Messages

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: Is there a Wiki ?]

Yeah, a wiki would need actively contributing people. None of the people he added to the linked wiki contributed anything I guess so it never took off.
It would help if people doing some development now and then or emulator programmers could join and share their knowledge. This forum isn't really a development forum though (unlike nesdev) so I guess a wiki would have to be broader to catch more members.

I read the whole development manual and skimmed through the Develo books some year ago, so I could share what's in my notes at least.

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: Is there a Wiki ?]

I suggested that PC Engine needed a development wiki like nesdev for Famicom/NES, and a wiki ended up being created after all, but it never took off past creation it seems.

Hacks could have a special section in the wiki, but since the developer wiki never took off I have a feeling it will just turn it into a hacks wiki.

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: Getting started programming?]

Great! Episode 6 is now also up! Finally some BG characters and sprites! Gotta catch up on these later when I feel like learning more PC-Engine development.

Thanks for your hard work!

[Off-Topic / Secure Login]

If you log in to the forum using HTTPS the theme graphics and images disappears, and if you don't you will get a warning that the connection isn't secure for sending passwords.

Is this something that is looked into? People trying to register to the forum have said that they couldn't register to the forum because the theme graphics are missing.

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: Xanadu I and II - General Translation Project(s) Thread]

We definitely don't want to release a half-completed translation just because some people are impatient. Too much time and work has gone into this for that.

It shouldn't be too long ... the web-pages made great progress this weekend. 

it's not about impatience, just personally I prefer the Japanese acting when it's related to voices.
the top would be to release a dubbed and no dubbed version as you mentioned it.

Yeah of course there is no way hobby voice-actors will be able to compare to the professional voice-actors of the original. Japan has a very nice climate for professional voice-acting (I think they are alone in the world to have dedicated voice-acting schools), unlike most other countries that would use normal theatre or movie actors to do the voices. And they are almost never able to compare with the original voice-actors (Snatcher for Mega CD is a notable exception).

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Japanese PC Engine Homebrew projects]

Is there anything to recommend?

It was a long time ago I played these so I don't remember anything that stands out. I remember that frisbee game (you are a dog that tries to catch a frisbee thrown at you over and over), a racing game (like HuZero but more simple), a very hard game where you bounce on disappearing platforms (very primitive graphics), some sound test-like programs and the mentioned mouse rakugaki program (I recently tried this one with my mouse).

There's nothing really great, just fun to see that people actually made their own creations for the system.

The number of homebrew games aren't great, but there are also lots of other things like artwork and songs made with those public tools on these CDs. I think Develo Magazine also had demos of commercial PC Engine games like Fray on the CD as well. And the Develo Starterkit CDs of course has the Develo software on the CD for communicating with the Develo Box peripheral and a PC.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Japanese PC Engine Homebrew projects]

The only ones I know about are the ones on the Develo Starterkit Assembler and Basic CDs and the Develo Magazine CD (only volume 1 seems to be floating around on internet). Both homebrew coded in the Assembler and the Basic version of Develo. According to the CDs themselves they where selected from programs that first appeared in the magazine MSX-FAN, sent in by readers.

All these 3 CDs are full of programs, artwork, songs and a few games made by readers. One is even using the mouse.

[General Gaming / Re: OFFICIAL ZELDA:BOTW TOPIC]

What does it do (no spoilers please)?
Google says that it might just remove some minor slowdown in certain areas. I guess there could be other bugfixes too though.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: What's the difference? Super CD Rom2 or Duo-R]

The Duo-R and Duo-RX are said to have much better CDs that doesn't break so easily. And they are better for reading CD-Rs too. The original Duo and the stand-alone CD units seems to have problems with capacitors and the plastic cogwheels. Duo-R/RX apparently uses higher quality caps and cogwheels.

I never had any problems with my Duo-R CD unit anyway, it reads all my CD-Rs too.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Help with makai Hakkenden Shada please?]

Sounds like a machine translation. Japanese grammar is quite straightforward with not too many exceptions (which can't be said about a lot of European languages and certainly not English), but for us Europeans it's a lot to learn so it takes time to get used to.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: PC Engine & parallax scrolling...]

I guess the big 16x16 sprites of the PC Engine and Neo Geo makes it easier to make parallax scrolling or other split-screen effects. I read somewhere that Hudson planned for two background layers first, but I guess it was already expensive as it was so they had to scrap it.

Dual tile layers are used in many ways, intended for many different things and are not simply a "hardware parallax" feature. What they are often used for is faking large sprites for things like bosses, when the PC Engine usually uses real actual sprites. Are those fake sprites? Is that hardware support for sprites? Can tiles be sprites, even though it's being insisted that the opposite doesn't count?

