WHDLoad

Exodus · 05 December 2001, 09:45

I have no idea what WHDLoad is. What is it and where do I get it? What I understand is tha it's a program that lets you load Workbench hard disks? Is this correct?

Exodus

CodyJarrett · 05 December 2001, 09:52

It's installs games to hard disk. Here's some text that I wrote about WHDLoad in this thread:

http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?threadid=1480

WHDLoad:

Most Amiga games comes on floppy disks. This was fine in the old days of the Amiga, as games tended to be small. Hard disks were not common. Long loading times and disk swapping were problems, however.

Eventually, hard disks started to become more common and many games (mostly flight sims, RPGs and strategy games) had their own installer which meant that you could run the game from hard disk - all the files would be copied into a directory. Other games without an installer could be run by using the assign command too.

But, there were a large number of games which couldn't be installed to hard disk. The disks would be in a non-DOS format, for copy protection reasons and so that the programmers could take over the whole machine. This often meant that the games wouldn't work on newer Amigas.

After having bought a shiny new hard disk, this wasn't good news.

The first attempt to solve these issues were to create individual installers for each game. However, it was likely that each installer would share similar code.

Jean-Francois Fabre and Bert Jahn created two separate systems to fix these problems. Jean-Francois created JST and Bert created WHDLoad. They encapsulate common functions that can be used to install games.

With WHDLoad, a slave needs to be written for each game. The data on the game floppy is read into a disk image on the hard disk once and the slave redirects floppy access to this file afterwards. WHDLoad has all the advantages listed in the first posting of this thread.

Essentially, you can run hundreds of Amiga games off the hard disk with a double-click and never have to worry about disk swapping, long loading times and incompatibility with your A1200 again.

WHDLoad is about $20 to register. Not registering means that a nag screen appears each time it is run. JST used to need registering, but it is now freeware and discontinued.

See:

WHDLoad - www.whdload.de
JST - http://jffabre.free.fr/amiga/patches.html

Here are the advantages of WHDLoad:

1. Runs games/demos completely from hard disk.
2. Removes disk swapping nightmares.
3. Fixes compatibility problems with newer Amigas.
4. Removes any copy protection.
5. Saves the original game from death by floppy corruption.
6. Writes/loads save games/hiscores to hard disk.
7. Sometimes fixes bugs.
8. Apart from the initial registration, the installers are provided free.
9. Often fix incompatibility problems with Amiga emulators, by eliminating problems with disk loading problems, badly coded pirate intros and anti-copy protections.
10. Supports nearly 1000 games and over 170 demos.
11. A quitkey can be used to exit from all games to Workbench.

kriz · 05 December 2001, 10:43

WHDLoad is some of the most important utilites for amiga gaming these days ... (at least for me)..

it means that my A4000/060 can play all the good A500 oldies from HD and with a quit key (wow, that is almost like something i could have dreamt about in the early 90`s

)..

great stuff...

CodyJarrett · 05 December 2001, 10:57

An A1200 with a hard disk full of games is the only way to play!

Amiga1992 · 05 December 2001, 18:19

I preffer disk swapping in my A600

MethodGit · 05 December 2001, 22:12

Are you sure you didn't just copy-'n'-paste that lengthy text from a previous discussion on this board about WHDLoad, Cody?

Exodus · 06 December 2001, 00:00

Thanks for the info. I'll check this program out.

Exodus

CodyJarrett · 06 December 2001, 08:44

Quote:

Are you sure you didn't just copy-'n'-paste that lengthy text from a previous discussion on this board about WHDLoad, Cody?

Don't worry, the monkeys typed it in for me!

7-Zark-7 · 15 December 2001, 15:49

Sorry to reopen this thread,but by the sounds of this info WHDLoad sounds like an Amiga program,(ie:distributed as a native Amiga program for amigas). What about installation into something like WinUAE-will you need a LHA type extraction program?

Unless the program is registred, I take it you cannot update the installers list,(Or however it is WHDLoad works-never used it, so I don't know.)?

CodyJarrett · 15 December 2001, 21:19

You'll need to extract the LHA/LZX archive on everything - emulator and real Amiga.

WHDLoad has a nag message for unregistered users and doesn't run some installs.

