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

[pcwzrd13]

(21.11.2023 07:17)SWAT писал(а):  

(19.11.2023 22:10)pcwzrd13 писал(а):  As far as the UI for the ISO Loader is concerned, it'd be great to have it navigable without the cursor. Similar to how RetroDream works. Would that be difficult to do @SWAT? Unfortunately I'm not sure cpasjuste is going to continue development of RetroDream so it would be great if you could take some ideas from him to improve the UI.

I knew that no one uses this except me, but this functionality has been there for a long time:
http://www.dc-swat.ru/forum/thread-4050.html

I did know about some of that but I guess what I mean is that navigation without the cursor could be improved. There are a few other UI changes that I think would be nice as well.

Some suggestions:

- The main thing is the scrolling. If you're using the d-pad to move up and down the file list, it should scroll when it gets to the top or bottom of the list instead of moving to an outside element. I also noticed the triggers aren't being used for anything so maybe you could utilize those to scroll the file list as well?

- It would also be nice if you could hold down the d-pad to move through the selections. Maybe with it getting a little faster the longer you hold it down.

- Also a general suggestion for the UI would be to put the settings on the same page as everything else. Say off to the side when you select a game. It would just make things a bit more streamlined I think.

- One other things as well. Definitely not a priority but I love the video previews in RetroDream. Do you think it would be possible to implement that into ISO Loader at some point?

Anyway, just a few suggestions for the future. None of this is really crucial but I think the first two in particular would be great to improve navigation.

[SWAT]

(21.11.2023 18:14)pcwzrd13 писал(а):  Some suggestions:

- The main thing is the scrolling. If you're using the d-pad to move up and down the file list, it should scroll when it gets to the top or bottom of the list instead of moving to an outside element. I also noticed the triggers aren't being used for anything so maybe you could utilize those to scroll the file list as well?

- It would also be nice if you could hold down the d-pad to move through the selections. Maybe with it getting a little faster the longer you hold it down.

It's about animation with timers. DS UI doesn't support it yet.

(21.11.2023 18:14)pcwzrd13 писал(а):  - Also a general suggestion for the UI would be to put the settings on the same page as everything else. Say off to the side when you select a game. It would just make things a bit more streamlined I think.

No place for that, where? Remove picture? Settings has a lot parameters.

(21.11.2023 18:14)pcwzrd13 писал(а):  - One other things as well. Definitely not a priority but I love the video previews in RetroDream. Do you think it would be possible to implement that into ISO Loader at some point?

Yes it's possible.

[pcwzrd13]

(21.11.2023 19:53)SWAT писал(а):  

(21.11.2023 18:14)pcwzrd13 писал(а):  - Also a general suggestion for the UI would be to put the settings on the same page as everything else. Say off to the side when you select a game. It would just make things a bit more streamlined I think.

No place for that, where? Remove picture? Settings has a lot parameters.

Yeah I was thinking it would go over the cover image but only when you click the settings button. I was thinking you might be able to split it into two tabs as well, one for basic settings and one for "Advanced Settings". Just an idea though. It's really not a big deal having settings on a separate page but it might be something to think about. I think in general, compatibility is the best thing to work on for now.

[dragoncity]

@Swat
Is it possible to have new loader (I don't know how much need) with already this function for example : Behind + DMA & TMU2 ?

I know this work with "Freestyle Scooter (Razor Freestyle Scooter)" with DS RC5 for example.

Sydney 2000 : SQ & TMU2

Unreal Tournament : Behind + SQ & TMU2

I would like to test with RetroDream if it's possible.

Thanks in advance !

[fafadou]

I try kao the kangaroo with the last version.
For me it's the only game that have strange issue with cdda when we highlighted it in iso loader menu...
Else in game no freeze, I could reach the third level in one shot. cddas ingame have still same quality maybe a little more but not sure.

I never notice this game has a ton of lights effects, and transparency on the deltaplane and lava balls

[SWAT]

(21.11.2023 20:18)pcwzrd13 писал(а):  

(21.11.2023 19:53)SWAT писал(а):  

(21.11.2023 18:14)pcwzrd13 писал(а):  - Also a general suggestion for the UI would be to put the settings on the same page as everything else. Say off to the side when you select a game. It would just make things a bit more streamlined I think.

No place for that, where? Remove picture? Settings has a lot parameters.

Yeah I was thinking it would go over the cover image but only when you click the settings button. I was thinking you might be able to split it into two tabs as well, one for basic settings and one for "Advanced Settings". Just an idea though. It's really not a big deal having settings on a separate page but it might be something to think about. I think in general, compatibility is the best thing to work on for now.

You can easy to go settings just pushing to B button after image selected.
Then when you done, just push on D-pad Right and then A button and you launch the game.
Almost everything can be done quickly, you just need to get used to it.

[SWAT]

New build: https://github.com/DC-SWAT/DreamShell/re...0.0RC5-T34
Now the experience of UI should be a bit better.

Core:
- Fully re-designed cursor to hardware rendered.
- Fixed all glitches in UI.
- Improved scrolling of the FileManager widget using the joystick.
- Speedup UI rendering.
- Improved screenshot feature.
- Updated KallistiOS.
- Some minor fixes and cleanup.

ISO Loader:
- Added ability to boot from alternative binary file of image, not that set in IP.BIN.
- Fixed CDDA timer out of sync when IRQ are used.
- IGR checked for bootloader in moded BIOS first.
- Some minor fixes and cleanup.

[pcwzrd13]

Nice job @SWAT! The UI is noticeably smoother now with no more graphical glitches with scrolling or the cursor.

