Kickstart ROMs

For the best emulation experience, you should have copies of the original Kickstart ROMs for each of the Amiga model you want to use. Using the built-in kickstart replacement (from the AROS project) is possible, but it is less compatible with Amiga software.

Getting Kickstart ROMs via Amiga Forever

You can purchase Amiga Forever Plus or Premium edition in order to get licensed versions of Kickstart ROMs for all supported Amiga models.

There are two versions which contains all Kickstart ROMs:

Plus: Gives you access to a downloadable .msi installer.
Premium: Physical media, plus access to the plus edition .msi installer.

There is also a value edition, but this only provides kickstart ROM for Amiga 500 (and possibly a few other models depending on the Amiga Forever version). This is sufficient for most classic games though!

Please note that FS-UAE / Frode Solheim is not affiliated with Amiga Forever, and this project gets no provisions from the sale of Amiga Forever. This information is only provided as a convenience to the users of FS-UAE.

Extracting Kickstart ROMs from real Amiga computers

By using a tool such as Transrom or Grabkick, you can extract the ROM from your own Amiga and copy it over to your computer. Here are some guides:

http://www.pcguru.plus.com/uae_transfer.html (web.archive.org)
http://ale.emuunlim.com/guides/get-kick-rom.shtml
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/EUAEAmigaEmulator

Please note that I don’t provide support for extracting / transferring Amiga ROM files, but you can probably get help on the English Amiga Board if you are stuck.

Using the replacement ROM

FS-UAE will automatically use the replacement AROS ROM when:

The preferred kickstart rom for the Amiga model in use was not found, and no kickstart file was explicitly specified, or
When kickstart_file is specified as “internal”

FS-UAE Launcher behaves a bit differently and will refuse to start the emulation if the preferred kickstart ROM is not found. You must change the Kickstart option to "Internal" in order to use the replacement ROM.

Preferred Kickstart ROMs

This sections lists the Kickstart ROM used by default by FS-UAE and FS-UAE Launcher. When checksums are listed for Amiga Forever ROMs, it refers to the checksum of the decrypted content, not the scrambled file. The name of the ROMs do not matter, only the content. Amiga Forever and TOSEC names are used for reference.

Amiga 500

Kickstart v1.3 r34.5 (1987)(Commodore)(A500-A1000-A2000-CDTV)[!].rom
SHA-1: 891e9a547772fe0c6c19b610baf8bc4ea7fcb785

Amiga Forever does not come with the actual A500 rom, but the following kickstart will be patched so it is identical to the one above (it’s only a 3 byte difference):

amiga-os-130.rom
SHA-1: c39bd9094d4e5f4e28c1411f3086950406062e87

The following ROM is an overdumped version of the preferred ROM, but FS-UAE will recognize this and use it like it were the preferred one:

Kickstart v1.3 r34.5 (1987)(Commodore)(A500-A1000-A2000-CDTV)[o].rom
SHA-1: 90933936cce43ca9bc6bf375662c076b27e3c458

Amiga 500+

amiga-os-204.rom
Kickstart v2.04 r37.175 (1991)(Commodore)(A500+)[!].rom
SHA-1: c5839f5cb98a7a8947065c3ed2f14f5f42e334a1

Amiga 600

amiga-os-205.rom
Kickstart v2.05 r37.350 (1992)(Commodore)(A600HD)[!].rom
SHA-1: 02843c4253bbd29aba535b0aa3bd9a85034ecde4

Amiga 1200

amiga-os-310-a1200.rom
Kickstart v3.1 r40.68 (1993)(Commodore)(A1200)[!].rom
SHA-1: e21545723fe8374e91342617604f1b3d703094f1

Amiga 3000

amiga-os-310-a3000.rom
Kickstart v3.1 r40.68 (1993)(Commodore)(A3000).rom
SHA-1: f8e210d72b4c4853e0c9b85d223ba20e3d1b36ee

