Finally playing with my THEA500 Mini - making some WHDLoads

[+OLD CS1]

I have a small collection of WHDLoads on my Amiga systems.  Last night I put the THEA500 WHDLoad package on a USB stick, then packaged up some of my already done games (some dating back to 2000 and probably need updates.)

 

It works nicely!  I have not had a booting Amiga for a little while (bad ChipRAM on my 4000D, or maybe "expired" USB libraries in the Deneb's FlashRAM?)  so I had to use a USB flash drive archive of them.  That meant no native access to LhA so I used the Win32 build I found here.

 

https://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/lha.htm

 

I only did a few, and the results follow.  Struck-through failed to boot up.

 

• Ballistix
• Barbarian
• Shadow of the Beast
• Blood Money
• Bubble Bobble
• Killing Game Show
• Mortal Kombat
• Star Trek 25th Anniversary
• Street Fighter 2
• Superfrog
• Test Drive

 

I have a metric shyt tonne of games I still have not made into WHDLoad packages, but now I have some time available and a little more motivation.  I would not mind having Dune and Test Drive II running on the Mini.

 

 

I have been harsh on these projects -- THEC64 and THEA500 (though a little less than the C64) -- but they have been well-executed and the native HDMI output makes them easier to integrate into my main entertainment system.  I still upscale outputs from my Sega Genesis, NES, TI-99/4A, and Atari 7800, but the HDMI machines are getting way better.  My thought is I will have a full HDMI console system up front, and all the composite stuff will be in a room with a 32" CRT.  Maybe I will get a shag carpet, too.

[WhataKowinkydink]

While they're not the "real" hardware, I find them (namely the full size THEC64/VIC20) a very acceptable solution, and one of the two likely paths for the future of the hobby.

[Hwlngmad]

On 1/6/2023 at 12:30 PM, OLD CS1 said:

I have a small collection of WHDLoads on my Amiga systems.  Last night I put the THEA500 WHDLoad package on a USB stick, then packaged up some of my already done games (some dating back to 2000 and probably need updates.)

 

It works nicely!  I have not had a booting Amiga for a little while (bad ChipRAM on my 4000D, or maybe "expired" USB libraries in the Deneb's FlashRAM?)  so I had to use a USB flash drive archive of them.  That meant no native access to LhA so I used the Win32 build I found here.

 

https://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/lha.htm

 

I only did a few, and the results follow.  Struck-through failed to boot up.

 

• Ballistix
• Barbarian
• Shadow of the Beast
• Blood Money
• Bubble Bobble
• Killing Game Show
• Mortal Kombat
• Star Trek 25th Anniversary
• Street Fighter 2
• Superfrog
• Test Drive

 

I have a metric shyt tonne of games I still have not made into WHDLoad packages, but now I have some time available and a little more motivation.  I would not mind having Dune and Test Drive II running on the Mini.

 

 

I have been harsh on these projects -- THEC64 and THEA500 (though a little less than the C64) -- but they have been well-executed and the native HDMI output makes them easier to integrate into my main entertainment system.  I still upscale outputs from my Sega Genesis, NES, TI-99/4A, and Atari 7800, but the HDMI machines are getting way better.  My thought is I will have a full HDMI console system up front, and all the composite stuff will be in a room with a 32" CRT.  Maybe I will get a shag carpet, too.

Shag carpet is a 100% must in my book.

[Hwlngmad]

On 1/6/2023 at 3:58 PM, WhataKowinkydink said:

While they're not the "real" hardware, I find them (namely the full size THEC64/VIC20) a very acceptable solution, and one of the two likely paths for the future of the hobby.

Very much agreed.  Vintage hardware is becoming more and more expensive.  Also, you gotta worry about components if/when the fail.  Definitely projects like what Retro Games is doing offer some solid solutions.  Gotta say I am looking forward to the Mercury Ace project that will bring a niche system like the Jupiter Ace into the modern times allowing for more people to experience it long after the fact.

[WhataKowinkydink]

1 hour ago, Hwlngmad said:

Gotta say I am looking forward to the Mercury Ace project that will bring a niche system like the Jupiter Ace into the modern times allowing for more people to experience it long after the fact.

And that's what's so cool about the potential here - not only modern hardware solutions, but more variety as well.

The final clincher for me to buy one was seeing REU and mouse implemented on the THEC64 (thus making GEOS usable) - sure beats the daylights out of GEOS on a regular PC install of VICE using the numeric keypad as a "mouse", and of course, sure beats having to regather an entire platform collection and all the necessary gear.

[+OLD CS1]

55 minutes ago, WhataKowinkydink said:

(thus making GEOS usable)

Technically, GEOS is usable without an REU and using a joystick.  Painfully; perhaps "usable" is not the correct word.

[WhataKowinkydink]

10 minutes ago, OLD CS1 said:

Technically, GEOS is usable without an REU and using a joystick.

For sure - and actually, the keypad is the "joystick" on PC VICE, not the mouse (my bad).

[howerton]

I have tried the double dragon whdload and they removed the cheats. And then the tmnt arcade game whdload has graphical errors. So I tried the adfs and double dragon one freezes after the pint a poof cheat but plays without the cheat. And the tmnt adf while playable has a slight graphical glitch on the bottom. They may be minor issues to some but for a guy like me they drive me crazy.

 

But that's not the worst of it I tried the road avenger whdload, and I could not get it to run.

 

Don't get me wrong the rest works fine, if loading a little slow. I love the unit. It has opened the European games to me.

 

Can anyone fix these things and post the downloads here?

 

If not thanks anyway.

[+OLD CS1]

6 minutes ago, howerton said:

Can anyone fix these things and post the downloads here?

 

Considering Double Dragon and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are both still active properties, I seriously doubt it.

[Daedalus2097]

If the problems are happening with the latest versions of WHDLoad, the installation has been made with original disks, the various compatibility options of WHDLoad don't fix the problem, and it's a problem that also occurs on real hardware, you can raise a bug on the WHDLoad bug tracker and they may get fixed then. WHDLoad is still developed and actively supported, and new fixes are released all the time.

[+OLD CS1]

2 hours ago, Daedalus2097 said:

If the problems are happening with the latest versions of WHDLoad, the installation has been made with original disks, the various compatibility options of WHDLoad don't fix the problem, and it's a problem that also occurs on real hardware, you can raise a bug on the WHDLoad bug tracker and they may get fixed then. WHDLoad is still developed and actively supported, and new fixes are released all the time.

Not just in WHDLoad, but also in the game slaves.  I have not had to upgrade one in a (very long) while, but ISTR that the original disk captures are usable in most slave upgrades.

[Hwlngmad]

Definitely lots of worth has been done with THEA500.  Looking forward to seeing what else is in store with this group this year.

Edited February 20 by Hwlngmad