fs-uae - a new multi-platform amiga emulator for games!

[FrodeSolheim]

Originally Posted by Conundrum

Did that as well, with both .conf and .fs-uae extensions. Still nothing. And I'm running Windows XP btw.

Sorry, seems I mostly answer Mac-related questions

OK, here is another possibility (relevant for Windows). If you create the fs-uae.conf-file with Windows Explorer, it is possible that the actual file name becomes fs-uae.conf.txt (a major annoyance with Explorer, IMO). If you go to Explorer settings, you can disable "Hide extensions for known file types" to have Explorer show/manage the full file names (if this was the problem).

Originally Posted by Conundrum

One request I would actually like to ask for future versions, is to have the directories in the actual emulator folder. Personally I never liked it when emulators create their file directories in the Documents folder (something that even WinUAE does, unfortunately). I always found that to be bit messy. I think It's nicer to have everything inside the emulator folder, instead.

I'll put in a feature in the next version where you can override this in the config file for all directories (you can currently prevent creation of most of the directories already by specifying all values in [paths] manually, but not all).

[Conundrum]

Originally Posted by FrodeSolheim

Sorry, seems I mostly answer Mac-related questions

OK, here is another possibility (relevant for Windows). If you create the fs-uae.conf-file with Windows Explorer, it is possible that the actual file name becomes fs-uae.conf.txt (a major annoyance with Explorer, IMO). If you go to Explorer settings, you can disable "Hide extensions for known file types" to have Explorer show/manage the full file names (if this was the problem).

Did that as well mate. First thing I did, as a matter of fact. Is there anything particular i have to do inside the config file? like deleting the asteriscs before each line or something? I tried both without results.

One more thing I forgot, the emulator actually loads kickstart 1.3 if i put it in the roms folder. I searched everywhere for some kind of default config though, but couldn't find it. So I take it it's the program's own default settings.

Originally Posted by FrodeSolheim

I'll put in a feature in the next version where you can override this in the config file for all directories (you can currently prevent creation of most of the directories already by specifying all values in [paths] manually, but not all).

Frankly it would be lovely if we could configure evyerthing while running the emulator just like console emulators do, or at least have some sort of config file wizard. I'm loving the fs-UAE GUI so far, because it's really intuitive, but sometimes we do need some bits of the technical complicated stuff just like just like WinUAE.

[FrodeSolheim]

Originally Posted by Conundrum

Did that as well mate. First thing I did, as a matter of fact. Is there anything particular i have to do inside the config file? like deleting the asteriscs before each line or something? I tried both without results.

Yes, the hash-symbols means the line is a comment, and example.conf is not usable as-is. Here is a minimal fs-uae.conf:

[amiga]
model = A500
kickstart_file = c:\\amiga\\amiga-os-130.rom

[media]
floppy_drive_0 = c:\\amiga\\somedisk.adf

Originally Posted by Conundrum

One more thing I forgot, the emulator actually loads kickstart 1.3 if i put it in the roms folder. I searched everywhere for some kind of default config though, but couldn't find it. So I take it it's the program's own default settings.

Yes, FS-UAE defaults to A500 mode, and loads the kickstart if it finds it, so really, the most minimal config is more like:

[media]
floppy_drive_0 = c:\\amiga\\somedisk.adf

Originally Posted by Conundrum

Frankly it would be lovely if we could configure evyerthing while running the emulator just like console emulators do, or at least have some sort of config file wizard. I'm loving the fs-UAE GUI so far, because it's really intuitive, but sometimes we do need some bits of the technical complicated stuff just like just like WinUAE.

I see the, well not so much the need, as the convenience of having a configuration UI -But I think it is better implemented outside FS-UAE, like a separate configuration frontend / launcher. There is no technical reason why it must be part of FS-UAE, and being able to focus FS-UAE on "runtime issues" is better, I think! There are still more basic stuff to fix before "1.0" - working on better keyboard handling on Windows now, for instance - libSDL is a bit buggy, so I'm writing replacement code using rawinput.

[Conundrum]

[amiga]
model = A500
kickstart_file = c:\\amiga\\amiga-os-130.rom

[media]
floppy_drive_0 = c:\\amiga\\somedisk.adf

Just tried that. Copypasted it and all, doing only the necessary adjustements. Still not working. I guess I'll just wait for the next version then. Thanks for the help though.

