Preface:

When I got back to Amiga 2 years ago I did two things, got my clunky old lady out of the closet...

Dax shameless show off of some of his classic stuff

...and after few months, since I decided to try out AmigaOS 4.1 I bought this...



Tiny SamanthaFlex. Very sleek isn't she? I bet its surface in square inches it's smaller than my GVP G-Force040


Thought AMD's Radeon5970 to be the longest card around? Wait untill you see the over 13" Picasso II!

The "AmigaOS love" was now spreading towards more modern and mundane stuff, but the idea was to have the two machines for different uses thinking a fusion of the two world would be impossible at this stage.

Yet i couldn't refrain myself from dreaming an all-in-one solution...

Quote:

I imagined myself there, installing Ambermoon on the HD using the original floppies, then checking the news with a modern browser only to abbandon myself to the joys of pixel art a minute later (using Dpaint IV directly from floppy of course) finally, needing a quality 3D icon, I would turn to a DCC app with modern facilities...all without ever abandoning the Amiga Operating System for a single second.

Actually today it is quite possible!

From my early days, a new marvelous App came out, a new marvelous driver came out and secret settings that would magically deliver native looking (and sounding!) classic games also materialized!

Below you will find an overview of what's possible today including various tips, configurations, and a full blown Picasso96 tutorial!

The overview has the following sections:

_________________
SamFlex Complete 800Mhz System + AmigaOS 4.1 Update 4
Amiga 2000 DKB 2MB ChipRam GVP G-Force040 Picasso 2 OS3.9 BB2
AmigaCD 32

Check the little marvel below:



You are looking at Mike Brantley's box of wonders. The Sam based AmigaOS system can do the following (be amazed! ):

Receive "as is" the games you have installed on your classic's HD, and run them on Aos4 by simply double clicking them!
Works with WHDLoad & JOTD JST installed games.

Install the floppy games you have (or buy for collection off ebay) directly using WHDLoad with your original floppies!

Monkey2 anyone?

Easily launch Amiga CD32 games by inserting the original CDs in your AmigaNG drive (RunInUae's latest feature),

With the Help of Picasso96, it can reproduce the look of the popular Commodore 1084/1081 monitors on a standard VGA CRT (sample on the right, see video display section for more)

Easily dump to HD, floppy games that have no WHDload or HD install possibilities using SuperDiskImage.

Run your floppy images by simply double clicking their icon and...

...in these cases, hear dynamic floppy sound, useful as an "Audio" cue as to how the loading process is going.

and...much more!

Last edited by DAX on 13-Mar-2011 at 12:02 PM.
Last edited by DAX on 13-Mar-2011 at 12:01 PM.
Last edited by DAX on 13-Mar-2011 at 11:39 AM.
Last edited by DAX on 12-Mar-2011 at 02:56 PM.

_________________
SamFlex Complete 800Mhz System + AmigaOS 4.1 Update 4
Amiga 2000 DKB 2MB ChipRam GVP G-Force040 Picasso 2 OS3.9 BB2
AmigaCD 32

One of the things that turns down classic users when moving to an NG system, is that their favorite games just don't look right.

For a game to look exactly as it did on your A500 (or place here the model of your choice), the real stumbling block is the fact that low-res screen modes do not work on current monitors and to see anything at all, the image must be "processed" some way or another.
Even if you have a classic and you double scan the image to see it on a hi-res monitor, the resulting graphics will appear pixelated or blurry.


Welcome to blocky-pixel land!



But it doesn't have to be this way. All you need is a simple VGA CRT monitor (you probably already have lying around somewhere) and the following settings.

DON'T DISMISS THIS IMMEDIATELY. THOSE THAT HAVE TRYED ARE NOT GOING BACK TO "JUST LCD", there must be a reason! find out more below.

FAQ:

Q: I don't want to use AOS on a CRT monitor
A: In case you don't want to use solely a CRT, you don't have to actually. Just place a small (15" ?) CRT VGA monitor beside your current LCD and connect your graphic card to both (most ATI cards support this).

