CPS1/1.5 at 48MHz SDRAM
Happy new year and please, run the update script (update_all).
Two weeks ago, the memory poll results were that 20% of users of 128MB modules had issues with the CPS1.5 core. That was too many people.
I spent many hours testing the memory modules, and I summarized most of my findings here. I know that at least two SDRAM module builders are going to try to improve the modules. From the FPGA side, there is little that can be done. The approach of finding a lucky way of sending signals that seem to work for many people is just not acceptable to me.
What I can do to tackle the electrical issues around the memory is to slow down the edges of the FPGA signals. That is a solution with a strong theoretical background that fits the data. I have already proven it helps make the memory modules more reliable. The downside is that if the edges are slower, the signals need more time to toggle. Thus, 96MHz operation is off the table.
I have re-worked the cores to operate off a 48 MHz SDRAM. I do not think accuracy has been affected. Internally, part of the core logic is still off a 96MHz clock.
I hope this update will work for much more people. Please run the update script and let me know how it goes. Please do check that your setup is correct before answering the poll. You should be running the 210101 version of the CPS1 and CPS15 cores after the update. Please note that Slam Masters/Muscle Bomber hanging up after one combat is not related to the SDRAM.
I had more updates for this week, but I have finally decided to keep it focused on this issue. As those 20% of users affected probably care about this more than any other update.
I hope to close the SDRAM chapter -at least from my side- here. I have plenty of exciting things in the oven and I plan to work on those next.
Comments (80)
Very nice :) thanks
youre the man, jotego! i have 100% confidence you will figure this out and considering no one else is taking the time to create a mister core for CPS1/1.5/2, your work is especially appreciated !
Everything works great! thank you very much
Don't be sorry José : you try your best, and don't count your time !
Tested C&D & SF 2 CE. Little bit of graphical glitching in the C&D intro scroll, but otherwise fine. Street Fighter II worked fine.
Thank you. The graphical issues do not worry me, although I understand they are annoying. This release was focused at the SDRAM only. I will come back to the GFX soon.
I have exactly the same issues with the updated core, as R9Ragnarok. With the previous version everything is running fine.
Thanks for the feedback. So far this update seems to work for 15% of people, whereas the previous one worked for 20%. The improvement has not been enough and it has affected negatively some of you. I am sorry.
I am reading about several 128MB Mister that with this last update (01 january 2021) shows black screen on CPS1.5 games..
Previous build I was able to play C&D and The Punisher from beginning to end with no issues. Now I experience graphical glitches in C&D with consistent crashes with less than a minute of game play. The Punisher also crashes almost immediately, some times I can't even make it past character select. SF Alpha w/QSound seems to be working, but I've only had time for six or so matches. Previous build worked wonderfully, this new build has rendered C&D and The Punisher unplayable.
Thanks for the feedback. So far this update seems to work for 15% of people, whereas the previous one worked for 20%. The improvement has not been enough and it has affected negatively some of you. I am sorry.
With Antonio Villena Mister cos1.5 fail all the game... already ordered new memory... but also the cps1 core have some problem... SF2CE glitches and weird play... hadouken don’t hit the opponent
Thanks for the feedback. The CPS1 core shares a lot of code with the CPS1.5. What you are seeing in SF2CE is an SDRAM issue too. So far the new core seems to work for 15% of people, whereas the previous one worked for 20%. The improvement has not been enough and it has affected negatively some of you. I am sorry.
Had no problems before with xxsd 128MB RAM bought from Antonio Villena but now with 20210102 I get an reproducible address error in C&D a few seconds after starting the game. Punisher could be played through before and now also hangs with an address error right before the second boss. In Cps1 Forgotten Worlds and G&G World do not start anymore because of Rom check errors. SF Zero has multiple flickering pixels mainly in the background, also when paused, and sometimes the whole background layer is moving sideways a few pixels
Thanks for the feedback. So far it seems to work for 15% of people, whereas the previous one worked for 20%. The improvement has not been enough and it has affected negatively some of you. I am sorry.
a bit of tearing at the start of C&D but otherwise all seems to be working fine, Thanks @Jotego
Had zero issues with 128mb board from Ricardo with the previous core builds but this latest update completely killed it for me. Get black screen on all of the CPS1.5 games.
Thanks for the feedback. So far it seems to work for 15% of people, whereas the previous one worked for 20%. The improvement has not been enough and it has affected negatively some of you. I am sorry.
Can you walk me through how to update using your updater script? And please let me know if CFZ CPS1.5 needs a different ROM file from the normal SFZ.
There is a high level updater called update_all that calls my script and some others. It will even get the ROM files for you. The MRA will appear in the alternative folders for SFZ.
