix it :)

best regards,
- dink

Bells,&Whistles(world,version (L),Asia, version (M),japan,version( j) Konami Gx060 Hardware
Rom ram eeprom check not working..game
Finalburn v 1.0.0.03
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Silence4life on December 26, 2023, 02:01:41 AM
Thanks dink nv I deleted the file and the problem was solved, now everything is fine and working.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: geese howard on December 26, 2023, 04:33:56 PM
@dink, can you explain what feature is this and how to use it?

**neocd from commandline feature
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 26, 2023, 08:18:56 PM
Thanks dink nv I deleted the file and the problem was solved, now everything is fine and working.

That's good news, :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on December 26, 2023, 08:41:30 PM
@dink, can you explain what feature is this and how to use it?

**neocd from commandline feature

Hi,
It allows for running a neocd game from the command-line or drag-n-drop,
for example:
fbneo "e:\isos\Puzzle Bobble ~ Bust-A-Move (Japan) (En,Ja).cue"
.. to start windowed instead of fullscreen, add -w parameter to the end, like:
fbneo "e:\isos\Puzzle Bobble ~ Bust-A-Move (Japan) (En,Ja).cue" -w

or drag-n-drop the .cue file onto your fbneo icon, and it'll start fullscreen.

since its impossible to add a parameter with drag-n-drop, a little batch file can be made to
start windowed, save this as fbneo_windowed.bat, then make an icon for it and place it where you want :)

Code: [Select]
@echo off
%~dp0fbneo.exe %* -w

best regards,
- dink

Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: geese howard on December 28, 2023, 05:21:17 PM
Hi,
It allows for running a neocd game from the command-line or drag-n-drop,
for example:
fbneo "e:\isos\Puzzle Bobble ~ Bust-A-Move (Japan) (En,Ja).cue"
.. to start windowed instead of fullscreen, add -w parameter to the end, like:
fbneo "e:\isos\Puzzle Bobble ~ Bust-A-Move (Japan) (En,Ja).cue" -w

or drag-n-drop the .cue file onto your fbneo icon, and it'll start fullscreen.

since its impossible to add a parameter with drag-n-drop, a little batch file can be made to
start windowed, save this as fbneo_windowed.bat, then make an icon for it and place it where you want :)

Code: [Select]
@echo off
%~dp0fbneo.exe %* -w

best regards,
- dink

Thanks dink!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 02, 2024, 12:04:09 PM
Thanks dink!

You're welcome, happy new year! :)

I should also mention:
To run the last selected / ran neogeo cd game, use this command:
fbneo neocdz
or for windowed:
fbneo neocdz -w

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 03, 2024, 12:19:58 AM
Hi guys,
iq_132 re-wrote the driver for Aero Fighters, Turbo Force, Spinal Breakers, Karate Blazers and Power Spikes (Video System hw)
I spent a lot of time tweaking it to perfection, but, I don't have time (or energy) to play all of the games to the end and look for bugs.

If someone would like to play a game to the end and report on any issues found (if any), that would be awesome!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 03, 2024, 10:28:51 AM
More news:
Added a Fast Loader to Deco Cassette games, it's enabled by default but can be disabled in the game's dips

Loading Times
~
Previous times, without fast-loader:
avg 100 seconds

... with FFWD pressed:
20 seconds

Fastload enabled:
4 - 5 seconds

fds TBA :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: ClessxAlghazanth on January 04, 2024, 06:43:57 AM
More news:
Added a Fast Loader to Deco Cassette games, it's enabled by default but can be disabled in the game's dips

Loading Times
~
Previous times, without fast-loader:
avg 100 seconds

... with FFWD pressed:
20 seconds

Fastload enabled:
4 - 5 seconds

fds TBA :)

best regards,
- dink

Wow , great news  :cool:

There are lots of hidden gems in Deco cassette board , Astro Fantasia and Disco no.1 being some of them , but having to wait for the timer was a turn-off for trying all games

Thanks for this great qol update , dink  :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 04, 2024, 09:12:24 AM
Wow , great news  :cool:

There are lots of hidden gems in Deco cassette board , Astro Fantasia and Disco no.1 being some of them , but having to wait for the timer was a turn-off for trying all games

Thanks for this great qol update , dink  :smilie:

If you havn't yet, also try:
Angler Dangler
Manhattan
Skater and
Rootin' Tootin

They're all absolute gems :)
Manhattan is really interesting, you bounce off a trampoline and try to get as high as possible, then on the way down - bounce off as many of the "points ledges" as possible withouth hitting those red bomb-things.  At the time we emulated it, there wasn't a single gameplay video available on this game.. luckily Gab75 is good at games, he figured out how to play it and told me what to do :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 04, 2024, 02:54:56 PM
After spending 3.5 solid days going through the real MCU's disassembly and figuring out how to hook it all up,
it's finally running using 100% non-hacked Taito code :)
Since Kiki Kaikai runs on the same board, it will be a simple drop-in if/when the MCU is dumped.


