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TWEAK 1.6· - Mold your own VGA modes by Robert Schmidt of Ztiff Zox Softwear, 1992-93 This program and the accompanying source files are hereby donated to the public domain. (for whatever that's worth...) (Sorry for not page-formatting this doc. The headers can be found by doing a text search with your favourite editor.) Contents: WHAT IS TWEAK, ANYWAY? SUGGESTION BOX DISCLAIMER A QUICK PRIMER WHAT HAS TWEAK GOT TO DO WITH THIS? A COUPLE OF RULES A TUTORIAL EDITOR REFERENCE FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS THE TWEAK FILES USING TWEAK MODES ON YOUR OWN THE INCLUDED FILES THE 'MISC' DIRECTORY CREDITS BIBLIOGRAPHY HOW TO REACH ME WHAT IS TWEAK, ANYWAY? TWEAK is an utility to ease the work of twiddling with the registers on a standard VGA compatible video card to produce and explore new, previously undocumented screen modes with weird resolutions. You will want to purchase a technical VGA reference to get the full potential out of TWEAK, but I included some files to get you started (see the section on the 'MISC' directory). TWEAK.EXE is the main executable. This version is not compatible with any versions prior to 1.0, so if you want to use files created by version 0.9x, convert them with 09TO10.EXE. Stop press! In the subdirectory XINTRO is an article which serves as an introduction to programming in Mode X (320x240 with 256 colors). Make sure you read this if you're new to tweaking and Mode X! MODES.DOC describes some of the more exciting 256x256, 400x300 and 400x600 256-color modes! SUGGESTION BOX All suggestions to enhance or modify TWEAK are welcome, especially bug reports/fixes. So are donations, for that matter. See e-mail and snail-mail addresses at the end of this file. Please send me any changes you make to enhance TWEAK or to make it compatible with other compilers or video cards, and I will start including conditional sections for each supported compiler. Do *not* re-release the changed source without my permission. Well, how can I stop ya...? Any suggestions and contributions will be credited in subsequent versions, although I can't guarantee that your ideas will actually be used. DISCLAIMER I don't think this is neccessary in PD stuff, but everybody else does it: The author author of this archive has used his best efforts in preparing it. However, the author makes no warranty of any kind, expressed or implied, with regard to the programs, data or documentation included with the archive. The author shall not be liable in any event for incidental or consequential damages in connection with, or arising out of, the furnishing, performance, quality, or use of the programs, data or documentation included in this archive. Phew. Some time ago, putting illegal or unsupported values or combinations of such into the video card registers might prove hazardous to both your monitor and your health. I have *never* claimed that bad things can't happen if you use TWEAK, although I'm pretty sure it never will. I've never heard of any damage arising from trying out TWEAK, or from general VGA tweaking in any case. I did receive a mail from a person whose monitor failed producing the correct colors, after using mode X. A QUICK PRIMER You never heard about neither documented nor undocumented modes, you say? Well, to begin with: Your VGA card has a number of registers that control the way the card works. That is, how it is going to translate the data that programs put into the video memory, to the signals that produce text and/or graphics on your monitor. The standard interface to a video card on all IBM compatible PCs is the BIOS, which consists of several device independant routines for setting screen modes, moving the cursor, writing text, scrolling blocks of text etc. The BIOS also takes care of setting the appropriate registers at appropriate times, for example when changing screen modes. That way, programmers have a consistent interface to the VGA, and usually won't need to tamper with the registers directly. A screen mode specifies the resolution of the image you see on the screen, i.e. the number of pixels (dots) horizontally and vertically, the number of colors, and wether the screen should be capable of showing just text, or if graphics are allowed. These things are controlled by the VGA registers, and the BIOS contains a number of predefined tables of register values for the standard VGA modes we've all come to love and honour. Mode number 3, for example, is the 80 characters times 25 lines (80x25) text screen that most people use daily. Mode number 19 (or 13h in hexadecimal) is the 256-color 320x200 mode used in most popular games supporting the VGA. WHAT HAS TWEAK GOT TO DO WITH THIS? Well, some people, me included, are of the 'power-hungry' breed. We want to exploit the full potential of everything we get between our hands. We think that the