Running Lightwave on WinUAE

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muadib
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Running Lightwave on WinUAE

Post by muadib »

UAE is an excellent choice nowadays for modelling and raytracing due to the sheer power that is available through the JIT interpreter.
Below is a guide for setting up a very fast emulated Amiga workstation environment on WinUAE for raytracing with Lightwave and many more application that need raw CPU power. Please note that almost all of these options may apply to other UAE flavours as well.

This guide assumes you already have WinUAE installed and tested, and that you have an Amiga kickstart3.1 ROM available as well as a working AGA system.
You will also need to download an Amiga Lightwave copy. The latest version known to be released is 5.0r and a preserved copy can be found here.
So here we go.


Part 1

1. Load up WinUAE and create a new configuration, naming it appropriately e.g. 'Super Amiga Raytracing Metal Machine' etc.

2. Enter the following settings:
CPU tab.PNG

Alternative 68060 setup:
Alt_CPU_tab_060.PNG

Chipset_tab.PNG
Note 1: As you can see, my settings emulate an AGA system. If you have experience with RTG systems please go ahead and set your instance accordingly, however, I have limited knowledge in, say, ModePromotion, although as far as I hear it is not anything too difficult too achieve. I may do a post about it in the future, but please leave a comment if you have done it successfully.

Note 2: Lightwave has some preview options disabled in an RTG environment, namely the Modeler's animated Preview options as well as Layout's Preview are disabled.

Adv_Chipset.PNG
RAM.PNG
Note: You can experiment with more Chip and/or Fast RAM. The more, the merrier! :D

Hard Drives: The best way is to 'Add Directory ...' for keeping Directories accessible by the Filesystem for being able to add/edit stuff around.
HardDrive.PNG
You can for example have one partition for Lightwave programs and the '3d:' Content Directory and another partition for your Image and Animation filesaving.

Display.PNG

And last but not least,
Filter.PNG

The Horizontal and Vertical 'Filter' settings presented here are monitor-dependent and will be fine-tuned later when we have Lightwave and Modeler installed.


3. Save the Configuration.


Part 2


1. Assuming you have already downloaded the archive containing Lightwave 5.0r, place it in a folder inside an Amiga partition.

2. Load the newly created Configuration and boot into your UAE Super Amiga.

3. Extract the LW archive with LHA and place the resulting 'Toaster' folder into a partition of your liking.

Optional: To keep things tidy, create a '3D' folder whenever you want (but outside 'Toaster') and MOVE the following folders from 'Toaster' into '3D':

Code: Select all

Images
Motions
Objects
Scenes
Surfaces
ToasterFonts
Afterwards, edit the '3d:' line of the 'AssignMe' script located inside 'Toaster accordingly to point to the new path.


4. Entering the 'Toaster' directory, run the 'AssignMe' script, either executing it via shell or by modifying its Default Tool to IconX. You can, of course, paste the scripts contents to your S:User-startup so that they run upon bootup.

5. Run 'Lightwave.fp'. If the program runs correctly you will be presented with a screen like this:
Layout.PNG

Lets see if the Renderer works.
5. From the tabs on top, go to Record -> Render Display and change it from 'None' to 'HAM8'.
RenderDisplay.PNG
6. Open also the Lights tab, activate the 'Lens Flare' option and press 'F9' (Render current frame).
LensFlare.PNG
If all goes well, you will be facing your first rendered lens flare! Congratulations!!

There are a couple of things left to be done, though, to make sure everything runs as it should.
7.Press ESC to close the renderer and exit Layout by selecting QUIT on the FILE drop-down menu.
ExitingLayout.PNG
8. Run Layout again, go to 'Record' tab and check if HAM8 is still the active selection from when we changed it.
(If it's not, you may want to do some digging with SnoopDos to see where LW searches for a file called LW_config, which is located in Toaster/LightWave_Support.)


