Tiny Launcher 1.0 Released

[gibs]

Hi dudes !

Here is the Tiny Launcher (2.1) : http://aminet.net/package/util/misc/TinyLauncher

I have created this thread for bug reporting and support.

The Poll : http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=65549

Some videos:
*NEW Tutorial* : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFr2SEUI5wA (CC English/French/Italian)
1.8.5 in Action! : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgmUDDReFSg
CDTV : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cMzWLZm4VI
Amiga 600 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5B0u4y8cFY
Amiga 500 [1MB/Kickstart 3.1] : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfXtTby8PGk
MorphOS [EUAE] : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iyaii_FcXvg
Minimig [1MB/Kickstart 3.1] : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lY5hV-aqYrQ

[b]Some infos[/b]:
-"B" to switch the scripts from HD to CD. If you plan to do a CD Compilation, switch to 'Boot: CD'. (Check Infodesk for its status).
-Sysconfig will accept 'CD0:Directory' if 'DH0:Directory' exist
-"P" to switch from "320x200" to "320x256" for full screen on PAL computers.
-"1","2","3","4","5" To "Jump" directly to the wanted screen at launch.
-"F5" on the bouncing screen avoid the "Jump" function.
-"ESC" to avoid the bouncing animation.
-"R" to force the RAD. (Check Infodesk for its status).
-"C" to call the Sysconfig screen.
-"I" to call the info-desk.
-"M" to switch between Music and Sounds.
-"+" and "-" to increase/decrease the speed.
-Press [F1] to generate a database for the category of your choice. The database is located in S:TinyLauncher, If you don't want it anymore, just delete the files.
-Launch ".exe" named executables files (usefull for demos).
-To go back to the "Space Invader" screen from a list and with the joystick : At the 1st item in the list, hold "up"+"fire"
-Keyboard is also supported. Use the arrows to navigate, enter to select, (ESC or BACKSPACE) to go back, H for help.

Incoming:
...

Tested on:
-Amiga 600 2MB (A603 extension) : ok.
-Amiga 600 1MB Kickstart 2 : Look at Tiny Launcher SE at the bottom.
-Amiga 600 + Aca630 : ok
-Amiga 1200 + Blizzard 1260 : ok
-CD32+SX1 : ok
-Amiga 500 : ok (No Whdload because not enough RAM)
-OSX (EUAE WIP4): ok
-Morphos (EUAE WIP4) : ok

Some numbers:
-on a stock CD32 (2MB, NOFAST RAM, And BOOT CD).
Time to boot (include indivision AGA init) : 15 sec
Time to scan 177 games : 3 sec
Time to scan 272 demos : 6 sec

Since the 1.8 version
Tiny Launcher is provided as a stand-alone executable. Just copy it where you want on your HD.

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Tiny Launcher can run many whdload games with 1MB Chip Ram Amiga Computer (Example Amiga 600). Your Partition (not your drive) must be named "DH0" and you need a Kickstart 3.X [because Kickstart < 3.X doesn't support the RAD].

Here a short list of Whdload games you can expect to work on a 1MB Amiga 600:

Agony, Apidya, Airball, Arkanoid, Arkanoid 2, Batman Movie, Battle Squadron, Blood Money, Bomb Jack, Cadaver, Chuck Rock, Commando, Chrystal Hammer, Dyna Blaster, Elf, Galaga92, Giana Sisters, IK+, Ikari Warriors, Kikstart 2, Lotus1, Menace, Nebulus, New Zealand Story, Nitro, Operation Wolf, Overlander, Pacmania, Paradroid 90, Parasol Stars,Tetris Pro, Rick Dangerous, Rick Dangerous 2, Rod Land, Beast, Beast 2, Silkworm, Spy Vs Spy I,II & III, Stunt Car Racer, Super Cars 2, Treasure Island Dizzy, Turican I,Turrican II, Turican III, Virus, Wrath of the demon, Xenon, Xenon II...

But there are 640 games that require less than 1MB... Check the list.

