EDN8 OS v20-BETA. Large update incoming

[snatcher123]

Hello.
I installed RC7 yesterday on my N8 and found [Super Contra (Japan).nes], [Super C (USA).nes] and [Metal Storm (USA).nes] not booting at all but leaving a black screen. They were all No Intro Roms.

[leonquest]

On the rc6 and rc7 updates, Gimmick! crashes every single time on stage 2. 

Which hardware? On RC7, a few games crashed on AVS, but were fine on AV Famicom (haven't tested the top loading NES).

So no hope for my AVS? I only tested RC1 I think, I wonder which would be then the best RC to upgrade to while (and if) Krikzz fixes that.

[BarbieOnWeed]

Hello.
I installed RC7 yesterday on my N8 and found [Super Contra (Japan).nes], [Super C (USA).nes] and [Metal Storm (USA).nes] not booting at all but leaving a black screen. They were all No Intro Roms.

All of them works in RC7!

[leonquest]

What would be the best RC for AVS users that don't care about accurate FDS sound?

[brianvgplayer]

RC6 seems to be fine for AVS. RC7 was made to fix MMC3 and, as far as I know, it doesn't have any changes to FDS sound from RC6. I haven't tested Gimmick myself, but I didn't notice any crashes with the games I tried in RC6.

edit: Tested Gimmick on AVS with RC6. No crashes. Made it to stage 3.

[sammy555]

Just reporting.
I updated from rc5 (which was working fine) to rc7 and now I keep getting I/O Errors.
I downgraded to rc5 and everything is working fine.

Same on my AV Famicom. rc6 and rc7 gave me constant errors.

[Lordofpixels03]

edit: Tested Gimmick on AVS with RC6. No crashes. Made it to stage 3.

I Tried to downgrade to rc6 Again, and the game crashes on stage 2 as I expected. This must have something to do with how the mapper for gimmick (on the rc6 &rc7 updates) is being handeld when played on the Twin famicom. I hope Krikzz take note, and maybe even able fix it in a future update.

[keeper7]

Just reporting.
I updated from rc5 (which was working fine) to rc7 and now I keep getting I/O Errors.
I downgraded to rc5 and everything is working fine.

Same on my AV Famicom. rc6 and rc7 gave me constant errors.

I forgot to say that I'm using AV Famicom.

[leonquest]

RC6 seems to be fine for AVS. RC7 was made to fix MMC3 and, as far as I know, it doesn't have any changes to FDS sound from RC6. I haven't tested Gimmick myself, but I didn't notice any crashes with the games I tried in RC6.

edit: Tested Gimmick on AVS with RC6. No crashes. Made it to stage 3.

Awesome!! So I will upgrade to RC6 and no game will crash on me, right? I will make sure to test with all special chip games to be sure.

[dreimer]

NES ROMs in no-intro database do not care about the header. You skip it in your verification and thus even the best no-intro ROMs might be completely wrong there. Reason is simple. no-intro cares about the data from the cart and not about some hand made iNES thingie which never was found on the carts at all. Over here http://romshepherd.com/index.php?board=38.0 you will find a guy called LogiCSWE who sat down and verified ALL headers to be correct and found.... BAD state in em. I would say it's a good idea to test his files, too.

[snatcher123]

Hello.
I installed RC7 yesterday on my N8 and found [Super Contra (Japan).nes], [Super C (USA).nes] and [Metal Storm (USA).nes] not booting at all but leaving a black screen. They were all No Intro Roms.

All of them works in RC7!

Alright, formatted my sd card using the largest allocation unit size, copied all my stuff over again and the games do work now.

On another note, the audio levels for at least the Gimmick chip do not seem to be enough as even on 200%, the game is noticable quieter than the original. Would it be possible to give the player the option to go up to 300% or even 400% or am I missing something here?

Thanks krikzz

[James-F]

Got some expansion audio carts for the Famicom to compare with the N8.
Only Gimmick! for Sunsoft 5B is missing but it is very expensive.
The Original Famicom has yet to arrive, but I will AV mod it and do some audio comparison and balancing.

From what I can hear so far, the AV Famicom is only a few db quieter then needed to have a good mix, it is not as extreme as people claim.
I will make reference recordings once the original famicom arrives.



@snatcher123
May I ask what is your reference recording?
160% is already distorting badly, so going above 200% is not a good idea at all.

[flex]

the MMC3 may be fine in this case, as noted earlier.

I agree, the RC7 MMC3 fix is not needed.

The flickering pixel appears on Magnet Man frame on the real cart too.
Here are a few youtube links to confirm that:

https://youtu.be/W3XQUZKGufI?t=20s
https://youtu.be/qaHrZrM_e-I?t=3m37s
https://youtu.be/VQUCGPg3edE?t=40s
https://youtu.be/lrHzyF-HBTM?t=11m44s

The said pixel is marked in red here (on Magnet Man frame):

Yep same on my AV Famicom so RC6 seems much more accurate in that respect. Wonder what was fixed in RC7 exactly??... RC6 seems to be working the best for me so far so that's what I am sticking with for now.

FDS audio is super impressive over the original v16 Firmware and sounds bang on, out of curiosity I compared against a few captures on YouTube and you have to be quite picky to notice any difference so well happy myself. The audio itself does sound a bit quieter vs normal CPU audio games but just turn ya system up a bit at the end of the day! Not sure what the fuss about levels are all about to be honest.

I've been playing Dracula II (aka Castlevania II) for FDS and the sound is pretty much perfect. I remember it sounding terrible before which put me off.

Just wanted to thank Krikzz for all his hard work and effort as I am really enjoying this!

[Sarge]

The levels make a huge difference when you can barely hear the other channels in VRC6, for instance.  You get loud main channels, and very quiet VRC6, and that just destroys the soundtrack.  It sounds pretty good in RC6, though, so no big deal there.

[fernan1234]

Hello.
I installed RC7 yesterday on my N8 and found [Super Contra (Japan).nes], [Super C (USA).nes] and [Metal Storm (USA).nes] not booting at all but leaving a black screen. They were all No Intro Roms.

All of them works in RC7!

Alright, formatted my sd card using the largest allocation unit size, copied all my stuff over again and the games do work now.

On another note, the audio levels for at least the Gimmick chip do not seem to be enough as even on 200%, the game is noticable quieter than the original. Would it be possible to give the player the option to go up to 300% or even 400% or am I missing something here?

Thanks krikzz

The current hardware of the N8 will never match the original cartridge's levels. A hardware solution is needed (either a new revision of the N8 or a modification on the NES/Famicom, I suppose).