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

[VeraBecker]

(24.08.2023 01:35)megavolt85 писал(а):  the read speed of the disk at the end is higher, so all unused space at the beginning of the disk was filled with an dummy file.
when using HDD or ODE, an dummy file takes up space without any benefit.

Excellent, thanks megavolt!

[CrisMod]

Hello everyone, I've been following this forum for a while now and after a few years of tinkering with my Dreamcast, I wanted to contribute back to the community with my experiences. First of all, I want to thank @swat, @megavolt85, and @dragoncity for their amazing work on the guides and tools (if I forgot anyone, please forgive me, I hope to get to know you all eventually).

I have updated my Dreamcast with 1TB of Internal SSD, RetroDream v3.0.0 and Dreamshell 4.0 RC5 (although RetroDream may need an update to follow Dreamshell RC5 changes). However, I have noticed some issues with Dreamshell 4.0 RC5:

1. When running the speed test using the "DS_CORE.bin" from Dreamshell RC4, I get a maximum transfer rate of around 100 MB/s (write is less, but I can't remember exactly how much). But when I run it with the "DS_CORE.bin" from RC5, the speed test drops to 37 MB/s / 24 MB/s.
2. The game Tomb Raider Chronicles has a random freezing issue in-game, which happens sometimes when pressing start to enter the menu or during scene changes. It seems like there's a problem with loading new data, causing the game to freeze. These freezes happen after about 5 minutes of playtime give or take.

For the last point, I'm very particular about disk fragmentation, so I format the disk with zero fill before testing new ROMs to ensure a completely clean disk. Then, I copy all the system files again, making sure they're properly aligned without any fragmentation issues.

So far, the only game I've encountered this problem with is Tomb Raider Chronicles, even though I've tried different ROMs and preparations (but ultimately use the ones converted by @megavolt85 which work well). Other games I've tested till now work fine in the future i will post others if i will find any.

My question regarding the speed test is - is it normal for Dreamshell 4.0 RC5 to be slower compared to RC4?

[SWAT]

@CrisMod

1. This is normal, DMA is disabled for the core in RC5 to improve stability and you see PIO speed, but is enough for the Core to work. It's does not affect the games in any way, ISO Loader firmware uses a different driver that squeezes out the maximum speed of IDE interface. So don't worry about it. Perhaps someday DMA will return to the core, but so far this is not stable.
2. Yes it's known issue, there are problems with some WinCE games.

[CrisMod]

(29.08.2023 11:52)SWAT писал(а):  @CrisMod

1. This is normal, DMA is disabled for the core in RC5 to improve stability and you see PIO speed, but is enough for the Core to work. It's does not affect the games in any way, ISO Loader firmware uses a different driver that squeezes out the maximum speed of IDE interface. So don't worry about it. Perhaps someday DMA will return to the core, but so far this is not stable.
2. Yes it's known issue, there are problems with some WinCE games.

Thank you for your answer, @swat. I appreciate your clarification on the speed issue and the confirmation that it doesn’t affect game performance. I understand that DMA is currently disabled in RC5 to prioritize stability, and that’s perfectly fine.

Regarding the issue with Tomb Raider Chronicles, it’s good to know that it’s a known problem with some WinCE games. I’ll keep that in mind for future reference.

Moving forward, I was wondering if you had any thoughts on ways to enhance the user experience of Dreamshell’s graphical interface? Perhaps we could brainstorm some ideas with community and discuss them in a separate topic. What do you think?

Many thanks again for your hard work and dedication to the Dreamcast community!

[SWAT]

(29.08.2023 12:21)CrisMod писал(а):  Moving forward, I was wondering if you had any thoughts on ways to enhance the user experience of Dreamshell’s graphical interface? Perhaps we could brainstorm some ideas with community and discuss them in a separate topic. What do you think?

Of course you can do it, but UI is in the last place in my priorities, since there is a lot of work in the system code.
I know there are a lot of issues, but UI takes a lot of time, which I would rather spend on improving the system part and adding new features.
DreamShell has a large code base, it is difficult to keep up with everything, especially on enthusiasm alone.

[CrisMod]

(30.08.2023 09:10)SWAT писал(а):  

(29.08.2023 12:21)CrisMod писал(а):  Moving forward, I was wondering if you had any thoughts on ways to enhance the user experience of Dreamshell’s graphical interface? Perhaps we could brainstorm some ideas with community and discuss them in a separate topic. What do you think?

