Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Author Topic: 68k speed and sound lag through RuninUAE  (Read 2466 times)

Description:

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline liamwhyoungTopic starter

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Join Date: Dec 2016
  • Posts: 17
    • Show only replies by liamwhyoung
68k speed and sound lag through RuninUAE
« on: December 26, 2016, 07:36:56 PM »
Hi,
 
 I'm experimenting with Amiga OS 4.1FE Classic under Amiga Forever.  It works really well except for games running via RuninUAE under 4.1 - the speed is a bit slow and sound is laggy.  Any ideas anyone?  I am using Super Stardust and The Chaos Engine for testing purposes.
 
 Liam
 

Offline Pat the Cat

Re: 68k speed and sound lag through RuninUAE
« Reply #1 on: December 26, 2016, 08:54:51 PM »
Ouch. From your screenies, you are set using a bog standard A4000 with 2MB of chip RAM and no fast RAM.

That's a crappy setting for games compatibility. For older games, try 512KB or 1MB of chip RAM, and 512KB or more of fast RAM.

If you can set Agnus type, 8372 is the magic number for a "classic" 1.3 Amiga, half mega of chip RAM, half megabyte "trapdoor" fast RAM. 8371 or earlier Agnus is half meg chip RAM at most. Rarely a very old game might insist on the older version, 8372 or up is 1MB or more chip RAM (and ECS and other video outputs with a Super Denise).

Bitmap Brothers just LOVED to hit hardware as hard as they could... heh heh... Chaos Engine I think had problems with 1Mb Chip RAM. It was developed on an A3000 (one of the few games that were, successfully) so I'd say very likely it expects some fast RAM. Could be wrong on that.
« Last Edit: December 26, 2016, 09:08:44 PM by Pat the Cat »
"To recurse is human. To iterate, divine."

A1200, Vanilla, Surf Squirrel, SD Card, KS 3.0/3.z, PCMCIA dev
A500, Vanilla, A570, Rev 5, KS 1.2/1.3 Testbench system
Rasp Pi, UAE4ARM, 3D laser scanner, experimental, hoping for AmigaOS4Arm, based on Watterott Fabscan Pi
 

Offline paul1981

Re: 68k speed and sound lag through RuninUAE
« Reply #2 on: December 27, 2016, 11:32:48 AM »
Quote from: liamwhyoung;818235
Hi,
 
 I'm experimenting with Amiga OS 4.1FE Classic under Amiga Forever.  It works really well except for games running via RuninUAE under 4.1 - the speed is a bit slow and sound is laggy.  Any ideas anyone?  I am using Super Stardust and The Chaos Engine for testing purposes.
 
 Liam

Isn't this running an emulator in an emulator (x86 > ppc > 68k)? Or have I got the wrong end of the stick? If this was WinUAE just emulating  68k Amiga then I'd increase the sound buffers (with the side affect of increased audio lag). If there are no such controls then I think a faster PC is on order.
« Last Edit: December 27, 2016, 11:37:18 AM by paul1981 »
 

Offline paul1981

Re: 68k speed and sound lag through RuninUAE
« Reply #3 on: December 27, 2016, 11:46:13 AM »
Quote from: Pat the Cat;818237
Ouch. From your screenies, you are set using a bog standard A4000 with 2MB of chip RAM and no fast RAM.

That's a crappy setting for games compatibility. For older games, try 512KB or 1MB of chip RAM, and 512KB or more of fast RAM.

If you can set Agnus type, 8372 is the magic number for a "classic" 1.3 Amiga, half mega of chip RAM, half megabyte "trapdoor" fast RAM. 8371 or earlier Agnus is half meg chip RAM at most. Rarely a very old game might insist on the older version, 8372 or up is 1MB or more chip RAM (and ECS and other video outputs with a Super Denise).

Bitmap Brothers just LOVED to hit hardware as hard as they could... heh heh... Chaos Engine I think had problems with 1Mb Chip RAM. It was developed on an A3000 (one of the few games that were, successfully) so I'd say very likely it expects some fast RAM. Could be wrong on that.


Or you could use a program called WHDLoad and run all known Amiga games on any Amiga configuration direct from hard drive.  :)
 

Offline liamwhyoungTopic starter

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Join Date: Dec 2016
  • Posts: 17
    • Show only replies by liamwhyoung
Re: 68k speed and sound lag through RuninUAE
« Reply #4 on: December 27, 2016, 03:27:23 PM »
I'm experimenting with AmigaOS 4.1 FE through emulation before comitting to specific hardware. WHDLoad allows me to run games from an OS 4.1 Hard Disk but doesn't alter the runtime performance.
 

