Hopefully I'm missing something simple here? (disk swapping issue)

I have looked over the many other topics related to my problem and done specific searches for the game (Harlequin) which is giving me the troubles)

I found this thread from 2002 http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?...ight=harlequin and it seems like that person was running into the same basic problem as me, but eventually figured out what to do to get past it (I cannot for some reason?)

I will try to be as concise as possible in describing my situation here (at the probable risk of over doing it)

Here's what I have tried and the problems that occur:

Step 1 : I start with Harlequin Disk 1 in the DF0 drive slot

Step 2: When I load up the game, I am taken through the "GREMLIN" logo screen and "THE WARP FACTORY" logo screen and finally onto the "Harlequin Title screen", where it tells me to "PRESS FIRE TO START"

(apparently the default "fire" button for this game happens to be the SPACE BAR)

step 3 :So I press the Space bar (fire button) and am instantly taken to the:
"Harlequin Please Insert Disk 1" screen (from here I try everything to get it to load -following all of the advice from the aforementioned topics as far as how to swap the disks etc.

Step 4: Since I get nowhere with that, I then try ejecting Disk 1 from DF0 - inserting Disk 2 in it's spot and then re-setting Winuae through the GUI menu (via the reset option found in the "MISC" tab section)

When it reloads - I go through the 5-6 second colour wave flicker screen then into the " Please Insert Level Disk, Press "fire" to continue" screen

(again I can't seem to do anything here except go onto repeating what I did before, this time Ejecting Disk 2 and inserting Disk 3 (the "Level" disk) in it's spot - then resetting Winuae through the GUI and reloading

Step 5: When I reload with Disk 3 in the DF0 drive - it takes me directly to the Amiga Floppy drive loading animation screen (the one with the Amiga symbol on the left with the "3.1 ROM 40.068, copyright: 1985-1993, commodore amiga inc, all rights reserved"under it - then to the right is the animation of a disk going in and out of a floppy drive)

Like I said - I have tried all of the advice given - tested putting the 3 disks in all possible orders in the DF0, DF1, DF2 slots/ using only 1 or 2 slots etc etc - and still nothing changes - I always just get stuck on the respective "insert ____ disk" screen or the disk 3 floppy animation screen.

Hopefully it's either just that my settings are off and so I can easily fix them - or I'm just missing something here that can also easily be remedied with a simple "try this" type answer?

Sorry for the post length

[DamienD]

Hello newguy99,

Welcome to EAB

Hmmm, very strange. I would have thought that what you've tried i.e. pressing <F12> ejecting the disk and then inserting the next one would work.

To be honest I don't think I've ever played the game so I'm not sure if it supports 1, 2 or 3 disk drives...

I don't know about this booting from Disk 1, inserting Disk 2 - resetting, inserting Disk 3, you talk about though. I wouldn't imagine that would work at all and am a bit surprised that Disk 2 booted. I would have expected Disk 2 to do the same as Disk 3, guess it must be bootable...

A few questions:

1) What version of WinUAE are you using?
2) Are you using the Quickstart A500 / A2000 settings?
3) What Kickstart ROM are you using?
4) Finally, which .ADF files are you using e.g. Harlequin (1993)(Gremlin)[cr SKR](Disk 1 of 3)(Intro).adf + Harlequin (1993)(Gremlin)[cr SKR](Disk 2 of 3)(1-Program).adf + Harlequin (1993)(Gremlin)[cr SKR](Disk 3 of 3)(Level).adf?

Actually looking at the above disks, Disk 1 is the Intro Disk, Disk 2 is the Data Disk, Disk 3 is the Level Disk... In this case Disk 2 may well be bootable as suggested above.

Another thing I do is use <End> + <F1> or <F2> or <F3> or <F4> (F1 - F4 for different drives) to eject the disk and then prompt for a new one, instead of going into the GUI to swap disks etc...

I would try doing the following:

1) Start WinUAE and select the Quickstart A500 / A2000 option.
2) Just try only having 1 disk drive enabled for now. Insert the Intro Disk and boot.
3) When you come to the point "Harlequin Please Insert Disk 1" press <End> + <F1> and insert the Program Disk.
4) When you come to the point "Please Insert Level Disk, Press "fire" to continue" press <End> + <F1> and insert the Level Disk.

