Emulated Amiga 500 too slow
 

When using either the "Approximate A500 or A500/A1200 cycle-exact" option or proper cycle exact, the emulated A500 is WAY too slow. At first i thought the cycle exact mode was too CPU intensive for my computer, but task manager is only showing about 17 % load, and the emulated A500 is just as slow with approximate A500 speed instead of cycle exact.

The slowness is a bit weird, because it's not affecting the entire emulated A500. For example, when booting Kickstart 1.3, the sequence of dark gray, light gray, white runs at the right speed, but then it takes far too long for the floppy image to show (no floppy in the drive of course). Also, music in games play back at normal speed, but loading takes a lot longer than it used to on a real A500, and the graphics don't run smooth. If I set the CPU speed to "Fastest possible, but maintain chipset timing", some games run a lot closer to what they should, but many that need compatability don't run at all of course.

Am I missing some obvious option to get normal A500 speed? (WinUAE 2.1.0 on Windows 7 64-bit, quickstart mode with A500, 1.3, OCS, 512k chip, 512k fast, and best compatability)

No program names and checksums mentioned = can't help.

Is this really confirmed using EXACT same disk? (for example remembering some things 20 years ago isn't very reliable method..)

Wow, this is weird. I've been struggling with this problem for days, and now I started WinUAE again to make sure before posting a reply, loaded the same config I've used all along, and ... everythiing suddenly works as it should. :confused

I agree that remembering things 20 years ago isn't always reliable, but a real A500 does not wait 10-15 seconds after the dark gray, light gray, white screens of Kickstart 1.3 before displaying the floppy disk image. Yesterday and the days before, WinUAE did just that (even though the "timing" of the gray screens were correct). Today it doesn't, and I have no idea why, because I didn't save any of the configurations I experimented with yesterday. I'll let you know if the issue returns.

HD drive enabled? No drive enabled? :)

I remember that I was surprised how slow is Workbench 1.3 under WinUAE but it's same speed as with real Amiga. It was because I had not other OS to compare in Amiga times.

No, just a plain old DD DF0: that was enabled. I inserted various floppy images and noticed that e.g. Lotus 2 and 3 had lower frame rate and loaded slower (easily noticable by hearing when the loading music stops) than it has and does today, even though the music was the right speed.

Come to think of it, I also had trouble getting past the "insert disk 2" screen in Lotus 3. The joystick button would only work if the floppy was ejected, so I had to eject, press the button, and THEN insert disk 2. No idea if it's related, but today pressing the button with an image in the drive works.

How much FPS do you have and how much CPU load does WinUAE show?

It showed 50 FPS and less than 20 % CPU.

Hmm, sure that Lotus 2 & 3 are too slow then? If there's no drop from the 50 FPS it should run at the correct speed. Have you compared it with another version yet?

Yes I'm sure, because it's not slow anymore today, but it was slow yesterday and a few days before. That's why I reported the issue to begin with. If it was simply a maxed out CPU I would have noticed. :)

Since I can't reproduce the slowness today, there's no point in comparing with a different version yet. I'll see about it if the issue returns.

Okay, just keep an eye on the FPS counter. Would be really odd if you encounter a slowdown with a stable 50 FPS.