In the sporadic case you just can't get that to work, then use one of these:

In all cases the image will be sent to both monitors simultaneously and when the E-UAE native screen comes up, the LCD will simply inform you that it cannot display the mode and switch to "stand-by" immediately (while you play your classic game that FINALLY looks like you remember it on the CRT).

Here are a few examples of the possible results, in the following section I will show you how to create an AmigaClassic low res mode using Picasso96.

Due to difficulties of taking CRT pictures, the impossibility of posting 3000x2000 sized images here, and on my image-hosting provider, and that rescaling resulted in messy pictures full of problems that are nowhere to be found in reality I will post only portions here




Works for Retro-Consoles too:



Note how diagonal lines are not blocky, and everything is perfectly rounded around curved shapes. No filters here, only a super raw Picasso96 screen using the AmiGFX version of E-UAE (or other console stuff).

Please consider that these are macro shots (taken to avoid moire effects) so everything is huge, but look perfect on screen!



these are the only two screens of my batch that didn't look like crap after scaling them down, just imagine that any game on screen looks perfect.

Last edited by DAX on 19-Jul-2011 at 05:59 PM.

_________________
SamFlex Complete 800Mhz System + AmigaOS 4.1 Update 4
Amiga 2000 DKB 2MB ChipRam GVP G-Force040 Picasso 2 OS3.9 BB2
AmigaCD 32

Picasso96

Here is a step by step Visual Guide/Tutorial on how to create a Picasso96 screen-mode.

As Broadblues (my Picasso96 mentor! ) told us a while back, there are some instances where a monitor will need a weird resolution and only the ones out of Picasso96 will get hooked, so it might end up being useful for other occasions as well.
Picasso is good because it will let you create screen-modes that do not share the same settings as the radeon ones and easily specify you don't want double scanning to take place.


Preliminaries:

First things first.
In order for AmigaOS to accept the new screen mode you're about to make, you must make sure the Horizontal and Vertical scan range in your "Radeon monitor" (or driver, if you prefer to call it that way) are set properly.
To do this, you can use AmigaOS "ScreenMode" utility that you find in Prefs, open that up and click on the second tab (the one that says "Monitors"):


Below on the right, where it says Refresh Rates (also just above the "Save Monitor" button), it's where you can specify your scan-ranges. If you have DCC enabled it's time to turn it off (untick the "Detect settings automatically" option, in the upper left corner) then place your cursor in the scan ranges text boxes, and specify the following ample ranges (just to make sure):

Minimum VSync: 50 (that's 50hz)
Minimum HSync: 28000 (That's 28Khz)

Maximum Vsync: 160
Maximum HSync:125000 (a little exaggerated but read on)

Modern CRT monitors won't go bust if you try frequencies thei don't support, they will automatically go in "stand-by" mode instead (with some others displaying a warning message such as "Out of Scan-range") so don't worry. With these ample ranges we'll make sure that the new resolutions will be accepted and added to the "Radeon Monitor" though.
NOTE that the screen grab shows "12500" for Maximum-H but that is only due to the fact that the requester won't show more than 5 digits (there is a hidden 0 after the last one shown).
Also NOTE that all my screen modes have a tick beside them, if yours don't (after you deactivate "detect settings automatically") tick them all! Otherwise when you re-boot workbench won't find any active mode.

Note number 3): if you installed an old version of RunInUae and it created 320x256/320x240 screen modes for you (the latest version that came out recently won't do that IF you have DCC enabled, but will still ask for it in case you don't), it is the right time to delete them!
Otherwise they will be chosen by E-UAE instead of the picasso ones (when there are two similar modes, one made with Picasso96 and one made with the standard screen mode utility, the latter have precedence, it would seem).
Just select any low resolution mode in your list (those that start with 320x2xx) and hit "remove" (once for each resolution you want to delete).

