Disk2FDI & Custom Disk Formats

[jmmijo]

Just wondering if anyone has had any luck in creating a disk image from a custom disk formatted game, I have had no luck in doing so with one title, so far that is :( The name is Nightdawn by Magic Bytes/Innerprise (the US distributor). The disk label also shows micro-partner GmbH. I'm assuming this is Magic Bytes but you German folks would know more about this then I.

Anyways, disk2fdi reports only the boot track as normal AmigaDOS format and the others as non-standard or un-recognized formats.

Any help would be appreciated, I suppose now I'll get to working on it with my A4000 and nib-warp or something similar.

[DrBong]

If the US release of Nighdawn has the same nasty copy protection of any of the Magic Bytes/micro-partner games released in Europe, then I doubt you will have any luck with disk2fdi.

On a real Amiga they cannot even be warped properly using MFMWarp. The only success I've had with copying Magic Bytes originals was by using a hardware copier (PowerCopy) that made use of custom parameters for Vampire's Empire and one or two other games.

[DPainter]

Originally posted by jmmijo
Just wondering if anyone has had any luck in creating a disk image from a custom disk formatted game, I have had no luck in doing so with one title, so far that is :( The name is Nightdawn by Magic Bytes/Innerprise (the US distributor). The disk label also shows micro-partner GmbH. I'm assuming this is Magic Bytes but you German folks would know more about this then I.

Anyways, disk2fdi reports only the boot track as normal AmigaDOS format and the others as non-standard or un-recognized formats.

Any help would be appreciated, I suppose now I'll get to working on it with my A4000 and nib-warp or something similar. I was never able to get DISK2FDI to read non-standard tracks except for the occasional error-protected tracks, which I then fixed using a parameter copier in WinUAE. Otherwise it just hangs up on me on the non-standard disks.

Have you checked with the CAPS project about dumping copy protected disks on your Amiga?

[jmmijo]

Originally posted by DPainter
I was never able to get DISK2FDI to read non-standard tracks except for the occasional error-protected tracks, which I then fixed using a parameter copier in WinUAE. Otherwise it just hangs up on me on the non-standard disks.

Have you checked with the CAPS project about dumping copy protected disks on your Amiga?

Done, this, I already dumped it using the CAPS tool :) I figured this would be a good candidate for archiving and preservation, isn't that right fiath :cheese

[fiath]

Heh :cheese

Anything that cannot be imaged by warpers have got to be a rather high priority I guess!

Interesting. It would probably be cool to have a gander at the type of thing that the warpers fail on. Apart from density protections - does anybody know generally what they can't do?

I believe we have some other Magic Bytes games now... The only ones I can remember are "Eskimo Games" and "The Pink Panther" - I am fairly sure there are more though.

We are rapidly approaching (or maybe passed) having 1000 disks dumped by now I should imagine - so it is no wonder my memory is hazy! I need to sort out that "games dumped" log...

[Twistin'Ghost]

Magic Bytes:
Air Supply
Beam
Big Business
Biing!!!
Blue Angel '69
Clever & Smart
Cyber World
Domination
Dynatech
Dynatech AGA
Elysium
Eskimo Games
Mini Golf
Nightdawn
Penthouse Hot Numbers
Penthouse Hot Numbers Deluxe (ECS)
Penthouse Hot Numbers Deluxe (AGA)
Persian Gulf Inferno (Innerprise - not confirmed)
Pink Panther
The Second World
Sexy Droids
Tom & Jerry - Hunting High and Low
Tom & Jerry II (? - not sure about this one, but probably)
U.S.S. John Young
U.S.S. John Young 2 (aka Operation Spruance)
Vampire's Empire
Western Games

I think most of those are correct. Variety of publishers throughout that list.

