RunInUAE
r6 (16-12-2011) by Christopher Handley Manual updated on 23-12-2011.
The changes include:
Note that I no-longer have time to heavily test RunInUAE myself, so PLEASE report any bugs or problems that you notice!
RunInUAE is intended to make it incredibly easy to run old Amiga games on AmigaOS4, and it comes with an easy installer, so that you can:
1. Double-click on RunInUAE's "Install" icon, and answer any questions. Please note that installation is a lot easier if you are using AmigaOS4.1 Update 4 (or later), or you have an Amiga Forever CD, because it can get the required Kickstart ROMs & Workbench files from them.
If you don't have E-UAE amigfx v0.8.29 already installed, then I recommend you let the installer install it (especially Sam440 users). You can have more than one version of E-UAE installed! (This version of E-UAE is the fastest & most compatible version currently available.)
If you are not using AmigaOS4.1 Update 4, and do not have an Amiga Forever CD, then a fake Workbench 3.1 will be created, but please be warned that this is not as compatible as the real thing. Also note that "Basic Workbench mode" does not work with the fake Workbench.
If there were any installation issues, they should be displayed in a "RunInUAE installer errors" window. Close this window when you don't need it. If installation failed, then you can try running the installer again. Please email me if you cannot get it to install (you can get my address from the 8. Last words & contact details chapter).
2. If you didn't create a fake Workbench 3.1, then you can check RunInUAE installed OK by first clicking on the RunInUAE icon in AmiDock, to get it's window to appear, and then choosing the "Boot Workbench" item from it's "Control E-UAE" menu. After some seconds you should see Workbench 3.1 appear full screen. Please note that Workbench uses a 640x256 screen, but by default E-UAE shows it in a scrollable 320x256 screen, so that games look good but run fast.
You can now quit E-UAE (by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Q).
HOWEVER, if your monitor was not able to display the 320x256 screen, or it did not appear full screen, then you need to make RunInUAE use 640x480 instead. You can do this using the "Settings > Set default screen size to > 640x480" menu option for RunInUAE's window. Performance will not be quite as good, so you may wish to read the 6.1. How to get RunInUAE working with your monitor chapter.
If you don't have AmigaOS4.1 Update 4 (or later), and you want to be able to double-click on an ADF file to run it, then you need to configure this manually:
Start Sys:Prefs/DefIcons, then scroll down to & select "diskarchive" (or "archive" if you can't find it) in the Filetypes list. Click on the Add button at the bottom of the list, and in the Name field delete "«new»", type "adf" (without quotes), and then press the Enter key.
Under the Actions box click on the Add... button, and choose PATTERN. In the Pattern field that appears underneath, you should type "#?.adf" (without quotes), and then press the Enter key.
Finally click on the Save button.
When it is started, you should find that RunInUAE opens a small window in the middle of the Workbench screen. This window has some menus which you may find useful:
RunInUAE is a commodity, so you can add it to your WBStartup. You may want to change it's CX_POPUP tooltype to NO, so that it's window does not appear. And if you dislike it's Workbench AppIcon, then you can disable that by setting it's APPICON tooltype to NO.
Also, the initial position of RunInUAE's window can be specified using the tooltypes WIN_XPOS and WIN_YPOS.
As described in the Introduction, using Workbench you can double-click on a game installed using WHDLoad (or JOTD JST). It should run that game in E-UAE.
When you have finished with that game, you can quit E-UAE by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Q, or reset it by pressing Ctrl-Alt-R.
Warning! When pressing Ctrl-Alt-hotkey in E-UAE, please make sure to press (and hold) the Ctrl key first, followed by the Alt key, followed by the hotkey. Otherwise it will not work.
As described in the Introduction, using Workbench you can double-click on any HD installed 68k game or program. It should then run in E-UAE! Please note that RunInUAE must already be running, because it has to patch Workbench. (Since it is a commodity, you can add it to your WBStartup. You may want to change it's CX_POPUP tooltype to NO, so that it's window does not appear.)
You can also drag & drop any HD installed game icon (including WHDLoad/JST ones) onto RunInUAE's icon in AmiDock, or on to RunInUAE's AppIcon.
When you have finished with that game, you can quit E-UAE by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Q, or reset it by pressing Ctrl-Alt-R.
