miliuco Posted January 11, 2022 Share Posted January 11, 2022 (edited) Message from @vit9696 about Intel Z690 compatibility with macOS and monthly message with OpenCore news and downloads, please read them, they are very useful. Later than usual for the holidays but version 0.7.7 of OpenCore is here. It comes plenty of changes, mostly in 3 sections: Intel Alder Lake, UEFI audio (AudioDxe driver) and fixes for problems published in the bug tracker, related to some specific configurations. OpenCore continues with its adaptation to the Alder Lake family of processors, there is still work ahead but at the present time it can be said that these new systems are usable with macOS with many of the problems already solved. The changes in UEFI audio are a lot and are accompanied by new features in config.plist. There are some other changes in this file so this time you have to pay attention to added or removed keys. Main changes Improvements for Alder Lake Builtin firmwares updated Sandy Bridge patches for macOS 12. AudioDXE: - audio settings update for VMware and QEMU - switched UEFI audio levels to decibel gain to allow accurate matching of saved macOS volume levels - separated settings for minimum audio assist volume and minimum audible volume - fixes. config.plist Kernel >> Quirks >> ProvideCurrentCpuInfo (boolean, failsafe value is false) now works differently depending on the CPU. For Microsoft Hyper-V it provides correct TSC and FSB values to the kernel For Intel CPUs it adds support for asymmetrical SMP systems (e.g. Alder Lake). NVRAM >> Add >> 7C436110-AB2A-4BBB-A880-FE41995C9F82 >> added SystemAudioVolumeDB (Data): current system audio volume level in decibels (dB). The value is a signed byte representing the audio offset (gain if positive, attenuation if negative) in dB relative to the amplifier reference value of 0 dB that depends on the codec but it's usually near the maximum available amplifier volume. Typical values go from -60 to 0. Failsafe: E2 hexadecimal (this represents -30 in a signed byte). UEFI >> AppleInput >> added 3 new properties: PointerPollMin (number): minimal pointer polling period in ms. Failsafe: 0. Current OC implementation defaults to 10 ms. Setting 0 leaves this default unchanged. OEM Apple implementation uses a polling rate of 2 ms. Failsafe: 0. PointerPollMax (number): maximum pointer polling period in ms. The period is increased up to this value as long as the devices do not respond in time. The current implementation defaults to 80 ms. Setting 0 leaves this default unchanged. OEM Apple implementation uses a polling rate of 2 ms. Failsafe: 0. PointerPollMask (number): configure indices of polled pointers, selects pointer devices to poll for AppleEvent motion events. -1 implies all devices. Failsafe: -1. UEFI >> Audio: Unless documented otherwise (e.g. ResetTrafficClass) settings in this section are for UEFI audio support only (e.g. OpenCore generated boot chime and audio assist) and are unrelated to any configuration needed for OS audio support (e.g. AppleALC). AudioOut replaced by AudioOutMask (number): to play sound in UEFI to more than one channel (e.g. main speaker plus bass speaker). Failsafe value is -1 (output to all). Output channels are internally numbered as bit 0 (value 1), bit 1 (value 2) and so on. A value of 1 refers to the first audio output (not necessarily main speaker). A value of -1 is used to play to all channels simultaneously. When AudioSupport is enabled, AudioDevice must be either empty or a valid path and AudioOutMask must be non-zero. added DisconnectHda (boolean): Disconnect HDA controller before loading drivers to allow UEFI sound on Apple hardware. Failsafe: false. added MaximumGain (number): maximum gain to use for UEFI audio, specified in decibels (dB) with respect to amplifier reference level of 0 dB. Failsafe: -15. added MinimumAssistGain (number): minimum gain in decibels (dB) to use for picker audio assist. The screen reader will use this amplifier gain if the system amplifier gain read from the SystemAudioVolumeDB NVRAM variable is lower than this. Failsafe: -30. added MinimumAudibleGain (number): minimum gain in decibels (dB) at which to attempt to play any sound. Failsafe: -128. Sample.plist file has -55 removed MinimumVolume (number) and VolumeAmplifier (number). Kexts AppleALC 1.6.8 (fixes) FeatureUnlock 1.0.5 (AirPlay improvements) Lilu 1.5.9 (updates) RestrictEvents 1.0.6 (memory view on some models, add unreadable disk disabler) WhateverGreen 1.5.6 (FAQs updated). Others gfxutil 1.82b (fixes and improvements). Thanks for your work, OpenCore team!!! Edited January 11, 2022 by miliuco 7 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eSaF Posted January 11, 2022 Share Posted January 11, 2022 Hi Bro - Thank you for the simplified and valuable explanation of the changes in the Audio section, very understandable indeed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miliuco Posted January 11, 2022 Author Share Posted January 11, 2022 User horikitarin9250 on Reddit describes very well the utility of the new AppleInput properties: "PointerPollMask is very good key for somebody who has issue with pointer lagging at OpenCanopy and FileVault2's UI, also it will fix the issue that Apple logo hangs a long time because of dummy pointers, especially is on some Dell laptop machines." