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[madmab]

For whdload games JIT is useless, it causes more problems than the benefits it offers.

For stuff like Workbench however (the Amiga's OS) and non-whdload games that need the horse power (mostly 3D stuff) JIT can come in very handy.

I personally never use JIT in WinUAEX as I only use WinUAEX to play old school games.  Even AGA WHDLoad games struggle so I doubt I'll want to play any complex 3D games (even if it will run them).

I'll sort you out the whdload.hdf file (and game file) as soon as possible, might end up being next week some time though as I'm pretty tied up from now until then.

I'm not a big fan of the default keymappings.  I have a USB mouse and keyboard so I don't need the mouse being mapped to the analog stick.    I've also completely changed the keymaps so that both the DPad and left analog stick are registered as a joystick (only the dpad is by default).

A good option for a few configs would be:

Joystick - standard 2 button
CD32 Pad - with all 6 buttons mapped correctly
Pinball - the amiga had quite a few decent pinball games, so mapping F1 to start, and the two shift keys to the triggers would be a good idea (or something similar).

On a normal Amiga the red button on the CD32 pad would work as the standard button on a joystick, although in WinUAE/WinUAEX the two things are separate (i.e. if it's set to Red, it will not work in games which do not have CD32 pad support).

Yeah that was the impression that I got about JIT when reading about it in regards to whdload and useage.  I figured most people would be using winuaex for games.  Worst case scenario I release a 2nd (no movie previews) edition.

On configurations.  Not very many people are gonna have mouses.  Even I only have one cable which I usually plug a keyboard into.  But maybe if I go the preset configs route it can take the mouse mappings into consideration.  The biggest fluke with that is, even without a mouse some games/titles want the user to press the mouse button.  

I'll have to look into that red button issue, although I'm not sure if there is any point other than accuracy.  Since the user really should be assigning the joystick buttons in non CD32 titles anyways.  

Here are the standard emulator definitions for winuaex.. (32 entries)

CODE

{ "Joy1 Up", JOY1_UP },
{ "Joy1 Down", JOY1_DOWN },
{ "Joy1 Left", JOY1_LEFT },
{ "Joy1 Right", JOY1_RIGHT },
{ "Joy1/Mouse1 Btn1", JOY1_1 },
{ "Joy1/Mouse1 Btn2", JOY1_2 },
{ "Joy1/Mouse1 Btn3", JOY1_3 },
{ "Joy1 CD32 Play", JOY1_CD32_PLAY },
{ "Joy1 CD32 Rewind", JOY1_CD32_RWD },
{ "Joy1 CD32 Fast Forward", JOY1_CD32_FFW },
{ "Joy1 CD32 Green", JOY1_CD32_GREEN },
{ "Joy1 CD32 Yellow", JOY1_CD32_YELLOW },
{ "Joy1 CD32 Red", JOY1_CD32_RED },
{ "Joy1 CD32 Blue", JOY1_CD32_BLUE },
{ "Joy2 Up", JOY2_UP },
{ "Joy2 Down", JOY2_DOWN },
{ "Joy2 Left", JOY2_LEFT },
{ "Joy2 Right", JOY2_RIGHT },
{ "Joy2/Mouse2 Btn1", JOY2_1 },
{ "Joy2/Mouse2 Btn2", JOY2_2 },
{ "Joy2/Mouse2 Btn3", JOY2_3 },
{ "Joy2 CD32 Play", JOY2_CD32_PLAY },
{ "Joy2 CD32 Rewind", JOY2_CD32_RWD },
{ "Joy2 CD32 Fast Forward", JOY2_CD32_FFW },
{ "Joy2 CD32 Green", JOY2_CD32_GREEN },
{ "Joy2 CD32 Yellow", JOY2_CD32_YELLOW },
{ "Joy2 CD32 Red", JOY2_CD32_RED },
{ "Joy2 CD32 Blue", JOY2_CD32_BLUE },
{ "Space", 0x80000000 | VK_SPACE },
{ "Enter", 0x80000000 | VK_RETURN },
{ "0", 0x80000000 | '0' },
{ "1", 0x80000000 | '1' },

Mouse 1 button 1 = Y
Mouse 1 button 2 = black
Mouse 1 button 3 = white

Dpad is mapped to Joy 2
Joy2/Mouse 2 button 1 = A
Joy2/Mouse 2 button 2 = B
Joy2/Mouse 2 button 3 = X

Joy2 green (CD32) = A
Joy2 yellow (CD32) = Y
Joy2 red (CD32) = B
Joy2 blue (CD32) = X

Now I always figured that Joy1 on a CD32 would be the default stick mapped as player 1.  Is that not the case?

