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

[SWAT]

And this: https://youtu.be/TCSgb8afltU

[pcwzrd13]

Awesome stuff @SWAT! Can't wait to test the "Mega" virtual VMUs! :-)

Regarding the network time sync, it'd be really cool to have an option to automatically sync on boot if it detects a BBA and a connection.

[SWAT]

New test build: https://github.com/DC-SWAT/DreamShell/re...0.0RC5-T36

Short changelog:

- Fixes for virtual keyboard.
- Fixes command console rendering.
- Updated KOS with my improvements: https://github.com/KallistiOS/KallistiOS/pull/385
- Network fixes and improvements.
- Added NTP command to sync system RTC and use it for settings app.
- Stability improvements for SD Card SPI.
- Enhanced VMU support.
- - Support for VMU 1MB 1800 blocks (not all games like it, need compatibility list).
- - Single phase writings (faster saving process) in KATANA/WinCE games.
- Improved CDDA support.
- - Improved AICA DMA handling, now Millenium Soldier works without SQ and texture issues on full speed.
- - A bit speedup SQ mode (UT still required it).
- - A bit improved channel checking.
- - Reworked build types, now is 5: regular, cdda, vmu, featured (cdda+vmu) and full (cdda+vmu+screenshot+low-mode).

BTW, it seems I didn’t name "featured" correctly, I meant that it has the main features.

[fafadou]

Oh great idea to build 5 types ! The regular version is the same type than 0.6.11_se ? I really wish to see what's the result with RC5 even if it's not possible to boot wince games without cdda, we have the low mode for that.

I saw a comment "[core] Fixed boot from old bootloaders.", it means we can expect to boot atomiswave game again ?

Anyway thank you very much and many congrats

[SWAT]

(08.12.2023 17:26)fafadou писал(а):  Oh great idea to build 5 types ! The regular version is the same type than 0.6.11_se ? I really wish to see what's the result with RC5 even if it's not possible to boot wince games without cdda, we have the low mode for that.

I saw a comment "[core] Fixed boot from old bootloaders.", it means we can expect to boot atomiswave game again ?

Anyway thank you very much and many congrats

Yes, the same as SE.
I mean old bootloaders in BIOS. I made some changes in KOS for G1.

[pcwzrd13]

@SWAT I think you accidently left some ISO's in the DS folder.

Edit: Some 1800 block VMU compatibility tests:

ChuChu Rocket! - No
Dreamstudio - No - Sad about this one :-(
Jet Grind Radio - No
F355 Challenge - Interesting results. Shows VMU and saves but only shows 250 blocks.
Metropolis Street Racer - No
Phantasy Star Online v.2 - No

Also tried Visual Park (Dreameye camera software) but I can't get it to boot at all with 0.8. Boots fine with older loaders though.

[fafadou]

(08.12.2023 17:29)SWAT писал(а):  

(08.12.2023 17:26)fafadou писал(а):  Oh great idea to build 5 types ! The regular version is the same type than 0.6.11_se ?

Yes, the same as SE.

Oh Yes !!!
so now be careful to select low level for wince games without cdda.

I'll try it in few hours.

[pcwzrd13]

Just tested TNN Motorsports: Hardcore Heat and it almost works with the 1800 block VMU. It shows the VMU and 1800 blocks and allows you to save and load but it frequently freezes. It doesn't seem to want to load replays from the VMU either. It will just show a black screen and some junk text eventually.

Edit: GigaWing 1 & 2 both work but there's really no point in having 1800 blocks for these games. The only thing they save is high scores.

Edit 2: Noticed a bug with the presets. It won't save a custom loader memory correctly. Tried it with PSO v.2 and it just had "VER. 2" in the text box after resetting the DC.