Remember this from 4 years ago?  Well, a dump for Kiki Kaikai has finally shown up, hooray!!
The game works great, seems a bit more challenging with the real MCU.  :)

Edit: Kiki Kaikai is an overhead run 'n gun shooter, similar to Konami's Labyrinth Runner (also known as Trick Trap).
What..?  you don't know Kiki Kaikai or Laby Runner?  Well, now you know 2 great arcade games to play!

Tips...
1: when you encounter what looks like an ancient mailbox with a red dot in it, hit it with your "flag" weapon, and it'll give you something.  Go straight for it before the red dot disappears.

2: when you reach a level that keeps repeating, it's not a bug in the game - you must find something to progress :)  It's not too hard

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on January 06, 2024, 11:37:06 AM
The Deco Cassette quick loading is pretty cool, as the huge load times kept me away from those games. I think some Cave shmups have a first boot logic that lasts 1000 seconds or something. Maybe they could benefit from something similar.

Good news about Kiki Kaikai, too. Interesting that it took so long to properly dump such a classic game. I wonder if the dumping itself was difficult, or if the challenge was to find an actual original board.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 06, 2024, 01:25:58 PM
The Deco Cassette quick loading is pretty cool, as the huge load times kept me away from those games. I think some Cave shmups have a first boot logic that lasts 1000 seconds or something. Maybe they could benefit from something similar.

Good news about Kiki Kaikai, too. Interesting that it took so long to properly dump such a classic game. I wonder if the dumping itself was difficult, or if the challenge was to find an actual original board.

Hi Stifu,
Glad ya dig it! :)
You might be thinking about the Seibu SPI system, which has some games that need to install the roms into the emulated flash-rom before it can boot.  Since this only needs to happen once and is a high demand system, I'll probably leave this one as-is. 

Kiki Kaikai is a rare board, and costs a lot - unfortunately.  The MCU needs to be decapped before it can be dumped, which destroys the original chip (with a cute image on it), so not a lot of people wanted to do this.  A few years back a board was acquired, but I think the MCU got lost in the mail(?)  Maybe someone knows the full/true story?  The one I heard was:  Sean Riddle dumped Kick 'n Run - which is the same PCB and MCU (but different code), and after successfully dumping Kick 'n Run, the mcu was supposed to be shipped to him for deacap, but it never arrived / got lost in the post.
At the time, I was so excited about the Kick 'n Run and Kiki dump that I immediately started work on emulating the Kick 'n Run MCU - as the same code could be used to run the Kiki MCU as soon as it was made available.  My mcu support code made it into FBN and MAME for this, and the cool thing is - once we got the Kiki MCU, it ran perfectly with my Kick 'n run MCU set-up.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: moon_walker on January 09, 2024, 07:11:45 AM
Hi.
The Clockwork Aquario roms circulating have no sound, but the roms on Youtube here seem to have sound.
https://youtu.be/rH4IKA1Mdj0 (https://youtu.be/rH4IKA1Mdj0)

Could you please support this roms as well?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on January 09, 2024, 08:04:37 AM
I believe the one with no sound is the old prototype, and the one with sound is the recently-finished version of the game.

We've had this discussion a few times before, and I'm not sure we have always been consistent, but to support game developers, I believe it makes sense to wait a while before adding support for it. They've invested time and money to retrieve and finalize this game, and adding support for this game now might affect their sales.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: moon_walker on January 09, 2024, 09:19:11 AM
Thanks for your reply.

That is certainly one aspects.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 09, 2024, 09:30:35 AM
Hi.
The Clockwork Aquario roms circulating have no sound, but the roms on Youtube here seem to have sound.
https://youtu.be/rH4IKA1Mdj0 (https://youtu.be/rH4IKA1Mdj0)

Could you please support this roms as well?

Yes, of course! The only problem is that we didn't know about this version with sound exists :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: moon_walker on January 09, 2024, 04:56:49 PM
Thank you very much!

