Changing WinUAE Setting from whithin the emulated enviroment?

[smoorke]

Is it possible to change ceartain settings from inside the emulation and have them take effect immediatly?
The reason i'm asking is i want to change sound settings (emulated vs 100% compatible) and the frameskip as my 666mhz amd laptop stutters horribly when trying to use octamed soundstudio.
Also why is frameskip 10 the highest you can go?
Is implementing an autoframeskip function to have better sound a bad or next to impossible idea?

[Toni Wilen]

Is it possible to change ceartain settings from inside the emulation and have them take effect immediatly?

uae-configuration. included in "Amiga programs"-directory.

Also why is frameskip 10 the highest you can go?

Why do you need more? (even frameskip >1 is painful to watch)
(btw, you do know RTG modes never frameskip)

Is implementing an autoframeskip function to have better sound a bad or next to impossible idea?

I am not sure, it is another feature that can never work properly, there is always some cases where it either skips frames too early or too late.. (and testing something like this is annoying..)

Buy a new PC!

[smoorke]

I'm not sure how uae-configuration is suppossed to work. All i can make it do is output a list of the current configuration. Any options (eg. uae-control ?) i try result in a warn (rc=5)
edit: looking at the source tells me uae-configuration isn't even handling any arguments (if my understanding of c code isn't leading me astray). So how am i supposed to change the WinUAE config with uae-configuration?
Perhaps you are using a diffrent version than what i have? The source is dated 2004

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by smoorke

I'm not sure how uae-configuration is suppossed to work. All i can make it do is output a list of the current configuration. Any options (eg. uae-control ?) i try result in a warn (rc=5)
edit: looking at the source tells me uae-configuration isn't even handling any arguments (if my understanding of c code isn't leading me astray). So how am i supposed to change the WinUAE config with uae-configuration?
Perhaps you are using a diffrent version than what i have? The source is dated 2004

It is working as designed. Without parameters = list current configuration.

uae-configuration <config entry name> = output value of <config entry name>

uae-configuration <config entry name> <value> [<another config entry> <another value>] = change config entry/entries.

[smoorke]

Geez i feel stupid. When i tried changing the option i used an equal sign.
Anyways thanks toni and if i do more dumb things i'll keep you posted.

[NewDeli]

Originally Posted by smoorke

Is it possible to change ceartain settings from inside the emulation and have them take effect immediatly?

I must admit I didn't experiment with the UAE-configuration tool yet.
However, I think a few "external" shortcuts (activated by pressing a key -say, a F key) like
- switching to normal speed &
- disabling JIT
would be especially useful for capturing videos without having to display the options screens of WinUAE.

Here is the rationale :
I usually boot with JIT on, and turn it off afterwards.
Switching to normal emulation speed on the fly allows some games not to go berserk, since not all of them can be run at full speed.

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by Deleauvive

However, I think a few "external" shortcuts (activated by pressing a key -say, a F key)

You can already do this and more. It isn't very intuitive but it is very flexible which is always better than nice looking but useless

Input-panel, select event you want to map to some custom event, select "custom event" from event list.

Format is "<config file entry>=<value>" "<second config file entry>=<value>" ("infinite" amount of entries accepted) '"' is required.

for example:

in slot 1: "cachesize=0" (turn JIT off) This is "press" event.
in slot 2: empty This is "release" event
in slot 3: "cachesize=8192" (turn JIT on) This is "secondary press" event
in slot 4: empty This is "secondary release" event

First press = slot 1 is executed
First release = slot 2 is executed
Second press = slot 3 is executed (or slot 1 if both 3 and 4 are empty)
Second release = slot 4 is executed (or slot 2 if both 3 and 4 were empty)
Third = slot 1
and so on..

[NewDeli]

Thanks. Well... I would need to setup WinUAE to work with the UAE-Configuration tool first, obviously.

For those interested in disabling JIT or switching to normal speed from the workbench, it seems the Green Alien Guide, wb 3.1, has some insights about it :

http://guide.abime.net/home3.htm

I wasn't aware of such a deep and complete guide on how to use WinUAE to WHDload via AmigaOS. 'tis really an Amiga emulator fan dream come true !

I will surely report if I manage to make my way out among all that stuff.

This said, I wouldn't mind if you clarified things a little. Does the above explanation somehow supersedes whdload tooltype tweaking ?

[NewDeli]

After some intense thinking, I am getting somewhere.

The following is for the dumb to average WinUAE user :
I am used to programs with an icon, so I had to figure out the tiny uae-configuration file was indeed the program. For some reason the source code was in the same folder, only adding to the confusion.

- Copied it to C:

- Edited the whdload prefs with those two lines :
ExecuteStartup=uae-configuration cpu_speed real cachesize 0
ExecuteCleanup=uae-configuration cpu_speed max cachesize 8192
Added to the end of the file.

- Like my friend smoorke, typed uae-configuration in a shell, and got the whoopy config list.

