Amiga emulator :launch from +start amiberry but wont launch from game list ?

amook11 · 7 Dec 2020, 21:41

@amook11 ok I saw a note under your comment . I guess retropie version , RAM and over clock setting is what I need to add as specs ?

amook11 · 7 Dec 2020, 21:48

@amook11
retropi ver: 4.7.1
system: rpi3 (armv71)
running on Raspbian GNU/Linux 10 (buster)

nemo93 · 8 Dec 2020, 11:31

@amook11 still further details about your setup is required please. For instance what game(s) are you trying to run? Are we talking ADF or WHD packages here? Also did you compile Amiberry from source in Retropie Setup? What's your Amiberry version? In case of doubt, go to Retropie Setup once inside, update it and go to Amiberry section. Then choose to compile it from source. Remember the more details the easier it is to assist you :-)

The usual suspects are the Kickstart roms. Make sure to have at least the 3 ones exactly as indicated with a green check mark from Amiberry's wiki. They have to be put in your Retropie BIOS folder. Next I'd recommend you have a look at the official docs here or there. As always I strongly advise you to go with the games in the WHDLoad format using .lha extension. Lot easier to setup. Not too difficult to find those online :-)

@George-Spiggott your comment about auto screen height concerns me. I do have a pi4 (stock) with still the default drivers (fKMS). No issue with Amiberry at all. Do you mind sharing more about that issue please? What game(s)/Amiberry version etc. Thanks.

amook11 · 8 Dec 2020, 23:18

@nemo93 Hi. Thanks for replying . I try to explain everthing u mentioned as best as I can.
-I think its with every single game . I tried more than 10 games and got same result : black screen with all of them, but able to access amiberry menu. I can see correct roms are loaded in the amiberry floppy drive . it feels as if the game is already launched, but I get no video / audio.

-not sure what ADF is but I am sure its not WHD package becuse thats require extra step which I didnt take to. if Iam not mistaken WHD load is a setup that let you launch games without going thru amiberry menu. I found the method abit complicated. so I chose to avoid it . also I knew that u dont have to go thru amiberry menu for every single game even if u dont have whd setup (isnt that correct?)

-I got amiberry from binary, 2 days ago (the faster method) not source. do u think if I get it from source it could fix the issue ?

-you mentioned kickstart rom . but I can successfully launch every game if I do it thru amiberry menu (+start amiberry ) . I get black screen only when I click on games title in games menu (where you can see game's boxarts , info , etc ). so yes I got all the bios in the bios folder. could it still be bios that cause this issue?

yserra · 9 Dec 2020, 09:48

@amook11 Do you have JIT enable?

As I mentionned here, when you activate JIT it then exists a condition that makes Amiberry fails only if you run your game/rom/whatever from EmulationStation, but not if you run it from terminal or, in my case, from SSH.

I'm still investigating to find what condition drives to such a weird thing, but apparently it seems to come from the Amiga side. So, a bad .library if you boot from a hardfile, or, maybe, a bad Kickstart BIOS if you boot with several ADFs.

By the way, JIT should never be activated to run games as they do on the original machine. JIT is only useful when you run a complete AmigaOS installation from an HDF (hardfile) and you want to get the most power you Raspberry can deliver to execute heavy applications like Lightwave.

amook11 · 10 Dec 2020, 18:34

@yserra do you mean JIT under CPU option in amiberry menu ? its disabled. (no checkmark in the box) and its also grayed out .which means I can not make any changes to it. and I dont have whd load set up either. I worked with so many other emulators and this is the first issue I came across that I cant find a fix for!

yserra · 14 Dec 2020, 16:41

@amook11
If the JIT option is grayed out, it means you are trying to emulate a 68000 Amiga, I presume an Amiga 500. If you get a black screen when emulating an Amiga 500, chances are that's because you are using a Kickstart BIOS that is not compatible with an Amiga 500. You should use Kickstart 1.3 for A500, A1000, A2000. Not Kickstart 2.04, nor Kickstart 3.0 or 3.1.

Just to mention: Amiberry use two kind of configuration files.

First, The "Quick Configuration" that is used when you go through the "+start amiberry" entry in EmulationStation. I guess this configuration is OK, since you can run games from the Amiberry Menu.

Second, the rp-a500.uae, that is automatically used when you run an Amiga 500 game from EmulationStation (or rp-a1200.uae, when you run an Amiga 1200 game from EmulationStation). I suspect that your rp-a500.uae configuration file could have been broken by a hazardous manipulation.

