Nova's "Sorry!" demo breaks between 3.4.0 and 3.5.0

[chip]

A disk image, yes, can be damaged, i agree

But i was talking only of "files" (exe)

I guess exe corrupted are rare

I forgot that also the kickstart can do the difference between 1.2/1.3

Good demo experience

[StingRay]

Originally Posted by chip

And, even if i don't know what is it, the MMU emulation

Demos don't use the MMU.

[Foebane]

Returning to the issue of Cycle-Exact Full, I have unchecked that option in my configuration for plain unexpanded A1200, but whilst some work better without it, like Noxious' Beyond Belief and Faculty's Lethal Dose 2, others become corrupted without it. One I tried today was this one (https://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=65872) - when C-E F is unchecked, there is corruption in the bouncing ball with the bicycle photo background, and corruption in the sample that says "modulation". When it is checked, the demo runs fine.

I have the awful feeling that I'm going to have to make two lists of demos for 68020 A1200, those that work with the option ticked and those that don't.

[DamienD]

Now you see why it's impossible to only have say 5 configurations; one for each different Amiga model that work for everything?

...some games / demos requires *slightly* different settings (Cycle-exact / KS / RAM etc.) to get them running perfectly.

This is why I have 2300 configs, one for each game

[Foebane]

Originally Posted by DamienD

Now you see why it's impossible to only have say 5 configurations; one for each different Amiga model that work for everything?

...some games / demos requires *slightly* different settings (Cycle-exact / KS / RAM etc.) to get them running perfectly.

This is why I have 2300 configs, one for each game

Have a look at the attached file in this post, DamienD. It is a single web page with links to all of my favourite demo prods, sorted by (in the case of the Amiga) the various configuration files I use.

A long time ago, I painstakingly built a collection of demos from the download links at Pouet.net, and I made sure they ran fine with the few configurations I used. And then, for some unfathomable reason that I am GUTTED by, I went and reduced them to this HTML file, deleting all the files (to try and recover space) and hoping that the files would be the same as before, or that I could just download, play, and delete again. But as volatile as the internet is, I found that there were FDD and HDD versions of the same demos, and I think I face an uphill struggle in rebuilding my collection. If I want to.

Luckily, I do still have a collection of MP4 recordings I made, but I am a bit disappointed by them and would prefer to run them "live", so to speak. I was that close to deleting them as well.

I must be mad in the 'ead.

I've been meaning to contact you about the configuration files, but I think that would require permanent and tested files, wouldn't it?

[Foebane]

Sorry, seem to have overreacted. Turns out that for 68000 to 68020 demos, there are sometimes FDD and HDD versions, and I just have to pick the right one. I think a direct bookmark to Scene.org is called for, and not to rely so much on Pouet, except for info and comments.

It seems my configs are still fine for the purpose, although I am going to reinstate the CEF, as more demos need it than don't. I would imagine the same is true of WHDLoad games.

[StingRay]

Originally Posted by Foebane

I have just tried the two files on Pouet on 3.4.0 with cycle-exact full, and they failed, so I think they've been replaced or become corrupted.

They are not corrupted! The DMS archives are split into two parts and have to be written back to a single disk. Demo works then!

I have changed the pouet link to point to the normal single disk DMS as requested by you.

[Foebane]

Originally Posted by StingRay

They are not corrupted! The DMS archives are split into two parts and have to be written back to a single disk. Demo works then!

I have changed the pouet link to point to the normal single disk DMS as requested by you.

Thanks. I didn't know about the split, I put them both on DF0: and DF1:. I didn't know they had to be joined, and I don't think I know how to do that.

[chip]

To join a splitted DMS you can use a tool called ADF Workshop

Download it here https://www.tosecdev.org/downloads/c...5-adf-workshop

In the file menu you must use the "Merge some files ..." option

[Foebane]

Thanks, chip, but I'm just wondering why a DMS would need to be split? I thought the demomakers would want their wares to be runnable straight from download, rather than have to be processed inbetween. Seems a bit of a nuisance to me. Or were there limits of some sort back then?

[chip]

I guess is something related to download possibilities
Probably if a file is splittled is like when is zipped in different parts so it can be downloaded more easily

[britelite]

Originally Posted by Foebane

I thought the demomakers would want their wares to be runnable straight from download, rather than have to be processed inbetween.

Ahem, a DMS isn't runnable straight from download, you still have to write it to a disk. Demomakers make demos for real hardware, not for emulators (not that there really were any emulators back when most dms-files were released).

Or were there limits of some sort back then?

A dms might get too large to fit on a single floppy, so it has to be split. Not everyone had hard drives.

[Toni Wilen]

WinUAE will merge split dms files automatically if first file name ends to <something>a.dms and second file is <same something>b.dms in same directory.

[Foebane]

Originally Posted by britelite

Ahem, a DMS isn't runnable straight from download, you still have to write it to a disk.

Whoops, I forgot that DMS was the Disk Masher compression system, and is basically a crunched ADF (am I right?), and so WinUAE would perform the decompression right before it loaded.

That's what puzzles me, I had those same DMS files years ago and they worked fine, and they were the only ones ever linked to on that Pouet.net page. The names were correct for the joining to work as well, Toni, so that makes it doubly strange.

On a side note, however, and on the subject of Cycle-Exact, I've decided to leave it on on the A1200 configs as it causes more problems for me when I uncheck it. WHDLoad games, in particular, won't work properly without it, in my experience.

[britelite]

Originally Posted by Foebane

and is basically a crunched ADF (am I right?)

EDIT: Basically yes

[chip]

If a DMS is a crunched ADF, why i found some DMSs which are bigger than 880 KB ?

[StingRay]

Either data couldn't be crunched as it was already crunched, corrupt archive or just countless BBS adverts added to the DMS. There can be quite some reasons for that!

[Foebane]

Originally Posted by StingRay

Either data couldn't be crunched as it was already crunched

I can attest to that, I've seen Zip files larger than the original files!

[Tomislav]

Originally Posted by chip

If a DMS is a crunched ADF, why i found some DMSs which are bigger than 880 KB ?

Maybe they are from non-standard disks. Many games had custom formated disks for copy protection and/or saved data. Also, size of custom 3.5"DD ADF is about 2MB.

[chip]

No, reason is something else, since these disks are demos, not games