TheRaven81

Oh nice! Great work! Do you think if we commented that out of all the new ones, it would work the same way? (of course, provided that statement is even in the rest of them) EDIT: Answered my own question. Used MemoPad, and opened Crazy Harold's Adroit Adventure (the "enjoyme.nt" file) and found the statement on line 503. Commented it out with REM, and was able to run it. So I think that is the key my friends. Just have to comment out that statement(or would it be safe to just erase it, since the comment is ignored anyway?) then they should all work without the menu.

yeah I read that a while ago - I also found a document through that they called "The J.D. Casten Papers", filled with unreleased game information, even code listings and an ATR for said games(which aren't half bad). But yeah, I read that. Says he has a form of schizophrenia. That was sad to find out. That interview was 6 years ago though, so I guess now that I think about it, who knows what's become of him since then. Not to be mean(seriously), but given what that says about his condition, he could be dead now for all we know. I certainly hope not, but still. The JD Casten papers.zip

hrm. I had a thought. How does one contact him, do you think? Contact J.D. Casten, I mean. Because, do you think, if we asked him, he'd just give them to us in an unprotected, stand-alone state? I mean, he's not even into Game Dev. anymore, he has a music label he manages now or something. Plus, Antic has gone kaput, it's not like he's still making money off this disk now, right?

The Windows Magnifier doesn't work on my PC, so that is not an option.

is there any documentation on how to use this? Also, content is too small on a 1920x1080 screen, would it be possible to add zoom options for both the font display and the view window? My eyes strain so much just to see them.

what would pressing Reset do then, if the code lines causing that are not removed, but the menu was not present?

Hmm. I did this too, for Risky Rescue Industrial Version. In the console, I typed .basic_save RISKYIND.BAS, put the resulting file in my Host Machine OUTPUT folder, and loaded it in RAM, once loaded in, I typed LIST to get the program list. All the way down at the end of the listing, starting at line 30000, and going until line 32220, there is a subroutine that looks like the menu of the disk. But when I put the equivalent file from @DjayBee's zip file (which is the one labeled "hours") into MemoPad, and look at the listing there, that subroutine is missing. How/why is this? Also, that saved file doesn't run. Well, it does, and doesn't at the same time. If you run it then it goes to a black screen(sometimes with a single yellow line across it) and locks up.

how do you know when you need them and when you don't? Also, these files from your archive, they don't run in Altirra - I tried to load one and I got an "ERROR -21" message(which I found was the LOAD File Error: Attempted to LOAD a non-LOAD file).

I didn't know Altirra could do that. I downloaded your .zip and dropped the files into MemoPad(from the link provided), and voila, the listing. And, just to see if I could do it and get the same result, I followed the steps you did, and indeed I did get working files just like the ones in the archive. This process may prove useful for the future. I thank you and everyone else very much.

I don't have the financial resources to do so. But that seems really hard for the community to accept. Also, these are great games, I'm sure I'm not the only one who would benefit from this. Risky Rescue was published in Antic Vol. 3 No. 1, Advent X-5 was published in Antic Vol 3 No 7, Biffdrop was published in Antic Vol. 3 No. 8, Box-In was published in Antic Vol. 4 No. 8. These I can get and take care of myself. The others, "Escape from Epsilon+", "Risky Rescue - Industrial Version", "Biffdrop - Nightmare Version", "Nemesis", and "Crazy Harold's Adroit Adventure" These are all unique to the Collection disk. The original Escape from Epsilon was published (Antic Vol. 3 No. 2), but the version on the disk is an Extended version, and also unique to the disk. These unique 5 are mainly the ones that I want from it.

Please don't derail the topic with this. As for the disk files, if I understand @Rybags correctly, the files on the disk are made to be dependent on the existence of the others. So even if we are able to seperate them, would they even run normally? Like if I got one seperated and onto disk, if I ran it, and then pressed RESET, since there was no menu file for it to go to, would it crash the computer? Or would it just go back to running the game again from the beginning? Neither one of those things would be ideal. If I had to guess, A is the menu file, the files in B are the games, C is the system for the disk, and D is a bunch of empty files, used to display the message. But could any of the empty files also be used as keys? Like, would there be a problem if they were gone?

So that I can LIST them and type them in. I don't have any SIO2PC cables, or I'd just make a disk from the collection image.

