SheepShaver for Windows

[Ronald P. Regensburg]

With recent SheepShaver builds, hitting control-return should toggle full screen display in the original ratio with black bars at the sides. That is how it works in the macOS version. Doesn't it work that way in the Windows version?

[Cap'n Tycho]

Control+enter does toggle in fullscreen, but the current version doesn't seem to keep it in aspect-ratio, no. the much older versions of sheepshaver that I used previously for windows definitely do, though

[Ronald P. Regensburg]

I reported the issue to the developer kanjitalk755.

[Cat_7]

With this in the prefs file I can switch between windowed and full screen using Ctrl-Enter.
It keeps the correct aspect ratio. So I can't reproduce.

screen win/800/600
windowmodes 3
screenmodes 63

sdlrender software
sdl_vsync false

Best,
Cat_7

[Ronald P. Regensburg]

Also kanjitalk755 could not reproduce this issue.

[Cap'n Tycho]

oh dear! maybe it's a display driver issue on my end then. I'll see what I can do and I'll report back if I have any luck

[Cap'n Tycho]

a brief update: strangely, changing sheepshaver's resolution to 640x480 resolves this issue, but any other resolution appears stretched. sadly this isn't a solution for me since the program I am trying to run requires 800x600 to run, but maybe it can help shed some light on the issue. since the issue wasn't reproducible for you folks, pls let me know if there's any info I can provide that would help

[Ronald P. Regensburg]

To be able to compare settings Cat_7 used (without the stretching issue) and your settings, please post here the content of your SheepShaver prefs file.

You will l find the file named SheepShaver_prefs in your SheepShaver folder. Open it with Notepad, select the content, and copy/paste that in your reply.

(A new security feature on the server may prevent posting the content of the prefs file and will then present a server error. If that happens, we will try and find a different way.)

[Cat_7]

I've uploaded a new SheepShaver build. The build should be considered experimental.
It supports drag and drop of disk images onto the SheepShaver window to mount images of CDs, HDs, and floppies. They show up as read-only CDs. See the first post in this thread.
Note that this does not improve on the types of images SheepShaver can read.

Best,
Cat_7

[S6Bow]

I live in Japan.
When we mount a Windows drive with SheepShaver and access a Windows file, the time stamp of the file advances by about 14 hours.

[adespoton]

I live in Japan.
When we mount a Windows drive with SheepShaver and access a Windows file, the time stamp of the file advances by about 14 hours.

Interesting; is this an issue just with image drag and drop, or with regular image mounting as well? Or are you talking specifically about mounting a physical partition inside SheepShaver?

[S6Bow]

This is a problem with the normal Windows drive mounting functionality.
When we mount a Windows drive with SheepShaver and access a Windows file, the time stamp of the file advances by about 14 hours.
In addition, the region of MacOS time on SheepShaver is Tokyo, Japan.

[almeath]

This is just an observation, not a criticism.

I have noticed, that compared to SheepShaver for MacOS, the Windows version displays quite a lot of graphical glitches when used in full screen mode. This includes slow downs and choppy graphics (particularly with anything using QuickTime), and large patches of black appearing on the screen, particularly when starting or closing applications. Moving the mouse over those areas sometimes removes the black patches, but not always. Not all apps are affected - but big offenders seem to be apps that require thousands/millions of colors, or bit-depth switches when starting, and games from certain studios, such as LucasArts. For example - Dark Forces on Mac - slow, put playable .. on Windows, stutters and lags to the point of being completely unplayable - with the exact same preference settings, ROM, system etc.

This is regardless of whether software or hardware accelerated graphics are used, including opengl vs direct3d. I am testing SheepShaver in both MacOS and Windows on the same machine, using Bootcamp, so I can rule out the vagaries of different graphics cards and other hardware configurations etc.. I have also used the exact same settings for various hosts and games on both systems, in fact I am using the same installation folders, drive images and preference settings. My machine is Intel based, so this is not related to the recent switch to ARM on Macs.

I guess I would like to know, has anyone else experienced these issues, and are there any potential workarounds, i.e. compiling with different versions of SDL in Windows? Or is the Windows version just inherently less compatible and speedy when compared to the MacOS build? It seems strange, given both would rely on the same SDL based underpinings?

