A New Amiga Game Collection

[akeley]

I needed a break from the Apple II, so finally tackling my beloved Amiga seemed like a relaxing idea. It's another chrono-gaming collection, admittedly rather more niche-use than Apple, seeing as Amiga has quite a few well known collections already. Here on MiSTer, if you want to see the main Amiga games from each year, you can just load up MegaAGS and choose By Year filter. But, MegaAGS is WHDLoad-based, so you do miss out on adf-only games, and a quite a few of the release dates WHDL uses are questionable (compared to HOL). So, if you have a bit of an OCD and also want all the games, warts'n all, then give this one a go.

This release (v0.1) covers years 1985-1989 and is based on HOL's data and contains files from TOSEC, WHDL, Gamebase & eab's ftp. Future releases will add more years. There's a detailed description on archive.org's page (search for "amiga"+"mister" or "play it by year").

Any comments, suggestions, and bug reports are as always most welcome.

EDIT: v0.2 is now up, adding the year 1990 and a MiSTer-friendly hdf with WHDLoad games
EDIT2: Version 0.3 uploaded, a new year added: 1991
EDIT3: Version 0.9 uploaded, adding years 1992-1995 (March 2023)
EDIT4: Version 1.0 uploaded, adding year 19xx, some rare games and fixing a lot of "bugs" (June 2023)
EDIT5: Version 1.05 uploaded, some small file corrections and updates (Oct 2023)

[high-5]

Thanks for sharing - will check it out this weekend.

[Pepeart]

Thank you - Love the Amiga Games

[ByteMavericks]

I could write a script to download and build that into an hdf…

[akeley]

If you can do that, go ahead.

I'm not actually quite sure, maybe it's possible to make just a container hdf without any of the copyrighted OS files? That's the paradox - nobody cares about the Amiga games themselves, but the OS (or parts of it) and Kickstarts have been closely guarded, and tangled in legal disputes, for years now.

[Malor]

Assuming that the Mister core can load more than one drive, you can simply provide a data drive without OS files on it. The Amiga can boot from one and read games from the other, no problem. I do this with WinUAE; I have a couple of different virtual hard drives with different OS versions, and then a Games HDF that loads separately and works with either. All it has is games; it can't boot the system.

[akeley]

Assuming that the Mister core can load more than one drive, you can simply provide a data drive without OS files on it.

Sure, we can mount up to four (I think) different hdfs, so one can be the OS and the others containers. I do it here on MiSTer all the time. Just wasn't sure how much is needed for hdf to be recognized, since mine have WB installed already. So do you recon initializing/formatting is enough, and I can drag some WHDLoads on such disk?

[FPGA64]

Should be able to format the disk mark it as non bootable and then copy files to it. Then it will just act as a data disk to any workbench once mounted.

[akeley]

mark it as non bootable

Thanks, I will try that.

I also need to finally switch to LAN storage instead of SD card asap, because the #firstworldproblem of having to get up and drag the SD to my PC & back to MiSTer to copy vhds stop me experimenting with stuff like that

[Malor]

With a real Amiga, you would partition and format a new hard drive, and then just not install any OS files. If you use the CLI, you can copy from a source volume to the destination; if you use the keyword 'clone', it will duplicate the file date.

What I would probably do for Mister is to not use Mister. Instead, use WinUAE. Create your new HD image there, and copy your files using that kind of virtual Amiga. After you've loaded some test files, give it a minute or so to flush any remaining data to the drive, and then shut the virtual Amiga down. Copy the HDF somewhere that Mister can see it, and try loading it. If it works, then you know how to build a compilation.

edit: one way to recognize a system drive is if it has directories visible from the CLI like C:, SYS:, and Prefs. If you don't see any of those, it's just a data drive and you won't be violating Cloanto's copyrights by distributing it.... just everyone else's.

[grizzly]

You can always use FTP or SMB to move around files on/to/from the mister.
FTP works best for me and is easy started by a script in the script folder.

[Bunker]

This is great, cant wait to see more updates to it.

[FPGA64]

if you do use winuae to create it remember Mister likes the drive to be setup as the deafult hard drive type. Ie dont choose Full drive/RDB mode.

[akeley]

You can always use FTP or SMB to move around files on/to/from the mister.

That's what I do atm, but it's slow as molasses, at least on my machine (I think ~0.5 MB/s). Fine for small files, but big hdfs/vhs/cds take forever.

If you don't see any of those, it's just a data drive and you won't be violating Cloanto's copyrights by distributing it.... just everyone else's.

