Russian Roulette [Complete!]

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rainwarrior
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Re: Russian Roulette [Testers Needed]

Post by rainwarrior »

Had not tried with the zapper (I don't have a CRT, and when you said "trigger" i thought you just meant the in-game trigger).

Tried it now. No problems in 1 player mode, but in 2 player mode if I pull the zapper (in port 2) trigger when it's player 1's turn, I get severe graphical corruption. Looks like nametables are messed up kind of randomly, and also the CHR banking gets changed.
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Jedi QuestMaster
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Re: Russian Roulette [Testers Needed]

Post by Jedi QuestMaster »

Here's an update to the rom:
RussianRoulette.nes
(288.03 KiB) Downloaded 708 times
The main issue I've noticed now (on my side at least) is that the zapper trigger doesn't always register a trigger pull in-game. Let me know what other issues you run into. Thanks everyone!
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rainwarrior
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Re: Russian Roulette [Testers Needed]

Post by rainwarrior »

I don't see any graphical problems with the zapper anymore, but the trigger is really unreliable. I might have to pull it 10 times just to get the shot to fire.

You might take a look at how Duck Hunt or other games read the zapper trigger. There's usually some kinda debounce filter going on.

I wrote some Zapper test ROMs a while ago when I wanted to know what kind of signals you get from the zapper. It's a bit of a mess, really.
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Jedi QuestMaster
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Re: Russian Roulette [Testers Needed]

Post by Jedi QuestMaster »

Are those test roms open source?

They seem to work fine:

zapper_light.nes makes a buzz whenever the zapper is aimed at the white space (with precision) and sometimes goes off a little when I wag the lightgun at my bright, flourescent lights

zapper_trigger.nes is very interesting! The buzz goes off when the trigger is partially pulled (there is an audible click in the zapper itself), but the buzz stops when the trigger is completely pulled. (I didn't know the lightgun could do this.) Is this how the test is supposed to work?

Edit: Oh yeah, thanks! :oops: :)
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rainwarrior
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Re: Russian Roulette [Testers Needed]

Post by rainwarrior »

I can't seem to find the source, but as I recall both ROMs just continually poll either the "light" or the "trigger" bit; if set it flips the value written to $4011 (buzz) and waits until the next NMI to start polling again.

Yes the trigger starts to signal on about halfway into a pull, and it turns off somewhere roughly on the "zap", and there's a lot of bounce/noise at either transition. (Slow pulls are particularly bad.)

There's also no way to distinguish half pull then release from pulling to "zap". Either way counts as a shot, generally.


Edit: I found the source, cleaned it up a little and posted it in that thread.
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darryl.revok
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Re: Russian Roulette [Testers Needed]

Post by darryl.revok »

Is this going to be a Compo entry? I was thinking so since you linked it from the Compo planning thread.

Just thinking this could be moved into the Compo 2016 subforum.
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Jedi QuestMaster
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Re: Russian Roulette [Testers Needed]

Post by Jedi QuestMaster »

darryl.revok wrote:Is this going to be a Compo entry? I was thinking so since you linked it from the Compo planning thread.

Just thinking this could be moved into the Compo 2016 subforum.
Sure, that would be splendid.

Here's the latest update.
RussianRoulette.nes
(288.03 KiB) Downloaded 769 times
I'm getting graphical glitches again; this time horizontal bars in certain tile spaces. Anyone else noticing these?
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thefox
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Re: Russian Roulette [Testers Needed]

Post by thefox »

Jedi QuestMaster wrote:I'm getting graphical glitches again; this time horizontal bars in certain tile spaces. Anyone else noticing these?
Where are you running it?
Download STREEMERZ for NES from fauxgame.com! — Some other stuff I've done: fo.aspekt.fi
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Jedi QuestMaster
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Re: Russian Roulette [Testers Needed]

Post by Jedi QuestMaster »

thefox wrote:Where are you running it?
On a PowerPak.
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Re: Russian Roulette [Testers Needed]

Post by thefox »

This diagnostic from NDX might be a clue:

Code: Select all

Warning: Writing to $2007 while PPU is rendering (PC = $EBFA)  (further messages suppressed)
(Appears when the DEMO mode starts.)

There was/is a glitch in most PowerPak mappers causing PPU writes during rendering (which signifies a bug in the program 99.9% of the time) to leak through to PowerPak's CHR-RAM chip. Details at viewtopic.php?f=9&t=11339.

I worked around the glitch in PowerMappers v23 (at https://kkfos.aspekt.fi/), but naturally this is something that's better fixed in the game itself.
Download STREEMERZ for NES from fauxgame.com! — Some other stuff I've done: fo.aspekt.fi
calima
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Re: Russian Roulette [Testers Needed]

Post by calima »

ebfa is inside the NMI routine, specifically _flush_vram_update in neslib. The first update which loads the gun writes about 55 bytes to the nametable, which should be well below the 160 bytes recommendation even with the general overhead.

The normal frame code likewise doesn't get even close to overdoing a frame, it stays below 1/5 with occasional spikes to 1/4.
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Jedi QuestMaster
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Re: Russian Roulette [Testers Needed]

Post by Jedi QuestMaster »

thefox wrote:I worked around the glitch in PowerMappers v23 (at https://kkfos.aspekt.fi/), but naturally this is something that's better fixed in the game itself.
I used to have those! :o Okay, thanks. I'll try it out when I have time.
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Jedi QuestMaster
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Re: Russian Roulette [Testers Needed]

Post by Jedi QuestMaster »

I tried out the ROM with PowerMappers v23 and don't see graphical glitches anymore.
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Re: Russian Roulette [Testers Needed]

Post by Jedi QuestMaster »

Is there anyone out there willing to help out solely with the Zapper functions? I'd need someone who knows how to program and has the hardware to test it.
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Re: Russian Roulette [Testers Needed]

Post by lidnariq »

Remind me what exactly it is you need done with the zapper? Just the bit where it's missing the trigger?
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