Edit 3: Doing some CDDA testing now. Improvements I've seen so far:

- Vanishing Point no longer freezes when you press start!
- Expendable now works with DMA & TMU1 with no stutters! IRQ must be disabled or it will black screen after starting a game.
- The mission briefing audio in Bang! Gunship Elite no longer skips but the game still freezes randomly. Usually at the menu or between missions. Example: Pressing A at the "No VMU found" screen causes it to freeze.
- The game sound effects don't carry over to the menu anymore in F1 World Grand Prix. Works great now!

[fafadou]

If I understand well, you worked on data transfert in game and cdda, it's why I noticed nothing different about the games boot :

Atomiswave : no boot
Metropolis street racer : boot only in low mode
Tom jam and earl 3 : no boot

Skies of arcadia : still freeze during intro with true dma, ok with dma sync 16

Wince games without cdda, I tried with normal mode and low mode :
Spirit of speed : no boot
Half life : no boot
resident evil 2 special edition from dreamcast talk : no mount like with retrodream but can be run with isoloader dreamsehll RC4 and low mode with 0.7.x
do you have any idea about wince games without cdda that I coud try please ?

cdda games :
sega rally 2 jap : still can't reach the second race
Kao the kangaroo : still cdda distorsion
revolt : now boot without IRQ so distorsion happens later
spec ops 2 : still can shoot
the flinstones : now freeze when cdda start during vmu screen loading
Unreal tournament : now run with true dma, no irq and SQ tmu1 for cdda
millenium soldier expendables : true dma, dma TMU1, with older version works better with tmu2
soldier of fortune : still very slow with cdda and network pop up screen wire.

And just for fun :
sturmwind : still error disc after boot
shenmue II with cdda : shotgun effect with IRQ for cdda, without IRQ you have shotgun effect and an echo of it during cdda is playing. Using tmu1 for cdda.


I tried with hdd ssd for now.
0.6.11_se loader become compatible with RC5 again.
in general I saw improvements with this new version, great job @Swat

[SWAT]

Important notice about VMU emulation with 1800 blocks and shared VMU dump.
Some games can damage FAT in VMU dump and after this other games will not work too.

Also CDDA loader now exceeds the size of 32 KB and this threatens that it will not work higher than 0x8c001100.
Or that means 0x8c004000 is unavailable for this loader. Are there any cases where we needed this?
Only regular loader can be placed at 0x8c004000 and 0x8c004800.

(08.12.2023 17:38)pcwzrd13 писал(а):  @SWAT I think you accidently left some ISO's in the DS folder.

Yeah, sorry about that, I re-uploaded it.

(08.12.2023 17:38)pcwzrd13 писал(а):  ChuChu Rocket! - No
Dreamstudio - No - Sad about this one :-(
Jet Grind Radio - No
F355 Challenge - Interesting results. Shows VMU and saves but only shows 250 blocks.
Metropolis Street Racer - No
Phantasy Star Online v.2 - No

Also tried Visual Park (Dreameye camera software) but I can't get it to boot at all with 0.8. Boots fine with older loaders though.

MSR? This game work only low-level, so no any features here.
No - means what? No free blocks, freezes or something?

(08.12.2023 20:21)fafadou писал(а):  Oh Yes !!!
so now be careful to select low level for wince games without cdda.

I'll try it in few hours.

For low-level mode nothing changed.

(09.12.2023 05:34)fafadou писал(а):  If I understand well, you worked on data transfert in game and cdda, it's why I noticed nothing different about the games boot :

Yeah, I nothing says about data transfer from IDE and games boot fixes Because no these changes in this build.
But nevertheless, I am working on this, I did some refactoring, but it still works worse and I doesn't use these changes in this build.
There are already enough changes here that need to be tested. Changed build types is important and I don’t want to mix it with others, so as not to complicate it.

(09.12.2023 05:34)fafadou писал(а):  soldier of fortune : still very slow with cdda and network pop up screen wire.

Change the TMU.

(09.12.2023 05:34)fafadou писал(а):  Unreal tournament : now run with true dma, no irq and SQ tmu1 for cdda
millenium soldier expendables : true dma, dma TMU1, with older version works better with tmu2

Hmm I've got different results. Expecially with IDE DMA for me it's vice versa.

