Finally, an easy to set up Amiga emulation solution on GameEx? Almost!

[Macguvyer]

It's been a while since I focused on Amiga emulation with GameEx, and I decided recently to throw some energy at it, to see if I could fine tune my setup.  I noticed also that there are occasionally people posting for help with Amiga emulation on this board, but often there is very little response.  I think the main reason for this is because it's so complicated, and therefore almost no one is doing it any more.

The good news is that some recent developments in the Amiga emulation scene are changing all that, and I'm pretty sure that this means with GameEx, too.

But first, some observations:

Even for a fairly skilled person, trying to set up the Amiga on GameEx is hard.  There are about 3-4 ways to do it, and even when you have something set up, it never seems to work properly for all games.  The issue is that, unlike a ROM dump from MAME or a cartridge system which works easily with just a mouse click, the Amiga "ROMs" are in a whole different category.  For any one game there can be a number of versions, some with copy protection, some "cracked", some for different hardware.  These games often require totally different setup specifications in order to run correctly.  And the main emulation software WINUAE, is incredibly powerful, but also quite complex as far as its interface.  

There are some solutions which have organized the Amiga catalogue and make it easier to emulate (in theory), although they are not easy to set up.  One of these is Gamebase Amiga which is kind of a front end database which runs a huge pile of Amiga software via WINUAE, and luckily there is a way to import this info into GameEx.   I was excited to set this up this again because there has been a revised version of Gamebase Amiga (V2.1) that has over 5000 games in it.  However, even after a few hours of trying to find the right files in various places on the internet, and getting it all set up with GameEx, I couldn't get it to work properly, and I have a pretty good idea of what I'm doing.  I thought to myself that there must be a better way...

Before I go on, there is one more important point to make about Amiga emulation and an exciting change that is now possible.

Even when a person manages to get Amiga emulation set up via GameEx or otherwise, the process of running a game has one major drawback - load time.  Accurately emulating Amiga software (which usually ran off floppies) often means boot times of 1-2 minutes.  Compared to the speedy ROM boot times of other emulators, this often means that the Amiga emulation is just too much of a pain in the ass due to to the wait.  The solution is WHDLoad.   In laymen's terms, this is a special version of an Amiga game which boots in just a few seconds, and it feels like a cartridge.  There are currently 2369 WHDLoad versions of Amiga games, which means that the vast majority of the best games have been converted to this format.   Another benefit of the WHDLoad games is that they have stripped away most of the crack demos and modifications that the majority of other Amiga game dumps (Like TOSEC) have.  This means that you can enjoy the games in the original manner that they were presented.   The WHDLoad method of emulating Amiga is so slick that it makes running Amiga games finally as easy as the best systems you are emulating now.

Interestingly, Gamebase has WHDLoad support, but because Gamebase supports multiple versions of the game, there is no way that I am aware of to select the WHDLoad version from GameEx.  This is something that would be great to implement in GameEx, if possible, but there may be something even smarter...

WHDLoad aside, I was hinting that might be a better way to make Amiga emulation happen on GameEx.  I think that solution is FS-UAE.  FS-UAE is a port of WinUAE with a focus on emulating Amiga games, featuring a new on-screen GUI and cross-platform online play.    The Amiga emulation community has embraced this software for a number of really great reasons, and I believe that it's a truly exciting development that we should definitely work towards integrating into GameEx.

I was able to set up FS-UAE seperately from GameEx with a mimimum of effort.  It supports WHDLoad which means that you can run the best games almost instantly.  It has a great interface which is much easier to use than WinUAE.   It uses the OpenRetro Game Database - a clever online database of Amiga games which is updated constantly and means that the software is continually synchronized with the latest WHDLoad ports and includes all configuration details so that your games automatically run with proper configuration (!).  It has solid Gamepad support.  Some folks have already got FS-UAE working with other front ends such as Launchbox. THIS is what Amiga emulation should be.  

Okay, here's where I need your help.  I am having a few issues getting this software to work with Gamex.  I mentioned the OpenRetro Game Database.  This is a key element used when getting other front ends to automatically integrate with FS-UAE.   In the OpenRetro Game Database there is a value for each game called an UUID.  This is a unique identifier which allows you to run FS-UAE and have it automatically configure the emulation for that specific version of the game, and load the game ROM automatically.   For example, for the game Populous, the UUID from the OpenRetro Game Database of the WHDLoad version of this game is 41848a06-d4ab-53b0-a122-48903ec67ce5.   After configuring FS-UAE properly, it is now possible for a front end like Launchbox to launch FS-UAE via command line and reference the WHDLoad Populous UUID for example, and the game just starts up, almost instantly.  Not only that, you can export all of the UUIDs from FS-UAE, import those into Launchbox, and have all your games (and snaps) show up in that front end.

