Just started with Amiga emulation - please help with a basic question. Thanks.

To get started with Amiga emulation for the first time, I have done 4 things:

1) Downloaded and installed WinUAE, on Windows XP (SP3).
2) Purchased and installed the Amiga Forever "value edition" package.
3) Downloaded the WHDLoad install package. (I don't know what to do with this download - I haven't installed it yet.)
4) Downloaded and unzipped the "Champions of Krynn" game from the whdownload website.

When I run WinUAE, it says it cannot find any ROM files. I have tried to tell WinUAE to look in some of the Amiga Forever directories for these ROM files, but WinUAE won't run. WinUAE says that the ROM files are unavailable. Inside the Amiga Forever file directories, there is a rom folder. In it, there are 3 amiga .rom files. WinUAE doesn't seem to be satisfied with these files, and reports that the ROM files are unavailable.

Any advice would be gratefully received. Thank you.

Edit:

Previously, I tried to set the Roms directory using the Paths section inside WinUAE. I couldn't get this to work. So now, I tried setting the Roms directory inside the Hardware/ROM section inside WinUAE. This seems to work. I then tried to run an .adf game file, but the emulator screen looks incorrect. I just see a blank screen. Sometimes the color of this blank screen changes, eg green to brown. There's a value shown at the bottom of the emulator screen called "SND". The value next to it seems incorrect, something like -160%.

[Toni Wilen]

You are missing rom "decryption key".

I think value edition does not come with rom.key (like normal versions) but amigaforever.dll that should be installed by default but I think there was some bug in some version(s), did you check if there are any AF updates available?

I did a search on my HDD, and found a file called amigaforever.dll. BTW, the Amiga Forever emulator/player works OK. Perhaps I need to buy the Amiga Forever "normal" package, in order to get both WinUAE + WHLoad to work successfully?

[cosmicfrog]

you should have enough to get you going, though I have limited experance with the Amiga Forever "value edition" package it should be enough to get you going, It should aslo already include WinUAE

Depending on what kind of computer person you are I see 2 ways to go

option 1 : Typical Windows user

Uninstall Amiga Forever "value edition"
Uninstall WinUAE
Re Install Amiga Forever "value edition"
check that it is working then you can set up WHLoad or just play adf`s

option 2 : power user

download WinUAE.zip
extract/unarchive it somewhere nice, if you only have 1 HardDrive then Root of C (C:\) or inside Program Files (C:\ProgramFiles)
copy the roms,Kickstarts to the WinUAE\roms folder plus the rom.key file
now run WinUAE goto paths and rescan Roms

Hope this helps

[Kitty]

You know you can run winuae without amiga forever just perfectly,
in fact I would go as far to say that a lot of new amiga emu users
seem to end up with more problems using it.
When you got it all up and running, dont forget to play Flood, Beach Volley and Rock'nRoll

cosmicfrog, you are correct when you say: "you should have enough to get you going" - Instead of using the seperate WinUAE download, I ran the Amiga Forever "front end" emulator/player, and I was able to get it to run an .ADF game file correctly.

Also, when you describe your instructions for the "option 2 : power user", you mention a rom.key file. Unfortunately, I do not have this file. I don't think you are given this file when you purchase the Amiga Forever "value" edition. Perhaps all I need to do is simply uninstall the seperately downloaded WinUAE emulator, and just simply use the Amiga Forever (value) emulator/player.

Kitty, you say that WinUAE can be run without using Amiga Forever, but my O.P. describes a problem where I could not get WinUAE to run. OTOH, my message immediately above describes me being able to run WinUAE so long as I use the Amiga Forever "front end". Hehe!

PS - what do "kick start" files look like? I think I have 6 of them inside a folder called ProgFiles\Cloanto\Amiga Forever\WHDLoad. These 6 files all start with the word "kick", and end with the file extension of .RTB

[Kitty]

Kick.rom it will usually be named ;-)
What release of winuae are you using and where did you download it?

I went to this website: http://www.winuae.net/

and downloaded this windows installer .exe file: InstallWinUAE2010.exe

It looks like it's version 2.0.1

Also, I've just searched my HDD for the file(s) called kick*.* , and did not find any kick .rom files, only .RTB files were found.

