Denise bugfixes and improvements

[amilo3438]

Hopp oder Top (1992)(PCSL)(DE)[2686] ... It stops after computer choose players!
Hotball (1988)(Satory)[2798] ... After the referee's whistle, everything seemed to stop! (A500 OCS 1.2 512+512) (same in WinUAE)
Hotshot (1989)(Addictive)[compilation Hits for Six - Volume Two][2101] ... Stops loading at some point!

Edit:
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis - The Graphic Adventure v1.06 (1992-10-12)(U.S. Gold)[0851] ... Some small white line appears at 1st black screen during loading the game! (same in WinUAE)
Innocent Until Caught (1994)(Psygnosis)[1824] ... Somewhat slow movement of the mouse when entering the code, and afterwards in the game!
International Soccer (1993)(Zeppelin Platinum)[2429] ... It's a bit strange that there is no sound during the gameplay! (also in WinUAE)

Btw.
Nightly 1044 seems to fix that problem after a hard reset from the menu with Possessed-CemeteryOfSilence_(problematic).adf (CRC F13B345C)! (on denise nightly 1043 it still happens and on 1044 not)

[PiCiJi]

There are a few tough chunks here.

Hopp oder Top (fixed)
the game writes on IPF track which hasn't standard length.
I forgot to take this into account when writing.
very good find, especially because, the game gets problems here if the track is not written at the standard speed.

Hotball: (pending)
same on real machine... what the ? IPF broken ?, Gotek bug ? (unlikely), ADF works. needs more investigation.


Hotshot: (fixed with hack ? I'm ashamed)
The game is expected to be the first word read after a sync mark is the sync mark. This is usually not a problem, as there are 2 sync marks in a row. However, there is a certain probability that DISKLEN will happen exactly when the head is over first SyncMark. In this case, it can happen that the first word is not the sync mark. With over 30 tracks, the probability is already there that this will happen.
One keystroke to be processed is enough to have a slight influence on the timing. It always works on the original. How can that be? I've tried a lot of different variations. At least 10 times and it works. (Gotek or real floppy)
I could, of course, solve this with a hack. Is it even a hack ? So why does this always work on the real device?

EDIT:
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis: same on real
Innocent Until Caught: same on real, mouse control is creepy
International Soccer: same on real, you can only enable sound FX in options menu

[PiCiJi]

nightly:

fix Hopp oder Top
fix Hotshot:
The game is very dependent on accurately emulating the position of the read/write head. If the head is unfavorably located when the sync word is recognized, it can happen that the sync word does not end up in the Fifo, which is not an error but crash the game. Altered drive speed can cause the situation to occur. The timing in Denise was not correct when the IPF had no timing information (variable bit cells), but a bit length that deviated from the standard.

Hotball:
game has no tracks with timing information, no additional revolutions (weak bits) but the bit length for all tracks is very different from the standard. Presumably, the IPF is not in order. Maybe someone has a comparison version.
edit: In addition, I examined reasons that point to mechanical conditions. These would be a reason why even a Gotek could fail. The floppy disk controller is not located in the drive or Gotek.
1. Motor will not shut down when data is read.
2. No tracks/side are changed while data is being read.

rearranged User interface for options that apply globally to all cores. Several controls have been transferred to the C64/Amiga menus and the remaining settings have been combined under "drivers". The volume slider is now in the status line. This can also be hidden again under options->on screen status

[amilo3438]

I'm thinking if it would be good to have an option to automatically capture the mouse after drag&drop a disk?! (even when the window is not in the focus to become in focus afterwards)


EDIT:
Kwasimodo (1987)(Courbois)[2957] ... For some reason the game always asks for the same protection code (1 D 2)!? (even after hard reset) Note: Deprotect the disk, otherwise it will not work! Config: A500 OCS 1.2 512

EDIT2:
Everything is probably fine here because the same thing happens in WinUAE when it is started for the first time. But since WinUAE creates an external .adf file and Denise only an internal one, the code protection is always the same on Denise and after creating the .adf file on WinUAE it is different. So the generation of a new protection code probably depends on some change on the disk file.

