Amiga.org

Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Gaming => Topic started by: Soniq561 on January 07, 2013, 09:56:04 PM

Title: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: Soniq561 on January 07, 2013, 09:56:04 PM
After buying and fixing a non working a1200 I thought I'd get whdload so I replaced the roms to 3.1 and fitted a 8meg ram board so I could run it then I bought the 4 meg cf card which had whdload with games pre installed.

Now I thought you bought the cf card and that would be that (bit like mame) but when I load games up it says not registered!! Now I'm new to the scene and hoped you guys could explain what and how to work whdload.

Thanks in advance
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: AmmoJammo on January 07, 2013, 10:01:48 PM
What it seems you have basically bought, is a compact flash card, with an unregistered version of WHDLoad, and pirated games... :p

You can register WHDLoad, costs about $25 from memory?
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: Soniq561 on January 07, 2013, 10:17:49 PM
I just assumed it was just like mame, so if I was to register can I then use the games on the cf card or would I have to download new?  

Sorry about the really silly questions
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: bbond007 on January 07, 2013, 10:34:07 PM
Quote from: Soniq561;721669
I just assumed it was just like mame, so if I was to register can I then use the games on the cf card or would I have to download new?  

Sorry about the really silly questions

I thought it was like $15. It is still being developed....

You'll just copy the key file to devs: and the nag screen will go away :) no re install of anything.

I think that where it goes anyway... it will come with instructions.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: Jose on January 07, 2013, 10:40:31 PM
One of the best pieces of software I bought, and cheap too.
Still being developed, remember, it wouldn't have been possible if people didn't bought it. Coded in 68k assembler:)
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: AmmoJammo on January 07, 2013, 10:42:35 PM
Quote from: Soniq561;721669
I just assumed it was just like mame, so if I was to register can I then use the games on the cf card or would I have to download new?  

Sorry about the really silly questions

The games it came with should already work, but you'll have to wait about 20 seconds on the "Unregistered" screen, this screen obviously doesn't appear in the registered version.

What happens when you try to run the games it came with?
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: Soniq561 on January 07, 2013, 11:12:14 PM
Quote from: AmmoJammo;721677
The games it came with should already work, but you'll have to wait about 20 seconds on the "Unregistered" screen, this screen obviously doesn't appear in the registered version.

What happens when you try to run the games it came with?


Before the game loads a screen pops up saying unregistered then some load and play fine others all that happens is I get a demo of the intro but nothing else and some won't load at all it just says that it needs to be registered.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: carvedeye on January 07, 2013, 11:19:29 PM
Quote from: Soniq561;721685
Before the game loads a screen pops up saying unregistered then some load and play fine others all that happens is I get a demo of the intro but nothing else and some won't load at all it just says that it needs to be registered.


The demo at the beginning is normaly of the cracked games like skidrow etc...if you left click the mouse it usually gets the game going.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: paul1981 on January 07, 2013, 11:27:56 PM
Quote from: Soniq561;721685
Before the game loads a screen pops up saying unregistered then some load and play fine others all that happens is I get a demo of the intro but nothing else and some won't load at all it just says that it needs to be registered.

Some games do require a registered WHDLoad (a keyfile). For instance, the game Fears for AGA Amiga's requires a key to work. Lotus Espirt Turbo Challange works without the key, but you'll be racing against yourself! (no other cars on the track...until you have a keyfile that is)!
Most games work fully without the key, but you do get the annoying start delay, so I'd recommend registering. :)
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: Matt_H on January 08, 2013, 12:45:46 AM
Register here (http://www.whdload.de/reg.html)
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: klx300r on January 08, 2013, 01:04:33 AM
@ Soniq561

my advice is to register WHDload because it's a great piece of software and also to support the guys behind it.  We amigans should support Amiga developers whenever we can.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: gaula92 on January 08, 2013, 01:13:56 AM
Registered Whdload long time ago. Money well spent! It's running countless games in my Amiga 1200 and Minimig computers :)
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: magnetic on January 08, 2013, 01:21:50 AM
YEs I'm a registered WHDload user too. Here are some reasons to reg

1. Supports the devs who spent countless hours on this for us

2. It seems to make games more compatible as stated earlier

3. No wait screen games load right away

4. Whdload seems more stable with reg key for some reason...
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: AAACHIPSET on January 08, 2013, 04:04:38 PM
actually i got a full compact flash ..an i mean full 4gig of whdownload games  all registered to someone else  ...gave me the willys to see her name when i had registered
my copy  i actually reset up my own compact flash  ..now everytime i run a whd game i get my name in lights!!! ..its one of the few programs ive registered ..an its a long way away from me ..in germany ??  i think  forget now..but it is worth it ..
for very little money you get almost every amiga game in history running off your harddrive  ...only 2 missing i can recall i want is simcity2000...which adf wont work for me ..an microcosm  which i bought the cd ..
buy it ..you wont regret it..
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: Rabbi on January 08, 2013, 10:33:45 PM
Quote from: Matt_H;721713
Register here (http://www.whdload.de/reg.html)
Matt H,

Is the link posted in the "Links" tab of Amiga.org?  If not, it should be added.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: kickstart on January 08, 2013, 10:38:58 PM
Quote from: paul1981;721694
Some games do require a registered WHDLoad (a keyfile). For instance, the game Fears for AGA Amiga's requires a key to work. Lotus Espirt Turbo Challange works without the key, but you'll be racing against yourself! (no other cars on the track...until you have a keyfile that is)!
Most games work fully without the key, but you do get the annoying start delay, so I'd recommend registering. :)

really? that is very crappy.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: desiv on January 08, 2013, 10:48:40 PM
Quote from: kickstart;721814
really? that is very crappy.
It's odd...
But I look at it this way..
It's not an incentive to get people to register..

It's a reward for those of us who have registered.. ;-)

I'm pretty cheap, and registering WHDLoad was definitely worth it!!
(Took me a few years tho.. ;-)

desiv
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: Matt_H on January 09, 2013, 04:08:38 AM
Quote from: Rabbi;721813
Matt H,

Is the link posted in the "Links" tab of Amiga.org?  If not, it should be added.


Good idea! I've added a link to the main WHDLoad page.

Quote from: desiv;721816
It's odd...
But I look at it this way..
It's not an incentive to get people to register..

It's a reward for those of us who have registered.. ;-)

I'm pretty cheap, and registering WHDLoad was definitely worth it!!
(Took me a few years tho.. ;-)

desiv


I see it as no different from other shareware that disables some features until you register.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: magnetic on January 09, 2013, 06:28:54 AM
Quote from: kickstart;721814
really? that is very crappy.


Is it crappy that developers want to get some compensation for all their hard work? I think its pretty damn cool you that its a fully working whdload and all you get is a silly wait screen. Its only like 10secs.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: haywirepc on January 09, 2013, 06:58:53 AM
whdload follows a long and grand tradition of annoyware.

At first, you think, I don't need to register, I'll just wait out the load times...

Then you see some whdload games (many of the best ones) will not load at all unless you register... Others are crippled or missing features unless you register...

I think its worth just giving them a few bucks. After all, there are so many collections of whdload games. I think I have something like 4,000...
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: Matt_H on January 10, 2013, 12:04:26 AM
WHDLoad is worth every penny. Period.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: kickstart on January 10, 2013, 01:24:15 AM
Quote from: magnetic;721849
Is it crappy that developers want to get some compensation for all their hard work? I think its pretty damn cool you that its a fully working whdload and all you get is a silly wait screen. Its only like 10secs.


Its crappy the lotus fault by example, i didnt know it... of course developers can get compensation. Is not necessary to show the knife for a simple opinion.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: Drummerboy on January 10, 2013, 06:01:07 AM
I do not understand, people complain because no application development for Amiga, but when someone does something good and worthwhile and this person request any symbolic monetary contribution in the registry process, also complain becouse  they do not want to pay a minimum amount.

Its just support to the developer. Is fair and every worker deserves his pay, mostly talking about Amiga OS, not willing to spend any time to develop software nowdays.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: lempkee on January 10, 2013, 07:36:00 AM
Quote from: Drummerboy;721925
I do not understand, people complain because no application development for Amiga, but when someone does something good and worthwhile and this person request any symbolic monetary contribution in the registry process, also complain becouse  they do not want to pay a minimum amount.

Its just support to the developer. Is fair and every worker deserves his pay, mostly talking about Amiga OS, not willing to spend any time to develop software nowdays.


you've missunderstood this one, the guys complaining doesn't even own any Amiga's and just want to bitch whenever possible, you know it's those guys who seem so "into it" but at the same time its those that jumped ship and left the Amiga nearly if not more than a decade ago.

Anyway, Whdload for life!.
I have been one of the largest contributors and supplied em with over 1000 orginal games.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: Lurch on January 10, 2013, 08:27:41 AM
$30USD... will have to wait awhile as funds are tight. But yes WHDLoad is great :-)

Most Amiga HDD setups would be a very different story without it :-(
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: spirantho on January 10, 2013, 10:16:19 AM
Definitely WHDLoad is well worth the money.
For some reason my keyfile doesn't work with later versions and it just crashes instead of running the game - very annoying. I think Google managed to spider its way to my keyfile at one point and the WHDLoad guys thought I was distributing it (and I wasn't - that directory wasn't supposed to be publically accesible and I'm still angry that Google spidered its way through non-advertised private stuff).

Still worth every penny though (luckily the earlier WHDLoad still works just fine!) - just be careful about where you keep your keyfile (away from prying web companies)!
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: _ThEcRoW on January 10, 2013, 01:32:53 PM
Quote from: magnetic;721849
Is it crappy that developers want to get some compensation for all their hard work? I think its pretty damn cool you that its a fully working whdload and all you get is a silly wait screen. Its only like 10secs.


It isn't a silly wait screen, there are games that doesn't work with unregistered. And also, could be worth to say anyone interested, that it wouldn't load all the games without an expanded system(even the ones who ran on a stock 1200). So, unless you have a expanded amiga, i wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: klx300r on January 10, 2013, 03:04:11 PM
Quote from: spirantho;721945
...I think Google managed to spider its way to my keyfile at one point and the WHDLoad guys thought I was distributing it (and I wasn't - that directory wasn't supposed to be publically accesible and I'm still angry that Google spidered its way through non-advertised private stuff).

Still worth every penny though (luckily the earlier WHDLoad still works just fine!) - just be careful about where you keep your keyfile (away from prying web companies)!

WTF Ian ! are you serious about Google spy bots:rant: I know Big Brother is always watching but this sh*t is crazy
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: spirantho on January 10, 2013, 06:14:59 PM
What happened is this:
On my website I put the WHDload.key so I could get it onto one of my Amigas. It was just in my private webspace, nobody should have seen it.
However, Google (or someone like it) found my publicised website for the Catweasel or something, and cut off the "Catweasel/" bit. This brought it back into my main personal directory which should never have been accesible, but Verio (the hosters) had by default set it to create browse info when you looked at index.html! This meant it picked up all the contents of that directory, including my WHDLoad.key, and Google indexed it!
I had no idea about this till someone pointed out to me that my personal webspace was visible. This is why I now have an index.html there which just says "Go away, nosey!".

