Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[FrodeSolheim]

FS-UAE 0.9.12 Released - Changes since 0.9.10:
* Configuration option to mount hard drive image/folder read only.
* Fixed bug where emulation after pause ran too fast in non-full-sync-modes.
* Added wisegroup_ltd/mp_8866_dual_usb_joypad.ini (courtesy of Foul).
* Fixed a bug where large positive mouse movement became negative.
* Event information is written to Synchronization.log during net play (this
  file can be quite large) -cannot be disabled yet.
* Include slow memory in memory checksumming (chip + slow, now).
* Replaced a busy-loop in net play with proper condition signal/wait,
  using significantly less CPU now.
* Fixed a race condition in the net play server where input events could be
  sent to some clients out of order (with regard to frames). This would
  have caused desync when it occurred.
* Fixed a bug in the net play server where input events could be sent to
  some clients before all clients were connected.
* Detect refresh rate properly on Mac OS X (was not included in 0.9.11beta2).
* Floppy swapping is performed synchronized in net play mode.
* GUI Reset action can be used with net play.
* Save state saving and restoring is now synchronized in net play mode.
* Parallel port joystick emulation (joystick_port_2, joystick_port_3).
* Reduced input lag in net play games.
* Custom gamepad/joystick -> action mapping.
* Custom keyboard -> action mapping.
* Support mounting zip files as (read-only) volumes.
* Read command line arguments earlier (fixes a Configurations dir issue).
* Renamed "amiga_joystick" config value to "dummy joystick" (more descriptive).
* Renamed "amiga_mouse" config value to "dummy mouse" (more descriptive).
* Floppy speed setting was already implemented, but not documented.
* Finally implemented the volume mute function for OpenAL.
* Detect refresh rate properly on Mac OS X.
* Fix execute permissions for directories created on virtual file system.
* Added support for Xbox 360 cabled controller.
* Support new path prefixes: $app/ (directory containing executable (Windows)
  or .app bundle (Mac OS X), $exe/ (directory containing actual executable),
  and $fsuae/ (the base directory for files - defaults to My Documents/FS-UAE).

[Hungry Horace]

Version 0.9.13alpha1
Here is an early alpha release!

* Menu function to swap input device and type.
* Support floppy images in ADZ format (zipped ADF).
* Support floppy images in DMS format.
* Resolve relative paths by looking in a set of directories.
* Also look for floppies in new FS-UAE/Floppies directory.
* Also Look for CD-ROMs in new FS-UAE/CD-ROMs directory.
* Also Look for hard drive images in new FS-UAE/hard Drives directory.
* Also look for named kickstarts in FS-UAE/Kickstarts directory.
* Do not change permissions on ADF files when inserted into floppy drives.

http://fengestad.no/fs-uae/files/fs-uae-0.9.13alpha2-windows.zip
http://fengestad.no/fs-uae/files/fs-uae-0.9.13alpha2-macosx.tar.gz
http://fengestad.no/fs-uae/files/fs-uae_0.9.13alpha2-0_i386.deb
http://fengestad.no/fs-uae/files/fs-uae_0.9.13alpha2-0_amd64.deb
http://fengestad.no/fs-uae/files/fs-uae-0.9.13alpha2.tar.gz

[Hungry Horace]

this is going to sounds really stupid, but i noticed when trying this release that you can no longer load a config where a specified HD folder does *not* exist (i.e. the program quits if the folder is not there)

to me, this is a very small disadvantage, because my Online Setups had allowed for "if drive 3 is there, save to that, if not, 'fake' save to RAM:"

i guess i will just have to remove the drive in the config for games that do not need to save!!



edit:  plus random crash in the middle of IK+ gameplay.

log file attached

[FrodeSolheim]

this is going to sounds really stupid, but i noticed when trying this release that you can no longer load a config where a specified HD folder does *not* exist (i.e. the program quits if the folder is not there)

to me, this is a very small disadvantage, because my Online Setups had allowed for "if drive 3 is there, save to that, if not, 'fake' save to RAM:"

i guess i will just have to remove the drive in the config for games that do not need to save!!

This was an unintended side-effect of changes I did to improve handling of relative paths in the config files, so don't worry, it will probably be fixed in the next release!

Regarding online play, you might be interested to know:
- I have implemented custom input mapping, like we discussed, I just haven't documented it yet (the player1/player2/etc section support is not done).
- There is something fishy with mounting zip files as volumes (it is *very* slow with large zip files). I'll have to look into that.
- I'm looking at making mounted folder volumes behave deterministic, in order to make it compatible with net play.

[Hungry Horace]

- There is something fishy with mounting zip files as volumes (it is *very* slow with large zip files). I'll have to look into that.

is this slow emulation (as FOL is suffering) or is this slow HD read/write speed?

So far i have not had problems with ZIP files as HDs, but it make make the difference between FOL and my setup.

- I'm looking at making mounted folder volumes behave deterministic, in order to make it compatible with net play.

deterministic?  Please explain... i am interested

I had found the ZIP file solution very neat for sorting out the netplay problem. So far, I have only allowed for any folders on a special 'SAVES' HD (folder mounted as HD) and only on games that need it (Settlers, Bloodwych etc)

[FrodeSolheim]

edit:  plus random crash in the middle of IK+ gameplay.
log file attached

Hmmm... that's not good... the log file does not really give any clues. The emulator itself crashes? I see from the log file that you are using accuracy -2, which enables "fastest possible mode"
- Both fastest possible mode, and mounted zip folders are tested relatively little, but t may also be completely unrelated.