[PiCiJi]

Originally Posted by amilo3438

I'm thinking if it would be good to have an option to automatically capture the mouse after drag&drop a disk?! (even when the window is not in the focus to become in focus afterwards)

Ok, that makes sense. Mouse capture shouldn't be aproblem. Unfortunately, I have problems giving the window focus when an external process (e.g. file explorer to start D'n'D) has focus. I'm trying to figure that out.

Originally Posted by amilo3438

Everything is probably fine here because the same thing happens in WinUAE when it is started for the first time. But since WinUAE creates an external .adf file and Denise only an internal one, the code protection is always the same on Denise and after creating the .adf file on WinUAE it is different. So the generation of a new protection code probably depends on some change on the disk file.

Correct. The game stores data on the disc and then the code changes every time it is restarted. Denise reinserts the floppy disks during a hard reset and they are then back in their original state. During a soft reset, the floppy disks are not touched and therefore the written data is still available.
WinUAE seems to write the changed tracks of the IPF permanently to a file. I would probably have to include that too. But I'm not particularly motivated.
It's a pity that IPF was not built as a real flow change format, which does not contain a finished bit-stream. Then you could write in there without any problems, even if parts of the track have a bit cell timing, which the Amiga can't write.

[amilo3438]

Manix (1990)(Millennium)(M3)[2533] ... At the title screen, when it stops loading, press space key (or any other) and everything stops?! (same in WinUAE)
Damocles - Mercenary II (1990)(Novagen)[0643] ... It stops at track 80! Also missing info on the screen top during loading! (And in WinUAE there are some problems after loading also!)

[PiCiJi]

Originally Posted by amilo3438

Manix (1990)(Millennium)(M3)[2533] ... At the title screen, when it stops loading, press space key (or any other) and everything stops?! (same in WinUAE)

when pressing space on real hardware, music stops and after a few seconds it continues to load. ... same in emulation

--------------------
mainly interesting for Linux people
I have changed build system from self written makefile to cmake.
Visual Studio Solution is unaffected.

WINDOWS (7 and higher)
-----------
download and install CMAKE
download and install mingw32 or 64: https://github.com/niXman/mingw-builds-binaries/releases

open a CMD:
set Path=<mingw_path>\bin;%Path%
git clone https://piciji@bitbucket.org/piciji/denise.git denise
cd denise

cmake -G "MinGW Makefiles" -B builds/release
cmake --build builds/release -j=<number of usable CPU cores>
cmake --install builds/release
.\builds\release\out\denise.exe

-----------
MSYS2 to fake a Unix environment
-----------
install MSYS2 and open shell
pacman --noconfirm -Sy
pacman --needed --noconfirm -S bash pacman pacman-mirrors msys2-runtime
[restart shell]
pacman --noconfirm -Su
[64 bit]
pacman -S --noconfirm --needed wget git make mingw-w64-x86_64-toolchain mingw-w64-x86_64-ntldd mingw-w64-x86_64-zlib mingw-w64-x86_64-pkg-config mingw-w64-x86_64-libxml2 mingw-w64-x86_64-freetype mingw-w64-x86_64-python3 mingw-w64-x86_64-drmingw mingw-w64-x86_64-harfbuzz mingw-w64-x86_64-cmake
[32 bit]
pacman -S --noconfirm --needed wget git make mingw-w64-i686-toolchain mingw-w64-i686-ntldd mingw-w64-i686-zlib mingw-w64-i686-pkg-config mingw-w64-i686-libxml2 mingw-w64-i686-freetype mingw-w64-i686-python3 mingw-w64-i686-drmingw mingw-w64-i686-harfbuzz mingw-w64-i686-cmake

[open shell MinGW 32 or 64 ]
pacman -S make
pacman -S gcc

git clone https://piciji@bitbucket.org/piciji/denise.git denise
cd denise
cmake -G "MSYS Makefiles" -B builds/release
cmake --build builds/release -j=<number of usable CPU cores>
cmake --install builds/release
./builds/release/out/denise.exe

