Write a STX back to a floppy

[Daniel Santos]

Hi,

 

I have a legal copy of R-type bought on ebay. The disks are bad. I found the STX images of the disks. Is it possible to write them back to a good floppy again ?

 

Thanks,

Regards

[ParanoidLittleMan]

STX images are not good for writing onto floppies.

My page about Pasti/STX image format: http://atari.8bitchip.info/STXdesc.html

It was 10 years ago, and no thank you for my effort from man who should do such page self.

 

Then, 'legal copy' of SW old over 30 years ? You should get rather 'fresh' copy of old games. Because floppy disks have limited data lifetime.  Any buying of old floppy SW at ebay or anywhere is big  risk, and actually it is worst with never opened one - so unchecked for sure.

If you want it legal - maybe to visit publisher's site in hope that there is retro section, and then maybe will see there DL of writeable floppy image - ST, MSA format.

[Daniel Santos]

By legal, I mean that the previous user bought it from a store, and then some years later sold it to me second hand therby transferring the license to me.

I am trying to find the copyright owners to see if they can replace my disks, but had no luck yet.

[ParanoidLittleMan]

Nobody will replace your floppies 30 years after they were manufactured. Not even if you'd pay for it.

Insisting on exact copy of original means that you should see for SCP image and write it to floppy disk. That means need to buy Super Card Pro device too. Or asking someone that make it to you - then will need to pay shipping and wait a lot (now it is much slower) . Whatfor ? To experience soon that your floppy drive is gone bad .

Better buy some mass storage with Flash cards - that may last years from now, and has place for thousands of games.

And we have really more important things to care with old SW than copyright - preservation for future (and it is already here actually), compatibility problems ...

[bfollowell]

I have to agree with @ParanoidLittleMan. 30+ years later, you're probably not going to find anyone that cares about replacing old floppy disks or is going to have flux copies of old disks, even if the companies are still in business, which is doubtful in all but the most extreme cases. Your best bet would be to find a working cracked or copied version and then copy that back to floppy. Even then, you're going to have to have access to an old PC with an onboard floppy controller in order to copy it back to floppy. And let's say you do, like @ParanoidLittleMan said, how long is your floppy drive going to last? How long is this new floppy going to last? Your all around best bet is to replace your floppy drive with a Gotek or a Goex. Then you can copy an R-Type disk image over to USB or SD card and run it on your ST just as you would a real floppy. I know we're all wired differently, but I've never understood those that want to use decades old media with a finite lifespan when they could switch to digital media that will never wear out.

 

[atarian1]

Keep the R-Type box, its contents, and disks for your classic software collection. If you don't collect boxes, sell it on ebay. Some collector will want it. Just don't toss it!

[+DarkLord]

Gotta side with all the rest - get a mass storage device, then load it

up with one of PPera's images or download all the hard drive adapted

games and have an absolute blast!

 

I've got game boxes, complete with all the wonderful items and

literature that came with them, sitting on some bookshelves right

now. Some of them have floppy's in them that have been bad for

quite some time. Doesn't matter, I've got the boxes 'n stuff, plus

the HD adapted version to play, which is infinitely better.

 

HTHs, and have fun! 

 

 

[tjlazer]

Why not just get a cracked copy and transfer it to a real disk and enjoy the game? You might be able to even copy it onto your original disk if it’s still OK and not a bad disk. I’ve done that with some original disks.

 

[Tillek]

Eh.... I dunno... some of those "cracked by the poo-poo doody head crew" screens just ruin it for some... and make the experience all that more retro legit for others.

 

[+DarkLord]

3 hours ago, tjlazer said:

Why not just get a cracked copy and transfer it to a real disk and enjoy the game? You might be able to even copy it onto your original disk if it’s still OK and not a bad disk. I’ve done that with some original disks.

 

 

Could do that, I suppose. But I've found that I like the speed and ease of use with the HD adapted versions. Also, many

have trainers and cheat modes, which comes in dead handy for those impossible games. Also, multi-disk games are just

so much nicer playing from a HD adapted version where you don't have to swap floppies.

