MiSTer FPGA Forum

Reading the discussion here:

viewtopic.php?f=25&t=690&start=25

I realised, that we don't have a Vectrex discussion yet.

Maybe the discussion about the overlays can be moved here.

This might be a redundant question, but would a 3:4 tate mode be feasible? I know the console has a native aspect ratio of 9:10(11?), but I would be happy for either. There is an open github "issue" on it here though..

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Vectrex_MiSTer/issues/1

protogem wrote: ↑Thu Jul 09, 2020 7:02 pm This might be a redundant question, but would a 3:4 tate mode be feasible? I know the console has a native aspect ratio of 9:10(11?), but I would be happy for either. There is an open github "issue" on it here though..

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Vectrex_MiSTer/issues/1

I changed the aspect ratio. Do you mean some kind of video out they vga?

Oh, sorry. Yes I am using an I/O board. I have a monitor I can turn on the side or "tate" for vertical aspect ratio arcade games, which have the option in the core to do so. I thought it might be a useful feature for the Vectrex core. I just haven't been able to locate anything like this in the current builds.

It's technically possible to use the VGA scaler to ouput to a horizontal CRT, but the resolution the core renders at is too tall for the resolution and looks awful when compressed to fit. It may look better rotated, but I think it would still be questionable on a 15khz display. Would be very playable when rotated on a 31khz display though.

That is interesting. I am using a 1600x1200 Dell 2001FP, which could potentially handle this. I know some other users are utilizing older 4x3 LCDs like this too.

Perhaps 16x9 rotated screens would be more appropriate?

protogem wrote: ↑Thu Jul 09, 2020 7:47 pm That is interesting. I am using a 1600x1200 Dell 2001FP, which could potentially handle this. I know some other users are utilizing older 4x3 LCDs like this too.

Perhaps 16x9 rotated screens would be more appropriate?

Maybe we can rotate it? I have to think about the math. And then run it through the rotation code from the video game.. I am not sure the best way to tackle this. I will ask sorg. Whatever it is outputting now my monitor isn't happy with at all. And it handles most signals.

Where did you a 9:10 aspect ratio for the Vectrex? I'm looking at my Vectrex right now and it has a standard 9" B&W CRT mounted vertically.

amadama wrote: ↑Fri Jul 10, 2020 3:36 am Where did you a 9:10 aspect ratio for the Vectrex? I'm looking at my Vectrex right now and it has a standard 9" B&W CRT mounted vertically.

Someone posted that in an issue. It seems better now. I think it was set to 4x3 or 1x1 originally.

Apologies for any confusion from my posts. Thank you alanswx for taking time to look into it

alanswx wrote: ↑Fri Jul 10, 2020 3:38 am

amadama wrote: ↑Fri Jul 10, 2020 3:36 am Where did you a 9:10 aspect ratio for the Vectrex? I'm looking at my Vectrex right now and it has a standard 9" B&W CRT mounted vertically.

Someone posted that in an issue. It seems better now. I think it was set to 4x3 or 1x1 originally.

I have compiled the last changes from your git. For me it's to wide. The originally used ratio looked more like Original.

The Original Machine has a 4:3 Tube vertically mounted like an Arcade machine. So in my eyes Screen Rotation would be needed.

I can make Pictures side by side. Original Machine and Mister.

I ran it with overlays on a Dell 2001 FP 1600x1200 monitor last night and it is almost perfect.

I tested it by placing a Minestorm overlay over the MiSTer display to compare overlay sizes.

Make sure you have any monitor stretch / fill functions off

Adding overlays was a huge deal for the Vectrex MiSTer core. It adds that polish and charm to the Vectrex games that was lacking before.

So far, the only things that seem to be missing now are light pen support for games like Animaction, Art Maaster, and Melody Master and 3D Imager support for games like 3D Crazy Coaster and 3D Mine Storm.

