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Correct RespeQt Setup for Multi-Disk Games


MagicMarc-er

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I just got RespeQt all set up with my SIO2PC cable and it is working great. My mission this morning was to figure out how to play multi disk games, but I'm running into a snag. Take, for instance Ultima 4, which uses 4 disks (or two disks, 4 sides). When you load disk 1, the game interface asks if you will be using 1 or 2 disk drives. I select 2. I put the iso for "program" into drive 1 and "Britannia" into drive 2. But when the game tells you to "insert disk 3 (dungeon disk) into drive 2, your only option appears to be to manually change the iso for drive 2. This is cumbersome.

 

Is there any workaround for this? I fear there is not.

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What "workaround" do you mean? You'd have to physically swap floppy disks in a real drive. What's so hard about dragging a new .ATR file into the slot for Drive 2? The easiest thing would be to load any additional .ATR files into the drive RespeQt drive slots 3 - whatever, then drag and swap them as needed.

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What "workaround" do you mean? You'd have to physically swap floppy disks in a real drive. What's so hard about dragging a new .ATR file into the slot for Drive 2? The easiest thing would be to load any additional .ATR files into the drive RespeQt drive slots 3 - whatever, then drag and swap them as needed.

 

Not that hard, was just thinking it would be slick if you could use the first four slots and not have to move anything. Oh well. No big deal, I guess.

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Not that hard, was just thinking it would be slick if you could use the first four slots and not have to move anything. Oh well. No big deal, I guess.

 

Yeah I hear you. The thing is, as far as code running on the Atari is concerned, each drive slot in your peripheral emulator (RespeQt in this case, but also AspeQt, APE, SIO2OSX, whatever ...) is a physical disk drive. The program on the Atari is basically oblivious to what you're doing when it tells you to swap a disk or flip it over or whatever. You'd have to patch the game to tell it to expect "Side 2 of Disk 1" as D3: or however you'd want to set it up.

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I've said this before, a flip/swap/side slot in the program would be awesome, you load in disks in the main slot and the disk you would have to swap into the flip/side/swap slot. then a single click swaps the image, this is more like a real drive, instead of shuffling disks in and out all your drives, your flipping them...

Edited by _The Doctor__
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Hello, Captain Obvious here, I'd like to inform the world that there are two sides of a floppy disk. :)

 

Each slot should hold two atr names to flip at the click of a mouse or press of a button. That would make for a more accurate emulation. Just like a real drive it would only mount the image on the 'A' side.

 

Currently we are disk jugglers. It becomes a bit of a circus.

Edited by _The Doctor__
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Is dragging and dropping really complicated?:

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8x3E0V3brQ&feature=youtu.be&t=1m34s

 

(sorry, I don't have better video at the moment).

 

The same can be done on a PC and a session file with all slots already configured will make it easier for multi-disk games/programs.

 

Cheers,

W.

Edited by greblus
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is typing everything you do in a command line too complicated? of course not but do we say who needs drag and drop at all?

It's not an attack on the work, it's request for an improvement, and a darn good one at that.

everyone knows how to drag and drop, but it is tedious, everyone knows we can sit and read down the list (and on a small screen it can be difficult to read or even press the slot) and play the disk juggler swapping game. Yes it would take a few minutes to modify the software. It's not too involved compared to the rest of the work that's been done.

It's a functional improvement everyone could enjoy, rather than a picture of a cassette tape in motion or a picture of a spinning disk drive which looks pretty but serves no functional purpose.

Why not add a nifty feature.. Why do guard so much about it, taking it like some sort of weird attack. This would bring it up to the level of any good app on a phone or computer, the most done with as few moves or eye strain to do it.

It would be nice, it would be efficient, and it helps those with failing eye sight... and it's more like the real thing, which is the goal. It's a good idea. It helps people with other difficulties as well. It's good all around.

 

The other fellow was all about sessions which I thought already worked but 'might' be broken, for him, I haven't double checked. If it needs to be fixed, then it should, if it can be improved, why not? otherwise it's not of use and might just as well not even be there by the reasoning set forth.

 

A good deal of people whom have been to visit with me, enjoy my time, my company, and my Atari... they however don't appreciate me fumbling about interrupting game flow and messing up juggling the disks in and out of the slots.. and yes I let them do it for me sometimes... and they look and say why can't I just press a button to put the other side in. It seems natural, and I don't argue with them about it because their simple question is one I also agree with. It would make it a joy instead of a nuisance chore, after all they're here to conquer a fleet of ships, or destroy bad guys in a city or dungeon, or help lemming like creatures get home. I sometimes fire up real drive to play games with more than one side, because it's easier for visitors and for me. It's just quicker to flip the real disk, but it shouldn't be. I figure the software solution should be better to deal with than real drives and real floppies. They think so too.

 

I'd appreciate it as would others. Such an improvement would make this the better 'go to' peripheral emulation choice.

I like having both side lined up, on deck so to speak, and since others are saying the same, it's probably a good idea..

Edited by _The Doctor__
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I like the idea that _The Doctor_ suggested about pushing a button to swap slots. I did mess around with this a little more and have to admit that I didn't realize you could drag and drop from drive 2 to drive 1. That is certainly easier than the way I was doing it. Not quite as cumbersome as I thought. Would be nice if the next version of RespeQt would take it a step further though. All in all, a great piece of software.

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If I had sufficient RAM in the U1MB BIOS, I'd be inclined to allows sets of ATRs to be mounted on a single drive number and rotated through for the purposes of disk swapping. As it is, if there are three disks, one mounts them on incremental drive numbers and presses a button to cycle the set. Even a feature in RespeQt which moved all mounted ATRs up one place and wrapped the drive 1 slot to the top slot would probably be useful.

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