09-14-21
- Bullying...
- Games, Games, and More Games!
- 13 Reasons Why!
- DraStic Fixed Up!
- Reinventing the Mod Wheel!
- Let's Go SuperCharged!
- HD PS1!
- Consolidation/Phasing Out!
- Xtreme, Xtreme, Xtreme
- Sega Saturn Boosted!
- Compatibility Boost!
- MAME 2003 Plus/Xtreme Updated!
- Amiga Improvements!
- TurboBoost and Reverse OverClock!
- Massive PC-98 Boost!
- Wide NES/GB!
- MSU-1 NES on SNES!
- Other Stuff!
Many of you have encountered and witnessed some of the Bullying that had gone on in our scene, as well as in others...over the many decades that the internet has existed. Bullying is a thing in reality, as well as in the world of the internet. Nearly all of us were bullied at some point in life by someone who just needed to put themselves on pedestals to feel more grand about themselves. In any case, byuu AKA near, recently, sadly, and quite unfortunately, took his own life...due to excessive Online Bullying, that had gone on for quite a few years now. He is responsible for many things in our Cores, as well as amazing RPG Translations, etc. BSNES and Higan are Emulators he had directly worked on, which are highly accurate. He acquired literally the entire collection of SNES Cartridges, and personally dumped them, ensuring they were as accurate as possible in these Emulators. Neither of them are capable of running on the Mini Classics, unfortunately, due to how exceptionally accurate they are. So, they are best suited for PC or other capable platforms that can truly handle them.
Speedy Gonzales: Los Gatos Bandidos, is one SNES game that ONLY was fully playable via BSNES, for the longest time. Near the end game, you would need to step on a switch. On other emulators, the switch did NOTHING! So, you were in game limbo, til you turned it off!
He was also responsible for the amazing, custom MSU-1 Format, which gives additional memory, and ability to run Full CD Soundtracks, in conjunction with said SNES games! MSU-1 is also the reason USB-HOST came to being, initially...for the Mini Classics, to begin with! Madmonkey wanted to be able to run Rock n' Roll Racing SNES, along with the REAL songs, rather than the chiptune versions:) Although, both are incredibly fun ways to play.
Near will be certainly be missed. Always remember, words can be just as impactful as bullets. Suicide Prevention Phone Number, etc, information links are now above at top of Release Notes, for many Countries. If you ever get bullied, feel depressed, sad, TALK TO SOMEONE, immediately...be it a close family member, friend, loved one. And, if you still feel the depression pulling, call one of the numbers linked to. Life is precious, and not to ever be taken for granted. Enjoy every minute for what it is, a true gift and blessing.
As a final note, I have absolute zero tolerance for bullying, in any way, shape, or form. A majority of people have been incredibly amazing to me. But, every once in awhile, 1 or 2 people, here and there, will try to put themselves up on pedestals by telling me I shouldn't be making videos because of my Speech Impediment...Or, that I should commit suicide...Yes, they go there. I am usually polite, and only take a defensive stance if necessary. But, moving forward, anyone who "hides behind a keyboard" and feels they must belittle others online to make themselves feel better..and, directly harrass or target me or others within my Online Reach...rest assured, you will make it to a new section called "Modder's Hall of Shame". Be nice to others online, it isn't that complicated:)
Games, Games, and More Games!
Rik and Jeremy, two great developers, have worked incredibly hard...with utter devotion, to a great upcoming WIP game called Goodboy Galaxy. Think Metroidvania Actioner with a little bit of Cave Story, your protagonist being a dog! You can read more info about the game, as well as their kickstarter at: https://goodboygalaxy.com/ The Demo for the game has also been added to the Mod Hub, in Games Tab. Make sure to have RetroArch and mGBA to check it out!