Offline Pat the Cat

Re: 68k speed and sound lag through RuninUAE
« Reply #5 on: December 27, 2016, 04:03:26 PM »
(shrug) You cannot reasonably expect that a programmer in 1993 would  have a clue about the hardware their creation would be running on, a  quarter of a century ahead in time... if you try to match what you are  trying to emulate, you might just get results that work.

As  Windoze is "warranted for no purpose whatsoever", what were you  expecting? The points about PC horsepower needed is quite valid.  However, it strikes me that PCs have gradually moved backwards, in terms  of CPU speed needed to produce a useful tool. Microsoft's ability to  write slack code far exceeded Intels ambitions to make faster computers.  That's why todays Amiga emulators on PC are slower than they were say,  16 years ago.

Anyway, on a more positive note, if you try running some AGA games with that setup, you might have a better idea of what to expect. AGA versions are much more stressful for emulators, although they might not be the software you actually want to run... CD32 titles might be especially problematic, as that had hardware found in no other types of Amigas.

... It is nearly always a very good idea to choose your software first, when designing and building a system. Very important for testing out a emulation system, in what software you test with. :)
« Last Edit: December 27, 2016, 04:15:02 PM by Pat the Cat »
"To recurse is human. To iterate, divine."

A1200, Vanilla, Surf Squirrel, SD Card, KS 3.0/3.z, PCMCIA dev
A500, Vanilla, A570, Rev 5, KS 1.2/1.3 Testbench system
Rasp Pi, UAE4ARM, 3D laser scanner, experimental, hoping for AmigaOS4Arm, based on Watterott Fabscan Pi
 

Offline JimmiG

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Join Date: Dec 2015
  • Posts: 37
    • Show only replies by JimmiG
Re: 68k speed and sound lag through RuninUAE
« Reply #6 on: December 28, 2016, 09:26:02 AM »
Quote from: paul1981;818253
Isn't this running an emulator in an emulator (x86 > ppc > 68k)? Or have I got the wrong end of the stick? If this was WinUAE just emulating  68k Amiga then I'd increase the sound buffers (with the side affect of increased audio lag). If there are no such controls then I think a faster PC is on order.


Yeah, the 68k emulation in WinUAE is disabled when you run OS4. You're trying to make an emulated PPC, which isn't 100% accurate to begin with, run a 68k emulation. It's essentially an emulator within an emulator - inceptionulator.  

Other than for testing, there's no reason to use the 68k emulation in OS4 when you're running OS4 itself under emulation. It's a much better idea to set up a separate 68k environment with WHDLoad or just using the .adf images.
WinUAE itself runs great on my $100 Intel Atom tablet, both under PPC and 68k, as long as I keep the environments separate.
 

Offline Rob

Re: 68k speed and sound lag through RuninUAE
« Reply #7 on: December 28, 2016, 07:31:01 PM »
Quote from: Pat the Cat;818237
Ouch. From your screenies, you are set using a bog standard A4000 with 2MB of chip RAM and no fast RAM.

That's a crappy setting for games compatibility. For older games, try 512KB or 1MB of chip RAM, and 512KB or more of fast RAM.

If you can set Agnus type, 8372 is the magic number for a "classic" 1.3 Amiga, half mega of chip RAM, half megabyte "trapdoor" fast RAM. 8371 or earlier Agnus is half meg chip RAM at most. Rarely a very old game might insist on the older version, 8372 or up is 1MB or more chip RAM (and ECS and other video outputs with a Super Denise).

Bitmap Brothers just LOVED to hit hardware as hard as they could... heh heh... Chaos Engine I think had problems with 1Mb Chip RAM. It was developed on an A3000 (one of the few games that were, successfully) so I'd say very likely it expects some fast RAM. Could be wrong on that.


The issue here seems to be speed and not compatibility.  Altering the RAM, Kickstart etc is going to improve performance although OCS/ECS emulation for OCS/ECS games might be a bit quicker.
 

