Roms load to black

[joekwon]

Environment: openfpga-SNES 0.4.3 Analogue OS v1.1 b6

Problem: All roms fully load (white progress bar at bottom goes all the way across), hear a pop of sound, then remain black.

Attempted Troubleshooting: I've tried both headered and headerless roms and all have the same behavior. Also tried multiple SD cards, formatted both FAT32 and exFAT, both on Windows & Mac. All yield same results.

Happy to provide any additional information if needed.

[agg23]

That's really weird. Do you have any of the other cores working? To verify, your /Cores/agg23.SNES/ folder contains snes_main.rev and other rev files, correct?

Just to check for some regression that may be specific to something with your hardware, try some of the older core versions

[joekwon]

Appreciate the quick response!

I do see the following .rev files in /Cores/agg23.SNES/:

• snes_main.rev
• snes_pal.rev
• snes_spc.rev

I tried the following previous revs of agg23.SNES:

• 0.3.2
• 0.4.0
• 0.4.1
• 0.4.2

All yield same results. Here are the screenshots from Advanced SNES Rom Utility, not sure if it will be helpful:

Notes: The NES, GB, GBC cores work fine. Strangely the GBA core does not, it just loads the gameboy color animation, does not display the Nintendo logo underneath, and then just hangs.

I do think I got in the first or second round of initial Analogue Pocket deliveries. I fear it's either 1) my hardware rev is incompatible, or 2) I'm overlooking something obvious as to why this isn't working.

[agg23]

GBA sounds like you're missing the correct BIOS.

There shouldn't be anything with a given device's hardware that presents problems with cores, but we have noticed some strange behavior on certain builds of certain cores, which is why I had you try multiple versions.

Did you copy the files directly over to the SD card, rather than using the USB option? Can you post a picture of your file structure just so I can verify it? Have you tried using one of the updater tools described in the README or release notes?

It shouldn't really make a difference, but delete your /Saves/snes folder to make sure games aren't loading some weird corrupted save.

[joekwon]

Glad to hear it's probably not the hardware. That would be heartbreaking.

I've been copying files to the SD Card manually, I didn't even realize there was a USB option. I've used matt pannella's pocket-updater-utility, rivergillis' update-pocket, and have copied files over manually. All no dice.

Here's are screenshots of the file structure:

The GBA bios is the one that gets pulled in from matt pannella's utility, but I've also tried other ones and all have the same result. Really strange.

I tried deleting /Saves/snes and the result was the same.

Just in case it matters, I'm using a Samsung EVO Select 32GB microSD card. The White & Green one.

[agg23]

Everything looks fine. I'm not sure what else to suggest. If you haven't already, try setting up a new SD card with only the SNES core.

It's also worth checking that my NES, PCE, Arduboy, etc cores work properly.

[joekwon]

I'll give it a try to setup a new microSD with only your SNES core. Really appreciate you looking into this. I'll update if I see any different behavior, otherwise I'll close out this issue.

On Sat, Jan 7, 2023 at 2:14 PM Adam Gastineau @.***> wrote:

Everything looks fine. I'm not sure what else to suggest. If you haven't already, try setting up a new SD card with only the SNES core.

It's also worth checking that my NES, PCE, Arduboy, etc cores work properly.

— Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/agg23/openfpga-SNES/issues/66#issuecomment-1374632137, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAFKSZTPGRJ26PXQMH6LE6DWRHTEFANCNFSM6AAAAAATTYUXEY . You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: @.***>

[joekwon]

Well, unfortunately no luck. I've started over only using your SNES core (manual copy to SD card), and same behavior. I did try your PCE and NES cores and those seem to be working fine. I even downgraded to Analogue OS 1.1b5 but the behavior is the same.

Appreciate all the assistance here, hopefully in the future I'll give it another try. Thank you.

[joekwon]

One last note. I tried restarting again, wiping SD card, getting prepped by pocket, only loading your SNES core.

When only the SNES core is on the SD card, the openFPGA option shows the openFPGA Guide QR Code, as if the core is not loaded. However if I load another core onto the SD card, then that core plus the SNES core will show up. For some reason it's not being recognized when it is by itself.

Could this be a clue?

[agg23]

When only the SNES core is on the SD card, the openFPGA option shows the openFPGA Guide QR Code, as if the core is not loaded. However if I load another core onto the SD card, then that core plus the SNES core will show up. For some reason it's not being recognized when it is by itself.

That suggests something is indeed wrong in either the Pocket's OS, or the SNES files. The files of interest for showing in the UI are /Cores/core.json and /Platforms/snes.json. If either of those files are messed up, the Pocket may do strange things.

[joekwon]

I don't see a /Cores/core.json on any of the microSD cards I've created. I do see /Cores/agg23.SNES/core.json . Should there be on directly in the /Cores/ folder?

[agg23]

I'm sorry, yes it's /Cores/agg23.SNES/core.json

[joekwon]

I dropped the microSD card into a different Analogue Pocket and everything works perfectly. Apparently it's my device. I've reached out to Analogue customer support, hopefully they can help me out here. Appreciate all the help!

[ricjd]

@joekwon did you hear back from pocket, I'm getting the exact same issue, i.e. only SNES roms won't work and just load to black. I don't have another Pocket to confirm sd card though

[joekwon]

Analogue told me my pocket was out of warranty and I’d have to pay around $100 for it to be repaired. Sorry. I wish I had better news. Do gba games work for you?// Sent from my mobileOn Mar 5, 2023, at 1:27 PM, Rick Knowler @.***> wrote: @joekwon did you hear back from pocket, I'm getting the exact same issue, i.e. only SNES roms won't work and just load to black. I don't have another Pocket to confirm sd card though

—Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe.You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: @.***>

[ricjd]

Yeah GBA games work. Just sees games. Been trying everything, like other SD cards etc but no luck.

[agg23]

I would really like to know what causes these failures on the occasional device. There should not be differences in how a particular FPGA chip handles these cores, but many reports I've seen suggest that may be the case. The other common problem, is the SD card, which has already been mentioned.

@joekwon if you're willing, can you share more information about what support said and what they determined needed to be repaired? You can privately email me if you prefer. I'm wondering if they actually identified a problem, or if they were unable/unwilling to view an openFPGA issue as an actual support issue, and therefore wanted to charge you some fee to discourage it.

[ricjd]

@agg23 I've ordered another sd card, just to try as wondering if that's the issue here. If you need anything from me, more than happy to help debug. I tried turning on logging to see if I could see anything, but nothing jumped out