Arctic Fox?

[StingRay]

Because releasing a crack in 2017 which works correctly on chip mem only machines is not what I call a good release. Why is it so important for you to know why I do something the way I do it?

[DamienD]

I don't really care what you do or your reasons; your crack has been dragging on for many years now (and that's totally cool, everyone gets busy with "real life").

Personally I use the .IPF via WinUAE so am very happy indeed and don't need a crack / fix to the original

[StingRay]

Yeah, dragging on for so many years. Sure thing. For someone who doesn't really care about my reasons you ask a lot of questions specially seeing that you don't need the crack anyway.

[DamienD]

I only ask these questions as I see "real" Amiga users who are desperately requesting / wanting a deprotected version time and time again

...ok, so you're holding it back as it won't run with "fake Fast RAM". I'm sure a lot of these people wouldn't mind and just want the file even if it still requires the original hardware requirements.

You can always (when you have the time); improve later on the original...

Anyway, enough from me on the subject

...again, being an emulator user only, I already have multiple options that work perfectly, see here, so you do what you want

[TjLaZer]

Uploaded an image of my original NTSC disk to the zone for Stingray!

I want an original disk cracked and easily copied so others can enjoy it as is, even on KS 1.1, and to be able to backup my original disk.

[Pyzano]

Originally Posted by TjLaZer

Uploaded an image of my original NTSC disk to the zone for Stingray!

I want an original disk cracked and easily copied so others can enjoy it as is, even on KS 1.1, and to be able to backup my original disk.

Good stuff man. I'm still at work. Can't wait to grab a beer and play this again.

[TjLaZer]

Originally Posted by Pyzano

Good stuff man. I'm still at work. Can't wait to grab a beer and play this again.

This image only works in WHDLoad though, needs some work.

[Pyzano]

All good I was going to play the adf extended anyways for now. Nice to see a bunch of old men keeping a 15 year old thread alive for the love of a classic game. Here's to hoping for an hd remake in 2018.

[jmmijo]

Originally Posted by Pyzano

All good I was going to play the adf extended anyways for now. Nice to see a bunch of old men keeping a 15 year old thread alive for the love of a classic game. Here's to hoping for an hd remake in 2018.

I agree, I haven't replied in the normal threads for so long but some of them I have monitored like this one

This game is a classic, back when EA really was a great developer

[Pyzano]

Originally Posted by jmmijo

I agree, I haven't replied in the normal threads for so long but some of them I have monitored like this one

This game is a classic, back when EA really was a great developer

I know man EA should go back to their roots and redo this game with awesome graphics with ps4 vr support. I'd love to throw on my headset and be inside the fox looking for trouble. If they can redo all those shitty NHL's, FiFA and any other sport game that they've been milking for the last 30 years, they can do this.

[jmmijo]

Originally Posted by Pyzano

I know man EA should go back to their roots and redo this game with awesome graphics with ps4 vr support. I'd love to throw on my headset and be inside the fox looking for trouble. If they can redo all those shitty NHL's, FiFA and any other sport game that they've been milking for the last 30 years, they can do this.

Ah but there is the rub, they are now a publicly traded company so are beholden to shareholders which will not allow for pet projects like this that would not see a ROI

We can dream, we can dream however

[StingRay]

Originally Posted by TjLaZer

Uploaded an image of my original NTSC disk to the zone for Stingray!

Thanks, yours is a different version than the available IPF. I will support it too, I'll first have to check the other files but I think they are the same as for the PAL version so I may create an Articfox version which automatically runs the correct version depending on the detected video mode.

[DrBong]

Originally Posted by StingRay

The original has the same problems, i.e. it's a not a problem of my crack. At the moment the crack behaves exactly like the original except that it is not an NDOS disk anymore and there's no encryption layer either. But I don't want to release it like that as these bugs annoy me so I'll try to fix them.

Yep, I know coz I supplied Jeff with originals of this game and a few other EA games many years ago for JST/WHDload patching (and he did a great job with the more limited tools he had at his disposal back then! ). Anyway, I assumed you wanted to release a crack that worked on all Amiga configurations.....otherwise you could've released it a while ago now.

Your troubles, however, lie in the fact that your crack is based on the first release of Arctic Fox that works on KS 1.1/1.2 machines with 512k chipram only (i.e. PAL release by Ariolasoft/EA as per the SPS version). The NTSC release just upped by TjLaZer should have the same problems.

However, the second PAL release of Arctic Fox released by EA directly for the European market works on KS 1.3 and 512k chip/512k fastram set-ups without any problems. That would've been the ideal version for you to crack as it doesn't have the gfx bugs of the two versions you currently have.

