VistaPro 3 on RTG equipped Amigas - Tutorial

[StompinSteve]

Hello everybody,

I was struggling getting VistaPro 3.05 to work correctly on my A3000D and 4000T, both have a CyberVision64 Card and P96 v3.3.3 Software.
I could only find some threads on other forums on how to get VP 3.x to work on AmigaOS 4.x but not on 3.1.x. I used that info for inspiration and got VP work on both my big-box Amigas.

Links to those articles:
"VistaPro V3.05 - Tutorial final version"
https://amigaworld.net//modules/newb...36208&forum=32

"How I finally got VistaPro 3.05 to work on my AmigaOne"
https://amigaworld.net//modules/newb...36269&forum=32

Maybe my post here can help others in the future as well.


My two Machines:
A3000D with a WarpEngine 3040 @ 40Mhz + CyberVision64. P96 v3.3.3
A4000T with a BFG9060 @ 100Mhz + CyberVision64. P96 v3.3.3
Both run ROM 3.1.4 and AmigaOS 3.1.4.1
My Monitor is a DELL U2410f

Disclaimer: the title is a bit misleading. It should be called "How to make VistaPro work on a RTG Machine" but that's too long.

First off. VistaPro 3.0.5 (which is the latest version as far as I know) does NOT work in RTG Modes at all.
It only understands PAL, NTSC, DBLPAL, DBLNTSC, Euro36, Euro72, Super72 and MultiScan. In other words, it only understands Amiga native modes.
So, you will need to trick/fool VistaPro to make it work on an RTG equipped machine. I use ModePro for this. This is a "screen promotion" tool.

Anyway, download VistaPro 3.0.5 and rename the .881 to "VistaPro3". The file size should be 598404. This is the FPU version.
Set the stack-size in the Icon to 50000. There are no tooltypes.

Get a binary editor and open the VistaPro3.0 binary (make a backup first). Search for the string "Workbench" Go to the ascii text area of your editor and replace the word "Workbench" with the word "Fakebench". Then save the binary.
Note: I later found a copy of VistaPro 3.0.5 where this was already done so you can skip this step if you already have that "modified" version.

Get ModePro http://aminet.net/package/util/cdity/ModePro and make sure it runs at start-up (put it in WBStartup for example).

In ModePro, make sure that "Enable Screen Promotion" and "Ask about unknown screens" and "Ask about unknown public screens" are selected.

I am assuming you are running Workbench in some CyberGraphics Mode. I use 800x600 15bit color but this is not relevant as VistaPro can't use RTG screens anyway.

Couple of pointers beforehand:
VistaPro is hard-coded in a 640x512 pixel screen. 640x480 works but the buttons at the bottom are invisible and you need to enable auto-scroll and move the mouse down to make them appear. It works but it's a bit lame.

The two articles mentioned above use P96 FakeNative modes. That worked on AmigaOS 4.x in 2012 but with 3.1.4 and using a current release of P96, VistaPro graphics are corrupted (pixel smearing where the mouse moves, wierd artifacts) on my two machines when I force it to use a P96 FakeNative mode.
It will hang when ModePromoted to an actual P96 RTG mode and the color-palette is totally screwed up.
I experimented with P96 flags like "IgnoreMask" and with ModePro's "ForcePlanar" settings to no avail.

Using actual, classic PAL, the picture quality is horrible/ugly (My DELL does not like it, no matter what I do with Clock and Phase) but it's fine when using DBLPAL. So I will be using DBLPAL instead in this tutorial.

This tutorial is for the Amiga 4000 with AGA Chipset:
The 3000 is an ECS machine so replace DBPAL with "PAL High Res Interlaced" and be aware that the number of colours you can use is very limited in higher resolutions. To be honest, as the Graphics Card's many colors cannot be used at all, an OCS or ECS Machine is not a good choice to make pretty landscapes in VistaPro. It will run but it does not make a lot of sense. A spiced up A1200 or better, a 4000 is the best platform for this, as far as classic Amiga's are concerned.
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First, switch from a RTG Screenmode to DBLPAL 640x512 and, very important, setup the OverScan (both Text and Graphics) to your liking (I use 720 x 564 ) to be able to use the largest possible screen real-estate in VistaPro later on. Save the OverScan settings, then switch back to the normal RTG ScreenMode you were using before.

Start VistaPro. You will get a ModePro Popup asking "An unknown Public Screen has been requested. Public Name: Fakebench. Do you want to create an entry for this screen?"
Say Yes.
ModePro Prefs will open in "Public Screen" edit mode. In the top middle of the window, select "Promotion: Screenmode" and select "DBLPAL 640x512 HAM".
You will notice that the pixel Width and Height changed to 720x564 instead of 640x512. This is because we changed the OverScan values beforehand and ModePro always uses OverScan, But this is what we want, so it's fine.

Do NOT select "Colors, Palette, Interleave, Behind, Force Planar, Centering, 3D Look and Share Pens".
Then, in the bottom left, select "Use".

You will get a second ModePro Popup asking "An unknown Screen has been requested. Screen Name: VistaPro 3.0. Program Name: VistaPro3.0 and some screenmode (ignore this).
"How do you want to promote this screen?" Select the button "Screen Name" this time.

Again, ModePro Prefs will open, this time in "Screen Names" edit mode. In the top middle of the window, select "Promotion: Screenmode" and again, select "DBLPAL 640x512 HAM".
You will again notice that the pixel Width and Height change to 720x564 instead of 640x512. This is because we changed the OverScan values beforehand and ModePro always uses OverScan, But this is what we want, so it's fine.

Do NOT select "Colors, Palette, Interleave, Behind, Force Planar, Centering, 3D Look and Share Pens".
In the bottom left, select "Use".

Now you will get the third and last ModePro Popup asking "An unknown Screen has been requested. Screen Name: No Name. Program Name: VistaPro3.0 and some screenmode (ignore this).
"How do you want to promote this screen?" Select the button "Program Name" this time.

Again, ModePro Prefs will open but this time in "Program Names" edit mode. In the top middle of the window, select "Promotion: Screenmode" and again, select "DBLPAL 640x512 HAM".
You will notice that the pixel Width and Height change to 720x564 instead of 640x512. This is because we changed the OverScan values beforehand and ModePro always uses OverScan, But as this is what we want, it's fine.

Again, do NOT select "Colors, Palette, Interleave, Behind, Force Planar, Centering, 3D Look and Share Pens".
In the bottom left, select "Use".

Vista Pro will start and look perfecly normal. Quit the program. You will end up back in the ModePro Prefs editor. Click "Save" in the lower left and you are done.
From now on, VistaPro will start normally. Because we selected DBLPAL 640x512 HAM and not the normal DBLPAL mode, we can use HAM colours in VistaPro.

Couple of notes: If you have a graphics-card without a Scandoubler (Retina Z3 BLT, CV643D without the Screendoubler card etc.) you will not see VistaPro at all because it opens (and can only open) in an Amiga native screen, meaning you will need a second monitor.

As I wrote, I never got the P96-FakeNative modes to work correctly (I do get a display but it's all messed up) so if anyone with (another) graphics-card did get that to work, please add your experiences below.
Being able to use FakeNative modes solves the problem of having to use a second monitor on the Amiga's native video-port.