[FOL]

Originally Posted by AmigaBeginner

I went to this website: http://www.winuae.net/

and downloaded this windows installer .exe file: InstallWinUAE2010.exe

It looks like it's version 2.0.1

Also, I've just searched my HDD for the file(s) called kick*.* , and did not find any kick .rom files, only .RTB files were found.

You wont be able to use it unless you have the proper kickstart roms.

You can obtain these buy buying Amiga Forver 2009 or dumping them from your own Amiga if you own one.

I bought Amiga Forever yesterday, and the package I bought was called the "value edition". Perhaps I need to buy the "full/normal edition" instead? Maybe the "value edition" does not include all of the files necessary to run the seperately downloadable WinUAE?

[Kitty]

*cough* google

[Galahad/FLT]

Originally Posted by AmigaBeginner

I bought Amiga Forever yesterday, and the package I bought was called the "value edition". Perhaps I need to buy the "full/normal edition" instead? Maybe the "value edition" does not include all of the files necessary to run the seperately downloadable WinUAE?

I concur with Kitty.

If you use Google and maybe typed in Google what it is you're looking for, then perhaps you might find what it is you're looking for?

[FOL]

Originally Posted by Galahad/FLT

I concur with Kitty.

If you use Google and maybe typed in Google what it is you're looking for, then perhaps you might find what it is you're looking for?

Yes but he has amiga forever. It will definately have the kickstarts in it, as it would'nt run otherwise.

Im a little confused now, Amiga Forever is the emulator, kickstarts etc etc.
Am I missing the original problem here?

[Galahad/FLT]

Originally Posted by FOL

Yes but he has amiga forever. It will definately have the kickstarts in it, as it would'nt run otherwise.

Im a little confused now, Amiga Forever is the emulator, kickstarts etc etc.
Am I missing the original problem here?

Amiga forever uses encrypted roms as far as I am aware to stop them being spread.

[Kitty]

All you need is the windows version of winuae and kickstart 1.3 (kick.rom) to
play most classic amiga games, I personaly wouldnt touch amiga forever its more hassle than its worth.

[Galahad/FLT]

I have it on good authority that he now has kick1.3

I've got my first Amiga game running - Champions of Krynn. I noticed:

1) The image seems to be limited in size on the screen. (I'm using a 19" non-widescreen 1280x1024 flat screen LCD.) If you choose "window mode", the graphics only fill about 75% of this window. If you choose "full screen mode", the same kind of thing happens - that is, the graphics don't fill the entire screen and you get a large blank border around the edge. (If you compare and contrast this behaviour with the MS-DOS emulator called ScummVM, the game image fills the entire screen.)

2) If I try to change the resolution by pressing the F12 key and alter the display options, many of these options don't seem to make an effect. The resolution always defaults back to 640x480 for instance.

3) About 1 minute in to the Champions of Krynn game, and some of the graphics were displayed incorrectly on someone's face.

4) About 2 minutes in to the game, and the emulator showed a "software failure" message on the screen. In fact, during my 10 minutes of testing, I have seen this "critical error" 4 times.

I'm not whining. Honest. This is just some casual noob observations.

[Galahad/FLT]

Make sure you use the A500 Quickstart configuration, this is by default the most 'like' setting in comparison to a real A500.

If it still fails after setting that, then you need to finetune the emulator settings further as some games aren't written very well.

Things to consider

1). Changing memory settings
2). Ensuring 'IMMEDIATE BLITTER' setting is activated
3). Ensuring the compatibility option to make the emulator behave like an A500.

[Toni Wilen]

Easiest thing you need to do is to select Quickstart A500 with highest compatibility setting. +95% of A500 programs work with "most common" setup. Very few need KS1.2 or 512k only or 1M chip only. Many programs don't support external floppy drives etc.. There is no way to know in advance..

Use lower compatibility if you have slower PC and have slowdown issues.

Amiga programs very rarely fill complete screen. Borders are normal. (PC graphics are totally different) Use filter panel to adjust size or enable autoscale for automatic fullscreen scaling but note that it does not work with all programs.