Gracias gran curro tio
Por lo menos ahora me van todos los juegos, cosa que antes se colgaban
En todos los juegos Cps1. 5 hay un pitido entre fase y fase, o cuando hay silencio
Acabo de actualizar el core de cps1 con el fix en el ADPCM y no se si soy yo o ahora noto las percusiones en SFII como con menos muestreo. ¿es posible?. Gracias por el constante esfuerzo. :))
El ADPCM en sí es el mismo. Lo que ha cambiado es el filtro que venía luego. El filtro anterior era muy económico de hacer pero filtraba demasiado los agudos. Eso se notaba por ejemplo en la música de Chun Li, donde un instrumento parecía no estar, aunque sí lo estaba.
Everything working good here now :) Thank you!
Cores show up as 210102 after update, but everything seems to be working great.
Everything works like a charm. Thanks again Jose. 🙏
Everything worked before now it doesn't let me map buttons. So all cps1.5 is unplayable
It looks like the updater didn’t replace your MRA files. Maybe you have them in a custom location? The MRA files were modified two weeks ago to support SFZ. That’s why you are having the mapping problems.
Hello, I am using a MiSTer slim from Antonio Villena, I executed the script update_all, and now C&D, all version works well apparently, I could play more than 1 hour and no issues. But punisher doesn’t work after 1 minute, the issue error address or just the série of numbers appeared an crash the game.
I'm not sure how to set up SFZ CPS1.5 but C&D and Punisher work fine now.
The MRA for it should have been downloaded automatically to the alternative folder of SFZ. Depending on your setup, maybe the ROM has also been downloaded.
Slam Masters aside this update works well for me. I checked the top box and thank you.
some artifacts at the beginning of cadillacs and dinosaurs, before the stage begins. enabling turbo fixes these issues
En general creo que funciona todo igual de bien que antes de la actualización. Ahora StreetFighter1 vuelve a funcionar. Creo que un canal de audio en la música de Captain Commando durante la selección de personajes está demasiado alto, unos platillos de fondo, aunque no estoy seguro si antes de la actualización sonaba igual. El canal de audio en la música de fase ChunLi en SF2 sigue faltando. Uso módulo de 128mb.
Actualiza otra vez para corregir lose Chun Li.
I build a new SD card today and tested two of the CPS1.5 games - Cadilac and another brawler. Not a big fighting fan but they worked for 10 min
Cadillacs and Dinosaurs USA doesn’t respond to input, even after remapping controls. World version responds fine, and no memory errors for me with 128mb. Likewise Punisher USA doesn’t respond to input either but the World version does. No memory issues with that for me.
Just cleaned down all my MRA and ram the updater again. No idea where the USA one came from as there’s obviously just World ones. Must be hangovers from some time ago. All good here! 👍🏻
slammast direct 00126BE5 address error along with graphical minor glitches in character selection sfzch address error 00010722 megaman address error 000D7790 dino isn't booting punisher not booting wof graphic glitches and address error 0005D8E1
Thanks for the feedback, Funkycochise. So far this update seems to work for 15% of people, whereas the previous one worked for 20%. The improvement has not been enough and it has affected negatively some of you. I am sorry.
FYI, I used 210102 when testing, here are my findings based on my two 128MB modules: AS4C32M16SB-6TIN (166MHz 5ns): These are the memory chips recommended by sorg. With the lower clocks I'm finding both C&D and SFZ to be stable on the CPS 1.5 core. There are some minor graphical glitches right at the start of C&D when it scrolls horizontally over the city scape, but not a big deal at all in my opinion given the game now seems perfectly stable. As for SFZ, I could usually not even start it with the last core, but now it's perfectly stable. AS4C32M16SB-7TCN (143MHz 5.4ns): These are slower memory chips which I used when the faster chips were all sold out around the time everyone was building 128MB modules. C&D seems stable on these with the same minor glitches mentioned before, it works perfectly other than that. SFZ on the other hand starts (which is further than it used to get), but seems to freeze after 3 or 4 matches. Conclusion: I've voted that it now works as I feel it's reasonable to expect people to use the recommended (faster) memory chips. But I wanted to provide a little more information as maybe the extra detail is useful. Might be worth asking which chips people who are still having problems are using.
I've got the 7TN (143mhz) chips. Only SF Zero works for me. All were working before the latest update
The punisher seems to be running fine... Is it just me, or is there a bit of slowdown when the first level boss attacks? If there is any difference at all, it's very slight. Other than that, my 128mb module likes this update just fine, as it did the previous one.
I had some problems depending on the Core, like SF1 and Saturday Night slam wouldn’t load at all. But I starting using the update all script and now everything works as it should. I am using 128mb from Mister addons
With this update, every game is stable, no more freezes. Even some visual bugs got fixed (ex: Cadillacs and Dinosaurs flag pattern in character introductions).
I was able to test both some CPS1 and CPS1.5 and both appeared to be working fine on my MiSTer setup with a 128MB RAM from MisterAddons. I didn't have any issues with the previous versions either.
