Install program without ADF

Hello, I just got my WinUAE emulator running again with the normal 3.1 workbench. I'm a bit stumped on how to load a program I just downloaded into the workbench. I downloaded VPIC from http://home.arcor.de/testaware/Amiga/amiga.htm and I tried setting up a harddrive using the Zip file but that just gives me a blank disk when I open it up. I did a quick search but couldn't find anything relavent

[Maren]

Originally Posted by GoldStar611

and I tried setting up a harddrive using the Zip file

Hmmm, let's see. It's a rar file, not a zip fie, and from what I have read, WinUAE needs unrar.dll in order to be able to open .rar files, but I can only get it to crash with the latest unrar.dll (will properly test that later)

Anyways, assuming rar decompression is working well for ya thus you aren't really getting a folder containing the actual rar file rather than a regular folder with the contents of the rar file, have you tried "Window/Show/All Files" within Workbench? have you tried the DIR command from the CLI?

If you can't get rar decompression to work, manually extract the contents of the rar file to a folder, mount the folder and now you should be able to access the files using either method explained above.

[thomas]

VPic
A CLI/Shell tool

It's a DOS program, it cannot be run from Workbench. Open a DOS Shell (in the System drawer of your boot drive) and use CD and Dir commands to look into the directory.

that just gives me a blank disk when I open it up

You can view the files from Workbench by selecting Show / All Files from the menu.

Thomas had the right idea Thanks. I got the program running but its a bummer -- it doesn't open the image files I have
I suppose I could merge the two forums here, there is more than enough brain power here to get these images working. Microsoft Urban Assault was created by a few guys that used amiga's as their primary image editing powerhouse. I've found references to ASDG AdPRO and such in the files and the era is right. At any rate, I have these bitmaps in an IFF-EA85 format and I can't get them to open in any modern windows program so I thought I would find a few programs on the amiga, and open them there.

I have had *some* success copy and pasting the files into a 256color windows bitmap but the colors are wrong. Here's my work so far if anyone wonders. My question is this, what are some big name software titles that do imaging on the amiga?

http://forums.metropolisdawn.com/vie...php?f=23&t=372

[prowler]

Originally Posted by GoldStar611

My question is this, what are some big name software titles that do imaging on the amiga?

Hi GoldStar,

Have a look at AmiKit and AmigaSYS to see what's bundled with them that might be suitable.

[Retro1234]

Hi you mean Urban Assault published by Microsoft - the graphics were done on Amiga
Ive found it a bit hard to follow - Seems the files are more BMP related than IFF? - I dont think your find the program that made these files.The pallete might not be included in the file - but youve come far -Good Luck and keep posting
ArtPro - http://www.coplabs.org/artpro.html

[exoticaga]

Originally Posted by Maren

Hmmm, let's see. It's a rar file, not a zip fie, and from what I have read, WinUAE needs unrar.dll in order to be able to open .rar files, but I can only get it to crash with the latest unrar.dll (will properly test that later)

Maybe sometime Toni will add 7z.dll , it also knows a few. I like these unpack .dll libraries in programs.


Off Topic..
Recently i tried to find like we have with powerpacker. Where when run it can read any powerpacked file as if was a normal file. Would be nice on windows for all those programs that have no unpack.dll library support. Didn't find any for rar. zip or 7z. I think its because i wasn't searching for the right keyword, whatever it is called.

[TCD]

Originally Posted by exoticaga

Maybe sometime Toni will add 7z.dll , it also knows a few. I like these unpack .dll libraries in programs.

WinUAE already supports Rar and 7Zip. Not sure about the more 'obscure' formats, but honestly who really needs them?

Sorry if I left out some vital information -- There are many icons, images, backgrounds in IFF/ILBM format -- a lot! It is just that the textures are in some sort of bitmap format, and they are in IFF-EA85 compatable forms so the same parsing functions could be used I'm sure of that. I'll humor you with the startup screen, look inside the file and see ASDG's note
And you are right about the pallettes, they are stored in a PAL directory as CMAPS within IFF files. I beleive I have A LOT of work ahead of me to reconstruct these old files into a newer windows bitmap file which I will get around to eventually.

