Game files and formats

Discuss the project, or ask a general question
Post Reply
User avatar
Grimmsqueaker
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2014 9:32 am

Game files and formats

Post by Grimmsqueaker »

Hi,

I am new to Acorn so please bear with me, I have emailed Jon about this already but rather than just emailing him open things up to discussion a bit.

So ADFFS is essentially like using WHDLoad with CF IDE on Amiga or the Ultrasatan on Atari ST, this is a very worthwhile thing that is being done for the Archimedes. Thing is though finding an external SD solution or even external hard drive can be a bit difficult.

Looking round the net since I got my A3010 last weekend there is a severe lack of actual ADF Images, EmuParadise does have quite a few but only a handful of desirable titles.

I have successfully managed to write the Archimedes discs using Omniflop after changing adf to adl so it writes as double sided onto proper discs, everything has worked just fine for me and now I have a small collection of games for my new machine.

I have also been looking round the net and have seen that the HxC Floppy Emulator now has support for Archimedes adf files.

So ideally for HxC or standard floppy disc users we need the adf files for the games that have distribution allowed, things like GODS & Magic Pockets for example are available here but there are no adf versions available anywhere.

Could you please consider this, it means a larger user base will have access to the sterling work you are doing with the preservation project
Stoke me a clipper, I'll be back for breakfast!
JonAbbott
Posts: 2938
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2013 12:13 pm
Location: Essex
Contact:

Re: Game files and formats

Post by JonAbbott »

Grimmsqueaker wrote:So ideally for HxC or standard floppy disc users we need the adf files for the games that have distribution allowed, things like GODS & Magic Pockets for example are available here but there are no adf versions available anywhere.

Could you please consider this, it means a larger user base will have access to the sterling work you are doing with the preservation project
Both GODS and Magic Pockets have disk protection and would not work on ADF without being hacked - this isn't something the project can get involved in. Having said that, there's nothing to stop someone from copying the contents of a JFD file to a floppy. ADFFS will save ADF files as well.

At some point, we'll release the Krisalis Gold CD which has versions that aren't copy protected, but I'm not sure if they work on older machines. Essentially the games we've released are untouched digital copies of the original floppies, with protection intact. ADFFS then provides the means to emulate the 1772FDC and fix incompatibilities with later hardware on-the-fly.
User avatar
Grimmsqueaker
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2014 9:32 am

Re: Game files and formats

Post by Grimmsqueaker »

I completely forgot about disc protection, the .st & .MSA (Atari ST) & Amiga .adf that you get round the net have been fixed with protections removed etc and are easily transferred back to proper media.

The games I have been transferring back for the Archimedes, a lot of them are actually Krisalis thinking on it.

So in theory, put the ADFFS files onto a DOS formatted floppy, then put the JFD file onto another DOS floppy and open it with ADFFS and then transfer it back onto a 3rd Archimedes formatted floppy disc.

Need to have a tinker with this, I have tried opening ADFFS on my Arc already from a DOS formatted disc but it is not recognising any of the files as usable, just white named blocks and the machine doesn't know what to do with them
Stoke me a clipper, I'll be back for breakfast!
JonAbbott
Posts: 2938
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2013 12:13 pm
Location: Essex
Contact:

Re: Game files and formats

Post by JonAbbott »

Grimmsqueaker wrote:I have tried opening ADFFS on my Arc already from a DOS formatted disc but it is not recognising any of the files as usable, just white named blocks and the machine doesn't know what to do with them
Set the file type to "Floppy" and it should open.
User avatar
Grimmsqueaker
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2014 9:32 am

Re: Game files and formats

Post by Grimmsqueaker »

Excellent, I will give that a try, would love to be able to get some of these images back onto a floppy disc.

I hope you don't mind, I have contacted Jason Watton, the creator of Omniflop and have been telling him about your new jfd format for the Archimedes and asked if it could be incorporated into a future build of Omniflop, he said he can't find any info on your file type so have passed on the email address you have in the legal bit here to him so you may hear from him in due course.
Stoke me a clipper, I'll be back for breakfast!
JonAbbott
Posts: 2938
Joined: Thu Apr 11, 2013 12:13 pm
Location: Essex
Contact:

Re: Game files and formats

Post by JonAbbott »

Grimmsqueaker wrote:I have contacted Jason Watton, the creator of Omniflop and have been telling him about your new jfd format for the Archimedes and asked if it could be incorporated into a future build of Omniflop, he said he can't find any info on your file type
It's documented in !ADFFS.!Structure in the ADFFS download, you'll also find documentation for APD's in there.

I'm not sure it's possible to write a JFD to floppy without a lot of code and low level access to the floppy drive. A lot of protection relies on the discs being duplicated with professional duplicators that work at flux level to either generate specific sector errors or produce accurate timing of sector-in-sector etc.

If you need them on floppies, you may be better off purchasing originals from either one of the Acorn resellers or from eBay.
User avatar
Grimmsqueaker
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Jul 09, 2014 9:32 am

Re: Game files and formats

Post by Grimmsqueaker »

I am just trying to really get into the machine and have a bit of a software catalogue to play around with, then when I see a reasonably priced original on eBay or on a site somewhere pick it up.

Would be nice to be able to get things like GODS & Magic Pockets for example onto a disc until I source the original. There is an untested GODS on eBay at the minute and listed as sold as seen, trouble is paying higher price for untested items is not good.
Stoke me a clipper, I'll be back for breakfast!
User avatar
swirlythingy
Posts: 8
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2014 4:58 pm

Re: Game files and formats

Post by swirlythingy »

Whoops, I forgot this forum existed.

Anyway, I did actually write a patch to remove the copy protection from Magic Pockets, if you're still having trouble getting that one working. I haven't tested the patch on pre-RiscPC machines, but I can't think of any reason why it wouldn't work.
Post Reply