Demons of Asteborg https://www.demonsofasteborg.com/ is an incredible action game that had been in development for awhile, and finally Released. Initially, the game did not properly work on the Cores. It would load on PicoDrive, but had sram save error. On Genesis Plus GX, it failed to load at all due to the size of the game. Madmonkey stepped in with a great fix up, which is now hard coded into GX Plus. So, you can now boot, as well as save the game! PicoDrive, unfortunately, it has a bug with 32X, currently, that needs resolved. So, Demons of Asteborg is best played, strictly on Plus GX, for the time being!
Oft requested game, Haunted Halloween '86, which had severe graphical glitches in the past, is now fixed up to work with the updated Fceumm and Fceumm Xtreme Cores! Thanks Fceumm Libretro Dev Team:) One very crucial point, if running these on MD/SNES/NES Classics, you MUST either directly load them via RetroArch...Or, when adding with hakchi, use the option under File, Add Additional Games, AS IS! As Is is a very crucial and important way of adding games, to ensure they are untouched for special case scenarios, where applicable. IE: Vs Castlevania MAME, MUST be added As Is, or it will not work! Same holds true for Haunted Halloween '86. Generally, auto detect is best meant for "retail" Console Games, such as Super Mario Bros, Zelda 1, F-Zero, games that use kachikachi, Canoe, you get the idea. Arcade Games, Homebrews, Fan Mades, should be added using AS IS, to avoid load, graphical issues:)
Requiem is a great mate, who has helped with updating of some of the Legal Homebrews and Compilations that we have posted on Mod Hub, etc. And, he has also been an invaluable asset, along with BlackSunshine, and MadFranko008 and bslenul, as far as truly helping with accurate testing of WIP Cores, etc, fix-ups, before posting in the Releases! He has also recently started posting demonstrations of many of these games on YouTube. You can view them at his channel at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvnKicgcSKoIBQQdXLZCM0g
2 NES Compilations make the cut, for this Release, to the Mod Hub, along with Goodboy Galaxy Demo! Action 53: Volume 4, as well as NESDev Compilation 2019! Requiem did videos on above link showcasing some of the games on these! You can download them from the Mod Hub, as well as read information about them at: https://action53.itch.io/
MANY more games will make the Mod Hub, Next Release! Thanks, again, Requiem:)
13+ Reasons Why!
Why so long, 6 months, in fact...from last Update til this current one, you may ask? Well, there are 13+ reasons why!
- 1. Covid, in a chain reaction, has caused...
- 2. Deaths and Severe Sickness of/in friends and family and coworkers...:(
- 3. One of my jobs had to consolidate into a single location...which led to...
- 4. Relocation...over the course of an entire month! Making it so...
- 5. I have an additional hour, drive time, each day! Paid for, though!
- 6. "Ghost in the Machine" Malfunctions at my "other" job, have led to many Xtra hours.
- 7. Planned Obsolescence, the arguable "greatest" invention in history...has led to...
- 8. Needing Washing Machine, Dryer, Refrigerator, Car Repairs!
- 9. TIFU by taking down a tree in my yard, myself, leading to...
- 10. Poison Ivy of epic horror movie proportions!
- 11. Speaking of, catching up on some great TV, Movies, Music!
- 12. The Mod Wheel needed reinvented, as we were nearly at an impasse, as far as Updates!
- 13. Requiring extensive, careful testing, to ensure all is A OK for THIS Release! Enjoy:)
- 14. Computer Crash, which luckily, I was already prepared for...in advance! Back your data up, folks:)
- 15. Google Drive False Positive Virus Flags! Yeah, unfortunately, some safe files can be seen as Viruses!
Thanks bslenul for fixing the break in DraStic, so that /bin/drastic-mic now works properly again! And, thanks to all who reported this issue to me!
Reinventing the Mod Wheel!
When one is dealing with relatively low spec platforms, such as the Mini Classics, only so much can be done...without resorting to the inevitable "Reinventing of the Mod Wheel!" After all, you can't take a metaphorical "turd" and "polish" it. You are quite limited in just "how far" you can truly go! So, I did what I could to push, boost, things into new territory, so that we have overall better compatibility, performance, speed, at cost of latency, stability! Those of you who are more sensitive about latency, stick to using the Standard Ozone/RGUI RetroArchs for MD/SNES/NES Classics; RetroBoot W/AutoBleem for PSC! To take advantate of the more Xtreme Amped SuperCharged Stuff, use the "triggered" set-ups, of RetroArch Xtreme SC 184/198 for MD/SNES/NES; Xtreme Injector for PSC!
