MiSTer FPGA Forum

pgimeno wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 9:15 am

TheBonePony wrote: ↑Thu Apr 15, 2021 12:06 am Been fiddling for a week. I try the boot.vhd from the github and I just get a black screen for a while then "error saving configuration".

There was a problem with one of the releases, that caused write errors. It was solved in a new release. Maybe you have not updated to the latest?

Definitely on the latest one available at the time I posted. Have the latest VHD too.

Edit: I fixed it. Occurred to me that maybe deleting the config file that was saved would fix it... Yep. Deleted that, loaded the exact same thing I did yesterday, works fine now. YES! I am very happy.

Chris23235 wrote: ↑Wed Apr 14, 2021 8:37 pm While doing a cold reset of the machine hold down the following button:

D for Digital
V for VGA
R for RGB
or
A to cycle all video modes.

It didn't work for me at the time of posting, but does now, not sure why... In any case, the scaling is actually fine (on my CRT TV), in both 50/60Hz modes. I suggested myself it might be flawed by the oddly-looking fonts in the Next's initial screens, but after comparing with the real thing I can see they're the same, so it's all good.

I've been testing it a bit for the last few days and it all seems to be working fine. The extra vhd slot adds flexibility and it's easy to make little vhd's now and transfer stuff from PC this way. Big thanks to Sorgelig for sorting this core out, so we can use it on MiSTer without the need for extra add-ons, or buying other boards.

Here are a few more free games (they were paid-for before)

https://softamuse.itch.io/montanamike
https://softamuse.itch.io/bubblegumbros
https://softamuse.itch.io/dweebsdrop
https://softamuse.itch.io/dungeonette

Since revision 20210409 I've had no success booting from .vhd (Secondary SD works fine) just get "Error mounting SD card"
I decided on a clean install of Mister and to download a fresh RBF and boot.vhd on a different SD card but now I get "Error saving configuration"
I don't get it!

Are you sure the fresh RBF is the 20210409 and not the 20210407? I got that error with the 07 version.

Yes it's definitely 09. This latest iteration is the only one I've encountered a problem with

Has anyone else had this graphical glitch on the ZX Next core? It seems to appear when the MiSTer ini is set up for 5x crop scaling, but vertical crop isn't activated on the Next core.

If you change the vertical crop to "216" then it is fixed, but still present on "270".

Obviously the core still works but the corruption in the screen and colours was worrying - at first I thought my files or sd card had become corrupted.

I don't see such issue on my MiSTer.
May be it's related to some specific setup.
Or it may be general core instability. Original ZX Next core code is pretty much mess of clocks making it hard to work smoothly..

For those who enjoy the old Magnetic Scrolls games, Strand Games has just converted the 16bit classic Wonderland to the Spectrum Next.

You can find the build here: https://gitlab.com/strandgames/brahman/ ... nder/build

Also the rest of their conversions of the Magnetic Scrolls classics can be found here:
https://gitlab.com/strandgames/brahman/ ... etic/games

They include the following games:
The Pawn ; Guild of Thieves ; Jinxter ; Corruption ; Fish ; Myth ; Wonderland

Do you know if it was difficult to port from Spectrum to Next? A friend of mine made a game for Spectrum a few years back.

Moondandy wrote: ↑Mon Jun 07, 2021 4:48 pm Do you know if it was difficult to port from Spectrum to Next? A friend of mine made a game for Spectrum a few years back.

ZX Spectrum games run natively on the Next, there is no need to port them in any way.

With the Magnetic Scrolls compilation it is a port of the MAGNETIC interpreter an open source interpreter for the Magnetic Scrolls Adventures. The games themself are enhanced over the original Spectrum games from back in the day they now have graphics and sound.

Hi all,

I can't get the Spectrum Next core to recognise the fire button of my joystick.

It seems to work OK on other cores.

Anyone else had this problem?

Thanks,

D.

Hi again,

I thought I should add some more detail about the joystick button problem.

I have two controllers connected to my Mister: a Monster Joystick with a 9-pin connector, connected via a 9-pin to USB adaptor, and a generic Logitech controller pad.

With the Next set to Left joystick = MD1, the controller pad works perfectly.

