Whdload

[paulcan]

Hi All,

Had a500’s for years
Recently got an a1200 for the 1st time
Loving it
Having everything on an hd and a bit more speed is a dream amiga for me
Really enjoying my setup

Nothing too special just cf/sd card and 8mb ram in trapdoor

I paid for a whdload key years ago with my a500 and gvp hd8+ drive

So everything is good and running well

I understand why…
But my only disappointment is not being able to use whdload with some cracked versions of games
Some of my memories are locked into these versions and would love to be able to run them from a hard disk

Rather than floppies
Ok I could get a gotek but don’t want to hack it about
I like an original running floppy drive

Question is
Is there anyway you can force a whdload installer to ignore the crc check and somehow copy the files from a cracked version of the game into the folders to force it to run my cracked version?

Programming isn’t my strong point so I cannot build my own whdload installer

Not to distribute but just so I can run a few cracked versions as well as keep the originals on there

Many thanks
Paul

[Snoopy1234]

If the game has an Amigados filesystem you can use the generic Workbench slaves from the WHDLoad site. Just extract the disk image with ADF Workshop into a folder and rename the folder to "Data"

(Hypothetically...)
For NDOS disks you can rename the image file to "disk.1" and use the Wepl/Agressor slave for 1 disk games or the slave used recently with Joan of Arc for 2 disk games.

[jotd]

Originally Posted by Snoopy1234

For NDOS disks you can rename the image file to "disk.1" and use the Wepl/Agressor slave for 1 disk games or the slave used recently with Joan of Arc for 2 disk games.

that is going to work in 1% of the cases. For the rest, the loader is custom and was rewritten by crackers in a lot of cases and unless whdload supports the version explicitly this isn't going to work


Whdload supports running a lot of cracktros. Maybe you can check them out.

[Nor Bert]

What games are you talking about? Maybe there are .slaves for them

[alexh]

Why would you want to do this?

Is it because you don't have the original game to install? Only the cracks?

99.99% of all WHDload installs have already been "installed to HDD" and you can download them as archives to transfer to your HDD. Those you can't download you can usually make using WinUAE + IPF (original disk image). The Turran FTP site hosts most of them. There is even a script that will download all the WHDload installs to your PC/Mac. Only updating new ones the next time you run it.

Is it because the "cracks" have trainers? Lots of installs have trainer options. Look in the README / http://www.whdload.de to see if it has a CUSTOM option for trainers.

If there is an install for a game that has no trainer you can create a Mantis account and request the feature added to the slave.

If it is the "cracktros" then perhaps a Gotek is more suitable for you than WHDload? You could try to make them more compatible with your A1200 by booting to KS1.3 using ReloKick and turning off caches.

[paulcan]

Hi Alexh,
You helped me in the past a lot
Thank you for all that, you and Zetr0 was it I think?

Thanks for all your reply's dudes, most kind
Here's where I'm coming from,

I never understood what the whdload cracktro's were for?
Please explain guys a little bit for me...
So pick the team who cracked it and try using their cracktro whdload installer?

The version I want "the most" is the version of moostone I played as a kid
Whilst I know it's a bit broken, I love that version

When I play the "real" version it isn't the same
I have a whdload key so playing the original version isn't an issue as I have that already

I have the a500 crystal version that's the one I'm sure I played to death
And LSA version, who patched that for AGA so a1200's can still run that same crystal version on an aga machine with 3.0/3.1+ support

It lets you move a bit faster over land
It has the click on strength etc.. bit in stonehenge so you don't have to offer a magical item - few other tweaks
Plus it lets me play in NTSC mode for the whole game (For bigger screen area)

Whenever I play the original and I run it in NTSC then it crashes

The knights can disappear in the middle of a match and the game gets stuck in a loop and the stage never ends, have to reset to get out of it...even quit key doesn't work at that point

So I play it in PAL and it doesn't look as good (to me)
My a500 bitd I played a lot of stuff in NTSC mode due to monitor I had

I mean I can play the LSA one with floppies but have to wait longer for intro etc... and wear/tear on floppies/drives

Maybe Gotek is the way?
Is there a version I can use outside of the case as to not have to mod case or remove drive?

