Amiga puzzle - disconnected worlds! help?

[RedWarrior]

Hey guys -
Amazed and relieved this site still exists! So, for some strange reason I've decided to dust off my hardware and would like to try and get some things working- gaming & music making on the Amiga is something very different & I'd like to revisit that. My main issue centres around getting data/programs etc onto my Amigas in a usable way. I have a host of hardware, and most of it can't communicate to another machine or any part of the digital universe, because of old-school floppy drives.

My hardware: several Amiga 1200 machines with Hard drives, one with CF PCMCIA readability, 1 Amiga 500, and 1 Amiga 600 with CF compatibility.

I'd really love to play some of my old Amiga 500 games, but most of the floppy disks are toast now... and the floppy drive is hardly a reliable way to do anything these days. I've heard legends of being able to 'downgrade' an Amiga 1200 to run the Kickstart 1.3, but no idea how practical this is.
Most WHDLoad tutorials don't make mention of non-dos games... how does this work? (and how do you change disks mid-game?)

It would be really great if there was a way to play those oldschool 1.3 games from a harddrive an an Amiga 1200...
I don't know anything and WHDLoad, or what programs might allow this to happen, if any.

I watched a youtube clip of someone using a GoTek Drive on an Amiga500 - looks cool- but I don't want to buy any new hardware for this... I can't justify it.

Is there any way to play a 1.3-era game on a 3.x system? Is it possible to do via Hard Drive?? Is it simple? Does it involve adf files? or something else?

I wonder if this urge to revive these machines will pass in a day or two and I'll never get  to see them in action...  

Thanks in advance for any useful input. =)

[RedWarrior]

Have had some small success with the discovery of X-Banch & WHDload, though many of my original questions remain unanswered...

I'm hoping there's some way to play non-dos oldschool 1.3 style Amiga games, complete with cracktros etc... (how do you expect me to play lemmings without the trainer?!)

Does Xbench need kickstart roms?

I'm not sure what I need to get this working... or what's actually possible.

[RedWarrior]

Ok, for "legal" reasons I'll avoid using a game install as an example... Right now I'm just trying to get Rebels Megademo 2 running on my 1200 via whdload.

I downloaded a WHDLoad "version"- but that doesn't seem to actually contain the demo itself? Are WHDLoad files just config files or something? If so, where do I put the .dms or .adf?

The Windows one-click universe has made me lazy... =D

Thanks!

[RedWarrior]

"WHDLoad only reads "slave" files..."

The Megademo2 WHDLoad version that I downloaded has a Megademo2.Slave.asm file in the Install/Src/ folder.... but it's only 6k.

There are no files large enough in that WHDLoad "version" to suggest the whole demo content is there...

what am I missing?

[RedWarrior]

Questions remain above regarding "degrading" a 1200 to run A500 content via CF or HDD... (anyone?)

With regard to the CF internal drive I had another question.
Has anyone tried one of these?: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Micro-SD-TF-SDHC-To-Type-I-1-Compact-Flash-Card-CF-Reader-Adapter-UDMA-S9DS-/271841081961?hash=item3f4afdba69

Seems like a cheaper way to get a CF card... (they're crazy expensive for some strange reason!)

Thoughts?

[RedWarrior]

Attached is a screenshot of the folder contents...

I downloaded the megademo2 dms separately...
Can someone tell me the usual rule for where the dms file is meant to go? or do i need to do something to the dms file?

Thanks!


the readme isn't super helpful either...

