AmigaVision/MegaAGS 2023.06.06 Released with Favorites & Analogue Pocket Support

[limi]

We are happy to announce that the latest release of AmigaVision/MegaAGS is available!

AmigaVision is the ultimate, open source Amiga setup for MiSTer and
Analogue Pocket FPGAs, emulators, and real hardware.

This is a major update with a lot of new features, especially on the MiSTer side — as always, definitely make sure you do a full reinstall to make the most of the exciting new capabilities instead of just dropping in a new HDF file. Your customizations, save files and favorites will of course remain intact with your separate Saves: HDF file.

Full installation details are in the documentation section of the AmigaVision site, as well as the included ReadMe file.

On MiSTer, it is especially important to update the [Amiga] section in MiSTer.ini, as there are significant changes in this release.

Analogue Pocket FPGA Support

Take AmigaVision on the go! We have worked with the developer that ported the Amiga core to the Analogue Pocket FPGA handheld to ensure that AmigaVision has the correct scaler settings, and overall delivers the AmigaVision experience you know and expect.

The new Amiga core on the Analogue Pocket — released earlier today, so make sure you have the latest version — supports HDF disk images and has mouse emulation, an on-screen virtual keyboard, and support for analog joysticks for mouse input in docked mode.

Make sure you use the "Pocket" edition of AmigaVision, since we had to make some Pocket-specific changes.

Favorites Support

It's here! Probably our #1 requested feature for the launcher, you can now mark games and demos as favorites, and they will show up in a "Favorites" category at the top of the launcher.

These favorites are stored on the Saves: HDF, so they will persist across upgrades, just like your save files and other customizations.

You can add an entry to your favorites by pressing Tab on the keyboard, or by using the tertiary button on your gamepad/joystick, aka. the "Yellow" button in CD32 parlance. Doing the same inside the Favorites section will remove the entry from your favorites.

Dynamic Pixel Aspect Ratio

We care deeply about preserving the correct aspect ratio for all games. That means going beyond just NTSC and PAL, and ensuring that the Pixel Aspect Ratio (PAR) is also correct. Pixels on the Amiga were close to square (16:15) in PAL resolutions on a CRT, but quite tall on NTSC displays (5:6). Additionally, when we apply a 5×PAL or 6×PAL Dynamic Crop, 1:1 gives us great results that are near indistinguishable from the original PAR at those sizes, while modernizing the output to fit 16:9 displays.

This release completely reworks how this is handled, so you no longer have to interact with the MiSTer OSD menu to switch in certain cases like what we informally refer to as "Jim Sachs mode" — NTSC, tall pixels at 5:6 PAR, seen in e.g. Defender of the Crown. Most emulators and captures get this wrong and use 1:1 pixels instead, so we built an implementation that handles all the variants correctly on MiSTer:

• PAL title, 50Hz: PAL, 16:15 PAR at 4×, 1:1 PAR at 5× and 6×
• PAL title, 60Hz: PAL60, 1:1 PAR at 5×
• NTSC title, 60Hz: NTSC, 1:1 PAR at 5×
• "World" title, 60Hz: NTSC, 1:1 PAR at 5×
• "Sachs NTSC" title, 60Hz: NTSC, 5:6 PAR at 5×

All these align to the 1080p/4K 16:9 pixel grid while having the correct Pixel Aspect Ratio, so you will not get any shimmering or non-integer pixels.

On the MiSTer side of things, always, always run the AmigaVision setup in the 40:27 aspect ratio that we supply to ensure that this is handled correctly. This is what AmigaVision sets as the default as long as you copy over the supplied config file and have the correct MiSTer.ini definition for the core.

The Original aspect ratio supplied by the core should not be used. The Full Screen aspect ratio is only used for 6×PAL on 16:9 widescreen displays.

Make absolutely sure that you update your MiSTer.ini settings for the core according to the documentation! It should look like this:

Code: Select all

[Amiga
+Amiga500
+Amiga500HD
+Amiga600HD]
video_mode_ntsc=8 ; These two use the recommended setting of 1080p60 and
video_mode_pal=9  ; 1080p50, adjust if you want a different resolution
vscale_mode=0
vsync_adjust=1 ; You can set this to 2 if your display can handle it
custom_aspect_ratio_1=40:27
bootscreen=0

(Edited to use the correct syntax as discovered later in this forum thread)

Non-English Games Included & Categorized

For our fellow French baguettes, German schnitzels, Norwegian nordbaggar and the rest of our wonderful non-English speaking users, we have for the first time included localized configurations for games, as well as full metadata for multi-language games in their own dedicated category.