I'm almost ready to learn how to make a whdload slave just to make my own version of this game - crazy I know
I taught myself arcade pcb repair/rom burning etc.. so I'm up for a bit of learning LOL

Or pay one of you clever people to build me a slave? LOL

There are a few more games/demos/programs I would do
I'd love to put TANX in a whdload folder as I don't believe I found a copy for that
etc.. etc...
Even maybe RSI demo maker
Or other ultilities that there is no hdinstall or whdload slave for

Just anything I can't find a slave for...
Or a version that is cracked that I like more than the original due to something it offered

I also couldn't get the moonstone trainer to work? on the whdload true version
I'm on moostone 1.6XXX and whdload 18.9
I type wepl in the title screen
Get the white flash but it does nothing in game?
But again that's not the way I want to cheat at it, just want the "easier version" I played as a kid

Silly I know but my memories are locked into it
Sorry to rant

I love the work everyone has done I'm ever so grateful and think it's all amazing, I'm not in any way trying to be ungrateful
I know it sounds like "whinge whinge" why doesn't this work? and "we can't make everything work" I know (-And I'm not coming from that place)

I also very much understand why whdload uses only originals makes perfect sense, plus it keeps the proper version separate from the many broken version of games where the cracktros actually ruined a working game
The idea is to preserve the original work of the designers

I just think in this instance I would like that one version for my own personal use/reasons
I'd call it moonstone hack and keep it next to the real version
And would play both and be happy

But If can't be/shouldn't be done, then so be it

Or I dig the a500 out everytime
(But now cos I've played it like this, I do like the smoother running/framerate of that version on a a1200) = barely any slowdown

The LSA version on hard drive would be the dream!!!

On a side note I also have some amiga big box games and my old gvp hd8+ to sell, I'm way out on prices on amiga these days, is there a valuation section on here in the marketplace?
Having a bit of spring clearout of lots of stuff, megadrive, snes, amiga, ps1 etc etc just need to get rid of some duplicates, even a few arcade boards...120 arcade pcbs is too many
Be nice to cash some of it in
Keep my favs/one I play a lot only
Pays for some house stuff I need to do, plastering, carpets, radiators in some rooms that need the upgrade

[paulcan]

[alexh]

Originally Posted by paulcan

I never understood what the whdload cracktro's were for? Please explain guys a little bit for me...

Cracktros are just as susceptible to problems from faster processors as the games themselves. Someone in the WHDload team thought that nostalgia for cracktros was high and so created WHDload patches for the cractros so they could be run on AGA with faster CPUs. Only a handful of cracktros are supported. Install the correct one using the corresponding crack disk.

https://whdload.de/ctros/alla.html

Originally Posted by paulcan

The version I want "the most" is the version of Moonstone I played as a kid. Whilst I know it's a bit broken, I love that version. When I play the "real" version it isn't the same

I don't know the game well enough to comment I'm afraid. I know the installer says it supports 3 different "original" versions.

Originally Posted by paulcan

LSA version, who patched that for AGA so a1200's can still run that same crystal version on an aga machine with 3.0/3.1+ support

I'm not familiar with it. But depending how it was done you might be able to make your own HDD installer?

Originally Posted by paulcan

Whenever I play the original and I run it in NTSC then it crashes

How are you playing it in NTSC mode? With the WHDload version you edit the icon tooltype and add NTSC. You must have the NTSC monitor driver in Devs:Monitors (if it isn't there you can get it from the Storage directory)

https://whdload.de/docs/en/opt.html#NTSC

Originally Posted by paulcan

Is there a version I can use outside of the case as to not have to mod case or remove drive?

Yes and no. I *believe* you will need to open the case to fit a switch to the drive select so you can change the external FDD port to be DF0: You can fit a Gotek into almost any external FDD enclosure. (Some SuperSlim ones are not compatible)

Originally Posted by paulcan

I also couldn't get the moonstone trainer to work? on the whdload true version I'm on moostone 1.6XXX and whdload 18.9
I type wepl in the title screen Get the white flash but it does nothing in game?

Again I don't know the game but the README says type "wepl" on the MAP screen. Is that the title screen?

Originally Posted by paulcan

The LSA version on hard drive would be the dream!!!

Have a look at the contents of the disks from WB. Are there files on them? If so you could try copying them all to your HDD and running from there. You might need to add numerous ALIAS to the icon script to get it to redirect "disk1" to HDD directory "X", "disk2" to HDD directory "Y" and so on.

[paulcan]

Thanks Alex
Will have a read
Nice one thank you
Ah ok map screen will try that
I read it on a forum which said title screen
??
Cheers
Will look at all your points
Yes the lsa one does show files in workbench