ParanoidLittleMan

MSA specs are well known. And doing conversion to ST format is easy. Rawwrite supports raw format - at least according to name. And ST format is it. All what average user needs is to know what SW is capable of what and to get them.

I played little Robocod. Escape is OK - it restarts whole game - goes to title/intro. Likely, you have problems because it jumps right to protection check. Possible that your original floppy is not in good shape anymore, and sometimes protection check fails. As I see bug by stretching happens only when stretch over teleport. So, don't do it In any case, warning should be added. Anyone knows how to activate cheat mode for Robocod (it offers more than usual unlimited lives and similar) ? Amiga codes aren't good for ST v.

I don't hear something too bad in Trantor intro - but it's maybe only me And Trantor has some serious bug in gameplay, at least one version. It would be good that you make Pasti image of your original, so we can see is it updated version, which can be really played - and you played it, I guess. Robocod: I started to deal with it. Use Pasti from Gamebase ST + AM . It would be good, if you can post here exact version - publisher, year.

Very unlikely that TOS version causes bad sound. Really recorded from STFM ? Seems rather like emulator capture I don't see noise at all.

Pretty much straightforward: you connect USB reader to PC, start Imaging SW. Click on 'Removable' , then on 'Write to sel'd' Select img file, OK . At bottom is link to Imaging prg, where is usage. But you may use some other SW for writing on SD card too.

Currently, site with most of ST floppy images: http://www.thegamearchives.com . About PAL vs. NTSC images: We call them rather 50 or 60Hz ones. And most of games will work on both. The reasons for freezing can be many: TOS version, insufficient RAM (game needs 1MB min), bad floppies, etc. You should expand RAM to 1MB at least - but with 520 ST it is not easy, for sure. Then checking is your monitor/TV capable to work at 50Hz (PAL). Then can use some simple proggy to switch ST on 50Hz mode before starting games - those which work not at 60Hz.

If you do TOS/DOS compatible partitioning/driver, then can copy/delete straight with Windows Explorer - although, much better is with Total Commander. Or with MAC, Linux file managers. You can do quick try by getting ready to use hard disk image with driver and some games: http://atari.8bitchi...DiskImgPP1.html Even if you have not Satan yet - with emulators: Steem with Pasti.dll for hard disk image handling, or Hatari . MSA to ST or versus conversion can do with http://atari.8bitchi.../floimgd.php - on PC. ""Paranoid Little Man" wrote a program that will launch an ST/MSA from HDD with no need to write out the floppy. I'm sure he will point you to it." - it is Floppy Image Runner - you will find it's page if visit link above. But don't expect that every game will work. And in meantime we did a lot of hard disk adaptations/patches.

I'm sure that there is many adv. with pictures for ST, where high-color mode could be used. Why it happened not ? Likely because need for more floppies for game distro, then SW licensing costs , + ? ... I saw Elansar only on You Tube, so can not really judge possible problems expectable. Of course, if you want to do alone everything, it is really too much I have Falcon, but somehow not much interested for special Falcon SW. Even if there is really not much of it. ST, STE, Falcon, Amiga, etc - all it is prehistoric now. But you never forget first love

Orion: I look on this just as oportunity to do something new - I don't know about adventure on ST(E) using high-color pictures. And I don't think that profit is your main concern In any case, I planned something with high-color images already, and now I have what missed: updater Photochrome. So, I will do it for sure in following months.

Huh. Anyone having 260ST with 256KB RAM: please write here - I want to count you . Idea was just to support majority of still active ST(E) users - and I believe that most of them has some hard disk solution, and at least 1MB RAM. Considering high-color mode cursor problems - I can try making solution. And I think that instead Photochrome format, this should be done with single raster images - so no flickering and about 50KB/screen. And Douglas Little just made updated version, so can do conversions fast on PC. And I guess that 68000 at 8Mhz is fast enough for this game.

Yes, Satandisk, Ultrasatan works exactly like hard disk ... Actually, better . Because is smaller, faster (access times are much faster), uses less space and power, less noise, etc. But maybe biggest advantage is easy data transfer with some PC or MAC - via USB card reader. It is hard disk considering usage - and is designed to be compatible (with ACSI, ICD protocols). So, will work with most of hard disk drivers - at least with newer ones.

