MiSTer FPGA Forum

Oh my god... I can move windows and have them update almost instantly... in 16 bit color!

You are amazing.

Working great, except I can no longer adjust the screen position in the MiSTer menu, I press return and it says stored but nothing moves when I use the cursor keys.

Speed difference is so much better! Like dhoelzer said, the windows move instantly.

Wow, RTG for the MiSTer. This is a great news!

Congrats for the achievement and thanks to all involved

Has anybody had any luck getting RTG to work over direct video (HDMI to VGA) with a PC CRT? I've tried but can't get a signal to show. This is with the ready to go coffin torrent image that is around. I've tried different [Minimig] video settings but no luck. I can get AO486 to work no problem

NovaCoder wrote: ↑Tue Oct 13, 2020 10:49 am I had a play around with this, my first problem was that it doesn't come with any screen modes (at least for me) so I had to grab some random settings file and then assign that to my minimig.card to get some modes to appear under prefs.

I had the same issue. I found out from (djhardric on Discord) it seems like if you install it twice and on the second time check "[X] monitor settings" (unchecked by default), you'll be able add a default.

From there use p96screenmode, right click and attach to card 0, and save...

NovaCoder wrote: ↑Tue Oct 13, 2020 10:49 am The second problem (which took me some time to figure out) is that only HDMI is supported, you cannot use it with a CRT monitor over the expansion IO board which is my preferred setup. Any plans to add RTG support for us CRT diehards?

Its working for me if RGB with mine I select "vga_scaler=1" for [MINIMIG] in the INI.

I'm using a Dell ST2320L monitor which will sync to anything. Scaler does not support interlace, so depending on CRT (like CBM 1084) you may be out of luck...

NovaCoder wrote: ↑Tue Oct 13, 2020 10:49 am I'm happy to report that my AmiWolf RTG port is running already with this first update

Have you tried your port of ScummVM yet?
I think I was the first person to bug you to add MIDI support

I have a ScummVM build for the HPS (https://github.com/bbond007/MiSTer_ScummVM) but it would be interesting to try your Amiga native build now that we have the shared drive and RTG.

Grabulosaure wrote: ↑Tue Oct 20, 2020 10:12 pm utput resolution in RTG mode is set by the mister.ini file, resolution configured in WorkBench is automatically upscaled to this fixed output resolution. Note that when using this "framebuffer" mode, the scaler cannot downscale, so to enjoy 1920x1080 WorkBench, you'll need 1920x1080 or higher screen resolution in mister.ini
Screenshots don't work either (although it could be doable). Use native native Amiga screenshot program instead.

Upcoming MiSTer Minimig RTG support owes a lot to @MikeJ FPGAArcade and @robinsonb5 MiST code.

https://www.fpgaarcade.com/kb/how-to-se ... 6-drivers/
https://github.com/FPGAArcade/amiga_cod ... master/rtg
https://github.com/robinsonb5/MinimigAGA_TC64
http://retroramblings.net/?page_id=1422

Thank you very much Grabulosaure for doing the last miles of the journey to land RTG into MiSTer. This is probably the platform that can expose this technology to more users I think.

I have a question. As Minimig configurations include a video aspect ratio selection of 4:3 / 16:9 and considering that currently someone might be using both ratios dynamically during a session as PAL is 4:3 but we could easily prefer a 16:9 resolutionfor RTG, could there be a method to tell the scaler or whoever that defines the final format what is the aspect ratio originally being generated by Minimig?

cheers !

I’m a bit late to this having just dugout my mister, but are there any specific requirements for RTG in terms of OS version or anything like that? I read the info a bit further back on the frame buffer settings and have the FB running at 1920x1080@60. I just installed (reinstalled I think) P96 into my existing 3.9 install and then expanded the mister rtg package. After reboot the screen modes are listed but selecting any RTG modes just crashes my mister...

I’m running 68020 / AGA / 2MB Chip / 256 MB fast. Not sure of any other info I might need to supply. I ran the update script this evening so I’m on the latest (today’s) core and main also updated.

Ah, now admittedly I haven’t looked to see if there are any pertinent changes to mister.ini lately. I should probably check that since I notice a lot of new options in the OSD

[EDIT] Never mind. I just went through my startup and I was running fblit which isn’t compatible with RTG. Disabled that and now we’re good. And I must say, top work.

I think it’s already been mentioned but if I have scan lines enabled they are applied to the RTG screen modes. Not desperately a big deal but I think they should be disabled for RTG?