Of course you can do it, but UI is in the last place in my priorities, since there is a lot of work in the system code.
I know there are a lot of issues, but UI takes a lot of time, which I would rather spend on improving the system part and adding new features.
DreamShell has a large code base, it is difficult to keep up with everything, especially on enthusiasm alone.

I completely understand your perspective. It became clear to me as I was writing to you yesterday that developing an intricate OS like Dreamshell, while ensuring seamless functionality across a hardware landscape that includes various hardmods, must be an immense undertaking. The dedication required to refine and debug the extensive codebase for optimal performance is undoubtedly far more demanding than crafting an elaborate graphical interface at this point.

I realize that channeling energy and effort into the technical refinement of Dreamshell is the primary focus. The stability and feature expansion understandably take precedence over aesthetics. Given the complex interplay between hardware and software, addressing issues and streamlining functionality indeed demands substantial attention.

Thank you immensely for your time and efforts.

[fafadou]

So would you work on something ?
I can try to help if I'm guided


Else for those who wants buy CF, here the cheapest I found :
https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/100500539...pt=glo2fra

[SWAT]

Most work with UI is done in XML, anyone can do it without having to write and compile code. You can quickly check changes in the emulator.
But of course everything is within the current capabilities of the GUI API. And if need additional logic, you will have to work with the code.

[CrisMod]

(31.08.2023 07:02)SWAT писал(а):  Most work with UI is done in XML, anyone can do it without having to write and compile code. You can quickly check changes in the emulator.
But of course everything is within the current capabilities of the GUI API. And if need additional logic, you will have to work with the code.

@SWAT, so I can play with it and coding, by run it with PC emulator like "nullDreamcast"? So i need to run "DS_CORE.BIN", I need some special settings to the emulator?
Please guide us how to do, because a little coding i made, i can mess around, i have the dreamcast devlopment kit installed in my PC, but to speed up the test with Dreamshell UI mod please tell more how can i use the Emulator in my PC to do it.

[SWAT]

(31.08.2023 08:01)CrisMod писал(а):  

(31.08.2023 07:02)SWAT писал(а):  Most work with UI is done in XML, anyone can do it without having to write and compile code. You can quickly check changes in the emulator.
But of course everything is within the current capabilities of the GUI API. And if need additional logic, you will have to work with the code.

@SWAT, so I can play with it and coding, by run it with PC emulator like "nullDreamcast"? So i need to run "DS_CORE.BIN", I need some special settings to the emulator?
Please guide us how to do, because a little coding i made, i can mess around, i have the dreamcast devlopment kit installed in my PC, but to speed up the test with Dreamshell UI mod please tell more how can i use the Emulator in my PC to do it.

Done in Discord
Just uncomment EMU and DEBUG in main Makefile and type: make lxdream or make nulldc.
Or just type make cdi and run this CDI on any emulator.

[MastaG]

A few questions from my side.
I reformatted my CF-card and downloaded the latest RC5 T26 build.
Then I copied all of the DreamShell/GDEmu games from dreamcat-talk retail collection onto my CF-card and made sure it's defragmented.

1. When you configure a game, you can choose to save the preset, which creates some settings file on the CF-card.
Can these be shared around?
If yes, is there anybody who has most of the games pre-configured to be ready to play and willing to share all of the presets?
Because now if a game doesn't boot or freezes somewhere in the menu, I'll have to look it up in various pages and excel sheets and tweak the settings myself (and I'm lazy...)

2. Is the Worms Pinball prototype compatible with RC5 ?

[CrisMod]

(04.09.2023 19:58)MastaG писал(а):  A few questions from my side.
I reformatted my CF-card and downloaded the latest RC5 T26 build.
Then I copied all of the DreamShell/GDEmu games from dreamcat-talk retail collection onto my CF-card and made sure it's defragmented.

1. When you configure a game, you can choose to save the preset, which creates some settings file on the CF-card.
Can these be shared around?
If yes, is there anybody who has most of the games pre-configured to be ready to play and willing to share all of the presets?
Because now if a game doesn't boot or freezes somewhere in the menu, I'll have to look it up in various pages and excel sheets and tweak the settings myself (and I'm lazy...)

2. Is the Worms Pinball prototype compatible with RC5 ?

Hi friend, yes in IsoLoader if you save your settings before start the game , on next boot you will have the new preset for that game saved, please check the "wrench icon" settings on the top right when you selected a game.

