@Pheonix,



It's alright, we'll figure it out. By the way, it just occurred to me that you could simply re-dump disks on any emulator under DOS or on your real DOS machine (if available) using your floppy drive as a direct host. I think that would be a lot more correct and reliable.


@TimWinGame,



Greetings and welcome!



Yes, I saw your uploads and they are already being processed. Please, stand by.



Please, nevermind the game list. Those are actually review entries unrelated to our image archive. Just stick with N/A option. Also, don't worry about any matching titles to yours, there are many different versions, releases and the quality of dumps may also differ (check status and comments). Feel free to upload whatever you got, you can never know if we have the same exact thing or not.

OK, confirmed that the TD0 conversion seems to work just fine Had to re-download PCE, and they've removed using PSI format directly. But have the converter to change to their PFDC format, and it worked fine as well. So, I've uploaded both the PFDC format & TD0 format files for Leisure Suit Larry. Keep what you want & discard the rest.

For future copy protected submissions, I'll upload what works.

Thanks a lot!

Apparently, Teledisk is ok for Sierra games as it seems to work in both PCE and 86box. However, I had to enable turbo timings in 86box to make it run, not sure why it matters. I think it depends on the type of copy protection, because I've tried running a couple of more games in Teledisk format, specifically Karateka and Rastan. The first one ran without turbo timings, the second just like LSL wouldn't run if that thing wasn't enabled.

As for PCE, it doesn't seem to run any copy protected games by default. I used a pre-configured version which was made to autorun Karateka and it has some setting somewhere which enables it to read TD0 images correctly, but so far I haven't discovered what it is exactly.

Also, I've tried the trick with dumping inside emulator using your images. It actually failed, so it wasn't worth the bother anyway. I mean, it dumped the files ok, but copy protection was gone. Apparently, it requires only real floppies to do the job correctly.

Another thing, it seems that converting images from KryoFlux also transfers a huge load of metadata into the boot region:



Not that it's a no-go, it's just that it also changes the hash value and I really really wish you could make clean dumps using real Teledisk just to get rid of that thing



We shall keep everything including your Kryoflux RAW files. They may come in handy some day. However, I think TD0 would suffice for now. Too bad PSI support was dropped. I'm not sure about this PFDC thing. Next time it will be XYZ or ABCD. To hell with it.

From what I understand PFDC is PCE's floppy format that supports copy protection. PSI, technically, was an interim format. So, .PFDC is what PCE was designed to use from the beginning. To break it down, when I'm converting, I have to convert the RAW files into a similar (but not as detailed,) single file version (.PFI - F stands for Flux, not sure of the rest.) Then into a higher level (MFM level,) format (.PRI - no idea wha it stands for,) then into then next level of .PSI (where I used to stop.) Technically, I was supposed to then translate that into a more standard format PFDC, TD0, IMD, IMG, etc... But I never worried about that last step as PCE (at that time,) could use the .PSI file.

I've always used the basic commands. I actually didn't realize it was putting a bunch of crap into the file like that. I can stop it by manually setting the comment to a null string on the first conversion. Replacements uploaded (PSI, PFDC, IMG, & TD0.)

Thanks again! That's more like it and keep it that way from now on, please. I thought I should ask if there's an option to stop it, but honestly, I didn't believe it was possible.

Now, I think you've deserved some points. Not for the images yet, no. That will happen a little bit later when we launch official support for non-raw/copy protected dumps and you will be credited. This time it's for all the good effort and valuable information:)

Added

Phantasie III: The Wrath of Nikademus
Different SHA than what you have. Shows no errors or alterations

Spellcasting 101: Sorcerers Get All The Girls
Different format (9x 5.25" DD floppies,) than what you have. Version 1.2 (shown on disk labels.) Disk 2 shows an error, but it installs fine from the image (in DOSBox.) The sector with the error, (Track 35 Sector 9,) may not be accurate to the original disk. Doesn't look like anything was stored there (on the original,) though.

As for keeping all that crap out of the files. I've altered my automated converter to include the appropriate command line alteration. Should be apparent in the next batch, as they are copy protected.