So this seems very doable on GameEx.    Here is a quick summary of where I am at, and where I'm having trouble.

I am using the very latest developer version 2.9.6 of FS-UAE because it has some important features regarding WHDLoad etc.

A fantastic, super detailed video on installing and setting up FS-UAE is located at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VNsisdSJNI

This video also shows how to integrate the Launchbox front end which I think will give us the roadmap to implement this into GameEx.    For Launchbox, there is a utility that exports all of the UUIDs into subdirectories.  The subdirectory is the name of the game, and the long UUID files are inside.  GameEx seems to hang when scanning these directories, and also I'm not even sure that it's possible for Gameex to take the name of the ROM from the subdirectory name instead of the file (since the UUID files are gobbledegook).

Any suggestions on next steps?  I have everything working smooth as butter inside FS-UAE, and would love to see easy Amiga emulation finally integrated into GameEx!

Many thanks for feedback and ideas!

Regards,

MacGuyver

 

 

 

[simbamame]

Holly S**T 

well i for one would love to see this happen as i originally spent weeks trying to set the amiga emulator up without success i literally had to set up a separate emulator for each game so only had a few....this would be a MAJOR step forward in my opinion and i for 1 would love to see it integrated into GameEX    ... Tom ?

[DazzleHP]

I will give an alternative view, my view on this

Also having spent years trying to find a comfortable solution, i came to the conclusion that micro comps (pretty much all of them) are just not suited very well to the FE ethos - ie, click a game and run it.

Mostly when people speak of a front end (especially in retro gaming terms) they imagine a system of which you browse a list of games, you press a key/button and you're off playing. This works really well for closed systems/consoles, but it somewhat falls apart when it come to micro's, due to the nature of these machines. There is no standard to follow, no rules to adhere to because these machines were the pioneers, they established over time, what we now would call "standard".

Not only do they have their own rules per system, but they also have their own rules/commands per game/software! This is why, to this day, no one has made a definitive solution to this.

There have been many valiant attempts to standardise micro's, as outlined by you @Macguvyer, and while they make things a little easier for us all, they will never be perfect. It's just the way the water flows.

[Macguvyer]

A very reasonable comment DazzleHP, and I recognize that the GameEx developers can't chase every possible setup, particularly with the computer systems, due to their complexity.

However, the reason that I continue persevering with solving these issues is that unless systems like the Amiga are set up with front ends to easily run their games, the reality is that almost no one will bother playing them.  And that's something I'm not willing to allow happen!  There's already too much revisionist history going on where 8/16/64 bit consoles are presented as the major significant systems of note in popular gaming history.  Which is not accurate and leaves out a tonne of great history and games, the bones of which are still seen in game and filmed entertainment even today.

It's a little bit like Netflix.  The easiest to consume content starts to become all that everyone knows.   And front ends are exactly the same.   

I believe that the solution I described above with FS-UAE and the Open Retrogames database has actually solved the complexity issue so that the majority of the Amiga game library does work with a single click, albeit using a different front end.  I'm going to continue tinkering and see if it's possible to move this workflow to GameEx.  I think the major issue right now is finding out if GameEx will take game names from a folder instead of a file.  Wasn't sure about that one.  (open to suggestions )

Thanks!

MacGuyver

 

 

 

 

 

[DazzleHP]

Forgive me @Macguvyer,

But the complexity of micro's is not the issue, it's the fact that nobody can unify them. The whole point/reason of a front-end is to make it as simple as possible for anyone to launch a rom/game/app/program.

This is literally absurd when it comes to micro's. They are too complex, which is why, after many many years, there is still no unifying code, no go-to, nothing.

All FE's suffer this fate, because there simply is no real solution.

[Tom Speirs]

20 hours ago, Macguvyer said:

 I think the major issue right now is finding out if GameEx will take game names from a folder instead of a file.  Wasn't sure about that one.  (open to suggestions )

 

 

 

 

 

 

Map file will work perfectly.

