Disconect All External Drives to Run This Demo!!!

07 July 2005, 01:21

Hi guys.

Mu first post! I signed up hoping someone may B able 2 help me.

Years ago my mate had a demo called "Flash for Fantasy". It had a version of Billy Idol's "Flesh for Fantasy". I always loved it & I've been hunting it down & I think I've found it.

When I boot the disk I get a screen saying:
TriStar and Red Sector Present
---Tuff Stuff 015 ---

From the menu I am able 2 select:
"Flash for Fantasy" by Sanity

It seems 2 load but there is a message in Amiga DOS that reads:
!!!DISCONECT ALL EXTERNAL DRIVES TO RUN THIS DEMO!!!

I assume that the demo had some sort of protection built in to prevent hacking or something?

Anyway looking @ the settings in WinUAE I cannot find anything that looks like it would pertain 2 an external drive setting. Does anybody know if it is possible 2 get this working?

Thanx 4 looking.

ps What does WinUAE stand 4?
Is it Windows Ultimate Amiga Emulator?

jmmijo · 07 July 2005, 01:46

Not neccessarily, there most likely is no copy protection.

See back in the early days, most Amiga's had only 512K of ram and adding an external floppy drive ate up some of this memory, well specifically CHIP ram, which would cause the demo not to load and/or function properly because the demo needed every single byte of that 512KB to operate

Also, welcome to the forums

Chuckles · 07 July 2005, 03:31

Jmmijo's comment relating to chip ram is on target. Each connected disk drive required some chip ram to be used for buffers, and on a 512K chip ram Amiga, some software needed as much chip ram as possible in order for it to run. To simulate disconnecting all external drives in WinUAE, go to the "Disk Drives" page in the GUI, and select "Disabled" in the drop-down lists for DF1:, DF2: and DF3:. When you start the emulation, the emulated machine then only "sees" DF0: so if that is the only issue everything ought to work.

As for what WinUAE stands for, the original version of the emulator was UAE, which stands for Unix Amiga Emulator (it was targeted at Unix machines). When the Windows port was started, the "Win" prefix was added for some unfathomable reason.

jmmijo · 07 July 2005, 03:59

Another thing to try is to adjust your WinUAE settings to make it a 1MB chip ram machine. This would allow you to keep one or more of the external drives enabled and still be able to run *some* of the demos that required a lot of the first 512K of CHIP ram.

However, this means testing, because you will still find some things, demos/app/games etc... that will still only run properly on a 512K CHIP ram machine with no external drives

Codetapper · 07 July 2005, 04:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuckles

Each connected disk drive required some chip ram to be used for buffers

Note that memory is only used if the game is an O/S friendly title. Any game that throws away the operating system can happily use all 4 disk drives without using any extra memory. This assumes only one drive is reading data at a time.

As for WinUAE, it stands for Windows Unusable Amiga Emulator (although the word Unusable is not really fair anymore since the emulator is so good!)

Galaxy · 07 July 2005, 04:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by Codetapper

As for WinUAE, it stands for Windows Unusable Amiga Emulator (although the word Unusable is not really fair anymore since the emulator is so good!)

That was coined back in the days when PC processing power was not really capable of emulating the Amiga at a decent speed.

Chuckles · 07 July 2005, 05:31

I think that the original intent was that the "U" was to stand for Unix, though it was changed to "unusable" on an unofficial (and somewhat sarcastic) basis when the early builds failed to approach usable performance levels. I had heard "unusable" being referenced in the context of the history of the emulator, though clearly it doesn't fit anymore. I'm not sure who authored the original version, but it would be interesting to hear whoever it was explain that stage of development. From humble beginnings, it has become a damned fine emulator, imho.

11 July 2005, 13:48

Thanx 4 the replies guys.

I managed 2 get it running with your advice but it wasn't the demo I was hoping 4.

I still appreciate the help however.

Thanx again.

alexh · 11 July 2005, 14:19

I think that the "Unusable" in UAE came from the fact that the first few releases didnt emulate enough for you to do anything, as opposed to performance issues.