Amiga 4000

Kickstart v3.1 r40.68 (1993)(Commodore)(A4000).rom
SHA-1: 5fe04842d04a489720f0f4bb0e46948199406f49

The following ROM will be patched to the one above on demand:

amiga-os-310.rom
Kickstart v3.1 r40.68 (1993)(Commodore)(A4000)[h Cloanto].rom
SHA-1: c3c481160866e60d085e436a24db3617ff60b5f9

Amiga 1000

amiga-os-120.rom
Kickstart v1.2 r33.180 (1986)(Commodore)(A500-A1000-A2000)[!].rom
SHA-1: 11f9e62cf299f72184835b7b2a70a16333fc0d88

Amiga CD32

amiga-os-310-cd32.rom
Kickstart v3.1 r40.60 (1993)(Commodore)(CD32).rom
SHA-1: 3525be8887f79b5929e017b42380a79edfee542d

You also need the extended ROM for CD32:

amiga-ext-310-cd32.rom
CD32 Extended-ROM r40.60 (1993)(Commodore)(CD32).rom
SHA-1: 5bef3d628ce59cc02a66e6e4ae0da48f60e78f7f

Commodore CDTV

Commodore uses the same Kickstart ROM as Amiga 500. But in addition, you also need the extended ROM for CDTV:

amiga-ext-130-cdtv.rom
CDTV Extended-ROM v1.0 (1991)(Commodore)(CDTV)[!].rom
SHA-1: 7ba40ffa17e500ed9fed041f3424bd81d9c907be

54 thoughts on “Kickstart ROMs”

How do I dump or creat the “amiga-os-130.rom” with Amiga Forever? What HEX bytes and offsets do I need to change?

Reply ↓

FrodeSolheim on 2019-07-07 at 18:06 said:

If you have Amiga Forever, then amiga-os-130.rom is already installed as part of Amiga Forever, no need to dump anything.

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Hey Frode, Thought I’d try FS-UAE instead of the IMHO inferior UI of WinUAE. However, I’m having difficulty installing the kickstarts. They’re imported and recognized (as in, there’s a big fat tick-mark over them all), but the system still boots into AROS. Is there anything to be done? Very grateful for the product, and hoping I won’t have to go back to WinUAE.

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FrodeSolheim on 2016-09-28 at 20:02 said:

Hi, please try the new 2.8.0 version and see if the problem still exists 🙂

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I have purchased Amiga forever, where will I fuming all the kickstart.rom files ? and where do I copy them to with FS-UAE-uae ? does it over ride and FPS-uae files or should I delete before copying the Amiga forever kickstart roms ?
thanks

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FrodeSolheim on 2016-01-16 at 14:05 said:

You can copy the kickstart .rom files (remember to also include the rom.key file) to the FS-UAE/Kickstarts folder. You don’t need to do anything else, FS-UAE and FS-UAE Launcher will automatically find the correct kickstart ROMs for all Amiga models if you have copied the .rom files into place.

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- Steve Jones on 2016-01-16 at 14:15 said:
  
  thanks, that was quick… I have version 8 of Amiga forever, so do,Imuse msiextract to get the kickstart roms ? Do I need ‘ cracked’ versions of protected games to run in FS-UAE ? I have so many different versions of I.C.F.T.D don’t know which one is best to use, unless I can get an uncracked version which will run.
  
  Reply ↓
  - FrodeSolheim on 2016-01-16 at 14:31 said:
    
    If you only have an .msi of Amiga Forever, yes, then you need to extract the ROM files somehow, either:
    – Install using wine
    – Install using a real Windows computer
    – Install using Windows in a virtual machine
    
    Copy-protected Amiga disks can work in FS-UAE, if the disks are in .ipf format. ADF files usually must either be cracked, unless the original disks did not use disk-based copy protection.
    
