MiSTer Frontier

MiSTer Frontier is a project that brings software-based gaming platforms — fantasy consoles, game engines, and retro graphics systems — to MiSTer FPGA as hybrid FPGA+ARM cores with native video and audio output.

These are platforms that never existed as dedicated hardware. They live as software — emulators, virtual machines, and engines that run thousands of games created by passionate communities. MiSTer Frontier gives them a home on real FPGA hardware with the same native output quality that MiSTer is known for.

Every core uses a hybrid architecture: the ARM CPU runs the emulator or engine while the FPGA handles video and audio output directly — no Linux framebuffer, no ALSA, no software scaler. The FPGA drives video and audio straight to hardware, just like a real chip would. Full CRT support with analog output, zero-lag, and the crisp retro experience MiSTer users expect. Frontier cores run alongside every other MiSTer core — installing this database doesn't change anything about your existing setup.

Installing on your MiSTer

1. Add this entry to downloader.ini on your MiSTer's SD card:

   [MiSTerOrganize/MiSTer_Frontier]
   db_url = https://raw.githubusercontent.com/MiSTerOrganize/MiSTer_Frontier/db/db.json.zip

2. Run update_all from MiSTer's Scripts menu. All Frontier files appear automatically — the FPGA cores under _Other/, the emulator programs under games/, and per-core guides under docs/.

3. Run Scripts/Install_MiSTer_Frontier.sh once from MiSTer's Scripts menu. This sets up the background helper that auto-launches each core's emulator when you load it. You only need to run this once. Running it a second time is harmless.

4. Load any Frontier core from MiSTer's main menu. The matching emulator starts automatically — nothing else to do.

When new Frontier cores are released, just run update_all again. New cores show up and work the same way, no reinstall needed.

How it works

When you load a Frontier core from MiSTer's menu, the FPGA loads the core file — same as any other MiSTer core. At the same time, a small background helper notices which core just loaded and starts the matching emulator program on the ARM CPU. The emulator sends video and audio directly to the FPGA, which outputs them to your TV or monitor just like a real chip would.

You don't see any of this — from your side, you just load a core and it runs.

Choosing what to install (filters)

You don't have to install everything. Add a filter = ... line to the [MiSTerOrganize/MiSTer_Frontier] section of your downloader.ini to choose specific cores. Three tags are available:

Tag	What it includes
pico-8	PICO-8 fantasy console (RBF + emulator + BIOS + handler + docs)
openbor-4086	OpenBOR engine Build 4086 (legacy PAK collections)
openbor-7533	OpenBOR engine 4.0 Build 7533 (modern PAK collections)

Examples:

[MiSTerOrganize/MiSTer_Frontier]
db_url = https://raw.githubusercontent.com/MiSTerOrganize/MiSTer_Frontier/db/db.json.zip
filter = pico-8                            # PICO-8 only
# filter = openbor-4086                    # OpenBOR 4086 only
# filter = openbor-7533                    # OpenBOR 7533 only
# filter = openbor-4086 openbor-7533       # both OpenBOR engines, no PICO-8
# filter = pico-8 openbor-7533             # PICO-8 + 7533, skip the legacy 4086
# (omit the filter line)                   # everything (default)

Negative tags (prefix with !) exclude content. They're useful when you want most things but not one specific core:

filter = !openbor-4086                     # everything except the 4086 build

Note that negative filters work by exclusion, so they remove any file tagged with the negated tag — including shared OpenBOR infrastructure (handler + README) that's tagged with both openbor-4086 and openbor-7533. If you want a working partial install (e.g., 7533 only, no 4086), prefer a positive filter (filter = openbor-7533) over a negative one. Use negative filters only for clean exclusions where you don't need the rest of that core family.

The bootstrap files (Master_Daemon, Install script) install with every filter selection automatically — you can't accidentally exclude them.

Inspecting the database: the live manifest (every file, hash, size, tags) is browsable via theypsilon's DB Inspector tool: DB Inspector for MiSTer_Frontier. Useful for verifying what a given filter would actually install.

Per-core documentation

Each core has its own guide with controls, supported games, and credits. After running update_all, browse /media/fat/docs/ on your MiSTer. The guides live in their respective per-core repos (see "Source code" below) and are mirrored to your MiSTer by update_all.

Source code

MiSTer Frontier is structured as a combiner repo that pulls files from per-core repositories:

Repo	Contents
MiSTer_PICO-8	PICO-8 source, FPGA, ARM emulator, RBF, BIOS, docs
MiSTer_OpenBOR_4086	OpenBOR Build 4086 source, FPGA, ARM build, RBF, docs
MiSTer_OpenBOR_7533	OpenBOR Build 7533 source, FPGA, ARM build, RBF, docs
MiSTer_Frontier (this repo)	Combiner — external_files.csv, Master_Daemon, Install script, DB build workflow

Source isn't downloaded to your MiSTer; it's on GitHub for reading, auditing, and contribution. Open issues / PRs against the relevant per-core repo. Each per-core repo is self-contained — you can clone any one of them and build the core independently.

License

GPL-3.0 — see LICENSE.

Support