[almeath]

I tried compiling my own SheepShaver build, but so far that has not made a difference. I am not yet advanced enough with Windows to know how to compile with different SDL versions.

Separate to my above comment, I am also having problems getting SheepShaver to launch immediately into fullscreen mode, while honoring the nearest/integer scaling settings. Basically, it does not do it, when using:

win/640/480
windowmodes 3
screenmodes 63

It launches normally but the image is not properly scaled, cuts off a large portion of the desktop, and is blurry. If I press control-enter twice, once to switch back to windowed mode and then again to go back into fullscreen, everything scales fine and looks normal.

I developed a work-around. SheepShaver for Windows seems to be very sensitive to how quickly you press control-enter to switch. If it happens immediately on application launch (i.e. from the preferences file), it always fails to recognize the "scale_nearest true" and "scale_integer true" settings.

However, I used an Autohotkey launch script to switch after a delay:

Code: Select all

Run C:\Users\Adam\Desktop\SheepShaver\SheepShaver.exe --config "C:\Users\Adam\Desktop\SheepShaver\SheepShaver_prefs"

Sleep, 2000

Send !^{Enter}

This delays the fullscreen switch for a specified number of seconds. This causes SheepShaver to honor the integer/nearest scaling in the preferences and everything looks good.

..unless I then launch an application that wants to switch bit depth or resolution again from within the MacOS .. then it acts like it does previously.

Not sure why this happens in the Windows build, but hopefully it will eventually be resolved. Using the script is less annoying than having to press control-enter twice every time.

[kanjitalk755]

It seems strange, given both would rely on the same SDL based underpinings?

On any host, whether windowed or fullscreen, the drawing method is the same, and we let SDL handle the differences.
However, when I tried Dark Forces, I confirmed that it doesn't draw properly in fullscreen mode on Windows.
Same with SDL2 2.0.14 (oldest version SheepShaver can work with).
No workaround is currently known.

Separate to my above comment, I am also having problems getting SheepShaver to launch immediately into fullscreen mode, while honoring the nearest/integer scaling settings.

Try the branch below.

https://github.com/kanjitalk755/macemu/ ... fullscreen

[almeath]

Try the branch below.

https://github.com/kanjitalk755/macemu/ ... fullscreen

I just compiled that branch and it seems to work perfectly. I can launch directly into full screen mode with no delay and no graphical glitches.

Is this a change that can be rolled into the master branch or does it require further testing?

[Cat_7]

I also tested this, and at one time switching from full screen to windowed mode resulted in a window stuck in the left upper corner of my screen with no way to grab the title bar. I had to change resolution in Mac OS to get the window to display in the middle of my screen.

Best,
Cat_7

[almeath]

I also have the window stuck in the upper left corner of the screen when switching back to windowed mode during a session. However, I have no specific need to do so. Perhaps it is a niche requirement to want to both launch and run in full screen mode only. I personally do not find myself having to switch back and forth between the two, as I would just set a launch preference of "dga" or "win" in each individual configuration, and specifically launch the configuration I need at any given time. If the fullscreen branch continues to be made available on @kanjitalk755's Github repository, then I am happy enough to manually compile going forward.

[kanjitalk755]

Added setting window position when switching to windowed mode.
Please test again with the latest test_fullscreen branch.

[Cat_7]

The window still jumps to the upper left corner of the screen after exiting full screen, but at least now we have a menu bar to move it

The currently behaviour is that when the screen is in the upper left corner after exiting full screen, a resolution switch in Mac OS moves it to the centre of the screen.
Could exit from full screen move it to the centre directly?

Best,
Cat_7

[kanjitalk755]

Ah, I see.
Fixed.

[Cat_7]

indeed, fixed!
This seem to work as could be expected, thanks!

Best,
Cat_7

[almeath]

Confirmed it is working for me too - switching to windowed mode has the window show up in the middle of the screen with the menu bar available. Looks like we have best of both worlds now, thanks for the fix.

[kanjitalk755]

Merged to the master.

[kanjitalk755]

Fixed the issue that garbage remains when running "Dark Forces" in Windows fullscreen.
It only effects when VOSF is disabled (default).

It also fixes the following bug:

viewtopic.php?t=11980

However, since I changed framebuffer handling, new bugs may appear.

https://github.com/kanjitalk755/macemu/ ... ramebuffer