WinUAE 2.4.0 beta series

[Toni Wilen]

2.4.0 beta series.

Display handling rewrite, Fastest possible CPU/JIT low latency vsync support, A2024 and Graffiti emulation. And bug fixes.

Quick rules:

Allowed posts in this thread:

- bug reports but make sure bug is NOT in previous offical version. (Old bug -> separate thread)
- comments and suggestion about new features in betas or changed feature in beta. (missing feature or old feature which has not been changed in latest beta series -> separate thread)

Everything else will be deleted, no questions asked. (includes offtopic posts, discussion about pros and cons of public beta testing etc..)

Misc notes:

- "not working" is not a bug report -> instadelete
- always include name of the program. "Everything" or "most games" fail is not a bug report!
- always use quickstart settings. Non-QS setting reports will be ignored unless there is reason why quickstart isn't good idea but still test using quickstart just to confirm! (unless it needs some HD highend config)
- always check logs (both winuaebootlog.txt and winuaelog.txt, don't forget to enable logging in misc-panel) for possible error or warning messages.
- remember to include PC specs + Windows version (if asked)
- graphics error -> include screenshot.
- disk based program -> include CRC32 (mouse over disk history arrow down button will show CRC32) of the image(s) (or SPS ID or full tosec name if from latest set). Plain name of the game is NOT generally enough! (usually there are different cracks, trainers etc..)

As usual, betas may destroy your PC and your sanity

This thread is for general discussion (bad/good/stupid idea/whatever, no trolling or flaming) about public beta testing.

Beta test related PMs or emails will be generally ignored.

[Toni Wilen]

Finally..

http://www.winuae.net/files/b/winuae_2400b1.zip

Beta 1:

- Number of supported serial ports, MIDI ports and sound devices increased, allocated dynamically.
- Fixed crash if more than max supported serial ports or MIDI ports found.
- Sort MIDI and serial ports alphabetically.
- Hardfile write protection has never worked, only worked when using real harddrives.
- Very old keyboard handshake emulation hack removed, now following key code won't arrive until current key code has been handshaked properly. I guess this hack was needed when CIA emulation was not good enough.
- Parallel joystick adapter unused pin added to Input panel (spare/2nd button) World Cup 1990 parallel port joystick adapter uses this pin.
- Gayle IDE emulation IDE doubler mode improved, both buses are now separate, supports drivers that send command to drive on another bus when drive on other bus is still processing previous command (Linux/NetBSD/AROS)
- Emulate disk write with enabled wordsync. Write does not start until wordsync marker has been found on disk. Some games accidentally enable wordsync bit when writing. Previously write never started.
- Saving configuration crashed if scale mode was set to integer.
- -portable disables winuaebootlog.txt, also added -bootlog and -nobootlog parameters.
- Switching from physical CD to image or vice versa didn't send uaescsi.device change notifications
- Support added for special screen modes that can have different "input" and "output" resolutions or positioning. On the fly switching also supported.
- A2024 and Graffiti emulation implemented, uses above system. Configuration in chipset panel, autodetect = attempts to detect if mode is normal, A2024 or Graffiti.
- All programmed display modes (DBLPAL/NTSC, MULTISCAN etc..) should be always centered, exact display positioning configuration is now taken from sync position custom registers.
- Normal modes may also have better centering without extra configuration.
- Mode switching can leave old graphics garbage, this will be fixed later.

A2024 and Graffiti emulation notes:
- 32-bit display mode required.
- Direct3D or DirectDraw + null filter mode required. (=Does not work if DirectDraw + no filter)
- Make sure display resolution (lores/hires/shres) is equal or higher than required resolution:
* A2024 10Hz: lores
* A2024 15Hz: hires (loss of every other pixel if lores)
* A2024 only tested using WB drivers (which don't use all A2024 special features)
* Graffiti lores: hires (does not work at all if lores)
* Graffiti hires (AGA required): shres (does not work at all if hires or lores)
- A2024 output resolutions: 1024x1024 (PAL), 1024x800 (NTSC), OCS chipset: 1008x1024 or 1008x800.
- Yes, weird A2024 refresh behavior is normal, single display is built from multiple frames!
- A2024 enabled but special mode line not detected: fall back to normal native display. Real A2024 would show 8 grayscale screen. This is not (yet? Pointless feature?) emulated.

