Moonwalker, Fast Lane, public cores...
🕑 Added 2024-07-12 16:29:23 +0000 UTCMoonwalker
The arcade game with arguably the most popular music ever visits us this week. JTS18 beta adds support for Michael Jackson's Moonwalker. This game has proven hard to support. First, there were problems to make it boot up because of some odd timing issue with MegaDrive's VDP chip. Then the music was severely broken, which is a show stopper for this title. And finally, the children you have to rescue were not visible.
The music bugs had been there in JTS18 all along. Some people had a feeling that there was something off with the music but we could not pin point it. For Moonwalker it was very clear though. So we could track down the bugs. You will notice that Alien Storm and Shadow Dancer sound different after today's update too.
The invisible children were a kind of bootleg protection set up by SEGA. Almost all the graphics are drawn using the arcade hardware, which is a newer version of the SEGA System 16B. But the children are drawn by the MegaDrive VDP chip. If a bootlegger wanted to copy the game, they would have a really hard time copying the VDP chip so the children wouldn't be visible and the game wouldn't really be playable.
For us the problem was about mixing the VDP graphics layer. The children must be drawn in the middle of the other layers according to some equations. We have the equations, but we did not have the meaning for most terms in the equations. We spent most of the week trying to make sense of the equations and finally got it in time for today!
Other Updates
JTFLANE core: new beta for Analogue Pocket, featuring support for Konami's Fast Lane
JTSHOUSE core goes public (Splatter House, PacMania, etc). The screen flip feature is missing, but we will add it in the public core directly
JTNGP goes public as the pending work on the NGPC core can be done independently
JTBIOCOM core goes public for the Analogue Pocket (already public in other platforms)
The bug in Boulder Dash that made the music stop is fixed
We have added volume balancing information to most games so you get a similar sound volume when changing cores and games. We will refine it in the following weeks but the important thing is that we now have a framework to support this feature in place
SEGA System 18 schematics have been revised again and some connections have been corrected
Konami's Sunset Riders schematics have been improved and renamed to ssriders.pdf
Greetings to Ricardo from UltimateMiSTer who visited our small offices today!
Comments
Solder Chicken
Works fine on my Analogue Pocket though.
Solder Chicken
Hi all. My Sony PVM goes out of sync when I load Moonwalker? Any ideas? Have updated as of today and have latest beta file in there too. Has always done it on this game...
rester159
Hey - any update for when systwm18 will work properly on mistercade?
Mostly Harmless
Was playing on my CRT today and loving the tunes! Thanks!
rester159
I play on Mistercade (Blast City cab) so I don't think this will work - but thanks for suggesting this!
Big Al.
jtfriday_240216 outrun download this version from the Jotegos github.
Big Al.
jtfriday_240216 outrun download this version from the Jotegos github.
Big Al.
jtfriday_240216 outrun download this version from the Jotegos github.
Dick Hardpill
[jts18] video_mode=640,16,64,80,240,1,3,14,12380 vga_scaler=1 vsync_adjust=0 and then OSD > Video > Scale: Wide HV-Integer This works on my Sony consumer Trinitron. I hope it helps someone else. Please LMK if you find a better modeline
Niko24!
hope this gets fixed because Outrun is such a good game
Niko24!
how do you go back to a old version? i just use the updaters to load install cores.
JOTEGO
Sí que funciona para muchos usuarios pero también falla para muchos otros. En agosto trabajaremos en una solución. https://github.com/jotego/jtcores/issues/729
JOTEGO
We will work on this in August. This is the issue for progress https://github.com/jotego/jtcores/issues/729
Armand Coloma
Que grande seria poder tener el Snow Bros :)
rester159
do you know when the CRT issue will be solved? I'd love to play S18 games!!
Brett
Amazing work and very grateful for all the updates. Cheers
Brett
HI guys. Yes I have the same issue on the AP. It has been like this since I think a version from about Feb or so. Every time I do an update I have to go back to that version for Out Run to work properly. Cheers
José Antonio Ruiz López
no funciona en CRT y PVM
Niko24!
i am having the same issue as well and i have an early version of the pocket.