Now click on "Save Monitor" button and close the window, you will be informed that the new changes will be available only at the next (re)boot, and asked if you want to re-boot now.
Re-Boot. After you get back to WB return here for the rest of the Tut





Already back? Great! Let's open the Preference drawer (or folder if you prefer, I'll use Amiga terminology here) and double click on the Picasso96Mode icon:




If you never used Picasso96 before you won't have a profile for it in devs:, so the following warning message will pop-up:




Just press "Ok" as you'll be making your first one in a minute!
At first glance the picasso96 utility is rather daunting, nothing seems to work, and I'll admit, saying it is intuitive would be very (VERY) far from the truth, but let's cut to the chase with our 1st step:

1)Click and hold your left mouse button on the "New Item" icon and drag it into the "Settings" white box as shown below:




At this point all you have is a generic setting, we need to "attach" it to our GFX card though, so in order to do that

2) place your mouse over the string of text that appeared in the settings box, press and hold the right mouse button to open the menu and select "attach setting to". A sub menu will appear with a list of the GFX cards installed in the system, in my case I only have a Radeon9250 so I chose that:




With the Radeon now attached, we can proceed and create a "name" other than the default "New Setting", something that tells us more about the resolution that setting is about. In my case I chose "320x256_AmigaClassic"

3)Place the cursor in the section indicated below and give the setting a meaningful name:



Note that the "320x256" I wrote is only a name, a real resolution for this setting is yet to be indicated, so we'll do that right now...

4)Click-hold-and drag the "new item" icon (just like you did before) in the "Resolutions" white box, as indicated below:



As you can see the default one says 640x480, time to change that but PAY ATTENTION, if you put the cursor where it says 640 (and write 320), then you move it where it says 480 by clicking the mouse on the other text, note that the mode indicated below (where it says "name") doesn't change. To change you need to write 320 and press enter, then change the 480 part and press enter again.
By checking the "name" section below, you'll make sure the resolution was set correctly.

5)Change the resolution to 320x256 press enter both times you change the values, and make sure the changes were set correctly by checking the "name" section below:


We finally get to the interesting part, the one where we specify we don't want no stinky "double scanning" to ruin our beloved Amiga Classic games.

6)Like you did already twice, drag the "New Item" icon over the only empty white box we have left (the one on the right which says "Modes"):


The first thing we'll do is make sure both "interlace" and "double-scan" are off (no ticks there whatsoever!)

7)



8)Change the color depth to "hi-color" and the pixel clock ro 18.90Mhz like in the picture below




9)Make sure both sync polarity check-marks/ticks are in place (just like the image below) and that below those checkmarks you read 42Khz for horiz. and 150Hz for vert.



Don't mind the fact that the text in the "modes" box still says the wrong thing, it will say the right thing only after you saved the setting and re-boot.

Now it's time for testing the fruit of our hard work: hit the "Test" button and see if the screen mode gets hooked.
If it does, take the chance to center it on your screen, then press "esc" to get back to workbench.
Now hit the Save button in the bottom left corner, he will ask if you want to re-boot, say yes and again confirm "reboot" when the new window appear (which should say waiting for all disk activity to finish. Just confirm and there you go).

When you get back in WB, go to the picasso96 utility, open it and see your much beloved screen mode is already there waiting to be utilized.

Speaking about which...(actually using it I mean)

Last edited by DAX on 13-Mar-2011 at 08:44 PM.

_________________
SamFlex Complete 800Mhz System + AmigaOS 4.1 Update 4
Amiga 2000 DKB 2MB ChipRam GVP G-Force040 Picasso 2 OS3.9 BB2
AmigaCD 32

For UAE we will be using the 0.8.29 AmiGFX version you can find at OS4_Depot:

http://www.os4depot.net/index.php?function=showfile&file=emulation/computer/e-uae-amigfx.lha

What follows is the ideal "gaming oriented" configuration (.uaerc) for AmigaOS systems connected to a CRT monitor and pertains to using E-UAE stand-alone, in case you use RunInUAE (you should of course!), make sure to use the following custom uaerc for best results on CRT monitors.+ a few tips that will be helpful also for LCD users).