(08.12.2023 20:49)pcwzrd13 писал(а):  - Expendable now works with DMA & TMU1 with no stutters! IRQ must be disabled

OK, IRQ is important here, thanks! This is can be a clue!
IRQ can broke only data transfers, for CDDA it's working fine. If use PIO for data in this game, then can be used IRQ. If no IRQ are used then heap placed in high memory so it may be affected to game.

[pcwzrd13]

(09.12.2023 06:37)SWAT писал(а):  MSR? This game work only low-level, so no any features here.

Yeah I thought you mentioned low-level didn't support the extra features but I wasn't sure.

(09.12.2023 06:37)SWAT писал(а):  No - means what? No free blocks, freezes or something?

They all just say "No VMU found".

[fafadou]

(09.12.2023 06:37)SWAT писал(а):  CDDA loader now exceeds the size of 32 KB and this threatens that it will not work higher than 0x8c001100.
Or that means 0x8c004000 is unavailable for this loader. Are there any cases where we needed this?
Only regular loader can be placed at 0x8c004000 and 0x8c004800.

Not sure about if it's remaining a lot of games with memory preset beyond 0x8c004000, the only examples I have are looney toons (but said you focus on this one at least) and sega rally 2 pal, but it's a wince game.
Anyway for me, as you mentioned, the way to run wince games with cdda is to build a low mode with cdda if it's possible...

If I find more games with cdda that need memory preset at 0x8c004000, I tell you.

Else the memory preset start at 0x8cfe0000 to 0x8cff4800 for games with huge memory preset and of course 0x8ce00000 for low mode.

(09.12.2023 06:37)SWAT писал(а):  

(09.12.2023 05:34)fafadou писал(а):  If I understand well, you worked on data transfert in game and cdda, it's why I noticed nothing different about the games boot :

Yeah, I nothing says about data transfer from IDE and games boot fixes Because no these changes in this build.
But nevertheless, I am working on this, I did some refactoring, but it still works worse and I doesn't use these changes in this build.
There are already enough changes here that need to be tested. Changed build types is important and I don’t want to mix it with others, so as not to complicate it.

It's a good way, compatibility can be focus later. Time to think about quality

(09.12.2023 06:37)SWAT писал(а):  

(09.12.2023 05:34)fafadou писал(а):  soldier of fortune : still very slow with cdda and network pop up screen wire.

Change the TMU.

With dma TMU 1 or 2, reboot when cdda starts.
With SQ TMU2, very slow with cdda and network pop up screen wire

Best config I found, is 0x8cfe0000, true dma, no IRQ, SQ TMU1, now run well, cdda is running perfectly, intro is playing good, I've heard a kind of voices crash but it's the same in low mode, it happens just at the beginning of intro when you start a new game, so I guess it's normal maybe a kind of gun shot heard by characters that comes from away.
The game run also very smoothly I can finish the first level and the second loads well too.
very well done @Swat Huge victory.

[pcwzrd13]

(09.12.2023 06:37)SWAT писал(а):  Also CDDA loader now exceeds the size of 32 KB and this threatens that it will not work higher than 0x8c001100.
Or that means 0x8c004000 is unavailable for this loader. Are there any cases where we needed this?

These are games that I have to boot with higher loader memory:

4 Wheel Thunder - 0x8c004000
Deep Fighter - 0x8cff4800 (although it doesn't work with 0.8)
Incoming - 0x8cf80000
Kao the Kangaroo - 0x8cfe8000
Looney Tunes Space Race - 0x8c004800
Monaco Grand Prix - 0x8cfe8000
Rippin' Riders - 0x8cfe8000

[SWAT]

(09.12.2023 18:31)pcwzrd13 писал(а):  

(09.12.2023 06:37)SWAT писал(а):  Also CDDA loader now exceeds the size of 32 KB and this threatens that it will not work higher than 0x8c001100.
Or that means 0x8c004000 is unavailable for this loader. Are there any cases where we needed this?

