Yep the Adlib volume is not related to SBEMU, it's still an annoying FastDoom bug

ViTi95 wrote on 2024-03-24, 19:00:

Time for a new release, FastDoom 0.9.9! […]
Show full quote

Time for a new release, FastDoom 0.9.9!

FastDoom 0.9.9

Changelog:

• Multiple optimizations (C, ASM) and code cleanup
• Disabled all cheats in Nightmare
• Removed IDSPIDPOPD cheat (IDCLIP is still available)
• Fixed snow while setting palette on slow VGA cards (via -fixDAC)
• Removed -nomonsters and -turbo command line parameters
• Native higher resolution modes available (thanks to Doug Johnson). New supported resolutions: 320x240, 512x384, 640x400, 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x800, 1280x1024
• Fixed SBEMU support (thanks to Crazii)
• Refactored memory allocation, now all RAM available is used by default. Removed -ram command line parameter
• Better debugging and automatic CPU detection by Doug Johnson
• Source code has 8.3 file format again (thanks to efliks)
• VESA backbuffered modes now work on video cards without LFB
• Removed OpenWatcom IDE files (obsolete, not used)
• Upgraded build scripts, much faster compile times on Linux (again, thanks to Doug Johnson)

I've decided to make a new release as the changelog was getting big enough and the code seems to be pretty stable. This release doesn't include >35fps mode, as it's still a bit buggy and I prefer for it to be 100% perfect.

Seems like three or four regressions, in a sea of improvements.

Why was it necessary to remove cheats in nightmare mode? Also, why did you presume to remove the -nomonsters and -turbo commandline modes? Please let us decide for ourselves whether we want to use them or not. Personally, I like the -nomonsters mode as it allows to quickly search a level. The same for -turbo as it speeds up the game.

Is there a programming reason why you did these seemingly random things? Please put them back. Or, please explain if there's a way to accomplish these modes in the game without the commandline options, which were sweet and easy.

zyzzle wrote on 2024-03-25, 02:33:

Why was it necessary to remove cheats in nightmare mode? Also, why did you presume to remove the -nomonsters and -turbo commandline modes? Please let us decide for ourselves whether we want to use them or not. Personally, I like the -nomonsters mode as it allows to quickly search a level. The same for -turbo as it speeds up the game.

Both cases are optimizations. Removing the turbo command allowed us to have a fixed value for movement, which enabled further optimizations in P_MovePlayer and G_BuildTiccmd. Removing the nomonsters command lets the maps load a bit faster, something a bit frustrating on slow 386 cpus.

zyzzle wrote on 2024-03-25, 02:33:

Why was it necessary to remove cheats in nightmare mode?

The cheats I disabled in nightmare mode are IDDT and IDCLIP, all other cheats were already disabled on vanilla Doom. I didn't notice that those cheats were available in nightmare until I rewrote cheat code handling. I find this is a bug in the code, as many other small bugs due to Doom being developed in a very short span of time. No cheats in Nightmare means no cheats at all in nightmare. 

Bondi wrote on 2024-03-24, 20:01:

Cool stuff! Thank you for the release, ViTi95!
Curious to try 320x240 mode.
I was also hoping to see MIDI to COM output in the coming release. Do you still plan it?

Yeah for sure, I really want to add native support for it

ViTi95 wrote on 2024-03-25, 07:06:

Both cases are optimizations. Removing the turbo command allowed us to have a fixed value for movement, which enabled further optimizations in P_MovePlayer and G_BuildTiccmd. Removing the nomonsters command lets the maps load a bit faster, something a bit frustrating on slow 386 cpus.

I see. Well thanks for providing the explanation. I assumed it was for optimization purposes, as it seemed quite random otherwise. I suppose that I can just run version 0.9,8 if I want them back (or, even the pre-release VESA ver. of 0.9.9 which you posted above).

