Gaming Discussions

[sharangad]

Hi
I don't know whether legacy PC emulation belong in this forum, but here goes:

I'm working on a wrapper for the Rendition Verité V2200 (an old video card from the 90s). The Windows side of it is almost done and can run all 13 games though a few need DxWnd or dgVood's DirectDraw component. The DOS part is still being looked at.

I haven't had much too much feedback, especially from AMD GPU users:

Formula 1 '97

https://youtu.be/kFRRl686S94

Grand Prix Legends '96:

https://youtu.be/Rth5lU8zM2A 


SODA Offroad '96:

https://youtu.be/uiyCT3FMcQA 

Monster Truck Madness 2:

https://youtu.be/2Bom-ZSNiXw 

vQuake 2 (Quake 2)

https://youtu.be/qb1eYQ35iV0 

Sub Culture

https://youtu.be/f5JAAI6FYcE 

vHexen II (Hexen II)

https://youtu.be/w0hFT8umNQw 

MDK

https://youtu.be/Hgxik-rUWT4 

Die by the Sword

https://youtu.be/HUtbSuzfqqw 

Mech Warrior 2

https://youtu.be/QunN6dDEGPo 

Interstate '76 (Needs DxWnd

https://youtu.be/vfCLjEXMM1o 

Interstate '76 Nitro (Needs DxWnd)

https://youtu.be/aoZYEalJ8kk 

Heavy Gear

https://youtu.be/UdNUEEuFKts 

The last stable version of the wrapper can be found here:

November 22, 2023 (Fully tested watermarked store builld):

https://1drv.ms/u/s!As-dKk-N73dSlwUMo-Zu9Ad0nTvO
MD5: 787425d7a2838f199783f74303be1780

20 November 2023

- Ability to restrict VRAM by setting MaxVRAM=<nn>(Megabytes). The Golems in VH2.exe correctly change colour when VRAM is restricted to between 4-14 MB. Restricting VRAM will severely affect performance and is not recommended. It is also unsupported in other apps.
- RRosetta's renderer switching (using F1-F3) work correctly but for F3 (Direct3D) to work dgVoodo's directdraw/direct3d files need to be copied to the same folder as RRosetta.exe. OpenGL to RRedline switch to work.
- Screenshot capability in games such as WinDie.exe (save game image) or games which have a console command 'screenshot' should work (except VH2.exe. This application appear to do a copy to clipboard and does not currently work.). Screenshot is correctly downsampled now.
- End credits background textures in F1red.exe should work.
- Bilinear filtering (using shaders) is enforced for paletted textures.
- Memory safety checks removed. Should be as fast as before.

(This release is live on the Windows store as well without the watermark though it costs money)

The official thread can be found here:

https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=95721

I'd be really happy for feedback and sorry if this forum isn't the right place for it.

Thanks!

[sharangad]

RReady 26 November 2023

https://1drv.ms/u/s!As-dKk-N73dSlwkMo-Zu9Ad0nTvO
MD5: 62d506951ec1d9f2adc50d829d422b32

- Auto-downloader now downloads modified ref_v1k which support native fullscreen on modern Windows. Existing users will need to delete the existing ref_v1k, remove Quake 2 from the apps list and add it back in. Alternatively directly downloading the file from the link and manually patching it will be required. Force fullscreen and will no longer be required in rendition.cfg along with 'set vid_fullscreen "0 'in baseq2/config.cfg. The change in ref_v1k is only 1 byte.

[sharangad]

Sorry for the spam. This should be the last update for a while (barring showstoppers).

RReady 01 December 2023

https://1drv.ms/u/s!As-dKk-N73dSlwwMo-Zu9Ad0nTvO

MD5: 3f280c6df107d21dbbec54891bbfe0d4

RLauncher fixes:

- All vQuake 2 and vHexen II binary hacks in their own section along with warning about not being thoroughly tested each release).

- Corrects vQuake 2 unlocked resolutions (1280x1024 is selectable for underwater resolutions. 1152x864 is the highest full screen resolution.) For vQuake 2 unlocked resolutions, the underwater resolution should be higher than the game's internal full screen resolution. For vHexen II it should be at or below the game resolution. Rendering issues may otherwise arise.

- Adds vHexen II 72/144 max fps limit  and 11/22 kHz audio selection

- Existing  Redline.dll and verite.dll rebuilt with latest compiler update. Hopefully nothing should break.

[mickyat2001]

It's great to see that you've made significant progress on the Windows side and are now working on the DOS part https://1drv.ms/u/s!As-dKk-N73dSlwwMo-Zu9Ad0nTvO . I'm sure there are many AMD GPU users who would be interested in trying out your wrapper once it's complete.

