Personal project: EEEPC, Gamebase and WINAUE: problems problems

[butter100fly]

Hi all

I'm trying to get GB Amiga 1.6 working with EEEPC 701 and WINUAE 1.5.0. For those that don't know the 701 has a native 800x480 screen and only has a 4gb internal drive, thus requiring SDHC memory cards. Been at this for a long time now....I have to post at this point, have tried searching forums a lot, and I know some of this is a bit basic...problem is its such a variety of problems...hair falling out at this point...

It is really very very cool to have an Amiga on a 7" screen - well worth the effort, and they aren't going to make such a small netbook as the 701 again in a hurry

WINUAE: Why oh why can I not get the filters working - as soon as I find a filter that fills the right screen for one specific game, the next game ends up all over the shop? It really is quite difficult with such a small screen to see what you're doing - so I need the image to fill the whole screen every time automatically (need to forget about having the right aspect ratio)

WINUAE/Gamebase: the dreaded KEYSET B. Using a joypad with the EEEPC is a non starter (screen is too small for you to get any further away than you currently are). But you seriously can't use the RIGHT control and alt very sensibly - needs to be left CTRL! Whenever I make a config changing the default keyset and having the left CTRL I generally get it resetting back or it not working at all - how do i make a keyset stick in WINUAE and how do I mod the GB ini to load that WINUAE config reliaby?

GAMEBASE: I've now got the full 1.6 with all the WHD and SPS games...its enourmous! I value Amiga greatly so it can take up a disproportionate amount of room on my card, but it looks like some games are not being used by gamebase - most notibly the CD32 games? why? Really I would like to have CD32 in GB - why are they not in there when they are in KG's packs? Has anyone modded gamebase for KG's updates? if thats not possible I need to identify them to remove. Also gamesin other languages etc, and maybe I don't need 3 versions of every game - but how to identify?...space is incredibly tight on my memory cards

thanks all, much respect

[Amiga1992]

I use a 900HA, which has 1024x700 resolution and a much faster processor. I think this is not worth trying on a 701, specially knowing its lower specs. It will lag like hell, even (safely) overclocked.

But there's an option to stretch the image to a certain resolution. Why are you using filters?

[Toni Wilen]

Every game has different "resolution". Remember that most games have black borders. It is normal. (real Amiga connected to TV)

You can try latest beta + autoscale enabled but it won't be (and can't be) perfect.

[butter100fly]

Thanks both: I envy your 900HD res Akira but the diamondville Atom is not faster as you might think - have a look on eeeuser - 701 plays everything I've thrown at it amazingly well...frankly it breezes through winuae - the res helps though . celeron o/c's quite well unlike the atom, only problem is the serial processing which is a drag....

are you both talking about the same thing: the autoscale on the beta? I've got 800x480 res set on 1.5.0. I have many emus for many computers and none of them scale each game with different borders why is amiga so different? E.G: why don't I have to do this on Archimedes or STemu's? Many emu's have a setting to turn borders off which maybe does similar to autoscale- does it lookfor continuing solid colour areas from screen edge to work out where the borders are per game? that would seem to be mostly unfallible...

I'll check the autoscale out thanks, but is there any other method? Any comments on the other seemingly unrelated problems? This is my most important system I have to getAmiga working....

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by butter100fly

why is amiga so different?

It has more flexible display hardware.

Detecting "border color" isn't going to work. (simplest example is empty screen with scroll text that starts from right and slowly moves to left.. and border isn't always border..)

This "problem" has been discussed here many times already.

[butter100fly]

ok understood Toni, thanks. I'm reading through the autoscale thread. Size really becomes a problem when the screen is no larger than your hand. What possibilities this opens for the future: we need a side-show enabled UAE on the front screen of every freezer don't we? ;-) If the little one will take it, I'll report back what happens with 701 and autoscale

Practically:what can a 701 user do about any of the above problems to get an UAE-emulated Amiga and an SD-card-friendly game frontend?

