TinyLauncher 3+ released

[mcbpete]

Apologies for the rather newbie-ey question - Been using WinUAE for a couple of decades but only now have decided to move all my games to a whdload style solution.

Almost all the game packs I've seen are archived .lha's which I've been able to uncompress fine using the windows app PowerArchiver and then pointing the folder that I've extracted them to in TinyLauncher (i've been using solarmon's build - https://github.com/solarmon/WHDLoad-Game-Launcher ). However I'm wondering if I'm creating an unnecessary headache for myself - Is there any way of getting TinyLauncher to scan and unpack the lha files 'on the fly' (i.e. can I keep them as lha's and have TinyLauncher temporarily unpack them)

Partially I want to do this to save hard disk space (and the time to extract them all !) ... but also and more importantly some files and directories seem to be non-Windows compatible (for example I've seen files named 'con', directories with a '.' at the end - all of which the NTFS file system hates).

So is it possible to run the games directly using the compressed lha or do they all need to be manually extracted before use?

[DamienD]

Originally Posted by mcbpete

Almost all the game packs I've seen are archived .lha's which I've been able to uncompress fine using the windows app PowerArchiver

<snip>

... but also and more importantly some files and directories seem to be non-Windows compatible (for example I've seen files named 'con', directories with a '.' at the end - all of which the NTFS file system hates).

This is why you should never unpack Amiga .LHA / .LZX files using Windows tools. You will also loose file "protection bits".

Always unpack on a real Amiga or inside of emulation.

[mcbpete]

I thought that was the case, got up to 'H' in my unpacking so luckily not ruined the entire the collection.....

So I shall definitely keep them as .lha on my PC (and restore 'A-G' ). The question I guess now is, how to I get TinyLauncher to 'see' them? Do I have to unpack each and every one in Workbench first, or has some lovely person made a script where you can just select the lha you want to play and it does the unpacking automagically ?

[manossg]

Originally Posted by mcbpete

The question I guess now is, how to I get TinyLauncher to 'see' them? Do I have to unpack each and every one in Workbench first, or has some lovely person made a script where you can just select the lha you want to play and it does the unpacking automagically ?

You should have everything already unpacked. You then organize your games within a folder and tell TinyLauncher to search within this folder (I have a WHDLOAD folder within which I have a separate subfolder for each letter). Then you press F1 and TinyLauncher sees all the games.

[DamienD]

Originally Posted by mcbpete

Do I have to unpack each and every one in Workbench first, or has some lovely person made a script where you can just select the lha you want to play and it does the unpacking automagically ?

Ok, you can extract all .LHA archives via WinUAE using DirOpus.

• Have all your slave installs from Retroplay in one directory e.g. C:\WHDLoad.
• Start WinUAE, load your configuration and select "CD & Hard drives".
• Click "Add Directory or Archive...", click "Select Directory" then navigate to your slave installs directory. This gets mounted as DH1.
• Start emulation and run DirOpus.
• On the left side, select your hard drive, create / go into the directory where you want everything extracted to.
• On the right side, select DH1: and then click "All".
• Now click "Arc Ext".

[mcbpete]

Superstar , thanks man It was indeed Retroplay's WHDLoad collection that I have

[DamienD]

No problem mcbpete

Thank God for WinUAE; you can do many things that would be very hard on real hardware, or not even possible.

[Storm]

Lol, I do all that sort of grunt work on my A4000, including downloading the WHDLoad files thanks to Retroplay's FTP section on EAB. I use iGame on my faster machines, and Tiny Launcher and X-Bench on the slower ones.

[mcbpete]

Is it best/required to create an empty hdf to decrunch the .lhas into? Presumably if I write to the PC file structure directly it's going to cause the same issues (i.e. writing invalid FAT/NTFS file names and directories)

Presumably I can't have an hdf greater than 4gb or Workbench won't be able to see it?

(and ahem I'm being real lazy.... Has any lovely person on here done all this hard work already and I can just grab a wonderfully large .hdf(s) from somewhere ? If not I can whack on some tunes and go through the extraction duties one rainy afternoon! )

[jmprice_314159]

Hello, I'm using TinyLauncher and enabled tooltypes. However, when running a game, WHDLoad doesn't show all the options in the splashscreen. For example, r-type has 2 available cheats, and both are shown when launching the game outside of TinyLaucher by double clicking the game icon. When launching r-type in TinyLauncher, only the first cheat is shown in the WHDLoad splashscreen. Any idea why?

[512k]

Originally Posted by emuola

Wow, didn't know this. Thanks for the tip So, I just repeat there what's already in the SS of my ClassicWB regarding ENV:?

