gsu (superfx) support [work in progress]

[the_randomizer]

Joke's on me for not having put it to any use yet, of course.

Not at all, thank you for thinking ahead. Thanks to you GSU-1 is possible and SA-1 will be possible as well (even if its not an accurate implementation, I just care that it works). My favorite flashcart by far will always be the SD2Snes.

So SA-1 should still be possible/have enough room on the FPGA to have it implemented as well?

[hex12]

I also hope someone with talent like redguy will have the wish and the possibility to implement SA-1 as well.
It should bring our sd2snes card (absolutely the original one, chinese clones are only to leave where they are) from magic to legend

[the_randomizer]

I also hope someone with talent like redguy will have the wish and the possibility to implement SA-1 as well.
It should bring our sd2snes card (absolutely the original one, chinese clones are only to leave where they are) from magic to legend

It's already an amazing flashcart, and with SA-1, oh man 

[Missingno255]

EDIT: SA-1 is now supported

[ikari_01]

Very interesting. So originally you planned to have a save scheme similar to ED64v3 where it would hold save data until the next power cycle?

Indeed, and I still have it planned as a fallback. Could always happen that the power goes out or the SNES is switched off too soon while saving. Also for games that permanently keep changing the SRAM content it would be probably better to rely on than doing periodic saving.

[iwasaperson]

It's not. Not enough block RAM.

Regardless of whether the FPGA is big enough or not, a minimal, inaccurate implementation of the SA-1 would still be possible so that it could run all released games and maybe those SMW ROM hacks as well. Implementing the entire 65816 would be a large task, and I'm not sure if that would fit in the FPGA. Maybe if jwdonal or kevtris would like to share their implementations then we could see a more accurate version be developed (as far as I understand, the SA-1 is an overglorified 65816 + CIC).

Indeed, and I still have it planned as a fallback. Could always happen that the power goes out or the SNES is switched off too soon while saving. Also for games that permanently keep changing the SRAM content it would be probably better to rely on than doing periodic saving.

How long does the SD2SNES normally take to save games? I've never had a problem with saving and semi-quickly powering off. A fallback like that would be a nice feature though.

And completely unrelated, how hard would it be to implement the SPC7110? The SD2SNES already has an RTC, and from what I can tell, it is a compression chip. I'd really like to play the recently released Far East of Eden Zero. Would it be possible to decompress the game (ie Star Ocean) and have it access the build in RTC instead of implementing the chip?

[Eyedunno]

Indeed, and I still have it planned as a fallback. Could always happen that the power goes out or the SNES is switched off too soon while saving. Also for games that permanently keep changing the SRAM content it would be probably better to rely on than doing periodic saving.

I've been there. The first time I ever played Super Metroid to completion was at age 35, which is insane, I know, and over the past three years I've made up for it by playing it over 300 hours if you include randomizers (another great thing to use SD2SNES for!). Anyway, the very first time I played it, I turned it off at the wrong time several hours in and corrupted my save, which was devastating to me. (This is funny to me now, because spending more than a couple hours on a game of Super Metroid, even playing for 100%, is unheard-of.) I learned my lesson though, and now I long reset any game with SRAM.

[leonquest]

Indeed, and I still have it planned as a fallback. Could always happen that the power goes out or the SNES is switched off too soon while saving. Also for games that permanently keep changing the SRAM content it would be probably better to rely on than doing periodic saving.

I've been there. The first time I ever played Super Metroid to completion was at age 35, which is insane, I know, and over the past three years I've made up for it by playing it over 300 hours if you include randomizers (another great thing to use SD2SNES for!). Anyway, the very first time I played it, I turned it off at the wrong time several hours in and corrupted my save, which was devastating to me. (This is funny to me now, because spending more than a couple hours on a game of Super Metroid, even playing for 100%, is unheard-of.) I learned my lesson though, and now I long reset any game with SRAM.

I think tactics ogre may also be sensitive to SRAM usage,  as I lost a save file once on my sd2snes. I experienced other weird errors since I was using a 1chip system, but the SRAM corruption seemed related to what happened to you with super metroid.

[Eyedunno]

I think tactics ogre may also be sensitive to SRAM usage,  as I lost a save file once on my sd2snes. I experienced other weird errors since I was using a 1chip system, but the SRAM corruption seemed related to what happened to you with super metroid.