05 December 2001, 09:45	#1
Exodus Registered User Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Melbourne/Australia Posts: 89	WHDLoad I have no idea what WHDLoad is. What is it and where do I get it? What I understand is tha it's a program that lets you load Workbench hard disks? Is this correct? Exodus

06 December 2001, 00:00	#7
Exodus Registered User Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Melbourne/Australia Posts: 89	Re; WHDLoad Thanks for the info. I'll check this program out. Exodus

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05 December 2001, 09:52	#2
CodyJarrett Global Moderator Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: UK Age: 46 Posts: 6,160	It's installs games to hard disk. Here's some text that I wrote about WHDLoad in this thread: http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?threadid=1480 WHDLoad: Most Amiga games comes on floppy disks. This was fine in the old days of the Amiga, as games tended to be small. Hard disks were not common. Long loading times and disk swapping were problems, however. Eventually, hard disks started to become more common and many games (mostly flight sims, RPGs and strategy games) had their own installer which meant that you could run the game from hard disk - all the files would be copied into a directory. Other games without an installer could be run by using the assign command too. But, there were a large number of games which couldn't be installed to hard disk. The disks would be in a non-DOS format, for copy protection reasons and so that the programmers could take over the whole machine. This often meant that the games wouldn't work on newer Amigas. After having bought a shiny new hard disk, this wasn't good news. The first attempt to solve these issues were to create individual installers for each game. However, it was likely that each installer would share similar code. Jean-Francois Fabre and Bert Jahn created two separate systems to fix these problems. Jean-Francois created JST and Bert created WHDLoad. They encapsulate common functions that can be used to install games. With WHDLoad, a slave needs to be written for each game. The data on the game floppy is read into a disk image on the hard disk once and the slave redirects floppy access to this file afterwards. WHDLoad has all the advantages listed in the first posting of this thread. Essentially, you can run hundreds of Amiga games off the hard disk with a double-click and never have to worry about disk swapping, long loading times and incompatibility with your A1200 again. WHDLoad is about $20 to register. Not registering means that a nag screen appears each time it is run. JST used to need registering, but it is now freeware and discontinued. See: WHDLoad - www.whdload.de JST - http://jffabre.free.fr/amiga/patches.html Here are the advantages of WHDLoad: 1. Runs games/demos completely from hard disk. 2. Removes disk swapping nightmares. 3. Fixes compatibility problems with newer Amigas. 4. Removes any copy protection. 5. Saves the original game from death by floppy corruption. 6. Writes/loads save games/hiscores to hard disk. 7. Sometimes fixes bugs. 8. Apart from the initial registration, the installers are provided free. 9. Often fix incompatibility problems with Amiga emulators, by eliminating problems with disk loading problems, badly coded pirate intros and anti-copy protections. 10. Supports nearly 1000 games and over 170 demos. 11. A quitkey can be used to exit from all games to Workbench.

05 December 2001, 10:43	#3
kriz Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: No(R)Way Age: 41 Posts: 3,185	WHDLoad is some of the most important utilites for amiga gaming these days ... (at least for me).. it means that my A4000/060 can play all the good A500 oldies from HD and with a quit key (wow, that is almost like something i could have dreamt about in the early 90`s ).. great stuff...

05 December 2001, 10:57	#4
CodyJarrett Global Moderator Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: UK Age: 46 Posts: 6,160	An A1200 with a hard disk full of games is the only way to play!

05 December 2001, 18:19	#5
Amiga1992 Registered User Join Date: May 2001 Location: ? Posts: 19,644	I preffer disk swapping in my A600

05 December 2001, 22:12	#6
MethodGit Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: The Streets Age: 39 Posts: 2,731	Are you sure you didn't just copy-'n'-paste that lengthy text from a previous discussion on this board about WHDLoad, Cody?

15 December 2001, 15:49	#9
7-Zark-7 Zone Friend Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Brisbane/Australia Posts: 1,270	Sorry to reopen this thread,but by the sounds of this info WHDLoad sounds like an Amiga program,(ie:distributed as a native Amiga program for amigas). What about installation into something like WinUAE-will you need a LHA type extraction program? Unless the program is registred, I take it you cannot update the installers list,(Or however it is WHDLoad works-never used it, so I don't know.)?

15 December 2001, 21:19	#10
CodyJarrett Global Moderator Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: UK Age: 46 Posts: 6,160	You'll need to extract the LHA/LZX archive on everything - emulator and real Amiga. WHDLoad has a nag message for unregistered users and doesn't run some installs.

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