I think what irked me most, though, is that the WHDLoad guys could have bothered to email me - they had my address - and asked me why it was available. The fact that they just made future versions not work with my (legally paid for) registration key, with no warnings or anything, not even a notification - that was rather shady and undeserved. I paid for something for future updates and they crippled it with no warning - not good. If it weren't for the fact that the last working version runs everything anyway, I'd be complaining more loudly, though.

That said, it still really is an excellent piece of software, and I don't regret buying it at all - even though I can't use the newer versions through no fault of my own.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: desiv on January 10, 2013, 06:23:41 PM
Quote from: spirantho;722003
private webspace

Ha!!

Those words are funny together...

desiv
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: kedawa on January 10, 2013, 11:11:35 PM
Google doesn't need some type of textlink to snoop.  Anything that shows up in their DNS gets analyzed.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: klx300r on January 11, 2013, 06:32:03 PM
@ spirantho

ah I see now & thta's why I personally don't trust this 'cloud' stuff for perosnal info. I thought it was on your HD & the bot somehow got it.

anyhow good tom see things got settled in the end and unfortunate to know that google or any 'bot' is capable of taking stuff from 'cloud' storage like that
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: kickstart on January 11, 2013, 07:07:35 PM
Quote from: lempkee;721931
you've missunderstood this one, the guys complaining doesn't even own any Amiga's and just want to bitch whenever possible, you know it's those guys who seem so "into it" but at the same time its those that jumped ship and left the Amiga nearly if not more than a decade ago.

Anyway, Whdload for life!.
I have been one of the largest contributors and supplied em with over 1000 orginal games.


Nice speech but im just talk about the run alone on lotus turbo challenge NOT of whdload, whdload is cool and i have it registered.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: superfrog76 on January 27, 2014, 06:07:49 AM
Honestly, I have my own opinion on the whole WHDLoad, which is not really a good one.

So far, I am all for supporting software: if someone makes a new software, I may buy it if I need it; but things with WHDLoad are different....

And just to give some background: I make quite a lot of money, so 40 dollars are not a big deal in the end (I spend probably half of it every day at lunch...so I just have 2 salads for 2 days and I can pay for it), and I have always purchased original games and Amiga software, when it was sold in stores. I am so adamant on these things (being a developer on Windows OS, sadly, but this is what sell nowadays), that if my original would get damaged, I would buy again the same game.

At first, I thought that WHDLoad was free; like many things nowadays on the Amiga; then I realized that it was a sort of shareware...well, I live with Winrar trial since 2001 probably; it gives you the bothersome message and then it just works; I told myself that I can live with the delay message.

Then I figured out that the software cause errors on the games on purpose, or lock the OS forcing you not only to reboot, but to power cycle to clean the memory. Unless you pay the ....registration.

Again, it is fine to "force" people to buy your product, but I see it as quite aggressive behavior...I would be fine with a finite amount of run, then you need the license, if it is not slapped on my face.

The second issue that I have is legal: the whole WHDLoad depends on games, which are basically still covered by copyright. AFAIKT, nobody gave written authorization to the guys that write WHDLoad, to sell an application that allow people to run their games on the hdd, and make profit out of it.
Altho they are making money on this, and the fact that the application is totally useless, unless you have games to install, reinforce the point that it is a derived app, depending from a copyrighted piece of software. Different from a  plugin that you may use in an app like 3dsmax, because it won't add any new feature to the application itself (the ability to run on hd is an os paradigm, once is in memory the OS can't care less if it came from a floppy block or a HD block).

So to me, if it was free, and request donation as many do, I would be all for it, but since it is a product that force you to pay a hefty amount of money, to use games that in most cases are covered by copyright, makes me feel uncomfortable.
Being Amiga stuff, most of the SW houses are either dead, or don't care anymore, this may mitigate the issue, from a legal standpoint, but I feel morally obliged to not buy this piece of software.

I mean, take the work done by classicWB, and they really deserve kudos and money, for giving a great service, for taking the time in packing applications and utilities, in something easy to install and use. Altho they didn't write the applications itself, they supply a service that is quite useful and worthy of appreciation.

This is obviously my idea; I have my beliefs and I follow them, independently if we are talking of a dead platform or not. I prefer to have my 200 floppy, with the games that I like, install the games that has an installer, and continue to use the Amiga without WHDLoad.
Pretty sure that most of you will not grasp my motivations, so feel free to continue to support whatever you consider legit and useful to your purposes...they will not close and stop to make WHDLoad, just because I don't want to buy or use it :)
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: spirantho on January 27, 2014, 07:13:40 AM
I can see your point of view. But if WHDload hadn't had so much work put into it, the whole Amiga scene would have been massively deprived. Remember WHDload doesn't just install to HD. it also fixes most games to work on expanded systems.
It is a moral minefield as to the pricing and making profit from commercial games, but the benefits gained FAR outweigh the dubious nature of hacking the games in the first place. I'm all for protecting people's IP but in this case it doesn't cost anyone anything and allows us with pumped-up Miggies to still enjoy those games.

I'm right behind the WHDload guys in this one, and they deserve money for the amount of work they've put in which allows us to keep playing great Amiga games, even after the original disks have gone bad.It even lets us use our original disks on AmigaOS 4 machines (with a Catweasel :) )
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: superfrog76 on January 27, 2014, 07:40:10 AM
Spirantho, I agree that a lot of work went into WHDLoad, but at the same time, I would like to point out as example, the impact between WHDLoad, and Amiga forever. Which is totally in favor of the latter IMO.

WHDLoad gave the real amiga users, the chance to run games that would not run on the hd, and in some cases, make them run on configurations which would never be able to run certain games. AF on the other side, put a ton of work to make the emulated Amiga available to the masses....they both use the games written by others, but to me, AF value is much higher than WHDLoad; looking at what it does and what kind of impact has.

They cost almost the same..., but one sell you the right to use the original roms and run games/WB; while the other allow you to run games that would run  on floppy, in the worst case....or run games that honestly, are a minimal part of the whole catalog of Amiga games. Among the 2, I see value in AF, but not in WHDLoad, to justify that price.

On the moral issue, I think it is pretty much a personal opinion...most of the games running on the Amiga (emulated or real) are cracked anyway...if someone has no problems to download a ton of cracked games, has even less problems to pay someone to play them from the HD; if you catch my point. I don't have cracked images; the only ADF that I have are of the games that I had on floppy, and that I still have (except some cases, where the game itself does not exist anymore, altho the receipts that I paid are still somewhere in my archive for sure).

Far from blaming anyone! This is how I am, I do not criticize, judge or do the sermon, just because I act in this way. I am simply marking the fact that once that you go on a certain route (cracked games), then the whole subsequent reasoning may be warped by the first choices made.

In a certain way, also the crackers that cracked the games put a lot of work in what they did...altho some do work for the love of doing it, others for gaining money.

Maybe I am just too old fashioned :)
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: spirantho on January 27, 2014, 10:38:55 AM
I think the work done for WinUAE is probably pretty similar to the work done for WHDLoad, to be honest. They both took a truckload of work. AmigaForever I'm not sure about, I don't know it well enough to comment, but WinUAE is the guts of it.

You need to remember that WHDLoad isn't just the program that you're paying for - it's all the different installs. Hacking into a game, removing the copy protection, fixing compatibility and putting in onto the HD is a lot of work for one game, and how many does WHDLoad do? Tons!

As usual it's horses for courses, though - some will find more use in AF, some (like myself) find more use in WHDLoad. I think either is well worth the cash, especially as it's a fairly small wodge of dough that's required to register WHDLoad given the work gone into it.

Buy both of them. :) In fact, register all that shareware you've been using for the last year thinking "I really ought to get round to registering that someday" - we nearly all have at least one piece of shareware like that!
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: nicholas on January 27, 2014, 11:13:48 AM
Quote from: superfrog76;757987
Spirantho, I agree that a lot of work went into WHDLoad, but at the same time, I would like to point out as example, the impact between WHDLoad, and Amiga forever. Which is totally in favor of the latter IMO.

WHDLoad gave the real amiga users, the chance to run games that would not run on the hd, and in some cases, make them run on configurations which would never be able to run certain games. AF on the other side, put a ton of work to make the emulated Amiga available to the masses....they both use the games written by others, but to me, AF value is much higher than WHDLoad; looking at what it does and what kind of impact has.

They cost almost the same..., but one sell you the right to use the original roms and run games/WB; while the other allow you to run games that would run  on floppy, in the worst case....or run games that honestly, are a minimal part of the whole catalog of Amiga games. Among the 2, I see value in AF, but not in WHDLoad, to justify that price.

On the moral issue, I think it is pretty much a personal opinion...most of the games running on the Amiga (emulated or real) are cracked anyway...if someone has no problems to download a ton of cracked games, has even less problems to pay someone to play them from the HD; if you catch my point. I don't have cracked images; the only ADF that I have are of the games that I had on floppy, and that I still have (except some cases, where the game itself does not exist anymore, altho the receipts that I paid are still somewhere in my archive for sure).

Far from blaming anyone! This is how I am, I do not criticize, judge or do the sermon, just because I act in this way. I am simply marking the fact that once that you go on a certain route (cracked games), then the whole subsequent reasoning may be warped by the first choices made.

In a certain way, also the crackers that cracked the games put a lot of work in what they did...altho some do work for the love of doing it, others for gaining money.

Maybe I am just too old fashioned :)

Amiga Forever free loads on the hard work of others and sells you the right to use ROMs that as an Amiga owner you already have the right to use. It also puts money in the pocket of that shyster Bill McEwen who destroyed any chance the Amiga had of making a comeback.

WHDLoad on the other hand is all the work of its authors.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: superfrog76 on January 27, 2014, 11:24:00 AM
WinUAE was written from the ground up to support UAE on windows; it is a frontend somehow, but has also more features than a simple skin on screen.
AF is another frontend, which goes on top of Winuae; it gives you rating system for the games, screenshots, manuals, box arts and much more (using their custom file system called rp9).

WinUAE is a lot of work; if you ever wrote an application for windows :) Same goes for AF. I am not sure about how much work goes into making an installer for Amiga; I leave the explanation to someone that knows this, to avoid and say something incorrect :)

I get your point; it is kinda like a person that write a game from the ground up, and a person that writes a mod...you won't really compare the work needed to make a full game, compared to a mod for a pre-existing game.