Hopefully this will work for you...

Tonight I will also download the .ADF files and test for you when I get home

PS. Sorry for the post length as well

Oh wow, I didn't expect a reply so soon, thanks.
And yes, the files you listed are the exact files I have been using:
Harlequin (1993)(Gremlin)[cr SKR](Disk 1 of 3)(Intro).adf
Harlequin (1993)(Gremlin)[cr SKR](Disk 2 of 3)(1-Program)[t +5 ATX].adf
Harlequin (1993)(Gremlin)[cr SKR](Disk 3 of 3)(Level).adf

And I'm using Winuae version 0.8.22.4

But Actually I was just coming back here to post that I did finally get the game to play, but not because of something I did differently than what I had tried previously as far as what you and all of the people in the other threads have suggested from the beginning.

What I did differently was I decided to plug in my gamepad (Thrustmaster Dual analog Pro - not that it should matter what gamepad is being used).

So I went through all of the standard start-up steps, and got past the "PRESS FIRE TO START" part (which I know now, is the only point at which the process allows you to use "Space bar" as the "Fire" button- for some reason deciding not to function at the "Press FIRE to continue" parts anywhere else afterwards? )

But this time: when I got to the "Harlequin Please Insert Disk 1" screen (the point at which I could do nothing before since no keyboard or mouse input seemed to work).
All that I did now, (after inserting "Disk 1" - which is actually Disk 2 of 3 or the "Program disk" if you go by the order that the game files are listed in) was press the corresponding "fire" button on my gamepad (which by default happens to be
the "A" button - if going by an Xbox controller configuration).

So all this time it seems I was getting stuck because I had no available/ functioning "Fire" button to trigger the loading process along any further, and my gamepad solved this for some reason?

I checked my winuae "Input" tab section and nothing seemed to indicate that I was using the wrong keyboard/ mouse configuration before I tried my gamepad- but for some reason it just wouldn't let me use a "Fire" button (after that one "space bar" part early on)?

But I'm sure there must be something that is set wrong because I was running into the same issue with another game I tried as well (Stardust -which now works using the gamepad) so unless these two games in particular are a few of the only games which you just can't play without a gamepad being used - I really don't know what I need to do to be able to play them without a gamepad plugged in?

Anyway for those who want to know exactly what steps to take to get to the playable part in Harlequin (with the help of a gamepad):

Step 1:
Starting with "Harlequin (1993)(Gremlin)[cr SKR](Disk 1 of 3)(Intro).adf" in the DF0 slot - you start the game loading process.
When you get past the Intro screen and onto the "Harlequin Please Insert Disk 1" screen - you then press F12 to open the Winuae drop down GUI menu and select the "Floppies" tab - then Eject the disk you began with and insert: "Harlequin (1993)(Gremlin)[cr SKR](Disk 2 of 3)(1-Program)[t +5 ATX].adf" in it's place (so it's actually "Disk 2" you are inserting at this point instead of "Disk 1" as far as the way the disk roms are listed/ ordered in the Games folder as mentioned above)

Step 2:
After inserting "Harlequin (1993)(Gremlin)[cr SKR](Disk 2 of 3)(1-Program)[t +5 ATX].adf" and pressing "OK"- you then press the corresponding "Fire" button on your gamepad (or whatever the hell else you can get to work for you on your keyboard or mouse if possible?)

Step 3:
You Should now be taken to the "Please Insert Level Disk, Press Fire to continue" screen. So follow the same steps as above as far as opening the menu with F12 but this time inserting "Harlequin (1993)(Gremlin)[cr SKR](Disk 3 of 3)(Level).adf" (the "Level" disk) in the DF0 slot. Then press "fire" on your gamepad (or keyboard/mouse if applicable) again.

- You should then see a "Using Extra Ram Now" loading type screen, then it will take you to the "Chimerica" level intro screen. From here you must press "Fire" once again.

Step 4:
After pressing "Fire" again - you will be brought to the " Please Insert Program Disk, Press "fire" to continue" screen. So you follow the Eject/Insert Steps again and put the: "Harlequin (1993)(Gremlin)[cr SKR](Disk 2 of 3)(1-Program)[t +5 ATX].adf" disk back into the DF0 slot, then press "Fire" once again.