PS: This topic kinda looks like LaunchBox SEO click bait!

[Tom Speirs]

I'm working on it. I will have something for you very shortly.

[Tom Speirs]

Okay, so I just released 14.96.

This adds a new setting under Advanced Emulator Settings in the Setup Wizard - Use Folder Names. I'm assuming it works the same as launchbox. It basically automatically turns on scanning of sub folders and uses the folder name instead of the file name.

[Macguvyer]

Wow Tom, I was only expecting a point in the right direction.  This is terrific!  

I will run some tests tomorrow.   Thanks very much for the new feature!!! 

[Macguvyer]

Hi Tom,

The folder names feature works GREAT.  Thanks again.   It scanned the folders and the Amiga games list imported perfectly this way.

However, I'm still trying to sort out some command line issues with FS-UAE when run from GameEx and I feel that there's something to do with relative paths or something.

Can you comment on the following two checkboxes that are required for this emulator to work properly with the "alternative" front end?  I feel they are the root of the problem.

"Don't use quotes"

and 

"Use file name only without file extension or folder path"

See screen capture below.  I wasn't sure if there were equivalent settings in GameEx?

 

[Tom Speirs]

I don't think use quotes or relative paths is relevant. It should be a very basic setup. Working path is where launcher.exe  is and the command will be Launcher.exe [ROMFILE] I would have thought.

If its not working post your log and \data\runitgame.bat

 

[Evilforces]

I'm interested in this emulator config too.

Please @Macguvyer if you found a solution to config, share with us.

Thanks!!!

[Macguvyer]

Hi Tom,

This thing is so close to working but not quite 100%.   I've posted my log.txt and runitgame.bat below.

The new feature you've added allows the Amiga games to be imported into the GameEx interface via directory name, which works exactly as it should (thank you again).  However, when I click on a game, it only brings up the FS-UAE launcher application and doesn't start the game automatically.  Of course I can manually select the game again a second time with the FS-UAE launcher application but this should not be required.  Something isn't quite working with the command line execution of the emulator itself.

You were mentioning that you didn't think that relative versus absolute paths are an issue, but I've seen this mentioned as an important requirement with the FS-UAE emulator when using it with other front ends - see example post here:

http://www.rlauncher.com/forum/showthread.php?2602-Re-Need-Help-Getting-WHDLoad-games-on-FS-UAE&p=35057&styleid=2

I will give you one other reason that I think that the paths are the issue.

When running command line tests in the FS-UAE install directory, I notice the following.  Running the below command, which should direct the FS-UAE emulator to launch a specific game which is located in my Amiga games folder (actually the folder contains the game UUIDs, but same thing for this discussion), I get the exact same behavior as launching the game from GameEx.  The FS-UAE launcher starts OK, but for some reason the UUID file is not getting passed on correctly, so the game does not automatically load:

FS-uae-launcher.exe "E:\Emulator ROMs\Amiga\WHDLoad (2017-04-12) for GameEx\Populous [WHDLoad, v1.1, 0069]\41848a06-d4ab-53b0-a122-48903ec67ce5"

Now interestingly, when I copy the UUID game file into the same directory as FS-UAE, and execute the following command line instead:

fs-uae-launcher.exe 41848a06-d4ab-53b0-a122-48903ec67ce5

The game launches perfectly.   Copying all the game UUIDs into the FS-UAE folder seems like a poor and messy solution, and frankly would break the nice directory import feature you just added.  There must be simple way to address this path issue even though I acknowledge that it's emulator specific.  Or perhaps I've made an incredibly simple mistake.

Thanks for any ideas and suggestions!

 

log.txt

runitgame.bat

[Evilforces]

Hi Macguvyer!!!

What's your command line for this emulator on GameEx?

I think the problem could be on your [ROMPATH]\[ROMFILE] option on command line.

If game launch when you copy it to another folder, you only need to adress the command line on GameEx to this folder that contains the game (in this case the UUID)

 

Can you post your config file for this emulator?

Thanks.

[Macguvyer]

Hi Evilforces, I appreciate the help.  My command line in the emulator setup is

FS-uae-launcher.exe "[ROMPATH]\[ROMFILE]"

Config file attached!

[PC] Commodore Amiga FS-UAE V2.ini

[Evilforces]

Hi Macguvyer!!

