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

[PHabermehl]

Hello all,

Tricky question: I used to own a CD32/SX1 equipped the following:

2MB ChipRAM
4MB FastRAM
540 GB HD
2 Floppys
Full Motion Video Module

My other CD32 had a SX32pro with 68030/50, MMU and Math Co-Processor...

How can I emulate those devices? Floppy AND CD32? Processor upgrade? Any way to emulate the FMV module?

Best regards,
Peter

[browniesrgut]

I compiled it without any problem on a Sony VAIO running opensuse 12.1. It runs fine (even with my wired 360 pad). The only problem I got is the (KDE4/IceWM) bottom panel not disappearring in fullscreen mode. I don't think it's a FS-UAE related issue but more a compositing or nvidia one (some other applications have the same problem when switching to fulscreen).

I used the "autohide" option for that bottom bar to "by-pass" the problem. + now I get to admire the wallpaper in fullscreen.

Little tip for linux users out there : Forget about zipped adf/hdfs... If you have a decent kernel (i.e. 2.6.38 or newer) you can first unzip anything in your Amiga thingies directory and then squash it with xz compression method. It allowed me to shrink down my 60Gb TOSEC to a "tiny" 35Gb file which I can mount lately.

Anyway, thank you Frode !

[FrodeSolheim]

Originally Posted by PHabermehl

Hello all,

Tricky question: I used to own a CD32/SX1 equipped the following:

2MB ChipRAM
4MB FastRAM
540 GB HD
2 Floppys
Full Motion Video Module

My other CD32 had a SX32pro with 68030/50, MMU and Math Co-Processor...

How can I emulate those devices? Floppy AND CD32? Processor upgrade? Any way to emulate the FMV module?

Best regards,
Peter

Hi! - I wouldn't be surprised if UAE could be configured with many or all of those options. The problem with FS-UAE is that it doesn't expose enough options for you to configure this. Unsure about CD32 FMV though. The short answer is, if WinUAE can do it, then it is possible for FS-UAE do to it also (with modifications).

Another question: How useful would CD32/SX1 configuration be? Would you be able to do something different with a CD32 with 2+4MB, HD and floppies than with a similar A1200? I understand it if the only reason is because that's what you owned, but I would like to know if there is extra benefits

Originally Posted by browniesrgut

I compiled it without any problem on a Sony VAIO running opensuse 12.1. It runs fine (even with my wired 360 pad). The only problem I got is the (KDE4/IceWM) bottom panel not disappearring in fullscreen mode. I don't think it's a FS-UAE related issue but more a compositing or nvidia one (some other applications have the same problem when switching to fulscreen).

I used the "autohide" option for that bottom bar to "by-pass" the problem. + now I get to admire the wallpaper in fullscreen.

Hi - I know what this problem is. I have implemented two fullscreen modes in FS-UAE:
- real fullscreen support
- fake fullscreen support (a window covering the entire screen - aka fullscreen window)

The advantage with the latter is that you'll be able to ALT-tab from the emulator etc (well, you used to, but ALT-tabbing is currently broken in the newest releases).

This requires that window managers detect that the window has full screen dimensions, and treats it like a fullscreen window. It seems fewer window managers that I though supports this out of the box (some have an "compatibility fullscreen option" to allow this).

You can force real fullscreen mode with

fullscreen_mode=fullscreen

(I will likely change the default fullscreen mode on Linux to real fullscreen mode).

Originally Posted by browniesrgut

Little tip for linux users out there : Forget about zipped adf/hdfs... If you have a decent kernel (i.e. 2.6.38 or newer) you can first unzip anything in your Amiga thingies directory and then squash it with xz compression method. It allowed me to shrink down my 60Gb TOSEC to a "tiny" 35Gb file which I can mount lately.

This is a very good advice for saving space - I don't have my ADFs zipped, since it is easier to perform checksums on them (etc) when they are stored unpacked, but this will let you have it both ways (But I have so much hard drive space that I won't bother ;-))

[spannernick]

How do you run this can't see it in the menu on Linux.
What's the command I put in Terminal..?

[FrodeSolheim]

Originally Posted by spannernick

How do you run this can't see it in the menu on Linux.
Do I put something it Terminal..?