Offline Oldsmobile_Mike

Re: 68k speed and sound lag through RuninUAE
« Reply #8 on: December 28, 2016, 08:15:04 PM »
What are the specs of your PC?
Amiga 500: 2MB Chip|16MB Fast|30MHz 68030+68882|3.9|Indivision ECS|GVP A500HD+|Mechware card reader + 8GB CF|Cocolino|SCSI DVD-RAM
Amiga 2000: 2MB Chip|136MB Fast|50MHz 68060|3.9|Indivision ECS + GVP Spectrum|Mechware card reader + 8GB CF|AD516|X-Surf 100|RapidRoad|Cocolino|SCSI CD-RW
 Amiga videos and other misc. stuff at https://www.youtube.com/CompTechMike/videos
 

Offline Oldsmobile_Mike

Re: 68k speed and sound lag through RuninUAE
« Reply #9 on: December 28, 2016, 08:16:18 PM »
Quote from: paul1981;818255
Or you could use a program called WHDLoad and run all known Amiga games on any Amiga configuration direct from hard drive.  :)

:laughing:

It drives me crazy when people insist on using "lesser" solutions (Gotek, floppy disks, ADF's, blahblahblah).  :)
Amiga 500: 2MB Chip|16MB Fast|30MHz 68030+68882|3.9|Indivision ECS|GVP A500HD+|Mechware card reader + 8GB CF|Cocolino|SCSI DVD-RAM
Amiga 2000: 2MB Chip|136MB Fast|50MHz 68060|3.9|Indivision ECS + GVP Spectrum|Mechware card reader + 8GB CF|AD516|X-Surf 100|RapidRoad|Cocolino|SCSI CD-RW
 Amiga videos and other misc. stuff at https://www.youtube.com/CompTechMike/videos
 

Offline Rob

Re: 68k speed and sound lag through RuninUAE
« Reply #10 on: December 28, 2016, 08:16:59 PM »
Quote from: liamwhyoung;818264
I'm experimenting with AmigaOS 4.1 FE through emulation before comitting to specific hardware. WHDLoad allows me to run games from an OS 4.1 Hard Disk but doesn't alter the runtime performance.


It sounds like you're probably at the limits of what the emulation can do on your hardware.  

If you have an old CRT monitor tucked away that you can hook up to your hardware then you may be able to run a real 320x256 or similar resolution if Windows allows it.  If not frame skipping may improve the experience in a less than ideal way.
 

Offline liamwhyoungTopic starter

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Join Date: Dec 2016
  • Posts: 17
    • Show only replies by liamwhyoung
Re: 68k speed and sound lag through RuninUAE
« Reply #11 on: December 31, 2016, 12:12:24 PM »
I was hoping to create a modern Amiga experience which OS4.1 provides nicely, though I did not want to repeatedly come out of the OS to run old games if possible.  I am running an Intel I5 proc on a Microsoft Surface Pro. Cheers all.
 

Offline Oldsmobile_Mike

Re: 68k speed and sound lag through RuninUAE
« Reply #12 on: December 31, 2016, 01:48:46 PM »
Quote from: liamwhyoung;818528
I am running an Intel I5 proc on a Microsoft Surface Pro.


First gen Surface Pro or Surface Pro 4? You know there's a huge difference in specs between the models, right? When people say "what's your system specs" they normally want full details, not vaguery, lol. ;)

In any case, try dropping your framerate or resolution, or running on more powerful PC hardware for a smoother emulation experience, or keep on tinkering with the settings. Good luck! :D
Amiga 500: 2MB Chip|16MB Fast|30MHz 68030+68882|3.9|Indivision ECS|GVP A500HD+|Mechware card reader + 8GB CF|Cocolino|SCSI DVD-RAM
Amiga 2000: 2MB Chip|136MB Fast|50MHz 68060|3.9|Indivision ECS + GVP Spectrum|Mechware card reader + 8GB CF|AD516|X-Surf 100|RapidRoad|Cocolino|SCSI CD-RW
 Amiga videos and other misc. stuff at https://www.youtube.com/CompTechMike/videos
 

Offline liamwhyoungTopic starter

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Join Date: Dec 2016
  • Posts: 17
    • Show only replies by liamwhyoung
Re: 68k speed and sound lag through RuninUAE
« Reply #13 on: January 01, 2017, 10:41:09 AM »
It's a Surface Pro 2, though I doubt differing model versions of the I5 proc are going to be a deal breaker on the lag. I was hoping someone here has experienced the same issue as it strikes me as a software setting issue. I am surprised very few people have used Runinuae under 4.1 using Amiga Forever.
 

Offline liamwhyoungTopic starter

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Join Date: Dec 2016
  • Posts: 17
    • Show only replies by liamwhyoung