P96 3.0.0 (and later) news and support

[Hedeon]

It tells me to update the CVPPC firmware? What has this to do with the 3DFX Voodoo slowing down from 48 to 32 FPS by just swapping out the rtg.library from any pre 3.0 to 3.0 or beyond?

Originally Posted by Thomas Richter

Look, what is in particular wrong with the following algorithm:

1) Open up the P96 guide that comes with P96
2) Navigate in the guide to the entry named "FAQ - Frequently asked questions"
3) Navigate in the FAQ to the entry named "Warp3D is slow on the CVisionPPC"
4) Click on this link, and read it.

Please stop the pointless speculations. I have written this all down, providing even instructions.

[Thomas Richter]

Originally Posted by Hedeon

It tells me to update the CVPPC firmware? What has this to do with the 3DFX Voodoo slowing down from 48 to 32 FPS by just swapping out the rtg.library from any pre 3.0 to 3.0 or beyond?

This is on the PPC card you asked for, if I understood right.The Voodoo is the voodoo, and that's Elbox territory. There is no PPC in the name, so why do you ask for "PPC"?

If you want Elbox hardware supported, I afraid there are two options:

a) ask Elbox to finally fix their drivers,

b) provide me with a Zorro III machine (permanently) and their hardware (temporarily).

I afraid that's it and all I have to offer.

[Hedeon]

I talked about PPC PCI cards which means WarpOS PPC and Warp3D PPC (and Voodoo3). Maybe that got lost somewhere.

Is there no way you can see in your changes of rtg.library what could cause this? It only shows in fullscreen, not windowed. And from 3.0 and higher, not 2.4.

Or maybe where I could have a look at at my end? I can use any API library version and it doesn't matter, but switch out the rtg.library and the framerates suffer. Software 3D is not impacted (e.g. QuakeWOS) but glQuake for WOS is, for example.

I'll check if the issue is also on the Prometheus/Firebird (and if so then it might not be Elbox related).

[Karlos]

So, the facts are it affects the WarpOS specific versions of games but only in fullscreen mode.

I suspect that the issue here is in the version of MiniGL and it's handling of buffer swaps. If memory serves, there was a loop around changing the screen buffer. This was highlighted as an obvious place that could trigger a mass of context switches if it wasn't properly dealt with but at the time, the screen buffer change almost never iterated the loop, it just worked on the first call.

I suggested at the time that this code for warpos should be put into a 68k function that is explicitly called once from the PPC side and let the 68k potentially poll the screen buffer flip but I have no idea if that was ever done.

If something has changed that results in checking/flipping buffers to "fail fast" or perhaps a bug is fixed that means this bit of code iterates, you are going pay for it with a context switch per iteration of the loop.

That's really going to hurt. Can you hook into Run68 in the WarpOS side and increment a counter to see how many switches you get when using the old and newer versions of the p96 code?

[Thomas Richter]

Originally Posted by Hedeon

Is there no way you can see in your changes of rtg.library what could cause this? It only shows in fullscreen, not windowed. And from 3.0 and higher, not 2.4.

This is impossible to hunt down for me, with no hardware for it and no software for it. Despite, PPC is pretty much unsupported land, too fragmented, too many incompatibilities. If you want P96 and PPC, go for AmigaOs 4, they have their own branch of P96 and their own branch of Warp3D.



Best guess is how p96 bitmaps are allocated, and whether they are put on the video RAM or not - the entire logic is unfortunately tricky and non-obvious, and there had to be changes mostly to make planar/chunky switchover work seamlessly, and to support (lousy) SDL ports in a "best effort" approach. Changing code there will harm many programs, so I'd rather leave this logic alone.

Originally Posted by Hedeon

Or maybe where I could have a look at at my end? I can use any API library version and it doesn't matter, but switch out the rtg.library and the framerates suffer.

Without the source code of Warp3D and knowning what it demands for the frame buffer? That's likely not going to work well. If you want to hunt something down, check how it allocates bitmaps, using which flags, and where the bitmaps end up. On the 68K side, you probably need a low-level debugger like COP for that. On the PPC end, I have no idea. The code likely goes through the p96API library and its p96AllocBitMapTags function. It's documented.

[Hedeon]

Thanks Thomas, I'll have a look. I do have context switching counting software (@Karlos) and also indirectly access to the old Warp3D source as in I can ask someone to have a look.

To be continued.

[Thomas Richter]

Today, the new 3.4.1 version of P96 became available on iComp. As before, if you bought during the last year, the update is for free. Actually, the release was ready two weeks ago already, but it seems the shop system suffers again from a major hickup.

What's new?