[mickyat2001]

While Rendition may not have the same level of mainstream recognition as some other chipmakers, there's a dedicated community of enthusiasts. I believe there are still many AMD GPU users who would be interested in exploring the possibilities of Rendition graphics, especially with the accessibility improvements offered by your wrapper. The opportunity to experience those classic visuals on modern systems is certainly appealing to a niche audience, and the success of projects like DOSBox and MAME demonstrate the enduring fascination with retro gaming hardware.

[sharangad]

Thanks @mickyat2001.

There aren't too many fans of Rendition out there, so I seriously doubt it!

[sharangad]

One more SIM video:

https://youtu.be/MKXiQZ1EwRE

[sharangad]

Sharanga Dayananda

Sharanga Dayananda - 2024-01-12
RReady test build January 10 2024

Preliminary support for vQuake 2/vHexen II in-memory patching. This should leave the original binaries unpatched. For Quake 2 you will still need a copy of ref_v1k
that supports native fullscreen modes. The fullscreen toggle happens before RReady loads and it has no control over the parent EXE at that point.

The only change in this binary is the patching, but that doesn't mean that nothing's broken.

https://1drv.ms/u/s!As-dKk-N73dSlxgMo-Zu9Ad0nTvO
MD5: 51d976481231f74edc3cd29dbf699fbf

[sharangad]

Indy Car Racing 2 (Work in progress video #10): DOS/Speedy3D

Cockpit view mostly working:

https://youtu.be/VY7ffd4yxYQ

[sharangad]

SPDY3D DOS Support in progress:

Indy Car Racing 2 (Cart Racing 2):
https://youtu.be/SeWK1FGp_e8
In-game:
https://youtu.be/tymUV3ytsP4

Whiplash:
https://youtu.be/fVqDW-8L37A

Nascar 1999 Rendition Edition:
https://youtu.be/c_QUSaDWPxI

Rebel Moon:
https://youtu.be/xgfpYEBpNNs

Tomb Raider:
https://youtu.be/2yTjscFJqUM

[sharangad]

ICR2/Cart 2 Progress:

https://youtu.be/Z6bnchjFPms

[sharangad]

Tomb Raider seamless textures:

https://youtu.be/IbAhvjMwDYg

[sharangad]

Rebel Moon chroma keying (almost) and HUD works perfectly now:
https://youtu.be/-cWgGqMfzIg

[sharangad]

Nascar 2:

https://youtu.be/EzpE-77F84Y 

[sharangad]

Nascar 1999 fully functional:

https://youtu.be/0K40dz-B1Jo 

[EDIT]with graphics maxxed out:

https://youtu.be/2PY-xnGV_68  

[/EDIT]

and Nascar 2:

https://youtu.be/0K40dz-B1Jo 

[sharangad]

vQuake (in progress):

https://youtu.be/MTW0UReQy48 

[sharangad]

Playthrough of e1m1 with z-buffer bug with working underwater sine warp:

https://youtu.be/OJ-sAlpDLbs 

[sharangad]

vQuake: GPU filtering+chroma Keying + Underwate White Magic Raven hack(@768x576):
https://youtu.be/WoXWNLh7AYQ

Patched vQuake (with WMR underwater resolution) available here, in case someone wants it:
https://nirvtek.com/downloads/vQuake.Underwater.768x576.zip
MD5: b2c4290e4594c0e46778a37a23abb646

There's a fresh build here: (only tested against vQuake 1):
https://nirvtek.com/downloads/RReady.Alpha.20240706.001.zip 
MD5: 5b4d20106addb147345dbe30fff99451

[sharangad]

vQuake resolution change (mixed up mode numbers):
https://youtu.be/koRk1gcOV5I 

[sharangad]

Indy Car Racing 2 Setup with Dosbox-Rendition/RReady:

https://youtu.be/p5YNRIrFeN8  

[sharangad]

The high-poly carset 95cart2k can run at a full frame rate by setting (in %localappdata%\dosbox\dosbox-rendition.config):

[cpu]
#This is dependent on CPU speed
#t400000 means emulate a 400 MHz pentium ii
cycles=400000

The menus run at full speed as well.

Video:

https://youtu.be/pSUaBOAcvV4 

[sharangad]

July 22, 2024
Untested alpha release for vQuake:
https://nirvtek.com/downloads/RReady.Alpha.20240722.001.zip
MD5: 5704466c82972f663ed3e52b44a2baf5

- All graphical glitches with vQuake fixed.
- vQuake underwater resolution selection available in "Rendition Settings" for dosbox. This destructively modified vquake.exe at runtime. A future update will switch to in-memory patching.
- per app config files now support runtime reloading of [rendition] and [cpu] sections in their entirety. The [sdl] only update priority. Note the vquake.exe.config is the new per app config filename for vquake and not cwsdpmi.exe. The dosbox-rendition.config and per app files should be located in %localappdata%\dosbox.
- Other games are untested.