I think I shut it off right after I saved at a save point, and the whole thing kinda happened in slow motion, the lights starting to flash on my SD2SNES right as I almost unconsciously committed to flicking the off switch, and realizing almost immediately that I was probably screwed. And ever since then, I've been paranoid enough to just long reset every time, and this is even easier with the Super Nt (though I use Start+Select+↑ rather than the default just as extra insurance against hitting it by accident, as I use Select a lot in Super Metroid; one of these days I should break the habit and start using a face button for item select...).

[leonquest]

I think tactics ogre may also be sensitive to SRAM usage,  as I lost a save file once on my sd2snes. I experienced other weird errors since I was using a 1chip system, but the SRAM corruption seemed related to what happened to you with super metroid.

I think I shut it off right after I saved at a save point, and the whole thing kinda happened in slow motion, the lights starting to flash on my SD2SNES right as I almost unconsciously committed to flicking the off switch, and realizing almost immediately that I was probably screwed. And ever since then, I've been paranoid enough to just long reset every time, and this is even easier with the Super Nt (though I use Start+Select+↑ rather than the default just as extra insurance against hitting it by accident, as I use Select a lot in Super Metroid; one of these days I should break the habit and start using a face button for item select...).

Mine wasn't so obvious though.  The game had been inexplicably freezing on me,  and then once,  right after entering a menu to check for character backgrounds,  the game froze and my save file was gone after reset. I started using my shvc console since and no issues. I even sold that 1chip snes mini. I now have a fat 1chip, but only for games that do not use SRAM.

EDIT: sorry for derailing the thread!!!

[the_randomizer]

Joke's on me for not having put it to any use yet, of course.

Not at all, thank you for thinking ahead. Thanks to you GSU-1 is possible and SA-1 will be possible as well (even if its not an accurate implementation, I just care that it works). My favorite flashcart by far will always be the SD2Snes.

So SA-1 should still be possible/have enough room on the FPGA to have it implemented as well?

i hope in the futur SA-1 is possible

It's not. Not enough block RAM.

Well that sucks, so much for Super Mario RPG and Kirby's Dream Land 3 ever being possible I'll hereto refrain from ever inquiring about SA-1 ever again. *Throws in the towel*

I'm just going to uh, take my leave.

[rocketblast]

Dang a whole set of CPU instructions to be added to the SD2SNES to make SA-1 games run.  That's bad to hear.  But hopefully Ikari is right and part of it can be implemented just to play the games.

Over all I am happy with the DSP, Cx4, and Super FX support.

I wonder if Ikari is still going to implement cheats, and maybe some day save states.  I heard both of those are in the Super UFO flash cart.  I have one but haven't opened it to try out those features.  I just prefer the SD2SNES.

[Sarge]

Well that sucks, so much for Super Mario RPG and Kirby's Dream Land 3 ever being possible I'll hereto refrain from ever inquiring about SA-1 ever again. *Throws in the towel*

I'm just going to uh, take my leave.

I wouldn't completely toss it out.  Again, from what I've seen byuu say, there are a ton of features that aren't used in any commercial games on the SA1, so it may be possible to do a partial implementation of the chip that may fit.  Not that I can say that with any certainty whatsoever, of course.

I'm absolutely ecstatic with getting Super FX, though.  Even if it's just for a few games, getting Yoshi's Island working alone is worthy of praise.  Now I need to see if I can dump my old 100% save from my cart before the battery dies...

[toadhall]

Yeah even without SA-1, the SD2SNES's capabilities are really remarkable, especially now that we have an almost perfect Super FX implementation.

[leonquest]

Joke's on me for not having put it to any use yet, of course.

Not at all, thank you for thinking ahead. Thanks to you GSU-1 is possible and SA-1 will be possible as well (even if its not an accurate implementation, I just care that it works). My favorite flashcart by far will always be the SD2Snes.

So SA-1 should still be possible/have enough room on the FPGA to have it implemented as well?

i hope in the futur SA-1 is possible

It's not. Not enough block RAM.

How would you know that it's not enough block ram if you haven't tried yet.  Are you a developer? Not even Ikari knows for sure yet but you do?