This is what I found in my SS related to ENV:

IF EXISTS C:HDEnv
  	C:MakeDir RAM:T RAM:Clipboards
  	Assign >NIL: ENV: SYS:ENV
  	C:HDEnv
ELSE
  	C:MakeDir RAM:T RAM:Clipboards RAM:ENV RAM:ENV/Sys
  	C:Copy >NIL: ENVARC: RAM:ENV ALL NOREQ
  	Assign >NIL: ENV: RAM:ENV
EndIF

So do i just add this to one of the whdload config files and were golden? came across the issue with screenmode a few days ago

[paul1981]

Originally Posted by jmprice_314159

Hello, I'm using TinyLauncher and enabled tooltypes. However, when running a game, WHDLoad doesn't show all the options in the splashscreen. For example, r-type has 2 available cheats, and both are shown when launching the game outside of TinyLaucher by double clicking the game icon. When launching r-type in TinyLauncher, only the first cheat is shown in the WHDLoad splashscreen. Any idea why?

I assume you have Tooltypes enabled in TinyLauncher? (toggle it on/off by pressing T on the invaders/main screen).

EDIT: LOL I can't read. I'll check R-Type out myself and get back to you. I think I ate too many Dime bars.

[RoniWorlds]

TinyLancher from which year it is. Is there an official website for the project?

[paul1981]

Originally Posted by jmprice_314159

Hello, I'm using TinyLauncher and enabled tooltypes. However, when running a game, WHDLoad doesn't show all the options in the splashscreen. For example, r-type has 2 available cheats, and both are shown when launching the game outside of TinyLaucher by double clicking the game icon. When launching r-type in TinyLauncher, only the first cheat is shown in the WHDLoad splashscreen. Any idea why?

What's happening is that the ; on the Config entry in the tooltypes of the game icon comments out the remainder of the argument for that line (from an AmigaDOS perspective), so the second button C2:B:Custom2 never gets displayed. This is not a TinyLauncher fault, but perhaps an over site of WHDLoad. I shall report the issue on the WHDLoad Mantis.

[RoniWorlds]

Because Tinylaunczer runs from a slave file. And it bypasses the settings in the game's .info file.

[paul1981]

Originally Posted by RoniWorlds

Because Tinylaunczer runs from a slave file. And it bypasses the settings in the game's .info file.

Your statement is only true when not running in tooltypes mode. Press the T key on the main TinyLauncher screen, then your tooltypes will be interpreted by TinyLauncher.

[RoniWorlds]

Ok, I did not know that, thanks for the info, I will test it ....

[paul1981]

http://mantis.whdload.de/view.php?id=5271

If TinyLauncher likes to use the ToolTypes as CLI arguments it had to convert:

numericals -> make them decimal if hex is used, quitkey=$59 -> quitkey=89

strings -> put "" around, config=c1:b:#1;c2:b:#2 -> config="c1:b:#1;c2:b:#2"


That's straight from the horses mouth, so Michael Gibs you need to get those quotes in on config=... ...lines.

He also says that all of these could possibly be in hex also, so Michael, please check for $ in tool types and convert values to hex:

It is possible for all numerical options:
ConfigDelay
Custom1
Custom2
Custom3
Custom4
Custom5
DebugKey
FreezeKey
LogBuffer
PreloadSize
QuitKey
ReadDelay
RestartKey
SplashDelay
TimeOut
WriteDelay
I don't know if all of them are used with hex but it is possible.

If not all of them Michael, then at least these:

QuitKey
RestartKey

As these are what a typical user may want to use. I emailed you a couple of weeks back and you haven't replied to me. I'll try again tomorrow. If anyone wants to confirm Michael's email address to me then please PM me as I have many bugs to tell him about regarding TinyLauncher.
I hope you are reading this, I do realise that you don't have an account here, but I hope you at least read the thread from time to time.

[sledgelive]

Anyone can share covers with the file pattern TL use?

[paul1981]

Originally Posted by paul1981

http://mantis.whdload.de/view.php?id=5271

If TinyLauncher likes to use the ToolTypes as CLI arguments it had to convert:

numericals -> make them decimal if hex is used, quitkey=$59 -> quitkey=89

strings -> put "" around, config=c1:b:#1;c2:b:#2 -> config="c1:b:#1;c2:b:#2"


That's straight from the horses mouth, so Michael Gibs you need to get those quotes in on config=... ...lines..

Quoting myself now, but perhaps easier and sensible to just inform TL users to strictly use decimal and not hex. Who needs hex anyway!

@sledgelive
I don't know or use the covers part, so maybe someone else can help with that.