All suggestions welcome

[Amiga1992]

Originally Posted by butter100fly

Thanks both: I envy your 900HD res Akira but the diamondville Atom is not faster as you might think - have a look on eeeuser - 701 plays everything I've thrown at it amazingly well..

You can oc the Atom as well. It works well up to 2Ghz, as far as I've heard.

Toni explained very well the Amiga display situation.
I don't know what you can do about it, but I think using the "correct aspect ratio" function might help.

Why not try another emu, if your needs are simple? use WinFellow.

[john4p]

Does Powerstrip work with the EeePC's display? Does it let you clock the vertical refresh rate to 50Hz or 100Hz?

If yes, you can just add 640x400 @50Hz (for the majority of Amiga games which have a resolution of 320x200) and 640x512 @50Hz (for "fullscreen" Amiga games which have a resolution of 320x256) and enjoy your Amiga games with correct aspect ratio (as long as you don't set "fullscreen stretch" in the settings of your graphics card) and using the full screen-height.

[Toni Wilen]

"Full-window" in display panel + autoscale and correct aspect in filter panel enabled should give quite good results (not sure if there is enough cpu power..) Setting display buffer in misc panel to SystemRAM may be needed if above configuration is REALLY slow.

Input issue: not my problem if you use any frontend software

[butter100fly]

Smashing - now have plenty of things to try...thanks all. Can't wait to try autoscale. Also I'd thought of using the eee hacks to rescale upward to 800x600 but never thought about scaling downward....genius....silly me. Seriously considering booking time off work now to get this done.

I want to stick with UAE - I'm not after something simple,its a fantastic emu and as I say proc power isn't the issue (he says before he tries autoscale :-)

Graphics issues aside: Might I again plead for other solutions to the Gamebase\Gemus and SPS\WHD\disk space issues? I'm nearly at the end of a long road here...more than happy in return to share knowledge with any other netbook user about setting up all manner of emus, games and game filesets

[butter100fly]

Toni you're a genius! I was being a bit nazi when i said the scale needs to work every time...I don't mind at all if it only works 85% of the time and every game so far is near perfect - i see what you've done its all about borders over perceived active picture. when I saw SOTB amiga full screen on my little screen you made a relatively old guy relatively cry with happiness! This makes such a big difference you wouldn't believe: NOW we're in business! Very much appreciated

I can't find appropriate UAE, GB or WHD help files for how to make a GB config for WHD load, so it was back to the old reverse engineering. I used the 1.6.0 beta config and compared with the 1.4.4 WHDload.uae

And clearly WHDload requires a specific amiga to work:
1)cpu model needs to be 68020
2)must change kickstart_rom_file=blah to kickstart_rom=v3.1
3)fastmem_size=%fastmem_size_value%
must be changed to =8
4)chipmem_size=%chipmem_size_value%
must be changed to 4

so how on earth are you supposed to play games for other models????

but anyway - I got it working but 1.6.0beta10 is, as reported on the beta thread, crippplingly slow. Will try beta8.

I fixed the left ctrl but host config operation still a mystery to me - many variables with interacting gui operations always confuse me. I need to map cd32 to keyboard whilst knowing what i'm ACTUALLY doing - anyone point me to any docs that will help?

Seems I can use eLowar's WHD move scripts to copy over only the necessary files for KGWHD packs,but a) they only seems to go up to GB 1.4? b) they won't solve the fact I ideally want English only in both GB and in the files(toreduce size only) and c) I would rather like the cd games in these packs (but would ideally like to identify and segregte them)

any tips anyone?

[Amiga1992]

Originally Posted by butter100fly

And clearly WHDload requires a specific amiga to work:
1)cpu model needs to be 68020
2)must change kickstart_rom_file=blah to kickstart_rom=v3.1
3)fastmem_size=%fastmem_size_value%
must be changed to =8
4)chipmem_size=%chipmem_size_value%
must be changed to 4

This is absolutely wrong, WHDLoad runs on any Amiga with, at least, Kickstart 2.05 or bigger.