I know that it is not as simple, but I see similar patterns here. I never objected the usefulness of the WHDLoad project; just the moral premises and the fact that is priced as much as an application+roms+license to use an OS (WB is included in AF).

Then consider how many games you play ;) I count about 200 games, that I actually am interested in, and probably 40 that I play now and then...I understand that it is cool to have 4 Gb of games on WHDLoad, but it is not as important to me, due the fact that I don't use them, don't need them and I never purchased ALL the existing Amiga games :P

I do have AF already; I buy it every other year, since the beginning, but now that I have got again a real Amiga, I am more into buying software that can be useful to me :) For WHDLoad I don't think that I will buy it; I don't even have it on my partition, since I use the floppy :)

Maybe one day, they either stop to sell it, or change their method of distribution, from license based to donation based. In that case I may see an advantage in have it.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: nicholas on January 27, 2014, 11:32:09 AM
Quote from: superfrog76;757995
WinUAE was written from the ground up to support UAE on windows; it is a frontend somehow, but has also more features than a simple skin on screen.
AF is another frontend, which goes on top of Winuae; it gives you rating system for the games, screenshots, manuals, box arts and much more (using their custom file system called rp9).

WinUAE is a lot of work; if you ever wrote an application for windows :) Same goes for AF. I am not sure about how much work goes into making an installer for Amiga; I leave the explanation to someone that knows this, to avoid and say something incorrect :)

I get your point; it is kinda like a person that write a game from the ground up, and a person that writes a mod...you won't really compare the work needed to make a full game, compared to a mod for a pre-existing game.

I know that it is not as simple, but I see similar patterns here. I never objected the usefulness of the WHDLoad project; just the moral premises and the fact that is priced as much as an application+roms+license to use an OS (WB is included in AF).

Then consider how many games you play ;) I count about 200 games, that I actually am interested in, and probably 40 that I play now and then...I understand that it is cool to have 4 Gb of games on WHDLoad, but it is not as important to me, due the fact that I don't use them, don't need them and I never purchased ALL the existing Amiga games :P

I do have AF already; I buy it every other year, since the beginning, but now that I have got again a real Amiga, I am more into buying software that can be useful to me :) For WHDLoad I don't think that I will buy it; I don't even have it on my partition, since I use the floppy :)

Maybe one day, they either stop to sell it, or change their method of distribution, from license based to donation based. In that case I may see an advantage in have it.

Maybe one day you'll change your software to be donation based too?

No? Why not?

And yes I've written mission critical software for windows (And UNIX, Linux, AS/400) so I know what goes into writing software.

The effort and skill that went into slapping AF together is nothing compared to WHDLoad.

I don't play games very often btw
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: superfrog76 on January 27, 2014, 11:33:10 AM
Quote from: nicholas;757994
Amiga Forever free loads on the hard work of others and sells you the right to use ROMs that as an Amiga owner you already have the right to use. It also puts money in the pocket of that shyster Bill McEwen who destroyed any chance the Amiga had of making a comeback.

WHDLoad on the other hand is all the work of its authors.


Well, they don't free load; they bought the license to have their name on that stuff, and paid royalties; which I don't think that WHDLoad did for any of the thousands of games available :)

I have the Amiga again now; but before I didn't...so I found the AF offer, legit and fitting my case. I was without the Amiga until I could get one again, so now I don't really need AF anymore (except when I am traveling and do not have the miggy with me).

Amiga was killed by so  many people; mainly from whoever took the games and distributed them...no income for programmers means that nobody sell stuff....which brings to a death of the hardware, because nobody likes to sell hardware without software available :)

I understand your negative feelings, but keep in mind that AF is Cloanto (the guys that made C1 Text and many other apps in the past); which has nothing to do with Amiga inc and their poor choices ;)

WHDLoad is all work of their authors, but without games doesn't do anything...AF is also work of their authors; and without roms and WB would still run (you would basically have a big DB of Amiga games, with pictures, music, box arts and manuals). I am comparing them just for the similar case in which they exist: they both piggyback on some other products, and somehow needs them to have a meaning...to exist.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: nicholas on January 27, 2014, 11:38:11 AM
Quote from: superfrog76;757998
Well, they don't free load; they bought the license to have their name on that stuff, and paid royalties; which I don't think that WHDLoad did for any of the thousands of games available :)

I have the Amiga again now; but before I didn't...so I found the AF offer, legit and fitting my case. I was without the Amiga until I could get one again, so now I don't really need AF anymore (except when I am traveling and do not have the miggy with me).

Amiga was killed by so  many people; mainly from whoever took the games and distributed them...no income for programmers means that nobody sell stuff....which brings to a death of the hardware, because nobody likes to sell hardware without software available :)

I understand your negative feelings, but keep in mind that AF is Cloanto (the guys that made C1 Text and many other apps in the past); which has nothing to do with Amiga inc and their poor choices ;)

WHDLoad is all work of their authors, but without games doesn't do anything...AF is also work of their authors; and without roms and WB would still run (you would basically have a big DB of Amiga games, with pictures, music, box arts and manuals). I am comparing them just for the similar case in which they exist: they both piggyback on some other products, and somehow needs them to have a meaning...to exist.

WinUAE is GPL software and the  
Kickstart and Workbench come with every Amiga ever sold.

All AF does is take those things are free to all of us and slap on a crappy frontend and a price tag.  They are leeches.

I own a copy of it so I know what it consists of.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: superfrog76 on January 27, 2014, 11:39:46 AM
Quote from: nicholas;757997
Maybe one day you'll change your software to be donation based too?

No? Why not?

And yes I've written mission critical software for windows (And UNIX, Linux, AS/400) so I know what goes into writing software.

The effort and skill that went into slapping AF together is nothing compared to WHDLoad.

I don't play games very often btw


I may change my software distribution paradigm; depends from the choices made at certain point in time....I participated in drivers for linux distributions too; and I never asked for a penny...I wrote utilities and never tried to make money on them, because it was quite dumb to me to ask for 1 buck for a utility used by sys admins for their operations.

If I write an application for Amiga, I would not sell it. Even less if it would need some other software for which I do not own rights to use, nor I was authorized to modify.

IF I can get the code of AF and WHDLoad, I may be able to tell how much effort goes in it, but without see the code; I can simply theorize and assume; which does nothing good in the end.

The effort was never under discussion btw
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: superfrog76 on January 27, 2014, 11:48:12 AM
Quote from: nicholas;757999
WinUAE is GPL software and the  
Kickstart and Workbench come with every Amiga ever sold.

All AF does is take those things are free to all of us and slap on a crappy frontend and a price tag.  They are leeches.

I own a copy of it so I know what it consists of.


Yes, GPL, which is different from a copyrighted game, which has to be disassembled, reverse engineered, to remove protections and make it work and install with WHDLoad. That's one of my problems in dealing with such software.

AF takes roms and AmigaOS 3.0, for which has paid licenses and rights to distribute them, to people that do not have an Amiga...by law you are required to either own the rom and the software, to use it on an emulator, or you need to buy a license, like the one that AF has. I fail to see the "leeching" here.

The front end takes time to be written; as easy as it could be, the fact that me or you would be able to make a similar frontend with the same features with visual studio, doesn't mean necessarily that is a small feature, don't you think?

I am not defending them, just pointing out that they did legally everything right, and even made the effort to make a frontend for Amiga enthusiasts. After all these people used to write software for Amiga, so they care about it, don't you think?

Now, since I have a real Amiga again, the point in using it is limited, but think about many people that wants to have LEGALLY a copy of the roms and AOS; they can actually do it thanks to AF.

Or is better to get all fro free on bit torrent? In which case I fail to see why then WHDLoad should be different.

Anyway; I simply opened up my inner thoughts here; I don't want to discourage anyone to buy WHDLoad, since it seems loved by so many people. I just want to be sure that I don't break the law in any way, or somehow break my ethical code.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: nicholas on January 27, 2014, 11:51:47 AM
Quote from: superfrog76;758000
I may change my software distribution paradigm; depends from the choices made at certain point in time....I participated in drivers for linux distributions too; and I never asked for a penny...I wrote utilities and never tried to make money on them, because it was quite dumb to me to ask for 1 buck for a utility used by sys admins for their operations.

If I write an application for Amiga, I would not sell it. Even less if it would need some other software for which I do not own rights to use, nor I was authorized to modify.

IF I can get the code of AF and WHDLoad, I may be able to tell how much effort goes in it, but without see the code; I can simply theorize and assume; which does nothing good in the end.

The effort was never under discussion btw


Really?

You wrote:
Quote
'WinUAE is a lot of work; if you ever wrote an application for windows Same goes for AF.


You think the crappy VB-esque front end they put together is even close to the work put into WinUAE which is free of charge and without which AF would have no product, yet you moan about WHDLoad not working without the games people have already paid for.

As I said, they are leeches that freeload on the work of others.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: nicholas on January 27, 2014, 11:54:07 AM
Quote from: superfrog76;758001
Yes, GPL, which is different from a copyrighted game, which has to be disassembled, reverse engineered, to remove protections and make it work and install with WHDLoad. That's one of my problems in dealing with such software.

AF takes roms and AmigaOS 3.0, for which has paid licenses and rights to distribute them, to people that do not have an Amiga...by law you are required to either own the rom and the software, to use it on an emulator, or you need to buy a license, like the one that AF has. I fail to see the "leeching" here.

The front end takes time to be written; as easy as it could be, the fact that me or you would be able to make a similar frontend with the same features with visual studio, doesn't mean necessarily that is a small feature, don't you think?

I am not defending them, just pointing out that they did legally everything right, and even made the effort to make a frontend for Amiga enthusiasts. After all these people used to write software for Amiga, so they care about it, don't you think?

Now, since I have a real Amiga again, the point in using it is limited, but think about many people that wants to have LEGALLY a copy of the roms and AOS; they can actually do it thanks to AF.

Or is better to get all fro free on bit torrent? In which case I fail to see why then WHDLoad should be different.

Anyway; I simply opened up my inner thoughts here; I don't want to discourage anyone to buy WHDLoad, since it seems loved by so many people. I just want to be sure that I don't break the law in any way, or somehow break my ethical code.


WHDLoad authors have done everything "legally right" too, except they are only selling their own hard work not someone else's GPL licenced hard work.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: superfrog76 on January 27, 2014, 07:55:05 PM
Quote from: nicholas;758002
Really?


You think the crappy VB-esque front end they put together is even close to the work put into WinUAE which is free of charge and without which AF would have no product, yet you moan about WHDLoad not working without the games people have already paid for.

As I said, they are leeches that freeload on the work of others.


Yes, why it is so strange? Do you deal with people that live only for money? Nobody does something for free or for passion? I pity them, they must have a really sad and miserable life. The fact that you have a gift or skills, does not mean necessarily that you must monetize it 24/7. I have a full time job that pay a lot and give me the chance to do what I love; so I am lucky probably.

