New GB Amiga

[jclampy]

Honestly I only started looking at WHD in Gamebase Amiga a few weeks ago so don't know that much.

I wonder if Gamebase Amiga and WHDrun can work with .lha files or will these need to be repacked to .zip and if so then would the 'breaks new games' you are referring to effect running them in emulators or only on real Amiga hardware?

Putting together a new Amiga Gamebase or a newer Gamebase Amiga version is too much for me and probably too much for any one person?
If a group of people could be assembled that are interested that can attack and have knowledge in one of the varous areas (ADF, SPS, WHD, screenshots, music, historical/factual information, etc..) then maybe something could be done?

In the 'thread' below this one, I am currently fixing up the ADF game files so that Gamebase Amiga v1.6 will 'unzip and send extracted ADF' of multi disk games to emulators. Previously it was setup to only 'send ZIP' files straight to emulators. This worked fine for WinUAE and FsUAE but WinFellow doesn't accept ZIP files. Being able to 'send ADF' should make any Amiga emulator work with Gamebase. Ofcourse this will probably break 'sending ZIPs' now, although I haven't confirmed this yet. Also, I am only working on a 'quick & nasty' fix, so game filenames and the database .mdb have not been touched.

I am creating an INSTALL and UNINSTALL .dat system so you can always revert back to the Gamebase Amiga v1.6 previous setup if you want.

Once I have finished, this might be a good start for someone wanting to update the ADF games from Gamebase Amiga v1.6 up to today?

Edit:
According to the wiki Gamebase can extract .lha files via the included 7z.exe and 7z.dll in the Gamebase full distribution. GEMUS will not repack .lha files though. Does that pose an issue?
I guess Gamebase Amiga .mdb database would need to be updated to point to the .lha archived WHD games though. Might as well swap all WHD games over to .lha for the next Gamebase Amiga version.

[Retroplay]

I wonder if Gamebase Amiga and WHDrun can work with .lha files or will these need to be repacked to .zip and if so then would the 'breaks new games' you are referring to effect running them in emulators or only on real Amiga hardware?

I can give a specific example about the .zip issues.

The game Embryo doesn't work if it has been zipped.
Emulator or real Amiga doesn't matter in this case.
I always handle Amiga files inside an Amiga PFS3 formatted HDF file, I never use mounted Windows folders as I like to keep it as clean as I possibly can.

Fightin' Spirit AGA also broke one of the files when zipped. Psygore, the author of the WHD slave, made me aware of that after he did some investigating after he received some bug reports on the matter.

About launching the .lha WHD games, WHDrun would need to be updated to support .lha archives.
Unfortunately I don't think that'll happen as Belgarath has more or less abandoned the project due to a family tragedy a few years back.

[jclampy]

Actually the website that I was reading the WHD game changelogs was;
h t t p://w w w.whdload.de

Are those 'raw' and can't be used straight away until installed/setup some how?

Emulator or real Amiga doesn't matter in this case.
I always handle Amiga files inside an Amiga PFS3 formatted HDF file, I never use mounted Windows folders as I like to keep it as clean as I possibly can.

Gamebase Amiga v1.6 by default has HDF specified as an supported filetype that can (supposedly?) be sent to emulators. If the HDF is a single packed file and if emulators accept them (WinUAE & WinFellow & FsUAE can) then with Gamebase Amiga it is probably better to list them in the main screen where the ADF games currently are instead of listed as an 'Extra'. Being able to easily send WHD games to multiple emulators of your choosing would be ideal. Also, isn't it perceived that WHD games have the potential to replace ADF games as the prefered format, once or if WHD game versions have matured enough? (Faster loading times, removed intros, bug fixes, optimized to work better with emulators, etc..)

About launching the .lha WHD games, WHDrun would need to be updated to support .lha archives.

Actually another reason why WHD games should be listed in the main window where ADF games currently are; they will be launched like any other game through GEMUS Script. Hmm, maybe I have underestimated what WHDrun actually does here.
But if we can send a packed .hdf file straight to an emulator then would we still need WHDrun?
Storing .hdf files inside .zip files wouldn't cause any problems in this example would they Retroplay?
Listing WHD games with ADF and ADF(AGA) wouldn't cause any problems would they? We can always use those listing filters so we can choose to view WHD games only or ADF games only etc..
If all this sounds like a good idea then we could list the SPS games there as well, unless no one ever uses them and then we could just keep them under 'extras' for archival purposes?

[Retroplay]

Actually the website that I was reading the WHD game changelogs was;
h t t p://w w w.whdload.de

Are those 'raw' and can't be used straight away until installed/setup some how?

Yes, they only contain the install scripts and slaves, ie no game data.
You have to have a compatible original disk or disk image.

