CD32 Beneath a Steel Sky on A1200

Not Here Long · 14 December 2020, 02:47

Hello

In layman's terms, can someone tell me if it is possible to play the CD32 version of Beneath a Steel Sky on a Amiga 1200 and how exactly that would be achieved?

There is a WHDLoad version but it requires 100mb of RAM; my accelerator card only has 32.

The install disk for the surf squirrel external CD-ROM drive has a CD32 emulator on it, but it would be nice to run the game from a disc image rather than a real CD (which I don't own anyway).

Thanks!

Matt_H · 14 December 2020, 03:57

CD32 Steel Sky is very difficult to get running. On a real CD32, it needs every available byte of RAM. Even booting to the insert disc screen will eat up enough RAM to cause it to fail at warm booting, so the disc needs to be in the drive from a cold start. The other problem I’ve noticed is that it chokes if there's fast RAM present.

So your best bet for running it without WHDLoad is probably to copy the CD contents to a drawer on your hard drive, boot with no startup-sequence and run it from the boot shell after making the appropriate assigns. You might also need to run nofastmem first, too.

jotd · 14 December 2020, 08:37

already discussed recently

http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?...reeanim&page=2

basically you need to have freeanim.library, lowlevel.library and nonvolatile.library in LIBS else you get red screen.

you basically get red screen for anything that isn't right. Go figure out what's wrong

note that whdload needs 100MB of RAM only if you enable talkie. else it just needs a few MB like 8 or such.

NovaCoder · 14 December 2020, 09:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Not Here Long

Hello

In layman's terms, can someone tell me if it is possible to play the CD32 version of Beneath a Steel Sky on a Amiga 1200 and how exactly that would be achieved?

There is a WHDLoad version but it requires 100mb of RAM; my accelerator card only has 32.

The install disk for the surf squirrel external CD-ROM drive has a CD32 emulator on it, but it would be nice to run the game from a disc image rather than a real CD (which I don't own anyway).

Thanks!

Just use the PC version with ScummVM AGA

Konrad · 14 December 2020, 10:18

I had a CD32 back then. I could directly launch from the CD, including cd audio.
This emulator was delivered with the cdrom driver back then. Perhaps this still can be found?

jotd · 14 December 2020, 11:11

is scumm vm AGA sufficiently reactive? I'd like to test that on my real A1200/060 just for fun and to see how good SDL AGA hack is

NovaCoder · 14 December 2020, 13:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by jotd

is scumm vm AGA sufficiently reactive? I'd like to test that on my real A1200/060 just for fun and to see how good SDL AGA hack is

Yep an 030 should be enough to run Beneath a Steel Sky with full speech in AGA.

Just make sure you set it up properly.

An 060 will run loads of games at full speed like Day of the Tentacle etc.

[ Show youtube player ]

Matt_H · 15 December 2020, 00:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by NovaCoder

Just use the PC version with ScummVM AGA

But you don't get the fabulous Amiga soundtrack that way

.

Superman · 15 December 2020, 00:36

I can play it on my A1200 Whdload version with only 64mb ram but it does take a loooong time to load initially (like 10 mins!)

Seiya · 15 December 2020, 00:57

i have a talkie multi language version that perfectly works on A1200. Only need to copy libs suggested from jotd. It can run from CD or from HD and it is enough to have 8 MB FAst RAM.

lesta_smsc · 15 December 2020, 01:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt_H

But you don't get the fabulous Amiga soundtrack that way

.

Really? I thought you could choose whichever platform provided you were able to source the necessary files. However, you can use MT-32 with SCUMMVM which means great music nonetheless

Wachi · 15 December 2020, 01:15

I know it is not your solution, I simply put the CD in the DVD drive and run CD32-Emulator (1200/030/32)
[ Show youtube player ]

NovaCoder · 15 December 2020, 01:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt_H

But you don't get the fabulous Amiga soundtrack that way

.

No matter, ScummVM AGA/RTG supports all version so you can just play the Amiga version on your Amiga if you like

Personally I prefer a MIDI sound track myself but each to their own...

lesta_smsc · 15 December 2020, 01:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wachi

I know it is not your solution, I simply put the CD in the DVD drive and run CD32-Emulator (1200/030/32)
[ Show youtube player ]

Nice! The graphics look very fab on that monitor - is it CRT? Also, I noticed pixels being too visible for my liking on my 15khz LCD but if I run Amiga on CRT TV it is perfect (likely due to scanlines getting rid of those 'pixels')

Wachi · 15 December 2020, 02:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by lesta_smsc

Nice! The graphics look very fab on that monitor - is it CRT? Also, I noticed pixels being too visible for my liking on my 15khz LCD but if I run Amiga on CRT TV it is perfect (likely due to scanlines getting rid of those 'pixels')

It's a CRT with a GBS-8200 board to go from RGB to VGA. I also have a Benq BL912 LCD screen, but the difference is huge.

Although the best is a 1084

lesta_smsc · 15 December 2020, 02:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wachi

It's a CRT with a GBS-8200 board to go from RGB to VGA. I also have a Benq BL912 LCD screen, but the difference is huge.

Although the best is a 1084

That's interesting. So the CRT displays equivalent to CRT TV in terms of resolution and scanlines?

Ah the infamous 1084... these days I'd have to sell a limb to afford it!

Not Here Long · 15 December 2020, 15:51

Thanks for your helpful replies everyone!

