Emulation Basics.

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26th July 2008, 20:01
PiAnt

Emulation Basics.

A bit of background. I got an A500 back in '85 and had it and an A1200 up until '99. I had many great games I'd love to play again, and I've got many of the ADF files for them. I've got the Amiga Emulators WINAUE et al and I've managed to get a few of the games working too, however, not all. These things seem more complicated than they need to be. (I actually used to contribute A68K assembler tuition programs to Tony Thompson way back so I'm not exactly new to it all).

The main problems seem to stem from the particular configuration a game needs. For example, when changing disks, I can do that, but I can't "click fire" to proceed (don't know what key it is and I've pressed them all), nor can I determine which keys to use to make a particular move and such.

I've found some specific help for certain games on google, but for other games, I'm not sure what configuration to use and how to get it to recognise my keyboard and mouse as it would an Amiga's. Is a joystick a necessity?

Is there a website with a listing for the specific configurations that would let me play the games as I used to?

Any help much appreciated.

Cheers.
26th July 2008, 20:32
Harrison

In general most games will work perfectly using the Quickstart options when you load WinUAE.

You have probably seen sites, including classicamiga, list games as OCS, ECS, AGA etc. These refer to the different chipsets the various models of Amiga came with. In additional you need a copy of the different kickstart roms to get all games to work with WinUAE.

Here is a quick run through of quick settings to select from the Quickstart settings depending on the type of game.

OCS (Original Chip set) games
This refers to the original Amiga A500 with kickstart 1.3 roms.

Select: Model: A500 Configuration: 1.3ROM, PCS, 512KB Chip + 512KB Slow Ram (most common)

ECS (Enhanced Chipset) games
This refers to the updated chipset of the A500Plus and A600 with kickstart 2.04

Select: Model: A500+ or A600 Configuration: Basic non-expanded configuration.

AGA (Advanced Graphics Architecture) games
This refers to the final chipset of the A1200 with kickstart 3

Select: Model A1200 Configuration: Basic non-expanded configuration.

Those settings should get most games to run perfectly well.

If you still can't get one to work then first set the basic settings as above and then try changing some of the more advanced settings from the Hardware sections of the WinUAE properties. Different amounts of Chip and fast ram can make a game run, as can altering the chipset settings.

But if you can't get a game to run just ask and we can let you know the settings you will need.

Regarding joysticks. You can emulate an Amiga joystick on the PC keyboard. Go to the Game and I/O Ports sections of the WinUAE properties and at the bottom is a section for Mouse/Joystick Ports. Port 1 is the joystick. Just select one of the Keyboard layouts you prefer. I tend to use Layout B which uses the cursor keys and right ctrl for fire.

BTW, did you also know about using the F12 key while WinUAE is running? This will pause the emulator and bring up the properties window so you can swap floppies/adfs and change any other settings if you wish.

Hope that helps. Please ask if you need any more information.
27th July 2008, 06:18
Submeg

Usually having the 500 config gets most games to run, only some really old or really new titles need anything different
27th July 2008, 18:51
PiAnt

Cheers guys, I've managed to get a few more games running and accepting input today by choosing the keyboard/input "B" option on uae, but it seems that it's all pretty much trial and error to find the best setup.

Thanks for the help.

Ant.

P.S. One more thing, not sure if this is the right forum, but the Amiga screen is positioned "top-right" (if you get my meaning), on full screen or in windowed mode (i.e., the Amiga screen only fills the top-right portion of the screen or window), anyone else come across this? Can I stop it via any settings?

Thanks again.
28th July 2008, 15:43
Demon Cleaner

What version of WinUAE do you use?

Here's my settings for the display, pretty much the default settings:

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y18...ga/display.png
28th July 2008, 17:06
PiAnt

Here's a shot of the display.

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...006/Clip_2.jpg
It's the same in full screen mode too. Kind of up in the top right; Workbench looks like that too; in fact all output.

The version I'm using is.... Hang on a mo...

WINUAE 0.8.25 Beta 1

Whatever that means. Doesn't look much like yours though.

Thanks for the input btw, it's much appreciated.
28th July 2008, 17:13
Buleste

You're using a very old version of WinUAE. It's on 1.5 now. Go here for the latest version. If you have the same problems then use the Horizontal and Vertical centering options (Upper middle right on DC's picture).
28th July 2008, 17:31
PiAnt

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buleste

You're using a very old version of WinUAE. It's on 1.5 now. Go here for the latest version. If you have the same problems then use the Horizontal and Vertical centering options (Upper middle right on DC's picture).

