v12 released!

Support and general discussion.
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SarahWalker
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v12 released!

Post by SarahWalker »

v12 is now out. Changes since v11 :
  • New machines added - AMI 386DX, MR 386DX
  • New graphics cards - Plantronics ColorPlus, Wyse WY-700, Obsidian SB50, Voodoo 2
  • CPU optimisations - up to 50% speedup seen
  • 3DFX optimisations
  • Improved joystick emulation - analogue joystick up to 8 buttons, CH Flightstick Pro, ThrustMaster FCS, SideWinder pad(s)
  • Mouse can be selected between serial, PS/2, and IntelliMouse
  • Basic 286/386 prefetch emulation - 286 & 386 performance much closer to real systems
  • Improved CGA/PCjr/Tandy composite emulation
  • Various bug fixes
As ever, thanks to everyone who contributed, whether it be through patches, bug reports, or just general support.
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omarsis81
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Re: v12 released!

Post by omarsis81 »

Thanks a million Sarah! Great release! Lots of new features!
tk421
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Re: v12 released!

Post by tk421 »

Thank you for this next great version of PCem!

I look forward to testing this new version of PCem with some of my favorite programs.

The Voodoo 2 graphics card adds a lot of functionality to the program. I installed the Diamond Monster 3D II driver, and dxdiag reads 12 mb of voodoo 2 video memory.

tk421
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mal.sh
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Re: v12 released!

Post by mal.sh »

OMG! It's happened!

Many thanks!
A. Naim
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Re: v12 released!

Post by A. Naim »

Thank you.
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laxdragon
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Re: v12 released!

Post by laxdragon »

Fantastic, I Love it! Many many thanks for your hard work.
UPerschke
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Re: v12 released!

Post by UPerschke »

Awesomesauce! Long awaited. Keep up the good work!
Wish I could contribute more atm. Working on it (my C/C++ is quite a bit rusty).
luppoloxt
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Re: v12 released!

Post by luppoloxt »

hi everyone
Good job for this emulator, it's fantastic
I'm new to the forum
I'm trying the new version of pcem, v12, and i found that is more slow then v11
I have tryed the same configuration that i used for v11
emulating:
Award 430 pci
Intel mmx 200 mhz cpu
Gpu 2d Mach 64 gx 4 mb
Gpu 3d Voodoo 1 4 mb
Fast vlb pci and other
sound blaster 16
mouse serial
jostick standard
128 mb ram
syncronise host timer on/off

similar specs in v11
using same bios used for v11
I have installed windows 98 se in v11 at desktop i have 100% accuracy cycle, in v12 only 60-70%, slodown in game also and reproducing audio

My specs host:
amd 8350
ram 16 gb
ssd
nvidia 1070 gtx
asus xonar dg
What I'm doing wrong?
I see in the changelog 50% improvement in cpu and other new special features
Thanks in advance for reply, sorry for my bad english
I hope to help someone with my post
salute to developers
luppoloxt
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Re: v12 released!

Post by luppoloxt »

I miss some specs host system windows 7 64 bit and dynamic ricompiler on "in v12"
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omarsis81
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Re: v12 released!

Post by omarsis81 »

luppoloxt wrote:I miss some specs host system windows 7 64 bit and dynamic ricompiler on "in v12"
Maybe with the new release the video output changed from D3D to DirectDraw or viceversa, check that.
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ppgrainbow
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Re: v12 released!

Post by ppgrainbow »

Wonderful work on this emulator so far! I've been waiting more than 8 months for a major release!
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KingDaveRa
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Re: v12 released!

Post by KingDaveRa »

I've been trying out the new version, and I've found it's a bit slower for me. I've tried D3D and DirectVideo modes, and whilst Direct3D is faster, the performance is kinda choppy. I've got a Windows 98 SE VM, which is a Pentium MMX 200, and it was pretty much fine on V11. Audio worked very well, and the CPU was usually around 100%. However I've found V12 tends to dip below quite a bit, and audio is stuttery. Booting into a clean Windows 98, the startup sound stutters a lot. I've only done some basic testing, but it does feel slower.

My PC is Windows 10, i7-4710HQ. It's a laptop, but I've run it in high performance mode and get the same. I'll play around some more and try and do a better comparison, but my immediate impression was it was slower unfortunately.

Sorry to be a downer, but I hope this is helpful feedback.
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SarahWalker
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Re: v12 released!

Post by SarahWalker »

Did you have Cache set to something other than 'Infinite' in v11? That's now the only setting in v12, so if you had it as anything else then you'll see some performance difference.
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KingDaveRa
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Re: v12 released!

Post by KingDaveRa »

I built a whole new VM actually, just to rule out any oddness.
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TheOligopolist
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Re: v12 released!

Post by TheOligopolist »

Fantastic release, Sarah.
This really is a huge step up in performance from the previous version. Thank you for all your hard work and the same to everyone else who contributed.
Katakis
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Re: v12 released!

Post by Katakis »

Awesome work!
Battler
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Re: v12 released!

Post by Battler »

Actually, now that I remember, I'm quite sure I had Windows 98 SE performing better on PCem before, at cache infinite. I suspect some of the dynamic recompiler changes might have slowed it down.
sean_skroht
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Re: v12 released!