It has been fine tuned to perfection after thorough testing with several different versions of UAE and comparisons of several different ".uaerc" files.

On/off tests for every single option have been performed (with different games which differ in nature).
All the alternatives for all the options were also tested (in many different combinations) in order to insure maximum compatibility with commercial games and best performance.

Even a "lowly" "SamFlex, is able to run games such as Alien Breed, Assassin, Chuck Rock, Disposable Heroes, Hybris, Lotus2, ProjectX, Ruff'n'Tumble, Turrican 2 (and a ton more) with native looking graphics, fluid scrolling with no frame-skip and great 44100Khz stereo sound, something that was though as impossible for a while back.

Here it is, make sure to read the "Notes" afterward.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#The first line below is MANDATORY for Sams, "might" not be needed on A1/PegII

ppc.use_tbc=false

#kickstart_rom_file=kick3.1.rom
kickstart_rom_file=kick1.3.rom
kickstart_key_file=rom.key
show_leds=false
joyport0=mouse
joyport1=kbd2
cpu_type=68000
cpu_24bit_addressing=no
cpu_compatible=false


#in some games you might want to change cpu speed from real to 10, to eliminate audio problems
cpu_speed=real

chipset=ecs
immediate_blits=true
collision_level=playfields

chipmem_size=4
bogomem_size=0
fastmem_size=0

sound_output=normal
sound_channels=mixed
sound_frequency=44100
sound_latency=100

amiga.screen_type=custom
amiga.use_dither=false

gfx_framerate=1
gfx_fullscreen_amiga=true
gfx_correct_aspect=no
gfx_width_windowed=320
gfx_height_windowed=256
gfx_lores=true
gfx_linemode=none
gfx_center_horizontal=smart
gfx_center_vertical=smart
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Notes

1)The config assumes your kickstart files are named like mine (as shown below) if they are called differently just alter the appropriate lines with the names you have.
It also assumes the rom files are present in the same directory where E-UAE is.
The files I have are called:


Kckistart 1.3 -> kick1.3.rom

Kickstart 3.1-> kick3.1.rom



Thus, the two "rom file" lines in .uaerc look like this:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#kickstart_rom_file=kick3.1.rom
kickstart_rom_file=kick1.3.rom
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note the "#" symbol before the 3.1 rom, it indicates that such rom will not be used, and that the 1.3 rom will be used instead.

1.3 offers great compatibility with OCS/ECS games.

2) In case you want to use AGA, you will have to put a "#" symbol (without the quotes) in front of the 1.3 line and delete the one in front of the 3.1 line (the inverse of what you had before in practice).

Also, find the "cpu_type" and "chipset" options and change them like this:

from
cpu_type=68000

to

cpu_type=68020

&

From:
chipset=ecs

To:
chipset=aga

If you have a Sam, you will have to try various frame skip (called "gfx_framerate" in .uaerc) and cpu_speed options (check below for a tip on this last point).
Never use "OCS" as your chipset selection as E-UAE will not allow you to use more than 512K of Chipram that way (even if you specify more) which will prevent certain games from starting.
The reason you see some sort of memory expansion detected by a few games even if you chose OCS, is because E-UAE is detecting "bogomem" (slowmem). That's because if you don't specifically state you don't want slowram, E-UAE will default to 512K of bogomem.
Note that the combination of Kick3.1+AGA might conflict with certain older games, so revert to Kick1.3+ECS when you don't plan on using AGA (Aga Note: AGA wasn't tested thoroughly like OCS/ECS were).