---------------
Visual Studio
---------------
there is a solution file in folder msvc


OSX
---
install brew first: /usr/bin/ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"
brew install pkg-config
cp /opt/homebrew/bin/pkg-config /usr/local/bin

compile freetype
  download latest source
  ./configure --enable-static --without-zlib --without-bzip2
  make
  sudo make install

git clone https://piciji@bitbucket.org/piciji/denise.git denise
cd denise
cmake -B builds/release [-DCMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES=arm64]  (flag is for cross compiling only)
cmake --build builds/release -j=<number of usable CPU cores>
cmake --install builds/release


LINUX / BSD (tested on NetBSD and OpenBSD, not FreeBSD)
-----
install following dependencies if you haven't already

GTK+ 3: apt-get install libgtk-3-dev
OpenGL: apt-get install mesa-common-dev
OpenAL: apt-get install libopenal-dev
Pulseaudio: apt-get install libpulse-dev
SDL2: apt-get install libsdl2-dev
Udev: apt-get install libudev-dev
---------------------------------------------
ARCH Linux
----------
gcc: pacman -Sy gcc
make: pacman -Sy make
gtk3: pacman -Sy gtk3
pkg-config: pacman -Sy pkgconf
---------------------------------------------
FreeBSD
--------------
pkgin in pkg-config
pkgin in openal-soft
pkgin in SDL2
pkgin in pulseaudio
---------------------

git clone https://piciji@bitbucket.org/piciji/denise.git denise
cd denise
cmake -B builds/release [-DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=~/.local] [-DINSTALL_FILE_ASSOCIATIONS=1]
cmake --build builds/release --target clean [optional]
cmake --build builds/release -j=<number of usable CPU cores> [--verbose]

[sudo] cmake --install builds/release
[sudo] cmake --build builds/release --target uninstall

NOTE: changing install prefix needs a complete App rebuild, otherwise assets will not be found

[amilo3438]

Originally Posted by PiCiJi

when pressing space on real hardware, music stops and after a few seconds it continues to load. ... same in emulation

Correct, I wasn't patient enough to wait a little longer!

Originally Posted by amilo3438

Damocles - Mercenary II (1990)(Novagen)[0643] ... It stops at track 80! Also missing info on the screen top during loading! (And in WinUAE there are some problems after loading also!)

My mistake, no problem in WinUAE with OCS! (only in ECS as usual)

What confused me is that the HOL database says ECS/OCS and the game seems doesn't work on ECS!? --> https://amiga.abime.net/games/view/d...s-mercenary-ii

On Denise in OCS mode, the game sometimes starts, but mostly it just stops after loading. (sometimes = very rarely)

[amilo3438]

Nathan Never (1993)(Genias)(IT)(en)[2667] ... Small glitches appears, specially on part when asking to change the disk!? (in WinUAE also)

[PiCiJi]

nightly:

- Damocles: fixed, it should always load in OCS and ECS with 512 kb chip.
- after Drag'n'Drop, APP window should have focus now
- there is an option in "Misc" tab to capture mouse after Drag'n'Drop
- there is an option to select dongle (5 at the moment) in "System" tab

to emulate dongle for Music Master or Leviathan, I need original images or ADF with intact dongle checking.

[amilo3438]

Thanks!

PS.
In case you want to check, there is yet another game that requires a dongle: Dyna Blaster (1992)(Ubi Soft)[0664]
HOL: https://amiga.abime.net/games/view/dyna-blaster


EDIT:
Phobia (1989)(Image Works)[2225] ... Strange sound at the hi score screen when the game starts for the first time. Later, after you come back from the game, the hi score screen is silent. (A500 OCS 1.2 512)

FYI:
A couple of weeks ago I started using only one day a week for testing (possibly two, depending on the mood), so there is no pressure for anyone.

