ADFFS 2.15 RC

Discuss ADFFS development and download test releases
JonAbbott
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Re: ADFFS 2.15 RC

Post by JonAbbott »

PaulV wrote:I tried ADFForceVSync with various values from 1 upwards but it just makes the game flicker badly and it gets worse with higher values :(
ADFFS 2.15c on the dev site to fix this issue.
PaulV
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Re: ADFFS 2.15 RC

Post by PaulV »

That's better :D Looks good and plays nicely too.
steve3000
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Re: ADFFS 2.15 RC

Post by steve3000 »

JonAbbott wrote: No, ADFFS has it's own *ADFFormat command, is it on the Filer menu?
No, I'm talking about ADFS - I want to format a physical floppy. But after loading ADFFS, even though I'm not using it, *Format has disappeared from ADFS?

I know I can still use the desktop to format ADFS, but I prefer command line, since it error-checks as it goes (handy for 20-odd year old discs)...
JonAbbott wrote: EDIT: Fixed ADFFS 2.14b module on the dev site
Great :)
JonAbbott wrote: You need 4mb of memory and have to edit to top section of the file. I did document it somewhere, probably online when I released it. I need up update !Help so I'll add it in.

EDIT: The updated !Help is on the dev site
Ok - will take a look and try this out on the A540, in that case.
JonAbbott wrote: 4mb is really the minimum spec. you can reliably use due too....

...

This isn't possible I'm afraid as FileCore isn't re-enterant. Whilst accessing a floppy we can't touch another filesystem.
Ok, understood.

I still think with a bit of trimming/tidying round the edges, ADFFS would be perfectly usable on 2Mb, you just need some clear documentation as to what to do and why, eg. a help file called 'Info 2Mb'. As I said, I did get Magic Pockets to load, but it was a hassle...telling people to do a clean restart, without loading any !Boot (eg. holding Shift, if their computer normally loads a Boot file from HDD), to enter Mode 12 and suggesting they hold 'Ctrl' when opening their HDD and locating ADFFS. Also on my A4000 with multiscan monitor, I don't need LCDgm or AutoVIDC to be loaded, but ADFFS is doing so by default - so these can be commented out to save a few kb. Are there any other modules which wouldn't necessarily be needed on 2Mb - any APD modules? Perhaps a few lines in the !Run file to say 'The following can be commented out if running on a 2Mb machine providing you are using a TV-resolution or multisync monitor'...

As for APD handling requiring 4Mb, if someone tries using one on a 2Mb machine you could just pop up an error explaining APDs require 4Mb minimum.
JonAbbott wrote:From the spreadsheet it needs a "Boot Floppy" to work correctly. It will also overwrite your CMOS if you run it manually. I'd advise checking against the spreadsheet before running any games, or...try "Boot floppy" first and if it that doesn't do anything, run it from the desktop. The boot scripts do various things, such as fixing poorly written loaders/obey scripts, preventing CMOS changes, avoiding SHIFT-BREAK and fixing bugs in the games and protection code. I think I made the Obey folder available on the FTP, if not I'll add it so you can see what they do.
I'm still a little cautious of 'Boot Floppy'. I always have a few things running on my desktop, and there's no warning if I click it - I loose the desktop.

Suggestion: Pop up a Yes/No window, after someone clicks 'Boot Floppy' which states 'This will close the Desktop and any unsaved work will be lost. You will need to reset the computer after running the game. Continue?'.

Also, I think 'Boot Floppy' should be renamed 'Simulate Shift-Break'... which means more to me, but then you can argue it means less to others :)

Steve
JonAbbott
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Re: ADFFS 2.15 RC

Post by JonAbbott »

steve3000 wrote:No, I'm talking about ADFS - I want to format a physical floppy. But after loading ADFFS, even though I'm not using it, *Format has disappeared from ADFS?
I'm seeing the same issue, I've no idea what could be causing it but will look into it. At a guess, as I'm redirecting MiscOp/DiscOp it's causing *Format to get redirected to ADFFS as well.
steve3000 wrote:I still think with a bit of trimming/tidying round the edges, ADFFS would be perfectly usable on 2Mb, you just need some clear documentation as to what to do and why, eg. a help file called 'Info 2Mb'. As I said, I did get Magic Pockets to load, but it was a hassle...telling people to do a clean restart, without loading any !Boot (eg. holding Shift, if their computer normally loads a Boot file from HDD), to enter Mode 12 and suggesting they hold 'Ctrl' when opening their HDD and locating ADFFS. Also on my A4000 with multiscan monitor, I don't need LCDgm or AutoVIDC to be loaded, but ADFFS is doing so by default - so these can be commented out to save a few kb. Are there any other modules which wouldn't necessarily be needed on 2Mb - any ADP modules? Perhaps a few lines in the !Run file to say 'The following can be commented out if running on a 2Mb machine providing you are using a TV-resolution or multisync monitor'...
If you'd like to figure out the steps and document, please do so. As you say, it would need a SHIFTed boot, ADFFS manually loading, manually mounting the image and *ADFBootFloppy. Each game would need a boot script that sets all the DA's to the correct size for that game. We'd have to do it on a game by game basis and is probably only worth doing as we release games to the public due to the amount of work involved.
steve3000 wrote:As for APD handling requiring 4Mb, if someone tries using one on a 2Mb machine you could just pop up an error explaining APDs require 4Mb minimum.
An APD requires 948Kb to load, any free memory at the end of loading is handed back with the new DA code. For most APD's the footprint shouldn't be much bigger than a JFD.