 

Everyone else's mileage may vary, of course. I'm not criticizing anyone who wants to play from floppy, mind you. It's just

not my first choice as there's way too many advantages with the HD adapted versions. 

 

[bfollowell]

10 hours ago, Tillek said:

Eh.... I dunno... some of those "cracked by the poo-poo doody head crew" screens just ruin it for some... and make the experience all that more retro legit for others.

 

 

That's true. I've never liked any of those "cracked by" screens either. That being said, many of the older games have been cracked in the modern age, or re-cracked, and don't have those horn-tooting cracked by announcements. Many of them, there is no way to tell by looking that you're using a cracked version over an original.

 

[+DarkLord]

It depends. In the case of many of Peter's HD adapted games, he scans the box cover, or some other

cool picture relating to the game and has it as an intro screen. In that case, I'm all for it as it actually

adds to the gaming experience, IMHO.

 

I'm a respiratory therapist and when it's slow at work (winter= busy, summer=slower but more trauma)

I'll take my STacy to work with me:

 

 

 

I will set my STacy up in our department (I'm the only one there at night unless there's a trainee)

and play games.

 

 

 

Here's a screenshot showing the extra intro screen that Peter added to Ultima III.

See what I mean? 

 

 

Sorry for the low quality - these were taken by a cheap/older cell phone

I had at the time...

 

Edited June 15, 2021 by DarkLord
grammer check....

[Randy]

3 hours ago, DarkLord said:

It depends. In the case of many of Peter's HD adapted games, he scans the box cover, or some other

cool picture relating to the game and has it as an intro screen. In that case, I'm all for it as it actually

adds to the gaming experience, IMHO.

 

I'm a respiratory therapist and when it's slow at work (winter= busy, summer=slower but more trauma)

I'll take my STacy to work with me:

 

 

 

I will set my STacy up in our department (I'm the only one there at night unless there's a trainee)

and play games.

 

 

 

Here's a screenshot showing the extra intro screen that Peter added to Ultima III.

See what I mean? 

 

 

Sorry for the low quality - these were taken by a cheap/older cell phone

I had at the time...

 

Damn, now I need to get a STacy...

[ParanoidLittleMan]

Just to add that I do not scan - how would  scan over 1000 box covers ? Of course I DL them, make some contrast, color corrections by need, cut off most interesting part and convert it with special SW in ST(E) hi-color mode, regular 256 color BMP for 32 bitters.

And unlike crackers "we are the best ..." messages, this pictures can be removed, if someone don't like them, or has problem with disk space.

There are normally 3 files  Fxy273.HST, Lxy273.HST - 70 KB long, first is for STE, second for ST machines. xy240R.BMP - for Falcon, TT - 78 KB.

If file not found game starter will just continue with game launch.

[+DarkLord]

7 hours ago, ParanoidLittleMan said:

Just to add that I do not scan - how would  scan over 1000 box covers ? Of course I DL them, make some contrast, color corrections by need, cut off most interesting part and convert it with special SW in ST(E) hi-color mode, regular 256 color BMP for 32 bitters.

And unlike crackers "we are the best ..." messages, this pictures can be removed, if someone don't like them, or has problem with disk space.

There are normally 3 files  Fxy273.HST, Lxy273.HST - 70 KB long, first is for STE, second for ST machines. xy240R.BMP - for Falcon, TT - 78 KB.

If file not found game starter will just continue with game launch.

 

My bad Peter, I should have been more precise in my description.

 

Thanks for the clarification.  

 

[bfollowell]

23 hours ago, DarkLord said:

It depends. In the case of many of Peter's HD adapted games, he scans the box cover, or some other

cool picture relating to the game and has it as an intro screen. In that case, I'm all for it as it actually

adds to the gaming experience, IMHO.

 

 

Oh yes, I definitely agree that these are great. I only meant the old "cracker" team messages and screens that had absolutely nothing to do with the game, and everything to do with tooting their own horns. Peter's definitely add to the games as far as I'm concerned.

 

Edited June 16, 2021 by bfollowell