one 320x200 256-color mode supported by all standard VGA BIOS'es is for wimps. Some guy came up with the idea of modifying the register configuration, to achieve greater resolution and a different video memory layout. TWEAK grants you direct access to all the most significant registers that control such things as resolution and colors. You may have thought that your VGA was limited to 320x200 when it was displaying 256 colors? Well, all VGAs are able to support no less than 400x600 in 256 colors. (The problem is with the monitors, which might not be sophisticated enough to support the relatively much higher clock frequency needed to output that many pixels. My monitor flickers and rolls occasionaly.) Most newer VGA cards' BIOSes add several enhanced modes not supported by the standard VGA defined by IBM, for example text modes with 132 characters on each line, or graphics resolutions of 800x600, 1280x1024 and more. Such cards are usually referred to as Super VGAs. To make it possible to produce such resolutions, video card developers has had to add new registers to the set of registers defined by the VGA. TWEAK is generally not able to support such extended registers, meaning that you will not be able to tweak a Super VGA any more than is possible on a standard VGA. Extensions that are provided by utilizing undefined bits in the standard VGA registers are supported however. The included Chips & Technologies specific 132x*.twk files are examples of such. The main reason for not including Super VGA (SVGA) support is that there are so many different SVGA standards. Nearly every developer has their own standard. Also, I can see no real reason for wanting to tweak any SVGAs, as the resolution dimensions they offer usually are far superior to the VGA's resolutions. With tweaked VGA modes there's a much higher propability that they will work on most VGAs and SVGA, than tweaked SVGA modes. If this is the first you have read about VGA registers and the BIOS, TWEAK.EXE and this documentation alone is not enough to get you going. You will need, and probably want, a somewhat technical reference to the VGA, which explains all standard VGA registers and the meaning of every contained bit. Although TWEAK doesn't support it, you'll probably want a reference which also contains some discussion on Super VGAs, just for your convenience when you want to program serious applications etc. If you're of the adventurous breed, check out the VGA.TXT and VGABIOS.TXT files included in the .\MISC directory. You see, tweaking the VGA is not as simple as putting the horizontal resolution in one register, the vertical in another and the number of colours in yet another. Several registers has to be set to cooperating values that work together to acheive what you want. Single bits has to be toggled into the correct states, even before you can see anything on screen. TWEAK simplifies this process by letting you do this interactively, and by letting you test your register set at the touch of one key (ENTER, actually). The pre-TWEAK process was to make a small program that set up the registers in the way the programmer thought would work. If it didn't he had to edit the program source file, recompile, and re-run. Not seldom, the PC crashed because of some *really bad* register values, and a full reset was required. TWEAK let you save and load register sets to and from files, and let you select any video mode supported by your BIOS to work out from. It supports text modes and graphics, 16-color and 256-color. Monochrome modes and CGA modes (4- and 2-color), however, are not supported, because they use another set of I/O ports, and because few people are really interested in them. As of version 1.6, TWEAK further simplifies the VGA tweaking process by providing instant feedback on the register values, in the form of a live mode heuristic, i.e. a detection scheme tried to figure out what type of mode your making, the number of colors, its physical and virtual resolution, the number of pages (both horizontally and vertically). A COUPLE OF RULES I'll be the first to admit: TWEAK isn't much of an editor. The screen is boring, there is just one simple help window, no undo command, no file pick lists etc. In short, TWEAK is not meant for people not knowing what they are doing. I strongly beleive that nothing can be damaged from the use of TWEAK, but for starters, I'll recommend the following precautions: * When loading/saving, take care to check that you selected the function (load or save) that you want, before typing a filename and pressing Enter. Also verify that the filename you type when saving is the filename that you want, because TWEAK overwrites any existing files with the same name without asking for permission. * If, when you press the Enter screen to test the screen mode, nothing appears after 5-10 seconds, press Enter again. If you're not immediately