ISO Loader 0.8.x Beta + preview of DreamShell v4.0 RC 5

[fafadou]

I'll try it since i can.
It's with a true vmu or the dreamshell vmu emulation ?

[pcwzrd13]

(13.04.2023 02:41)fafadou писал(а):  I'll try it since i can.
It's with a true vmu or the dreamshell vmu emulation ?

With a real VMU. Luckily it seems to freeze before it actually starts the save process so nothing is corrupted.

[fafadou]

(13.04.2023 02:48)pcwzrd13 писал(а):  

(13.04.2023 02:41)fafadou писал(а):  I'll try it since i can.
It's with a true vmu or the dreamshell vmu emulation ?

With a real VMU. Luckily it seems to freeze before it actually starts the save process so nothing is corrupted.

The only times I have a corrupted vmu, it occurs during a saving or a vmu access with the overclocked enabled because I don't have an overclocked vmu yet
Else it never happened for me, the vmu is sure.
With vmu manager I can get some saves back but it's often lost.

I'm downloading tokyo xtreme racer 2 US I'll try it this evening.

[SWAT]

(05.04.2023 07:34)SWAT писал(а):  

(04.04.2023 19:58)pcwzrd13 писал(а):  4 Wheel Thunder music doesn't loop anymore.

Hmm, I will check what happened to the loops again.

Found issue, I fix it in next build.
For a long time I could not understand what was happening, it turns out for some reason I miss one G1 DMA interrupt at the end of track reading. Strange, seems this game handled it instead of me or interrupt not received in general.

[MastaG]

A bit offtopic, but is there anybody who knows where to buy a serial to rs232 or usb cable for debugging?

[SWAT]

(13.04.2023 23:08)MastaG писал(а):  A bit offtopic, but is there anybody who knows where to buy a serial to rs232 or usb cable for debugging?

Ali Just type Serial to USB adapter.

[MastaG]

(14.04.2023 06:53)SWAT писал(а):  

(13.04.2023 23:08)MastaG писал(а):  A bit offtopic, but is there anybody who knows where to buy a serial to rs232 or usb cable for debugging?

Ali Just type Serial to USB adapter.

Thanks, but I searched Ali, but they dont seem to have serial cables that fit in the Dreamcast serial port.
I have my DC modded with many mods, but I don't want to add an ugly rs232 port to the back of the case.

[SWAT]

New build: https://github.com/DC-SWAT/DreamShell/re...0.0RC5-T25

- Improved channels restore algorithm. Less distortions for some games. Hybrid behavior for channels changing.
- Fixed reading at end of track in some cases. Fixed loops in 4WT maybe some other issues.
- Freeing up some memory for the extended loader by disabling some optional code. Now there is several hundred bytes for important code.

There is one parameter (channels change) that I tried to mix between two conflicting types of games, so as not to produce unnecessary settings. But as usual, any compromise has its drawbacks.
I made a lot of tests, I think this is the best configuration for the Channels Restore Algorithm ( CRA ) for most games.
I can hardly do much better in the current implementation of emulation and without games patching or hardware mods.

[SWAT]

(14.04.2023 12:23)MastaG писал(а):  

(14.04.2023 06:53)SWAT писал(а):  

(13.04.2023 23:08)MastaG писал(а):  A bit offtopic, but is there anybody who knows where to buy a serial to rs232 or usb cable for debugging?

Ali Just type Serial to USB adapter.

Thanks, but I searched Ali, but they dont seem to have serial cables that fit in the Dreamcast serial port.
I have my DC modded with many mods, but I don't want to add an ugly rs232 port to the back of the case.

You can made connector from AV connector. It's the same type but more pins, just need cut it. I made it from not original AV connector with all pins.
Unfortunately photos lost in this thread about it: http://www.dc-swat.ru/forum/thread-1539.html

[pcwzrd13]

I'm having an issue getting the new build to boot. It shows the DreamShell logo but then it's just a black screen. Deleted everything from the SD and just copied over the new DS folder but no luck.

[fafadou]

(14.04.2023 19:23)pcwzrd13 писал(а):  I'm having an issue getting the new build to boot. It shows the DreamShell logo but then it's just a black screen. Deleted everything from the SD and just copied over the new DS folder but no luck.

Same issue as you.

[SWAT]

But I change only ISO loader firmware in this build... Nothing changed in core/modules/apps.
Checked right now on emulator - DS boots fine.
Have you connected BBA?

Edit: Checked on DC and get same issue.
Edit 2: Fixed in new build: https://github.com/DC-SWAT/DreamShell/re...0RC5-T25-2

It is very strange that this bug did not get out a little earlier.