I too found out about this roms this year.
I thought it was just a prototype with no sound, so this is a very significant discovery.

I look forward to the day when I can play it on FBNeo.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 09, 2024, 06:16:33 PM
Hi moon_walker,
just grab the update from the WIP builds place and you'll be able to play it (with sound)

https://github.com/finalburnneo/FBNeo/releases/tag/latest

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Gab75 on January 10, 2024, 01:22:40 AM
Yes, of course! The only problem is that we didn't know about this version with sound exists :)

I might be wrong/not remember... in any case, the original/prototype game hasn't the sound, the sound/music has been added in the PS4/Switch versions and it's generated directly using the new hardwares and not with a "emulation"...
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: moon_walker on January 10, 2024, 02:33:16 AM
Hi moon_walker,
just grab the update from the WIP builds place and you'll be able to play it (with sound)

https://github.com/finalburnneo/FBNeo/releases/tag/latest

best regards,
- dink

Wow, you have already taken care of it. Thanks!

i'm very impressed that Clockwork Aquario with sound was emulated.
Thank you so much for making this happen.
Is also used on Retroarch, so I have more fun waiting for libretro core updates.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on January 10, 2024, 03:21:18 AM
I might be wrong/not remember... in any case, the original/prototype game hasn't the sound, the sound/music has been added in the PS4/Switch versions and it's generated directly using the new hardwares and not with a "emulation"...

I'm confused about this. The newest FBNeo still says the game is a prototype. So the latest prototype version from ~30 years ago had no sound, but someone managed to rip the sound from the finalized version published by Strictly Limited Games in 2021, and add it back to the prototype? Then again, I could not find an extensive list of changes made by SLG, so maybe they didn't change the game all that much.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on January 10, 2024, 04:55:22 AM
I'm confused about this. The newest FBNeo still says the game is a prototype. So the latest prototype version from ~30 years ago had no sound, but someone managed to rip the sound from the finalized version published by Strictly Limited Games in 2021, and add it back to the prototype? Then again, I could not find an extensive list of changes made by SLG, so maybe they didn't change the game all that much.

The game is a prototype because it was never released on cabinet.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 10, 2024, 09:34:00 AM
Stifu,
the comments on the video says that the hacker (Apocalypse) sampled the sounds and converted to the system18-style format, that's a lot of work :)  Well, I was also planning on doing this, but they beat me to it.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on January 10, 2024, 10:10:43 AM
Thanks for the explanation. So the finalized game does not actually use an arcade ROM internally, and can only run on modern systems. Then its audio was ripped and backported to the old prototype.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on January 10, 2024, 10:45:31 AM
So the finalized game does not actually use an arcade ROM internally, and can only run on modern systems.

I believe the prototype was extracted from the commercialized game if that's the one you meant by "finalized".
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on January 10, 2024, 12:27:25 PM
I believe the prototype was extracted from the commercialized game if that's the one you meant by "finalized".

Some source (https://higherplaingames.com/switch/clockwork-aquario-review/) claims "Thankfully Inin Games obtained the almost finished code, restored the game and finished off the rough edges for release.", which is what I meant by "finalized". But I could not find a clear list of what they actually did.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: TaiToaplan on January 10, 2024, 03:41:49 PM
Please add support for Looptris Plus: https://www.patreon.com/posts/looptris-plus-76333387
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on January 11, 2024, 02:11:30 AM
Please add support for Looptris Plus: https://www.patreon.com/posts/looptris-plus-76333387

Done
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: TaiToaplan on January 11, 2024, 02:33:42 AM
Done

Thank you!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 11, 2024, 10:10:57 AM
I've also added support for Looptris Plus Neo CD, it'll be added among some other Neo CD fixes

Here's a fixed Looptris Plus NeoGeo CD Image (link won't last forever).  The original .cue file is a little malformed..

https://files.catbox.moe/4k9ckk.zip
https://easyupload.io/7cwbxe (alternate)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Voljega on January 14, 2024, 10:15:55 AM
Hi moon_walker,
just grab the update from the WIP builds place and you'll be able to play it (with sound)

https://github.com/finalburnneo/FBNeo/releases/tag/latest

best regards,
- dink

what's the name of the rom file with sound ?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 14, 2024, 08:58:36 PM
what's the name of the rom file with sound ?