- Thanks to Matze and friends, a new driver for the GBA-PII++ is now included in the distribution. Sorry, this was all needlessly complicated, but we finally found a solution that makes every party happy. This is a new driver - but there is no new functionality, as the main functionality came from the Cirrus driver anyhow. Only the naming confusion is gone.
- Due to defect in the P96 core, the PiP functionalities of the PicassoIV were unfortunately broken. This should be hopefully fixed by now.
- The A2410.card driver for the A2410 card had unfortunately the sync on green flag inverted. Yes meant no and no meant yes. Outch.
- The TMS34010 chip driver for the A2410 card should be now faster as accelerator based rendering now no longer triggers a (needless) refresh.
- The Altais driver for the Draco received a refresh and no longer pulls the rug under the Draco system by disabling the vertical blank interrupt. This driver is a cooperation between Toni and myself - due to this cooperation, we now have Draco emulation in WinUAE and a working Altais driver.
- The CvisionPPC support was improved. Apparently, there is still another version of the CVisionPPC card that was not recognized by the P96 driver. For this variant, you must run P5Init in ENVARC:MMU-Configuration, and the p5emu.library forwards the identified card to the driver.
- There is a driver for the VA2000.card. Actually, this driver was already published on Aminet.
- The P96Prefs program was updated - this is the same version you also get from Aminet.
- There is also a "Novice" install mode for P96 which does not ask any questions and detects all cards itself. No need to select anything.
- The installer always created some default modes for the installed card and then attempted to install them to the installed card. Unfortunately, this only worked for old cards, not for the new ones. This has now been fixed, but this is not yet the last word on the matter. P96Prefs can create modes more reliably than from these static modes, and thus should be used instead of relying on these static hard coded modes. Future releases may find a better way to create modes for the currently installed card.
- Multiple minor bugs I found on the way.

[klx300r]

thanks but I can't find it at icomp.de website

[Thomas Richter]

As said, the shop system has an issue right now, see also the iComp side. I believe you should write Jens and then get the package via mail, as existing users will get it this way also. I hope this will be resolved. If I had to guess, you could buy the 3.4.0 and then receive immediately the 3.4.1 as free update.

[nogginthenog]

I replied to my confirmation email and got a prompt reply from Jens with the installation files. Hopefully they will replace that store..

Thanks for the update Thomas!

[wiz12]

Originally Posted by nogginthenog

I replied to my confirmation email and got a prompt reply from Jens with the installation files. Hopefully they will replace that store..

Thanks for the update Thomas!

I'm still waiting for an email.

[Dunny]

Originally Posted by wiz12

I'm still waiting for an email.

Same. Bought it today, and have access to what I assume is 3.4.0 (that's the last entry in the History.readme file) but nothing from icomp since that - just a PDF in german about... something about cancelling or somesuch? But no actual P96 3.4.1, no.

[cv643d]

Is the latest version listed under orders if you log into icomp.de? I have only 20 downloads allowed there so do not want to waste these testing.

Great that you have included drivers for GBA-PII+, apreciate that!

[nogginthenog]

Originally Posted by cv643d

Is the latest version listed under orders if you log into icomp.de? I have only 20 downloads allowed there so do not want to waste these testing.

It's not. It's still the previous version (was yesterday anyway). You need to reply to your confirmation email.
I think the 20 download thing might be a limitation of the software IComp use. Hopefully it will go away when they find something new.

https://forum.icomp.de/index.php?thr...herausgegeben/

Unfortunately, this shop system is causing more and more problems - not only with the ordering process (which can often only be completed after many attempts), but also with exchanging download files. The downtime in the early hours of the morning today is explained by the fact that we had to import a backup when the database completely stopped working after exchanging the P96 files. In order not to delay the release any further, we have decided to deliver this update to customers via email: Customers who ordered this year will receive an unsolicited email from us with the new files as an attachment.

Customers who are still in the free update phase should respond to the shop's confirmation email so that we have the order ID in the subject.
We will then respond with the lha and adf/zip files as attachments.

Please excuse the inconvenience - finding a new shop system that has similar features and an easy learning curve has proven to be very difficult. We have just finished the evaluation phase of another system and are starting to test a new system.

(Google Translation)

[Thomas Richter]

The limitation to 20 downloads is really artificial AFAIK. If you need to download more often, Jens can always increase the limit. However, remember that your free downloads expire after a year, thus download and make a backup yourself. If you have bought the last release more than one year ago, you would unfortunately need to re-register again. Sometimes Jens offers a grace period, but that's really up to him to decide.

Anyhow, concerning the process, it is really a pity the shop system is really EOL right now. While I do not know exactly the procedure, I would suggest to drop him a mail with your ordering details, in particular your order number. Please remember that it's right now weekend, and thus I would not expect a reaction before next week.

[jurassicman]

Hi there, I've bought (for the third time) the P96 RTG software on July 2023 and I still have 17 downloads available, however I still can get only the 3.4.0 version.

Does anyone know when the new 3.4.1 version will be available?

[Thomas Richter]

It is available right now. However, the shop system is really bonkers, so orders are send out by mail. So what you do is that you send an email to Jens, providing information on your original order. Currently, updates and orders are send out by mail.

[jurassicman]

Originally Posted by Thomas Richter

It is available right now. However, the shop system is really bonkers, so orders are send out by mail. So what you do is that you send an email to Jens, providing information on your original order. Currently, updates and orders are send out by mail.

Ok... thanks for the info.
I should have the email of Jens somewhere... hopefully a screenshot of my orders history is enough to prove that I "own" the product...

[shaf]

Just send Jens a quick email with you Order ID and he will send you the updated files. I emailed him and had a response within 24 hour.

[klx300r]

finally got the latest update from Jens and messing with the new VA2000 driver with this release.


Can A4000 users tell me what works best in P96 prefs for the CapturePhase option as I'm getting quite a bit of artifacts in native modes.

also do we still need the va2000cx 512 line in startup-sequence to help with artifacts on the screen with this new driver?

Update:
in my tests you definitely need the above line in your startup-sequence if you're a VA2000cx user...it's night and day how it helps out with artifcats over the native screen modes