returned to the editing screen, reboot your computer by pressing the reset button. Keep in mind that some of the test patterns, especially the 256-color 4-planar one, can be slow to put into the video memory buffer, so be a *little* patient & tolerant. That last rule is present to prevent that the monitor is exposed to crazy sync timings for too long a time. And I repeat, there usually never is any reason to panic, even if your monitor makes strange sounds ('tweeeeee' for example, or 'flick-flick-flick'). Press ENTER, wait for a couple of seconds more, then reset your computer if the edit screen doesn't reappear, and try a different approach. A TUTORIAL To start TWEAK, change to the directory where you have put the files, and type TWEAK at the DOS prompt. Well, now you're in the editor, and you can see the following things (you might want to print this tutorial so you have it on paper): * One (possibly two) column(s) of VGA registers on the form: ppp (ii) Register Name : vv where - ppp is the port number - ii is the index into that port, if applicable - vv is the selected value for this register All numbers are hexadecimal. The current register is marked by one arrowhead on each side of the line. When you first start TWEAK, the current register is the top left. * A bit pattern display showing the bit pattern of the 8-bit value contained in the currently selected register. * The bottom line tells you which test pattern is currently active. * You will also see the mode heuristic which usually makes a good guess at what mode you have at the moment. When executed, TWEAK starts up by reading the registers of your current BIOS mode, so that you have something to work with. This is usually a text mode, 80x25 for example, so you'll probably want to set a graphics mode for more interesting results. Now try the following simple tutorial: 1. Press H, and a red window should appear, describing all keys available for use in TWEAK. These will also be described below. 2. Press M, then type the number 03. Notice that you don't have to press ENTER. You have now selected BIOS mode 3 as the basis for you explorations. Notice also the information provided by the mode heuristic on the right. 3. Press TAB until 'Text screen, 16 point' appears at the bottom line, if it doesn't already. TAB selects which test pattern to use, and you have now readied the 16-point font version of the text screen test. 4. Press ENTER. You should see a screen with numbers along the top row, and various characters and colors down the rest of the screen. This is the text test pattern, as it looks when viewed in mode 3. Press ENTER to return to editing mode. 5. Now press F10, and type '40x12' and press ENTER. This loads the file '40x12' and uses its contents as the current register set. Notice how the mode heuristic immediately changes. 6. Press ENTER again. A screen similar to the previous test pattern should appear, but the characters should be twice as wide and twice as high. This is a tweaked VGA mode, which is not supported by the BIOS. It looks a little odd, as the bottom line is cut in half, making this a 40x12.5 text mode, in fact. Press ENTER to return. 7. Press F10, type '360x480.256' and ENTER. Take a look at the mode heuristic again. Press TAB until the text 'Graphics autodetect' appear in the bottom line. 8. Press ENTER. This is a well known tweaked VGA mode that has even been used in commercial games for the PC, but it remains unsupported by the BIOS (and it probably always will). If the screen rolls, try adjusting your monitor knobs. If you can't get a steady picture, it probably means your monitor isn't capable of handling the horizontal resolution of 360 pixels. 9. Try using the arrows to scroll the virtual screen. 9. Press ENTER to return to editing, then press ESC and 'Y' to quit TWEAK. The last graphics display might not have been especially pleasing to the eye. First, if the picture was rolling uncontrollably, you might think that TWEAK is of no use for you, as your monitor isn't good enough. However there are still interesting things to try out. There are tweaked modes 'available' with a little lower resolution that are almost guaranteed to work on your monitor, and which are of great interest to games programmers for example. The file 320x240.256 contains the register set for the infamous Mode X, which was 'discovered' and documented by Michael Abrash in his monthly columns in Doctor Dobbs Journal. Following points 7 onward above, see if you can load Mode X into the editor and get the test screen going! Mode X has the following interesting properties: * The pixels are 'perfectly' square. That is, if you try to draw a circle with aspect ratio 1:1, it will look like a circle (unless your monitor is adjusted to some extreme). The BIOS mode 13h (320x200x256) has pixels that are a little higher than they are wide, making 1:1 circles look stretched