Topic: dink's FBN Development & Fixes thread

[dink]

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

[dink]

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

[Stifu]

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.

[dink]

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!

[barbudreadmon]

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.

[Stifu]

The DBZ games still had bad French translations back then, despite being popular on TV...
Thanks for double checking, dink.

[dink]

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

[dink]

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

[dink]

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 

[dink]

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.

[dink]

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

[kev]

Nice work!

[dink]

thanks kev

[dink]

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

[barbudreadmon]

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*