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How to auto-add files to .atr file


snicklin

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Hi,

 

I have a binary file (game, created by MADS) and all of the level data is compiled into the binary (.xex). I would like to be able to load the level data from file on a disk, enabling more levels in the game.

 

From what I can see, XXL's XBIOS will allow me to load data from disk, with only a small memory overhead.

 

Within my build system, how do I insert files into the .atr file? (This *MUST* be automated).

 

Is there a tool that I can call on the command line to be able to write to a .atr?

 

Kind regards,

Steve

 

 

 

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Hi MrFish,

 

I will be scripting it, using either a .bat file or Perl. However I need to know how to add files to an existing atr file. I'm not looking to create an atr file from scratch, I would like to just add files to the existing xbios.atr file.

 

I hope that is clear....!

 

Steve

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Sorry, if your link was to show me a way of automating gui applications, I suppose that I could do if absolutely necessary, but I would rather do file insertions via the command line if possible. It's a lot neater....

 

Thanks for your assistance.

 

There's dir2atr from Hiassoft, which will create an ATR from a directory. But I'm not familiar with any tools for just adding a single file. Seems possible though. I know there are some other DOS tools for working with ATR's out there that should be usable from the command-line. I just haven't needed to use any of them for so long now.

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Hi MrFish, yeah, the problem was looking for just the addition of a single file which is a bit problematic for finding such a tool.

 

However, Xuel kindly pointed me towards Franny. I checked out the link and it all seems to be Unix/Linux based. And although I work from a Linux laptop, I have my toolchain set up in a Windows environment. Therefore, I googled around a bit and I found this link from 2010, take a look at what Ilmenit has supplied - a Windows version:

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/159325-program-to-add-to-and-extract-files-from-atr/

 

Thanks to you all for helping with this!

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Hi MrFish, yeah, the problem was looking for just the addition of a single file which is a bit problematic for finding such a tool.

 

However, Xuel kindly pointed me towards Franny. I checked out the link and it all seems to be Unix/Linux based. And although I work from a Linux laptop, I have my toolchain set up in a Windows environment. Therefore, I googled around a bit and I found this link from 2010, take a look at what Ilmenit has supplied - a Windows version:

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/159325-program-to-add-to-and-extract-files-from-atr/

 

Thanks to you all for helping with this!

 

Nice! Thanks for posting the solution. I'll stash that one away myself...

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I have just been playing around with using xBios and from what I have seen so far, it is FANTASTIC.

 

I've managed to start my program code at $0C00 instead of $2000 which has given me a load of extra RAM to use. I will also now remove a lot of the data in my game out to file, enabling me to have even more memory. This will mean that I'll have lots of space for level data, music, sprite graphic data etc.

 

I've been able to create an image with an AUTORUN file for my game as follows:

cp xbios.atr image.atr

Franny/franny.exe -A -i game.xex -o AUTORUN image.atr

 

My next step is to test out loading data from a file which doesn't look difficult from the xbios instructions.

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use windows folder: altirra / file / disk drive / mount folder as virtual dos 2 disk (I don't know if altirra supports subdirectories or saving to virtual dos2 disk)


compile your game straight to this folder (no need to build .atr while developing)


xb2.zip

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compile your game straight to this folder

 

Thank you! I will try this tonight. I have to say, xBios is brilliant. It gives me a lot more memory to use, and allows me to load data from file, which saves a lot of memory space.

 

I'm sure I will have some more questions in the future! :)

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I recommend "dir2atr" by hias, Supports also creation of boot disks with different DOSes etc. Can be used nicely also in batch scripts and within WUDSN IDE.

Putting in XBIOS as DOS should also easily possible, as the ATR layout is still DOS 2.x.

 

 

Download: http://www.horus.com/~hias/atari/ => dir2atr

Edited by JAC!
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Good to see more people making use of xbios. Well done Steve.

 

Thank you Sir! Well, I'd seen it mentioned quite a few times in different places but didn't really understand what it was.

 

Then I realised that it is a form of DOS in a way, to which I thought that it might be fiddly to use.

 

However, the concept of what it does just clicked in my head and then I thought, "Wow!".

 

I am removing so much memory usage out of my program that it is amazing. This is now giving me ideas of how I can implement all the things which I thought would not be possible due to memory limitations. Whether time allows them is another thing....!

 

Tezz, do you mainly use it for loading data into your programs? Do you use it for loading program code? I haven't used it for that yet, but would be interested in that soon I think.

 

As for dir2atr Jac, I considered using this, but then I still needed the files which are used for xbios. I've not got them as separate files and needed those in my disk. Thanks for the suggestion, I may well use it in the future if I separate them out.

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> but then I still needed the files which are used for xbios. I still needed the files which are used for xbios.

Aren't those 2 in the zip that XXL posted exactly what you need (bootblock & autorun)?

I havent use XBIOS yet, so I'm not sure.

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