WHDLoad Files: Prepare and update own library without .dat-files

[tar]

Hi,

as I am actually leeching from the Amiga file server with a speed limit from 1967, I thought I could help others to prepare their library before leeching everything from the server with the same speed and connection issues.

Those, who already spammed this forum and got their "official" login can skip this and go directly to step 3.


=== Initial load variant 1: Faster download but renaming required ===================================

1.1. Download everything by visiting https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...9EebUyPyceqang

Go to "Retroplay WHDLoad Packs" -> "Commodore_Amiga_-_WHDLoad_-_Games" and select all subfolders. Now rightclick (or use the 3 dots in the upper right corner) and select "download". Google Drive prepares the download and after a while it will ask you where to save the .zip files. After downloading extract everything to your own WHDLoad library folder.

1.2. Replace "_" with either "'" or "&"

What you need:
- Total Commander or a renaming tool or just manual work

As Google Drive replaces the apostroph and ampersand in each filename by an underscore, this is a bit struggeling. You need to compare the files on the server with the files you have downloaded. You can use the synchronization feature of Total Commander or WinSCP to find the affected files (see step 3).

For finding & renaming multiple files at once you can use the special functions within Total Commander and hereby can assign own shortcuts to these functions by opening Total Commander as Administrator and go to "Configuration" -> "Misc." where you redefine hotkeys for cm_MultiRenameFiles and cm_SearchFor (I use CTRL+T for renaming and CTRL+DEL for searching).

I recommend the following procedure by using Total Commander:
- go into your library folder where you see your own A, B, C, etc. folders
- press CTRL+B to list all files
- select all files and press your defined hotkey for the function cm_MultiRenameFiles
- replace all "_" with "'" (remove the quotation marks) -> click Start
- afterwards replace all " ' " with " & " (remove the quotation marks and note the spaces)
- now use the synchronization (see step 3) to compare the names of the rest of the files and correct those manually

In the end, the synchronization should show no differences anymore. For further synchronization just use the procedure in step 3.

Another benefit of this procedure is that you can repeat it with any (sub)folder(s) on the server, e.g. "TOSEC" -> "Games" -> "[ADF]".


=== Initial load variant 2: Slower download but no renaming required (only useable for WHDLoad game files) =======

What you need:
- Google Chrome
- Google Chrome extension: Link Grabber
- uGet Download Manager

After you have added the Link Grabber extension to Google Chrome, you need to activate it so that the corresponding icon is displayed on the top right corner.

uGet is portable for Windows. Extract the downloaded .7z-file to a new subfolder "uget" within your apps folder and open "...\uget\bin\uget.exe" as Administrator. When uGet is opened it recognizes any download links in the clipboard and presents you with options if and where to download the according file(s).

2.1. Open Google Chrome and go to https://www.whdownload.com/games.php...%&sort=0&dir=0.
It should list ALL games (around 3391), otherwise click on "ALL".

2.2. Click on the Link Grabber Icon
A new windows opens that shows all links that are included in the website. We need to add "/games/" within the substring filter field in order to only show the download links for games (who would have thought of that ). Then click on the copy button on the right top corner.

2.3. uGet will automatically fetch all download links in the clipboard and present you with a popup where to download the files and how many connections you want to use. This is by far faster than the speed limit on the Amiga Files Server for anonymous logins.

2.4. Create the original folder structure
Herefore you need to create a batchfile named "_mover.bat" within the download folder and insert this code:

md 0
md A
md B
md C
md D
md E
md F
md G
md H
md I
md J
md K
md L
md M
md N
md O
md P
md Q
md R
md S
md T
md U
md V
md W
md X
md Y
md Z
move a*.* a
move b*.* b
move c*.* c
move d*.* d
move e*.* e
move f*.* f
move g*.* g
move h*.* h
move i*.* i
move j*.* j
move k*.* k
move l*.* l
move m*.* m
move n*.* n
move o*.* o
move p*.* p
move q*.* q
move r*.* r
move s*.* s
move t*.* t
move u*.* u
move v*.* v
move w*.* w
move x*.* x
move y*.* y
move z*.* z
move *.* 0 && del 0\_mover.bat

Execute it and all downloaded files should be moved to their corresponding subfolder. The batchfile itself is hereby deleted.

2.5. Move everything into your real library folder.

The downloads on www.whdownload.com/games.php are incomplete so before you are finished with the initial load you have to synchronize your library with the Amiga Files Server (see step 3).


=== 3. Update your library without .dat-files ==================================================

A) With Total Commander

1. Open Total Commander, go to "Net" -> "FTP Connect..." and create a new connection for the Amiga File Server. If you click on "Connect", the FTP connection is established on the active window side. You can switch those sides by pressing CTRL+U.

2. Open your library folder on one side and connect to the Amiga Fle Server on the other side.

Navigate to "/Retroplay WHDLoad Packs/Commodore_Amiga_-_WHDLoad_-_Games" (or "/TOSEC/Games/[ADF]" or what else you want to update).

You should now see the subfolders A, B, C, etc. on the left and right.

3. Click on "Commands" -> "Synchronize Dirs..."

In the popup ensure that the settings are like this:
- activate "Subdirs", "ignore date", "duplicates", "singles", the symbol for "unequal files" as well as the corresponding arrow symbol by which you would copy files from the server side to your library side
- deactivate everything else

Click on "Compare".

Now, Total Commander is comparing both directories incl. all subfolders for missing and changed files and shows you a list.

Ensure that you have selected the correct direction, click on "Synchronize..." and confirm the popup to download the missing/changed files.


B) With WinSCP

1. Open WinSCP, click on "New Site" and create a new connection for the Amiga File Server.

2. Open your library folder on one side and connect to the Amiga Fle Server on the other side.

Navigate to "/Retroplay WHDLoad Packs/Commodore_Amiga_-_WHDLoad_-_Games" (or "/TOSEC/Games/[ADF]" or what else you want to update).

You should now see the subfolders A, B, C, etc. on the left and right.

3. Click on "Synchronize" on the upper left corner.

In the popup ensure that the settings are like this:
- Direction/Target directory: Local
- Mode: Synchronize files
- Synchronize options: activate "Preview changes" and "File size"
- deactivate everything else

Click on "OK".

Now, WinSCP is comparing both directories incl. all subfolders for missing and changed files and shows you a list.

Click again on "OK" to download the missing/changed files.


Done.

[reno]

You can also just use "rclone" (https://rclone.org/) to download/synchronize the Google Drive directories