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

[SWAT]

(22.03.2023 04:25)segatxdc писал(а):  RE2 test still black screen is frozen.

RE2 works for me with default settings.
All WinCE games images should be defragmented on the filesystem yet.

[SWAT]

New build: https://github.com/DC-SWAT/DreamShell/co...0.0RC5-T21

All data flow has changed a lot and also CDDA emulation, see changelog:
https://github.com/DC-SWAT/DreamShell/commits/master

[pcwzrd13]

Just did a quick test with UT and the good news is that it boots up using the old settings now (0x8c000100 + Behind the Loader + SQ & TMU2) but the bad news is that there's distortion in the music almost immediately and the game freezes after a short time.

[SWAT]

(23.03.2023 20:14)pcwzrd13 писал(а):  Just did a quick test with UT and the good news is that it boots up using the old settings now (0x8c000100 + Behind the Loader + SQ & TMU2) but the bad news is that there's distortion in the music almost immediately and the game freezes after a short time.

I use default heap mode (auto) and it's works fine for me. I'll check again.

[fafadou]

@pcwrd13 from one release to other the behind the loader option is not necessary, kao is a good example too, like UT.

[pcwzrd13]

(23.03.2023 20:44)SWAT писал(а):  I use default heap mode (auto) and it's works fine for me. I'll check again.

I get the same result with auto heap. The music is distorted both at the main menu and in the game. The game will freeze a few seconds after starting a match.

[SWAT]

(23.03.2023 21:03)fafadou писал(а):  @pcwrd13 from one release to other the behind the loader option is not necessary, kao is a good example too, like UT.

Yep, I'm working on improvements for heap auto selection from time to time.

(23.03.2023 21:52)pcwzrd13 писал(а):  

(23.03.2023 20:44)SWAT писал(а):  I use default heap mode (auto) and it's works fine for me. I'll check again.

I get the same result with auto heap. The music is distorted both at the main menu and in the game. The game will freeze a few seconds after starting a match.

I found problem, thanks for pointing that. Will upload new build soon.

[fafadou]

(24.03.2023 10:44)SWAT писал(а):  I found problem, thanks for pointing that. Will upload new build soon.

Fantastic @Swat !!!

[SWAT]

New build: https://github.com/DC-SWAT/DreamShell/re...0.0RC5-T22

- Distortion fixes for CDDA emulation. Not only for UT but for all games should much less distortions.
- Stability fixes for VMU emulation. Should not be lost now.
- Fixed heap modes In-game and Maple DMA buffer. Now can use Maple DMA buffer for KAO and etc.

[pcwzrd13]

Did a quick UT test. Distortion seems to be gone which is great but unfortunately it's still freezing (it took longer this time though). I only tested default settings though, except for changing CDDA to SQ, so maybe something else needs to be changed.

Edit: I can confirm the freezing is CDDA-related as it doesn't happen when I disable CDDA.

Edit 2: Some good news! Quake III Arena now works flawlessly! Music plays with no distortion, loops fine, and no more rainbow screen!

Edit 3: No more distortion in Next Tetris! Played for over 5mins with no issues!

Edit 4: KAO the Kangaroo ALMOST works! Music plays without distortion and loops fine, but the game freezes on the 4th loop. I used default settings with Maple heap.

[pcwzrd13]

Some more CDDA tests:

- Bust-A-Move 4: Won't boot without "low-level" enabled.

- Guilty Gear X: Music doesn't play at all now (it used to play but very distorted on previous versions). Tried various settings but no different results.

- Hydro Thunder: Works great! Tested with default settings.

- Monaco Grand Prix On-Line: Music plays ok but there are brief skips. These skips weren't present on previous loader versions. Tested on default settings with loader mem 0x8cfe8000.

- Nightmare Creatures II: Freezes on the first loading screen after starting a new game. Tested with various settings, all with the same result.

- Reel Fishing Wild: Music skips like a broken record. It had slight skipping on previous loaders but it's much worse now. Tested with default settings.

- Stunt GP: Music distorted and skips. Same as all previous loaders. Tested with default settings.

The "skipping" issue in Monaco is something I've never heard before so I think it must be due to a recent change. I think Quake III Arena and Next Tetris have some slight skipping issues as well but it wasn't as noticeable.

I've also started to document 0.8 testing on my spreadsheet here. Makes it easier to keep track of instead of searching through this thread. lol

[fafadou]

Some tests :

Kao the kangaroo : cdda irq dma tmu1, 0x8cfe8000 memory, behind the loader head. Runs well for me, less distorsion instead of before but not sure i wait the 4th loop.

Toy commander : strange issue after intro and crash.
No irq, dma tmu 2 or sq 2, lower memory.

Xeno crisis : absolutely perfect

Zia : freeze in a loading after 5 min, maybe a wrong preset

Sturmwind : cdda is well but cannot start a game

Spec ops 2 : unable to shoot with cdda enabled.

Skies of Arcadia : freeze during intro

Sega Rally 2 : black screen and no signal and black screen, not sure to used the good preset

[pcwzrd13]

(25.03.2023 01:03)fafadou писал(а):  Kao the kangaroo : cdda irq dma tmu1, 0x8cfe8000 memory, behind the loader head. Runs well for me, less distorsion instead of before but not sure i wait the 4th loop.

Ah that works for me too! Let the music loop 5 times and it didn't freeze. A little bit of distortion / skipping but not too bad.

