Robotron-VIS v0.3 — live OSD CRT controls + vignette

Robotron-VIS v0.3 — live OSD CRT controls + vignette

Tune the CRT glass live on the cab — no firmware, no per-build variants.

New since v0.2

• Live OSD sliders — CRT Vert Bow, Horz Bow, Curve Depth, Vignette, adjustable in real time from the MiSTer OSD.
• Vignette — post-warp radial edge darkening.
• Spherical hi-res 2× engine — the 1-pixel line-doubling is fixed; bows stay crisp.
• Twin-stick right-analog fire — the right analog stick drives the four fire directions.

Install (no Quartus needed)

1. Copy RobotronVIS_20260531.rbf → /media/fat/_Arcade/cores/
2. Copy the *(vis_warp).mra files → /media/fat/_Arcade/
3. Bring your own MAME ROM zips (not distributed here).

One core, 6 landscape Williams games — but only Robotron is hardware-tested. Joust, Stargate, Bubbles, Splat and Alien Arena ride the same landscape core (should warp, but untested).

Built on the vis_warp framework → https://github.com/derpyder/misterfpga_vis_warp

Robotron-VIS v0.2 — sharp-bilinear (K=4)

v0.2 adds sharp-bilinear sharpness (default K=4) — the fix for "fuzzy pixels."

A screen-curvature warp resamples the image, so plain bilinear softens it. v0.2 snaps sampling toward nearest-neighbor inside a thin transition band: crisp pixels, smooth curve. Curvature is unchanged (k=2, tasteful). Sharpness and curvature are runtime registers in the RTL — exposing them as OSD sliders is the v4 goal; for now they are build-time defaults (see the framework's ADOPTING-A-CORE Step 5 to retune and rebuild).

Six landscape Williams games, one core: Robotron 2084, Joust, Stargate, Bubbles, Splat!, Alien Arena.

Install — pre-named, nothing to rename:

• RobotronVIS_20260529.rbf -> /media/fat/_Arcade/cores/
• the ... (vis_warp).mra files -> /media/fat/_Arcade/
• ROMs: your own MAME zips -> /media/fat/games/mame/ (NOT distributed here)

Pick the (vis_warp) title in the Arcade menu; the plain title stays flat. Full guide: README-VIS.md.

HDMI: leave the front-end scandoubler OFF — ascal scales the warped native frame.

Sinistar and Playball are vertical/rotated and bypass the warp path, so they are intentionally not in the vis_warp set.

Robotron-VIS v0.1 — vis_warp on Williams (6 games)

First pre-built release of vis_warp barrel-distortion on the Williams arcade core. No Quartus needed — drop-in, pre-named to just work.

What's here

• RobotronVIS_20260528.rbf — the vis_warp core
• Six (vis_warp) MRAs: Robotron 2084, Joust, Stargate, Bubbles, Splat!, Alien Arena (all run on the one rbf)

Install (no renaming)

1. RobotronVIS_20260528.rbf → /media/fat/_Arcade/cores/
2. the (vis_warp).mra files → /media/fat/_Arcade/
3. your own MAME ROM zips (robotron.zip, joust.zip, …) → /media/fat/games/mame/
4. MiSTer menu → Arcade → "Robotron 2084 (vis_warp)"

The MRA's <rbf>RobotronVIS</rbf> auto-matches the rbf — nothing to rename, no collision with vanilla. HDMI tip: leave the scandoubler OFF; add Sharp Bilinear + scanlines + shadowmask in the OSD for the full CRT look.

ROMs are NOT included (copyright) — use your own MAME set. Sinistar/Playball are excluded (vertical/rotated → vis_warp bypassed; use the stock core).

Full guide: see the repo README.