I typically unmap joystick 2 buttons 2-3 (do any games uses 2?) and mouse 1 button 3.
Then..

Joy 2 up = B (since alot of platform style games use up for jump).
Mouse 1 button 2 = Y.
Space = white (since alot of games seem to use it).
F1 = Start (since some games use this to start).

That generic setup seems to work pretty well for me.

I really have to wonder the point of having mappings for joystick 1 (two player games?).
Also the last three entries (enter, 0, and 1) are at least questionable.

Anyways I need to come up with a default setting that is as generic as possible.  Let me know what you think of my above settings and any thoughts on that.  I suppose mapping the mouse to the right analog stick and the dpad to the left analog stick might come handy as a setting.

All the rest could be set-up as pre-set configurations (as you suggested).

Lemme know what you think.  Oh one other possibility (didn't see many games use it though) is mapping the dpad to the arrow keys.  It was useful for atarixlbox.  But so far I have not run into many Amiga titles that seem to rely much on the arrow keys.

[flavor]

With the help of this great screen aspect compilation - tutorial I found my prefered values for Winuaex in 1080i video resolution.
They are brutaly :> scaled to fit the whole screen - so circles will not be round, but I can live with that because the aspect ratio is scaled proportionally, and finding the correct 4:3 values should not be hard. Important thing is that there are no jagged edges or other scaling artefacts.

For most Games it's:

2497x1404

Games using a higher resolution with overscan tricks or something or just in full pal/ntsc mode require:

2270x1248

(Battle Isle is one of those)

screen position in X/Y could differ between tvs, mine were  X:-320  Y:-20


All kudos go to Cospefogo for his research in proper scaling. I just did the calc.exe thing. :>

And this seems to have landed in the wrong thread. ;>

Edited by flavor, 24 April 2009 - 05:48 PM.

[madmab]

And this seems to have landed in the wrong thread. ;>

[madmab]

ok.  Did some work today on this with my own made up stuff.  Here is what I did.

If the file selected has an extension of ".whz" then the emulator will unzip that file to the "Z:whdload" drive.  It will mount that drive as "DH1:" with the volume name of "game".  It will then mount on "DH0:" the file "_whdload.hdf" which must be located on the "D:\" drive with a volume name of "WHDload".

Although I didn't wanna do it cause I knew it would be a big pain in the neck (traversing directory tree's is not fun).  I wrote a function to clear the files in the "whdload" directory off of the "Z:" drive when the user exits.

At this point all the emu does is display a message when the user picks a file with a ".whz" extension.  Later on, if you wish, I'll modify it so if the user picks a ".whd" extension it will do the same (aside from unzipping anything).  Seems to me this does not have to be done now that I have it unzipping the file.

If you could tell me what configuration settings you use for you WHDload stuff, that'd be great.  Also, please still send those test files I requested so I can make sure they seem to work ok.

Going on the earlier topic regarding preconfigured mappings I forgot to mention that I also wanna unmap all the emulator interface buttons except for ( in game options menu, keyboard pop-up, and fast forward).  The rest, from my experience tend to get in the way so no love lost.

[killergorilla]

That sounds perfect to me mate, if it's all unzipping correctly that should work a treat.

I do exactly the same with the interface mappings, can't stand it when you accidentally change the filter and stuff

I'll endeavour to get those files to you ASAP mate, I'll let you know straight away.

Nice work mate seriously

[waal]

Unfortunately for the amiga emulator the config file stores the absolute address of the HDF files.  So (for example) if your HDF game is in "D:\amigadisks\whdload\c\cannon fodder.hdf" then the other use would have to have their .hdf file in the same location as well.

We ran into that little issue when I sent some config and .hdf files to RessX.

I've never followed the whdload updates to know what advantages are typically offered from one to the next.  But I would think if it functions for a particular title, what is the advantage of updating it?

But you line of thinking does kinda make sense.

I'm concerned with this issue as I 'm preparing a package of settings. Did you change something about this ?

Edited by waal, 28 September 2009 - 01:29 AM.

[waal]

B U M P

[waal]

Still no answer ?

