MIST PC Engine Snapshots

PLEASE NOTE: This is here for historical interest only – this core has been superceded by https://github.com/gyurco/FPGAPCE

This page carries binary releases of the FPGA PC Engine core for the MIST board.  To use the core copy the .rbf file to an SD card, (and rename it to “core.rbf” if you want it to be loaded as the default core at power-on), then copy a configuration file from either the VGA or TV directory, depending on which type of screen you’re using.  The core will default to VGA mode if you don’t supply a configuration file, but it can’t create files, so if you don’t copy a file to the card you won’t be able to save settings.

24 thoughts on “MIST PC Engine Snapshots”

  7. Hi ! Sorry for bothering you 🙂
    Just wondering if you were still planning to work on this PCE core ? 🙂
    I’m a huge fan of the PCE and the result is very enjoyable on a MiST (compared to emulation). Just missing a little more compatibility and maybe some other optional video filters (like bilinear filtering).
    I don’t want to sound like a spoilt kid, though !!
    Thanks again a lot for your great work !!

    Reply ↓

    • It’d be nice to see this core improved – but I only ported it to the MIST – I’m not its author, and I’m not that familiar with the PC Engine hardware. Maybe some day I’ll find time to explore the core in more detail.

      Reply ↓

      • Oops, I completely overlooked this, sorry !! 🙂

        I have one very last question thought ! I noticed the PCE core only works properly when it’s set as the default core. Do you know if that’s something that could be fixed in the future ?

        Thanks again & sorry for annoying you !

        Reply ↓

          • Hmm, I should definitely find a way to send you proper debug information. I have several issues :

            – when the pce core is not installed on its own SD, the core starts, roms are loaded, but then I always get a black screen (and can get back to the OSD to try to load another one)

            – also, I get random characters when browsing a subdir with many files

            I should send you the content of my SDs privately !

  8. Thank you for your PC Engine Core for the MiST FPGA.

    I am here to report a possible bug: The image jumps vertically when using 15 kHz RGB for video output. A Sony Trinitron CRT was used for testing together with the respective config file provided in the ZIP-archive. Other cores (Amiga, MSX, NES, Colecovision etc.) run fine on this screen.

    Reply ↓

    • Hi !!

      I reported some time ago a bug, but I probably didn’t double check properly the exact symptoms… 🙂

      I told you games wouldn’t start when FPGAPCE was not set as the default core. This is not correct. Actually, I cannot figure out the exact conditions but :

      – in some cases, when FPGAPCE is not alone on the MiST SD, I get a black screen after the complete loading of any PCE game
      – in some cases, when FPGAPCE is not alone on the MiST SD, I get “garbled” (random) filenames. Example : I have several folders for each platform. The root directory is displayed properly but as soon as I get into a directory, I get random characters

      HOWEVER

      – in other cases (couldn’t figure out the conditions), probably on SD cards with fewer files, games do load, and filename are displayed properly, EVEN IF there are other files, directories on the SD, and even if FPGAPCE is not the default core.

      So, well, I guess it might be related to the number of files on the SD, or on the SD itself.

      Please tell me if you want me to help you investigate this issue ! I can send you the content of a working and non-working SD, for instance.

      Thanks again for your work 🙂 This is my second favorite core on the MiST 🙂

      Reply ↓

      • Could it be related to the SD card size ? I noticed issue with a 64 GB and 16 GB card. I noticed none with a 512 MB and 8 GB card. But it might be unrelated.

        Reply ↓

      • This could well be related to the number of files on the SD card – the FAT filesystem code isn’t extensively tested, and there may be bugs that only manifest once a card gets full. A disk image of a non-working SD card would be very useful – but I can’t guarantee to devote any time to this in the near future.

        Reply ↓

        • Hi ! Actually, I really didn’t manage to figure out the real issue. It doesn’t seem related to the number of files : I copied only a couple of roms on a blank SD and got a black screen. I used a much bigger card with tons of files for several cores and the PCE core used to work. It stopped working after modifying a couple of files on the very same SD and I didn’t manage to get it to work again since then. As it’s my 2nd favorite MiST core I hope someone will carry on your work 🙂 (there is this issue and a minor one : I cannot save settings to enable scanlines all the time). Cheers !

          Reply ↓

  9. Hey,
    I don’t know if you’re still bug fixing this core but I’ve found a bug: the pad’s buttons are swapped, B is I and A is II, it should be the other way around. (Very obvious in Devil’s Crash/Crush and Alien Crash/Crush)
    Is the source of the MiST port available anywhere? I’d love to check it out.

    Reply ↓

  10. Hello. I made som discoverys about the pce engine core in 15khz TV mode.

    First i put it on a big sd card 32gb and when i tried start it in TV mode (15khz),Nothing happended, No signal to tv. Then i put the core on a 16gb sd card,And with mist.ini file present on the sd card. Nothing happend, no tv signal.

    It seems the mist.ini disable doublescan setting somehow interferes with the pc engine core.

    Then i removed the mist.ini file, Now i finaly see the menu in tv mode, but when loading a game i only get a black screen. So i partiioned the SD card down to a 4GB Size partition. and put all the relevant files on this, And finaly now it works and run games in 15 TV khz mode. So i think the core is great now that its running, But i hope to see some improvements so that it can run on bigger SD,s without issues. Thank You.

    Reply ↓

    • Thanks for the bug report – I’m aware of issues with the SD card booting on the MIST board so I will take a look.
      The problem with bigger SDs isn’t actually the core so much as the MSX ROM itself, which only supports SD and not SDHC cards, and only supports the FAT16 filesystem. The core itself should be able to load the ROM from a large SDHC card, but after that it won’t be able to do anything other than drop into BASIC.

      Reply ↓

  11. This has been working great for me on MiST. Even though the compatibility sheet shows crashing on Bomberman ’93 I haven’t had it crash once. Things I think could improve: there’s no options to change cores. i don’t see any sort of support for CD-ROM/Super CD-ROM images. Is it a matter of writing a CD-ROM driver or is there actual game disc security to bypass?

    Great stuff!

    Reply ↓

    • Honestly, I don’t know enough about the PC Engine to answer this – I merely ported the core, I’m not its original author. Interesting idea though!

      Reply ↓

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