Oh I have the data, all it does is copy itself from wherever it was allocated to (usually $59e8) $300, where the custom mfm loader loads the next file to $40000, and then it loads the title screen and the main game to $800 before continuing there :)

My question was just because it filled theio_req structure load that stupid number of bytes, from where track 5 is custom mfm :)

Then you can just skip that part in your whdload slave ; it's uninteresting for that purpose. Of course it's still interesting for the sake of curiosity ;)

If it's custom mfm from track 5, then it won't be read by DoIo, which will stop earlier. Hence passing $72800 will not read that amount of data, but whatever's readable before.

I thought that was what was happening :)

Now I just ned to start ripping the files, and recording offsets etc so I can think about the protection used (If there is one) and also think about incorporating the savegame properly :)

I've never tried cracking/fixing a custom mfm disk before :)

A custom disk format isn't very different from a standard non-dos one, the trick is just to read the data once. Should not be much harder to you if you did other hd installs.

After that, cracking the game can vary from very easy to a real nightmare - but you probably knew that. :D

Anyway, best of luck to you :)

heheh I have managed to start getting most of the files :)

I'm hoping to crack it back to disk first so that I can understand the protection and also learn how to write a custom loader etc, and then i'll think about the whd install :)

Right now i'm using the games own loader to get the files :)

excellent bippy :D