MS DOS disk games?

[utri007]

Anyone happen to know source for a DOS game disk images?

I have a KCS Power PC board in my Amiga 500 and it has Gotek connected, so disk images of dos games would be extremely easy to use wit it.

Something like this https://www.goodolddays.net/diskimages/

[stevsurv]

If you are after Dos Image Game files .IMG then goto archive.org and in the search type - ms dos games or msdos games and heaps will come up.

Other option can be to search on Abandonware sites but those old games are usually archived games not .IMG files.

[dreadnought]

Total Dos Collection has .img section (about 30GB). I think it's on eab ftp, but if you only want the floppies it's probably better to get the torrent from archive.org and part-download (coz the whole thing is very big).

A a new project by Gruby has been released not long ago, it also collects all kinds od DOS floppy images.

[utri007]

Originally Posted by dreadnought

Total Dos Collection has .img section (about 30GB). I think it's on eab ftp, but if you only want the floppies it's probably better to get the torrent from archive.org and part-download (coz the whole thing is very big).

A a new project by Gruby has been released not long ago, it also collects all kinds od DOS floppy images.

Annoyingly it is not possible download disk images only with torrent.

[jbenam]

The entire Good Old Days collection is on archive.org. I use those on my MS-DOS PCs with Goteks

[Mr Creosote]

Originally Posted by jbenam

The entire Good Old Days collection is on archive.org. I use those on my MS-DOS PCs with Goteks

Yes, even after uploading all of it to archive.org, I'm keeping the original pages on my site up, because I feel archive.org is not so ideal for searching...

[utri007]

Originally Posted by Mr Creosote

Yes, even after uploading all of it to archive.org, I'm keeping the original pages on my site up, because I feel archive.org is not so ideal for searching...

Archive org floppy collection downloaded, but what I'm supposed to do those raw files like Maze Adventures (1986)(Keypunch Software, Inc.) [kfx][360k][!] track00.0.raw or \Floppy\1986\Starflight (1986)(Electronic Arts, Inc.) [kfx][360k][!].zip\Disk1 has several megas raw files etc what are these?

[Mr Creosote]

Those are Kryoflux streams. I'm hardly an expert on this, but as far as I know, the only way to really "use" them (meaning play from them) is to convert them into another format as understood by today's common devices and emulators.

We were discussing at the time a scheme to distribute the same images in various formats for different use cases, but then the main active people left before it really went anywhere. That is why I simply dumped all files in different formats than plain imgs on archive.org without processing or documentation to at least make them available at all.

[utri007]

Originally Posted by Mr Creosote

Those are Kryoflux streams. I'm hardly an expert on this, but as far as I know, the only way to really "use" them (meaning play from them) is to convert them into another format as understood by today's common devices and emulators.

We were discussing at the time a scheme to distribute the same images in various formats for different use cases, but then the main active people left before it really went anywhere. That is why I simply dumped all files in different formats than plain imgs on archive.org without processing or documentation to at least make them available at all.

These Kryoflus streams are meaningful only for a historical meaning. For us who just want to play they are difficult to use. HxC floppy software can handle these, but using them would not be simple and require quite much work, as it is not possible to convert them to back original 360/720 kb floppy images.

[edit]

Any one interested, archive-org floppy images are useless PITA. For example America's Cup Yacht Racing Simulator (1986) is 360kb floppy image. Zipped floppy image is 57kb, when kryoflux stream file is 5935kb. Or Boulder Dash (1984) is 65kb or as a stream file 20050kb. Dragon's Lair (1989) zipped disk images 3780kb and stream file 120 000kb. Waist majority of game images are like it, so don't bother to download, there are better ways.

[Mr Creosote]

Originally Posted by utri007

These Kryoflus streams are meaningful only for a historical meaning. For us who just want to play they are difficult to use. HxC floppy software can handle these, but using them would not be simple and require quite much work, as it is not possible to convert them to back original 360/720 kb floppy images.