vertically. * The video memory is divided into 4 planes, each of which contains 64 Kb. By setting the Write Plane Enable register to the actual plane, you can address the full 256 Kb of video memory through the 'tiny' address space of 64 Kb from 0xA000:0 to 0xA000:0xFFFF. Thus, you can have more than three full screens in video memory at any one time, making you able to perform animation tricks as page flipping, and to do fast 32-bit video to video transfers. This was just to get you going, and others have written tons of text on drawing stuff (lines, circles, images) in Mode X. The rest of this part will deal with the commands available in TWEAK. To get more information about VGA programming in general and registers and Mode X in particular, check out the reference list somewhere at the end. Stop press! Read the article in the XINTRO subdirectory for an introduction to Mode X. EDITOR REFERENCE This reference applies only to version 1.0 of TWEAK or later, although *most* keys are supported by the included version 0.95 too. Select the register value you want to modify using the following keys: Up selects previous register Down selects next register Home selects first register End selects last register Use these keys to modify a register value: a 2-digit, hexadecimal number : sets the register to the given value '-' decreases the value of the register '+' increases the value of the register F1 ... F8 toggle bits 7, 6, ..., 0 of the selected register, respectively. Use these keys for testing the set of register values: TAB [->|] cycle among the available test patterns, to find the one you think will suit your custom register set. Shift+TAB cycles in the opposite direction. ENTER sends your custom register set to the VGA registers, then writes the selected test pattern to the video memory buffer. Some other important or useful actions: Backspace toggles the active state of the current register. If a register is inactive, it color is grey instead of yellow. When you test the mode (by pressing ENTER), inactive registers will *not* be sent to the VGA card. Also, they will *not* be saved to the file when a Save command is executed. This feature is included to enable you to ignore registers that doesn't affect your screen mode. For example, for most practical uses, the Color Compare register can be deactivated. 'M' prompts the user for a 2-digit, hexadecimal number specifying a standard VGA BIOS screen mode number. Note that TWEAK does *not* support true monochrome modes. The VGA is set to this mode using INT 10h with AX=mode number. Then all relevant registers are read from the VGA into the editing set, and you're returned to the editing screen. F9 or 'S' prompts the user for a file name, then saves the register set to this file, overwriting any pre-existing file by the same name. Inactive registers are not saved, thus there are no longer a fixed size to TWEAK's mode files. F10 or 'L' prompts the user for a file name, then loads the register set from this file, if it exists. Registers that are supported by TWEAK, but that are not included in the file, will be deactivated (greyed). ESC quits TWEAK, if you answer 'y' or 'Y' to the 'Really quit?' question. Make sure you have saved your work. Pressing just ENTER at one of the two file name requests will cancel the file operation. There are currently 6 available test screens with TWEAK. Numbers in parentheses are all the standard VGA BIOS modes that display the test patterns correctly: o An autodetected graphics screen test. This will detect *most* EGA and VGA graphics modes (of course no monochrome modes), and display a pretty screen containing: - axes along the left and top borders visualizing the resolution. - text telling you both the physical and the virtual resolutions, and the number of colors. - the entire palette available in this mode. Note that the palette is *not* set, so the colours are not guaranteed to be the normal VGA palette, except in 16-color mode. The following keys are available in the autodetect test screen: - arrows scroll the screen across the virtual area - ESC returns to the editor If the mode being edited is not a graphics mode, a text screen appears with some helping hints. o 2 text test screens at 0B800h - one using the normal 8x16-point VGA font (0, 1, 2, 3) - one using the 8x8-point CGA font (normally used in 43/50-line modes, but none of those are defined by the VGA BIOS. Check VGABIOS.DOC for the function to load a specific font in your own programs.) o A screen for 4-planar, 16-color modes at 0A000h (0Dh, 0Eh, 10h, 12h) o A screen for 4-chained, 256-color modes at 0A000h (13h) o A screen for 4-planar, 256-color modes at 0A000h (None supported by BIOS) See the source (TESTPAT.CPP) for descriptions on how the test patterns are supposed to look. Generally, if it looks good, it should be correct. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Q: I'd like to study the register configuration for a screen mode supported by my (Super-)VGA. How do I get to it? A: The 'M' key lets you select a BIOS mode to study. Note that you will need to know the mode number. Note that TWEAK does not support any SVGA-specific registers. Q: None of the tests seem to produce sane results. The screen a) goes black, b) rolls or c) the program crashes. A: a) - Make sure you tried ALL 5 tests. - Set the Color Plane Write Enable register to 0Fh. - Note that Super VGA modes are generally not supported (though they *might* work). b) - The timing/sync registers are not set correctly/in sync. See your VGA reference for more information. - Try adjusting the knobs on your monitor. c) - I know some (S)VGAs completely hang the system if unsupported bit combinations are fed into the Misc. Output Register (0x3c2). This is one of the most useful registers, however, so experiment with care, and take note of what values causes the crash. - You may have hit a major incompatibility/bug. Send me a mail, telling me what kind of hardware you're using. I will probably not be able to fix it, but an incompatibility list will be emitted with the next release, if any. Q: How about a TSR to save the current register configuration from any program? A: I've considered this, but haven't had the time. A hint, though: Get CBOOTxxx.ZIP from simtel or any mirror, in .../msdos/sysutl. This program lets you break out from most applications, *without* resetting the screen mode. A typical session: - Install CBOOT. - Run FRACTINT (a fractal explorer package, supporting lots of tweaked modes), and select the mode you want to 'grab'. - Press ALT+SHIFT+B, and the CBOOT menu pops up. - Press '7' to reset interrupt vectors. - Press '6' to 'properly' exit from FRACTINT. - You might not see it, but you should be at the DOS prompt. - Run TWEAK directly, which will start up with the current register configuration. Now you're off! From programs (games) which assume total keyboard domination, I currently cannot help you grab modes. Q: I'd like to use tweaked modes in my own programs. A: Provided you have produced TWEAK files corresponding to your modes, take a look at the example files for different approaches to using the mode files. The examples are in C, but are simple enough, so translation to Pascal should be a breeze. Q: - What is the register which makes x do y/sets a to b/etc.? - Is there a BIOS call to do x? A: First check the VGA.TXT and VGABIOS.TXT files in the MISC directory. If they don't help you, please consider buying a technical reference to the VGA. That would please you and me. Q: How do I make a mode with resolution x times y with z colors? A: - See the sample *.TWK, *.256 and *.16 files provided with TWEAK. Not a great lot, but you might be able to work out something from one of those. - Get FRACTINT or SVGABGI, and use the method mentioned above to 'grab' modes from these programs. - Learn what each of the VGA timing registers means. - Experiment! That's what I had to do. Q: I can't find this MISC or XINTRO directory! A: Make sure you unzip the TWEAK archive with the -d option, which is needed to extract subdirectories. I.e: PKUNZIP -D A:TWEAK10 If you didn't use -D, the files in the MISC directory are mixed in with the rest of the TWEAK package files, all in the same directory. Q: I have lots of files with modes that I saved with version 0.9 of TWEAK... A: Use the 09TO10 utility to convert them. Run 09TO10.EXE with no parameters for a simple help screen. Q: What do I need to rebuild TWEAK and/or the utilities? A: You will need Borland C++. I used version 3.1, but it might work as far back as Turbo C++ 1.0. I included a Makefile to make rebuilding as painless as possible, provided you have BCC.EXE in your path, and it knows where to find headers and libraries (usually it does). I know some of the sources produce warnings, but feel free to ignore them. I did. Q: What do I need to use the mode files produced by TWEAK in my own programs? A: If you want to use the TwkUser module, you'll need a C compiler. I don't think I used anything Borland specific here. Otherwise the file format is pretty simple, so you should have no problem making similar functions/procedures using any language (assembler, Basic, Pascal, Prolog...). Q: Where can I find more information on tweaking the VGA? A: See the Bibliography section below. Michael Abrash's articles in Doctor Dobb's Journal from a year or so are probably the best sources. Join the rec.games.programmer newsgroup. There has been some discussion on tweaking there, especially mode X (320x240x256) and how to optimize code for this mode. Q: How can I ever repay you for making such a great utility? A: Easy! The cheapest way is to send me a cool postcard with some (readable) words on it. I will of course accept donations too, even though TWEAK is public domain. See the end of this