---- Emulating a CD32 -----------------------------------------------------]
Q: Which machines stand a chance of running CD32 games?
A: You may get away with running shovelware stuff if you have an OCS or
ECS Amiga, but many CD32 games expect at least an '020, 2 meg of chip
RAM, and an AGA chipset - an A1200 or A4000.
The A1200 might be more compatible than the A4000 - some programs may
fall over because of the differences in memory and CPUs.
Q: What are the differences between the Archos, CD1200, CD4000, and
Squirrel CD drives?
A: The Archos drive uses the PCMCIA slot, emulates Akiko through software
(but as far as I know only Wing Commander uses it and that crashes,
hmm...), needs you to install the CD-ROM file system to your Workbench
before you can use the drive, needs a utility (supplied) to boot CD32
CDs, and doesn't have FMV capability.
The CD1200 isn't available yet. It uses the A1200's trapdoor slot, has
Akiko, has Kickstart 3.1, boots straight from CD-ROM, and doesn't have
FMV capability.
Peter Kittel wrote:
The CD1200 is a prototype CD-ROM drive for the A1200, which makes the
A1200 CD32-compatible. This is still in prototype, was shown on a few
fairs, and as of now it's uncertain whether it ever will get produced.
With it you get CD32 software compatibility, but no hardware
compatibility. Especially there is no chance to add the FMV cartridge
to it.
The CD4000 isn't available yet. It's a card that fits into one of the
A4000's Zorro 3 slots and a CD drive that slides into a drive bay, has
Akiko, has Kickstart 3.1, boots straight from CD-ROM, and has FMV
capability.
The Squirrel uses the PCMICA slot, doesn't appear to emulate Akiko,
needs you to install the CD-ROM file system to your Workbench before
you can use the drive, needs a utility (supplied) to boot CD32 CDs, and
doesn't have FMV capability. It's also a full SCSI interface. If you'd
like to add other SCSI devices (such as tape storage, scanners, etc...)
then it could be a better choice than the Archos. Also software updates
are regularly uploaded to Aminet (unlike Archos' where you have to try
to convince your dealer to give you a free copy).
Q: What's good/bad about a CD drive using the PCMICA or trapdoor slots?
A: If your CD drive uses the PCMICA slot, you've got a RAM board in the
trapdoor slot, it's got more than 4 meg of fast RAM, and it doesn't
Autoconfig properly, then the drive may refuse to work or you could
lose all memory above the 4 meg barrier because the PCMCIA slot and the
memory both try to use the same address space. You could only use 4 meg
or you could ask your dealer for an upgrade.
Some trapdoor accelerators don't Autoconfig properly either. Notably
Amitek, Blizzard, and GVP ones. Amitek offer a free upgrade to fix this
problem. The Blizzard 1230III and the GVP 1230 '030 boards work fine,
don't know about other Blizzard and GVP boards. All of the Microbotics
boards work.
If your CD drive uses the trapdoor slot then you can kiss goodbye to
RAM expansions and accelerators.
Q: What do I need to do to run a CD32 game if I don't have the Archos,
CD1200, CD4000, or the Squirrel CD drive?
A: If you have a SCSI CD drive then you can assign CD0: to the CD drive
(if it isn't already), assign the standard directories (C:, DEVS:,
ENVARC:, FONTS:, L:, LIBS:, S:, SYS:) across to the CD-ROM and execute
S:Startup-Sequence.
A: If you have a Parnet or Sernet link to a CD32 or CDTV, you can assign
CD0: to NET:CD0, assign the CD-ROM's name to NET:, assign the
standard directories, then execute S:Startup-Sequence. It's slow
though, so if you have a big hard drive, it's probably better to go for
the next option...
A: It should be possible to copy all of the CD-ROM to your hard drive by
using a Parnet, Sernet, or Twin Express link to a CD32 or CDTV, assign
CD0: and the CD-ROM's name to the directory that you copied to, assign
the standard directories to the equivalent place on the hard drive, and
execute S:Startup-Sequence.
A: The game may have an icon to double click to run it. In that case you
don't need to assign or execute anything.
A: There's a program called Cache-CDFS that's distributed in Germany. It
works on the A1200 or A4000. It sits between the CD32 game and the
Amiga's SCSI, IDE, or PCMCIA CD-ROM drive. Most CD32 games should work
once it's installed, but there have been some problems reported with
NEC 3x CD drives. It's commercial. Nobody's said how good the emulation
is. You can contact the author, Oliver Kastl, by Email. Oliver's Email
address is 100447.3361@compuserve.com.
Almathera are selling a bug-fixed and English language version. Video
Creator will also work once it's been installed.
A: There's another available, called CD-Boot. This works on the A1200 or
A4000. It sits between the CD32 game and Amiga's SCSI, IDE, or PCMCIA
CD-ROM drive. You can create config files for each CD. It's commercial.
One person said that the success rate was 2 out of 7 games. You can
contact the author, Thomas Kessler, by Email. Thomas' Email address is
kessler@fim.uni-erlangen.de.
A: This is a quick description made after reading Asimware's info sheet
(it's probably better to read the full thing for yourself if you're
interested before making up your mind):
Asimware's AsimCDFS can emulate CDTVs and CD32s, but the how good it is
depends on the individual machine. But it also has a music CD player,
music CD support (so the music looks like AIFF, MAUD, and RAW files),
and Photo CD support (so the pictures look like normal IFF ILBM files).
Q: What can go wrong?
A: Make sure the game can access lowlevel.library in LIBS:. If not, the
game can't use the CD32 joypad, or may not even work. If it can, you
can plug the CD32 joypad straight into the joystick port.
A: You may not be able to play the games that use the extra joypad buttons
properly if you don't have a joypad to press them with...
A: The game tries to use nonvolatile.library to save to the CD32's NVRAM.
Make sure that this can be accessed in LIBS: and you create a file
called "ENVARC:sys/nv_location" - a single line of text that is the
directory name of where you would like saved data to be stored.
A: The game could try to call some 3.1 functions that don't exist in 3.0.
Upgrading your Kickstart should fix this problem.
A: You won't hear any CD music. There's no way around this. Sometimes the
game may decide to keel over because it can't play the CD music.
A: The game tries to use Akiko. If you've upgraded to 3.1 and it still
goes wrong then there's no way around this.
