new set of WHDload for Amiga CD32

[leeuwtje]

Hi Guys,

Maybe someone can help me with this question.
I switched on the good old cd32 recently, to play a few games
in A1200 modus with the expansion card I have here.

All games are installed on a 4Gb CFcard, I suppose you know how it works.
It was fun, but like I experienced earlier,
not all games seem to work.
Some I have ask for a different WHDload version, and some like ' Midnight resistance' don't work at all...

Since I have some time now, I would like to try out an attempt to install a newer version of WHDload, with the right selection of slaves (games) in one go. I know in theory all slaves should work, but it is better not to count on it. Last time I sorted all slaves out, it took soooo much time....
Further that tft server, grandis.nu was not getting over 50kb/second with a recent attempt, but that could be caused by a temporary issue.
I am a sort of lazy, and would like an easy solution, is there anyway to get a new WHDload included with a game package? Maybe the whole dump of a complete CF card or so. I would need a low resolution workbench, since I am running on a CRT tv.

About those cd32 special slaves, they totally suck, since they skip audio cd sound. I could live without the intro's tough. But then, the A1200 versions skip the 2 or more buttons option...

Another question, does anybody now if a device exists that ables an amiga cd32 to connect with a 0 modem cable to another Amiga or network? (like between 2 normal commodore amiga's for a racegame like lotus2) Or is that really asked too much of the old beast? The point is this, everytime I adjust something to the software on the cf card, I need to take the complete entension card out of the expansion port. I'm afraid I kill my cd32 like that.

Thanks for all hints!

not sure on most of the things you asked about, but i was also worried about constantly unplugging the expansion from the CD32 , so i just bought a longer ide cable so my cf card is resting on top of the cd32 itself ,so easy access without having to keep unplugging the actual tf card all the time.

i believe the TF330 does have wifi but it isnt turned on as its buggy/slow , i think a google search would show how to enable it if you have this card,dont think the tf328 has this function,altho i could be wrong.
i do have the latest version of whdload on my card and many updated games after many hours searching, but unfortunatly its a 16gb image backup and i have no where to upload a file this large to.

Sorry i cant be more help.

[jotd]

update to latest whdload. Then don't try to create the ultimate collection of games that all work.

Instead, focus on games you like very much and get the latest whdload distros from whddownload.com and latest slave from whdload.de, for each game.

You'll find that more and more slaves support 2 button joystick/joypad controls/don't need the keyboard to play.

[DamienD]

Originally Posted by jotd

get the latest whdload distros from whddownload.com

https://www.whdownload.com/ is horribly out of date jotd; since 2011

The lastest are on the EAB File Server i.e. Retroplay's WHD uploads

[leeuwtje]

Thanks guys,

Xubidoo, a longer IDE cable, that is a good idea, it never occured to me....
It's not a very beautiful solution, but indeed it solves the handicap.

Jotd, true, not all games are needed. Maybe best is to make a test area with WHDload and copy to the cfcard afterwards.

DamienD: Thanks, but last time I tried, It was limited to 50 kb /second and my filezilla client gave my errors with every attempt of downloading. Weird. I will try it again this weekend.

[leeuwtje]

I'm downloading now. Filezilla still doesn't work. I use another ftp client, but the speed is 50 kb/second. I just let it run at the background.

Is there a list somewhere for modified 2 button whdload slaves? Would be great.
Some A1200 slaves have music where the cd32 whdload version has none.
I would prefer the A1200 version with music and 2 buttons then.
Is there a list for these cases?

The cd32 games that have cd tracks as music, are better to run native.
Simon the sorcerer, Beneath a steel sky, Battle chess, stuff like that.

[jotd]

WIP for 2 button controls whdload: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...oCo/edit#gid=0

and a bit of self-promotion: http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=94158

custom-made CD32 ISOs with audio tracks that beat A1200 soundtracks, and even sometimes original CD32 releases (Premiere)

[DamienD]

Originally Posted by leeuwtje

DamienD: Thanks, but last time I tried, It was limited to 50 kb /second and my filezilla client gave my errors with every attempt of downloading. Weird. I will try it again this weekend.

Yup, because of the following, noted in red text:

Originally Posted by Turran

To sum up where we are right now and what have been changed..

• The anonymous ftp user have a 50kb/sec max download speed.
• Only 20 people at a time can use the anonymous account.
• If you stay on for too long with the anonymous account, your IP will be temporary blocked to allow others in.
• You can only have one concurrent connection.

• If anonymous users want to download faster, we have a google drive link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...XRvNkVOelNNRk0
• You can register an account, previously called an "upload account", to get access to full speed and upload rights, but...
• Registered accounts are limited to 50GB/week download.
• To register an account, you must have an EAB Forum account that has at least 50 forum posts to its name. The last post must be no older than 5 days old.
• If you already have an "upload account" from earlier, you do not have to do anything.
• You can change your FTP password and check stats etc, here: http://grandis.nu/eab

You need to get 50 posts in order to register a proper account without restrictions.

