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MiSTer FPGA

donluca said:
May I also ask, what's people's definition of "100% accuracy", emulation-wise? Genuinely curious.

If someone says their emu is 100% accurate and you pit it against real hardware and you're unable to detect any difference, video, audio and input-wise, does it make "100% accurate"?
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Raph_friend said:
My 100% accurate is play exactly as the original.
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Yeah, I think playing it where I cannot tell (I'm not a pro player or speed runner) is good enough for me, but I wouldn't call it 100% accurate (not that term anyway). To be 100% accurate, you'd need a machine comparison. Something that is beyond human ability to detect. In the old days of Robotron 2084 FPGA comparisons on KLOV, people would run the real PCB and the FPGA simultaneously for many hours to see if there was a shift in process over time. Maybe not the most accurate, but it did prove that the FPGA version at the time, did have timing differences over many hours.
 
Computer won't play the game, just follow commands made by humans that can address new commands automatically using AI. WHO will play it and feel that are something off are us, humans, even if it's technically not exactly on code. Same happens when different architecture are used on computers, you don't want to know who made x86, even if using a AMD CPU, just want that your software run perfectly.
It is what I think about my 100% accurate.
 
I feel this really needs a separate thread because the issue at hand is of utter importance since it sets people's expectations on a certain device.

All the points made here, to me, are absolutely valid.

On one hand, we should definitely try to document and reproduce old (failing) hardware by going down to the lowest level possible, although this is quite a time (and money) intensive effort. The obvious advantage is that this will allow us to create replacement components and keep our old original PCBs alive. This is especially important for collectors.

On the other hand, humans are the end users, not logic analyzers, which means that if we're able to make an approximate replica of each component so that when used in conjunction with each other they give us an experience which is indistinguishable from the real hardware, what's the point of going further?

I feel like this topic is one of those where there isn't a complete right/wrong answer, hence I'd love to spark the discussion to see what people think.
 
Lets not forget that actual real arcade hardware has slight differences between board revisions. For example neogeo has many different revisions with even different manufacturers of various components and core chips like CPUs. Some have hitachi 68k some have toshiba etc. Also the main board chipset itself different manufacturers for different neogeo boards. MiSTer in a way has potential to be like yet another different manufacturer when done correctly.
 
donluca said:
On one hand, we should definitely try to document and reproduce old (failing) hardware by going down to the lowest level possible, although this is quite a time (and money) intensive effort. The obvious advantage is that this will allow us to create replacement components and keep our old original PCBs alive. This is especially important for collectors.

On the other hand, humans are the end users, not logic analyzers, which means that if we're able to make an approximate replica of each component so that when used in conjunction with each other they give us an experience which is indistinguishable from the real hardware, what's the point of going further
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MiSTer is not aimed at keeping components alive for collectors. It's really aimed at functional accuracy. And it does it like a champion. I realise this is a collector centric forum and totally understand why people are in general not receptive to it. As a retro gamer however this is a cost effective way to enjoy really good emulation. Also I subscribe to the best or nothing. Mister is the best emulator amongst other emulators for most systems. So MiSTer not being 100% accurate to real PCBs component level dont matter to me. Also mister has a decent community now which is kind of steering the direction along with the devs obviously who do work as a hobby. It's all for free really. Like emulators should be, free :)
 
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Real arcade hardware has glitches as well. For example, my OG Capcom Ghosts N Goblins board does a background flash when there's too many enemies onscreen. Apparently it's some sort of timing glitch that happens on some (but not all) GnG boards. That glitch doesn't occur on the MiSTer GnG core. So in this case, the MiSTer core delivers a glitch-free experience, but one that isn't "authentic" to my original board. Should MiSTer have an option for that authentic flash-glitch experience?

You can see the flash I'm talking about at 5:35 - 6:00 in this video:
 
ShootTheCore said:
Should MiSTer have an option for that authentic flash-glitch experience?
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Maybe after Jotego (who created the core) has all this to do ticked off - not before that for sure. He has a few systems in pipeline like x68000 and System 16 and Irem m72. Also you might need to send your original board to Jotego, or since you are good at probing the PCB, you can send him measurements which he can implement. Best to ask him on Discord yourself to see if he is interested to do it. Otherwise you will need to find a dev who can look at the open source code and make the changes.

Also why we cannot make everyone happy :)
https://imgur.com/a/5vmsaeu
5vmsaeu
 
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I'm having trouble getting wifi to work on my MiSTer. I've edited the INI file with my SSID and password, but it just keeps saying no network. My SSID has a space in it, which is the only thing I could think of that might be screwing it up. Any ideas?
 
Cloggerdude said:
I'm having trouble getting wifi to work on my MiSTer. I've edited the INI file with my SSID and password, but it just keeps saying no network. My SSID has a space in it, which is the only thing I could think of that might be screwing it up. Any ideas?
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Did you put both SSID and password in quotes?
 
suverman said:
Cloggerdude said:
I'm having trouble getting wifi to work on my MiSTer. I've edited the INI file with my SSID and password, but it just keeps saying no network. My SSID has a space in it, which is the only thing I could think of that might be screwing it up. Any ideas?
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Did you put both SSID and password in quotes?
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Yep. The only thing I can think of myself is that my SSID has a space in it. Which, I can change it, but that’s going to be a major pain.
 
suverman said:
Best to ask him on Discord yourself
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Can you provide an invite link to this fabled discord? I can't find any info on it at all, including in patreon member-only posts. I tweeted jotego and he didn't respond. Or is the discord not intended to be open?
 
ShootTheCore said:
Jotego hangs out in the @SmokeMonster Discord. You have to be a Patreon supporter to get an invitation.
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I couldn't find where in patreon the discord link is. There is a 'connect to discord' button under 'membership', but it sets up the role rather than linking to the discord, as far as I can tell. Or do you mean you have to ask Jotego directly for the link, and also be a patron?
 
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