Amiga

mitu

Please add some details about your installation, as detailed in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first.

As mentioned in the Amiberry's Wiki, the Amiga Forever BIOS files need to be decrypted first - you can't use them as-is.

macmage2

Here's my configuration:
Pi Model or other hardware: Raspberry Pi 4 Model B Rev 1.4
Power Supply used: 5v
RetroPie Version Used: 4.8.4
Built From: Pre made SD Image on RetroPie website
USB Devices connected: 128Gb thumb drive
Controller used: Bolian
Error messages received: None - Raspberry Pi locks up
Guide used:

Emulator: Amiberry
The emulators.cfg file looks like this:
amiberry = "/opt/retropie/emulators/amiberry/amiberry.sh %ROM%"
default = "amiberry"
amiberry-a500 = "/opt/retropie/emulators/amiberry/amiberry.sh %ROM% --model A500"
amiberry-a500plus = "/opt/retropie/emulators/amiberry/amiberry.sh %ROM% --model A500P"
amiberry-a1200 = "/opt/retropie/emulators/amiberry/amiberry.sh %ROM% --model A1200"
amiberry-a4000 = "/opt/retropie/emulators/amiberry/amiberry.sh %ROM% --model A4000"
amiberry-cdtv = "/opt/retropie/emulators/amiberry/amiberry.sh %ROM% --model CDTV"
amiberry-cd32 = "/opt/retropie/emulators/amiberry/amiberry.sh %ROM% --model CD32"

I have Pimiga3 installed on another Raspberry Pi 4. I use the same BIOS files there and they work fine.

Thanks!
Floyd

nemo93

@macmage2 @22marco77 hello! Amiberry latest version (5.6.1) works great on Retropie/Pi 4 here. Definitely more info required in order to assist you. Let's see what we can do with the info you already shared. The below is for Amiberry only as I don't know or haven't tested the other available emulators.

your emulators.cfg file >> looks fine
you rely on default Retropie's image >> good
you're running on Pi4 >> good

As @mitu said Amiga Forever might be an issue with Amiberry. Therefore it would be best to try the Kickstart files listed on that page first. Put the 3 required files under Retropie's BIOS/amiga folder. See if that makes any difference.

Then you have to store the various .lha under roms/amiga indeed. One .lha per game. Ensure it's the latest version. It would have been great for you to share which .lha you tried. For instance can you try with 1943_v1.4.lha please?

We will explore other avenues should the above still make no difference.
Thanks!

@mitu: let me use that opportunity to thank you for updating so quickly Amiberry to latest version. I didn't even have time to reach out to you ;-)

22marco77

@nemo93 Tonight if the children allow, I will make some attempts following your advice. I am the one to thank you for all the time you take away from your life to dedicate it to us in the community and if today I can relive the emotions I felt as a child and only thanks to you and all of you who put your knowledge and your time for us in the community that we do not have much experience with programming and we try to learn thanks to your guides

macmage2

The three Kickstart roms (kick13,kick20,kick31) are in the BIOS folder. I have my .lha files in roms/amiga. I have been working with DeluxeGalaga_v1.3.lha which I download from the WHDLoad site,

I tried a little experiment. In Amiberry, I set the system to 1200, 4MB Fast RAM. I put a 3.1 Workbench hdf in HD0. I have an adf of Deluxe Galaga and I put that in DF0. When I started it, everything locked up. After going back into Amiberry, I went into ROM and set the ROM file to bios/kick31.rom. I tried again. This time I got it to start properly and was able to play the game from DF0 (although it doesn't save high scores for some reason).

So, if I select Start Amiberry, I can get the game to play from the adf file.
If I select the adf file, it launches Amiberry and is the same experience as doing the above.
If I select the lha file, the screen still goes black with a mouse cursor in the upper-left corner and the Pi freezes.

My experiment at least told me the ROM is okay but not why the WHDLoad isn't working.

Thanks!
Floyd

nemo93

@22marco77 no problem. But the real stars of the show are Retropie's maintainers as well as Amiberry's developer!

@macmage2 Please confirm the BIOS files have been stored under Retropie's BIOS/amiga folder? I insist BIOS/amiga/ not just BIOS. Also everything should be properly autodetected by default in Amiberry. Therefore let's not modify any parameter in the GUI and let's rely on WHDLoad packages for now (no adf).

