Micro League Baseball II - PASTI imaging fail

[Fletch]

For kicks, I decided to break out my Atari ST version of Micro League Baseball II and enter the two World Series teams. I think it might be fun to see how well MLB II does at simulating the series outcome. Typing in all the players's statistics is a bit of a pain, but I'm almost finished.

 

Anyhow, I checked on Atarimania and saw that MLB II is listed as missing from their archive. I tried to make PASTI images of the disks, but during the reads the imaging software encounters a read error and won't continue.

 

I'm wondering if MLB II might utilize a damaged sector for copy protection which is causing havoc with the software. I tried it on a 1040ST and a Mega ST. Read fails at the same point on both machines.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions for imaging these disks?

 

Thanks,

 

Pete

[ParanoidLittleMan]

It must be some real data damage, otherwise Pasti would not stop.

In any case you need to clean floppy surfaces and try imaging again. There are even diverse kits available for that purpose.

[ijor]

Anyhow, I checked on Atarimania and saw that MLB II is listed as missing from their archive. I tried to make PASTI images of the disks, but during the reads the imaging software encounters a read error and won't continue.

 

Please run the Pasti imaging tool in verbose mode and post a picture showing the output including the error message.

[scotty]

There is a cracked copy out there on a compilation disk, I forget by what group... Meadway Boys maybe?? However, I would LOVE to have a dedicated disk to load it from.

[scotty]

UPDATE: Automation Menu Disk #CD270 contains Micro League Baseball and King of Chicago. True story.... I actually traded a Space Invaders arcade game for Micro League Baseball for the ST!!! Probobaly still have the MLBB in my crates of floppies in the storage locker. Need to get there some day soon and sort them out. Litteraly THOUSANDS of 5 1/4 and 3 1/2s. Kept for years in a cool, dark, dry locker, so hopefully that helped preserve them.

Edited October 27, 2016 by scotty

[Fletch]

I think I got it! The General Manager's Disk and the Stat Compiler Disk imaged successfully tonight so I figured I'd try the game disk again. Same issue as the other night. Track 41 would fail to read and the program would abort. Throwing caution to the wind, I poured a bit of isopropyl alcohol on the disk and tried again. It worked!

 

I transferred the STX images to my Mac and they work in Hatari.

 

I'll make a copy of the manual at some point, but for now it is fairly self explanatory. I've attached the quick reference card.

 

To play a game, boot the MLBGAME.STX image.

 

To edit teams or make your own team, boot the MLBGM.STX image.

 

The MLBSTAT.STX is used with the MLBGAME.STX disk. At the end of a game, you can compile team stats. This disk is used for that.

 

 

 

 

MLBII.zip

[Fletch]

Maybe if we are really nice to Paranoid Little Man, he'll make a hard disk adaptation

[ParanoidLittleMan]

I'm OK with that. But it seems that it is MLB and not MLBII - which was published 2 years later (1989), and not for ST.

Additionally, I need cover scan.

[Fletch]

I'm OK with that. But it seems that it is MLB and not MLBII - which was published 2 years later (1989), and not for ST.

Additionally, I need cover scan.

 

The quick reference cards are the same for MLB and MLBII. I have the box and the full MLBII manual. I will scan those when I get a chance.

 

I know it is odd that MLB II is not referenced in the game. But believe me, I own both MLB (Atari 8-bit) and MLBII (Atari ST) and though quite similar, the ST Version is MLB II.

[Fletch]

I'm OK with that. But it seems that it is MLB and not MLBII - which was published 2 years later (1989), and not for ST.

Additionally, I need cover scan.

 

Here is the game, manual, reference card, box scan, and pictures of the disks.

MLBII_FULL.zip

[ParanoidLittleMan]

Thanx Fletch. Very strange - in game, on floppies it is V 1, while box says it is II ... May be that game self is same, and they just added extra floppies ?

I started with, but will need some more time. It uses AES, some very strange floppy access - part is in files, part is on tracks, so I can not use my usual systems here.

[Fletch]

Thanx Fletch. Very strange - in game, on floppies it is V 1, while box says it is II ... May be that game self is same, and they just added extra floppies ?

I started with, but will need some more time. It uses AES, some very strange floppy access - part is in files, part is on tracks, so I can not use my usual systems here.

 

They have added features is all. MLB and MLB II are the same game, but MLB II adds rain delays, injuries, arguments, and a couple of other things. It spells out the differences in the manual.

[Fletch]

Thanx Fletch. Very strange - in game, on floppies it is V 1, while box says it is II ... May be that game self is same, and they just added extra floppies ?

I started with, but will need some more time. It uses AES, some very strange floppy access - part is in files, part is on tracks, so I can not use my usual systems here.

 

 

I figured something odd was happening on the disks. For example, on the STAT COMPILER disk it appears blank if you access it from TOS. However, if you use the disk in game, there is data on it.