"aquario.zip"
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 15, 2024, 08:49:24 PM
On fixing some UI things...
Fixed: broken palette viewer w/desktop enlargement (dpi size)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: xerf84 on January 16, 2024, 07:01:20 PM
In case anyone is interested, it's a Bubble Memories hack that replaces random images with a black background. The link is at the end of the description.

https://www.arcade-projects.com/threads/bubble-memories-black-edition.14719/
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on January 17, 2024, 03:31:05 AM
That Bubble Memories hack is genius.

As Antoine de Saint-Exupery said: "Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: xerf84 on January 17, 2024, 04:56:35 PM
Nice thought Stifu, by the way, I noticed that FBn can't load the hystory file in xml format. Is this a mistake on my part due to configuration or directory assignment issues or has the new standard simply not been implemented?

https://www.arcade-history.com/index.php?page=download
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 18, 2024, 09:01:05 PM
That Bubble Memories hack is genius.

As Antoine de Saint-Exupery said: "Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."

That's such a legendary quote, and so true :)

Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 18, 2024, 09:11:32 PM
Hi xerf84,
It's definitely on the to-do list - to support the xml format for history

best regards,
- dink

Nice thought Stifu, by the way, I noticed that FBn can't load the hystory file in xml format. Is this a mistake on my part due to configuration or directory assignment issues or has the new standard simply not been implemented?

https://www.arcade-history.com/index.php?page=download
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 19, 2024, 12:56:45 AM
A Little UI progress..
I came up with some "experimental" code to resize the preview/title pics on the game lists (arcade & neo-cd), it should look mostly decent now.  Well, as far as I can test :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 19, 2024, 10:41:43 AM
More news:
.. more Windows UI updates:
History.xml support added, (history.dat support removed, as it hasn't been updated in a couple years)
Get new history.xml here, unzip it into support\history !
https://www.arcade-history.com/index.php?page=download

What's the point?  It's for the "History" tab under the [Game Info] button :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: xerf84 on January 19, 2024, 11:05:05 PM
Thanks dink, perfect. Greetings.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: ClessxAlghazanth on January 20, 2024, 03:46:20 AM
Excellent news once again ,dink  :cool:

I love reading game history and trivia since early days of mame ;p
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Neildark on January 20, 2024, 09:02:11 AM
Thanks dink, great, it is very interesting to read the history of the games and their curiosities. I hope that one day you will also consider adding compatibility with the .xml format of the cheats, in MAME there is a lot more variety and they are expanding more and more. Greetings. :cool: :cool:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on January 20, 2024, 09:26:04 AM
properly supporting the xml cheats is something that'll need at least a small miracle to happen, unfortunately!

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 01, 2024, 09:05:56 PM
Hi guys,
Here's a couple things that changed recently:
1: sfz3mix, update to v0.27
2: Avengers, hook up mcu (based on Haze's and ajrhacker's code).  Love this game, it's nice getting rid of that crusty mcu sim :)
3: Fix ctower on Deco Cassette, if it wont boot - go to dips and hit the [Defaults] button & reset!
4: Ninja Baseball Batman, the map screen animation was screwed up at the end, that's fixed now
5: Bullet on Sega System 16b, fix the player 3 inputs & dip to enable 3p mode
6: Add support for Touhou Rououmu 1.00 beta 2 on NES, new version uses a mmc3-mapper derivative with ram-tiles in the first 2 banks, so that had to be impl'd.  Grab ROM here: https://kyoske.sakura.ne.jp/index.cgi?p=%E6%9D%B1%E6%96%B9%E8%80%81%E6%A1%9C%E5%A4%A2
7: Game list: don't let the rom name overlap the game name when "use zipnames" is on (for example, see the spectrum or fds areas)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 12, 2024, 09:25:31 AM
Hi guys,
Here's some new happenings:

Kaillera support, its a lot more stable now, especially after stopping netgame

Violent Storm, fixed fadeout/fadein at the end of level, fixed fireworks at the end of stage 2

Metamorphic Force, fixed sprite priorities on titlescreen & level 1 boss, and light coming in from windows in last level. There still a few gfx bugs remaining in the game, but, they're less obvious (and more difficult to fix). 

Team effort by Goratrix (on github), Gab75 and me to fix a bunch of game genres

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on February 14, 2024, 07:42:51 AM
Always nice to see some fixes! Just tested the Violent Storm ones.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on February 21, 2024, 09:49:57 PM
Graphical error in the game "Night Slashers" (nslasher).