Heya folks, couple of questions for this...

Am using MegaAGA on my MiSTer setup, but Workbench won't save screenmodes. No matter what I change it to, once I run a game or reboot, its back to the default. Am assuming that's a permissions issue?

More annoying, I can use the lower resolutions like 1280x720, but if I try full HD - 1920x1080 or 1920x1200 - my monitor goes absolutely mental. (Hitting F12, menu still shows fine, but workbench is flickering and glitched to the point its illegible)

Any suggestions?

limi wrote: ↑Tue Jun 09, 2020 8:03 am
You can currently use the HD720 driver to achieve 1280×720 resolution — like I showed in this Reddit post — but I’d love to have something a bit better, since it’s kind of a hack with some limitations. (This is now included in the MegaAGS image, FWIW)


jpy6qw1pfbu41.jpg

What settings did you use to get the screen like you posted?
If I try to use Mister: HD720 as a result the aspect ratio gets shift also icons and gui elements get smaller. Looking at your setup I’m wondering how do you get everything at 720p to scale correctly. Can you please share the mister setting required to get it working like this ?

I’d recommend not using the HD720 driver anymore, and instead use the RTG support in MiSTer via the Picasso drivers, that way you can go all the way up to 1080p, and it’s much more performant. The HD720 driver relies on pushing the AGA chipset in a way that it wasn’t designed for, so it’s slower and can’t have a lot of colors.

To solve the “UI elements are too small” issue, I made a “540p” resolution, which doubles everything but still gives you a nice 16:9 desktop with plenty of space. It’s included in the latest MegaAGS, but I can also send you that particular ScreenMode configuration file once you have everything else working on the RTG front.

When I switch to 540p, the profile you created aspect ratio changes and the icons get stretched. Maybe it's a wrong ini setting causing the aspect ratio shift in 540p?

That’s not happening here, just double checked — ensure that there isn’t anything weird in MiSTer.ini or in the saved configuration?

Do note that Amiga’s default Workbench resolution, UI widgets and icons are close to a 2:1 pixel aspect ratio (640×200/640×256), so if you want it exactly like it is, just scaled, you’ll have to create a resolution that does that. Otherwise, you can use an icon set + something like VisualPrefs to make things look better.

The PiStorm team have been busy implementing RTG using Raylib and the performance is excellent. It looks like the Minimig RTG driver is simply writing to the framebuffer through shared memory - would it be possible to take the same approach as PiStorm here as the difference does seem to be big...

OK, if I understand it correctly, RTG right now is merely writing directly into the frame buffer directly via the HPS: is that correct?
The way PiStorm handles this is that there's a full accelerated RTG implementation on the Amiga. This interfaces to the RPI side via a shared memory interface which writes commands and data to a certain address. On the RPI side there is a watcher on that memory that then decodes the instruction and passes to RayLib (or SDL). RayLib does the optimisation of line draw, blits, writes etc.

I think the RTG interface would need to change quite significantly to move the watcher functionality and RayLib into mister_main, and the Amiga RTG to be only slightly updated to reflect the appropriate shared memory ...

I know nothing about HPS... Anyone spot the errors in this?

ByteMavericks wrote: ↑Tue Jul 27, 2021 12:59 pm I know nothing about HPS... Anyone spot the errors in this?

The HPS does not support OpenGL which seems to be required by RayLib...

The use of OpenGL is probably responsible for the RTG performance gains on PiStorm.

Ah. That’s quite fundamental. I assume it supports sdl though? might that give some acceleration?

ByteMavericks wrote: ↑Tue Jul 27, 2021 6:50 pm Ah. That’s quite fundamental. I assume it supports sdl though? might that give some acceleration?

There is no hardware acceleration... adding more libraries/layers is not going to change that...

SDL would be running in framebuffer mode...

Right. Dang.

Thinking about getting a MiSTer (whenever the damn boards become available again!). I see that the MiniMig Amiga core has been updated to support RTG modes.

I've heard that it's possible to have a config that only adds scanlines to AGA screen modes 540 lines and lower (so that WHDLoad games have scanlines) but not have scanlines on RTG Amiga Workbench screens (ie, RTG 1920x1080 16M colors).

And can this be done in a way so you don't have to actually manually switch presets or settings? – ie, dream scenario > Boot into a beautiful RTG Workbench at 1920x1080, launch a WHDLoad Game, monitor changes to PAL with scanlines.

Is this part of what is done with the MegaAGS pack which has settings to optimize cropping/zooming for various games? ie, does it also add scanlines on a per game basis?