file. Q: PKUNZIP refused to unzip the TWEAK archive! A: I guess you decoded this DOC file by hand, then... well, make sure you transfer in BINARY mode from the ftp site, and in BINARY from your user account to your PC. Q: I can't find my question in the Frequently Asked Questions list! Does this mean I'm stupid? A: It might. :-) However, I just thought up all these questions myself, so if you have a suggestion for more FAQs, don't hesitate to let me know! I promise I won't laugh... Q: The mode heuristic tells me I have the mode I want, but none of the test screens works, not even the autodetecting one! A: The heuristic is far from perfect. It does NOT verify that the timing values you are using are sane - it merely checks the registers determining the logical resolutions. The best advice I can give is to get a VGA reference and try to learn what the horizontal and vertical timing registers do. TWEAK is less intelligent than you (hopefully)! THE TWEAK FILES The file format used for saved files is pretty simple. The files will usually be bigger than the files saved with TWEAK 0.9, and version 0.9 files are *not* readable by version 1.0. This is undetectable by TWEAK, because of the simple nature of the files. (No headers are present!) If you try, there's a fat chance that your computer will hang. Here is the format: offset 0: WORD - port number of first register offset 2: BYTE - index of first register offset 3: BYTE - value of first register offset 4: WORD - port number of second register . .etc. . Pretty simple, as you can see, but also flexible from TWEAK's point of view. This makes it easy to add new ports if neccessary. The file size is not constant, as registers that are disabled at save time are not written to the file. Divide the file size by 4 to determine the number of registers in a file, or just read to EOF (as TWEAK does... :). Also note that the VGA registers use varying methods for access. For some registers you just send the value directly to the port (ignoring the index). For some you send the index to the port, then the value to the port+1. For still some you have to ... Rather, refer to the source code for all the how-to's... it's not difficult, just inconvenient, and it hinders really general storage of register addresses and their values. Use the 09TO10.EXE program to convert from version 0.9 files to version 1.0 files. Run 09TO10.EXE with no parameters for information on how to use the utility. I have selected the following standard of file extensions for TWEAK-files, but these are just suggestions for my own convenience: o *.TWK are text modes o *.16 are 16-color graphic modes o *.256 are 256-color graphic modes Note that you'll always have to type an extension in TWEAK if you want any, as TWEAK neither assumes anything nor provides default extensions. I have also started addint a 'c' to the name (like in 256x256c.256) if the mode is chained, i.e. uses linear addressing like mode 13h. I add an 's' if the mode is specific to my Chips & Technologies SVGA. Make sure you read MODES.DOC! USING TWEAK MODES ON YOUR OWN The Register and RegisterTable classes used in TWEAK.CPP might be a little huge and clumsy to use in your own programs, where you probably just want to set the registers according to a linked-in array. Therefore I have provided a simple C module for the following functions: o Reading a file saved from TWEAK into a dynamically allocated array of registers. o Setting VGA registers according to the contents of an array of registers. o Setting a single register. The types and functions are declared in TWKUSER.H, which should be included in every source file using these functions. The definitions are contained in TWKUSER.C, which should be compiled under the wanted memory model and linked together with your program modules. You are free, in fact you're encouraged to modify the TWKUSER files to suit your own needs. In their present form, they just provide enough functionality to get you started. A couple of simple examples are provided - the second one is easiest to follow, and I think you will prefer that one: o EXAMPLE1.C - demonstrates how to use a TWEAK-generated file in your own program by loading the file at run-time, and setting the VGA registers according to the file contents. The mode file has to be available at run-time. o EXAMPLE2.C - does the same, but now the TWEAK-file is converted to a C-includable file by using the TWEAK2C utility. Thus, the contents of the TWEAK file is linked with the program as global data, and no external file is needed in addition to the executable. Both programs set the VGA to the famous Mode X, 320x240 in 256 colors, then fill the screen with some colors. Note that since the files produced by TWEAK does not keep any information on what BIOS mode they are based on, you are responsible for setting the palette used. Keep in mind that you need to set both the EGA