[madmab]

Sorry... I have not had a chance to put a whole lot of thought into how changing this would impact anything because Winuaex, and apparently a couple other emulators, do this very same thing.

It would probably be easier for me to go the atarixlbox route and modify Winuaex so it checks a database of configuration files rather than mess with the Path's.  The way it would work is it would check the CRC of the selected ROM (aka disk) and look for a match in the configuration database and if one is found it would let the user select it.

The other option is to have it remove the directory path info.  But that may create a problem for who use a combination of .hdf, .adf, and virtual hard drives since they probably store those in seperate directories anyways.  Maybe I could just have it ask the user if they wish to keep the directory path info or not.

[waal]

Sorry... I have not had a chance to put a whole lot of thought into how changing this would impact anything because Winuaex, and apparently a couple other emulators, do this very same thing.

Well, paths of course are important because of disk swapping and configs with hard drive files. But anyone can easily correct them. My concern is that I actually don't know what happens when a user tries to load a winuaex config with wrong paths, does it crash or is he allowed to edit the settings ?

I think the most sensitive aspect is the "Amiga's settings" as they can appear very obscur for newcomers.

It would probably be easier for me to go the atarixlbox route and modify Winuaex so it checks a database of configuration files rather than mess with the Path's.  The way it would work is it would check the CRC of the selected ROM (aka disk) and look for a match in the configuration database and if one is found it would let the user select it.

If you're planning to build a database then I'm your man. I've been testing and setting games for weeks now. I removed and replaced the bad disk with the good from various sources (Tosec, Gamebase, Lemon...). At the end, their number will be close to what is available in Gamebase Amiga. All games run perfect (full speed, loading fine and stable from crack intro to in-game) with the current Winuaex and they are also easy to find.

The other option is to have it remove the directory path info.  But that may create a problem for who use a combination of .hdf, .adf, and virtual hard drives since they probably store those in seperate directories anyways.  Maybe I could just have it ask the user if they wish to keep the directory path info or not.

I think prompting for a directory would be a good idea.

At the moment my games are ordered like Gamebase, in alphabetical folders. But I'm thinking to change to make categories like RX does (AGA enhanced, language, public domain, pr0n... ^^) .
That's one of the reasons why I asked.

[madmab]

Well, paths of course are important because of disk swapping and configs with hard drive files. But anyone can easily correct them. My concern is that I actually don't know what happens when a user tries to load a winuaex config with wrong paths, does it crash or is he allowed to edit the settings ?

This whole process is kinda wonky and a bit confusing...  But a few things I can tell you..

1) Whatever file is selected by the user (on first load/configuration), whether it is in a zip file or not, for drive 0 is remembered, path and all..

2) Everything you mount on drives. hard files, etc are remembered as well on exit.  Whatever is in DF0: on exit is stored but overriden by the one mentioned in (1).

3) If one of the above files is missing on a 2nd load (where the configuration already exists) the emulator will still remember the filepaths for everything.  The emulator will load as usual but won't do anything because there is nothing mounted.

4) If a configuration exists and the file stored in (1) is there it will mount that file to drive DF0:.  Regardless of what game the user selected (or what file in a .zip) that matches the configuration name.

So it looks like they only time a user will have an issue is if the file that should be mounted in drive 0 is named different from the one you created the configuration with.  In all other cases the user can go in and change everything else to point to the correct files and everything will be ok.

I think the most sensitive aspect is the "Amiga's settings" as they can appear very obscur for newcomers.
If you're planning to build a database then I'm your man. I've been testing and setting games for weeks now. I removed and replaced the bad disk with the good from various sources (Tosec, Gamebase, Lemon...). At the end, their number will be close to what is available in Gamebase Amiga. All games run perfect (full speed, loading fine and stable from crack intro to in-game) with the current Winuaex and they are also easy to find.

I'd like to go this route if your willing to help.  In fact I'd like to re-verify possibly vamp up the game configuration screen a little.  Some of the stuff to me just seemed a bit off (especially with the auto config when selecting a machine).  So I would like to run thru the options and make sure they make sense (0k of ChipMem?, not possible)... But my memory is a bit fuzzy from my Amiga days.

Alright.  Would you also like to work on creating some "pre-mapped" joystick configurations as well.  I kinda briefly mention it in the first message on page 3.  Basically the idea would come up with 1,2, maybe 3 "pre-mapped" configurations of typically used Amiga keys..