[DrBong]

@Twistin' & Fiath
You can add these to the Magic Bytes softography:

Biing!!! AGA
Crystal Hammer
Dino Wars
Final Mission
Powerstyx
The Paranoia Complex
Tom & Jerry II (think this was simply perhaps a "bugfixed" or enhanced version of Tom & Jerry- Can anyone confirm? Andreas? Retroman?)


I can confirm that Operation Spruance (aka USS John Young 2?) was *not* a Magic Bytes creation. I own the original and it is © 1990 by Parsec Software. However, Magic Bytes did produce North Sea Inferno (aka Persian Gulf Inferno).

I can also verify that Beam, Clever & Smart, Cyber World, Pink Panther, Vampire's Empire and Western Games all have the same sort of nasty copy protection. However, oddly enough, Big Business and Penthouse Hot Numbers DeLuxe are unprotected.

The other thing I've noticed is that for some games the credits have listed micro-partner and/or Magic Bytes and/or reLine and/or Axxiom. I'm guessing that Magic Bytes, reLine and perhaps Axxiom were sub-labels of the parent company, micro-partner. Increasing my suspicion about this is that the copy protection on reLine and Axxiom games seems to be quite similar to that of Magic Bytes, despite the credits revealing no collaboration with Magic Bytes on these games. Also, a compilation called Goldrush published by micro-partner includes games by Magic Bytes, reLine and Axxiom as well as themselves.

As a side note, the US releases of games by these German software houses were almost exclusively done by Digitek Software.

Hope I haven't bored people too much with this post. Wish my memory for this sort of useless trivia was as good as for the more important things that I need to remember!!

[jmmijo]

This is good info, thanks Shadowen :)

[DrBong]

No problem. Least I know that there is one person that I didn't put to sleep with my post ;-)

[Twistin'Ghost]

Originally posted by Shadowen
Tom & Jerry II (think this was simply perhaps a "bugfixed" or enhanced version of Tom & Jerry- Can anyone confirm? Andreas? Retroman?)
Thanks for that list, dude! I will check it out. What, have you got a database or something? :)

As for TOM & JERRY 2, this one has always been an anomaly to me. I have copies of this game and for the life of me, cannot see any difference between it and TOM & JERRY. But I don't believe it is fake, either, because I have seen the box for the game in the store before, so I know it's a real release. And I have seen the game somewhere on a different platform and it's still the same thing. So your theory makes perfect sense (and is perhaps the only logical explanation, even if calling it '2' is still an enigma!)

I can confirm that Operation Spruance (aka USS John Young 2?) was *not* a Magic Bytes creation. I own the original and it is © 1990 by Parsec Software. However, Magic Bytes did produce North Sea Inferno (aka Persian Gulf Inferno).
The information I have (my database) indicates Operation Spruance (the 1990 US release) is published by Parsec, but the UK release (USS John Young 2) is published by Magic Bytes (in 1991). I'll re-check this info, however.

The other thing I've noticed is that for some games the credits have listed micro-partner and/or Magic Bytes and/or reLine and/or Axxiom. I'm guessing that Magic Bytes, reLine and perhaps Axxiom were sub-labels of the parent company, micro-partner. Increasing my suspicion about this is that the copy protection on reLine and Axxiom games seems to be quite similar to that of Magic Bytes, despite the credits revealing no collaboration with Magic Bytes on these games. Also, a compilation called Goldrush published by micro-partner includes games by Magic Bytes, reLine and Axxiom as well as themselves.

As a side note, the US releases of games by these German software houses were almost exclusively done by Digitek Software.
Yeah, initially on my list above, I had all the reLine and DigiTek, etc. references, but just before I hit the Submit Reply button, I swiped them off because I didn't think anyone cared.

Hope I haven't bored people too much with this post. Wish my memory for this sort of useless trivia was as good as for the more important things that I need to remember!!
Memory?!? If you pulled all of that out just from memory, then I am impressed. I have a modified version of the Marines chant: Without my database, I am useless. :)

Hey, always glad to get more info and to close the gap on existing information...it's very useful for the upcoming HOL. So thanks again!