We currently have game configurations for:

• Croatian
• Czech
• Danish
• Dutch
• Finnish
• Fremen
• French
• German
• Greek
• Hungarian
• Italian
• Japanese
• Norwegian
• Polish
• Spanish
• Swedish

Play the original French language version of Cruise for a Corpse, aka. Croisière pour un Cadavre today! And wouldn't you like to try the only game on the Amiga that was translated to Fremen, the language used in the Dune novels and movies? (No, it was not the game "Dune" nor "Dune 2")

Real Hardware Support

The previous release used an upstream tool that unfortunately had been updated with changes to disk geometry handling that broke compatibility with real hardware. We are happy to announce that we found the bug (and reported it), and a build of the latest AmigaVision image should again work on real hardware like the Amiga CD32, Amiga 1200 and Amiga 4000.

We have instructions for how to install AmigaVision on real hardware in our documentation.

Official Emulator Support

It has always been possible to run AmigaVision on emulators, but we now include a setup for FS-UAE, a great Amiga emulator that runs on Windows, macOS and Linux. This is still a work in progress, suggestions, improvements and comments are welcome.

We have instructions for how to install AmigaVision on emulators in our documentation.

Updates to the Demo Scene Section

• More 5×PAL Dynamic Crop settings included.
• Dedicated "Slide Show" category.

Miscellaneous Other Fixes

• All game and demo titles are now capitalized according to AP Style rules.

Stay Updated & Help Us Make AmigaVision Even Better

If you find any bugs or settings that need improvements, file a ticket on the AmigaVision web site.

AmigaVision is an open source project, and we welcome contributions from the community. GitHub Pull Requests are very welcome!

You can follow us on Mastodon, Twitter or via RSS, and updates will be posted when new releases happen.

Enjoy the best of what the Amiga platform has to offer!

[Lightwave]

What config changes need to be made for running in other resolutions?

I'm using the ASUS ProArt PA248QV (1920 x 1200p) and 9.7" iPad screen (2048 x 1536) that are both popular on this forum.

A least "video_mode_ntsc=8" and "video_mode_pal=9" would be wrong, as the proper mode for the ASUS monitor is "video_mode=1920,1200,60", and the iPad screen should be "video_mode=13". Is there anything else that should be changed in the core OSD in this case?

Perhaps a small section in the documentation could address usage of this core with resolutions other than 16:9 @ 1080p.

Thanks for the update!

[limi]

You just use whatever is the best screen resolution for a given screen, e.g.

video_mode=13 # 2048x1536@60 (and you may want to construct one for 50hz at that resolution) for the iPad screen.

We certainly don’t have the capacity to test and verify every resolution, but if people submit settings for these resolutions that are verified working, we’re happy to include them.

[rhester72]

Absolutely brilliant release - many, MANY thanks!

[breiztiger]

Thanks for this new release

[FoxbatStargazer]

If you use vertical integer scaling, 1200p isn't enough of a change to modify the output resolutions. (1080/4, 5, or 6). So the effective output should be the same as with 1080p. You can still use 1200p video signal if that suits your display better, but its just going to be larger black borders on top and bottom.

[lagerfeldt]

First of all, thanks for adding the much desired favorites option.

[..]while modernizing the output to fit 16:9 displays.[...]

[...]
All these align to the 1080p/4K 16:9 pixel grid while having the correct Pixel Aspect Ratio, so you will not get any shimmering or non-integer pixels.

On the MiSTer side of things, always, always run the AmigaVision setup in the 40:27 aspect ratio that we supply to ensure that this is handled correctly. This is what AmigaVision sets as the default as long as you copy over the supplied config file and have the correct MiSTer.ini definition for the core.

The Original aspect ratio supplied by the core should not be used. The Full Screen aspect ratio is only used for 6×PAL on 16:9 widescreen displays.

Make absolutely sure that you update your MiSTer.ini settings for the core according to the documentation! It should look like this:

Code: Select all

[Amiga]
+[Amiga500]
+[Amiga500HD]
+[Amiga600HD]
video_mode_ntsc=8
video_mode_pal=9
vscale_mode=0
vsync_adjust=1 ; You can set this to 2 if your display can handle it
custom_aspect_ratio_1=40:27
bootscreen=0

I use a 16:10 monitor at resolution 1920×1200.

Can I ask for some clarification on the changes, based on the above resolution?

With a 1920 x 1200 resolution should the above video_mode changes to the MiSTer.ini be ignored or changed to something else? It's not clear to me what the settings should be then.