Originally Posted by StingRay

.....releasing a crack in 2017 which works correctly on chip mem only machines is not what I call a good release.

Originally Posted by StingRay

.....I may create an Articfox version which automatically runs the correct version depending on the detected video mode.

Do you want to support the 2nd PAL release of Arctic Fox also? I can make a disk image of my original if you do.

[StingRay]

Originally Posted by DrBong

Anyway, I assumed you wanted to release a crack that worked on all Amiga configurations.....otherwise you could've released it a while ago now.

Well, I actually didn't plan to release it at all. I just was interested in the old EA protections, coded a decrypter and then checked several EA titles and updated my decrypter to support them all.

Only because of the recent activity in this thread I'll checked my Arcticfox crack again and yes I now want create a version that at least works fine on "standard" A500's, i.e. Kick 1.3+fast mem.

Edit: I just adapted my crack patch code to support the NTSC version sent by TjLaZer and it doesn't appear to have the graphics bugs present in the IPF version.

Originally Posted by DrBong

Do you want to support the 2nd PAL release of Arctic Fox also? I can make a disk image of my original if you do.

Yes, please create an image of your version!

[DrBong]

Originally Posted by StingRay

Edit: I just adapted my crack patch code to support the NTSC version sent by TjLaZer and it doesn't appear to have the graphics bugs present in the IPF version.

Different to my boxed NTSC version then (must check my loose copies to see if they differ). Anyway, makes perfect sense that there would be a 2nd NTSC release without gfx bugs if there was one for PAL. The game was probably reissued in 1988 following the release of KS 1.3.

Yes, please create an image of your version!

OK, I have upped 3 forms of my original (i.e. 2nd PAL release) to the Zone. I figured I might as well go the whole hog for people here while I had the disk out to play with!

(a) WWP disk image - for your cracking/fixing pleasure StingRay!

(b) Extended ADF - for emulation users who perhaps won't have to fiddle so hard with configs for the extended ADF/SPS versions currently available; might be handy for inclusion in TOSEC too.

(c) Raw dump - for SPS people - Denis, are you reading??!! ; also for the completists out there who want to lay their hands on all Amiga originals made ever!!

[StingRay]

Originally Posted by DrBong

Anyway, makes perfect sense that there would be a 2nd NTSC release without gfx bugs if there was one for PAL. The game was probably reissued in 1988 following the release of KS 1.3.

Seeing that they released a fixed PAL version it does indeed make sense that they fixed the NTSC version too. So I guess there are at least 4 versions of the game available.

Originally Posted by DrBong

OK, I have upped 3 forms of my original (i.e. 2nd PAL release) to the Zone. I figured I might as well go the whole hog for people here while I had the disk out to play with!

Excellent! I guess a standard image would have been fine for me (assuming the decryption table didn't change) but I of course won't complain about a WWP or Ext. ADF either.

[Retroplay]

Thank you, your image works fine with the WHD installer.
PAL & NTSC versions is now available on ftp.

[dlfrsilver]

Originally Posted by DrBong

Different to my boxed NTSC version then (must check my loose copies to see if they differ). Anyway, makes perfect sense that there would be a 2nd NTSC release without gfx bugs if there was one for PAL. The game was probably reissued in 1988 following the release of KS 1.3.

hi ! yes i m reading, so i ll check it once home, i m leaving work

[StingRay]

Originally Posted by DrBong

Different to my boxed NTSC version then (must check my loose copies to see if they differ). Anyway, makes perfect sense that there would be a 2nd NTSC release without gfx bugs if there was one for PAL. The game was probably reissued in 1988 following the release of KS 1.3.

I have now checked your version, it's the same version TjLaZer sent me. Which explains why it has no graphics bugs. There are read errors on your version though, at least the Ext. ADF is not 100% OK, didn't check the other 2 images yet.

[DrBong]

@Retroplay
No worries, but it might just be an alternate NTSC version!

@StingRay
Thanks for reporting back. I half-wondered if you were going to come back with something like this! There wasn't any real way of comparing my version to TjLaZer's as he didn't upload a proper dump. Oh well....less work for you now, I guess!

The plot does thicken, I have to say.....so you're telling me that my disk copy is an NTSC version?! It was released on an Australian budget label and the disk looks exactly like the Euro disk release.

Interesting also that you found read errors on the extended ADF. No problems here with the WHDLoad installer or loading/playing it on my A500. Hopefully the external FDD that I use for imaging on my A1200 is OK. I always use it for raw dumps and don't usually have any problems.