Indivision AGA MK3 - A Guide

[AmigaLee]

Here is my draft guide to how I set up my Indivision AGA Mk3 (for my A1200 and Dell 2311H monitor).

I’ll add that this may not be the official recommended way of doing things or the most efficient or effective way, but it worked for me. If anyone has suggestions for improvement please add them as comments.

I'll be editing this over time, but some may find it useful...


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Precautions

- If possbile, hook up another monitor via RGB port/VGA adaptor - this is useful if you choose a VGA mode that is not compatible with your monitor you have connected to the IndiAGA3 via HDMI.
- Backup boot partition
- Save settings for overscan, screenmode

Software
Make sure you are using the latest version of the software and firmware from icomp.de. This guide is based on v1.4

Reset to defaults
- Screenmode > Restore to defaults and save
- Overscan > Restore to defaults and save
- AGA > Restore to defaults and save with a name of your monitor make & model


Creating your custom PAL profile
- With "Pre 800x600 PAL" on right pane selected, hit the Copy button which will duplicate this preset and be presented at the top "My 800x600 PAL"
- Settings > Re-read monitor display data (should populate EDID VGA modes applicable to your specific monitor)
- Select arrow next to VGA mode, currently showing "Pre 800x600 72Hz VESA"


Create your custom VGA mode aligned with your specific monitor
- At top of list, you should see EDID that matches some modes your monitor can support. Choose the one closest to your monitors NATIVE resolution. My Dell 2311H is 1920x1080@60Hz. Once selected, hit Copy button and I rename it to "My 1920x1080@60Hz"
- Hit the Test/Adjust button to make sure you see an image, but don't change any settings at this point - but hit Okay button to tell software the mode us usable (don't hit cancel)
- Since my monitor is wide screen aspect ratio (16:9 or 1.778) as many are, I need to customise this to a standard aspect ratio (4:3 or 1:333). 1080 lines times 1.333 = 1440 (rounded up). So a native standard aspect resolution is 1440x1080 for my screen.
- Next I rename my custom VGA mode from "My 1920x1080@60Hz" to "My 1440x1080@60Hz" and press Enter
- Now change the Horizontal Timing Visible value from 1920 to 1440 and press Enter
- You will notice the frequency values will change by doing this. Use the Pixel clock slider until the Vertical Frequency changes back to 60Hz again, or closest possible.
- Hit the Test/Adjust button to make sure you see an image, if you do not, change the Pixel clock a little more and test again until you get a stable image. Unless you know what you are doing, don't be tempted to change other settings.
- Click Accept button to assign VGA mode "My 1440x1080@60Hz" with the "My 800x600 PAL" profile
- On the main window, press Test/Adjust button.
- In this screen the aim is to do two things in this order; obtain 1:1 pixel mapping to get rid of the moire effect and to centre the screen
- To remove moire, right mouse click and move the mouse horizontal and vertical moire effect, to the background checkerboard pattern does not have any artifacts (missing or extra lines). If you click on the Darken button (which adds scanlines effect), this helps with vertical moire removal as it can be seen more easily in the borders. You can turn this Darken option off at the end if you do not care for the scanlines effect. Note, do not use live mode to centre the screen!
- Once you have remove the moire, its time to centre the screen by LEFT clicking on the centre window and moving the mouse
- At this point you should have a crisp screen with no moire and the screen is perfectly centred. Press Okay button.
- This will return you back to Workbench, but your adjusted screen is not yet being used. Press the Apply button to activate your adjustments. The Workbench screen should now look better - centred and distortion free.

Commiting changes
- If you are happy with results, go to Settings > Apply this VGA mode to all. This will ensure any compatible screen profiles will now use your custom VGA mode for PAL modes.
- Now click the Save and Apply button.
- The Indi screen OSD will update with two lines:
- My 800x600 PAL (the custom profile associated with the current Amiga screen mode)
- My 1440x1080@60Hz (the custom VGA mode in use)
- Test Interlaced mode by clicking on Test Mode and change from "PAL High Res" to "PAL High Res Laced", then click OK. Now press Test/Adjust button. The screen mode change should be instant, as the same custom VGA mode you created will be used. The screen will clearly be in a higher resolution, but there should be no moire issues as the number of lines are exactly doubled. Screen should still be centred.
- Now is the time to test a PAL game. I recommend Agony (as it changes between Interlaced and non-interlaced modes).
- If you intend to use standard PAL for your Workbench screenmode, now is the time to open the Overscan preferences and stretch the borders out evenly on opposite sides and save to a file, again using your monitors make and model as a reference. Be warned, once you have set a custom overscan, the Indi AGA softwware can throw you off course by misrepresenting the screens "centre". My advice is to set Overscan at the end, then ignore any off centre visual warnings if you chose to adjust the same VGA mode or profile form that point.