I see the, well not so much the need, as the convience of having a configuration UI -But I think it is better implemented outside FS-UAE, like a separate configuration frontend / launcher. There is no technical reason why it must be part of FS-UAE, and being able to focus FS-UAE on "runtime issues" is better, I think!

Then yeah, a config wizard might be the answer. It would be neat if this allowed a certain degree of user customization, such as a set of advanced options to create libraries that would automatically assign certain games to certain configs. Still, one thing that would be neat to do in the emulator itself, would be switching between configs, as it would be very handy for those interested in porting this to consoles. However this would require the emulation to be "off" by default, rather than autostart as it works now, thus perhaps a start button would be necessary to go along with it.

[frostwork]

I don't want to pollute this thread with my stuff, but as it's fs-uae related, I think its better to post a comment here, instead of opening a new thread.
I wrote a little gpl3 linux program "whdrunner" using fs-uae which allows you to launch zipped whdload games directly from commandline and therefore also from your favourite emulator launcher. you can find it here if you have some use for it:
http://www.frostworx.de/?p=432

patches & suggestions please via email (see included readme)
sorry for noise

[dreamkatcha]

Originally Posted by FrodeSolheim

Fix posted: Version 0.9.8u2 for Mac OS X is posted at http://fengestad.no/fs-uae/
The Info.plist file was corrupted. Thank you for reporting the problem (also reported by Hungry Horace).

Ah ha, great stuff, thanks very much. It works fine now except there's no anti-aliasing. Perhaps this is because I've only got a puny Intel GMA 950 GPU with shared memory?

[chiark]

Bit of messing around this evening, much googling, and... I have my Macbook pro running Lion, with its display running at 50Hz on its native LCD, with full vsync in fs-uae, and ... It's beautiful.

Solution: switchresx. Create a custom display and displaymode by changing the pixel clock to give 50Hz, and... it works!

Outstandingly happy. This is just what I wanted

[ant512]

Is it possible to disable the floppy drive clicking sound, either via a config option or something like NoClick?

Edit: NoClick doesn't work, not that I really expected it to...

[FrodeSolheim]

Originally Posted by frostwork

I wrote a little gpl3 linux program "whdrunner" using fs-uae which allows you to launch zipped whdload games directly from commandline and therefore also from your favourite emulator launcher

It's fun to see a small ecosystem starting to evolve around FS-UAE I haven't used WHDload any myself, but I'll check it out when i start playing with WHDload.

Originally Posted by dreamkatcha

Ah ha, great stuff, thanks very much. It works fine now except there's no anti-aliasing. Perhaps this is because I've only got a puny Intel GMA 950 GPU with shared memory?

Possibly, but what kind of antialias is missing? Bilinear filtering of the texture (is the "amiga picture" blocky), or is it FSAA that doesn't work (jagged lines on the "screen block" while entering menu mode)?

Originally Posted by chiark

Bit of messing around this evening, much googling, and... I have my Macbook pro running Lion, with its display running at 50Hz on its native LCD, with full vsync in fs-uae, and ... It's beautiful.

Solution: switchresx. Create a custom display and displaymode by changing the pixel clock to give 50Hz, and... it works!

Outstandingly happy. This is just what I wanted

Sound great -So I tried this myself, but ended up b"ricking" the Macbook. I got it working again booting in safe mode, but first try at creating a 1280x800@50Hz mode was quite unsuccessful... -If anyone has a working modeline for 1280x800@50Hz on a Macbook (not pro), please post

Originally Posted by ant512

Is it possible to disable the floppy drive clicking sound, either via a config option or something like NoClick?

I can put in a configuration option for this in the next release.

[P-J]

Originally Posted by FrodeSolheim

It's fun to see a small ecosystem starting to evolve around FS-UAE

Then you'll be pleased to know that this is nearly finished :

[FrodeSolheim]

Originally Posted by P-J

Then you'll be pleased to know that this is nearly finished :

Yes, this is what I'm talking about -Much better to leave configuration to external programs, such as this.

A short status on what has been done in the weekend, since 0.9.8:

* Use rawinput in Windows for keyboard support. Fixes some problems which was really bugs in libSDL (you couldn't press both shift keys at the same time for instance, annoying problem for playing Pinball Dreams..)

* Use some keyboard scancodes on other platforms to improve key mapping. Trying to positionally map keyboard keys better against amiga keys.

