Disk Games on Cartridge?

[Tempest]

Is it possible to somehow run disk based Atari 8-bit games off a Flash Cartridge or Hard Drive? I'm assuming unless they've been specifically converted to do so, the answer is no, but I thought I'd check anyway. I have an Atarimax flash cartridge, but I believe it can only support cartridge games, not disk games.

 

Tempest

[Urchlay]

If you've got a MyIDE + flash cart, you can run games that have been converted into binary load ("xex") files. Most single-load games have already been converted by now.

 

Also, the MyIDE software is supposed to give you a way to set aside part of the hard disk as image space, for ATR images. I haven't messed with this yet though.

[Tempest]

If you've got a MyIDE + flash cart, you can run games that have been converted into binary load ("xex") files. Most single-load games have already been converted by now.

 

Also, the MyIDE software is supposed to give you a way to set aside part of the hard disk as image space, for ATR images. I haven't messed with this yet though.

 

Are most 8-bit games Single Load games? I know this was a problem when I looked into something similiar with the Apple II, since most of those games were multi-loads and therefore could not be put onto a HD .

 

Tempest

[Urchlay]

Most are single-load.

 

The ones that aren't are usually the ones that come on multiple disks, or sides A/B of the same disk.

 

The Atari binary load format is able to do a lot of things that other platforms might use multi-loads for (e.g. a title screen + loader can be in the same file as the main part of the game).

[mimo]

I'm pretty sure that ATR images can be used, only problems arise when the game is a multi load disc, such as some adventures.

Use Make Menue, everything is far easier than perl/tasm

[Tempest]

I may just use an old computer with Windows XP on it to run Atari810 with my SIO2PC cable. It's a little kludgy, but it works wonders and supports most if not all disk games (and up to 8 disks).

 

Tempest

[+Philsan]

I'm waiting for SIO2USB.

Fantastic!

[WizWor]

Is it possible to somehow run disk based Atari 8-bit games off a Flash Cartridge or Hard Drive? I'm assuming unless they've been specifically converted to do so, the answer is no, but I thought I'd check anyway. I have an Atarimax flash cartridge, but I believe it can only support cartridge games, not disk games.

 

Tempest

I think the answer is: generally yes. Some just work, some are cracked, but, it seems to me, that most games can be played this way. A better question might be, "Can this game be played off a cart or hard drive.

 

I'm in the same boat. I think I know I want the flash cart to work I'm camped out in front of my mailbox right now waiting for my 8m cart to arrive. If this works, I will buy five more plus an sio2pc (usb version) and port all my games to cart. These guys are getting 50 games on a cart, so, for gamers, this is a great, standalone solution.

 

I'll post a followup once I have some experience with the carts -- using them and making them.

[Almost Rice]

Is it possible to somehow run disk based Atari 8-bit games off a Flash Cartridge or Hard Drive? I'm assuming unless they've been specifically converted to do so, the answer is no, but I thought I'd check anyway.

Also, the MyIDE software is supposed to give you a way to set aside part of the hard disk as image space, for ATR images. I haven't messed with this yet though.

 

 

This is the feature that Tempest is asking for. The disk image feature should be able to run most floppy disk images from the flash or hard disk drive. I have run into a few disks that will not work. The modified OS also allows for disk swaps. I believe Shift+Ctrl+1 or 2 , etc will give you sequential disks so multi disk games should also work. I usually run MULE. I have DD and SD images. I have not tried larger images.

Edited May 8, 2007 by Almost Rice

[Wrathchild]

A better question might be, "Can this game be played off a cart or hard drive.

I agree with that, there are a handful of games that, for example, have their own I/O routines and so the replacement OS of myIDE or the patches the FlashCart makes don't work in these instances. As mentioned already, most games that may have been single or multi-part load seem to come in a single exe form already and so can be played that way. Other games that need the disk present during the game to load bits in can normally be hacked to work.

Regards,

Mark

[Shawn Jefferson]

Is it possible to somehow run disk based Atari 8-bit games off a Flash Cartridge or Hard Drive? I'm assuming unless they've been specifically converted to do so, the answer is no, but I thought I'd check anyway. I have an Atarimax flash cartridge, but I believe it can only support cartridge games, not disk games.

 

The Atari Maxflash cart (1Mbit or 8Mbit) can run executables, disk images and (with the MakeMenu loader) can also run some cartridge images. Go to http://www.atarimax.com/ and check out the forums there. Get the Make Menu program as this makes creating flash cart images much easier and lets you use a more advanced loader that lets you mix and match all type of programs on one flash cart image (including loading an 800 compatible OS for those games that need it.) Pretty much all programs in EXE form will work right out of the box.

 

Running disk images from the maxflash cart means a special patched OS needs to be loaded, so any software that turns off the RAM under the OS, or otherwise fools with this area won't work (patched versions do exists for some software however-check the Atarimax forums.) Multi-disk games require someone to do some fairly major patching and some basic programming work (Ultima IV for instance). Wrathchild has done several flash cart conversions that I'm sure you are aware of (Gauntlet, Infocom adventures, etc...)

 

Hard Drive, well, that depends on your hard drive interface. I can only talk about the MyIDE, since I haven't had any experience with anything else. The MyIDE system lets you put disk images (ATR files) in a special section of the drive that you define, and run these just like running ATR images from APE, or a real disk in a disk drive. Some multi-disk games work and the MyIDE OS has a special hotkey to allow you to switch disks.

 

The MyIDE interface REQUIRES a modifed OS, and there are two flavors of that: EPROM based or the "soft-os". You get the most compatibility with the EPROM based OS, for the same reasons as the Maxflash cartridge. There is an additional issue with the switching of disks: some games bypass the OS keyboard routines and this breaks the switching disks hotkey. Still, for the cost of a MyIDE interface you can't go wrong.

Edited May 15, 2007 by Shawn Jefferson