If the WHDLoad games were added as bootable .HDF files there wouldn't be any problems.
I know Waal, a contributor to the Amiga Extras project made a bunch of .WHD files for use on WinUAEX.
The .WHD files are just renamed .HDF files and work fine in WinUAE.

But if we can send a packed .hdf file straight to an emulator then would we still need WHDrun?

No, it wouldn't be needed at all.
It would be best to use uncompressed .HDF files for save games, high scores and such.

[jclampy]

I'd be no good at adding new content/games since I am completely out of the 'loop'.

I'd probably be completely useless when it comes to WHD games at this stage as well.

If some people wanted to clean up the ADF games catalogue I maybe able to help if we break them down into letters per person or something, due to the fact I can't put too much more time into this at the moment.
To help out as a start, I have already created a clrmamepro .dat that puts the multiple disks of multi-disk ADF game's into one combined ZIP file which makes it so we can extract and send the multi-disk ADF's to emulators instead of sending the ZIPs to emulators. If that is of use at all?
It's not released yet, probably in the next 24 hours. (still completing the documentation,testing,etc...).

Also, why not place the ADF Game INTROs under EXTRAs as an idea?

[neil324]

I can help with the ADF. Would like to update the WHDload but this seems a dead end at the moment.

[jclampy]

I can help with the ADF. Would like to update the WHDload but this seems a dead end at the moment.

I hope WHD isn't a dead end and just needs the 'right' people to get behind it.

Same with ADF; need someone with knowledge/experience /access that can pool together new game versions and additions since 2008-06-29 (when gamebase amiga v1.6 was released) to today. Unless we are basing it on a some other more recent set and creating the entire database from scratch?

Maybe there might be more interest once Gamebase Frontend v1.4 is released.

[jclampy]

Just to reaffirm my thoughts on .HDF .ADF & .IPF I will quote my post from another thread;

WHDLoad games should be changed to .HDF and listed in the main window with the .ADF games (.IPF games should be listed here as well). This will solve two current issues with GameBase v1.6 the first being to easily allow the choice of emulator to run a game at that particular instance (just as we have been able to do with .ADF games). Secondly, by being able to specify .HDF as a supported game file type means we don't have .ZIP listed (having .ZIP listed as a supported game file type breaks all file types because all game files are zipped). Lastly .HDF from what I have been told also removes WHDLoad from the equation as we can send .HDF files straight to emulators. All three of these points adds up to the fact that we would have the option to use alternative emulators for WHD games instead of only WinUAE. Another bonus of having all games & types listed in the main view is we can make 'filter lists' for just ADF or HDF or SPS games.

[dax]

Some older WHDLoad games stopped working, also newest versions have more functionality. So I've started with Gamebase Amiga by update WHDLoad games to the newest versions (year 2014). I'll update all of WHDLoad games. Should I upload complete GB Amiga when I finish?

[hardmanm]

Some older WHDLoad games stopped working, also newest versions have more functionality. So I've started with Gamebase Amiga by update WHDLoad games to the newest versions (year 2014). I'll update all of WHDLoad games. Should I upload complete GB Amiga when I finish?

I would be interested in an updated GB

[sprudel79]

me too, this would be great!
Thx a lot in advance.

[dax]

Things that should be done:

1) update all WHDLoad games to the newest versions
2) add WHDLoad games unavailable in GB Amiga (incl. Gemus entries)
3) remove CDTV and CD32 games and entries (because CDTV/CD32 Gamebase was done)
4) remove entries/games with "foreign" (non-English) languages. Database has games with IT, DE, FR... versions. This is NOT Tosec collection. So one version of one game is enough (like "sjakie" did in NES USA, SNES USA - for example). Of course there is one exclusion. Sometimes You need retro climate - You will load ADF game (with 100% floppy speed), sometimes You will need highest speed loading - You use WHDLoad (if available). So both versions of game (ADF & WHDLoad) are necessary, but only English
5) add screenshots to every game
6) add new ADF games

As for beginning I'll be working on points 1 - 4.

[dax]

I need a help. I try to add WHDLoad games, but I have plenty of problems with proper run of games. When I add new entries for one game, other game stops working and vice versa. When I add other entries, sometimes it does not work (probably missed entries in "GameBase Amiga B.txt"). Can anyone upload proper script for Gamebase Amiga? Maybe someone wrote newer version of the script, than available in GB Amiga v1.6?

[Seiya]

i have gamebase 1.6 and i added italian whdload of legend of kyrandia to english version so i have Legend of Kyrandia English
/italian version in Extra.
Both version works without problems

[OX]

The original gb has a lot of entries with missing adf versions but entries in extras for whdload and ipf, it would be a good start to add the missing adf's to the current version and then start adding new entries, I started doing this a while back but had to remove my amiga tosec collection due to hard drive problems, dax has the copy of that db and it would be really good to see an updated version of Gamebase Amiga.