I don't know if it is made in VB or not; the UI is exactly the same even if you use Visual C++. I agree that without UAE there would be no AF, but is the same for WHDLoad: without games there would be no WHDLoad. You can still use the AF frontend without launch the games thou, as database and catalog system thou.

I am simply comparing the legality and usefulness of the 2, since they both depend from something else. To me one's price is fine, while the other seems excessive, that's all.

SO WHDLoad is not freeloading on games? I see you having a strong opinion on AF, but I don't see you making a reasonable comment on WHDLoad thou, which makes me think that you take side, and not just analyzing the things like I am trying to do.

I don't want to change your ideas, I express my opinion, to see if someone has arguments that could make me change my mind about this product legality
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: superfrog76 on January 27, 2014, 08:03:45 PM
Quote from: nicholas;758003
WHDLoad authors have done everything "legally right" too, except they are only selling their own hard work not someone else's GPL licenced hard work.


So they contacted every single company for every single game, told them that they will reverse engineer the games to remove cracks (if any), protections, change its mount point in the os, so it can be read from the hd, pack all in a file and distribute it for money?

Even if they don't touch the compiled application, to use something written by others, you need authorization, the usual EULA terms do not allow to make derived works out of an application; I don't have handy any EULA now to copy exactly what it says, but in software development, there are standards that a re the bare minimum.

Since you work in the field, as you mentioned earlier, you know this very well.

If they did all of this, and there are proof that they contacted whoever retains the rights and copyright for each game, I will be more than happy to consider the registration fee.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: AmigaBruno on January 27, 2014, 08:07:32 PM
I'm very sorry to have to say that I haven't been able to work out how to install WHDload and now I'm not sure I even remember how I was trying to do it. I bought a blank CF card and an IDE adaptor. I watched tutorial videos by the YouTube user retrosofer, then I inserted the CF card into a CF card to USB adaptor and tried to install the files from my laptop onto the card under Linux and/or Windows. I put the files in the root directory of my Windows partition and just couldn't manage to install them. I remember that the WHDload files had to be in the C: root directory under Windows. I couldn't understand what I was doing wrong.

Since then, I've only installed a few games and the BetterWB pack, which were all in .ADF format, onto my CF card hard drive. I've only worked out how to copy and install software which is on floppy disk, usually created with a .ADF transfer program. If only WHDload was available as a set of .ADF files then I could install it.

Can anyone explain to me simply and clearly how to install WHDload onto my CF card, or even onto a new blank CF card?

Alternatively, can anyone point out where I can still get a pre prepared CF card which already has WHDload, as well as lots of games and demos already installed onto it?
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: nicholas on January 27, 2014, 08:14:13 PM
Quote from: superfrog76;758024
Yes, why it is so strange? Do you deal with people that live only for money? Nobody does something for free or for passion? I pity them, they must have a really sad and miserable life.

You mean like giving up a career with a huge salary to look after disabled people 24/7 for no monetary gain whatsoever?

Quote
The fact that you have a gift or skills, does not mean necessarily that you must monetize it 24/7.

What has that got to do with Cloanto MAKING MONEY by selling other people's hard work compared to WHDLoad authors selling their own work?

Quote
I have a full time job that pay a lot and give me the chance to do what I love; so I am lucky probably.

So you keep saying.

Quote
I don't know if it is made in VB or not; the UI is exactly the same even if you use Visual C++. I agree that without UAE there would be no AF, but is the same for WHDLoad: without games there would be no WHDLoad. You can still use the AF frontend without launch the games thou, as database and catalog system thou.

I am simply comparing the legality and usefulness of the 2, since they both depend from something else. To me one's price is fine, while the other seems excessive, that's all.

So selling someone elses work with a crappy frontend is "fine" but selling your own hard work is "not fine"?

Quote
SO WHDLoad is not freeloading on games? I see you having a strong opinion on AF, but I don't see you making a reasonable comment on WHDLoad thou, which makes me think that you take side, and not just analyzing the things like I am trying to do.

I am stating nothing but facts, WHDLoad is the sole work of it's authors and they are free to sell it for whatever price they want.

Your "analysis" is not based in logic at all.

Quote
I don't want to change your ideas, I express my opinion, to see if someone has arguments that could make me change my mind about this product legality

How about the law?  That enough of a reason for you?
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: nicholas on January 27, 2014, 08:16:58 PM
Quote from: superfrog76;758025
So they contacted every single company for every single game, told them that they will reverse engineer the games to remove cracks (if any), protections, change its mount point in the os, so it can be read from the hd, pack all in a file and distribute it for money?


They don't need to, in civilised countries the law quite clearly states they are allowed to provide such a service.

Quote
Even if they don't touch the compiled application, to use something written by others, you need authorization, the usual EULA terms do not allow to make derived works out of an application; I don't have handy any EULA now to copy exactly what it says, but in software development, there are standards that a re the bare minimum.


They don't create nor distribute "derived works out of an application".

Quote
Since you work in the field, as you mentioned earlier, you know this very well.


I know what the law states in civilised countries, you seemingly don't.

Quote
If they did all of this, and there are proof that they contacted whoever retains the rights and copyright for each game, I will be more than happy to consider the registration fee.


See above.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: nicholas on January 27, 2014, 08:19:26 PM
Quote from: AmigaBruno;758026
I'm very sorry to have to say that I haven't been able to work out how to install WHDload and now I'm not sure I even remember how I was trying to do it. I bought a blank CF card and an IDE adaptor. I watched tutorial videos by the YouTube user retrosofer, then I inserted the CF card into a CF card to USB adaptor and tried to install the files from my laptop onto the card under Linux and/or Windows. I put the files in the root directory of my Windows partition and just couldn't manage to install them. I remember that the WHDload files had to be in the C: root directory under Windows. I couldn't understand what I was doing wrong.

Since then, I've only installed a few games and the BetterWB pack, which were all in .ADF format, onto my CF card hard drive. I've only worked out how to copy and install software which is on floppy disk, usually created with a .ADF transfer program. If only WHDload was available as a set of .ADF files then I could install it.

Can anyone explain to me simply and clearly how to install WHDload onto my CF card, or even onto a new blank CF card?

Alternatively, can anyone point out where I can still get a pre prepared CF card which already has WHDload, as well as lots of games and demos already installed onto it?


ebay, but that would be illegal in most western countries.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: AmigaBruno on January 27, 2014, 08:23:43 PM
Quote from: nicholas;758029
ebay, but that would be illegal in most western countries.


Unfortunately, it's not clear from the eBay listings nowadays which of these cards have any games or demos installed.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: Oldsmobile_Mike on January 27, 2014, 08:48:47 PM
Quote from: AmigaBruno;758030
Unfortunately, it's not clear from the eBay listings nowadays which of these cards have any games or demos installed.

At first I would be tempted to say "that's because of all the people crying about 'piracy' they changed their descriptions", then I went to ebay and typed in "amiga cf" and found 14 listings right off the bat for CF cards loaded with WHDLoad games.  Search harder.

WHDLoad is a godsend, I can't imagine how or why people would want to use things like floppy disks or HxC readers/.adf files, when you can have a nice directory full of games that load easily just by clicking on their icon, and have a clean exit key to put you right back to Workbench when you're finished playing.  As much as I loved the '80s I don't have time to wait around for games to load anymore, too old for that, LOL.  ;)
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: AmigaBruno on January 27, 2014, 08:54:37 PM
Quote from: Oldsmobile_Mike;758033
At first I would be tempted to say "that's because of all the people crying about 'piracy' they changed their descriptions", then I went to ebay and typed in "amiga cf" and found 14 listings right off the bat for CF cards loaded with WHDLoad games.  Search harder.

WHDLoad is a godsend, I can't imagine how or why people would want to use things like floppy disks or HxC readers/.adf files, when you can have a nice directory full of games that load easily just by clicking on their icon, and have a clean exit key to put you right back to Workbench when you're finished playing.  As much as I loved the '80s I don't have time to wait around for games to load anymore, too old for that, LOL.  ;)


Various sellers say that the cards have WHDload, but don't say whether or not they have any games or demos pre installed. Of course, I've totally failed to install WHDload, so I could probably install the games and demos onto the CF card if WHDload was already installed, but it would take several hours or even a few days to install all the games and demos one of these cards may contain.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: superfrog76 on January 27, 2014, 09:23:53 PM
Quote from: nicholas;758027
You mean like giving up a career with a huge salary to look after disabled people 24/7 for no monetary gain whatsoever?


When I retire, maybe; for now I can do both things. I pay taxes, I volunteer, I do work for free for various associations....yes Nicholas; the world out there is made of people that actually help, or simply stay quiet if they don't have anything to give, other than paid content :)


Quote from: nicholas;758027
What has that got to do with Cloanto MAKING MONEY by selling other people's hard work compared to WHDLoad authors selling their own work?


Cloanto is a company, WHDLoad is a simple group of people, from what I can tell; no brand registration or such. In the same way Cloanto makes AF with their hard work, WHDLoad has their hard work doing their installer.

Again, either you have no idea, code wise, of what both team do and love to boast what WHDLoad do (for some unknown reasons, honestly), or you know exactly what they do, and feel offended that I compare AF "basic" frontend, with a bunch of lines of assembly, made by WHDLoad...

Since you don't expand your thoughts at all, continuing to state things without any extra info; I am not sure that I can understand what kind of point are you making.


Quote from: nicholas;758027
So you keep saying.


I do, since I don't live in a basement with my parents, hating on something...it is to make the point that I am not a starving little boy, that wants so bad to play to a bunch of cracked games from a 30 years old system; that loves to play and boast who knows what kind of knowledge :)

I have to make it clear, and I am glad that it came trough. On internet is hard to understand when are you talking with a total doofus that loves to talk, and when you are talking with someone that actually is trying to say something true.

Quote from: nicholas;758027

So selling someone elses work with a crappy frontend is "fine" but selling your own hard work is "not fine"?


No, you misunderstood. Value wise, roms+wb+frontend coming form AF, is priced decently; while WHDLoad offer of installers and game fixes, seems overpriced to me.

If a person takes 3 months to write an application, while another takes 2 days, means that the first person wasted 3 months, I would not call it hard work. Not talking specifically of WHDLoad, just pointing out that the hard work is there, either if you are slow and take time to do something simple, or if you are quick and do it fast. Criticize something just because looks simple to you, is probably the wrong approach when analyzing software.

Quote from: nicholas;758027

I am stating nothing but facts, WHDLoad is the sole work of it's authors and they are free to sell it for whatever price they want.


You are totally right; the author is the only one that made the installers, he can sell it at whatever price he wants; and consumers can decide if they want to pay that price or not. So far freedom rights are safe!

Quote from: nicholas;758027
Your "analysis" is not based in logic at all.