Cheers downloaded it.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ok it's in the middle!

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...006/Clip_4.jpg

I'm using something called Amiga Forever and it seems to load the older version. I'll play around with it a bit and see what turns up.

Thanks muchly.

(BTW 10 points for the name of the game...)
28th July 2008, 17:34
Buleste

Which version of Amiga Forever are you using? Nice Asterix Background BTW.
28th July 2008, 17:34
Demon Cleaner

Game is Hunter ;)
28th July 2008, 18:00
PiAnt

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buleste

Which version of Amiga Forever are you using? Nice Asterix Background BTW.

Not sure, but folowing your lead I clicked the update, which appears to be repeatedly asking me to check for updates, but won't actually update... Ahh there's an update... I gotta pay :(

Ok on it.

I'll get back to you...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Demon Cleaner

Game is Hunter ;)

You are indeed correct. I'll pick something a bit more obscure next time to test you. (Do you know what the first screenshot was???)

Got it working (it's in the middle at least) and moving the bloke about but how to start the boat's engine????

Here's the Asterix background...

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...rix_-_Cast.png
28th July 2008, 18:06
Buleste

I suggest you don't bother with AMiga Forever but use one of the other Hard drive packs.
28th July 2008, 18:18
PiAnt

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buleste

I suggest you don't bother with AMiga Forever but use one of the other Hard drive packs.

Well, the just downloaded updated version of UAE seems to work well would you recommend I get a hold of something else too? Can you point me in the right direction?

Appreciate your insight btw cheers.
28th July 2008, 22:09
Bloodwych

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buleste

Can you point me in the right direction?

To start with, work your way through this list:

http://wiki.abime.net/amiga:workbench_packs
28th July 2008, 23:07
Teho

Quote:

Originally Posted by PiAnt

(Do you know what the first screenshot was???)

Walker of course. :) You need to have a look at our Quiz section, apparently. ;)

Most of the time the Amigas used a resolution of 320*256. When doubled as most do when emulating that's 640*512. Set the window size to that then you won't get any borders in it. You will sometimes need a bigger window, but for the classics that'll be fine 99.9% of the time.
31st July 2008, 20:28
v85rawdeal

Quote:

Originally Posted by PiAnt

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...rix_-_Cast.png

That's decided it.... I want an Asterix Theme on the PS3!!!
25th June 2010, 23:56
manni7rehal

Hi

thi seems all too confusing,

I download the winUAE 2.1.0, it comes with the kick start believe, i donwloaded lotus challenge 2, it took ages to load. there must be a better way or am i not doing something right.
first i thought i needed to load kick start, but with the WinUAE, its there in the configuration, it hink i am right?

does the whole screen needed to be used,?, can soemone help, also how do i copy games onto a floppy that can be layed on my amiga 500+?

many thanks

manni
29th June 2010, 00:37
Harrison

No, Kickstart rom files no not come with WinUAE. These are still commercial and sold, so are illegal to share for free. But as you own a real Amiga you are legally allowed to have a copy to use with the WinUAE emulator.

And once you have the kickstart roms, in WinUAE you go to the paths menu and navigate to their location in the roms entry, and then click the scan kickstart roms button. Once done you can then go to the quick start page, put the game adf in the DF0: drive entry, select the type of Amiga you wish to emulate and click the Start button to launch the emulation and boot the Amiga. You can speed up loading by going to the floppy drive section and turning the emulated speed up to 800%. Some games won't like this, but most work fine.

To copy ADFs into real Amiga disks you need to copy the ADF files to the Amiga and then use a program such as the Workbench program ADFBlitzer, which will take the ADF and write it directly back onto the floppy disk ready to boot. To get ADFs onto the Amiga you have a few options. Copy the files to a PC formatted 720KB floppy disk, but ADFs are 880KB so need to be LHA compressed first, and then decompressed once on the Amiga. Or use a CF memory card and PCMCIA to CF card adapter with an A1200. The copying ADFs to the Amiga is easy.

Another alternative is the Amiga Explorer package which you connect a PC to an Amiga using the serial ports and a null modem cable, then from the PC you can select the ADF, stick a disk in the Amiga and the PC end of the software will write the ADF directly to the Amiga disk in the Amiga drive. You can use any Amiga for this, even an A500. But it is commercial, from Cloanto, and can be purchased standalone, or as part of the Amiga Forever emulation package.