NOTE.NOTE.NOTE.NOTE: Because display positioning has been changed:
- Remove all custom filter positioning settings first!
- Also test without enabled horizontal or vertical centering.

NOTE2:NOTE2:NOTE2: This can also change again during beta period. It won't be compatible with old versions.

[Steve]

I only tested it for a short time on my machine but initial findings were that cycle-exact mode has slowed to a crawl on my machine. I am using a basic A1200 setting which works fine with the current release. The game I tested using 50Hz/No buffering was Banshee. A500/A1200 cycle exact setting makes the game run too fast and adding cycle-exact option slows the emulation to a pitiful 33 fps. The same setup gives smooth 50 fps with the current release.

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by Steve

I only tested it for a short time on my machine but initial findings were that cycle-exact mode has slowed to a crawl on my machine. I am using a basic A1200 setting which works fine with the current release. The game I tested using 50Hz/No buffering was Banshee. A500/A1200 cycle exact setting makes the game run too fast and adding cycle-exact option slows the emulation to a pitiful 33 fps. The same setup gives smooth 50 fps with the current release.

Logs missing.

[Ian]

Scaling/centring now works in all screen modes (eg dblpal).

[Toni Wilen]

http://www.winuae.net/files/b/winuae_2400b2.zip

Beta 2:

- Adjusted horizontal positioning, full overscan was not visible.
- Clear display buffers when monitor type or refresh rate changes.
- A2024 1-plane mode brightness level fixed (DPL bits implemented)
- Fix A2024 10Hz flickering near panel borders.
- 16-bit color supported in A2024/Graffiti emulation.
- Disable audio emulation hacks if 68020 CE (previously only if 68000 CE)
- Switching from CE to non-CE on the fly froze the emulated machine in some situations until mode was switched back to CE.
- PCMCIA CF IDE emulation added ("SC IDE" controller type), originally developed for AROS m68k PCMCIA CF IDE support testing.
- Fastest possible without JIT + low latency vsync should work much better now (but probably still not good enough)

[Retroplay]

2.4.0 beta 1 and 2 crashes every time I try to boot my ClassicWB setup.
It's working 100% with 2.3.3.

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by Retroplay

2.4.0 beta 1 and 2 crashes every time I try to boot my ClassicWB setup.
It's working 100% with 2.3.3.

As a workaround enable at least null filter or use D3D mode. Will be fixed later..

[Retroplay]

Thanks, directdraw and null filter did the trick.

[slightly beta off-topic]
If I use D3D and no filters I get slighly garbled text/graphics, this is not beta related though as it happens in older versions as well.



So that's why I still use directdraw.

[FreakyDan]

Originally Posted by Retroplay

Thanks, directdraw and null filter did the trick.

[slightly beta off-topic]
If I use D3D and no filters I get slighly garbled text/graphics, this is not beta related though as it happens in older versions as well.



So that's why I still use directdraw.

Set the scaling to "No scaling" should fix your garbled text/graphics..

[Retroplay]

Originally Posted by FreakyDan

Set the scaling to "No scaling" should fix your garbled text/graphics..

Doesn't make any difference.

Sorry for the off-topic posts in this thread, wont happen again.

[edit]
Integer scaling did the trick.

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

As a workaround enable at least null filter or use D3D mode. Will be fixed later..

Does http://www.winuae.net/files/b/winuae.zip fix the crash? (It should but there can be some conditions I missed..)

[Retroplay]

Yes that fixed it.
Many thanks.

[lordofchaos]

Just ran beta 2400b2 and have encountered a bug/issue whilst running Uridium 2 "WHD_UridiumII release 0801.1" using WHDLoad version 16.9

The main title screen module seems to be corrupted with raw data making it sound pretty ugly, I have also run the game with the same config on WinUAE 2.3.3 and the raw data is absent and the sound appears to be working correctly.

Also I have run the game on my real A1200 (68030, 32 Meg fast) using the identical WHDLoad version and title tune plays correctly without corruption.

