WHDLoad "screen centering" improvement...

[Shoonay]

Would the screen centering present in WinUAE, be possible to implement in WHDLoad - or in the slave of a specific game?

I don't mean exactly the "center horizontally, center vertically" feature, but more of a "glue the game screen, to the top/bottom of the main screen"

This "re-position" feature would be a bit too hard to program for some games (if i remember correct, so it says in the readme file of [Walker]), but would it be possible?


Now, for some words of why do i need it.
For example [Stunt Car Racer TNT], when changed to NTSC mode, shows one big horizontal black bar on top of the screen and some of the game screen, cut in the bottom, so i can't see about 10% of the real screen (don't remember exatly but can check). In PAL mode it all OK, not counting the 2 big horizontal bars on top and bottom of the screen

Some games, like [Secret of the Monkey Island 1 & 2], [Goblins 1 & 2 & 3] show the screen perfectly - exactly on bottom of the screen, not even a line cut, and a little black bar on the top. Well, as for me i would like them to be on top of the screen, but as long there are no missing lines, i can play with that.

I know i can adjust the screen with the analog knobs on my [C=1084S] monitor, but that's exactly what i was doing for about 6 years when i got it, and i though it's perfectlly set-up. I mean by that any other games are in the right position.


Please don't blame me or a lame question, it's the christmas feeling that gets me those ideas... a guy can wish, can he?

[Codetapper]

In theory it can be done, but each individual game has to be patched to do it. Stunt Car Racer TNT would probably be one of the easiest games to support because the copperlist is in a fixed location the entire game, and from memory it doesn't even change the display window values after they are setup.

Monkey Island 1 and 2 and probably the Gobliiins series use the operating system to load, so in theory a system-configuration file exists with the display positions set right to the top (for NTSC use) - but on PAL machines there's probably a huge gap at the bottom since the display is pushed to the top.

Walker is a different case altogether because it is using the copperlist to change stuff in the far left of the screen, therefore if you shift the screen over the rubbish on the left will become visible.

[Shoonay]

If it would be possible, i would like this kinda feature in the next slave release for Stunt Car Racer TNT (and the original probably too ), so i could play them on MAX speed
If i understand correctly, this is a feature of current-game-slave programming, not something that could be done directly in WHDLoad, so if the game makes it hard in NTSC, i need to contact the slave author, right? (no, don't answer that i got it )

Thanks in advance ,
Shoonay

[Codetapper]

Here you go, try this one and let me know how it goes. Just replace the slave to use it on either the original Stunt Car Racer or the TNT version and the screen should be right at the top if you use the NTSC tooltype.

Enjoy!

Update!: Slave now included! Thanks for the report Frank!

[Frog]

Excellent job as always

PS : you've forgot to include .slave in file's archive

[Shoonay]

...what can i say, works perfectly as always

[TjLaZer]

There is another issue that is annoying with WHDLoad. Some games insist on running on PAL to work, but do not use the whole screen! Chaos Engine AGA is one, and another is Carthage. Can this be fixed?

[Codetapper]

It depends on the game. Some games like Apocalypse simply misbehave if you force it to NTSC. Fixing these can be impossible.

But saying that, some games simply hardcode in a PAL screen with something like move.w #$20,$dff1dc and so overwrite the NTSC tooltype you use. All decent patchers snoop test the games to remove these kinds of things but some patchers are lazy. Basically you should contact the author of the install and ask/beg them to fix it if it's a game you really like.

[Shoonay]

Another game, i would like the screen position get fixed, is Gobliiins.
The intro shown at the bottom doesn't miss anything, but after that it's all too low and almost cut in half. The best way, would be again to rise the whole game screen (including: intro, title, game, etc.) to the top.


So, another slave author i have to beg to fix that, is: JOTD

Cheers,
Shoonay



PS: Also e-mailed JOTD from WHDLoad page with a link to this page

[jotd]

Yes, I saw your bugreport, and started reworking on this game. Hopefully I can sort out the problem in the next days

JOTD

[Shoonay]

Nice
Looking forward to it

Welcome on EAB

Thanks in advance,
Shoonay

[TjLaZer]

bump!

Is there a hack one can do to similar slaves to make them start at the very top of the screen from there centered position like this one was done?

Just to explain what the original programmers did here. The game uses a NTSC sized screen, and instead of making a separate version for PAL, they simply moved the screen down some to center it for PAL, but is still usable on NTSC. But at the expense of it not being centered vertically. This patch fixed it for NTSC users.

[sheik]

Just wanted to thank Codetapper for his 1.4beta slave.
I tried it yesterday for Stunt Car Racer and TNT, on a PAL A1200, and it fixed the vertical alignment problems on my TV in NTSC mode.
Is there any reason v1.4 never made it to the official WHDLoad slave download pages?