#2.04 Graphics Problems
25 messages in this thread
I just installed the 2.04 ROM in my A2000 with a Mega Midget Racer. I am
having a major difficulty with numerous graphics programs in that they do
not correctly display overscan images. The images are usually restricted in
the vertical dimension to 200 or 400 pixels. Sometimes 640×400 images
appear to be overscan in the horizontal direction. Has anyone else had
similar problems? Is there a fix? Can anyone help?
Which programs are we talking about? A couple of possibilities come to
mind but all revolve around the program breaking rules where were finally
enforced in 2.04. Does the C= Display program correctly display the
images?
John A. Toebes, VIII – via Whap!
Yes, the CBM display program does display the overscan iff files correctly
but programs such as Scala, and Performer, and various other viewing
utilities don't work properly at all with overscan. They worked fine under
1.3 but no luck at all under 2.0. If you know of any workarounds, fixes,
etc. I'd be very glad to hear of them. Scala was my program of choice for
video titling and unfortunatly I can't even go back to Broadcast Titler II
as it j just locks up totally when run. Thanks for any help you can offer.
Well, the best avenue is to RUN, not walk to your vendors and ask them
about 2.0 compatibility. A number of products broke the rules about
overscan and were warned about what 2.0 had changed (almost 2 years of
warning in this case). Most of these companies have already made new
versions available. In general the problem is that they were poking
private portions of Intuition which were changed quite radically and there
really is no simple way to support them (or fix them) from the outside. I
am sorry that there really isn't a better answer. It is akin to the
problem of programs that broke in the presense of chip ram or ECS.
John A. Toebes, VIII – via Whap!
John, there's something about overscan I'd like to ask about….
Under 2.0 I started using a overscan WB – (about 704×480, if I recall). Was
running it on a FlickerFixer monitor. It was great having all the WB space
available.
But I found that many programs that opened their own screens (regular sized
– say 320×400) would open their screens in the top left corner, rather than
centering them. This is unsightly, to say the least.
Is this a WB problem, the programs problem, or what? There are enough like
that to make me go back to running a non-overscan WB, just so I can have
propertly centered screens with other progs. Frankly, I just wondered
whose fault it is, and whether there is anything I can do to fix it?
Thanks in advance.
–jp–seattle–
Well… it is an application problem (sort of). There are ways to query
the data base and cause the window to be centered. However, one thing to
think about if Intuition or whatever were to automatically center the
screen is that it would have some of the screen below showing through. The
choice of putting it in the upper left corner is the most compatible
solution.
John A. Toebes, VIII – via Whap!
Oh well…. still looks like he**, I think. Wish there were a global
system command (a checkbox in prefs or such) that I could check and all
screens would automatically be centered inside the borders of my 'max
overscan' settings…. seems like that should be *possible*, and would
certainly be *elegant*. 🙂
John B. mentioned a 'centerscreen' command in the libs somewhere… I
wasn't able to find it, but that wouldn't help unless a programmer built it
in automatically anyway.
Thanks for the info.
–jp–seattle–
JP:
I downloaded AUTOC/LHA (AUTO CENTER) a few days ago and it works for most
of the windows I open on my WB 2.0 overscanned screen. As an example,
Whap! now opens to top & center instead of top & left… you can find the
file AUTOC.LHA in Lib 11 of AmigaTech.
– Whapp!ng from the North Coast Michael
I'll pop into the libraries and get it (AutoCenter). Top and center I
*might* be able to live with. Thanks for the word.
–jp–seattle–
Michael:
What I think John & I would really like would be one that would open the
screen centered top to bottom as well. Only problem I can see with this is
that it might need an extra blank screen underneath it (sort of like Mostra
does when using the Black option) so that the top of whatever screen is
behind the current screen doesn't show thru.
-Mike Schiller
In sunny Fort Lauderdale
>"What I think John & I would really like…"<
Me too! But as of now, all I see that is available is AUTOC.LZH in Lib 11
of AmigaTech… I'm no programmer, but maybe someone else will look at this
and make a modification?