EDIT2:
Postman Pat (1989)(Alternative)[compilation Kids Pack][1092] ... Some glitches happens with the car when is it the garage. To enter the garage, just crash into the wall. (same in WinUAE)

[PiCiJi]

Originally Posted by amilo3438

In case you want to check, there is yet another game that requires a dongle: Dyna Blaster (1992)(Ubi Soft)[0664]

copy protection dongle? You mean the 4 player adapter ?

[amilo3438]

Okay, maybe not necessary because there is an cracked .adf "Dyna Blaster (1992)(Ubi Soft)[cr VF].adf" that works just fine in the emulator (if choose joystick to play).
And it's probably not that simple either, because the wizard Toni, I assume, would have already implemented it in his emulator.

I also don't know if the dongle is implemented in the adapter or is it special!? Otherwise, according to the manual, the adapter is connected to the parallel port and there are two modes: mode 1 and several players.
Mode 1 is for 1 player and mode several for up to 5 players. In this case, players 1 and 2 use the adapter, players 3 and 4 use the joystick ports, and player 5 uses the keyboard. Port 2 is for the player in mode 1, but is not clear as it means port 2 on the adapter or is the joystick port 2. (maybe in that case the adapter wouldn't be needed if the dongle wasn't implemented in it)

Also, the manual says that the game runs at 60Hz by default, but it can be switched to 50Hz by holding both mouse buttons while the game is loading, if using a TV via modulator.

So, to answer on question: In case the dongle is separate from the adapter and the adapter is not needed for 1 player mode, I guess then might be possible to get the game to work as 1 player, if that would mean that game using the joystick in port 2. (but also, maybe is not worth the effort and time)

[PiCiJi]

Nathan Never: disk changing: you mean the small glitch, when 3D Text zooms out? happens on real hardware too

Phobia: distorted audio happens on real hardware too. relies on not initialized audio register. behaviour changes on resets. sometimes it's silent.
Basically, it is not clear whether all Amiga behave the same if registers are not initialized. This is basically the same principle as for uninitialized memory. Another Charge may have a different base pattern. It can be safely assumed that the hardware of the author of this game has never or only rarely caused problems here, otherwise he would have noticed. On my real ECS Amiga, the annoying noise occurs after every cold start, but not necessarily after every soft reset. I'll test this on my OCS.

Postman Pat: glitch happens on real hardare with Gotek too. ADF doesn't have this glitch.
Presumably, like Hotball, the problem comes from the IPF.
The SPS guys don't do anything anymore, do they? Otherwise, they should look over both titles again.

Originally Posted by amilo3438

I also don't know if the dongle is implemented in the adapter or is it special!?

when the game runs without it, it's a 4 player adapter only.
For the C64, the emulation of a 4 player adapter is also missing. For this I first have to rebuild the UI. I don't know yet if I will make port 3/4 selectable directly.

nightly:
- added XCB input driver (fewer LAG than Xlib) for keyboard/mouse on Linux/BSD
- fixed a few bugs on macOS Sonoma.

Since I prefer to work under Linux, and play on Windows, there is always some time before I test the macOS port. On Sonoma ARM, the following has been fixed:

- status bar was invisible
- save dialog doesn't open (states, ADF creation, ...)
- user dialogs on non UI thread (like IPF missing info) crashes
- menu icons
- IPF support. obviously ARM architecture has problems with variadic templates
- fixed a lot of warnings and deprecation messages. all openGL calls keeps deprecated ( Metal driver coming soon. )

- APP is not notarized and self/adhoc signed. I don't want to pay for Apple. In Sonoma, Apple seems to have exacerbated the matter again. There is now no obvious button to open at your own risk. You have to click on the APP in the program folder with right click and then "Open".

[amilo3438]

Prophecy I - The Viking Child (1990)(Electronic Zoo)[2557] ... Stops at track 44 after the hard reset done from the keyboard, if the DiskA.ipf is unprotected!? (Note: Extract the files from the .zip archive first.)
And if the hard reset was made from the emulator menu, the disk protection status does not play a role. The question is what happens on the real machine?