Yes (I haven't made any launcher desktop item). Just run:

fs-uae

Or to see log output in the terminal:

fs-uae --stdout=1

Without any other options, it will load the default configuration file (see the documentation on how to configure). Let me know if you need any help.

[spannernick]

Thanks got it working and loading a game,can't wait to see the front end for it...

Do you want my config file for it..I loaded Arkanod into it....??

Thanks for making a brillant Amiga Emulator...Linux needed a new one..

[browniesrgut]

Originally Posted by FrodeSolheim

Hi - I know what this problem is. I have implemented two fullscreen modes in FS-UAE:
- real fullscreen support
- fake fullscreen support (a window covering the entire screen - aka fullscreen window)

The advantage with the latter is that you'll be able to ALT-tab from the emulator etc (well, you used to, but ALT-tabbing is currently broken in the newest releases).

This requires that window managers detect that the window has full screen dimensions, and treats it like a fullscreen window. It seems fewer window managers that I though supports this out of the box (some have an "compatibility fullscreen option" to allow this).

You can force real fullscreen mode with

fullscreen_mode=fullscreen

(I will likely change the default fullscreen mode on Linux to real fullscreen mode).

Thanks for the backstage tip I'll try it, this very evening when I get back home.

Originally Posted by FrodeSolheim

This is a very good advice for saving space - I don't have my ADFs zipped, since it is easier to perform checksums on them (etc) when they are stored unpacked, but this will let you have it both ways (But I have so much hard drive space that I won't bother ;-))

The aim was to have, in my little laptop, a complete read-only Amiga set, the Game Save Disks are stored somewhere else (i only have 160Gb of total disk space in it).

Originally Posted by FrodeSolheim

I have a prototype launcher with net play support, and if I get it out of the door at one point, it should probably be localized, and I'll let you do the French

I'll be glad to help, my friend

[PHabermehl]

Originally Posted by FrodeSolheim

Another question: How useful would CD32/SX1 configuration be? Would you be able to do something different with a CD32 with 2+4MB, HD and floppies than with a similar A1200? I understand it if the only reason is because that's what you owned, but I would like to know if there is extra benefits

Hello Frode,

Basically it was just a question if it's possible. Well, my thought was to have an emulated Amiga with CD-Rom Access, especially since you slightly considered implementing access to the real CD(DVD) hardware.

I know that fs-uae is mainly for gaming, but anyway, there are some CD games (to be installed on an emulated harddisc) and again, it would be sooooo coool to make an A2000HD Kick 1.3 setup with CD-Rom-Drive to open my classic Fish PD or Aminet CDs :-)))

Kind regards
Peter

[FrodeSolheim]

Originally Posted by Speedvicio

For the problem of second mounted hd, i do not know how to explain it better, but i set at startup on amiga os 3.1 a folder with WHD games as a slave hard disk.
In theory the os recognizes it only when i browse through the physical path but not the WHD loader (appear a slave error).
This problem occurs only with the latest beta, stable version of your emulator behaves properly.

Could you try with 0.913beta7 ? http://fengestad.no/wp/fs-uae/download-beta -it fixed a WHDLoad problem (possibly the same).

[ant512]

Is there any way to force FS-UAE to use the CD32 control pad? I've got a bunch of games that run best in A1200/020 mode (Gloom, Guardian, AB3D) but that mode seems to use the default Amiga joystick instead of the CD32 pad.

[Speedvicio]

Originally Posted by FrodeSolheim

Could you try with 0.913beta7 ? http://fengestad.no/wp/fs-uae/download-beta -it fixed a WHDLoad problem (possibly the same).

Again the error, i post a screen:

[FrodeSolheim]

Originally Posted by spannernick

Thanks got it working and loading a game,can't wait to see the front end for it...
Do you want my config file for it..I loaded Arkanod into it....??
Thanks for making a brillant Amiga Emulator...Linux needed a new one..

I don't need config files when stuff works -Let me know if you find any issues.

Originally Posted by PHabermehl

Hello Frode,

Basically it was just a question if it's possible. Well, my thought was to have an emulated Amiga with CD-Rom Access, especially since you slightly considered implementing access to the real CD(DVD) hardware.

