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Forums > C64 Pixeling > Magic Formel graphics converter?
2013-09-12 21:09
Hammerfist

Registered: May 2011
Posts: 11
Magic Formel graphics converter?

Hello everyone,

In my active scene days, 1990-1991 on the C64, I used to love to paint with the Magic Formel paint program because it worked with a mouse.

I still have a lot of graphics from those days and want to convert them from Magic Formel format ([name].MG) to something more common. My cartridge hardly works nowadays, so I need an alternative solution.

Can anyone help? I seem to recall the program could also save to Koala mode, so if anyone is willing to convert my graphics? Or is there another converter somewhere?

Any tips would be greatly appreciated! I already lost my A1200 hard disks, I hate to see this disappear as well!!
2013-09-13 02:12
Urban Space Cowboy

Registered: Nov 2004
Posts: 45
Images of Magic Formel carts are already out there. Spread files first, worry about formats later. :)
2013-09-13 13:54
MagerValp

Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 1055
It looks like it saves the files in a straight uncompressed format, but with a load address of $3000. You can convert them with a simple shell script:

#!/bin/bash

mg="$1"
koala="$2"

printf "\x00\`" > "$koala"
dd if="$mg" bs=1 skip=2 count=8000 2>/dev/null >> "$koala"
dd if="$mg" bs=1 skip=8194 count=1000 2>/dev/null >> "$koala"
dd if="$mg" bs=1 skip=9218 count=1000 2>/dev/null >> "$koala"
dd if="$mg" bs=1 skip=8177 count=1 2>/dev/null >> "$koala"
2013-09-13 13:58
chatGPZ

Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 11088
that said, could you provide one or two of these images? i'd like to drop them into my collection of different c64 files/formats :) (strange enough, never stumbled about any magic formel gfx files so far)
2013-09-13 18:59
Hammerfist

Registered: May 2011
Posts: 11
Thanks for your replies everyone! Even with just 3 of them I'm already feeling so much more hopeful I can still watch them all!

@Urban Space Cowboy: I have found the images, but was not clever enough to get them to work.

@MagerValp: That sounds as if the images are more or less similar, which is again good to know. I do not know anything about scripts though. How would I implement this and where?

@Groepaz: Easily! I have plenty of those. I sent you a PM to exchange mail addresses. If anyone else has a use for these files, I am happy to provide examples!
2013-09-13 19:53
MagerValp

Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 1055
Quoting Hammerfist
@MagerValp: That sounds as if the images are more or less similar, which is again good to know. I do not know anything about scripts though. How would I implement this and where?

What I pasted is a shell script that works on linux, mac, and other unix machines. It takes an mg file as input and spits out a koala image. I suspect you're a windows user, in which case there's no similarly simple way to share small tools like this, but if you put a zip of .mg files somewhere I can convert them to koalas for you.
2013-09-13 20:08
chatGPZ

Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 11088
Quote:
I suspect you're a windows user, in which case there's no similarly simple way to share small tools like this

downloading dd.exe and making a few minor changes to your script so cmd.exe is happy should do the trick though :)

that said, you can probably use "congo", if i recall correctly it lets you define those offsets manually for any format.
2013-09-14 08:59
Urban Space Cowboy

Registered: Nov 2004
Posts: 45
Quoting Hammerfist
@Urban Space Cowboy: I have found the images, but was not clever enough to get them to work.
Start x64, left-click for menu, select "Attach cartridge image" sub-menu and "Smart attach CRT image...", and from the file selector pick the *.crt file you want.

To reiterate: spread files first, worry about formats later!
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