Broke Studio | 37 Posted March 18, 2020 Share Posted March 18, 2020 Hey there ! This is my very first post here since NintendoAge closed, and I have some pretty cool and exciting news. But first, let me explain what it's all about... (you can skip directly after the pictures to get to the exciting part). For 2 years now I've been working on a WiFi project for the NES, to offer the possibility to make online games (and/or download new content, fix bugs, and so on...) ! First prototype was a module that plugs in the second controller port. You can check it in action in this video (English subtitles available): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tK1qEAI-mGE But there were too many limitations, so I decided to move on something more powerful, but also more complex. An NES cartridge, with a WiFi chip on it! That's when the Rainbow project really started. https://twitter.com/Broke_Studio/status/1081955456409657345https://twitter.com/Broke_Studio/status/1084557110413877248https://twitter.com/Broke_Studio/status/1088896001874817024 For many months I kept on working on this project with @RogerBidon, me on the hardware/firmware side, and him on the emulator side. We made a lot of progress, and I'm really proud to share with you the first example project which can be seen as a kind of tutorial for those who may want to take a shot at making an online game for the NES or if you're just curious to see the thing in action. This is a simple chat project using a NodeJS server which also provides a chat webpage to communicate with the NES, and of course a ROM (compiled with cc65 suite) to use in a custom FCEUX build that allows to connect to the server and... chat! The project can be downloaded here: http://brokestudio.fr/rainbow/rainbow-chat.zip There's a README.md file included with all the details on how to install/use it. For windows users, you can download the custom FCEUX build here: http://brokestudio.fr/rainbow/fceux_wifi.zip Or you can clone this repository and build it yourself: https://github.com/sgadrat/fceux (branch rainbow, not master) Of course this is emulation, but the project works perfectly fine with my WiFi prototype board ! Let me know what you think about it, and feel free to ask if you have any question. 4 2 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dale_coop | 162 Posted March 18, 2020 Share Posted March 18, 2020 Wow, awesome work! Is there any public server already? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broke Studio | 37 Posted March 18, 2020 Author Share Posted March 18, 2020 (edited) Not yet, but there's one you can use in the zip file. Edited March 18, 2020 by Broke Studio Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TylerBarnes | 184 Posted March 18, 2020 Share Posted March 18, 2020 This is incredibly cool. I would love to see a Super Tilt Bros mod to use online matches. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RogerBidon | 138 Posted March 19, 2020 Share Posted March 19, 2020 Of course I am working on it. It would be madness not to try to do something so cool! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neodolphino | 267 Homebrew Team · Posted March 19, 2020 Share Posted March 19, 2020 Very excited to see new progress on this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMR | 519 Posted March 21, 2020 Share Posted March 21, 2020 This is really cool. I wonder if the famicom microphone could be used for voice chat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broke Studio | 37 Posted March 21, 2020 Author Share Posted March 21, 2020 Ahah, love the idea! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OptOut | 8,883 Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 Don't have much to add, other than to say this whole thing amazes me! Keep up the good work! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broke Studio | 37 Posted July 15, 2020 Author Share Posted July 15, 2020 2020-07 update Time to update this topic since a lot of stuff happened since last time. Prototype I'm now using a new prototype with a bigger CPLD and have created a brand new mapper (named Rainbow mapper) to be used with it. Here's a pic of the board: Mapper Here's an overview on what the mapper has to offer: WiFi capabilities to allow online gaming, cartridge update, downloadable content... (optional) 2 PRG ROM banking modes 4 CHR ROM banking modes Up to 32KB of WRAM, mappable at $6000-$7FFF but also within $8000-$DFFF Scanline IRQ (identical to the one used in the MMC3 mapper) Three extra sound channels (2 pulse channels and 1 sawtooth channel, identical to those in the VRC6 mapper) Self-flashable PRG-ROM / CHR-ROM Possibility to use CHR-ROM for pattern tables and CHR-RAM for name/attribute tables 4 mirroring modes: vertical, horizontal, 1-screen, 4-screen Up to 4 independent nametables when using 1-screen mirroring (CHR-RAM only) Up to 4 sets of 4 nametables when using 4-screen mirroring (CHR-RAM only) For more information on the mapper, the WiFi protocol etc, please check this github page: https://github.com/BrokeStudio/rainbow-lib. Wanna try? For those of you who are interested in playing with it, you can use this custom version of FCEUX with Rainbow mapper support: https://github.com/BrokeStudio/fceux. If you don't want to compile it yourself, you can download the latest build for Windows here: http://brokestudio.fr/rainbow/fceux/. Also you can find chat example project here: https://github.com/BrokeStudio/rainbow-chat. It provides a NodeJS server/webapp and a NES source code. Real world, real time project I work a lot with RogerBidon, Super Tilt Bro. developer. He has adapted his versus game to use Rainbow capabilities, and it is now playable online! You can even try it online on its itch.io page directly from your browser. I sent him a proto board, and we even played it between two NES! Video here: https://twitter.com/Broke_Studio/status/1283057673412501517?s=20 What's next? The project is starting to get more and more stable, that's why I feel comfortable sharing the FCEUX custom build and demo project now. RogerBidon's Super Tilt Bro. game is also a great way to showcase how far we can push the limits of online gaming on the NES, and it's pretty awesome! We'll continue to add features and test everything as much as we can, and int the meantime, feel free to let me know if you have any questions, if you have trouble setting everything up to try it by yourself, or if you have any suggestions, I'd be happy to help :) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deadeye | 1,596 Homebrew Team · Posted July 15, 2020 Share Posted July 15, 2020 Wow. Thanks for releasing a way to test it out and for the explanation of the hardware. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erac | 78 Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 Possibility to use CHR-ROM for pattern tables and CHR-RAM for name/attribute tables Is that backwards? By default, NT/attr is in VRAM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broke Studio | 37 Posted July 16, 2020 Author Share Posted July 16, 2020 You can use either CHR-ROM and/or CHR-RAM for pattern tables (depending on what's installed on board of course). But if CHR-RAM is present, you can also use it for more name/attribute tables. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrobins | 1,725 Moderator · Posted August 16, 2022 Share Posted August 16, 2022 The latest episode of my blog A Homebrew Draws Near covers Super Tilt Bro., with a special interview with Broke Studios talking about the incredible Rainbow Wi-Fi chipset! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broke Studio | 37 Posted April 6, 2023 Author Share Posted April 6, 2023 (edited) It's been a long time since my last update here and I'm sorry for that. However, I have great news since we're launching the Kickstarter campaign for Super Tilt Bro., the first online platform-fighting game for the NES using my WiFi board! If you're interesting in supporting the project, we set up a pre-launch page where you can register so you'll be notified when the campaign is live. It's here : https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/brokestudio/super-tilt-bro-new-online-nes-game Regarding the mapper project itself, the online doc on github are now outdated but it will be updated in the next days. I'll make sure to let you know once it's done. Also, I think I'll open pre-orders for people who wants a board to play with it instead of just trying it out with an emulator. We're very excited about this project, we worked for so long on it and we hope that people will feel all the love we put in it! Edited April 6, 2023 by Broke Studio typo 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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