Acorn Archimedes Software Preservation

[Jon Abbott]

Originally Posted by jms2

Just out of interest, why does the Setup file need to be commented out?

The setup files generally try to change memory configuration and fail on the later versions of RISC OS. The disc checks are done elsewhere.

There is a certain irony that the disc protection is easy to work around, but poor coding of !Run and setup files means quite a few don't work. Not to mention David Braben hard doing the screen address into Zarch - very naughty. I've been looking at creating a patching system to fix things up at runtime, early ideas stage at the minute.

Originally Posted by jms2

Serious comment - I reckon ADFFS is the most significant piece of new Risc OS software for years. There hasn't much competition for a long time so you'd have to go back to the 1990s to find anything as innovative and useful. Well done Jon.

Thank you, nice to know four months of my life hasn't been wasted! I would appreciate help though with sourcing/creating patches.

If anyone has an original copy of Fire & Ice, see my comments on The Icon Bar. It's the only APD that does even work on Arculator, so I would like to find a fix.

[breach]

Originally Posted by antom

All in ADF format using !DImager - some of the games state that they're copy protected but an image was created fine, so I'm not sure if there'd be any gameplay-affecting routines in there. Ideally the key discs would be in APD/Jon's proposed format, but can always redo these as things develop (don't have the hardware for the other methods at present).

Ah, cool. Looking forward to testing them.

Originally Posted by jms2

Serious comment - I reckon ADFFS is the most significant piece of new Risc OS software for years. There hasn't much competition for a long time so you'd have to go back to the 1990s to find anything as innovative and useful. Well done Jon.

Yes, it's a great development. Thanks Jon!

Originally Posted by Jon Abbott

Not to mention David Braben hard doing the screen address into Zarch - very naughty. I've been looking at creating a patching system to fix things up at runtime, early ideas stage at the minute.

There's a great patch for Zarch here: http://www.bass-software.com/wimpzarch/index.html

Originally Posted by Jon Abbott

If anyone has an original copy of Fire & Ice, see my comments on The Icon Bar. It's the only APD that does even work on Arculator, so I would like to find a fix.

I don't have that one.

Out of interest, what's required before the new disc image format can be set in stone? Do we need to look at more protected games to see if there are other protection methods that need to be handled?

[Jon Abbott]

Originally Posted by breach

Out of interest, what's required before the new disc image format can be set in stone? Do we need to look at more protected games to see if there are other protection methods that need to be handled?

Well, there's two parts to this:

1. The disc image file itself. I need to work out how flexible it needs to be. The track, sector and data tables are all pretty much now set - I'm storing the bare minimum required to emulate a 1772 behind ADFS. I need to work out how they're stored in the file. I probably wont fix that until I get further with the ripper, which I'm just starting to look at.

2. The metadata wrapper, which needs more input on the core text sections for the game and image files. We can bolt on the rest later. I think we can say it will be a ZIP file to keep it flexible.

To be clear, this isn't a replacement for IPF - its a more user friendly format that keeps the image file to the bare minimum, doesn't require decoding at load time and can be created on original Acorn machines.

[breach]

Originally Posted by Jon Abbott

1. The disc image file itself. I need to work out how flexible it needs to be. The track, sector and data tables are all pretty much now set - I'm storing the bare minimum required to emulate a 1772 behind ADFS. I need to work out how they're stored in the file. I probably wont fix that until I get further with the ripper, which I'm just starting to look at.

OK. That's the part I was really asking about, fwiw.

Originally Posted by Jon Abbott

2. The metadata wrapper, which needs more input on the core text sections for the game and image files. We can bolt on the rest later. I think we can say it will be a ZIP file to keep it flexible.

I take it the wrapper would contain a series of disc image files, for multi-disc games?

Lets start thrashing out format ideas. Here's my initial idea:

Alone in the Dark.zip

• Discs (directory)
  • Disc00.jaf
  • Disc01.jaf
  • Disc02.jaf
  • Disc03.jaf
  • Disc04.jaf
  • Disc05.jaf
• Extra (directory)
  • Box art (directory)
    • 000.jpg
    • 001.jpg
  • Cheats (directory)
  • Manual (directory)
    • 000.jpg
    • 001.jpg
    • 002.jpg
    • 003.jpg
• Info

And the format of the "Info" file could be:

Name:Alone in the Dark
Genera:Action, Survival horror
Developer:Infogrames
Distributor:Krisalis
Origin:Port

Where "Origin" could be "Port" or "Acorn original".

Maybe the manual would be better as a PDF. Not sure. Anyway, that's a first pass.

Originally Posted by Jon Abbott

To be clear, this isn't a replacement for IPF - its a more user friendly format that keeps the image file to the bare minimum, doesn't require decoding at load time and can be created on original Acorn machines.

Indeed.

[antom]

I've just uploaded the following to The Zone - probably best to keep these to this board, so no distributing elsewhere please!