Try to edit it. In Amiberry menu, select the Configuration panel, then load rp-a500.uae. Then go the ROM panel and check if the BIOS looks something like 'Kickstart 1.3 (Amiga 500,1000,2000)'. If it's written something very different, like 'Kickstart 3.1 (Amiga 1200)', you would have found from where came your issue. Check other parameters too: an Amiga 500 should have 512 KB Chip RAM and 512 KB Slow RAM only.

Oh, and, obviously, at the end, go back to the Configuration panel and click on 'save'.

About WHDLoad games (the games with a .lha extension) : they are even simpler to run from EmulationStation than the .adf games since they use the default 'QuickConfiguration' (the one that works for you) and not the rp-a500.uae one (the one you could need to repair).

Chris3535 · 14 Dec 2020, 20:50

@yserra i am in the same position, the IHA files work for me but the ADF do not. I just get black screen if I click on game from emultion screen but if I go into the amiberry menu and select the game in quickstart it works.

The correct rom is there - KS ROM v1.3 (a500,a1000,a2000)

However when I go into configurations I do not have the rp-a500.uae configuration to load. I have tried re-installing amiberry but it's still not shown there.

Any ideas how I can sort this? yes I know IHA games are better and they work but some games I want are only on ADF

Chris3535 · 15 Dec 2020, 08:26

@amook11 did you get this sorted? if so how??
@yserra i think what you have wrote below is my issue

**"second, the rp-a500.uae, that is automatically used when you run an Amiga 500 game from EmulationStation (or rp-a1200.uae, when you run an Amiga 1200 game from EmulationStation). I suspect that your rp-a500.uae configuration file could have been broken by a hazardous manipulation.

Try to edit it. In Amiberry menu, select the Configuration panel, then load rp-a500.uae. Then go the ROM panel and check if the BIOS looks something like 'Kickstart 1.3 (Amiga 500,1000,2000)'. If it's written something very different, like 'Kickstart 3.1 (Amiga 1200)', you would have found from where came your issue. Check other parameters too: an Amiga 500 should have 512 KB Chip RAM and 512 KB Slow RAM only.

Oh, and, obviously, at the end, go back to the Configuration panel and click on 'save'."**

The problem is i when i open up the configuration panel there is no rp-a500.uae there. However i have just realised i have been looking when i go straight into amiberry. Do i need to try and load an ADF file first, wait until i see black screen and then go into amiberry setttings? might it then appear for me to check and possibly ammend?

amook11 · 15 Dec 2020, 19:43

@yserra its fixed now. thank you very much . the issue was indeed the kickstart 13 bios . which I initially ignored as I couldnt find any bios file with that name. instead I used what I found and since it was working (thru +start amiberry ) I never thought bios is what causing the issue . u mentioned kickstar13 and the fact amiberry uses 2 diffrent config! so I searched again found a bios (still no kickstart13 in the title but it was 1.3) I changed the name into kick13 and now it works :) Thanks again.

@Chris3535

Chris3535 · 15 Dec 2020, 21:18

@amook11 so what did you do exactly? I am still having the same issue

Chris3535 · 15 Dec 2020, 21:34

@amook11 @George-Spiggott @nemo93 @yserra

I think my issue is when I select a ADF file from emulation menu and the screen goes black, when I go into the amiberry settings and look at the ROM it says

Main ROM file: Kick13

I don't have a file called Kick13 in my bios so don't know where it's getting that from

amook11 · 15 Dec 2020, 21:34

@chris3535 you need this bios file kick13.rom in retropie/bios folder . if you cant find bios with this name you need to rename it your self. when you get the bios from internet ,it might be look like this : Kickstart 1.3 (A500-A2500-A3000-CDTV).

Chris3535 · 15 Dec 2020, 21:52

@amook11 thanks it's now working...thank you so much

Aenima · 26 Dec 2020, 16:22

@amook11

I had the same problem and with my pi in the network and under

\\retropie\configs\amiga\amiberry\conf\

I opened and edited this file:
rp-a500.uae
it has a line:

kickstart_rom_file

there goes the exact name of your 1.3 rom in the bios folder.
of course you can also rename your existing rom to name that's already there.

same procedure needs to be done for the 3.1 kickstart I 've just noticed..

for people unsure about the correct roms: https://github.com/midwan/amiberry/wiki/Kickstart-ROMs-(BIOS) there you can find information about the versions needed including a crc check code, to see if you've got the right file.