Strange studdering when loading and saving

[KTC]

First my specs:

Amiga 1200 Rev 2B
Blizzard 1230-IV + 16MB EDO RAM
HDD 10GB 3.5" (with IDEfix and SFS)
ClassicWB Full 22F
Newest WHDLoad with valid regkey.
Killergorilla WHDLoad packs installed


Now my problem:

In some games, the Amiga acts strange while loading or saving data from harddrive. The display is switching between black screen and the game screen and the power led is changing brightness similar to when the Amiga is crashing. This repeats itself several times and then the game returns to normal. I have experienced this on several games, but to name a few, Soccer Kid does it while loading levels, Champions of Krynn does it when saving a game, and Biing does goes crazy at random times on the screen just after you click on the doctor.


Also, many games seem to get unstable and crash when I enable MMU. When I disable it, they work just fine. Is this normal, or can I do anything to prevent it?

[dlfrsilver]

This is some OS swap.....

[Graham Humphrey]

Do you have Preload set for all games?

[haynor]

PRELOAD won't help for saving data to disk I'm affraid, only increased I/O buffer can help to minimalize OS swaps.

As for loading, maybe you don't have enough ram for full preload. Also check in PRELOAD option is set in icon tooltype.

Some games are not prepared for MMU. Don't use it when you don't need to.

[KTC]

I think I've tried with preload on/off and mmu on/off, but I will try again. I have also tried connecting my harddrive to another Amiga 1200 (same rev, though), and here it does the same thing. I am wondering if the hdd hardware itself is causing this.
This will be revealed soon though, as I am switching to a 2.5" drive, where I will copy everything to.

[haynor]

Basically should look like this

SLAVE=Agony.slave
PRELOAD

And that's it. For most of games this form is enough. You may also try to restore original whdload.prefs in S directory.

[DDNI]

I get something like this on my A1200 when saving in WHDLoad games.
Deuteros is the worst so far. When creating a NEW save it flickers to black for a good 20 seconds. Subsequent saving to the save is immediate.

[haynor]

That's beacause if file exits already save is to memory and ofter quit buffer is written finally on disk. But if file is not created yet WHDLoad will start saving immediately.

Of course this behaviour depends also on specific slave.

[DDNI]

@Haynor yes thats pretty much what I thought was happening.
Is the length of time taken to create a save file, expected to be as slow as it is?

[haynor]

Some files are created in one hit (one os swap) but some (like for Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis) takes ages to create. That's why installer for this game creates dummy files - to avoid creating new ones in very long time.

It's slow because WHDLoad is I think simulating writing to disk so each sector/block (or maybe even a byte) is written in one os swap.

[KTC]

So you're telling me this behavior is normal?
Can anybody confirm that either Soccer Kid, Champions of Krynn or Biing OS swaps like crazy on their systems?

[Graham Humphrey]

It's surely not normal if it's happening when the game's just loading data. Certainly I can't remember having any such problems with Soccer Kid.

[StingRay]

It's surely not normal if it's happening when the game's just loading data.

Without 'PRELOAD' it is as then OS swaps are necessary.

[Graham Humphrey]

Yes I know but I thought he said he tried Preload, but maybe I'm just assuming it.

[StingRay]

Yes I know but I thought he said he tried Preload, but maybe I'm just assuming it.

Even with PRELOAD it can happen if there's not enough memory to cache all data in memory.

[haynor]

18 Mb of RAM - should be enough for preload soccer kid.:shocked

Of course Biing has more data than 18 mb so i'm sure preload option won't help, some data must loaded in the game.
Saving in Champions of Krynn is normal behaviour here.

[killergorilla]

How much other mem does workbench display in the menu bar? Maybe the full 16mb isn't being recognised?

[KTC]

The RAM block is actually 32MB, but the Blizzard only recognizes it as 16MB, which is also what it says in the Workbench.

[haynor]

030 processor can adress only 16 Mb of Fast Memory.

[Toni Wilen]

030 processor can adress only 16 Mb of Fast Memory.

All 68030+ (and 68020's) have full 32-bit address bus. Only 68EC020 has 24-bit address bus (68EC030 = 32-bit address bus without MMU)

[killergorilla]

The RAM block is actually 32MB, but the Blizzard only recognizes it as 16MB, which is also what it says in the Workbench.

Ah ok, well it's not that one!

[haynor]

My mistake, so it's blizzard fault ?

[TheCorfiot]

with 030 & Preload option on, 16MB should be fine for most games 32MB is ideal though, The Blizzard should recognise a 32MB Simm if indeed it is 32MB & not faulty, try a different simm.

The screen blanking is normal when loading data from the HD if you have preload on but not enough RAM.

TC :)

[haynor]

Heh, I still have only 16Mb, maybe it's time for upgrade.:)

[Galahad/FLT]

Wepl changed how WHDLoad saves to hard drive a long time ago. Originally it would do it within the game, but as far as a I recall it changed it that all saves were performed once you exited WHDLoad with a quit key so long as there is enough memory for any saves.

[haynor]

Well, still in Indiana Jones FOA and many other games saves are in game not after quit :blased. Mostly if file already exits it woudl save after quit but if not it will save in game using many os swaps. But I think that depends also on slaves.

[Galahad/FLT]

Well, still in Indiana Jones FOA and many other games saves are in game not after quit :blased. Mostly if file already exits it woudl save after quit but if not it will save in game using many os swaps. But I think that depends also on slaves.

Thats a very large game though.

[haynor]

But still it can preloaded fully on 16 Mb Fast. On my amiga only first saving is using many os swaps (hopefully recent installer created dummy files to avoid this).