Save state in WHDLOAD?

amigappc · 08 January 2011, 23:06

Is it possible for games which do not have save option?

Maybe?

TCD · 08 January 2011, 23:07

WHDLoad itself doesn't have a save state feature. If you use (Win)UAE, you could use its save state feature, but it's not guaranteed to work with HDD configurations.

Retro-Nerd · 08 January 2011, 23:10

Prince of Persia uses Wepl's WHDLoad multi-save system, which is pretty nice. No clue, if they were other installs.

http://whdload.de/games/PrinceOfPersia.html

amigappc · 08 January 2011, 23:11

No, I prefer real A1200... catching up lost time, when I had no money to buy it.

TCD · 08 January 2011, 23:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Retro-Nerd

Prince of Persia uses the Wepl's WHDLoad multi-save system

Interesting

A search for 'multi-save' on WHDLoad.de just comes up with Prince of Persia though.

amigappc · 10 January 2011, 09:47

That would be a really nice feature, especially for games that do not have "save" option.

There are not many who has hours for playing some old game from the beginning to the end (since most of us are over 30

)

But I do not know if something like that is even possible, since "save state" should save state of the game in Amiga memory (memory dump).

That is possible with emulator, but on real Amiga, I do not know.

Whitesnake · 31 May 2012, 07:23

[ Show youtube player ]

In that video the user does something similar to what you probably want.

But HRTMon isn't really for people unfamiliar with 68k ASM

What you need is to be able to hit a definable key or button and have WHDLoad create a memory snapshot to file which can be loaded at anytime. Maybe through a SaveState=1 like command.

Surely can't be beyond the wit on man.

clauddio · 31 May 2012, 12:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Whitesnake

[ Show youtube player ]

In that video the user does something similar to what you probably want.

But HRTMon isn't really for people unfamiliar with 68k ASM

What you need is to be able to hit a definable key or button and have WHDLoad create a memory snapshot to file which can be loaded at anytime. Maybe through a SaveState=1 like command.

Surely can't be beyond the wit on man.

yes
save states is possible with hrtmon...however not works fine in all games
there are gfx corruption in lot of games once you return from the hrtmon screen

examples of games that save states can be used

brian the lion aga
stormlord

not works fine (GFX corruption)

Alladin aga
deep core

Id estimate about 30-40% of games will work fine

daxb · 31 May 2012, 14:36

I havn`t tried it by myself but you could try HRTmon because in theory it seems not difficult. Have a look into HRTmon.guide and read Usage/Commands/ SA, LA and HD Warnings. The install have to use only ChipMem, no OtherMem.

Amiga1992 · 31 May 2012, 15:16

How hard would it be to implement a routine that then saves all the contents of Chip RAM to disk?
I suppose it could be trivial to include a monitor freeze type function in WHDLoad.

StingRay · 31 May 2012, 18:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Akira

How hard would it be to implement a routine that then saves all the contents of Chip RAM to disk?

WHDLoad already has such a routine implemented. However, saving all Chip RAM != save state!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Akira

I suppose it could be trivial to include a monitor freeze type function in WHDLoad.

It is anything but trivial. For reliable save states you have to save the contents of read only custom registers for example. And this is just one of the problems, there are many more. If it would be trivial WHDLoad would already have such feature.

Whitesnake · 31 May 2012, 23:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by StingRay

WHDLoad already has such a routine implemented. However, saving all Chip RAM != save state!

It is anything but trivial. For reliable save states you have to save the contents of read only custom registers for example. And this is just one of the problems, there are many more. If it would be trivial WHDLoad would already have such feature.

Does that mean saving all used Chip RAM or both used and unused.

I assume that function is not available to the regular user?

Galahad/FLT · 01 June 2012, 01:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by Whitesnake

Does that mean saving all used Chip RAM or both used and unused.

I assume that function is not available to the regular user?

As Stingray has stated, it is not easy to implement, saving chip ram doesn't fix the reading of write only registers.

Saving chip ram at any point is actually easy, but there is a lot more information needed before you can make it restore properly.

Unlike the Atari ST, there is no generic routine you can use to save all needed data, registers, interrupts, copperlist pointers, etc, etc.

It might be possible for some games to have a save state function, but it would have to be separately coded for each and every game.

Retro1234 · 04 November 2013, 16:39

Customs and cheats for level skipping are also very helpful

Ragnarok · 18 March 2017, 14:10

I don't know if resurrecting this post is the right thing to do, but it resumes what I'm trying to do.

Does anyone know if it's possible to save state with HRTMon in harddisk while in WHDLOAD?
I recently bought an ACA500PLUS and this would be a superinteresting feature!
However, for now, I couldn't detect anything but the disk drive (and not the hard drive) from HRTMon.

BTW, I've had to stick to the \ key to access HRTMon, since I haven't been able to make the ACA500PLUS button to work with HRTMon (it works flawlessly with Action Replay)

Thanks to whoever can throw some light!

amigoun · 18 March 2017, 16:41

I use HRTmon for save-states in WHDLoad quite often. You only need 010+ and some-fastmem for comfortable use.
But on ACA500plus the built-in HRTMon is not compiled with HDD support.

daxb · 18 March 2017, 17:28

Hrtmon docs says: You need an A1200/A4000 with IDE harddrive and need to activate the IDE option in HRTmonPrefs. Exert the hd warnings! "sa" command works only with chipmem and fastmem should be switched off.

amigoun · 18 March 2017, 20:29

Yes, in fact all the gayle-compatible hdd controllers are supported. Such as for example Kippers CF/ram board.
SA will save only chip-ram contents. Some fast-ram will allow you to have full chip-mem available for whdload, but before executing whload, disable fast-ram by nofastmem command.
Not all games can use this technique, in some cases HRTmon will corrupt graphics on exit.

