pouët.net

I have spent several months developing this front-end program for launching Amiga Demos from WinUAE, developed in Lazarus IDE but runnable from Windows directly:



I have designed it so that any Amiga Demo can be launched, with ease, from a menu featuring a screenshot and a configuration.

ADLaunch is built around the concept of a few core WinUAE configurations, but it can patch them in the configurations for each demo to custom needs.

The screenshot above is a prime example of how ADLaunch works.

If anyone has any questions, feel free to answer them here.

here's a question: where's the binary so we can actually check how well it works? :P

That does seem like an obvious question.

Binary is here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Z98wODmskwp-Xi0GijXIpMVTX4RMop81/view?usp=sharing

But you need to configure ADLaunch to your own demo collection, however.

My example configuration file is:



The first words in each line are parameters, and the rest is the paths assigned to them. Change them at your leisure, and it will work for you.

CPath is the folder that contains the configurations you make for each demo.
EPath is the folder(s) that contains the files for each demo.
ZPath is a temporary folder for when the demo files are run.
UAE1 is the main version of WinUAE that is run for demos.
UAE2 is a second version of WinUAE that is run for demos that don't run with the first.
Aux is for players that run with non-Amiga Demos, like music mods for XMPlay.

Any of these configurations should be put in the same folder as the ADLaunch executable.

Forgot to mention:

UAEC is a folder for the configurations used by either WinUAE.

i think the 'easy and already setup'-collection part is rather the selling point of this thing than the whole clumsy shebang to recreate such a collection again by yourself only to run the odd amiga demo every now and then. but each their own, i guess...

I could make my entire Amiga collection available to anyone, and they can adapt it to their own configurations, etc. My collection features the most popular Amiga demos, as I could indicate in a list if anyone's interested.

The thing is, I use a slightly older version of WinUAE (or at least two) for stability reasons. I see no reason to keep up to date with the very latest version, unless a major Windows update demands it.

I would provide the links right now to my entire collection as I store it, but I wonder about the legality of distributing the ROMs for Kickstart, etc. (and no, the Kickstarts are not Cloanto)

Good idea. But how do Live Evil and Liquid Wen fit in there?

ADLaunch focuses primarily on Amiga software (demos mostly, but also games) and I also like some PC demos, so those entries basically open up YouTube and play videos of the PC demos, or even other videos of demos from other platforms.

As I mentioned, music modules can also be played from ADLaunch, using external players like XMPlay.

Basically, it's an all-in-one menu system for computer, mainly Amiga, entertainment.

I will upload the links to my collection later today, but I'll leave out the Kickstart ROMs and Workbench ADFs for legal reasons. The configurations I will provide will also have to be modified, as they use the "Users" folder of Windows, and every one is different.

Would there be an issue with providing a link to my copy of ClassicWB? It has been modified to work with ADLaunch, a little script added to "startup-sequence" to allow the HDD demos to auto-run upon booting.

Here are links to my demo collection for ADLaunch:

ADLaunch - The program itself, with an example configuration
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OBimO7pT0RsBbPOUNDDGfA49Q_RbEfEK/view?usp=sharing

AmigaSys - My WinUAE configuration files for ADLaunch together with the autorun script ("Launch") and WinUAE executables
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lwFflcT98TrAbyPhl6OEwIFSbfrl00G6/view?usp=sharing
Copy the "Launch" script to the S folder in Workbench, then add "Launch" to the startup-sequence after "LoadWB" and before "EndCLI". Demos launch from DH1:.