For example I noticed alot of games typically use the same keys for certain things.

The other possibility is to create a system similar to the auto configuration where the user can select a "pre-mapped" configuration for specific games.

I didn't know if you went so far as to add mappings for some games that rely on certain keyboard commands.  Like for example in "Star Raiders" for the Atari computer "S" is shield, "G" brings up the galaxy map, etc.  So for a game like that I would create a pre-defined configuration where certain "hot-keys" would be mapped to buttons on the stick.

Just let me know what aspects you'd like to work on...

At the moment, I worked these aspects:
- Screen resolution: 908*624, point filtering, no hardware filter, correct centering.
- Optimal Amiga configuration (processor, memory, chipsets etc.) to be sure the game runs 100%. Means full speed 50fps PAL and no glitches, no crash.
- All disks are verified so the swap is OK.
- All the set is compatible with Winuaex and it was often tested with good old Winuae 0.8.27

Still have near 200 games to correct/replace these days.

- Only a few games are remapped, like the Turrican serie and some I don't remember right now.

I agree with you suggestion, it's important. There's a need to add buttons for games and yes, there can be a model similar to the one KG suggested.
So when I'm finished with this package, I will set special mappings for games. I was already planning to do that.

Edited by waal, 16 October 2009 - 03:58 PM.

['waal']

'
               I'm OK with it.

I will send you stuff this weekend and expose you what I was planning. You'll see, it's compatible with you ideas.

Let's go for a first collection based on floppies and then I'll do a selection for HD games.
               
               

               
            '

['madmab']

'
               Alright.  Would you also like to work on creating some "pre-mapped" joystick configurations as well.  I kinda briefly mention it in the first message on page 3.  Basically the idea would come up with 1,2, maybe 3 "pre-mapped" configurations of typically used Amiga keys..

For example I noticed alot of games typically use the same keys for certain things.

The other possibility is to create a system similar to the auto configuration where the user can select a "pre-mapped" configuration for specific games.

I didn't know if you went so far as to add mappings for some games that rely on certain keyboard commands.  Like for example in "Star Raiders" for the Atari computer "S" is shield, "G" brings up the galaxy map, etc.  So for a game like that I would create a pre-defined configuration where certain "hot-keys" would be mapped to buttons on the stick.

Just let me know what aspects you'd like to work on...
               
               

               
            '

['madmab']

'
               KillerGorilla mentioned a few examples earlier in this thread.

QUOTE

Joystick - standard 2 button
CD32 Pad - with all 6 buttons mapped correctly
Pinball - the amiga had quite a few decent pinball games, so mapping F1 to start, and the two shift keys to the triggers would be a good idea (or something similar).

               
               

               
            '

['waal']

'
               

QUOTE(madmab @ Oct 16 2009, 11:34 AM)

Alright.  Would you also like to work on creating some "pre-mapped" joystick configurations as well.  I kinda briefly mention it in the first message on page 3.  Basically the idea would come up with 1,2, maybe 3 "pre-mapped" configurations of typically used Amiga keys..

For example I noticed alot of games typically use the same keys for certain things.

The other possibility is to create a system similar to the auto configuration where the user can select a "pre-mapped" configuration for specific games.

I didn't know if you went so far as to add mappings for some games that rely on certain keyboard commands.  Like for example in "Star Raiders" for the Atari computer "S" is shield, "G" brings up the galaxy map, etc.  So for a game like that I would create a pre-defined configuration where certain "hot-keys" would be mapped to buttons on the stick.

Just let me know what aspects you'd like to work on...

At the moment, I worked these aspects:
- Screen resolution: 908*624, point filtering, no hardware filter, correct centering.
- Optimal Amiga configuration (processor, memory, chipsets etc.) to be sure the game runs 100%. Means full speed 50fps PAL and no glitches, no crash.
- All disks are verified so the swap is OK.
- All the set is compatible with Winuaex and it was often tested with good old Winuae 0.8.27

Still have near 200 games to correct/replace these days.

- Only a few games are remapped, like the Turrican serie and some I don't remember right now.

I agree with you suggestion, it's important. There's a need to add buttons for games and yes, there can be a model similar to the one KG suggested.
So when I'm finished with this package, I will set special mappings for games. I was already planning to do that.
               
               

               

                     Edited by waal, 16 October 2009 - 03:58 PM.
                     
                  

            '