@TimWinGame,

Added:

Rampart (2541)
Aces of the Pacific - Patch B (2542): Fixed OEM ID. Did this really come out on a floppy? I do not recall those being official disk releases.
M1 Tank Platoon (2543): Won't run due to missing copy protection scheme. Fixed root and purged System Volume Information folder on disk 1.
The Island of Dr Brain (2544): Purged System Volume Information folder on disk 1 and 2. Probably a modified duplicate of ID 575, because disk 3 matches it and it was the only one unaffected. Please, never use unprotected floppies, especially on systems beginning with XP That thing can cause a lot of small changes, some of which may be impossible to track.
The Island of Dr Brain - Patch (2545): Again, is this an official release?
Red Baron (2546)
Red Baron: Mission Builder (2547): Purged System Volume Information folder. Here we go again.
Red Storm Rising (2548): Won't run due to missing CP.

Not added:

Covert Action: Matches ID 737
Sim Ant: Matches ID 535
Civilization: Positively a duplicate of ID 1439, because disk 2 matches it and disk 1 has System Volume Information folder written which introduced a very small change.
Aces of the Pacific: Matches ID 1837
Railroad Tycoon: Matches ID 738


@escarioth,

Added:

Hoyle - Book of Games Vol. 2 (2549): Modified OPTIONS.SOL and RESOURCE.CFG. But hey, this is version 1.000.011, which we didn't have.


@Pheonix,

Added and set to Verified:

Phantasie III: The Wrath of Nikademus (2550)
Spellcasting 101: Sorcerers Get All the Girls (2551)


Thank you everyone and keep on rocking!

yeah well i guess the .cfg file updated itself on disk when i played....it says it was created in 2017 on my disk -_- i also have Hoyle II ill send it tonight

Added Ultima 1 through 3. all copy protected, so included the flux files & pfdc & td0 format images. Along with Ultima 7 which was hashed out seperately, that's all of the 5.25" game disks I currently have access to. I believe I have more, but they are in storage limbo somewhere (or lost.) Have some utility 5.25" disks, then moving on to 3.5"

Uploaded:

ATAC: The Secret War Against Drugs (3 x 3.5-1.44mb)(Spanish release)

Asks for a manual word to play.

Continuing with Uploads

-Street Fighter II (3 disks)
-King Quest VI FRENCH (10 disks)
-A-10 Tank Killer V1.1 (2 disks - trying to help with verified status)
-Hoyle Book of games 1 (1 disk)
-Space Quest III (3 disks - trying to help with verified status)

Some new games are coming up for next days

@Pheonix,

Added:

Ultima 1: The First Age of Darkness: Wrong file size (unused CP data). Missing copy protection. Modified boot, root and orphaned data is present (deleted savegames). You could technically re-dump this to fix the size at least, but I'm not sure it's necessary considering the amount of issues.

Ultima 2: The Revenge of the Enchantress (2553): Missing copy protection. Disk 1 has wrong size (unused CP data) and something else is altered as your KryoFlux map shows. This one could be re-dumped and potentially supersede ID 1569. Not sure about modified sectors, though. Need to run comparison later.

Ultima 3: Exodus (2554): Modified boot, root and wrong file size (unused CP data).

Ultima 7: The Black Gate (1328): Replaced your own earlier uploaded dumps from the same exact floppies. Disks 3 and 6 had modified boot and root regions (fixed). Disk 3 was slightly oversized, but re-dump corrected it. Status set to Verified.

Not added:

Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss Demo: Already exists as ID 1376, but info has been updated: Modified boot, root and last few sectors (orphaned data). Cannot be restored completely.

All non-raw images have been collected and stored on FTP.


@keropi,

Added:

Apollo 18: Mission to the Moon (2555): Missing copy protection.
It Came from the Desert (2556)
Mixed-Up Mother Goose (2557): Some sectors are modified (RESOURCE.CFG was created).
Mixed-Up Mother Goose (2558): Ditto.
Rorke's Drift (2559)
Tornado (2560)

Not added:

Sam & Max Hit the Road: Correcting small issues in your images revealed a match of ID 1074. And that should be enough to consider it Verified. Thank you!


@Chiochio,

Added:

ATAC: The Secret War Against Drugs (2561): OEM IDs and LAT fixed.


Once again, big thanks to everyone for your hefty contribution!


