WinUAE Voodoo 3 emulation testing

[Mad-Matt]

The problem is the usual issue of the ppc emulation talking with paula which just locks up the emulation.

The full game is fine as is the demo if you copy over the ahi driver.

[Zarnal]

Originally Posted by Mad-Matt

The problem is the usual issue of the ppc emulation talking with paula which just locks up the emulation.

The full game is fine as is the demo if you copy over the ahi driver.

Thanks, but I still have the same problem with AHI (pic 1). I have tested with AHI FM801 and AHI Paula but the problem is still the same. Gray screen and no loading.


My Env variables seems correct ( gfx addr, terminator 2, force 1 )...



Off topic : what is curious is that under the same conditions, with PIV + Mediator (without PCI card of course, drivers installed ), everything works fine ( without AHI ).


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[Mad-Matt]

Its currently running best on Voodoo via A4000,Grex and cgx. A1200+grex is too slow to try and play. A4000, p96,med currently i havent had it even start. A1200 med is crashing before opening a screen, maybe due to only 7mb of gfx mem.

[cloverskull]

Can someone list out the basic steps to get an A1200+bppc+med+voodoo3 configured? I'm struggling to get it to work properly and don't want to derail too much with troubleshooting my own config, if someone has a tried and true list of steps I'd prefer to just follow that. Thanks

[Zarnal]

Originally Posted by Mad-Matt

Its currently running best on Voodoo via A4000,Grex and cgx. A1200+grex is too slow to try and play. A4000, p96,med currently i havent had it even start. A1200 med is crashing before opening a screen, maybe due to only 7mb of gfx mem.

This is probably some software problem because on a real machine (A4000 / CPPC / Mediator / Voodoo 3) it starts normally.




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For Grex, with my PC configuration, it's unusable. There are big slowdowns in PPC mode ( A4000+ latest 040 grex libraries + CGX 4 ).

[Mad-Matt]

It does work on My 1200 Med + Voodoo3 (or BVision) as well.

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Video just to show it can be made to work in the emulation. Its slow but you can play it. My A1200 is faster, but not by much.

Emulated A1200 Grex Voodoo3 - Working but to slow to play (Window mode only)
Emulated A1200 Med Voodoo3 - Working but too slow to play (Full screen and window mode)
Emulated A4000 Grex Voodoo3 - Working as in video in window mode only. (Currently best way to play)
Emulated A4000 Med Voodoo3 - Not working. Likely due to gfx addr issue also found with CVision3D and only performing well in Z2 mode.

[Zarnal]

@Mad-Matt

I feel the best compromise for compatibility is to use A1200 + PPC. I did new tests (in Voodoo / Warp3D mode):

Descent: Ok (very slow in CPPC, more than 20mn to access the menu).

Shogo: Ok.

WipeOut: Ok (double and triple buffering, very slow in Cyberstorm). Color problem in windowed mode.

Heretic II: Ok (don't work with CPPC). The AHI driver is only essential in hardware mode (to be rechecked).

For the demos, I have better results in BPPC. Example for Encore-Sulaco under the same conditions.

Pic 1 : BPPC.
Pic 2 : CPPC.

Env : Force 0, Terminator 1, Fallback to videoadress, BPPCFix ( WarpUp 5.1 version )...

@White

I will do a test with the game soon.

[White]

@Zarnal
Thanks you are kind.
I don't want to be OT because this topic is about 68k + voodoo3
so I write here but if you want we can move the topic in the 4.1 + voodoo3 topic.

I have to be honest, games don't interest me on the 4.1 emulation side
although almost everything works.
But 4.1 is not fully supported by winuae so you have to settle for the current software available.
I was interested in doing some tests dedicated to the 4.1 software
the list is very long.
I would also say that when it comes to games 68k is perfect and there is no need to emulate 4.1 to do this.

4.1 has other advantages but we need to shift the point of view of how to use this emulation.
Currently everything works contrary to what many think.
Using an I5 is already perfect for using 4.1
Then the faster the processor you use, the more the list of software you can use will increase.