On the other hand, if you drag & drop a game icon onto RunInUAE's window, then you will be given the choice of changing RunInUAE settings related to that game. Apart from asking whether it should be run inside E-UAE, it will also ask about creating/editing a per-game config file (see the 6.7. Can I have different E-UAE settings for a particular game? sub-chapter for more info).
Also note that if you are using a fake Workbench 3.1 installation (because you are not using AmigaOS4.1 Update 4, and do not have an Amiga Forever CD), then you are likely to find that some games will not run (you may see an error requester). This is because of missing Workbench files, which can only be obtained from a real Workbench 3.1 disk.
For Amiga games where you have the disk in ADF format (zipped or otherwise), you can drag & drop it onto RunInUAE's icon in AmiDock, or onto RunInUAE's AppIcon. It should then run that game in E-UAE.
You can also double-click on ADF disks (not zipped ones), and it should run that using E-UAE too. Note that this needs a bit of manual installation, if you don't have at least AmigaOS4.1 Update 4 (see the 3.1. Optional installation chapter).
When you have finished with that game, you can quit E-UAE by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Q.
Beware that AGA games will not run unless their file or folder name has the word AGA in it.
For multi-disk ADF games, RunInUAE will automatically try to load up to 3 more disks, although not all games support this. And for RunInUAE to spot multiple disks:
For example:
PinballFantasies-1.adf PinballFantasies-2.adf PinballFantasies-3.adf
However, it has been reported that Turrican 3 freezes when it tries to load from the second disk drive (I guess it is buggy). So in that case you must rename the second Turrican 3 disk, so that RunInUAE does *not* automatically load it.
To run a CD32 or CDTV game in the CD drive, use the "Control E-UAE > Boot CD32 from > CD0:" menu item.
To run a CD32 or CDTV game in a virtual CD drive, use the "Control E-UAE > Boot CD32 from > ICD0:" menu item. For instructions on mounting an ISO image in a virtual CD drive, please see the 6.10. How can I run ISO images of CD32 or CDTV games? sub-chapter..
When you have finished with that game, you can quit E-UAE by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Q.
NOTE: Virtual CDs may be MUCH faster than real CDs.
LIMITATIONS TO BEWARE OF:
From my collection of CD32 games, I have found that only 66% of them actually work. This is due to limitations of E-UAE.
There is no CD32 joypad emulation (!) only plain joystick emulation, so you won't be able to play games which need the CD32's extra buttons. This is a limitation of E-UAE.
Emulation of CD sound playback needs the analogue sound output of your CD drive connected to an (internal) input on your sound card, otherwise you won't hear any CD music tracks.
While you can change the "frame skip" of the CD32 emulation, you cannot save it, nor can you change other settings (on a per-game) basis. This is due to RunInUAE not being able to easily identify which game is in the CD drive.
RunInUAE's main window offers some handy menus.
This menu offers you the option to change:
"E-UAE time out" is how long RunInUAE waits for OS3.1 to finish booting in E-UAE, before it gives-up. It defaults to 20 seconds, but you may need to increase it for slow machines or non-standard OS3 installations. This settings is not used by Basic Workbench mode.
"E-UAE priority" is the priority that E-UAE's process is set to run at. It defaults to 0, although you may want to change this to a value of -1 or 1. But leave it alone, unless you know what you are doing.
"E-UAE program" is the E-UAE executable that RunInUAE uses. Please note that if you switch to an E-UAE executable in a different folder, then you will need to ensure that the following files are copied to that folder:
.uaerc .uaerc_RunInUAE .uaerc_RunInUAE.bak kick1.3.rom kick3.1.rom rom.key (if present)
For CD32 emulation you will also need:
.uaerc_CD32 kick3.1-cd32.rom kick3.1-ext-cd32.rom
"E-UAE stay in background" allows you to change whether E-UAE's screen is opened in the background. This is a bit of a kludge, and so doesn't work perfectly.
"E-UAE floppy drive noises" allows you to change whether E-UAE should have emulated floppy drive noises. (This cool feature is actually provided by RunInUAE, using WinUAE sound samples.)
"Set default joystick to" allows you to change the default emulated joystick for all games. The change will take effect when E-UAE is (re)started. See the 6.2. What are E-UAE's joystick controls? sub-chapter for more info on the "joy1 (main real joystick)" option.
"Set default screen size to" allows you to change the default screen size for all games. The change will take effect when E-UAE is (re)started. "320x256" is the fastest, but not all LCD monitors will support it. "640x480" is significantly slower, but it will work with all monitors.
