Help Regarding WHDLoad and ACA500 Plus

Big Supes · 14 July 2017, 22:07

Hi guys,

Newbie here.

Long time Amiga lover. Me and my bro got our first Amiga 500 (joint Xmas present) in 1989 and it has always taken a special place in my childhood memories. The music, graphics (for back then) and the game play. The Amiga was simply mesmerising... especially coming from an Acorn Electron!!

To cut a long story short, I have recently restored an old Amiga 500 that had been put onto a shed and forgotten about for the last 15 years. It had seen better days! I took it home, cleaned it up and now it looks like new.

Sadly 90% of all the old floppy disks had given up which left me with an urge to get more games and software. After being absent from the Amiga scene for a mere 23 years, I took to the internet to research my options.

Hello ACA500 Plus, a competition pro joystick and RyS MkII. After looking into WHDLoad, I found myself wondering if there is an easier way to transfer the files with the ACA500 Plus from the aux cf card slot??

I've had a look on the Individual Computers site and read the instructions, but it's kinda vague regarding file transfer.

Am I right in thinking I just need to subscribe to WHDLoad, download the zip files and then extract them in Workbench? I noticed a lot of people use Classic Workbench running in WinUAE to do this, where as I should be able to do this with the ACA500 Plus?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

alpine9000 · 15 July 2017, 06:36

I used tinylauncher and left the game files on the aux card. That way you can extract them on a modern computer to the aux card.

But you need a working whdload with all the required roms etc before you worry about how to transfer the files.

Big Supes · 15 July 2017, 19:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by alpine9000

I used tinylauncher and left the game files on the aux card. That way you can extract them on a modern computer to the aux card.

But you need a working whdload with all the required roms etc before you worry about how to transfer the files.

Hi, thanks Alpine, I'll give that a try.

Big Supes · 15 July 2017, 19:40

Can someone point me in the right direction for WHDLoad, please? I understand I need to make a one off payment for a key and the software?

spudje · 15 July 2017, 20:26

No WHDLoad is free nowadays.

The easy way to setup is to use the built in installation feature of the aca500plus and get a wb31 setup running, install WHDLoad, add the kickstart ROM files and the game slaves. The FTP site of this forum has a lot of these slaves.

Another option is to indeed setup classicwb which already comes with whdload but still requires you to add the kickstart ROM files and slaves (games). There are many YouTube tutorials on how to set this up on a PC first and then move it to your Amiga.

Big Supes · 16 July 2017, 21:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by spudje

No WHDLoad is free nowadays.

The easy way to setup is to use the built in installation feature of the aca500plus and get a wb31 setup running, install WHDLoad, add the kickstart ROM files and the game slaves. The FTP site of this forum has a lot of these slaves.

Hi spudje, I has a feeling it might be free nowadays. Thanks for confirming.

Is there any chance you could be more specific regarding the steps above? I'm not entirely sure how to go about installing WHDLoad and adding the kickstart ROM files and game slaves.

Quote:

Another option is to indeed setup classicwb which already comes with whdload but still requires you to add the kickstart ROM files and slaves (games). There are many YouTube tutorials on how to set this up on a PC first and then move it to your Amiga.

I had a look a couple of tutorials, but I'd love to be able to take advantage of the ACA500 Plus and work on the Amiga instead of an emulator. If I get really stuck I may be forced to go this route however.

Big Supes · 16 July 2017, 22:17

Most, if not all the tutorials I've read online are using WinUAE. If I were to use the Amiga can someone help me setting up the CF card on WB. Once I've set the partitions do I need to update the file system?

spudje · 17 July 2017, 13:05

This is a very good tutorial:
[ Show youtube player ]

Basicly what you need is (next to your ACA500plus equipped A500):
- 2 CF cards
- A PC with CF card reader

1 of the two CF cards you'll be using as your system HDD. So this needs to be formatted with a Amiga Filesystem from the Amiga using the WB31 install feature from ACA500plus, similar as what you see in the tutorial. However beforehand you may need to clean that CF of its Windows partitions on a PC with diskpart (see the beginning of this video how to do it: [ Show youtube player ]).

