CGA Composite Mode under DOSBOX (Commited r3804)

[NewRisingSun]

I took the liberty of modifying your program to enable the colorburst (portw(0x3D8) = 0x1A0F).

captured.png.raw.zip

[reenigne]

Are you sure you want this with the colorburst disabled?

Whoops, that was indeed an oversight.

I took the liberty of modifying your program to enable the colorburst (portw(0x3D8) = 0x1A0F).

captured.png.raw.zip

Thanks - that seems to have worked wonderfully! I was half-expecting the palette register write to take too long and scribble on the leftmost block. This might still be a problem for the PCjr, but if so I can use an IRQ0 for timing.

I'm working on the calibration program now.

[basic]

Patch for PCjr composite support, tested with

• Ultima II (special PCjr version)
• B.C.'s Quest for Tires
• The Seven Cities of Gold

I edited this patch, added instruction in /src/shell/shell.cpp.

[videogamer555]

Since this is a luck of the draw, so to speak, I thought I'd show proof that my utility does do something to give some hope.

Here is a screenshot of Tandy EX Basic, running on a 640x200x2 screen, under composite emulation.

Upon running DOSBOX, I ran my utility, then the BASICA.EXE file.

GWBasic.EXE however, would not take this same method. It shows the composite screen for a second, then switches over to regular CGA with no colorburst.

I only have Dosbox .65 running on my computer right now, because I have bad drivers which crash .63 and .72 on me. I can't test this on other versions of DosBox right now.

Awesomd CGA composite effect! It doesn't work now though at all. It should also be possible to use in text mode. After all, the same glitches you see in a graphics mode, when running composite video, would (on real equipment) also apply in text modes. The reason for this is that in composite video, the color is set by a subcarrier, who's frequency is equivalent to very narrow brightness features (like white text on a black screen). So for this to be true to real hardware, the composite video effect should also work when using 80x25 and 40x25 text modes.

[Scali]

Awesomd CGA composite effect! It doesn't work now though at all. It should also be possible to use in text mode. After all, the same glitches you see in a graphics mode, when running composite video, would (on real equipment) also apply in text modes. The reason for this is that in composite video, the color is set by a subcarrier, who's frequency is equivalent to very narrow brightness features (like white text on a black screen). So for this to be true to real hardware, the composite video effect should also work when using 80x25 and 40x25 text modes.

This was superceded by later patches where you can now use the function keys to control composite mode (see the screenshot above, F12 enables or disables composite mode whenever you want).

[NewRisingSun]

Speaking of which, reengine wanted to update his multiplexer code using my Tandy and Trixter's PCjr captures, six months ago. (I'm not sure whether the latter captures have been made; he has only said that he's bidding on the capture card.)

[reenigne]

Speaking of which, reengine wanted to update his multiplexer code using my Tandy and Trixter's PCjr captures, six months ago. (I'm not sure whether the latter captures have been made; he has only said that he's bidding on the capture card.)

Yes, sorry it's taking me so long. I haven't forgotten, just been busy with other things. I thought it would be easy to modify my calibration code to handle the new captures but doing the easy thing didn't give useful results - it needs a fairly substantial rewrite. Prod me again in a month if I haven't done it by then.

[MobyGamer]

Speaking of which, reengine wanted to update his multiplexer code using my Tandy and Trixter's PCjr captures, six months ago. (I'm not sure whether the latter captures have been made; he has only said that he's bidding on the capture card.)

I received the card but took no other action. I'll install it once reenigne completes his rewrite.

[OmegaPC777]

Hey, can I have that Tandy/PCjr composite patch, please?

[VileRancour]

Hey, can I have that Tandy/PCjr composite patch, please?

As the replies above yours indicate- an accurate Tandy/PCjr patch calibrated from real machines is not yet ready. The best one currently available is the PCjr patch by NRS which can be found on page 35. But while we're at it, since you've been submitting composite CGA shots on MobyGames, I'd urge you to use the latest accurate patch instead of what's in DOSBox SVN.

[OmegaPC777]

Hey, can I have that Tandy/PCjr composite patch, please?

As the replies above yours indicate- an accurate Tandy/PCjr patch calibrated from real machines is not yet ready. The best one currently available is the PCjr patch by NRS which can be found on page 35. But while we're at it, since you've been submitting composite CGA shots on MobyGames, I'd urge you to use the latest accurate patch instead of what's in DOSBox SVN.

Hey, this works and it's great!

[NewRisingSun]

Your Jungle Hunt Composite screenshots are unfortunately wrong --- they don't take into account that the score must be displayed in white text, because DOSBox does not emulate mid-screen palette changes in Composite mode.

I'm not blaming you, but MobyGames has approvers whose job is to see such a mistake. If MobyGames' approvers weren't such a worthless pack of dumbasses, they would have caught this and rejected those shots, especially since MobyGames already has Servo's accurate video-captured shots. But since that's who the approvers are, we are delighted with yet more bad screenshots.

[OmegaPC777]

Well, should there be an update on the composite mode so that Jungle Hunt can display its composite mode properly, and apeaking of composite mode, Oil's Well and Troll's Tale don't display the correct colors on DOSBox. Is there any way to fix this?

[NewRisingSun]

Well, should there be an update on the composite mode so that Jungle Hunt can display its composite mode properly,

There already is for CGA, you're just not using it.

and speaking of composite mode, Oil's Well and Troll's Tale don't display the correct colors on DOSBox.

What does your version of DOSBox display, and what do you think it should look like? They look correct on my machine.

[OmegaPC777]

0.74 SVN (Latest version). Those games should look similar to Servo's screenshots from MobyGames.

[NewRisingSun]

But that's not the latest version of the Composite patch, at least not for CGA. The one I linked to is, and which is the one you should be using for producing Composite screenshots, unless you are doing PCjr or Tandy 1000 Composite shots.

Nevertheless, Oil's Well and Troll's Tale should look correct even with 0.74 SVN, hence my question what they look like on your side.

[OmegaPC777]

Well, those games don't have the correct hues. And also, where's the link to the latest composite patch?

[NewRisingSun]

IN my post three posts above your last one. Here it is again: viewtopic.php?f=41&t=12319&start=640#p431721

Well, those games don't have the correct hues.

Use F11 Alt+F11 to modify the hues. Servo often tweaked his capture card's hue to make games look right to his eyes before submitting them to MobyGAmes.

[VileRancour]

Well, those games don't have the correct hues. And also, where's the link to the latest composite patch?

*Click*: ↴

There already is for CGA

...And again, how do you determine that the hues are incorrect?

[OmegaPC777]

Originally, DOSBox (my previous version that I used prior to the upgrade) used composite mode but set them at the wrong hues.