[fafadou]

(15.04.2023 05:49)SWAT писал(а):  It is very strange that this bug did not get out a little earlier.

Maybe it would improve something

Else An other idea from a noob as me in order to win spaces, is to remove the low level module from ext and full version because those loaders don't manage cdda.
I guess is already done or else you already think about that and you didn't do it for a good reason

The loaders are smaller than more 120 bytes except for full version, well done @Swat

So my tests until now :

The flinstones : freeze after langage selection

Worms armagadon : doesn't boot (try only auto config)

Kao : doesn't boot

Worms world party : now boot as you, everything seems to run well except maybe a strange texture issue in the background

sturmwind : now I have the read error since the beginning

sega rally 2 pal : doesn't boot with auto preset

sega rally 2 jap : still glitch at first loading, and freeze at the second race but no freeze during the first stage now

virtua cop 2 : still textures issue on third level but else everything run fine

unreal : for me the glitches are less present almost unable to see it, and only at the beginning of the match.

MSR : still freeze at warning message without low level enable.

tokyo extrem challenge : just a quick shot and doesn't boot, it's due to my config. My bad.

Puyo puyo 4 : Puyo puyo 4 : with no DMA and non memory preset, no IRQ and SQ tm1, almost no distorsion now, except with some voices or during special attack

Sega xtrem sports : run well but distorsion in cdda music with auto preset.

Shenmue II : true dma, memory preset 0x8cff0000, behind the loader head, dma tmu1, IRQ.
Now the cdda at am2 logo and yu suzuki is running and quite well but there are some shotgun shoots in the same time, it's very strange, the music until the main screen has distorsion until the game "corrects" this in the main menu.
shenhua and game intro run well bu t black screen at the beginning of a new game.
Very close to be good Bravo !

I didn't have any imagination for testing, I'll do more soon

[fafadou]

Exhibition of speed : the cdda plays well but the game is low and finally the console reboot.

sega gt homogation special : the cdda plays well but the game is too low for me (I used 60fps patch and widescreen hacks).

millenium soldier with sync 8, the texture issue is still here but so few, what a shame.

toy commander run like a charm very lowest level of distorsion since 0.8. loaders coming.

super runabot pal : game freeze in loading after scenario selection, an improvement for ssd users

All wince games with cdda used the same config, lower memory, DMA TMU2, IRQ, true dma. I know you don't like the idea to build a loader especially for wince games. Just in order to understand, what the difference when we choosed wince, auto or katana in the OS preset ?
The only thing I understand is when we choosed homebrew OS, there is a descrambling action if it needs.

Else good job @Swat

[pcwzrd13]

Some testing:

4 Wheel Thunder - Looping is fixed! Music plays very well!

KAO the Kangaroo - Music plays with some occasional distortion. I have freezes issues now if I use DMA for CDDA though. I have to use SQ & TMU1.

Monaco Grand Prix Online - Looping is fixed! Music plays great!

Super Runabout - About the same I think. Music plays ok sometimes but there's a lot of distortion at times. Honestly the sound effects in this game are so loud that it's hard to notice. lol

Unreal Tournament - About the same as the previous version.

Worms Armageddon - Boots and plays music with loader mem. 0x8c001100 and "DMA & TMU1" for CDDA but it refuses to load a game, even if CDDA is disabled.

Worms World Party - Works flawlessly! Have to use "Behind the loader" though or the music will have distortion.

Edit: More tests:

F1 World Grand Prix - Music plays good but the car sound effects carry over to the menu after a race ends. Same as 0.6.

Ms. Pac-Man: Maze Madness - Music plays fine but doesn't always start by itself at the beginning of a new level. Pausing and unpausing the game fixes it. Also the same thing as 0.6.

Q*bert - Music plays fine with default settings + "Behind the loader" HEAP but the game will freeze randomly.

And finally I test Speed Devils. This game is almost flawless. The music plays with no distortion at all with loader mem. 0x8c001100 and "Behind the loader" HEAP. There is one annoying issue though. The music crashes when going back to the menu after a race. It will stay this way until going back into a race, where it will start playing normally again. Tried all sorts of different settings but nothing fixed it. This game is so close to being perfect!

[aldair]

(09.04.2023 21:54)fafadou писал(а):  

(09.04.2023 20:51)megavolt85 писал(а):  

(21.03.2023 02:39)fafadou писал(а):  edit : Ok for xeno crisis too !
True dma | 0x8C000100 | no IRQ | DMA TMU1 | CDDA | OS homebrew
and you know what the official gdi released doesn't run the cdda with gdemu (at least the clone) only the .cdi
But same issue : I have the warning track instead of music at track2, probably we have to rename the cdda tracks for homebrews.