[fafadou]

It looks the dma cdda is more stable with this loader.
Except for toy commander, i didn't find the good preset yet.

[SWAT]

New build: https://github.com/DC-SWAT/DreamShell/re...0.0RC5-T23

- Used PIO sample reading from IDE for SQ mode. It fixed freezes in UT, Millenium Soldiers, also maybe KAO more stable work with SQ because I see DMA errors in interrupts in this game too. But if it good works with DMA you can use it, I handle all errors.
- New channels restore algorithm, should be even less distortions in all games.
- Fixed In-game (KATANA) heap mode.

I tried to fix Toy Commander, but this game is fighting me for channels too much. It starts up fine, but then the sound becomes bad.
4x4 still freezes at end of track playback. Hard to debug it, need more time it's special case.
For Millenium Soldiers need use PIO mode for data and SQ for CDDA, works well for me.

If the rest of the games that worked will be all right, I'll probably stop dev the CDDA functionality for a while.
Right now it's works well for me in a bunch games so I want to save it as is for 0.8.0 release. But need test more, I can miss something.

[pcwzrd13]

Tested quite a few games and I'm not seeing much difference between this build and the last one for most. The freezing in UT is fixed but there is a bit of distortion and I'm seeing graphical glitches (texture popping). These glitches happened in the first build of 0.8 but only on the gun; they happen on the map too with this build. Overall the first 0.8 build was the best for UT.

I tested Expendable as well. I played through the first level and a bit of the second. The music seems to play fine but CDDA emulation seems to be causing some occasional stutters in the gameplay.

[SWAT]

https://youtu.be/kVbmh2Y1Y3w
https://youtu.be/Afv04kZ88mk

I can't fully fix distortions, I can only reduce it, because games uses all AICA channels in a loop.
Need patching games to change channels limit and keep two for CDDA. Or find another way.

[pcwzrd13]

(27.03.2023 18:12)SWAT писал(а):  I can't fully fix distortions, I can only reduce it, because games uses all AICA channels in a loop.
Need patching games to change channels limit and keep two for CDDA. Or find another way.

Would it be possible to patch the games on boot with DreamShell?

[fafadou]

I don't try this last released yet, so forgive me if I say something stupid

(27.03.2023 13:53)SWAT писал(а):  New build: https://github.com/DC-SWAT/DreamShell/re...0.0RC5-T23

- Used PIO sample reading from IDE for SQ mode. It fixed freezes in UT, Millenium Soldiers, also maybe KAO more stable work with SQ because I see DMA errors in interrupts in this game too. But if it good works with DMA you can use it, I handle all errors.
For Millenium Soldiers need use PIO mode for data and SQ for CDDA, works well for me.

Many thanks for this tip don't we use to try all options to get the best config for each games and there are the @pcwrd13 and dragoncity's lists for that

(27.03.2023 13:53)SWAT писал(а):  I tried to fix Toy Commander, but this game is fighting me for channels too much. It starts up fine, but then the sound becomes bad.
4x4 still freezes at end of track playback. Hard to debug it, need more time it's special case.

I'm not totally sure but, you released a version of 0.8 that's works quite well with toy commander and spec ops 2. So not a big deal for those ones if the issue is still here. It's perfectly playable and the distorsion are few now and almost imperceptible.

If "4x4" is 4x4 evolution, I'm seeing in dragoncity's list, wince, dma, cdda sync 16 and memory preset 0x8c0004000 not the lowest one, with 0.6.0 loader (yes the very first one with dreamshell RC4). Maybe it will be the good one for 0.8 loader too in order to add the loop function.

(27.03.2023 13:53)SWAT писал(а):  If the rest of the games that worked will be all right, I'll probably stop dev the CDDA functionality for a while.
Right now it's works well for me in a bunch games so I want to save it as is for 0.8.0 release. But need test more, I can miss something.

And the improvements are outstanding, revolt with cdda, homebrews with cdda etc... I can't count how many times I put my arms up and said "Whouhou" in this whole 0.8 loaders campaign, and if some strange things are here, we can used a beta only for one game if it needs, there are still exceptions
Only wince games are reluctant I don't try yet super runabout that have black screen with previous loaders with cdda.

The only strange thing I notice when comparing with 0.6.11 loaders, they don't have distorsion (they used no IRQ and dma TMU2 for cdda if I remember well) maybe it deserves a try to add the loop function to them ? Maybe the distorsion is simply not present in the first loop ?
We still have skies of arcadia intro issue, you may change something since 0.6.11_se loader for datas ? Like RC3 loader for sturmwind, sometimes something good happen to skill guys as you

I'll try a lot of things that I can and for sure, time for saving 0.8 loader will come soon now.

[pcwzrd13]

Just did some more testing with UT and found out something interesting. The game now boots with default settings (DMA & TMU2) and when I boot it that way, the music plays perfectly and there are no graphical glitches! Only issue is that the sound effects don't work. I tried changing some other settings but always the same result, plays perfect with music but no sound effects. Using either of the SQ settings will result in the texture glitches.

Even more interesting: MagForce Racing has the same texture glitches when using SQ. They both appear to have the same issue with SQ.

Good news though: MagForce Racing works pretty well with the latest loader when using DMA & TMU1. The music has occasional distortion but it always fixes itself after a few seconds. Still a big improvement over previous builds.

Also, AirForce Delta now works perfect!

I added more test results to my spreadsheet.