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Altirra 3.90 released


phaeron

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16 hours ago, tjcbs said:

BTW, thanks a ton for helping me to get my personal "crt" pixel shader working in Altirra. 

 

It might not be to anyone's taste but mine, but I've been having a blast.

runner.jpg

monty.jpg

blue max.jpg

Looks really cool!

 

How do you make it look like that in Altirra?

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35 minutes ago, TapperP said:

Looks really cool!

 

How do you make it look like that in Altirra?

View -> Adjust Screen Effects:

 

image.thumb.png.2a30f9f73732f30302ea82085eaf7a45.png

 

For scanlines, go to System -> Configure System. Select Video from the pane on the left, then check "Scanlines." (I really hope @phaeron has somewhere on his to-do list combining the several places video is configured in the emulator into one central location).

 

image.thumb.png.89b023543a42c0fae9681fd1cb2243cb.png

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6 hours ago, DrVenkman said:

For scanlines, go to System -> Configure System. Select Video from the pane on the left, then check "Scanlines." (I really hope @phaeron has somewhere on his to-do list combining the several places video is configured in the emulator into one central location).

There's a problem with doing so in this case: the emulator is paused when Configure System is open. However, this also means that none of the settings can be tuned live, which is why tweaky settings like color and screen effects have separate modeless UI.

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5 hours ago, phaeron said:

There's a problem with doing so in this case: the emulator is paused when Configure System is open. However, this also means that none of the settings can be tuned live, which is why tweaky settings like color and screen effects have separate modeless UI.

I totally get the value of the live tuning - it’s great to be able to visualize the screen geometry, bloom, etc.  Scanlines seem to be one of the most straightforward “retro” effects people want out of their emulation- it’s a basic on-off toggle for nearly all the spate of mass-market mini-retro emulation systems over the last couple years like the Mini NES and Mini SNES. Even HDMI scalers for real retro-hardware like the RetroTink include an option to create scanlines. It just seems odd that the option to toggle it is not in the same place where you adjust the other overt, visual aspects of the display. 

 

Would it be possible to move or add the “Scanlines” option to the live tuning pane?

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Ok, here is a legitimate feature request: 

 

Currently, quick save and quick load save to memory only. Instead, can you have them save and load to a generic file, ie. jumpman_quicksave.state? This is standard behavior in other emulators.

 

I have never yet remembered to safe the file before exiting the program!

Edited by tjcbs
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As a long-time user of this emulator I've thought about the video options and what it would be like if they were on one big-ass screen. Everything on one page. Encompassing everything under the VIEW dropdown, what is present in SYSTEM - CONFIGURE SYSTEM - VIDEO, and even TOOLS - OPTIONS - DISPLAY & DISPLAY EFFECTS.

 

This thought exercise aggregates all three of those areas into one panel. Everything related to visual output goes here. And everything updates live.

 

The above is strictly a thought exercise and is in no way, shape, or form a feature request.

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I think I found a bug in the Altirra OS ROM.  If I run the attached program with either Altirra BASIC or Atari BASIC rev C and Altirra OS, the printed value of pi is off by one digit in several places.  If I run it with OS Rev 3, it is correct.

 

The proper value is 3.1415926535897932384...

pi.bas

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17 minutes ago, evilmoo said:

I think I found a bug in the Altirra OS ROM.  If I run the attached program with either Altirra BASIC or Atari BASIC rev C and Altirra OS, the printed value of pi is off by one digit in several places.  If I run it with OS Rev 3, it is correct.

 

The proper value is 3.1415926535897932384...

pi.bas 1.18 kB · 2 downloads

What is the absolute value of Pi? Have you calculated it to infinity?

:)

 

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On 6/15/2020 at 1:49 AM, phaeron said:

Thanks for everyone's continuing support, whether it be bug reports, feature requests...

Thanks for this version.

 

For the only thing I have to use a modified version of atari800 is for tape recording, .cas files (yeah it's old, but it's related to Atari). I was told it's the only emulator that works with FSK modulation.

 

Files:

http://ftp.pigwa.net/stuff/emulators_and_utils/8-bit/A8CAS/atari800-a8cas/1.2.2/

https://sourceforge.net/projects/a8cas/files/atari800-a8cas/1.2.2/

 

 

Quote

Atari800 source with A8CAS patch.