...but until then, just use the GoogleDrive

[leeuwtje]

Thanks Jotd! I will check that out. That's very good info.

FTP: I see now. Ok, I will just be patinet then and config my ftp client to keep retry logging in. I understand Why easy, if things can be done difficult?

[leeuwtje]

Jotd,

For example, in the downloads there are many alternatives for many different games.
If I would use your excel sheet to select 2 button games for cd32 (and the music in)
which one of the retroplay games would I select in the example of let's say Alienbreed:

AlienBreedTowerAssault_v1.2_0279.lha
AlienBreedTowerAssault_v1.2_CD32.lha
AlienBreedTowerAssault11_v1.2_AGA_2331.lha
AlienBreedTowerAssault_v1.2_AGA_0279.lha
AlienBreedTowerAssault11_v1.2_2331.lha

Is the cd32 the one with no music? Which of those has music and buttons?
Same for the example with Soccer Kid?

[Solo Kazuki]

It's file name with informations. After game title you have slave version with "v" letter. In this case v1.2 means it's 1.2 version of slave. Number on the end it's SPS number. AGA means it's AGA version, try always get AGA version since you have AGA hardware.

Alien Breed Tower Assault additionally have two game versions (1.0 or 1.1), so 11 in filename means it's v1.1 of game itself. Game have CD32 joypad support, at least version 1.1 and of course CD32. Difference is in default settings: disk version have joystick as default control, CD32 version have joypad as default control.

About joypad control, there is also this topic.

[leeuwtje]

Yes, Solo, very good I understand, thanks for your clear explanation.

What I try to do, is selecting by Jotd's excel sheet all whdload games that were originally for A1200, but are modded for cd32 gamepad. See, in many default cd32 whdload slaves, there is no music, cause on the original cd32 cd-rom music was in audio tracks. There is simply no code I guess. If it does support music, it was a cd32 game that was simply ported from A500 or AGA A1200 in the time. Like CD32 slave 'arabian nights' (You could say the hack in this case was done on the original.) (many of them). For the first kind a good example is Soccer kid. There are 2 main versions. There is a A1200 slave version and a CD32 slave version. The cd32 version will support 2 buttons but no music, only game sounds. (FX) The A1200 slave version offers in game music, but no 2th button...
In this example It is best to run a A1200 slave with a cd32 pad modification. (a hack done much later in time by the whdload team coders.) Some of the whdload slaves have this, some have not. Since there are many games available based on many different versions, it is impossible to find the 2 button modded ones easily. This is where Jodt's excel sheet is coming in handy. (I think...)

What I need to know, is how to use that list and choose the right version among 10 different version of an individual game at the eab server. In my opinion there should be a separated folder for "modded AGA A1200 games for CD32 gamepad including all FX/music sounds" at the server. CD32 games not in this list should be run from CDROM...
Complex?, well there is a collection of CD32 titles that should be played from cd-rom only, cause they contain many audio track sounds that A1200 whdload versions will lack completely.

[jotd]

there aren't a lot of CD32 games that have audio tracks.

from memory: Oscar, Bubble & Squeak, Zool, Fire & Ice (where you can enable on-chip music too)

A lot of CD32 titles have normal on-chip music.

[DamienD]

Other CD32 games that have audio tracks, off the top of my head:

... Marvin's Marvellous Adventure
... Ultimate Body Blows

[leeuwtje]

Zool 2, Simon the sorcerer, Beneath a steel sky, Like said: Soccer Kid, battle Chess, Disposable hero, chaos engine, kang-fu, Microcosm,arcade pool, Brian the lion, guardian, maybe not all impressive games, but I'm sure I forgot a few.....

True, For many of those the WHDload cd32 version only offers FX sound, no music. For some with huge cd track audio WHDload isn't an option at all if you want the real thing.

[leeuwtje]

What a mess! My download finished this afternoon. I've been working now a couple of hours to find a solution for some structure. Seen the time I used I will share my solution in the chaos. Maybe it is of use to someone else.

Ok. If you do what I did, download the whole WHDload lha folder on the eab server:
ftp://ftp:amiga@grandis.nu/Commodore_Amiga/Retroplay/

Think again if you really want this...But if you do it, and I'm sure someone will,
I have some Windows o.s. Powershell lines here to help you out filtering the whole mess in something usable. I am working on windows today, but I am sure there is a Linux terminal solution to.


What you will end up with is a chaos of cd32, Demo, CDTV, AGA, different languages etc etc.. Very, very..., unpractical if you need to set up a structure on an Amiga.
The only thing that makes sense just after downloading is a separation of alphabetic folder order.

I assume here, you Download on your D drive in this folder: D:\RetroPlay\WHDload
Or replace it with the one you use.

