CD32 Emulation Problems

[Steve]

Does anyone know if there are problems with WinUAE 1.4.6 and various CD32 games. I have encountered problems with quite a few games. First up I'll mention Liberation. My original disc looks fine and all the data can be copied to HD with no problems. Unfortunately the game just hangs for me at this loading screen with the CD light remaining on but no disc activity. Has anyone else encountered this or is my CD just buggered?

[Steve]

This game suffers from incredibly annoying pauses at certain locations while you're playing the game. The pauses occur when the CD is accessed. Is there anyway to solve this problem?

[Steve]

This game which is part of "The Big 6" Dizzy compilation suffers from a graphical glitch. The AGA copper background only fills half of the screen and is constantly shifting as you move around the game. See the screenshot below. Also notice the green line to the left of the screen.

Note: This problem doesn't occur on the disk version (which is ECS) as I've tested my Fantastic Dizzy IPF original and the background looks fine.

[laser]

Chaos engine CD32 works perfect...on winuae 1.4.4 ...it's the version I use right now..there are no pauses here.....
Play the game using a CD image

don't know about winuae 1.4.6 cause I don't like the last official version...it contains so bugs

I will check fantastic dizzy

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by Steve

Does anyone know if there are problems with WinUAE 1.4.6 and various CD32 games. I have encountered problems with quite a few games. First up I'll mention Liberation. My original disc looks fine and all the data can be copied to HD with no problems. Unfortunately the game just hangs for me at this loading screen with the CD light remaining on but no disc activity. Has anyone else encountered this or is my CD just buggered?

It needs audio tracks.

[Steve]

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

It needs audio tracks.

Its an original CD32 Liberation disc I'm using - not an ISO image or a burned ISO disc.

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by Steve

Its an original CD32 Liberation disc I'm using not an ISO image or a burned ISO disc.

It was not very clearly explained
Do you hear CD audio? You do run in real CD32 emulation mode? Not some CD32 with harddisk mode like some "guides" say..

Anyway, Liberation problem has been reported here multiple times and it is timing specific, disabling JIT may or may not help. Adjusting other CPU options may or may not help. CD32 emulation = very low priority.

[Steve]

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

Do you hear CD audio? You do run in real CD32 emulation mode? Not some CD32 with harddisk mode like some "guides" say.

Yes I run using proper CD32 mode and yes I hear the CD audio for the introduction sequence featuring Neil Morriseys laughable attempt at voice acting.

Insted of seeing the intro sequence all I get is the loading screen as shown in the attachment in the first post.

Anyway, Liberation problem has been reported here multiple times and it is timing specific, disabling JIT may or may not help. Adjusting other CPU options may or may not help. CD32 emulation = very low priority.

I have tried every possible tweak of the emulator to get it working but to no avail. Maybe it is a dodgy CD unless someone else can confirm the problem. Unfortunately I don't have a real CD32 to test it on. I realise CD32 emulation is low priority. Still worth reporting bugs though.

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by Steve

This game which is part of "The Big 6" Dizzy compilation suffers from a graphical glitch. The AGA copper background only fills half of the screen and is constantly shifting as you move around the game. See the screenshot below. Also notice the green line to the left of the screen.

Note: This problem doesn't occur on the disk version (which is ECS) as I've tesed my Fantastic Dizzy IPF original and the background looks fine.

This was interesting semi-undocumented SSCAN2-bit feature.. Technical information in undocumented features thread later today..

[Steve]

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

This was interesting semi-undocumented SSCAN2-bit feature.. Technical information in undocumented features thread later today..

Nice discovery!

Interesting. So it really isn't an AGA copper background at all, its just 4 huge 64-pixel wide sprites which scroll when you move. This explains the strange shifting effect I noticed. Its repositioning the sprite which has just moved off the screen.

I take it this fix will be included in the next beta.

[Ian]

While we are on the low-priority CD32 emulation, it seems something is broken when using SPTI and daemon tools.

If I unmount the image (with CD audio or without makes no difference) and reset winuae it does nothing.

[F1ReB4LL]

Roadkill and Skeleton Crew are still broken, at least in Quickstart mode.

