Time Bandit (Microdeal, 1985)

Does anybody have a working copy of this game that they could share? It was always a longstanding favourite of mine as a child, but thus far the only version I've found online is corrupted and crashes immediately after the title screen

Much thanks in advance

[BarryB]

I seem to have a version that's not in TOSEC

That's if the v2.2 on both versions on the EAB fileserver is anything to go by as I have v2.22!! Mine has no cracktro or any sign of 'cracked by...' anywhere, the bootblock is standard 1.3 with the SCA virus protector 1.0 text according to VirusZ bootblock lab!

Tracks 0 - 1, 62 - 159 are ADOS while tracks 2 - 61 are MFM according to X-Copy. Have made a PowerCopy devicedrawer using the TimeBandit parameter and LZX'd it to The Zone! Have also written this back to an eADF using the same devicedrawer in WinUAE and it loads and plays on the default A500 1.3 config.

[dlfrsilver]

i have v2.22, but it uses an atari ST track format, and a physical copy protection.

v2.22 is actually the version sold with the hit disk volume 1 or 2 (from michtron)

Thank you greatly Barry! I shall give it a spin tomorrow

[BarryB]

Thanks for that info Denis, so no crack of this version exists? I'm not sure if my version is 'cracked' but with original disk format or just a copy I made from someones original?

@Sedric.A.Dragon: Just like ASDA, Happy to Help

[Avanze]

Barry, could you upload the extended adf of this please?

[BarryB]

Originally Posted by Avanze

Barry, could you upload the extended adf of this please?

Done!

[mai]

Originally Posted by Sedric.A.Dragon

Does anybody have a working copy of this game that they could share? It was always a longstanding favourite of mine as a child, but thus far the only version I've found online is corrupted and crashes immediately after the title screen

Real machine or Emulation? At least both available cracked versions seems to work with A500 most common config in WinUAE.

[BarryB]

To get this working on my A1200 with 030/32mb I had to use a prog called 'Runit' with the 'degrade' option. Booted with no startup-sequence then ran it from the HDD 'runit degrade' and then ran 'bandit' to load the actual game.

[Avanze]

Originally Posted by BarryB

Done!

Nice one. Much appreciated.

[BarryB]

Have now found a v2.22 retail version of this game, comes in the same box as the first boxscan entry in HOL but disk label is slightly different as it has No. 3953 on it as well! Hiscore is clean, only Krazy Kev entry shows, all others are empty! It's also not supported in WHDLoad!

CT Raw in the zone! Is it the same as your v2.22 Denis?

[dlfrsilver]

same as mine.

[BarryB]

But it isn't copy protected, other than the ST format tracks? On the Hit Disks Vol 2 release there is copy protection on T1.0, on this one T1.0 is an empty ST track! Probably explains why the v2.22 release I have from years ago didn't appear cracked?

[dlfrsilver]

this game use a physical protection. I tried already to make a working extended ADF, but it won't work. The protection will fail as soon as the game will have loaded.

[BarryB]

Just check T1.0 of my dump, it's and empty ST track, no protection! This is what HxC makes of that track:



I've made a working IPF using Keirs Disk-Utilities, it loads then checks T1.0 and starts the game, the Hit Disks release will stick on T1.0 as it's protected, this one doesn't as it has no protection on T1.0

[BarryB]

And to compare, the Hit Disks Volume 2 release of Time Bandits v2.22 showing T1.0 in HxC:

[dlfrsilver]

weak sector

[BarryB]

Thanks Denis, I wish I knew how to identify these protections Does my CT Raw dump show clean or modified when you analysed it?

If it's clean then v2.22 exists in two versions, Custom MFM + copy protection and custom MFM + no copy protection.

The manual that comes with mine says v2.2 and mentions copy protection but only custom MFM is on the disk

[dlfrsilver]

Check if the highscores have been tampered. the CTA actually goes wonky due to the special hybrid format used on this game. The disk is half Amiga, half IBM/ST tracks.

Some tracks are seen as modified, but i'm sure it's because the master was done on a computer and not on a trace machine.

[dlfrsilver]

Originally Posted by BarryB

Thanks Denis, I wish I knew how to identify these protections Does my CT Raw dump show clean or modified when you analysed it?

If it's clean then v2.22 exists in two versions, Custom MFM + copy protection and custom MFM + no copy protection.

The manual that comes with mine says v2.2 and mentions copy protection but only custom MFM is on the disk

If no Weak sector on your copy, but mention copy protection, then it must be something like a GAP protection, or a tricked track information/sector.

You can't see these with the HxC. Just do one simple thing, use AUFIT and load in it your KF RAW dump.

Then once it has loaded, click on find protections. You will know very quickly on which track the bozo is hiding !