In colloquial terms it would probably be considered a sprite, but for "sprite" as a hardware term it's obviously not a sprite, so yeah call it "fake" or whatever.

Using multiple hardware tile layers for parallax is no different than using multiple hardware sprites for parallax or a single hardware tile layer for parallax or a combination of hardware tiles and sprites for parallax. In all cases, parallax is not the dedicated function of the hardware features used and all features used are hardware supported.

I see your point, parallax scrolling (unlike sprites and background layers) isn't a hardware feature in its own in any of these systems, and it was a thing long before multiple background layers became common and made it easy to do.
"Hardware parallax" may be a clumsy expression, although in the context I thought it was clear what Artabasdos meant.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: wicked list of PCE games that use the Memory Base 128 MB128, Mouse, & 6 buttons!]

Backup RAM, the 2 kB memory used for saving in games and are added by peripherals like Ten no Koe 2, Backup Booster and the CD units.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: PC Engine & parallax scrolling...]

Exactly, if you define hardware like that nothing would be considered software, because the code is run by the CPU and that's also hardware.

I think that if you say "hardware parallax" it's quite clear that you mean parallax scrolling achieved using the background layers provided by the hardware. If the hardware doesn't allow more than one background, you use clever programming to achieve the same effect, and I guess that could be called software parallax.

I never understood why there's so much fuzzing about the PC Engine only having one hardware background layer though, I mean about every 8-bit console before it had only one background. The PC Engine was very powerful as it was.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: wicked list of PCE games that use the Memory Base 128 MB128, Mouse, & 6 buttons!]

You don't have to have it inserted at all times though. I mostly only insert it when I want to backup my BRAM.

[General Gaming / Re: Nintendo Switch Thread (previously NX)]

Looks like there IS a defect in some left joy cons, so if yours is disconnecting often and easily then you can get it repaired. Apparently a variation in manufacturing has caused some to perform poorly.


http://kotaku.com/nintendo-says-joycon-wireless-issues-were-caused-by-man-1793530147


The joycons that came with my switch seem to be more prone to disconnect than the ones I purchased a couple weeks later separately, so this makes more sense to me.

The problem seems to be about the placement of the bluetooth antenna in some Joy-Cons. It's too close to a shielding and where the hand is covering it. An experiment to extend the antenna in the opposite direction seems to have been effective:

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: wicked list of PCE games that use the Memory Base 128 MB128, Mouse, & 6 buttons!]

In the Pad port. It forwards the Pad port to the pad (like a multitap with only one port). You need a CD game that has a manager program for it to use it, else you can only use it for games that saves directly to it. Emerald Dragon and Private Eye Dol are two games with fully featured manager programs.

It has 63 BRAM banks (compare with Ten no Koe BANK that only has 4 BRAM banks). Save-kun is a clone of MB128 by KOEI that works identically and is fully cross-compatible. Both uses 4 AA batteries, I use Eneloop low-discharge rechargeable batteries and they have lasted over two years now.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Japanese Games - What draws you in?]

Not higher than Swedish retail prices though. But price is probably the least of my concerns.


A few reasons I play import:

1) To play games without a western release.

2) To play japanese version of games as not to miss out on things lost in the localization process.

3) Better voice acting. Western games that was designed with English voice acting in mind are usually good, the problem is when Japanese games are localized and dubbed, the quality of the dub is usually nowhere close to the Japanese version with professional seiyuu. Notable exceptions are Snatcher for Mega CD and the Metal Gear Solid series. These localizations were really well done in English.

4) More genre variation. Western PC gamers nowdays only seems to play about 3 types of games (FPS, RTS and western RPGs), if even that. Console gaming in the west has also historically been really narrow. RPGs, SRPGs and adventure games used to be almost unknown to European console gamers (and not that popular among Americans either), although Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy Tactics and lately Fire Emblem have changed that for the RPG and SRPG genres. Good Japanese adventure games (that the PC Engine has a lot of) seems to still be quite obscure though.
On the other hand, genres like RTS is quite unknown among main stream gamers in Japan.

5) More focus on characters and themes. Especially American game designers thinks it's OK to reuse the same featureless characters for all games, and only focus on game mechanics. European game designers do think characters and music are important, however they usually have a really strange taste in character design (music is usually good though).
On the other hand Japanese game designers sometimes focus too much on characters, sometimes leaving mechanics a bit too simple.

6) Not so much black humour in Japanese games. Seriously, what happened with classic slapstick? Western game designers has a very strange sense of humour, while the Japanese, ironically enough, has a very light-hearted and universal humour that is very easy to understand.