There we are right at one of the big points of why our initiative to further collect stopped. Different people had vastly different goals for it. Some wanted preservation, in a perfectionist way, but they were not interested in more "practical" aspects of cataloguing. Others "just want to play". The former group will be shocked at access timestamps of individual files being off. The latter will not care at all. And so on and so forth. One thing, all had in common: the inability to see the other side's viewpoint as valid and relevant

Originally Posted by utri007

Any one interested, archive-org floppy images are useless PITA. For example America's Cup Yacht Racing Simulator (1986) is 360kb floppy image. Zipped floppy image is 57kb, when kryoflux stream file is 5935kb. Or Boulder Dash (1984) is 65kb or as a stream file 20050kb. Dragon's Lair (1989) zipped disk images 3780kb and stream file 120 000kb. Waist majority of game images are like it, so don't bother to download, there are better ways.

Not sure what you want to say with these file size comparisons, which are not particularly surprising. Streams contain a shitload of metadata, obviously increasing size. Regular floppy images always have the full size of the physical medium they represent. Mostly empty disks will compress very well, however, obviously. So I highly doubt that just from file size, you can determine whether a disk is good or bad. Anyway, don't think the specific files you refer to here are from me.

[jbenam]

So the Good Old Days project is effectively stopped? It has been a great source of joy for me to finally be able to see installers for a bunch of games I only had in repackaged form. Seeing the installers really completes the experience

Repacked and pre-cracked games just don't cut it for me. Sure, they work, but it's great to do everything as it was originally intended.

[Mr Creosote]

There is nobody left in our crew still taking care of floppy images, yes. Whenever some user uploads new files, which still happens every couple of weeks, I just dump the files into the "unprocessed images" folder.

[utri007]

Originally Posted by Mr Creosote

Not sure what you want to say with these file size comparisons, which are not particularly surprising. Streams contain a shitload of metadata, obviously increasing size. Regular floppy images always have the full size of the physical medium they represent. Mostly empty disks will compress very well, however, obviously. So I highly doubt that just from file size, you can determine whether a disk is good or bad. Anyway, don't think the specific files you refer to here are from me.

If some one just want to play, he/she should not bother with these. They are difficult to get useable form and takes lots of space.

I didn't mean this any way to point you.

[jbenam]

Originally Posted by Mr Creosote

There is nobody left in our crew still taking care of floppy images, yes. Whenever some user uploads new files, which still happens every couple of weeks, I just dump the files into the "unprocessed images" folder.

Ah, at least there's still you doing that. Thanks a lot, I will have a look at the "unprocessed images" folder

[dreadnought]

I've just downloaded Gruby's collection. It contains files in all these differents formats:

- CP2: Copy2Pc Images
- DCF: Disk Copy Fast images
- EPL: EPLCopy images
- HFE: HxC Floppy Emulator HFE File
- IMA: RAW Disk images
- IMD: ImageDisk images
- IMG: Bootable RAW or Booter images
- PDI: Pinnacle Instant Copy Disk Image
- PRI: -?
- PSI: PCE Sector Image for PCE IBM PC 5150 Emulator
- SCP: SuperCard Pro Images
- TC : TransCopy Images
- TD0: TeleDisk Images

Apart from hfe & img, are any of the others also bootable?

[utri007]

Originally Posted by dreadnought

I've just downloaded Gruby's collection. It contains files in all these differents formats:

What is this Gruby's collection and where to get it?

[Mr Creosote]

Originally Posted by dreadnought

I've just downloaded Gruby's collection. It contains files in all these differents formats:

[...]

Apart from hfe & img, are any of the others also bootable?

IMA is the same as IMG, just bastardized naming by the WinImage tool.

Apart from that, it depends what tools you are using. PCE supports TD0 and PSI, 86box supports 86F.

[dreadnought]

Originally Posted by Mr Creosote

IMA is the same as IMG, just bastardized naming by the WinImage tool.

Apart from that, it depends what tools you are using. PCE supports TD0 and PSI, 86box supports 86F.

Thanks. I was thinking about MiSTer, it allows .img files.

Originally Posted by utri007

What is this Gruby's collection and where to get it?

Kinda underground. It's a new project so perhaps not available elsewhere. I left a message, if he okays it, I might upload it somewhere.



Mr Creosote might know more since he's listed in credits there (though perhaps by proxy).


Also, TDC has a lot of pure "installers" in the main games directory. Perhaps worth getting the whole package after all, if you really like the uncracked stuff.

[jbenam]

Very interested in this new Collection. I hope I will soon be able to know more about it

[utri007]

This has been interesting, but first question is still unanswered. I would like to get floppy images of DOS games 1981 - 1988 era.