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bmju Posted January 11, 2022 Share Posted January 11, 2022 Hi Thanks for the useful summary, as ever! I put a comment on Reddit as well, sorry for the duplication, but MinimumAudibleGain does not affect in-OS sound (the only UEFI/Audio param which can do so, at the moment, is ResetTrafficClass), and also 0 is not usually the main speaker (unfortunately ;-/ ), it can be any channel depending on the hardware. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 5T33Z0 Posted January 11, 2022 Share Posted January 11, 2022 It's a lot easier to compare sample.plist from 076 against 077 sample.plist for changes using OCConfig Compare: ####################################################### # OC Config Compare # ####################################################### Checking for values missing from 0.7.6: Sample.plist -> UEFI -> AppleInput - Missing Key: PointerPollMax Sample.plist -> UEFI -> AppleInput - Missing Key: PointerPollMask Sample.plist -> UEFI -> AppleInput - Missing Key: PointerPollMin Sample.plist -> UEFI -> Audio - Missing Key: MaximumGain Sample.plist -> UEFI -> Audio - Missing Key: MinimumAudibleGain Sample.plist -> UEFI -> Audio - Missing Key: DisconnectHda Sample.plist -> UEFI -> Audio - Missing Key: MinimumAssistGain Sample.plist -> UEFI -> Audio - Missing Key: AudioOutMask >> Need to be added to config.plist Checking for values missing from Sample 0.7.7: Sample.plist -> UEFI -> Audio - Missing Key: AudioOut Sample.plist -> UEFI -> Audio - Missing Key: MinimumVolume Sample.plist -> UEFI -> Audio - Missing Key: VolumeAmplifier >> Need to be removed from config.plist At the end of the day, the manual updating method is pretty much obsolete since OCAT does this all automatically just by hitting the save button. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miliuco Posted January 11, 2022 Author Share Posted January 11, 2022 (edited) @5T33Z0 You are right on condition that this does not mean not knowing the changes made in OpenCore and the reason that caused them. There are people who just want to know what things to change in config.plist to have the new version up and running as soon as possible. Making the changes manually after studying them helps me understand them better. Edited January 11, 2022 by miliuco 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miliuco Posted January 11, 2022 Author Share Posted January 11, 2022 1 hour ago, Bmju said: Hi Thanks for the useful summary, as ever! I put a comment on Reddit as well, sorry for the duplication, but MinimumAudibleGain does not affect in-OS sound (the only UEFI/Audio param which can do so, at the moment, is ResetTrafficClass), and also 0 is not usually the main speaker (unfortunately ;-/ ), it can be any channel depending on the hardware. My bad, I don't know why I wrote 0 as main speaker because I read the documentation. Corrected in the first post, 1 as first audio output (not necessarily main speaker) and -1 as all channels. The other thing yes, I was wrong, somewhere I read about it and mistakenly I interpreted it bad, also corrected leaving only ResetTrafficClass. Thank you for the advices and correct me if I am wrong again.. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eSaF Posted January 11, 2022 Share Posted January 11, 2022 1 hour ago, miliuco said: Making the changes manually after studying them helps me understand them better. Bro I wholeheartedly agree with your statement, having an app to automate the new changes is useful for those who want to leave the heavy lifting to such an app but it does not teach you or aid you to understand the changes. I like to physically make these changes my self as I have advocated in the past, as convoluted and time consuming the process is at least it gives me a sense of knowing exactly what I'm doing and why......But each to their own. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 5T33Z0 Posted January 11, 2022 Share Posted January 11, 2022 Yeah well, I let the app do the mindless part and read the differences.pdf in the meantime… but to each his own Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eSaF Posted January 11, 2022 Share Posted January 11, 2022 I have the OCAT app on my system and have used it but unfortunately it is not really suitable for my needs as I use OC nightly versions. When ever the OC Devs has decided that nightly versions are no longer needed (if possible) and put out released versions only, then maybe I will take the automated route, so at the moment I will take the mindless part and merrily plod on my way thanks. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miliuco Posted January 11, 2022 Author Share Posted January 11, 2022 Acidanthera Updates: January 2022 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miliuco Posted January 11, 2022 Author Share Posted January 11, 2022 For a better understanding of SystemAudioVolumeDB and dB, read this comment by @5T33Z0. https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/338516-opencore-discussion/?do=findComment&comment=2774907 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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