program your FPGA
the software
Intel has discontinued support for Cyclone II by end of 2021 and will eventually remove version 13.0sp1 from the download section ( the used FPGA for BallyFA is quite old ,and therefor cheap. ) I have tested latest version ( v21.4 ) which worked also, but I recommend to use 13.0sp1 if available.
install the driver for your USB Blaster
After installing the programmer software when connecting your USB Blaster the first time it may not recognized correctly by Windows.
You also need to install the driver for your USB Blaster. The driver comes together with the installation of the programmer and is located in the ‘driver’ subdirectory.
- Right click on the entry in the device manager and choose ‘update driver’ (Treiber aktualisieren)
- Choose ‘search for driver on this PC’ (auf dem Computer nach Treibersoftware suchen)
- For a default installation select ‘C:\altera\13.0sp1\qprogrammer\drivers
- Confirm installation
- Now the Altera USB Blaster should be visible under ‘USB-Controller’
program your FPGA
Connect the USB Blaster to the PC and start the programmer.
Make sure in the Hardware setup ‚USB-Blaster‘ is visible
For CycloneII boards ( .pof file) set the mode to ‚Activeserial Programming', for Cyclone IV boards ( .jic file) set the mode to 'JTAG'
Select ‚Add File‘ and choose the right ‚pof‘ or '.jic' file for your game
Power the FPGA or the 'FA' board with 5 Volt and connect the USB Blaster to the 'programming‘ connector' on the PCB
Select the options ‚Program/Configure‘ and ‚ Verify‘ and push 'Start'
wait for progress 100%