No, scanlines are not on a per-game basis.

Yes, it should disable scanlines for RTG resolutions. I do think there might have been some regressions there — I think I remember seeing scanlines on a 720p resolution recently — but it definitely used to turn them off once you used any RTG resolution. Which makes sense, since when you add a graphics card, you aren’t really trying to emulate 15kHz CRTs anymore.

There is a new filter infrastructure now, so it might have gotten lost in the shuffle. I’ll file a bug if it doesn’t do that.

Update: There was already a bug filed — https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Minimig ... issues/142

540p seems to be the best compromise in the meantime, that one doesn’t render any scanlines, and is a nice 2× scale of 1080p (native 1080p is really too high a resolution unless you change all the icons and fonts)

Thanks for the quick reply Limi! I also asked on Bay Area Retro Gaming about this and Treminaor told me he asked you about it for me. So I have the answer in both places now LOL.

You're right, a per-game basis is not required, I was just curious because I do not yet have a MiSTer. How you describe it, turning off for RTG modes, sounds perfect though.

My dream setup is to find a nice VGA CRT monitor, maybe one of those late period 21" Apple Trinitron ones, and run MiSTer on that (scan doubled of course). I assume I could configure all cores to have scanlines on 15kHz modes in this scenario too?

Again, looking forward to diving in to this world when the DE10-Nano boards become available again, hopefully not too long.

markpaterson wrote: ↑Thu Jan 13, 2022 11:59 pm Thanks for the quick reply Limi! I also asked on Bay Area Retro Gaming about this and Treminaor told me he asked you about it for me. So I have the answer in both places now LOL.

Look, mom — I’m famous!

My dream setup is to find a nice VGA CRT monitor, maybe one of those late period 21" Apple Trinitron ones, and run MiSTer on that (scan doubled of course). I assume I could configure all cores to have scanlines on 15kHz modes in this scenario too?

Yes, I believe so — but haven’t tested that yet myself. It may or may not support both the scan doubling and the filters, but I think there’s a different filter (Scandoubler FX or something?) that could at least give you some scanlines. They will have a different character, though — there’s nothing quite like the 15kHz scanlines of the 1084 and the bi-sync 1942 Commodore monitors, IMO

I know what you mean, I have the Amiga M1438S multisync monitor that supports 15kHz and VGA natively. I guess I could just use that and get the 15kHz scanlines natively, but get high res RTG workbench modes too.

My "new" screen has a max resolution of 1920x1200, but that resolution does not pop-up under Screen Mode. Is there anyway to enable that?

Solskogen wrote: ↑Tue Jan 25, 2022 8:26 pm My "new" screen has a max resolution of 1920x1200, but that resolution does not pop-up under Screen Mode. Is there anyway to enable that?

Look under System:Prefs, you should have Picasso96Mode.
That will let you define new screen modes.

SuperBabyHix wrote: Look under System:Prefs, you should have Picasso96Mode.
That will let you define new screen modes.

That worked. Thanks!

Hi !

I would like to share a tip and a bug !

1) TIP : in order to reduce eye strain and have a full screen Workbench with integer scaling, with scanlines and shadow masks properly applied, I created a 640*360 (1920/3*1080/3) mode in Picasso96Mode. Yes, this is LOW resolution but my eyes do not bleed anymore

Alternatively, you can create a 960*540 mode (1920/2*1080/2), which is a good compromise for people with better eyes than me.

2) ISSUE : quite frequently, when rebooting, I get a completely corrupt RTG screen. Completely grey, or grey with a corrupt WB on a part of the screen. Rebooting the Minimig core is not enough, I need to reboot the whole MiSTer.

I couldn't figure out a pattern, but it mostly seems to occur after reboots, or after modes switches, from AGA to RTG. That is a bit annoying. Anyone saw that ? I'm using WB 3.2.1 and Picasso 3 ATM but I had the same issue under 3.1.

I've filed a bug report regarding my random corrupt / gray screens in RTG mode but it's kinda approximate.

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Minimig ... issues/145

Does anyone here encounter this issue as well ? To make a better bug report ! That's pretty annoying as it happens once / several times a day.

Okay, I have an hypothesis but will have to wait a couple more days / weeks to be 100% sure.
I removed my vadjust file (which I used to get a 4X scaling constantly which enabled also to apply shadow masks properly).
Since this removal, I haven't been able to reproduce the bug.
Time will tell !
Might be a kind of complicated random RTG <-> vadjust interference. Hmmm...