Acorn Archimedes ADF: "Pesky Muskrats" by Coin-Age (2 discs)
Acorn Archimedes ADF: "Blood Sport" by Matt Black (1 disc)
Acorn Archimedes ADF: "High Risc Racing" by Modus Software Ltd (3 discs)
Acorn Archimedes ADF: "Warlocks" by Network XXIII (2 discs)
Acorn Archimedes ADF: "Overload" by Paradise (1 disc)
Acorn Archimedes ADF: "Man-At-Arms" by The Fourth Dimension (1 disc)

[breach]

Wow, that's great!

I'll update this post as I test them:

High Risc Racing: It runs as far as starting an actual race, where I have to change disc. When I change disc using Ctrl+Shift+F2, I get the following error message:

Error
Internal error, no stack for trap handler: Internal error: address exception at &00009AAC, pc = 018474B0: registers at 00020150
[Cancel]

Clicking Cancel returns to the desktop. And the second disc is correctly present. Changing discs seems to work correctly in the desktop. I'm using ArcEm, ADFFS, RISC OS 3.11. Not sure if it's a problem with the game, ADFFS, ArcEm, or me. I actually had High Risc Racing back in the day, but I am sure it got taken to a charity stand at one of the Acorn shows. Totally remembered the intro/menu music.

Overload: Seems to be working perfectly! I never really liked the "floaty" controls, but I seem to be better at it now than I remember being. Inferno is my favourite Paradise game. Edit: OK, I'm still rubbish at it -- defeated humiliatingly in the second world. It certainly works fine as far as level 9 anyway.

Warlocks: Seems to run OK, I think. I could change to the second disc to get to the actual game from the menu without problems. However the game was almost unplayable. Not sure if it's some copy protection thing that makes it hopeless if the protection check fails, or if ArcEm is having trouble emulating it. Left/Right movement is staggeringly jerky. Up/Down is smooth. And there's stuff flickering around the screen.

Man-At-Arms: Seems fine. Loads, and the first level is playable. I didn't persevere with it to check the later levels though.

Blood Sport: Works. I can't get past the first round though!

Pesky Muskrats: The menu bit works, but to start a game, you have to change to disc 2. I press Ctrl+Shift+F2, and then the thing seems to freeze up.

antom: what sort of game is it? I'd never even heard of it! The funky graphics around the border make it look intriguing.

Summary: High Risc Racing and Pesky Muskrats fail when changing to disc 2. Probably needs Jon to take a look at them? Warlocks is unplayable. I'm guessing the Warlocks fault might be due to ArcEm. I'm on Linux, so I can't test it with Arculator to confirm either way. Can someone else try that?

[Jon Abbott]

Originally Posted by breach

When I change disc using Ctrl+Shift+F2, I get the following error message:

Error
Internal error, no stack for trap handler: Internal error: address exception at &00009AAC, pc = 018474B0: registers at 00020150

Changing disk is a bit hit and miss at the minute, as you've noticed it crashes randomly. I am aware of this and am working on a fix, I'm 100% certain it's stack corruption.

[breach]

Is there any reason ADFFS's !Boot file has the Set Alias$@RunType_FCE line commented out? I'm not aware of any other software than can handle FCEs.

[Jon Abbott]

Originally Posted by breach

Is there any reason ADFFS's !Boot file has the Set Alias$@RunType_FCE line commented out?

It's set in the !Run...to something else

I left it there, because I need to create a script suitable for the PreDesk folder, so that ADFFS loads during the boot sequence - should you wish to do so.

You'll note from !Run that when the Filer is running, it takes over the file loading.

[breach]

Ah, OK.

I don't have a boot sequence in my emulator setup, and I kept forgetting to run ADFFS before opening the first FCE image in a session.

I have !ADFFS in the HostFS root directory.

[Jon Abbott]

Originally Posted by breach

I don't have a boot sequence in my emulator setup, and I kept forgetting to run ADFFS before opening the first FCE image in a session.

That's exactly how I'm testing under the emulators...just rename !Run to !Boot and have it autoload when you open the HD.

[Jon Abbott]

For those not watching the Icon Bar. !ADFFS 1.24 is out - all APD's with the exception of Fire & Ice should now work.

Download ADFFS

Fire & Ice incidentally is missing two quad density tracks and needs recreating. If anyone has it, drop me an eMail and I'll send the code to grab what's missing. The address is in the ADFFS help file.

[antom]

Originally Posted by breach

Pesky Muskrats: The menu bit works, but to start a game, you have to change to disc 2. I press Ctrl+Shift+F2, and then the thing seems to freeze up.

antom: what sort of game is it? I'd never even heard of it! The funky graphics around the border make it look intriguing.

The best way I can describe it is a bit of a twist on Lemmings - the aim is to kill off all the Muskrats using the poison/elements around you and prevent them from breeding before the time runs out (the alligator/fly at the bottom of the screen indicates this).

It's from the same folk who did Boogie Buggy, which you can probably tell by the mode used (no black borders). Possibly Coin-Age's first release independently (Boogie Buggy was released by 4D), nd then they went on to do Gribbley's Day Out on the ARC & Paradroid.