Really? Either you don't understand what I am saying, or I am not good at writing in proper English (I would go for the second, since it is not my primary language). I simply see the same answers from you.

Did I touch a hot spot by any chance? Am I interdicted from naming or saying anything about WHDLoad, without getting on a black list and receive the donkey hat? All that I see here is "it is hard work, they didn't do anything wrong...ho DARE you even touch my beloved application?".

Am I wrong?

Quote from: nicholas;758027
How about the law?  That enough of a reason for you?



Of which law are you talking about? You are aware that laws are different in each country, and that there is an international set of laws that covers the basics? I can stop by at my legal office later and ask them to give me pointers about international laws about software...that's what they do 24/7  :) Altho I doubt that they would waste time with me, having more important things to do probably (that's why they are paid 5 times more than me :) )
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: superfrog76 on January 27, 2014, 09:35:24 PM
Quote from: nicholas;758028
They don't need to, in civilised countries the law quite clearly states they are allowed to provide such a service.



They don't create nor distribute "derived works out of an application".



I know what the law states in civilised countries, you seemingly don't.



See above.


On the contrary....legally aware country (USA, just to mention the biggest), have very specific laws about software distribution, then each application needs to have an End User License Agreement; which is the binding contract between the user and the software .

When you open a box containing software, or click "I agree" when you install it, you are accepting the EULA and all the related conditions. There are no more contracts to sign, like in the stone age.

The fact that laws are not mentioned, does not mean that someone can ignore them :)

If anyone reverse engineer anything, to make a piece of software, it is legally considered derived work. Not sure where do you get your info; later on I will post some legal links.

Feel free to do the same; I see you posting always the contrary of what I say, but I don't see any mention of the source. I believe you, because I have no reason to believe that you don't say the truth, but if I read something that say the opposite of what you say, I would love to document myself and find out which source is incorrect.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: superfrog76 on January 27, 2014, 09:43:01 PM
Quote from: AmigaBruno;758026


Can anyone explain to me simply and clearly how to install WHDload onto my CF card, or even onto a new blank CF card?

Alternatively, can anyone point out where I can still get a pre prepared CF card which already has WHDload, as well as lots of games and demos already installed onto it?


On the install part, there is a wonderful video made by Mike, which teach you how to install the OS on a CFCard, and has also the instructions to install WHDLoad; it is on youtube (but there are plenty).

Once you have the installer, you simply execute it and it does all the work; to install each game, you need to follow the instructions from each installer. Go to their site, download the installer that you need and go from there.

On the sal of cards with games; they usually sell CF cards with games and WHDLoad installed on Ebay, which are legit; but more and more non legit cards are appearing. You can ask the seller which games are included (some are publicly available now, like the ones from factor5), and check if he has anything that is still protected by copyright.
Also they sell it usually with the license from a guy that shared without realizing, his key; so if you see a key file on the card; simply delete it and buy a proper license for WHDLoad.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: superfrog76 on January 27, 2014, 09:49:05 PM
Quote from: Oldsmobile_Mike;758033


WHDLoad is a godsend, I can't imagine how or why people would want to use things like floppy disks or HxC readers/.adf files, when you can have a nice directory full of games that load easily just by clicking on their icon, and have a clean exit key to put you right back to Workbench when you're finished playing.  As much as I loved the '80s I don't have time to wait around for games to load anymore, too old for that, LOL.  ;)


We can safely assume that nobody ever questioned the utility in having such program :)

A phone is useful, can't see why people would not use it...and some people don't use the phone ;) I don't argue with the intrinsic value of having a phone; I just don't use it enough to make it worth the 40 dollars a month for the bill.

The world is great because has many shades and differences :)

Cmon...don't you love the grinding sound of the floppy drive? Like the sounds made by the old modem? :D
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: Oldsmobile_Mike on January 27, 2014, 10:30:34 PM
Quote from: superfrog76;758042
I don't argue with the intrinsic value of having a phone; I just don't use it enough to make it worth the 40 dollars a month for the bill.

WHDLoad is a one-time purchase of approx. $30.00 USD (which includes free lifetime updates, AFAIK), not a monthly subscription.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: Oldsmobile_Mike on January 27, 2014, 10:38:33 PM
Quote from: AmigaBruno;758030
Unfortunately, it's not clear from the eBay listings nowadays which of these cards have any games or demos installed.

Search harder. It's seriously right in the listing description, dude. If this was a technical item I'd be glad to send you a link, but you don't need that. Just put in "amiga cf", and look at descriptions like:
 
- Amiga A1200 4GB CF hdd AGA whd 2014 Edition
- Amiga 1200 4 GB CF Hard drive whdload
- Amiga 600 4GB Games & Demos Hard Disk Drive A600 CF HDD for Amiga 600
- Amiga 1200 8 GB CF Hard drive whdload 2014 Edition AGA + Demos
- Amiga A600 4gb cf HD Whdload 2014 Edition
 
Those are all active listings on ebay right now.  Or you could just download WHDLoad and put the files in C:.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: superfrog76 on January 28, 2014, 12:03:57 AM
True, I should have mentioned win zip instead than the phone ;)
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: Oldsmobile_Mike on January 28, 2014, 12:10:53 AM
Quote from: superfrog76;758051
True, I should have mentioned win zip instead than the phone ;)

WinZip is a scam.  All of the basic zip functionality of it has been built into every operating system since Windows XP.  Unless you need to do some kind of encrypted archive, I don't know why anyone buys it other than it sneaks onto your machine when you download something else (damned pre-checked opt-outs that people never look at, LOL).
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: superfrog76 on January 28, 2014, 06:57:11 AM
Indeed; the only license that I had for a V8.0, was on Win98 SE; the most useful feature was the pwd protection and the volume split in multiple archive :)

I remember the good old time when I had no internet at home, so I would go to the internet cafe and save stuff on a ton of floppy....winzip was the only way to do that :)
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: superfrog76 on January 28, 2014, 07:21:29 AM
Quote from: AmigaBruno;758030
Unfortunately, it's not clear from the eBay listings nowadays which of these cards have any games or demos installed.


AmigaBruno: This is the video that I was talking about

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd42RsKHm5Y

Most of the lists has info about the fact that they have games; just need patience to read them.

Searched right now and found 4 of them. BTW if you have already the IDE CF reader, just avoid to waste time with ebay and get a Sandisk CF from any shop around you; less hassle.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: som99 on January 28, 2014, 09:33:37 AM
Quote from: superfrog76;758064
Indeed; the only license that I had for a V8.0, was on Win98 SE; the most useful feature was the pwd protection and the volume split in multiple archive :)

I remember the good old time when I had no internet at home, so I would go to the internet cafe and save stuff on a ton of floppy....winzip was the only way to do that :)

Yepp I used WinZip to back in the day, now it's bloatware trash sadly.

Today all I need on a x86 machine is 7-zip and/or winrar got some problems vise versa with em and huge 500GB-1.5TB splited torrents so need both installed.

I remember I also used WinACE and Unace in the past.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: OlafS3 on January 28, 2014, 09:53:11 AM
Quote from: superfrog76;757987
Spirantho, I agree that a lot of work went into WHDLoad, but at the same time, I would like to point out as example, the impact between WHDLoad, and Amiga forever. Which is totally in favor of the latter IMO.

WHDLoad gave the real amiga users, the chance to run games that would not run on the hd, and in some cases, make them run on configurations which would never be able to run certain games. AF on the other side, put a ton of work to make the emulated Amiga available to the masses....they both use the games written by others, but to me, AF value is much higher than WHDLoad; looking at what it does and what kind of impact has.

They cost almost the same..., but one sell you the right to use the original roms and run games/WB; while the other allow you to run games that would run  on floppy, in the worst case....or run games that honestly, are a minimal part of the whole catalog of Amiga games. Among the 2, I see value in AF, but not in WHDLoad, to justify that price.

On the moral issue, I think it is pretty much a personal opinion...most of the games running on the Amiga (emulated or real) are cracked anyway...if someone has no problems to download a ton of cracked games, has even less problems to pay someone to play them from the HD; if you catch my point. I don't have cracked images; the only ADF that I have are of the games that I had on floppy, and that I still have (except some cases, where the game itself does not exist anymore, altho the receipts that I paid are still somewhere in my archive for sure).

Far from blaming anyone! This is how I am, I do not criticize, judge or do the sermon, just because I act in this way. I am simply marking the fact that once that you go on a certain route (cracked games), then the whole subsequent reasoning may be warped by the first choices made.

In a certain way, also the crackers that cracked the games put a lot of work in what they did...altho some do work for the love of doing it, others for gaining money.

Maybe I am just too old fashioned :)

This discussion is almost as strange as the discussion "too much Linux threads on AmigaOS forum". You guys really know how to motivate the few developers :-). Really what are you talking about? I own both several licenses of AmigaForever and the WHDLoad key. I am the creator of AROS Vision and WHDLoad perfectly works in it (without it many games would not work on it). Then I hate discs, I find them annoying today. That so many users sticked on discs in a time HD was becoming standard on the PCs was one of the reasons why the Amiga-platform lost the game. There is abolsutely no reason to use discs or ADF today and WHDLoad solves it for many old games. It is one of the few brilliant amiga programs that are still in development. I would recommend to support all developers that still do something and that is the case for both AmigaForever and WHDLoad. And moral issues... you cannot blame WHDLoad for being also used for "cracked games", that would be the same when you would blame the atom for being used as bomb. And besides the damage was done back in the days when there was still a commercial market and people copied the games instead of buying them ("because the software companies are all rich and people are only poor children"). If more people would have bought new hardware and new games at this time who knows. But that is another topic...
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: OlafS3 on January 28, 2014, 09:57:55 AM
Quote from: superfrog76;758024
Yes, why it is so strange? Do you deal with people that live only for money? Nobody does something for free or for passion? I pity them, they must have a really sad and miserable life. The fact that you have a gift or skills, does not mean necessarily that you must monetize it 24/7. I have a full time job that pay a lot and give me the chance to do what I love; so I am lucky probably.

I don't know if it is made in VB or not; the UI is exactly the same even if you use Visual C++. I agree that without UAE there would be no AF, but is the same for WHDLoad: without games there would be no WHDLoad. You can still use the AF frontend without launch the games thou, as database and catalog system thou.

I am simply comparing the legality and usefulness of the 2, since they both depend from something else. To me one's price is fine, while the other seems excessive, that's all.

SO WHDLoad is not freeloading on games? I see you having a strong opinion on AF, but I don't see you making a reasonable comment on WHDLoad thou, which makes me think that you take side, and not just analyzing the things like I am trying to do.

I don't want to change your ideas, I express my opinion, to see if someone has arguments that could make me change my mind about this product legality

"Nobody does something for free or for passion?"

Then what about you? What do you contribute (except this discussion)? It sounds a little arrogant to be honest (too many people are making discussions and instead of contributing anything that makes sense).

