Denise bugfixes and improvements

[amilo3438]

Fast Break (1989)(Accolade)[0652] ... After the title screen it soon crashes into the CLI!? (doesn't crash in WinUAE) Tested configuration: A500 KS12 OCS 512 chip.

Final Mission, The (1988)(reLINE)[2024] ... After showing the reLINE logo, it stops at track 40 regardless of the disk write protect state (on WinUAE it asks to deprotect the disk and then it works)
Tested configuration: A500 KS12 OCS 512 chip.

[PiCiJi]

nightly:

Originally Posted by amilo3438

Fast Break (1989)(Accolade)[0652] ... After the title screen it soon crashes into the CLI!? (doesn't crash in WinUAE) Tested configuration: A500 KS12 OCS 512 chip.

fixed. The copy protection checks the track alignment, which I unfortunately dismantled during the fix a few days ago.

Originally Posted by amilo3438

Final Mission, The (1988)(reLINE)[2024] ... After showing the reLINE logo, it stops at track 40 regardless of the disk write protect state (on WinUAE it asks to deprotect the disk and then it works)

fixed.
Write protection was previously switched without removing the floppy disk from the drive. This game expects that to happen. A disc in/out is now simulated.

[amilo3438]

Originally Posted by PiCiJi

nightly:
fixed.
Write protection was previously switched without removing the floppy disk from the drive. This game expects that to happen. A disc in/out is now simulated.

It seems it doesn't work with drag'n'drop!? (work only after hard reset)

[PiCiJi]

Originally Posted by amilo3438

It seems it doesn't work with drag'n'drop!? (work only after hard reset)

Misunderstanding.
Nothing has changed for d'n'd. If the check mark is switched for write protection, the floppy disk is now hidden and quickly inserted out and put back in. (*)
In the previous versions, only write protection was toggled. That would be like trying to do this with the open Amiga without first removing the floppy disk.

(*) because User has no option to do the following: remove disk, toggle write protection, insert disk. By switching the write protection, the floppy disk is now hidden and quickly put back in.

At the moment, you can remove the floppy disk yourself and then change the write protection. This should be greyed out as it is confusing. Because the next time you insert it, this will be ignored and a ZIP, for example, will be inserted read-only and an ADF will not.

EDIT: You can also remove the write protection of a ZIP after insertion. From the Amiga's point of view, the floppy disk is writable. In this case, the changes cannot be written permanently to the disc and are only permanently available via game saves. The option "confirm writes" does not create a dialog for ZIP when removing a written disk, because it is not possible to write to the ZIP anyway. In principle, this is possible, but very time-consuming and there is a risk of destroying the ZIP. In the case of an ADF, there is a dialog where you can ask if the changes should be written permanently.

If this option "confirm writes" is not enabled and it is not a ZIP or IPF, all changes will be written automatically when the disc is removed. But I wouldn't recommend that, because sometimes you don't even notice what has been written and may not want to. With this option activated, it is not a bad thing to remove the write protection from the disk, as the user has to confirm permanent changes anyway.

[amilo3438]

What I wanted to say is that Final Mission does not inform you that you need to deprotect the disk, even though write protection is turned on, when the disk (Edit: .zip file) is inserted via d'n'd, loading or software tab. (as if the game has no knowledge of the state of write protection) Edit: It sees it that is write protected only after a hard reset.

And yes, in the case when the disc is already inserted and we want to change the state of write protection, I wonder if the emulator itself could eject the disc, change the state of write protection and put the disc back automatically!?

--------------------------------------------------
Something else I noticed:
The power LED doesn't seem to track the state of the defined audio/power filter!
When it is auto or software, the LED becomes dim or fully bright, which is regulated by software and works fine, but if we manually turn it off or on, the state of the LED does not change. (although in a real Amiga the state of the LED is linked to the state of the audio filter) So, if it is off, the LED should dim, and if it is on it should light up all the time.
(LED dim or completely turned off what depend of amiga model... in case for red LED would be completely turned off)

[PiCiJi]

nightly -> just building, needs a hour for all OS'es, because of the Shader libraries.

Originally Posted by amilo3438

What I wanted to say is that Final Mission does not inform you that you need to deprotect the disk, even though write protection is turned on, when the disk (Edit: .zip file) is inserted via d'n'd, loading or software tab. (as if the game has no knowledge of the state of write protection) Edit: It sees it that is write protected only after a hard reset.

