UAE Configuration Generator

[solarmon]

Hi,

Happy New Year!

Not sure whether this is the right forum/board to post this, but I've been tinkering with a UAE config file generator. This is mainly to help with UAE emulators and launchers that point to .uae files.

The tool is currently developed using Python 3 and has a graphical frontend. A sample screenshot of it be seen below:




You basically tell it where your .adf/.zip/.hdf files are, your kickstart and WHDLoad file, provide some template/base UAE configurations and it generates the appropriate .uae config.

It also has specific support for the SNES Classic/mini and its 'linked export' mode.

There's a lot more I'd like to do with it, but the basic functionality is almost there. I still need to figure out how to package it up properly (and possibly provided a .exe version) and get it hosted somewhere for distribution, documentation and support.

If anybody is interested in testing/using it initially, then give me a shout.

Cheers!

[solarmon]

Hi,

I've decided to host this project on github:

https://github.com/solarmon/UCG

and have done an initial v0.1-beta release, which can be found at:

https://github.com/solarmon/UCG/releases/tag/v0.1-beta

I've included a Windows executable version (albeit quite a large one at over 9Mb) as part of the release.

I've still to update/complete the documentation - for now just the README on the project page.

Any feedback - good or bad - is greatly welcomed.

Cheers

[solarmon]

Hi,

I've just released v0.2-beta:

https://github.com/solarmon/UCG/releases/tag/v0.2-beta

This adds support for WHDLoad slave files. This is related to another project I'm working on - a WHDLoad Game Launcher startup script - which replaces the one in the usual WHDLoad.hdf. I'll create a separate post for that.

Cheers!

[Foebane]

Cool!

Solarmon, how are you finding hosting your program on Github? Was it easy to add, or was the jargon for that site baffling at first?

[solarmon]

Originally Posted by Foebane

Cool!

Solarmon, how are you finding hosting your program on Github? Was it easy to add, or was the jargon for that site baffling at first?

Hi,

This is actually my first time using github. Or any source repository for that matter. So I'm learning lots as I go along. And my first time using python for this project. I'm not really selling myself here!

I was thinking about using gitlab, but decided against it because github seems to be so popular. But then you got M$ buying it - that was why I considered gitlab. But I found the gitlab first time experience and jargon better/easier to understand so I chose to use it. Gitlab seemed to be too commercially orientated, which put me off too.

I'm still probably not using it right - as I said, I'll learn as a I go along, probably the hard way.

Cheers!

[solarmon]

UCG v0.3-beta released:

https://github.com/solarmon/UCG/releases/tag/v0.3-beta

* Added slave example templates
* Removed comments from template examples as it is not really manageable.
* Options to specify whether to mount WDHLoad drive as 'dir' or 'hdf', and to set the WHDLoad directory.
* Now using 'hardfile2' as mount for .hdf files - so you can specify it as HD1: device.
* Tested generated UAE configs on SNES classic - mounting WHDLoad and game drives as directories works.

[Sandancer]

looks cool solarmon well done

[solarmon]

Originally Posted by Sandancer

looks cool solarmon well done

Thanks! There's much more I want/need to do with it. The more users and feedback the better it will be for me to focus on what users want, or what issues they are having.

Cheers!

[solarmon]

(Deleted - wrong thread!)

[solarmon]

UCG (UAE Configuration Generator) v0.4-beta is now released:

https://github.com/solarmon/UCG/releases/tag/v0.4-beta

The v0.4-beta release has had some significant changes and improvements.

* Simplified the UAE config template model - now just based on:

- Chipset

AGA
OCS

- Game Type

ADF
WHDLoad

* Now supports the three different WHDLoad game types - as a:

- .hdf
- .zip
- .lha
- Directory

* For WHDLoad .zip and .lha files, the volume will be the game sudirectory plus the extension type.

- This is to allow WHDLoad Game Launcher (https://github.com/solarmon/WHDLoad-Game-Launcher/) to determine that it is of this type and where to look for the slave file.

* Some additional python packages dependencies:

- zipfile
- LhaFile

* Support for WinUAE game art - see http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=89014

- The HD1: game drive is now above the HD0: boot drive in the .uae config.
- For WHDLoad Directory games, a trailing directory separator is added so that art files can be located within this directory.

* Lots of cosmetic GUI changes/improvements and bug fixes.

TO-DO:

* Fix duplicates and disallowed characters detection.
* Improve logging output and display.
* Better UAE config template model.


Some example screenshots are attached.

[AMIGASYSTEM]

Ciao solarmon, i noticed that beta 03 does not work on Win7 standard (requires SP1), but beta 04 does not seem to support Win7 32Bit? in my opinion it would serve something compatible with all Windows OS

[solarmon]

Originally Posted by AMIGASYSTEM

Ciao solarmon, i noticed that beta 03 does not work on Win7 standard (requires SP1), but beta 04 does not seem to support Win7 32Bit? in my opinion it would serve something compatible with all Windows OS

Is that running as an Python script or .exe, or both?

Can provide some example error messages? Or does it just refuse to launch?

Unfortunately, I've only been able to test on Windows 10 - so I'll to see if I can get a virtualised environment to test against other OS's.

[solarmon]

Because I developed UCG and compiled it (python packages and .exe version) on a 64-bit environment then that is why it is 64-bit only.

I will make this clear in the descriptions and posts.

Ideally, going forwards, and if demand is there, then I need to have different environments to develop and test on. But practically, I need to see how feasible this will all be. It may be that it slows down the release cycle if I need/want to support all of these environments.

[AMIGASYSTEM]

Used ucg.exe, the requests are in Italian, but the error is understood

Beta 03 and Beta 04 not Work also on Win7 64Bit (requires SP1)

[solarmon]

Originally Posted by AMIGASYSTEM

Used ucg.exe, the requests are in Italian, but the error is understood

Beta 03 and Beta 04 not Work also on Win7 64Bit (requires SP1)

Thanks.

Have you tried ucg.py? However, you'll need to set up Python 3.7.2 and install some package dependencies.

Which reminds me, I need to update the description on Github regarding all these requirements and dependencies....

Thanks once again, for testing and feedback.

[AMIGASYSTEM]

Originally Posted by solarmon

Thanks.

Have you tried ucg.py? However, you'll need to set up Python 3.7.2 and install some package dependencies.
.

Not all of us are experts or geeks, the average user usually does not install anything that is not essential, there are people who do not install an audio or video codec because they believe to create problems

[solarmon]

Originally Posted by AMIGASYSTEM

Not all of us are experts or geeks, the average user usually does not install anything that is not essential, there are people who do not install an audio or video codec because they believe to create problems

Yes - I totally agree.

I'm finding out the further I get into this Python project, how many dependencies are required.

The problem with the .exe version is that it is quite large - currently at 9M, because the python environment and packages are compiled with it.

[solarmon]

UCG (UAE Configuration Generator) v0.5-beta is now released:

https://github.com/solarmon/UCG/releases/tag/v0.5-beta

Release v0.5-beta has the following features:

* 32bit and 64bit executable versions. (Only tested on Windows 10 64bit)

* About tab now shows versions of the OS and Python and whether it is running as a Python script or executable.

[AMIGASYSTEM]

v0.5-beta with Win7 32/64Bit "Standard" does not work, requires Service Pack 1

[Minuous]

Originally Posted by solarmon

I'm finding out the further I get into this Python project, how many dependencies are required.

The problem with the .exe version is that it is quite large - currently at 9M, because the python environment and packages are compiled with it.

Maybe it would be better done in C. That would also would make it easier to have a 32-bit build.