Again, you have been warned, very sternly...Standard if concerned with latency/stability; Xtreme if you wanna go SuperCharged!
Let's Go SuperCharged!
You can completely ignore this section, if you are more concerned with latency/stability! For the niche End Users who want to push their systems to a more Xtreme Edge of Reasoning, proceed:)
MD/SNES/NES wise, install RetroArch Xtreme SC 184 or 198. More optimal, if you also run OTG USB-HOST. And, if your system is capable of running OverClock (not all chipsets are quality assured to handle it, unfortunately) and Virtual Ram. PSC wise, simply install from the Release, PSC/AB Folder, the AutoBleem Modification to your SONY named Flash/Hard Drive, then the Xtreme Injector!
Now then, I can't stress this enough...SuperCharged is essentially the equivalent of you watching a tire spin so fast, it seemingly moves backwards in motion! The same trickery of illusion, along with some clever math, timing differential changes, and whatnot...applied in a special way, makes the lower spec Mini Classics, such as MD/SNES/NES/PSC, more capable of the aforementioned, coined Xtreme SuperCharged Boost! Games, such as Virtua Fighter Arcade will now be reasonably playable on MAME 2003 Xtreme, as an example.
If you test this out, and decide you would prefer to have favored latency/stability, it is best recommended you do a kernel reset with hakchi, then reinstall the Standard RetroArch, whichever Themed Version, RGUI/Ozone, that you most prefer...along with the other chosen Cores/BIOS (use Master BIOS Module or FTP or supplied legal BIOS in BIOS Tab the KMFD Mod Hub in Hakchi2 CE (MD/SNES/NES Users). PSC Users may copy BIOS directly into etc/libretro/system.
You can also peruse my YouTube Channel for quite a few videos showcasing SuperCharged Mode Activate:) A few other games that benefit are Ultimate Ghosts n' Goblins (PSP), Biometal (SNES), Zeroigar (PC-FX), and list goes on and on:)
HD PS1!
With SuperCharged, you can now run MANY more games in Upscaled HD Graphics, on your MD/SNES/NES/PSC Minis! Games that previously had issues, such as Die Hard Trilogy, Dragon Valor, Parappa the Rapper, even Jumping Flash, R-Type Delta, and so on...run considerably better. No need to ever run them at Standard Definition again! I will continue to Update this Core with more fix-ups, in future Releases! For now, enjoy PCSX HD Xtreme! Be sure to check out Die Hard Trilogy!
Consolidation/Phasing Out!
Sometimes, it is more about quality than quantity. Several Cores have been phased out due to being fairly useless for the Mini Classics, such as BSNES, Mesen, and so on. Others have been consolidated, much like how I had a few MAME 2003 Xtreme Cores a couple years back. So, there is no longer an SNES9x 2016 or 2016 Bright or 2018, as they are no longer needed. 2005/2010/9x have all been updated and fixed up to fully handle everything that the other specialized builds were previously capable of.
Same holds true for the FBA Cores. Removed are FBA2012 CPS1, CPS2, CPS3, NEO, 2016, 2018. Only 2012/FBA are truly needed, as far as things are concerned, Mini Wise! FBNEO handles the continuation of the FBA coding, into more accurate points. While viewing ANY of the Cores in hakchi, look at the ReadMes, which will specify Command Lines. IE: Genesis Plus GX has 3 Command Lines, one for Plus GX, another for Plus GX Wide, and...finally, the last for Xtreme GX! You can also right click, within hakchi, any game...after downloading the Core from Mod Hub. Then, Select Emulation Core, apply, synch or export to take effect on the Mini in question!