In modern games nowdays, voice acting is so common that I can hardly play the English versions of games anymore, unless they have either good voice acting or dual audio. Ever since learning more Japanese I have more or less migrated to only play the original (Japanese) version of games though. I always makes sure to buy the Japanese version of region locked consoles like the 3DS.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Cadash ports]

It's an open source flashcart designed by a German guy. It's not an Everdrive, but the guy that designs the Everdrives is one of those that are making and selling it.
https://sd2snes.de/

I have it, definitely the best flashcart for Super Famicom, it's expensive though.

[General Gaming / Re: OFFICIAL ZELDA:BOTW TOPIC]

Well how many games in the Zelda series have you played? I think every new main series Zelda game is hyped, and for good reasons.

The hype this time is about that they took some of these "open world" stuff that is so popular nowadays, and added it to an old genre-defining series (which is already immensly popular to begin with) that didn't have most of this before (horses and day-night systems are pretty standard in Zelda games by now though).

Most of the things you list have been around in both computer and video games since way back, long before WOW. Except maybe explore massive worlds due to memory constrains, but that has mainly been an MMO thing until lately.

So it's not so much about new stuff as about mixing this stuff with an old hugly popular concept. And I think it seems to fit perfectly fine in the Zelda world, although I haven't played the game yet.

[General Gaming / Re: Nintendo Switch Thread (previously NX)]

I see, so it varies depending where you are. Doesn't sound too good for a partly portable system like this. Hopefully it could be fixed by software, or at least by better Joy-Con hardware in the future.

What about holding your hand in between the Joy-Con and the main unit? They say that is enough to make it act up.

You can dodge in LTTP without Z targetting.   You just swing and hold the button down and then strafe around and hold the sword like a giant boner.

Yeah sure you can dodge in many ways, it was just an example of moving without loosing focus of your enemy. In battle you want to face your enemy at all times, and Z-targeting makes this possible in a 3D game. In 2D games you don't have this problem as much since you usually only have two to eight directions to face.

The Z-targeting makes it easier to fight, but it is no excuse to make fights easier. If they wanted the game to be harder they could have made the enemies tougher, faster, more offensive or have less obvious weak points etc. Z-targeting just prevents you from messing up due to bad camera or other stupid things.

The problem with the 3D zeldas is that you basically lock on and wait your turn to hit stuff.   It's never hard.  It's just a tedious routine of "lock on" --> "stand around" ---> "wait for obvious moment to press button".

I agree, and this is because most enemies are weak.

[General Gaming / Re: OFFICIAL ZELDA:BOTW TOPIC]

I have no Amiibos at all, but I'm probably getting the Collector's Edition so that'll get me a Rider Link.
I guess Wolf Link would be fun to get too, or do you need TP HD to use it in Zelda BOW?

I'm really not sure if I could give less of a shit about this game.
why does everything need crafting these days?

I have been really enjoying the game, I probably have about 15 hours into it so far.  With that said, cooking food has been my least favorite aspect of the game.  I don't mind finding items with different effects, but don't make me cook the shit.  I go out to eat 9 meals out of 10 for a reason, it isn't fun to cook.

After you kill Ganon and rescue Zelda you could have her doing the cooking for you.

[General Gaming / Re: Nintendo Switch Thread (previously NX)]

Haven't got a chance to get a Switch yet. Never preordered it, but now I kind of want it. I'm importing a Japanese one (much cheaper than buying locally and I'm always getting the Japanese version of consoles nowdays) but it's still out of stock, PlayAsia and eBay has it but that wouldn't be cheaper than buying it locally.

What things are recommended to get?

I'm thinking of picking up:
* Nintendo Switch neon red/blue version
* Zelda Breath of Wild Collectors Edition (Japan)
* Pro Controller
* Screen Protector
* Hard Carry Case
* LAN Adapter


I'll wait with the Charging Grip, although it looks useful.
Not sure what more games to get. I'm thinking of something that is easy to play on the go. I don't think I will feel like playing Zelda on the train. Puyo Puyo Tetris, Bomberman R, Snipper Clippers or something maybe.

Also I'd like to know more about the Joy-Con bluetooth comunication problems. Is it something that affects all Switches or was it just lots of noise close to the people that experienced the problems?

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Do people already know about the Tennokoe Bank code?]

I tried to make this code work long ago in Mednafen but was unsuccessful.

MooZ made a PCE program that uploads these saves to your BRAM.
Scroll down to box4.pce

The data is in the ROM so it can never be lost forever. I think the virgin Ten no Koe BANK just means Box 4 has to be empty, not that it never has been used. But if it really has to be virgin I guess disconnecting the battery should do it.

[General Gaming / Re: Nintendo Switch Thread (previously NX)]

skyward sword.....?????? such a garbage combat system, cat killer.