Right, but nobody else cares, only these...ah, well, let's not open this can of worms here

Yes, I had used WinUAE before to create hdfs, also to manage my real Amiga hdds (SD>CF). It's very handy. But some hdfs I've been using on MiSTer and then tried on WinUAE again were not recognized...odd. The latest one, for this collection, I created on MiSTer just to be on safe side.

[Malor]

Another user just had a problem with mounting a WinUAE image under Mister. I think the two emulators are disagreeing somewhere on formatting. Maybe once I get my RAM module working I can see if I can figure out what the difference is.

There was some thinking in that other thread that it could be IDE versus SCSI. I got out of real Amigas relatively early, and while I had a hard drive on my A2000, I only ever had the one, and used the provided tools to format and partition it. I never really understood what was happening on the physical disk.

[kolla]

It’s typically non-RDB images that cause trouble, especially if it isn’t plain old FFS.

[JudgeDrokk]

A lot of these are LHS which the AMIGA core doesent like?

[akeley]

A lot of these are LHS which the AMIGA core doesent like?

It likes them all right, but only in the Amiga OS Lha is the native Amiga compression format and in this collection it's used for WHDLoad - games which are hdd installs. You can't run them directly from the OSD, like the adf floppy images. In theory you can shift them to MiSTer via shared folder and then unpack in Workbench (if you have a hdf with OS already there), but it'd be a time consuming operation. I think it's faster to make a new hdf in WinUAE, unpack the lot and copy it to that hdf - all in Windows - then move that hdf to your MiSTer. Admittedly, it can be a bit tricky if you're unfamiliar with Amiga.

For the next release I'll make a container hdf for MiSTer with all the WHDLoads already unpacked.

[JudgeDrokk]

A lot of these are LHS which the AMIGA core doesent like?

It likes them all right, but only in the Amiga OS Lha is the native Amiga compression format and in this collection it's used for WHDLoad - games which are hdd installs. You can't run them directly from the OSD, like the adf floppy images. In theory you can shift them to MiSTer via shared folder and then unpack in Workbench (if you have a hdf with OS already there), but it'd be a time consuming operation. I think it's faster to make a new hdf in WinUAE, unpack the lot and copy it to that hdf - all in Windows - then move that hdf to your MiSTer. Admittedly, it can be a bit tricky if you're unfamiliar with Amiga.

For the next release I'll make a container hdf for MiSTer with all the WHDLoads already unpacked.

That would be great - I spent many years away from Amiga (from mid 1993 'till MiSTer ) so the modern complexities are right over my head.

[akeley]

I made a new hdf for v0.2 of this collection. I was lazy and made it in WinUAE without initializing it in MiSTer first. Now when I copied it to my SD and tried in Minimig as secondary drive, none of my System hdfs can "see" it. But when I put it in as Primary and run WB 3.1 floppy with it, it comes up fine, I can see and browse the collection drawers.

Any ideas if I could "fix" it somehow using HDToolbox perhaps, to save me making it all from scratch?

[akeley]

I managed to sort this out, thanks to @thomas from eab. Posting the fix here, perhaps it could be useful for people with similar problems.
-mount both the problematic hdf AND some other working hdf you can boot from
-mount a WB 3.1 Disk 1 (Install) as a floppy
-reboot
-go to the HDToolbox, you should see a message about added drives. Also it should show both hdfs with status "Changed"
-Save Changes To Disk on both hdfs

After reboot the previously non-visible hdf should now be okay. Please note that my problem was with a non-bootable one, it was just initialized, formatted, and used as a container. Also, maybe there is a simpler method of doing this, but this one has worked for me.

[Malor]

IIUC, the reason that doesn't work is because the system needs to embed the filesystem driver somewhere on the drive in order to boot from it, and that's what HDToolbox is doing. My expertise is limited, however, so pay attention to anyone that contradicts me.

[akeley]

Maybe so, but the hdf in question is not meant to be bootable, it's just a container (and it still doesn't boot after this operation). It certainly needed something to make it visible, so I guess that's HDToolbox's job.

I also don't know much about it, but it works, so it'll do me. Normally, if you follow the Wiki instructions how to make hdf and do the initializing on MiSTer, I guess it's not a problem (I have done it previously myself and it just worked).

[akeley]

Have uploaded a new version to archive.org, same link as before. It adds year 1990, is reorganized a bit and a few dodgy files from the previous one were fixed. There's also a ready-made container hdf with all the WHDLoads (85-90) you can mount as a secondary HDD (it's not bootable).