And when you are earning so much then why do you discuss several pages about a one-time contribution of a few dollars? Strange...
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: AAACHIPSET on January 28, 2014, 10:19:18 AM
dont use winzip  for anything  ..now i use a program freeware ..called universal extractor ..it will unarchive  anything almost  ..i unarchive  lha  programs  for amiga  ..an burn the programs  to cd ..dont even have to use shell  on amiga now..run whd games  from cd if i want ..install  straight from cd..
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: superfrog76 on January 28, 2014, 10:48:14 AM
Quote from: OlafS3;758070
This discussion is almost as strange as the discussion "too much Linux threads on AmigaOS forum". You guys really know how to motivate the few developers :-). Really what are you talking about? I own both several licenses of AmigaForever and the WHDLoad key. I am the creator of AROS Vision and WHDLoad perfectly works in it (without it many games would not work on it). Then I hate discs, I find them annoying today. That so many users sticked on discs in a time HD was becoming standard on the PCs was one of the reasons why the Amiga-platform lost the game. There is abolsutely no reason to use discs or ADF today and WHDLoad solves it for many old games. It is one of the few brilliant amiga programs that are still in development. I would recommend to support all developers that still do something and that is the case for both AmigaForever and WHDLoad. And moral issues... you cannot blame WHDLoad for being also used for "cracked games", that would be the same when you would blame the atom for being used as bomb. And besides the damage was done back in the days when there was still a commercial market and people copied the games instead of buying them ("because the software companies are all rich and people are only poor children"). If more people would have bought new hardware and new games at this time who knows. But that is another topic...



If you would go back to the first posts, you would see what was the main point; was nothing more than a personal debate at moral level, about why I decided to ditch WHDLoad. Because to me; asking for money for something that is based on copyright protected games, seems not right; especially when you consider that the main function is to install games on hd (and in other cases, to run them on configs that were not supporting these games).

Then I pointed out that to me, AF was more value than WHDLoad, since it doesn't just allow to install games on hd, but is more of a frontend/collector tool, which also comes with licensed roms and software.

That's the sum of what I said; altho it seems that it was considered as a direct propaganda against WHDLoad. The fact that I don't want to use it, doesn't mean that people worked hard on it (as was remarked to oblivion, so let's add it again! :) ), or that it is evil and people must purify themselves from it.

To me disks are fine; especially because I own originals, I didn't download the whole shebang from torrent sites...since we talk about support towards developers.

Forgive me but the atom comparison is a bit bizarre...what WHDLoad does, is not different from what a nocd crack does on a pc game..this is maybe a better comparison, since there are people that legally wants to play without carry a ton of games disks, but the majority uses them to circumvent disk protections. I get your point thou.

The damage was done; people that used copied software killed the Amiga; and that's a fact that is clear to many; but is this a reason to say WTH; they won't make money anymore anyway :) I have problems with my own conscience; that's what is harder for me to accept; especially when I still scavenge the interwebs to find original games today...as I mentioned, I must be an old fashioned person, that puts principles ahed of everything.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: superfrog76 on January 28, 2014, 10:56:58 AM
Quote from: OlafS3;758073
"Nobody does something for free or for passion?"

Then what about you? What do you contribute (except this discussion)? It sounds a little arrogant to be honest (too many people are making discussions and instead of contributing anything that makes sense).

And when you are earning so much then why do you discuss several pages about a one-time contribution of a few dollars? Strange...


I supported the Amiga when it was alive; buying original.

At that time I was a novice at programming, but today, after 12 years of C++, I consider myself quite decent to be able to write something on an Amiga; and I am planning to learn how to code in assembly.

Sorry if I am not immediately jumping and making the next killer app for the Amiga :) I can't wait to get the ton of money that will flow like rivers :) sarcasm aside, the little time does not allow me to spend/waste it in the ways that I enjoy. Some times I wish I was a student again, without kids and family, to dedicate time only to what I like.

I don't buy it not for the money, but for a principle; the same principle that force me to not use it even in demo mode, and the same principle that made me delete the crack key with a totally functional version of WHDLoad, including a ton of games; that I received from an Ebayer; when I purchased a CF card.

Principles for some has more value than anything, but I understand that they are quite out of place in some cases....it may sound strange to you, but to me makes totally sense. After spending about 800 dollars to make my custom miggy, I feel like I can spend more; but I prefer to spend them for original games in boxes :) Just found a good copy of gloom for less than 10 dollars.

Anyway; I made 1 post mentioning my thoughts, the rest were replies. I was done already a page or 2 ago ;) Then if on a forum, we cannot even express our opinions; unless they are positive about a certain product, it means that we are under regime LOL
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: OlafS3 on January 28, 2014, 11:10:33 AM
Quote from: superfrog76;758078
I supported the Amiga when it was alive; buying original.

At that time I was a novice at programming, but today, after 12 years of C++, I consider myself quite decent to be able to write something on an Amiga; and I am planning to learn how to code in assembly.

Sorry if I am not immediately jumping and making the next killer app for the Amiga :) I can't wait to get the ton of money that will flow like rivers :) sarcasm aside, the little time does not allow me to spend/waste it in the ways that I enjoy. Some times I wish I was a student again, without kids and family, to dedicate time only to what I like.

I don't buy it not for the money, but for a principle; the same principle that force me to not use it even in demo mode, and the same principle that made me delete the crack key with a totally functional version of WHDLoad, including a ton of games; that I received from an Ebayer; when I purchased a CF card.

Principles for some has more value than anything, but I understand that they are quite out of place in some cases....it may sound strange to you, but to me makes totally sense. After spending about 800 dollars to make my custom miggy, I feel like I can spend more; but I prefer to spend them for original games in boxes :) Just found a good copy of gloom for less than 10 dollars.

Anyway; I made 1 post mentioning my thoughts, the rest were replies. I was done already a page or 2 ago ;) Then if on a forum, we cannot even express our opinions; unless they are positive about a certain product, it means that we are under regime LOL


I bought a lot of original software back in the days too because I wanted development (even though I also had "security backups" :-) ). I left the platform many years ago and returned about 3 years ago and looked how I can contribute today. And with "today" I really mean now and not if someone bought software 20 years ago. You have lots of experience with C++? That is great because we need developers that contribute there. For example porting applications or helping f.e. on AROS. Lots of work to do. How do you think? That helps more than moralize about some people playing 20 years old games where most of the companies do not exist anymore (I know that because I tried to get in contact) or at least have long dropped our platform and are making online-games today.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: AmigaBruno on January 28, 2014, 03:35:39 PM
Quote from: Oldsmobile_Mike;758046
Search harder. It's seriously right in the listing description, dude. If this was a technical item I'd be glad to send you a link, but you don't need that. Just put in "amiga cf", and look at descriptions like:
 
- Amiga A1200 4GB CF hdd AGA whd 2014 Edition
- Amiga 1200 4 GB CF Hard drive whdload
- Amiga 600 4GB Games & Demos Hard Disk Drive A600 CF HDD for Amiga 600
- Amiga 1200 8 GB CF Hard drive whdload 2014 Edition AGA + Demos
- Amiga A600 4gb cf HD Whdload 2014 Edition
 
Those are all active listings on ebay right now.  Or you could just download WHDLoad and put the files in C:.


I've already sent one seller a message, explaining that I couldn't install WHDload, but that I don't represent eBay or any software houses. The seller admitted that it contained WHDload and games, but no demos. That's who I'll buy it from in the near future. It seems I have to waste some money by buying it complete with IDE adaptor, though.

Unfortunately, I can't work out how to install WHDload. I asked for a simple and clear explanation. You said "you could just download WHDload and put the files in C:." Does that mean I just transfer the WHDload files over to the C directory on the CF card? I think I confused this with the C: Windows directory. If so, what's the list of files I need? The YouTube videos by retrosofer have left me confused. He even seems to say that somehow you can replace the ROM already fitted on your real Amiga with another ROM image, which is probably Kickstart 1.3 to run most games, or even the CD32 ROM. Is this something WHDload can do?
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: AmigaBruno on January 28, 2014, 03:46:49 PM
Quote from: superfrog76;758066
AmigaBruno: This is the video that I was talking about

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd42RsKHm5Y

Most of the lists has info about the fact that they have games; just need patience to read them.

Searched right now and found 4 of them. BTW if you have already the IDE CF reader, just avoid to waste time with ebay and get a Sandisk CF from any shop around you; less hassle.


I've seen that video before, but it didn't help. I'll watch it all again later. I must repeat that I can't work out how to install WHDload! I'm also in danger of deleting my artwork which is saved onto my current CF card, because I couldn't find a way to copy it off there. I can only copy it onto Amiga formatted disks. I'd like to transfer it onto another device. I recently failed to find a way of formatting a disk to MS-DOS DD format on Workbench 3.1 with BetterWB, because I've forgotten how I used to do this years ago. I could only do it on an old PC from 2000 after I plug it all in.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: OlafS3 on January 28, 2014, 03:50:20 PM
Quote from: AmigaBruno;758088
I've already sent one seller a message, explaining that I couldn't install WHDload, but that I don't represent eBay or any software houses. The seller admitted that it contained WHDload and games, but no demos. That's who I'll buy it from in the near future. It seems I have to waste some money by buying it complete with IDE adaptor, though.

Unfortunately, I can't work out how to install WHDload. I asked for a simple and clear explanation. You said "you could just download WHDload and put the files in C:." Does that mean I just transfer the WHDload files over to the C directory on the CF card? I think I confused this with the C: Windows directory. If so, what's the list of files I need? The YouTube videos by retrosofer have left me confused. He even seems to say that somehow you can replace the ROM already fitted on your real Amiga with another ROM image, which is probably Kickstart 1.3 to run most games, or even the CD32 ROM. Is this something WHDload can do?


What are you using? UAE or real hardware and when which model? You can integrate original roms in whdload but I do not think you could run AGA games on real hardware without AGA.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: OlafS3 on January 28, 2014, 03:51:46 PM
Quote from: AmigaBruno;758089
I've seen that video before, but it didn't help. I'll watch it all again later. I must repeat that I can't work out how to install WHDload! I'm also in danger of deleting my artwork which is saved onto my current CF card, because I couldn't find a way to copy it off there. I can only copy it onto Amiga formatted disks. I'd like to transfer it onto another device. I recently failed to find a way of formatting a disk to MS-DOS DD format on Workbench 3.1 with BetterWB, because I've forgotten how I used to do this years ago. I could only do it on an old PC from 2000 after I plug it all in.


and no "C" means here directory C in a amiga-installation. Always keep it separated from host environment.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: OlafS3 on January 28, 2014, 04:00:35 PM
Quote from: AmigaBruno;758089
I've seen that video before, but it didn't help. I'll watch it all again later. I must repeat that I can't work out how to install WHDload! I'm also in danger of deleting my artwork which is saved onto my current CF card, because I couldn't find a way to copy it off there. I can only copy it onto Amiga formatted disks. I'd like to transfer it onto another device. I recently failed to find a way of formatting a disk to MS-DOS DD format on Workbench 3.1 with BetterWB, because I've forgotten how I used to do this years ago. I could only do it on an old PC from 2000 after I plug it all in.