Tito did a great database to filter RAM requirement for whdload games :
http://www.amigang.fr/whdload-memory-usage.html
Click on the black "buttons" to filter.

If you want to run those games with the KICKSTART 2, you can try TinyLauncherSE: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1566495/Tiny...uncherSE02.lzh
(Put it at the beginning of the startup-sequence).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How to create a CD Compil for your CD32/CDTV:

I have created a preconfigured package : http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1566495/Temp/TLPreconf.zip

Unzip it and:
Copy your kickstart files in Devs/Kickstarts/
Copy your whdload key in S/
Copy your games & demos in TLDATAS/ in the appropriate directories.

Boot it with WinUAE!
Under TinyLauncher:
Update the database with F1 (for each directories you have modified the content)
Test it under WinUAE.
Turn TinyLauncher "Boot:CD" by pressing 'B' (Check the infodesk for its status).

Once it's ok, you can remove the Setpatch line in S/Startup-sequence
Also remove the files under Libs/

You need to use the Amiga 68k software "ISOCD" to create your iso image, and inject the CD32.TM or CDTV.TM file.

Once you have created your iso, you can use the Software of your choice on your PC to burn your CD.

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Enjoy

[pmc]

Looking good, man!

[dirk_the_daring]

Great news!!! Thanks a lot

[AmigaFriend]

Great work Gibs!

[Retroplay]

Looks very slick.

[lolafg]

Thanks Gibs , will try it in Minimig

[Omolungo]

Thank you

[ocean]

A huge thank you! Now I know what I'll do tomorrow :-D

[mfilos]

Cheers Michael. Thx for releasing such a lovely launcher

[crabfists]

Very cool.

[DonAmiga]

Thanks, looking forward to the cdtv version

[AlfaRomeo]

Awesome work. Many thanks

[attila06]

Good job Gibs, thank you.

[gibs]

@DonAmiga Don't you want to try with this one ? It must be fast enough...It doesn't works like AGS.

[tomcat666]

Nice !

I think this one is going on my A600 (unexpanded) today YAY !

Just one thing - would it be possible to skip the "ECS" <-> "AGA" selection screen if only ECS games/demos are present ?

btw. how are the non-whdload games detected ? i.e. games that start with a script ?

no worries... I just saw the "online" docs...

[gibs]

@tomcat666

That's a good idea. I was about to implement that in the next release for people that wanted to mix both ECS & AGA.

But I wanted to add the possibility to return to the "Space Invader" from the "Games Menu" to go in the "Demo Menu" without rebooting.

So I think about the best way to do all that.

For the non-whdload games, I add an AmigaDOS script file called "runme.tl" in the directory of the game for example.

TIPS:
-At the beginning of the startup-sequence you can Assign your directories followed by TinyLauncher.exe.
So you will boot automatically on Tiny Launcher at each starts and you will leave and boot the Workbench by Clicking the mouse on Tiny Launcher.

-If you don't want to do that, there's a program called "1touchMac" that allow to boot different startup-sequence(s) if you hold a mouse button at the boot. http://aminet.net/util/boot/1TouchMac25.lha


Edit: I thought all the day about how to jump in a specific list without adding another selection.

There are 4 folders "Assigned": "TLGECS,TLGAGA,TLDECS,TLDAGA"

If some of you prefer to jump directly in a list, you'll have to create a file. Example:

If you want to Jump in TLGECS, you'll have to create a file named "TLGECS" in /S directory.

If you want to jump directly to the "Demo Menu" you'll have to create S:TLDEMOS

For those who wants to have mixed ECS/AGA games you'll have to put all your files in (example) TLGECS and create S:TLGECS

[gibs]

UPDATE : 1.1
---------------

1.1

-To jump to desired "list" at launch, just create an empty file called:
TLGECS,TLGAGA,TLDECS or TLDAGA in /s directory.
-You can now return to the "Space Invader" screen from a list:
At the 1st item in the list, hold "up"+"fire"
-Keyboard is now supported. Use the arrows to navigate, enter to select, (ESC or BACKSPACE) to go back, H for help.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1566495/Tiny...Launcher11.lzh


Edit : Tested on CD32+SX1 and Amiga 500 1MB (No whdload) : both work ok.

