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Running Games and Apps.

WHDload Games Stops After a Short While

John Fante

Posts 27
23 Sep 2019 20:46


I have a (very) strange WHDLoad problem that I can't really find the cause of/solution to.

I have a A600 with a chip RAM expansion and a Vampire 2.2 running GOLD 2.11. The OS is OS3.1.4.1 and I am using VampireMap to map a modified A1200 (added intuition.library) in the startup sequence. All very standard :-)

All programs I run from Workbench work fine. Ibrowse, Netbrowse, AmigaAmp, HippoPlayer etc. runs fine and stable. I have also transferred some of the demoes from CoffinOS and they also work fine.

I have installed (and reinstalled - just in case) the latest WHDload.

My problem is that when I run a WHDLoad game or a demo the game or demo starts up fine but after a couple of seconds all activity on the screen stops. The music - if there is any - often plays on but nothing happens. I can fine exit with F10 (or similar).

As a test I tried the latest WHDload-version of the game Agony that is marked as working in the compability list. It stops after the Agony title screen. Just a black screen. No problem in exeting.

To be sure that it is not hardware (core) related I downloaded the adf files of the game and wrote them to floppy. The game loads and plays fine from floppy.

I have tried experimenting with the ExpChip and ExpLocal tooltypes in WHDLoad and I have also used MBRTest-2 to test my chipram. The ExpChip and ExpLocal does not make a big difference. MBRTest-2 does not find any errors.

I am on the bring of reinstalling the - just in case - but wanted to check here before.

Any suggestions/advice?


Gunnar von Boehn
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 6207
23 Sep 2019 21:05


John Fante wrote:

Any suggestions/advice?

Have you tried those games on Coffin?


Sean Sk

Posts 488
23 Sep 2019 23:22


Hi John,
     
I noticed that you mentioned that you use iBrowse and Netbrowse so this likely indicates that your A600 is connected online.
     
If you haven't already done so you will need to auto disable whatever TCP/IP stack and network device you're using before playing a game. You can do this by going into WHDLoad.prefs and un-commenting the following:
     
ExecuteStartup=Execute S:WHDLoad-Startup
ExecuteCleanup=Execute S:WHDLoad-Cleanup
   
WHDLoad-Startup script will disable your network device and TCP/IP stack when you start a game, and WHD-Cleanup will enable them when you exit your game. This is necessary as WHDLoad doesn't cope well when these are running. I get the same issues as you if I haven't disabled these.
 
You'll need to look at these scripts to make sure they have the appropriate commands pertaining to whatever device and stack you are using.


John Fante

Posts 27
24 Sep 2019 06:53


sean sk wrote:

  Hi John,
       
  I noticed that you mentioned that you use iBrowse and Netbrowse so this likely indicates that your A600 is connected online.
       
  If you haven't already done so you will need to auto disable whatever TCP/IP stack and network device you're using before playing a game. You can do this by going into WHDLoad.prefs and un-commenting the following:
       
  ExecuteStartup=Execute S:WHDLoad-Startup
  ExecuteCleanup=Execute S:WHDLoad-Cleanup
     
  WHDLoad-Startup script will disable your network device and TCP/IP stack when you start a game, and WHD-Cleanup will enable them when you exit your game. This is necessary as WHDLoad doesn't cope well when these are running. I get the same issues as you if I haven't disabled these.
   
  You'll need to look at these scripts to make sure they have the appropriate commands pertaining to whatever device and stack you are using.
 

 
Thank you very much!
 
Shutting down Roadshows connection did the trick :-). WHDload games and demoes now run like a charm.
 
I used the utility Roadie EXTERNAL LINK to make things fast and GUI-simple. Works very well and I can only recommend it.
 


Sean Sk

Posts 488
24 Sep 2019 07:29


Yeah I use Roadshow, I think it's the best TCP/IP stack out there. But I hadn't heard about the Roadie GUI, so thank you very much for mentioning it, I will have to check it out.


Peter Schmidl

Posts 10
26 Oct 2019 10:23


I have the same problem but I use MiamiDx! Which modifications are needed in S:network-shutdown?

Thx


Eric Gus

Posts 477
26 Oct 2019 17:38


Really do wish roadshow was optional on coffin.. causes so many problems like this.. IMHO would be better to default to say Miami and "ask" at first bootup if they would like to switch to the (paid w/a valid user registered) roadshow as it wouldn't cause problems like this.


Gunnar von Boehn
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 6207
26 Oct 2019 17:42


eric gus wrote:

Really do wish roadshow was optional on coffin.. causes so many problems like this..

I agree with you.


Mike Kopack

Posts 268
27 Oct 2019 02:35


sean sk wrote:

  You can do this by going into WHDLoad.prefs and un-commenting the following:
       
  ExecuteStartup=Execute S:WHDLoad-Startup
  ExecuteCleanup=Execute S:WHDLoad-Cleanup
   

Where the heck is this prefs file on Coffin? I couldn't find it....


Bruce Philip

Posts 10
27 Oct 2019 03:11


Yeah, Roadshow causes problems. Always upon first launch of a WHDLoad game I get the Roadshow nag and dismiss it and then I am fine for the whole session.

I did notice though (running CoffinOS R54) that if I boot up and launch "Great Giana Sisters SE" first I will not get the roadshow nag, but the game will freeze after the intro....because in the background the Roadshow nag decided to launch :(

I have to get rid of Roadshow myself...I do not even use the Internet on this Amiga. I too hate that it is not optional in Coffin.

posts 10