and VGA palette for 256-color modes! The easiest way to accomplish this is to set mode 13h before outputting your register settings. I would very much like to provide similar Borland Pascal examples, but as I don't have Turbo/Borland Pascal available at the moment, I'm just going to skip it at this time. If *you* feel like porting the TwkUser.C and .H files to a Pascal unit, please do. It should be a peice of cake. If you mail the result to me, I'll probably include it in the next release of TWEAK, and in any case you'll be credited for your contribution. THE INCLUDED FILES This is a dump of the 4DOS compatible DESCRIPT.ION file included in this archive: 320x200.256 Planar 320x200x256 320x240.256 Planar 320x240x256 (Mode X) 360x480.256 Planar 360x480x256 400x300s.256 Tweaked C&T SVGA planar 400x600.256 Tweaked VGA, req. good monitor 400x600s.256 Tweaked C&T SVGA planar 432x600s.256 Tweaked C&T SVGA planar 800x600s.16 Standard C&T SVGA BIOS mode 40x12.twk Standard VGA BIOS mode 1, double scanned 80x43.twk Standard VGA mode, needs 8x8 font 80x50.twk Standard VGA mode, needs 8x8 font 09to10.cpp Version 0.9x to 1.0 conv. util. source 800x600.16 Tweaked VGA, req. good monitor example1.c C source for EXAMPLE1.EXE example2.c C source for EXAMPLE2.EXE makefile Type MAKE ALL to update TWEAK project namedreg.cpp C++ source defining NamedReg. members register.hpp C++ header declaring Register & NamedReg regtable.cpp C++ source defining RegisterTable regtable.hpp C++ header declaring RegisterTable screen.cpp C++ source defining screen functions screen.hpp C++ header declaring screen functions tweak.cpp C++ source defining TWEAK's main program tweak.doc Documentation for the TWEAK archive tweak2c.cpp C++ source for the TWEAK2C utility twkuser.c C source defining som usable functions twkuser.h C header with TwkUser.C prototypes register.cpp C++ source defining Register members 320x240.c C file created by TWEAK2C c&t.dat Text file: list of supported registers 256x256.256 Planar 256x256x256 (Mode Q) 256x256c.256 Chained 256x256x256 (Mode Q, chained) testpat.cpp C++ source defining TestPatterns members testpat.hpp C++ header declaring TestPatterns 256x240.256 Planar 256x240x256 360x270.256 Experimental mode 400x300.256 Planar 400x300x256 - great! detect.cpp C++ source for mode detected module detect.hpp C++ header for detect.cpp misc.hpp Various common routines and macros tweak095.cpp C++ source for TWEAK version 0.95 vgalib.cpp The mode-independant VGA library source vgalib.hpp Header for VGALIB.HPP regedit.cpp C++ source for the RegisterEditor class regedit.hpp C++ header for REGEDIT.CPP descript.ion Descriptions of all files tweak.prj TWEAK archive BC++ 3.1 project file 320x400.256 Planar 320x400x256 360x360.256 Planar 360x360x256 360x400.256 Planar 360x400x256 376x564.256 Planar 376x564x256 tweakold.dat Data file: list of supported registers 132x25s.twk Standard C&T SVGA BIOS mode 132x43s.twk Standard C&T SVGA BIOS mode 132x50s.twk Standard C&T SVGA BIOS mode 132x60s.twk Ultravision C&T SVGA mode modes.doc Document on Mode Q, 400x300 and 400x600 The only files required to run TWEAK are: o TWEAK.EXE o TWEAK.DAT The register definitions have been moved out from the executable into the external .DAT file, to increase flexibility. You might edit the TWEAK.DAT file as you like to include support for any registers you might think of. Remember to update the number in the first line to reflect the number of defined registers. Note that if your new registers are not on one of the ports supported by TWEAK.EXE, you might need to modify and recompile the TWEAK sources to accomodate the new port(s). See REGISTER.CPP. Some words on my convention of naming files made by TWEAK: ---------------------------------------------------------- o The general name format is XXXxYYY.CCC, where XXX is the horizontal resolution YYY is the vertical resolution CCC is the number of colors supported, except for text modes, which are named *.TWK. o An 's' after YYY specifies a Super VGA specific mode which I grabbed from the BIOS of my Chips & Technologies Super VGA. These modes will probably *not* work with your card unless it's C&T compatible! I've had reports that most of these modes even crash some sensitive machines/VGA cards. o A 'c' signals a chained 256-color mode, much like mode 13h, as opposed to unchained modes like mode X. The Makefile & sources ---------------------- See the Makefile for all dependencies between the source files. It's not very complicated. The following makes are defined in the Makefile: make tweak: makes the TWEAK executable. make oldtweak: makes the TWEAK095 executable. make examples: makes EXAMPLE*.EXE. make utilities: makes 09TO10.EXE and TWEAK2C.EXE. make all: combines all the above makes. The Makefile is Borland C++/MAKE specific, and uses bcc.exe for all the work, with one reference to TWEAK2C.EXE. When studying the sources, note that TWEAK was started as an experiment in object oriented programming with C++. Thus the entire project may look a bit pompous in its use of classes, overloaded operators and such. Bear with me. At last I provided the TwkUser files to help you get started with something down to earth. In their current state, some of the source files produce a couple of warnings. These can be ignored. I do. Also note that TwkUser.