@escarioth,

Thanks! I will be looking into your files a bit later if you don't mind. I'm exhausted from this other batch and need to have a little rest

On the RAW IMG files the copy protection will (almost) always be missing The incorrect file size is because my conversion software tries to convert even though the format doesn't support what's being converted. I'm aware that U1 has deleted save game files I've been looking for a pristine copy for ages. I'll keep looking. FYI, the seller deleted the save game files. He had posted a screen cap of the directory listing it as unplayed. He claims he wasn't aware that someone deleted the files, so I just dropped the issue


Ultima II has HW write protected disks (no notch.) So any alterations from the original are either mastering or age related data loss. The dump was created with several passes. It should be accurate to the original (as released.) The player disk specifically states to "copy" it as only the Program-Galactic disks has copy protection.


For Ultima III, you are supposed to play from a copy or from HD with the disk in drive A. You can tell if someone didn't do that just by starting a game, then saving it first thing. A pristine disk will save with move #0000001, while a non-pristine will save with a higher number (just do it from a copy.) Deleting the save game will not change the move counter. The game actually progresses over time (monsters become stronger & more prevalent based on time & not character advancement.


Not sure about the modifications, and also not sure why my original dump of 3 was oversized. Glad it was fixed.


Didn't see that Since it came packaged with Ultima VII, I just assumed it would be there as Disk 9 and didn't look for it to be on its own. My bad, and sorry. The alterations are probably from being run off disk, instead of from a copy. IIRC, it can be set to running and left alone, without having to "install" it.


This is where the copy protection will be. I'm afraid I am not currently capable of making correct IMG files from copy protected disks When my Voodoo system gets back up & running, I may be able to do it, but I'm not sure. Best I can do is just do a straight "file" copy from one disk to another, then make an IMG of that disk (when my Voodoo system gets up & running again, that is.) That's why I originally didn't include IMG format files for copy protected disks. Just the Kryoflux flux files & PSI format (which preserves most copy protections.)

Of course, I know that. I only write it for the sake of correctness and on the other hand to indicate that it's actually a copy protected game.



You made your first LSL images without it somehow, remember?



Don't worry, I think I could make a perfect dump using ID 1567 (same exact version, no difference detected). Other than modified OEM ID it looks perfectly intact and all we need to do is inject CP data into it and convert it to Teledisk or whatever other format. You could actually convert those hybrid IMGs back to RAW or TD0, right? In that case, it's even better that it comes oversized, because now I know what the resulting image should be



I see, thanks for the heads-up. Could you make a clean re-dump, please? I think it has to go further than that.



There were no savegames on it or any orphaned data, just typical Win9x trail (modified OEM ID & embedded LAT), which is all correctable. I guess I should just use abbreviations to make it easier for myself, but I'm afraid people will question it.

I didn't fix it because of the size. If there is at least one issue that can't be corrected I don't change anything, such is my rule. In our case it's the size. Also, I didn't report a duplicate of ID 1570 because, apparently, your game is a little different. Specifically, the file AMBROSIA.ULT differs dramatically from the other one. Must be the version.



Same Win9x stuff and disk 3 was 1200 -> 1215. I could've fixed it myself, it was just extra NULL bytes if I recall correctly. However, if a re-dump is possible it's always a better idea.



Actually, it's because the floppy wasn't write-protected As for separate Disk 9, it was Wandrell's decision (previous floppy manager). I'm not sure if it's a good or bad idea to dismember disks like that, but I would probably just keep it all together since it came from one set. Then again, if you want this particular demo you may not find it anymore unless you know it was shipped with Ultima 3. Guess this one calls for advanced search feature...



I see. Well, there's no rush, take your time. At least Ultima 1 dump exactly the way it is may serve a good purpose this time

@escarioth,

Added:

A-10 Tank Killer (2563): v1.1 Disk 1 is modified (A10.CFG and TOP.DAT). Disk 2 is the same as ID 2443.

Note: It really looks the same as ID 2563, but I discovered some crucial difference, so I can't be sure about either one of them now. Therefore, I didn't dismiss your set as a duplicate and added it just in case.

Hoyle - Book of Games Vol. 1 (2563): v1.000.113. A few modified sectors (NAME.SET and RESOURCE.CFG created).