[akeley]

Version 0.3 uploaded, adding year 1991. And what a year it was, possibly the peak one for Amiga. You could still be not that jealous of the PC (relatively) and enjoying the likes of Another World, Monkey Island, Alien Breed, Hunter, etc...

[akeley]

V0.9 is up now on archive. org (search for "amiga"+"akeley" or "play it by year").

It adds years 1992-1995 and concludes the first part of this project, spanning Amiga's birth and arguably the end of the Golden Era (years 1985-1995).

Upcoming version 1.0 will add the "no-year" games from HoL (which require a bit more research). In a more distant future I might attempt making a collection concentrating on years 1996-present.

As always, I welcome any bug reports, comments, and also help in finding the games which should be available out there but I've failed to locate, as per this thread.

[akeley]

V1.0 is up now on archive. org (search for "amiga"+"akeley" or "play it by year").

V1.0 adds the "unknown" year 19xx from HoL, and the collection now should - in theory - represent a complete Hall Of Light database mirror for years 1985-1995 (sans compilations, duplicates, language versions, etc), plus some extra games not included there.

The upcoming version 1.1 will add games which are in TOSEC but not in HoL yet.

[hitm4n]

Hi Akeley. I haven't downloaded this collection, but i am very curious about it. I do love a good Amiga collection, MegaAGS is my goto on the MiSter but as you've said, its heavily WHDLoad based and ADF games are bit more "manual" in the newly added base core setups. MegaAGS has a very nice demoscene collection in it too though which stands it out from the rest. Damiens collection is close, no demos unfortunately and due to it being his personal collection for the most part, many people will feel games are missing. MegaAGS isn't very heavy on the PD stuff, so no one collection is perfect. Probably none will ever be perfect, someone will always wish something else was added but my wish would be something as close as possible, a one stop shop for all Amiga.

So how do you handle ocs/aga games, different workbench versions and chipsets etc. It sounds like you have added a mountain of games to an HDF, but how is it used? Is there a frontend (AGS maybe)? If it auto boots to a frontend, is it booting in OCS mode? What about AGA games then? Is there an easy way to switch, is it all automatic? Or does it rely on the user picking the workbench level, the OCS/ECS/AGA settings etc. from the MiSTer menu before "booting up" so to speak?

Keen for the future updates and news on this one, with the more modern releases, and the TOSEC additions. Have you been including PD stuff? Are you considering demo scene stuff?

Cheers.

[akeley]

Hi hitm4n, trying to answer some of your questions:

-the vhd hdd images are just simple containers with no OS (and so no frontends or fancy scripts), so they need to be used with another OS-containing vhd (for copyright/distribution reasons...as you know, in the topsy-turvy cutthroat world of modern Amiga you will get in hot water much easier for anything OS/KS related, than games themselves).

-AGA games have a separate directory (also separate dirs for educational / magazine / PD-like releases)

-as for other game versions, (OCS/ECS/chip/fast, etc) I try to include different ones - but this is being played by ear (pun unintended) and not guaranteed in every case. Hence I have a disclaimer in the readme saying it's best to look a game up if you're really interested in it or something's not working

-I aim to include every single game out there, so yes, PD (and its ilk) is totally in. I actually find myself often more interested in these oft-unloved "crap" releases than the big hits :) Hence now I'm checking my master list agains latest TOSEC, because HoL, brilliant and comprehensive as it is, doesn't contain everything. We also do a lot of cross-checking on eab, which has already resulted in many "lost" games resurfacing again.

-I know nothing about demoscene (though of course I love watching good demos) so that's not gonna happen, this collection is all about games

Overall, this collection is not my sole focus and as such doesn't have fancy bells & whistles - so some user initiative might also be required (eg it should be trivial for anybody to turn it into an A-Z collection, instead of by-year). As you say, there are many collections out there, they all have their strong and weaker points, and I doubt there ever will be one-size-fit-all one. Mine is for folks interested in chrono-gaming (I think HoL dating is more precise than Gamebase and WHDLoad, perhaps even TOSEC) and completists who want to have even the most obscure releases, but without the inevitable bloat of TOSEC.

[hitm4n]

Thanks for the answers. I've seen your "can anyone find these" list on eab, i visit there every day (just like i do here) to keep up with whats going on.

I suppose i have 3 main machines that have dominated my life. ZX Spectrum, Amiga and Gamecube, but so many others have featured in between too. The ZX81 was my first machine, aged 10. I love that the MiSter can give me almost every machine i have ever owned in one tiny box.