 

II. New features

The patch provides a new "Tape Management" menu in the emulator's Main Menu (F1) instead of the old "Select Tape Image" option. Access to this menu is also possible by the Alt+T shortcut.

 

The patch allows the user to load tape images from sound files (WAV/Ogg Vorbis /FLAC/etc., but _not_ MP3), CAS, HEX, FSK files, and raw files (see the A8CAS homepage for details on file formats). Writing to all of these formats is also supported.

 

Emulation of "turbo" hardware modifications (currently AST and Blizzard) is emulated - it is possible to load turbo tapes from CAS and HEX files, and, experimentally, from sound files. Saving turbo is currently not supported.

 

It is possible to create a new tape - a CAS image, a WAV sound file, or a raw file.

 

Is is also possible to rewind a tape loaded into the emulator (by giving a block number). So tape reading/writing can start in an arbitrary point in a tape file.

 

Support for audio playback while loading/saving tapes is given. Volume of the audio is configurable. Stereo tapes with additional audio track are also supported. (Audio playback is only available when Atari800 is configured with the --enable-synchronized_sound parameter. Not all sound backends in Atari800 support synchronized sound - currently the only ones are javanvm, sdl, oss, and dossb.)

 

During loading/saving from tapes, a tape activity indicator is visible. It can also display current block number (see Display Settings->Show sector counter).

 

Fast tape loading/saving using SIO patch is supported. Beware however that tapes with custom loaders won't load correctly with SIO patch active.

 

 

a8cas-atari800-patch-1.2.2.tar.gz atari800-a8cas-1.2.2-liba8cas-1.5.0-winsdl.zip

Edited by tane
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With that FSK modulation, it is a little bit different. The FSK modulation is the way Atari computers store data on tapes, Altirra supports it too.

 

One of the features that are special about the modified atari800 is that it supports fsk blocks in .cas tape images. The fsk blocks are used to store raw signals (beyond capabilities of the C : CIO device or SIO routines). These were used for certain copy protection schemes.

Edited by baktra
SIO->CIO
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Thanks for Altirra, Phaeron.   

 

I just noticed that my 2002 Atari 5200 homebrew, Koffi: Yellow Kopter, does not boot in Altirra .  After playing around with different ROMs I believe the reason is that I have Y2K-compliant code for the 5200 boot-up Atari splash screen, and Altirra doesn't like it.  I has always run ok in other emulators like Atari800Win .  

 

Here are the memory locations and code I used, compiled using a version of DASM.   I'm curious why Altirra doesn't like this.  I am running Altirra Version 2.60 [March 21, 2015]:

 

 

BIOSCOPYLOCATIONHIGH = $FD   
COPYLOCATION2PORTLOW = $58   
COPYLOCATION4PORTLOW = $42   
INXINSTRUCTION = $E8   
NOPINSTRUCTION = $EA   
RTSINSTRUCTION = $60   
CODESTART = $4000 

 



; DisplayStartupScreen   
;   
; Copy the startup code for the 5200 BIOS into RAM. This is done so the   
; copyright date can be Y2K complient. We store this data into RAM because   
; this routine will only be called once (during game start up) and this saves   
; precious ROM space. This RAM will be reused later in the program too.   
;   
; I chose to use page 6 and 7 to store my routine. You can place it anywhere   
; in RAM you like as long as the BIOS doesn't touch it    
;   
DisplayStartupScreen   
    rts        ; RWLTST 06/25/2020 - is this why Altirra won't run Koffi? 


    ldy #$00   
    lda #BIOSCOPYLOCATIONHIGH   
    sta tempHigh   

;   
; here is where we check to see if this a 2-port or 4-port system   
; a 4-port system will have an inx instruction ($E8) in location $FD32   
; a 2-port system will have a lda instruction ($AD) in location $FD32   
;   
    lda $FD32   
    cmp #INXINSTRUCTION ; if there is no inx instruction here then this is a   
    bne TwoPortSystem ; 2-port system   

FourPortSystem   
    lda #COPYLOCATION4PORTLOW   
    sta tempLow   
    jmp CopyBIOSLoop1   