SX
Same issue here as well on my arcade cabinet. The brightness is much much too high compared to all my other cores (Arcade and Consoles)
Dominic Robilliard
I have tried on a First batch Pocket and second batch pocket and Outrun behaves as described above for me too (no car etc) I also tried deleting the core/ re installing and just tried it on a different SD card too, just in case....same result. I'll see if I can try it on a new pocket in case it's a hardware revision issue (hopefully not!). Thanks for all the amazing work Jotego!
Icehawk
Yeah I'm using a black Analogue Pocket, both games worked prior to this update although I did notice a small bit of glitching previously. Hope it can be fixed.
Lloyd
Fixed, it had defaulted to Test Mode, when I switched to game mode it came back!
Lloyd
Bubble Bobble seems to be broken with the latest update on Pocket. It won’t load now
Lloyd
I have this issue too on a green pocket
ElloMrChris
I have this problem too. Am using a glow in the dark pocket, if that helps narrow it down?
Rafa Davila
I was waiting for S18 a long time, you deserve the best Jose!
JOTEGO
I suppose you are talking of the Analogue Pocket version. That port seems to be unstable for some users but we have not been able to reproduce the issue. I may have to have to call back the files until we understand what is happening and can provide a stable core.
Oisin McGovern
Thanks man! Great to see this noted. Similar to John above, I have a convergence issue with the system 18 cores across both my arcade machines. The games are playable, but the colour convergence is out and makes the whole image a bit blurry. (CRT chassis in both machines have had their caps replaced recently enough) - interesting to read that the original hardware does this too.
Icehawk
This update seems to have broken Outrun core. The games load but only the roadway is shown, the cars, trees, buildings are not shown and occasionally their are brief flicker blips of the car asset stretched across the screen. This issue is for both Outrun and Turbo outrun, tried deleting and reloading the core and roms through the updater but still same issue.
JOTEGO
It is implemented but there is a bug preventing games from booting up. We continue debugging it.
Chris
Just played though on the AP, what a game and the soundtrack! 👌🏻
Michael Johnson
Alien storm also now has missing chunks of sprites in the first person shooting sections
Tony Shong
Thank you soooooo much to give the FPGA rebirth of this classic masterpiece!!! This iconic arcade game, released in 1990 by SEGA, had Michael Jackson himself involved in the game concept and design. I still remember the summer holidays when a big group of us would go to a friend's house, connect the LaserDisc to a 29-inch Trinitron color TV, and watch MJ's namesake music video, experiencing the ultimate shock from start to finish!! And the game, which caused such a huge stir in the arcades, packed with people and surrounded by long lines of spectators!! It remains vivid in my memory!!
HanJeSu
I’m talking about on the Analogue Pocket, btw.
HanJeSu
Wait what? Sunset Riders?! Is this on one of your beta cores? If so I can’t find it on my core or games list. I checked the Konami cores I have so far (Aliens, TMNT, Simpsons and Ping Pong) but don’t see the game yet. Is it still work in progress?
Fernando Miranda
Thanks. I will try later today. Platform is Mister
Sean
Looks like your platform (MISTer?) is saying it can't find this file inside the mwalk.zip. "315-5437. i315-5437.ic4". I'd search engine for this and see if you can find a mwalk.rom with this file inside it, then plop that inside your mwalk.zip rom on your device. Hope this helps
Pete Walker
I've just joined (forgive me) I do know what I doing with the jtbeta.zip self explanitory but what do you do with the jtfriday_240712 zip do you need that too? in the mame folder?
Rick S.
Thank you, I can deal with the hdmi output, I just do love my crt ❤️ I am curious though, do the original system 18 boards exhibit the same behavior where they won't work on certain consumer CRTs with a super gun? Or is just the core?
JOTEGO
It actually works on many CRT screens including the one we have. But I know that it fails to many people. We are looking at the options to make it more compatible.
JOTEGO
The real one isn’t perfect either but we should be able to get it better than it is in the core now.
Fernando Miranda
I ran update all but when i try to run Moonwalker i received this message: games/mame/mwalk.zip/315-5437. i315-5437.ic4 not found. Anyone can help me?
John Perry
is the colour convergence thing on the S18 core present on real hardware or is it a bug?
John Perry
is the plan to make it more like a console core or will it remain in arcade?
