Old KGLoad Discussion

[killergorilla]

You should just need the following lines in the setup.ini

GamePath=Games0N
GamePath=GamesNZ

[Nostromo]

Thanks Killer. If I decide to have folders for each letter...

So games would be in A B C folders etc. - Do I have to specify each folder manually in setup.ini, or games in the said folders will be detected automatically?

Cheers o/

[killergorilla]

You'll have to add them manually I'm afraid

Once I get some time to work on this again I may change it though!

[Nostromo]

Thanks killer-

One more thing. I have noticed that when I select "Favourites" in KGLoad, the HDD starts accessing a lot. Why is this? THanks again!

[killergorilla]

Ah don't worry about that

The reason for that is that at present there is only one game with artwork, that game is Ruff N Tumble and it happens to be in the favourites list.

Currently the menu loads the artwork (boxart and screenshot) constantly, even if you are not moving the cursor. This has already changed in my current code so in the next release shouldn't access the HDD all of the time.

Hope that makes sense!

[Nostromo]

Aha, I understand

So, what do I do so that KGLoad lists only the available games? Or it assumes that ALL games are available?

One more thing, is there a way to scroll to the games faster? It would take me ages to scroll down to Zool 2

[killergorilla]

Glad to see someone is using it

At the moment KGLoad simply lists ALL games. I will be implementing a games scanner as soon as I can find the time. This will scan through your specified game dirs and then populate the list with only the games it finds.

You can manually edit the gamelist for now, but of course that's gonna take a LONG time

As for scrolling faster, at the moment no. This will also appear in the next release. It'll work like this...

- If you are using an amiga with a keyboard you can simply press a key on the keyboard to move to the first game beginning with that letter. The square bracket keys (< and >) will move to the next letter of the alphabet.
- If you are using a CD32 (or CD32 pad on a standard Amiga) you can use the shoulder buttons to move to the next letter of the alphabet.

If you have any other suggestions I'd be more than happy to hear them. I've tidied up the code a little since the previous beta and would like to make the next beta a lot more functional so all ideas are welcome.

[Nostromo]

Of course I use it, it rocks - Thanks a lot for your help, meanwhile here are a few suggestions:

- System.ini editable directly through KGLoad (rather than a text editor). For example lets you browse for games directory
- Scans games automatically in specified directories, and goes through sub-folders automatically
- List of 'recently games' ... say the last 10. User can select from these games directly
- List games by language
- Random game launcher
- Make it small so it fits on a double density floppy disk (probably impossible - maybe a lite version?)
- Next each game name there would be a small 'tick'. When enabled, game will be added automatically to the favourites
- Press a letter on keyboard to go directly to the games starting with that letter. For example, hit Z, and it goes directly to Zxxxxx game

Thats all I can think of so far!

[killergorilla]

Originally Posted by everblue

Of course I use it, it rocks - Thanks a lot for your help, meanwhile here are a few suggestions:

1) System.ini editable directly through KGLoad (rather than a text editor). For example lets you browse for games directory
2) Scans games automatically in specified directories, and goes through sub-folders automatically
3) List of 'recently games' ... say the last 10. User can select from these games directly
4) List games by language
5) Random game launcher
6) Make it small so it fits on a double density floppy disk (probably impossible - maybe a lite version?)
7) Next each game name there would be a small 'tick'. When enabled, game will be added automatically to the favourites
8) Press a letter on keyboard to go directly to the games starting with that letter. For example, hit Z, and it goes directly to Zxxxxx game

Thats all I can think of so far!

I'm bored so I'll answer you right away... (I've numbered your suggestions to make it easier).

1) My main concern is keeping KGLoad functional while still being resource-friendly. Editing the ini file isn't something you'd need to do often so I'm likely to leave this out of KGLoad to stop it becoming too bloated. I may include a seperate exe to do this at some stage.

2) Any game run from KGLoad needs to be directly inside your GamePath's defined in the ini file. This is done so that the database does not become too large with an individual path for each game. In order to do what you'd ask I could make it so that the game scanner automatically adds "GamePath=X" to the ini file for each directory that it finds a game in...

Initially however I will leave out the recursive dir support, until people have tested it enough to make sure it works 100%

3) Yep, I can do this. Good suggestion, and one that I'd not thought of. This will be user-configurable, as you can't do this on a CD32 what with CD's being readonly.

4) Not unless I change the structure of my database, which I am not likely to do for the time being.

5) Already on my to-do list.

6) It's already small enough to fit on a disk

7) There is going to be a "Fave" button which adds the currently highlighted game to your faves (if it's not already in the list).

8) Already on my to-do list, as well as typing whole words. e.g. Typing "Zool" will take you to the first game beginning with those letters (which is Zool!).

[DDNI]

You can speed up Joystick scroll speed from the config file by editing Joydelay (iirc?) to =0

[killergorilla]

Good point. I figured he already had it set to 0.

[Nostromo]

Nope, I wasnt aware of that

Fixed now!

[Gordon]

This looks really good. I hope one day you will release a kickstart 2.* edition

[killergorilla]

I've decided I'm gonna spend a bit of time on this tonight.

I've not been able to do anything on it since before xmas so it may take me a little while for me to pick up where I left off, but the missus is away from home this week so it should give me some time to get another release out.

As usual, no guarantees!

[killergorilla]

Right, I managed to get a bit of time on it last night, just a quick question to anyone who has tested it...

Has anyone noticed any errors of any sort? (not your Retro-Nerd ) I'd like to try and fix any current bugs before I go releasing another beta.

[Nostromo]

Hi Killer Gorilla,

I am having a very annoying problem with KGLoad,maybe you can help
I have installed KGLoad on my A1200's HDD, and the Games folder resides on a Compact Flash cart in a PCMCIA adapter.

I have edited KGLOad's configuration file to point to CF0:Games/ but everytime I try to launch a game, KGLoad quits and nothing happens. I have also tried CF0:/Games/ but to no avail....

All the games' folders are in CF0:Games folder - no subfolders such as A, B, C, D etc.

Thanks in advance for help!

[killergorilla]

Hmm...

Check the error.log file in the KGLoad dir and paste what the last errors were...

Might help!

[Nostromo]

Ok will do that. Cheers!

[Nostromo]

Ok found out what the problem was.... for some reason all my games are in a folder themselves (I used a MAC to unzip the files, and it put each game in a separate folder argh :/

[killergorilla]

hehe

That'll do it then!