For compatibility list and settings to start it's here `http://dreamshell.infos.st/`. Remember those settings for each game are the base to start, you could have to face some variation of these "basic settings". These variations are from the type of mods that you use on your Dreamcast, adapter IDE to CF or SATA and wires used to do the mod, could influence that (from my experience). So if doesn't start the game with that seettings you need to try something close or defaults with new IsoLoader 8.x.

[MastaG]

(08.09.2023 14:44)CrisMod писал(а):  

(04.09.2023 19:58)MastaG писал(а):  A few questions from my side.
I reformatted my CF-card and downloaded the latest RC5 T26 build.
Then I copied all of the DreamShell/GDEmu games from dreamcat-talk retail collection onto my CF-card and made sure it's defragmented.

1. When you configure a game, you can choose to save the preset, which creates some settings file on the CF-card.
Can these be shared around?
If yes, is there anybody who has most of the games pre-configured to be ready to play and willing to share all of the presets?
Because now if a game doesn't boot or freezes somewhere in the menu, I'll have to look it up in various pages and excel sheets and tweak the settings myself (and I'm lazy...)

2. Is the Worms Pinball prototype compatible with RC5 ?

Hi friend, yes in IsoLoader if you save your settings before start the game , on next boot you will have the new preset for that game saved, please check the "wrench icon" settings on the top right when you selected a game.

For compatibility list and settings to start it's here `http://dreamshell.infos.st/`. Remember those settings for each game are the base to start, you could have to face some variation of these "basic settings". These variations are from the type of mods that you use on your Dreamcast, adapter IDE to CF or SATA and wires used to do the mod, could influence that (from my experience). So if doesn't start the game with that seettings you need to try something close or defaults with new IsoLoader 8.x.

Thank you.
Yes I know the settings listed at dreamshell.infos.st.
But these were made for RetroDream which I believe wraps around multiple loader versions, ranging from 0.6 to Megavolts 0.7 version.
I've downloaded the large retail set for GDEmu/DreamShell from dreamcast-talk and many games aren't booting from scratch.
So if anyone has a set of ini files for most of these games (for RC5) please share them with us

[dimka112]

(08.09.2023 20:26)MastaG писал(а):  Thank you.
Yes I know the settings listed at dreamshell.infos.st.
But these were made for RetroDream which I believe wraps around multiple loader versions, ranging from 0.6 to Megavolts 0.7 version.
I've downloaded the large retail set for GDEmu/DreamShell from dreamcast-talk and many games aren't booting from scratch.
So if anyone has a set of ini files for most of these games (for RC5) please share them with us

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1...=579526532

[CrisMod]

(08.09.2023 21:35)dimka112 писал(а):  

(08.09.2023 20:26)MastaG писал(а):  Thank you.
Yes I know the settings listed at dreamshell.infos.st.
But these were made for RetroDream which I believe wraps around multiple loader versions, ranging from 0.6 to Megavolts 0.7 version.
I've downloaded the large retail set for GDEmu/DreamShell from dreamcast-talk and many games aren't booting from scratch.
So if anyone has a set of ini files for most of these games (for RC5) please share them with us

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1...=579526532

@dimka112, thank you for this list I need it .


I can see that on new IsoLoader 8.x it's listed Tomb Raider Chronicles in Green, next days when i will complete to fix my Dreamcast i will try those settings listed on this Excell file, because I believe I used other settings to run Tomb Raider Chronicles, and I have experienced freezing after certain time of game - around 5 minutes -, but I'm sure i didn't use this settings. Thank you very much.

Instead Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation it runs well but was a silly bug on some display texture around, that it shows different color pixalation (also here I need to remember what I did with the settings). Anyhow I will do some test and post here the resaults.

[dimka112]

The list is not mine, the author of the list pcwzrd13 http://www.dc-swat.ru/forum/user-4376.html

[CrisMod]

(08.09.2023 20:26)MastaG писал(а):  

(08.09.2023 14:44)CrisMod писал(а):  

(04.09.2023 19:58)MastaG писал(а):  A few questions from my side.
I reformatted my CF-card and downloaded the latest RC5 T26 build.
Then I copied all of the DreamShell/GDEmu games from dreamcat-talk retail collection onto my CF-card and made sure it's defragmented.

1. When you configure a game, you can choose to save the preset, which creates some settings file on the CF-card.
Can these be shared around?
If yes, is there anybody who has most of the games pre-configured to be ready to play and willing to share all of the presets?
Because now if a game doesn't boot or freezes somewhere in the menu, I'll have to look it up in various pages and excel sheets and tweak the settings myself (and I'm lazy...)

