ADFFS 2.64

[Trapper]

Jon,

Can you use ADFFS to write JFDs back to a physical floppy? At the moment I'm converting all my self-made ADFs to JFDs to make use of the archive and index/inventory features that JFD has, along with the much decreased image file size. However if I need to write one back to a physical floppy I'm having to mount the JFD using !ADFFS and then create an /ADF of it by using !ADFimager as when I try to save it a mounted JFD as an ADF using !ADFFS nothing happens. The imaging window pops up, but does nothing and lists no sectors.

It works, but it is a bit slow and at the moment I'm trying to work out if it's better to keep my original AFDs alongside the newly created JFDs for writeback purposes only or it's just easier to create the ADF version manually if I ever need to write back. As !ADFimager is using the JFD in RAM creating the ADF and saving it to RAMFS takes well under 15 seconds for a 1.6MB (F) disc.

Cheers,

Matt

[JonAbbott]

Can you use ADFFS to write JFDs back to a physical floppy?

No, ADFFS cannot write images back to floppy.

when I try to save a mounted JFD as an ADF using !ADFFS nothing happens. The imaging window pops up, but does nothing and lists no sectors.

The ADF imager is hardcoded to read from physical drive 0 and images directly into the ADFFS floppy buffer. This means it's not possible to reimage a mounted floppy image.

Until I add a "write to floppy" function, it's fairly easy to write a mounted image back to floppy by using XADFS_DiscOp 1 to read from the image and XADFFS_DiscOp 2 to write back to the physical floppy. eg:

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SYS "XADFS_DiscOp",,1,0,&10000,1600*1024
SYS "XADFFS_DiscOp",,2,0,&10000,1600*1024

I'm not sure what will happen if there are missing sectors though, it might fail to write all sectors, so you might need a FOR loop and read/write each sector individually.

[Trapper]

That's cool. Using !ADFimager really isn't a trauma at all considering it takes well under 10 seconds to create an ADF when the JFD is loaded into memory via ADFFS.

Another quick question (sorry!) can I alter the JFD metadata after image creation? In this case I'm creating JFDs of a copy of Impression Style which turned up today after I bought it on eBay. I missed the last floppy disc so the set is six discs rather than the five I've been telling ADFFS to use.

It's not a massive problem and I know it won't affect how the images mount and work, but it's one of these little OCD things that quietly drive me insane!

I'm only on disc three so it's not a massive problem to just re-image one and two again.

This Style set is in absolutely mint condition. Not only all the floppies and in perfect working order but all of the manuals mint and even the flyers for The Archimedian magazine and half price off TabletMate II when it is released!

[JonAbbott]

can I alter the JFD metadata after image creation?

Not directly. The quickest method is to mount the JFD and re-image it.

I did plan to extend it to pull the metadata from a mounted image and allow JFD to be dropped on its window for editing, but don't recall how far I got. It's certainly something I need to implement as metadata get updated all the time.

[venex]

while Flashback and Alone In The Dark don't show protection screens anymore with updated scripts, Simon The Sorcerer still does.

It's not so easy to bypass the protection prompt as if I remember correctly, its hooked to an IRQ vector. The check is however ignored, so you only have to click the mouse a few times to get past it.

Unfortunately the Flashback copy protection bypass in F1015901 breaks the gameplay. The game has another hidden check, which makes energy generator in the jungle (first level) not work in the "cracked" version. This makes it impossible to recharge the cartridge needed to activate the bridge and finish the level. When you comment out the following lines in !Run:

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| Remove Manual protection check
| MEMORYA 1329C E3B00000 { > null: }
| MEMORYA 132A0 E8BD8FFF { > null: }

the generator recharges cartridges and shields as expected.

[JonAbbott]

Unfortunately the Flashback copy protection bypass in F1015901 breaks the gameplay. The game has another hidden check, which makes energy generator in the jungle (first level) not work in the "cracked" version. This makes it impossible to recharge the cartridge needed to activate the bridge and finish the level. When you comment out the following lines in !Run:

Code: Select all

| Remove Manual protection check
| MEMORYA 1329C E3B00000 { > null: }
| MEMORYA 132A0 E8BD8FFF { > null: }

the generator recharges cartridges and shields as expected.

Thanks for reporting, there's always the risk of further protection checks when removing them. If you have save at that point, please post it.

[venex]

Thanks for reporting, there's always the risk of further protection checks when removing them. If you have save at that point, please post it.

Unfortunately the game uses passwords as its main way of saving progress, which are only given at the end of a level, much like Another World. There are some temporary save points scattered about in the levels, but those get erased when quit the game. If there is a way of "freezing" the game under ADFFS and making a dump I would gladly make one.

[JonAbbott]

Unfortunately the game uses passwords as its main way of saving progress

Ah, yes, forgot about that. See if adding the following makes any difference:

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MEMORYA 1345C E3B00000 { > null: }

[venex]

See if adding the following makes any difference:

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MEMORYA 1345C E3B00000 { > null: }

Unfortunaely it doesn't.

Also, I played Flashback a little bit longer yesterday and found that the protection screen appears on the second level (New Washington) as well, after completing the first of four "labours". I never played the game beyond that, I may try to see if there are any further protections on next levels.

[JonAbbott]

In that case, I'll trace what the protection code actually does and modify it so it doesn't present the selection screen, instead of bypassing the protection completely.