[fafadou]

Same thing as @pcwzrd13, navigation through menus are very improved now.

In game : i've tried only kao and Shenmue 2, it's the same as before with distorsion but not sure if i preset irq or not.

I've seen we have to try ut, Millenium soldier and spirit of speed in order to ear the difference with and without irq.

[SWAT]

New build: https://github.com/DC-SWAT/DreamShell/re...0.0RC5-T35

ISO Loader app:
- Fixed presets for CDDA extended mode.

ISO Loader firmware:
- Fixed 16-bit PCM split with Store Queues. Sounds with SQ was mono.

Core:
- Fixed 16-bit PCM split with Store Queues. Sounds streams was mono at starting playback. Also I've made PR to KallistiOS repo with this fixes.

[fafadou]

already a new huge update Thank you very much and many congrats !
Now we can enjoy stereo.

[fafadou]

My tests :

Spirit of speed : couldn't be able to boot it, maybe due to wince game and pal version

millenium soldier : before this version the best config was no dma sync 7 and tmu2 SQ for cdda in order to avoid textures glitches.
Now no dma sync 16 (maybe works with no dma sync "none" or dma) no irq cdda tmu2 dma

Unreal : best config I could reached was dma sync 16, no IRQ hooking, lower memory cdda SQ TMU1.
I had some glitches in game, very short, I don't know if it's due to dreamshell or the game itself.
Probably @pcwrd13 can tell us more.
If I choose a "better" preset, the game reboot at cdda starts or I had only music, no sound in menu or when we shoot.

It's difficult for me to heard if there are distorsions or noises with those games.

Kao the kangaroo : with IRQ hooking the distorsion starts when kao is snoring with no IRQ it starts a little before kao is trapped, it's why it's better to preset the games without irq now, a lot of games boot now without irq hooking and the result is better

homebrew : still distorsion too without IRQ but later in the track

The flinstones : still run only with IRQ

spec ops 2 : we can shoot.

In general the result is very better without IRQ now, don't if it's possible to polish this mode a little more in order to avoid completely distorsion.
This loader is an improvement, well done @Swat !

The navigation in menu is totally perfect now. Only cdda preset is not saved.

[sundance2]

Testing T35 on a pristine Dreamcast with a SDCard Serial adapter, here are some updates:

Things that work better (compared to T32):
- Coming back to main Dreamshell after exiting ISOLoader now works fine (mouse pointer used to remain inactive)
- The SDCard Speed test now works fine again

Things that still doesn't work:
- Trying to set parameters (button `B`) to a title which is employing Audio CDDA within ISOLoader leads to an immediate crash
+ No problem loading the game itself (button `A`), it's just not possible to change parameters (from within ISOLoader, one can edit files manually from a PC)
- Some slowdown and sound distortion while playing games with CDDA emulation.

Main game used for tests : Ms Pacman

[SWAT]

(27.11.2023 06:46)sundance2 писал(а):  Testing T35 on a pristine Dreamcast with a SDCard Serial adapter, here are some updates:

Things that work better (compared to T32):
- Coming back to main Dreamshell after exiting ISOLoader now works fine (mouse pointer used to remain inactive)
- The SDCard Speed test now works fine again

Things that still doesn't work:
- Trying to set parameters (button `B`) to a title which is employing Audio CDDA within ISOLoader leads to an immediate crash
+ No problem loading the game itself (button `A`), it's just not possible to change parameters (from within ISOLoader, one can edit files manually from a PC)
- Some slowdown and sound distortion while playing games with CDDA emulation.

Main game used for tests : Ms Pacman

Thanks for testing! For SD better convert CDDA tracks to ADPCM format for better perfomance.
OK I'll check SD card in ISO Loader application.

[sundance2]

(27.11.2023 13:52)SWAT писал(а):  Thanks for testing! For SD better convert CDDA tracks to ADPCM format for better perfomance.
OK I'll check SD card in ISO Loader application.

I remember trying that,
but it was quite difficult to find a good set of tools to make these change easily and safely
(I believe the ADPCM format must be clearly specified and it's easy to get it wrong. More importantly, the recombination of tracks to create a GDI was obscure, kind of "try to do it manually" situation).
Unsurprisingly, I simply gave up after numerous failures.

[SWAT]

(27.11.2023 23:30)sundance2 писал(а):  

(27.11.2023 13:52)SWAT писал(а):  Thanks for testing! For SD better convert CDDA tracks to ADPCM format for better perfomance.
OK I'll check SD card in ISO Loader application.

I remember trying that,
but it was quite difficult to find a good set of tools to make these change easily and safely
(I believe the ADPCM format must be clearly specified and it's easy to get it wrong. More importantly, the recombination of tracks to create a GDI was obscure, kind of "try to do it manually" situation).
Unsurprisingly, I simply gave up after numerous failures.

Код:

raw2wav track05.raw track05_PCM.wav 2 44100 16
ffmpeg -i track05_PCM.wav -acodec adpcm_yamaha -ac 2 track05.wav

raw2wav you can get from DreamShell/sdk/bin, ffmpeg from internet.

Windows users can use my old ISO Make pack v2.4, these has raw2adpcm_ffmpeg.bat file to convert all GDI audio tracks to ADPCM format.

[fafadou]

Woody Woodpecker run liké a charm
Only same freezes like CDI version report on Dreamcast talk.

[Ro Magnus Larsson]

Which games are left to be tested ?

[SWAT]

Wait for new build, it will have something to test

[SWAT]

Coming in next test build: https://youtu.be/p9M9Ojz1i-A