Aaron (C) - My ADLaunch demo configs
#-N https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aL5rDSkPiZ2I_yVsZQRygSR8afO1rOsH/view?usp=sharing
O-Z https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PIaxDUlT58DK0rppi63OjTT4xEw9O-o2/view?usp=sharing

Aaron (E) - The demos themselves
#AB https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dxH9RycG6j5gfhRfymh1vKB0gmSxwWAs/view?usp=sharing
CDE https://drive.google.com/file/d/1k2gP5SfKZqyNW4YC3gc0FQS4pyMksGkN/view?usp=sharing
FGH https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VDTGQouZtZzrX454A84SI6SIb75sLg_7/view?usp=sharing
IJK https://drive.google.com/file/d/1A7mQADGY_4rjFmZ8a2gMTlrj2ju6300a/view?usp=sharing
LMN https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cfqkzBmj2HRHAaKvwd-Aw7WvYK_5zK-t/view?usp=sharing
OPQ https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YfcXjqe3mukV1GMW_6DYfcqF4CxFngEE/view?usp=sharing
R https://drive.google.com/file/d/12LKoAQaafMNauhKKK73L_zErpLtL1Q2_/view?usp=sharing
S https://drive.google.com/file/d/1i1n_vG3BaOcyNutMxVb5a4jhQGhgh4EF/view?usp=sharing
T https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nGEvFmfb5Ya57-dWD2xiPmBJsrnovtoq/view?usp=sharing
U-Z https://drive.google.com/file/d/111leqYKe85YRZS-6AnlZ6db1WNTFbNc5/view?usp=sharing

The WinUAE configurations will need to be modified for your ROM paths and so on, and so will the ADLaunch configuration, but after that, it should all work as it does for me.

Maybe I need to document the program and how to use it?

I don't know if there's much interest in another Amiga demo launcher front-end when everyone has their own methods of running them or use their own or third-party software (and I've seen a few Amiga game front-ends on EAB), but I wrote this as I run and enjoy Amiga demos every night and so I thought I'd automate the process, and I figured it would be useful to others, it certainly is useful to me. I also have a lot of spare time on my hands, so it kept me busy during covid lockdown, too.

I guess I'm one of the only few still watching and collecting Amiga demos?

again, if you aim for people interested in a 'easy-one-click'-launcher, make sure downloading and setting up the launcher itself ain't even more work than clicking around in winuae to get Little Nell running :P

In that case, that could be a problem and I'm not as ready to release it as I thought I was.

Since everyone who uses WinUAE has a different Amiga setup, it's going to be difficult to make sure it works on every one of them consistently. And one configuration on one PC might not work on another PC, ie. one that uses 1080p and 50Hz for the Amiga emulation vs another one that is probably 4K.

There are many other problems I can think of, but the only solution I can think of is for everyone to download and use exactly the same Amiga setup I do, at least for the demos and other stuff on ADLaunch. The only location I can think of that is uniform across all PCs is the C:\ root, but then again, the Kickstart ROMs and Workbench ADFs would have to be included (they came from the TOSEC website, not Cloanto).

So unless I try and make the latter distributable, I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place...?

maybe an internet database which is updated over time could be a thing so not everybody (or you) have to add everything themselfes over and over again?
i like the idea of a launcher and also that it could span to more platforms than just the amiga but i have to agree that if it is more work to add a new demo to the launcher than just figuring out how to run it yourself is a killer for it...

Pouet.net is just such a thing, but I wouldn't have the first clue how to query it in a program. You're right, it would save time, mostly.



I'd already collected most of the data from Pouet.net manually for my demo collection, and before ADLaunch I was trying to find the optimum way of running the demos with Windows Explorer, IrfanView for thumbnails and other extremely awkward stuff.

Then I discovered Lazarus IDE, and remembering my old Delphi 3 days, found the two to be so similar that I could write my own launcher for the Amiga demos instead, and extensively using the WinUAE command line made things so much more versatile and simple.

Also, back in the awkward days, I combined much more information in the filenames than just the prod and group(s), so ADLaunch evolved over time to accept that information as I transferred it, with automation, to the configuration files. It could've taken me ages manually to type it all in, but my programming skills allowed me to automate the process.

I created this system for my own use, and I have all the time in the world thanks to covid restrictions, so I went ahead and worked hard and long on it, and I figured I'd share my system. But as I said, it's proving more awkward. Only a complete set of files that could run on any PC would be the ideal solution.

Since last year, I've improved ADLaunch a lot, and there is scope now for adding other live emulation platforms, too.

Here is a video demo of the new and improved ADLaunch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAVUum5aZYw

I thought a video of my program in action would be much more useful than a single screenshot.