WHDRun (Hopefully Amiga WHDLoad games from Gameex)

[DamageCase]

Hey guys,

I was just looking at WHDRun and the Gamebase Amiga 1.43 mdb file and had an idea. Just wondering if anyone that is good with Access / Scripts could take a look at this...

In the Extras table in the database it has the WHDLoad games listed. There is a data field that contains a string of commands, then a couple of lines of text for use in an amiga s\user-startup file, then the Winuae config settings...

Would it be possible for someone to extract this data in the following way:

1 - Take the user-startup data and create a new user-startup file (could be stored in the zip file of the whdload game).

2 - Create a batch file that then extracts the user-startup file and copies it to the WHD folder (overwriting the existing file)

The batch file then calls whdrun, sets the required arguments <zip file> <temp dir> <winuae.exe> <uae config file> <user-startup>.

This way, each whdload game (zip) would include its own user-startup file... It would be copied to the needed place (whd[dh1]:s\user-startup) and from there whdrun would do its thing and call winuae and the correct slave file should start.

Is this possible??? I don't know exactly how the <user-startup> argument works for WHDRun. I'm guessing it might try to create a file (in which case it would have to be diverted to a different file - so as not to modify the file we already copied over in the first part of the batch file)

I'm probably looking towards Headkaze initially (with his interest in the amiga) but anyone to take a look at this would be appreciated

If it is possible then we could use the batch files to call whdload games from Gameex... (Also able to use Gamebase screenshots if the bat files are named after the game.zip)... There would be no diskswapping... No need for Gameex to load Gamebase and use a mouse to select a game (Double frontends)

[DamageCase]

Here is an example of the data:

Data

"2|~|0|~|0|~|5|~|0|~|1|~||~|cd=dh1:1943;

whdload=1943.slave PRELOAD; CUSTOM1=1;

collision_level=playfields

cpu_speed=real

immediate_blits=false

cpu_compatible=false

cpu_cycle_exact=false

blitter_cycle_exact=false|~|WHD"

I'm guessing the first set of commands are used by Gamebase.

The Bold text is the text for the user-startup file

Then the WinUAE arguments.

[wobbly]

i thing it should be possible to get WHDLoad games woking winuae and gameex this is what i was thinking

1 make a hardfile in winuae

with s c dives folders

run the game with Startup-Sequence in the s: folder would look something like this whdload=1943.slave PRELOAD; CUSTOM1=1 it should woke fine anyone tried this

that way you would have a hardfile for each WHDLoad game you want to play

if i get time i will have a look at it myself

[night]

i thing it should be possible to get WHDLoad games woking winuae and gameex this is what i was thinking

1 make a hardfile in winuae

with s c dives folders

run the game with Startup-Sequence in the s: folder would look something like this whdload=1943.slave PRELOAD; CUSTOM1=1 it should woke fine anyone tried this

that way you would have a hardfile for each WHDLoad game you want to play

if i get time i will have a look at it myself

or another way but afcouse here you need to click the mouse a few times

create a hardfile and install Workbench there then install all your Whd games it takes like 2 secs if not less to enter workbench if you dont have any fancy stuff installed as Mui/MCP/glowicons installed as well

as said you afcouse have to start the game in workbench manuely thats the down side but takes alot less time to setup...

[wobbly]

ok just got WHDLoad woking with hardfile under winuae heres what i did

download Classic Workbench form http://classicwb.abime.net/

it will ask for workbanch 3.1 disks abf

once you have installed it

add a hadrfile to Classic Workbench from winuae harddrive tab

1 make a hardfliie in winuae i made it 5 meg

2 make s c devs folder on the new hardfile

"dopus can help you do most of the hard work" you can find in by clicking the icon bottom left