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Advanced tweaks

- Save IndiAGA3 settings to a new experimental filename
- Once you are happy with your custom PAL VGA mode, go into Test/Adjust and reduce the OSD timer to 0 to reduce the distraction
- Create a 50Hz VGA mode based off your known working 60Hz mode, this should reduce screen tearing and have butter smooth scrolling. Start by changing the Pixel clock slider to as close to (but not over 50Hz). You can manually change the pixel clock value to try to get it bang on 50.0000Hz, but once you save it and come back, you may find it shifts down a little, which is fine to accept. Test your new 50Hz VGA mode and Accept when happy. Now choose Settings > Apply this VGA mode to all

[roondar]

There's still no support for the default 50Hz & 60Hz HDMI modes? That's a bit annoying to be honest.
Don't get me wrong, I have an Indivision MK2 and I really like it (gives a great image), but as I understood the features for the MK3 it sounded like it did do all the standard HDMI modes out of the box.

[AmigaLee]

Originally Posted by roondar

There's still no support for the default 50Hz & 60Hz HDMI modes? That's a bit annoying to be honest.
Don't get me wrong, I have an Indivision MK2 and I really like it (gives a great image), but as I understood the features for the MK3 it sounded like it did do all the standard HDMI modes out of the box.

It auto detects what your monitor supports by EDID, but in my particular case it didn’t report 50Hz as an option.

YMMV depending on what is connected.

[roondar]

By the way, I did forget: thanks for the massive guide - always good to have so much info

[fluffkitten]

Thank you for this.

[Ferry]

Originally Posted by AmigaLee

Here is my draft guide to how I set up my Indivision AGA Mk3 (for my A1200 and Dell 2311H monitor).

Thanks a lot for the guide. Looks like things are a bit different for 16:10 monitors, like my Dell U2410, not correctly detected by the Indi through HDMI and it could be related to aspect ratio (works fine in a U2711, a 16:9 one). The symptom is an "overscaled" screen, even with no WB loaded already, and the Indi OSD partially out of the screen, both top and left sides.

The only way to solve this issue right now, while waiting for a new, improved core, is to activate "DVI mode" in Advanced options, or to use VGA output. Of course, both options imply to lose the audio over HDMI.

Saluditos,

Ferrán.

[AmigaLee]

Originally Posted by Ferry

The symptom is an "overscaled" screen, even with no WB loaded already, and the Indi OSD partially out of the screen, both top and left sides.

Can you post a photo of screen effect and VGA mode settings?

Have you tried creating a custom VGA mode at 1600x1200?

[Ferry]

Originally Posted by AmigaLee

Can you post a photo of screen effect and VGA mode settings?

Have you tried creating a custom VGA mode at 1600x1200?

Of course. I already posted it to the Indivision forum at iComp:



And that's when I just started the computer after installing it, nothing was even loaded, not even the Early Startup menu. The mode shown by the OSD it's a mere 800x600, so a screen able to show 1920x1200 should be more than capable to show a image quite lower, but there must be some problem with aspect ratio.

And it happens too trying any other VGA/Test mode combination, be it custom or not. Well, at least all the ones I have tried.

Anyway, I'll try your way of setting it up, with that 4:3 aspect ratio, let's see if that fixes it.

Saluditos,

Ferrán.

[torsti76]

Don't DELL monitors usually have their own aspect ratio settings, among them '1:1' which shows lower resolution pictures small and centered on screen?

[AmigaLee]

Originally Posted by torsti76

Don't DELL monitors usually have their own aspect ratio settings, among them '1:1' which shows lower resolution pictures small and centered on screen?

Yes but via digital input a lot of controls are not available to adjust which are available with analog input. Besides you wouldn't want to squeeze a 16:10 down to 4:3. Ideally you'd want the Indi to only send a 4:3 in the first place and retain 1:1 pixel mapping as much as possible. Since 800x600 is an even quarter of 1600x1200, so you in theory should get a really crisp picture on the U2410, if you set up a custom VGA mode.