Findamember
Thank you Jotego
JOTEGO
Please read through this: https://github.com/jotego/jtbin/wiki/Why-I-only-see-the-on-screen-credits%3F
JOTEGO
The platforms you mentioned do not feature an upscaler as flexible as MiSTer's HDMI scaler or the Analogue Pocket's one. Until such an upscaler is available, there are no plans to port the core.
Shannon Thomasson
Moonwalker is awesome! First time playing it.
Findamember
Thanks a lot for another amazing update. Question: will JTNGP core be available for other platforms (sidi128, mist/sidi)? Thanks!
Nik Gilbert
Fantasic update team. What exactly does ‘JTNGP goes public as the pending work on the NGPC core can be done independently’ mean? Have you got a roadmap when the NGPC will be implemented? Thanks
Jason Wixom
With these cores I always have a problem with the credits rolling on TOP of the game, which I can't play. I can see the game going in the background, but that's the beginning and end of it. Google is not helping me.
Timothy Watson
Moonwalker is such a fun game! The music, gameplay and graphics make the game very addictive! Good work to all involved here! Long may it continue!
Owlnonymous
Stoked that JTSHOUSE went public. Now everyone has to play more Splatter House.
Rick S.
Thank you! Do you foresee these ever working on consumer CRT's?
Mark Saunders
🏴 🇪🇸 ❤️
Matt
try now mine is downloading on pupdate
Rent Optional
Matt probably hasn't updated PuPdate with the moonwalker rom
Vik
Got it to work on mister will not let you assign start. I pushed everything on my keyboard and it worked. Lol
Geckofingers
Thanks team, I can remember playing Moonwalker back in the arcades.❤️ It looks like Outrun has regressed again. Tends to lose sprites after every jtfriday update though.
Matt
I just played it on Mister no issue ? And it downloaded via the update_all script
Vik
It says rom missing for pocket and on mister it will load but not start the game. Start button will not work even if assigned
Andrew Moore
I can't wait to test this out. It's a dream come true.
Bass Hunter
Thank you so much
Leigh
Yes, same no Moonwalker rom made it in the updater. Issue somewhere. I thought it was my mister playing silly buggers.
Leigh
Yes, same issue. I tested Splatterhouse and that is now off beta, so that part of the update worked.
Cody Hill
The Moonwalker roms aren't in the archive.org repository for the Pocket
Cody Hill
Multiple updaters say moonwalker is not in the archive or is not downloaded.
Dermot Dolan
same issue here, anyone else have this?
Jesus Rodriguez
Thanks to all involved!
Jesus Rodriguez
A dream game come true!
Nickxcom
Awesome update! I am getting a missing assets error for moonwalker when using Pupdate. Any ideas? Edited for clarity, also because I'm dumb. I could have sworn, and always thought, that pupdate and mister update all pulled arcade from the same source. I am absolutely wrong, I'll be patient and just play Moonwalker on mister for now LOL
Shane McCafferty
Thank you for the work.
bb bostrom
this is the one .., i'm waiting for..!
ronalvel .
Gracias !!!
David Moylan
You’ve been hit by a smooth Jotego! Excellent work here! I was really looking forward to moonwalker. Going to check it out in the morning. Super late now. Cheers!
UltimateMiSTer.com
Thank you José. Was a pleasure to meet you. Kind regards Ricardo /UltimateMiSTer.com
Commander Keen
Thank you and your team for all the hard work! Jotego Friday is like Christmas !
Mat Kraemer
Nice work! congrats and thank you :)
Kent Pendragon
🔥🔥🔥 thank you for all this wonderful progress. And especially for all the cores going public 👏👏👏JTHOUSE here i come! 😃
OldManBog
Played through the first level of Moonwalker, works great! Nice work JT team can't wait to have a full session tonight
Mike V.
Excellent work! Gracias.
Christopher Tuckwell
Thank you Jotego and your team!
Bedwablackburn
Great job as always. Thank you again
Roberto Lari
You are the best
Pixel Cherry Ninja
She's okay, I checked (honest)
Michael Deutsch
Can’t wait to play Moonwalker for the first time in ages. Thanks JT!
Big Al.
Another great JTFRIDAY, have a good weekend team..
R S
Hee-hee!
Mostly Harmless
Such amazing work!
Dwight Davis
Let's go, he-he, Annie are you okay? Are you okay Annie?
Pixel Cherry Ninja
Hehe, shamown!