dms files I have on CD

[Jherek Carnelia]

I have just got hold of 3 Amiga CDs - ACE 1, ACE 2 & Bloggs Amiga 96. There are hundreds of dms files on them and I was going to upload the contents lists for people to look at, however seeing the misunderstanding that arose from DJay's ADF post the other day I thought that I would first ask 'How do I check if they are TOSEC or not?'.
If it turns out that there is anything that anyone wants, I will be happy to upload them (I have to say that I haven't actually tried to run any of them yet!!).

btw When I say 'upload them' I mean files not CDs, of course:laugh

[Twistin'Ghost]

Well, to begin with, the misunderstanding before was over the term non-TOSEC (whether it meant the files were non-TOSEC or the way they were named), so unless you refer to these files as TOSEC or not (which you wouldn't, since they are DMS version) I think you are OK. Do the listings have descriptions? Most DMS files from the day were 8+3 and quite useless for knowing what the contents world (thanks M$!). So please upload these listings!

[Jherek Carnelia]

The zip is in the zone. The descriptions of the files seem to make sense!

[Twistin'Ghost]

There's a problem. Error message from WinZip (using it here at work):

Extracting to "C:\Amiga\"
Use Path: yes Overlay Files: no
Extracting ACE CD 1.TXT
Extracting ACE CD 2.TXT
bad CRC fc64b6f2 (should be 5944a60c)
Warning: the size of the extracted file (185512) does not match the uncompressed size (187242) recorded in the zip file
Extracting BloggsAmiga96.TXT

Several lines down (after the AMOSDOC.LHA lsiting) the text is all jumbled and unreadable. Any chance to reupload this one file?

[DPainter]

We must protect Twistin' Ghost from the corrupting influence of CDs full of Amiga DMS files. It's a sickness that devours itself and craves for more. Before you know it you have 67 different versions of Word Perfect and more than 100 copies of Sinbad and the Throne of the Falcon with no difference among them except CRCs. And let's not even mention the AMOS games.

According to one of the biggest victims--not me, I assure you--there are at least 21,000 non-TOSEC ADFs across these CDs! Do you think Twistin' could sleep at night if he knew that?

Once Twistin' makes a full accounting of his DMS harem, and properly names them, then will he be ready to enter the salt mines.

[Twistin'Ghost]

Originally posted by DPainter
According to one of the biggest victims--not me, I assure you--there are at least 21,000 non-TOSEC ADFs across these CDs! Do you think Twistin' could sleep at night if he knew that?

But in reality, the main thing that interests me in non-TOSEC titles is alternate cracks and disks with significant differences. I really don't even have one CD collection that most hardcore Amiga users have from the circulation rounds In fact, I have no DMS CD's of any kind whatsoever! With a few exceptions of things I have found on the net, all of my DMS files are ones from my old collection that I built up back when this stuff was new.

I find [a] disks (whose only differences are mere bits and bytes) to be quite an annoyance and they are the reason I always rallied against TOSEC in the first place. And no doubt there will be more and more new webmasters who will crop and have to show off that they know how to add lines to a startup-sequence, as well as knowing how to spam an Amiga disk. Or people who just have to change files around (defragging, putting 3.1 C: commands on 1.3 game disks, etc.) So that 21,000 is just the beginning.

(sigh)

[DPainter]

Originally posted by Twistin'Ghost

But in reality, the main thing that interests me in non-TOSEC titles is alternate cracks and disks with significant differences. I really don't even have one CD collection that most hardcore Amiga users have from the circulation rounds In fact, I have no DMS CD's of any kind whatsoever! With a few exceptions of things I have found on the net, all of my DMS files are ones from my old collection that I built up back when this stuff was new.

I find [a] disks (whose only differences are mere bits and bytes) to be quite an annoyance and they are the reason I always rallied against TOSEC in the first place. And no doubt there will be more and more new webmasters who will crop and have to show off that they know how to add lines to a startup-sequence, as well as knowing how to spam an Amiga disk. Or people who just have to change files around (defragging, putting 3.1 C: commands on 1.3 game disks, etc.) So that 21,000 is just the beginning.(sigh)

My experience with most non-TOSEC commercial games on these CDs (in the past year or so) has been:

60% contain undetectable bits and bytes (probably a saved game or something) VERY annoying!
20% have an alternate boot block or BBS splash screen or other visible difference [m] like a hacked startup sequence.
10% feature an alternate trainer
5% are an actual different crack
3% have no crack screen, or are cracked by copy tools
2% are actually different versions or a new game

As for those 21,000 disks, most of them are going to fall into the above categories, and then there are the countless applications, demos and PD data disks and such.