TwoPortSystem   
    lda #COPYLOCATION2PORTLOW   
    sta tempLow   

CopyBIOSLoop1   
    lda (tempLow),y   
    sta $0600,y ; I chose to use page 6 but you can move it    
    iny   
    bne CopyBIOSLoop1   

    ldy #$50   
    inc tempHigh   
CopyBIOSLoop2   
    lda (tempLow),y   
    sta $0700,y   
    dey   
    bpl CopyBIOSLoop2   

    lda #<CopyrightMessage ; Point the copyright read to our ROM  

    sta $0724 ; address.   

    lda #>CopyrightMessage 
    sta $0725   

    ldx #$0B   
    lda #NOPINSTRUCTION   
;   
; here we place NOP instructions in the routine. It was easier than removing   
; the unwanted instructions.   
;   
NOPLoop   
    sta $0732,x   
    dex   
    bpl NOPLoop   

    lda #RTSINSTRUCTION ; Place a rts to return from the subroutine   
    sta $0750 ; This replaces the jmp instruction   

    jsr $0600   
    rts   

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1 hour ago, Cafeman said:

Here are the memory locations and code I used, compiled using a version of DASM.   I'm curious why Altirra doesn't like this.  I am running Altirra Version 2.60 [March 21, 2015]:

May I ask why you are running such a crazy old version of Altirra?

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Yes, you seriously do, simply because you need to do that because you are missing so many improvements its mad...Get the 4.00 beta, look at the interface just for a start, this isn't even bringing in to context the MASSIVE level of emulation improvements..

 

It's chalk and cheese and I do mean that...

 

Altirra is simply one of the most solid beta inspired out there, only WinUAE even comes close, every new final is so packed with Pluses its almost impossible not to imagine why not to adopt it...

 

Pretty much every beta adds features and improvements, very rarely are they fallbacks, so very rarely I can count on one hand..

 

If you think its hot, look at the newest versions, you are missing MOUNTAINS...

 

/me cools off now :) Paul...

 

Sorry, Altirra is a passion of mine...It's simply amazing...To realise that devs use it to build stuff to run on real hardware just shows how amazing it is...

Edited by Mclaneinc
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I only have so much time and mental energy so I have come to avoid new versions of things. But it must be time to upgrade.  I hope there are more debugging features, although I have likely  not learned how to use fully the old Altirra version. 

 

I just downloaded V3.20 .  It also does not load the Koffi homebrew ROM (or 5200 Adventure II , I just double-checked) ,  likely due to the y2k compliant code which copies the 5200 startup into RAM and changes the century , as explained above.  I've removed that code and the game plays fine, as expected.  If you want to play with it, the ROM is here:

 

https://atariage.com/software_list.php?SystemID=5200&searchValue=koff&Submit2=Begin+Search&searchCompanyID=ALL&searchRegion=ALL&searchTvFormat=ALL&searchRarity=ALL&searchLabel=&orderByValue=Ascending&recordsPerPage=100&searchType=NORMAL

 

 

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1 hour ago, Cafeman said:

I only have so much time and mental energy so I have come to avoid new versions of things. But it must be time to upgrade.  I hope there are more debugging features, although I have likely  not learned how to use fully the old Altirra version.

If anyone is anti-upgrade it’s me. I hate having to relearn things “just because”. That IS a waste of time.

 

Having said that, Altirra is something that’s pretty stable when it comes to procedures and operations. And I D’L most of the test releases too.

 

The thorough changelogs and documentation make short work of any surprises. 
 

And you can use multiple versions if you like. Use the profiles and config files and “portablealt” (SP?) switch to make it work.

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2 hours ago, Cafeman said:

I only have so much time and mental energy so I have come to avoid new versions of things. But it must be time to upgrade.  I hope there are more debugging features, although I have likely  not learned how to use fully the old Altirra version. 