I just made a simple config with my setup and FS-UAE is working well with GameEx.

I have my roms 7zipped

Inside every file I have the ipf file that makes the game mount in FS-UAE

My command line is: Launcher.exe "[ROMPATH]\[ROMFILE]"

The rompath is where my 7zip file roms are.

The Working path is where my FS-UAE launcher.exe file is

 

GameEx shows all my roms files perfect, and I can launch the games, but the only problem I see is where a game is launched, GameEx is not recogniting the launcher is open and returns to select game screen, but if you use alt plus tab you see the FS-UAE is working well in other window.

This problem could be fixed configuring the map file of this emulator with the proper process.

The only thing I need to see, is there are snap and videos on Emumovies for my roms, and this emulator will be set perfect on my setup.

 

EDIT: You can see my GameEx forum signature to see my last game played (3D Pool) to belive my setup is working perfect.

[Macguvyer]

Great to hear that you've had success with your setup, Evilforces.  So many questions...

Sounds to me that you are not using WHDLoad versions of your games, but IPF versions instead, which seems like a big compromise to me, certainly in terms of load times.  The other front ends are using WHDLoad versions tied to the Open Retro Game database so that every single game is automatically set up to run with specific settings for each.  Can your setup run these WHDLoad versions, each one fully spec'd correct?  or are you running them all with one setting? 

Also, you appear to be using a different version of FS-UAE since you are using a different executable (Launcher.exe instead of FS-UAE-Launcher.exe)  

Quote

If game launch when you copy it to another folder, you only need to adress the command line on GameEx to this folder that contains the game (in this case the UUID)

Any thoughts on the above comment, with my setup files I posted?  Thanks!

 

[Evilforces]

Hi Macguvyer!!

Yes, the rom-set I found is the IPF set (complete set), but for me it's not a problem to see the game loading as the original. I understand the WHD set is faster, but at the moment I haven't any WHD rom version to try.

I'm using FS-UAE 2.8.3 version. I think this version is a portable version, but I can't remember now because I've installed some months ago, but I will try to remember where I downloaded it and post here.

I'm doing some test just now to see if all games are working well. FS-UAE download automatically all the configurations for every game on my setup only updating databases, but at this moment I can't say that GameEx can run all the games perfect. Please, let me just do some test before. I just configured this emulator to see if the normal command line on GameEx is working and try to help you.

Thanks.

[Evilforces]

Hi Macguvyer!!

This is the link of the fs-uae emulator I'm using on my setup: https://fs-uae.net/stable/2.8.3/fs-uae-portable-suite_2.8.3_windows_x86.zip

I can confirm that all the roms I tryied on my setup are working well with posted config.

I can't confirm if this configuration works on whd files, but if fs-uae recognizes the roms it could be work as well as my config.

[Macguvyer]

Hi Evilforces, it was very nice of you to do those tests and report back, and also the details of precisely what version of the emulator you are working with.  I see it was the portable version, I'll have to do some tests to see if that solves the path issues that I am having.  Also I realize that even though it had features that I liked, it's probably risky for me to be running the latest development version, since who knows what may be changed or not working with that.

Also I may sound stubborn as hell, but I will not be giving up on this WHDLoad stuff.  It's too important to me.

Thanks again.  I'll report back with findings.  If you could post your config file when you have time, that would be great.   

[Evilforces]

Hi Macguvyer!!

Attached is my emulator config for Commodore Amiga.

Note 1: You need to config FS-UAE outside GameEx first

Note 2: As you can see on my config file, you need to open zip files without uncompress it, because this way FS-UAE can mount all disk (if game have multiple disk)

Note 3: You need to edit the map file for this emulator with the FS-UAE process to be detected by GameEx.

I can say this emulator is working well for me now with this config.

Commodore Amiga.ini

[Macguvyer]

Thanks for the config file, Evilforces!

[Anghelos]

Hello,
I read a bunch of topics about amiga on gameex and thought this might help me sort out the problem:
Can't start the Amiga games.

I downloaded the config file and put inside the proper folder and downloaded the fs-uae and under 'roms' i have all my zip files roms.

Since i have the 'merge' error....is it mandatory to have full game ex version in order to make amiga games works with this method?

[Draco1962]

What "merge error" are you referring to? Is it due to Goodmerge 7-zip support? If so, that is a registered feature and requires purchasing a membership to unlock that and other features.