Steam Deck: EmuDeck Amiga Emulation 101: All about Kickstarts, Games and Configuration

The Amiga computer was way ahead of its time. For those of us who lived those days, we know how finicky and resource hungry quality Amiga emulation can be. In this video, we'll introduce you to the Amiga and its odd emulator needs (like Kickstarts) - we'll cover the various ways Amiga games are distributed and consumed (ADF, HDF, WHDLOAD) and we'll show you advanced configuration techniques. We will teach you about M3U and how to handle multiple disks, fix condensed screen graphics, per-game configurations and so much more.

Almost all of the information here is useful for Raspberry Pi or PC versions of Emulation Station as well.

Note: We will assume you have EmuDeck and SSH set up and not repeat these tutorials here.

Links
EmuDeck Setup

Legal Amiga Kickstarts
(Note: The video assumes you have installed Amiga Forever on your PC)

SSH Setup

Where Amiga Forever Stores Kickstarts
C:\Users\Public\Public Documents\Amiga Files\Shared\dir\System\Devs\Kickstarts

Helper Pack Download

path for m3U
/run/media/mmcblk0p1/Emulation/roms/amiga/.amiga-hidden/

[alexanderkulaev]

So cool! I have the same Emulation Station striped theme on my Deck :)

[ryanmacewen]

I'm rediscovering Amiga emulation, again. I delved into Amithlon, AND Cloanto in about 2003-2004. I still have my A3000T, CDTV, and A500/A590, scattered about. ;) Need to clear the schedule and do some battery damage inspections. Great video. I think I need a Steam deck. 🙃

[extenue]

Many thanks for this video !! so useful, i really enjoyed the narration, keep up the good work !

[DJKutski]

Great video. Everything I needed to know, very clearly explained! Thanks for making 👍🏼👍🏼

[MaximumRD]

The ultimate portable AMIGA? YES PLEASE !

[JJbm]

I wish there was an easy way to install Amiga forever 10 on steam deck. With its versatility, it might change Amiga on handhelds completely!

[hubert]

it's overwhelming, now I know why Emulating the Amiga is a dead end. Watching it you can exhaust yourself mentally.
Emulating Gameboy or other platforms is so simple, while Amiga is a labyrinth of roms, incompatible applications, a lot of clicking, and finally a screen of errors, no working analogues.
The copyright to Kickstarter, and even if you have one - it still doesn't work - because not this name, not this version, not this color, not this grimace on your face and you will hang when you start.
When I was young I had an Amiga 600, now I have a gaming laptop and Deck and I found that my sentiment for this platform I have to narrow down to watching gameplay of old games on youtube.

Reading the comments here, you can get even more depressed, as someone watches it is satisfied, - however, it someone watches it AND starts doing it suddenly turns out that - save does not work, "this does not work that does not work" full despair

[JasonJPParker]

Thanks for this great guide. Used it to set up emulation on my steamdeck oled proper this time and get back into the emulation rabbiot hole.

[jimboyer]

Very helpful video. Where I'm stuck is trying to play Pinball Dreams (the only game I've loaded so far, LOL). The current mapping doesn't allow me to launch the ball (I can launch the ball with the virtual KB, but would like button-related solution), or trigger the flippers. I'm just using the Steamdeck's controls, no external controller. I've played with the control mapping but nothing has helped.

[androskris]

Thanks for this excellent guide! At 30:39 there is no zoom mode. Apparently now it is just called crop.

[nhdeitmers]

So great to see the Amiga run on the Steam Deck! Just to confirm: the games won't really run full screen? I've been trying to at least fill the vertical space completely, but it seems to be impossible?

[makepool]

Old Monroe on YouTube. I used to listen to your Retro Gaming Radio.

[shawndimery]

Im confused! can you please help? i have lots of Amiga roms and kickstarts from when i used to use winuae, im not sure which ones i need? they are all named differently to yours. i have about 30

[FluffCorporation]

Hey, thanks for the guide, it's been super useful and I've managed to get myself a pretty solid Amiga emulation. One question: do save and load states work with multi disk Amiga games? Currently running soccer kid but trying to load a state from a different session causes an emulated memory crash. Loading from the same session seems to work though. Do you think this is just a limitation of the emulated device?

[sebastianbeyer]

Great guide, would like to know where you have the information about the .amiga-hidden folder from? Got it working but sadly Steam Rom Manager is still picking up all .adf files and Games show up in Steam as much as they have disks

[JarppaGuru]

all right i installed amiga 3.2 with winuae to hdf file using A1200 3.1 kick. it works fine on winuae but emu deck it wont load. says loadmodule blah blah.

[theavangelist]

2 things I am having issues with still

1. the .amiga-hidden folder is visible in emulation station, and still being scanned for games? In desktop mode, it is set to not show hidden folders. In gaming mode, you're locked out of anything like that anyway

2. I'm using playstation 4 controllers and the buttons don't seem to map correctly. Just now tried playing SWoS 2 player and for some reason the trigger was assigned to the opposite controller. something very strange there

Anyone got experiences of this?

[nhotaku]

Excellent video. I can do anything with ADFs on my Deck, thanks to you. The playlist help is fantastic! However, nothing I try for WHDLoad will work. Game won't even allow me to get to RetroArch config via thumbsticks, it just fails after some seconds. I have tried HDF and LHA. I wonder if my old version of Cloanto Amiga Forever (2006 premium ed.) kickstarts are to blame as the MD5 checksum is different than yours/puae guide... They seem to work fine with the many ADFs I have tried, where AROS would have failed.

[Drjacques]

I am here again…What about analog stick inputs?…is it possible to set the analog stick to play?…I tried on my own, but it did not really work. how does work that?…thank you again for your amazing video!

[vypr]

Fantastic video! Still having a problem getting an external keyboard to work at all for games that need it (can't get past the initial "input password" screen from Pool of Radiance).