Smoother pointer movement with CyberGraphX or Picasso96?

[patrik]

Hi everyone!

Just got myself my very first graphics-card for an Amiga. It is great except one thing - the pointer doesnt seem to have its update locked to the vertical retrace as it is when using AGA. Its movement is quite sluggish, just like in UAE with Picasso96. Can this "pointer-update-rate" be changed in some way so I may enjoy smooth moving pointers as with AGA?


/Patrik

[patrik]

@Karlos:

Actually I dont know for sure, but it looks like it is a hardware-pointer as it only seem to support 4 colors and one of them is transparent .

The graphic-card is a CyberVision64 and I am using CyberGraphX 4.0.

Anyhow, it feels exactly like when I am using Picasso96 in WinUAE - the pointer moves very smooth in Windows, but in UAE it feels like 60 updates per second or something similar.

(edit):
Btw, it doesnt matter what resolution I use, the movement-feeling is exactly the same.


/Patrik

[patrik]

@Karlos:

I will try to update later. I guess the update requires me to insert the CyberGraphX 4.0 CD and with no CD-ROM installed at the moment... .

Tried the acceleration and maximum speed setting, but that didnt help. The thing that nags me is not the speed the mouse-pointer moves at, but the fact that it doesnt feel like it moves smooth... like it isnt redrawn often enough, or if it is a hardware pointer (as it should be) - its position isnt updated often enough.


/Patrik

[patrik]

@that_punk_guy:
I have tried the mouse-theory now. Before, when using AGA I used Euro72 (640x400@70Hz), so I created an identical mode for the graphic-card and set up two monitors to the Amiga - one for the graphic-card and one for the AGA. When comparing the mouse movement between those two screens the movement on the graphic-card screen is still sluggish and on the AGA-screen it moves smooooth as ice :-/.

@lempkee:
Do you know what configurations any of these sluggish-move-movement-impaired-relatives of mine were using?


@Karlos:
Tried a 60Hz mode, but the same sluggish feeling was there. Got curious if it synced with the 50Hz mains or something (a PAL Amiga), but I had some problems getting a 50Hz mode to work so I tried a 100Hz mode and the mouse felt more synced than ever, though still sluggish compared to when using AGA.


/Patrik

[patrik]

@Framiga:

The CV64 is equipped with 4MB VRAM and is installed in an A4000 with Super Buster rev. 11.

I bought the CV64 secondhand and did not get a user manual with it. You dont happen to know if it is possible to get hold of it somewhere?

As there are no jumper-markings on the CV64-board I dont know what the current jumper-settings are. I guess the user-manual give names to the jumpers..?


/Patrik

[patrik]

@Framiga:

Checked the jumper-settings and they were all at default. I also upgraded to latest(?) V4.3 RC5 CyberGraphX version. Unfortounately nothing is different except from the fact that ARQ gives me gurus when trying to show requesters now .

I am currently running 1280x960x8bit on a fixed sync monitor which will accept that resolution or 1280x1024, but the resolution doesnt make any difference, even if I run 640x480 on another monitor, the mouse movements just aint comparable to those with AGA-screens. Maybe I will have to live with this .

(edit):
Have tried using both the default mouse-pointer and and a simple black and white one. But with the same result. Though with the CyberGraphX update there is a new(? 99% sure I havent seen it before) ENV-variable called "NOMOUSERATIO", but the wierd thing is that when I save, it unselects itself, wierd. Guess I have to experiment with that one a bit .


/Patrik

[patrik]

@Framiga:

I did some editing to my previous post before I saw your last reply. I think that should answer the questions except the roxxler question. I have the tooltype "USEROXXLER" set to "YES"


/Patrik

[patrik]

I have, but it looks a bit stupid and/or lop sided for some reason on my machine. Are there any links for pointers? - May work a little better.

Have you tried setting the pointer to high-resolution mode? It can be done with the Prefs/Pointer program.


/Patrik

[patrik]

@Framiga:

I have tried just about everything now, still no aga-like-movements :/.. though I am very picky about small stuff like this so it might just be me that is annoyed by it more than appropriate .

Got one more question: Do you happen to know if it is possible to get the CV64 to keep the sync between screen-switches of screens using the same screenmode?

When I am using this fixed-sync monitor it is quite annoying as it blackens down for about 1 second when it looses sync. This is very irritating as the switch is done fast, but you are "blind" for a while. (not a slow-switch because of a VRAM-issue, 2 * 1280*960 = 2457600 < 4194304). Have tried it on two other monitors. On one monitor, the the image flickers a bit when switching and on the other monitor no flickering occurs at all.


/Patrik

[patrik]

@Crumb:

I am using _exactly_ the same screenmode for the two screens I am switching between, but it seems like the card drops the sync for a tiny tiny period of time. Have tried three monitors. On one monitor it results in a black image for about 0.5-1.0 second, on one monitor a slight flickering but nothing more occurs and on the last monitor is unaffected when switching. Am I the only one having wierd issues with graphic-cards, or is it just me being wierd? .


/Patrik

[patrik]

@Karlos:

*rejumpers the A4000 to NTSC*

It definately syncs the mouse-pointer update to the PAL/NTSC refresh - now when using a 60Hz CyberGraphX screenmode the mouse-pointer moves smooth as ice.. erm well.. as smooth as 60Hz can make it move atleast ... But if I increase the refresh-rate of the screenmode to for example 75Hz it starts stuttering, resulting in a sluggish movement again.. but as I mentioned, I am very picky and I dont like mousepointers when they dont sync with the refresh-rate. The positive thing about making the A4000 a NTSC-machine is that now the mouse-pointer gets 60 updates per second instead of 50, but there should be a better way!!


/Patrik

[patrik]

@Crumbs:

Yes, the monitor is very old, but I am not switching between different screenmodes. They are the exact same screenmodes with the same name, resolution, bitdepth and refresh-rate. Dragging is disabled and as I mentioned the switching is indeed very fast, that is not the problem, the actual problem is that the card disables the sync for a very short amount of time and this monitor does not like that at all. It results in a totally black screen for about 0.5-1.0 seconds which makes the switching feel slow even if it actually is fast. I have tried the same switching on two other monitors and with those monitors the switching feels fast as the monitors doesnt blacken the picture inbetween switching. On one of the other monitors nothing was noticed when switching and on the other one a slight flickering occured when switching indicating that the sync was lost for a little amount of time - still switching between exactly the same screenmodes.


/Patrik

[patrik]

@Kronos:

Would it be possible to write a program whose sole purpose just is to set the refresh-rate of the "chipset"?


/Patrik