How do I install games?

[Lektroid]

For days I've been fighting the most frustrating battle so far on my Amiga... I have an Amiga A1200, I'm running WB3.1.4, I have installed WHDLoad. It's now clear to me that you can't simply double click a file on the Amiga to install like modern computers, so I followed the tutorial on how to install WHDLoad using shell commands and all seemed to go ok. However, it has not given me an WHDLoad app icon to click anwhere that I can see, all I can do is type WHDLoad into shell and it scrolls a huge list of commands, I'm no pro at shell, so this doesn't really mean much to me. So far I have installed lha.run, Install43_3, and the aformentioned WHDLoad.

I have downloaded a load of games in ADF and LHA fomat which I have placed on the games partition of the SSD (CF card), but even after installing WHDLoad, double clicking any of them just brings up the followng error: "Enter Command Arguments:", so I click "Execute", then it tells me the .adf or .lha is not executable with a returncode 10, even though I have installed WHDLoad, lha.run and Install43_3. It's not just games either, it seems none of the ADF or LHA files are able to be double clicked into, making it very laborious to do anything on the Amiga, seems the Amiga only wants to respond to confusing shell commands - not very user friendly in the slightest.

I read somewhere else that I can unpack the games usng a separate computer (in my case, Mac), which would have been more obvious if they had been packed into a more widely known filetype such as zip or rar. So I've unpacked all the files, some unpacked ok, others didn't. Each unpacked into it's own folder, includng separate folders for each disk, meaning I have no way of changing disks for multiple disk games while the game is running. It was also mentioned that you can download pre-unpacked games from WHDownload, but I can't find any, all that are available are the LHA files, just like every other Amiga download site.

Most of the tutorials show how to install WHDLoad on Scalos, which is no good when I'm running WB3.1.4, although I'm beginning to think I made a bad investment with this system. That said, I haven't read anywhere WB3.1.4 is not a good gaming platform, or non user friendly, although I have to tell it to "show all files" whenever I open a new window in order to see anything. I'm hoping there is a way to set my amiga up as a games machine on 3.1.4. Or would I really be better off selling my 3.1.4 ROMs & disks and installing Scalos instead? If that's the case, it just shows that spending money is not always the better option.

Things are very different on the A1200 compared to my days of the A500 where you would simply put a floppy in the drive, switch on and the game loads. I would have thought technology in the last 30 r so years would have advanced on the Amiga to make it more user friendly, not less. Although I feel I'm missing something simple that will allow me to double click a game or app and it runs without geting a retuncode10 error, it's so frustrating.

[manossg]

It is a good idea to unpack in your Amiga and not in a Windows or Mac. You just open the shell, go the files' location and type
lha x <filename>.lha <destination>

After that, you just have to click on the game icon and you are good to go. Or, for further ease of use, you can get a frontend for WHDLoad. I am a fan of and I recommend TinyLauncher.

[Lektroid]

Originally Posted by manossg

It is a good idea to unpack in your Amiga and not in a Windows or Mac. You just open the shell, go the files' location and type
lha x <filename>.lha <destination>

After that, you just have to click on the game icon and you are good to go. Or, for further ease of use, you can get a frontend for WHDLoad. I am a fan of and I recommend TinyLauncher.

I have tried to install TinyLauncher, using the "lha x <filename>.lha <destination>" method you mentioned above. TinyLauncher.exe says I have no games installed. The TinyLauncher.readme file gives a returncode10 so there's no way of knowing what I'm supposed to do to install them

Is there some way I can run or install files by double clicking them, like any other computer, or do I have to use confusing shell commands every time I want to do anything on the Amiga?

[fryguy]

Every Whdload game installer will have an icon that will launch the game. Whdload itself won't have an icon.
Whdload is made for installing original games but you can also get preinstalled games. Check http://whdownload.com/ these can be just extracted and ready to run.

You can use Directory opus to extract files or some other tool if you don't like shell

[manossg]

Originally Posted by Lektroid

I have tried to install TinyLauncher, using the "lha x <filename>.lha <destination>" method you mentioned above. TinyLauncher.exe says I have no games installed. The TinyLauncher.readme file gives a returncode10 so there's no way of knowing what I'm supposed to do to install them

Is there some way I can run or install files by double clicking them, like any other computer, or do I have to use confusing shell commands every time I want to do anything on the Amiga?

You just place all your extracted files in one location. Then, you go to the sysconfig of TinyLauncher and tell it where to search for games. Press F1 and...tadaaaa!

[daxb]

Lektroid: Do you have the possibility to get in contact with another Amiga user in your area? At the moment it is a bit difficult, but I would recommend that because you lack some very basic Amiga knowledge.

However, If you really have installed this Installer: http://aminet.net/package/util/misc/Installer-43_3 then delete it because it is a very old version and your OS 3.1.4 should come with an up to date Installer already.

Amiga OS isn't that different compared to modern OS when it comes to the basic (file management). Double click on an Icon is in most cases all what you need to install/start a program. Except Shell only programs of course. So, you shouldn't need to use the Shell for daily use.

Programs that can be installed on HD usually come with an Installer script. If you double click on its icon then it will be installed using the program Installer that comes with your OS 3.1.4. Hence, no need to install an older or alternative version.

Like on other systems Amiga use archiver to pack/deliver software. You may know ZIP on PC. The common archiver used on Amiga is LHA. Sometimes there is LZX or ZIP and some rare formats. If you don't have LHA installed already then lha.run is the correct program for installing LHA. But you wrote that you have installed it successfully, right? In your SYS:C directory should be "lha" now.

Archives like LHA need to be depacked if you want to get access to the content. It's the same like ZIP. You can use the Shell like you did but for daily work there are helpers like filemanager. DOpus for example but there exists many more. You should have uses filemanagers on other systems already. After unarchive an LHA you can double click on the Installer icon to install it, if the archive has one. There should be always a Readme or Guide or text file for further information. I would recommend to always read them.

WHDLoad should come with an Install script + icon you can double click to install it. But you did the manual install way, right? "WHDLoad" should be in your SYS:C directory and "WHDLoad.prefs" in SYS:S. If you want to know how WHDLoad works you should read the manual: http://www.whdload.de/docs/WHDLoad.html

ADF files are disk images of Amiga floppy disks. You cannot start them on Amiga by double click. Usually there is no need for ADF files on an original Amiga system. ADF is more useful for emulation like UAE.

There is much more to know, but I stop here for the time. Too much information isn't good.