AGA programs won't launch from P96 Workbench...

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Don't Panic. Please wash hands.
  • Hi, Everyone,

    I finally have my Ateo Pixel64 running reliably (90% of the time) with P96!

    One thing has me scratching my head, though.

    I know that I used to be able to to run OS-friendly AGA games and apps launched from Workbench. But now I think that was when I booted my Amiga in such a way as to boot into a native screen mode AGA Workbench by essentially preventing the gfx card from initializing, by not allowing "C:startateobus to launch. For various reasons, it now seems that this approach no longer works, and that other than commenting out the relevant line in startups-sequence, I cannot boot without the gfx card initializing.

    And if I try to run, for example, a native chipset whdload game, or a HD-installable game like Monkey Island 2 from a P96 WB screen, it'll make the WB screen go black and the Amiga locks up completely.

    Am I doing something wrong, or have I simply forgotten with time how RTG is supposed to work?

    Many thanks,


    Steve

  • WHDload and RTG don't play nice - never did, and never will. However, you should be able to move to a native screen before a WHDload game is started by using the startup/return scrips that WHDload can use optionally. Other people already use that to shut down network and/or USB before launching a game, and I wouldn't be surprised if this is the solution for P96 as well.


    Don't ask me for details, though. I only use WHDload on my ACA500plus...

  • Okay thanks for that.
    But should an AGA program, launched from a P96 Workbench, be able to open an AGA screen? Or would I need to reboot into an AGA Workbench first? Or something else? Right now it seems that RTG has hijacked the Amiga, unless, for example, I boot from a game floppy.

    Thanks, Jens.

  • But should an AGA program, launched from a P96 Workbench, be able to open an AGA screen?

    Yes, it should. It was one of the big changes in recent updates to keep the AGA chipset active and allow flipping through screens.


    Right now it seems that RTG has hijacked the Amiga, unless, for example, I boot from a game floppy.

    That sounds like you're not using the latest version, but probably an older one or even the free version from Aminet. The first thing that these older versions do is to switch off the chipset, and making sure that any screen-open is taken over by the gfx card.

  • I am using a paid, registered version! :-)


    Whether it’s the latest version, though, I’m not sure. I will check that out. Thanks for the tip. I will let you know if I can figure this out.

  • OK, I have made some progress. I updated to the latest version of P 96. (Not sure what I was running earlier, but I think I purchased it back in January so I may have been a couple of releases behind.) I did manage to get a few Workbench friendly applications to open an AGA native screen, Wordworth, for example. As for games, it seems to be hit and miss. Not sure why some work and some don’t.

  • Many games don't use a WB screen or the OS in general - even if WHDload makes it look like they do. Instead, they assume that the chipset has been initialized (at least partially) to do what they need it to do, like "running DMA" and "single enabled sprite". Both is not the case when P96 is showing the only-open screen.


    I don't believe it's P96's task to educate programmers how to not make assumptions, but write proper init routines for the hardware they use :-)

  • OK, I am starting to have a little progress with this. Someone on the Amiga Facebook group suggested that I try the DisplayChain=No tooltype because, with my output switcher, I essentially have a two monitor set up. So some programs that automatically want to open an AGA screen will now open a screen, even if the software locks up. So I guess that’s some progress. Any other suggestions?

  • I know the readme/history files are long, but I'm pretty sure that the DisplayChain tooltype is mentioned. So the best suggestion I have is to read anything associated with that change.

  • The last reply was more than 365 days ago, this thread is most likely obsolete. It is recommended to create a new thread instead.