AmiDuke - New Duke Nukem 3D port for AGA

[paul1981]

Originally Posted by Retrofan

I just think that in a near future there will only be two kind of "Real Amiga" users:

The ones that will play it like it was (the more time passes the less they are), and the ones that will play an "emulated Amiga" using "vintage+ultimate -Fpga-" hardware.

Of course, as we all know, in a distance future all will be emulation, and after that all of this hardware will only rest/be at Wikipedia +

Some Amiga hardware is 30 years old and still working. Most Amiga hardware is 25 years old and still working. I think they'll run another 30 years, so I'm not worried about it really.
Oh, and real hardware all the way for me. Emulation has it's uses, but real hardware is where it's at for me.

[Overflow]

I will do whatever I can to keep my A1200 alive, tho I will probarly buy the Apollo whenever its released; for the increased performance. A 030 with 2+16 megabytes of ram Is just a tad too slow. A soundcard for mp3 playback and 060 for overall performance would have sufficed, but the price and age of such hardware make me a Apollo customer for sure.

I got Amiga Forever/Amikit, and its a brilliant software package. But for some reason I switch on the much slower A1200 instead of emulation.
The tactile assosiation is hard to beat I guess.

[trixster]

My A1200 is 23 years young. Other than the keyboard and the floppy drive it worked perfectly when I brought it out of storage a couple of years ago. In those two years I've upgraded it with a better accelerator, an indivision aga 2, internet access and a cf hard-drive plus a bunch of other bits and bobs. It's a living, breathing machine with a whole host of new, modern hardware being developed for it. Some of the stuff on the horizon (fpga, prism megamix) looks really exciting and I bet there aren't many 'retro' computer systems which can boast such a wide ranging and useful range of addons being produced over 2 decades after it was launched

The problem is the Amiga software scene is not nearly as healthy. There are very few (if any) AAA pieces of software being developed, either in the way of productivity or games. From a software PoV it's going nowhere fast and we all get along for the most part with the same software that we used in the 90s.

For me that's what makes novacoder's conversions so interesting. Ok it's old software but it gives us new stuff to play with. In the absence of the big software houses paying any attention to an old computer which is only preserved by well meaning, diehard enthusiasts, this will have to suffice. And it does nicely!

It's a shame we can't pay nova and talented people like him to convert a bunch of other games for our beloved amigas. Half Life and Magic Carpet and syndicate wars anyone?

[ReadOnlyCat]

Originally Posted by trixster

It's a shame we can't pay nova and talented people like him to convert a bunch of other games for our beloved amigas. Half Life and Magic Carpet and syndicate wars anyone?

You certainly can pay him if you want, nothing prevents you from doing it and I am sure he will appreciate.

[utri007]

Works nicely, only problem is Chip 'n' Dale voice. Any suggestions why? Other games like Quake is OK

Just out of curiosity, does AmiDuke make use of any optimized libraries like Cosmos' or Matthias Henze's?

[klx300r]

thanks Nova

[NovaCoder]

Originally Posted by utri007

Works nicely, only problem is Chip 'n' Dale voice. Any suggestions why? Other games like Quake is OK

You mean the audio samples are playing too fast?

What's your setup...are you using Paula?

By default the audio playback rate is set to 8000 Hz in the config file and you can see what AHI mode and rate it's using by looking at the console after AmiDuke has been run (v1.07).

It works fine for me with Paula @ 8000 Hz (using FAST 8 bit stereo++), maybe it wouldn't work properly with different playback rates and different sound cards.

port tested with Amiga 4000 Cyberstorm 060 50mhz
work fast and nice

amazing work Novacoder

[liviux76]

Hi NovaCoder,
first of all I wish to thank you once again for your great work!

Yesterday night, I tried the new version (1.07) but it doesn't work on my configuration.

I have OS 3.9, a Blizzard 1260/66 and an Indivision AGA mk2. As soon as I double-click on the executable the screen tries to switch to a different resolution then the system freezes and the screen turns black.

With the previous version (1.06) I had graphical glitches so I am using the version 1.04 that works perfectly.

I'm telling you that in the hope that it would be helpful to you for a new upgrade.
Thanks again!

[crazyc]

1.07 works fine on my similar spec?

[liviux76]

Originally Posted by crazyc

1.07 works fine on my similar spec?

Thanks for the feedback... I am using a screen resolution of 1024x768 for WB and 640x512 for games, are you using the same resolutions?

[SKOLMAN_MWS]

Originally Posted by liviux76

I have OS 3.9, a Blizzard 1260/66 and an Indivision AGA mk2. As soon as I double-click on the executable the screen tries to switch to a different resolution then the system freezes and the screen turns black.

There a easy way - put in the binary code driver monitor PAL and NTSC as it does in demos TBL (Mikael Kalms)

( start without startup-sequence automatic detection of AGA and not to use the system monitor driver )

CLI:

AmiDuke

or

AmiWolf PAL (default NTSC or compile separate binary PAL and NTSC)

... this is all.

[liviux76]

@SKOLMAN_MWS

Hi, thanks. I'll try your "procedure" as soon as I have a moment and I'll write here how it goes.

[crazyc]

Originally Posted by liviux76

Thanks for the feedback... I am using a screen resolution of 1024x768 for WB and 640x512 for games, are you using the same resolutions?

I will try and remember to check and post back when I get home. I am using a n Highgfx workbecnh I think and whatever the default settings are for Amiduke

[NovaCoder]

Originally Posted by SKOLMAN_MWS

There a easy way - put in the binary code driver monitor PAL and NTSC as it does in demos TBL (Mikael Kalms)

( start without startup-sequence automatic detection of AGA and not to use the system monitor driver )

CLI:

AmiDuke

or

AmiWolf PAL (default NTSC or compile separate binary PAL and NTSC)

... this is all.

I don't think that will work, my ports have to be started from the WB

[SKOLMAN_MWS]

Originally Posted by NovaCoder

I don't think that will work, my ports have to be started from the WB

Write to Kalms and ask him how he does it. TBL demos also work with the WB. Workbench is the only desktop, no system like Windows.

[NovaCoder]

Originally Posted by SKOLMAN_MWS

Write to Kalms and ask him how he does it. TBL demos also work with the WB. Workbench is the only desktop, no system like Windows.

Demos are not (normally) WB 'friendly', they use low level ASM and take over the computer for maximum speed but my ports use the WB API to do things like double buffering and input handling.

To avoid user confusion I usually just disable the ability for my ports to run from the CLI.

[ReadOnlyCat]

Originally Posted by NovaCoder

Demos are not (normally) WB 'friendly', they use low level ASM and take over the computer for maximum speed but my ports use the WB API to do things like double buffering and input handling.

To avoid user confusion I usually just disable the ability for my ports to run from the CLI.

Oh, so you do not disable interrupts while AmiDuke is running?

I guess that given how CPU intensive AmiDuke must be this must have a negligible impact on performance but have you measured if this made a difference?

[NovaCoder]

Originally Posted by ReadOnlyCat

Oh, so you do not disable interrupts while AmiDuke is running?

I guess that given how CPU intensive AmiDuke must be this must have a negligible impact on performance but have you measured if this made a difference?

Nope, all my ports keep multitasking in case you want to play an MP3 in the background

Obviously not disabling interrupts makes my ports slightly slower but I prefer to code my stuff in a WB 'friendly' way.

Side note: ScummVM RTG is quite interesting because it actually runs two WB screens at two different resolutions and then swaps between them on the fly

Another note: I do sometimes provide a ToolType option 'CLOSE_WB' that attempts to suspend WB while my games are being played but I didn't bother to include that option with AmiDuke.