Drol (1983)(Broderbund)(US) .atx disk images

[Diaperboy]

In my various searches of the internet, I couldn’t help but notice there are many Atari titles that have unfortunately vanished. They are still available in various cracked forms, but finding an unaltered .atx version with copy protection intact can be difficult. Many thanks to the Atari 8-bit Software Preservation Initiative and all the others who have managed to find and preserve all this great Atari 8 bit software.

 

I have a couple of titles to offer for consideration to be “preserved”, which I have been unable to find anywhere in an unaltered form with copy protection intact.

 

Drol (1983)(Broderbund)(US)(Color Version)

Drol (1983)(Broderbund)(US)(Black and White Version)

 

Both versions of this game have nice .atx disk images with COPY PROTECTION INTACT. However these are not exactly what they appear to be. These are 2016 REPRODUCTIONS that I have created myself.

• These images load, look and sound like an authentic Broderbund disk.
• These images have authentic copy protection, including Duplicate Sectors and Bad Sectors on Track #5 (Typical of Broderbund copy protection).
• The copy protection functions EXACTLY in the manner that it should, including a subroutine that checks if you are running a “Happy Drive”.
• The game data is encrypted (just like an authentic Broderbund disk).
• The titles “crack” in the exact same way as an authentic Broderbund disk.

NO these are not “true” disk images but they look, sound, load, etc. the same as a “true” image. If an authentic image is unavailable a good reproduction could “fill the gap”. They were actually made from a composite of SEVERAL clean cracks and some authentic disk images. Using several different versions (instead of just 1) gave me the ability to check the data for modifications. I usually crack Atari software but that gives me an advantage of knowing how certain software companies protect their software. Because I have studied Broderbund copy protection, I know how it functions and what should or shouldn’t be there.

 

The game data for the Drol color version actually had to be re-encrypted. I COULD have used the unencrypted version and just skipped the decryption routine (who would know?) BUT! an authentic Broderbund title DOES NOT FUNCTION LIKE THAT, so neither do my reproductions. (Using Altirra Emulator) I actually used the Broderbund copy protection routine ITSELF to do the data encryption, so I’m quite certain it has been correctly encrypted (so it can be decrypted each time the disk is loaded).

 

This Release Contains:

• 1 .atx “Original” image of each version with copy protection intact
• 1 .atr Unmodified backup of each version (won’t boot but shows copy protection at work)
• 1 .atr Cracked backup version of each title

I hope everybody enjoys this and I hope this can be a small contribution to “preserving” Atari Software for the ages!

 

 

Drol (1983)(Broderbund)(US) - 2016 Reproduction.zip

[Farb]

Wow, impressive work, Diaperboy. Thank you for sharing it with us!

[Mclaneinc]

This is really exciting, getting their known protection / decryption system to generate the needed data to make sure its doing what a missing real image would do..

 

Well beyond my abilities but I understand the concept and its as our Northern folks would say, "Right clever that"

Edited November 23, 2016 by Mclaneinc

[+therealbountybob]

Do these ATR's work with the high score table name entry? The copies I've found seem to not allow input just display incorrect letters & return does not work

[+DjayBee]

They should because the code is unmodified except for the protection.

[GlowingGhoul]

Wow, very impressive work.