What, I was surprised how well it was able to translate my moves into sword techniques (well basic slashes and lunges anyway). Much better than the stupid motion controlls in the Wii version of TP, and it actually makes the 3D Zeldas more interesting.
The Zelda with the worst fighting is Zelda 1, you just push the attack button in four different directions, and dodge by running away.
Zelda II has a great combat system though that beats most 3D games.

You have good taste though, putting Altp in top.

Twilight Princess removed some of the "need to Z target lockon" bullshit that ruined the pacing of Zeldas forever.   You could actually play without *needing* to do it to get the camera to stop fucking around so you can see.  Granted, you still basically have to do it for boss battles because N64 mindset.

Z-Targeting made it possible to actually dodge enemies without showing your back to them like a fool (unlike in say Zelda 1). Combat was way too easy but I don't think it was the Z-targeting's fault. It was just a lack of challenging enemies and the like. The game was hardest in the beginning when you are forced to fight Ghoma with 3 hearts, then it mostly gets easier and easier.

Also, Link Between Worlds was a giant pile of shit. 

It is *literally* not a return to form.  You get the "item to complete the dungeon" without having to actually find them.  That removes most of the excitement of the dungeon.   You can just buy stuff.   It's stupid.

I agree, they said they made the game to make rupees more useful (OoT and almost every game after that had a broken economy where rupees were too easy to get), but you still get tons of rupees in the game so you can rent all of the items almost right away! If you die you loose lots of money on re-renting them, but then again you never die.


Yeah maybe we need a Zelda thread.

[General Gaming / Re: Nintendo Switch Thread (previously NX)]

I almost wouldn't count that one as a 3D Zelda though, since genre-wise it's more of a 2D Zelda.

I think TP is about the same level as WW, they are both fantastic games but on the lower part on my Zelda toplist. TP has the most advanced fishing though, although it's a bit easy. Ocarina had more challenging fishing.

My Zelda toplist looks like something like this maybe:
AlttP
OOT
Majora
Zelda 2
Link's Awakening
Skyward Sword
Zelda 1
TP
WW

Haven't played enough AlttP 2, Phantom Hourglass or Spirit Tracks yet to place them in the list. And the Capcom Zelda games feels too different for me to be able to compare them with the main series.
TP beats Wind Waker mostly because of its great fishing.
Zelda 2, Link's Awakening and Skyward might come in any order maybe.
OOT beats Majora mostly because Majora is more like a side story and there's no fishing. Majora beats OOT in some areas like difficulty (OOT has too easy enemies) though. Generally modern Nintendo games are too easy I think.


Haven't got a chance to get a Switch yet but I'm really looking forward to fishing and hunting in Zelda BOW.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Arcade Duo Card]

Pro have been priced crazily on eBay for many years now. Duo isn't cheap either though.


I guess the Arcade Card Duo wouldn't even start at all on a briefcase setup since there's no ROM as Black Tiger said. It would be similar to turn the console on with no HuCard inserted.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Nekketsu Kōkō Dodge Ball-bu: Soccer Hen (PCE Hucard) vs.Nintendo World Cup (NES)]

What's wrong with the Kunio-kun theme? I love Kunio-kun games and the story is great.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: PCE FPGA]

I remember PCEngineHell was making lots of drama around the time I joined this forum. It looks like he has left or was banned at some point?

Yeah a big forum like this is bound to have a few douchebags, but I can totally understand Kevtris' feelings. He registered here to clear up some things about his work, and the first thing he gets is a bunch of personal attacks and insults to his hard work. I would be pissed!

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: Streets of Rage 2 - Go Straight Beatmix (TurboGrafx-16/PC-Engine Cover)]

Yes the Everdrive has a switch that switches between Japanese and US HuCard pinout.

What the hell is the TED doing to the ROM data before it hands it to the hardware?

The only thing I know it does, is to scan the ROM for the region protection code that US games has. If it finds it, it dummies out that code.
Unfortunately there's currently no option to disable this, but I don't think it's causing any problems either.

I have yet to run into a ROM that doesn't work for me, but HES files oftens doesn't work.
Theoretically all games should work except Ten no Koe BANK because it doesn't support the on-board battery backed RAM. The battery RAM on Populous is claimed to be supported though.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: wicked list of PCE games that use the Memory Base 128 MB128, Mouse, & 6 buttons!]

Sorry for derailing the thread. We were actually talking about this list. Not the one this thread is about.

It seems to assume that all games that access the MB128 are not using Backup RAM, but they generally supports both.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Nekkutse Koko Soccer (PCE) vs. Nintendo World Cup (NES)]

The story seems to be the same. Kunio-kun, who is in the dodgeball club, is asked by Misako (talking with Kunio for the first time) to join the soccer club so he can help them out of a pinch and win the championship. The cut-scenes in the HuCard version seems pretty much identical to the Famicom version. The CD version has more detailed cut-scenes with voice acting.