Ragnarok · 18 March 2017, 20:35

As I understand, an ACA500PLUS is not enough then...

amigoun · 18 March 2017, 21:35

ACA500plus has integrated VBR control, so it works with HRTmon.
And there is an Action Replay integrated too for games played from floppy.

08 January 2011, 23:06	#1
amigappc Registered User Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Universe Age: 47 Posts: 206	Save state in WHDLOAD? Is it possible for games which do not have save option? Maybe?

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08 January 2011, 23:07	#2
TCD HOL/FTP busy bee Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Germany Age: 46 Posts: 31,525	WHDLoad itself doesn't have a save state feature. If you use (Win)UAE, you could use its save state feature, but it's not guaranteed to work with HDD configurations.

08 January 2011, 23:10	#3
Retro-Nerd Missile Command Champion Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Germany Age: 52 Posts: 12,438	Prince of Persia uses Wepl's WHDLoad multi-save system, which is pretty nice. No clue, if they were other installs. http://whdload.de/games/PrinceOfPersia.html

08 January 2011, 23:11	#4
amigappc Registered User Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Universe Age: 47 Posts: 206	No, I prefer real A1200... catching up lost time, when I had no money to buy it.

10 January 2011, 09:47	#6
amigappc Registered User Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Universe Age: 47 Posts: 206	That would be a really nice feature, especially for games that do not have "save" option. There are not many who has hours for playing some old game from the beginning to the end (since most of us are over 30 ) But I do not know if something like that is even possible, since "save state" should save state of the game in Amiga memory (memory dump). That is possible with emulator, but on real Amiga, I do not know.

31 May 2012, 07:23	#7
Whitesnake Martin Shaw Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 456	[ Show youtube player ] In that video the user does something similar to what you probably want. But HRTMon isn't really for people unfamiliar with 68k ASM What you need is to be able to hit a definable key or button and have WHDLoad create a memory snapshot to file which can be loaded at anytime. Maybe through a SaveState=1 like command. Surely can't be beyond the wit on man.

31 May 2012, 14:36	#9
daxb Registered User Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Germany Posts: 3,303	I havn`t tried it by myself but you could try HRTmon because in theory it seems not difficult. Have a look into HRTmon.guide and read Usage/Commands/ SA, LA and HD Warnings. The install have to use only ChipMem, no OtherMem.

31 May 2012, 15:16	#10
Amiga1992 Registered User Join Date: May 2001 Location: ? Posts: 19,645	How hard would it be to implement a routine that then saves all the contents of Chip RAM to disk? I suppose it could be trivial to include a monitor freeze type function in WHDLoad.

04 November 2013, 16:39	#14
Retro1234 Phone Homer Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: 5150 Posts: 5,773	Customs and cheats for level skipping are also very helpful

18 March 2017, 14:10	#15
Ragnarok Registered User Join Date: Jan 2017 Location: France Posts: 47	I don't know if resurrecting this post is the right thing to do, but it resumes what I'm trying to do. Does anyone know if it's possible to save state with HRTMon in harddisk while in WHDLOAD? I recently bought an ACA500PLUS and this would be a superinteresting feature! However, for now, I couldn't detect anything but the disk drive (and not the hard drive) from HRTMon. BTW, I've had to stick to the \ key to access HRTMon, since I haven't been able to make the ACA500PLUS button to work with HRTMon (it works flawlessly with Action Replay) Thanks to whoever can throw some light!

18 March 2017, 16:41	#16
amigoun Registered User Join Date: May 2010 Location: Czech Rep Posts: 599	I use HRTmon for save-states in WHDLoad quite often. You only need 010+ and some-fastmem for comfortable use. But on ACA500plus the built-in HRTMon is not compiled with HDD support.

18 March 2017, 17:28	#17
daxb Registered User Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Germany Posts: 3,303	Hrtmon docs says: You need an A1200/A4000 with IDE harddrive and need to activate the IDE option in HRTmonPrefs. Exert the hd warnings! "sa" command works only with chipmem and fastmem should be switched off.

18 March 2017, 20:29	#18
amigoun Registered User Join Date: May 2010 Location: Czech Rep Posts: 599	Yes, in fact all the gayle-compatible hdd controllers are supported. Such as for example Kippers CF/ram board. SA will save only chip-ram contents. Some fast-ram will allow you to have full chip-mem available for whdload, but before executing whload, disable fast-ram by nofastmem command. Not all games can use this technique, in some cases HRTmon will corrupt graphics on exit.

18 March 2017, 20:35	#19
Ragnarok Registered User Join Date: Jan 2017 Location: France Posts: 47	As I understand, an ACA500PLUS is not enough then...

18 March 2017, 21:35	#20
amigoun Registered User Join Date: May 2010 Location: Czech Rep Posts: 599	ACA500plus has integrated VBR control, so it works with HRTmon. And there is an Action Replay integrated too for games played from floppy.

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