[Toni Wilen]

While we are on the low-priority CD32 emulation, it seems something is broken when using SPTI and daemon tools.

If I unmount the image (with CD audio or without makes no difference) and reset winuae it does nothing.

Roadkill and Skeleton Crew are still broken, at least in Quickstart mode.

"does nothing" and "is broken" are something that gets ignored easily. Try again

(i can unmount just fine and reset "does something")

[Ian]

OK, "does nothing" does nothing for you, how about it fails to load, or fails to boot to the CD32 "intro" with the music.

I don't know how else to describe the fact it does nothing

Anyway, I can reproduce the error quite effectively, here is the log.

3 resets (changing image each time using unmount image, then adding another image), and on the third it "does nothing".

After clicking the new image I click reset as fast as possible and it hangs. It does it without resetting quickly, but thats the easiest way to reproduce the error.

I'm using beta 10, but it's the same for me in 1.4.6

[F1ReB4LL]

Roadkill - black screen after the main menu. Skeleton Crew - black screen after the level name. Both used to work fine in earlier versions. This was reported a number of times, btw.

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by F1ReB4LL

Roadkill - black screen after the main menu. Skeleton Crew - black screen after the level name. Both used to work fine in earlier versions. This was reported a number of times, btw.

Skeleton Crew works fine here without JIT. (=Quickstart + compatibility slider on far left)

[F1ReB4LL]

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

Skeleton Crew works fine here without JIT. (=Quickstart + compatibility slider on far left)

Nope, doesn't work here. And it was already mentioned, for example, here.

There are also problems with other games - Brutal: Paws of Fury is unplayable (display is totally screwed), Super Street Fighter 2 shows black screen during the match, you can see the arena and players only after the last hit. And I'm not mentioning CDTV games, which were confirmed to work on the real CD32, but don't work on WinUAE in CD32 mode.

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by F1ReB4LL

Nope, doesn't work here. And it was already mentioned, for example, here.

There are also problems with other games - Brutal: Paws of Fury is unplayable (display is totally screwed), Super Street Fighter 2 shows black screen during the match, you can see the arena and players only after the last hit. And I'm not mentioning CDTV games, which were confirmed to work on the real CD32, but don't work on WinUAE in CD32 mode.

Then you are out of luck, sorry. (and post you point is something I'll automatically ignore..)

Many CD32 games are badly programmed and because it is AGA+68020 = compatibility is random = 95% of problems are caused by "wrong" CPU/blitter speed and I don't really care about those. (explained dozens of times already)

ADDED:

The better the bug report the higher chance for fix is. Good report includes:

- Last working WinUAE version if any. (VERY IMPORTANT)
- CRC32/some other identification of used image. (audio tracks missing/mp3 audio tracks = goes to garbage)
- Screenshot(s) if there is graphics error.
- If problem happens later than title screen and/or requires more than pressing fire button: step-by-step instructions. I am going to be debugging, not trying to learn to play the game.
- Use Quickstart. Only use custom configuration if Quickstart does not work.

Any missing -> laziness wins

[TheBoss]

About Roadkill
There are 2 versions out of Roadkill (same data on cd), 1 published by Acid and another by Guildhall Leisure. I have just been testing both my original cds with the older WinUAE v1.4.4 and newest v1.5.0 B10. Interestingly the Acid version released in 1994 has the reported bug above of giving a black screen most of the time before getting to the main menu, HOWEVER if you F12 and then go back to the game, you will get into the menu. Guildhall Leisure version from 1995 loads into the menu mostly it seems and into the car selection screen too but the controls are messed up there. If I F12 back to WinUAE and then return back to game, I am able to click a button but cannot change directions so unable to actually start a race.

Workaround
Now I found a temporally method to play the game. Start the game, get to the menu, then push cd out of drive/WinUAE, then back into drive/WinUAE, WinUAE will restart and load the game up once more but now things should work fine, you'll not get stuck with a black screen and the car selection screen controls works. If not, repeat workaround again and it should be fine.

Toni I hope you can see what the problem might be with the game and if needed I can provide a clone of my cd for further testing purposes

[F1ReB4LL]

Well, Skeleton Crew actually works, but only with Hardware->CPU and FPU->More compatible option unchecked.