I do not understand. Where are the WHDLoad games? on the CF-Card?
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: save2600 on January 28, 2014, 04:09:08 PM
-edit-

Appears to be a private conversation - good luck!
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: AmigaBruno on January 28, 2014, 04:13:15 PM
Quote from: OlafS3;758090
What are you using? UAE or real hardware and when which model? You can integrate original roms in whdload but I do not think you could run AGA games on real hardware without AGA.


I'm using the CF card on an Amiga A1200. I wonder if I could use a Kickstart 1.3 image on this setup to run games off the CF card which require Kickstart 1.3 or even 1.2. I can't run "Balance of Power" 1990 edition on the A1200, for example. Perhaps I'd need a fixed version or some different degrader software.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: OlafS3 on January 28, 2014, 04:22:43 PM
Quote from: AmigaBruno;758095
I'm using the CF card on an Amiga A1200. I wonder if I could use a Kickstart 1.3 image on this setup to run games off the CF card which require Kickstart 1.3 or even 1.2. I can't run "Balance of Power" 1990 edition on the A1200, for example. Perhaps I'd need a fixed version or some different degrader software.

That should be possible. You need original roms (either grabkick from original hardware or get them from Amigaforever)

Manual in german:
http://www.whdload.de/docs/de/need.html

Basically copying the ROMs in Devs:kickstarts and renaming them.
For example A500 ROM would be Devs:Kickstarts/kick33180.A500

And as far as I can remember you do not need a complex installation, just copy the directories on a original AmigaOS install f.e. "C" in Sys:C
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: AmigaBruno on January 28, 2014, 04:35:08 PM
Quote from: OlafS3;758092
I do not understand. Where are the WHDLoad games? on the CF-Card?


I'll repeat again. I can't work out how to install WHDload!

From the statement above, you should realise that I haven't got any games installed under WHDload. The only games installed onto the CF card in my Amiga A1200 are games copied from floppy onto the CF card which are compatible with installation onto a hard drive. There are no games on it which were designed to run ONLY from floppy.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: OlafS3 on January 28, 2014, 04:39:18 PM
Quote from: AmigaBruno;758098
I'll repeat again. I can't work out how to install WHDload!

From the statement above, you should realise that I haven't got any games installed under WHDload. The only games installed onto the CF card in my Amiga A1200 are games copied from floppy onto the CF card which are compatible with installation onto a hard drive. There are no games on it which were designed to run ONLY from floppy.


if you have something on your card that would be a loss I would recommend you to save it somewhere else before fiddling with the system (expecially if you are not sure about it)
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: AmigaBruno on January 28, 2014, 04:40:20 PM
Quote from: OlafS3;758097
That should be possible. You need original roms (either grabkick from original hardware or get them from Amigaforever)

Manual in german:
http://www.whdload.de/docs/de/need.html

Basically copying the ROMs in Devs:kickstarts and renaming them.
For example A500 ROM would be Devs:Kickstarts/kick33180.A500

And as far as I can remember you do not need a complex installation, just copy the directories on a original AmigaOS install f.e. "C" in Sys:C


OK, I'll read that manual. Luckily, I do speak German. BTW, the abbreviation is e.g. for the Latin "exempli gratia", meaning for example, not f.e.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: OlafS3 on January 28, 2014, 04:46:14 PM
Quote from: AmigaBruno;758100
OK, I'll read that manual. Luckily, I do speak German. BTW, the abbreviation is e.g. for the Latin "exempli gratia", meaning for example, not f.e.


thanx I forgot :-)

it is not a big problem. You have to download and unpack WHDLoad, copy the files in the identical amiga-directories on your installed AmigaOS and get the original roms (e.g. from Amigaforever) and copy them in Kickstarts and rename them. Then all (including everything A500 related) should work.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: Oldsmobile_Mike on January 28, 2014, 05:50:54 PM
Quote from: AmigaBruno;758098
I'll repeat again. I can't work out how to install WHDload!

Did you read the manual? Did you read all the posts on this thread? Did you spend any time googling to find the answer? Because it's all over the web, in forum posts, youtube videos, etc.
 
I'll try one more time.
 
To install WHDLoad download the archive WHDLoad_usr_small.lha from here:
 
http://whdload.de/
 
Use your favorite file manager (DirWork, Directory Opus, etc.) or LHA to unpack the archive. I typically extract archives into RAM: on my Amiga.
 
Double-click on the icon for "Install".
 
Alternatively you can manually copy the files. Copy the contents of WHDLoad/C into the SYS:C directory on your Amiga. There are five files, but really you only need four of them: DIC, Patcher, RawDIC, and the main WHDLoad executable itself. Copy all of these files into C: on your Amiga.
 
Any games that you install should point to the main executable, C:WHDLoad.
 
Next, if you've chosen not to use the installer script, manually copy the contents of WHDLoad/S into your SYS:S directory (the same directory where your Startup-Sequence and other startup files reside). There are three files: WHDLoad.prefs, WHDLoad-Cleanup, and WHDLoad-Startup. Copy all three of those files into the S: directory on your Amiga.
 
Last, you can copy the contents of WHDLoad/Docs where ever you choose. I usually stick them in the Trashcan. Just so they'll be around if for some odd reason I ever need them, but I consult the docs so infrequently it's not worth it to me to have a separate directory for them. ;)
 
That's it. There's only three directories in the WHDLoad archive. Use the installer script or copy the files manually. The advantage of the installer script is that it will check for older versions and prompt you before over-writing them.
 
Your last, and very last part of the install, is if you want to install any additional Kickstart ROM's, such as 1.3. These are only required for some very picky games, but will ensure a greater level of compatibility. As already mentioned above, those would typically go in the directory Devs:Kickstarts/, or SYS: Devs/Kickstarts/. The Kickstart images aren't included in WHDLoad (copyright, blah blah blah), but I didn't have any reservations downloading them from The Pirate Bay website, since I already own many legal ROM's and this is easier than extracting the image from one yourself.
 
That's it, now just download some games and play! Remember, check the icon properties to make sure it's pointed to C:WHDLoad, and all you'll need to do is click on the icon to load the game.
 
I seriously don't know how to make this any easier for you, it's only seven files that need to be copied into two directories. Someday you'll look back on this and laugh about how much trouble you were having with something so easy. Good luck! :juggler:
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: AmigaBruno on January 29, 2014, 04:12:09 AM
Quote from: Oldsmobile_Mike;758103
Did you read the manual? Did you read all the posts on this thread? Did you spend any time googling to find the answer? Because it's all over the web, in forum posts, youtube videos, etc.
 
I'll try one more time.
 
To install WHDLoad download the archive WHDLoad_usr_small.lha from here:
 
http://whdload.de/
 
Use your favorite file manager (DirWork, Directory Opus, etc.) or LHA to unpack the archive. I typically extract archives into RAM: on my Amiga.
 
Double-click on the icon for "Install".
 
Alternatively you can manually copy the files. Copy the contents of WHDLoad/C into the SYS:C directory on your Amiga. There are five files, but really you only need four of them: DIC, Patcher, RawDIC, and the main WHDLoad executable itself. Copy all of these files into C: on your Amiga.
 
Any games that you install should point to the main executable, C:WHDLoad.
 
Next, if you've chosen not to use the installer script, manually copy the contents of WHDLoad/S into your SYS:S directory (the same directory where your Startup-Sequence and other startup files reside). There are three files: WHDLoad.prefs, WHDLoad-Cleanup, and WHDLoad-Startup. Copy all three of those files into the S: directory on your Amiga.
 
Last, you can copy the contents of WHDLoad/Docs where ever you choose. I usually stick them in the Trashcan. Just so they'll be around if for some odd reason I ever need them, but I consult the docs so infrequently it's not worth it to me to have a separate directory for them. ;)
 
That's it. There's only three directories in the WHDLoad archive. Use the installer script or copy the files manually. The advantage of the installer script is that it will check for older versions and prompt you before over-writing them.
 
Your last, and very last part of the install, is if you want to install any additional Kickstart ROM's, such as 1.3. These are only required for some very picky games, but will ensure a greater level of compatibility. As already mentioned above, those would typically go in the directory Devs:Kickstarts/, or SYS: Devs/Kickstarts/. The Kickstart images aren't included in WHDLoad (copyright, blah blah blah), but I didn't have any reservations downloading them from The Pirate Bay website, since I already own many legal ROM's and this is easier than extracting the image from one yourself.
 
That's it, now just download some games and play! Remember, check the icon properties to make sure it's pointed to C:WHDLoad, and all you'll need to do is click on the icon to load the game.
 
I seriously don't know how to make this any easier for you, it's only seven files that need to be copied into two directories. Someday you'll look back on this and laugh about how much trouble you were having with something so easy. Good luck! :juggler:


There are a few things that could go wrong, which I still don't understand. I'm afraid you've assumed that I would download it in the same way as you. I think I should download it onto my laptop running Windows or Linux. My real Amiga A1200 isn't upgraded to connect to the Internet. This may not be what you advise. Instead of this, I could download it onto a desktop PC with a serial port and a transfer cable connecting it to my Amiga A1200. After this, I could use a Linux based or even a Windows based utility to unarchive the WHDload files. I think I should remove my CF card from my Amiga and plug it into my laptop using a CF card USB reader. I should probably prepare a new blank CF card, in case I lose my data. I think that to get the laptop to read the CF card I have to use WinUAE, or under Linux UAE, or E-UAE. All of these are installed. I then have to mount the WHDload directory on my laptop's hard drive, so that it can transfer the WHDload files to my Amiga CF card. After solving these issues, I should be able to install it, either under WinUAE, UAE, E-UAE, or on my real Amiga A1200.

I hope you can advise me on the issues above.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: Oldsmobile_Mike on January 29, 2014, 04:57:34 AM
Quote from: AmigaBruno;758143
There are a few things that could go wrong, which I still don't understand. I'm afraid you've assumed that I would download it in the same way as you. I think I should download it onto my laptop running Windows or Linux. My real Amiga A1200 isn't upgraded to connect to the Internet. This may not be what you advise. Instead of this, I could download it onto a desktop PC with a serial port and a transfer cable connecting it to my Amiga A1200. After this, I could use a Linux based or even a Windows based utility to unarchive the WHDload files. I think I should remove my CF card from my Amiga and plug it into my laptop using a CF card USB reader. I should probably prepare a new blank CF card, in case I lose my data. I think that to get the laptop to read the CF card I have to use WinUAE, or under Linux UAE, or E-UAE. All of these are installed. I then have to mount the WHDload directory on my laptop's hard drive, so that it can transfer the WHDload files to my Amiga CF card. After solving these issues, I should be able to install it, either under WinUAE, UAE, E-UAE, or on my real Amiga A1200.
 