Create an extra folder called: D:\RetroPlay\WHDload2\ and in this folder
create the following separated subfolders:
Demo AGA CD32 CDTV _De _Fr _It _Cz _Es _Se

You will have the languages Deutsch, Francais, Italian, Czech, Espagnol, Swedish ???

Than Start a powershell terminal and give these commands one by one in chronological order:
(These powershell lines will let your os scan through the Downloaded folders and move the lha's to several logical folders.)


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
get-childitem -Recurse -path "D:\RetroPlay\WHDload" -filter '*Demo_*.lha' | move-item -Destination "D:\RetroPlay\WHDload2\Demo_"

get-childitem -Recurse -path "D:\RetroPlay\WHDload" -filter '*_AGA*.lha' | move-item -Destination "D:\RetroPlay\WHDload2\AGA"

get-childitem -Recurse -path "D:\RetroPlay\WHDload" -filter '*CD32*.lha' | move-item -Destination "D:\RetroPlay\WHDload2\CD32"

get-childitem -Recurse -path "D:\RetroPlay\WHDload" -filter '*CDTV*.lha' | move-item -Destination "D:\RetroPlay\WHDload2\CDTV"

get-childitem -Recurse -path "D:\RetroPlay\WHDload" -filter '*_De*.lha' | move-item -Destination "D:\RetroPlay\WHDload2\_De"

get-childitem -Recurse -path "D:\RetroPlay\WHDload" -filter '*_Fr*.lha' | move-item -Destination "D:\RetroPlay\WHDload2\_Fr"

get-childitem -Recurse -path "D:\RetroPlay\WHDload" -filter '*_It*.lha' | move-item -Destination "D:\RetroPlay\WHDload2\_It"

get-childitem -Recurse -path "D:\RetroPlay\WHDload" -filter '*_Cz*.lha' | move-item -Destination "D:\RetroPlay\WHDload2\_Cz"

get-childitem -Recurse -path "D:\RetroPlay\WHDload" -filter '*_Es*.lha' | move-item -Destination "D:\RetroPlay\WHDload2\_Es"

get-childitem -Recurse -path "D:\RetroPlay\WHDload" -filter '*_Se*.lha' | move-item -Destination "D:\RetroPlay\WHDload2\_Se"

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After this check every single folder to see if there is nothing you didn't want to take out.
Keep the languages you like or, for english only delete all the _xx folders

At this moment you have a sensible separation of lha compressed games in logical order.
The original folder has the alphabetic order, with only english, no AGA, non CD32,CDTV and most important no DEMO crap.

At this point you can starting unpacking the lha's in each folder. Or do it on a real amiga, it could be better.
I would only do the folders you need. Store the rest as a backup.

UPDATE: DAMIEND adviced against below procedure:

----------------------------------
I did this for each subfolder:
The lines below with windows commandline and 7zip: https://www.7-zip.org/download.html

cd (folder name here like Demo_ , AGA, CD32 ,etc etc....)

mkdir /lha
"C:\Program Files\7-Zip\7z.exe" x *.lha
move *.lha lha\
----------------------------------

Crazy, but it worked.... Only still no selection of modded 2-button A1200 Aga WHDload slaves......

[DamienD]

You shouldn't be extracting any of these .LHA archives via Windows as you will definitely run into problems later; due to files / folders that contain non-Windows compliant stuff like "spaces only" or contain hashes / other characters that Windows cannot handle etc.

...not to mention that protection bits are lost.

Only do this extraction process on a real Amiga or inside emulation; hence why they are .LHA archives, and have been created on a real Amiga or via emulation to begin with.

[leeuwtje]

Thanks DamienD, fair enough.
Ok. Skip the windows extraction part!

I will update the instruction. DamienD, do you have any hints to get that amiga batch extraction a bit speedy? Not everyone has a OS4 amiga or similar and I don't like them anyway. UAE can be switched to the fastest emulated processor, but how long will that take? I suppose you could mount a windows folder as a harddrive in winUAE, what would be your detailed advice?

[DamienD]

Originally Posted by leeuwtje

DamienD, do you have any hints to get that amiga batch extraction a bit speedy? No everyone has a OS4 amiga or similar. UAE can be switched to the fastest emulated processor, but how long will that take? I suppose you could mount a windows folder a harddrive in winUAE, what would you advice?

I only emulate so...

Yes, setting say a "68030 CPU" with "Fastest possible" should do the trick, as well as mounting a Windows folder as a hard drive containing all .LHA archives for the source

To be honest I don't really use WHDLoad, in my collection there are only 18 of these out of 2760 games... so only really ever need to extract one here and there, on occasion.

I'm sure others can offer better advise

[Retro-Nerd]

The combination of "fastest posssible" CPU emulation speed and JIT (needs minimum a 68020 CPU) for extracting archives works pretty fast.