No, the license for the ones indicated - 2,6,7,8, and 9, say "On Commercial Compilation Only" : Escape from Epsilon+ : http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-escape-from-epsilon_7157.html Risky Rescue - Industrial Version: http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-risky-rescue-industrial-version_7159.html Biffdrop - Nightmare Version: http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-biffdrop-nightmare-version_7160.html Nemisis: http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-nemesis_7161.html Crazy Harold's Adroit Adventure: http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-crazy-harold-s-adroit-adventure_7162.html 1,3,4,and 5 in the menu of the disk were type-in listings at one point though, you are correct. I have obtained those already. I just need the other 5 games, which I've listed here.

Could someone possibly crack this Compilation disk, and get out Game #s 2, 6, 7, 8, and 9 for me? Or maybe(I may regret this one) explain in great detail how I could do it? The games are listed seperately on Atarimania, but all the dump download links give you this same disk file. http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-comp-casten-game-disk-_7156.html Preferrably as .BAS files, but .ATR is ok too I guess. I also need the protection that he's put on them removed somehow, so you can't BREAK or RESET and see the code listing. I tried getting the files off the disk using DOS 2.5 in Altirra, but the files have invalid file names, using a diamond graphics character (CTRL+ Period) at the head of them. So I wasn't able to do anything with them besides unlock them(remove all the asterisks that marked them as protected). Also, DOS 2.5 doesn't understand H: when I try to send them to the OUTPUT folder using COPY FILE.

I was reading the topic to check on it, and read this: You can't do this in Rogue. If you remember(I'm sure most do), the goal is to go down, grab the jewel, and get back up and out again. But before you have the jewel, once you go down, you can't go back up until you find the jewel. So going back and forth between levels constantly to milk the generation of a pile of gold would not be possible.

Why are all the games in ATRs? I thought ATR was only for Floppy images/dumps?

I have TYPO II on a disk I made, but I haven't read far enough through Antic to find out there was a TYPO III. I am guessing TYPO III would be better to use than TYPO II?

I did, temporarily. But that was when I was trying to copy it. I didn't know that wasn't necessary. But when DOS 3 couldn't read it to make a copy, I removed the disk from the drive and replaced the tab over the notch. The tab came off perfectly clean and was still sticky like it was brand new, so I was able to put it back on there. Otherwise, yeah, I'd probably be nervous too - and I wouldn't be putting it back into the drive to play until I could get something to replace it. But yeah, it's fine now, the tab is back on it.

A big THANK YOU goes to everyone who helped or contributed, even if you didn't contribute to the end product but still tried to help somehow.

It worked! Thank you SO MUCH! So now final, probably stupid, question: Do I have to boot this patcher disk every time I want to play now? Or does it somehow just fix the original disk and I only need it once?

OK, I'll give this a shot after I make a copy of my original Zaxxon disk, and I'll try the patcher on the copy. I might have to wait until I have DOS 2.5 in my hands though. I took the sticker off the side of the original that was covering the notch in it, and tried to make a copy of it, but DOS 3 couldn't read it, it said Invalid format or something.

Interesting piece of historic info! But, retro or not, I don't have one.

I'm not trying to be rude, I apologize if I came across that way. I'm just trying to avoid getting help from people in a format that can't help me. Trust me, I know it sucks that I don't have anything to use the files with. If I did I could indeed make a copy with the file you posted. But I don't, so I can't. I'm just kind of tired of repeating the fact over and over again. I have DOS 3.0 at the moment, but I also just bought a copy of DOS 2.5 from Best Electronics(which has not arrived yet), since I read that 2.5 is better than 3.0. I don't know what all those other things are. I have some blank 5 1/4 disks I can use to make a backup on. I should be able to do that if I remove the sticker covering the notch that is punched into it, right? And I was actually thinking about that last thing today. I was wondering if there was a BASIC program I could type in and save to disk to use, or possibly an assembly program i can use with the Assembler Editor cart I just got(once I figure out how to use it). If all else fails, I'll just get a refund from the seller, and send it back to him.

I said it already, but will say it again. I don't have any modernized devices - no multicarts, no SIO2PC cables or any other modern devices to get files from my PC to my Atari. I know it's a sad thing, but I can't afford it. Anyways, I have now updated my signature to reflect this. Hopefully people see it so I don't have to repeat it again. and again....and again....and again....

no.