Stella 6.2 released

[+SpiceWare]

Encountering an odd issue - if I run Stella on my right monitor everything's OK.  If I run Stella on my left monitor then frame skipping occurs.

 

I noticed it in Space Rocks where objects would disappear for a while.  Happens in other games too such as in Pac-Man too where I can only see 2 ghosts at a time; it'll show the same 2 ghosts for quite some time, then change which 2 ghosts are visible. In Missile Command it'll show 1 set of missiles for a while, then show the other set.

 

Both are Dell P2715Q 4K monitors, running at 4K, and are connected to my 2013 Mac Pro's via Display Port/Thunderbolt.

 

I'm using 3 of the 6 ports. Per the diagram from here the connections are:

• Port 1/Bus 1 - Drobo 5D (RAID storage)
• Port 2/Bus 2 - Left monitor
• Port 6/Bus 0 - Right monitor

Oddly enough, when I swapped ports 2 and 6 the issue stayed on the left monitor.

 

 

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Sounds like one monitor is running at 30Hz.

[+stephena]

It's possibly related to vsync issues, where one monitor is vsynced and the other one isn't.  I'm going to be absolutely honest here; this one may be hard to trace.  Not only would we have to have duplicate monitors on a system, but they'd probably have to be on a Mac.  I do have multi-monitor setup at work, but I can't get back to my office yet   And even then, it's not a Mac system.

 

Is any other SDL-based app having the same issues?  Does it happen only with the latest version of Stella, or did it start with some previous version?  If so, which one??

[RevEng]

I could be wrong, but this seems to be an issue with the OS/hardware, as opposed to Stella.

[+stephena]

Stella 6.2.1 is now available.  This fixes most of the bugs mentioned in this thread so far, and even adds a few new features.  Changelog as follows:

• Fixed Pitfall II ROM not working correctly.
• Fixed crashes when using some combinations of bankswitching schemes on incorrect ROMs, or when using invalid ROM file sizes, etc.
• Fixed RIOT timer behaviour on reading/writing at the wraparound cycle.
• Fixed incorrectly setting D6 bit on TIA reads in some cases.  Related to this, improve 'tiadriven' option to randomize only D5..D0 bits.
• Fixed custom palette and TV effects adjustable slider rounding issue.
• Fixed some bugs in 3E+ scheme when using non-standard ROM sizes.
• Fixed crash in Audio & Video dialog when opened from debugger, and the debugger window sometimes being resized when using the Options dialog.
• Make NTSC custom phase shift not affect Yellow anymore.
• Fixed '1x' snapshot mode; TV effects are now disabled.  This mode now generates a clean, pixel-exact image.
• Fixed mappings sometimes not being saved in the Retron77 port.
• A ROM properties file may now be placed next to the ROM (with the same name as the ROM, except ending in .pro), and Stella will automatically apply the properties to the ROM. [NOTE: this was present in 6.2, but was mistakenly left out of the changelog]
• Added button to Game Info dialog to save properties of the currently loaded ROM to a separate properties file (in the default save directory). This is useful in conjunction with the previous item.
• Allow changing custom palette and TV effects adjustables in 1% steps again.
• Updated documentation for changes in ROM properties key names.
• The codebase now compiles under gcc6 again.  Future versions will require gcc7, though.

The download links are in the original post (and as always, donations are welcome).  The Retron77 port is still being built, so the links currently point to the 6.1.2 release.  It will be updated when the build is ready.

[+SpiceWare]

1 hour ago, RevEng said:

I could be wrong, but this seems to be an issue with the OS/hardware, as opposed to Stella.

 

Bingo! Left monitor:

 

Right monitor:

 

 

Strange that I've never noticed this before. Looking in the system info I see one's at 30Hz the other's at 60:

 

 

When I bought the monitors it was showing them both at 60 Hz; though the info screen back then showed 1080p (what the "UI Looks like" as due to HiDPI) even though photos of the onscreen menu showed 3840x2160.

 

 

 

 

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Told you so. ?  

Edited June 20, 2020 by Thomas Jentzsch

[+stephena]

The Retron77 link has been updated to 6.2.1 now.  This is the first release since 6.1.2; we missed the 6.2 release for R77.

[Keatah]

Not all the sliders move in 1% increments when doing a quick-adjust via the HOME, PG-UP, PG-DOWN, and END KEYS.

 

Volume 2%

Phosphor Blend 2%

Scanline Intensity 2%

and

Palette Phase Shift 0.3% (maybe should be 0.1%)

 

 

 

 

[fluxit]

5 hours ago, SpiceWare said:

Encountering an odd issue - if I run Stella on my right monitor everything's OK.  If I run Stella on my left monitor then frame skipping occurs.

 

I noticed it in Space Rocks where objects would disappear for a while.  Happens in other games too such as in Pac-Man too where I can only see 2 ghosts at a time; it'll show the same 2 ghosts for quite some time, then change which 2 ghosts are visible. In Missile Command it'll show 1 set of missiles for a while, then show the other set.

 

Both are Dell P2715Q 4K monitors, running at 4K, and are connected to my 2013 Mac Pro's via Display Port/Thunderbolt.

 

I'm using 3 of the 6 ports. Per the diagram from here the connections are:

• Port 1/Bus 1 - Drobo 5D (RAID storage)
• Port 2/Bus 2 - Left monitor
• Port 6/Bus 0 - Right monitor

Oddly enough, when I swapped ports 2 and 6 the issue stayed on the left monitor.