3)The first line in the following .uaerc config is there to eliminate a disaster with timings, that occur on Sam boards if the line is missing.
For Sam owners it's MANDATORY no matter your E-UAE configuration (even if you won't use my .uaerc you must put that line there just the same), it will improve performance adding also the very positive side effect of letting E-UAE start in the blink of an eye!

4) You might have noticed the following advice: "in some games you might want to change cpu speed from real to 10, to eliminate audio problems",

Explanation:

The value "cpu_speed=real" is very "compatible", and mandatory for correct behavior of certain games (the entire Turrican series for example), however a value ranging from 1 to 20 can be specified there as well.
As you know "heavy" games sometimes might have inconsistent audio performance and the usual method to correct audio issues is to introduce some frameskip.
However, the latter also makes animation and scrolling less smooth.
E-UAE default "cpu_speed" value when set to "real" is close to a "5". By placing a value of 10 in place of the word "real", you give the Amiga chip-set more cycles which in return, will eliminate audio hiccups in several games, without having to renounce to graphical frames (ie: you can keep the gfx_framerate=1 and still correct the audio!).

For example, by changing cpu_speed from

cpu_speed=real

to

cpu_speed=10

you will be able to play Hybris with fluid scrolling and perfect 44100Khz stereo sound!

So, if you are experience Audio hiccups play with that value and check the results (please note that a value of 12 is prone to introduce graphical glitches, while a value of 13 WILL introduce graphical glitches 100% of the times. The safest value is generally 8, but can vary up to 11 from game to game).

Post any question or feedback below!

Last edited by DAX on 13-Mar-2011 at 05:57 PM.

_________________
SamFlex Complete 800Mhz System + AmigaOS 4.1 Update 4
Amiga 2000 DKB 2MB ChipRam GVP G-Force040 Picasso 2 OS3.9 BB2
AmigaCD 32

Special Thanks:

Special Thanks to Chris Handley (ChrisH) for introducing me to several E-UAE settings, for various other aids and of course for creating RunInUAE (second best thing after sliced bread -tm-).

Special Thanks to Ian Gledhill (Spirantho) for creating the AOS4 Catweasel driver, and for being so kind in assisting me.

Special Thanks to Michael Trebilcock (MickJT) for his great E-UAE 0.8.29 AmiGFX re-compile, for helping me solving the timing issue, and for sending me the dynamically linked E-UAE SDL version.

Special Thanks to Max Tretene from Acube Systems for sharing his uaerc stuff, and for his E-UAE 0.8.29 SDL re-compile (still under study ).

Special Thanks to Andrew Broad (Broadblues) for teaching me how to use Picasso96 (and for Blender since I'm at it ).

Special Thanks to Mike Brantley (mbranteley) for sharing his Catweasel experience with me (using the installed SID chips with Vice? cool! ) for allowing me to use his computer picture and for his AmigaOS in 2011 page (truly loved it).

And thaks to whomever i might have forgot to mention

_________________
SamFlex Complete 800Mhz System + AmigaOS 4.1 Update 4
Amiga 2000 DKB 2MB ChipRam GVP G-Force040 Picasso 2 OS3.9 BB2
AmigaCD 32

@DAX
Your "optimal" E-UAE settings look remarkably close to those supplied with RunInUAE, which is nice to know . There are a few differences though, which I wonder whether I should adopt or not:

Quote:

chipset=ecs

I currently use ocs, but I think it probably does make sense to use ecs, escpecially as you say ocs limits chipram to 512KB. Now changed for the next release.

Quote:

chipmem_size=4

I currently use 2 (which means 1MB). Does a value of 4 (which means 2MB) really not reduce compatibility?

Quote:

bogomem_size=0

I don't have this line. You make some indirect referrence to this later, but it is not clear to me if this is really necessary or not. What effect does it have, compared to not using it?

Quote:

immediate_blits=true

I didn't do this since it might reduce compatibility, and didn't appear to make a noticable difference. My understanding is that it is there for when using RTG (fake gfx card) inside E-UAE, to reduce slow-down of (system friendly) software.