3 copy all the file in the game folder to the root of he hardfile

4 copy Kickstarts folder from devs: to devs on the hardfile

5 from s: copy WHDLoad.prefs s: on the hard file

if you have a WHDLoad.key copy to s: on the hard file

6 from C: copy loadwb WHDLoadCD32 and WHDLoad to c: on the hardfile

now make a new config in winuae with just your hadflie as the only hard drive

it should boot to a cli just type

7 loadwb

8 nedcli

(dont worry about all the typing it just to see if it all works)

you should se your hardfile as the only disk on workbanch

now time to try your game

just click the icon of the game and should run

if it run great

make a text flie in s: of the hardfile called

Startup-Sequence

(not Startup-Sequence.text)

this waht my looks like

whdload=cabal.slave PRELOAD; CUSTOM1=1

save it

reboot

the game should autostart

have fun

[DamageCase]

The problems with using a hardfile are the initial setup and the additional diskspace needed. If you had only 100 Amiga games then you would have to create 100 hardfiles and a config for each and also modify the startup-sequence for each... That would be a lot of work...

Now if you happened to have a complete KGWHDLoad set (roughly 2500 games) you would be spending an eternity setting up.

The problem that I have found with using a Workbench drive and a games drive (with many games installed) - opening the games via Workbench... is that you need to enable picasso/rtg & JIT. This DOES affect compatibility. Also if you dont use Picasso then you miss out on decent resolutions or have to use interlaced (eye and brain numbing) screen modes.... If you used a default A1200 setup with no rtg or JIT then you are stuck with a low res display that takes 20 seconds to update a folder list... It works fine but gets tedious and doesn't look as good as a frontend...

I think that, for now at least, using Gamebase Amiga as a second frontend is probably the most accessible form of Amiga Emulation (all of the setup has been done already... the startup sequence is created from the Gamebase DB file on the fly... the WHDLoad game is unzipped and re-zipped at the end...) the only problem is that you are going from front end (Gameex) to front end (Gamebase Amiga - which is mouse driven).

But to be fair, if your mouse & keyboard are not handy for Amiga emulation then you're not gonna get very far.

I also reprogrammed my minipac to match a X-Arcade's mappings - WinUAE has that layout pre-configured...

[wobbly]

just installed gamesbase going to see if i can work something out

i will let you know what i find i have a few ideas

[headkaze]

I love the idea of this project! But I have no idea where to start lol WHDLoad enables you to run Amiga games from a HDD inside Workbench, that much I know.

So I guess what we need to do is create some sort of wrapper that basically does the same as what Gamebase does but silently. So obviously I'll need to do some research to figure this all out.

Now if it's just reading in an access database file and then creating some sort of config file based on the data from it then this sounds like quite an easy project. But before I get started on this has anyone contacted the Gamebase programmers and asked if they could add command line support? Then Gamebase itself could be used as a wrapper but in command line mode not show the actual menu system. That would be the first thing to do.

I'm just downloading the WHDLoad Games Pack's but I have no idea where to start or what to do but I am VERY interested in getting this working so any additional info to help get started would be appreciated. Also I really do think contact the Gamebase guys would be the best first step and if we can't persuade them to add support for what we want then I'll be more than happy to take up the job myself.

[wobbly]

ok heres what i know so far

after you download the WHDLoad Games Pack's you need to unzip your packs in to a folder named WHDLoad

so you have all the games Zips in WHDLoad folder.

in gmebase under the tools menu click paths, then extras you need to point the the folder that contains the WHDLoad folder not the WHDLoad folder itself eg c:/amigahdgames/WHDLoad so point the the amigahdgames folder

to scan for games: under tools click varfiy available files tick extras them start

to play: a click a game the on the lift you will see a extras button click it then whdload

[wobbly]

i found if you try and run whdrun it saids

whdrun must be called with exactly 5 arguments

whdrun.exe gamepack.zip tempdir/ winuae.exe gamesbaseAmiga.uae user-startup

so it looks as if you may be able to run whdrun from command line have not tryed it yet dont know if this helps