What about ST(E) version - using some high-color graphic like Photochrome, Spectrum 512 ? Of course, if low res: 320x199 is not big problem. This would need solving some interesting things - in first place mouse cursor displaying in high-color mode. Of course, for hard disk users only. PM me if you want discuss more about.

Fix - replaced with french v. file of Iron Lord solves only crash after winning battle. Maze bug is present in Fr. version too. Wolf 3D with some fixes is already for DL: http://atari.8bitchip.info/SCRSH/wolf3d.html On hard disk adapts DL page you can get fixed versions of Dyter-07 and Iron Lord - with some hacks to can finish. Floppy versions here: http://atari.8bitchip.info/ASTGA/astgam.php

After dealing with and digging in several hunderts of games, I gained some, I think interesting infos : Games with bugs This should be list of known bugs in game originals. Bugs like: Not possible to finish game - probably the worst case. Diverse errors ocasionaly - like graphic ones - but it may happen only on certain configs, TOS versions. Not working on STE - but not because TOS version. Not working on specific configs or emulators - because silly bug. Not working with more RAM in machine. Bad files, corrupted data on original floppies - some releases of game involved. Other. Iron Lord: not possible to finish maze - no stairs down from 6th level. Additionally, single floppy English release (Action 16) has corrupted file, and game will crash after winning battle. Crazy Cars 2 - after doing all routes, driving thru final location makes nothing - instead some message, congrat. you can only drive further. Dyter-07 - game crashes at final level (descent to end boss). Code/data bug. After some hacking I reached and defeated end boss, and may say that it is poorest of all them - just to mention. Trantor - one version of game tend to crash after some playing. Recogniseable by 45283 bytes long executable. Bad release: Tetra Quest - US release has corrupted last 2 files on floppy. Iron Lord, action 16 release - corrupted file, crashes after winning battle. Not working on STE - because bugs: Grand Monster Slam: palette writing overshot - on STE will see lines instead graph. Hyperforce - same as above. Nightdawn - writing into video pointer crashes on STE. (On ST does nothing). Not working in Steem with current Pasti.dll : Rubicon - there is silly bug in code (forgotten #), what causes both floppy drives beeing selected at once. On real HW, with solo floppy drive it harms not, and likely not on 2 drive configs, when second drive is empty. If Pasti is inactive, it works in Steem. Not working on higher TOS versions - but not from usual reasons like more low RAM occupied or Timer-C problem - caused by bugs in code. Deflector - stoopid bug with address register: copy (w instead l) in game. Heimdall - graphic bug appears by running on higher TOS versions. Because some silly code part. Not working on specific configs or emulators - because (silly) bug: Pro Tennis Tour - will crash on 2MB TT, if going straight in tournament - because uninitialised var. - then try to access RAM area between 2-4MB, what on ST(E) does nothing, but on TT with 2MB causes bus error. Well, this is really very specific error, and likely only few people, or even only me noticed it - but is interesting, and needed some time to track down. Technocop - crashes on TT, Falcon because silly bug with sr setting. Rick Dangerous II - '0FFF' bug - and it is present in some others. Makes trouble on TT only - surely, the reason is mistype by coding, so we have something like: $FFF8800 instead $FFFF8800 or $FF8800 . Problems only with 32-bit address bus. Ivanhoe - '0FFF' bug - see above. EPIC - If play with mouse on Falcon, will loose controls after little time. The reason is some strange code (in traps) activated periodically if 68030 is detected - but it does nothing useful. I guess that because game is released in 1992, they planned Falcon support, but since it delayed game is published without testing on Falcon. Not working with more RAM in machine: There is many. For instance Sidewinder. Other: Wolfenstein 3D - this is not commercial game, and is not really finished. I found diverse bugs and partially fixed it. But some levels still make problems. According to coder, he placed crucial parts of code in low 32K RAM, for extra speed. But that area is TOS workspace, so what works under one TOS version, may crash under other. Bad idea for TOS calling game. Crossland - in audio code IR level is lowered, what may cause activating IR again, before current is finished - and it causes crash. On ST(E) it happens very rare, but on TT for instance after few seconds. Shiftrix - I don't know on what they tested it, because there is extremely silly bug at start: enabling interrupt before setting it's vector ! Nicky 2 - even it game self needs only 512KB, it crashes with 512K RAM only. Because bug in code. Special cases, affecting mostly hard disk adaptations (with exit to Desktop opt.) : Sometimes RAM area above 512KB is intentionally cleared, but there are cases that it is because bugs: Prehistoric Tale - mistype d7 instead d0 in code. In many games, mostly graphic code has overshots, writing in higher RAM - Vroom for instance. IKBD coding seems as big problem - there is a lot of games with bad IKBD code. Usually, playing on regular HW, from floppy you will not notice it. But if doing exit to Desktop from game strange things may happen, if IKBD chip is driven nut. Bad IKBD code may cause problems in Steem too - which has not perfect IKBD emulation. I guess that lack of good documentation is the reason for many bad coding. If someone of game coders, publishers accidentaly reads this, and has some objections, corrections, infos about updated versions, feel free to write here. And of course, I expect users that write here own experiences.

