Thread: Free downloads
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Old 28 May 2013, 22:41   #4
FrodeSolheim
FS-UAE Developer
 
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Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Førde, Norway
Age: 43
Posts: 4,043
I'd like to add that in addition to being a useful resource (people can now use oagd.net as an entry portal to locate legally downloadable games), it is usable for programs interfacing with oagd.net, such as FS-UAE Launcher: The attached screenshot shows the current status of FS-UAE Launcher (unreleased development version) with no local games, only populated with downloadable games (information automatically retrieved from oagd.net).

Manual game downloads

As you can see, you get information about games which can be downloaded, and FS-UAE Launcher will open the correct download page for you. Once you have downloaded the game, it will automatically be configured correctly and is ready to run.

Automatic on-demand download

A more advanced feature, which is also implemented, is the ability to download games on demand. In the screenshot, you can see that "Cybernetix" has a distinct icon, which means it will be automatically downloaded to the local hard drive the first time you start it. Shareware and freeware titles can of course be hosted on oagd.net directly this way.

FS-UAE Launcher can also download game files from third-party sites, and while this technically works already, we will only enable if for games/sites where we have approval from the site owner(s). There is no need to risk creating "bad will" in the community by doing otherwise. This solution is great where sites have permission to distribute games, but does not have permission to "pass that permission on" to other sites. If you manage a site with legal downloads, please consider giving us a statement allowing oagd.net clients, such as FS-UAE Launcher to auto-download games on demand from your site (*).

(*) The game files are of course cached on disk so they are not downloaded again on subsequent starts..

Hosted games

But of course, the ideal solution: It would be very nice to be able to broker deals to host game content directly on oagd.net, to ensure that games are readily available to all Amiga users (and especially to any software which uses oagd.net - which any software can freely do). So if you sit on distribution rights to Amiga games, or know someone who does, please consider helping us and the Amiga community.

Making Amiga game emulation more accessible to new users

One of the goals here is to make more Amiga games accessible to users, and especially to new users which are not accustomed to Amiga emulation. In an ideal world, all existing Amiga games would be auto-downloadable and ready to play. While technically possible, that solution does indeed have non-technical issues

This is a solution which can built on without fear of takedown notices, and the download feature can be safely included in future versions of FS-UAE (and other software).
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