HELP! Darn saved states / saving in game

I have the newest version of AmigaForever from their site. I have Simon the Sorcerer for the thing (almost the sole reason I got the software).

Finally, I was able to get the game to run. As you may or may not know you "use" the postcard to access the save/load option for the game. I created a "standard floppy" in WinUAE and formatted it using the Icon > Format Disk option in Workbench 3.1. I "use" the postcard in game and click on the save. I hit F12 and change out disk one to my savedgames.adf file that I just formatted and hit "ok." Then I go back to the game, hit any key to continue, input my file name that I want to save, and hit save. It says "save failed, try another disk." Ok, that sucks.

So then I try the WinUAE save-state option. So I hit F12 and go to Misc and Save State. I save the state and call it "matthew." No problems. To test it out, I then go to Misc and Load State, and it loads the game fine - well, no it doesnt. It works for about 3 seconds, then it freezes, and I get an error message in red on a black screen that says:

"Software Error, click the left mouse button to continue"

Or, more often, I get a black screen, and then a Windows error that says WinUAE 1.2.0.0 has encountered a problem, blah blah. I read the error report but it is just a bunch of hex numbers.

When I saved the state I clicked Create Log and Illegal Memory options right above it, and tried it without clicking those, and neither seems to work.

I am getting VERY frustrated, so any help you can provide will be of great assistance.

[quahappy]

Hey up matth3w and a warm welcome to EAB!!!

I presume you are using the ADF version of Simon the Sorcerer (StS)? What WinUAE configuration did you select?

I've just been testing the ECS version of StS (9 adf disks), using WinUAE 1.2.0 Quickstart tab - Amiga 500 / 2000, Configuration KS1.3, ECS Agnus, 1.0M Chip.

WinUAE creates a formatted blank disk by using the "Create Standard Disk" within WinUAE under the Floppy Drives tab. No need to format it using Amiga Workbench.

The problem with using Save States is that when you load WinUAE and then your Save State..... you MUST have the correct numbered adf game disk inserted when you originally saved your position using this feature. Simon the Sorcerer is always accessing disks and if the wrong one(s) is inserted on resuming your game - the game will "crash".

In other words, if you had StS adf game disk 2 and 3 inserted into df0: and df1: drives respectively, when you saved the game via Save State, you must ensure these disks are already in place when re-starting WinUAE and your Save State.

In a game like this one that uses many disks, it is probably easier to use StS save option using the Postcard and saving onto your blank adf disk as shown above - the old-fashion way!

Please be sure to check out the FAQ section too.

Well I hope this all helps and let us know how you get on, but if you still get stuck, we are here to help!!

[Toni Wilen]

Most likely reason is enabled HD emulation or any other "expansion" hardware like uaescsi or bsdsocket etc..

you must ensure these disks are already in place when re-starting WinUAE and your Save State

Disks are automatically inserted while restoring state (if paths haven't changed since state file was created)

[quahappy]

Oooops... You are absolutely right Toni!

How the feck i'd missed that one?! I know.... trying to do a dozen things at the same time....

[mangemani]

i got the exactly same problem with save states.
i abandoned the save state option and used the games original save options instead,works much better

[Ironclaw]

I have mentioned this before but do it again... As savestate doesnt work with harddrive emulation on, I have my games in the memory using RAD to create a virtual harddrive.. thus no disks och harddrive emulation is needed.

I will record and make a Longplay of Monkey Island 2 after I'm finished with Robocop 3. I have put all the MI 2 disk in the memory... and disabled all disks and harddrive emulation. All I need to play is the savestate..... so.. I now have the whole game installed in the memory and can quick save and doesn't need any disks or harddrive... seems to load much faster from memory than harddrive aswell.

[mangemani]

Originally Posted by Ironclaw

I have mentioned this before but do it again... As savestate doesnt work with harddrive emulation on, I have my games in the memory using RAD to create a virtual harddrive.. thus no disks och harddrive emulation is needed.

I will record and make a Longplay of Monkey Island 2 after I'm finished with Robocop 3. I have put all the MI 2 disk in the memory... and disabled all disks and harddrive emulation. All I need to play is the savestate..... so.. I now have the whole game installed in the memory and can quick save and doesn't need any disks or harddrive... seems to load much faster from memory than harddrive aswell.

coud you give me some more details on how your doing that, running the game via the memory thing(or atleast give me a link so i can read about it)?

[Ironclaw]

It's just something I remember from my days with a real Amiga, 10 years ago or so. Don't think you can read about it... maybe, maybe not.

Get Workbench 3.1 + the 5 disks (fonts, extras etc...).. on one of those you'll find the RAD file (2 files, RAD text + .info)... edit the info file and change the cylinders to whatever you want.. like 300 cylinders is like 3mb of virtual space.

That's all.... copy or install games onto it.