I already have 2000+ WHDLoad installed games on it, but there's other ADF files in life besides games.
A1200 second time round newbie help please :-)
- Thread starter thekrakenwakes
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I already have 2000+ WHDLoad installed games on it, but there's other ADF files in life besides games.
I already have 2000+ WHDLoad installed games on it, but there's other ADF files in life besides games.
Fair enough!
(I have quit coffee and this is day one.... - Got confused and forgot I was not talking to the OP)
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Hi All,
Interesting thread for me getting back into my Amiga. I currently have an A600 with a 1200 on the way.
Any opinions on the Seagate CF microdrive? I used a 2.5gb version recently for an hour or so in the 600, worked fine, but got a little hot. Not sure if that was because of the drive or the chip located on the board beneath it.
Ash
Interesting thread for me getting back into my Amiga. I currently have an A600 with a 1200 on the way.
Any opinions on the Seagate CF microdrive? I used a 2.5gb version recently for an hour or so in the 600, worked fine, but got a little hot. Not sure if that was because of the drive or the chip located on the board beneath it.
Ash
Hi Ash,
I used to have a couple of the Seagate Microdrives. Sold one so no idea if it still lives but the other one kept getting stuck so I had to tap it occasionally till to get going again, it eventually died.
I'd suggest a CF card, go for good quality media and you'll be fine
It's a no-brainer - go for FitzSteve's CF setup service!
IMHO the only reason to do otherwise would be if you really want to figure everything out for yourself. (In that case I'd go for an SD card )
As Steve said, the driver issues (size limitations, maxtransfer bug, etc) that you will encounter are the same for mechanical HDD's as for CF cards. (Don't listen if someone tells you otherwise)
If you get the CF from Steve the PCMCIA software is set up already, so get a £5 ebay PCMCIA-CF adapter, and a genuine Sandisk card and quick format it in the PCMCIA on the amiga, and you're good.
As others said I would go for RGB to SCART, as long as the SCART input supports RGB signals (most do).
Cheap RGB-SCART cables usually work, but amigakit cables always work. (Everybody used the wrong schematic for decades, and it didn't matter until LCD's came along)
Composite works as well, but quality is worse than SCART.
VGA usually doesn't work, since the TV's don't expect a 15kHz signal in that input.
Hardwarewise all you need for WHDLoad gaming is a RAM expansion, but these are old and usually not much cheaper than the ACA1220. Unlike the 8MB RAM expansions, the ACA lets you use the PCMCIA at the same time as well, which is nice (KS3.1 issue, no factor with KS3.0)
IMHO the only reason to do otherwise would be if you really want to figure everything out for yourself. (In that case I'd go for an SD card
)As Steve said, the driver issues (size limitations, maxtransfer bug, etc) that you will encounter are the same for mechanical HDD's as for CF cards. (Don't listen if someone tells you otherwise)
If you get the CF from Steve the PCMCIA software is set up already, so get a £5 ebay PCMCIA-CF adapter, and a genuine Sandisk card and quick format it in the PCMCIA on the amiga, and you're good.
As others said I would go for RGB to SCART, as long as the SCART input supports RGB signals (most do).
Cheap RGB-SCART cables usually work, but amigakit cables always work. (Everybody used the wrong schematic for decades, and it didn't matter until LCD's came along)
Composite works as well, but quality is worse than SCART.
VGA usually doesn't work, since the TV's don't expect a 15kHz signal in that input.
Hardwarewise all you need for WHDLoad gaming is a RAM expansion, but these are old and usually not much cheaper than the ACA1220. Unlike the 8MB RAM expansions, the ACA lets you use the PCMCIA at the same time as well, which is nice (KS3.1 issue, no factor with KS3.0)
thekrakenwakes
New member
so bought a cable from amikit which im hoping will give a good picture quality.
also bought a cf card and its working but struggling to get (m)any games to run due to memory issues so installing games to a "normal" hard drive wouldnt stop the problem im having with this?
dont seem to remember these issues last time round and colonization worked fine from the HD for example.
also bought a cf card and its working but struggling to get (m)any games to run due to memory issues so installing games to a "normal" hard drive wouldnt stop the problem im having with this?
dont seem to remember these issues last time round and colonization worked fine from the HD for example.
