Scott Adams adventures (unknown)

[+Schmitzi]

yep, and I would like to have a DSK to play on my Ti, too

 

maybe it is a part of the adventure ?

 

[+mizapf]

Copying those FIAD files to an image file in TIImageTool:

 

These files have an unsupported format (starting with 128 bytes comprising the beginning of the FIB). See below.

 

 

 

First: Strip off the first 128 bytes.

for advfile in *.fiad
do
     dd if=$advfile of=${advfile%%.fiad} bs=1 skip=128
done

If you operating system does not support such an operation, consider getting a proper OS, maybe like Linux. :-P

 

Then you can import the stripped files (which do not have the fiad ending anymore) into an image in TIImageTool, either by choosing in the file dialog, or mark them in your OS file browser (like Explorer) and drag them into the image. Since those files do not have a TIFILES header, TIImageTool requests that you specify the file type. Say "binary" to all of them.

 

Done.

 

[Edit: Here is the image where I put all of them.]

 

[Edit²: In fact, TIImageTool does recognize files with such a FIB header, but as I noticed in the log output, the problem is that the file name is intentionally set to contain a period, like "CAVE2.FIA". Periods are invalid characters for file names, so my tool rejects the import of this file. That is, TIImageTool fails to import the files not because of the format but because of the embedded name. (Sometimes I simply forget what features I crammed into it over time.)

 

OK, that means that the whole procedure can be simplified. Use a hex editor and change the file names at the beginning of the "fiad" files to a valid TI file name which shall appear on the image. You should add spaces (0x20) to get a full 10-character name. Then you can simply drag-and-drop into a fresh image file in TIImageTool.]

adventure.dsk

Edited May 19, 2015 by mizapf

[Opry99er]

^^Cool^^

 

Thanks Michael!

[+Schmitzi]

oh really GREAT!! it worx fine now. thanks, MiZapf. I wish I could have handled that (But I´ll try on)

 

Out for some adventures now

 

Ralf

[+mizapf]

How is that name created at the beginning of the FIAD file? It seems to me as if the PC file system file name was taken and uppercased (and truncated to 9 characters, with an added 0x00).

[+OLD CS1]

If you operating system does not support such an operation, consider getting a proper OS , maybe like Linux. :-P

 

Really? This AGAIN? UGH. I know I have posted in the past about dd being available for Windows, Amiga, Solaris, etc. etc. So step down off that step-stool, son

 

Other than that, thanks for the info and quick-and-dirty script. Now, come to the Dark Side: because KDE sucks.

 

BTW, with dd in your Windows PATH, you use this command:

 

 

for /f "tokens=1 delims=." %a in ('dir *.fiad /b') do dd if=%a.fiad of=%a_trim.fiad bs=1 skip=128

[+mizapf]

Yes to all. Whatever.

 

Back to TI topics: For autodetection, may I assume that in general, such *.fiad files start with a valid uppercased PC file name, truncated to 9 characters, ending by 0x00?

 

 

4144 564f 4341 444f 2e00 0000 0900 0030  ADVOCADO.
424f 4e44 4f31 2e46 4900 0000 0900 0034  BONDO1.FI
4341 4e4e 4942 414c 2e00 0000 0900 0031  CANNIBAL.
4341 505f 4b49 4444 2e00 0000 0900 002b  CAP_KIDD.
4341 5645 312e 4649 4100 0000 0900 0034  CAVE1.FIA
4341 5645 322e 4649 4100 0000 0900 002a  CAVE2.FIA
434f 4d50 5241 4d41 2020 0000 0100 0014  COMPRAMA 
4553 4341 5045 2e46 4900 0000 0900 0025  ESCAPE.FI
4745 5252 5953 2e46 4900 0000 0900 0025  GERRYS.FI
4752 4159 454c 462e 4600 0000 0900 0027  GRAYELF.F
4952 4f4e 4845 4152 5400 0000 0900 0033  IRONHEART
4d4f 4f4e 2e46 4941 4400 0000 0900 0025  MOON.FIAD
4e45 5353 592e 4649 4100 0000 0900 002c  NESSY.FIA
5452 4156 4c4c 4e47 2e00 0000 0900 002d  TRAVLLNG.

 

COMPRAMA seems to be created differently; it also has non-zero entries at 0x20-0x2F.

 

I'm not forced to use that name - I could also use the file name of the *.fiad file minus the suffix; it's just for the sake of a better recognition of that format.

[Papa]

GIMME THE MAP, SCOTT!!

[+Schmitzi]

GIMME THE MAP, SCOTT!!

 

Maybe here :

 

ftp://u67140205-atariage:TeXasTI994A@toxic-instruments.com/_PROGS.bak/_ADVENTUREs

[Papa]

Or here..

 

[Johns1124]

I'm glad I found this thread. I wrote Greyelf when I was 10-11 (I forgot) with the Adventure Editor from Tex-Comp. I just downloaded Classic 99 so I can

review my handiwork. Do I need to find the Scott Adams Adventure ROM before I can load it? Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Reviewing this thread is a blast from my childhood.

