Mega-AGS game bugs

[FoxbatStargazer]

I remember asking where to post issues with Mega-AGS (not necessarily the core itself) and was pointed to here, so here goes!

Just documenting some obscure games with issues, sometimes gamebreaking. I'm using the March 2021 build, can't seem to find anything later than that. Assume I have compared behavior both to an emulator running individual WHDload archives and Mister running a disc version in A500 configuration and that they both work properly by compare, unless otherwise mentioned.

Dynamite Dux: title screen comes up, you press fire to start the intro, and the core thoroughly crashes. I think the internal refresh drops to something ridiculously low like 15hz, the screen is black and you can't bring up the F12 HUD (even when forcing refresh with vsync_adjust=0), you have to hit the physical reset button to recover.

9 Lives- Gameplay is fine but the tracker music has some very glitchy notes, whether you run in the default 60hz or force to 50hz.

More reports to come if I stumble on them!

[230-v]

Dynamite Dux: title screen comes up, you press fire to start the intro, and the core thoroughly crashes. I think the internal refresh drops to something ridiculously low like 15hz, the screen is black and you can't bring up the F12 HUD (even when forcing refresh with vsync_adjust=0), you have to hit the physical reset button to recover.

I just tested this on my MiSTer and the game crashes for me, but it drops me to Workbench with the error: "Exception "line 1010 Emulator" ($28) at $CCD800004 occurred". I can still use the MiSTer fine though, OSD comes up when I press F12, until I reset the core and I then just get a blank, grey screen.

[Jlz]

Playing Dreamweb, the game crashes every time after "use documents" at Sartain Industries, with the following error:

"Exception "Line 1111 Emulator" ($2C) at $8E09 occurred."

[badvision]

I found that Future Wars ran just a bit too fast, making a few timing-precise parts of the game nearly impossible. I had to switch over to the Atari ST version to get through the whole game.

[akeley]

I found that Future Wars ran just a bit too fast, making a few timing-precise parts of the game nearly impossible. I had to switch over to the Atari ST version to get through the whole game.

You could always try non-WHDLoad Amiga version: from floppy, hdf, or direct hard drive installs (many games have HD installers).

If there's an issue I doubt it's directly tied to Mega AGS itself (assuming you have tried to run the game in PAL first, though I think now it mostly defaults to PAL correctly). After all, it's just a front end for WHDLoad.

Some games might also not like being run in A1200 mode, or with specific Kickstarts.

[limi]

Another thing to always ensure D-Cache is off, some games run incorrectly when it is enabled.

The best way to establish whether we did something wrong in MegaAGS (or, even a core bug) would be to try the WHDLoad version on an original Amiga — if you can.

I will take a look at these eventually, but I try to batch them up and test all of the reported issues at the same time, for time management purposes — I don’t have a lot of time these days.

[akeley]

Dynamite Dux works ok via WHDLoad on my real Amiga. I've also tried to run it using WHDL on MiSTer from my own WB install, and it is playable, but there are two glitchy bands on top and bottom of the screen. Running it via AGS causes the same out of sync crash like OP has described (I'm on a CRT). So perhaps it is AGS-related.

9 Lives also fine on real Amiga, same sfx glitches as OP on my MiSTer WB + WHDLoad setup.

(I would've tried Future Wars and Dreamweb but these two have serious nostalgia overload danger for me. I think FW was the first 16 bit game I've ever played...not ready to face it again yet )

[limi]

That is very helpful, thank you. We might just need to update to the latest version of that WHDLoad wrapper, then. Or it could be a Minimig core bug.

And be careful with that nostalgia overload, but let us know if you get to test those on a real Amiga before I get to it.

[FoxbatStargazer]

Yeah I find minor timing bugs in a bunch of games but I assume that is related to running A500 games on an A1200 WHDLoad setup. Some WHDLoad games have had corrections applied to try to compensate, but I assume this isn't the easiest thing to solve. It's when using WHDLoad elsewhere works fine and MegaAGS messes up that I get suspicious, and hope it won't be too hard to resolve since it does work elsewhere.

Unfortunately I don't have a real Amiga to test with. Though maybe I will try to restore my childhood Atari ST one of these days.

[clarkkent]

Does anybody know how to contact the creator of the MegaAGS? Or is there a specific site?

[Chris23235]

Does anybody know how to contact the creator of the MegaAGS? Or is there a specific site?

Limi is the one you should talk to, you can find him in this very thread.

[clarkkent]

Oh, good to know. I would only report two games missing: „Final Odyssey“ (https://www.lemonamiga.com/games/details.php?id=1601) - I have the WHD image if needed - and „T-Zero“ (https://www.lemonamiga.com/games/details.php?id=1603) also have this one.

[Aspie]

Does anyone know when you run the Mega-AGS are the floppy drives disabled? The reason I ask is I was playing Frontier Elite II. On a floppy I have some good game saves but when I mount the floppy and try to load them from the game it fails to recognise DF0. I did manage to move some game saves to the hard drive but then ran into another problem. The save would load but then the game police screen appears asking me for the copy protection letter, and then it won't let me input a letter, and it seems like the game has locked up.