With JFD's we could in theory keep it compressed in memory, but it would be a lot of coding. It would need a ZLib state table for each track to speed up seeks (otherwise it could take minutes to seek to a sector) and would only make a difference where the floppies actually compress well. As this would only be useful on 2mb machines, I originally ruled it out as too much work for such little return.
steve3000 wrote:I'm still a little cautious of 'Boot Floppy'. I always have a few things running on my desktop, and there's no warning if I click it - I loose the desktop.

Suggestion: Pop up a Yes/No window, after someone clicks 'Boot Floppy' which states 'This will close the Desktop and any unsaved work will be lost. You will need to reset the computer after running the game. Continue?'.

Also, I think 'Boot Floppy' should be renamed 'Simulate Shift-Break'... which means more to me, but then you can argue it means less to others :)
It does prompt, with "Boot floppy via a simulated Shift-Break? YES / NO"

Regards renaming it to "Simulate Shift-Break" - this would only have meaning to people that are used to RO3.1 and below as Shift-Break was removed from RO3.5 onwards. This is why I used "Boot floppy" on the menu, as people generally know what "Boot" means and "Simulated Shift-Break" on the prompt.
JonAbbott
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Re: ADFFS 2.15 RC

Post by JonAbbott »

I've found a couple of problems:

1. On RO3.5+ ejecting a mounted floppy image doesn't free the memory. (fixed in 2.15d)
2. After mounting an APD, the unused memory isn't being handed back. (fixed in 2.15d)
3. Forcing VSync's isn't ensuring at least one VSync has occured before the frame swap, so Zarch flickers. It should do this, so it's a bug. (fixed in 2.15d)
4. FPEmulator crashing on SA (now removed)

ADFFS 2.15d module is on the dev site. The high score on Zarch flickers, don't think there's anything I can do to fix it as switching the frame swap to be after the delay will cause Inferno to judder.
JonAbbott
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Re: ADFFS 2.15 RC

Post by JonAbbott »

Update adffs215.zip on the dev site, with FPEmulator removed. No differences from 2.15d except for this.
JonAbbott
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Re: ADFFS 2.15 RC

Post by JonAbbott »

Tested on RiscPC SA / RO3.71, no issues found.
Tested on A7000+ FPE7500 / RO3.71, no issues found.

On Kinetic 300 SA / RO4.04, I'm seeing possible corruption when shelling out of the desktop with Zarch mounted :cry:. It's either related to the memory changes on RO4, or could just be Zarch as I haven't managed to repro it on another floppy yet. Zarch reports broken directory at the Supervisor.

EDIT:
Further investigation under emulation (where I can't reproduce it) points at the issue being a combination of SA and RO4...on the "To Do" list is "Data Abort handler does weird things on RO4.x with a StrongARM", I suspect it's the same issue although I've no idea what's causing it.

I see the same issue when booting the Kinetic to Supervisor ("*" held at power on) and manually mounting Zarch. I think I need to get my hands on a RiscPC with RO4, to rule out the Kinetic. It's certainly very odd that it works under the Desktop and only show the issue from the Supervisor.
steve3000
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Re: ADFFS 2.15 RC

Post by steve3000 »

I have RO4 on my Risc PC and can fit Arm610 or SA 233.

Tell me exactly what to try and which ADF to use and I'll be happy to test.
JonAbbott
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Re: ADFFS 2.15 RC

Post by JonAbbott »

Using the SA...grab the Zarch JFD, mount it, shell to the Supervisor, do "*." and see if you can see the contents or get a "Broken Directory" error.
JonAbbott
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Re: ADFFS 2.15 RC

Post by JonAbbott »

JonAbbott wrote:Using the SA...grab the Zarch JFD, mount it, shell to the Supervisor, do "*." and see if you can see the contents or get a "Broken Directory" error.
Did you manage to test this Steve?

Paul...can I presume the A4000, A5000 and A410/1 all tested okay? If so, I just need to test on the Pi and see if I can fix the issue on the Kinetic (or RO4/SA combo if Steve also sees the issue).
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