"Basic Workbench mode" allows you to change the way that programs are started inside E-UAE, in case you have problems starting HD installed games. Games will also start faster, but in theory it could be slightly less compatible.
"Leave Workbench prefs alone" allows power users to prevent RunInUAE from changing Workbench 3.1's screenmode prefs (which it usually does to match the screen size).
This menu offers you the option to:
"Set frame skip to" determines whether any video frames are skipped, and is worth experimenting with if you find a game is jerky (remember to save this setting!).
"Save frame skip" saves the currently used frame skip setting for the current game.
"Insert disk in" allows you to insert ADF or DMS disk images in the emulated drives.
"Eject disk in" allows you to eject disks from the emulated drives.
"Close E-UAE" will quit E-UAE.
"Set collision level to" determines what kind of collisions are detected (can affect speed), and saves it for the current game.
"Set joystick to" determines what kind of joystick emulation is used, and saves it for the current game. See the 6.2. What are E-UAE's joystick controls? sub-chapter for more info on the "joy1 (main real joystick)" option.
"Set floppy drive speed to" determines how fast the floppy drives are, and saves it for the current game. "x1" is the normal speed, and is the most compatible. "x8" is the fastest speed, but is the least compatible. You will have to experiment to find the fastest speed that each ADF game will tolerate.
"Set screen size to" determines which screen size is used, and saves it for the current game. The change will take effect when E-UAE is (re)started. "320x256" is the fastest, and best for most games, but does not correctly show High-Res or Interlaced. "640x480" is much slower, but is ideal for Workbench programs (or games with high-resolution graphics).
"Boot Workbench" will boot E-UAE into Workbench, without starting any game.
"Boot CD32 from" will boot E-UAE using CD32 emulation. Use the "CD0:" item to boot from a real CD drive, or use "ICD0:" to boot from a virtual CD image that has already been mounted.
"Show log" shows the log of E-UAE, which may help solving an E-UAE problem.
By default RunInUAE uses a 320x256 screenmode, but initially you may find this doesn't work with your monitor (or it is not full-screen).
The simplest & safest solution is to make RunInUAE use 640x480 instead. You can do this using the "Settings > Set default screen size to > 640x480" menu option for RunInUAE's window. But performance will not be quite as good, so you may wish to try some of the following options...
If your monitor shows an "out of range" error (or similar), then AmigaOS4 doesn't know the frequency range supported by your monitor. There are two ways to solve this, listed below, but first please heed the following warning:
WARNING: These have a small chance to cause problems booting OS4, so you must ensure you have a backup way to boot AmigaOS4, such as from an OS4 CD or a backup OS4 partition. You should also make a backup copy of your Sys:Devs/Monitors folder, so you can then copy this back in the event of a serious problem.
1. Run Sys:Prefs/ScreenMode, and change to the Monitors tab. For each 320x256 and 320x240 resolution, click on it, and then on the Remove button. Then tick "Detect settings automatically" at the top of the window. Finally click on the "Save Monitor" button. You MAY reboot here to check that your monitor still works! You must now reinstall RunInUAE.
2. Alternatively, if you do NOT want to enable "Detect settings automatically", or you are using an older version of AmigaOS4 that doesn't support this, then you will need to research the horizontal & vertical frequencies (Hz) supported by your monitor (I suggest checking the specification of your monitor on the manufacturer's web site). Once you know them, you need to tell AmigaOS4 about them:
(A) If you ScreenMode prefs program has a Monitors tab, then just enter the correct frequencies under the "Refresh Rate" heading. Now click "Save Monitor", wait a few seconds, and then reboot.
(B) If you have no Monitors tab, then go to the Sys:Devs/Monitors folder, click on your graphics card's icon, and then use Workbench's "Icon > Information..." menu. This should open a new window. Change to the Icon tab, and modify the VSYNCMIN, VSYNCMAX, HSYNCMIN & HSYNCMAX tooltype entries to have the correct frequencies.
In either case (A or B), please beware that HSYNC values should end in 000, because you are entering KHz values as just Hz (thus 31 KHz is 31000 Hz).