If you are interested in the 4.1 software we can move the topic where you prefer and deepen it in detail.
Your tests would be interesting in this respect.
Thanks again.

[Zarnal]

Originally Posted by Mad-Matt

It does work on My 1200 Med + Voodoo3 (or BVision) as well.

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Video just to show it can be made to work in the emulation. Its slow but you can play it. My A1200 is faster, but not by much.

Emulated A1200 Grex Voodoo3 - Working but to slow to play (Window mode only)


Not tested.


Emulated A1200 Med Voodoo3 - Working but too slow to play (Full screen and window mode)

Confirmed.


Emulated A4000 Grex Voodoo3 - Working as in video in window mode only. (Currently best way to play)

Confirmed. In full screen, this causes an PowerPC exception.


Emulated A4000 Med Voodoo3 - Not working. Likely due to gfx addr issue also found with CVision3D and only performing well in Z2 mode.

Confirmed. My initial problem.

[Zarnal]

@Mad-Matt

A4000, OS 3.1 H2 Grex Fullscreen works. Video is without sound ( I forgot to install ahi
) but this works with sound too.


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[Zarnal]

Edit : i wrote nonsense.

[Mad-Matt]

I'm not sure of were running different demo versions as I dont have a 'Self running demo' version. I downloaded the Aminet demo and it seems to be the version I already had.

Anyway, my demo seems to fall over on grex when set to fullscreen when Smacker.dll is loaded for the intro videos. I changed the config to skip it and load demodocks map and now the furthest i have got is it freezes after displaying the Heretic II console. (while in fullscreen). Another thing I noticed is my demo shows minigl/warp3d as driver and your demo shows 'minigl/warp3d 3dfx voodoo3 ' so maybe there is a difference in Quake2.dll between the demos.

I think a demo appeared on An Amiga Active cd. Ill have to dig it out and compare. Do you have a download source for your demo version?

[Zarnal]

Originally Posted by Mad-Matt

I'm not sure of were running different demo versions as I dont have a 'Self running demo' version. I downloaded the Aminet demo and it seems to be the version I already had.

Anyway, my demo seems to fall over on grex when set to fullscreen when Smacker.dll is loaded for the intro videos. I changed the config to skip it and load demodocks map and now the furthest i have got is it freezes after displaying the Heretic II console. (while in fullscreen). Another thing I noticed is my demo shows minigl/warp3d as driver and your demo shows 'minigl/warp3d 3dfx voodoo3 ' so maybe there is a difference in Quake2.dll between the demos.

I think a demo appeared on An Amiga Active cd. Ill have to dig it out and compare. Do you have a download source for your demo version?

My demo version is from the Descent CD and not from Aminet.


Quake2.dll = 642 372 octets ( see pic 1 ).


I can provide this version to you if you wish.





I have another question: did you manage to run payback (update 7) correctly in 68K / hardware mode with Voodoo? The 68K version has many problems (BPPC, CPPC with or without JIT, only 68K without PPC board: no visual intro and only sound, flickering and many glitches in the game). Grex CPPC freezes when selecting the language. PPC version is Ok.



68K/BPPC/Mediator/Voodoo :


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PPC/BPPC/Mediator/Voodoo :



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[Zarnal]

Other tests/ Quake 2 GL/Mini GL no LRU/OS 3 :

68K :

Med/Only 68K : Ok but flickering all the time.
Med/CPPC : Ok but flickering all the time.
Med/BPPC : Ok but flickering all the time.
Grex/CPPC : Freeze



PPC :

Med/CPPC/3.1 : Ok, slow loading as usual ( 13 mn ).
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Med/BPPC/3.9 : Crash or PPC Exception.
Grex/CPPC/3.1 : Freeze.

[Mad-Matt]

The Heretic II demo from Freespace cd worked a treat. Works fullscreen and plays the same speed as on med. Overall slower than my A1200 ppc 175 / BVision though.

