Atari 8-bit Software Preservation Initiative

[+DjayBee]

 

It's time for an updated torrent. As always, thanks to everyone that contributed!

 

Another batch of corrections:

• Alchemia (1993)(Mirage Software)(PL)

  needs 64K and PAL

• Tron - Cykl swietlny (1993)(Mirage Software)(PL)

  needs 64K and PAL

• Sexversi (1994)(Mirage Software)(PL)

  needs 64K and PAL

• Roderic (1991)(Mirage Software)(PL)

  needs 64k and BASIC

• WORDRACE (1982)(Don't Ask Software)(US)[bASIC]

  needs OS-B

• Trolls and Tribulations (1984)(Creative Software)(US)

  Does not work. Another bad a8rawconv-conversion with missing sector 707

• AutoDuel (1985)(Origin Systems)(US)(Disk 1 of 2 Side A)(Side A)

  needs 64k

• Pawn, The (1986)(Rainbird)(GB)(Disk 1 of 2 Side A)(Disc 1)[!]

  needs 64k

• Jewels of Darkness (1986)(Rainbird)(GB)

  needs 64k

• Adventures 4-5-6 (1981)(Adventure International)(US)[bASIC][turn off write-protect]

  Should be flagged "[m]" beacuse it contains saved game data

• Sands of Egypt, The (1982)(Datasoft)(US)[OS-B]

  Should be flagged "[m]" beacuse it contains saved game data

• Wizard of Id's WizType (1984)(Sierra On-Line)(US)

  Should be flagged "[m]" beacuse it contains saved game data

• Capture the Flag (1983)(Sirius Software)(US)

  Does not work. This is a plain sector copy of a protected disk

• Miniature Golf Plus (1985)(XLEnt Software)(US)

  Bad dump, one UNneeded sector has bad CRC, so for gameplay irrelevant

[Farb]

Thanks, DjayBee. The preservation database has been updated.

[luckybuck]

As always, it was our pleasure! Thank you both so much. Please go ahead! :-)

[Mclaneinc]

Any idea when a new torrent will happen?

 

Just so I can keep up to date with corrections..

 

Thanks people..

[Farb]

Any idea when a new torrent will happen?

 

No ETA at the moment. The processing of new dumps and SDrive-MAX ATX support has been consuming all of my Atari-related time. Recent changes to the preservation database structure require the creation of a new torrent generation script which is significant effort and something I'm still working on. Suffice to say that the next torrent update will be well worth waiting for

[Mclaneinc]

I know it will be, thanks Farb and of course all involved...

[Zarxx]

Here's a recent eBay collection I've imaged. 99% backups apart from a few PD disks/DOS. Protected disks ATX & A8 SCP'd. I don't think there's anything special, but please have a look.

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ske2pDgjUpZn1mEnW12n2frehPYVlc0P/view?usp=sharing

[www.atarimania.com]

Many thanks for taking the time to do this!

 

I'm sure the .atx files will be useful and I also found some other interesting bits

 

--

Atari Frog

http://www.atarimania.com

[Zarxx]

I can't remember where I downloaded this from on here, but it's now repaired. One track had a missing sector which was preventing loading, rebuilt from an atr version.

Thanks to the original contributor.

 

P.S. Interface (Print Shop)(1986)(XLEnt Software)(US).zip

 

Usual files included.

 

p.s.

Working on Collection 2.

 

[+DjayBee]

Here's a recent eBay collection I've imaged. 99% backups apart from a few PD disks/DOS. Protected disks ATX & A8 SCP'd. I don't think there's anything special, but please have a look.

 

 

Thanks for these dumps.

 

Dump comparison results for the ATX files.

 

Farb's torrent already contains the same versions of these titles (names are the relating ones used by Farb):

Arcade Machine, The (1982)(Broderbund Software)(US)(Side A)

Arcade Machine, The (1982)(Broderbund Software)(US)(Side B)

Atari Smash Hits - Volume 5 (1986)(English Software Company)(GB) Elektraglide

Ballblazer (1985)(Epyx)(US)[a]

Flight Simulator II v1.05 (1984)(subLOGIC)(US)(Disk 1 of 2)[!]

Flight Simulator II v1.05 (1984)(subLOGIC)(US)(Disk 2 of 2)(Scenery Disk)[!]

Great American Cross-Country Road Race, The (1985)(Activision)(US)[!] a few sectors in unused areas differ

Gruds in Space (1983)(Sirius Software)(US)(Side A)

Hacker (1985)(Activision)(GB)

Karateka (1985)(Broderbund Software)(US)[!]