I see.
yes the UI doesn't show the state in emulation. should be fixed.
Note: Denise remembers inserted file paths when closing the emulator, but not the state of seted write protection. it resets to default state.
Note2: loading a savestate should remember the state of write protection and updates the UI.

Originally Posted by amilo3438

When it is auto or software, the LED becomes dim or fully bright, which is regulated by software and works fine, but if we manually turn it off or on, the state of the LED does not change. (although in a real Amiga the state of the LED is linked to the state of the audio filter) So, if it is off, the LED should dim, and if it is on it should light up all the time.

That's right, should be fixed.

--------------------
Are there any demos/games that provoke the infamous Blitter/Copper conflict?

[amilo3438]

Originally Posted by PiCiJi

Are there any demos/games that provoke the infamous Blitter/Copper conflict?

I looked in winuaechangelog.txt and found this:

- Copper/blitter bug tested, updated and confirmed and is enabled by default again (only if 68000 and cycle-exact). This is the infamous chipset bug that can cause copper pointer to blitter pointer copy if copper was waiting, CPU wrote to COPJMPx during odd cycle and blitter was active. Not 100% accurate (modulos are not added correctly when glitch happens) in line mode because line mode internal "micro-operations" are not fully correct (exactly when pointers change, modulo is added etc, invisible operations that don't affect line mode output).

Conditions that are needed to trigger this bug:
- Copper is waiting.
- CPU writes to COPJMP, using odd cycle. (Odd cycle seems to mess up copper COPJMP cycle allocation logic)
- 3rd cycle after COPJMP is blitter DMA transfer cycle. (1st and 2nd cycle can be used by CPU or any DMA channel)
If above conditions are true:
- Blitter DMA accesses address: blitter pointer OR current copper pointer (Copper pointer before COPJMP updates it)
- Old copper pointer gets copied to blitter address pointer. The very nasty part of this bug.
- New copper pointer is increase by blitter modulo (if this blitter access would have added modulo)

but I wouldn't know which demos would demonstrate it best! (hope Tony could help here)

[amilo3438]

I checked out demos from the blitter active problems from winuae testing group and found one that causes a problem in Denise nightly 1040 (A500 ECS 1.3 512+512):

Application-Trackmo.7z ... Stops at some point in the demo! (in The Zone!)

PS. It stops on at different piont, depending on whether it is the disc inserted at WB screen or on bottom power icon!

------------------------
Party Pack 10 (Packdisk) by Artstate --> http://janeway.exotica.org.uk/release.php?id=105525
F4 - Fortnite OCS Cractro ... some gfx problem if started from pack disk!? (same in WinUAE)

------------------------
Problem: If disk is inserted on screen bottom power icon, i.e. or after a hard reset!
Possessed-CemeteryOfSilence.7z ... Scroller glitches! (in The Zone!)
BLACK_ROBES-GleatSt01.7z ... 1st demo Dual Crew BBS Intro stops after a while! (In The Zone!)

[PiCiJi]

nightly (building)

Originally Posted by amilo3438

Application-Trackmo.7z ... Stops at some point in the demo! (in The Zone!)

fixed.

Originally Posted by amilo3438

F4 - Fortnite OCS Cractro ... some gfx problem if started from pack disk!? (same in WinUAE)

same on real machine, use at least Kick 2.0
The Packer author probably didn't install Kick 1.3 and thus never noticed the problem.

Originally Posted by amilo3438

Problem: If disk is inserted on screen bottom power icon, i.e. or after a hard reset!

This refers to the two demos mentioned afterwards ?

Originally Posted by amilo3438

Possessed-CemeteryOfSilence.7z ... Scroller glitches! (in The Zone!)

can not confirm on real one, ADF doesn't load in Gotek. will make a floppy disk.
scroller and sound glitch happen in emulation very rarly. need a few hard resets to trigger this. needs more investigation.

Originally Posted by amilo3438

BLACK_ROBES-GleatSt01.7z ... 1st demo Dual Crew BBS Intro stops after a while! (In The Zone!)

can not confirm on real one, ADF doesn't load in Gotek. What's going on?
need to check.
with kick 2.0 it behaves differently

[amilo3438]

Originally Posted by PiCiJi

This refers to the two demos mentioned afterwards ?

Correct!

Originally Posted by PiCiJi

ADF doesn't load in Gotek. will make a floppy disk.

This suggests that Gotek may not be very reliable for real objective testing! (A real floppy seems only correct way.)