"Rebels Megademo II HD INSTALLER V1.1 by MiCK
              --------------------------------------------

             Release date : 20.02.2008
                       -------------------------



 That install applies to "Megademo II" © 1990 Rebels - 1 disk
 Slave requires WHDLoad V10+.
 Demo needs 512Kb Of Chipmem & 1Mb of Fastmem (for preload option)

 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
 FEATURES
 --------

 - Full Loading from HD
 - Cool NewIcon (created by Frank)
 - Quit Option (F10 is default key)
 - Decrunch routine relocated in fastmem
 - Music player fixed
 - CUSTOM1=1 tooltype actives Hidden part

 HISTORY
 -------
 v1.1 (20.02.08) by Wepl
 - taglist fixed to make it work with newer WHDLoad's
 - new install script

 --------------------------------------------------------------------------

      You can download the demo from :

      http://ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/amiga/demos/Rebels/
      Rebels.Megademo2-#?.dms


      for problems, don't hesitate to contact me.

      for full WHDLoad package and other installs refer to:
         http://www.whdload.de/
      or   aminet:dev/misc/whdload#?
      and   aminet:game/patch/

 MiCK.

 "

[RedWarrior]

It's not about the capacity, it's about saving cash... I have a few microSD cards of about 4 gb capacity... but finding a CF card for a decent price is very hard. Adaptor would be cheaper...

[RedWarrior]

I tried the installer icon in the WHDload package... "Unable to open your tool "Installer"


"Try writing the .dms image to a disk and then run the "Install" file located in the WHDLoad archive. It'll be a lot easier for you when you find sites that already have ready-to-go games, just unarchive and click the icon. Google, man! I'll take a look at that particular demo tomorrow and see if I can't figure out a walk-through, if you haven't gotten it squared away by then. "


Believe me, I am Googling the hell out of this, and apparently failing miserably so far.

[RedWarrior]

@OldsMobile Mike - thanks for the link. When I tried Amazon earlier it said it wouldn't post to Australia! Some good deals on there! =)

Am looking at reviving about 5 of these 1200s... of a collection of 9. No idea what to do with them all... Maybe I can start some uber-nerdy band

[RedWarrior]

finding adf files and kickstart roms is the easy part... getting WHDLoad to do anything at all is the tricky bit!

Typically, does WHDLoad look for an adf, a dms or something else? Should it be in the SRC folder? Should the name match up with the .slave.asm file? ... These are things I'm trying and failing at. Anyone use Xbench/WhdLoad?

[RedWarrior]

Thank you very much for that detailed response! Your efforts are much appreciated!

It would seem the missing crucial ingredient for my situation is the "Installer" tool- which still remains elusive.

On my version of workbench 3.x (not sure) there's a tool called "Install" in the C directory... When I modified the .info (icon) file for the Install Megademo2 - to direct to "Install" instead of "installer" - it crashed.

So I guess "install" is not the same as "installer".... Many people have said this is a definite feature of the Workbench OS... can you confirm? (which directory & which version does it feature on? I've searched everywhere)

Also- I don't understand why you went to all the trouble with the dms extraction to floppy etc... this demo is available as an adf already (I noticed your Installer gave you an adf option)? I have the adf, the DMS, the WHDLoad files, all the hardware, and determination... but still my efforts are in vain!

Are you allowed to share a copy of "Installer" on here?
Thanks =)

[RedWarrior]

The "fun" never ends it seems...

2 steps forward, 1 step back...

[RedWarrior]

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand finally!!!!!!!!!!!! =) =) =) =) =)

Thanks to everyone who helped out there... that was quite an ordeal!!

How I've missed the smooth scrolltext... can't do that on WinUAE

Nor the "Swedish Meltdown" from the demo below (see pic) - seems to crash WinUAE (some whacky video overscan stuff going on)

THANK YOU EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[RedWarrior]

Ok, in keeping with the journey so far.... another road block.

The Select File button does nothing. nothing at all.

Is this the fault of installer or WHDLoad or.... something else? good times.... :-/


Thanks again!!

[RedWarrior]

I'm running the pre-packaged WHDLoad script thingies... One worked (Rebels Megademo)

And 2 failed so far... it's weird they won't let me choose a source for the adf file. The Lemmings one said that I had to choose "expert mode" if I was loading from adf.... which I did... and it made no difference.

The Amiga world really is just held together with stickytape & faded dreams isn't it...