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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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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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Pater Pi
Account closed
Registered: Jan 2002
Posts: 121 |
Since when is Ultima AD&D?....(:
What is the current price for a 1581, a fd200 or an ide64? and do i still get HDs working with the IDE-64?
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Steppe
Registered: Jan 2002
Posts: 1510 |
@Merman:
Regarding the files with the same filename and identical size in Ultima V: Believe me, I compared them with the built-in compare function of Ultraedit, 90% of the files are identical, byte by byte. I understand they have to be on different disks, as those (identical) program files always load datafiles with the same filename, but different content.
@Pi:
I recently saw a FD2000 on EBAY going for 191 Euros, AFAIR. Another prime example of EBAY overpricing is here:
http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3047186583&ca..
476 Euros (fourhundredandseventysix, in words) for a 100 MB CMD HD-100... I can only shake my head.
In those cases I suggest buying it new from CMD directly.
A 1581 can be bought for as low as 65 Euros. Used Amiga drive mechs are also sold pretty cheap, I got two Chinons for 17,50 last week.
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Twoflower
Registered: Jan 2002
Posts: 434 |
A 1581 is worth every penny you spend on it, especially if you can get it as cheap as 65 eur. My only bad experience with it is the mechanics and the fact that is grows picky (constant read errors on certain tracks and problems with the dir) with an old, not too stable 1541-II/1581 transformator. I changed my mech some month ago to a newer amigamech and got a new transformator - and it never worked better.
Glad to hear there's a IDE version of Newcomer showing up soon. A game of that calibre really deserves working on something else than 40 track disks. I'm also curious if any of you have investigated the loaders f.ex Ultima VI or Bards Tale III / Dragon Wars? Even if all you did was modifying the loader to work with an 3,5 drive - instead of exchanging it to f.ex a modified Dreamload - the games would gain much speed from it. Would it be possible to add such a feature you think? Ultima VI uses a IRQ loader of some sort, and i'm not completely sure about the others. |
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Merman
Registered: Dec 2002
Posts: 140 |
Quote: Since when is Ultima AD&D?....(:
What is the current price for a 1581, a fd200 or an ide64? and do i still get HDs working with the IDE-64?
What I meant was that the AD&D system has what looks like duplicate files on different disks but they aren't - But as Steppe pointed out, the Ultima files are not like that.
I have a 1581 and an FD. Sweet! |
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