4DO and Reicast have now forked off into Opera and Flycast, respectively. GBA Cores are most optimal as mGBA/gpSP. Otherwise, you will notice select other Cores that have been removed, due to performance/compatibility issues for us on the Minis. Anything necessary, code wise, can be ported to the remaining Cores we DO use, moving forward!
Xtreme, Xtreme, Xtreme
You will also notice, in Mod Hub, a majority of the Cores that were titled Xtreme (while viewed in Mod Hub), now follow a more simplified naming structure. These Cores still contain the Xtreme Tweaks you have grown accustomed to using. But, didn't want it to be too overused, as in "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia":) You get the idea!
Sega Saturn Boosted!
You cannot use Dynamic Recompiler for Sega Saturn on MD/SNES/NES, unfortunately. But, I was able to do a minimal boost, so that you can command line change to X Factors of 1-5, to help you better run games, such as Shinobi Legions, Elevator Action, Golden Axe: The Duel, Guardian Heroes, etc! For PSC, Core is Boosted, so many games run better. There is an Accuracy Variant of the Core, although it doesn't run nearly as well as the Xtreme Build! But, since a few have persistently asked, here it is!
Compatibility Boost!
While I may start using the word Xtreme, just a tad bit less:) I probably won't stop with the alliteration and exclamation points, as they drive the point home...that modding is exciting and fun stuff:) In any case, I have taken into account MANY of your End User comments, about such and such game, here and there, not working...or, not working well enough! I have gotten a couple hundred game requests fulfilled. And, this is where the Compatibility Boost comes into play. Whether you go SuperCharged or not, you will have many more games, compatibility wise! But, you will most certainly have more on the SuperCharged front! Remember, Virtual Ram and OverClock are optional! Mainly the "triggered" set-up of the RetroArch 184/198 Xtreme SuperCharged, will activate the appropriate, needed "sleeper" perimeters in any given Core. IE: If you run Cruis'n World Arcade with SuperCharged, it will be more decently playable than ever before. You will still need to calibrate it, however. So, I would recommend opting for the N64 Version on LudicrousN64 Core, as the better alternative! Cruis'n World Arcade was, more or less, meant to be a technical demonstration of what SuperCharging CAN do! PSC Users, I have "decent, yet slightly loose" precalibrated values for Cruis'n Arcade. I will touch things up, and also set these controls up for MD/SNES/NES Users, probably by next Update!
Also, Primal Rage, another request...SuperCharged benefits that game, too. I have hardcoded SuperCharged Coding Perimeters directly into several of the Cores, especially ones like MAME 2003 Xtreme...which, now, is insanely overpowered, in contrast to earlier Releases! You will see exactly what I mean once you test it out! Speaking of which!
MAME 2003 Plus/Xtreme Updated!
In discussions with other MAME Developers, such as grant2258, Arcadez2003, markwkidd, mahoneyt944, my idea to have more direct control of the CPU for MAME panned out into direct Core Option Control. And, this parlays into a truly massive amount of gaming possibilities that you truly never had capability of before, due to bugs existing with CPU in the past! Both MAME 2003 Xtreme/Plus have more precise manipulation factored in, for CPU control, as do several other Cores I fixed up! I will clarify those, in additional notes, after this subsection! In any case, Plus is the more stable Core; Xtreme is out of bounds crazy now:) SO, you get the best of both mod worlds, regarding your MAME Arcade Games! Fast and Furious, or Slower and more Stabilized! If you run Virtua Fighter Arcade on Plus, then on Xtreme, you will see exactly what I refer to!
An Unreleased Arcade Game, in the vein of a 3d mash up of Contra, Pit Fighter, Guardians of the Hood, called Danger Express Prototype...is now playable on both Plus/Xtreme! And, a great 2 player Ms Pac Man Hack is now supported on Plus! I may add it to Xtreme in the future!
Amiga Improvements!