DeluxeGalaga_v1.3.lha is the latest version of that package (there might be an AGA version as well). The file should be around 850Kib in size. If you open it and browse the directory you should find a data folder. If you can't find that folder and the filesize differs then you might look for another version.

Thanks.

macmage2

@nemo93 I uninstalled Amiberry and deleted /opt/retropie/configs/amiga. I figured that was easier than trying to undo the configuration I did.

I have the BIOS files (kick12,kick13,kick20,kick31) in bios/amiga. DeluxeGalaga_v1.3.lha has the data folder and is 752k in size. I still get the black screen and locking up.

Thanks!
Floyd

nemo93

@macmage2 excellent. You're using proper packages and the correct location for the Kickstart/Bios files. Let me ask if those Kickstart/Bios have the exact same CRC as on the wiki? Also ensure the files are named with the .rom extension (eg. kick12.rom, kick13.rom, etc).

Can you try with another game please? Galaga is not part of my test bed. If you can go with 1943 or Chaos Engine for instance that would be great.

Are you sure to not rely on the KMS driver (instead of fKMS)? It's expected that Amiberry will not work with KMS on Retropie unless you recompile for SDL2. In general how did you install Amiberry? The recommended way is to go with Retropie Setup, browse to Amiberry and compile from source (binary should be perfectly fine too).

If you're still facing black screen please post the lines from /dev/shm/runcommand.log.

Thanks.

macmage2

@nemo93 Success!

I found BIOS files with the correct CRC and I reinstalled from source. I have a few more questions that you might be able to answer or point me in the right direction.

Deluxe Galaga plays great. However, it doesn't save the high scores. I've tried v1.2 and 1.3 of the WHDLoad files. Is there any way to get it to save the high scores?
I installed 1943 and Obliterator. Both play really sluggishly. Is there any tweaking I can do to make them play better?
What is the best source for WHDLoad games? I've tried both whdload.de and another site. Some games work, some don't. Of course, that could just be the nature of the beast!

Thanks for all your help!
Floyd

mitu

@macmage2 said in Amiga:

What is the best source for WHDLoad games? I've tried both xyz and other.com. Some games work, some don't. Of course, that could just be the nature of the beast!

Please, no ROM/games requests - see the forum rules. Also, no links to sites with ROMs.

macmage2

@mitu Sorry about that!

nemo93

@macmage2 based on your feedback, it looks everything is now working as expected. Is my understanding correct? If that so it would be great for you to detail the steps you took to get things in order. It will help other users in the same situation.

Deluxe Galaga plays great. However, it doesn't save the high scores.
=> As a rule it's best to stick to latest version of a package as more bugs are fixed/features added. I don't know Deluxe Galaga yet if I have time I'll give it a try. Some packages are being rewritten/patched especially to add a highscore load/save feature. Perhaps your game needs such patching. I understand there might be a CD32 version as well. If you could give it a try to see if that makes a difference that would be great.
I installed 1943 and Obliterator. Both play really sluggishly. Is there any tweaking I can do to make them play better?
=> those games are quite old. Hence not sure what you mean by "play really sluggishly". Both games are running great on Amiberry as I'm testing these on regular basis. It's expected that Obliterator character's animations to be not smooth. It's just the way it was back then! You have similar slideshow-esque animations in other games like Barbarian (Psygnosis) for instance. Check online videos for confirmation. Optimal settings for both games are loaded automatically by Amiberry on start, there's nothing else you can do I'm afraid.

Hope this helps.

macmage2

@nemo93 Thanks for all your help and I will post my steps including how I go the high scores in Deluxe Galaga to save. Since I've never actually played 1943 or Obliterator on an Amiga, I didn't consider the way they play in the emulator is how they actually played on the actual machine!

Thanks!
Floyd

macmage2

I finally got the Amiga emulation to work! This is how I did it.

Since I had Amiberry already installed, I removed it and its config file from /opt/retropie/configs/amiga (all .cfg files in that folder).
I installed kick13.rom, kick20.rom, and kick31.rom with the correct CRC in bios/amiga. I used the wiki to get this information.
I then installed Amiberry from source. I did it by launching Retropie Setup from Retropie. I selected Manage Packages->Optional Packages. I selected Amiberry and chose to install from source.
Back in Retropie, I restarted Emulation Station.

I selected Deluxe Galaga (which, of course, was stored in roms/amiga) and it worked! I was having a problem with it not saving the high scores. However, I discovered that if I pressed ESC from within the game, it exited to DOS and then would save the high scores.