The Psygnosis dev disks from the loft

FromWithin · 01 July 2003, 23:06

So I was at my Mum and Dads house last weekend.

I went up to the loft and rooted out some of the disks I saved from destruction when we moved buildings at Psygnosis.

Jesus Hell. I never quite realised how many there are. Literally hundreds of the damn things. There are at least three complete hard drive backups in there among the vast amount of individual disks as well. I got a couple of disks and had a look. There are landscapes, test animations, in-game graphics, all sorts of stuff.

The question is, what should I do with them all? It would take weeks so go through them all, but they need to be transferred over to a hard drive and then sorted through. I want this stuff to be available somehow because a lot of it is really interesting.

I also found the original Bill's Tomato Game demo that I talked about in another thread somewhere, if anybody is interested.

Any suggestions to this thread please.

th4t1guy · 01 July 2003, 23:16

I'm sure there are plenty of people on this board that would be willing to sort it all for you

BippyM · 01 July 2003, 23:18

The easiest way would proabably to write it all to a CD and then transfer it that way.

I am willing to help anyway I can..

Dizzy · 01 July 2003, 23:34

Quote:

Originally posted by bippym
The easiest way would proabably to write it all to a CD and then transfer it that way.

If you dump them with disk2fdi, then shared it among the people who would help to look through all the images to tell what they contains

Quote:

I am willing to help anyway I can..

Me 2

Antiriad · 01 July 2003, 23:51

FromWithin, are you happy transferring the data or do you want help with that as well?

FromWithin · 02 July 2003, 01:25

My main problem at the moment is that my Amiga is completely stand-alone. I used to use my Siamese system, but it doesn't work with Win2k. Damn shame, it was great with the auto-monitor switcher and everything.

What I was thinking of doing was mounting a PC hard-drive inside my Amiga and copying everything onto that. Or I could buy a PC Catweasel, but then that means paying about about 60 quid.

The first problem, of course, is getting the disks down here. Heavy they are!

I think I need to take some time off work and sort things out.

Antiriad · 02 July 2003, 01:29

hehe...ask if they have anything for you to sort out whilst your at it

seriously tho. you are to be commended for what you are doing!

7-Zark-7 · 02 July 2003, 06:13

Surely the CAPS wizards would have some interest in this, even if it isn't directly game-related,its still a part of game-dev. Amiga history.

Amiga1992 · 02 July 2003, 08:07

That's EFFIN' BRILLIANT man, would be swell to have access to all that stuff!

I bet the CAPS peeps, kings of all things preservation, will be interested to help you

fiath · 02 July 2003, 14:00

Sounds great! What a unique opportunity to see inside Psygnosis!

If any of those disks have custom formats and/or copy protection that you will have trouble backing up, sure, we would love to help any way we can. (if this is the case, what type of Amiga do you have?)

But it sounds like most of them are hard drive backups and development files?

I guess it is probably easier to just copy the files over in this case...

Bloodwych · 02 July 2003, 14:30

Quote:

Originally posted by FromWithin
My main problem at the moment is that my Amiga is completely stand-alone. I used to use my Siamese system, but it doesn't work with Win2k.

Oh man, that's no good! If you're lucky enough to have the Siamese system then you'll have to find a solution.

How about dual booting?

Or buying an old PC just for connecting to the Amiga. These can be bought for next to nothing (£30-50) from e-bay.

I agree that things like this need preserving and it's great to see dedicated people willing enough to carry out this often arduous task.

Ash · 02 July 2003, 22:12

Make a CD/DVD compilatiion of the stuff, make an iso and let it get to the ftp ppl

IFW · 02 July 2003, 22:51

Yes we are happy to help reviving some lost treasures as Fiath said

th4t1guy · 03 July 2003, 00:41

Isn't there a program that will allow you to read Amiga disks on a PC with 2 floppy drives? That would be much cheaper than a catweasel.

Chuckles · 03 July 2003, 02:08

That would be disk2fdi, which is what I use. It works quite well, at least with older versions of Windows. So long as you're not dealing with copy protected disks, this would probably be the easiest solution. It would be time consuming, but it would do the job.

ptrchiappe · 03 July 2003, 09:41

Quote:

Originally posted by FromWithin
What I was thinking of doing was mounting a PC hard-drive inside my Amiga and copying everything onto that.

You can do also the opposite (as i did for the Jackson magazine coverdisks).

Copy all the contents of the disks to the Amiga HD, then take it away and connect it to the PC, WinUAE sees it without problems and you can the copy everything to a directory on the PC from where you can then burn to CD, share with us and so on

.

FromWithin · 03 July 2003, 20:24

Here's a file off one of the PC format disks for you (I brought about 10 disks down with me, I'll get more next week).

I expect that some of you will recognise it.

haynor666 · 03 July 2003, 21:23

Beast !!! Show as more !!!

FromWithin · 04 July 2003, 01:37

Quote:

Originally posted by haynor
Beast !!! Show as more !!!