However, with Left joystick = kemps1, the Monster Joystick is recognised and the stick itself works, but the fire button does not. It does work in all other cores, so there does not seem to be a hardware problem.

Does anyone else have this problem?

Thanks,

Daniel

EDIT: I seem to get the same results however the system joystick settings are set. Joypad works perfectly, Monster Joystick fire button not recognised. "Swap joysticks" swaps between the two of them. Really not sure what's going on...

It's an unusual combination. If you don't hear from anybody you can try posting it as an issue on github.

I fixed it It appears that the Mister joystick mapping in the Spectrum Next core is different to that in the other cores. Using "Define ZX Next Buttons" in the OSD menu, I mapped it so that button "A" is the fire button, and this now works. All other buttons can be ignored, using the space bar.

D.

EDIT: This seems to be a partial work-around. While it fixes actual Next games, like Warhawk, it does not fix original Spectrum games, e.g. Uridium or Crystal Kingdom Dizzy.
It seems the core expects a joypad and will not work properly with an old-fashioned joystick.
I'll report this as a bug.

D.

I am having the exact problem with joystick as described up here

Insert Disk Two wrote: ↑Sun Jul 11, 2021 1:56 pm I am having the exact problem with joystick as described up here

This seems to me to be a bug, and I reported it on Github.

D.

Anyone know if it's possible to take a screenshot of the next core?

I can't get it to work for two reasons. Firstly the command key (I'm using a Mac keyboard as I share it with two other devices) is read as brace, or something like that in the core - I assume the Win key does the same with a windows keyboard but don't have one to hand, secondly, if COMMAND+F13 is doing anything then the 'screenshot' folder isn't getting created anywhere on my SD card (the mister one).

This leads me to my other question - I use a secondary SD card for Next because it just seemed easier. Is it possible to get at that without having to switch off the mister and remove the SD card so I can copy stuff on and off?

[edit] ignore that second bit. I realise that the secondary SD card on the I/O board is not accessible from the host but the way to go is to have a vhd file on the primary sd card and mount it as drive D in Next.

Any way to access the 2nd sd card on the io board through the network?

CartoonDonkey wrote: ↑Sun Aug 15, 2021 5:45 am Any way to access the 2nd sd card on the io board through the network?

Don't think so.

I have a 20MB VHD in Windows, add files that I need to it, send it via FTP to Mister.
You can then load this VHD within the Next Core as second drive and access it through the Next Browser Menu, choosing 'D' to select the drive and browse the vhd contents.

Fallon wrote: ↑Sun Aug 15, 2021 11:36 am

CartoonDonkey wrote: ↑Sun Aug 15, 2021 5:45 am Any way to access the 2nd sd card on the io board through the network?

Don't think so.

I have a 20MB VHD in Windows, add files that I need to it, send it via FTP to Mister.
You can then load this VHD within the Next Core as second drive and access it through the Next Browser Menu, choosing 'D' to select the drive and browse the vhd contents.

You can also connect to the VHD directly on Mister as a SAMBA share.

Hrm... that’s a shame. I just purchased a microsd card so that I wouldn’t have to use the VHD. If I could mount or access that over the network, this would be an improvement over a real Next in my eyes. Has to be possible on Mister’s linux side. I mean, the base / core is accessing it in some way. I can’t believe that it couldn’t be symlinked to somehow. Hrm.

Anyway, the microsd does seem quie a bit snappier to me. Interestingly, I sold my Spectrum Next N-Go machine and upgraded to the Mister. Kept a copy of my Next N-Go installation and placed it on the secondary MicroSD, removing the vhd. When I boot up, the boot screen now shows TBBLUE instead of Mister or N-Go. I’d like to know how it’s sensing the hardware it’s running on as a clone or what have you. Have this core set as my default when the Mister boots up. Back to some Delta’s Shadow.. maybe a little Jetpac later.

CartoonDonkey wrote: ↑Sun Aug 15, 2021 6:01 pm I sold my Spectrum Next N-Go machine and upgraded to the Mister. .

How doe Mister compare with the N-GO?
The Mister ZX Core seems to have some kind of regular scrolling stutter in games such as Warhawk, which I've seen it in a few other games. I was considering buying an N-GO, so it would be interesting to know.