    Reply ↓
    - Steve Jones on 2016-01-16 at 14:50 said:
      
      thanks
      that’s a lot clearer..
      
      so amazing seeing it came from th desert again after 22 years
    - Steve Jones on 2016-01-16 at 19:42 said:
      
      I have Amiga forever 2016 and have extracted the fils using 7zip to a folder, but can’t see the rom files…which version of Amiga forever had them seperate ? still can’t find the folder on my PC to put the kickstart roms….
      thanks
    - FrodeSolheim on 2016-01-16 at 19:51 said:
      
      I don’t think that will work. You need to use Wine or Windows, I don’t know of any other way :-/
  - FrodeSolheim on 2016-01-16 at 15:48 said:
    
    Actually, I tested using msiextract, and this does not provide you with the required rom.key file, I guess it is manually written by the installer somehow. So you need to use wine or a real/virtual Windows machine to get the required files.
    
    Reply ↓
    - Steve Jones on 2016-01-16 at 20:47 said:
      
      I found the rom files in the program data folder shared folder…. I don’t know if these are made available in the trial, if so its easy to get them, I used the rom import tool in Fs-aue was easy… what is consider the best Sinclair emulator, there is so much choice.. thanks
    - FrodeSolheim on 2016-01-17 at 00:30 said:
      
      I think only the 1.3 ROM file is available in the trial version – without the required rom.key.
      
      As for ZX Spectrum emulation, I use MAME/MESS for that purpose in my emulation projects. It may be a bit difficult to get started with though…
    - FrodeSolheim on 2016-01-17 at 09:28 said:
      
      Is it possible the author of FS-UAE will create a spectrum Sinclair emulator of the same high quality as the Amiga one ?
      
      thanks
    - FrodeSolheim on 2016-01-22 at 19:37 said:
      
      Hi, I’m not planning to maintain a completely “own” Spectrum emulator no, but I will probably distribute a customized MAME/MESS which can be launched from FS Game Center (FS-UAE Arcade).

UAE cannot find kick.rom. The file does appear to be in the correct location /root/my-applications/amiga/rom/kick.rom. Can you help? Thank you

Reply ↓

FrodeSolheim on 2015-10-01 at 08:36 said:

This is not a default location. But since it is possible to override the kickstarts dir in FS-UAE, it is impossible for me to say if it is wrong or not without more information – I would need to see your configuration. http://fs-uae.net/log-files-needed.

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- elchucko on 2015-10-01 at 17:24 said:
  
  Since I’m a novice at this let me explain what environment I’m attempting to use UAE. I have AmiPUP running on a memory stick. I want to be able to launch AmiKit from AmiPUP. Don’t know if that makes any difference.
  
  Reply ↓
  - FrodeSolheim on 2015-10-01 at 18:32 said:
    
    AmiPUP? According to http://sourceforge.net/projects/amipup/, this uses E-UAE, and if so, you have to the wrong place. I can only provide support for FS-UAE.
    
    Reply ↓
    - elchucko on 2015-10-01 at 21:34 said:
      
      OK. Thank you
- elchucko on 2015-10-03 at 22:06 said:
  
  How do I capture a workbench screen shot and how do I email or post such screen?
  
  Reply ↓
  - FrodeSolheim on 2015-10-04 at 18:40 said:
    
    You can use F12+s to capture screenshots (http://fs-uae.net/keyboard-shortcuts). By default, the screen captures will be saved to the desktop as .png files.
    
    Reply ↓
    - elchucko on 2015-10-04 at 21:14 said:
      
      Thank you

You can use the tools msiextract from msitools (https://wiki.gnome.org/msitools, for OSX install it via homebrew) to extract all files from the Amiga Forever msi archive.

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FrodeSolheim on 2016-03-30 at 14:07 said:

Hi, this procedure will not extract the required rom.key key, as it is written when you start the Amiga Forever Player for the first time I think.

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Hi I have downloaded the Amiga Plus files, but when I open it the folder there doesn’t appear to be any usable files. They look like this…

0_Columns ... ... 0MsiFileHash ... SummaryInformation

Can someone PLEASE help me figure out how to get it to work? Thanks, Katy

Reply ↓

FrodeSolheim on 2015-08-06 at 17:37 said:

Hi, unfortunately, recent Amiga Forever versions must be installed in Windows (or Wine). Anyway, if you want to, I can provide you a link where you can upload your install, and I can send you back the corresponding ROM files.