[wobbly]

from what i can work out all we need to be able to do is unzip a game zip to a folder that is setup as a harddrive in winuae as hd1: hd0: never changers so could you not just rename the file in the dh1: folder say to game.slave

here is anxsampel of the urser-sratup

echo "";

echo "GameBase/MAGE Amiga :: WHDRun 1.0 Beta 4";

echo "Running: TowerToppler.slave";

echo "";

echo "Remember to use the quit key instead of closing WinUAE!";

echo "";

cd dh1:TowerToppler;

whdload TowerToppler.slave PRELOAD;

so why not just remane TowerToppler.slave to game.slave useing wildcards

that way itr should be easy

you would only neeed one urser-sratup that would never need to be changed

it would be

whdload game.slave PRELOAD;

just a thought

edit

i just tryed renaming TowerToppler.slave to game.slave and worked fine

did not use whdrun or and thing just remaed TowerToppler.slave to game.slave in hd1: folder and ran WHDLoad.uae (uae config in gamebase folder)

[headkaze]

Here is an example of the data:

Data

"2|~|0|~|0|~|5|~|0|~|1|~||~|cd=dh1:1943;

whdload=1943.slave PRELOAD; CUSTOM1=1;

collision_level=playfields

cpu_speed=real

immediate_blits=false

cpu_compatible=false

cpu_cycle_exact=false

blitter_cycle_exact=false|~|WHD"

I can find the whdload settings but not the winuae config data. Where is this info? It's not in my Extra's database in GameBase Amiga.mdb.

[wobbly]

the winuae config is in the GameBase Amiga folder named WHDLoad.uae

sorry miss read your post

[headkaze]

the winuae config is in the GameBase Amiga folder named WHDLoad.uae

sorry miss read your post

I'm aware of that, I was wondering where the data DamageCase posted came from. The way it's posted implies it comes from Extra's but the only data I see is

2|~|0|~|0|~|5|~|0|~|1|~||~|cd=dh1:1943;

So if there are extra settings I need to get on a per game basis and write to WHDLoad.uae where do they come from? Or are these custom settings he's put in there himself?

Apart from that post by DamageCase confusing me I think I understand most of what's going on, so I'm going to start developing a wrapper.

[wobbly]

the winuae config does not change the only thing that changers is the user-startup the is s: in the WHD folder in GameBase folder

and the only thing changers in the user-startup is the name of the .slave file

thats why i thought it would be easier to unzip and just rename the slave file

but dont know how to do this in gameex to test it but can do it outside of gameex by hand and works fine

and you should just beable to use cant remember the command xicon or iconx execute the icon from user-startup

[headkaze]

This is really strange when I was looking at the "GameBase Amiga.mdb" database file in Access 2003 there was none of that extra data DamageCase posted; but now when I load the data in using code it has all that extra info! Strange indeed!

wobbly: I think there is more to it than what your saying there. I'll post back my results soon...

[DamageCase]

This is really strange when I was looking at the "GameBase Amiga.mdb" database file in Access 2003 there was none of that extra data DamageCase posted; but now when I load the data in using code it has all that extra info! Strange indeed!

wobbly: I think there is more to it than what your saying there. I'll post back my results soon...

So you have found the rest of the info HeadKaze?

Just in case you haven't:

Firstly Filter the Data column so that you only have the WHDLoad fields available (remove the boxscans, instructions, etc.....)

Then you can see for each game, the data that you pasted. But that is only the first line in the data. If you select and copy the whole field then you will get the extra parameters that I pasted (UAE config).

Hope that makes it clearer (But I'm sure you are already looking at that )

So do you think that this could work?

[headkaze]

What got me was viewing the Extras table in Access 2003 that WHDLoad data was separated by newline characters so I couldn't see them without scrolling down

So it's all figured out now and yes it does work! It's been alot of work but it's going to be great for cabs.

I'm just working on the configuation GUI for the wrapper then I'll do a release. Stay tuned

EDIT: Nevermind about the system-configuration file I figured it out myself.

