Old Dark Caves v2

[Tursi]

So the actual fault that is occurring is while trying to load the XB program "GENERATE".. there's something going wrong that's causing XB to try to load more records than exist in the file. Normal XB programs don't have this issue, and it happens even if I try to load it first, so it's unrelated to the assembly language code.

 

I noticed that there were ARC303 files in there, so I tried re-extracting the archive. The presence of tildes in some filenames made me suspect that maybe it was extracted with Classic99 in the first place, and maybe it was subject to one of the byte-flip errors I had in the headers back in the day. But, that didn't fix it either.

 

I found that I had an old archive of Legends, and when I compared the GENERATE file, the one in the archive looked corrupt at the end (compare the last sector, where 'PRESS A KEY' is corrupted. I replaced the file and that seemed to do the trick. With that I was able to get far enough to advance to battle, at least.

 

So, in short, overwrite GENERATE on the Legends 1, Disk 1, with this file, and I think you'll get further. I think the file's actually corrupt, even in the archive.

 

GENERATE.zip

 

For what it's worth, rather than copying all the files into your DSK1 folder, just use the technique described above to change DSK1 to point at the Legends folder. The only difference is you set the type to "Files (FIAD)" and then select any file in the folder to choose it.

[+DuaneAL]

My God, man! Do you never sleep? Changing the GENERATE file is doing the trick so far. Thanks for the help! The community on this forum is incredible!

[+adamantyr]

None of these programs read disk sectors. In fact, they write back to disk occasionally so disk images in classic99 is not advisable.

 

The other issue is that at least for the Legends games, the dungeon executables have a forward slash in the name which has to be changed to be compatible with the PC file name system. That means besides changing the file names also updating the executables to use the new names.

[+DuaneAL]

The game has been working great in classic99 since Tursi's fix. I haven't gotten real far (no dungeons) after about 2 hours of game play, but it seems stable. Adam, do your comments mean I might still have trouble when I get to the dungeons?

[Opry99er]

It is possible... do you have a copy of TI99Dir by Fred Kaal?

 

It is a PC utility that lets you explore the files on a disk to determine whats what.

[+adamantyr]

Yeah, open TI99Dir to let you view files directly, and check the ISLAND program. Copy the text out to a text editor for searching and look for the LGDN/MON reference. It should be a PC friendly name, using ~ instead of /.

[Tursi]

You don't need to hex edit the files, and shouldn't need to rename anything. There are a couple of reasons for this.

 

First, the files were extracted using/compatible with Classic99 in the first place, meaning that where needed we already have tildes.

When Classic99 finds an illegal character in a requested file, it automatically knows to look for a tilde instead (and writes it that way if needed). The only exception is the backslash, which is rare on the TI since it was a function key.

New files written with illegal characters automatically get the tildes.

 

I should also note there's no reason to keep saying disk image writes are bad on Classic99. As far as I know they work fine now.

 

Edit: I double checked, and yes, forward slash is translated as expected. Backslash and full colon are not, to allow for PC drive specifications, but those exceptions will go away in the future when I adopt my own file system recommendations.

Edited March 6, 2018 by Tursi

[+DuaneAL]

Awesome! Doesn't seem like its an issue but if I run into problems, I've got things to try. Thanks!

[l3v1tcl30s]

Hey All,

I joined AtariAge a few years ago, likely just perused the site that evening, and found myself back specifically here this eve...

I'd LOVE to revisit Old Dark Caves and Legends (35+ year-old memories!), though I must admit that I'd need a 3-year-old's step-by-step instruction in doing so.

Any takers?

I've just downloaded classic99 and Opry99er's zip file from page 1 of this thread and that's about where I'm at, hee. I'm not familiar with using the emulator at all.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!

Edited February 20, 2019 by l3v1tcl30s

[Opry99er]

So Classic99 by default uses the FIAD format for its files. FIAD stands for "Files in a Disk." That's basically a quick way of describing the filing system. On Classic99, your virtual disks exist as actual PC folders. When a folder is named DSK1, then the contents of that folder are literally the contents of the "disk" which is in DSK1 of your virtual PEB.

 

Typically when you play games (but not all the time) DSK1 is the loading drive. Most games which reference ancillary or support files are hard-coded to look for that stuff on the "disk" in DSK1... So is the case with the Legends games.

 

If you look in the Classic99 directory on your computer, you will see a set of DSK folders... In order to use your deisred DSK1 diskette (Old Dark Caves or whatever) then that folder must go into that Classic99 directory where the DSKs are. You'd probably want to name the existing DSK1 something else (so you can keep the contents... they will be useful). I usually name it something easy like "ORIGDSK1." That way I know that was the original disk1... If I ever need to use it, I can simply rename it DSK1 and Classic99 will recognize it as such.

 

Anyway... back to it. Find the DSK1. file in your downloaded zip for the desired game. (IIRC, I named them DSK1 in each of the folders, but I might be wrong). If the folder isn't titled DSK1, you can do that now and slide it into the Classic99 directory.

 

All 3 of these games are AUTO-LOAD games... meaning they will auto-load as soon as you turn the system on and select "Extended BASIC" from the menu. If you've done it correctly, it will auto-load and you'll be off to the races.

 

Let me know if this helped and if I can be of any more assistance.

 

 

BTW, the Classic99 manual included in the Classic99 download zip is quite excellent. Clear instructions and usage methods described in there. You'll learn everything you need to know about getting started with the emulator in no time-flat.

[l3v1tcl30s]

Yuss, thank you so much!