Homebrew NES port of the arcade version of Donkey Kong

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TLPD-AVW
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Homebrew NES port of the arcade version of Donkey Kong

Unread post by TLPD-AVW »



Currently the rom demonstrated in this video fails to boot on MiSTer, only showing a black screen. From my understanding it uses NROM (mapper 0) with battery save function - is such combination even supported by MiSTer? I thought that it could be related to iNES header providing insufficient information, but changing it to NES 2.0 format with 8kb save RAM defined did nothing.

I understand that the existence of the arcade original's core makes the support of this version unnecessary, but it would be neat if this port worked on the NES core.
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Re: Homebrew NES port of the arcade version of Donkey Kong

Unread post by rcade »

I'm almost positive I have played this on my MiSTer... even recently.
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Re: Homebrew NES port of the arcade version of Donkey Kong

Unread post by rcade »

I was wrong- it doesn't work. I must have been playing on Everdrive and a real NES when I played it last.
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Re: Homebrew NES port of the arcade version of Donkey Kong

Unread post by lupin3rd »

Thread necromancy!

Was support for this ever added?

If I'm not mistaken, there were no NROM games that supported battery-backed SRAM. So that means this game runs on a "custom" mapper, even though the concepts are well-known (NROM and Save Support). Emulators have to have mappers defined and emulated in the emulator itself, because ROMs alone do not contain the logical functions that an actual cartridge would physically supply. Support could be added, but if people are making homebrew stuff that they want to be playable on all NES systems/emulators/FPGAs, they should really use a well-known supported mapper from the outset.
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Re: Homebrew NES port of the arcade version of Donkey Kong

Unread post by aberu »

The MiSTer NES core has had many custom mapper configs for homebrew added to it, so this probably wouldn't be impossible or unlikely for it to be fixed. I'll test this out in a sec with both the latest build and with current release.

EDIT: Just confirmed this still doesn't load. Image attached is the rom I used, just in case it matches or not. I think you are right, the fact it uses Battery Backed SRAM with NROM 0 mapping in a custom config might be the issue.
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Re: Homebrew NES port of the arcade version of Donkey Kong

Unread post by aberu »

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/NES_MiS ... 1000610176

This works now thanks to @greyrogue ! :)
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Re: Homebrew NES port of the arcade version of Donkey Kong

Unread post by TLPD-AVW »

Indeed, the rom with NES 2.0 header works now! I tried to run the rom with that exact header a year ago with no luck, but now it runs properly. Thanks!
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Re: Homebrew NES port of the arcade version of Donkey Kong

Unread post by GreyRogue »

FYI, in case you're curious, this was implemented here:
https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/NES_MiS ... /246/files
It added RAM support for all the mappers the code there supports:
https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/NES_MiS ... rt.sv#L154
// Mappers: 0, 2, 3, 7, 28, 94, 97, 180, 185 //
So, it's been in place for several months now.
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Re: Homebrew NES port of the arcade version of Donkey Kong

Unread post by shertz »

I must be doing something different cause I still can't get it to work. I just get a blank screen. Do I have to somehow edit the rom to get it to work?
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Re: Homebrew NES port of the arcade version of Donkey Kong

Unread post by Stupid Dufus »

Doesn't work for me either. ROM loads to a black screen.

MD5 I have is 9D64596784A288637695D309EA7868C4.
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Re: Homebrew NES port of the arcade version of Donkey Kong

Unread post by mario64 »

TLPD-AVW wrote: Fri Dec 24, 2021 11:55 am Indeed, the rom with NES 2.0 header works now! I tried to run the rom with that exact header a year ago with no luck, but now it runs properly. Thanks!
Mind sharing the hash for the working rom? MD5 or CRC
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Re: Homebrew NES port of the arcade version of Donkey Kong

Unread post by TLPD-AVW »

mario64 wrote: Sun Feb 13, 2022 3:15 am
TLPD-AVW wrote: Fri Dec 24, 2021 11:55 am Indeed, the rom with NES 2.0 header works now! I tried to run the rom with that exact header a year ago with no luck, but now it runs properly. Thanks!
Mind sharing the hash for the working rom? MD5 or CRC
CRC32: 05E7C02A
MD5: 1C5CDB47316A34C570CBD27DE84F7EB9

You can patch the original rom yourself by changing its header in a hex editor or other NES utility program. Or you can load the game in Mesen emulator, choose Debug>Edit iNES header from the top menu, input these specs and save a new rom file.
mesen.png
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Re: Homebrew NES port of the arcade version of Donkey Kong

Unread post by Stupid Dufus »

Thanks! Works for me now
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Re: Homebrew NES port of the arcade version of Donkey Kong

Unread post by mario64 »

Yes indeed. Thanks so much TLPD-AVW! One follow up. Is there a way to rotate to vertical orientation? Don’t see that option in OSD.
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Re: Homebrew NES port of the arcade version of Donkey Kong

Unread post by emmadness »

TLPD-AVW tranks my friend!
Now the only thing I need is patience with this game that has a devilish difficulty.
Long live the arcades ;) greetings from Argentina!
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