BTW not to be rude but you misspelled the title of the game quite badly so I think people will have trouble understanding what game you are refering to (I was confused myself). The full title of the game is:
"Nekketsu Kōkō Dodge Ball-bu: Soccer Hen"
or more easily type out:
"Nekketsu Koukou Dodge Ball-bu: Soccer Hen"
and it translates to Nekketsu High-School Dodge Ball Club: Soccer Edition.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: wicked list of PCE games that use the Memory Base 128 MB128, Mouse, & 6 buttons!]

The only games I can confirm are the ones I have, but I can tell that the list have lots of errors since it lists RPGs like Emerald Dragon as not using Backup RAM. I mean a CD RPG that uses passwords for saving? No way!
And games like Forgotten Worlds are using BRAM for saving the High-Score according to this list.

Games that I have from the list and can confirm that they do save to BRAM:
Popful Mail
Princess Maker 2
Private Eyedol
Tokimeki Memorial

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Duo System with Faulty Hu Card (Bad Trace)]

I haven't seen a lot of model-specefic schematics but there is a general one in the Turbo-Grafx-16 Service Manual that is floating around on the internet.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Just bought a pc engine duo r from Japan]

Output Voltage: This should match what the machine expects. The Duo R expects 9 V, DC (as written on the console near the power plug port). If it's lower it might not be stable, and if higher it may break the system (or blow a fuse if it has one). The voltage regulator in the machine may have some tolerance though so it might be able to take +/- some volts.

The kind of regulators that these systems use (usually 78xx) can take any higher voltage and turn it into whatever standard it's designed to output, but not lower voltages.

Also, the greater the excess voltage, the hotter the regulator will run, and it will reach a breakdown point eventually. I'm not surprised that 12V works fine for a Duo "expecting" 9V, but I bet that 20V could cause trouble. I think the 7805 is rated for 24V maximum, but it can't handle very much current draw at that level without getting really hot.

Yes, I'm no engineer, but from what I understand, you also need to think about other factors like heatsinks and how it is used with the console. The 7805 voltage regulator is used in about all of the video game systems from NEC/Hudson, Nintendo and Sega of the era, but still they are often rated slightly differently (polarity also often varies between consoles). I think it's best to stay close to what NEC rated their consoles to.

If you need more power, you increase current instead of voltage.
Voltage (in volt, V) * Current (in ampere, A) = Power (in watt, W or voltampere, VA)

If you use the original Adapter, the output will be more in North America than in Japan due to the Voltage differences from the outlets.  For instance, if you have the original Japanese Supply which outputs 9VDC, if you plug it in to a wall here it will actually output something like 14VDC.  The reason is that there is no step down converter installed to adjust for the output from our outlets.

  Although you can still use the original Supply, it's better to find something from here if you want to be accurate with how much you give your Duo.

Yes, I think North American wall outlets are using something like 110-120 V while Japan is 100 V. Many Americans doesn't seem to care about using a step-down converter either.
I'm in Sweden (230 V) so I need to use a step-down when I'm using the stock adapter or I'll fry my PC Engine.

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: Question about Unity and HuC]

Another thing to keep in mind is the sprite, color and resolution limitations of the PC Engine.
If you make a CD game sound may note be that much of a problem though.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: PC Engine Creator Memories]

Yeah and unlike a computer, a console relies heavily on software support. With only 5 exclusive games, the SGX wasn't very useful for what it costed.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Just bought a pc engine duo r from Japan]

as I said it was a sega model 1 power brick ac adapter. I don't understand how it could be plugged in wrong.


Anyway are you saying that I shouldn't use the 12v 5a supply on the duo r

There are five main things you should look for when it comes to AC-DC adapters:

Input Voltage: This should match the AC current in your wall outlet in your country. Japan have 100 V, AC.

Output Voltage: This should match what the machine expects. The Duo R expects 9 V, DC (as written on the console near the power plug port). If it's lower it might not be stable, and if higher it may break the system (or blow a fuse if it has one). The voltage regulator in the machine may have some tolerance though so it might be able to take +/- some volts.

Output Current: This doesn't have to match, it just needs to be enough for what the system requires. If you are using lots of things that draws more power, like a multitap + 5 pads, Everdrive etc, you might need a higher current. The original Duo R adapter outputs 1000 mA (i.e. 1 A) so make sure your adapter outputs around that value, or a litte more.

Polarity: Either center negative or center positive. DC power is polar so this must match what the machine expects. Duo R expects center positive (again written on the console). Center positive means the inner of the barrel of the plug is positive and the outer barrel is negative. If this is wrong the system may be damaged or a fuse blows (unless it has diodes that prevents that).