Quote:

sound_channels=mixed sound_frequency=44100

I currently use completely different sound settings (mono, 22050). Are you sure this does not increase emulation load such that it reduces performance on 667MHz Sam440s? I remember on Amithlon I had to reduce E-UAE sound emulation to get better performance.

Quote:

sound_latency=100

I currently use a setting of 114, which I nabbed from WinUAE . Probably the exact value doesn't make much difference, as long it is roughly right?

Quote:

cpu_24bit_addressing=no cpu_cycle_exact=false

I don't have either of these lines at all, since (I think) they are already the default for E-UAE.

BTW, regarding "cpu_speed=", do you think it would be advisable for RunInUAE to offer the option to change cpu_speed as a menu option?

And which (if any) of the above settings changed your mind about needing Sam-optimised SDL version of E-UAE to get perfect scrolling & other issues? cpu_speed?

P.S. Very nice guide you wrote! Although you didn't go into how to load WHDLoad games from real floppy disks, nor in fact much of how to use E-UAE after it was set-up, both of which I was expecting from your introduction. Coming later?

Last edited by ChrisH on 12-Mar-2011 at 04:39 PM.
Last edited by ChrisH on 12-Mar-2011 at 04:37 PM.
Last edited by ChrisH on 12-Mar-2011 at 04:35 PM.

_________________
Author of the PortablE programming language.
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue...

@DAX

WoW

awesome tutorial !!! OK you just convinced me to put my old CRT next to my LCD when my X1000 arrives & I get my basement office ready

_________________
____________________________
c64-2sids, A1000, A1200T-060@50(finally working!),A4000-CSMKIII
! My Master Miggies- Amiga 1000 & AmigaOne X1000 !
mancave-ramblings
X1000 I BELIEVE

@DAX

Thank you very much for sharing this! Can I suggest writing it as one article and posting it in the AW.net Tutorial section? That way it can be found easily for future reference.

_________________
PowerBook 5.2 MorphOS 3.15
PowerBook 5.8 MorphOS 3.15
Amiga 1200 BPPC/BVision AOS4.1 FE

@ DAX

can we please post your tutorial over at www.amigaos.net

Last edited by klx300r on 12-Mar-2011 at 05:09 PM.

_________________
____________________________
c64-2sids, A1000, A1200T-060@50(finally working!),A4000-CSMKIII
! My Master Miggies- Amiga 1000 & AmigaOne X1000 !
mancave-ramblings
X1000 I BELIEVE

@DAX

Quote:

DAX wrote: ...and after few months, since I decided to try out AmigaOS 4.1 I bought this..

An XBOX360?

Seems interesting, i'll read the whole post tomorrow

_________________
Proud Amigan since 1987
Owner of various Commodore and a SAM440ep\OS4.1FE
See them on http://retro.furinkan.org/

great. but i need to know how to overclock Bvision under OS4.0,i can do this with OS3.9 with Bvision clocked at 100Mhz (standard on my card) but has been clocked much higher .

_________________
The Machine: Bride Of The Pin•Bot by Williams Electronics

@DAX

Great guide!

It should be published on Bitplane, why don't you speak about this think with Enrico?

@dax

Yes fantastic job! this is what the community needs not trolling threads and bs! Very detailed and cool

Also that link to Mike Brantley's system was great. His article was very informatinve, entertaining, and inspiring. Especially for classic users moving to OS4.

@DAX

Thanks, great tutorial!1

@Dax

I agree, great tutorial - well done.

TrevorD

_________________
No, I don't need no reason, I'm just breezin'

@All
Thanks for the positive feedback!
Going to lunch right now, I'll get back asap and look into inquiries,
Later then!

