Mega Everdrive - The next level?

[Barone]

Hi!

I'm posting it here 'cause I'd like to discuss about the new features and possibilities that this new device will provide to the Genesis/Mega Drive homebrew dev and hacking scene.

From assemblergames.com:

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=A4GKN...eature=related

and that's not all... (:

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

about 32x and sega cd
32x implementation in fpga is possible, but on the practic it will be pretty hard to made, so i have no any plans to try to do something like that
about mage cd: full cd unit emulation almost impossible, but may be possible to made a modiffied cd bios which can redirect cd requast to sd card, but i not surre because i don't know a lot about mega cd architecture

what i would really want to do with new mega everdrive, it is a ability to play some games via internet. MK3 for example

Anyway current cart will not be available in this year

currently i don't know the price, may be final boards and parts will be changed a lot, but i pretty sure that it will be cost more than 100 usd. probably between 100-150 for board only version

About SMS FM support:

no, but i have plan to implement fm chip in fpga

yah, final version also will be use cyclone 2.

by the ways, genesis cpu can reload cyclone firmware from sd, so jtag not need for firmware update any more. also this feature give the chance to build such things like emulators - OS can load software core to rom memory and hardware core into fpga, so custom application can use own firmware and all hardware resources of cart

[Sik]

How will it play games over internet? He mentions Mortal Kombat 3, but that game was never designed for lag nor potentially the consoles going out of sync (which can happen even with two consoles of the same board revision), and we don't have the XBand patch that worked around that.

Also ultimately it seems to be aimed at playing official games, so I wouldn't expect much new stuff from homebrew.

[Anonymouse]

OMG playing over the net would be the best thing EVER!

[slobu]

So, right now we know the new unit will:
* Support larger games like the 10megahamster Ultimate Mortal Combat.
* Copy games to on-board RAM to speed transfer times
* Use a FPGA for future expansion that is not 32x or Mega CD support.

Doesn't sound worth it so far for peeps who already have the first version methinks. And wont supporting larger games mess with the deal they made with Watermelon?

[Lastcallhall]

Not to derail the thread, but I'm more excited for this:

Originally Posted by KRIKzz
honestly i already done pcb for pc engine few weeks ago, so i pretty sure that i will made the cart when i will be have the time

OT: As an Everdrive owner, UMKT sounds nice, as does the net support, but like someone mentioned above, lag and sync issues will need to be worked out, as well as a method for netplay. It would be cool to work the 32x HW into the everdrive, though.

[KnightWarrior]

I like Fast

Is he going to show how fast Master System & 32X games Load?

[Flygon]

If I knew this was going to happen, I'd have held off buying the Everdrive MD. Now I'm broke!

[NeoVamp]

I'm so gonna buy this just for UMKT support alone!

But I would LOVE Sega CD support, Imagine playing Snatcher or Eternal Champions or Sonic CD straight from the SD card with much faster loading.

I'm very excited.

[Sik]

Imagine playing Snatcher or Eternal Champions or Sonic CD straight from the SD card with much faster loading.

Don't get fooled, one of the biggest issues with emulators is having to deal with the low speed of the drive. Some FMV code assumes the drive is always going at 1x and it will break if the drive goes any faster, apparently.

I don't think Snatcher would be affected though, given it lacks FMVs...

[Barone]

News:

well, mega ed in approach, so probably time to make some thread about new ultimate solution for genesis/megadrive.
mega ed is not finished yet, so i can't say exactly what will be implemented or will not, but here is list of features which is planned, some of them already implemented:
already implemented:
0)instant loading (1-2 sec)
1)large rom suppport - up to 10 mbyte
2)snapshot saves, like on emulator. and regular saves, of course
2x)firmware update without jtag. enough to copy new OS into SD card to get new firmware
3)advanced sms support. codemasters and korean mappers
4)ram cart for mega cd
5)dual sd slot, one internal micro sd and external standard SD
6)fast usb for development, and may be for netplay
7)return to menu by reset button
and below is features which not implemented yet, and may be some of them will not be implemented never:
8)fm sound for sms
9) netplay (mabe i will make a net patches for some games)
10) seriall eeprom saves
11) nes emulation
12) may be something else, what is forgotten (:

Cyclone II FPGA, and 16mbyte of sdram provide a lot of hardware resources, so here is almost unlimited field for phantasy (:

snapshot saves demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkXEr-uV9KE
large rom demo movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8gjfzmt5AU

[Sik]

...NES emulation? Seriously? o_O

[Chilly Willy]

...NES emulation? Seriously? o_O

Yeah, that's no biggy with a Cyclone II, but I'd rather see SVP emulation so you can run VR.

[NeoVamp]

Yeah, that's no biggy with a Cyclone II, but I'd rather see SVP emulation so you can run VR.

Could you explain the whole FPGA/Cyclone thing a bit more? what can be done with this? and what is it?

Would it be possible to create new games that use more colors or more layers or something like that? or are we stuck with the Genesis specs?

[Thunderblaze16]

OMG! I was never into the Ever Drive since I preferred to get the actual thing, but your saying I could play games like Gunstar Heroes, Adventures of Batman & Robin, Herzog Z. and even Yu Yu from my own Sega Genesis online!?


............its the wonderful time of year......!

[Chilly Willy]

Could you explain the whole FPGA/Cyclone thing a bit more? what can be done with this? and what is it?

FPGA - Field Programmable Gate Array. This is a chip where you can change the logic used to handle inputs via programming. FPGAs have lots of gates/logic blocks that can be selected and set to do different things. So you could make the FPGA be a video chip or a cpu merely by changing the data used to control the FPGA. With a big enough FPGA, it could be the ENTIRE Genesis in a single chip... or Amiga, or C64, or NES, or anything else you can design the logic for.

Would it be possible to create new games that use more colors or more layers or something like that? or are we stuck with the Genesis specs?

Unless you made the FPGA have a better video handling AND had video out on the cart, you would be stuck with the regular Genesis video. That's the issue with both the SCD and the SVP inside the VR cart - both give you more processing power, but are limited to the Genesis video as they don't improve the video themselves. That's where the 32X comes in - it not only added cpus, but better video as well.