Amiga CD32 Games

As well as the Amiga computers, WinUAE also supports the console version of the Amiga, the CD32. This was basically a beefed up A1200 with a couple of extra chips in it. It came with a console style controller and I suppose it has the claim to fame of being the worlds first 32bit CD based console. But as usual Commodore did a crap marketing job and by the time it was getting anywhere Commodore went bust (what's new eh?). Here a little page on how to run games...

Setting Up WinUAE For CD32 Emulation.

For CD32 emulation you need to get 2 kickstart images from the net. They are Kickstart 3.1 (CD32) rev. 40.60 and the CD32 Extended Rom rev 40.60 . Heres the settings you need to use in the WinUAE config.

RAM - 2MB Chip
ROM File - Kickstart 3.1 (CD32) rev 40.60
Extended ROM File - CD32 Extended Rom rev. 40.60
Flash RAM File - save.nvr (Will be created automatically)
CPU - 68020+FPU (JIT slider at least half way)
Display - 800x600 centered.
Chipset - AGA, Fast Copper
Sound - 100% Accurate

If you start WinUAE now it will boot straight to the CD32 screen like this...

To play a game you need the original CD, a backup CD or an ISO+MP3 image mounted on a virtual drive (see below on how to do this). You can get CD images from http://back2roots.org and if you have a CD burner you can burn them onto a disk using a program like Nero Burning Rom that supports .cue files. Put the disk in you CD drive and the CD32 will boot. Just to prove it works heres a piccy of Disposable Hero CD32 running on my machine...

Using A Virtual CD Drive

If you don't have a CD burner then you can use a Virtual CD drive. What this does is to emulate a CDRom using an ISO disk image and some MP3 files for music (if necessary). There are several virtual CD tools around such as Daemon Tools (not for beginners!) or Alcohol 120%. What they do is treat the disk image as a separate drive for example if you have a C: drive which is your hard disk, a D: drive which is your CDRom then you will get an E: drive which is your virtual CDRom.

To run a CD32 game then you need to get the game CD image including the ISO file, some MP3 files and a CUE file. The cue file is the most important as it holds the information of where the files were held on the original disk. Mount your disk using your Virtual CD tool and WinUAE will pick it up and load it.

I cant give too much info on these Virtual CD tools but when I used Alcohol 120% I just pressed Mount Image, selected my disk image and that was it. WinUAE picked it up and booted it.