Some tips to get happier with WINUAE 

 

   suggestions Problems mailto berndroesch1@compuserve.de

****** using wousewheel on winuae ***********************************

This work same as real amiga.Use the tool Freewheel from aminet

****** winuae dont accept my hardfiles or show only CLI with my always used config******

This happen if another winuae run.It is not allow to use the hardfile 
with another winuae session.

In very rare situation a very bad Amiga program crash can happen that
winaue do not release the hardfile.So you cant load it in when you quit and start
winuae

Reboot in this case Windows. Now all should work.
If winuae take long to boot you can switch on drive leds in GUI
If the Harddrive LED is on you know the hardfile is validate so you must wait


****** Install OS3.9 when you have a running aiab (fastest way to get Os3.9 work)******

If you dont have AIAB i recommend to install it,its much easier than install
from real amiga emergency floppy
 
Boot from aiab
1. Insert the OS3.9 CD
2. Start the OS3.9 Installer and choose make Emergency floppy
  Now you get a emergency floppy with correct CD rom support and P96 support 
  with correct rtg.library 

Now boot from it

If you get CD readerrors you need reduce maxtransfer in Cd rom driver

read under this in this file

 How can i install Os3.5 and 3.9 from emergency Floppy disk

how to do

If the emergenc<y floppy have correct boot then you are ready to install OS3.9





****** when i resume from hybernate and winuae runs the Amiga Clock have wrong time ****



Use the program attached in winuae install in dir amigaprograms with name

timehack.Copy it to Amigadir c:



Start it in your Userstartup run >nil: timehack.

It have no speedloss



This is maybe also usefull if you throttle

CPU idle too much because time can then run 3-10% slower





****** How can i make custom screenresolutions for winuae ***********

 

Powerstrip work ok now since Version 3.3 and nvidia >40 drivers on

winxp to do the Job



Before it work only on win98.So make sure you have this versions



You need not run powerstrip every time in startup.



Its enough when you create the Modes in Menu displayprofile->configure



Click advanced timing options-> custom resolutions->user defined set desired

values and reboot windows

Its also possible to create interlace doublescan resolutions here 



Now you can use this resolutions in winuae with every amigaprogram





**How can i install Os3.5 and 3.9 from emergency Floppy disk*************



It is only allow to use OS3.5 or 3.9 on 1 Computer at same time

Read carefully the H&P license maybe H&P have a note in the license of newer OS3.9

that it can only use on AmigaHardware.

  

( A advokate recommend me to add this here) 



Here we go:



Insert the emergency floppy in your old Amiga



Type 

transdisk >ram:emergency_disk.adf



on shell



Copy it now on a PC formatet floppy and insert it to your PC.



Open the file on emergency-disk:devs/dosdrivers/emergency_CD with a texteditor:



Change the line device             ="xxxxxx 

to 

device ="uaescsi.device"

Change unitnum if need



IMPORTANT: Change the text 

MaxTransfer    = xxxxxxx

to 

MaxTransfer    =0xffff

or you get read/write errors



If you still get read/write errors from CD use a value of 0x1fff then



Save this to floppy



Now boot from your emergency_Disk.adf and make sure you have OS3.5/3.9 CD 

insert    



** Using a real Amiga formatet Harddrive in winuae*****************



Select the hardrive in page harddrive with addharddrives

If there is no Drive listet than it is possible that this drive has no 

Amiga/Amithlon Partition or

you use win98-meThis feature work only with win2k-winxp  



The device name for this is uaehf.device (see next FAQ for more info)



** I have several damaged Amigas can i use the kickstart from them**********



You can readout the kickstart rom with the included file in Amiga Programs

from a intact Amiga.

 

transrom >ram:kickstart3.1



Read also here the licence of the kickstart 

If this Version is forbidden to use on other computers





** Using other filesystem on Hardfiles (SFS testet)****************



Create a Hardfile (notice that you now must choose size in MBytes

For use with Hdtoolbox you must set the Sector Surface and Reserved num to 0

Now the Volume Name should show n/a.

Make a hdtoolsbox Icon with device=uaehf.device.

Now do all steps like real Amiga with hdtoolsbox.



** The Mousepointer freeze sometimes and i must reboot *********



Make sure you have the serial Port on and the correct port set

Make also shure shared is checked to loose no Speed


THis happen if a program make accidently for example debug output 

with kprintf or so



 

**  Using uaescsi.device to use IDE/SCSI Hardware for CD Support like real Amiga





Enable in Winuae tab Misc->Createlog so you see what amiga UNIT Numbers

your IDE/SCSI Hardware has.



For CD support install for ex. amicdfs (Aminet)select device uaescsi.device

and insert the number you see in the log file (Tab misc create Log file)
as UNIT Number.

Example: If you have only an IDE Controller:

  0=Primary Master

  1=Secondary Master



  Diskchange works correct, so uaediskchange is not needed anymore.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Limits: On win98-ME (with adaptec aspi which is installed by many PC-Burn

   Software) you can not use CD Burning Programs like makecd etc

   This works only in Win2k and WinXP. Playing audio CDs analog/digital with opticd work 

   on both Win versions.