Then either simply install the rest of Workbench 3.1 with the ACA500plus, or follow the ClassicWB tutorial.

In the case of simple WB3.1 you'll have to install WHDload yourself. Download it here: http://whdload.de/. Put in on the 2nd CF card via your CF card reader attached to your PC. The 2nd CF card should remain formatted with a filesystem that also can be read by your PC, e.g. fat (basicly the default filesystem on a brandnew CF will do in most cases). Put that CF in the AUX CF slot of your ACA500plus. Then you can install WHDload from within your freshly installed Workbench.

Then get a hold of the needed kickstart ROM files. E.g. buy them from cloanto (again you can transfer them from your PC to your Amiga with the 2nd CF card.) or start by grabbing both 1.3 & 3.1 that come with the ACA500plus. The video tutorial explains where to put the kickstart files on your workbench system CF.

Finally grab those WHDLoad game slaves, for example here: http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?...=whdload+packs

You may need to tweak your ACA500plus settings to get most WHDLoad games to work, but I can't really help you there.

spudje · 19 July 2017, 21:53

A brand new tutorial just for your needs: [ Show youtube player ] (not by me)

Big Supes · 23 July 2017, 11:02

Ok, so I managed to have a play around with the Amiga last night.

I've been having issues with my ACA500 Plus recognising my AUX card so, as a result, I went about setting everything up via WINUAE. So far, I have a host disk on WB with all my files and WHDLoad showing up. The next step is to install lha and then extract all the files. I'm not quite clear on this process (using shell/CLI), but I can feel the finish line is close!

I've ordered two more CF cards to see if they help with compatibility with the ACA500+. I tried a firmware update, but no joy. Fingers crossed!

Thanks for your help spudje, it's greatly appreciated.

Big Supes · 17 June 2018, 20:49

Thought I'd update this, but it's all sorted now. Thanks for the help peeps.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

jotd · 17 June 2018, 21:33

good! note that people telling you to buy the kickstart roms are wrong.

First, not all whdload games need the kickstart to run.
Second, You can grab the kick 1.3 from your own amiga.
And kickstart 3.1 is very rarely used for non-AGA games

So you don't need to buy anything ROM-wise.

14 July 2017, 22:07	#1
Big Supes Registered User Join Date: Jul 2017 Location: Hampshire, UK Posts: 16	Help Regarding WHDLoad and ACA500 Plus Hi guys, Newbie here. Long time Amiga lover. Me and my bro got our first Amiga 500 (joint Xmas present) in 1989 and it has always taken a special place in my childhood memories. The music, graphics (for back then) and the game play. The Amiga was simply mesmerising... especially coming from an Acorn Electron!! To cut a long story short, I have recently restored an old Amiga 500 that had been put onto a shed and forgotten about for the last 15 years. It had seen better days! I took it home, cleaned it up and now it looks like new. Sadly 90% of all the old floppy disks had given up which left me with an urge to get more games and software. After being absent from the Amiga scene for a mere 23 years, I took to the internet to research my options. Hello ACA500 Plus, a competition pro joystick and RyS MkII. After looking into WHDLoad, I found myself wondering if there is an easier way to transfer the files with the ACA500 Plus from the aux cf card slot?? I've had a look on the Individual Computers site and read the instructions, but it's kinda vague regarding file transfer. Am I right in thinking I just need to subscribe to WHDLoad, download the zip files and then extract them in Workbench? I noticed a lot of people use Classic Workbench running in WinUAE to do this, where as I should be able to do this with the ACA500 Plus? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

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15 July 2017, 06:36	#2
alpine9000 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2016 Location: Australia Posts: 881	I used tinylauncher and left the game files on the aux card. That way you can extract them on a modern computer to the aux card. But you need a working whdload with all the required roms etc before you worry about how to transfer the files.