_________________
SamFlex Complete 800Mhz System + AmigaOS 4.1 Update 4
Amiga 2000 DKB 2MB ChipRam GVP G-Force040 Picasso 2 OS3.9 BB2
AmigaCD 32

@ChrisH @All
Since your message offers a lot of good chances to further expand the discussion on settings I invite everyone to read this reply to get further insights:

Quote:

Your "optimal" E-UAE settings look remarkably close to those supplied with RunInUAE, which is nice to know . There are a few differences though, which I wonder whether I should adopt or not:

You did a very good job with them and I used them as baseline :) Changes though were necessary for fluid scrolling and stereo sound reproduction, (some of the values were obtained through sweat and blood hard testing ).

Quote:

chipset=ecs I currently use ocs, but I think it probably does make sense to use ecs, escpecially as you say ocs limits chipram to 512KB. Now changed for the next release. chipmem_size=4 I currently use 2 (which means 1MB). Does a value of 4 (which means 2MB) really not reduce compatibility? bogomem_size=0 I don't have this line. You make some indirect referrence to this later, but it is not clear to me if this is really necessary or not. What effect does it have, compared to not using it?

I grouped the above as they are closely related. In case of chipset type selection, OCS is not a good idea as E-UAE will force only 512K of chipram that way even if you specified chipmem_size=2 (1mb).
In practice you would only get 512K of ram if it wasn't for the subsequent settings, which is, bogomem. Not specifying anything there will trigger E-UAE default value for it, which is 512K of bogomem (aka: slowram).
To sum it up, if you use OCS chipset and no indication for bogomem it will give you 512K of chip ram + 512K of slowram no matter what you specify in the "chipmem_size=x" field.

My settings specify 2MB of chip ram and no bogomem.
The reason I chose that value is because after many tests, I cannot find a game that doesn't work (for example using RunInUAe default settings I couldn't load Lion Heart or Turrican 3 using the ADFs I have) and in case you use E-UAE stand alone, it is one setting less to change when switching to AGA.
If someone finds an OCS/ECS game that won't work with these settings please let us all know by posting here!

Quote:

immediate_blits=true I didn't do this since it might reduce compatibility, and didn't appear to make a noticable difference. My understanding is that it is there for when using RTG (fake gfx card) inside E-UAE, to reduce slow-down of (system friendly) software.

For compatibility I wouldn't know, everything loads and behaves quite well (including Lion Heart, the intro sequence works fine without frameskip ).
As for the reason I turned it on, it has to do with scrolling fluidity. In order to achieve it, you will need both my screen settings (in the Picasso96 tutorial above), the timing option, and immediate_blits=true, otherwise it's back to stutters.
It probably work well in concert with the whole configuration (might not do the same in other cases) as it is sufficent to turn it off, to immediately notice ugly stutters in anything that scrolls.
Quote:

sound_channels=mixed sound_frequency=44100 I currently use completely different sound settings (mono, 22050). Are you sure this does not increase emulation load such that it reduces performance on 667MHz Sam440s? I remember on Amithlon I had to reduce E-UAE sound emulation to get better performance.

On Sam440EP 667Mhz I wouldn't know, could be.
On my flex I noticed though that Audio that plays well at 22050, plays well at 44100 as well (probably in concert with the sound delay setting) and by the same token, those that play really badly (lots of jumps and hiccups) aren't helped by reducing the frequency to 22050.
Switching to "stereo" produces minor hiccups, but in general the best way to help audio playback is to work with the cpu_speed setting or, when all else fails, the gfx_framerate setting.
Talking specifically about the above settings, the combination of Sound_delay=100 and sound_channels=mixed, produces stellar sound performance with all (good performing) games, retaining both frequency and stereo channels, although when it comes to a Sam667Mhz we would need a CRT monitor equipped owner, to test the settings out...

Quote:

sound_latency=100 I currently use a setting of 114, which I nabbed from WinUAE . Probably the exact value doesn't make much difference, as long it is roughly right?