When starting the game, the wall where the vehicle crashes looks like with corrupted colors:

(https://i.postimg.cc/vTdxfnkf/1.jpg)

In the mame 0.220 version (the one I use since the most current ones are very slow) the wall is like transparent:

(https://i.postimg.cc/br78FX1t/2.jpg)

I have the penultimate built (d_cps1: fix input & dip in wofsgzb).

In the pcb version the wall is more solid:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kww-JFhOTMs

(Minute 2:04 more or less)

I don't think the wall has ever been emulated faithfully (I could be wrong) as it is shown in pbc, but I do remember that in FBN it was shown, at least, the same as the mame version (as a transparent wall).

PD: Looking at the built on github, there is one that is related to the game (nslasher: improve alpha, ace ram fixes [cam900]). could the problem of the wall with strange colours be there?

greetings
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 22, 2024, 01:00:54 AM
Pelucon8, oops, looks like I made a little bug with 16bpp color (its fine on 32bpp)
Fix will be available soon!  Thanks for letting me know,

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on February 23, 2024, 09:16:34 PM
Thanks for replying, dink. I will wait for the corresponding update with the fix.

And thanks for keeping the emulator up to date and especially not abandoning XP users.

Regards
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 23, 2024, 11:30:33 PM
Thanks for replying, dink. I will wait for the corresponding update with the fix.

And thanks for keeping the emulator up to date and especially not abandoning XP users.

Regards

You're welcome :)
The fix is in now, please give it a try

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on February 24, 2024, 10:27:57 PM
Thank you, dink. Not only did you fix the error in the wall colors, but also that you left it with the solidity of the pcb:

(https://i.postimg.cc/SsSwbdfK/1.jpg)

You guys are geniuses!  :smilie:

Regards
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 25, 2024, 01:34:27 AM
Pelucon8,
thanks!
The wall fix is cam900's though! :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Pelucon8 on February 26, 2024, 03:35:40 AM
Ah, great. My gratitude to cam900 as well of course.  :smilie:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 27, 2024, 09:17:20 PM
Hi guys,
Sega System 32 (golden axe 2, jurassic park, slipstream, hard dunk, sonic, alien3, ...etc)
got a nice optimization, it'll run a lot better on older pc's & sbc's like rpi4 now :)

A different perspective:
All games work with runahead on dumpster-pc compy-i7 - they didn't before

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on February 28, 2024, 12:46:10 AM
Always nice to see some fixes! Just tested the Violent Storm ones.

Thanks for testing :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on February 28, 2024, 03:04:58 AM
Sega System 32 (golden axe 2, jurassic park, slipstream, hard dunk, sonic, alien3, ...etc)
got a nice optimization, it'll run a lot better on older pc's & sbc's like rpi4 now :)

Very nice to hear! :cool: Well done.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: ClessxAlghazanth on March 01, 2024, 07:39:24 AM
Hi guys,
Sega System 32 (golden axe 2, jurassic park, slipstream, hard dunk, sonic, alien3, ...etc)
got a nice optimization, it'll run a lot better on older pc's & sbc's like rpi4 now :)

A different perspective:
All games work with runahead on dumpster-pc compy-i7 - they didn't before

best regards,
- dink

Wow , what great news to hear after a soul-sucking day at work ! :smilie:

Golden Axe RoTDA had a some slowdown on my old i5 laptop , will test it very soon !

Thanks a ton for your hard work , dink  :cool:
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on March 02, 2024, 06:01:58 AM
In case anyone is interested, it's a Bubble Memories hack that replaces random images with a black background. The link is at the end of the description.

https://www.arcade-projects.com/threads/bubble-memories-black-edition.14719/

Sorry to bump this, but will this cool hack get added? Just wondering if maybe it got overlooked or forgotten.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Tatsuya79 on March 02, 2024, 12:56:03 PM
Hi guys,
Sega System 32 (golden axe 2, jurassic park, slipstream, hard dunk, sonic, alien3, ...etc)
got a nice optimization, it'll run a lot better on older pc's & sbc's like rpi4 now :)

A different perspective:
All games work with runahead on dumpster-pc compy-i7 - they didn't before

best regards,
- dink

I've just tested Golden Axe RDA and it's reacting on the 5th frame instead of the 4th in Mame.
Maybe you lost a frame in the process?
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: barbudreadmon on March 02, 2024, 02:37:55 PM
I have the exact same input lag before and after the optimization.
MAME seems to be 1 frame lower indeed.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 02, 2024, 09:00:41 PM
Sorry to bump this, but will this cool hack get added? Just wondering if maybe it got overlooked or forgotten.

