OPL with prototype game list cache

[Tupakaveli]

I should take a break from this. I'm also getting frustrated with the problem that my own software are having with Japanese rendering, as I don't know what's wrong and do not know what to look at.

Don't burn yourself out

I was going to mention some problems I have with HDD Manager in wLE but this can wait, you've been doing a lot lately and I don't want to overload you with extra work lol.

I found the version where it got broken but even that has issues.

 

[Peppe90]

Aww. I derped quite hard as well anyway, somehow not reading what you wrote correctly. @_@
I should take a break from this. I'm also getting frustrated with the problem that my own software are having with Japanese rendering, as I don't know what's wrong and do not know what to look at.

Don't burn yourself out

I quote. No one could blame on you if you take a little vacation, you did a lot in a very small time. This OPL_CACHE function is awesome, just born and already perfect

I was going to mention some problems I have with HDD Manager in wLE but this can wait, you've been doing a lot lately and I don't want to overload you with extra work lol.

I found the version where it got broken but even that has issues.

What problem?? I'll see if it happens to me too​

 

[Vedita BR]

Damn I am too late for prototype #4. Game list cache is really sweet! also, new APPS scheme seems more practical too, sad that OPL proto #4 is down, i couldnt test it. But is really nice, I wouldnt mind moving all my ELFs to the APPS folder, also i read that opl_apps,conf is still supported, so its good for people who dont want to mess with their apps list, which is not my case. I hope these changes are merged in main OPL repo and available through OPL beta builds bot.

Thanks for the plenty of improvements to OPL )

 

[Peppe90]

Damn I am too late for prototype #4. Game list cache is really sweet! also, new APPS scheme seems more practical too, sad that OPL proto #4 is down, i couldnt test it. But is really nice, I wouldnt mind moving all my ELFs to the APPS folder, also i read that opl_apps,conf is still supported, so its good for people who dont want to mess with their apps list, which is not my case. I hope these changes are merged in main OPL repo and available through OPL beta builds bot.

Thanks for the plenty of improvements to OPL )

Yes, having a opl_apps.cfg file OPL should just read it as Always. Btw there's a bug that cause to launch a different app (for now it's just better to use OPNPS2LD-GAMELIST-3 for the old app method).

 

[Peppe90]

Summing up, OPNPS2LD-GAMELIST-5, should have these modifications:

[1]. remake the HDD scanning for games partition like it was in OPNPS2LD-GAMELIST-3 ('cause from my and @Tupakaveli test, it was faster building the list and making the games.bin file).

[2]. Make the IGR function working like this OPL version:

I have found that our IGR implementation does not wipe user memory before booting the next ELF, which occasionally resulted in faulty behaviour.

I spent so long, wondering why it seemed like very large portions of the OPL GUI's memory was getting corrupted after IGR, seemingly getting overwritten by other regions of itself. It seemed to be caused by (leftover) old code from the game getting called by OPL's code/old data causing the new code to misbehave. @_@

The pull request hasn't been merged yet, so I added the new fixes there. Here is something for you to play with, while waiting.

this way, OPL will never fail to correctly load the games.bin even with IGR path set to OPL.

[3]. solve the bug about retro-compatibility with opl_apps.cfg

So OPNPS2LD-GAMELIST-5 will be perfect in itself. Then there will be "just" to continue solving the general OPL compatibility problems (not related to this version in particular).​

 

[Tupakaveli]

[1]. remake the HDD scanning for games partition like it was in OPNPS2LD-GAMELIST-3 ('cause from my and @Tupakaveli test, it was faster building the list and making the games.bin file).

It was only faster creating the games.bin by a couple of seconds. Reading games.bin was the same.

If it's better that the HDD doesn't have to scan across its platters twice then I'm fine with waiting an extra couple of seconds. How many times are you going to create the games.bin anyway?

 

[Peppe90]

It was only faster creating the games.bin by a couple of seconds. Reading games.bin was the same.

Exactly

If it's better that the HDD doesn't have to scan across its platters twice then I'm fine with waiting an extra couple of seconds. How many times are you going to create the games.bin anyway?

I think that something isn't right. How can it be faster scanning twice than scanning one time?? Probably there's a bug in this modification, otherwise it should be faster or at least equal. For this I think that is better to remain with the "traditional" method (or try to find what's wrong).

Just a thought.

 

[Peppe90]

@sp193
I tested some games from SMB. I seem to notice that after the games.bin has been created, the list loads faster, even with just 8/10 games.

I tried deleting the ID prefix from the games, but this way OPL have problems listing some games:





You see FFXII i.e. have a incomplete ID. Indeed it doesn't show up in the list for many times. But a certain point (after some Ps2 restting) it showed up (I don't know why…) in the list.
Ace Combat instead, never showed up in the list. I had to rename it with the ID prefix.

 

[sp193]

It was only faster creating the games.bin by a couple of seconds. Reading games.bin was the same.

Hold on, so it was actually faster? Anyway, I already deleted the commit.

But yeah, it's not a big difference. I was just wondering if such a minor modification could drastically improve things, even though it seemed unlikely.

I think that something isn't right. How can it be faster scanning twice than scanning one time?? Probably there's a bug in this modification, otherwise it should be faster or at least equal.