Two things here, 1 might be weird (I don't know) the other is very weird.
The First: I don't know if it has to do with the timings option introduced above, but only values like 90-100-110-120 produce smooth audio playback on this config, anything in between (such as 114 or even 115 or 95) generate hiccups.
Now for the weirdest part: the value of 100 produces smooth playback and (here comes weird) no (or very sporadic) screen tearing!
I don't know why it is like so, but I tried on-off situations and the result repeat itself all the times.
My favorite test is Turrican 3 intro sequence, toward the end of which a huge green monster travels diagonally across the screen (from the lower right corner to the upper left corner) use anything other than 100 for sound delay and that huge bitmap will tear apart, with a value of 100, it corsses the screen in rock-solid shape! (same happens in the subsequent scene where there is the big Turrican suite, crossing the screen shooting).

I repeat, if I didn't do several tests with different values (80-90-110-120) I wouldn't believe it myself. Weird. O_o
But the results using the correct settings are very pleasing!

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cpu_24bit_addressing=no cpu_cycle_exact=false I don't have either of these lines at all, since (I think) they are already the default for E-UAE.

The second it's not in my current uaerc as well (it is a left over there O_o) it is indeed the default so it's not needed, I will correct it above, 24bit addressing defaults to "yes" though if you don't specify anything.

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BTW, regarding "cpu_speed=", do you think it would be advisable for RunInUAE to offer the option to change cpu_speed as a menu option?

That would be very cool! It is a value that does produce good results in many istances. I don't know why the Turrican series copes that badly with it, but the majority of games do improve very often (a very high value generates slightly longer loading times, but gameplay sections are intact).


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And which (if any) of the above settings changed your mind about needing Sam-optimised SDL version of E-UAE to get perfect scrolling & other issues? cpu_speed?

As you can see I left cpu_speed at the default "real" value (with an advice to experiment with different values) actually it was the combination of the first "timing" option + immediate_blits=true + time_delay =100 that allowed the AMiGFX version to mimic the re-compiled SDL version scrolling smoothness, very closely.
For the SDL recompile I have a couple of different settings that deliver 100% screen tearing free fluid scrolling (break ups never happen)
However, using the settings above, the AmiGFX version gives smooth results and only sporadic episodes of screen tearing (so sporadic in fact they are hardly a problem at all), while also being better at sound reproduction. This was always an issue with the SDL re-compile, an issue that might be not so evident on faster machines.
I presume the 460EX might be able to mimic what I experience on my Sam (sound-wise) but using the SDL recompile instead (but then again, even there you might want to use the AmiGFX version for more demanding games such as Lion Heart).

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P.S. Very nice guide you wrote! Although you didn't go into how to load WHDLoad games from real floppy disks, nor in fact much of how to use E-UAE after it was set-up, both of which I was expecting from your introduction. Coming later?

Thanks! My intention is to expand this subject with a complete guide to RunInUae and Catweasel, but it would have taken another century
Those guides are in the to do list though...

P.S
I have to go now, will be back later to reply to others (this one reply was long! )

Last edited by DAX on 13-Mar-2011 at 05:55 PM.

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SamFlex Complete 800Mhz System + AmigaOS 4.1 Update 4
Amiga 2000 DKB 2MB ChipRam GVP G-Force040 Picasso 2 OS3.9 BB2
AmigaCD 32

@klx300r @Kyle @emeck
Indeed something more accessible is needed, something that is also easier to find and consult.
Care to expand on your ideas (also for additional parts to be added in the future)?

_________________
SamFlex Complete 800Mhz System + AmigaOS 4.1 Update 4
Amiga 2000 DKB 2MB ChipRam GVP G-Force040 Picasso 2 OS3.9 BB2
AmigaCD 32

@delshay
What exactly do you have clocked at 100Mhz? The Cpu or video chip?

_________________
SamFlex Complete 800Mhz System + AmigaOS 4.1 Update 4
Amiga 2000 DKB 2MB ChipRam GVP G-Force040 Picasso 2 OS3.9 BB2
AmigaCD 32