[AmigaLee]

Originally Posted by Ferry

Of course. I already posted it to the Indivision forum at iComp:.

Could be the way that Dell scales certain non native resolutions. 800x600 is non native resolution and aspect, so you are asking the Dell to do the scaling.

If you create a native resolution VGA mode at 4:3 (1600x1200), you’re getting the Indi to do the scaling which does a better job.


Also looks like you are not running the latest firmware.

[Ferry]

Originally Posted by torsti76

Don't DELL monitors usually have their own aspect ratio settings, among them '1:1' which shows lower resolution pictures small and centered on screen?

Hi, torsti76.

Yes, it has them, 3 different modes: Fill, Aspect and 1:1.



The first one fills the screen, not keeping aspect. "Aspect" takes the highest value to reach the border, making image as big as possible but keeping aspect. And 1:1 is the one you mentioned: displays the image in its real size, centered on the screen.

BTW, not all the options shown in the previous images are available for every input. F.ex., I cannot move the image in HDMI. "Zoom" is available for HDMI, but is set to 0.

I have tried all three options, f.ex., this test with "Aspect":



I still have to try the method of AmigaLee

Originally Posted by AmigaLee

Could be the way that Dell scales certain non native resolutions. 800x600 is non native resolution and aspect, so you are asking the Dell to do the scaling.

If you create a native resolution VGA mode at 4:3 (1600x1200), you’re getting the Indi to do the scaling which does a better job.


Also looks like you are not running the latest firmware.

According to the monitor manual, it supports many resolutions:



As you can see, 1600x1200 is one of the natively supported resolutions, no changes.

And, of course, I'm using the latest firmware, v1.4.

Saluditos,

Ferrán.

[Ferry]

If you want to take a look, I posted many more pics and info to the iComp Indivision forum, this post and following.

Saluditos,

Ferrán.

[Storm]

I finally have received, installed and configured my AGA MK3 to my liking. I have used two profiles, one for Workbench and the other for games. The only configuration issue I am having is trying to get the 3/4 screen games stretched to take up the whole screen without upsetting the already setup full screen games. Both situation there is 313 pixels per line so I don't know how the config tool can tell the difference between the two modes. Either that or I'm more of a noob that I first thought lmao.

[DerSheriff]

Hi there,

After some years I'd like to buy one, now I see this shiny new version MK3.

I have a 1200 1D4 with ACA1233n accelerator, going good so far.

I'm planning to use a CRT monitor with this (so, VGA input). I can't exclude in the future to use some kind of LCD/LED 4:3 display like BL702A or similar, if CRT is not displayed at its best (just guessing, I hope not..).

Do you recommend Indivision AGA MK3, would it be suitable for my use case? Any pro/cons?

Thank you all,
DerSheriff

[BanisterDK]

Is this the guide for the mk2 ? because there is parts I do not recognize in the mk3

[BanisterDK]

Originally Posted by AmigaLee

Creating your custom PAL profile
- With "Pre 800x600 PAL" on right pane selected, hit the Copy button which will duplicate this preset and be presented at the top "My 800x600 PAL"
- Settings > Re-read monitor display data (should populate EDID VGA modes applicable to your specific monitor)
- Select arrow next to VGA mode, currently showing "Pre 800x600 72Hz VESA"


Create your custom VGA mode aligned with your specific monitor
- At top of list, you should see EDID that matches some modes your monitor can support. Choose the one closest to your monitors NATIVE resolution. My Dell 2311H is 1920x1080@60Hz. Once selected, hit Copy button and I rename it to "My 1920x1080@60Hz"
- Hit the Test/Adjust button to make sure you see an image, but don't change any settings at this point - but hit Okay button to tell software the mode us usable (don't hit cancel)
- Since my monitor is wide screen aspect ratio (16:9 or 1.778) as many are, I need to customise this to a standard aspect ratio (4:3 or 1:333). 1080 lines times 1.333 = 1440 (rounded up). So a native standard aspect resolution is 1440x1080 for my screen.
- Next I rename my custom VGA mode from "My 1920x1080@60Hz" to "My 1440x1080@60Hz" and press Enter
- Now change the Horizontal Timing Visible value from 1920 to 1440 and press Enter
- You will notice the frequency values will change by doing this. Use the Pixel clock slider until the Vertical Frequency changes back to 60Hz again, or closest possible.
- Hit the Test/Adjust button to make sure you see an image, if you do not, change the Pixel clock a little more and test again until you get a stable image. Unless you know what you are doing, don't be tempted to change other settings.
- Click Accept button to assign VGA mode "My 1440x1080@60Hz" with the "My 800x600 PAL" profile
- On the main window, press Test/Adjust button.
- In this screen the aim is to do two things in this order; obtain 1:1 pixel mapping to get rid of the moire effect and to centre the screen
- To remove moire, right mouse click and move the mouse horizontal and vertical moire effect, to the background checkerboard pattern does not have any artifacts (missing or extra lines). If you click on the Darken button (which adds scanlines effect), this helps with vertical moire removal as it can be seen more easily in the borders. You can turn this Darken option off at the end if you do not care for the scanlines effect. Note, do not use live mode to centre the screen!
- Once you have remove the moire, its time to centre the screen by LEFT clicking on the centre window and moving the mouse
- At this point you should have a crisp screen with no moire and the screen is perfectly centred. Press Okay button.
- This will return you back to Workbench, but your adjusted screen is not yet being used. Press the Apply button to activate your adjustments. The Workbench screen should now look better - centred and distortion free.