The modification was very simple. It could be something like the heads having to change tracks & wait for the sector to come by. But who knows, since we lack the necessary equipment to measure performance. @_@

But I don't want to be bothered with this anymore, so I have deleted it.

I tried deleting the ID prefix from the games, but this way OPL have problems listing some games:

I hope you did not re-save that file with Notepad. It's not a text file.
The cache is a copy of the game list from OPL's memory, which is why it's very unlikely for it to not work.

If the game could not be listed without you manually specifying the boot filename manually, even before this feature was added, then the problem is with how OPL parsed SYSTEM.CNF. I remember has some problem, but it was never fixed.

Since it could be that it works fine, but the problem is that it does not have the same traits as the code from OSDSYS, I have replaced the code with a version similar to the official function: https://www.sendspace.com/file/ik8tr2

 

[Tupakaveli]

Hold on, so it was actually faster? Anyway, I already deleted the commit.

For me, OPNPS2LD-GAMELIST-3 was faster by ~4 seconds. I think for @Peppe90 it was ~1 second faster lol.

Not a huge deal IMO.

You've cut the loading time down to 1/3 for HDD users, that's pretty amazing.

 

[Peppe90]

I hope you did not re-save that file with Notepad. It's not a text file.
The cache is a copy of the game list from OPL's memory, which is why it's very unlikely for it to not work.

I don't have edited it in any way, just opened (with the notepad). I removed/added the id prefix on the ISO names of my games.

If the game could not be listed without you manually specifying the boot filename manually, even before this feature was added, then the problem is with how OPL parsed SYSTEM.CNF. I remember has some problem, but it was never fixed.

Sorry I shouldn't have report it here. I know it's absolutely not correlated with the cache list function, it's a OPL old problem.
Btw I could have some insight into it, being able to read how OPL list the games

Since it could be that it works fine, but the problem is that it does not have the same traits as the code from OSDSYS, I have replaced the code with a version similar to the official function: https://www.sendspace.com/file/ik8tr2

So I should try if this version correctly list the games (from SMB) even without ID prefix on games isos?? (it's a OPNPS2LD-GAMELIST version or a normal OPL??).

 

[TnA]

I don't have edited it in any way, just opened (with the notepad). I removed/added the id prefix on the ISO names of my games.

That matches the definition of editing PERFECTLY and it's not semantics either... :P

Just because YOU haven't changed anything else does not mean that THE EDITOR hasn't changed something for example something it would interpret as line-breaks and i.e. convert/change it from *nix to DOS/Windows Line-Breaks...

 

[Peppe90]

That matches the definition of editing PERFECTLY and it's not semantics either... :P

Just because YOU haven't changed anything else does not mean that THE EDITOR hasn't changed something for example something it would interpret as line-breaks and i.e. convert/change it from *nix to DOS/Windows Line-Breaks...

I don't edited nothing in the games-bin file, I just opened and closed it, as I said.

I edited my games names removing the IDs

 

[TnA]

Oh, I got you wrong before!
Alright, just the name of the iso itself... But well then the cache-file is invalid and you have to refresh it.

Let's hope the new merge will get rid of any pending/remaining SYSTEM.CNF-related issues!

 

[Peppe90]

Oh, I got you wrong before!
Alright, just the name of the iso itself... But well then the cache-file is invalid and you have to refresh it.

Actually it seemed that from SMB there was the auto-refresh enabled by default… But I don't know on which version (I tested with both OPNPS2LD-GAMELIST-3 and OPNPS2LD-GAMELIST-4). When I refreshed (I done this many times with select button) the list doesn't changed (I mean, it refreshed, but could Always list the same games).
At a certain point OPL (I don't remember which version…) could list FFXII, but it was after a Ps2 reset (by this I think the auto-refresh was enabled…).

Let's hope the new merge will get rid of any pending/remaining SYSTEM.CNF-related issues!

For me it's not a problem to name the ISOs with the ID prefix, when playing from SMB (I play from iHDD the most).
But sure, it'd be more comfortable for many people to just not have to worry about iso names.

 

[Peppe90]

Since it could be that it works fine, but the problem is that it does not have the same traits as the code from OSDSYS, I have replaced the code with a version similar to the official function: https://www.sendspace.com/file/ik8tr2

I still have to try it with SMB. Meanwhile I tried it (and the official 1258 release too) from iHDD and this what I noticed:

- All problems with Shawn Palmers and Ferrari Challenge definitely solved!

- the games.bin is read correctly IGResetting directly to OPL with any game. It takes 3/4 seconds more to load the list after IGR compared to previous OPNPS2LD-GAMELIST (only after IGR, on a first boot, or exiting/re-entering OPL, it takes the usual -5 secs).
Btw if it's the price for solving the IGR problems, it's welcome!!

- retrocompatibility with opl_apps.cfg still doesn't work: I have all my apps correctly listed in the OPL apps page as always, but when I try to launch one, it appear this error message: "APPSUPPORT: cannot find mode for path, please report"

 

[TnA]

Is the new App-Support-System working properly in the newest builds?

Sorry, I had no time yet to test it.