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Steppe
Registered: Jan 2002
Posts: 1510 |
FD2000/HD/1581 versions of multidisk games
Hi all,
I'm right now playing Ultima V on my C128. And even though I have a second drive connected I find the disk swapping extremely annoying. I wonder if one of those jewel crackers out there would like to do a version of that game (or other multidisk RPG like Bard's Tale II+III, Dragon Wars, just to name a few) that run from a single 1581/CMD FD2000/CMD HD or IDE64 (even 64HDD would be nice)?
I did a little research on Ultima V and discovered that the majority of the files on the 8 disks is redundant data! Actually only about 2 files per disk differ from files on other disks with the same filename! So I could imagine that all it takes is to modify the main program files, add a few branching instruction depending on the location of the game (Dungeons, Keeps, Towns...), rename the non-redundant files and adjust the main program files to load those renamed files instead.
Am I just blue-eyed, or do you think this is doable with reasonably low effort? |
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Steppe
Registered: Jan 2002
Posts: 1510 |
Yeah, still you can't throw everything onto one 3.5" floppy and play ahead. It would work loader-wise, as U5 uses standard kernal routines. However the datafiles called "L" and "U" exist on all disk, they are the ones with differing content.
Now if only someone motivated enough could hack the game to work on 1581 - I'd die for it! :-) |
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Bender
Account closed
Registered: May 2003
Posts: 9 |
I own an FD2000 and AFAIK it's said to be 100% compatible with the C1581, or am I wrong? Well, the Nostalgia releases won't work even on the "c1581-disks" (DS/DD, formatted for 800K), has anyone else come upon this problem. I also haven't been able to get The Games: Summer Edition/DSD 90 to work, even though it claims to be 1581 compatible. Have you had the same experience or know if something I don't, please tell me.
Btw, I have quite a bunch of games working on FD, if you anyone wants a list, I'll put it up here (all games are easy to find, I've just taken the time to check out if they work - which will save YOU a lot of time!). |
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Stryyker
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 468 |
FD is not 100% compatible with 1581. I've found some stuff that works differently on both although coded to be generic (FD set up with 1581 disk etc.). I also noticed it with my own experiments. Although many things cannot tell difference and work fine on either. |
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Steppe
Registered: Jan 2002
Posts: 1510 |
Allright, I finally got my new drive mechanic installed and tested Leaderboard, Bender.
So far I can't share your experience that it takes too long to search the BAM because of the vast amount of files. At least not with Jiffy DOS, every hole doesn't take more than 2 seconds to load.
But I got a different problem here:
Both Star Commander and 64copy don't allow me to copy more than 296 files to the d81, although there are still over 700 blocks free on that disk. Hence, I miss out on courses O and P. Still, it's fun to play without having to swap disks all the time.
Does anybody know if that limitation of 296 BAM entries can somehow be overcome? |
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CyberBrain
Administrator
Posts: 392 |
I have no clue, but just an idea that might work: Maybe you could make a new partition and put the rest of the files in there? I think each partition has it's own BAM. |
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Steppe
Registered: Jan 2002
Posts: 1510 |
Yeah, but how do I change partitions while a program is running? %)
(Already had this thought myself with several games) |
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CyberBrain
Administrator
Posts: 392 |
if you have the kernal on, i guess you can send the diskcommand "<partition-name>/" to the drive to enter the partition, and "/" to go back. (ex: "xxx-hardcore-teens/" to enter the partition with the porn files of the game)
I've never tried entering/leaving partitions from anything else than basic, though, but i don't see why it shouldn't work from machinecode aswell.
Don't know how easy this is though, when you gotta 'crack' the game... Maybe the BAM can be extended.. that would be easier. :)
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Steppe
Registered: Jan 2002
Posts: 1510 |
Thanks for the support, but if you think about it - where's the point?
Entering the monitor and issuing a command takes about the same amount of time (if not more) than just changing a disk. ;-)
Besides, with the REU occupying the cartridge port already I can't have a cartridge with a monitor inserted at the same time. I know, there are cartridge port expanders, but I don't have such a thing. |
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Steppe
Registered: Jan 2002
Posts: 1510 |
Er, wait, there's no REU in Leaderboard. I confused the thread with the MW4 question I asked earlier today. :-) |
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Stryyker
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 468 |
Project64 has 1581 manual and / partitions are a little limited in some ways but that will be the only fix to your files problems. 1581 can only support 296 files in the main dir. |
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