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Hi,

I have copies of my Amigas’ rom installed in the folder Kickstarts/ , but when I try to do an ‘import’, FS-UAE doesn’t take in account my KICK31.ROM file which is a revision 40.68.

Here’s the sum:

[sim@mbkp ~/Desktop/fs-uae-suite_2.5.30dev+portable_macosx/Kickstarts]$ shasum KICK31.ROM
e21545723fe8374e91342617604f1b3d703094f1 KICK31.ROM

Also, doing an hex dump on it, shows the following output:

guess I’m missing something, but cannot find what…

Reply ↓

FrodeSolheim on 2015-05-14 at 22:33 said:

Hmm, checksum looks correct for A1200 v3.1 ROM. Perhaps something trivial like FS-UAE Launcher not scanning files with capital .ROM extension? Try renaming to kick31.rom for fun, and rescan… (please report back on that). If that does not help, perhaps the launcher log file contains something interesting related to KICK31.ROM?

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I have an older cd-rom version of Amiga Forever, from 1997, and FS-UAE have problems finding the roms in the package. First, they are in a different location (Amiga Forever/Emulation/shared/rom). Second, FS-UAE doesn’t seem to accept some of the roms. The A1200 rom is labeled as not existing, and while CD32 is marked as existing, it reports that it doesn’t find it when I run a game. If I assign them manually however, they all work fine. Would be great if FS-UAE would automatically accept them though.

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FrodeSolheim on 2015-04-12 at 13:00 said:

Hi, I have registered a todo issue for the different location: https://github.com/FrodeSolheim/fs-uae-launcher/issues/20. The problem with the missing A1200 rom is that it actually is missing from earlier Amiga Forever CDs! amiga-os-310.rom is an A4000 ROM. Newer Amiga Forever releases contains amiga-os-310-a1200.rom. As you discovered, using the ROM manually seems to work, but some A1200 functions may not work correctly, so FS-UAE does not automatically use mismatching ROMs.

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When trying to import from Amiga Forever CD (Amiga Files/Shares/rom) I get a error stating “This is not a directory. Import task is done.” I assuming this field is designed to look for the Amiga forever disc. Is this because the .rom key is in the same folder as the kick starts (thus this field may not check for rom ?). If so, then it will always happen because every Amiga forever CD as least now has the .rom key in the same directory, and since u cannot select files unless u use the first option under “Import Kickstarts” window, its never going to work, unles you drag and drop from the CD, which defeats the purpose looking for the disc/image.

Reply ↓

FrodeSolheim on 2015-02-14 at 12:11 said:

Hi, with the “import from Amiga Forever CD” you are supposed to select the root directory of the CD, i.e. “D:\” or “/media/AmigaForever” or whatever it is on your system. My guess is that you have browsed to the Shared/rom directory on the CD, and that’s why it does not recognize the Amiga Forever CD layout. If not, please send a screenshot of the import kickstarts dialog (when you have selected the Amiga Forever CD) as well as a screenshot of the error dialog to frode@fs-uae.net. Thanks 🙂

Reply ↓
- Jared on 2015-02-14 at 13:26 said:
  
  thanks.. it worked..
  
  Reply ↓

Amiga Forever 2014 Plus Edition rom.key does not work 🙁 I did buy AmigaForever 2014 Plus Edition and created the iso image. Then I mounted the ISO on a Mac and tried to import the kickstarts. Everything fine so far, all kickstarts detected and all kickstarts and rom.key are copied to the Kickstarts folder. BUT FS-UAE does always complain: Amiga Launch Task failed with exception ‘did not find rom.key to decrypt ROM with’. See log file for details. What could be the problem? I did also try to import all files from the shared/rom folder, does also not work 🙁 Any hints?

