Place your Bets! Guess what the next Everdrive will be....

It's a bigger issue than you're realizing. Some Genesis units get jail bars in RGB too.

 

This is all totally off topic but...

It's not an internal problem, it's widely thought to be interference of an ADDRESS LINE being coupled to the video.

The vertical lines with the Genesis is unrelated to interference or "bad chip design" at all, it's due to the pixel clock and (lack of) colorburst phase shift or something.

Yes there are revisions of the PPU, but even the last revision will have jailbars when dropped into a bad PCB.

Or a ground loop between the PowerPak, NES and your TV. Not everyone has the problems you're describing, including myself.

CPLD are out of the question, the largest CPLD produced can only hold the sprite shift registers. FPGA don't like interfacing with 5V NMOS so they require extensive level shifting or an obsolete part (as PowerPak opted for). They also require multiple power supplies. Current FPGAs in production aren't even hand-solderable anymore.

By definition your PPU will not be accurate then. The sprite limit is enforced by the number of shift registers and timing for evaluation at 21 MHz. You'd have to either have to parallelize the evaluation or run at 42 MHz. You'd also get garbage sprites on screen in some games. Oh and slowdown is a function of the CPU, not PPU.

If you think this is a beginner's project you're crazy.

 

Just curious, are these ill effects happening on the "toaster" ones, the top loaders, or on both?

I'm thinking that I may just invest in a PowerPak in the future, pending KRIKzz adventures into mapper hell.

 

I personally wish for NES Everdrive at some point simply because I live in EU. Powerpak is already quite expensive, and since its only available directly from RetroZone in USA, add import taxes and dealing with the customs officials, its not worth the hassle.

Buuut I understand if Krikzz doesnt wish to dive into mapper hell just yet. Super Everdrive (and propably soon Everdrive aswell) has given me lots of pleasure and continue to do so. Thanks! ray:

 

That would be awesome! The ultimate Everdrive solution!
It would open new horizons for the Genesis/MD hackers and homebrew developers.
The Korean SMS games, the synth SMS glory, the crazy Russian MD hacks...

Even being pricey many people would pay for it, me included. There are enough new features and improvements to justify a new investment.

 

My guess if Igor does make ED-NES it would not be much cheaper than PowerPak version or it may even be more expensive. The only way it would be worth while for Igor to do it (financially) if his was superior to the PowerPak thus justifying the cost. That's just my guess. I assume Igor would have to use FPGA so the price for the board would be similar to ED64.

 

I would prefer to pay the same amount for Krikzz NES cart even if it was the same product. His support is fantastic and software OS updates come often.
He truly projects that he is first and foremost in it for the console scene.

 

I would agree. The much better support you would get alone makes it worth waiting for a possible NES Everdrive. I've been tempted to pick up a NES Power Pack but several things have stopped me. The poor support, the use of Compact Flash instead of SD cards, the jail bars, the hit or miss at finding a compatible compact flash card, the clunkyness at having to make and name save files by hand, etc. I'm not trying to hate on the NES Power Pack. I'm glad it's available, but it has some serious flaws that prevent it from becoming a must have purchase. Hopefully Krikzz takes the time to plan things out and make a NES Everdrive the best NES flash cart possible. If he does, I'll be one of the first in line with cash in hand.

 

Good point. At best it would propably be +-0$ price difference between possible NES everdrive and Powerpak with taxes on top. But much like technohat and mamejay, I'd rather support Igor.

 

Poor support? What are you talking about specifically?

Using Compact Flash versus SD is not a big deal at all. Are you really going to whine about having to buy a cheap USB media reader that supports CF?

Jail bars are not some definite problem. Many if not most people don't experience this issue.

Not sure what you mean about hit or miss CF compatibility. It's clearly not that hard given all the very happy users of the PowerPAK.

Clunkyness? PowerPAK supports auto saving (not sure about auto loading) and manually creating save files is not a big issue. If this is something that stops you from buying it you are missing out.

The PowerPAK is a great product. I never had any serious issues with it. The SNES PowerPAK has also been great. I have the EverDrive MD. Like the PowerPAK it has been a great product. I have minor issues with it, just like I did with the PowerPAK which were all easily resolved. While the praise for the EverDrive products is good, I think you are giving the RetroZone PowerPAK some unjustified negatives.

I really like the NES PowerPAK. It's one of the coolest retro gaming products out there. Just like the EverDrive MD.

 

Count me in for a GB/GBC Everdrive. I currently own the Everdrive MD, Super Everdrive, and Master Everdrive, and all three are fantastic! I'd have the ED64 but it's sold out every time I look.

 

Bunnyboy is not exactly known for being very quick to respond to emails and/or forum posts. Sometimes he never responds at all. Krikzz, on the other hand, is very quick to respond to issues relating to the various Everdrives he has produced.

I already have a compact flash reader. I would much rather use one of the many SD cards I have lying around than have to purchase a compact flash card for the sole use of the power pack. Compact flash is pretty much a dead technology. It may not be a big deal to you, but anything extra that we have to purchase adds to the total cost of ownership.

Just because not everybody experiences it doesn't mean it's not an issue. For you it may not be a big deal, but for other people it is.

The Power Pack is very finicky on working with only certain compact flash cards. It's almost impossible to tell before purchasing a compact flash card whether it will work properly on the Power Pack or not. People were having so many issues finding working cards that Retrozone started selling compact flash cards for purchase along with the power pack. Even this isn't a guarantee as some users have gotten incompatible cards even when purchasing through retrozone.

I really have no desire to manually create and name several hundred save files. I could probably write a script to do it, but I really shouldn't have to.

The Power Pack is a good product. It's currently the only decent NES flash cartridge available. It seems to fit your needs and I'm glad you can use and enjoy it. But, as I've pointed out, it's not perfect and I and many other people would like to see Krikzz create a NES Everdrive that caters to our needs.

 

Most of your points are fair but several hundred save files? Are you crazy? I don't think there are over 100 NES games that utilize battery backup. It wasn't anywhere near as common as on newer systems.

About "not perfect". What makes you think Krikzz would make a perfect NES flash cart? You'll likely never get that. NES has several complex mappers that someone will complain about not being supported or having issues with odd behaviors. Krikzz I'm sure could support most of what mappers the PowerPAK does but he may have to take awhile with the FDS or adding support for mappers with extra sound hardware if those are to be supported. Plus as stated it'll take an expensive FPGA and the sum of the parts likely are going to not make for much of any price advantage, unless you managed to keep it very lean and simple and ignore more complex mappers such as MMC5, anything with extra sound, many japanese mappers, and just focus on the common discrete logic mappers like CNROM, UxROM, AxROM, and MMC1, MMC3, and maybe MMC2/4.

Certainly competition in the NES realm of flash carts would be good though. But it's alot of work. Atleast compared to MD or SNES.

 

I own an Everdrive MD and would not hesitate to purchase an Ultimate MD version.

Translation patched Phantasy Star 1 with FM sound on real hardware.... *drools*

 

I can confirm that Powerpak CF compatibility sucks. I have 4 CF only one works with Powerpak.

Mine is SNES Powerpak , I expect the same for NES Powerpak and that is why I'm kinda hesitate to buy one.

 

Did you try disabling DMA on startup for better compatibility?

 

try to guess what will be next

10mbyte UMKT hack:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8gjfzmt5AU

fast loading. actually loading works a twice faster on this moment:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4GKNTz5zFw&feature=related

and that's not all...

 

GOOD!!!!:thumbsup:

 

Is this new MD EverDrive hardware?

 

yes, this is new sega hardware which will be have a lot of new features