Koronis Rift v3.1p (1985)(Epyx)(US) a few sectors differ

Mercenary - Escape from Targ (1985)(Novagen Software)(GB)(PAL)[!]

Mickey in the Great Outdoors (1983)(Atari)(US)[!]

Monster Smash (1983)(Datamost)(US)

Paint (1982)(Atari)(US)[bASIC]

Print Shop Graphics Library 1 (198x)(Broderbund Software)(US)

Print Shop Graphics Library 3 (198x)(Broderbund Software)(US)[!]

Print Shop, The (1984)(Broderbund Software)(US)(Side A)[!]

Raid over Moscow (1986)(Access Software)(US) one byte differs, maybe a not bad dump

Silent Service (1985)(MicroProse Software)(US)[C64-Atari release][m] yours is a crack with a bad sector

Softporn Adventure (1981)(Sierra On-Line)(US)[bASIC]

Strip Poker (1983)(Artworx)(US)[bASIC] yours is a bad dump

Summer Games (1984)(Epyx)(US)(Side A)[!]

Summer Games (1984)(Epyx)(US)(Side B)[!]

Tail of Beta-Lyrae, The

Threshold (1982)(Sierra On-Line)(US)

Wayout (1982)(Sirius Software)(US)[!] bad sector in unused track 40

These are not contained in Farb's torrent

Archon II - Adept.atx no check for protection but lots of unformatted tracks (maybe budget release)

AtariWriter Plus (Side A).atx

Bank Street Musicwriter (Side A).atx

Bank Street Musicwriter (Side B).atr

Fight Night (Side A).atx crack WITH bad sector check as protection - very weird

Jump Jet.atx

Pinball Construction Set.atx different version, fails protection, perhaps rapairable

Scanalizer, The v1.1.atx probably bad dump

Scanalyzer, The (1.1).atx good dump, differs only by an added file from the other image

Spitfire 40.atx Mirrorsoft version

Starquake.atx very(!) bad dump

Strip Poker Data Disk - Female (Side A).atx probably bad dump

Strip Poker Data Disk 2 - Ernie & Earl.atx probably bad dump

War-Copter.atx

Winter Olympiad 88 (Disk 2 Side A).atx see below

 

Please redump the other three sides of Winter Olympiad 88 as ATX. Your ATX and also the version from Thunder Mountain contain tracks with more than 18 sectors but none of them bad in any way.

 

@Farb: Are you sure that the image of Spitfire 40 (Avalon Hill) was made from an original? It NOPs out an exact same protection check, as the Mirrosoft version from Zarxx.

[Farb]

Thanks for going through these, DjayBee!

 

The torrent's Avalon Hill dump of Spitfire 40 was from a CIB original I dumped myself. The disk had open write-protect notches on both sides of the disk so it's possible that it was written over at some point in the past. However, it was verified identical to another independent dump submitted by remowilliams so I think that is unlikely.

[+remowilliams]

My Spitfire 40 is CIB as well. Doesn't look like I did a raw dump of that one, if it's of use I'll do so.

[Mclaneinc]

Thanks to all involved for keeping this glorious ideal going...Wish I had stuff to offer but sadly no..

[Zarxx]

 

Please redump the other three sides of Winter Olympiad 88 as ATX. Your ATX and also the version from Thunder Mountain contain tracks with more than 18 sectors but none of them bad in any way.

 

 

Winter Olympiad 88.zip

[+DjayBee]

The torrent's Avalon Hill dump of Spitfire 40 was from a CIB original I dumped myself. The disk had open write-protect notches on both sides of the disk so it's possible that it was written over at some point in the past. However, it was verified identical to another independent dump submitted by remowilliams so I think that is unlikely.

 

Then the protection probably was intentionally removed by Avalon Hill.

 

There are also some Questprobe adventures from Adventure International which were also published by Green Valley Publishing. These releaese also had the copy protection removed with a few NOPs.

 

Winter Olympiad 88.zip

 

Thanks.

There are no tracks with more than 18 sectors in these images. This puts this release in the category "dubious".

The Thunder Mountain relase has these tracks on the first disk and checks for them during game load.

[+CharlieChaplin]

Yep, I do own "Winter Challenge" twice (with copy-protection intact!) and the disk can be read/copied with a normal sector copier, you do not get an error, but the copy does not work. The only thing that is suspicious: When reading the disk, the Speedy 1050 automatically turns into slow mode.