Not tried every config, but QuakeII PPC voodoo is working via csppc and grex. Runs much better than on my A1200. demo1 is getting 17.5 fps in full minigl mode. all settings default after fresh install + patch.

[Zarnal]

Originally Posted by Mad-Matt

The Heretic II demo from Freespace cd worked a treat. Works fullscreen and plays the same speed as on med. Overall slower than my A1200 ppc 175 / BVision though.

Not tried every config, but QuakeII PPC voodoo is working via csppc and grex. Runs much better than on my A1200. demo1 is getting 17.5 fps in full minigl mode. all settings default after fresh install + patch.

I made a lot of changes in my basic configurations to do my various tests. I will redo them with basic configurations. If Grex + CPPC works for you, it should work for me (in principle). There is an error somewhere in my settings.
Thank you for your comments and your own tests.


P.S: Which patch are you talking about for Quake 2? I have the CowCat version 4.2 as far as I'm concerned.

[Mad-Matt]

I don't know what that is. I am using the Hyperion version and update. It's not without issues of course just due to how ppc emulation works. ( a huge annoying bug really)

Every other ppc task will fail regardless of settings. The game uses sound driver on a separate ppc task so that will always crash as its the second task loaded. you can go into the menu to load it again.

with any ppc app game or demo, running rist task will work every time. the second run will crash every time, third will work and forth will fail and so the pattern continues.

[Zarnal]

Originally Posted by Mad-Matt

I don't know what that is. I am using the Hyperion version and update. It's not without issues of course just due to how ppc emulation works. ( a huge annoying bug really)

Every other ppc task will fail regardless of settings. The game uses sound driver on a separate ppc task so that will always crash as its the second task loaded. you can go into the menu to load it again.

with any ppc app game or demo, running rist task will work every time. the second run will crash every time, third will work and forth will fail and so the pattern continues.

I had already noticed this problem. You cannot launch two different programs one after the other otherwise it is the systematic PowerPC exception.



For my version of Quake 2, this is not the Hyperion version, which probably explains my problem.



Overall, it's curious that it's the 68K versions of the games that cause the flickering, but it also seems to happen sometimes on real hardware. It's hard to isolate the problem (just to figure out what's going on) sometimes.

[Zarnal]

Compatibility status A1200/Med/BPPC/3D/Voodoo 3/OS3.9 :

Descent/Freespace fullgame or demo : Ok ( tick NoAlphaBlending ). Note : possible issue with stars, but maybe my too slow PC, i don't know ).


Heretic II demo ( descent CD version ) or fullgame : a real nightmare... or a bad setting somewhere. PPC Exception ( with AHI, hardware or software mode ).


Payback : only PPC version :

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Quake II Hyperion : Ok ( see Mad-Matt's remarks )

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Shogo fullgame or demo : Ok ( You must disable the GUI, TT " POPUP " ).

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WipeOut 2097 : Ok ( desactivate " Play Intro " otherwise PPC Exception ).


Encore-Sulaco : Ok window or fullscreen.


Encore-ByNight : Ok window or fullscreen.


Note : i only tested the launch of the games.

[AC/DC HACKER!]

Originally Posted by Zarnal

I have another issue with GREX+OS 3.1 : when i select an resolution, I have the image of the Voodoo 3 but cannot open any directory or launch a file. After a few seconds everything freezes. I have tested many mode/settings and always same issue.

OS 3.1 fresh installation.
Specific grex drivers/libs.
Cyberstorm PPC 040.

PCI Scan ( pic 1 )
ShowGxConfig ( pic 2 )
CGXmode settings ( exemple, pic 3 )
Test is Ok ( pic 4 )
Saving ( pic 5 )
Voodoo mode 640*480*16 and freeze ( pic 6 ).

Enable SUPERGELS for CGX4. I noticed this also with my enhanced 3.5 install. I still see some icon problems, but the emulated Amiga doesn't "lock" after clicking on folders with that enabled. When disabled, currently..lockup. The screen resolution doesn't matter. I'll log it soon, maybe Toni can debug it.