You can now run a majority of Amiga 1200 (AGA) (Aladdin, Chaos Engine, list goes on!) games at or near full speed, with the updated P-UAE Xtreme Amped and UAE4ARM Xtreme Cores. Personal thanks to Madfranko008 for testing and feedback. And, thanks Chips-fr and sonninnos and rsn8887. Note, if you use custom WHDLoad files that you create yourself, rather than the "shell" provided ones in Mod Hub/Xtreme Injector, be sure to back them up, in case you want to or need to replace them upon using the updated Amiga Cores. And, not to forget to mention, CD-TV and CD-32 Games also fare considerably better, now!
TurboBoost and Reverse OverClock!
This section is strictly meant for more advanced users, who will be using the Xtreme Additions. Everyone else, ignore:) With MAME 2003 Xtreme, and several other Cores, just like with the previous Release of LudicrousN64...you now have ability to utilize TurboBoost, as well as a special variant of OverClock, that works in reverse (smart underclock). IE: Cruis'n World, Killer Instinct, Primal Rage Arcade with MAME 2003 Xtreme! Best to leave TurboBoost at its default value in Core Options. But, you can change the Reverse OverClock to be higher or lower, depending on whichever game. Simply tap "start" on the Core Option to revert it back to default, when done!
For Killer Instinct, as an example, you can do "most indoor" stages with the new default values I set up. But, outdoor stages, you may want to "reverse overclock" further. It is BEST to load games with default value, as if you have it "reverse overclocked" too far, some games will fail to boot. So, try to refrain from changing the clock, until actually in game! Nearly every game you can imagine, is now much more playable.
Other Cores now take advantage of this, as well, such as SNES9x 2010 Xtreme, which you can run FX Chip Games blazingly fast or slow, now...depending on your preference in FX OverClock in Core Options! Stunt Race FX has never run better, whether or not you use Hardware OverClock! Speaking of which:)
Massive PC-98 Boost!
Personal thanks, PC-98 Core/Emulator Devs, period! And, thanks BlackSunshine and Requiem for helping test! I did what I could to overhaul things with PC-98 NP2Kai Core, so that you can run many more games, with better performance, speed! Games like EVO, the predecessor to the amazing Square Enix SNES game, is now actually playable! Best with SuperCharged/Xtreme Injector! Other games, such as Night Slave, an amazing SHMUP in the vein of Target Earth AKA Assault Suit Leynos series, are also playable. You can go between 4.5 and 7.5 Clock Speed in Core Options to vary on harder to run or easier to run games! Night Slave requires 7.5, and works best if you are able to run on PSC or on MD/SNES/NES with Xtreme Virtual Ram AND OverClock!
Wide NES/GB!
Strictly for PC Usage ONLY, for now! In Xtras, WIDE-NES-GB, are all the Tools you need to get up and running with these on your PC!
MSU-1 NES on SNES!
Xtras/Perm-Cheats-Patching, now includes tools, documents, etc, needed to run Zelda 1 with a full CD Soundtrack on the SNES9x or SNES9x Xtreme Core/s! Thanks Myself086, Conn, Byuu AKA Near, original Developers, Nintendo!
Other Stuff!
I didn't want you all to wait too much longer on the Update...So, some WIP stuff will go out within the next 2-3 Updates, such as HD Audio Enhancements, High End CD Soundtrack Capabilities, more Updates to PS1, etc Cores, such as with Unai, Peops (PSC Users), Doom, Castlevania, all kinds of fun stuff! And, stay tuned to my YouTube Channel for more drumming videos, WIP Updates, all that jazz!
There are also many other hidden or unmentioned parts of the Update, that you will discover on your own, or see me go over in near future Videos! I would be writing "beyond a novella" if I went too into depth with details! So, we are we are for now:) My next video/s will be tutorials on how to properly run Atari Jaguar better! on Mini Classics, and so on:) So, stay tuned to my YouTube for those!
Enjoy the Friggin' Update!
Sincerely, KM:)
Note: Google Drive will receive some Updates, AFTER this Update Posts!
And, of course, the Release!
https://github.com/KMFDManic/NESC-SNESC-Modifications/releases
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