Short:        WHDLoad game launcher (no MUI needed)
Author:       PAL-N Studios
Uploader:     josemanera gmail com (PAL-N Studios)
Type:         game/misc
Version:      33.286
Requires:     AmigaOS 2.0+, WHDLoad
Architecture: m68k-amigaos >= 2.0
Distribution: Aminet

PocketLauncher
==============

A WHDLoad game launcher for AmigaOS 2.0+. It scans your disks,
catalogs the slaves, and you launch them from a list with cover
images. Ideal for large collections (tested with 3000+ games).

Assumes you already use WHDLoad.


The best part: no libraries needed
----------------------------------
* A single binary, ~380 KB. Copy it and it runs - nothing to install.
* No MUI needed (iGame requires it), no datatypes, no guigfx, nothing
  off disk.


Features
--------
* Smart auto-cataloging: reads the name embedded in the slave and the
  igame.data (title, genre, year, players, chipset, arguments), and
  tells games from demos on its own.
* Multiple sources at once (up to 16 folders/volumes), detects mounted
  volumes and drops duplicates.
* Incremental Update Index: adds new slaves without re-scanning
  everything.
* Integrity check: finds slaves that are missing (deleted or moved)
  and cleans them from the database, but keeps the ones on an
  unmounted volume, so you don't lose your DB if you unplug a CF.
* Low-RAM mode and an optimized fast-RAM mode.
* Native IFF cover images, no datatypes. Laced, progressive (hires)
  and RTG. Multi-IFF: view every .iff in the game's folder, not just
  one. Two scaling modes: fill and sharp (pixel-perfect).
* Built-in tooltype editor - edit the .info from the app without
  opening IconEdit.
* Run at startup and optional fullscreen.
* Sortable table (title, platform, genre, year, players). Filter by
  three combinable criteria: language, platform (OCS/ECS, AGA, CD32,
  CDTV) and type (games, demos, mags, cracktros, apps), plus a title
  search. Iconify to an AppIcon with global hotkeys.


Install
-------
Unpack the LHA and run PocketLauncher. That's it - no assigns, no
libraries, no MUI.


Changelog
---------
v33.286 (2026-07-31)
  * RTG fix: on a graphics-card / RTG Workbench (Picasso96,
    CyberGraphX - e.g. a 1920x1080 desktop) the launcher wrongly
    refused to start with "screen too low", even though the screen is
    plenty big. Those screens don't set the legacy ECS HIRES bit that
    the resolution check demanded. It now accepts any screen 640 wide
    or more regardless of that bit, and only requires the HIRES bit on
    narrow (<640) screens - so RTG desktops work and native LoRes is
    still correctly rejected. Native OCS/ECS/AGA modes are unaffected.

v33.285 (2026-07-30)
  Memory-scaling pass so big collections index fully on real
  fast-RAM machines.
  * The game database is now held in a chunked pool (fixed 256-record
    blocks) instead of one growing array. The old single array needed
    an ever-larger contiguous block and walled indexing at ~3000
    games / ~2 MB even on an 8 MB machine, because no single free
    block was big enough. The chunked pool uses fast RAM in small
    pieces, so all of it is usable - large collections now index to
    completion.
  * Header-count validation now guards both directions (a corrupt DB
    whose count byte reads as a large or negative value is rejected
    with a "rebuild via Sources > Index" message instead of loading
    garbage rows).
  * Auto low-RAM mode kicks in on the right thresholds (small
    fast-RAM or low total), and the optimized fast-RAM path is used
    when there's headroom.

v33.284 (2026-07-21)
  Robustness pass from two independent audits, 14 verified fixes.
  * The "Please insert volume X" requester no longer pops at boot or
    when launching a game whose volume is dismounted (unplugged USB,
    ejected disk) - DOS requesters are now suppressed launcher-wide.
  * WHDLoad paths of 241-255 chars now launch (they used to truncate
    at 240, leaving the game unlaunchable).
  * Games on offline volumes are no longer pruned by "Check DB
    integrity" (preserved until the volume returns).
  * Fixed a crash on OS 2.0-3.0 when drawing thumbnails.
  * DB game-count validation against file size (prevents blank rows
    from a corrupt DB).


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