Quoting from the official documentation:

Also note that the dynamic cropping only applies if you are using 1080p output. Most Amiga games fit on the screen using 5× zoom in this resolution. Any other resolution or analog output is not affected by dynamic viewport cropping, as it only makes sense for 1080p/4K 16:9 displays.

I've simply commented out the two video_mode lines, but use the new aspect ratio. Everything seems fine, no apparent shimmering now (great) and the overall ratio seems more or less right when I compare to my hardware Amiga. The reason why it's "more or less" is because of the individual h/v settings I use on the 1084S or CM8833-II CRTs.

[segamemister]

must the pocket version be copy over the way it is as i just drag megaags-pocket folder with all the files on it wont boot all the pocket emulater finds is the kickstart

and yes am uptodate core wise

solved -

How can I get AmigaVision running on this core?

For this you are required to have the following 3 files to place in to the \Assets\amiga\common folder

The Kickstart ROM - MegaAGS-Kickstart.rom
The Main Hard drive image - MegaAGS-Pocket.hdf
The Save Hard drive image - MegaAGS-Saves.hdf

[Optiroc]

Regarding scaling:

The image coming from the core will have 216 or 270 lines and a few varying widths, and all combinations are designed to be viewed at 40:27 display aspect ratio. At 1080p we get integer vertical scaling, which I find ideal. Since the core resolution have line counts evenly divisible by 1080 it doesn't matter what vscale_mode you use (well, I've never used the new-fangled modes 4 & 5, so I'm not sure what happens with those...).

At other scaler output settings, I would think that the scaler does a good enough job these days to fill the height (while leaving the aspect ratio to 40:27 to get correct PAR), so I would recommend trying vscale_mode=0 first. But depending on what filters used and how much you love integer scaling ratios, you might want to set vscale_mode to 1. Personally I use vscale_mode=0 for all cores these days.

[lagerfeldt]

The custom aspect ratio of 40:27 isn't available to the Amiga500.mgl for some reason. Works fine with the regular Amiga.mgl.

The MiSTer.ini has the +[Amiga500] code included, so it should be in effect for the 500. What could be wrong as it doesn't seem to propagate to the 500?

All the new files have been transferred to the relevant folders.

EDIT: Found the solution, it should look like this:

Code: Select all

[Amiga]
video_mode_ntsc=8
video_mode_pal=9
vscale_mode=0
vsync_adjust=1 ; You can set this to 2 if your display can handle it
custom_aspect_ratio_1=40:27
bootscreen=0

[Amiga500]
video_mode_ntsc=8
video_mode_pal=9
vscale_mode=0
vsync_adjust=1 ; You can set this to 2 if your display can handle it
custom_aspect_ratio_1=40:27
bootscreen=0

etc.

I just copy+pasted in the code as it appeared, but it only works (in my setup at least) when spelled out per core/setup.

[LamerDeluxe]

the iPad screen should be "video_mode=13". Is there anything else that should be changed in the core OSD in this case?

video_mode_ntsc=13 works well, for PAL you can use:
video_mode_pal=2048,26,32,48,1536,3,6,12,167689

[Lightwave]

video_mode_ntsc=13 works well, for PAL you can use:
video_mode_pal=2048,26,32,48,1536,3,6,12,167689

Would "video_mode_pal=2048,1536,50" not be equivalent?

[rhester72]

REALLY minor findings with the latest release, not at all intended as nitpicks but just for continuous improvement in the future if interested...

---

• Amiga virus removal taken too far?

Per Retroplay (creator of the WHDLoad packs), the detected bootblock virus in StarRay Disk.1 is actually a false positive (but replacing it with a standard bootblock seems to have had no ill effect on the game itself)

Removal of Zine 11 was not necessary - removal of Disk-Validator and the .fastdir entries is sufficient to remove the threat

• Amiga virus removal taken too far?

Per Retroplay (creator of the WHDLoad packs), the detected bootblock virus in StarRay Disk.1 is actually a false positive (but replacing it with a standard bootblock seems to have had no ill effect on the game itself)

Removal of Zine 11 was not necessary - removal of Disk-Validator and the .fastdir entries is sufficient to remove the threat

• Amiga 500 HD Setup content issue 1

MiSTer:Shared Folder.txt

says the path is

/games/A500HD/shared

but should be

/games/Amiga500HD/shared

(The same issue exists with Amiga600HD's Shared Folder.txt as well)

• Amiga 500 HD Setup content issue 2

All Default Tool settings for

Workbench:Extras/BasicDemos

are set to

:AmigaBASIC

but should be set to

/AmigaBASIC

(This pathing issue existed on the original Extras disk as well but wasn't a problem when run directly off the floppy)

[LamerDeluxe]

video_mode_ntsc=13 works well, for PAL you can use:
video_mode_pal=2048,26,32,48,1536,3,6,12,167689

Would "video_mode_pal=2048,1536,50" not be equivalent?

