A few questions/suggestions

[dreamkatcha]

Why is it that when you run a game some of the option tabs disappear? To get them back you have to close down the emulator and then re-start it again by which time you've lost any changes you made to the settings. This makes it very difficult to get games running by tweaking the settings by trial and error. Maybe there's a way to reset the emu without closing it down completely and I've just missed it?

Wouldn't it make more sense if each change you made was automatically saved as it is in Winfellow? It's great that you can save different configs, but this would be a more useful feature if it was additional to the autosaved config. Does anyone else agree?

[oldpx]

Why is it that when you run a game some of the option tabs disappear?
Check www.winuae.net and grab the latest version :cool

[Belgarath]

the latest winuae has the same problem, only 2 tabs dissapear but one of these is the configuration tab, it would be nice to be able to run the adf, tweak the settings and then save the finished config without havin to restart winuae. but for now its best to save the config before you run the game so the settings you made arent lost.

it would also be nice if you could change the resolution without having to restart winuae :)

[dreamkatcha]

Thanks, but I'm already using the latest version (0.8.21 Release 2). So are you saying this is a bug rather than one of those "it's just the way it works" kind of things? Just to clarify, I'm talking about when you load a game and then flick back to the GUI using the F12 button. I thought that maybe these options were inaccessible because they were currently in use - you know like in Windows the page file is inaccessible because it's in constant use by the OS. The same goes for some DLLs. Am I on the right track or am I talking rubbish? :)

[jmmijo]

You maybe correct on this, however I'd like to read what Toni has to say about this first ;)

[oldpx]

Nearly and setting can be changed on the fly except output and configuration tabs. However, expect a crash (on the amiga side) when you change vital elements like cpu type or memory size. If something is still unselectable, I believe it's better this way for the sake of stability, I think someone else who is into the programming side of WinUAE can clarify this better. I'm not emulating much lately and haven't experienced some restrictions to the usability in the F12 menu in release 0.8.21.

[Twistin'Ghost]

Well, I can see how it could produce unstable results if you were to change some settings and return to the game. But it would be nice to be able to change the greyed-out or missing areas in conjunction with the Reset Amiga button. Having to quit and restart I have always found to be an annoying hindrance.

[dreamkatcha]

Ah, it sounds like I'm not the only one having problems with this then. That's good... erm well sort of if you know what I mean. So... anyway what would be really great is if you could take the features which work best in Winfellow (sound, speed and compatibility mainly) and combine them the ones which work best in WinUAE (the save state feature is the biggest draw for me, I don't know about anything else because I'm quite new to this). Is there any chance of the two sets of developers getting together to create one super emulator instead of two different ones which only work 50% of the time? Not that I'm complaining or anything. I have tremendous respect for the people who managed to get this project off the ground in the first place - they've inspired to start scouring eBay for a CD32 so that says a lot. I just wish I hadn't sold my Miggy 600 all those years ago now.

[Twistin'Ghost]

Well, you could also scower ebay for a real Amiga, as well... :D

[dreamkatcha]

Yeah, I've been debating whether or not to get a 1200 instead, but I think that would be more hassle than I need - you know because I'd have to hook it up to my PC (or buy a CD drive) to transfer the ADFs and then copy them to floppies. That would take a ton of floppies and a very long time. Can you still buy Amiga blanks btw?

With a CD32 I could burn the games to a CD using my PC and then play them in the console without having to hook the two machines up at all.

[oldpx]

Yeah, I've been debating whether or not to get a 1200 instead,

Don't get a 1200 instead, get both! :haha :evilgrin :haha

[Twistin'Ghost]

I still see piles of Amiga blanks sold on ebay. Typically, they are cracked versions of software on the disks, but sold as blanks. This can alos be a good thing if some of these disks have rare games that are on our MIA lists (or even rare games that aren't!)

And with a 1200, you should be able to play most CD32 games with an accompanying CD drive. On the other hand, you could always make a CD32 into a computer, which is a pretty groovy option!

[andreas]

Maybe there's a way to reset the emu without closing it down completely and I've just missed it?
Yes, there is. :)
Press CTRL-INS-HOME to invoke a reset like you would do it on your real Amiga with CTRL-AMIGA-AMIGA.
Use the grey INS and HOME keys below PrtSc/ScrollLock/Pause, not the ones on the numeric keypad.

[dreamkatcha]

Thanks for that shortcut andreas. I've just been playing around with the options and found a reset button under the misc tab too - it doesn't allow you to alter the display or config options but you can use it to change games so that's something at least.

I've been keeping an eye on eBay and seen a few 1200s. Some of them go for very silly prices, but there's still the odd bargain to be had. I'll keep searching anyway. Thanks for the tip TG. What's so annoying is that I used to have all these games myself before I committed the cardinal sin of selling them *sob*. I was young and stupid. What can I say? :(

Oh btw have you all been checking for hardware on the Yahoo and MSN auction sites? There's nowhere near as much Miggy stuff there but they're still worth a peek.

A CD32 with a keyboard attached would be nice. I'm told you need one of those addon module things which I can't remember the name of to do this so I'll keep an eye out for one of those too. There used to be a huge car boot sale held every Sunday a few miles down the road from me which would be perfect for finding these gems but sadly it closed down. Now all I'm left with are piddling little ones with just a handful of stalls selling granny clothes and junk.

I think I'm starting to get the hang of WinUAE now - I've just been playing Robocod (one of my all time faves) and it's almost perfect. The graphics were clear and centred and filled most of the screen. The save state feature works great. The only thing I need to tweak now is the sound and I'll be a happy bunny again - that's probably suffering because I've got lots of other apps running in the background at the same time so if I shut those down I should be able to sort that out too. Woohoo! :D

[RetroMan]

Originally posted by Echostryker
A CD32 with a keyboard attached would be nice. I'm told you need one of those addon module things which I can't remember the name of to do this so I'll keep an eye out for one of those too.
There are two expansions I know of : The SX-32 and the SX-1 (the SX-32 is also capable of connection a HD to it, the SX-1 son´t ;) )

[dreamkatcha]

Ah, that's it! Thanks for the info. I'll know what to search for in future :)

[Djay]

another handy feature would be the ability to go back to the main options of WinUAE, so for instance, i could use a A500 config after using a A1200 config...


..also, a "soft-reset" doesn't clear all of the Amiga's memory, so a virus could spread, BOY do i remember those days

[dreamkatcha]

Did you ever try using a virus killer on original games? The guy in my local 'puter shop sold me one and forgot to mention they're useless for game floppies because they destroy the boot sector. I ran it on lots of games without checking them inbetween and it probably goes without saying that I wasn't too chuffed.

I had almost no utils at all ...I never got into that side of things ...well except for playing around with Deluxe Paint making the virus killer pretty useless to me.

[Twistin'Ghost]

I always found the more effective use of write protecting disks to be the best way to prevent viruses. In the rare case of a game needing to be write enabled, then I would cold boot first (long enough to clear memory).