Games not saving in Dune 1

[Treguard]

I've had a few problems running the whdload version of Dune (mostly random freeze/crashes) but I've noticed that the game doesn't always appear to properly save saved games.

The other night I saved twice on day 44, and the game crashed about 20 minutes later. When I restarted, only an earlier save (that I had overwritten) on day 33 was present.

I have noticed a flashing when frontier elite saves if this helps. It flashes three times before completing the save.

Will check which accelerator I have when I get home, but:-

A1200
8mb fast ram
Classic workbench lite 3.1
4gb CF

Thanks in advance

[Predseda]

What I know Dune WHDL version is really vulnerable to crashes and if I remember well, I had also problems with saves.

[Treguard]

Originally Posted by Predseda

What I know Dune WHDL version is really vulnerable to crashes and if I remember well, I had also problems with saves.

Damn that's a shame as it's a fantastic game. I did try to just install the version off adds, but I end up getting odd graphical glitches - even when booting with original or enhanced.
It's a good excuse to restore my 600 tbh

[jotd]

Dune program has got a ton of self modifying code which explains the gfx glitches.
This should be in whdload thread BTW...

If the amiga crashes badly, the savegame won't be dumped to disk. I think there's an option to force it in whdload, otherwise just quit whdload right after saving to commit the save.

[Treguard]

Apologies for posting in wrong forum I've found a sort of work around for the crashes when saving (it seems these become more frequent later in the game).
Whenever you come to save, just go into Paul's bedroom and wait for the day to progress by one hour/bit (I. E. The little sun/moon dial in the corner)no need to wait half a day. Then select "look in mirror" and wait for the disk activity to lessen (about 10 seconds). Now save.
The game will still crash 20% of the time, but this method seems to mitigate the frequency somewhat.

[Thalion]

I have a similar Problem. I'm playing the WHDLoad version 2.5 with FS-UAE. Now my Prolem is the following. I look in the mirror save the game. Game says, Savegame is successfull but when restarting the game all saves are gone. There actually is no savegame to load, so it seems it isn't saved at all.
Any suggestions?

[dlfrsilver]

that's very strange, i have never noticed any crash with Dune.....

i don't see any particular reason for that.

Bizarre.

[Thalion]

A crash i did only experience once. What i don't understand is why the saves aren't created. :/

[Retro-Nerd]

Are you sure you've pressed the WHDLoad quitkey at the end of your game session? Before it's only saved in Ram.

[Thalion]

Damn that could be the hint i needed. Didn't actually think about the need to quit the game via that button as other games do save without the need of doing so but i will test it immediately.
Ok seems to get this game compatible with FS-UAE i need to change the Quitkey which is set to prntscrn, which is already in use. Now i set the Quitkey argument to change the key to F10 but somehow now the game shows an error while loading, env is missing. Any idea?

[Retro-Nerd]

For most of the WHDLoad games, which can save ingame, you have to press the quitkey. Only a few saves directly to hd while your are playing.

[Thalion]

Ok sometimes it helps to actually read the readme. PrtScr is mapped to * on the num keypad so i will try it again.
Ok update: I now saved the game and quit aftwards with the quitkey. I have checke FS-UAE saves dir and actually a savedisk is created there but still empty. So no savegame is saved. Seems this game is somehow incompatible with the WhdLoad (save) function in FS-UAE.

[Retro-Nerd]

Ok, tried it with FS-UAE and Dune_v2.5_De_0459.lha via Launcher too. I saved in both game slots. It seems only slot 2 saved the game properly. It's probably better if someone could do a new slave with real files instead of disk images.

[Thalion]

Ok so at least it wasn't completely my fault. Did you Quit the game after saving?

[Retro-Nerd]

Yep, with the quit key.

[Thalion]

Ok thanks. I'll give it another try tomorrow.

[daxb]

Sometimes it is useful (for tests) to use the RestartKey. I don`t know if you did or know already but keys like Quitkey can be changed global (S:WHDLoad.prefs) or local (game icon). If a game uses the default Quitkey for something then change the key locally (game icon) is a good choice.

If Dune 1 saves to Disk.4 then the MaxTransfer issue might come in question. At least it for to classic hardware.

Btw. Dune 1 is not the only game (e.g. UFO - Enemy unknown) wich has problems with save files to disk and not always aligned with WHDLoad (e.g. Death Or Glory). Sometimes it help to save several times at once and if possible to different slots.

[jotd]

@Treguard: "wait for disk activity to lessen"? using PRELOAD there's no loading. And saving to a diskimage doesn't do anything on disk, but you have to quit whdload or saves aren't committed.

Not quitting the whdload-running game is a common mistake. Don't reset or switch off or saves are lost.

[macce2]

I was playing Dune WHDload version on my A4000 and had plenty of crashes and trouble with saves too.
Now I' m playing Dune on my A500 , floppy version ( Fairlight crack). I have progressed in the game somewhat, and was thinking if it would be possible to transfer my save files somehow to the WHDload installed version on my A4000.. - Possible..?!

[macce2]

Ok, I just made an ADF- file from my Save disk, renamed the file to " disk.4" and overwrote that file from the WHDload installed Dune game directory. That seems to work ok ☺