Step 5:
Now you will instantly be taken back yet again to the " Please Insert Level Disk, Press "fire" to continue" screen. So you put the "Harlequin (1993)(Gremlin)[cr SKR](Disk 3 of 3)(Level).adf" disk one last time and press "fire". Now you will finally be taken into the First level of the game where you can play.

For me the controls were decent enough with my gamepad - "A" was Throw heart projectiles (attack) and the Left analog Stick was for movement (Left/ Right = run, Up = Jump, Down = Crouch) although if possible I'd like to use a button for jumping instead of the analog stick/ D-pad
----------

So there you have it - the stupid "Fire" button issue was the culprit all along - but that still doesn't solve the issue of playing the game without the use of a gamepad for me, Anyone have any suggestions for what could be causing that problem?

and here are my Winuae settings ( in a new post - so I don't make too big of a wall of text)

"ROM" tab:
ROM File: Kick310.rom
Key File: rom.key
(everything else untouched/ default)

"Sound" tab.
Sound Emulation: "Enabled, 100% accurate"
Frequency: 44100 Hz
Stereo Mode: Stereo
Interpolation: Enabled
(everything else untouched/ default)

"OpenGL" tab.
Enable OpenGL checkbox: ON
32bit, Bilinear
(everything else untouched/ default)

"Display" tab.
Settings:
Full screen checkbox: ON
Select: 1024x768, 32-bit
(everything else untouched/ default)

All other Tab settings I have not touched so should be default still I would assume.

I hope there is enough info here to provide you with some clue for what I'd need to do to fix that odd "no Fire button function with keyboard or mouse" issue?

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by newguy99

Winuae version 0.8.22.4

That is over 3.5 years old version

[DamienD]

Glad to hear that you've got it working

As Toni said your WinUAE version is ancient... I would grab the latest version i.e. v1.3.3 from http://www.winuae.net. It has come along in leaps and bounds since then (thanks to Toni)

When it comes to using Quickstart configurations, the Input settings will be set to this by default:

Port 0: Mouse
Port 1: Keyboard Layout A (Numeric keypad, 0 and 5 = fire)

Note that the keys for the fire button are 0 and 5

Finally when swapping disks, trust me it's alot easier to press <End> + <F1> and select the new disk than to:

... Press <F12> for the GUI.
... Select the Settings --> Hardware --> Floppy drives screen.
... Press Eject on DF0:, then press ..., select the new disk and then press OK.

Anyway, of course both ways work. It's up to you which method you use

Thanks for the Replies guys. Yeah I have no idea why I haven't updated yet, I was just so eager to try out this particular game that I didn't even take the 2 seconds to do so.

I still wonder why there is that "Fire" button issue with that particular older version though? (Because I know for damn sure I have pressed 0 and 5 a bunch of times - and still nothing happened)

Anyway, Thanks again, I'll be sure to update right away

I upgraded to version 1.3.3.0 - took me a few minutes to figure out all of the settings

Anyway I got the game working again (with the keyboard controls actually working this time

I would still like to know how to configure custom controls onto my gamepad (use a button for jump instead of the stick etc etc) But whenever I choose "Configuration 1" then alter some of the controls - I cant move at all when I get back into the game? I always have to leave it on the default "compatibility mode" controls for some reason?

[DamienD]

Hey newguy99,

Hmmm, a bit strange that you say you cannot move after mapping when back in the game. Are you sure you've mapped things correctly?

I use my 2 x Xbox controllers via a USB adapter in WinUAE without any issues. Should be quite easy to remap directions / buttons

Basically, make sure that your Thrustmaster Dual Analog Pro is plugged in and the drivers installed (if needed) so that Windows can see the device. Now start WinUAE, load your configuration and:

... Go to Settings --> Host --> Game & I/O Ports screen.
... Change Port 1: to your Thrustmaster Dual Analog Pro.

It should map some directions / buttons by default but if you want to change them then you need to:

... Go to Settings --> Host --> Input screen.
... Change Compatibility mode to Configuration #1.
... Remap whatever directions / buttons you like.
... Once all is ok, save you configuration if you want to and start playing.

Hope this helps, let us know how you get on