Emulating WormsDC

(Up to Worms: The Directors Cut)

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Worms: The Directors Cut was only released for the Amiga home computing system and can only be played one of two ways: on an Amiga which means the minimum system requirements, or via emulation. Emulation is the quickest and, arguably, cheapest method of getting the game to run on your PC, Mac or Linux-based hardware.

This guide aims to make it as easy as possible to emulate WormsDC on your computer. For the purposes of this guide we will be referring to WinUAE, a Windows-based Amiga emulator. Other emulators are available for other platforms, however WinUAE is still in constant development and receives updates every couple of months or so.

This guide also assumes you meet the minimum system specifications for emulating an Amiga, in this case an Amiga 1200. At the very least you'll need a graphics card that supports DirectX 9 and at least 512MB of RAM. Obviously the higher-spec your computer is the better your emulation experience will be.

TO DO: Write additional guide for getting WinUAE running on Linux and OS X based systems.

Software + Kickstart ROMs

The first thing you will need is WinUAE. I would recommend a version no lower than 2.3.1, which at time of writing is the latest build and the most compatible with WormsDC. This can be downloaded for free from WinUAE.net.

You'll also need Kickstart ROMs, the core of the Amiga operating system. You'll need at least Kicksart 3.1 to be able to successfully run the game. Unfortunately the ROM is still copyrighted to Amiga Technologies and there are only two legal ways of obtaining the ROM - dump the ROM from an Amiga, or purchase Amiga Forever, a fully-licensed emulation package from Cloanto that includes everything you need to successfully emulate an Amiga.

If you plan to purchase Amiga Forever, you'll need to purchase either the Plus Edition (US$29.95)or the Premium Edition (US$49.95). The Value Edition only includes the 1.3 Kickstart ROM, which is incompatible with either Worms or WormsDC. Amiga Forever can be purchased from AmigaForever.com.

WinUAE Configuration

Once you've got WinUAE installed and you've acquired your Kickstart ROM, you'll need to configure WinUAE. That's relatively easy, and you have two options.

Quickstart mode

Quickstart mode is ideal if you just want to jump straight into the game, although this mode doesn't allow you to set up a virtual hard drive, so if you're planning on using a lot of custom custom maps and DIY terrain styles you'll want to go for the full config option instead.

This is decidedly simple. Firstly, set up your Display, Sound, Miscellaneous and "Pri. & Extensions" to suit your personal requirements, and then save a default configuration. Once you've done all that you won't need to touch those settings again.

It is important that you have sound either Enabled or "Disabled, but emulated". For some reason WormsDC will not run if the sound is disabled.

Additionally to get the full visuals of the game it is recommended you use a display mode with 32-bit colour enabled, and do not enable NTSC mode on the Quickstart display as this will cut off part of the screen. Should you wish to play Worms or WormsDC windows, the best size for the window is 640x540. Always have horizontal and vertical centering enabled, and the line mode should be doubled.

In order to enable Quickstart mode, you must go to the Quickstart tab on the WinUAE GUI and set it up as demonstrated in the image to the right. Note that you will not be able to set it up this way until you have the Kickstart ROMs.

All you need to do at that point is select disks 1 and 2 to drives DF0: and DF1: respectively and click "Start". While WormsDC loads you will be prompted to insert disc 3, at which point you'll need to press F12 on the hard drive and swap disk 2 out for disk 3. Once the remaining data is loaded from disk 3, you're off.

Full configuration

If you're planning on using custom maps, terrains, mountains, and speechbanks, your best bet is to go with a full configuration. This will require you to actually set up a virtual hard drive within the emulator, install Workbench 3.1 or 3.X (the Amiga operating system, also sometimes called AmigaOS), and install WormsDC itself.

The easy way - using Amiga Forever

If you've elected to purchase Amiga Forever Plus Edition or Premium Edition, most of the work has already been done for you, and all you'll need to do is adjust some of the emulation settings in the Default configuration and install WormsDC. Here's a rundown of the settings you'll need to change:

• Chipset
  • May need to be switched to "AGA".
  • "Chipset Extra" should be set to "Generic".
• RAM
  • Chip should be at least 2MB.
  • Fast should be at least 4MB, but set to 8MB just to be on the safe side.
• Display
  • If using a fullscreen mode, ensure you have the colour depth set to 32-bit (it's the drop-down menu next to the fullscreen resolution drop-down).

Be sure to save the configuration once you've completed making these adjustments.

The tricky way - doing it yourself

You can download this WinUAE configuration file. You'll need to make sure the Kickstart ROM is properly assigned, and perhaps change your display settings, and then you're set.