Code Select Expand

+ ---(--- - Center Negative Symbol
- ---(--- + Center Positive SymbolSome unversal AC adapters have a switchable plug so you can switch between the two polarities. The stock adapters that comes with consoles usually cannot do this though so there is no way you can insert them wrongly. If it blew bacause of this, it just means you used the wrong adapter for the system.

Barrel Size: Of course the barrel plug has to fit your machine.


A higher voltage shouldn't help with CD-R discs I think. Maybe a higher current may do though. I'm using the original Duo R adapter "PAD-129" and I can play uisng HuCards, CDs, CD-Rs, Everdrive, Multitap (haven't tried 5 pads + Everdrive though) etc with no problems.
If you measure an AC adapter you have to measure it under load or it will give you the wrong values.

If you have problems with the original adapter it is probably because it has degraded over time. Get a new quality AC-DC adapter that fulfills the requirements of the system in that case.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: PC Engine Creator Memories]

OK I finally read this, a very good read indeed!

Good to get confirmation that the CD wasn't an add-on, but a core driving factor behind the PC Engine's very existence in the first place.

Exactly what I was thinking.
We had heated discussions in the past about how the CD-ROM² was just an "unsuccessful" or "moderately successful add-on" like the Famicom Disk System, and that the PC Engine is "mainly about the HuCards". Of course these are lies (and that the FDS being unsuccessful are also lies BTW, although it was no CD-ROM²).

Although I guess Hudson's insight in the arcade/console market was an important factor as well in making it into good console hardware. Considering they designed the excellent CPU/sound and video chips.

The comment about needing a polygonal-successor was fascinating ... it makes me wonder Why On Earth they chose to release the PC-FX without the 3D chip that's on the PC-FXGA.

I guess they simply weren't happy about that 3D chip, which delayed its release. According to the interview they where unable to find a partner that could help them make 3D hardware that was good for games. Considering how many 32-bit era consoles failed, I guess only Sony and Nintendo (and maybe Sega) was really successful in doing that in the end.


Another interesting point in the interview is how the countless models of the PC Engine was part of NEC's strategy of aiming the system to different types of consumers. And that the Super Grafx was part of that as well.

But I wonder how much of that is true for the Super Grafx though. From what I heard earlier, it was initially supposed to be a real 16-bit machine competing in the 16-bit era, but it ended up being released earlier and as just a slight hardware upgrade for enthusiasts.

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: Displaying sprites and SAT and SATB confusion]

Yes that is what I meant by "similar usage" instead of "identical usage".
They are both VRAM areas that can be modified as you want. Although SAT has an arbitrary base address while BAT is always $0000.

If I understands it correctly, CG, SAT and SG can technically be anywhere in VRAM, even inside BAT, as long as CG and SG are aligned properly for Pattern Codes to work. The model I drew up is from the dev docs, and I guess it represents the typical VRAM map.

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: Displaying sprites and SAT and SATB confusion]

Yeah I guess someone mixed up SAT and SATB long ago and then this naming just stuck.

I think the official naming makes sense though:

Code Select Expand

VRAM
 ---------
 |       | $0000
 |  BAT  |             (attributes for background characters)
 |       |
 |-------|
 |       |
 |  CG   |             (pattern data for background characters)
 |       |
 |-------|
 |       |
 |  SAT  |             (attributes for sprites)
 |       |
 |-------|
 |       |
 |  SG   |             (pattern data for sprites)
 |       |
 |-------|
I mean SAT matches BAT, and has similar usage.

Yeah I think Magickit library is good for learning. Some things like Backup RAM doesn't seem to be mentioned at all in the dev docs, the only place I've found a description of the save file format is in the Magickit library.

You understand the basic process ... don't get hung up on the naming.

OK, so it seems I understood it correctly at least.
I think I'm ready to move on from this shock.

I'm guessing that they originally designed the addressing to allow for a 4-color-sprite option.

Yeah the dev docs describe that if you are using 4-dot mode via MWR, you'll be limited with 4-color-sprites.
But according to Charles McDonald, PC Engine is using very fast VRAM chip already so there is no need to use slower than 1-dot mode.

you've got the Pattern Code calculation wrong ... VRAM $4100 -> Pattern Code $0208.

It's a divide by 32, not the divide by 64 that you'd expect given that a 16x16x4 sprite is 64 words of VRAM memory.

Alright this was the problem. Now it works as expected!

Thanks everyone for the replies!

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Displaying sprites and SAT and SATB confusion]

So I've finally read through the dev docs and think I have a good basic understanding of how to use the hardware. I have succeeded in making a "Hello World" HuCard program on my PC Engine, and also had fun programming my own waveforms for the PSG.

