Preserving Arcade Core High Scores

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jimmystones
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Re: Preserving Arcade Core High Scores

Unread post by jimmystones »

Zeosstud wrote: Fri Apr 02, 2021 4:25 pm Not sure what to say about Dig Dug.. I have the .rbf and .mra right from the update_all, but for me, it does not show up when I reload the game, the nvram file is create, looks to be like 37k or so.. Anyone else test this?? Pause works, either with the button or is you bring up the OSD, so I do not think it is some sort of .mra issue.. Maybe some kind of problem with the name having a space?? Dig Dug??
Hmm, looks like it might have tricked me into thinking it is working - the exact same file I built works fine and loads my scores, but I just updated my MiSTer and the updated version from the repo does not... It does load the highscore table, just not the top score at the top of the screen - is that the same for you?
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Re: Preserving Arcade Core High Scores

Unread post by Zeosstud »

Yes sir, it is in the table but not at the top of the screen
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Re: Preserving Arcade Core High Scores

Unread post by jimmystones »

How annoying.. well it sounds like you shouldn't lose any scores at least. I found the mistake ... that is I forgot to copy the latest MRA back from my dev MiSTer and commit to git :| Why did I try and do an update on April Fool's Day! PR is in, waiting for sorg to approve :)
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Re: Preserving Arcade Core High Scores

Unread post by Reg »

jimmystones wrote: Tue Mar 30, 2021 3:56 pm Food Fight and Rally-X are both on my todo list .. Turtles (presuming you mean that weird maze thing where you rescue baby turtles) was already looked at as part of the Scramble core, but it's .. not 100% successful let's say! It seems to save the high score table but not the top score properly - I'll be revisiting it when I go back and update frameworks, and I'll probably be able to fix it given what I've learned since... fingers crossed anyway :)
I maybe new here, but this is music to my ears on New Rally X - thank you.

The work you and others do here is awesome and one of the reasons I got the FPGA was for Rally X and New Rally X. They were and are my arcade posion.

In MAME it was never the same, the screen had judder and scrolling issues and it never felt right.

For another forum where interests cross, I did a video of what was meant to be a quick demo of games etc and how they looked. The first I did was Rally X.

When playing, it was like the muscle memory of when I was a kid came back and due to the accuracy of this and none of the slight glitiching of maze graphics and scrolling that was very off putting on software emulation, I actually got my highest score ever while recording !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Poa5ZycyNHQ

There are other captures of multiple other systems on the video, but Rally X was the fist ( and went on for over 10 minutes !).

Thank you again for that future work. :)
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Re: Preserving Arcade Core High Scores

Unread post by retrodroid »

Reg wrote: Sat Apr 03, 2021 10:36 am
jimmystones wrote: Tue Mar 30, 2021 3:56 pm Food Fight and Rally-X are both on my todo list .. Turtles (presuming you mean that weird maze thing where you rescue baby turtles) was already looked at as part of the Scramble core, but it's .. not 100% successful let's say! It seems to save the high score table but not the top score properly - I'll be revisiting it when I go back and update frameworks, and I'll probably be able to fix it given what I've learned since... fingers crossed anyway :)
I maybe new here, but this is music to my ears on New Rally X - thank you.

The work you and others do here is awesome and one of the reasons I got the FPGA was for Rally X and New Rally X. They were and are my arcade posion.

In MAME it was never the same, the screen had judder and scrolling issues and it never felt right.

For another forum where interests cross, I did a video of what was meant to be a quick demo of games etc and how they looked. The first I did was Rally X.

When playing, it was like the muscle memory of when I was a kid came back and due to the accuracy of this and none of the slight glitiching of maze graphics and scrolling that was very off putting on software emulation, I actually got my highest score ever while recording !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Poa5ZycyNHQ

There are other captures of multiple other systems on the video, but Rally X was the fist ( and went on for over 10 minutes !).

Thank you again for that future work. :)
I couldn't agree more, there is something subtle but magical in how these games feel vs. the sw emulation I have used previously, like the "magic smoke" has been restored. :)
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Re: Preserving Arcade Core High Scores

Unread post by jimmystones »

Donkey Kong Junior is done.

Tetris should be soon to follow, then I'll give RallyX a go :)
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Re: Preserving Arcade Core High Scores

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jimmystones wrote: Sat Apr 03, 2021 4:17 pm Tetris should be soon to follow, then I'll give RallyX a go :)
Thank you sir for making an old guy very happy. :)
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Re: Preserving Arcade Core High Scores

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DK Junior works perfectly.. Looking forward to Tetris, now there will be a permanent record of how much better my wife is than me at that game..
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Re: Preserving Arcade Core High Scores

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Just tested the Mr. Do beta .rbf / .mra.. I was able to set flip screen in the Dipswith settings and save a high score and it was there when I came back to the game a 2nd time.. Looks like a win to me.

@PRAGMA is getting it done..
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Re: Preserving Arcade Core High Scores

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The Mr. Do core is a quality first release, that's for sure :)

Tetris is done, highscore + pause etc.. Also I've been back and added pause in OSD to all Sega System 1 games, and high score support for Wonder Boy... Enjoy!

Arkanoid and Rally-X now in progress...
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Re: Preserving Arcade Core High Scores

Unread post by Alkadian »

jimmystones wrote: Mon Apr 05, 2021 8:09 pm The Mr. Do core is a quality first release, that's for sure :)

Tetris is done, highscore + pause etc.. Also I've been back and added pause in OSD to all Sega System 1 games, and high score support for Wonder Boy... Enjoy!