Originally Posted by PiCiJi

scroller and sound glitch happen in emulation very rarly. need a few hard resets to trigger this. needs more investigation.

It works for me every time at Denise!
The first time I put it on the screen with WB with d'n'd and it works ok, and then I do a hard reset and it causes problems.
Also if I put it on the screen power icon with d'n'd it also causes problems! (at least as far as Possessed demo is concerned)


EDIT: The basic version of Possessed demo doesn't seem to have the problem that the .adf version has!
Cemetery Of Silence (Demo) by Possessed --> http://janeway.exotica.org.uk/release.php?id=6834

I remember that I created it with exe2adf at a time when Denise did not yet support .exe files so that I could test it.
exe2adf --> https://www.exe2adf.com/

[PiCiJi]

Originally Posted by amilo3438

This suggests that Gotek may not be very reliable for real objective testing! (A real floppy seems only correct way.)

everything has worked so far. I had forgotten that the SlowMem was disabled.

Black Robes:
confimed on real hardware -> to prevent crash use two disk drives (confirmed) or kick 2.0

Possessed:
problem happens with disk turbo 8x in emulation (for me...)
The Turbo Modes are not natural behavior and therefore not 100% compatible. More data is loaded into the Amiga memory than usual. Software can have a problem with this. In this specific case, the problem occurs when the floppy spin motor acceleration/deceleration + turbo is emulated. In the case of the C64, for example, there are programs that still expect data after the disk motor has been switched off. In the next nightly I will disable the motor acc(dec)eleration as soon as a turbo mode is used. Then this problem is gone here.

[amilo3438]

Well, I tried using two disk drives and both problems disappeared! (for me...)

PS. I'm sick of testing games, so I'm going to take a break. I will probably be more interested in testing the demos in the next period.

[amilo3438]

Seems like Threaded Renderer enabled/disabled change what happens with Possession demo after a hard reset!? (did you have Threaded Rendered enabled all the time?)

With Threaded Renderer enabled no problems after a hard reset! (maybe needs several time to provoke it)

Talking about Possessed demo .adf version!

[PiCiJi]

Originally Posted by amilo3438

Seems like Threaded Renderer enabled/disabled change what happens with Possession demo after a hard reset!? (did you have Threaded Rendered enabled all the time?)

in combination with floppy turbo 8x ?
The threaded renderer is decoupled from the C64/Amiga emulation. There are only a few ways in which this can interact with emulation, for example in dynamic input sampling.

[amilo3438]

No, Threaded Renderer does not change anything! (my mistake)

I try today and again after hard reset the problem!
So I copy the emulator together with the problematic demo to my other computer and there again the same... until I started using Hotkeys for hard reset!
After that everything is fine! I tried again with the Amiga tab hard reset and the problem appeared!
So, if I use the hard reset from the Amiga tab (or d'n'd to power icon), the problem will appear, and if I use the defined Hotkeys for hard reset (no matter how many times) the problem does not exist!

In the Zone is authentic file used for this testing: Possessed-CemeteryOfSilence_(problematic).adf (CRC F13B345C)

If you still don't have that problem, then there is probably something in my emulator configuration. I can send you that too if necessary.
Because it sounds a bit impossible that the same problem would occur to me on two quite different PCs.


--------------------------
Graffiti Man (1987)(Rainbow Arts)[compilation 5th Anniversary][2168] ... On A500 black screen with music! On A1000 it shows but like something is wrong!
--------------------------

[PiCiJi]

Originally Posted by amilo3438

So I copy the emulator together with the problematic demo to my other computer and there again the same

an emulation problem is independant of host PC.

nightly: improve disk turbo behaviour

The problem here needs a detailed explanation.

The demo sometimes works and sometimes it doesn't. This leads to fallacies, e.g. Threaeded Renderer which happened to be on or off at the time of testing.
To be clear, it's not an emulator bug.

Hard reset should always lead to the same result in Denise. The coincidences, such as "disk wobble", are programmed in such a way that they behave deterministically.
Important: This is only 100% valid if there is no external influence such as mouse or keyboard input and the disc is inserted from the beginning.
I fell for it myself in this demo by putting Warp on a key combination like Alt + W and these are normal Amiga keys that the demo handles.

So it happened that the demo sometimes ran after a hard reset and sometimes not. When I put the warp on the game controller and thus no keyboard inputs are triggered, the result is always the same.