 

I just downloaded V3.20 .  It also does not load the Koffi homebrew ROM (or 5200 Adventure II , I just double-checked) ,  likely due to the y2k compliant code which copies the 5200 startup into RAM and changes the century , as explained above.  I've removed that code and the game plays fine, as expected.  If you want to play with it, the ROM is here:

 

https://atariage.com/software_list.php?SystemID=5200&searchValue=koff&Submit2=Begin+Search&searchCompanyID=ALL&searchRegion=ALL&searchTvFormat=ALL&searchRarity=ALL&searchLabel=&orderByValue=Ascending&recordsPerPage=100&searchType=NORMAL

The reason this isn't working is that you have Altirra set to use its internal 5200 ROM and your startup code is hardcoded to addresses within the Atari ROM, particularly the location of the vector table. It'll work if you switch to the Atari ROM. The internal ROM has some accommodations for games that hardcode addresses, but it can't accommodate all possible dependencies on the specific code Atari used since the point of the internal ROM is to have an independent implementation. In most cases this distinction would be noticeable to the user since the logo screen is completely different, but that isn't visible here since the crash occurs before the logo is displayed.

 

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49 minutes ago, phaeron said:

The reason this isn't working is that you have Altirra set to use its internal 5200 ROM and your startup code is hardcoded to addresses within the Atari ROM, particularly the location of the vector table. It'll work if you switch to the Atari ROM. The internal ROM has some accommodations for games that hardcode addresses, but it can't accommodate all possible dependencies on the specific code Atari used since the point of the internal ROM is to have an independent implementation. In most cases this distinction would be noticeable to the user since the logo screen is completely different, but that isn't visible here since the crash occurs before the logo is displayed.

 

Ah! Okay , that makes sense.  Thanks for the explanation.  I'm sure I have the correct bios roms on my drive, I actually wasn't aware that Altirra has its own internal one, and that it is different. 

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Yes Altirra internally has custom roms so its run-able out of the box and Avery's rom versions are pretty damn good, the XL OS rom kills me with its take on the Amiga disk being loaded, just super nice :) and his BASIC runs rings around the genuine OS, its super fast...Yes there are certain things he can't maintain like the CONT command (unless he's added it back since?) but the running speed is just super duper...(who uses words like that now apart from me)

 

Obviously the OS roms are still owned by whichever heartless soul owns the Atari brand (Think its still Infrogames (?) in France). I'd super suggest going right up to the latest Beta in the 3.90 thread, some folks are worrying of beta's but Avery's so called beta's are super solid and rarely ever in there any negative regression, there's an army of people on here who sit waiting for the next beta just to see what will be added, they are that good.

 

Also, its always good practice to follow beta's of any emulator as some emulators have had no official update in many years ie Dolphin etc, the beta's add new life to very old code and makes them a lifeline for new stuff in those emulators, fortunately Avery is like a man possessed with Altirra, well fortunate for us, maybe not him :)

 

So I urge a push to the latest beta, the change list between 3.20 and 3.90 is MASSIVE, custom device code, rom support for many types of drive and numerous emulation tweaks that count. The difference between 3.90 and the latest beta is also pretty damn impressive..

 

Hail our emulation super being Avery!

 

:)

 

 

Edited by Mclaneinc
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So - I am still trying to understand under what circumstances the use of File/Exit causes Altirra to hang and soft-lock my system.

 

I believed I had tracked it down in my last post and now find if I run an instance full screen with PAL-60 as video mode on exit it hangs too, always using File/Exit and sometimes when I use ALT-F4. If I set the emulator to PAL it works perfectly ? 

 

Has any one else had any issues with Altirra like mine, I launch from a FE (Launchbox) largely so invoke with a command line, the programs always run just fine, whatever the format, including multi-disc games.

 

sTeVE

 

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The one feature request I would love to see for 4.0 is a native Linux version.

Thought of Adding Vulkan rendering to it?  As that would still work on Windows, but then make it easier at some point to add a native Linux version.

Atari800 emulator is great, but missing the support for modern hardware upgrades.

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@Jetboot Jack

 

Steve, just tried your PAL60 FS, close with File/Exit and it just closed fine..

 

Is there anyway the launcher could be holding it open / affecting the process?  Just a wild guess....Also does it work without using the launcher and just Altirra...

 

The gamepack I was part of also fed Altirra command lines galore but I've never seen that sort of behaviour from the gamepack or Altirra and I do keep the emulator side of the gamepack up to date and run the GP all the time.

