FAQ v0.102


written by
Torsten Enderling (carfesh@gmx.net)
Worfje (worfje@gmx.net)

Contents

1. Miscellaneous

1.1. I can't get <put your favourite game here> working

1.2. Where can I find/download the Kickstart rom file?


1.3. The keys <O> and <P> aren't working, why is this? 1.4. How to play games with WinFellow? 1.5. 2. Hardfiles

2.1. What are hardfiles?
2.2. How do I use a hardfile?
2.3. Can I use my existing UAE hardfiles (*.hdf) with WinFellow?


3. Filesystems

3.1. What are filesystems?
3.2. How do I use a filesystem?


4. GUI

4.1. How can play a game that has more than one disk/How can i switch a disk(image)?


5. I still have questions!



1. Miscellaneous

1.1. I can't get <put your favourite game here> working

Many older games require special settings. Generally if having trouble check the following list:

  • some kickstart versions require special cpu models, so play around with combinations of them; for example it is a bad idea to run Kickstart 1.2 on a '030 cpu
  • some games are written for a fixed amount of bogo mem or chip mem, so try setting them both to 512kB or even disable bogo mem completely
  • not all games behave nicely (some control the hardware directly) so that you may run into trouble when using things like "Fast Disk-DMA" or the immediate blitter
  • many old games only make use of the first floppy drive and some do the strangest things when you try to use two drives
  • timing may be critical, as some games do timing delays not by the timer but by delay loops; this will result in trouble when using cpu speeds other than the original 7 MHz
If in doubt, use a default A500 setting like:
  • 68000 CPU at 7 MHz
  • 1 Floppy drive (disable the others!), leave "Fast Disk-DMA" unchecked
  • 512k Chip and eventually 512k Bogo RAM
  • Kickstart 1.3 or 1.2
  • Normal, delayed OCS blitter
  • no filesystems or hardfiles, "Disable autoconfig-devices"
If this configuration doesn't work and it's really an A500 game (not an AGA thing or such) it's possibly a WinFellow problem.


1.2. Where can I find/download the Kickstart ROM file?

You can buy the Kickstart ROM at www.cloanto.com. We won't respond to any email concerning this subject.


1.3. The keys <O> and <P> aren't working, why is this?

Since the 'enable autofire' is placed on those keys, the keys aren't used as input for the Amiga keybuffer. Just remove Keyboard Layout 1 from gameport 1 or 2 and the P and O keys will work again. We hope to add the feature that keys can be configured manually through the GUI.


1.4. How to play games and run applications with WinFellow?

This is the general procedure to play a game or run applications on WinFellow:

1. start WinFellow
2. click on the configuration button
3. select the memory propertysheet
4. select a KickROM in the kickstart image edit control
5. click the OK button to return to the main window
6. select a ADF image containing your game
7. start the emulation by clicking start emulation

That's it, you should see the emulation window booting the KickROM (switching from dark gray, light gray to white and then loading from the disk.


2. Filesystems and hardfiles

2.1. What are hardfiles?

Most of you probably already know this and may skip this paragraph. For the ones that are new to emulation here a short description:

A hardfile is used to simulate a harddrive connected to the emulated Amiga. Technically a hardfile is a 1:1-copy of the contents of an Amiga harddisk partition into a file. Having this in mind the restriction a hardfile has comes clear: a hardfile is of a fixed size and doesn't grow as it is written to (like perhaps the Amiga RAM disk). When creating a hardfile you have to specify the size the hardfile shall have, i.e. the amount of storage that you will be able to use on the simulated Amiga harddrive. This simulated harddrive supports all features a real Amiga harddrive has (so you may for example defrag it).


2.2. How do I use a hardfile?

First of all you need a hardfile that is to be used. Perhaps you already have one from UAE or DOSFellow; if you don't have one you now may create it in the configuration menu under the hardfile tab. Note that a newly created hardfile is just a file containing scratch; you need to format it on the Amiga side to be able to write any data to it.