Originally Posted by Boo Boo

Hi you mean Urban Assault published by Microsoft - the graphics were done on Amiga
Ive found it a bit hard to follow - Seems the files are more BMP related than IFF? - I dont think your find the program that made these files.The pallete might not be included in the file - but youve come far -Good Luck and keep posting
ArtPro - http://www.coplabs.org/artpro.html

[thomas]

I'll humor you with the startup screen

Is this an example of those files which you "can't get to open in any modern windows program" ? I ask because IrfanView displays it perfectly out of the box.

http://www.irfanview.com/

[Retro1234]

Originally Posted by GoldStar611

Sorry if I left out some vital information -- There are many icons, images, backgrounds in IFF/ILBM format -- a lot! It is just that the textures are in some sort of bitmap format, and they are in IFF-EA85 compatable forms so the same parsing functions could be used I'm sure of that. I'll humor you with the startup screen, look inside the file and see ASDG's note
And you are right about the pallettes, they are stored in a PAL directory as CMAPS within IFF files. I beleive I have A LOT of work ahead of me to reconstruct these old files into a newer windows bitmap file which I will get around to eventually.

I enjoy pocking around in Amiga games where the graphics are offten stored in a RAW format and find your project intresting, especially with the Amiga connection. Do the more difficult files have any ASDG notes inside? and could you attach one of the difficult files.

Originally Posted by thomas

Is this an example of those files which you "can't get to open in any modern windows program" ? I ask because IrfanView displays it perfectly out of the box.

I think this is just an example of IFF use within the game and the fact Art Department was used.

The file I uploaded was a teaser for ya'll Especially since it had the ADPro annotation in there.

I have uploaded a few select files for the curious who wish to investigate. These include the whole pallette directory, and the set.bas file from the objects directory which contain the textures for the vehicles as well as roads, buildings, etc in VBMP form. I have extracted BODEN2.ILBM from set.bas in a separate file as well -- this is the file I have trouble opening.

Another set of files that may be of interest is in the REMAP directory where two files (one ILBM one VBMP) are stored. I beleive these two files may hold the key to unlocking the VBMP files manually if necessary. Hope we can figure these out together

[Retro1234]

Hi Dude I dont think im much help, Im still amazed at how much stuff in this game was done on Amiga and left in Amiga format - I had a quick look and the .Pal IFF files they work fine, I examined the VBMP files and they seem to be in an IFF style like you said - so likely I would guess created on the Amiga - finding the program that created them could be tricky - Anyone one got any sugestions for VBMP?

When you say that you had a look at the pal files what program did you use to view them? That infranView program? I've been trying to work with paint shop pro to import the colors but PSP has a bit of a learning curve. I also wasnt able to get that ArtPro program running on winuae, any tips for getting that to go?

I just wanted to say THANK YOU for everyone even attempting to help me (looks like around 6 - 7 people who downloaded the remap.zip file). THANKS GUYS! I have extensively used XNView to do a lot of the dirty work. The VBMP files *are* indeed regular bitmap files. Here is how I reconstructed the files:

Copy the CMAP "pallette" from standard.pal into an existing IFF/ILBM file.
Open that file in XNVIEW and save it as a BMP file (this remaps the color map to RGBquads needed for BMP files)
Change the size of the image to 256x256 and save it (no compression)
Copy and paste the body of the VBMP into the new BMP and open it in paint.
Converted!


http://forums.metropolisdawn.com/vie...2&p=4596#p4596

[Retro1234]

Well Done Dude If you can upload the converted file.

You can download the converted files (Set3.zip) file from our website that I linked to in my last post, no need to register. There are 28 converted VBMPS from the set.bas file. 5 more Sets to go! But I am writing a program to speed up the process of course.