WHDLoad is an Amiga harddrive install package. It makes it possible to install a lot of Amiga demos and games, which were originally designed to run only from floppy disk, onto your harddrive.

The official site for the WHDLoad project can be found at http://www.whdload.de/

The main WHDLoad package can be downloaded from the official site here.

Who is responsible for the WHDLoad project?

The main author of the main WHDLoad project is Bert Jahn. Many other contributors write the installers and patches for WHDLoad. A full list of contributors can be found on the official site.

Why use WHDLoad?

There are many reasons why you would use WHDLoad. These include:

• The games and demos are installed on the HD so no finding and swapping disks each time you want to play one. Just select it from the HD and it loads.
• Having the games installed on HD preserves the original disks from wearing out.
• No more disk swapping! Plus Games and Demos load faster from HD than they do from floppy disk.
• The Hiscores and Save game files are stored on the HDD, so there is no need to create save game disks any longer.
• No need to enter any copy protection when starting a game. All WHDLoad games are patched to pass the protection system.
• The Game code has been updated/patched by the WHDLoad installers to fix any existing bugs in the original games.
• All WHDLoad installed games and demos have a quit option to return you to Workbench.
• All games have been fixed to work on newer Amigas. This is achieved by WHDLoad containing a copy of the earlier kickstart rom versions, so that if it is loading an older Amiga game it can load it using an earlier kickstart version to make the game run correctly on newer Amigas such as the AGA chipset.
• Therefore due to the games being fixed, compatibility between older games and AGA based machines is solved.
• Installers exist for well over 1000 games and over 200 demos, so you can install a lot more Amiga games onto HDD than was ever directly supported by the original games developers.

Why can't I download the actual games from the WHDLoad website?

Many Amiga games are still copyrighted and therefore it would be illegal to include the original games with the WHDLoad installers. The main aim of WHDLoad is to provide owners of the original games a way to install and run them from HDD.

Can I use cracked games as well as originals with WHDLoad installers?

Some WHDLoad installer will work with cracked copies of games. But the develop of each installer will need to design their installers to support this in order for it to be guaranteed to work. Many cracked games will also work and install correctly, but this is not guaranteed.

Registering WHDLoad

The main WHDLoad package is shareware. It can be used without registering, but you will have a lot of limitations if you do. It will put up a registration screen which is timed and you will have to wait for before each game or demo will load. In addition many installed games and demos will not run using an unregistered copy of WHDLoad.

Registration is very reasonable at only £15 (€20/$30) and the registration key personalizes you copy of WHDLoad.

Using a pirate registration key

We highly recommend you do not try to use a pirated WHDLoad registration key. Special anti-piracy features have been built into WHDLoad and it can easily detect a pirated key.

However it won't just state it is pirated, but let you think it is working OK. Instead it will do strange things to the system when you rin WHDLoad installed games and demos. Some will load, some might crash or go to a black screen. It will cause random instability in the system.

Obtaining installers for WHDLoad

Each game or demo supported by WHDLoad has it's own installer. Once you have installed the main WHDload software onto your Amiga you will then need to obtain a WHDLoad installer for each game or demo you would like to install onto your HD.

To find the installers look on the official WHDLoad website here.

When using a WHDLoad installer try to use original game disks and not pirated ones. Pirated/cracked game disks have often had their file structure altered so the WHDload installer won't be able to install it correctly as it won't find the correct order and size of files needed.

Pre-setup WHDLoad games and demos

If you don't wish to try and install each of your games and demos onto your harddrive by hand then there is a nice alternative solution. The forum member killergorilla has created a series of game and demo packs for WHDLoad called the KGWHD packs. These contain an extensive set of preinstalled games and demos that you can just copy directly onto your Amiga HD ready to use.

You can find the KGWHD packs at KillerGorilla's KGWHD site http://kgwhd.whdownload.com/

Using this WHDLoad forum

We will use this WHDLoad forum to post announcements about the main WHDLoad project and any updates it receives. We will also use it to post information about new installers released for use with WHDLoad.

In addition we will also use it to post information about Killlergorilla's WHDLoad packs and any updates released for them.

Please also use this forum to ask any questions or suggestions you have for both the main WHDLoad project and the KGWHD packs. If you are having problems getting something to work, or think you have found an installer that isn't currently included in the KGWHD packs.

Other questions

If you have any further questions about WHDLoad, please post them in this WHDLoad forum. If the questions are important enough they will be added to this post.