I haven't tested any of these with ADFFS, but all appear to run ok in Arculator just dandy from testing

Also, can't believe you prefer Inferno to Overload! The latter is possibly the most polished Jetpac clone I've ever played - hoping it gets an iPhone release like the former has

[antom]

Originally Posted by Jon Abbott

Fire & Ice incidentally is missing two quad density tracks and needs recreating. If anyone has it, drop me an eMail and I'll send the code to grab what's missing. The address is in the ADFFS help file.

I've got it (original retail copy) - assuming the code is Basic that can be run against the disc on physical hardware? If so, post it here or PM me and I'll get it sorted

[MarkYoungIW]

@Jon,
Incredible. Been testing 1.24 on A3010 and so far so good. I will try and image any more protected discs I can find after the weekend.

Vanpeebles has nearly every piece of software known to man and can be contacted on Youtube. I know he was keen to help where he could, but didn't have an amiga, although if you have something that runs on Arc, I'm sure he will help.

Seem to even remember him telling me about some software he had to allow RO2 stuff that wasn't RO3 compatible to run.

Really great work Jon, ADFFS is not only incredible, but has come along so quickly.

[antom]

Originally Posted by MarkYoungIW

Vanpeebles has nearly every piece of software known to man and can be contacted on Youtube. I know he was keen to help where he could, but didn't have an amiga, although if you have something that runs on Arc, I'm sure he will help.

As I've already mentioned on the thread, I've got a ton of software (mainly commercial games) as well, so patiently waiting for the go-ahead on whatever needs to be done

[MarkYoungIW]

I think Jon if Jon has got the capture side of things right it should really push things on, as before it was the fact that very few Archie owners also had an amiga.

[MarkYoungIW]

Just looking at I also have a copy of Fire+Ice. I am guessing as its quad density tracks missing, its not worth me trying with the amiga (as only single and double density). I've got the amiga out, so I will try and dump any more protected ones I have and keep Fire+Ice on standby!!

[breach]

Originally Posted by antom

The best way I can describe it is a bit of a twist on Lemmings - the aim is to kill off all the Muskrats using the poison/elements around you and prevent them from breeding before the time runs out (the alligator/fly at the bottom of the screen indicates this).

Hehe, sounds fun.

Originally Posted by antom

I haven't tested any of these with ADFFS, but all appear to run ok in Arculator just dandy from testing

OK. I'll assume ArcEm just doesn't like Warlocks.

Also, can't believe you prefer Inferno to Overload! The latter is possibly the most polished Jetpac clone I've ever played - hoping it gets an iPhone release like the former has

Oh, I certainly agree it's polished. Really nice graphics. It's more that I'm hopeless at it. I think Inferno is the first game I ever completed.

I'll test High Risc Racing and Pesky Muskrats again when the ADFFS multi-disc support is fixed.

Does anyone have Provocator or Deadline? I've only ever seen them in magazine screenshots/adverts. Quark was great, and I liked Big Bang and Revolver too.

Actually, is there a list of the games that we've preserved, and those that we haven't got yet?

[Jon Abbott]

Originally Posted by MarkYoungIW

If Jon has got the capture side of things right it should really push things on.

I have half the capture code done, but need to add DiscOp scatterlist support before we can test it on Fire & Ice. It really needs the front-end though before it's usable - which is a much bigger task.

If you're wondering how it's going to work:

1. You set ADFFS into record mode. As FileCore isn't re-entrant, this file has to be created on a RAM drive or memory and then saved to disc later via key combination. It's tiny though, less than 10kb per disk. For speed, it wont de-dupe or pre-process - some games are time dependent on the DiscOp occuring at a specified time - Sensible Soccer for example.

2. Load and play the game for a bit, changing disks as required. Whilst doing this ADFFS intercepts all DiscOp 0, 1 and 3's (verify, read, read track), building up a list of DiscOp parameters the game requires to load for each disc and from that a list of sectors and their geometry.

3. Once it's fully loaded, hit the key combination to save the recoding to disk, reboot the Arc and go into the front-end. This reads the recorded commands, playing them back to display a list of the disk geometry from touched sectors / tracks.

4. At this stage however, you have a patchwork of disk sectors which may or may not be complete. If it's incomplete, you need to fill in the blanks of which there's three options:

1. Where the disc is using a known protection method or no protection was detected, the disk geometry can be guessed. This however will end up with a larger image containing all the blanks.
2. The program puts ADFFS back into record mode and systematically reads all files from each disk in turn, adding to the geometry map. The image ends up as the bare minimum required to hold all files and any protection sectors touched, obviously relying on the game having a static protection method.
3. The user manually paints in the blanks, again probably ending up with a larger image file.

5. Once we're happy with the sector map, the front-end reads the disc into an image file, building up the track / sector tables, recreating ID's / sector CRC errors and storing data for valid sectors and CRC failed sectors. ID's that fail the CRC have no data associated with them, just a stub entry in the sector table.
DiscOp 3's are a special case, where only the sector ID's are know, if the game didn't actually follow up with a DiscOp 0 or 1, we have a choice of either just creating stub entries in the sector table to satisfy the DiscOp 3, or actually reading the data which may or may not be valid. The former will be sufficient for the disk to pass it's protection checks.

Fingers crossed, you now have a working image file