C64 Games - Where? How?

[blade002]

Ok well i have had my amazing A1200 up and running again after many years of inactivity with WHDLoad installed with a ton of games so all is well on the Amiga front, but i also have a huge part of me that was once a C64 user, so as such i would really really love to get my C64 up and running again with a ton of games.

Now i am NOT into emulation AT ALL !!!! whether that be Amiga or C64 so we can rule that one out, so its either REAL or nothing! But what is racking my brain here is where can i get all my favourite C64 games of yesteryear and when i do find them, how can i transfer them to a 5 inch floppy to use in a 1541 drive!?!?, but more importantly, is it still possible to buy 5 inch disks from anywhere!?!??!?!?

We all know we can get ADF's for the Amiga and transfer them to a floppy or use WHDLoad, but what is the C64 equivalent ??? I remember seeing at Breakpoint that Jen Schoenfeld had a memory card based device that allowed instant loading of many C64 titles after copying a game rom/file to the memory card, but i can also remember seeing or reading from someone that there limitations to this device!?..

Anyway, a little confused... can anyone enlighten me on this!

[T_hairy_bootson]

XE1541 cable, I have one and you can borrow it for as long as you need. With it you can hook your c64 disk drive up to a PC and copy stuff over to disk.

D64 files are the ADF equivalent.

If you have an old PC you can set it up as a dumb slave to the c64 and use it with the XE1541 cable as a HDD of sorts.

[gklinger]

Originally Posted by blade002

But what is racking my brain here is where can i get all my favourite C64 games of yesteryear and when i do find them, how can i transfer them to a 5 inch floppy to use in a 1541 drive!?!?

There are 20,000 entries in the GameBase 64 which should keep you busy for quite some time. There are many ways to transfer those games to disk and the most common is to use your actual Commodore 5.25" disk drive which can be interfaced to your PC using an x-cable of some sort.

but more importantly, is it still possible to buy 5 inch disks from anywhere!?!??!?!?

Sure, they're pretty easy to find. If worse comes to worse there is always Floppydisk.com.

We all know we can get ADF's for the Amiga and transfer them to a floppy or use WHDLoad, but what is the C64 equivalent ???

Either d64 (disk) or t64 (tape).

I remember seeing at Breakpoint that Jen Schoenfeld had a memory card based device that allowed instant loading of many C64 titles after copying a game rom/file to the memory card, but i can also remember seeing or reading from someone that there limitations to this device!?..

That was most likely the MMC64 which is now discontinued. Its replacement is the MMC Repay and while there are workarounds, they are for the most part restricted to loading single file games or cartridge images (crt). A far better choice is the 1541 Ultimate.

[Rixa]

A XE1541 cable only works from DOS, because interrupts need to be disabled to reliably read a certain pin.

To write floppies from Windows, Linux or anything that multitasks you will want a XM1541 or an XA1541 cable instead. In your PC end all of these connect to a parallel port, so you must have one of those. It has been said that for this parallel ports on add-on cards only work in DOS, but I've not tried one myself. It's also possible that you can't get it work with your parallel port. I had to iterate over many BIOS settings, and I hear the parallel ports in newer PC's are even worse.

The software you need for the PC is available at http://www.trikaliotis.net/opencbm

More information about different cables at http://sta.c64.org/x1541shop.html You also used to be able to buy cables from there, but now it says that the shop is down. The parallel options require modifications to your 1541 hardware and are probably unnecessary for you. If you're only going to use .d64 images (think .adf), it just adds speed. Mostly you'd need if if you wanted to play with custom disk formats in .g64 format (think .ipf).

Floppies are probably easiest to acquire on eBay. I think 5.25 and even 8 inch floppies are still being manufactured, but getting a small quantity new is probably cost-prohibitive.

Originally Posted by gklinger

Either d64 (disk) or t64 (tape).

A t64 is only a container format for executables that is supported by emulators for a simple fake of a tape deck. A more low-level approach is the .tap file, they can host their own turboloader, loading picture and music .. the entire original experience.

Similarly a .d64 is fine for system disks, but for non-system disks and special purposes a .g64 image that preserves more of the disk structure is needed.

[T_hairy_bootson]

Hmm, I'm sure I was able to transfer d64s from windows to the c64 disk drive with the 1541XE. I was told it was just the c64hdd software that needed a pure dos environment hence I never tried that. Either way a dos boot cd image is not hard to obtain.

if you want tape files I once tried the mp3 player with one of those fake tapes and a program called tap2wav iirc.

[Andec]

If you really do need a pure DOS environment, you could always try FreeDOS. Boots from CD IIRC.....

[_ThEcRoW]

You could also use a catweasel card to write the images to real c64 disks.

[gklinger]

If your PC lacks a parallel port you could consider making an xu1541. Really though, don't bother with floppy disks. Get a 1541 Ultimate and you're set.

[Rixa]

I've been thinking of getting a 1541 Ultimate as well.

But he said he's not interested in emulation at all, so I guess it depends on whether he's okay with one of those pretending to be a disk drive.

[Retro-Nerd]

The 1541 Ultimate is definitve a better choice if you want to start multi-part games directly from a sd card. I prefer the MMCReplay, because i want to to use my real 1541 II drive to play C64 games. Writing back the D64 images with Kratznagel's plugin works fast (40 seconds per image) und comfortable.

http://www.vesalia.de/e_mmcreplay.htm

[gklinger]

Originally Posted by Retro-Nerd

I prefer the MMCReplay, because i want to to use my real 1541 II drive to play C64 games.

You can write d64s out to disk with a 1541 Ultimate too. Rather than connecting the 1541U directly to your computer's IEC port, connect it to a disk drive and connect the disk drive to your 64. If your disk drive is device 8, assign a different number to the 1541U and away you go. You can also create d64s. Really though, what's the point? You have full compatibility with the 1541U. Hell, it even makes the same noises as a disk drive.

The 1541 Ultimate blows the MMC Replay away in every way.

Disclaimer: I may be bias as I'm involved with the development of the 1541U.

[Retro-Nerd]

Well, i don't need a Ultimate. I only want to write back disk images, play some single file or patched IDE64 games, or use a few functions from the integrated Retro Replay. I guess even a normal MMC64 would be enough for me.

[amigakit.com]

We also sell MMC Replay

http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/...roducts_id=793

[extralife]

from what i can tell from 1541u page and posts on lemon64, it seems to be the "ultimate" lol solution now. I'm using a mmc replay myself and it works wonderfully for all games and demo needs, provided u have a floppy drive offcoz.
reminds me i need my ninja fix soon

[Avanze]

Originally Posted by gklinger

Get a 1541 Ultimate and you're set.

Once you have a 1541, a cable is needed for connection to the PC? If I manage to fix my little C64 display problem, I might invest in one of these puppies.