I hope you can advise me on the issues above.

Why would you use a Windows-based utility to unarchive the WHDLoad files? WinUAE, Linux UAE, E-UAE... it seems like you have every tool available at your disposal except the ones you actually need. Just get WHDLoad_usr_small.lha onto your Amiga. It doesn't need to be connected to the Internet. Copy it to a floppy disk. Burn it to a CD. Transfer it via a serial cable. Put it on a FAT95 formatted SD card. Something. You are making this much harder than it needs to be. WHDLoad_usr_small.lha *IS* WHDLoad. Once you get this file onto your Amiga, through whatever means you have to transfer files, all you need to do is use LHA to unarchive it to ram: and click on the Install icon.
 
If you do not have any method of transferring files between PC and Amiga, I would suggest you research that first before worrying about installing any games.

Alternatively I suppose you could use WinRAR to extract the individual files from the .lha archive on a PC (if your Amiga doesn't have LHA)... don't know what you'd do with them after that though, maybe force them onto your Amiga-formatted CF card through some kludge-work with UAE?  Dunno, good luck with that.
 
(http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&docid=zM_YHpSTecH4gM&tbnid=bGe1tS9mwv01SM&ved=0CAUQjBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffoodandthecity.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F05%2F24393680.jpg&ei=mYnoUsa1Aq7hsATEtoGoCQ&psig=AFQjCNFLZNiSs0u3jBZ7zr9BcP11FijfQg&ust=1391057689090577)
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: AmigaBruno on January 29, 2014, 03:24:33 PM
Quote from: Oldsmobile_Mike;758146
Why would you use a Windows-based utility to unarchive the WHDLoad files? WinUAE, Linux UAE, E-UAE... it seems like you have every tool available at your disposal except the ones you actually need. Just get WHDLoad_usr_small.lha onto your Amiga. It doesn't need to be connected to the Internet. Copy it to a floppy disk. Burn it to a CD. Transfer it via a serial cable. Put it on a FAT95 formatted SD card. Something. You are making this much harder than it needs to be. WHDLoad_usr_small.lha *IS* WHDLoad. Once you get this file onto your Amiga, through whatever means you have to transfer files, all you need to do is use LHA to unarchive it to ram: and click on the Install icon.
 
If you do not have any method of transferring files between PC and Amiga, I would suggest you research that first before worrying about installing any games.

Alternatively I suppose you could use WinRAR to extract the individual files from the .lha archive on a PC (if your Amiga doesn't have LHA)... don't know what you'd do with them after that though, maybe force them onto your Amiga-formatted CF card through some kludge-work with UAE?  Dunno, good luck with that.
 
(http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&docid=zM_YHpSTecH4gM&tbnid=bGe1tS9mwv01SM&ved=0CAUQjBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffoodandthecity.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F05%2F24393680.jpg&ei=mYnoUsa1Aq7hsATEtoGoCQ&psig=AFQjCNFLZNiSs0u3jBZ7zr9BcP11FijfQg&ust=1391057689090577)


It seems like the main problem is that my Amiga A1200, laptop, and desktop PC don't have any kind of media they can both use, apart from CF cards. I bought a compatible CD drive for my Amiga A1200, but so far haven't managed to fit it. The instructions seem very complicated and I also need to buy an adaptor, but if I bought it, then I doubt if I could fit it to my A1200. My old desktop PC bought in 2000 has a floppy disk drive, but it's difficult to boot up at all anymore and for some strange reason, to get past the login Windows XP login prompt I had to use USB to PS/2 adaptors, because it seems its USB ports are no longer working. Another solution would be to convert the WHDload files into ADF files, because I can transfer these onto Amiga formatted floppy disks, then I could copy the files from the A1200 floppy drive directly onto its CF hard drive. I'm not sure how to do this, or if any of the files is more than 880K. Why didn't the developers of WHDload make it available in this format? This is just to copy the files onto the CF card, not to do anything else with them. The only problem is how to get these files onto the CF card.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: Oldsmobile_Mike on January 29, 2014, 03:53:30 PM
Quote from: AmigaBruno;758167
Why didn't the developers of WHDload make it available in this format?

Thank god they didn't. LHA is a standard Amiga archive format that's been used for decades. It's like .zip on the PC. You don't see PC users exchanging files by sending floppy disk images, do you? :biglaugh:
 
It shouldn't be too hard for someone to download the WHDLoad archive, write it to a floppy disk, then read that disk back as an 880KB adf. Should even be do-able with any of the versions of UAE.
 
However knowing you're having this much trouble just getting WHDLoad installed, what makes you think you're not going to have even more trouble when it comes to installing games? First priority should be working out an easy file transfer solution. A1200 has IDE, any cheap IDE CD drive will work on it, you can either get a buffered interface such as the Elbox 4xEIDE or even a long ribbon cable pulled outside the case (and a separate power supply) would work. :p
 
Alternatively get a PCMCIA-to-CF adapter plugged into the side of your A1200 and format a CF with FAT95. then you can keep your main CF hard drive plugged in internally, and when you want to transfer files from the PC to Amiga just eject your CF from the side of the Amiga, plug it in to your PC, copy the files onto it, and plug it in to your Amiga to read them back. Cake. :)
 
http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=194
 
http://www.amazon.com/PCMCIA-Compact-Flash-Type-Adapter/dp/B0014C4UW2 (PCMCIA to CF adapter.  I'd get the one from Mechware but his site seems to be down at the moment)
 
http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=438
 
I can't find a good link for it, but if you really want to go cheap, get a cable like this:
 
2.5 -> 2.5 -----> 3.5
 
A couple inches between the first ports, and about 12-18" between the second ports. Plug one end of the 2.5" into your motherboard IDE. Plug your CF adapter or whatever you have (I'm assuming it's 2.5") into one end, set as Master. Run the long end of the cable outside the edge of your case and plug into IDE CD drive and set as Slave. A cable like this can be made for <$10.
 
A better solution would be something like the Squirrel SCSI, an internal slim CD, etc.... there are sooo many ways of fitting a CD drive to an A1200, LOL. ;)
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: AmigaBruno on January 30, 2014, 04:29:01 AM
Quote from: Oldsmobile_Mike;758168
Thank god they didn't. LHA is a standard Amiga archive format that's been used for decades. It's like .zip on the PC. You don't see PC users exchanging files by sending floppy disk images, do you? :biglaugh:
 
It shouldn't be too hard for someone to download the WHDLoad archive, write it to a floppy disk, then read that disk back as an 880KB adf. Should even be do-able with any of the versions of UAE.
 
However knowing you're having this much trouble just getting WHDLoad installed, what makes you think you're not going to have even more trouble when it comes to installing games? First priority should be working out an easy file transfer solution. A1200 has IDE, any cheap IDE CD drive will work on it, you can either get a buffered interface such as the Elbox 4xEIDE or even a long ribbon cable pulled outside the case (and a separate power supply) would work. :p
 
Alternatively get a PCMCIA-to-CF adapter plugged into the side of your A1200 and format a CF with FAT95. then you can keep your main CF hard drive plugged in internally, and when you want to transfer files from the PC to Amiga just eject your CF from the side of the Amiga, plug it in to your PC, copy the files onto it, and plug it in to your Amiga to read them back. Cake. :)
 
http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=194
 
http://www.amazon.com/PCMCIA-Compact-Flash-Type-Adapter/dp/B0014C4UW2 (PCMCIA to CF adapter.  I'd get the one from Mechware but his site seems to be down at the moment)
 
http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=438
 
I can't find a good link for it, but if you really want to go cheap, get a cable like this:
 
2.5 -> 2.5 -----> 3.5
 
A couple inches between the first ports, and about 12-18" between the second ports. Plug one end of the 2.5" into your motherboard IDE. Plug your CF adapter or whatever you have (I'm assuming it's 2.5") into one end, set as Master. Run the long end of the cable outside the edge of your case and plug into IDE CD drive and set as Slave. A cable like this can be made for <$10.
 
A better solution would be something like the Squirrel SCSI, an internal slim CD, etc.... there are sooo many ways of fitting a CD drive to an A1200, LOL. ;)

Good news. I've made some progress! Of course, I know that lha is a standard Amiga archiver, which I first used in 1990. In those days I was downloading directly onto Amiga floppies from a dialup modem connected to BBS systems. The problem now is that my Amiga doesn't have a dialup modem and there are hardly any BBSs anymore.

I've just checked and found out that the smallest WHDload archive seems to be less than 880K, so I downloaded it. I unarchived it using Peazip for Windows, which even handles Apple DMG image files. The end result is probably larger than 880K, but I remember that I could add a directory to WinUAE. I clicked on "Hard drives", followed by "Add directory or archive". I booted up from an ADF image of an old Amiga Format magazine coverdisk and found that an icon for WHDload appeared on my Workbench screen! I clicked on it and was able to see some unarchived files. If I can add this unarchived directory, then I should be able to add the original lha archive as well. If I do this while my CF card is plugged in and has been added or mounted under WinUAE, then I should be able to copy it across. I plan to get a PCMCIA to CF adapter as well. At the end of the day, I'm looking for a solution that doesn't cost more than a CF card with all these games already installed.

I've recently been using Amiga Forever, but the results aren't as good as a real Amiga, especially when it comes to music. I turned down the screen resolution, ended some tasks and also tried playing without it being it full screen mode, but it just doesn't compare to a real Amiga. The files are all in a custom format and I can't see a way of converting them to ADF format.

There may be sooo many ways of fitting a CD ROM drive to an Amiga A1200, but I'm not as good at it as you and some other people. I can't make custom cables either. The good news is that I've recently attended events where I saw my laptop being dismantled, I even partly dismantled it myself, a fault was diagnosed, a USB socket was desoldered, then a replacement I'd bought was fitted. The bad news is that the replacement part wasn't identical and it doesn't work! I hope to use the knowledge I've gained to repair it myself after I buy another soldering iron, because I haven't soldered anything for years! After this, I think I'll try and solder a lot more things.
Title: Re: New to Whdload what's The crack?
Post by: Nlandas on January 30, 2014, 03:35:47 PM
Quote from: Matt_H;721713
Register here (http://www.whdload.de/reg.html)


You are likely to get the same advice from any active Amiga user. Register WHDLoad to support its development. It's well worth the little bit of money it costs and it is still developed. I think the latest version is from April 2013 is it not?

This also looks interesting. I haven't set it up yet.
http://www.jimneray.com/xbench.html

-Nyle