Ops - duplicated post - please delete .

More: I recently discovered where I DL-ed STX of Kid Gloves in past. (Yes, I should record DL sources, but did not).: at AF forum, Pasti images section. When I made hard disk adapt, discovered graphic bugs on level 4. Replaced corrupted files with good ones from some crack. Now, with Pasti analysing SW I see exactly what errors are in that STX - fuzzy data where must be exact data - so, likely some film accumulated or dirty drive heads. Therefore is recommended to image floppies not used for long time so, that do first imaging 3-4 times in empty (without save), what will clean floppy surface. I asked Ben Gun to do it from his collection, and it is flawless. But what is really interesting is that 2.5 years passed, and nobody reported any errors (15 downloads, what is not much) . I have impression, that most of people just satisfies with hoarding stuff, but not really using it. That's in fact normal people behaviour in some way ... How otherwise explain TOSEC with some 20000 images ? Who will check it ? Even just starting every for short will take years. Actually, I see DL-ing TOSEC as nonsense for average user. What we really need is cowork, and establishing some dividing in testings - then could well test a lot of stuff. I don't think that everything is worth of careful testing. There is lot of crap. But some 500-800 titles certainly. And many is already tested/played, so just need some database + people willing to add their experiences . I would like now to post about that Kid Gloves STX at AF is corrupted - there - but they don't like such things. Reporting errors annoy people Me stupido - I thought that bad images annoy

As I see, some things are not really clear for some people - even if there is lot of info on site. Maybe my english is not so good, but everyone can ask if something is not clear - here, on site forum, e-mail. First: the aim, goal : doing useful things for people - what in most of cases is same with doing useful for myself :-) Doing some support SW, missing for Atari ST serial and emulators related. Floppy Imager is result of missing Windows XP SW for that purpose. I updated it at least 10 times - and added some features suggested. That program is not for total beginners - you need some knowledge about floppies. Of course, regular floppies (and what is it - even that is not so simple to explain :-) ) - can handle almost everyone. Nobody reported any data loss or similar - and as report I don't consider some writings without anything concrete of 'some' people. What doing currently is mostly dealing with games: doing hard disk adapts, floppy versions - in up to date style - so not forcing data packing (what is often slow when depacking) and intros - goal is to make as close as possible crack to original. What would make things better is more constructive feedback - so some detailed testings, and realistic suggestions. I think that most of people just wont to participate in it because are afraid of doing test wrong, and then possible critics. Let someone else do it - harms me not for sure :-) Well, such approach harms for sure - and results are visible - many untested 'releases' all around WEB. Even STX (Pasti) images are not imune on errors - I found myself some bad ones. I updated many of my 'releases' - some after getting problem reports, some updated myself - little secret: Turrican 2, first my release did not deactivate latest protection check, so could not finish. Updated it before some 18 months. Unfortunately, not all games are so addictive, so testing them is not some pleasure (at least not for everyone, every game). Some people here mention some old, very old versions, where can not save gamestate. Actually, all it is already updated, years ago. And usually, you can use both game's saves or Gamex/Haga statesaves to save progress in game. Another area for updates is going on newer system HAGA, more compatible - but it goes not so fast as I wanted. Anyway, about 130 games is already with HAGA. Why getting now on Pasti image gathering, preservation ? Because doing hard disk adapts means seeking Pasti images, and learning a lot about copy protections. Even Pasti errors found are result of it. If I do it not now, all will be just lost, forgotten. Why Pasti and not old cracks ? Simply: reliability, then after some practice removing copy protections goes pretty fast with Steem Debugger. Cracking today is much easier. But hard disk adapting means a lot of new problems to solve, especially if want TT, Falcon compat. + statesaves. So, all that opsession with cracking is little outdated, but what to expect in retro waters ... I added some months ago new column: 'Val' to adaptations page - there is explained why, what means. Latest game done (from STX, of course): http://atari.8bitchi...SH/tobeont.html If you want it to be verified, checked until end, perhaps you are the right one for it :-) We have now really everything what can help us: Internet, forums, fast emulators/debuggers, cheap storage, then really many STX images at AM ... So, please, try without personal attacks, insinuations, slanters etc. We can be do better. Constructive critic is always welcome + contribution.