2. Is the Worms Pinball prototype compatible with RC5 ?

Hi friend, yes in IsoLoader if you save your settings before start the game , on next boot you will have the new preset for that game saved, please check the "wrench icon" settings on the top right when you selected a game.

For compatibility list and settings to start it's here `http://dreamshell.infos.st/`. Remember those settings for each game are the base to start, you could have to face some variation of these "basic settings". These variations are from the type of mods that you use on your Dreamcast, adapter IDE to CF or SATA and wires used to do the mod, could influence that (from my experience). So if doesn't start the game with that seettings you need to try something close or defaults with new IsoLoader 8.x.

Thank you.
Yes I know the settings listed at dreamshell.infos.st.
But these were made for RetroDream which I believe wraps around multiple loader versions, ranging from 0.6 to Megavolts 0.7 version.
I've downloaded the large retail set for GDEmu/DreamShell from dreamcast-talk and many games aren't booting from scratch.
So if anyone has a set of ini files for most of these games (for RC5) please share them with us

Hello @MastaG, I have been testing the game that you were looking for with below settings and the `Worms Pinball prototype` with DS 4.0 RC5 + RetroDream 3.0.0, using the IsoLoader 8.26 Beta (if the Loader it's in `Auto` it will chose by it self), I confirm you that it works perfectly.

Enjoy your game!

[CrisMod]

Hello Everyone and @SWAT,

I confirm that `Tomb Raider Chronicles` it boot up but it has the freezing problem after 5 minutes of playng with, those freezing can it comes or if you enter some times into the menu in-game (by pressing Start button), or if you change the View with `L` button or could come when it change in game some view, i have tested many settings and the most success settings are as following settings:

1) Loader 8.26 Beta:
- Boot Direct
- Memory 0x8c004000 or 0x8c004800 or 0x8c000100 or 0x8cfe0000 (no differences).
- DMA ON
- SYNC TRUE (or even with 16 but sligtly slower)
- CDDA ON
- OS AUTO

2) Loader 0.6.1:
- Boot Direct
- Memory 0x8c000100 or 0x8cfe0000 (no differences).
- DMA ON
- SYNC TRUE
- CDDA ON
- OS AUTO

3) Loader 0.7.x:
- Boot Direct
- Memory 0x8c008000.
- DMA ON
- SYNC 8
- CDDA OFF
- OS WINCE

The new Loader 8.26 Beta, it perform the best without any little shuttering on cut-scenes video play, instead of the Loader 0.6.1 it has the cut-scenes shuttering/slowest , but the most important for me it's that the game run well in-game.
So all of these settings in-game perform well all the same, but there is this annoying freeze in-game.

Here are my settings hardware/softwares, so, my mod works perfectly with the rest of the Games, the SSD it's not fragmented, all the datas into it are well in line (as I'm meticulous about it), I use the Optimazied GDI, I have tested other game images but the best it's one on internet from @Megavolt85.

I don't know what to test.
Have you any idea? Or you experience the same problem with that Game?

I repeat, this problem doesn't appear immediately, so you need to run about 5 minutes+ (Plus), otherwise it gives the sense that the game it works as should be (but it's not), so if you are going to test it before reply `it works` please test it well

[SWAT]

It would be awesome if you could run a debug version of the loader firmware with a logging via Serial port. The only thing you need to know is that working with the address space for the loader will differ in some cases, since debug loader is larger in size. And also it's much slower due to logging.

[CrisMod]

(14.09.2023 14:42)SWAT писал(а):  It would be awesome if you could run a debug version of the loader firmware with a logging via Serial port. The only thing you need to know is that working with the address space for the loader will differ in some cases, since debug loader is larger in size. And also it's much slower due to logging.

Gladly, if I can help, kindly tell me what to do.
Now that I have done the Internal SD Mod on my Dreamcast, I have the first version of the `Serial Port to SD` adapter which is not that great in quality but with cables or soldering connections I could create a homemade cable.

I guess for Debugging, I have to start Dreamshell with the `DEBUG_DS_CORE.BIN` then for the Serial Port cable how do I build it, do you have a scheme guide soldering where I can follow for building it?

Example, from Serial Port to USB or another connection?

Then once I have created the homemade cable, where should I connect it to an XP computer?
Do I need some drivers?
And what software to communicate with the DC and PC for Debugging?