* Ported updated caps (IPF support) code from WinUAE. -Same caps code running on all platforms, makes use of IPF disk images compatible with upcoming netplay support.

* Netplay code has been improved, lag is now automatically reduced to minimal possible.

* Frame limiting code from UAE is disabled, new code in libfsemu - makes FS-UAE frame rate smoother in some cases, and necessary for netplay support.

Also working on, possibly for 0.9.9:

* Flexible remapping - map any host key / joystick event to any amiga keyboard / joystick event.

* Some new configuration options (floppy sounds, base dir setting (to override Documents/FS-UAE location))

[ant512]

Originally Posted by FrodeSolheim

I can put in a configuration option for this in the next release.

Fantastic! I've been fiddling with FS-UAE and the app bundles from here and have got a self-contained emulator bundle working.

One thing I've noticed is that even if I uncomment the basic viewport config setting, the display still tries to auto-adjust to the screen content. Is this a bug, or am I missing something?

[FrodeSolheim]

Originally Posted by ant512

One thing I've noticed is that even if I uncomment the basic viewport config setting, the display still tries to auto-adjust to the screen content. Is this a bug, or am I missing something?

I tried it myself, and it's a bug in the documentation: use this instead to disable automatic scaling == fixed viewport:

viewport = * * * * => 0 0 752 574

(or change the numbers to your liking)

viewport = 0 0 752 574

was supposed to be a shorthand for this, but I now remember that this was a feature in fs-game-center (which expanded this to the full setting when writing fs-uae config files).

- So I'll either fix the README, or implement the shorthand version directly in FS-UAE also.

[kire_online]

Nice work.

[ant512]

Originally Posted by FrodeSolheim

viewport = * * * * => 0 0 752 574

Perfect! Thanks!

[spotUP]

Keep up the great work!!!

[lesta_smsc]

Originally Posted by FrodeSolheim

I suppose you mean online multi-player? Well, I did not plan to, but then I started thinking about it, and now I think it may be done relatively easily, depending on how deterministic the emulation is -I will consider doing a prototype later.

If you do this! You will have made LOTS of people happy! We're still stuck on the Kaillera WinUAEXP lol... Can't wait. Will definately want to help test out - there may be a few others willing to help also...

[Conundrum]

Originally Posted by lesta_smsc

If you do this! You will have made LOTS of people happy! We're still stuck on the Kaillera WinUAEXP lol... Can't wait. Will definately want to help test out - there may be a few others willing to help also...

This. Especially the Sensible Soccer community, which is plagued by WinUAEXP poor online capabilities. You'll be making a lot of people happy, considering there's about 9.000 active players according to sensiblesoccer.de. This excluding the general Amiga emulation scene, of course.

[dreamkatcha]

Originally Posted by FrodeSolheim

Possibly, but what kind of antialias is missing? Bilinear filtering of the texture (is the "amiga picture" blocky), or is it FSAA that doesn't work (jagged lines on the "screen block" while entering menu mode)?

The menu text looks nice and smooth, though the edges of the skewed Amiga display are a bit jagged.

The Amiga output when in full screen is also blocky as you'd find with PUAE or E-UAE.

[FrodeSolheim]

Originally Posted by dreamkatcha

The menu text looks nice and smooth, though the edges of the skewed Amiga display are a bit jagged.

The edges are greatly improved by the fsaa option, but might need a better/dedicated GPU.

Originally Posted by dreamkatcha

The Amiga output when in full screen is also blocky as you'd find with PUAE or E-UAE.

FS-UAE uses bilinear filtering in order to get good quality when scaling, but the amiga display is scan-doubled etc (effectively a 2x filter) to get nice "visible pixels" (as I prefer it ). Some have requested scanline support to smooth the display a bit.

Originally Posted by lesta_smsc

If you do this! You will have made LOTS of people happy! We're still stuck on the Kaillera WinUAEXP lol... Can't wait. Will definately want to help test out - there may be a few others willing to help also...

It is actually working quite nicely -I have tried three-way games with a Windows client, Mac OS client and Linux client, and the synchronization seems stable The functionality is actually in the released FS-UAE, but I haven't published the server yet -I would like to have it a bit more tested before it is released. Perhaps I'll set up a "private beta" of some sort.

For those interested, there are some more net-play details here http://www.ultimateamiga.co.uk/index...c,9458.15.html