No idea, if that works I guess that is a relatively recent option and a welcome addition. I've only messed with custom video modes when they had lots of parameters. I found these settings online and they turned out to work.

[segamemister]

pixel cherry ninja has posted a video

[prenetic]

The custom aspect ratio of 40:27 isn't available to the Amiga500.mgl for some reason. Works fine with the regular Amiga.mgl.

The MiSTer.ini has the +[Amiga500] code included, so it should be in effect for the 500. What could be wrong as it doesn't seem to propagate to the 500?

All the new files have been transferred to the relevant folders.

EDIT: Found the solution, it should look like this:

Code: Select all

[Amiga]
video_mode_ntsc=8
video_mode_pal=9
vscale_mode=0
vsync_adjust=1 ; You can set this to 2 if your display can handle it
custom_aspect_ratio_1=40:27
bootscreen=0

[Amiga500]
video_mode_ntsc=8
video_mode_pal=9
vscale_mode=0
vsync_adjust=1 ; You can set this to 2 if your display can handle it
custom_aspect_ratio_1=40:27
bootscreen=0

etc.

I just copy+pasted in the code as it appeared, but it only works (in my setup at least) when spelled out per core/setup.

Are you seeing this layout work for MGL files? I've only see these take effect for CONF_STR strings and the special arcade designations. I use these sections heavily in my MiSTer configs and can't get them to work using the MGL file name nor the setname value, nor can I get the +[Section]-style designation to work (even with actual cores).

[limi]

EDIT: Found the solution, it should look like this:

(removed code block)

I just copy+pasted in the code as it appeared, but it only works (in my setup at least) when spelled out per core/setup.

Are you sure you are on the latest MiSTer main binary and latest Minimig binary? The +[500] syntax was tested and should work as detailed in the install guide. This is the correct syntax:

Code: Select all

[Amiga]
+[Amiga500]
+[Amiga500HD]
+[Amiga600HD]
video_mode_ntsc=8
video_mode_pal=9
vscale_mode=0
vsync_adjust=1 ; You can set this to 2 if your display can handle it
custom_aspect_ratio_1=40:27
bootscreen=0

[lagerfeldt]

EDIT: Found the solution, it should look like this:

(removed code block)

I just copy+pasted in the code as it appeared, but it only works (in my setup at least) when spelled out per core/setup.

Are you sure you are on the latest MiSTer main binary and latest Minimig binary? The +[500] syntax was tested and should work as detailed in the install guide. This is the correct syntax:

Code: Select all

[Amiga]
+[Amiga500]
+[Amiga500HD]
+[Amiga600HD]
video_mode_ntsc=8
video_mode_pal=9
vscale_mode=0
vsync_adjust=1 ; You can set this to 2 if your display can handle it
custom_aspect_ratio_1=40:27
bootscreen=0

Doesn't work here with the +[*] syntax. Works without it.

MiSTer V230526, OS V230501, Minimig 23.02.16

[lagerfeldt]

Are you seeing this layout work for MGL files? I've only see these take effect for CONF_STR strings and the special arcade designations. I use these sections heavily in my MiSTer configs and can't get them to work using the MGL file name nor the setname value, nor can I get the +[Section]-style designation to work (even with actual cores).

Yes, works with .MGL, i.e. the Amiga 500 setup from AmigaVision.

+[Section] doesn't work with me either, unless I spell them out, as explained earlier.

[rhester72]

I can confirm the +[] syntax doesn't seem to be working for me either. A simple check of the custom aspect ratio shows up in the Amiga core but none of the subcores.

[prenetic]

Are you seeing this layout work for MGL files? I've only see these take effect for CONF_STR strings and the special arcade designations. I use these sections heavily in my MiSTer configs and can't get them to work using the MGL file name nor the setname value, nor can I get the +[Section]-style designation to work (even with actual cores).

Yes, works with .MGL, i.e. the Amiga 500 setup from AmigaVision.

+[Section] doesn't work with me either, unless I spell them out, as explained earlier.

Hmm thanks for confirming... I'll have to play around with it some more. Based on the config you provided it seems the INI section should line up with the setname value, and I wasn't able to get those to work with either the Amiga MGLs nor the update_all-provided MGLs for consoles like Game Gear.

