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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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Stryyker
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 468 |
Checked the group that releases FD2000 versions of the games? I forget their URL and their name :(
I just checked, group is TAC but none of the games you want :( |
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Steppe
Registered: Jan 2002
Posts: 1510 |
Yeah, I checked their site. Already contacted one of their crackers, but got no reply so far. :-( |
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Bender
Account closed
Registered: May 2003
Posts: 9 |
I actually think it takes a little more effort than that :( I've made a version of Worldclass Leaderboard that has ALL courses on one disk (original + Famous courses 1-3 = 16 courses total, roughly about 1600-1800 blocks) to avoid disk swapping and being able to play any course at any given time without having to reboot the game again to get the correct course-name. Everything is working just fine, except for one thing - there are now so many files on the disk ( +300) that it takes a veeery long time to find the files for the next hole to load, it's not worth the effort (on an FD2000 atleast, probably works faster on HD).
The thing I've done is very simply done - and I'm no hacker at all, but I doubt that a game that is relased on 8 disks has any redundant data. Even if the disks directories looks alike, the files might not be of the same size or the same location i memory. So you'd still wind up with alot of files and the same problem I ran into. If I knew a little more about coding, I'd pack one course into one file (like IFFL) and have the whole game crunched down to under 20 files total. I assume that would solve your problem too, but it as mentioned before it would demand a lot more skill than I posess.
If someone wants my "one-disk-version" of WCL or is willing to help me fix my problem - feel free to contact me! |
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Steppe
Registered: Jan 2002
Posts: 1510 |
Wow, that Leaderboard thing sounds impressive! Send it over to steppe@demodungeon.com, please!
But believe me, I copied the prg files of Ultima V to my harddisk and byte-compared them in my hexeditor, they ARE redundant!
I meanwhile sorted everything in a way that I put all the non-redundant data in one directory and left the files with identical filename but differing data compared to identically named files from other disks into a separate folder which is named after the disk. If anyone wants to take a look to pick up the work from where I stopped, here it is:
www.demodungeon.com/fun/u5.zip |
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Bender
Account closed
Registered: May 2003
Posts: 9 |
Hey Steppe! Cool to find someone with a similar interest in the C64 area!
Ok, I'm gonna go offline for while to transfer the disks and write som short info on how to use it. In return all I want is a comment how you think it works, hopefully no problem :) |
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Bender
Account closed
Registered: May 2003
Posts: 9 |
Ok, finally done! Enjoy! |
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Steppe
Registered: Jan 2002
Posts: 1510 |
Nice, thanks for sending it along!
As I just found out my 1581 is completely misaligned, and fiddling around even made it worse. Have to wait for my newly ordered Chinon drive mechanics to arrive, then I'll give you some feedback. |
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Twoflower
Registered: Jan 2002
Posts: 434 |
Heh,
Nice to see that someone have the same interest as me in trying to get big games to work on 1581/HD/FD. Personally, I have tested quite a few games - and found many to work. The games i've tested so far is the Last Ninja Trilogy, Lemmings, Killed Until Dead, Champions of Krynn, Death Knights of Krynn, Gateway to the Savage Frontier and even a few other big games. I also highly recommend the 1581 version of Pirates, which makes the game highly enjoyable. And do not forget GRG's new crack of Project Firestart which works 100% with a 1581.
Personally, i'd kill for 1581 versions of Ultima VI, Enchanced Newcomer and Dragon Wars. Any other RPG's you know of working on a 3.5 drive? |
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cadaver
Registered: Feb 2002
Posts: 1160 |
IDE64 Newcomer is coming, so I believe it will also work on 1581, if they haven't messed up completely :) |
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Merman
Registered: Dec 2002
Posts: 140 |
I have the 3.5" version of SWORD OF HONOUR, which is file-loading rather than direct access like the 5.25" version (which comes on 4 disks). It's also FD and HD compatible.
As for the Ultima files, be careful. I know some of the AD&D games have what looks like duplicate files, but they are different - e.g. WALL0 on 1 disk is different from WALL0 on another. |
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