17 December 2008, 02:18 | #1 |
Registered WHDLoad User
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Strange studdering when loading and saving
First my specs:
Amiga 1200 Rev 2B Blizzard 1230-IV + 16MB EDO RAM HDD 10GB 3.5" (with IDEfix and SFS) ClassicWB Full 22F Newest WHDLoad with valid regkey. Killergorilla WHDLoad packs installed Now my problem: In some games, the Amiga acts strange while loading or saving data from harddrive. The display is switching between black screen and the game screen and the power led is changing brightness similar to when the Amiga is crashing. This repeats itself several times and then the game returns to normal. I have experienced this on several games, but to name a few, Soccer Kid does it while loading levels, Champions of Krynn does it when saving a game, and Biing does goes crazy at random times on the screen just after you click on the doctor. Also, many games seem to get unstable and crash when I enable MMU. When I disable it, they work just fine. Is this normal, or can I do anything to prevent it? |
17 December 2008, 07:04 | #2 |
CaptainM68K-SPS France
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This is some OS swap.....
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17 December 2008, 07:54 | #3 |
Moderator
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Do you have Preload set for all games?
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17 December 2008, 09:13 | #4 |
retro maniac
Join Date: May 2002
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PRELOAD won't help for saving data to disk I'm affraid, only increased I/O buffer can help to minimalize OS swaps.
As for loading, maybe you don't have enough ram for full preload. Also check in PRELOAD option is set in icon tooltype. Some games are not prepared for MMU. Don't use it when you don't need to. |
17 December 2008, 09:17 | #5 |
Registered WHDLoad User
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I think I've tried with preload on/off and mmu on/off, but I will try again. I have also tried connecting my harddrive to another Amiga 1200 (same rev, though), and here it does the same thing. I am wondering if the hdd hardware itself is causing this.
This will be revealed soon though, as I am switching to a 2.5" drive, where I will copy everything to. |
17 December 2008, 09:22 | #6 |
retro maniac
Join Date: May 2002
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Basically should look like this
SLAVE=Agony.slave PRELOAD And that's it. For most of games this form is enough. You may also try to restore original whdload.prefs in S directory. |
17 December 2008, 10:30 | #7 |
Targ Explorer
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I get something like this on my A1200 when saving in WHDLoad games.
Deuteros is the worst so far. When creating a NEW save it flickers to black for a good 20 seconds. Subsequent saving to the save is immediate. |
17 December 2008, 10:51 | #8 |
retro maniac
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That's beacause if file exits already save is to memory and ofter quit buffer is written finally on disk. But if file is not created yet WHDLoad will start saving immediately.
Of course this behaviour depends also on specific slave. |
17 December 2008, 11:16 | #9 |
Targ Explorer
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@Haynor yes thats pretty much what I thought was happening.
Is the length of time taken to create a save file, expected to be as slow as it is? |
17 December 2008, 11:18 | #10 |
retro maniac
Join Date: May 2002
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Some files are created in one hit (one os swap) but some (like for Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis) takes ages to create. That's why installer for this game creates dummy files - to avoid creating new ones in very long time.
It's slow because WHDLoad is I think simulating writing to disk so each sector/block (or maybe even a byte) is written in one os swap. |
17 December 2008, 12:31 | #11 |
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So you're telling me this behavior is normal?
Can anybody confirm that either Soccer Kid, Champions of Krynn or Biing OS swaps like crazy on their systems? |
17 December 2008, 12:34 | #12 |
Moderator
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It's surely not normal if it's happening when the game's just loading data. Certainly I can't remember having any such problems with Soccer Kid.
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17 December 2008, 13:13 | #13 |
move.l #$c0ff33,throat
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17 December 2008, 13:17 | #14 |
Moderator
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Yes I know but I thought he said he tried Preload, but maybe I'm just assuming it.
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17 December 2008, 13:21 | #15 |
move.l #$c0ff33,throat
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17 December 2008, 13:52 | #16 |
retro maniac
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18 Mb of RAM - should be enough for preload soccer kid.
Of course Biing has more data than 18 mb so i'm sure preload option won't help, some data must loaded in the game. Saving in Champions of Krynn is normal behaviour here. |
17 December 2008, 15:33 | #17 |
Lesser Talent
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: UK
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How much other mem does workbench display in the menu bar? Maybe the full 16mb isn't being recognised?
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18 December 2008, 07:32 | #18 |
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The RAM block is actually 32MB, but the Blizzard only recognizes it as 16MB, which is also what it says in the Workbench.
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18 December 2008, 07:57 | #19 |
retro maniac
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030 processor can adress only 16 Mb of Fast Memory.
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18 December 2008, 08:10 | #20 |
WinUAE developer
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