Unexpected news, I've been able to add FastDoom support for the Hercules InColor video card 😁

ViTi95 wrote on 2024-03-25, 23:03:

Unexpected news, I've been able to add FastDoom support for the Hercules InColor video card 😁

That's cool. I guess there's at least one game for that now.

It's effectively the same graphics as EGA though, right?

ViTi95 wrote on 2024-03-25, 23:03:

Unexpected news, I've been able to add FastDoom support for the Hercules InColor video card 😁

What in the world is that kind of card? I've only been aware of the monochrome "Hercules Graphics Card".

Well the Hercules InColor is a pretty rare card. Basically is an original Hercules with new capabilities, not compatible at all with the EGA standard. The original Hercules card had 64kb, 720x348 resolution monochrome. If you multiply that by 4, you get the Hercules InColor, 256Kb card with 4 planes allowing for a resolution of 720x348 and 16 colors (selectable from 64). It's a pain to program for because not only it has 4 different color planes (like in EGA), it also has 4 groups of scanlines (0xB0000, 0xB2000, 0xB4000 and 0xB6000). On the good side, there are some interesting write modes and capabilities, maybe with some tricks I'll be able to get some good performance.

I took all the information from https://www.seasip.info/VintagePC/incolor.html and https://www.dosdays.co.uk/topics/Manufacturers/hercules.php. The original floppy disks have a programming disk with source code and examples.

And if I'm correct, this card doesn't share resources with CGA/EGA/VGA, so it could be possible to have dual color monitors on a regular PC. It's a shame this card is very rare and I know nobody that could make tests with it.

That would be sweet, setting up 3 monitors to cover all the essentials, MDA text console, SVGA graphics windows console, and thirdly the Doom console.

edit: wait maybe you can only do two, didn't say it doesn't use MDA resources doh.

Hi! ViTi95 is possible to use 320x240 mode without vesa? mode13h or modex, etc? thanks

I join the question about 320x240 as it doesn't work on my Thinkpad 760LD neither with nor without vesa driver. The video card is Trident CYBER9320 1 MB.
EDIT: Same is on another laptop with WD90C24A graphics chip.

Bondi wrote on 2024-03-30, 08:37:

I join the question about 320x240 as it doesn't work on my Thinkpad 760LD neither with nor without vesa driver. The video card is Trident CYBER9320 1 MB.

Same here in my toshiba laptops with chips and tech, there is no vesa, and sdd did not work with low resolutions

Mmmm didn't though of this, shouldn't be too hard to make. The only issue is that Mode X uses a 60hz display refresh rate, rather than 70hz.

ViTi95 wrote on 2024-03-30, 09:19:

Mmmm didn't though of this, shouldn't be too hard to make. The only issue is that Mode X uses a 60hz display refresh rate, rather than 70hz.

thanks man!

About 60hz, at least i talk about all toshiba 640x480 screen i have, like libretto 50,70ct, 2130CS, etc all have 60hz LCD panels anyway

I've built a quick'n'dirty backbuffered version for Mode X (320x240). It isn't fully optimized but it's a start. Can you try it?

ViTi95 wrote on 2024-03-30, 12:03:

I've built a quick'n'dirty backbuffered version for Mode X (320x240). It isn't fully optimized but it's a start. Can you try it?

FDOOMX.zip

Amazing!! thanks a lot

because 70CT have a pentium i get solid 35fps even if is not optimized. Im not in home right now to test in 486

ViTi95 wrote on 2024-03-30, 12:03:

I've built a quick'n'dirty backbuffered version for Mode X (320x240). It isn't fully optimized but it's a start. Can you try it?

FDOOMX.zip

It's working!

ViTi95 wrote on 2024-03-24, 19:00:

Time for a new release, FastDoom 0.9.9!

I am getting this crash on my BX system (with Via C3 CPU) on all GPUs I tried (voodoo3, banshee, geforce2, geforce3, geforce4), except for one of my TNT2 cards... Funny, it crashes on my other TNT2 cards.