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Running Games and Apps.

Gaming Over 2 Screens

Matthew Burroughs

Posts 59
25 May 2018 21:02


Silly question but i'd thought i'd ask.

Would a Vampired Amiga be able to power both a CRT monitor and a modern DIGITAL-VIDEO monitor separately and at the same time?

For example, a 2 player Doom-ish clone that enables a 2 player mode.

Or a reworked Spy Vs Spy come to mind as well.


Vojin Vidanovic
(Needs Verification)
Posts 1916/ 1
25 May 2018 21:17


It does not have real two video outs.
Better think of large DIGITAL-VIDEO monitor/TV and split screen games like Lotus/Hired Guns etc.


Matthew Burroughs

Posts 59
25 May 2018 21:54


Sorry, i mean the Amiga 500/600/1200 etc powering its RGB video out and the Vampire powering its DIGITAL-VIDEO out.

A different image over each screen.

And a CRT monitor sitting next to a modern DIGITAL-VIDEO monitor/TV.

2 Player Doom co-op would be fun.


Vojin Vidanovic
(Needs Verification)
Posts 1916/ 1
25 May 2018 22:30


Matthew Burroughs wrote:

  2 Player Doom co-op would be fun.

Then you speak of null modem conection and games like Stunt Car Racer


Matthew Burroughs

Posts 59
25 May 2018 23:10


Sorry again.
 
  ONE AMIGA
 
  The OLD (OCS/ECS/AGA) part powering a monitor
 
  The NEW (Vampire) part powering another monitor.
 
  A game being played on both monitors by 2 people, eg 2 player co-op Doom.
 
Generating 2 separate video screens at the same time, so each gamer gets his own screen, but you only need ONE Amiga.

Often wondered over the years why no console has ever offered this feature, yes the console would be doing twice as much work but if you lowered the res/effects/draw distance etc then maybe it would be possible.
 
 


Vojin Vidanovic
(Needs Verification)
Posts 1916/ 1
26 May 2018 00:17


Matthew Burroughs wrote:

 
  The OLD (OCS/ECS/AGA) part powering a monitor
 
  The NEW (Vampire) part powering another monitor. 

Vampire suspends 68k CPU. From Core3 it will suspend (take over functions) chipset. So no, its not possible, even I like the idea.


Matthew Langtry

Posts 199
26 May 2018 21:13


you only have one 68080 cpu this ain't an multicore intel / amd processor, where would you get the grunt from to run two games from same machine?


OneSTone O2o

Posts 159
27 May 2018 00:11


It looks loke nobody understands what he wants. Any Windows XP to 10 box even with one CPU, one core and no hyperthreading can control two monitors on two graphics card (or outputs) can display different content on them, enhance desktop function. That's what he wants.

But I think this is not possible, as SAGA mirrors the old OCS/ECS/AGA modes from RGB to DIGITAL-VIDEO output, both always display the same. What I don't know is what happens if the DIGITAL-VIDEO output is switched to SAGA enhanced resolutions, higher than OCS/ECS/AGA can do. Maybe then, while SAGA displays graphics in new mode, then OCS/ECS/AGA modes are still available on RGB? This could be interesting.

Anyhow, imagine such a game, one gamer gets full-hd resolution on a TFT while the other just gets PAL resolutions on a flickerig CRT... Does that make sense?


Gunnar von Boehn
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 6258
27 May 2018 08:48


Your biggest problem is not the HW but  that there are no games supporting this right now.
That people write new good games for Amiga happens very rarely now.

But many games support multi player with 2 Amigas.
So if you have 2 Amiga+Vamp you can play Multiplayer Quake right now.



Matthew Burroughs

Posts 59
28 May 2018 17:16


Yes thats what i was aiming at.

And also the reason why i was asking an old sytle Doom like game, as the old AGA wouldn't be up to much while the new SAGA would be miles ahead.

2 player network gaming without a network.




Matthew Langtry

Posts 199
28 May 2018 17:18


null modem might tried to do two vampires on adoom at amibay show but we couldnt figure out the settings between them


Gunnar von Boehn
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 6258
28 May 2018 23:59


How about playing Quake over network?
Then you can even play with more players, also remote.


Mallagan Bellator

Posts 393
29 May 2018 03:02


I知 not so sure you could have a program control stuff on one screen while another screen (on a different OR same monitor) is active. You kinda chose what screen to be active on, and then that screen will be awaiting your instructions. I think the OS is limited to one active screen at a time, even on the lowest level.

I could be wrong, since I知 not a programmer, but I do believe I知 right.
However, if I知 wrong, someone who knows please tell me so ^^ I kinda liked the idea he had


Andy Hearn

Posts 374
29 May 2018 09:38


even though the original question has been answered, i'd just like to add my general thumbs up for the idea! although i'd find split screen multiplayer more useful on a 55" screen ;)

I think we've never had this much power to play with before that maybe we can now consider "bolt-ons" or wrappers for engines like doom or quake to allow split screen multiplayer?

problem one, have two separate instances of the same game engine running, but output to the same screen - (pubscreen+windows?)
problem two, input sharing
problem three, getting them to talk to each other... "virtual" null modem driver?



Henryk Richter
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 128/ 1
30 May 2018 07:24


Mallagan Bellator wrote:

  I could be wrong, since I知 not a programmer, but I do believe I知 right.

That Depends. Yes, AmigaOS is not multi-monitor aware. But that doesn't matter wrt. the question at hand.

The point is that the RTG frameworks (CGX/P96) voluntary shut down the native Chipset bitplanes while an RTG screen is shown. Actually, there is an option in P96 to keep the RTG screen active when switching to native video. That option can be used to display stuff on RTG and native Amiga chipset simultaneously. Inputs would be received on the native Amiga screen in that case.

A while ago I had two monitors connected to my A500 and did some testing that way.


Matthew Burroughs

Posts 59
31 May 2018 19:56


Andy Hearn wrote:

even though the original question has been answered, i'd just like to add my general thumbs up for the idea! although i'd find split screen multiplayer more useful on a 55" screen ;)
 
  I think we've never had this much power to play with before that maybe we can now consider "bolt-ons" or wrappers for engines like doom or quake to allow split screen multiplayer?
 
  problem one, have two separate instances of the same game engine running, but output to the same screen - (pubscreen+windows?)
  problem two, input sharing
  problem three, getting them to talk to each other... "virtual" null modem driver?
 

Thank you.

I've often wondered, as consoles get more powerful why this feature isn't there.

A PlayStation or an xBox with multiple DIGITAL-VIDEO outputs - of course they won't be able to generate as much detail as there doing twice the amount of work, but imagine playing a 2 player game on your modern console( Xbox One) with the graphical setting of the previous (xBox 360).

TV's are not exactly expensive nowadays, although modern joypad prices are a criminal racket.


posts 16