Maxflash Studio: ROMs recognized as EXE ?!

[+JAC!]

Maxflash Studio comes with a huge database of "known" ROMs/Files. But except the "3D Tic-Tack-Toe" ROM, it does not recognize any of my files.

For most of them it even tries to convert them to an XEX when they are added. Actual file size 8192 / 16384 in all cases. Any ideas/same experiences?

[image Converter] Valid Atari EXE file, imported 16418 bytes from image converter.

[image Converter] WARNING: Auto-Converting 16k ROM to XEX. Uncracked 16k ROM dumps will not work properly.

[image Converter] Imported 16418 bytes from JOURNEY TO THE PLANETS.ROM

[image Converter] Valid Atari EXE file, imported 16418 bytes from image converter.

[image Converter] WARNING: Auto-Converting 16k ROM to XEX. Uncracked 16k ROM dumps will not work properly.

[image Converter] Imported 16418 bytes from KINDERCOMP.ROM

[image Converter] Valid Atari EXE file, imported 16418 bytes from image converter.

[image Converter] WARNING: Auto-Converting 16k ROM to XEX. Uncracked 16k ROM dumps will not work properly.

[image Converter] Imported 16418 bytes from LAST STARFIGHTER, THE.ROM

[image Converter] Valid Atari EXE file, imported 16418 bytes from image converter.

[image Converter] WARNING: Auto-Converting 16k ROM to XEX. Uncracked 16k ROM dumps will not work properly.

[image Converter] Imported 16418 bytes from MATHEMATICS ACTION GAMES - SPACE JOURNEY.ROM

[image Converter] Valid Atari EXE file, imported 16418 bytes from image converter.

[image Converter] WARNING: Auto-Converting 16k ROM to XEX. Uncracked 16k ROM dumps will not work properly.

[image Converter] Imported 16418 bytes from ORC ATTACK.ROM

[image Converter] Imported 8192 bytes from PAC-MAC (V1,DEMO).ROM

[image Converter] Imported 8192 bytes from PAC-MAC (V2,DEMO).ROM

[image Converter] Valid Atari EXE file, imported 16418 bytes from image converter.

[image Converter] WARNING: Auto-Converting 16k ROM to XEX. Uncracked 16k ROM dumps will not work properly.

[image Converter] Imported 16418 bytes from SUPER PACMAN.ROM

[image Converter] Valid Atari EXE file, imported 16418 bytes from image converter.

[image Converter] WARNING: Auto-Converting 16k ROM to XEX. Uncracked 16k ROM dumps will not work properly.

[image Converter] Imported 16418 bytes from VEGAS JACKPOT.ROM

[+JAC!]

Found out 2 things:

- The order in the log is reverse, so it actually says that it converts the 16K ROM (which is does not recognize) to an XEX (adding a small loader header) and then adds the XEX.

- The Maxflash Studio recommends using .XEX above anything. Hence the checksums in the "cartridge database" are probably no checksum of cartridges at all, but of ".XEX" and ":ATR" files. I'll try that out...

 

 

.. and found http://www.atarimax.com/flashcart/documentation/chapter3.html#set3

"In order to make the Maxflash Studio software even easier to use I have hand created a signature database of over 1200 Atari EXE games"

 

And it turns out that "3D Tick-Tack-Toe" is the only game for which also the ROM checksum is included in that database.

And because it's alphabethically the first entry, I had used it for my tests so it worked... priceless :-)

[Rybags]

I'm sure I replied to this before, must have got lost when the site had problems.

 

My thoughts were - if the sw recognises cart images then there's probably a CRC32 it uses, potential issues of course can occur if it's a raw or cracked image, and also different cracks might employ different coding.

 

XEX versions of carts - that's potential source for many "versions" since some copies just load/run, others take action like switching off Basic and doing a save/restore of that top 1K that gets erased when the screen opens at warmstart.

 

And of course you probably know already, although might or might not have bearing - only 8K straight images can run direct from cart, 16K cart as a minimum would need to copy the lower 8K into RAM (as such, XEX might be generated or at least a preferable means to run those).

Edited January 24, 2014 by Rybags

[+JAC!]

I finally managed to "decode" the Maxflash Cartridge Database. There are 1246 entries:

1 8k ROM (format 2), 3 16K ROMs (format 4), 16 ATRs (format 1) and 1224 XEXs (format 1, > 98%).

 

So it is actually not any benefit for ROM/CAR files. For XEX and ATRs, there is also no benefit regarding the automatic determination of the content type, because those can easily be detected otherwise.

 

And since nowadays XEX and ATR are typically stored with long file names, there no need to an automatic title.

 

So my decision for "The!Cart Studio" is to ignore the Maxflash DB. Maybe once the XEX/ATR loader for The!Cart is ready, I will check it out again.
But given my tests, not even the XEX/ATR were recognied reasonably, because - as Rybags wrote - there are simple too may variants of them for every game.

Edited January 25, 2014 by JAC!