[tomcat666]

Very nice gibs!

Thank you.

I hope to get some time off today to try this out on real A600

[ocean]

Nobody is as stupid as the end user, or how was it... :-P Today I ended up with very stupid use case and now I'm going to share it with all of you

I was connecting my recent 4gb cf from a600 to UAE and first assigned TinyLauncher to the root of my game directory. Well, all my games are in alphabetically ordered by folders, like this: games1:a/agony . TinyLauncher showed only about 10 games, named "A", "B", "C" etc...

Just for curiosity, I started the game "B", and it freezed for about 15 seconds and said "LOADING: B"... :-P Then it froze totally and I ended up restarting the UAE. I felt a little silly...

Now I'm organizing the games again, but this time a little bit different (like games1:ecsgames)

[attila06]

Works very well on my A600 because there is only one directory, but same problem as ocean on my 1260 because i have four directory named A-F,G-L,M-R and S-Z in my GAMES directory.
TinyLauncher freeze , or can only read one directory it depends on the args.

Is there any issue to stay in the TinyLauncher menu when a game is ended, an not to return to the workbench.

Thanks.

[gibs]

Atila & Ocean,

Thank you for the report.
I'm going to explain what's happening. This is not a bug, and the computer doesn't crash

You need to put your whdload games directory on the 1st level you have assigned. This is the best way to get speed. Tiny Launcher doesn't scan deeper.

Example: if you create a directory in TLGECS: with your name, your name will be displayed in the list. But if there is no .slave or .tl under this directory you'll get a black screen.

I had no time to code what happen yet if the file hasn't been found, but the reason is that the launcher hasn't found anything to execute.

In the next release, instead of the black screen, you'll have a message that will tell you that the file expected is not present.

Don't worry about this.

You don't have to separate your games anymore because you're not in the workbench anymore and the scan is faster.

Just extract your whdload under TLGECS: TLGAGA: TLDECS: or TLDAGA:

PS: scan is also fast (2-3 sec) on a stock Amiga 600 (No Fast Memory, No accelerator) and games like Shadow of the beast, pacmania, xenon...are working fine : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zSxZUztE08

[ocean]

I have sorted my games now, but I'm running out of time today to test it (my girlfriend says so, no other reason :-D ).

I realized that the games have to be in 1st level. What about different partitions? I do have games over 2 gig, which is the CF-cards max size I think. Should I put another partition under TLDECS? Does it count, if it really is a demo or a game?

[gibs]

UPDATE 1.2
-------------

1.2
-Tiny Launcher display an error message when the file in the game directory isn't what was expected.
-Tiny Launcher display an error message when there's more than 1 "Jump" file in /S.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1566495/Tiny...Launcher12.lzh
Video: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1566495/Tiny...r/IMG_3652.mp4

@ocean
2GB is the FFS (Fast File System) Limitation.
If you want to use a larger partition you'll need to use for example SFS.
SFS is also a lot faster on file access.

As for your girlfriend, there's nothing I can do ^^

Actually the database is limited to 500 games, I will extend it to the next update (as you seems to be an hardcore gamer^^)

[DDNI]

Is there a list of WHDload games that will run on 1mb or 2mb A600s?

[gibs]

@DDNI

Whdload need 512MB to rekick so you can expect that all games that require less than 1,5GB to run ( almost of 1 and 2-disk games)

1 floppy=880K
2 floppy=1760K

if the 2nd floppy wasn't full, you can expect the game to run (if whdload doesn't require FAST RAM).

I can tell that more than 300 famous games should works.
There's a way to know the list but I can't tell it. (sorry)

[attila06]

Gibs Meditation , whaooo good idea i like it

[ocean]

In fact I've bought an 4gb cd from ebay, which are sorted this way. Now I have sorted it my way and I'm starting to test which of those will run on stock cdtv and cd32 with uae... (Long test run ahead...:-P Thanks for the 2 floppy-rule to help with the testing...) After that I will try to burn first cd to run it on a proper machine.

