Clock-accurate FPGA replacement for NES PPU

(github.com)

14 points | by zdw a day ago ago

9 comments

  • aix1 17 hours ago ago

    Having never heard the term, I had to look up what a "PPU" was. Picture Processing Unit.

    Seems to be a Nintendo term for what other companies might have called a "VDP" (Video Display Processor) or a "VIC" (Video Interface Chip).

    Brings warm memories of Yamaha V9938 VDP used in MSX-2 machines.

  • rustyhancock 20 hours ago ago

    Did laugh (in a good way) when he says it's possible to use a lattice Fpga to reduce costs but be didn't want to learn a new ecosystem.

    Then a few lines later without fan fair, here's the lattice version...

  • nubinetwork 20 hours ago ago

    I wonder if they could add ypbpr, being rgbs kindof limits what you can connect it to... (okay, to be fair, so does ypbpr, but at least the nesrgb has multiple output options...)

    • hananova 19 hours ago ago

      I'm not sure what the value of that would be. The point of a cycle accurate emulation (not replacement, emulation. It may be an FPGA, but it's still hardware emulation) FPGA implementation is to have lagfree and accurate output to devices that can make use of that lagfree capability. This essentially means CRTs and nothing else, and those all support, or can trivially be modded to support, RGB.

      • LocalH 10 hours ago ago

        I'd argue that it's not "emulation" in the same sense as software emulation, I'd suggest that it's more of an "FPGA clone". It's a reimplementation, in a hardware form, of the behavior of the PPU. Unless the oldschool PPU clones were also "emulation", then I wouldn't consider FPGAs "emulation" either.

      • nubinetwork 18 hours ago ago

        I use a retrotink to convert ypbpr to hdmi, and pipe that through a capture card. when I tested frame delay, I think it was only a single frame...

        I'm not a speedrunner, so a single frame is nothing. I can probably count on one hand the NES games that require 100% frame accurate inputs to beat the game. (Battletoads clinger winger comes to mind)

        • hananova 18 hours ago ago

          I honestly do not see the point of going to all the trouble of playing on hardware, to then convert it to HDMI. At that point just running Mesen on a PC can give you the exact same experience for none of the cost.

          Hell, it's the reason I sold my Apollo Vampire A6000 Amiga FPGA emulator. What's the point in creating new Amiga hardware and then only providing HDMI out? WinUAE does a better job in both speed, latency, convenience, and compatibility than the A6000 ever could.

          • nubinetwork 18 hours ago ago

            While I'm not a speedrunner, being faithfully accurate is still somewhat important to me... mesen is only 95% or so, and almost all emulators can't reproduce colours properly...

            https://youtu.be/oYjYmSniQyM

            https://youtu.be/7JupB4QHyGI

            If I truly didn't care, I would probably still be using one of those garbage NoaCs from the late 90s.

  • shablulman a day ago ago

    [dead]