Did you get a pre-formatted card or did you prepare it yourself? Setting the incorrect maxtransfer will cause problems with WHDLoad. CF or mechanical HDD doesn't make a difference.
Hi!
How much free memory do you have after Workbench has booted?
It wont make a difference if you use a real HDD by the way, but by saving some memory maybe you can get some more games to run although in the long run 4mb+ Fast Ram will be essential for enjoying WHDLoad.
As for normal HD installed games again some will need extra memory, you might need to boot without startup sequence to get them running, I have to do this with T-Zer0 for example as it needs nearly all the 2mb chip ram!
How much free memory do you have after Workbench has booted?
It wont make a difference if you use a real HDD by the way, but by saving some memory maybe you can get some more games to run although in the long run 4mb+ Fast Ram will be essential for enjoying WHDLoad.
As for normal HD installed games again some will need extra memory, you might need to boot without startup sequence to get them running, I have to do this with T-Zer0 for example as it needs nearly all the 2mb chip ram!
thekrakenwakes
New member
sorry, think i threadjacked as thought this was my thread.
the cf card was preformatted but think I may start again with it.
free memory shows at the top in wb? think it was around 1,3 or 1,2 something. cant remember what wb usually shows before the cf.
the only success I had was rainbow islands and chase hq I loaded via whdload from the prompt command.
colonization is one I remember installing on my hd back in the day with no extra mem and it worked fine, cant remember what else I installed, I think monkey island? is whdload taking up a lot of space? can I not install games from my disks to the cf card and bypass the need for whdload?
the cf card was preformatted but think I may start again with it.
free memory shows at the top in wb? think it was around 1,3 or 1,2 something. cant remember what wb usually shows before the cf.
the only success I had was rainbow islands and chase hq I loaded via whdload from the prompt command.
colonization is one I remember installing on my hd back in the day with no extra mem and it worked fine, cant remember what else I installed, I think monkey island? is whdload taking up a lot of space? can I not install games from my disks to the cf card and bypass the need for whdload?
It is your thread, we're all here for you
WHDLoad uses some memory by itself, therefore some HD-installable games require more RAM when run with WHDLoad.
Check out this nice list of WHDLoad memory requirements.
I'd really recomment a RAM expansion or CPU+RAM board like ACA1220.
Worst case you could even use a 4MB PCMCIA SRAM card if you come by it cheaply, but it will slow your system down as it's only 16bit. Works well enough for ECS games though.
And before you spend more time on prepping a CF card or HDD, make sure you read up on the maxtransfer bug. A value of 0x1fe00 (or lower) needs to be stored (by pressing the enter key) for each partition before you copy anything to the card. And if the card is larger than 4GB you need to use a modern file system.
WHDLoad uses some memory by itself, therefore some HD-installable games require more RAM when run with WHDLoad.
Check out this nice list of WHDLoad memory requirements.
I'd really recomment a RAM expansion or CPU+RAM board like ACA1220.
Worst case you could even use a 4MB PCMCIA SRAM card if you come by it cheaply, but it will slow your system down as it's only 16bit. Works well enough for ECS games though.
And before you spend more time on prepping a CF card or HDD, make sure you read up on the maxtransfer bug. A value of 0x1fe00 (or lower) needs to be stored (by pressing the enter key) for each partition before you copy anything to the card. And if the card is larger than 4GB you need to use a modern file system.
If you only have 1.2mb remaining memory after booting then you are using already 800k for just the OS, this is why you can't run many games. Ideally you want to keep 1.7-1.8mb free after booting to give WHDLoad Games a fighting chance, this is achievable with a very basic Workbench installation.