I've gotten around this with 3D Narrow Escape by using the 2D Narrow Escape romhack and renaming it 3D Narrow Escape lol. Do you guys know of any other hacks that make the 3D games 2D? Also, is anyone interested in taking on either the 3D Imager or light pen peripherals? If these two peripherals are supported then I believe the Vectrex core will be complete.

A rotate feature would be great for this core so the aspect ratio is more like the original.

A rotate feature on HDMI output like on TATE arcades cores would be great too

The auto-loading of overlays works only when everything is on the SD card.
Ticket opened on GitHub.

Edit:
The culprit is NTFS which is case sensitive. My overlays have the .ovr extension, the core uses a different capitalization (.OVR, .Ovr, ...).
I switched to exFAT and everything is fine, github issue closed.
Stay away from ext4 and NTFS when using a USB drive and stick to exFAT; it could be any FAT FS but I guess when using a USB drive you use something with high capacity and exFat is better suited.

You think overlays will be implemented anytime? It's part of the system. Most games play fine without them. but why not.
Is the dev even doing any new work on it?

deltax0 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 11, 2021 1:54 am You think overlays will be implemented anytime? It's part of the system. Most games play fine without them. but why not.
Is the dev even doing any new work on it?

overlays are already supported. the GitHub repo has them for download. just put the .ovr files in the same dir as your roms.

Is there any reason to not have these grabbed by a script that is run as part of the Update All script?

They may need to be renamed to match common sets. Or maybe two copies to handle different naming.

Might be worth getting the namings checked, but even if the naming are off then it's easier for someone to rename the files once downloaded if a script grabs them.

alanswx wrote: ↑Thu Mar 11, 2021 11:25 pm They may need to be renamed to match common sets. Or maybe two copies to handle different naming.

Are the dump contents vastly different between sets? Would a checksum based naming work? (like with the cheats enabled in some cores)

Maybe we can do some kind of checksum. Let me think about it.

most people have smoke pack. do it by that by default then the second detonator pack list.
Or have it let you pick it from the menu.

Another option, would be to have an unofficial Vectrex script that grabs both the games and the backgrounds, that could be run from the Update All script. That would ensure people have the right, correctly named games and overlays.

I was thinking out loud the other day that it would be good for the systems with smaller libraries and smaller rom sizes to all be grabbed via script, in the same way the MAME getter and BIOS getter scripts do.

The core can be setup with CPU 1 or 2 which is not very informative. Browsing the web I cannot find the use of different CPUs for this console. Are these CPUs 2 different implementations of the same CPU? If this is the case what is the difference?

Yesterday I tried to run the Test cartridge. It gets stuck at the first screen and the only way I can exit it is by double clicking button 3 or 4 or even clicking one of them and the other one after that. But it goes directly to the controller test screen, skipping all other tests.
On the controller test screen a strange thing happens: I have a Logitech F310 controller which has 2 analog joysticks, no problem with the D-Pad and buttons but when I try the joysticks the left one controls the X direction and the right one controls the Y direction which is not very convenient.

Edit: I guess the problem is not with the core but with the MISTer mapping as it does the same on the TIA-MC1 core. The controller is a Logitech F310.

Edit: It was a mapping problem. I remapped the controller in the main menu and now everything is fine.

It looks like the Vectrex core does not get much love, even by its developer:
Overlays not auto-loading when using a USB drive -> not a single answer/comment.
CPU1 and CPU2 -> not a single answer/comment.
So I decided to install Quartus 17.0.2 and see for myself. These are 2 different implementation of the 6809: cpu09l and mc6809is.
cpu09l is the cpu used in the non MISTer Vectrex core developed by Dar and on which the MISTer core is based.
mc6809is is another 6809 which is stated as being cycle accurate and has been modified by Sorge to make it synchronous (not sure what the reason is).
I would guess CPU2 is a better one but who knows?

Overlays autoload on my SSD USB without Problems. Overlays are in my case in media/usb0/games/Vectrex and have the same Filename but .ovr as extension.

The problem was with a HDD formatted NTFS which is case sensitive. I switched to exFAT and now it is working.