Nothing new here to read. Instead going in silly dicussion just this: why you did not follow example of Klapauzius (and some others), and submit STX images to Atarimania ? There must be some stuff by you, still missing at AM. Or I ask again something ironic ?

I keep everything. So, original will be not lost. Have many DVD filled with Atari SW, sources, STX images etc. Problem with crack blah is that they just annoy in regular usage. Not to mention that I have bad experiences about info correctness (of course, here I don't think about this crack :-) ). And WEB is filled with many-many cracks, unchanged. I just offer little different approach. And plan to add protection infos in Game Archive. Mentioning crackers has potential legality problem too - and Archive is for games, their authors - not crackers, which are mostly not liked by game authors. Yes, thorough testing is most important with many games - since protection may activate at some later stages or similar. This is what we need with many of stuff online.

Whenever I get some decent reporting about problems with my adapts, I thank to people, and go on correcting problem. Or at least try it. Only case when I was not able to fix it completely was Son Shu Shi - after getting report from Official Ninja. Then I found that Terminator crack is tied to TOS 1.62 - after fixing that problem, it appeared that we have only corrupted images, and no Pasti. What is funny is that some people played same crack at STOT, and did not notice problems (maybe did not reach level 4 ?) . So, if someone describes me exact problem with Armour-Geddon and Their Finest Hour (what I played a lot after doing it), I will update it. Otherwise, I will consider this here at same level as 'wiping' of FloImg - SW for which I received many-many thankful mails, posts. If someone want to hate me, just welcome. Your post proves only that. Maybe to fix own bad stuff - Helter Skelter, Forgotten Worlds , etc. And I have details about concrete errors: http://forum.8bitchip.info/preservation-error-reports/%27bad%27-games-list/ And what is ironic in this thread ? That I want to make things better ? Try same, maybe will feel something new ...

This is in purpose to help users. Not to black anyone - everybody can make mistake, and biggest mistake is not admitting mistake. It is really not easy to determine when something works not, ot works bad - what is the exact reason. With Atari ST serial it can be really many: TOS version, RAM size in machine - and not only inufficient, but too many ! Then specific problems in emulators because still not perfect emulation of some rare used code. And we have a lot of bad images spreading around over decade. I will start with couple: Dragon Spirit: Automation crk. missing last couple levels. Will crash when reach. Replicants crack - It is rather bad game version than bad crack - no skill level selection at start. After loosing all lives game starts again without user selection. Crashes somewhere at level 4. Most of hosts with ST images has only first floppy of Dragon Spirit from TNT compilation. I found complete one (hable.net), and game can be finished. Only little graphic errors at end boss. Don't know is it bad dump or maybe bug. Son-Shu-Shi : only available is crk. by Terminator Kid. It is not complete, and works well only on TOS 1.62 (built in ROM !). If play on that TOS, you will be not able to finish game. Some parts are corrupted. Player Manager: original French and English: it will crash with 4MB RAM. Not so rare case. I add it here, because crash happens not right at start, and you may not notice it if making some quick check. I tested with original, French and English versions. Certainly bad coding. Did floppy version which solves problem by lowering Phystop to 2MB if 4MB RAM is detected - then will work fine. http://atari.8bitchip.info/ASTGA/P/playerm.php Ah, and btw. problem stays in GameBase ST too - they set Steem to 4MB for Player Manager, and it will crash ... Again, lack of better testing. Please submit your experiences. But only if you are sure about real cause.