When I prepare CF's for low memory Amiga's I try to kep as much memory free for running games, it seems like your CF was setup for a target system with more memory.
WHDLoad uses more memory than traditionally HD installed games so you could try installing your games from floppy to HDD or from ADF's in WInUAE and transferring to the Amiga, you might have more success until you upgrade the Ram.
Where did you get the CF from? You will probabakly want to prepare it again from scracth with a more suitable setup for your system, I might be able to give some memory saving pointers depending on how the CF has been setup.
When I prepare CF's for low memory Amiga's I try to kep as much memory free for running games, it seems like your CF was setup for a target system with more memory.
WHDLoad uses more memory than traditionally HD installed games so you could try installing your games from floppy to HDD or from ADF's in WInUAE and transferring to the Amiga, you might have more success until you upgrade the Ram.
Where did you get the CF from? You will probabakly want to prepare it again from scracth with a more suitable setup for your system, I might be able to give some memory saving pointers depending on how the CF has been setup.
thekrakenwakes
New member
Thanks for the link. Batman the movie is one game I tried and is showing as 0.5 chip mem in that list but it just wont work! It Came From THe Desert is another.
I was tempted by the ACA but put off by the timing issues, is that an easy fix or nothing to worry about? Will it cause incompatibility issues with any games?
So, lets imagine I have my expansion card / extra memory. Will I be able to run games straight from workbench without the prompt? As that is annoying.
And sorry, another question. Can I simply move to the next directory up the tree as in DOS or do I have to CD : to move to the top level.
I was tempted by the ACA but put off by the timing issues, is that an easy fix or nothing to worry about? Will it cause incompatibility issues with any games?
So, lets imagine I have my expansion card / extra memory. Will I be able to run games straight from workbench without the prompt? As that is annoying.
And sorry, another question. Can I simply move to the next directory up the tree as in DOS or do I have to CD : to move to the top level.
Do they fail with an error message?
If it is not memory related, game problems like that could be due to old versions of WHDLoad or old game 'slaves', or even a stolen WHDLoad key (!).
Each whdload slave comes with a readme, it's another place to have a look when troubleshooting.
Check whdload.de to buy a key, and for new versions of WHDLoad, and here for new or updated games.
(The old game packs (until 2009) are here.)
If you buy 8MB or more memory you can run almost all of them from WB, but not all, depending on how much chip ram (video ram) your WB setup uses.
ClassicWB gives you some boot options to maximise memory, I think this would at least cover 99% of all games.
If it is not memory related, game problems like that could be due to old versions of WHDLoad or old game 'slaves', or even a stolen WHDLoad key (!).
Each whdload slave comes with a readme, it's another place to have a look when troubleshooting.
Check whdload.de to buy a key, and for new versions of WHDLoad, and here for new or updated games.
(The old game packs (until 2009) are here.)
If you buy 8MB or more memory you can run almost all of them from WB, but not all, depending on how much chip ram (video ram) your WB setup uses.
ClassicWB gives you some boot options to maximise memory, I think this would at least cover 99% of all games.
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thekrakenwakes
New member
All the errors im seeing seem to suggest its memory related. I think ill have a weekend of starting again with it assuming my workbench disks turn up. Does anyone have a tutorial for a wb low mem install, im assuming this isnt an option when installing it to HD.
Sorry for all the questions but a couple more -
To remove installed games am assuming I can just delete the folder?
How can I format the CF to start again, do I have to do this via UAE or can I format on my Amiga? Would like to play around with it this weekend but dont have anything on my PC currently to read the CF.
It came with three partitions, do I need multiple partitions on the CF? Its 4gb and I generally prefer just to have one partition or maybe two, one for WB and one for games.
Sorry for all the questions but a couple more -
To remove installed games am assuming I can just delete the folder?
How can I format the CF to start again, do I have to do this via UAE or can I format on my Amiga? Would like to play around with it this weekend but dont have anything on my PC currently to read the CF.