I checked on emulator and GDEMU I had no problems with CDDA
try this version of XenoCrisis, this is the original GDI in which I removed the empty file and replaced the cover

Oh thank you very much, my gdi gave with my original disc has this issue and I saw the same with other french people.

If I can abuse with a very last one I promise, it looks it's the same protection than sturmwind :
https://www.mediafire.com/file/ulel5wssv...de.7z/file

I can't be able to extract datas...

xeno crisi
Track order.
2 645 0 2352 track01.raw 0
3 45000 4 2048 track03.iso 0
4 318153 0 2352 track01.raw 0
5 318564 0 2352 track02.raw 0
6 336124 0 2352 track03.raw 0
7 356412 0 2352 track04.raw 0
8 376587 0 2352 track05.raw 0
9 397381 0 2352 track06.raw 0
10 416553 0 2352 track07.raw 0
11 436878 0 2352 track08.raw 0
12 458522 0 2352 track09.raw 0
13 467958 0 2352 track10.raw 0
14 476846 0 2352 track11.raw 0
15 487290 0 2352 track12.raw 0
16 498559 0 2352 track13.raw 0
17 508609 0 2352 track14.raw 0
18 519513 0 2352 track15.raw 0
19 528513 0 2352 track16.raw 0
20 529413 0 2352 track17.raw 0
21 531809 0 2352 track18.raw 0
22 541072 0 2352 track19.raw 0
23 541616 0 2352 track20.raw 0
24 544516 4 2048 track21.iso 0

[sundance2]

I'm following the development of this new version of Dreamshell with great admiration,
and I'm especially curious about the improved ISO Loader v0.8.x
(note, for reference, my Dreamcast is currently running v0.6.11).

Specifically, for a Dreamcast with a SD Card reader connected via the Serial Port,
what are the main benefits expected from this new version ?

I've been looking at the logs for guidance, and so far,
I've mostly noticed some potential improvements to CDDA support
(which would still be great, since CDDA seems broken on my local version of ISO Loader).
What else could be expected?

[fafadou]

seems the CF go ahead about compatibility for wince games.

[aldair]

Xenocrisis-Track order:
IDE: https://www.mediafire.com/file/q5l204ive...w.rar/file
SD card: https://www.mediafire.com/file/jjhrip3ge...v.rar/file

[SWAT]

(15.04.2023 16:23)fafadou писал(а):   Else An other idea from a noob as me in order to win spaces, is to remove the low level module from ext and full version because those loaders don't manage cdda.
I guess is already done or else you already think about that and you didn't do it for a good reason

Low-level mode present only in the full loader. And the full loader support CDDA as well (not in low-level mode of course). It's support all features, but uses much more memory, that the problem for it. You can use VMU emu and screenshots with CDDA, but not all games will work with big loader.

(15.04.2023 16:23)fafadou писал(а):  The loaders are smaller than more 120 bytes except for full version, well done @Swat

Actually much more, but I immediately took this place with new code
This is all that's left.

(15.04.2023 19:37)fafadou писал(а):  Exhibition of speed : the cdda plays well but the game is low and finally the console reboot.

Change TMU.

(15.04.2023 19:37)fafadou писал(а):  All wince games with cdda used the same config, lower memory, DMA TMU2, IRQ, true dma. I know you don't like the idea to build a loader especially for wince games. Just in order to understand, what the difference when we choosed wince, auto or katana in the OS preset ?
The only thing I understand is when we choosed homebrew OS, there is a descrambling action if it needs.

The loaders have a number of logical conditions for different types of OS. For example, IRQ hooking works differently, a binary file is loaded differently, and memory is used differently because all 64 kilobytes are available in the lower memory, unlike katana, and no access at high memory. Also for CDDA track switching doesn't do in IRQ as in other OS can be.
Most of the time I'm good at detecting this automatically, but sometimes it needs to be manually selected for some homebrew.

(16.04.2023 04:35)sundance2 писал(а):  I'm following the development of this new version of Dreamshell with great admiration,
and I'm especially curious about the improved ISO Loader v0.8.x
(note, for reference, my Dreamcast is currently running v0.6.11).

Specifically, for a Dreamcast with a SD Card reader connected via the Serial Port,
what are the main benefits expected from this new version ?

I've been looking at the logs for guidance, and so far,
I've mostly noticed some potential improvements to CDDA support
(which would still be great, since CDDA seems broken on my local version of ISO Loader).
What else could be expected?

CDDA should be improved and for SD, but need use ADPCM format of tracks for this device (otherwise gameplay will slower) and can be different compatibility in some cases.
VMU emulation and screenshots are supported for SD too. It also have little speed improvements for SPI interface.
I'm not test SD properly, but I think you can use it right now instead of 0.6.11.