Not to be confused with the fake Amiga emulator which just displayed the Workbench 1.3 "Hand" and grinded the PC stepper motor.

07 July 2005, 01:21	#1
skywalka Posts: n/a	Disconect All External Drives to Run This Demo!!! Hi guys. Mu first post! I signed up hoping someone may B able 2 help me. Years ago my mate had a demo called "Flash for Fantasy". It had a version of Billy Idol's "Flesh for Fantasy". I always loved it & I've been hunting it down & I think I've found it. When I boot the disk I get a screen saying: TriStar and Red Sector Present ---Tuff Stuff 015 --- From the menu I am able 2 select: "Flash for Fantasy" by Sanity It seems 2 load but there is a message in Amiga DOS that reads: !!!DISCONECT ALL EXTERNAL DRIVES TO RUN THIS DEMO!!! I assume that the demo had some sort of protection built in to prevent hacking or something? Anyway looking @ the settings in WinUAE I cannot find anything that looks like it would pertain 2 an external drive setting. Does anybody know if it is possible 2 get this working? Thanx 4 looking. ps What does WinUAE stand 4? Is it Windows Ultimate Amiga Emulator?

07 July 2005, 01:46	#2
jmmijo Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: PDX Age: 62 Posts: 2,395	Not neccessarily, there most likely is no copy protection. See back in the early days, most Amiga's had only 512K of ram and adding an external floppy drive ate up some of this memory, well specifically CHIP ram, which would cause the demo not to load and/or function properly because the demo needed every single byte of that 512KB to operate Also, welcome to the forums Last edited by jmmijo; 07 July 2005 at 02:27.

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07 July 2005, 03:31	#3
Chuckles The Ancient One Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Kansas City/USA Age: 68 Posts: 685	Jmmijo's comment relating to chip ram is on target. Each connected disk drive required some chip ram to be used for buffers, and on a 512K chip ram Amiga, some software needed as much chip ram as possible in order for it to run. To simulate disconnecting all external drives in WinUAE, go to the "Disk Drives" page in the GUI, and select "Disabled" in the drop-down lists for DF1:, DF2: and DF3:. When you start the emulation, the emulated machine then only "sees" DF0: so if that is the only issue everything ought to work. As for what WinUAE stands for, the original version of the emulator was UAE, which stands for Unix Amiga Emulator (it was targeted at Unix machines). When the Windows port was started, the "Win" prefix was added for some unfathomable reason.

07 July 2005, 03:59	#4
jmmijo Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: PDX Age: 62 Posts: 2,395	Another thing to try is to adjust your WinUAE settings to make it a 1MB chip ram machine. This would allow you to keep one or more of the external drives enabled and still be able to run some of the demos that required a lot of the first 512K of CHIP ram. However, this means testing, because you will still find some things, demos/app/games etc... that will still only run properly on a 512K CHIP ram machine with no external drives

07 July 2005, 05:31	#7
Chuckles The Ancient One Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Kansas City/USA Age: 68 Posts: 685	I think that the original intent was that the "U" was to stand for Unix, though it was changed to "unusable" on an unofficial (and somewhat sarcastic) basis when the early builds failed to approach usable performance levels. I had heard "unusable" being referenced in the context of the history of the emulator, though clearly it doesn't fit anymore. I'm not sure who authored the original version, but it would be interesting to hear whoever it was explain that stage of development. From humble beginnings, it has become a damned fine emulator, imho.

11 July 2005, 13:48	#8
skywalka Posts: n/a	Thanx 4 the replies guys. I managed 2 get it running with your advice but it wasn't the demo I was hoping 4. I still appreciate the help however. Thanx again.

11 July 2005, 14:19	#9
alexh Thalion Webshrine Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Oxford Posts: 14,337	I think that the "Unusable" in UAE came from the fact that the first few releases didnt emulate enough for you to do anything, as opposed to performance issues. Not to be confused with the fake Amiga emulator which just displayed the Workbench 1.3 "Hand" and grinded the PC stepper motor.

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