It came with three partitions, do I need multiple partitions on the CF? Its 4gb and I generally prefer just to have one partition or maybe two, one for WB and one for games.
I still recommend getting a card from Steve. They are all set up and super cheap.
Seems I skipped a couple of your questions..
Timing fixes are not always required. If they are, it's because your machine becomes unstable.
The simple version is to remove one small capacitor (if it's there) and adding another one (if it is not there already).
The latest version of the fix additionally involves adding two more resistors and another capacitor, and changing two resistors to another type. (details)
Amigakit does the job for you for £13.
Don't remember but I think the equivalent of cd.. is cd/ or just / ? It's been a while
To remove games just delete them.
You can format a partition on the CF in workbench. Just use quick format. On a 4GB card a full format works but it doesn't make any sense. On a bigger hdd or card, a full format will corrupt the drive.
HDToolbox is the tool to use for repartitioning the whole drive. But think twice before you do it, especially considering your only source of new files are (old) amiga floppy disks..
It's a good thing that you have several partitions now, so you can start by wiping one of them, and install a fresh WB on it if that is your plan. A fresh WB doesn't require much chip memory.
In general, it's wise to have at least two partitions, a small one (50-200mb) for the system and one for everything else. Two small ones makes sense, so you can fiddle with one and start over by copying back when you mess up.
In case you forgot, the amiga can boot from any partition easily from the early boot menu (hold both mousebuttons pressed during boot).
Talking of boot menus, there is a chance your (ebay?) card has classicWB on it. If so, you may have different boot options by keeping the left or the right mouse button pressed during boot.
And we haven't even started with WinUAE, Amiga-PC networking, pcmcia transfers, file systems, or large drives issues.
Here is my tiny little FAQ. And if you decide to use WinUAE after all, here is Steve's video tutorial, and John's picture tutorial.
Did I mention I recommend Steve's CF cards?
Seems I skipped a couple of your questions..
Timing fixes are not always required. If they are, it's because your machine becomes unstable.
The simple version is to remove one small capacitor (if it's there) and adding another one (if it is not there already).
The latest version of the fix additionally involves adding two more resistors and another capacitor, and changing two resistors to another type. (details)
Amigakit does the job for you for £13.
Don't remember but I think the equivalent of cd.. is cd/ or just / ? It's been a while
To remove games just delete them.
You can format a partition on the CF in workbench. Just use quick format. On a 4GB card a full format works but it doesn't make any sense. On a bigger hdd or card, a full format will corrupt the drive.
HDToolbox is the tool to use for repartitioning the whole drive. But think twice before you do it, especially considering your only source of new files are (old) amiga floppy disks..
It's a good thing that you have several partitions now, so you can start by wiping one of them, and install a fresh WB on it if that is your plan. A fresh WB doesn't require much chip memory.
In general, it's wise to have at least two partitions, a small one (50-200mb) for the system and one for everything else. Two small ones makes sense, so you can fiddle with one and start over by copying back when you mess up.
In case you forgot, the amiga can boot from any partition easily from the early boot menu (hold both mousebuttons pressed during boot).
Talking of boot menus, there is a chance your (ebay?) card has classicWB on it. If so, you may have different boot options by keeping the left or the right mouse button pressed during boot.
And we haven't even started with WinUAE, Amiga-PC networking, pcmcia transfers, file systems, or large drives issues.
Here is my tiny little FAQ. And if you decide to use WinUAE after all, here is Steve's video tutorial, and John's picture tutorial.
Did I mention I recommend Steve's CF cards?
He he frodegh, stop pimping my services 
@thekrakenwakes, I'd still be interested to know where you go your card, a link maybe as long as it was BIN listing, you might be able to disable some stuff to help free up memory.
Most importantly I want to see what file system was used because PFS3 and SFS in low memory setups can eat 400k of memory leaving you very short for WHDLoad.
Also you don't need to buy a CF from me, I'd be happy to re-work your current one if you get stuck.