King's Quest 6: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow (2564)



Unfortunately, I can't test it because this particular release (French) is apparently a little hard to find as plain archive. However, if you managed to get past the error, then it should be 99% ok. I think you have nothing to worry about

Not added:

Space Quest III: Turns out ID 88 is actually modified, too, but much less than yours, so I had to reject the latter. In every other way they are perfectly identical, though. Thank you for assistance!

Please, don't worry about any slightly modified images. It's all good as long as they are unique, which they are. Thank you again for all your efforts!

Not going to quote everything this time... Too much & not feeling well

My original dumps were made with different HW. I originally had a PCI Catweasel card, until I discovered it could do nothing about copy protection. But I imaged everything anyway, and depended on cracks (which I hate doing.) In many ways, though, the Catweasel was more versatile than the Kryoflux. It enabled me to make mostly accurate IMG files of just about any format. It even allowed me, IIRC, to force specific size changes even if the disk didn't match (Putting Ultima III in a 1.44M image instead of 360K "cracks" it BTW.) Thing is, to get the Kryoflux & the modified 5.25" drive I ended up selling my Catweasel I've been tempted to get the SCP, to see if it is better able to build accurate IMG files.

As for the pristine Ultima I, I'll have to look into that I can create a Kryoflux Flux dump from an IMG file using HxC tools, then just inject the CP track into that. That's assuming that both versions use the same CP & codes (some CPs not sure about U1, embedded a serial # into the CP scheme, and checked that.) Wouldn't be as pleasing (aesthetically,) but would get the job done.

I'll Do a re-dump of the Ultimas and see if I can get it any better. Not feeling well, though So may take a bit of time.

Get better soon.



As far as I'm concerned it doesn't support raw imaging, and flyers80 has attested to it being both KryoFlux and SCP user.



That would be very cool. Try!



It would make no difference as long as the files are identical. It would be technically your own legit copy, only much cleaner. The only difference between these dumps is that one is modified and the other is not (OEM ID doesn't count, we have it now thanks to ID 1568).

***

Oops... actually, it's exactly ID 1568 which matches yours. I knew I had to run a file-for-file check. For some reason ID 1567 (presumably the cleanest) is somehow dramatically different from 1568 and yours. Only ULTIMA.EXE file is identical, the rest is different, even though equal timestamps may suggest otherwise. It could be corrupt or is simply another version, I have no idea.

Nevertheless, I've managed to fix ID 1568 (not officially) by purging all savegames flawlessly. It should be perfect now, so you can use that for your experiments with CP. See PM.

@escarioth,

Added:

Resolution 101 (2566): Missing copy protection

Note: KEY DISK is always indicative of a copy protection scheme, which is, though, not here, of course. As for German manual, it's probably unrelated. All I know is that there were a couple of European releases, one of which was joint UK/Germany release.

Rings of Zilfin (2567)


Not added:

Centurion: Fixing OEM IDs and LAT revealed a duplicate of ID 720. I'm not sure if that would be enough to set it to Verified, you say the disks weren't yours, though. I know it should probably be legit, but I can't do it just yet.

The Lion King: Matched ID 290. Same thing, though, I can't do anything about it now. But hey, thanks for telling about manual copy protection (info updated). And German manual just got in there, because the guy who made the dumps was German

Looks like i wont let you breath easily
more coming games !

This Time im uploading
-Inherit The Earth (6 disks) 1.44mo
-Zak McKracken (1 disk) 720k
-Metal & Lace NR-13 (8 disks) 1.44mo

A little note about Metal & lace, the game was pretty hard on
creating the images...disks are walking disasters. dont know if
you can do anything about them. (especially disks 3-4-5)

Added:

Inherit the Earth: Quest for the Orb (2568): Looks pretty good.
Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders (2569): Turns out we didn't have this version at all!



Now, unfortunately, this one is, indeed, too severely damaged. I did succeed to restore disks 1-5 and 7-8 (not sure if that was perfect because I used a non-standard method), but disk 6 is totally beyond repair because its header is corrupt. It's not even the file itself (MLDISK.006), but the vital parts which are important, and with them inflicted, I'm afraid, I can't do much. Do you think you could re-dump that disk 6 again? Try dd_rescue, maybe a few more read-overs will get you through. Otherwise, I could only re-create the image completely, but it's next to missing disk, because it won't be anywhere close to the original. Are you sure you want that?