You don't need fastmem if you don't preload (but you want to), 1.5MB of Chip RAM is the minimum (sometimes 1MB is enough), and that's all.

It ran on my 2MB A600 (68000 CPU, KS 3.05) so there.

Official requirements from the WHDLoad docs:
Requirements
... to run installed programs
* CPU 68000 (68010+ is recommended because some installs require the VBR for the 'quit by a key' feature)
* Kickstart 2.0 (version 37+)
* a minimum of 1.0 MB RAM (sometimes more, it depends on the installed program)

Regarding the eePC, WInUAE runs great on my 900HA, as I said before, as long as it is in 1.6GHz mode. I also remember running it with great results on my P3-866. So why does it run so slow on your computer? Probably because you are trying too use 3D acceleration on a computer hat has a shitty videocard.

[butter100fly]

Thanks for this point taken: my apologies I shouldn't have said that was the requirement. Do bear in mind I wrote:

Originally Posted by butter100fly

I can't find appropriate UAE, GB or WHD help files for how to make a GB config for WHD load...I used the 1.6.0 beta config and compared with the 1.4.4 WHDload.uae

therefore if the environment variable produced a non-functioning amiga, I set it to the original 1.4.4 WHDload.uae config value Belgarath specified. And only with the above combination would the amiga boot into KS. This is the problem with reverse engineering! can someone point me at a manual/help location that actually works? (the GB Wiki is down)

What I'd like to know is why I have to do this with WHD (since I don't get a non-functioning amiga if variables in my Gamebase Amiga.uae still appear as %environment variables% after loading. What do I need to set these values to to make the maximum number of games I can work with GB 1.6 and WHD load 16.8? I'm working under the assumption that although the mechanic is supposed to be that the Gemus values overwrite the UAE config defaults, they still require a good 'base' WHDLoad.UAE

eee701 copes just fine with the scaling toni's put into the beta - as I said the problem was that I was using 6100beta10. Now fixed by using beta8. My project is to make emus and filesets work on the first gen eee. I ain't looking to go folding with it...

[butter100fly]

update from me is that everything appears to work just fine - keyset was me being silly. Autoscale fixes screen 'issues' wonderfully. Every test with the modded UAE script I made for WHD under GB works with success on non-problem games

only problem left: nearly 10GB of games. Many of them either SPS' that will not work or are unncecessary copies, or WHD that are not used by GB Amiga 1.6.

There are copy scripts for KGWHD on elowars site. The version number goes to 1.4. Will they work against GB Amiga 1.6?

As for the SPS I seriously need some creative person to suggest something? I don't want to lose those games where SPS versions are useful, but 10GB is utterly unmnanageable for the purpose on an SDHC card

[Hercules]

I tried running WinUAE on my EEE PC 1000HE, and despite lowering WinUAE's sound quality, the poor little Intel Atom CPU stuttered with sound. The problem is WinUAE needs a fairly decent PC. Moreso for demos / games that are reliant on the Amiga's blitter. Even setting 'Immediate Blitter' in WinUAE can cause demo's and game's to suffer on Atom CPU, as it simply isn't fast enough. If it possible to overclock the Intel Atom then it worth a go, but expect your warranty to be out the window if anything goes wrong. Also, if you overclock for extra speed the Atom will run hotter, so an impact on the amount of battery charge.

[butter100fly]

Ah pity - I would like to try o/c-ing an atom. The atom is made for a certain task, whereas the celeron is a desktop chip from the same stable as core2's etc. (I can o/c to 945 without issue which will just about get you a full screen (autoscaled 800x480) SOTB3 (this is the game that seems to give it the most trouble on 6100beta8 anyway). Give me some examples of punishing demos and I'll try them?

Regarding the eePC, WInUAE runs great on my 900HA, as I said before, as long as it is in 1.6GHz mode.

Akira what did you mean by 1.6G mode on an atom EEE (thought that was the native frequency - do you mean as long as it isn't underclocking itself?) Anyone else tried o/c-ing an atom for UAE use?