* and the examples are C (but C++ compatible), while TWEAK and its utilities are strictly C++. The utilities TWEAK2C and 09TO10 -------------------------------- The following are dumps of the help screens from there programs: "TWEAK2C version 1.0 by Robert Schmidt of Ztiff Zox Softwear 1993 Converts a TWEAK version 1.x file to an #include-able C file. Syntax: TWEAK2C <TWEAK-file> <C file to create> <array name> All parameters are required." "09TO10 version 1.0 by Robert Schmidt of Ztiff Zox Softwear 1993 Converts TWEAK version 0.9 files to TWEAK version 1.0 files. Syntax: 09TO10 <oldfile> <newfile>" For both programs, the following goes: If the file to be created already exists, the data contained in the file on disk will be overwritten with the new data. THE 'MISC' DIRECTORY In this directory I have included files from other sources than myself. READ.ME VGA.TXT VGABIOS.TXT I found these files in an archive assembled by Finn Thoegersen of Denmark. I beleive VGABIOS.DOC was taken from Ralph Brown's interrupt list. VGA.TXT lists VGA registers and their purpose, but as I never used either VGA.TXT or VGABIOS.TXT, I can't guarantee their correctness. The complete archive containing similar info on most popular Super VGAs can be found on garbo.uwasa.fi in /pc/doc-hard/vgadoc2.zip. CGA160.TXT A post grabbed from some newsgroup, discussing tweaking on the ancient CGA adapter. I think 16-color 'graphics' on a CGA sounds pretty interesting, so I included it for your enjoyment. SETMODEX.ASM Michael Abrash's code to set the VGA in the infamous Mode X. Provided as an example of how programmers were used to tweaking, before TWEAK came along... :) CREDITS Alphabetically: o Michael Abrash for doing so much work on Mode X and PC graphics in general. o Ralph Brown for the great work on the Interrupt List. o Peter McDermott for an improved 16-color test screen, and valuable sugestions, he also inspired me to make the autodetecting test screen. o Kai Rohrbacher for helpful bug reports and info on working modes. o Finn Thoegersen for the MISC\VGA*.TXT files. See MISC\READ.ME o Yaniv Shaya for inspiring me to make finish version 1.0. Good luck with your project! BIBLIOGRAPHY o George Sutty & Steve Blair : "Advanced Pogrammer's Guide to the EGA/VGA" from Brady. A bit old perhaps, but covers all *standard* EGA/VGA registers, and discusses most BIOS functions and other operations. Contains disk with C/Pascal source code. o Michael Abrash : "Power Graphics Programming" from QUE/Programmer's Journal. Collections of (old) articles in Doctor Dobb's Journal on EGA/VGA, read modes and write modes, animation, tweaking (320x240 and 360x480). His newer ravings in DDJ covers fast 256-color bitmaps, compiled bitmaps, 3D graphics, polygons, texture mapping among other stuff. Check out the XSHARP library available on all simtel mirrors! o Ralph Brown's interrupt list is a must for every serious programmer, containing, among 1 million other things, a VGA BIOS interrupt reference. Available for anonymous ftp from oak.oakland.edu in directory /pub/msdos/info as inter*.zip (Usually 3 files, around 330 Kb each), and on most serious BBSes. o Richard F. Ferraro : "Programmer's Guide to the EGA and VGA video cards including Super VGA". I don't have this one, but heard it's nice. The Super VGA reference makes it attractive, though that is no help with TWEAK. o Richard Wilton : "Programmer's Guide to PC & PS/2 Video Systems" Less technical, more application/algorithm oriented. Supposed to be good. HOW TO REACH ME I welcome any suggestions for further improvement of TWEAK. I also accept donations if you think it's worth it, or if TWEAK has in any way helped you out with a tricky problem and you'd like to show your appreciation. I will personally e-mail subsequent versions to people who donate $5 or more. Make checks payable to Robert Schmidt personally. Postcards from all over the world are fun to get. Please, if you contact me by ordinary mail, use a postcard with some photos from the place you live on the front! I appreciate that a lot. Internet e-mail: robert@stud.unit.no (I guess this should be reachable from Compuserve and other networks too. I don't know how, though.) If you ever join the IRC service on the Internet, direct a /msg Buuud for a chat! I'm on pretty often. Ordinary (snail-)mail: Ztiff Zox Softwear c/o Robert Schmidt Stud.post 170 Norwegian Institute of Technology Trondheim NORWAY Good luck, and remember the most important bit is to have fun!