– Whapp!ng from the North Coast Michael
left corner is the most compatible solution.
I'm still using WB 1.3 but I do have a 664 pixel wide screen. Some
programs take advantage of this; some don't. I put it down to considerate
programmers in the first instance, and lazy programmers in the second
instance.
A 704 pixel wide screen seems wide to me; I chose 664 pixels as a
compromise.
Whose fault is it? I's the fault of all of us who'd like better programs
and don't say so, I guess.
What can you do to fix it? Try reminding programmers that screens can be
(and often are) wider than 640 pixels.
Shraddhan – via Whap!
There is a program in the Libraries called CenterScreen or some such that
will fix the very problem you are talking about. (at least that's what the
docs say)
Hope that helps (I stuck with 640 wide myself)
JohnB 76256,3436 – via Whap!
John, do you mean CIS libraries, or a DOS command called CenterScreen?
I'm sticking with 640×400 too, but would sure like to run a larger WB. But
really don't like all my other apps opening in the top left corner. Looks
terrible, IMHO. Geez… finally we get an OS look that we can be proud of
and show off to other platforms (the 2.0 look), but I can't use one of it's
main features (the oversized WB) because all other apps look terrible.
Dang.
–jp–seattle–
John:
The program I'd really like to see is one that would make a 1 bitplane
screen of black (or possibly user settable color) that would be a permanant
backdrop screen, the same size as the WB screen (full overscan), and then
all other screens that are smaller (640×400, 320×200, etc) would
automatically center themselves both vertically & horizontally rather than
the way the current screen centering tools still leave the screen at the
top of the screen. I wonder how hard this sort of thing would be?
-Mike Schiller
In sunny Fort Lauderdale
Sounds great!, but rather than black, it should be color -0-, the color of
the rest of the monitor background. That way it would really be
unobtrusive. Maybe we could all commission a utility like that? 🙂 I'd
pay $10 if it did what you said without any system problems. If enough
would pay, then maybe some enterprising programmer out there would do it?
Money talks.
Let's see, there's public domain, freeware, shareware, and now,
'commission-ware'? 🙂
–jp–seattle–
It should be very easy to write, John, if that's any consolation… I
expect it'll be solved shortly, since it's been clearly identifed as a
problem waiting for such a specific (and easy) solution.
And, no, not by me. :^)
Ben
Ben, you wouldn't do it, even for TEN DOLLARS!? Man, what's free
enterprise coming to? 🙂
–jp–seattle–
I wouldn't do it, period. There are severe shortccomings in such an
approach.
Ben
I was kidding. 🙂
–jp–seattle–
John:
You are right, color 0 is what it should be! I'd certainly pay $10.00 for
it, probably even more. (as long as it doesn't mess up things like the
program that automatically makes all screen backgrounds black seems to)
Commissioning a utility, what an interesting idea… Well, anyone
interested?
-Mike Schiller
In sunny Fort Lauderdale
BTW, as Ben just pointed out to me, AUTOC.LZH doesn't handle sprites, so
any window that opens under AUTOC that contains sprites (Like BlackBelt's
Notebook) will be a bit messed up.
– Whapp!ng from the North Coast Michael
Mike:
What do you mean 'doesn't handle sprites'? I've been using AutoCentre for a
while (I got it off of BIX), and unless the version I have is different
than the one here, I've had not problems with it at all.
-Mike Schiller
In sunny Fort Lauderdale
Mike:
I've had no problems with AutoCentre either, except with the demo of
Notebook from BlackBelt… if you run the demo with AutoC installed, and
add a page to the notebook, and choose to have a lined page with a red left
margin, and drill holes, you'll see that the drill holes don't appear. and
that the red margin line is too far to the left on the paper (actually, the
drill holes probably are there, but because they are the same color as the
background, you probably just can't see them). According to Ben, the red
margin line and the drill holes are sprites, which are independent of the
screen. I don't know if this will happen with all sprites, or just ones
that are handled the way that Notebook handles them… I don't know enough
about it.
– Whapp!ng from the North Coast Michael