Pro Tennis Tour (1989)(Ubi Soft)[1080] ... After the Title screen and loading is finished, the game just stops!? (in WinUAE CPU goes to zero)
(Great Courts (1989)(Ubi Soft)[2605] ... same) EDIT: Apparently it's asking for some protection input, but I'm not sure what that it is!?

-----
Other...
One thing I noticed with the new function "Shader" from the menu. My starting configuration was recorded with RGB as default and I have several shaders defined as favorites.
When I start the emulator and immediately go to change the shader through the menu, it does not work.
If I now open the "Presentation" tab and go to change the shader through the menu again, it works... i.e. I can see in the "presentation" tab how it changed from "RGB" to "Shader(GPU)".

One more thing:
If in the explorer you d&d a disk file to the .exe file of the emulator, what should happen!? (should it run a disk file or not provided/enabled?)

[PiCiJi]

Originally Posted by amilo3438

One thing I noticed with the new function "Shader" from the menu. My starting configuration was recorded with RGB as default and I have several shaders defined as favorites.
When I start the emulator and immediately go to change the shader through the menu, it does not work.
If I now open the "Presentation" tab and go to change the shader through the menu again, it works... i.e. I can see in the "presentation" tab how it changed from "RGB" to "Shader(GPU)".

confimred. if RGB was selected, shaders selected from quick menu switch the shader but don't enable the shader subsystem.
will fix this

Originally Posted by amilo3438

If in the explorer you d&d a disk file to the .exe file of the emulator, what should happen!? (should it run a disk file or not provided/enabled?)

never tried this.
you can assign files like d64 or adf to Denise by right clicking on them "open with" + permanently. later a dbl click on these files start the emulator


edit: will change behaviour when writing disks (Amiga only for now)
only uncompressed ADF images will write changes to same file (if confirmed by user dialog)
all others, like IPF, DMS, EXE, EXT, EXT2 or compressed images will write any changes to an assigned file.
file will be created only if something was written. The user selects a separate folder for this.
I really dislike the idea to write in a second file but formats like IPF, EXT not EXT2, or DMS are difficult to update.
Since the majority of the files used are ADF, this doesn't happen as often unless you use permanently compressed ADF.

[amilo3438]

Question of Sport, A (1988)(Elite)[2143] ... The reason for this post is that in Denise ECS behaves differently than in WinUAE ECS (where is the black screen)!?
(Otherwise the game is for OCS where is working fine.)

Quintette (1987)(Miles Computing)[0714] ... Not sure is this working or not!? (Or don't know how to play it ... seems like everything stops!)

[PiCiJi]

nightly:
- quick shader menu should now enable the shader subsystem
- non ADF and compressed images write changes to an additional file
- custom save folder can be seted in software/paths (not needed)
- standard folder:
Windows: \Users\you\AppData\Roaming\denise\disksave
Linux: ~/.config/denise/disksave
OSX: ~/Library/Application Support/denise/disksave
- disk submenu in status line has button to delete assigned save file
- all (compressed too) new inserted disk are non-write protected
- no automatic changes to the write protection. For example, before this nightly, the write protection was automatically set for compressed floppy disks during a hard reset.
- for prepared floppy disks in the swapper, write protection can be set in advance. If this disk is then inserted via hotkey or button, the previously defined write protection is applied.
- loaded save states update the write protection accordingly.
- in the case of writes, when ejecting or restarting, it is asked whether this should be written permanently. This dialog can also be disabled. In this case, writing is done without being asked.
- keep in mind, that non compressed ADF writes on itself (only the changed tracks). this does not apply if it is an EXE or DMS.

Kwasimodo.ipf should now show a different number each start (new number is based on last disk write)
edit: some testing of this new feature would be helpfull

Originally Posted by amilo3438

Pro Tennis Tour

look at HOL in bottom part of game manual. you need to input player names.

Originally Posted by amilo3438

Prophecy I - The Viking Child (1990)(Electronic Zoo)[2557] ... Stops at track 44 after the hard reset done from the keyboard,

processing key presses change timing slightly.
fix: finally set random position for disk head after inserting a disk.