- Then... Will try to apply Toni's instructions and check if my WHDload games load without JIT some other day.

I am sure this tool could benefit from having a basic GUI (and... an icon ? Oh no, please don't throw stones at me !)

I know you have reasons to be fed up with WinUAE user's whining for more features and usability, still, I am asking for a good Samaritan to code a very basic GUI for uae-configuration, if that's feasible. (at first, I thought this was integrated in WinUAE, so I was kinda hoping for an input-panel tab to pop-up !)

[NewDeli]

Since I can't seem to find a readme for the uae-configuration tool, here is the best definition I might think of (written by Toni, slightly edited by me) :

What is "uae-configuration" ?
uae-configuration is an AmigaOS shell command program which allows UAE settings to be queried and modified from within the emulation environment.

It can
- List current configuration (easily)
- Send any input event on the fly (using the input tab)
- Change some configuration parameters (Good luck !)


The "input-panel" evoked by Toni is indeed the input tab from WinUAE.
It is used to setup the <value> which should be assigned to a key.
That's the feature I am going to focus on, since I don't really get what to do from command line in order to change some settings.

Choose configuration #1 and keyboard
Start editing the custom event as explained above :
Choose a key (I choose F10)
In slot 1, choose an Event (custom event if you need to enter a value)
enter "cpu_speed=real"
and
in slot 3
enter "cpu_speed=max"
These are simply taken from my config

So pressing F10 sets normal speed, and pressing that key again sets full speed.
You can see it works by pressing F12, the corresponding param is ticked.
Press the button gently, it's not a toy !

As a general rule, we might say that using the whole 8MB of JIT
- Boosts the boot process tremendously (safe)
- Boosts the workbench processes (not so safe)
- Boosts some AGA games (see for yourself)

here are a few games that only work properly in normal A500 speed (there are many) :
- Ballistix
- Carrier Command
- Conqueror
- Slam Tilt (even though it's AGA)
- Defender of the Crown
- Stunt Car Racer
...
I can list some more games, if you really insist !


Just to let you know, I am planning to write some kind of appendix to the existing WinUAE/AmogaOS guides, if that's OK with the Team. (and may be later establish a french translation)

[cosmicfrog]

ya more documentation for winuae

[NewDeli]

It's me again .

F10 is sometimes used for quitting whdload games and the first F keys are used in many games.

So here is how I assigned keys :
- F9 for disabling JIT
- F8 for normal speed
- F6 for setting up JIT again
- F7 for max speed

By the way, if you want to assign the same key to multiple event, be sure to use conf#2 for slot 2, conf#3 for slot 3 and conf#4 for slot 4, in the drop-down list.

This said, you can setup all custom events in conf#1, like I did, except if you're really short on hot keys.

Toni, feel free to add my explanations in the uae proggies readme for next release, if they're worth something.

[NewDeli]

Personally, I put the games that require normal speed in a separate folder.
I like to have two virtual Amiga machines, one top-notch -Shell enhanced, 32-bit graphics (typically, to load AGA games) and one with more conservative settings (for the bunch of ECS games).

@Toni : What if the drop-down lists from the input tab would change in a synchronous manner : For example, when changing to config#2, slot 2 would be displayed ?
I think the fact that the slot drop-down list is independent from the config one could lead to errors.

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by Deleauvive

@Toni : What if the drop-down lists from the input tab would change in a synchronous manner : For example, when changing to config#2, slot 2 would be displayed ?
I think the fact that the slot drop-down list is independent from the config one could lead to errors.

? Configuration # has nothing to with slot #. (each configuration is completely separate)

[NewDeli]

When in conf#1 & keyboard for example, all slot 2,3 and 4 Input targets are empty, whereas all keys from slot 1 are mapped.

Could you please explain this to me ?

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by Deleauvive

When in conf#1 & keyboard for example, all slot 2,3 and 4 Input targets are empty, whereas all keys from slot 1 are mapped.

Could you please explain this to me ?

Because only ONE key is mapped. Slots 2-4 are only needed if you want to map multiple events to single key/button/whatever.

Note that "custom event" is a very special case.

[NewDeli]

By special, you mean it's a "misc" feature, something not widely used ?
I managed to map 4 custom events to F keys within the config#1, as mentioned above, so I am glad it exists !

Just repeating myself from the bug report thread, sorry, but it seems that the mapping of other slots are not saved when saving the config.

[smoorke]

If i'm not mistaken the special case Toni is reffering to is that the 'custom event' slots can be set up to make them function as toggle switches.
While for other events the slots are all executed at the same time.

[turrican3]

Can we set cycle-exact or match a500 speed with uae-control ?
is there a list of command for uae-configuration ?
edited : i suppose i can use all command like in a cong file ?

[Retro1234]

This is a nice little tool I never knew about just tryed typing the following in shell
uae-configuration cachesize 0
uae-configuration cachesize 8192
and Jit turned off and on
The Green Alien Guide got a good guide for setting up WHDload to turn off Jit