I know that fs-uae is mainly for gaming, but anyway, there are some CD games (to be installed on an emulated harddisc) and again, it would be sooooo coool to make an A2000HD Kick 1.3 setup with CD-Rom-Drive to open my classic Fish PD or Aminet CDs :-)))

Kind regards
Peter

Adding support for an A2000 model with HD and emulated CD-ROM drive is something I could do, provided that UAE supports this (it probably does). Regarding access to your CDs, you could then just rip them to ISOs...

(It is also possible that you could just use /dev/cdrom (or similar) as cdrom_image_0, provided your Linux user has read access -you could test this with a CD32 game now...)

Originally Posted by ant512

Is there any way to force FS-UAE to use the CD32 control pad? I've got a bunch of games that run best in A1200/020 mode (Gloom, Guardian, AB3D) but that mode seems to use the default Amiga joystick instead of the CD32 pad.

I'll add support for CD32 pads on non-CD32 models soon.

Originally Posted by Speedvicio

Again the error, i post a screen:

Thank you for the screenshot (very helpful). Please also send me the other files I asked for (including the file list) if you can.

[FrodeSolheim]

Some good news! I have finally found time to fix some known performance problems in FS-UAE, and experiment with OpenGL settings for performance. The results are very promising.

On my desktop computer, I had these numbers before (when running FS-UAE in a newly implemented benchmark mode):
Amiga FPS (emulated frames per second): 285
OpenGL FPS (rendered frames per second): 665

After rewriting parts of the rendering system to avoid unnecessary work, the Amiga FPS increased to 332, which is about a 15% increase in emulated frames due to reduced CPU usage.

The next optimization was to avoid uploading the entire Amiga frame to the GPU each time, but only regard the visible part of the frame. The reduction in bandwidth for texture upload increased the rendered (OpenGL) FPS to about 1000 (about a 50% increase).

Lastly, I have been testing texture formats (both internal texture formats and upload formats), and by switching from GL_RGB to GL_RGBA8, the FPS increased to 1688, which is an insane 150% increase from what it was originally

These optimizations do not really matter on this computer, but should make FS-UAE work full-speed on more computers.

My general policy is to make stuff work first, optimize later, but these fixes really were overdue ;-)
I will be testing more on my Linux and Mac laptops as well.

[browniesrgut]

Originally Posted by FrodeSolheim

Some good news! I have finally found time to fix some known performance problems in FS-UAE, and experiment with OpenGL settings for performance. The results are very promising.

On my desktop computer, I had these numbers before (when running FS-UAE in a newly implemented benchmark mode):
Amiga FPS (emulated frames per second): 285
OpenGL FPS (rendered frames per second): 665

After rewriting parts of the rendering system to avoid unnecessary work, the Amiga FPS increased to 332, which is about a 15% increase in emulated frames due to reduced CPU usage.

The next optimization was to avoid uploading the entire Amiga frame to the GPU each time, but only regard the visible part of the frame. The reduction in bandwidth for texture upload increased the rendered (OpenGL) FPS to about 1000 (about a 50% increase).

Lastly, I have been testing texture formats (both internal texture formats and upload formats), and by switching from GL_RGB to GL_RGBA8, the FPS increased to 1688, which is an insane 150% increase from what it was originally

These optimizations do not really matter on this computer, but should make FS-UAE work full-speed on more computers.

My general policy is to make stuff work first, optimize later, but these fixes really were overdue ;-)
I will be testing more on my Linux and Mac laptops as well.

I'm looking forward to play with your next release/beta, so I can put my lil'ASUS 1001PXD netbook back online (Atom 455N/2GB Ram)

[PHabermehl]

Originally Posted by FrodeSolheim

(It is also possible that you could just use /dev/cdrom (or similar) as cdrom_image_0, provided your Linux user has read access -you could test this with a CD32 game now...)

Hello Frode,
I configured cdrom_image_0 = /dev/cdrom and checked ownership of /dev/cdrom, which was user root and group cdrom, so I added my personal user to the cdrom group.
Anyway, no success. fs-uae boots from iso images, but not from cd.
Furthermore, I already tried to access a real amiga hd (connected via ide-usb-adapter) since someone else reported that he booted of an amiga pfs formatted (cf-ide-adaptered) compact flash card. This also did not work for me.
Any hints how to access the "real" hardware? Is there maybe some devel package missing on my computer so that dvd/harddisk hardware support does not work?