[sharangad]

July 23, 2024
Software rendered Quake should be runnable, just like on stock dosbox:

https://nirvtek.com/downloads/RReady.Alpha.20240723.001.zip 
MD5: be39f97686ebd180d8f4c034ca641bb3

Both Quake and vQuake loaded cwsdpmi.exe. Now Dosbox-Rendition checks to see if the current exe is cwsdpmi.exe (the protected mode overlay/memory manager) and the previous app was vquake.exe before enabling Rendition mode.

[cpurpe91]

I am not the most enthusiastic person when it comes to retro gaming, but I can appreciate that you have put a lot of work into this. Access to games that no longer run on modern hardware, and games that are not being sold anymore is really important in preserving the culture of PC and console gaming. Keep it up, friend.  

[sharangad]

Thanks dude!

[sharangad]

I haven't had much feedback from AMD users unfortunately. I had one user on another forum who said MDK ran fine, but that's about it.

Getting hold of these games on ebay is a nightmare as well; making sure you get the right version.

[sharangad]

Dosbox-Staging -Rendition vs Dosbox-Rendition running vQuake.

Setting threadsafe=false allows staging to stretch its legs:

https://youtu.be/BYIPhfHpaCk 

[sharangad]

This is a watermarked version of a fully tested release that should appear on the Microsoft Store next week/over the weekend:

https://nirvtek.com/downloads/RReady.Alpha.20240725.001.zip 

MD5: c5747a0892340267c451cfaa3fb9ec7d
- vQuake loading glitches icon glitching screen fixe
- vQuake underwater resolution selection
- vsync checkbox in RLauncher for dos

[sharangad]

You may get spurious anti-virus software warnings. I've already reported false positives to Microsoft and Kaspersky. It's probably best to wait for updated AV definitions before grabbing these files.

This is from the official thread on Vogons:

To use this run rlauncher. Exe and it should have dos and windows tabs. Currently dosbox-staging isn't in the release, it's incomplete and slightly unstable. To run a game /dosbox highlight it in the list and click launch.

For Windows apps, from the windows tab click add app and browse to the folder where the game is. You can configure upscaling settings for the game by clicking the rendition settings button. This is a per app config and some apps like myth-tfl and gpl shouldn't be upscaled (resolution set to default). Gpl can be set to use higher resolutions from within the game. Interstate '76, i'76 nitro and MechWarrior 2 need dxwnd to run. Heavy gear 2 can use dxwnd or dgvoodoo's direct draw dlls (placed in the game folder). Dxwnd and dgvoodoo allow for emulation of direct draw in rready, which is opengl based.

Additional patches for games like quake2 can be downloaded automatically with the freeware alpha (which is watermarked with text). The store based version doesn't have a watermark, but lacks the auto-downloader. Links to download the patches are supplied in the help file in the store based version. Forced fullscreen is only used with the rendition supplied build ref-v1k for vquake2. RReady downloads or provides links to an updated ref-v1k which can run fullscreen or windowed on win 10/11.

Dos games share rendition settings and all of them can be upscaled. Dosbox settings opens the config files for dosbox. Additional application specific config can be created in the %localappdata%/dosbox folder (i.e. Vquake.exe.config) which overrides [cpu], [rendition] and one setting in [sdl] (priority).

Sierra games like the nascar games need threadsafe=true in [rendition]. Icr2/cart might also need it. Using high-poly carsets you'll need to set threadsafe=true and cycles=400000 in the [cpu] section. Fast single core performance is needed for this. The stock game, including custom tracks should run fine (incl. The enhanced tracks supplied with the game) with a discrete gpu, even older ones. Integer cpu performance is what dos games need with rready.

Staging should allow vquake 1 to run without audio pops/static. But it's not ready yet. I'm struggling with keyboard mouse input with staging. Both these things work with lockups/glitches. Eventually staging will be an option in the DOS tab, in the list. Vquake does run without static at 320x200 (upscaled) with vanilla dosbox as the emulated cpu load is lower.

RReady is closed source, and uses named pipe communication with dosclient.exe which uses the wrapper so I don't think dosbox or staging will integrate it it. I do intend to eventually open source rready, but not just yet. Also in the current implementation some non-rendition dos apps might not work. I've minimised this as best as I can, but I can't realistically test everything. If I get any reports of stuff not working , I can fix it.