Considering that game is from 1987, it has pretty advanced copy protection. Here I mean delayed and not right visible action(s) when check fails. It is something what most started to use about 1990. Rob Northen recommended something similar (not using compare with serial, but writing it in code) couple years later too. But today all it can crack much faster with Steem Debugger. Still, testing it well, so playing for longer time is necessary.

Cool. Another mono-compatible game. And I did patching of original exec. according to loader/crack. Somehow I think that simpler is better + really don't want to read every time about who cracked it (+ other blah often) when start something

While looking STX images upped to AM, I saw something totally unknown for me: Down at the Trolls by Rainbow Arts. Upped by Jake. I tried it, and saw some graphic errors - otherwise it worked (most likely floppy went damaged in past) . Not some top game, but is interesting. So, searched more, and found only shw crk. of Down at the Trolls - what is same game. It seems as flawless. But I had troubles with data disc creation - it produced barely readable floppy. Not working in emulators (datadisc creation) ... After looking game code and data disk format, I hacked it, and now can play game from single floppy - no need for data disc creation. In Steem, Hatari too. http://atari.8bitchip.info/ASTGA/R/realmtr.php Of course, hard disk runnable is avail. too: http://atari.8bitchip.info/SCRSH/realmtr.html And we still need STX of Realm of the Trolls and/or Down at the Trolls

In last couple days I again went to see about TOSEC, Atari ST part, in hope to find there some missing Pasti images. After seeing some writings that there is 1800 STX image. Currently, you can get it only via Torrent, what is very slow in my case. So, I DL-ed only lists. There is Atari ST games STX section. As I calculated, there may be about 1600 images. But since we have a lot of multifloppy games + there are multiple versions of same game, I guess that max some 500-600 games are there. And I did not see anything from missing list. Well - it is not surprise - I guess that people already upped everything interesting to AM. Probably more interesting is section with cracks (ST, MSA images) - there is really lot of images, over 10000 for sure. But how many games really ? And how many bad cracks, corrupted files and similar ?ű As I see there was not much care about it. Just add everything possible, and people will find what is good ... Hmmm... I think that such approach is not efficient. To check and sort out what is good and what not is task for many people. We need some cooperation in it. Otherwise, everything will be like it was: ocasional postings in forums, e-mails. But not some proven lists on easy findable places. This is what I try to override with my Atari ST Game Archive and some lists of 'bad games' - will soon post them here ... TOSEC impressed people with huge number of images in first place, and maybe with given CRC and M5 checksums for files. But I say that it was not really good approach. It was just faster than what we really need: checked content. Instead of 5-10 copies of same title, just one, but one proven. For instance: you will find at least 4 versions of Son Shu-Shi there. And all are same: corrupted parts, and game will crash at some levels. There are other examples, of course, and for sure many undiscovered errors yet. Basically, everything what is on TOSEC, Atari ST section I already DL-ed some 6 years ago. Those sites disappeared, but we have new ones, with practically same content. Maybe not possible to DL everything at once, but real question is: do we need bunch of files, fill hard disks and CDs, DVDs with them, and beeing happy that now we have everything, or maybe to do something to make really useful image base: without multiplicity, with checked images. Still, there may be place for all tastes: who prefers originals may go on STX, who prefers menu disks can find many sites hostimg them. Who likes games self, perhaps with some cheats may get such versions - here I mean games self, so no intros and messages. And of course, hard disk runnable versions too. We are not far from having everything quality in flawless images, hard disk folders. Just need little more people sending images and testing releases.