Help! Getting large collection of games to work...

[jamielemon]

I'm looking for the best way to get a large collection of usable Amiga games, playable from a nice database front end. I have tried Amiga Forever but it apparently can't load games from a ZIP archive, I have 23GB of Amiga ADF files but no room to unzip them into my C: drive. Apparently AF can only load games in that are stored in the default directory (?) which means I can't unzip my ADFs to my external drive and run them from there through AF(apparently, am I right here?) - A real shame, because from what I have seen AF is the nicest "front end" for WinUAE.

Are there any better alternatives? I've tried Gamebase and Lemon Amiga but none seem to do the job.

[skateblind]

I can't suggest any frontends, but I would suggest maybe deleting the games that you feel you will never play and see if you can get it down to a usable size or deleting the whole lot and only downloading the games you want to play.
I suspect there will be about 10gbs worth of games that you will never play or only play for a few minutes before realising how bad they are.

[s2325]

Yes, there is no reason to keep so many games, I think you will never have time to play them.

[tero]

hehe, but how to find which games are good?
i found much good titles i didn't know before...

i tried frontends for a while, and find that it's easier to setup them with winuae only,
with the quickstart function most game runs :)

nb: winuae support zipped disk images ... no need to unzip

[TCD]

I've tried Gamebase and Lemon Amiga but none seem to do the job.

What's the problem with Gamebase Amiga? It's the best 'out-of-the-box' you can get (largest number of games and extra content).

[jamielemon]

What's the problem with Gamebase Amiga? It's the best 'out-of-the-box' you can get (largest number of games and extra content).

The problem with Gamebase Amiga is that I have never got it to work - must have downloaded it six or seven times over the years but never managed to get it set up the way I want it.
Basically, the "scanner" never picks up the games I have on my HD - I've tried it with many different collections of ADF files, SPS files, etc, and it never manages to find them and add them to my library.

I just tried it again today to make sure - and basically, even though I've got all my paths set up properly, when I scan the folder for games it doesn't find them and set them as playable.
Even more annoying than that - when I filter the view list , and tell it to show me only "playable games (ADF, SPS + WHDload) " It shows me all the games in my directory (good) but the "Play Game" button is greyed out, and won't let me actually play any of them!

(A similar problem has always occured whenever I've tried to sync Lemon Amiga with a big database of files).
Hopefully you can understand what I am talking about and offer some advice!

[tero]

if your games are shown in the list, then there is something different not configured
you setup the emulator settings?

the newest uae isn't auto-detected, but setting the path to it manually will work.

[Retro-Nerd]

The problem with Gamebase Amiga is that I have never got it to work - must have downloaded it six or seven times over the years but never managed to get it set up the way I want it.
Basically, the "scanner" never picks up the games I have on my HD - I've tried it with many different collections of ADF files, SPS files, etc, and it never manages to find them and add them to my library.

The Gamebase Amiga scanner can only find games with the name syntax/structure that Belgarath used for it. Have you tried the dat files to zip/rename your collection with a rom filemanager? You still find them on the EAB fileserver.

http://eab.whdownload.com/index.php?dir=%2FGames/GameBase%20Amiga

[Mclane]

As R-N says, they must match the name and directory as in the gamebase database, it does not work on CRC's yet.

Make sure all the paths are set correctly too under tools...They will be set to the makers drive setting and not yours.

[jamielemon]

if your games are shown in the list, then there is something different not configured
you setup the emulator settings?

the newest uae isn't auto-detected, but setting the path to it manually will work.

I don't have a problem detecting winUAE, its only the ADF files that aren't recognised.
I don't see how it can be the emulator settings (because GB Amiga doesn't need winUAE to detect ADF files, surely?) so it must be a problem with GB Amiga. It's infuriating because over the years I have tried to set this program up lots of times, on numerous systems, but it just doesn't work for me!

The Gamebase Amiga scanner can only find games with the name syntax/structure that Belgarath used for it. Have you tried the dat files to zip/rename your collection with a rom filemanager? You still find them on the EAB fileserver.

http://eab.whdownload.com/index.php?dir=%2FGames/GameBase%20Amiga

Aha! You know, that is the most useful answer I have ever been given when I've asked questions on this subject online. Thank you very much!
Now, if only I knew what you were talking about! I'll do some research. Is there any particular dat file I need?