Right, now I'm trying to display sprites but it just doesn't work. Here's the things I've done:
* I've initialized about every CPU, VDC, VCE and PSG register there are, and also all RAM, VRAM and the internal SATB memory. Not the PSG's internal waveform registers though.
* I've uploaded one sprite attribute to SAT (I put it in VRAM $4000) properly.
* I've uploaded my sprite pattern in the proper format in the SG (VRAM $4100).
* I wrote $4000 to R13 of the VDC (VRAM-SATB DMA register) to setup SAT base address.
* I've enabled VRAM-SATB Repeat flag, so I guess this is enough for SATB to be updated.
* I've enabled sprites via the sprite blanking bit (I forgot which register it is).

The sprite pattern shows up in Mednafen sprite debugger so it is in the correct format. My SG starts at VRAM $4100 so if my calculations are correct the Pattern Code is $0104 for the first pattern. I assigned this number to sprite 0 in SAT. I also setup its coordinates and priority bit so that it should be visible.

Is there something I'm missing, or anything in general that you need to think of? I can upload my source code later when I'm home.


And finally a question about SAT and SATB which makes things even more confusing for me.
In the dev docs and in the Develo Assembly book (which seems to have ripped out parts of the official Japanese development documents) it seems to be quite clear to me that SAT is for sprites, much like BAT is for background characters, a part of VRAM where you assign your 64 sprite entries that are currently to be showed on screen (visible or not). But unlike BAT the data in SAT must be copied to an internal memory of the VDC called SATB And this is done via the DMA channel called VRAM-SATB DMA (the English translation replaces all instances of DMA to "Block Transfer" though). So SATB is probably 512 kB like SAT.

But on about every documentation I can find online, people have the terms SAT and SATB mixed up. Even Mednafen's debugger seems to use SAT for the internal VDC memory.
I guess because VRAM acts like a buffer for the internal VDC memory it makes sense that SATB (Sprite Attribute Table Buffer) would be the VRAM area.

Is it Hudson that are using confusing terms or did I completely misunderstand the dev docs?

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: Wizardry partially in English, so how much work to make them FULL English]

Ouch!
I guess it's possible that your Backup RAM had become corrupt and Wizadry kindly formated it for you so it could be used again though.

But on the other hand there apparently are games that do erase your BRAM without warning when you play them! Sometimes because the BRAM is full, and sometimes for no reason at all (bad programming I guess).
http://www.blackfalcongames.net/?p=190
According to this list, Hi-leg Fantasy is one of the ones that just randomly erases BRAM for no reason, but the best has to be Space Fantasy Zone (unreleased). It doesn't save to BRAM, it just erases it!

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: Getting started programming?]

Yup those are great additions. I saw those in the thread. The #^(label) shorthand for #BANK(label) was also added.
But no I don't think you documented it at all. PCEAS has always been plagued by a lack of documentation. lol

(The original "usage.txt" file doesn't even mention how zero page addressing is done!)

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: Getting started programming?]

Ah so Bonknut's improvements are already in these HuC forks. Good, I'll just grab the assembler. Thanks!

Edit: OK I'm using this one.

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: Updated PCE development information page?]

OK I signed up as Pokun.

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: Updated PCE development information page?]

Oh well thanks for sharing this information. So the COM port seems to be basically a stripped-down controller port with only pins 6, 7 and 8 (unless there are some more hardware involved).

I guess it would be easy to make a Com Link adapter for any PC Engine.

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: Updated PCE development information page?]

Wow this happened a lot faster than I dreamed of!
A wiki is the way to go. That way we can add newly discovered things or fix mistakes easily.

I need to find out how to lock this bitch down so Sega16 members don't find it and add stupid information like "can't even blast process" or "can't even does what Nintendon't"

lol

Lets talk about migration strategies for Archaic Pixels.   I don't know what software it was made with.  I think Gravis (?) and maybe Tom have rights to that place.   

There *is* useful information there.... but...

1) "Archaic Pixels" is ambiguous and nobody ever finds it unless they're told to go there
2) Nobody can edit/add/update, so that is kind of goofy.

I think we can migrate that stuff over, including all of the relevant pieces parts of the other pages.

Yeah it has good info about some of the hardware, and I guess for HuC. It's not much about assembly though. Also a lot of broken pages.