[headkaze]

Sorry guys this one is going to take a bit longer than I first anticipated. The good news is it's motivated me enough to create the ultimate WinUAE wrapper for arcade cabinets!

Here are some of the features I'm working on..

- Support for *all* GameBase Amiga games (including GameBase, WHDLoad, SPS, TOSEC etc.)

- Automatically change controls based on settings, and send correct UAE configs using per game settings (from GameBase database)

- Map any key/joystick to the limited control systems of WinUAE (No need to remap X-Arcade controls using an AutoHotkey/AutoIt script)

- Completely hide CLI when booting WHDLoad games (this is already working fine )

- Anything else I can think of! (your welcome to make suggestions in this thread)

What I am aiming to achieve here is a wrapper that works like GameBase and supports all the games of GameBase only without the need for GameBase! Plus our need for some extra things like hiding loading and remapping controls (of course). So if all you've ever wanted is a GameBase FE for WinUAE that looks like GameEx, you are about to get it!

I'm really excited about this wrapper and I hope all you Amiga fans are too! Finally someone is going to take the pain out of setting up WinUAE for cabs! Yay! And you can thank DamageCase because without him this would not have been made! So I'd like to thank you also DamageCase I wouldn't have even looked at GameBase without your first post and I honestly would have missed all those UAE settings in the database without your second post. That seoncd post was absolutely necessary to get me on the right track!

[wobbly]

man this this the news i been whaling for no more diskswopper long live amiga

have about ten friends that are likely to buy gameex just because of this

thank you so much

[headkaze]

man this this the news i been whaling for no more diskswopper long live amiga

have about ten friends that are likely to buy gameex just because of this

thank you so much

I'm a big Amiga fan too! I still have my old Amiga 1200 + 40 gig. I should set that thing up to run WHDLoad I lost my damn null serial cable though which I need to transfer data using PC2Amiga. Oh well I'll get round to it out one day. Incidently that old serial cable used to be used to connect 2 Amigas for head to head action in games like Stunt Car Racer and Populous with my cousin Ahh the good ol days

Your post made me remember about the disk swapper. Although WHDLoad support is already implemented I still want to be able to launch WinUAE for other games. So what I think I'll do for that is have the ability to map a single key to rotate inserting disks into the disk swapper. Still it sure will beat the hell out of using the current shortcuts.

[wobbly]

i played Populous, and fire power via 1200 modem the good old days whiting 60 min for a mod off a bbs was fun

i just remembered i payed $350 aud for that modem

i still have a 1200 the i found in a bin brought it home booted it up a demo loaded so just edited the startup-sequence and workbench was still on the drive

that was a cool day

[headkaze]

Progress is going well But...

I was wondering if someone here could donate me a registration key for WHDLoad? I can live with the fact it has a nag screen but I found out that some games wont run if it's not regged. That will make testing some games impossible without it A WHDLoad key costs $30 US which is more expensive than GameEx! It would be nice if writing this wrapper didn't cost me any money.

Here's the page for more info..

http://www.whdload.de/reg.html

P.S I will only accept a reg key that is under my name and e-mail address. Ie. Don't send me pirate keys or a copy of someone elses please!

[iano]

Progress is going well But...

I was wondering if someone here could donate me a registration key for WHDLoad? I can live with the fact it has a nag screen but I found out that some games wont run if it's not regged. That will make testing some games impossible without it A WHDLoad key costs $30 US which is more expensive than GameEx! It would be nice if writing this wrapper didn't cost me any money.

Here's the page for more info..

http://www.whdload.de/reg.html

P.S I will only accept a reg key that is under my name and e-mail address. Ie. Don't send me pirate keys or a copy of someone elses please!

HK. I tried getting you a key via credit card (i owned an amiga too) but they declined it because the email address was "untraceable" ? What does that mean? Your real name is not part of the email address ?

[wobbly]

hello i would love to help you out with some money for regkey do you have a paypal account ?

unfortunately iam unable to give you all the money you need for the key but i can afford some would that help