I am new to doing things this way so correct me if I'm doing this wrong. I booted with the mouse buttons held down to access the early start up screen, clicked boot with no startup sequence, and then entered the path for the data directory of the WHDLoad version of the CD32 edition of Beneath a Steel Sky. I then used the command:

assign libs: libs

followed by:

steelsky

Without the accelerator card the game works perfectly, but with the card in it crashes on the language selection screen. I tried again using the following command before doing anything else:

CF0:system/nofastmem

Nothing happens and other shell commands, such as dir, do not seem to work afterwards.

As I said in my first post, I need this explained in layman's terms.

Thanks again!

jotd · 15 December 2020, 16:11

surprising as the BASS CD32 executable uses only chip memory. fastmem should not play any part there.
What about turning caches off? cpu nocache

Not Here Long · 15 December 2020, 21:12

Thanks! Using the command cpu nocache before doing anything else seems to work. Was the issue the 030 rather than the RAM?

Out of interest, will other CD32 games run this way? Is it possible to run them from CD-ROM by mounting CD0 first?

jotd · 15 December 2020, 21:57

it really depends. For those which don't need a lot of memory because the files are rather small, better use whdload versions.

For talkie versions, it's different (BASS, Simon...)

14 December 2020, 02:47	#1
Not Here Long Registered User Join Date: Oct 2020 Location: Here Posts: 32	CD32 Beneath a Steel Sky on A1200 Hello In layman's terms, can someone tell me if it is possible to play the CD32 version of Beneath a Steel Sky on a Amiga 1200 and how exactly that would be achieved? There is a WHDLoad version but it requires 100mb of RAM; my accelerator card only has 32. The install disk for the surf squirrel external CD-ROM drive has a CD32 emulator on it, but it would be nice to run the game from a disc image rather than a real CD (which I don't own anyway). Thanks!

14 December 2020, 10:18	#5
Konrad Registered User Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Germany Age: 39 Posts: 667	I had a CD32 back then. I could directly launch from the CD, including cd audio. This emulator was delivered with the cdrom driver back then. Perhaps this still can be found? Last edited by Konrad; 14 December 2020 at 10:24.

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14 December 2020, 03:57	#2
Matt_H Registered User Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 376	CD32 Steel Sky is very difficult to get running. On a real CD32, it needs every available byte of RAM. Even booting to the insert disc screen will eat up enough RAM to cause it to fail at warm booting, so the disc needs to be in the drive from a cold start. The other problem I’ve noticed is that it chokes if there's fast RAM present. So your best bet for running it without WHDLoad is probably to copy the CD contents to a drawer on your hard drive, boot with no startup-sequence and run it from the boot shell after making the appropriate assigns. You might also need to run nofastmem first, too.

14 December 2020, 08:37	#3
jotd This cat is no more Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: FRANCE Age: 49 Posts: 5,100	already discussed recently http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?...reeanim&page=2 basically you need to have freeanim.library, lowlevel.library and nonvolatile.library in LIBS else you get red screen. you basically get red screen for anything that isn't right. Go figure out what's wrong note that whdload needs 100MB of RAM only if you enable talkie. else it just needs a few MB like 8 or such.

14 December 2020, 11:11	#6
jotd This cat is no more Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: FRANCE Age: 49 Posts: 5,100	is scumm vm AGA sufficiently reactive? I'd like to test that on my real A1200/060 just for fun and to see how good SDL AGA hack is

15 December 2020, 00:36	#9
Superman Registered User Join Date: Sep 2014 Location: Wakefield Age: 45 Posts: 918	I can play it on my A1200 Whdload version with only 64mb ram but it does take a loooong time to load initially (like 10 mins!)

15 December 2020, 00:57	#10
Seiya Registered User Join Date: Nov 2014 Location: Italy Posts: 1,173	i have a talkie multi language version that perfectly works on A1200. Only need to copy libs suggested from jotd. It can run from CD or from HD and it is enough to have 8 MB FAst RAM.

15 December 2020, 01:15	#12
Wachi Registered User Join Date: Jul 2014 Location: Madrid Posts: 130	I know it is not your solution, I simply put the CD in the DVD drive and run CD32-Emulator (1200/030/32) [ Show youtube player ]

15 December 2020, 15:51	#17
Not Here Long Registered User Join Date: Oct 2020 Location: Here Posts: 32	Thanks for your helpful replies everyone! I am new to doing things this way so correct me if I'm doing this wrong. I booted with the mouse buttons held down to access the early start up screen, clicked boot with no startup sequence, and then entered the path for the data directory of the WHDLoad version of the CD32 edition of Beneath a Steel Sky. I then used the command: assign libs: libs followed by: steelsky Without the accelerator card the game works perfectly, but with the card in it crashes on the language selection screen. I tried again using the following command before doing anything else: CF0:system/nofastmem Nothing happens and other shell commands, such as dir, do not seem to work afterwards. As I said in my first post, I need this explained in layman's terms. Thanks again!

15 December 2020, 16:11	#18
jotd This cat is no more Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: FRANCE Age: 49 Posts: 5,100	surprising as the BASS CD32 executable uses only chip memory. fastmem should not play any part there. What about turning caches off? cpu nocache

15 December 2020, 21:12	#19
Not Here Long Registered User Join Date: Oct 2020 Location: Here Posts: 32	Thanks! Using the command cpu nocache before doing anything else seems to work. Was the issue the 030 rather than the RAM? Out of interest, will other CD32 games run this way? Is it possible to run them from CD-ROM by mounting CD0 first?

15 December 2020, 21:57	#20
jotd This cat is no more Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: FRANCE Age: 49 Posts: 5,100	it really depends. For those which don't need a lot of memory because the files are rather small, better use whdload versions. For talkie versions, it's different (BASS, Simon...)

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