The emulated joystick is currently mapped to the keyboard's Arrow keys for movement, and the Right Alt or Right Ctrl key for fire. You can change this for one particular game, or change the default for all games:
If you choose "joy1 (main real joystick)", then this will make E-UAE respond to a joystick on Port 1 of AmigaInput's Lowlevel.library emulation. Here's how you set-up the AmigaInput side, if you haven't already done so:
Within E-UAE, press Ctrl-Alt-F1 to open a file requester for the next game disk. It will replace the disk currently in the first disk drive.
Alternatively, use "Insert disk in > drive 1" from RunInUAE's "Control E-UAE" menu. You will first need to press LeftAmiga-M (or LeftAmiga-N), to get to Workbench where RunInUAE is.
Yes. But AGA will only be used if the game's name or folder has the word AGA in it.
Note that AGA games tend to be more demanding, and so you will probably need to set Frame Skip to 1 or 2 (using RunInUAE's "Control E-UAE" menu). Once you find the ideal setting, remember to save it!
You can also try changing the Collision Level to "none", for a probably tiny improvement in speed.
A WHDLoad game is created from the original game disks (not ADFs!), using a WHDLoad Installer for that particular game.
The WHDLoad Installer must be run on a Classic Amiga (such as an A1200). The resulting game files must then be copied from it's harddisk to your Amiga OS4 machine. I have several suggestions about getting those game files to AmigaOS4:
Alternatively, you may find that a WHDLoad version of a game (you already own) is available for download from a web site.
The standard joystick emulation (kbd2) makes the arrow keys acts as the joystick. Unfortunately this stops the arrow keys being seen by the game, and some such as Pinball Fantasies need the arrow keys.
So for those games you should use the "Control E-UAE > Set joystick to" menu to change it to something else. I suggest kbd1, which uses the number pad.
Yes you can! By far the easiest way is to drop the game on RunInUAE's window, and then say Yes to creating/editing a (per game) config file. The settings will then open using NotePad.
Alternatively, there are two ways to manually have different settings: The first is a "per drawer" config file, and the second is a "per program" config file:
You can have special config files for ADFs, but you should not copy the main ".uaerc_RunInUAE" file, unless you need AGA. Instead create an empty text file with the right name, say using NotePad.
It is important to note that these special config files merely override anything inside E-UAE's main ".uaerc" file, they do no replace it completely. Also, they will cause E-UAE to always be closed & restarted, if it is already running.
Drop the game onto RunInUAE's window, and then say Yes to creating/editing the (per game) config file. The settings will open in Notepad. Then add the following line to the end of the config file:
joyport0=kbd2
Start the Workbench program using RunInUAE, then use LeftAmiga-N to go back to RunInUAE's window, and choose the "Control E-UAE > Set screen size to > 640x480" menu option. When asked about restarting E-UAE, say yes, and you are done!
You need to mount them using DiskImage, and then tell RunInUAE to boot from it using it's "Boot CD32 from > ICD0:" menu item. To mount an ISO (CD) image in a virtual drive, typically by double-clicking it, you need DiskImage installed.
If DiskImage is not already installed, then please read the 6.12. How do I install DiskImage? sub-chapter.
Some games are provided as HDF (Hard Disk File) images. The easiest way to run them is to mount them using DiskImage, open the disk that appears on Workbench, find the game & then run it (using RunInUAE) by double-clicking it.
Here's how you can set-up DiskImage to mount a HDF image when you double-click it:
You need DiskImage installed. If it isn't, then please read the 6.12. How do I install DiskImage? sub-chapter, and come back here when you are done.
Start Sys:Prefs/DefIcons, then scroll down to & select "diskarchive" (or just "archive" if you can't find it) in the Filetypes list. Click on the Add button at the bottom of the list, and in the Name field delete "«new»", type "hdf" (without quotes), and then press the Enter key.
Under the Actions box click on the Add... button, and choose PATTERN. In the Pattern field that appears underneath, you should type "#?.hdf" (without quotes), and then press the Enter key.
Finally click on the Save button.
If you are already using Update 4 (or later) of AmigaOS4.1, then please download DiskImage from OS4Depot:
http://os4depot.net/index.php?function=showfile&file=driver/storage/diskimage_device.lhaInstall this version, as it is compatible with Update 4. (If you install the version of DiskImage that comes with Update 1 (as a Contribution), then it will overwrite Update 4's DefIcons preferences (which may cause problems).)