These are games that I have to boot with higher loader memory:

4 Wheel Thunder - 0x8c004000
Deep Fighter - 0x8cff4800 (although it doesn't work with 0.8)
Incoming - 0x8cf80000
Kao the Kangaroo - 0x8cfe8000
Looney Tunes Space Race - 0x8c004800
Monaco Grand Prix - 0x8cfe8000
Rippin' Riders - 0x8cfe8000

High memory (after 0x8c010000) doesn't matter, only 0x8c004000 can't be used for non-regular loaders, 0x8c004800 can't be used and before.
So, only one issue here - 4 Wheel Thunder. Maybe it can work from high memory?

[fafadou]

(10.12.2023 07:02)SWAT писал(а):  4 Wheel Thunder - 0x8c004000

High memory (after 0x8c010000) doesn't matter, only 0x8c004000 can't be used for non-regular loaders, 0x8c004800 can't be used and before.
So, only one issue here - 4 Wheel Thunder. Maybe it can work from high memory?

I just try with 0x8c001100 and doesn't boot, how much do you estimate the maximum for low memory ? 0x8c003500 ?
I'll try high memory too.

edit : Just try high memory and... black screen...



There is still a problem of saving cdda preset. If we save a SQ mode, it's set DMA TMU the next time.

[SWAT]

Max low memory for CDDA/VMU is 0x8c001100. I test it on Q3.
For high memory no changes I guess, there is some extra free memory and heap placed to low memory in auto mode.

[pcwzrd13]

(10.12.2023 07:02)SWAT писал(а):  So, only one issue here - 4 Wheel Thunder. Maybe it can work from high memory?

With loader 0.6.1 it worked on 0x8cfe8000 but like fafadou, I just get a black screen on 0.8.

[SWAT]

(10.12.2023 19:56)pcwzrd13 писал(а):  

(10.12.2023 07:02)SWAT писал(а):  So, only one issue here - 4 Wheel Thunder. Maybe it can work from high memory?

With loader 0.6.1 it worked on 0x8cfe8000 but like fafadou, I just get a black screen on 0.8.

Put the loader to 0x8cfe0000/0x8cfe8000, Heap to 0x8c004000 and disable DMA for game data transfer. CDDA mode default, IRQ enabled.
It's works for me with this settings. Seems I should a bit tune auto Heap mode.

[pcwzrd13]

(11.12.2023 06:25)SWAT писал(а):  

(10.12.2023 19:56)pcwzrd13 писал(а):  

(10.12.2023 07:02)SWAT писал(а):  So, only one issue here - 4 Wheel Thunder. Maybe it can work from high memory?

With loader 0.6.1 it worked on 0x8cfe8000 but like fafadou, I just get a black screen on 0.8.

Put the loader to 0x8cfe0000/0x8cfe8000, Heap to 0x8c004000 and disable DMA for game data transfer. CDDA mode default, IRQ enabled.
It's works for me with this settings. Seems I should a bit tune auto Heap mode.

That works for me too!

BTW, I tested the FTP again today and for some reason it's still not working for me. I can connect to it with FileZilla but only for about 10 seconds and then I just lose connection. Any idea why? Would really love to get it working.

[SWAT]

(07.12.2023 16:16)pcwzrd13 писал(а):  Awesome stuff @SWAT! Can't wait to test the "Mega" virtual VMUs! :-)

Regarding the network time sync, it'd be really cool to have an option to automatically sync on boot if it detects a BBA and a connection.

You can add this to startup.lua:

PHP код:

os.execute("net --init");
os.execute("ntp --sync"); 


Or add sync to Ethernet.lua script in the Main app scripts.

(11.12.2023 06:46)pcwzrd13 писал(а):  BTW, I tested the FTP again today and for some reason it's still not working for me. I can connect to it with FileZilla but only for about 10 seconds and then I just lose connection. Any idea why? Would really love to get it working.

I periodically try to fix this.