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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Software Issues and Discussion => Topic started by: allengland on April 08, 2007, 09:47:37 PM

Title: WHDLoad - what is this?
Post by: allengland on April 08, 2007, 09:47:37 PM

Good evening all!

I came across this site which seems to have files in an .lha format.  Does anyone know what these are?  Are these good and does this emulator work?  

Any comments or experience would be gratefully received!

Cheers,

John

Title: Re: WHDLoad - what is this?
Post by: weirdami on April 08, 2007, 09:49:36 PM

.lha goes on lharc files. lharc files is a kind of file archiving technology that is big on the Amiga.

Title: Re: WHDLoad - what is this?
Post by: Piru on April 08, 2007, 09:59:24 PM

Ask wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LHA_%28file_format%29)

Title: Re: WHDLoad - what is this?
Post by: allengland on April 08, 2007, 09:59:58 PM

Thanks for this Weirdami.

By any chance do you know if I could use these files and play them with WinUAE?  Or do I need some special software?

A random question - I am very new to the amiga emulation scene (although I had an Amiga for about 10 years) - but what are IPF files?  

Are these any better than ADF stuff?  At the moment with WinUAE you have to pretend to insert the disks.  Is it possible to in effect run games from a hard disk so they're quicker??

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

John

Title: Re: WHDLoad - what is this?
Post by: Matt_H on April 08, 2007, 10:25:27 PM

WHDLoad is a software package that can simulate a low-end software and hardware environment on a heavily expanded Amiga - many games don't work properly with such a configuration. It also installs these games to hard disk.

Coders write a "slave" for a specific game which then interfaces with the WHDLoad executable and the game's data files or disk images on the hard disk. Ta da, you're running old games.

Generally, WHDLoad installers and slaves are written to only work with original game files/disks. ADFs are usually pirated/cracked copies and won't work. IPFs are a new disk image format from the Software Preservation Society that fully recreates the disks structure - copy protection and all. These can be used with WHDLoad to install games.

Basically, you'll want the WHDLoad package, a specific game's install, and IPF images to install a game to your emulated hard drive. Register it as well. It's one of the best purchases you can make.

Title: Re: WHDLoad - what is this?
Post by: allengland on April 08, 2007, 10:40:29 PM

Cheers for this.  

I will give it a go!