The demo is not properly programmed. On a real Amiga, it is possible to randomly trigger this problem by pointless keystrokes during loading.
It's even possible that the problem is likely to occur on a real device even without any keyboard input. Because unlike emulation, the
Floppy disks wobbles with real coincidence. But I don't want that in the emulation to find certain problems faster.

In addition, the demo still reads data even though the drive spin motor is already off. This is possible because the spin motor does not stop from one moment to the next. In combination with disk Turbo amplifies the problem here, as this is not a behavior of the original.
I have now modified it so that the time the drive still reads data after motor shutdown depends on what the user sets for disk Turbo.
The demo will now always work after a hard reset with the disc inserted and no keyboard input.
Probably I shouldn't do that at all and should allow the error here.

[amilo3438]

Originally Posted by PiCiJi

an emulation problem is independant of host PC.

It should be like that, but it's not, because with you, this, let's call it a problem, manifests itself differently.
I wonder if the OS plays any role here, because it was tested on W10 on both of my PCs, and if something changes the situation on W11.

Originally Posted by PiCiJi

To be clear, it's not an emulator bug.

That's correct!

I re-created two new .adf files with exe2adf.exe (post #230) by:

1) Creation a .bat file with: exe2adf.exe -i Possessed-CemeteryOfSilence -a Possessed-CemeteryOfSilence.adf.

2) Creation another one with d'n'd Possessed-CemeteryOfSilence on exe2adf.exe.

Both newly created files (In The Zone!) have a different CRC and even the problematic .adf has a different CRC.

What is interesting here is that both of these new created files do not create a problem during a hard reset via Amiga/hard reset or d'n'd on the power button.
Now I'm just wondering how and in what way I was able to create that problematic .adf file! (it's unclear to me)

Edit: Maybe I used some other .exe file then, I don't know. For me this problem is now over.
[/QUOTE]


PS. I decided to continue testing games, but at a much, much slower pace. The previous one would soon lead to burnout.

----------------------------
Graffiti Man (1987)(Rainbow Arts)[compilation 5th Anniversary][2168] ... On A500 black screen with music! On A1000 it shows but like something is wrong!
Hanse - Die Expedition (1994)(Ascon)(DE)[1919] ... Stops loading at some point!
Hard Drivin' & Toobin' (1990)(Tengen - Domark)[compilation TNT][1239] ... F2 Toobin has some glitches at screen bottom! (same in winuae)
----------------------------

[PiCiJi]

nightly

Originally Posted by amilo3438

PS. I decided to continue testing games, but at a much, much slower pace. The previous one would soon lead to burnout.

I am very grateful to you for testing. There's no need to rush. I'll take some time to fix the bugs before I come up with the next release.

- fixed Graffiti Man
- Hard Drivin' & Toobin (this strange last line is visible on real machine too)
- Hanse (not fixed) uhhh, have generated and analyzed logs for ten hours.

The game reads the data sector-wise. (542 word chunks). When all 11 sectors have been read, the side or track is switched. However, this doesn't always happen in Denise and then the sectors are endlessly loaded from the same track. As soon as all 11 sectors have been read and the program notices that one sector has already been loaded, it cancels the transfer to change tracks.

seems pending disk DMAL needs to be cleared, when DSKLEN ends Read operation.

[amilo3438]

Originally Posted by PiCiJi

I am very grateful to you for testing. There's no need to rush. I'll take some time to fix the bugs before I come up with the next release.

And I am grateful for your work on the emulator.
I agree that there is no need to rush. Therefore, I will take more time for a break than before.


---------------------------
Hollywood Poker Pro (1992)(reLINE)[2505] ... It stops loading at the very beginning!

[PiCiJi]

nightly

- fixed Hanse loading crash (improve DMAL emulation)
- improve interlace toggling
- fix Hollywood Poker (reading unmapped memory expect floating BUS )

in second part of Hanse title screen game toggles in interlace mode. toggling was a little glitchy (fixed)
other "interlace" games usually toggle when the screen is black. That's why it was never noticed. Hanse does this during active display. In addition, the interlace image is still scrolling. Are there any other non AGA Interlace (maybe scrolling) games known?

what I have seen so far:
- Beast third title screen
- Hollywood Poker Pro
- Backgammon title screen
- Agony title screen
- Hanse (scrolling screen with game developers)

note: zooming of girls in Hollywood Poker Pro shows glitchy colored stripes in border area (same on real hardware)