​

The highly popular and accurate FPGA hardware, MisterFGPA, has received today a brand new update with a long-awaited feature, or rather, a new core for hardcore players to enjoy, with the N64 core.

For the unaware, an FPGA stands for Field Programmable Gate Arrays, which in layman's terms means that the hardware is made up of a wide variety of "arrays" that allow the programmer to modify the way in which the hardware itself works, basically reconfiguring the hardware to achieve or meet certain requirements, and in some cases, to mimic other hardware, which in the case of the MisterFPGA, it mimics the original hardware of several video game consoles through "cores", which are developed by many contributors and cover a wide range of consoles, like the older Intellivision or Atari consoles, all the way up to the 5th generation of consoles, which include the original PlayStation, and now with the latest update, the Nintendo 64 as well. All of this with compatibility with several controllers as well as clean HDMI output and several other features.

​

The main objective of the MisterFPGA is to recreate the original consoles hardware configurations through its FPGA to run games for the available consoles, since it is basically reconfiguring the FPGA's hardware to that of the original console's hardware and how it behaved, allowing for the most accurate way to experience either original and officially released games for the consoles, or even newer homebrew titles developed for them or romhacks as well. Not only that, but the MisterFPGA has proven to be a resourceful tool for those that want their homebrew games or romhacks to be compatible with real hardware.

People who already have their hands on a MisterFPGA can run the updater to download the newly added Nintendo 64 core and start playing their N64 library.

MisterFPGA GitHub page

 

[urbanman2004]

For people out of the loop, this is hardware level emulation. The core aims to replicate the N64 on hardware level. It's aim is to be like the N64 in terms of output and performance with 0 latency (via SNAC connection to real controllers). If you want pretty, stick to software emulators.

N64 development is stopped. Robert has decided to not continue anymore due to reaching basically the limits of the DE10 nano. So N64 is mostly working well but some games have random crashes, glitches. So those looking to use a MiSTerFPGA to fully replace an N64 are out of luck, which is a shame since the N64 core has the following that a real N64 doesn't have.
.....

I was almost on the verge of plunking down some cash to buy an Intel Nano board to build myself an FPGa after seeing this thread's headline till you mentioned that the N64 core's development is still incomplete. Guess I'll still be sticking to software emulation for the time being...

 

[LoggerMan]

Doesn't have 100% compatibility, iirc Mister does not have enough RAM. Still interesting though, this sure takes a lot of thunder out of Analogue's promise of perfect hardware emulation of N64 later this year, albeit Analogue are promising 100% compatibility and 4K HDMI output (so it effectively will have a Retrotink 4K built in), plus it'll surely work with real carts and accessories. It'll surely be delayed into late 2025 too.

Post automatically merged: Apr 6, 2024

How about the expansion pack, controllers and rumble?

Videogame Esoterica did a video on controllers. I haven't watched it yet because I can only tolerate so much fast talking videos at once

 

[Maximo101]

what's wrong with emudeck? How much hardware do you need?

 

[Scriber]

If only the community wasn’t so confusing/ expensive and toxic to get into

I tried looking into a MiSTER about a year ago and they are not a friendly bunch of people. Almost seemed like being asshats was their kink

They're gatekeepers, as well. If they don't like a particular developer then you can forget about what they created being added to the platform, even if it is a modern improvement that objectively renders the original implementation completely obsolete. Contrary to what they say, options are a good thing.

 

[tech3475]

what's wrong with emudeck? How much hardware do you need?

FPGA attempts to replicate the actual hardware (oversimplification), so in theory it's suppose to be more accurate than software emulation alone and potentially some of the QoL emulation offers such as save states and potentially remove some of the hassle e.g. HDMI upscalers.

Think of it as a halfway point between original hardware and software emulation.

 

[fvig2001]

How about the expansion pack, controllers and rumble?

It supports them emulated. If you want to use real controllers, you would need to attach a SNAC module via the USB serial port. It will support all controllers + accessories.

 

[raxadian]

It supports them emulated. If you want to use real controllers, you would need to attach a SNAC module via the USB serial port. It will support all controllers + accessories.

Even the mic, the Gameboy player that only works in two games and... I think there was a keyboard for Japanese only games?

 

[fvig2001]

Even the mic, the Gameboy player that only works in two games and... I think there was a keyboard for Japanese only games?

You mean transfer pak? Yes it works. The keyboard should work as the VRU works.

 

[AkikoKumagara]

that only works in two games

That's inaccurate.

 

[raxadian]

That's inaccurate.View attachment 430298

Well... how many of those games were released in English?

 

[AkikoKumagara]

Well... how many of those games were released in English?

Why does that matter? That wasn't the point.

 

[isoboy]

Not sure about their discord though. I'm seeing a lot of monkey gifs.

 

[Jayro]

I just ordered my DE-10 Nano and other Mister parts from RetroCastle's AliExpress store, and I got the white VGA I/O board that has a 4 port USB hub baked in, so my stack will only be 2 PCBs tall; Saving some money there, as it comes with the acrylic blue case as well. I also lucked out and saved some $$ by finding a 128MB RAM module for just $45 instead of the usual $60. My grand total for all the parts after shipping and taxes, was $401 for a complete single RAM MiSTer build, and I'm hella excited. I'll be pairing it with some new SAFFUN wired USB N64 controllers which have little-to-no latency and accurate analogue sticks.

Post automatically merged: Apr 23, 2024

This is another Retroarch basically then ? Just saying that would be more clear than this wall of text.

RetroArch uses software emulators. The MiSTer FPGA (it's in the name) uses hardware simulation to mimic the original hardware 1:1, or as close to it. This greatly reduces lag and latency, and you don't run into weird glitches and stuff that software emus are known for.

 

[urbanman2004]

I just ordered my DE-10 Nano and other Mister parts from RetroCastle's AliExpress store, and I got the white VGA I/O board that has a 4 port USB hub baked in, so my stack will only be 2 PCBs tall; Saving some money there, as it comes with the acrylic blue case as well. I also lucked out and saved some $$ by finding a 128MB RAM module for just $45 instead of the usual $60. My grand total for all the parts after shipping and taxes, was $401 for a complete single RAM MiSTer build, and I'm hella excited. I'll be pairing it with some new SAFFUN wired USB N64 controllers which have little-to-no latency and accurate analogue sticks.

I would be wiling to see how everything turns out if you don't mind posting any updates of the completed project. I'm currently in the market for purchasing myself a Mister FPGa.

 

[Jayro]

I would be wiling to see how everything turns out if you don't mind posting any updates of the completed project. I'm currently in the market for purchasing myself a Mister FPGa.

Yeah, the majority will be here in two weeks, but I get my DE-10 Nano in a few days.