Add the hardfile to your config in the configuration menu's hardfile tab. Make sure that "Disable Autoconfig-devices" (section Various) is _not_ checked. The autoconfig functionality is needed for the Amiga to automatically detect and initialize the device.

Also make sure you use a kickstart version 2.0 or greater; under Kickstart 1.x the only way to use hardfiles is by the use of mount files (perhaps I'll explain this in a later version of the FAQ) and booting from them is impossible (since the old kickstart versions don't support autoconfig).

You should now be able to use the file. If you have configured a newly created file, you should insert a workbench disk file fitting the configured kickstart, boot it and format the hardfile the way you want it (it will appear as FELLOW0).
If you're going to use an already existing file (and this file is bootable and not only a data partition) eject all inserted floppy images and boot from it (again you should make sure the used kickstart version fits the one the hardfile has been installed with).


2.3. Can I use my existing UAE hardfiles (*.hdf) with WinFellow?

Yes, WinFellow uses UAE's hardfile format. Read the points below for usage questions about hardfiles. When using hardfiles from UAE, these must not make use of the Picasso96 uaegfx-driver, as this one is not yet supported by WinFellow. It also must not make use of AGA screenmodes.


3. Filesystems

3.1. What are filesystems?

Like a hardfile a filesystem is also used to simulate some kind of device connected to the emulated Amiga. But instead of using a file, you configure WinFellow to use a directory on one your windows devices that shall be used to store or read data.

This has the advantage that you don't have to care about the amount of data you want to store.
But this also has disadvantages: though on the first look the simulated device looks like a harddisk, it misses some features: formatting or defragging a filesystem device is absolutely impossible (and would also not make sense). To defrag it you'll have to run the windows defrag over the harddrive you stored the files on.

Another disadvantage lies in the differences between the Windows and the Amiga filesystem. The Amiga filesystem makes use of 8 different storage flags (e.g. executable, writable, ...). The Windows filesystem only supports 3 flags, but even these aren't really usable for this purpose so that actually only the archive flag is used.
For an Amiga filenames like " " or ".. " are fine; Windows runs into some serious trouble when you try to use such names. Just try to create a file named CON, then you'll know what I mean... ;)
To get rid of this problem, a new technique called fsdb (FileSystem DataBase) has been introduced in UAE (and also in WinFellow, as WinFellow uses UAE code for filesystem support).
Everytime a file has a name not supported under the current OS or uses flags that can't be stored, an entry for this file is created in a special database file. This file stores the local name, the according Amiga filename, an optional comment and the flags that are used.
That way it is possible to use the device exactly the same way an Amiga device could be used, making it possible to even boot from a filesystem in this release (this was impossible until now).
Now to what I really wanted to say: WinUAE uses a slightly different way of storing the flag information as it makes also use of the write protection bit to represent the Amiga's writable and deletable flags; we regarded this way as a bad solution and made it another way. This means that the filesystem support from WinUAE is not necessarily compatible with WinFellow's support. So be careful when exchanging data over a filesystem between them both.


3.2. How do I use a filesystem?

Configure the filesystem in the configuration menu on tab filesystem. You might also check "Automount Windows-drives"; this will automatically mount all hard disks, connected network drives and cdroms as Amiga devices (so you don't have to configure anything manually).

Make sure that "Disable Autoconfig-devices" (section Various) is _not_ checked. The autoconfig functionality is needed for the Amiga to automatically detect and initialize the device.

Again make sure you use a kickstart version 2.0 or greater.

Now you need something you may boot from. I suggest a workbench disk or a hardfile. The device will appear under the name you configured. Install workbench to the filesystem if you like and try booting without the floppy inserted.


4. GUI

4.1. How can play a game that has more than one disk/How can i switch a disk(image)?

You can switch diks(images) at runtime in WinFellow. You can do this by pressing the function key <F11> during the emulation. After pressing the key you can see the main window again and this way you can change the disk(images). By clicking the "start emulation" button you can continue the emulation at the point you pressed the function key.


5. I still have questions!

If you have questions not covered in this FAQ, find problems not mentioned here or simply don't understand something written here, don't hesitate to mail me. To be able to maintain this FAQ I need your input.