A few things I'd suggest the wiki should eventually explain (not sure in what sections everything would go though):

* Explain all registers for the built-in hardware and add-on hardware in the appropriate sections. Preferibly using official names and terms of things, like both Archaic Pixels and Charles McDonald already partly do.
* Explain all known differences between the original and revisioned HuC6280 (and HuC6260). Only thing I could find is that HuC6280A fixes some volume centering issues in the PSG.
* A list of the reset state of the PC Engine (a list is in the dev docs CPU hardware manual).
* A list of things that needs to be initialized after reset and example init code. I just initialize about all registers, except the DMA ones (since one of them triggers DMA) and some of the PSG registers, just in case.
* An explanation on how to set display resolution as well as showing what commercial games usually set it to.
* How to setup a banking system to map in necessary banks as needed.
* How to upload Background Characters to VRAM.
* How to upload Sprites to VRAM and setup VRAM-SATB DMA to update Sprites.
* How to scroll.
* How to make sound. A simple sound routine that can play sound effects or notes at a specified tempo using the TIMER interrupt or something is fine I guess. Not even Nesdev wiki has this though.
* General program structuring. How the main program loop and interrupts are setup.
* Backup RAM section. Explain the save file format and example code how to read and write to it. The only info about BRAM I've found is in the Magickit library.
* Input devices hardware info and how to read them (with example code). Pad, Mouse, Tsuushin Keyboard etc.
* Whatever we know about Memory Base 128 and Save-kun.
* Everdrive section
* HuCard ROM sizes and mapping (including how emulators handles the 384 kB ROM, and Street Fighter II' mapper).
* CD image format.
* PC Engine GT Com Cable pinout and protocol. I've found zero info about this (other than that it has standard 3.5 mm TRS stereo cable plugs).
* A Super Grafx section. I guess each section could have a Super Grafx paragraph added to it, that explains how things work for the SGX case.

Some of these are maybe more newbie turorial things than reference material I guess. Also these are mostly from a PC Engine developer's view. I guess an emulator developer would want more hardware quirk details.

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: Getting started programming?]

Heh well it kind of makes sense to assume that the Zero Page is always page 0. I guess Hudson should have called it the $20-page or something. I guess that's why they renamed it the Direct Page for 65816 in the first place, since it's relocatable to other pages.

So PCEAS simply rejects assembling larger HuCard ROMs than 1 MB?

Errrr ... What would you like it to do? 

This is no standardized mapping scheme for > 1MB HuCard ROMs.

There was only one > 1MB HuCard ROM ever released, and nobody has implemented its mapping scheme in a homebrew HuCard release (that I know of).

I see, so then it's not an artificial rejection but rather a matter of running out of addressing space.
Ideally it still should be possible to make games using the Street Fighter II' mapper somehow though.

Sounds like another mostly pointless restriction like the forced 8 kB banks thing that was fixed in PCEAS2.

I'm sure that the original PCEAS devs thought that it made sense.

Yeah well it's not as much a matter of making sense as a matter of putting unecessary restrictions on the assembler. There's no telling when you need to do something different than the usual way, and then these kinds of restrictions get in the way. That's why I think giving warnings and making things optional is the way to go.
For NESASM (the Famicom version of PCEAS if I understand things correctly) the forced 8 kB banks makes zero sense though (unless you are using certain mappers) which is why people dislike it over at Nesdev.net.

Well, PCEAS2 doesn't fail when a bank is crossed, that part was definitely fixed.

But it doesn't actually assemble correctly.

None of the bytes that cross the boundary are written to the new bank, and they just stay at the default $FF.

Oh I had no idea it wasn't really fixed. I've yet to make a program that is big enough to need more than one ROM bank of code.

So which version of PCEAS is the one to go with? I'd prefer an assembler that doesn't create extra banks and stuff that you don't tell it to. I'll create my own libraries.

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: How to fix the HuC/PCEAS 384KB ROM size problem?]

So when Mednafen loads a 384KB ROM, it puts things into different banks than HuC/PCEAS expected

And mednafen is mapping the upper ROM chip where? Does it duplicate it (so its mirrored) or what? Any more info?

Yeah I don't get it either. Are there other special cases than a 384K ROM?

PC Engine really needs a good development/hardware wiki, like the nesdev wiki. The one that exists is good, but outdated and has lots of missing pages.
If all 384K games are using this kind of special mapping so that emulators expects it, it should be written in a wiki or somewhere so that developers are aware of it, and can pad the hole in the ROM.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Unboxing and Playing PCE Memories Boxset: Mahjong Dreams]

Yeah if you are sure you want it, it's poitless to watch an unboxing of it. But if it is, on the other hand, a product that you are not sure you want, and you are comparing different products from different companies, it is great to see what goodies you get for each product.

Yarr, I kinda like 'em for stuff like this.  If it's just a game, I don't need to see it, but they're neat to watch when you see more of the extra stuff (artbook, panties, etc.).

Even then, I don't need a twenty minute video with a fawning dialog.  A minute or two and a simple description will suffice.

Exactly, I just skip through to see the panties I mean the highlights.