As R-N says, they must match the name and directory as in the gamebase database, it does not work on CRC's yet.

Make sure all the paths are set correctly too under tools...They will be set to the makers drive setting and not yours.

Thanks, yes I have checked the paths are all fine. After R-Ns reply I'm pretty sure it's one of these dat file things I need.
What's CRC?
What do I do with the dat file when I have it? Do I need to have my ADFs zipped or unzipped? I don't have a clue!

[jamielemon]

http://eab.whdownload.com/index.php?dir=%2FGames/GameBase%20Amiga

That link seems to need a login and doesn't take my EAB one ... and no signup option ...

[Retro-Nerd]

1. Use clrmame (http://mamedev.emulab.it/clrmamepro/download.htm) with the dat files and scan/rename your whole collection.
2. Then use the included batch files for the rest (moving to the correct folders, zipping too iirc).

Check the readme for more infos.

That link seems to need a login and doesn't take my EAB one ... and no signup option ...

http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=43633 ;)

[TCD]

Or just grab the packs here : http://gbamiga.elowar.com/TorrentTemp/ :)

[Retro-Nerd]

Exactly, much easier. Forgot about this direkt download link. :)

[TCD]

Hopefully eLowar will find the time to redo the GB Amiga page one day *cough* :p But yes, it's not bad for now :)

[jamielemon]

Thanks people. I'll get to work checking out the files you've linked me to and the readme's and that, and come back if I have more questions!

Edit: Ok, I already have a question - checked out both the links I was given above - http://eab.whdownload.com/index.php?...meBase%20Amiga

and http://gbamiga.elowar.com/TorrentTemp/

and can't see anything called "dat files" or a "rom filemanager" (which is what Retro-Nerd said I needed).

Can someone explain what I need to do, in very simple terms please? Sorry for being a bit slow. I owned a real Amiga for years and am used to running emulators for all sorts of systems on my PC, but have never come across a dat file or rom filemanager before.

[methodman]

I am going to throw out a different note. Everything in the Amiga scene is preserved. So for example Mort has scanned in the Amiga Commodore User Magazine and the Amiga Format Magazines have also been scanned. These highlight many games and applications that have been produced. The Amiga was so far ahead of its time and the strategy for many games is not any easier on the Amiga. In fact now many games are no where near as sophisticated. There is Lemon and Gamebase 64 and a WHD Hard Drive. I am doing the same thing. There is a green guide http://guide.abime.net/home3.htm this shows you how to create a harddrive. But I am doing the same thing so I'll report my progress.

[TCD]

Edit: Ok, I already have a question - checked out both the links I was given above - http://eab.whdownload.com/index.php?...meBase%20Amiga

and http://gbamiga.elowar.com/TorrentTemp/

and can't see anything called "dat files" or a "rom filemanager" (which is what Retro-Nerd said I needed).

Just grab the games from the second link. No need for a dat file right now :)

I am going to throw out a different note. Everything in the Amiga scene is preserved. So for example Mort has scanned in the Amiga Commodore User Magazine and the Amiga Format Magazines have also been scanned. These highlight many games and applications that have been produced. The Amiga was so far ahead of its time and the strategy for many games is not any easier on the Amiga. In fact now many games are no where near as sophisticated. There is Lemon and Gamebase 64 and a WHD Hard Drive. I am doing the same thing. There is a green guide http://guide.abime.net/home3.htm this shows you how to create a harddrive. But I am doing the same thing so I'll report my progress.

Hmm, what are you trying to do and how it is connected with this thread?

[methodman]

I built an Amiga Center with all of the magazines and books from bombjack.org/commodore Amiga and c64 magazines and books.

Also you have all the documents collected lds.

What I do is take 1 game a week that intrigues me look over the documents and see how far I can get. Some games are complicated. Badlands Pete, Chicago There is such a wide variety that I use the magazines to try out different ideas. If you only pick games you read about on the web you miss many things out there. The magazines are written well in my opinion I am very happy with the Amiga and C64 scene. Check out the Mascintosh scene there isn't one is there?