Originally Posted by amilo3438

Quintette (1987)(Miles Computing)[0714] ... Not sure is this working or not!? (Or don't know how to play it ... seems like everything stops!)

yes, after a few right mouse clicks game freezes on real ECS too.
It works only when emulating an A1000. It's a A1000 only game.

Question of Sport, A (1988)(Elite)[2143] ... The reason for this post is that in Denise ECS behaves differently than in WinUAE ECS (where is the black screen)!?
(Otherwise the game is for OCS where is working fine.)

game accidently calls ECS only register.
hardreset: in most cases CRT lost sync after a short flicker, sometimes with dirstorted audio, sometimes it keeps sync with grey/yellow screen
softreset: in most cases it keeps sync with grey screen, sometimes it losts sync.
fix: change the amount of lines needed between vsync calls to prevent lost sync.

[amilo3438]

Retee! (1989)(Audiogenic)(IT)[2751] ... Some glitches appears at title screen during loading time! (something less if only chip ram)

Originally Posted by PiCiJi

edit: some testing of this new feature would be helpfull.

So far it's working fine!

EDIT: Until now!
RoboSport (1992)(Ocean)(PAL)[2592] ... When changing to disk2 it ask to save... if you save, it will not recognize the disk 2!? (if you not save it will work)
Rules of Engagement v1.06 (1991-11-26)(Mindcraft)[2940] ... same as above!

Originally Posted by PiCiJi

- keep in mind, that non compressed ADF writes on itself (only the changed tracks).

I did some testing with Notepad from WB1.3!

- if the .adf disk file is read-only, a new file will be created in the disksave folder
- if the .adf disk file is in a .zip archive, a new file will be created in the disksave folder (regardless of whether both the disk file and the .zip are unprotected and not read-only)

- only if the .adf disc file is not read-only (and not in a .zip archive) it will be overwritten after prompting

It's good that it asks, because sometimes you don't want your disc to be overwritten. (if the dialogue is not turned off)

[PiCiJi]

Originally Posted by amilo3438

Retee! (1989)(Audiogenic)(IT)[2751] ... Some glitches appears at title screen during loading time! (something less if only chip ram)

same on real ECS with kick 1.3. glitches disapear while using kick 2.0.
The author probably didn't expect kick 1.3 to cause any problems.

nightly

Originally Posted by amilo3438

RoboSport (1992)(Ocean)(PAL)[2592] ... When changing to disk2 it ask to save... if you save, it will not recognize the disk 2!? (if you not save it will work)
Rules of Engagement v1.06 (1991-11-26)(Mindcraft)[2940] ... same as above!

good find. The bug basically affects all games that save to an external file when changing discs. Internally, the next disc was already active and the changes to the first disc were saved under the file name of the second. When inserting the second disc, changes belonging to the first disc were applied.
fixed

Originally Posted by amilo3438

- if the .adf disk file is read-only, a new file will be created in the disksave folder

yes, forgot to mention this

Originally Posted by amilo3438

only if the .adf disc file is not read-only (and not in a .zip archive) it will be overwritten after prompting

correct

Originally Posted by amilo3438

- if the .adf disk file is in a .zip archive, a new file will be created in the disksave folder (regardless of whether both the disk file and the .zip are unprotected and not read-only)

I'm not sure what you mean. "Write protected" and "read-only" are independent of each other. The emulation has no idea whether an ADF in the host file system is "read-only" or not. The emulation writes the changes and doesn't know if they will be written to a separate file later because the file is read-only. From the point of view of emulation, the writing process took place.
"write protected", on the other hand, is only known to emulation, i.e. exactly the other way around, and simulates the floppy disk write protection. If the write protection is active, the emulation will not perform a write process and there will never be a dialog when ejecting the disc whether it should be written permanently.

Originally Posted by amilo3438

It's good that it asks, because sometimes you don't want your disc to be overwritten. (if the dialogue is not turned off)

In C64 emulation, it is common to save all formats (D64, G64, P64) directly to the source file. However, the new concept would make sense for C64 Archive, because no emulator will unzip, modify and repackage the contents of a ZIP file.