@fallon it's indistinguishable to me that I'm not playing on my old N-Go. Mister core seems every bit as functional. Warkhawk is buttery smooth. I've got it going to both rgb to scart on a Commodore 1084s crt and hdmi at the same time. No stuttering. I'll be recording a youtube vid about the Mister this week for my youtube channel. I'll try posting it here when it's ready.

CartoonDonkey wrote: ↑Mon Aug 16, 2021 4:00 am @fallon it's indistinguishable to me that I'm not playing on my old N-Go. Mister core seems every bit as functional. Warkhawk is buttery smooth. I've got it going to both rgb to scart on a Commodore 1084s crt and hdmi at the same time. No stuttering. I'll be recording a youtube vid about the Mister this week for my youtube channel. I'll try posting it here when it's ready.

Cool, thanks.

I tried 'Scramble' today, and it definitely has a regular slowdown and speedup while scrolling. I'm on HDMI. Guess I will double check my video settings.

Giving scramble a try... What version? You don't mean on an original next flashing the Scramble arcade core do you?

No there is a version of Scramble written by Rusty Pixels that is pretty much arcade perfect.

Checkout https://www.specnext.com/software-directory/

CartoonDonkey wrote: ↑Mon Aug 16, 2021 5:06 am Giving scramble a try... What version? You don't mean on an original next flashing the Scramble arcade core do you?

It's Rusty Pixels' port to the Next:

https://www.rustypixels.uk/?p=238

Ah, just tried it. Great conversion. Buttery smooth on my end. No stuttering that I can see either on rgb out to the crt or hdmi.
I should note again, that I'm booting from the secondary microsd card on the analog i/o board, and I'm not using boot.vhd. I'm using my old spectrum next OS I copied over from the latest official.

CartoonDonkey wrote: ↑Mon Aug 16, 2021 8:12 am Ah, just tried it. Great conversion. Buttery smooth on my end. No stuttering that I can see either on rgb out to the crt or hdmi.
I should note again, that I'm booting from the secondary microsd card on the analog i/o board, and I'm not using boot.vhd. I'm using my old spectrum next OS I copied over from the latest official.

Thanks.

I tried hooking up the Next to a VGA monitor via the HDMI connection with a convertor - Scramble is now really smooth with no jerky scrolling.

Thinking back, I'm sure there was some discussion about HDMI on real hardware having issues, with people recommending a VGA monitor.

So after some research, I think I've found the best method (with a pc) of getting files on and off of the Next core. This might be obvious, but I thought I'd write out the steps if it helps someone. I actually like the Mister core *better* than my old Spectrum Next N-Go clone if not only for the reason that I can now send things over to it via the network without having to physically move an SD card in and out of a machine.

1)Booting from a full install of the OS on the 2nd microsd, I renamed the used boot.vhd that lives in the ZXNext folder on the main Mister microsd, storage.vhd

2) Used Imdisk https://sourceforge.net/projects/imdisk-toolkit/ to mount the image over samba.
3) Fully deleted the contents of storage.vhd from Windows, in order to use it as storage. Moved any games etc, over to the mounted storage.vhd (I have mine as the x: drive on my PC)

4) Booted the Next core from the microsd card, and then used the Mister menu to mount that storage.vhd in the ZXNext folder on the main Mister microsd as the D: drive. Use M to mount or U to dismount the storage.vhd and refresh any changes. press D to switch drives. All my files are listed on that storage.vhd for use. Profit!

Yes, I used the image while never dismounting it from Windows. But as long as I'm not modifying it's contents while the Next is running that vhd won't get corrupted. If it did, I guess I'd make another 10gb vhd and move that over. No biggie. If while using the Next, I want to move new content over or delete and have those changes show up on the D: drive, I make those changes from windows and then just press f4 to reset the Next and things get refreshed. I've also got an Ultimate 64 Elite FPGA in a breadbin case and I don't know why the Next guys didn't just build in an ftp server into the core like Gideon did for the ultimate. It was the one thing that frustrated me about it. And now that's solved with the Mister. Yeah, the Mister Next core doesn't like tzx files but honestly, I just boot into the regular Spectrum core for those, and I really don't miss anything. No biggie.

End of rant. Game on!