 

 

Have you tried swapping the cables to make sure that the problem isn't following the cable rather than the monitor, or cleaning the ports themselves?  I've found that cleaning helps sometimes with MDP ports.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

9 hours ago, Keatah said:

Not all the sliders move in 1% increments when doing a quick-adjust via the HOME, PG-UP, PG-DOWN, and END KEYS.

 

Volume 2%

Phosphor Blend 2%

Scanline Intensity 2%

and

Palette Phase Shift 0.3% (maybe should be 0.1%)

I can change these into 1%, but only if it really makes sense. 

 

BTW: Nice to read that people are using the new global hotkeys.

Edited June 21, 2020 by Thomas Jentzsch

[Keatah]

They’re handy and “right there”.

 

I think it should be consistent across everything. For looks and completeness. So many details are covered in this emulator. Why stop here. Except for the palette phase shift make it .1 increments

[Thomas Jentzsch]

59 minutes ago, Keatah said:

They’re handy and “right there”.

 

I think it should be consistent across everything. For looks and completeness. So many details are covered in this emulator. Why stop here. 

I will probably add more, but I better group them somehow. Else the list will become too long.

 

59 minutes ago, Keatah said:

Except for the palette phase shift make it .1 increments

You mean I should only change the phase shift increments?

[Keatah]

28 minutes ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

I will probably add more, but I better group them somehow. Else the list will become too long.

You mean I should only change the phase shift increments?

The graphic Audio Video menu sliders for the custom palette NTSC PHASE let you do 0.1 increments. The in-game HOME, PG-UP, PG-UP, and END do it in 0.3 increments.

 

I'm just suggesting the two methods of adjustment should have consistent granularity/increments.

 

And in-game we're still at 2% increments for the following:

Volume 2%

Phosphor Blend 2%

Scanline Intensity 2%

But the audio video menu lets us do 1% for those. I think it should be 1% for those in-game too, the same as what the menu does.

 

 

 

 

[Thomas Jentzsch]

I am a fan of consistency. But when it comes to quick adjustments via hotkeys, isn't it better for the user if he can change the values quickly in reasonable large steps? With 2% the adjustment is twice as fast done as with 1%. 

[+TwentySixHundred]

Sorry to crash the topic guys, as for the topic at hand i second having the ability to change scanlines per 1%. Atleast with the mouse and 2% via hotkeys or vice versa.

 

Slightly off topic i mentioned awhile ago post #25 about having the ability to change UI theme colours. I am wanting a dark theme (white on black/dark grey) rather then classic or light. Would i have to request this over at Github or is there a specific thread for requests. Or even better yet has this been considered and in the works?

 

Cheers

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Best is to request via Github. But we can also create issues for you.

[Keatah]

24 minutes ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

I am a fan of consistency. But when it comes to quick adjustments via hotkeys, isn't it better for the user if he can change the values quickly in reasonable large steps? With 2% the adjustment is twice as fast done as with 1%. 

 

I personally don't see any urgency to turn the knob quickly.

It would take me ~15 minutes to tune a new monitor either way.

 

Of course you do what you think is best for the project.

[+SpiceWare]

16 hours ago, fluxit said:

Have you tried swapping the cables to make sure that the problem isn't following the cable rather than the monitor, or cleaning the ports themselves?  I've found that cleaning helps sometimes with MDP ports.

 

I've swapped ports around on the Mac, but not on the monitors as they're zip-tied to the monitor arms.

 

Figured it out this morning - went into Apple -> System Preferences -> Displays and noticed the left monitor was set to Scaled with Larger Text which is Looks Like 1920x1080. Changed it to Default for display, which is also Looks Like 1920x1080, and both monitors are now at 60 Hz.

 

 

I bet the use of Scaled was left over from May 28th when I updated the Supercharger and Destination Charger maps on my Tesla handouts. Before I take the screenshot of the map I switch my monitor to Scaled with More Space, which is 3840 x 2160 without any HiDPI scaling:

 

 

I do that because with the default setting the map looks like this (just a snippet, the map on the handout shows the entire USA and parts of Canada and Mexico):

 

 

And when using More Space it looks like this, which makes the charging locations more apparent on the printed handouts.

 

 

 

Most likely I picked Larger Text instead of Default for display when I was done. Visually they're the same, so easy enough to not notice at the time.  Strangely enough, if I change the monitor back to Scaled with Larger Text it remains at 60 Hz.

 

 

 

[+stephena]

Glad you got the problem fixed @SpiceWare, and just as glad that it wasn't a Stella issue ?

[Wizzard]

Hi, I think it was discussed here, but I did not find it solved. Is there any way how to adjust the aspect ratio? It seems this option was removed. I use Stella on my Orange Pi on 4:3 TV via HDMI-composite out and the image is just too narrow, I would like to stretch it to full monitor width.

 

note: I cannot use fullscreen, because when I set that, the keyboard stops responding.

 

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Yes it got removed. We replaced it with the. Vertical adjust option. Your problem sounds like it is not Stella related. 

[Wizzard]

That is a pity. I tried changing that V-size adjust but it has almost no effect. Is there any other way how to override that aspect ratio?

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[Thomas Jentzsch]

Nope. Sorry.

[Wizzard]

Ok, I solved that problem, but I have another question. Can I set Stella to use just specified audio output, e.g. HDMI out? The reason is that I also use mpd daemon on my SBC which uses line out output and sometimes they had the conflicts.