Btw: Fastest possible mode will probably not work at all in net play. I suspect it will cause instant desync.

[FrodeSolheim]

- There is something fishy with mounting zip files as volumes (it is *very* slow with large zip files). I'll have to look into that.

is this slow emulation (as FOL is suffering) or is this slow HD read/write speed?

Well, I only noticed that it uses extremely much CPU when booting from a large zip file on Windows. I haven't investigated at all, so I don't now what the problem is yet, but this is probably only while loading/reading. I don't suspect it should affect emulation when data is not read/written.

- I'm looking at making mounted folder volumes behave deterministic, in order to make it compatible with net play.

deterministic?  Please explain... i am interested

I had found the ZIP file solution very neat for sorting out the netplay problem. So far, I have only allowed for any folders on a special 'SAVES' HD (folder mounted as HD) and only on games that need it (Settlers, Bloodwych etc)

Deterministic can simply mean that given the same input, you get the same result every time.

In order for HDs (or any feature) to work with net play without desyncs, FS-UAE must guarantee that the same actions are carried out in the same order, given the same input.

When folder content is listed, the file entries may appear in any order (decided by the OS), so the files will probably not be listed in the same order on two different computers (And this will likely cause a desync...) However, if I open the directory in FS-UAE, read all file entries, and then *sort* the list before returning any entries to the Amiga, the entries will be read in the same order on both computers.

This was just an example. There are other issues as well. But as I said, I'm currently working on fixing these

[Hungry Horace]

sounds very neat!

I tested IK+ again with higher accuracy, and i cannot reproduce the crash. I guess you are right that it was the cause of the problem!

edit: strangely, accuracy 1 has gfx glitches, accuracy 0 has sound missing, and accuracy -1 seems fine?!

This is only on IK+ though, which is a strange game with sound compatibility!!

[FrodeSolheim]

sounds very neat!

I tested IK+ again with higher accuracy, and i cannot reproduce the crash. I guess you are right that it was the cause of the problem!

Well, it is possible, at least. Anyway, I have tested the HD support relatively little myself, and hardly at all with net play, so when I have spent some more time improving and testing HD / net play, I should be able to give some more clear recommendations on what will work perfectly, and what will not.

[FrodeSolheim]

sounds very neat!
I tested IK+ again with higher accuracy, and i cannot reproduce the crash. I guess you are right that it was the cause of the problem!
edit: strangely, accuracy 1 has gfx glitches, accuracy 0 has sound missing, and accuracy -1 seems fine?!
This is only on IK+ though, which is a strange game with sound compatibility!!

That is a bit strange. have you seen this problem in other UAE ports?

[Hungry Horace]

I have certainly had sound drops in other UAE ports. The gfx glitch is new to me though.

When I can, I will test with "other" settings tweaked

[FrodeSolheim]

Version 0.9.13beta3 http://fengestad.no/wp/fs-uae/download-beta

* Change in OpenGL renderer for Linux, making it work better with vsync on recent Linux systems with recent nVIDIA drivers.
* File system mounting made more compatible with net play (some issues with normal folders remaining, zip file mounting seems stable in net play).
* Fixed issue where (mounted) file system access slowed emulation.
* Fixed crash when referring to a non-existing disk file.
* Fixed crash when saving state wile using hardfiles (hdf).
* Reordered input menu items.
* Added Mad Catz Wired Xbox 360 Controller config.

[FrodeSolheim]

this is going to sounds really stupid, but i noticed when trying this release that you can no longer load a config where a specified HD folder does *not* exist (i.e. the program quits if the folder is not there)
to me, this is a very small disadvantage, because my Online Setups had allowed for "if drive 3 is there, save to that, if not, 'fake' save to RAM:"
i guess i will just have to remove the drive in the config for games that do not need to save!!

This should be fixed in the latest beta: http://fengestad.no/wp/fs-uae/download-beta

[Hungry Horace]

thanks FS


one quick thing... have you thought about giving each Joystick (host side) setup a 'short' name also?

e.g.

http://www.ultimateamiga.co.uk/HostedProjects/UltimateAmigaEmulation/fs-uae/JoyName.png

the full PS3 name does not fit on the screen (and looks bad) ... perhaps for this screen, there could be a shorter version in the name (which would need to be defined in the Controllers/ section) reading 'PS3 CTRL' or something?

[FrodeSolheim]

thanks FS
one quick thing... have you thought about giving each Joystick (host side) setup a 'short' name also?
e.g.
http://www.ultimateamiga.co.uk/HostedProjects/UltimateAmigaEmulation/fs-uae/JoyName.png
the full PS3 name does not fit on the screen (and looks bad) ... perhaps for this screen, there could be a shorter version in the name (which would need to be defined in the Controllers/ section) reading 'PS3 CTRL' or something?

Yes, I might do joystick aliases. The same problem exists with floppies etc, so I'm going to fix the UI also anyway (gradually fade out the name when it gets near the edge etc).

Another quick update: I believe I now have made normal folder mounting compatible with net play. The last issue was that file system usage (total capacity / used capacity) reported to the Amiga caused desyncs. This is now fixed by lying (always report the same disk capacity) -And along with the other updates to file system handling to make it compatible with net play, it now seems stable.