Commiting changes
- If you are happy with results, go to Settings > Apply this VGA mode to all. This will ensure any compatible screen profiles will now use your custom VGA mode for PAL modes.
- Now click the Save and Apply button.
- The Indi screen OSD will update with two lines:
- My 800x600 PAL (the custom profile associated with the current Amiga screen mode)
- My 1440x1080@60Hz (the custom VGA mode in use)
- Test Interlaced mode by clicking on Test Mode and change from "PAL High Res" to "PAL High Res Laced", then click OK. Now press Test/Adjust button. The screen mode change should be instant, as the same custom VGA mode you created will be used. The screen will clearly be in a higher resolution, but there should be no moire issues as the number of lines are exactly doubled. Screen should still be centred.
- Now is the time to test a PAL game. I recommend Agony (as it changes between Interlaced and non-interlaced modes).
- If you intend to use standard PAL for your Workbench screenmode, now is the time to open the Overscan preferences and stretch the borders out evenly on opposite sides and save to a file, again using your monitors make and model as a reference. Be warned, once you have set a custom overscan, the Indi AGA softwware can throw you off course by misrepresenting the screens "centre". My advice is to set Overscan at the end, then ignore any off centre visual warnings if you chose to adjust the same VGA mode or profile form that point.

Text in Fat red indicates that you get the test picture but you actually get another windows with Screenmodes, colors and (Save, Use This time, Options and Cancel) what screenmode according to your guide should be used ?

Text in Fat blue indicates again to go to test picture but again it goes to the the other window mentioned above

So following your guide will getting you confused due to missing windows not explained

[wiz12]

Has anyone managed to set up working profiles for a BenQ BL912 monitor? I've been tinkering with the config for a while now but not really getting anywhere.

[PDrill]

Thanks for the first message. It's always nice to have 1-2-3 instructions to get started with something you can't get started on your own. I managed to get my PAL:High Res Laced Workbench showing up perfectly (4:3) on my 1680x1050/16:10 display and all the games and demos work just fine no matter what screen mode they use.

But one request. Maybe instructions to get some better resolution (4:3 would do but wider would be even better) for Workbench use? No matter how many times I've gone through documents, threads and tutorials I still get nothing useful. So I think 1-2-3 will be the only way for me to get the only thing I really was after with this (=better workbench resolution).

[torturedutopian]

Hi everyone ! Been using an MK3 on my A1200 for almost a year, it's been working great. I followed this guide (in French) to set a single configuration suitable for both games and standard resolution WB, with no blurry interpolation.

https://lesdocs.fr/parametrage-de-lindivision-aga-mk3/

Now, here is my question.

Has any of you ever found a monitor compatible with the VSYNC option in 1080p ?
I do NOT want to enable double buffering as it adds significant lag (especially easy to experience when moving the mouse).
As I never found a screen supporting VSYNC mode (in 1080p) I had to fine tune the frequency and eventually managed to get a configuration with almost no tearing at all. Kinda happens every 15 minutes or so... (with a freq. close to 49.9112 Hz).

Any recommendation overall ? My "dream" would be a 22 or max 24 inches monitor supporting 50 Hz and VSYNC in 1080p (no interpolation), with no ghosting and as little blurriness as possible in scrollings...

Of course, the current situation is already pretty good, I'm not complaining, but it's so close to perfection I cannot help asking for a little more !

Take care,
cheers