It's in now, thanks for the reminder! :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 03, 2024, 12:19:27 AM
I've just tested Golden Axe RDA and it's reacting on the 5th frame instead of the 4th in Mame.
Maybe you lost a frame in the process?

Where's my screwdriver? :)
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 03, 2024, 01:44:06 AM
I've just tested Golden Axe RDA and it's reacting on the 5th frame instead of the 4th in Mame.
Maybe you lost a frame in the process?

Hi, I reduced the frame reaction time, though, the games in the driver probably need some testing :)

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Stifu on March 03, 2024, 03:13:54 AM
It's in now, thanks for the reminder! :)

best regards,
- dink

Thanks dink!
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Tatsuya79 on March 03, 2024, 05:19:13 AM
Hi, I reduced the frame reaction time, though, the games in the driver probably need some testing :)

best regards,
- dink

Thank you! I'll play some of that some more then.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: TaiToaplan on March 03, 2024, 04:38:54 PM
Hi guys, another possible bug discovered thanks to the Arcade Archives series.

In Arabian, the enemy at the top of the levels is a large blue bird. In fbneo or mame this enemy does not appear.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Tatsuya79 on March 03, 2024, 04:52:03 PM
Hi, I reduced the frame reaction time, though, the games in the driver probably need some testing :)

There's a glitch on the race selection screen in Rad Rally (see attachment).
Maybe related to that hack: https://github.com/finalburnneo/FBNeo/issues/1308 (https://github.com/finalburnneo/FBNeo/issues/1308)

The background is still fine during the race.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 14, 2024, 09:07:18 AM
TaiToaplan,
The bird has been fixed in the latest MAME, via emulation of the protection MCU that the pcb has.  I'll try to add this to fbn at some point

Tatsuya79,
Sega System 32 is a complex beast, I had a go at this one a few times without luck

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 14, 2024, 09:20:04 AM
Forgotten Worlds, Capcom CPS1 Dualstick support
Control the rotation & shooting with the second thumbstick on
any modern controller!

This was a lot of hard work, hope ya'll enjoy it! :)

by pjft and dink

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: ClessxAlghazanth on March 15, 2024, 07:44:57 AM
Forgotten Worlds, Capcom CPS1 Dualstick support
Control the rotation & shooting with the second thumbstick on
any modern controller!

This was a lot of hard work, hope ya'll enjoy it! :)

by pjft and dink

best regards,
- dink

Wow , that's a great QoL update , dink  :biggrin: time to visit Forgotten Worlds again ! ;p
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: littlebear on March 16, 2024, 09:19:56 AM
How do you start Golden Par Golf ? It does not have a select button to page 2 .
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 17, 2024, 10:03:09 AM
How do you start Golden Par Golf ? It does not have a select button to page 2 .

Hi littlebear,
Driver is in WIP state right now, and some games are not perfect yet.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: Tatsuya79 on March 17, 2024, 02:29:22 PM
Forgotten Worlds, Capcom CPS1 Dualstick support

Awesome, thank you!

edit: CPS1 games are reacting 1 frame later than in mame.
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: yoshi200213 on March 20, 2024, 12:48:47 PM
Hello.
In the video game outrunners when I push the accelerator the car is not moving whenever i press the button to accelerate.
please fix it
thanks
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: yoshi200213 on March 20, 2024, 12:51:24 PM
Hello
How can I turn up the volume in super chase: criminal termination because the volume is to low and i need to turn it up
please tell me
thanks
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: yoshi200213 on March 20, 2024, 03:20:24 PM
Hello the video game lucky and wild has some graphics glitches when you enter and leave the tunnels
please fix it thanks
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: dink on March 20, 2024, 08:56:08 PM
How do you start Golden Par Golf ? It does not have a select button to page 2 .

Hi littlebear,
Golden Par Golf (gpgolf) is fixed now.  Select is the start button in service mode.

best regards,
- dink
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: littlebear on March 21, 2024, 05:29:23 AM
Hi littlebear,
Golden Par Golf (gpgolf) is fixed now.  Select is the start button in service mode.

best regards,
- dink

Thank you .
Title: Re: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread
Post by: yoshi200213 on March 28, 2024, 12:11:04 PM
Hello, the video game super chase has the intro not synchronized with the music unlike the original hardware where the intro and the music are synchronized.
Here the pcb for reference
https://youtu.be/XKomieZMf_U?si=glzELEbZ1bll-Cee