Right now I have setup my test a600 to start TinyLauncher when left mouse button is pressed during boot. Otherwise it starts 2.05 wb.

I won't consider myself a hardcore gamer, because I'm still quite novice at the Amiga-scene... I've been a c64-gamer till I bought (and repaired) my cdtv couple of years ago. My gf has been quite understanding as her father collects old tractors and cars... :-D

[gibs]

@Ocean

Stock CDTV + WHDLOAD = Forget

[amiga_user]

Originally Posted by gibs

@Ocean

Stock CDTV + WHDLOAD = Forget

@Gibs:

That equation is also valid for a stock CD32, or it can be used instead, given the fact that the CD32 has 2 MB of chip ram ?

[gibs]

@amiga_user

As I said earlier, with 2MB of chipram more than 300 whdload famous games should works without any problems

I'm going to do one, so you'll see

[olesio]

@gibs: very nice work. First good loader working without required of default separate dirs with games and demos by letters and without unused screens and with nice joystick support. But I have few bugs and suggestions. Because I did not find separate bug repport topic I post it here. First, but probable unposssible to change. You should start numering your proggy version from 0.1 to up. Because version 1.0 or 1.1 sounds like full tested application with many features. Anyway let it be 1.2 next So before I changing my AddGames scripts and other settings under Classic WB and Real Amiga. I tested your util under WinUAE 2.3.2 with four harddisks mounted as directiores. WinUAE emulate my real Amiga 1200 with kick 3.1 and 4 MB Fast memory extension. 2: You need some nice icon. Maybe someone make one. Not all people will launch your util from s-s. 3: you need add some error checking and display, because I cannot run WHDLoad Sensible World of Soccer 96/97. From CLI or icon it works I renamed directory and icon file and slave to !_SWOS_WHDLoad and after run from your launcher I see gray screen and I can press Escape. I tried set SplahScreen to 0. But nothing help. Other tested WHDLoad games works fine. Launcher should show some green text on black background some error message or maybe write log file in launcher directory when some errors occours. 3: You wrote in help about running non WHDLoad games. Otherwise non whdload version named in dir !_SWOS_NonWHDLoad (I add "!_" prefix because SWOS series are my favorite games and I want it first on list ) run only when I named file runme.il if I named !_SWOS_NonWHDLoad.il it does not detected. And following file do not work:

set CurrentDir `cd`
cd $CurrentDir
ssboot swos

Only below works fine. I sometime use Non WHDLoad version of SWOS because it can save files to floppy which is useful on offline cups when sometimes power may shut down and WHDLoad memory save will be lost.

set CurrentDir DH2:ECS/!_SWOS_NonWHDLoad
cd $CurrentDir
ssboot swos

Adding relative patch is not good. Data can be copied to some other dir. Maybe You can allow launcher to switch directory to executed subdir like GameName? 4. You should add "No *.info files found" error. Because when no *info files found launcher launch first game on alphabetical list. And sometimes some newbies may do not have DirOpus or other program which alow create *.info files for dirs if they missed. Maybe in future version Your launcher can do that if it is possible in AMOS? And redownloading http://whdownload.com archives will be not needed. 5: Is any quit option if I want change something and restart launcher witout restarting Amiga/WinUAE? And maybe after exit from game instead of gray screen some other can be show with quoestion "Back to launcher Yes/No?" and "Yes" or "No" can be selected by left/right direction of joystick. 6. Sometimes when fast pressing ECS games or AGA only one game on list are shown and it automaticly run. I can not reproduce this error everytime. Maybe it is WinUAE fault and reading dirs as hard disks instead of hdfs. Sorry for long post and my bad english. I hope 1.2 version will be better - good luck developing. At this moment: good work Let's help you make this proggy really perfect

[gibs]

@olesio

1/ ok
2/ why not
3/ be careful it's .tl not .il (btw I'm going to check)
I could create a "save" directory but I don't want to be responsable if something bad happen in your drive, so the app won't write in your drive. But in the nect update I will add the function that if the "save" directory is there it will be used as save directory.
4/ going to check that.
5/ left mouse click
6/ 1.2 is out or 0.1.2

Thank you for your report.

