How to run a game from WinUAE harddisc

[Tim Janssen]

I am still very new to the Amiga emulation scene. How do you run a game from an emulated Amiga harddisc?
Last week I tried to run Andreas' harddisc-file of Unreal in WinUAE with Kickstart 3.0 installed. I created a mounted directory for this game and tried to run it. The only result was a Workbench 2 screen where I could type in some commands. What did I do wrong?

Is it's a hdf file with a s directory and a startup-sequence that calls the executable properly in it, isn't it? Try the configuration that would normally run the game from floppies.

[Tim Janssen]

I have tried to run the game from HD but somehow it still does not work.
Unreal HD comes in two directories: a C-directory with some Amiga-DOS commands and an Unreal-directory with the ADF-files. How can I run the games in the DOS box? Do I have to type in something like "execute Unreal-s1.adf" to get the game running from harddisc?

No, I think you need to have access to the files within the adf from the amiga file system. Can you upload your hdf if it fits in the zone?

[Tim Janssen]

I have the Unreal_HD-file on my PC at home. I will upload it Monday. Maybe Andreas can upload his copy to The Zone meanwhile (if he reads this thread).

[Dizzy]

Try to install Amiga in a Box

Amiga in a Box

From there you can download Unreal HD (From there homepage, look under download), wich will be install in the game-drawer under work-bench. This version should work.

Hope this will solve your problem

Beside Amiga in a Box has some nice features.

[Tim Janssen]

I still haven’t managed to run any single game from my virtual Amiga harddisc. What are the basic requirements to run such a program? For example is Workbench required to play the game? If anyone knows a good Amiga site which has some information about this topic, I would be eternally grateful.

@Burseg: I have uploaded my version of Unreal HD in The Zone. Maybe you can get this game to run.

[CodyJarrett]

Tim - what sort of problems are you having?

Workbench is required to run anything from an Amiga hard disk. You need to create your virtual hard disk, install Workbench and then install the game.

With JST and WHDLoad, you also need to install the JST and WHDLoad programs.

[Tim Janssen]

Uh-oh… I begin to realise I really act like an Amiga newbie. –I did not realise Workbench is needed to run a game from Amiga-harddisc. How incredibly stupid of me.
Which Workbench do you recommend? I guess the latest version (3.1?) will run most games.

But it may not be needed if the hdf file you boot has required libs, startup script and maybe a c drawer with tools in it. I'm currently checking your hard disk file.

This is a WHDLoad game and you obviously need to use it under workbench. Oddly, there is a C drawer included. Looks like whoever made it wanted it to be self bootable/playable as well but there is no startup script. I assume you need to boot this with no startup and enter the necessary commands from the shell, another possibility is, whoever created this archive just included some tools within the c directory in case they may not be present on the target system. Existance of a C drawer is unnecessary, I don't know for sure what, the creator of this archive had in mind by including this directory. Just run this program under your workbench. That's all you need.

[Tim Janssen]

Well, I have installed Workbench 3.0 and have access to my virtual Amiga harddisc. When I try to run Unreal it says WHDload is needed so I'll install this utility later this day. Let's hope I can enjoy this game again after all those years.

Thanks for all the help about this topic, but Amiga harddisc is still an undiscovered country for me...

[Paul]

You need to download lha.run from aminet to extract the files from the WHDLOAD archive if you have not done so already

[Tim Janssen]

Whoohoo, thanks for pointing me to the AMInet site, Paul. I just wanted to leave work to play this friggin' game at home. I am glad I could download the LHArun file on time.