PFS3 file system and Quake 2 angst

[Angus]

I recently got a PiStorm and wanted to try out things like Quake 2, Freespace etc.


It seems that I really need a better file system than FFS, so I was looking at PFS. I've always been too nervous to try and upgrade to PFS and FFS was good enough, up until now.



The trouble is I have found most of the tutorials about it to be confusing, often talking about WinUAE, ADF's and the whole SD/CF procedure rather than simply(!) updating the file system on the Amiga.



My SD card is already working (with FFS). It has three virtual Amiga drives on it, each of 4Gb, and each of these is partitioned.


Some questions:


I would like to leave the boot drive as it is with FFS and partition the other drives one at a time. Is that possible? I have 3.1 roms.


Can I just install the PFS files to my boot drive, then copy the PFSaio binary over that and then go HDtools and update the file systems on the other 2 drives?



What values should I put into Block size, addbuffers and Max Transfer in this situation?



Any other considerations I should be aware of?


Many thanks.

[derSammler]

Each partition can have whatever file system you want. I have left my boot partition as FFS as well, as it boots in seconds anyway with the small size of the Workbench.

Basically, you do: copy the pfs file system to L:, add it to the drive in HDToolBox as an available filesystem, set the file system of the partition you want to "convert" to "Custom" and enter the Identifier of the PFS file system as well as Mask/MaxTransfer (all values are in the docs), and for flash media, set the block size to 4096.

Then reboot and format.

If you enter HDToolBox again, "Custom" you set earlier should now read "PFS3".

[thomas]

The important information is, you cannot "convert" or "upgrade" from FFS to PFS. You have to backup the files, then you change the file system in HDToolbox and reboot. After that you have to quick-format the changed partition and restore the backup.

And no, you do not need to copy it to L:, you can add it to HDToolbox from everywhere. What you do in HDToolbox matters, nothing else.

And no, you should not set block size to anything else than 512. PFS3 only supports 512 (unless you use Toni's latest beta version.)


Before you go through all the hassle, you should try

addbuffers dh1: 2000

where DH1 is the partition where you installed Quake and such. This will eat 1 MB of RAM but accelerate file seeking with FFS a lot.

[Angus]

Thanks very much for your help, guys.

I've been trying to put your wisdom into practice, and have successfully converted SDH6 and SDH7 to the PFS3 file system.

I do struggle a bit with the docs when they give you lots of "ifs" and "buts" about what value you should enter, but in fairness I suppose they don't have a choice.

I put in a Mask value of 0x7ffffffc

and a Maxtransfer of 0x1fe00

and set the buffers to 2000

It seems happy enough. I archived the Quake2 demo and dearchived it and played it on both partitions successfully. I'll give SDH2-SDH5 similar treatment if the above sounds okay? Thanks again.

[derSammler]

I would reduce the buffers to 300, but that you can change anytime anyway. 2000 is overkill and will just eat memory. Rest is fine.

[thomas]

This high number of buffers occupies a lot of memory. You should keep the permanent value small and only add buffers temporarily when you play a game and only for the partition which holds the game data.

[Angus]

Thanks guys. I'm working on the other partitions (with reduced buffers!) as soon as my backing up is completed.

By the way, AmiQuake is great, but it would be nice to see the game in higher resolutions. As I understand it, Hyperion's version did allow software rendering for people who didn't have 3D acceleration hardware.

The problem is, Hyperion don't seem to be selling it any more, I bought Freespace from them the other day, and Quake 2 doesn't seem to provide an option to buy it.

Is it available anywhere else and can anyone confirm that the games doesn't actually need 3D hardware?

Thanks.

[alexh]

Originally Posted by Angus

can anyone confirm that the games doesn't actually need 3D hardware?

There are almost no games for 680x0 that require 3D accelerator. You have to go to the world of PPC before you start to see one or two titles supported by Warp3D and MiniGL

I'd recommend AmiQuake 2 RTG on PiSTorm

https://aminet.net/package/game/shoot/AmiQuake2_RTG

[Dunny]

Originally Posted by thomas

The important information is, you cannot "convert" or "upgrade" from FFS to PFS. You have to backup the files, then you change the file system in HDToolbox and reboot. After that you have to quick-format the changed partition and restore the backup.

I am 100% certain that back in the 90s I upgraded my HDD from FFS to PFS, and I did it by using a tool that converted for me. It took hours, but the drive wasn't re-formatted.

[Angus]

Originally Posted by alexh

There are almost no games for 680x0 that require 3D accelerator. You have to go to the world of PPC before you start to see one or two titles supported by Warp3D and MiniGL

Right, Alex but Hyperion released Quake 2 for PPC first. The 68K version came as part of an update later, like an afterthought. I've been told it offered a software alternative to 3D hardware but the website is impressively vague on the details.

Freespace also wanted 3D acceleration but they included the option to do it in software on PPC and 68K.

[thomas]

Originally Posted by Dunny

I am 100% certain that back in the 90s I upgraded my HDD from FFS to PFS

There is no such tool for PFS. There is one for AFS and you can use PFS to access AFS partitions.

[derSammler]

Originally Posted by Angus

By the way, AmiQuake is great, but it would be nice to see the game in higher resolutions.

AmiQuake can use any RTG resolution available. It is not limited to low-res.

[AMIGASYSTEM]

Originally Posted by Angus

By the way, AmiQuake is great, but it would be nice to see the game in higher resolutions. As I understand it, Hyperion's version did allow software rendering for people who didn't have 3D acceleration hardware.


Thanks.

Not only Quake, but on 'expanded' Amiga or WinUAE it is also possible to play at high resolutions with Quake2 and Quake 3

Some of my old videos:

Quake2
[ Show youtube player ]


Quake3
[ Show youtube player ]

[alexh]

Originally Posted by Angus

Hyperion released Quake 2 for PPC first. The 68K version came as part of an update later, like an afterthought. I've been told it offered a software alternative to 3D hardware but the website is impressively vague on the details.

AmiQuake2 RTG uses software rendering. But it can run at any resolution. You just need to change the settings.

[Angus]

Originally Posted by derSammler

AmiQuake can use any RTG resolution available. It is not limited to low-res.

Okay, I meant AmiQuake 2 RTG. I gathered that was limited to 320x200 - or have I misunderstood?

[alexh]

Originally Posted by Angus

Okay, I meant AmiQuake 2 RTG. I gathered that was limited to 320x200 - or have I misunderstood?

You have misunderstood. Here is Novacoder running AmiQuake2 RTG on WinUAE using 1280x720

[ Show youtube player ]

(Oops, I see you commented on it)

Have you created other resolutions in your RTG setup?

[derSammler]

I gathered that was limited to 320x200 - or have I misunderstood?

It starts in 320x200 when you run it first, but once it runs, you can go to video options and set whatever resolution you want (from those available, of course).

[Angus]

Hmmm..... when I tried that, I didn't get anything useable. Then I read something from Novacoder that implied that was a design choice. I'll take another look. With PFS3 installed the loading process should make it less of a challenge.

[derSammler]

I have tested 640x480 and 512x384, no issues.

[alexh]

Originally Posted by Angus

I read something from Novacoder that implied that was a design choice

If he ever said anything like that it was probably AmiQuake 2 AGA not RTG.