Edit : Sensible World Of soccer 96/97 doesn't run because as I have explained in the doc the extension should be .slave and in the case of sensible (and a fex other games that have long names, it's .slav)

Before I read your message I have prepared a video of "how to fix a game that doesn't want to launch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1sYH-08jOs (this is the same problem than sensible)

[olesio]

Thanks for updated version, but please analyze why SWOS still cannot be run even if I named slave file SWOS.slave. Because I did not know name longer than 25 chars cause any GURU error under FIFAInternationalSoccer I got it, but in SWOS I only see gray screen. And what strange NONWhdload version from runme.TL works. Maybe you can do something with that 25 chars limit, maybe can it be set to some more chars. Anyway look at video: http://olesio.eu/swos_tl_test.avi I made it fast in FRAPS and recompressed to poor quality to get smallest size as possible. Tested under 1.2 version. And also !_SWOS_HD.tl file work. I thinking about .tl and typed .il - sorry So NonWHD version works fine, WHDLoad won't run - I do not know why ;/ And how about error reporting on screen and usage of set Something `cd` - commands in *.tl scripts. Btw, about quit combination I suggest you to make separate screen after games/demos to quit or some combo with fire. Why not mouse? Because sometime group of crazy people travel acros Poland to Kaczyce and meet at Shoonay garden on Party, drink beer/voodka and play on Shoonay's Amiga 1200 in classic Amiga games. And Shoonay connect two joysticks and no mouse. And sometimes replacing joys with mouse may caused damage or make much used connecting ports, so Your launcher will be perfect if it can be use in 100% without mouse That's my suggestion. Greetings to Shoonay. Holiday party was great. I Olesio called "The famuys Shoonay'sGardenChairBreaker" said that I paste link to this thrad to Him. Maybe He will find some other bugs or have some suggestion when He test it under WinUAE or his real Amiga 1200

[gibs]

Don't worry my friend ^^ I found

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1566495/Tiny...r/IMG_3658.mp4

Ok, I'll use "ESC" or "Q" to QUIT.

[Shoonay]

@olesio: LOL!
Well, I managed to fix the mouse switching problem, by...fixing my mouse/joy switcher
But still, sometimes there's not enough free space on the table for the mouse...

@gibs: that is a really cool piece of software. I haven't had enough time to check it, but some older (1.0) version rests on my Amy's hd I downloaded some time ago... will see...

I would have a suggestion. As I saw the trick is to assign folders to the one your util needs. That's pretty straightforward.
I've got a separate partition for WHDLoad games and WHDLoad demos, both filled with 0_9 (or 0-9? ), A, B, C, D... ... ... folders and those folders filled with games.
Would it be perhaps possible, that users who have separate folders like that would only have to assign the main partition (WHDLoadGames: and WHDLoadDemos: in my example) so that your util will assume there are numeric/alphabetic folders inside, and inside those folders are games/demos?
Now I need to assign multiple folders which is a bit pain, not that much with copy and paste but you know

EDIT: Of course this would also work for people who have the Games/Demos folder inside a partition, SYS for example, and separate alphabetic folders inside that (like I think most of us has and with so many games/demos it is the one and only solution ).
You would only assign SYS:Games / SYSemos and the util would assume there are 0_9 (0-9), A, B, C, D... folders inside with games / demos.

[olesio]

Originally Posted by gibs

Don't worry my friend ^^ I found

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1566495/Tiny...r/IMG_3658.mp4

I got this version: http://www.whdownload.com/games/Pack..._v1.7_0842.zip and renamed directory, slave file and info file to: !SensibleWOS9697, !SensibleWOS9697.Slave, !SensibleWOS9697.info and still the same effect under WinUAE. I did not test at real Amiga 1200 yet. Can you check under WinUAE. Or send me packed version of SWOS files. Because I test your launcher under real Amiga when everything will be ok under emulator. Maybe it is some incompatibility with emulator.

