A1200 for gaming

[Van_M]

All this chat about the most stunning amiga games ever made me very nostalgic and I kind of made up my mind about getting a A1200 for gaming, next semester. I won't get any monstrous configuration just a standard desktop model WITH SQUIRREL & CD-ROM (important for tranfering .adf files from the pc) and then maybe a fast 030 or 060 (the 040 gets too hot and I wouldn't trust it in a desktop A1200). Also hard drive too (=> 2gig to store 1000's of games).I have a few questions for you all:

1) How is the compatibility with OCS/ECS games with the 3.1 roms installed? With AGA games?

2) Is there any webpage giving information about what games do or don't run on the A1200?

3) How is the compatibility with old games and 030 & 060 accelerators? Do they usually run with a few exceptions?

4)Is the Prelude A1200 card still available? Is it still manufactured/supported by it's maker? Is it any good?

5)Will the graphics turn too ugly if I put a scan doubler and then connect it on a standard 15' flat SVGA monitor?

6)If I upgrade to OS 3.9, will I be able to play games with WHDload?

7) What about the degrader software (or something like that)? Will that improve compatibility?

I know it's a long list of questions, but I would appreciate if you could answer as many as possible. Thank you
 :-)

[adolescent]

1.  Natively not good.  But, this improves using a  egrader, or JST/WHDLoad HD installed games.  AGA games should run fine with the standard processor.

2.  Not that I know of.

3.  Not good with the 060.  Probably better with the 030 due to CPU architecture.  Again, check out WHDLoad as the installs are fixed for different processors.

4.  Don't know.  The only card I've seen around still is the Delfina.

5.  No.  I have mine on a 17" Viewsonic and despite the lack of scan lines, it still looks great.

6.  Yes.

7.  Yes, see above.

[adolescent]

BTW, my gaming rig is as follows.  It works great, the only problem I have is games that require OCS/1.2/1.3 and don't have installers (yet...).  A few games I have used JST or TUDE as a degrader.

A1200
Blizzard 1260/060-50MHz
2M Chip/128M Fast
20GB 2.5" ATA-6 HD
10Mb PCMCIA NIC
ScanMagic Internal SD/FF
CD32 Pads

[cgutjahr]

Van_M wrote:
I won't get any monstrous configuration just a standard desktop model WITH SQUIRREL & CD-ROM (important for tranfering .adf files from the pc)

Get a PCMCIA NIC instead. Way more comfortable.

and then maybe a fast 030 or 060 (the 040 gets too hot and I wouldn't trust it in a desktop A1200).

Unless you are into scene demos aswell, the 68060 is not worth it. There are practically no OCS/AGA games that the 68030 couldn't handle (I can only think of Alien Breed 3D 2). There are of course games that require more processing power, but these usually require a GFX card and are PC ports anyway.

1) How is the compatibility [...]

With some tweaking, you will be able to run 95% of the games on your A1200. Many will not run out of the box, but using the options in the early startup menu often helps. And for the really picky ones a degrader usually does the trick (I'd recommend TUDE)

The best way is to use WHDLoad though. Install the game to hard disk and forget about compatability issues. WHDLoad only works with original games though.

2) Is there any webpage giving information about what games do or don't run on the A1200?

The Golden Amiga Games Encyclopedia has compatibility information (for original games, I assume). There was another page, but I can't locate it right now.

4)Is the Prelude A1200 card still available? Is it still manufactured/supported by it's maker? Is it any good?

Not available anymore, not supported anymore (IIRC).

5)Will the graphics turn too ugly if I put a scan doubler and then connect it on a standard 15' flat SVGA monitor?

They'll look pretty "blocky" that way. Take a 320x240 picture (have a look at HOL for some Amiga screenshots) and blow it up to 1024x768 or 1024x960 - this is what it will look like ;-)

6)If I upgrade to OS 3.9, will I be able to paly games with WHDload?

sure.

(Edit: It's Alien Breed 3D 2 of course. AB3D works fine with a 68030)

[amiga1260]

The only game that doesn't work with OS3.9 is Fifa international soccer. This problem only occur when you use the installer fom this game. The problem is solved with the whdload installer.

Also use a virus killer such as VirusZ or Virus Checker. They can be found on www.aminet.net. Because the ADF-files maybe contains a virus.

[HopperJF]

Is there no way an A1200 without a hard disk can become jsut as compatible with old software?
Is there nothing that will download onto a floppy disk which I can use to boot old games properly apart from Relokick 1.3 which doesnt work on some games  :-?

[Van_M]

mates, a deep and sincere THANKS to all of you for your advice! I'll probably get an A1200/030.:-P  I'm not sure about LAN or SCSI though....


Turrican, here I come... Yeeeehhaaaaa  :-D  :-D  

[adolescent]

HopperJF wrote:
Is there no way an A1200 without a hard disk can become jsut as compatible with old software?
Is there nothing that will download onto a floppy disk which I can use to boot old games properly apart from Relokick 1.3 which doesnt work on some games  :-?

Not really.  Even with a degrader the 020 and AGA chipset cause trouble with games that hit the hardware directly.  If you can find AGA fixed floppy versions or AGA fix patches then it helps a bit.