New to Whdload what's The crack?

[OlafS3]

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...

[OlafS3]

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...

[OlafS3]

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.

[OlafS3]

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.

[OlafS3]

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.

[OlafS3]

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?

[OlafS3]

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

[OlafS3]

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)

[OlafS3]

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.