Amiga Games Reviews (Index to Amiga game reviews).

WinUAE Amiga

WinUAE Warp Mode

WinUAE Warp Mode is used to speed up OS, application and game operations. To toggle WinUAE Warp Mode, hit End + Pause keys. Warp mode will not work if the program you are running is CPU-limited.

WinUAE Save States

WinUAE save states allow you to save and load game states instantly and at any time. In addition, save states allow you to bypass save register restrictions and slow saving routines. To save and load game states, go to Misc. Load/Save Game State.

WinUAE Recording

To record in WinUAE, go to Output under Host, click Video and choose Xvid MPEG 4 codec, click Audio and choose PCM 48 khz sound. Then click AVI output enabled to start recording.

Naturally, you will need to have the Xvid video codec installed for it to be selectable in WinUAE.

WinUAE Take Screenshot

To take a screencap in WinUAE, hit the F12 key, go to Output and click Save Screenshot under Ripper.

WinUAE Help Key

The Help key is the Page Down key.

Amiga Emulation

The purpose of this post is to help people set up their very own virtual Amiga 1200 in order to gain access to the best Amiga games and applications. The info here can be considered a launch-pad; it only points the way.

WinUAE Installation

In setting things up there are two main barriers to entry.

The first barrier is that, for the uninitiated, this is a rather involved process. I found it to be enjoyable and nostalgic, but you are talking here about setting up an emulator, not a simple emulator for a console like the Genesis or SNES, but an emulator for a line of complex computers that sport custom chipsets that were so advanced for their time, people joked that the Amiga was designed by aliens (blitter, copper, extended palette, hardware scrolling, sampled sound etc.).

That means it's pretty esoteric and there are lots of configurations and settings to deal with. You are going to be setting up a virtual hard disk drive, installing an elegant operating system onto it that is foreign to Windows users, and then installing a few applications that are needed to run the games. Also, you will be typing into a command line interface at certain points, known as Shell. So yeah, this is going to be daunting for some people but believe me when I say: you can do it!

A1200 Kickstart ROM & Workbench 3.1 ADFs

Ok, the second barrier. Well, this one's a little more serious because even if you're willing and able to put in the time and effort, you may still hit a road block, which is that in order to emulate an Amiga 1200 you first require the A1200 Kickstart rom (to boot the Amiga) and Workbench 3.1 ADFs (to install the OS).

Amigakit

The ROM adnd ADFs are not freely available to people who do not already own the original A1200 hardware (and can image their ADFs and dump their rom with GrabKick); so, if you don't have an A1200 enshrined in your living room then you will have to purchase them both from Cloanto or Amigakit (rom and ADFs) [1].

[1] Special thanks to Daedalus for giving me those links.

Amiga Forever: Cloanto

You could also simply purchase Amiga Forever from Cloanto and just be done with it, since it's the complete emulator already set up with the necessary files.

Ok, so assuming you've got the rom and ADFs, how do you go about setting things up?

First of all, you will need the WinUAE Amiga emulator developed by Toni Wilen (UAE itself was originally coded by Bernd Schmidt). This is the most amazing emulator I've used, and I've played around with a lot of emus over the years. Anyway, download WinUAE and install it to a non-Program Files folder.

You can now download games and play them, though at this point you can only do so from diskette images, which are called ADFs. This means they load slowly even when using WinUAE's built-in 800% floppy disk speed increase. Plus, you will have to swap disks during gameplay in some cases, just like the old days. Moreover, many of the ADF download sites have lots of ads and the files may be glitched and contain cracktros and the like, when what we want is instant loading from the hard disk, no disk-swapping, no glitches, and extra features such as guides, trainers and convenience tweaks, right? This is the magic of WHDLoad.

To achieve this, follow these instructions:

Set main ROM file to Kickstart 3.1
Set CPU to A1200/4000, Set Chipset to AGA
Set RAM to 2 megs Chip and 8 megs Fast
Set Floppy Drive Emulation Speed to 800%
Add Hard File: DH0: System
Add Directory or Archive: DH1: Programs
Mount Workbench 3.1 Install diskette (ADF) to DF0:
Save the configuration
Click Start
Once in Workbench, Format DH0: as System
Load the Installer from the diskette in DF0:
Install the Workbench diskettes (End + Pause for warp speed)
Reboot
Congrats. You just installed Workbench 3.1 to System DH0:
Download and place LHA.run, Installer and WHDLoad into Programs
Install LHA, Installer and WHDLoad
Place WHDLoad game installs (with their *.info files) into Programs
Double-click to play

Here are pics showing a few of my setups: spartan original interface, Classic WB interface with most of the bells and whistles installed, and the spartan interface again but this time showing the WHDLoad game-launch icons.

WHDLoad Amiga

As it pertains to Amiga games, normally you would have to download WHDLoad installers from WHDLoad.de, source the ADFs, and then install them one-by-one, but killergorilla and Retroplay have done the work for you already:

Download WHDLoad pre-installed Amiga games from the Retroplay archive at ftp2.grandis.nu Turran FTP in the Retroplay WHDLoad Packs folder.

To get the games going in WinUAE, all you need to do is download the archives (3-4 gigs in total), extract their contents using something like 7z, and then simply place the folders for the games you want to play inside your /WinUAE/Programs folder (with their *.info file). Then, in Workbench, you simply double-click on the game icon to play. WHDLoad used to require registration but now it's totally free, and that is just awesome.

What's the support like for WHDLoad - like, if I find bugs, glitches and performance issues? Well, I reported an issue I had with Pool of Radiance and it was promptly addressed by Psygore.

DOS-Error #205: Object Not Found

Note that with some games you might get the message:

To fix this, get the skick346.lha archive from aminet and extract it with lha in Workbench (if you extract it with 7z in Windows then WHDLoad will not recognize the files as the correct ones - even if Workbench displays them). Once that's done navigate to /System/System, open Shell, type lha x programs:skick346.lha programs:, and hit enter. The archive extracts...

Now, create a "Kickstarts" folder in /System/Devs and place the now-extracted Kick34005.A500.RTB into it. In addition, you will need to copy your rom file in there and rename it to Kick34005.A500. That should fix the error for those games but for Ishar you will need to repeat the process for Kick40068.A1200.

If all went well you now have a setup that will bring you great joy. And the best part is? You did it yourself, step by step, so you at least have an inkling as to what's going on.

Amiga cRPGs

The Amiga hosted its fair share of great cRPGs that a lot of people haven't played or even heard of. Some of these were exclusive to it, whereas others offered an extended color palette and superior sound and music over their PC counterparts.

The best Amiga cRPGs are Captive of 1990, Fate Gates of Dawn of 1991 and Hired Guns of 1993.

List of Amiga cRPGs

Here is a list of cRPGs for the Amiga that you might like to check out:

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2 comments:

UnknownDecember 04, 2017
Interesting guide! I own an old Amiga and ages ago I was able to convert them from floppy disk to rom to be played on my pc with the emulator. A lenghty process but it worked.

Anyway I see that now Perihelion can be downloaded for free and Ishar trilogy is on Gog...that's great but I still miss Moonstone and B.A.T. ^^'

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