If you want to use DiskImageGUI, then you also need to install AISS:
http://os4depot.net/index.php?function=showfile&file=graphics/aiss/aiss.lhaIf you are using Update 3 or earlier of AmigaOS4.1, then please install DiskImage from Update 1. You can do this using the Extras Installer on AmiDock, or if you removed that then you can find the Extras Installer in the hidden "Sys:Utilities/InstallExtras" folder (once in the Utilities folder, use Workbench's "Window > Show > All files" menu item to unhide it).
When choosing to install "DiskImage Device", please ALSO ensure that you install "AISS" (which is needed by DiskImageGUI).
If you are using AmigaOS4.0, then you will have to install DiskImage from OS4Depot, as described earlier. In this case you will be missing the DefIcons preferences need for double-clicking ADF, DMS, ISO & HDF files. For ADF & DMS files, you will have to drop them on RunInUAE's icon in AmiDock or it's AppIcon. While for ISO & HDF files, you will have to use DiskImageGUI (to mount them in ICD0: & IDF0: respectively.)
In any case, please reboot after installation!
This is because (for safety) RunInUAE makes your Amiga harddisk appear read-only to E-UAE.
It is best if you tell your games to save to the "SaveGames" disk (which is automatically inserted into E-UAE's virtual floppy drive). However, if you need to allow E-UAE to make changes to your harddrive, then:
1. Double-click on the .uaerc_RunInUAE file in E-UAE's folder. This should open it in NotePad.
2. At the bottom you should see several lines that begin with filesystem2=ro , each followed by a volume name.
3. Look for the volume that contains your games, and change it's line from =ro to =rw. Thus the line should now begin filesystem2=rw .
4. Finally click on Save. Your changes will be used the next time E-UAE starts.
If you are a retro-nut who wants E-UAE to look exactly like your A500 did on an old TV, then you can thank DAX for reporting how to achieve this using a CRT (an LCD won't do). For more information please read his thread here:
http://amigaworld.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=33347&forum=8Not only do you get an authentic "Amiga on a TV" look, but it reduces subtle stuttering & tearing with scrolling which some people may notice.
Those with an LCD monitor, who don't wish to use a CRT, can get a more authentic look using the method given below. But please note that I don't recommend it for Sam440 & MicroA1 users who aren't already using a 640x480 screenmode.
1. Choose 640x480 as your default screen resolution (using Settings > Set default screen size to > 640x480). This will reduce the performance of E-UAE, particularly on Sam440s & MicroA1s, unless you were already using 640x480.
2. Then go to your E-UAE folder, open the ".uaerc" file by double-clicking it (should get loaded by NotePad), scroll down to the bottom, find the following lines:
gfx_linemode=double gfx_correct_aspect=yes
and change them to:
gfx_linemode=scanlines gfx_correct_aspect=no
Beware that this may also cause problems with a few games, as I have not thoroughly tested this solution.
You should not normally need to know this, but someone wanted to know about the different E-UAE config files that RunInUAE uses.
RunInUAE is limited by what E-UAE supports. E-UAE only allows two config files to be loaded at once, with the second config file overriding anything that exists (conflicts) in the first config file.
So RunInUAE has a shared settings file called ".uaerc" (actually an A500 config), and then gives a second config file to E-UAE depending on the circumstance:
(Note that per-game config files may sound complicated, but RunInUAE will happily create the correct 'empty' config file for you (just drop the game on the RunInUAE Window, and then say Yes to creating a config file). You then merely need to add any required settings to the end of the config file.)
Best to undo the changes you made, but you might also be able to guess the problem by looking at E-UAE's log. Go to RunInUAE's window, open the E-UAE menu, and choose the "Show log" menu item.
In the worst case, you may need to reinstall RunInUAE. In that case make sure to say yes to replacing the ".uaerc" config files!
RunInUAE now does most of what I wanted it to do, although I do have a few more ideas that may or may not get implemented, such as:
If you have any problems with RunInUAE, then please let me know! I have done my best to make it "just work", but there are a lot of things that could go wrong. You can contact me by email, using the address given on this web page:
http://cshandley.co.uk/emailI would also appreciate any suggestions or ideas you have have, but please be aware that they may not be easy to add!
RunInUAE was written & compiled using PortablE.
RunInUAE would be much worse (or might not even exist at all!) without the help of many people. In chronological order, thanks to:
Sorry if I forgot anyone!
r6 (16-12-2011)
r5 (14-07-2011)
r4 (11-03-2011)
r3 (02-04-2010)
r2 (03-01-2010)
r1 (24-12-2009)