I really really tried - promise - but just got hopelessly confused. I know its a huge ask but is there any chance anyone could kindly do what Matt H is suggesting and create an ADF run-able disk set for MegaBall 4 & post it in the Zone? I would be hugely grateful & send beer*

* possibly not true

Right. My "chain of custody" theory is that Ed Mackey put it up on a BBS and that archive spread to other BBSs and then to CAM/Assassins/etc where it was crunched/modified for disk distribution. Since the version I had originally was not crunched I assume it came from that BBS archive. Still trying to track that down. :)


Yup. I am scouring my collection of decommissioned hard drives and SyQuest cartridges and forgotten PD compilation CDs looking for it! :)

An ADF is too small for MegaBall4 data are, an HDF Bootable with MegaBall4 instead could be created.

Well, I've spent the past few hours having a crack at this...

I got it so everything fits on disk 1, except the music files. I then crunched all the music files and they now fit on disk 2 ;)

Tested all of the above from hard drive first, and all works perfectly :great

Next step was to copy everything over over to floppy disks and test. However, when launching from floppy disk I get:

https://i.imgur.com/KbC7NeA.png

The exact same files on a bare-bones .HDF work without issue...

I really don't know why when on floppy disk things doesn't work; maybe there's something coded in the "MEGABALL" file but that's beyond my skill level.

I can put all files somewhere if some Amiga guru wants to try and figure it out?

Phew!!! That was a lot of work and I had to overcome many issues...

Anyway, I'm happy to say that I've successfully made a 2 x disk set for MegaBall AGA v4.0 :great

https://i.imgur.com/W17qrHO.png

https://i.imgur.com/b692a8Q.png

You will find the game in RAM:

https://i.imgur.com/chkHML7.png

If you have a stock A1200 i.e. only 2MB of Chip RAM, then 3 out of 5 songs will preload:

https://i.imgur.com/HtkQ3tA.png

If you have an A1200 with 2MB of Chip & 1MB Fast RAM, then all songs will preload:

https://i.imgur.com/tMJDC6m.png

Archive "MegaBall AGA v4.0 (1995)(Mackey Software)(ECS-AGA)(SW-R).zip" is now in The Zone! ;)

Ok, I had a few other ideas / tricks up my sleave ;)

So I've now improved the original set I created, details are as follows:

• All content included.
• On a stock A1200 with only 2MB of Chip RAM; 4 out of the 5 songs now preload.
• On an A1200 with 2MB of Chip & 1MB Fast RAM; 5 out of the 5 songs preload.

File in The Zone! named "MegaBall AGA v4.0 (1995)(Mackey Software)(ECS-AGA)(SW-R)_2MB Chip & 1MB Fast.zip".

I've also create another set, details are as follows:

• Editor and all Docs removed.
• On a stock A1200 with only 2MB of Chip RAM; 5 out of the 5 songs now preload.

https://i.imgur.com/MWFGLD9.png

File in The Zone! named "MegaBall AGA v4.0 (1995)(Mackey Software)(ECS-AGA)(SW-R).zip".

Damien mate - you're a complete hero huge thanks!

Sure ;)

It was a massive challenge, but I like those :p

I mean, as mentioned... for some reason the game doesn't like being run from floppy disk and gives the error described in post #24 :banghead

Copy the exact same files to hard drive or RAM, and all is good.

This is why on Disk 1 I ended up having to create an .LZX archive of the main game, and then extract to RAM...

I also had to compress the game file / some data files / all board files / all music files in order to get everything to fit.

I must have spent at least 8 hours getting everything figured out / testing / perfecting / creating the final .ADFs.

Anyway... out of interest; which version are you going to use?

Err not sure yet - going to have a play tonite then will let you know.

Well it sounds like you emulate from your previous posts...

So then it's no problem to set an "AGA - 4MB Fast RAM expanded configuration" ;)

The archive "MegaBall AGA v4.0 (1995)(Mackey Software)(ECS-AGA)(SW-R).zip" is really for real A1200 users who only have the stock 2MB Chip RAM.

I mean, the archive "MegaBall AGA v4.0 (1995)(Mackey Software)(ECS-AGA)(SW-R)_2MB Chip & 1MB Fast.zip" will still run on a stock A1200 2MB Chip RAM... but you only get 4 out of 5 songs.

@Double D
Stellar work mate - must give it a whirl too on my A1200! :cool Just another quickie - MegaBall 4.0 was commercial rather than shareware <DrB runs off Road Runner style - meep meep! :scream). The Mackey brothers were definitely a hard act to follow with this game:

- Ball V1.0 (OCS/ECS) = PD
- MegaBall V1.x/2.x (OCS/ECS) = shareware (new HOL entry is on the TODO list! :crazy)
- MegaBall V3.x (OCS/ECS/AGA) = shareware
- MegaBall V4.0 (OCS/ECS/AGA) = commercial

Yeah you better run Carlo... :p

Ok, so TOSEC folk (if they are even interested in these disks) can just rename then.

Have you tried Maniacball?

Cool concept with 4 x bats ;)

Ok, have renamed correctly and put into The Zone! ;)

Yes you're quite right I'm running WinUAE - AmiKit version for admin / file mgmt, downloads from Poeut etc, then A500 & A1200 versions for games & demos playing.

I've just used the version you did with the longer filename inc the RAM bits. Works fine - doesn't feel like I'm missing anything & I've setup another ADF with extra Boards I downloaded from Aminet - seems to be working fine. Am I missing something obvious ?

As long as you set "2MB Chip & 1MB Fast RAM" then all songs will preload with "MegaBall AGA v4.0 (1995)(Mackey Software)(ECS-AGA)(SW-R)_2MB Chip & 1MB Fast.zip" ;)

Not sure I understand your question; "Am I missing something obvious ?".

I knew you wouldn't be able to resist - you love all that TOSEC naming stuff! ;) It's a pity that TOSEC is so obtuse about what they will and won't include sometimes. In this case, I think your disk adaptation of MegaBall 4 should be included purely coz the only TOSEC versions that exist are - like the original release - HD versions that need to be installed from floppy.

Yep, another very good Breakout clone! :cool I did a major update on the HOL entry a few months ago by adding screenshots and a stack of notes. Cybersphere Plus is another fave Breakout clone of mine! :spin

Incidentally, whenever you see detailed notes in a HOL entry like the those in Maniacball, there's a 98% chance that I did them. Detailed notes are usually time-consuming to do, which is why hardly any of the other HOL admins. do them all that often for HOL entries! :crying

They are all 3 disks; mine is on 2 disks, and that's installed :p

As mentioned; I wouldn't have had to archive / extract the main game to RAM if the damn thing ran directly from floppy :banghead :banghead :banghead

Should any of you be interested in playing OCS/ECS MegaBall from a single ADF, v2.0 loads fine in WinUAE and plays beautifully, while v2.1 returns a guru error. Both games can be downloaded from the EAB File Server, under Public Domain.

Nice work on this Damien. Megaball 4 was my favourite breakout for Amiga by a long way. Poing a very close 2nd place only due to it being so much harder. I had many board sets back in the day but all long gone now.

I think i'm going to grab all boards i can find on Aminet and incorporate them to your HDF, need to check what you;ve put into your setup first.

Anyway, nice one, i really like this game.