Log, Config and save state included.

*Update 1

Some more strange behavior, I just fired up WinUAE (2400b2) again and used my A1200 Config (attached) but decided to change Z3 Fast from 32 Meg to 16 Meg and then ran Uridium 2 WHDload, title screen music played fine this time. This seemed strange so I quit WinUAE, reloaded and repeated the sequence but this time the game title track was corrupt again. I did this sequence at least 6 times and the results would vary. Random memory issue?

Going to try and replicate this issue on the my real A1200 by running game multiple times, could be a issue that occurs on real hardware and with WHDLoad install it`s self?

*Update 2

I can not replicate this issue on real hardware (A1200 68030 32MB FAST).

*Update 3

Just did some more testing using Beta 2, 2011.12.08 (One posted in moonstone sound issue thread).

Starting WinUAE with 1200 config but unticking CE yeilds the following results: Games main title score & Chip loader score will play properly without sound corruption, I restarted and tried this sequence 3 times in a row.

Starting WinUAE with 1200 config with CE ticked yields the following: Chip sound loader module (the copper bands one) plays with sound grating, main title module still has garbaged sounds.

[Ian]

Massive slowdowns when using JIT and/or fastest possible mode, introduced in Beta 1, still present in beta 2.

Installing Turrican WHD is a good example to use I guess.

I know JIT isn't for games, but it does cause slowdowns in all games I tried.

Attached is logs and config I normally use for 3.9. Obviously I removed cycle exact and set fastest possible and JIT for the purpose of the test.

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by Ian

Massive slowdowns when using JIT and/or fastest possible mode, introduced in Beta 1, still present in beta 2.

It is normal, low latency vsync + JIT has never been supported. (check changelogs). It was accidental if it worked for you, normally it halves the speed or something like that.

[Toni Wilen]

Beta 3:

http://www.winuae.net/files/b/winuae_2400b3.zip

Long waited fastest possible CPU vsync is here! Maybe.

- Fixed DirectDraw mode crash (b1)
- Fixed uaenet.device crash if program attempted to open it but winpcap was not installed. (old)
- Added CD32 drive emulation hack, CD32 Mutation Gold Compilation games now load (but they didn't work on my real CD32 either so technically not working is correct behavior. This hack is removed if it breaks other programs)
- Too fast CPU audio hack update, one of the hacks actually caused sound glitches with some strange sound routines.
- Do not blank screen if display can't be shown (DirectDraw display position negative upper left coordinates), now sets coordinates to zero.
- Keyboard statesave buffer overflow (b1)

- Experimental new vsync mode for fastest possible/JIT CPU modes. Tested using WHDLoad demos and games.
* - Uses secondary thread which polls vblank state continuously. There is no way to get signal/message/whatever during vblank. Stupid Windows.
* - Activates automatically if 2 or more CPUs/cores detected and fastest possible/JIT and low latency mode selected.
* - JIT is also supported.
* - Works in windowed and fullscreen modes (just like normal low latency vsync).
* - This mode is currently buffered, used to hide horrible tearing (flip timing is much more complex if fastest possible CPU), will be hopefully improved later.
* - Sound pitch changes possible, this also needs some improving later.

[lordofchaos]

Regarding previous Uridium 2 sound issue post:

Have just tested the game again with A1200 config but raw data is still present with most recent Beta 3. However changing the cpu from 68020 to 68030 appears to fix the problem. Have not tested this with previous beta`s yet.

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by lordofchaos

Regarding previous Uridium 2 sound issue post:

Have just tested the game again with A1200 config but raw data is still present with most recent Beta 3. However changing the cpu from 68020 to 68030 appears to fix the problem. Have not tested this with previous beta`s yet.

I can't duplicate. I tried both 68020 fastest possible and cycle exact. Title tune worked fine.

But perhaps it is version specific, there are 3 different 0.801.1 WHD UridiumII versions.

[lordofchaos]

But perhaps it is version specific, there are 3 different 0.801.1 WHD UridiumII versions.

I have attached the version on my HD. It does state it`s 0.801.1.