Alright. I've only got 2 PC format disks: one has got this Beast stuff, and the other has got an awful Psygnosis logo animation on (not done by a Psygnosis artist).

wakeupbomb · 04 July 2003, 01:38

Quote:

Originally posted by FromWithin
So I was at my Mum and Dads house last weekend.

I went up to the loft and rooted out some of the disks I saved from destruction when we moved buildings at Psygnosis.

That freakin rocks
Bring it all on

01 July 2003, 23:06	#1
FromWithin Music lord Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Liverpool, UK Age: 50 Posts: 630	The Psygnosis dev disks from the loft So I was at my Mum and Dads house last weekend. I went up to the loft and rooted out some of the disks I saved from destruction when we moved buildings at Psygnosis. Jesus Hell. I never quite realised how many there are. Literally hundreds of the damn things. There are at least three complete hard drive backups in there among the vast amount of individual disks as well. I got a couple of disks and had a look. There are landscapes, test animations, in-game graphics, all sorts of stuff. The question is, what should I do with them all? It would take weeks so go through them all, but they need to be transferred over to a hard drive and then sorted through. I want this stuff to be available somehow because a lot of it is really interesting. I also found the original Bill's Tomato Game demo that I talked about in another thread somewhere, if anybody is interested. Any suggestions to this thread please.

03 July 2003, 20:24	#17
FromWithin Music lord Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Liverpool, UK Age: 50 Posts: 630	Here's a file off one of the PC format disks for you (I brought about 10 disks down with me, I'll get more next week). I expect that some of you will recognise it. Attached Thumbnails

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01 July 2003, 23:16	#2
th4t1guy Registered User Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Kansas City, MO, USA Posts: 683	I'm sure there are plenty of people on this board that would be willing to sort it all for you

01 July 2003, 23:18	#3
BippyM Global Moderator Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Derby, UK Age: 48 Posts: 9,355	The easiest way would proabably to write it all to a CD and then transfer it that way. I am willing to help anyway I can..

01 July 2003, 23:51	#5
Antiriad The Sacred Armour Of Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Sussex, UK Age: 44 Posts: 1,141	FromWithin, are you happy transferring the data or do you want help with that as well?

02 July 2003, 01:25	#6
FromWithin Music lord Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Liverpool, UK Age: 50 Posts: 630	My main problem at the moment is that my Amiga is completely stand-alone. I used to use my Siamese system, but it doesn't work with Win2k. Damn shame, it was great with the auto-monitor switcher and everything. What I was thinking of doing was mounting a PC hard-drive inside my Amiga and copying everything onto that. Or I could buy a PC Catweasel, but then that means paying about about 60 quid. The first problem, of course, is getting the disks down here. Heavy they are! I think I need to take some time off work and sort things out.

02 July 2003, 01:29	#7
Antiriad The Sacred Armour Of Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Sussex, UK Age: 44 Posts: 1,141	hehe...ask if they have anything for you to sort out whilst your at it seriously tho. you are to be commended for what you are doing!

02 July 2003, 06:13	#8
7-Zark-7 Zone Friend Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Brisbane/Australia Posts: 1,270	Surely the CAPS wizards would have some interest in this, even if it isn't directly game-related,its still a part of game-dev. Amiga history.

02 July 2003, 08:07	#9
Amiga1992 Registered User Join Date: May 2001 Location: ? Posts: 19,645	That's EFFIN' BRILLIANT man, would be swell to have access to all that stuff! I bet the CAPS peeps, kings of all things preservation, will be interested to help you

02 July 2003, 14:00	#10
fiath Moderator Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: South East / UK Age: 46 Posts: 1,930	Sounds great! What a unique opportunity to see inside Psygnosis! If any of those disks have custom formats and/or copy protection that you will have trouble backing up, sure, we would love to help any way we can. (if this is the case, what type of Amiga do you have?) But it sounds like most of them are hard drive backups and development files? I guess it is probably easier to just copy the files over in this case...

02 July 2003, 22:12	#12
Ash Zone Friend Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Aus Posts: 175	Make a CD/DVD compilatiion of the stuff, make an iso and let it get to the ftp ppl

02 July 2003, 22:51	#13
IFW Moderator Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: ... Age: 52 Posts: 1,838	Yes we are happy to help reviving some lost treasures as Fiath said

03 July 2003, 00:41	#14
th4t1guy Registered User Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Kansas City, MO, USA Posts: 683	Isn't there a program that will allow you to read Amiga disks on a PC with 2 floppy drives? That would be much cheaper than a catweasel.

03 July 2003, 02:08	#15
Chuckles The Ancient One Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Kansas City/USA Age: 68 Posts: 685	That would be disk2fdi, which is what I use. It works quite well, at least with older versions of Windows. So long as you're not dealing with copy protected disks, this would probably be the easiest solution. It would be time consuming, but it would do the job.

03 July 2003, 21:23	#18
haynor666 retro maniac Join Date: May 2002 Location: Tarnobrzeg/Poland Age: 45 Posts: 1,748	Beast !!! Show as more !!!

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