15 July 2017, 19:40	#4
Big Supes Registered User Join Date: Jul 2017 Location: Hampshire, UK Posts: 16	Can someone point me in the right direction for WHDLoad, please? I understand I need to make a one off payment for a key and the software?

15 July 2017, 20:26	#5
spudje Registered User Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: Netherlands Posts: 1,406	No WHDLoad is free nowadays. The easy way to setup is to use the built in installation feature of the aca500plus and get a wb31 setup running, install WHDLoad, add the kickstart ROM files and the game slaves. The FTP site of this forum has a lot of these slaves. Another option is to indeed setup classicwb which already comes with whdload but still requires you to add the kickstart ROM files and slaves (games). There are many YouTube tutorials on how to set this up on a PC first and then move it to your Amiga.

16 July 2017, 22:17	#7
Big Supes Registered User Join Date: Jul 2017 Location: Hampshire, UK Posts: 16	Most, if not all the tutorials I've read online are using WinUAE. If I were to use the Amiga can someone help me setting up the CF card on WB. Once I've set the partitions do I need to update the file system?

17 July 2017, 13:05	#8
spudje Registered User Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: Netherlands Posts: 1,406	This is a very good tutorial: [ Show youtube player ] Basicly what you need is (next to your ACA500plus equipped A500): - 2 CF cards - A PC with CF card reader 1 of the two CF cards you'll be using as your system HDD. So this needs to be formatted with a Amiga Filesystem from the Amiga using the WB31 install feature from ACA500plus, similar as what you see in the tutorial. However beforehand you may need to clean that CF of its Windows partitions on a PC with diskpart (see the beginning of this video how to do it: [ Show youtube player ]). Then either simply install the rest of Workbench 3.1 with the ACA500plus, or follow the ClassicWB tutorial. In the case of simple WB3.1 you'll have to install WHDload yourself. Download it here: http://whdload.de/. Put in on the 2nd CF card via your CF card reader attached to your PC. The 2nd CF card should remain formatted with a filesystem that also can be read by your PC, e.g. fat (basicly the default filesystem on a brandnew CF will do in most cases). Put that CF in the AUX CF slot of your ACA500plus. Then you can install WHDload from within your freshly installed Workbench. Then get a hold of the needed kickstart ROM files. E.g. buy them from cloanto (again you can transfer them from your PC to your Amiga with the 2nd CF card.) or start by grabbing both 1.3 & 3.1 that come with the ACA500plus. The video tutorial explains where to put the kickstart files on your workbench system CF. Finally grab those WHDLoad game slaves, for example here: http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?...=whdload+packs You may need to tweak your ACA500plus settings to get most WHDLoad games to work, but I can't really help you there.

19 July 2017, 21:53	#9
spudje Registered User Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: Netherlands Posts: 1,406	A brand new tutorial just for your needs: [ Show youtube player ] (not by me)

23 July 2017, 11:02	#10
Big Supes Registered User Join Date: Jul 2017 Location: Hampshire, UK Posts: 16	Ok, so I managed to have a play around with the Amiga last night. I've been having issues with my ACA500 Plus recognising my AUX card so, as a result, I went about setting everything up via WINUAE. So far, I have a host disk on WB with all my files and WHDLoad showing up. The next step is to install lha and then extract all the files. I'm not quite clear on this process (using shell/CLI), but I can feel the finish line is close! I've ordered two more CF cards to see if they help with compatibility with the ACA500+. I tried a firmware update, but no joy. Fingers crossed! Thanks for your help spudje, it's greatly appreciated.

17 June 2018, 20:49	#11
Big Supes Registered User Join Date: Jul 2017 Location: Hampshire, UK Posts: 16	Thought I'd update this, but it's all sorted now. Thanks for the help peeps. Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

17 June 2018, 21:33	#12
jotd This cat is no more Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: FRANCE Age: 52 Posts: 8,163	good! note that people telling you to buy the kickstart roms are wrong. First, not all whdload games need the kickstart to run. Second, You can grab the kick 1.3 from your own amiga. And kickstart 3.1 is very rarely used for non-AGA games So you don't need to buy anything ROM-wise.

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