Post by sean_skroht »

SarahWalker wrote:Did you have Cache set to something other than 'Infinite' in v11? That's now the only setting in v12, so if you had it as anything else then you'll see some performance difference.
First off, thank you very much for this release.
I have to confess though that I'm a bit confused. Being able to set the cache in version 11 was handy as it enabled me to find a setting that allowed the emulator to run at pretty much at 100% even when using a Pentium 233 CPU setting. Obviously setting cache to "infinite" caused it to slow down severely (even with a top end CPU which is more than capable of running pcem) and unfortunately I'm failing to understand why this setting no longer exists in v12. If "infinite" is the only setting in v12 that doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Is there an alternative setting that may able to speed things up as they were in v11?
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SarahWalker
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Re: v12 released!

Post by SarahWalker »

No, other than selecting a slower CPU. Which in practice is all the old cache 'emulation' was doing, just in an unpredictable and haphazard way.
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KingDaveRa
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Re: v12 released!

Post by KingDaveRa »

It would appear unticking the option to sync clock to host speeds it up no end. At that point it is noticeably faster. I've managed to run 3D Mark 99 with the Voodoo2, and a MMX 166 with 64Mb RAM got a score of about 1400. Ran pretty well actually!

So yeah, good stuff. :D Thanks, Sarah and all those who contributed!
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SarahWalker
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Re: v12 released!

Post by SarahWalker »

Hmm, unticking 'Sync Clock to Host' has no noticeable impact on performance for me...
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KingDaveRa
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Re: v12 released!

Post by KingDaveRa »

Having just seen your comment Sarah, I just fired up PCEm and the performance was kinda pants again.

I noticed this time that my AV (Sophos) was going bananas in the background. I think as soon as I fire up PCEm for the first time, Sophos sees it read the disk image, and stomps all over it affecting performance. Thing is, I already had an exclusion in place for .IMG files, so either it was ignoring that, or it was something else it didn't like. Sophos was using a fair bit of CPU, but I couldn't identify the files it was chewing on. Once it stopped, I tried PCEm again, and it was running fine. I've also added an exclusion for my entire PCEm directory.

I think last time because I was messing about with it, Sophos had given up on the file by then, and it was working OK. I have a feeling Sophos stores a computed hash for each file (it used to, long ago), and of course, each time I fiddle with the VM it changes the file, which changes the hash. So then Sophos re-scans the whole file, and until it has done that the performance suffers. I think because it's messing about with the file (and possibly locking it), PCEm occasionally disappears whilst its running. Not a crash or anything - it just completely disappears with no warning. I think that's related because I've had it running in the background since I've changed the exclusions again.
magnet
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Re: v12 released!

Post by magnet »

Hi all

Just wanted to add my impressions with v12:

Massive performance improvement compared to v11.

Thank you.
tk421
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Re: v12 released!

Post by tk421 »

I have given v12 another try. Overall I think it is a big improvement. The boot process seems to be much faster than the one from v11, and reminds me of the old startup process for the old venerable Pentium I.

My Virge card reads as a 4mb card. The great Voodoo 2 card comes in at 12mb, though it would appear that this memory size cannot be selected by the user. If I recall correctly, the Voodoo 2 came in 8mb and 12mb cards.

With the advent of the great Voodoo 2 (I really want to test it!), I feel I have to ask the question - are both video cards combined for performance? Does the Virge 4mb card and the Voodoo 2 12mb card give me a combined total video memory of 16mb? If so, that is equivalent to my old Voodoo 3 card. The Voodoo 2 card was amazing, and could run many of the Voodoo 3 games, including Elite Force and Star Trek Armada.
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SarahWalker
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Re: v12 released!

Post by SarahWalker »

You can emulate an 8 MB Voodoo 2 - in the Voodoo configuration, select 4 MB of framebuffer and 2 MB of texture memory. There are two texture units on a V2, so that adds to 8 MB.

The two video cards are completely separate, the Virge is idle while the V2 is active.
Katakis
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Re: v12 released!

Post by Katakis »

Are there any plans to release a stable version of PCem every three months instead of yearly? It would be useful for those of us who have trouble compiling the development builds. I can't find a file I need since every web site that points to it are dead.
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omarsis81
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Re: v12 released!

Post by omarsis81 »

What file are you needing?
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SarahWalker
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Re: v12 released!

Post by SarahWalker »

Given that the testing prior to each release seems to take a minimum of 1 month, releases every 3 months are not going to be practical. I'm aiming to get the next release out this year, but no guarantees beyond that.
Katakis
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Re: v12 released!

Post by Katakis »

omarsis81 wrote:What file are you needing?
Actually, I got all the files now. Now I have to figure out how to change directories in the MinGW shell so that I can compile the latest source.
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omarsis81
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Re: v12 released!

Post by omarsis81 »

SarahWalker wrote:Given that the testing prior to each release seems to take a minimum of 1 month, releases every 3 months are not going to be practical. I'm aiming to get the next release out this year, but no guarantees beyond that.
Can we expect a big surprise for the next release?
Probably something you been working on we don't know?
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