 

I thought that the Tynesoft version "Winter Olympiad 88" does not have copy protection...?!? Will try to make a sectorcopy of my original with the Speedy and test the result...

Edited March 4, 2018 by CharlieChaplin

[miker]

Maybe some double-sectors are here? I meant there are two sectors with the same number and procedure checks such a state.

It will pass normally through sector-copier but often the resulting copy doesn't work.

[+CharlieChaplin]

Okay, made several sector copies of WC and WO 88 with my Speedy 1050 drive. With WC the drive automatically switched to slow mode, not so with WO 88.

 

WC: reading the disk was slow, but all sectors could be read; writing worked fast again; the copy which had the same density as the original (90k) did not work and stopped booting almost immediately!

 

Gave WC another try, but this time I used Diskcopy from Turbo-DOS and copied from Single to Medium density (90k => 130k copy); reading was again slow, all sectors could be read; writing was also slow; the copy now in MFM format (130k) and thus more tracks per sector did not work, but it booted much longer before the computer did hang...

 

WO 88: reading the original disk (which I bought a few months ago) was fast, writing the disk was fast, the copy on 90k disks worked!

 

As far as I know most (if not all) Tynesoft diskettes do not have any copy protection, so I am not surprised. Think I am gonna sell my copy-protected WC diskettes now, hahaha...

[+DjayBee]

WO 88: reading the original disk (which I bought a few months ago) was fast, writing the disk was fast, the copy on 90k disks worked!

 

Thanks for your help.

So everything is fine and it only stays (and probably will stay) unclear WHY the 5th track of disk 2, side A of Zarxx' dump actually IS a track with 19 sectors.

Both instances of the duplicate sector 18 on this track are identical; so there is also no difference in haveing 18 or 19 sectors in this track.

[+DjayBee]

Here's a recent eBay collection I've imaged. 99% backups apart from a few PD disks/DOS. Protected disks ATX & A8 SCP'd. I don't think there's anything special, but please have a look.

 

Regarding Pinball Construction Set I must correct myself:

It actually does work with OS-B and (at least in Altirra) with an 810 drive. It fails on an XL and also if loaded from a 1050 drive (in Altirra); whereas the version from the torrent does work on XLs and with 1050s.

Perhaps you can verify this on hardware.

 

Solo Flight seems also to be a different version from what we currently have. It has the same copy protection routine as "Solo Flight (1983)(MicroProse Software)(US)[a]" but the game's code differs.

It is an ATR but checks for its protection (lots of duplicate sectors on track 39). Can you dump this as ATX please?

[_The Doctor__]

ugh, the only way to verify to certainty is on real hardware...

[Zarxx]

 

Regarding Pinball Construction Set I must correct myself:

It actually does work with OS-B and (at least in Altirra) with an 810 drive. It fails on an XL and also if loaded from a 1050 drive (in Altirra); whereas the version from the torrent does work on XLs and with 1050s.

Perhaps you can verify this on hardware.

 

Solo Flight seems also to be a different version from what we currently have. It has the same copy protection routine as "Solo Flight (1983)(MicroProse Software)(US)[a]" but the game's code differs.

It is an ATR but checks for its protection (lots of duplicate sectors on track 39). Can you dump this as ATX please?

 

 

Pinball is the same on real hardware. This one ok on 810 only, bad on 1050. OS-B only and the torrent one the same as above also.

I noticed that the skew was missing from mine so added the torrent one. Now it loads from either drive but still OS-B only of course.

 

Solo Flight.zip

PBall Skewed.zip

[ijor]

So everything is fine and it only stays (and probably will stay) unclear WHY the 5th track of disk 2, side A of Zarxx' dump actually IS a track with 19 sectors.

Both instances of the duplicate sector 18 on this track are identical; so there is also no difference in haveing 18 or 19 sectors in this track.

 

Do we have a raw low level dump? If so it might give some hints about the reason of that track with 19 sectors. Might be a conversion/imaging error.

 

Note that even if both dup sectors are identical, the timing is affected. Probably not checked in this case, and I don't remember for sure if there is any case that something like this is actually checked.

[Nezgar]

Any of these disks need archiving?

[_The Doctor__]

Nezgar, everyone of those should be atx, and cryofluxed for compare against originals. The more the merrier unless there is already have like 3 to 7 of them already. Does the list show how many kryo/scp dumps have been made for each? last I remembered it just said if one was done or not...

Edited March 6, 2018 by _The Doctor__