 

Thanks

John Stephens

[Shift838]

I'm glad I found this thread. I wrote Greyelf when I was 10-11 (I forgot) with the Adventure Editor from Tex-Comp. I just downloaded Classic 99 so I can

review my handiwork. Do I need to find the Scott Adams Adventure ROM before I can load it? Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Reviewing this thread is a blast from my childhood.

 

Thanks

John Stephens

PM sent

[Opry99er]

Thanks for your contribution, Johns1124!!!

[+Lee Stewart]

I'm glad I found this thread. I wrote Greyelf when I was 10-11 (I forgot) with the Adventure Editor from Tex-Comp. I just downloaded Classic 99 so I can

review my handiwork. Do I need to find the Scott Adams Adventure ROM before I can load it? Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Reviewing this thread is a blast from my childhood.

 

Thanks

John Stephens

 

There is a copy of advtureg.bin phm3041g.bin in mess_modules.zip advent.zip located in ftp://ftp.whtech.com/emulators/mess/ ftp://ftp.whtech.com/Cartridges/MAME/old/zip/. You can extract that file to your PC and run it in Classic99 by choosing “Cartridge-->User-->Open...”.

 

...lee

 

[Edited in favor of @mizapf's post below.]

Edited February 9, 2017 by Lee Stewart

[+mizapf]

Let me suggest to refer to the newer libs at ftp://ftp.whtech.com/Cartridges/MAME/

 

(They have not changed in most cases, but the stuff under emulators/mess is only there because nobody has cleaned them up yet. :-) )

[+Schmitzi]

I'm glad I found this thread. I wrote Greyelf when I was 10-11 (I forgot) with the Adventure Editor from Tex-Comp. I just downloaded Classic 99 so I can

review my handiwork. Do I need to find the Scott Adams Adventure ROM before I can load it? Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Reviewing this thread is a blast from my childhood.

 

Thanks

John Stephens

 

 

uiiih, this one ?

 

[Johns1124]

Yes Sir, that was me game chocked full of spelling errors. I was honored when the game was in the book: The Encyclopedia of TI-99/4A and
Geneve Adventure gaming!

 

Mickey Schmitt Wrote:

TOMB OF THE GRAY ELF



DESCRIPTION: TOMB OF THE GRAY ELF. THE FIRST ADVENTURE MODULE GAME
WRITTEN BY JOHN STEPHENS. BEGINS MUCH LIKE A TYPICAL ADVENTURE GAME.
WHERE YOU FIND YOURSELF IN AN ENCHANTED FOREST. HOWEVER. THIS GAME
IS ANYTHING BUT TYPICAL. AS YOU WILL READILY NOTICE. ONCE YOU SET EYES ON
THIS ADVENTURE.



GOAL: YOU HAVE BEEN HIRED BY THE GRAY ELVES TO FIND DROWN. THEIR
LEADER. AND HIS STAFF OF DROW WINDS. WHO WERE CAPTURED BY THE DARK
ELVES. NOTHING ELSE IS KNOWN ABOUT YOUR QUEST, EXCEPT THAT THE
ENTRANCE TO THE DARK ELVES' CAVE LIES WITHIN THE FOREST.



ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: PERSONALLY, I FOUND THE SPELLING TO BE QUITE
ATROCIOUS IN THIS ADVENTURE GAME, AND AT TIMES, I EVEN NOTICED THAT
SOME OF THE WORDS WERE MISSING FROM SOME OF THE GAME'S SENTENCES.
HOWEVER. ONE MUST NOT LOSE SIGHT OF THE AUTHOR'S PRIMARY OBJECTIVE.
IN BRINGING A LriTLE OF INFOCOM'S STYLE OF DESCRIPTIVENESS TO THE
ADVENTURE MODULE ADVENTURE GAMES. WE HAVE MUCH TO LEARN FROM
JOHN'S ADVENTURE GAME. AND FOR THIS REASON. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS
GAME. AND WOULD ENCOURAGE JOHN AND OTHER ADVENTURE PROGRAMMERS
TO CONTINUE WHERE TOMB OF THE GRAY ELF LEFT OFF.

 

 

He was actually right. I couldn't spell worth a darn (especially at 11) hell I still can't. But when I wrote the game I did try to be as Descriptive as possible. Just like Infocom games which I dearly loved.

 

Thanks for all who has helped me. But still having a problem.

 

So I Loaded up Classic 99. I get the Adventure cart running. When it askes me "Where is the Datebase?" . I put DSK1.GRAYELF the output then is "***** 2" Any Ideas? I removed the FIAD ext. from windows so

the Module finds it.

 

Thanks J Stephens

[+mizapf]

With MAME (just for reference, in case you'd like to try):

 

 

mame64 ti99_4a -cart advent -peb:slot8 hfdc -flop1 yourdiskimage.dsk