[fierman]

Bug/glitch: When returning to the main ags menu from within a game, a lot of times screenshots are not displayed anymore. You have to reset the amiga to see them again. This issue has been present before as well.

[limi]

+[Section] doesn't work with me either, unless I spell them out, as explained earlier.

Figured it out, it doesn’t like the starting brackets (but is OK with the ending brackets, although dropping them also works). It also does require a new line for each entry.

This is the cleanest version that works:

Code: Select all

[Amiga
+Amiga500
+Amiga500HD
+Amiga600HD]
video_mode_ntsc=8 ; These two use the recommended setting of 1080p60 and
video_mode_pal=9  ; 1080p50, adjust if you want a different resolution
vscale_mode=0
vsync_adjust=1 ; You can set this to 2 if your display can handle it
custom_aspect_ratio_1=40:27
bootscreen=0

Documentation has been updated on the web site as well as on GitHub — hopefully any image builders will get around to it eventually too.

Sorry about that! I swear that I tested it, but maybe I made changes later that I didn’t go back to verify. This particular syntax is a bit under-documented.

Luckily it doesn’t affect the main setup, just the A500, A500HD and A600HD configurations.

[prenetic]

+[Section] doesn't work with me either, unless I spell them out, as explained earlier.

Figured it out, it doesn’t like the starting brackets (but is OK with the ending brackets, although dropping them also works). It also does require a new line for each entry.

This is the cleanest version that works:

Code: Select all

[Amiga
+Amiga500
+Amiga500HD
+Amiga600HD]
video_mode_ntsc=8 ; These two use the recommended setting of 1080p60 and
video_mode_pal=9  ; 1080p50, adjust if you want a different resolution
vscale_mode=0
vsync_adjust=1 ; You can set this to 2 if your display can handle it
custom_aspect_ratio_1=40:27
bootscreen=0

Documentation has been updated on the web site as well as on GitHub — hopefully any image builders will get around to it eventually too.

Sorry about that! I swear that I tested it, but maybe I made changes later that I didn’t go back to verify. This particular syntax is a bit under-documented.

Luckily it doesn’t affect the main setup, just the A500, A500HD and A600HD configurations.

Thanks limi, confirming this works for me with the latest AmigaVision image.

I know this is off-topic for the thread, but do you happen to know if this syntax is something specific to the Amiga core, or should the [setname] and [setname+setname2+setname3] (with newlines) syntax work for all MGL files? This doesn't work for me with the Game Gear MGL pulled down by update_all.sh, whose filename is "Game Gear.mgl" and <setname> value is GameGear -- just trying to understand if/how I can leverage this to simplify my MiSTer configs.

[prenetic]

I think I've at least started to understand some of the behavior here. With the Amiga MGLs everything seems to take effect, including preset_default= which is helpful since we can define the provided video preset INI directly through the config.

With the [GameGear] section as an example this doesn't seem to work, but other settings like custom aspect ratios are in fact carrying over. Can't say I understand why, but it's something. At least it works for the Amiga package.

[Newsdee]

What was removed from the Pocket version? It still feels very complete. If were to guess .. it has no demos?

[Stupid Dufus]

Demoscene demos? Pocket version still has them. Tried a few on there yesterday

[Optiroc]

What was removed from the Pocket version? It still feels very complete. If were to guess .. it has no demos?

Here are the content lists of both images:

MegaAGS-v2023.06.06-lists.zip

(36.58 KiB) Downloaded 381 times

[Optiroc]

I know this is off-topic for the thread, but do you happen to know if this syntax is something specific to the Amiga core, or should the [setname] and [setname+setname2+setname3] (with newlines) syntax work for all MGL files? This doesn't work for me with the Game Gear MGL pulled down by update_all.sh, whose filename is "Game Gear.mgl" and <setname> value is GameGear -- just trying to understand if/how I can leverage this to simplify my MiSTer configs.

This syntax works globally.

[davidmt]

I first wanted to say "thank you" for the continued Amiga development for the MiSTer, especially in respect to aspect ratio. One thing that has bugged me with any Amiga emulator I've used is the screen is typically displayed in a widescreen-type format (more wide than tall). NTSC and PAL adds another layer of complexity.

Hoping someone could run a quick test for me? Please load up Arkanoid (the original from Discovery) and see if the right-hand side is cut off at all. I have a feeling its an issue with just this game, but I'm trying to make sure I'm set up correctly so that games look the way they were intended.

Thank you in advance!