Ok, I'll use "ESC" or "Q" to QUIT.

Cool, I think this will be much handy.
EDIT: only way to run WHDLoad version of swos is make !_SWOS_WHD.tl file which contain:

set CurrentDir DH2:!ECS/!_SWOS_WHD
cd $CurrentDir
WHDLoad slave=!_SWOS_WHD.slave PRELOAD

And sometimes when filename.il is sgort than 25 chars I must rename it. Is this limit it for whole path also? I'm asking becasue DH1:GRY/!ECS/WacusTheDetectivePl/WacusTheDetectivePl.Slave works fine under my real Amiga, but DH1:GRY/!ECS/Kingpin/Kingpin.tl do not work I must rename Kingpin.tl to runme.tl

[gibs]

Here is a little video of the incoming update : http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1566495/Tiny...r/IMG_3659.mp4
As suggested olesio, there's an exit menu now which is not a bad idea.

@olesio
Going to look at kingpin.

Edit: For Kingpin, I just put the startup-sequence out of the /s directory, renamed it "startup-sequence.tl" and edited inside the path of the game
I tried with Kingpin.tl and it is also working

You can name the .tl script as you want. The only restriction is filename+ext < 25 characters

Are you sure you were not in the Shoonay's garden ? ^^

[olesio]

Quit option will be good solution. But if You can try to incrase limit from 25 do maybe 50 chars for filename. If it is possible. Also add switching to directory, so when we have .tl script

set CurrentDir `cd`
cd $CurrentDir

it can work. It is universal when we copy data to WinUAE or other Amiga with different directory structure. Also may be possible is editing TLG... and TLD... assigns in some option screen and remember in some config fille in tinylauncher.exe or SYS:S like config_tl or something and always loaded when launcher starts. It may be little big useful than editing Classic WB Assign-Startup or startup-sequence files.
Btw my runme.tl in KingPin directory looks like this:

set CurrentDir DH1:GRY/!ECS/KINGPIN
cd $CurrentDir
execute kingpin

and kingpin file looks like this because game should run in clear config until ECS original is not available with WHDLoad slave:

mount >NIL: RD: from RADtemp
set CurrentDir `cd`
makedir >NIL: RD:S RD:Devs
copy Devs:system-configuration RD:Devs
cd C:
set WBC `cd`
echo >RD:S/startup-sequence "path *"$WBC*"*Nassign ENV: RAM:*Nassign T: RAM:*Ncopy Startup2 ram:*Nexecute ram:Startup2"
echo >RD:Startup2 "CD *"$CurrentDir*"*NRemRad RD: force*Nexecute ProgStart*Nreboot"
"$CurrentDir/reboot"

And I'm sure I was in Shoonay's garden. We got alco drink+play Amiga party there Shoonay may confirm that. The famous garden chair was broken by me, the reason was not only my little bit too heavy weight but also soft ground and chair collapsing at this gound, probably because these are areas of mining or ground was damaged by mutanted cat-o-moles It is possible because Shoonay favorite animal is cat. And it's a reason why He through genetic experiments crossed them with moles So this "zlot" is a fact. I do not know how to translate "zlot" because "party" may be used with other wors like birthday party and google translate "zlot" as "rally". So it was really "AmigaAndDrinking RallyChairpionship"

[gibs]

@olesio,

For Kingpin, don't complicate, just execute the original startup-sequence file.

For the 50 chars : Every whdload directories are <= 25 chars and I think that the Workbench doesn't display more than 25 (even if a name can be longer). but as you seen for SWOS then you can only read .slav instead of .slave

[olesio]

Ok, maybe dirs are shorter or equal 25 signs, but you shold calculate also .slave extension like you wrote. Maybe it is possible to make it a little bit longer. And I rembmer I must do that in this way because game won't run under WinUAE or real Amiga under Classic WB, only at clear memory and config without system. Also Sensible World of Soccer slave name and dir was renamed like you see, but under WinUAE and my real Amiga 1200 I cannot runing, only *.tl script which executed WHDLoad help me, other few games runned without problems when name was equal or short than 25 chars.