Spectacular improvement ! The Punisher Before : freeze in attract mode Now : no problem Warriors of Fate Before : crash around level 2 Now : completed all 9 levels Saturday Night Slam Masters Before : black screen after blue title Now : no problem, attract mode runs fine Cadillacs and Dinosaurs / Muscle Bomber Duo Ultimate Team Battle / Street Fighter Zero CPS1.5 Before : no problem if cold booted Now : no problem at all
that's much better!
Now the punisher gives illegal instruction errors and Cadillacs and dinosaurs gives address errors. All were working before the latest update. Just realised I haven't tried the CPS 1.5 ver of SF zero, at random points I get graphical corruption and illegal instruction
With The punisher and Slam Masters now I can do bigger runs (at least 30 minutes) but still having crashes at some random points. Cadillacs and Dinosaurs still freezes at level 1 begin. Thanks for your effort!
This update broke Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, The Punisher and Street Fighter Zero for me. Punisher says "Illegal Inst. 0009BE8C" and SFZ says "Adress error", C&D just gives me a black screen without any information. Let me know if screenshots of the error messages could be of any help. Just to be clear, all of these games were running fine before this update. I'm using a 128MB module that I got from Ricardo/ultimatemister.com.
Everything is working well .Before the punisher would only show the sprites with no background.Saturday Night Slam Masters would crash in attract mode .As well as Street Fighter Alpha Now everything is running great .Many Thanx Jotego
Cadillacs does not work anymore. Getting blank screen no matter what I do...
i cant say enough good things about SF2mix. that was such a surprise hit for me! basically fixes everything wrong with the CPS1 SF2:CE, and modifies the game to include modern mechanics. feels like a new game based on SF2 physics
played thru/beat sf2mix (v.99a) with 20210101 version of CPS1 core, and SFZ/Qsound CPS1.5 still works. i didnt have issues before, and both still play fine today.
I'll try it out on each of my 128MB MiSTers this weekend and cast my vote above. Any particular games and spots that would be most likely to hit any problems?
For me, it's usually picking up an item in C&D on the first screen, or when the Punisher drops down at the beginning of the game (that's when the illegal instruction errors occur).
C&D, Punisher, and SFZ 1.5 are working again while the RAM is at operating temperature. Slight graphical glitches in C&D. Interestingly enough, the module is not as warm as when the core was operating at 96Mhz.
I am also seeing tearing in Cadillacs and Dinosaurs. My 128MB SDRAM worked with this update and the last release.
same for me, sometimes screen tearing in cadillac and dinosaurs and warriors of fate, other than that everything is fine like previous releases
Punisher(all versions) not working anymore...was totally fine before update. Also cps1 sf hyper loops on rom checking screen (all rom tests show OK).
I now can load always SFZ 1.5, so that is awesome, but now have issues with slam masters and musclebomber: before wasnt even able to load slammmasters but now there are graphic glitches on both.
Please delete and replace this file: https://github.com/jotego/jtbin/raw/master/mister/cps15/releases/jtcps15_20210101.rbf
Working as before for me, other than the tearing glitches in C&D - I'd first noticed it in the scrolling of the BG in level 2 where it looked like entire rows were offset but when I looked closer was also noticabe in the opening scene. Thanks for the Updates JT!
Other than the tearing in Cadillacs seeming more intense than before it continues to works fine. No new issues with SFZ 1.5 and Punisher than I can tell.
Games are working as they did before :). Only issues are above reported screen tearing with Cadillacs and Dinosaurs and background graphical glitching in Saturday Night Slam Masters
This new update seems to fix my 128 SDRAM ram issues!!!!! Thank you!!!!
Back on track, MRA issue figured out with amoore2600. All good so far !
After the update, Punisher still not workin, SFZero works, tried 3 matches, some glitch on SF2CE the one I use the most. No glitch on SF2CE until today.... already ordered the new memory :)
I recently bought a 128 module and almost all games with cps 1.5 core seem to be working fine after the 20210101 update with the exception of Saturday Night Slammasters but that game had issues before but at least now it's sort of playable inspite of the background glitches. (had no issues before the update with cadillacs and dinousaurs,punisher or sf zero, I guess I am one of the lucky ones to have a more reliable sdram module)
Did you have problems before?
After this update I’m also seeing tearing in Cadillacs. Things like megaman cps1.5 hack didn’t work before and now it does, but i thought it was worth mention it.
Experiencing major graphical glitches with Slammaster / Muscle Bomber on two Misters, both with 128 MB. Had no problem with the last version. So not sure wich reply to chose here.
The broken background in Slam Masters are not part of the SDRAM problem. I will be upload a fix for that tomorrow. The important thing is that games -other than Slam Masters- don't hang up.
after the upgrade Cadillac and Dinosaurus presents a marked tearing of scrolling in the opening scene. It used to be very smooth. I don't think the original PCB did that. cores are stable but in my case they were even before.
Same here with two different Misters on CRT and LCD. Both 128 MB.
Link to forum is broken due to containing html amp entities
hmmm. the link to jotego's mister forum post works for me. i can left click or right click/new tab, and it opens fine (im using latest version of chrome)