Now that Layout runs fine, let's see if Modeler works as well.
9. Run 'Modeler' from its icon. If all goes well, you will be greeted by this screen:
Modeler.PNG

Now is a perfect opportunity to calibrate WinUAE to our monitor by using Modeler's GRID. What I do when I fine-tune UAE's dimensions is press the " . " (period) once or twice on the main keyboard to ZOOM IN (alternatively the " , " (comma key) to ZOOM OUT) so that I get the largest grid rectangles. I then take a ruller and by measuring the grid's dimensions I then try to adjust through UAE's Filter tab the Horizontal and Vertical Sizes so that the grid's dimensions depicted on the monitor are of the same length.
Ruller.jpg
AdjustingGrid.PNG

That's all!
Let me know if you encounter any problems by commenting below.
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- muadib
fxgogo
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Re: Running Lightwave on WinUAE

Post by fxgogo »

Great guide muadib, thanks.
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Re: Running Lightwave on WinUAE

Post by fxgogo »

Hi muadib, I downloaded the preserved copy in the link you gave. Seems it is a folder with no need for installation. When trying to run the Modeler or Layout a windows flashes for an instant and then nothing. Any ideas as to why that is happening?
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Re: Running Lightwave on WinUAE

Post by fxgogo »

Not to worry. I had my accelerator set in UAE, which won't let me set a math coprocessor. So set up a new machine and it was fine.
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muadib
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Re: Running Lightwave on WinUAE

Post by muadib »

fxgogo wrote: Mon Oct 05, 2020 10:35 pm Not to worry. I had my accelerator set in UAE, which won't let me set a math coprocessor. So set up a new machine and it was fine.
Great that you solved it yourself.
That window reports that the prog needs an FPU, I had to slow the emulation down to see what was there, once upon a time! :)
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A1-X1000
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Re: Running Lightwave on WinUAE

Post by A1-X1000 »

awesome guide thanks so much for posting! For the 1st time ever I have AmigaOS running on my notebook so I can start practicing Lightwave once again when I'm away from my Amiga :D
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muadib
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Re: Running Lightwave on WinUAE

Post by muadib »

A1-X1000 wrote: Mon Nov 23, 2020 6:59 am awesome guide thanks so much for posting! For the 1st time ever I have AmigaOS running on my notebook so I can start practicing Lightwave once again when I'm away from my Amiga :D
You 're very welcome!

A guide to FS-UAE is also on my TODO list for those of us that run on Linux. Hope to find some time soon for that...
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fxgogo
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Re: Running Lightwave on WinUAE

Post by fxgogo »

Ok, interesting problem. The software works fine when I run it in WinUAE, but running it on my real A1200 with an 030 accelerator crashes when I try to load a scene. The wierd thing, is this is using the same CF card to run the Amiga OS. The assigns are working and the program loads. The error code I get is #8000000A.

Any thoughts on what is happening?
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muadib
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Re: Running Lightwave on WinUAE

Post by muadib »

fxgogo wrote: Mon Jan 18, 2021 9:51 pm Ok, interesting problem. The software works fine when I run it in WinUAE, but running it on my real A1200 with an 030 accelerator crashes when I try to load a scene. The wierd thing, is this is using the same CF card to run the Amiga OS. The assigns are working and the program loads. The error code I get is #8000000A.

Any thoughts on what is happening?
Hi Fxgogo,

Do you mean Lightwave? Does your accelerator have an FPU?

UPDATE: I read more correctly that this happens when you try to load a scene... How much RAM do you have ?

To see if its the program or something else, do the following:
Upon starting the program, go to Lights tab, click on Enable Lens Flare, and press F9. If this works and you get a lens flare after a while, then LW checks ok.
- muadib
fxgogo
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Re: Running Lightwave on WinUAE

Post by fxgogo »

Hi @muadib. So yeah, have an FPU. Imagine FPU load fine. I have 32MB of ram. Will give that test a go. I might take a while to give feedback, got to recap this 1200, I really have left it for too long and don't want to suffer damage.
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