Edited by Mclaneinc
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6 hours ago, Mclaneinc said:

@Jetboot Jack

 

Steve, just tried your PAL60 FS, close with File/Exit and it just closed fine..

 

Is there anyway the launcher could be holding it open / affecting the process?  Just a wild guess....Also does it work without using the launcher and just Altirra...

 

The gamepack I was part of also fed Altirra command lines galore but I've never seen that sort of behaviour from the gamepack or Altirra and I do keep the emulator side of the gamepack up to date and run the GP all the time.

 

Thanks for the suggestion...

 

I tried running Altirra from windows w/o my FE or CL options - booted to an NTSC 800 - loaded an xex (DK) - selected File/Exit and my system soft locked ?

 

Now it does NOT lock up if I am in window mode when I exit, only exit from Full Screen causes the lock up.

 

I get the same behaviour if I try 5200 games (which when loaded force NTSC) - File/Exit - locked up PC ?

 

If I select Config System from the menu bar sometimes the FS switches to a window the the dialogue appears and sometimes the screen turns grey and the system is soft locked again.

 

At this stage I understand it is my system, but where to start to look to fix it, I have no diagnostic information from the lock ups, I don't know where to look.

 

I am running Windows 10 and I am on the insider program for updates...

 

sTeVE

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10 hours ago, leech said:

The one feature request I would love to see for 4.0 is a native Linux version.

Thought of Adding Vulkan rendering to it?  As that would still work on Windows, but then make it easier at some point to add a native Linux version.

Atari800 emulator is great, but missing the support for modern hardware upgrades.

Afraid not, for pragmatic reasons: I'm neither set up nor have the time to create ports to different platforms, nor am I willing to compromise on the experience on Windows to support other platforms. I do try to occasionally check problems reported when running Altirra under Wine, but sometimes there are implementation bugs on the Wine side that cause problems, like their DXGI implementation returning inconsistent monitor LUIDs. But otherwise, I try to avoid promising what I can't reasonably deliver on.

 

Vulkan, not for now. Altirra doesn't render a lot of geometry and draw calls, so GL or GLES feature set is perfectly fine and would have larger reach. I do have some interest in trying out Vulkan and D3D12 at some point, just to try one of the newer low-CPU APIs (I've used Metal, which is bonkers). But ideally, I'd be able to slim down what I have before taking on more display APIs. Right now the D3D9 and D3D11 display paths are essentially separate. I'd like to merge them, but one thing getting in the way is that the D3D9 path still supports old graphics cards that don't have pixel shaders or only 1.x pixel shaders. I'm considering reorganizing it so that the existing D3D9 core only handles those tiers and the common core can then handle PS2.0+ D3D9 and D3D11, along with other more modern shader-based APIs. Remember that it's not the display API is not a big deal though, it's the UI that would be a huge pain in any port.

 

 2 hours ago, Jetboot Jack said:

I tried running Altirra from windows w/o my FE or CL options - booted to an NTSC 800 - loaded an xex (DK) - selected File/Exit and my system soft locked ?

 

Now it does NOT lock up if I am in window mode when I exit, only exit from Full Screen causes the lock up.

 

I get the same behaviour if I try 5200 games (which when loaded force NTSC) - File/Exit - locked up PC ?

 

If I select Config System from the menu bar sometimes the FS switches to a window the the dialogue appears and sometimes the screen turns grey and the system is soft locked again.

 

At this stage I understand it is my system, but where to start to look to fix it, I have no diagnostic information from the lock ups, I don't know where to look.

 

I am running Windows 10 and I am on the insider program for updates...

Can't tell either way as I don't have the latest fast build installed, but Insider builds can occasionally be broken. There was a spat of builds that caused all major web browsers to render off-center, and then there was the series of builds that broke all D3D9 windowed mode applications (which they then shipped anyway despite the bug reports, and no I'm not bitter).

 

I have some changes to add more logging, especially in the graphics system, but it's not ready yet. One thing you can do is try the various display API modes, GDI, D3D9, and D3D11. They're either accessible in Options > Display or you can force it on startup with /gdi, /d3d9, and /d3d11. And yes, /opengl and /ddraw still being in the command line help is a bug.

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