   When you use winxp it is best to switch off in Page misc

   Use ASPI Scsi Layer

   Only activate it if you notice Problems without it



   AsimCDFS:



   fail if you mount more than 1 CD drives

   (All devices show same CD Content).

   This seem on real Amigas also not work maybe a bug of asimcdfs



   cacheCDFS:



  set in the mountfile the maxtransfer size to 0x10000 (65 kb)

  This make cachecdfs working and show not the read/write error Requesters



    I recommend the use of amicdfs it is free on Aminet and it 

   work without special winuae changes
    



1. Use hardfiles as your main drive to avoid trouble



   

   Also typical Amiga drives have many files. My 270MB HD 

   has 17000 files. This is too much for WIndows because windows needs

   to cache the directories, since FAT32 is slow. (Everyone who wants delete the Windows from DOS

   dir without smartdrive will find out, that this takes several hours).

   Also the maximum number of files is limitet on FAT32.

   So I use a main 270MB Hardfile and store pictures not important 

   programs etc. in filedisks, so that there aren't many files/directories.

   A good choice is keep every hardfile smaller than 500 MB, because booting on a 1GB hardfile

   takes longer.

   

   Also a backup with hardfile is fast. 270MB takes 1 min with 1 Drive, 0.5 Min with two drives.

   So when trying a new prog you can easily make a backup of all your data.

   Of course, transferring from / to hardfile can done by simply copying it, so you don't have

   to install all your Amiga stuff again.



2. Get UAE working in every dir/drive without changing configs



   For example uae is in c:\amiga the uae prog is in c:\amiga\winuae

   and hardfile is and dirs are in c:\amiga

   Insert in kickstart path ..\kickstart 

   ..\hardfile1.hdf

   You see no c:\amiga exists in the name and it work correct

   So you can easily copy UAE to every drive CD work also you want

   and use it



3. UAE doesn't boot due to Picasso96 failure (Picasso96 is extremely slow)



   StartUAE and immediately press both Mousebuttons when the mainwindow is shown.

   In the Amiga Early Startup select "Boot without Startup-Sequence".

   Now remove or move the uaegfx file in devs:monitors.

   Start UAE, now the Workbench shows up.

   Just select a AmigaMode Save and copy uaegfx to devs/monitors again

   If this should fail, reinstall Picasso96.

   Don't forget then to copy the rtg.library file, which can be found in Winuae's

   directory "Amigaprograms" to libs:picasso96, if you reinstall picasso96 to remove the

   mouse trails.

   

4. A chipset Mode that UAE does not display makes UAE fail

   OS 3.1: Boot without Startup-Sequence (from Amiga Early Startup menu), type Loadwb,

   and press "Cancel" on the "ENV:" warnings. Then start the screenmode selector

   and select standard PAL mode. Save it, boot and select your preferred mode.

   OS 3.5/3.9: Copy an old Screenmode prefs program from 3.1 to your HD,

   because the new one will not work this way.

  



7. UAE large Boottime (memusage)



   WINUAE needs 60MB+Z3+Chip+Fast+Picasso96 Mem

   The 0.8.17r1 uses memory dynamically. This means you can select

   512MB Z3 Mem and find no difference in boot time.

   But if you work with UAE for a longer time, it may get very slow.

   So it is better that you calculate your RAM needs with the above formula and make sure

   that it is lower than the pysical limit.

   Windows makes much trouble, if it runs out of RAM.



   Also try to activate "Suspend to Disk" mode. UAE and 

   Windows will be ready to use within 30 seconds.

   

8. UAE shows a green screen on boot



   Go to the CPU page and select "JIT force Settings" and "Indirect Mode"

   or disable it completely.

   Does it work now? Mail this to me

   Why? Due to some mystic reasons it happens, that JIT cannot allocate 

   memory between 0x0 and 0x20000000. Normaly all WIndows versions

   have free space by 0x11000000.

   

9. I get no picasso screens larger than 1024 in 32bit

 

   Use picasso96fix on Startup-Sequence (before LoadWB)



10. What is the folder "Displaydrivers" for?



  These are the picasso96 uae drivers. Just ignore the drawer.

  The latest picasso96 installer has correctly working display drivers included.

  

  

Tips for stable PCs:



1. If you have an old HD (500MB), install a pure Win for testing purposes.

   Does the program work ?

  

2. (More) Overclock your PC by 10% by using the bus clock. If it works correctly

   your PC seems to be stable. If it work for 4 minutes, it seems to be stable, too.

   If it doesn't work, try downclock it. Less crashes?

   



A problem on non UDMA HD is that PIO4 or SCSI have no

transfer error detection. So try to let your PC run on PIO3 (DMA still works)

a month or so. The speed loss is not measurable in daily use, because Windows normally transfers

small blocks. Less crashes ?







3. You can install Sysmon by using the Windows installer.

   With this tooly you can see how many KB/sec are transferred

   and how much memory a program uses. So you see, if the the program is slow

   is related to the memory.

   Normally the allocated memory should not exceed your physical memory by more than 30 MB.

   If so, you can increase speed by using more memory.

  

      

4. I found out that, large drives are better than drives with high RPM.

   A 9 GB 10000 RPM SCSI drive is slower than a 40GB 7200 RPM IDE drive, if you use the same

   partition size.
