Acorn Archimedes Software Preservation

I'm so glad I stumbled on this forum! When I say stumbled, I mean purposefully googled

I was recently reminded of my dusty old A4000 sitting in the loft at home, along with a couple of boxes of disks and a fair number of those huge cardboard boxes that games used to come in...I could never quite figure out the logic behind those.

I can't quite remember all the games that I had, but definitely a few that I wouldn't mind reliving! I'm going to be heading back home (which is now in a different country unfortuantely) later this year, I'll see what I've got when I do.

What is the situation with 'The Zone'? It appears things are uploaded on a rotation. Is there any chance of a new member making a request? If yes, and it's possible, then I would love the chance to play Pandora's Box and Saloon Cars Delux again!

I hope I find something worth contributing in my dusty collection.

[MarkYoungIW]

Right, I have started imaging.

All the ones I have done so far work as adf's in Arculator, so guessing a fair few have had the protection removed (or didnt have it in the first place).

There are a few RO2 versions in amongst these.

My efforts so far are:-

Archieball (1988) (TopSoft).adf
ArcTrivia (1988) (Moray Micro Computing).adf
Bambuzle (1991) (Arxe Systems).adf
Black Angel (1992) (The Fourth Dimension) (Disk 1 of 2).adf
Black Angel (1992) (The Fourth Dimension) (Disk 2 of 2).adf
Blood Sport (1993) (Matt Black).adf
Days of Steam (1992) (UK Software).adf
Dominate (19xx) (M.J.Talibard).adf
Enthar Seven (1988) (Robico Software).adf
Fireball (1988) (Godax).adf
Fred (1993) (Software 42).adf
Gribbly's Day Out On the Arc (1992) (Coin-Age) (Unprotected).adf
Hostages (1990) (Obscure).adf
Inertia (1990) (The Fourth Dimension).adf
Interdictor (1989) (Clares) (No Codes Required).adf
James Pond 2 - Codename RoboCod (1993) (Millennium) (Unprotected) [a1].adf
James Pond 2 - Codename RoboCod (1993) (Millennium) (Unprotected) [a2].adf
Jinxter (19xx) (Magnetic Scrolls).adf
Omar Sharif's Bridge (1992) (Oxford Softworks).adf
Orion (1988) (Minerva).adf
Pon (1990) (RTFM).adf
Pysanki (1990) (The Fourth Dimension).adf
RedShift (1990) (Minerva).adf
Stranded (1989) (Robico).adf
ThunderMonk (1989) (Minerva).adf
Wonderland (1990) (Magnetic Scrolls) (Disk 1 of 2).adf
Wonderland (1990) (Magnetic Scrolls) (Disk 2 of 2).adf
X-Run (1990) (H.Rogers).adf

A lot of these are cracked by 'Captain Flak'.

I am adding to the list every day, there is quite a few more to come.

[paul2004v]

Ummm... new to the software preservation thing but I have a couple of Arcs that I can use to test with if that helps... I may need pointing in the right direction though...

Paul

[MarkYoungIW]

Just an 'aide memoire' to myself here. Been having trouble with quite a few of the older games being RO2 only, so having a look round the find solutions to get them running under RO3. So far this is about the only solution I have seen (but not yet tried).

http://groups.google.com/group/comp....e5ccb137?hl=en

**Tried Worked With Jinxter, so guessing Magnetic Scrolls collection should be fine**

[bcass]

I wouldn't mind Pon and ThunderMonk if you don't mind uploading them? I assume they've had the protection removed?

[MarkYoungIW]

Hmm.......I have a copy of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the Arc. Never remember it being released. Its converted by Incognito?

Seems to be a copy, and I think the copy protection may be playing up. Will hopefully get some time on it soon. Got a lot more to go yet!!

[antom]

Thought it might be worth mentioning that the copy of Spobbloid Fantasy (4D release, not earlier CIS one) I've installed to my A3010's hard disc doesn't prompt for a key disc so I'm attempting to copy it over to my PC via good old HD floppy disk. Not had any luck with it so far (problem opening the Archive created on ArcFS on the A3010 in Arculator using the free version of Sparkplug 2.26).

I'll persevere and keep you posted!

I'm also planning to 'resurrect' my old tagew.co.uk website as a database/archive of all the old Archimedes Commercial games in the style of www.lemonamiga.com - just a case of finding time as always!

I've also added a couple of new boxed games to my collection: Iron Lord, Exodus, a Lemmings/Oh No More Lemmings combined package, Heroquest, Simon the Sorcerer (FD), Carnage Inc, Galactic Dan, The Exotic Advendures of Sylvia Lane, Cataclysm, Arcendium, Starch, Man At Arms, U.I.M & probably others too. Prices on eBay have gone absolutely mad though - a copy of Crisis went for £100+ and Kaptain Konflict for £50 (admittedly not seen those two on eBay, well... ever).

MarkYoungIW - how are you imaging your discs out of interest? Kryoflux? Another method?

[MarkYoungIW]

I am imaging my copies using !ADFImager on the arc. for the apd's I have an A1200. I have given my Kryoflux to Tom to experiment with as I have very limited originals, so thought it best he has one so he can advise us the best way forward.

Website sounds like a good plan, lemonamiga is a good site. As you say though, time is always a problem.

This Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles disc has really got me as I never saw the game on the Arc, so I have imaged it as an apd for anyone else to have a look at and tell me what they think. Reckon the copy protection is damaged though as it wont play.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=LW0ID0D5

[Tom Walker]

Don't get too excited, it's just the colouring book thing.

Kryoflux - I've got a system now which sort of works. Unfortunately I haven't got a working floppy drive for it so no dumping at the minute. Also Arculator + the APD format will need some changes to work properly with it.

[MarkYoungIW]

Was someone on here looking for Wonderland as I have just done that, and works well in Arculator.

**Ah, just the first 2 discs, didnt realise it consisted of 4 discs**

[antom]

Got my HD install of Spobbloid Fantasy unpacked and onto Arculator now - works well! Another nice game by Graeme Richardson (Nevryon, Technodream) although the controls are perhaps a little fiddly...

Turned out that Archives made with ArcFS and SparkPlug don't play well together... simple fix in the end!

[antom]

Anyone seen this "Universal Floppy Disk Drive Emulator" before? Apparently it's compatible with the A3000/ADFs?

Might be an interesting one to experiment with along with the Kryoflux, possibly?

http://hxc2001.free.fr/floppy_drive_emulator/index.html

[antom]

Ok, I've been using !DImager and have started to do a couple of Minerva games - I've had a couple of issues with disc errors in some cases but have fully recovered all files on a disc, archived and put back onto a functional blank floppy image with some success.

However, I haven't had much luck getting a few of the games running under Arculator (Bad CRC errors etc) but guessing this may be fixed in future releases. Imaged so far:

- Battle Tanks
- Family Favourites
- Freddy's Folly
- Hoverbod
- Jet Fighter
- Maddingly Hall
- Minotaur
- Missile Control
- Orion
- Redshift
- Talisman
- Thundermonk

I've also imaged US Gold's Scrabble & Network XXIII's Warlocks. Haven't tested these yet, though...

[antom]

Originally Posted by antom

I've also imaged US Gold's Scrabble & Network XXIII's Warlocks. Haven't tested these yet, though...

I've tested Warlocks - works fine. Scrabble runs but has manual-based copy protection so can't test this properly at present (I'm at work & my manual is at home!) but assuming this is fine too.

I've also made successful images of the following, all tested in Arculator & working (all ADF):

- High Risc Racing [2x discs] (Modus Software Ltd)
- Pesky Muskrats [2x discs] (Coin-Age Ltd)
- Overload [1x discs] (Paradise)
- Blood Sport [1x discs] (Matt Black)
- Man At Arms [1x discs] (The Fourth Dimension)

I've also got images of the HD version of Flashback, but need to split the files to get them onto my PC!

Plenty more to get through too...

[vexation]

Originally Posted by antom

I've tested Warlocks - works fine. Scrabble runs but has manual-based copy protection so can't test this properly at present (I'm at work & my manual is at home!) but assuming this is fine too.

I've also made successful images of the following, all tested in Arculator & working (all ADF):

- High Risc Racing [2x discs] (Modus Software Ltd)
- Pesky Muskrats [2x discs] (Coin-Age Ltd)
- Overload [1x discs] (Paradise)
- Blood Sport [1x discs] (Matt Black)
- Man At Arms [1x discs] (The Fourth Dimension)

I've also got images of the HD version of Flashback, but need to split the files to get them onto my PC!

Plenty more to get through too...

I'm just pleased to see someone still trying.. keep up the good work. I check back on this thread every week or so and whenever I see a new post I smile.. I used an A3000/5000 during the formative years of my life and always happy to see more software preserved (in any format!)

Is there a site where we can post disk images? Where are you posting the images you've currently done?

[Clark Kent]

I would also be interested in these images. I found the "GAME_1" CD on Torrent but the additions done lately are not on this CD...

[breach]

Anyone ever actually seen Deadline by Network 23? I've always been curious about it because it looked great in the screenshots published in Acorn User at the time.

It's mentioned on the Network 23 wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_23_%28company%29

Also, Network 23's Provocator game looks really nice, but I don't know anything about that either.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provocator

Anyone ever played these?

[sack]

Originally Posted by antom

Thought it might be worth mentioning that the copy of Spobbloid Fantasy (4D release, not earlier CIS one) I've installed to my A3010's hard disc doesn't prompt for a key disc so I'm attempting to copy it over to my PC via good old HD floppy disk. Not had any luck with it so far (problem opening the Archive created on ArcFS on the A3010 in Arculator using the free version of Sparkplug 2.26).

I'll persevere and keep you posted!

as far as I remember these games checked if they were loading from floppy and would only try the protection if they were on disc. I remember in one case the protection was in a relocatable module called 'CopyProtect' (or something similar) and stopping the protection in its tracks was just a case of modifying the first conditional branch after the first 'SWI ADFS_DiscOp' you came across if you dropped it into !Zap.

[Macaw]

Just a bump to ask if the newer rom dumps have been uploaded anywhere? I've been searching for Warlocks and Enter the Realm for years.

It would be great to get these out there and properly preserved. The current Archimedes full game archive at sites like Underground Gamer just need a few more of these obscure dumps before the archive is almost complete.