Best regards,
Peter

[FrodeSolheim]

Originally Posted by PHabermehl

Hello Frode,
I configured cdrom_image_0 = /dev/cdrom and checked ownership of /dev/cdrom, which was user root and group cdrom, so I added my personal user to the cdrom group.
Anyway, no success. fs-uae boots from iso images, but not from cd.
Furthermore, I already tried to access a real amiga hd (connected via ide-usb-adapter) since someone else reported that he booted of an amiga pfs formatted (cf-ide-adaptered) compact flash card. This also did not work for me.
Any hints how to access the "real" hardware? Is there maybe some devel package missing on my computer so that dvd/harddisk hardware support does not work?
Best regards,
Peter

I have never tested this, so I'm not really the right person to ask. (I assume you also checked you have access rights to the HD device, and that you logged out/in again when adding yourself to the group, since these changes only take effect on the next login).

Originally Posted by browniesrgut

I'm looking forward to play with your next release/beta, so I can put my lil'ASUS 1001PXD netbook back online (Atom 455N/2GB Ram)

I am preparing a new beta now with the performance improvements. But of course, not every system will see the same performance increase (it depends where the bottlenecks were originally).

[AmigaOnline]

Originally Posted by FrodeSolheim

Some good news! I have finally found time to fix some known performance problems in FS-UAE, and experiment with OpenGL settings for performance. The results are very promising.

On my desktop computer, I had these numbers before (when running FS-UAE in a newly implemented benchmark mode):
Amiga FPS (emulated frames per second): 285
OpenGL FPS (rendered frames per second): 665

After rewriting parts of the rendering system to avoid unnecessary work, the Amiga FPS increased to 332, which is about a 15% increase in emulated frames due to reduced CPU usage.

The next optimization was to avoid uploading the entire Amiga frame to the GPU each time, but only regard the visible part of the frame. The reduction in bandwidth for texture upload increased the rendered (OpenGL) FPS to about 1000 (about a 50% increase).

Lastly, I have been testing texture formats (both internal texture formats and upload formats), and by switching from GL_RGB to GL_RGBA8, the FPS increased to 1688, which is an insane 150% increase from what it was originally

These optimizations do not really matter on this computer, but should make FS-UAE work full-speed on more computers.

My general policy is to make stuff work first, optimize later, but these fixes really were overdue ;-)
I will be testing more on my Linux and Mac laptops as well.

Nice improvements! A second life for my 486

[FrodeSolheim]

Version 0.9.13beta8: http://fengestad.no/wp/fs-uae/download-beta

* Reduced CPU usage due to Improvements in rendering system.
* Large performance improvements in OpenGL renderer.

[PHabermehl]

Frode never sleeps ... You release new betas faster than I can build them...

Regarding CD and Harddisk access, yes, I did as you said - no success. Maybe you might check it (if your time permits, I guess there are more important tasks.)

One more question, booting Workbench 1.3 on an A500, the message "battery backed up clock not found" . Anything to be done to "emulate" the Amiga hardware clock?

Btw, time to say thank you again for all the work and the excellent support!

Best regards,
Peter

[FrodeSolheim]

Originally Posted by PHabermehl

One more question, booting Workbench 1.3 on an A500, the message "battery backed up clock not found" . Anything to be done to "emulate" the Amiga hardware clock?

Well, it wasn't standard on the A500 I think, but could be installed as an expansion? So I guess you do not start a stock WB1.3, but rather that a custom startup program tries to read the batter backup up clock..

Yes, UAE emulates battery backup up clocks. Looking at the source code, I see two supported devices: MSM6242B and RP5C01A, and they seem to be enabled with the UAE option "rtc". (I haven't checked whether other options also must be enabled for one of these to work).

I'm thinking of adding support for custom UAE options (which would be applied after initial FS-UAE configuration, for example: uae_*. In this case, you could enable RTC with either:

uae_rtc = MSM6242B

or

uae_rtc = RP5C01A

(other options possibly also needed)

EDIT: I implemented what I suggested above, you can now put uae_* options in the config file, or use (for example) --uae-rtc=MSM6242B as a command-line parameter. If you specify such options, the following written to the log file:

WARNING: custom uae_* options used! Your warranty is now void! ;)
(not that there was any warranty before...)

So now you are warned -I'll probably make binaries / new beta for this tomorrow evening.