It's easier/faster to do the work in WinUAE, you can follow my guide here:
[m]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd42RsKHm5Y[/m]
But if course you can do it on the real Amiga with the Floppy Disks, no problem.
@thekrakenwakes, I'd still be interested to know where you go your card, a link maybe as long as it was BIN listing, you might be able to disable some stuff to help free up memory.
Most importantly I want to see what file system was used because PFS3 and SFS in low memory setups can eat 400k of memory leaving you very short for WHDLoad.
Also you don't need to buy a CF from me, I'd be happy to re-work your current one if you get stuck.
It's easier/faster to do the work in WinUAE, you can follow my guide here:
[m]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd42RsKHm5Y[/m]
But if course you can do it on the real Amiga with the Floppy Disks, no problem.
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thekrakenwakes
New member
thanks for the advice in both posts. not wanting to be ungrateful about the set up service but would prefer to do it myself so I can gain some understanding of how it all works.
I got the card from an ebay BIN, amiga one heaven or something like that? dont have the link but think there are 2/3 people I noticed selling on ebay UK and one of them looks like the same seller under two user names.
very keen to wipe and start again for two reasons -
im unsure how things have been set up and as im still rediscovering my (limited) amiga knowledge and gaining some new so would like some understanding of how the partitions are set up and where things are going. the partition set up at the moment doesnt seem to make much sense and the file system is a bit of a mess. also the partitions show pretty much zero free space but was told that there would be room on the card so not sure how that aspect works. would also like to do the work on my amiga rather than UAE. Dont have any means of reading the card on my PC currently and I have a bit of a dislike of UAE (mainly through not understanding it so well!).
second reason is that it comes with an unlocked copy of whdload which I havent paid for and also a looooot of games which I dont own. cant say ive never copied games in my previous speccy / amiga dealings but definitely dont like the ripped off whdload issue.
I want to play the games but also owning the games is a nice part of the thing for me.
I got the card from an ebay BIN, amiga one heaven or something like that? dont have the link but think there are 2/3 people I noticed selling on ebay UK and one of them looks like the same seller under two user names.
very keen to wipe and start again for two reasons -
im unsure how things have been set up and as im still rediscovering my (limited) amiga knowledge and gaining some new so would like some understanding of how the partitions are set up and where things are going. the partition set up at the moment doesnt seem to make much sense and the file system is a bit of a mess. also the partitions show pretty much zero free space but was told that there would be room on the card so not sure how that aspect works. would also like to do the work on my amiga rather than UAE. Dont have any means of reading the card on my PC currently and I have a bit of a dislike of UAE (mainly through not understanding it so well!).
second reason is that it comes with an unlocked copy of whdload which I havent paid for and also a looooot of games which I dont own. cant say ive never copied games in my previous speccy / amiga dealings but definitely dont like the ripped off whdload issue.
I want to play the games but also owning the games is a nice part of the thing for me.
I promise once you get your head round winuae and get a cf adapter for your pc you will change your mind
I know I`ve been there got the...........
^+1^
Yes this!
It's a whole world of pain to re-do the install each time things go awry and, if you're anything like the rest of us, you'll fiddle and they will go awry...
icardIt really is a massive time-saver. And remember - it's emulation, so you can set it up the same as your real A1200 and test first before moving it across.
I'd get a CF reader, even before you start playing with the CF card on the Amiga - it will enable you to take a full image of the CF as well, at different points and as often as you like!
I started off in a very similar way to you actually. I quickly moved on to a 8mb ram expansion and then within 2 weeks from that to a blizzard 1230 Mk IV. (See my signature for what followed a little later...)
I also bought myself another blank CF card to play with and set up CWB from scratch myself (that way I had the original to fall back on if I stuffed up), and registered whdload under my own name - I didnt understand what whdload was initially but registered once I did.
I would also agree that you need a cheap USB CF card reader and WINUAE. Its invaluable.
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