Arkanoid and Rally-X now in progress...
That's great, many thanks jimmystones!
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Re: Preserving Arcade Core High Scores

Unread post by hiddenbyleaves »

Wow!
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Re: Preserving Arcade Core High Scores

Unread post by Reg »

jimmystones wrote: Mon Apr 05, 2021 8:09 pm The Mr. Do core is a quality first release, that's for sure :)

Tetris is done, highscore + pause etc.. Also I've been back and added pause in OSD to all Sega System 1 games, and high score support for Wonder Boy... Enjoy!

Arkanoid and Rally-X now in progress...
Brilliant - thank you.
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Re: Preserving Arcade Core High Scores

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Arkanoid and Rally-X are slow going, so I've sorted out Rush N Attack / Green Beret for a little break :)
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Re: Preserving Arcade Core High Scores

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jimmystones wrote: Wed Apr 07, 2021 8:59 pm Arkanoid and Rally-X are slow going, so I've sorted out Rush N Attack / Green Beret for a little break :)
Nice one :D
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Re: Preserving Arcade Core High Scores

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If you aren't busy enough yet, how about Ladybug? :)
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Re: Preserving Arcade Core High Scores

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I've added it to the todo list :) Always need games to try and knock out while other cores are being a pain (still looking at you Arkanoid and Rally-X!!)
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Re: Preserving Arcade Core High Scores

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jimmystones wrote: Sun Apr 11, 2021 9:27 am I've added it to the todo list :) Always need games to try and knock out while other cores are being a pain (still looking at you Arkanoid and Rally-X!!)
Thank you for your continued work - please don't let Rally-X beat you ! :)

Do you have a Patron page BTW ?
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Re: Preserving Arcade Core High Scores

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They'll all get there in the end! I've got Rally-X compiling another test right now as it happens :) Also Mario Bros is awaiting approval of PR as that had some timing fixes that make it much more stable so I've bashed hiscore+pause in before releasing it..

I don't have a Patreon as that would be far too much responsibility - but you can sling me coffee (or more likely beer) money on https://ko-fi.com/jimmystones if you like!
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Re: Preserving Arcade Core High Scores

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Fixed up Mario Bros is out with hiscore and pause - yet another game I am apparently terrible at but the minimum high score is low so all good :)
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Re: Preserving Arcade Core High Scores

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jimmystones wrote: Sun Apr 11, 2021 6:05 pm They'll all get there in the end! I've got Rally-X compiling another test right now as it happens :) Also Mario Bros is awaiting approval of PR as that had some timing fixes that make it much more stable so I've bashed hiscore+pause in before releasing it..

I don't have a Patreon as that would be far too much responsibility - but you can sling me coffee (or more likely beer) money on https://ko-fi.com/jimmystones if you like!
I have just brought you five coffee's sir !
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Re: Preserving Arcade Core High Scores

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Now I feel like a schmuck, I only bought 2.. I will remedy that.. :-)
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Re: Preserving Arcade Core High Scores

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Reg wrote: Mon Apr 12, 2021 7:05 pm I have just brought you five coffee's sir !
How very generous, thanks very much :) I'd love to report that'll get Rally-X done quicker but you can't change the law of physics I'm afraid!
What's bugging me is how easy it was to get Pacman to work in comparison, and they both ran on the same hardware in the day...
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Re: Preserving Arcade Core High Scores

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Thanks a lot for doing this 8-)

I love to have my highscore, it push me to be better every time (or not :lol: )
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Re: Preserving Arcade Core High Scores

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so i accidently saved while an arcade core was booting (galaga) and before it finished booting i had a feeling that i knew what was going to happen next and it did lol garbage in all the high scores. so i deleted the /media/fat/config/nvram/Galaga.nvm? and it seems to be ok now. is this the right way to reset this?
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Re: Preserving Arcade Core High Scores

Unread post by jimmystones »

Ouch, bad luck! That is indeed the correct way to reset it though.

To be honest I can probably add some protection against that in the future - I've got some plans working towards the eventual possibility of autosave that involve checking whether the high scores have changed, and that would allow me to stop saves if the scores are invalid.

Also worth investigating a backup script of some kind if you haven't already - I made one to back up all my saves and nvrams to a file share in Azure every time my MiSTer boots.
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Re: Preserving Arcade Core High Scores

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relax wrote: Tue Apr 13, 2021 8:53 pm so i accidently saved while an arcade core was booting (galaga) and before it finished booting i had a feeling that i knew what was going to happen next and it did lol garbage in all the high scores. so i deleted the /media/fat/config/nvram/Galaga.nvm? and it seems to be ok now. is this the right way to reset this?
Deleting the file is a simple way to fix it. Does "reset settings" also delete the file?
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Re: Preserving Arcade Core High Scores

Unread post by relax »

alanswx wrote: Wed Apr 14, 2021 1:45 pm
relax wrote: Tue Apr 13, 2021 8:53 pm so i accidently saved while an arcade core was booting (galaga) and before it finished booting i had a feeling that i knew what was going to happen next and it did lol garbage in all the high scores. so i deleted the /media/fat/config/nvram/Galaga.nvm? and it seems to be ok now. is this the right way to reset this?
Deleting the file is a simple way to fix it. Does "reset settings" also delete the file?
no, i just tried that, and the high score remains.
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Re: Preserving Arcade Core High Scores

Unread post by jimmystones »

It's finally done :D Rally-X + New Rally-X now have high score and pause...

One of the simplest high score entries (8 whole bytes!) turned out to be the most difficult to implement so far, thanks to some very delicate VRAM!

Thanks go to Reg for providing some nice big high score dumps to test against, as there was no way I could beat the New Rally-X high score without a lot more practice!
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Re: Preserving Arcade Core High Scores

Unread post by Reg »

Many thanks for all your work on this game - now I don't have to take pics of the scores and can just continue to challenge myself on this brilliant little game.
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