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Thomas on 2014-10-20 at 22:31 said:

SOLVED

was an issue with the old configuration. It was searching in a wrong folder. Deleting the content of the data and cache directories did solve the issue.

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I own Amiga Forever premium, and there are no .key files present for any of the ROM’s. So unfortunately Amiga Forever is no longer an option for FS-UAE roms.

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FrodeSolheim on 2014-04-19 at 00:58 said:

This is very disappointing, if true. What exact version of Amiga Forever do you have?

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- tomse on 2014-04-21 at 09:23 said:
  
  I have the latest PLUS version of AF, the rom.key is located in “C:\Users\Public\Documents\Amiga Files\Shared\rom” on Windows 7
  
  Reply ↓
Mike on 2014-06-05 at 08:22 said:

rom.key has always been included in Amiga Forever Plus/Premium Edition, but please note that we are talking about one file only (not one per ROM), so it may be easy to miss. It is in Amiga Files/shared/rom on the disc, or if running Amiga Forever select Open Amiga Files from the Tools menu, and then go inside Shared/rom.

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AD on 2014-10-18 at 16:00 said:

I found I had to run Amiga Forever once before rom.key was created in the …\Shared\rom directory.

Reply ↓
- FrodeSolheim on 2015-01-17 at 21:17 said:
  
  Thanks, that’s very useful to know!
  
  Reply ↓

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I have the Amiga 3.9 CD. Would it be possible to load and use this later system?

Reply ↓

FrodeSolheim on 2013-12-21 at 08:57 said:

Yes, that will work fine, but to install from this CD you need to rip it to .iso or .bin/.cue first and use the CD image as installation medium. FS-UAE does not support real CD-ROM devices.

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Can you use this on a real Amiga to switch between ROMS? I have Amiga Forever and a real Amiga 4000. I am finding the 4000 will not run a lot of the older software. It keeps looking for an A500 ROM.

Reply ↓

FrodeSolheim on 2013-08-26 at 23:24 said:

I’m not sure what you refer to by “this”, but I suppose the answer is no anyway. If you want to run titles which normally does not run in your A4000, you should probably have a look at WHDLoad. You can also try to “softkick” your A4000 to Kickstart 1.3 by using the software “ReloKick” (google for it). That’s no guarantee that older games will run though (since the CPU is much faster than what many old games except, and also, some games may not like the updated chipset. Anyway, I cannot give support for real hardware problems here, try eab.abime.net instead 🙂

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I have an Amiga A500+, coming with Kickstart 2.0. In those days, I also bought a Kickstart 1.3 disk that I could boot up my Amiga with. I would put the disk in the drive, boot up, and it would load the kickstart, and then restart the Amiga. Whilst the Amiga was restarting, I would remove the disk, and voila, Amiga would boot into a Kickstart 1.3 startup screen. How can I manage to to this using FS-UAE?

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FrodeSolheim on 2013-02-27 at 21:52 said:

You should be able to do it just like with your old Amiga. But you need to have a disk image (.adf) of such an Kickstart 1.3 disk. When the Amiga restarts, you can eject the disk from the first floppy drive from the F12 menu.

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FrodeSolheim on 2013-08-26 at 23:25 said:

The software you are looking for is probable “ReloKick” btw, just google for it 🙂

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You should make the amiga emulator already come with a kickstart and a ROM

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FrodeSolheim on 2013-02-13 at 21:08 said:

I would love that, of course, but the original kickstarts are not freely distributable 🙁 It does come with a kickstart replacement though, which can be used to run quite a lot of Amiga software (set kickstart to “internal” in FS-UAE Launcher).

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Documentation

Kickstart ROMs

Getting Kickstart ROMs via Amiga Forever

Extracting Kickstart ROMs from real Amiga computers

Using the replacement ROM

Preferred Kickstart ROMs

Amiga 500

Amiga 500+

Amiga 600

Amiga 1200

Amiga 3000

Amiga 4000

Amiga 1000

Amiga CD32

Commodore CDTV