@raven-05 (yt:@WhiteMagicRaven) has discovered a few games/demos which appear to have disabled rredline codepaths. So I'll be looking at getting them working as well, assuming the code works.

EDIT] An updated version of the help doc is available here:
https://nirvtek.com/downloads/RReady%20Rendition%20Verite%20Wrapper.pdf 

[sharangad]

Rebel Moon and vQuake random lock up should be fixed (fingers crossed) and now with dosbox-staging (recommended for Rebel Moon and vQuake):

https://nirvtek.com/downloads/RReady.Alpha.20240806.002.zip 
MD5: c5073d54097516aa71bf79f547d1df69

Staging uses its own dosbox-staging.conf and rendition.cfg files and does not support per-app configs. These will be copied across to the staging subfolder of that dosbox is installed to (withint RLauncher).

This is an alpha release. I have done some stress testing with vQuake and Rebel Moon with staging. Vanilla dosbox should also be fixed (tested only with Rebel Moon). The bug was in the mouse handler. It goes through a thread safe routine now (using SDL_PushEvent) just like it did for the keyboard.

- vQuake 2/vHexen II v1k_nopageflip should no longer tear/band. This is the Rendition native no-vsync mode. It's best to not enable this and disable vsync in rendition settings instead. This should allow for higher frames rates than 85 Hz.
- Descent II (still not working), pre-mission intros no longer flicker.
- Mouse input should be a lot more stable not cause lockups.

I'll be stress testing it over the next few days and will push it out to the store when I'm done.

[sharangad]

Updated link:

https://nirvtek.com/downloads/RReady.Alpha.20240807.001.zip 
MD5: 845c5d9141df77c153ea1e201e0fcbe1

[sharangad]

Fully tested buld:

https://nirvtek.com/downloads/RReady.Alpha.20240808.001.zip 
MD5: 2aa2c8873eb8ba84b39be575e874f2bf

[sharangad]

Update on Descent II:

https://youtu.be/SfhyyKLprjw 

Sorry for the horrible video, captured it on my phone without sound. This game uses front buffer rendering (no-vsync and overwriting what's already on screen).

[cpurpe91]

It's looking good. I think this is just super cool.

[sharangad]

Alpha release:
https://nirvtek.com/downloads/RReady.Alpha.20240811.002.zip 
MD5: 47c386c755cebef95a783eeef30be498
Corrects:
- Dosbox-Staging not showing up right after selecting installation folder
- Dosbox and Dosbox-Rendition mouse motion and button clicks not registering on some systems
- Partial support for Descent II

When I get Descent II working, I'll push it out to the store.

If you get any AV warnings, let me know. I'll report it to Microsoft et al

[sharangad]

The first new Rendition compatible track in a long time: Detroit Downtown (courtesty of Checkpoint10)

https://youtu.be/dIbjK_NUbU0

[sharangad]

Meagre pickings I'm afraid: vQuake byte ordering fixed.

https://nirvtek.com/downloads/RReady.Alpha.20240818.001.zip 
MD5: e56d83aa2bb51fba089ebc1966551ef1

- vQuake byte ordering: There was a serious bug in the handler for V_FIFO_MEM_WRITER_RECT, leading to texture corruption.
- Includes previous fixes.

This is an untested release. It will be tested sometime next week and pushed out to the store.

I'll post a video later about byte ordering later.

[sharangad]

vQuake byte ordering video:

https://youtu.be/KXVeBbSe-0s 

[sharangad]

Overview of WhiteMagicRaven hacks + vQuake 1+2+vHexen2 underwater palette fix:

https://youtu.be/rk57w-LnoLQ 

https://nirvtek.com/downloads/RReady.Alpha.20240820.001.zip 

MD5: 083581dfa985b62496b770e2ddc463c2

[sharangad]

Fully tested Alpha release (should be up on the store tomorrow without the watermark):

https://nirvtek.com/downloads/RReady.Alpha.20240822.001.zip 

If you get AV warnings from Windows Defender, I suggest as many people as possible report it to Microsoft here: https://www.microsoft.com/wdsi/filesubmission 

Fixes:

-Dosbox-Staging not showing up right after selecting installation folder
-Dosbox and dosbox-staging mouse motion and button clicks not registering on some systems
-Partial support for Descent II
-vQuake byte ordering (texture column swap): There was a serious bug in the handler for V_FIFO_MEM_WRITE_RECT, leading to texture corruption.
-vQuake, vQuake II and vHexen II underwater palette colour bug fixed (cl_blend/r_nomurk)