"Pinball Nightmares"

[dlfrsilver]

Originally Posted by Rissy

I realised that Pinball Fantasies isn't listed there. But with the nature of me writing the .IPF file to physical disk, and then back again as a .SCP to my laptop using my GW in both directions, I thought perhaps I could side swipe the limitations of disk-analyse in its current status. Clearly this doesn't seem to be the case because what gets read back in by the GW is garbage and doesn't work despite the .IPF disk it came from working perfectly!!? This is something I can't understand.

For cannon fodder, simply because the format used is the Sensible (from Sensible Software) MFM track format.

Pinball Dreams use the TSL (From The SiLents) MFM format.

I still don't get the gain you search from converting from IPF, to HFE, to SCP.

An IPF is 1026kbytes, an SCP file is 1x - 2xMbytes ?

For saving, check that your gotek firmware is the latest. In case of problem, contact Keir about it.

[Rissy]

I can confirm now, after new advice on what line to use in Linux for converting Pinball Dreams .IPF to .HFE (so that I could run it on my Gotek), that Pinball Dreams is now working on my Gotek. Thank you!

[Rissy]

Originally Posted by BarryB

The * tells disk-utilities to apply the formats after it to all tracks or tracks that have not been specifically targeted.

In the Pinball Dreams entry "* amigados pinball_dreams" means check each track for AmigaDOS format AND Pinball Dreams format, if a track matches either format that track is written, anything that doesn't match is ignored and created as unformatted!

You could do Pinball Dreams like this:

"Pinball Dreams"
    0-1 amigados
    2-139 pinball_dreams
    156-157 pinball_dreams
    * ignore

In this case * ignore will create unformatted tracks for any track not specified by the lines above it!

I admit, despite you telling me exactly what the deal is. I still don't get it.

How can I code what you advise above?

The exact line I used last night is:

disk-analyse --format="Pinball Dreams" PinballDreams_Disk1.ipf PinballDreams_Disk1.hfe

Now please insert the code you speak of into that line for me to give me an exact written example.

And why for others, I've to use the non-quoted expression versus Pinball Dreams using the quoted expression for the format option? I don't understand this inconsistency. Can the Format document not be laid out to advise EXACTLY what the options term is for each game, rather than a random assortment of quoted and unquoted terms and additional * comments which don't explain what it is, if anything you're supposed to do with them....or are they just for information?

It's like it's leaving you to guess what the correct line should be from game to game.

[Rissy]

Originally Posted by dlfrsilver

For cannon fodder, simply because the format used is the Sensible (from Sensible Software) MFM track format.

Pinball Dreams use the TSL (From The SiLents) MFM format.

I still don't get the gain you search from converting from IPF, to HFE, to SCP.

An IPF is 1026kbytes, an SCP file is 1x - 2xMbytes ?

For saving, check that your gotek firmware is the latest. In case of problem, contact Keir about it.

I have no interest in converting .IPF into .SCP. But I DO have an interest in converting .IPF to .HFE in order for this to work (with save game functionality) on my Gotek. I need to use HxC to convert to .HFE and HxC does not accept .IPF.

I even tried converting directly from .IPF to .HFE using Keir's tool. But PF is not supported by it. So I went with trying to do it by writing and then reading from actual physical disks using my Greaseweazle (which is supposed to allow you to get around any copy protection on the disk) but apparently, this isn't true, because PF doe not work after reading back in a newly written disk. Not even the .SCP copy works. Try it. You'll see what I mean.


I don't think I could be any clearer in what I am saying.

[Rissy]

Originally Posted by dlfrsilver

Pinball Dreams use the TSL (From The SiLents) MFM format.

Where do you learn these things?

I have also seen posts from people talking about looking at the coding of these disks, and discussing where the high scores are kept etc.

How does one do that?

[dlfrsilver]

Originally Posted by Rissy

I have no interest in converting .IPF into .SCP. But I DO have an interest in converting .IPF to .HFE in order for this to work (with save game functionality) on my Gotek. I need to use HxC to convert to .HFE and HxC does not accept .IPF.

Of course HxC accept IPF files. for that you need to have the Caps dll file into the HxC root directory.

I even tried converting directly from .IPF to .HFE using Keir's tool. But PF is not supported by it. So I went with trying to do it by writing and then reading from actual physical disks using my Greaseweazle (which is supposed to allow you to get around any copy protection on the disk) but apparently, this isn't true, because PF doe not work after reading back in a newly written disk. Not even the .SCP copy works. Try it. You'll see what I mean.


I don't think I could be any clearer in what I am saying.

So do I. you need to convert IPF with the HxC tool. Copy the caps DLL into the root dir of HxC, then paste the IPF on the HxC window, then choose HFE v3 and that's it. HFE standard format is not made for original/protected disk images.

[dlfrsilver]

Originally Posted by Rissy

Where do you learn these things?

I have also seen posts from people talking about looking at the coding of these disks, and discussing where the high scores are kept etc.

How does one do that?

Digital Illusions peeps were demomakers, namely the Silents, acronymed 'TSL'.

[Rissy]

Originally Posted by dlfrsilver

Of course HxC accept IPF files. for that you need to have the Caps dll file into the HxC root directory.



So do I. you need to convert IPF with the HxC tool. Copy the caps DLL into the root dir of HxC, then paste the IPF on the HxC window, then choose HFE v3 and that's it. HFE standard format is not made for original/protected disk images.

Nobody else has told me this! Please can you tell me where to get this file?

[BarryB]

Download this file: http://www.softpres.org/_media/files...ad&cache=cache

Open it and just extract the CAPSimg.dll (157,184 bytes, NOT the one in the x64 folder) and put it in the same folder where the HxCFloppyEmulator.exe file is!

In disk-utilities use either -f or --format, you don't need the = bit! So:
disk-analyse --format "Pinball Dreams" "PinballDreams_Disk1.ipf" "PinballDreams_Disk1.hfe"

or

disk-analyse -f "Pinball Dreams" "PinballDreams_Disk1.ipf" "PinballDreams_Disk1.hfe"

All the formats disk-analyse knows are defined in this file: /usr/local/share/disk-analyse/formats this file can be edited to add your own game and formats if it's not listed but the disk format is supported, e.g. an AmigaDOS disk you've dumped that's not listed or a game with Copylock that's not listed.

[Rissy]

Right! Success! ....and failure.

Thank you. I've now got HxC accepting .IPF files. I've now used it to convert 0025 Pinball Fantasies disks from .IPF to .HFE (Rev 3) and proven them in the Gotek. Now the game loads up (yey!), you can play all the tables (yey! yey!), but......this is where it starts going wrong.

When you Achieve a high score on any/all of the table(s), it screws up the leaderboard mechanism in the game.

From that point forward, the high scores are NOT viewable from the main menu, ever again, because they ALL get blanked to ZERO.

Also, the first time you get a high score, this one is lost after you reboot the machine and reload the game.

But once you play again, and get a high score (which you'll defintely do, because all you have to do is beat ZERO!) THEN your high scores start being retained on the "disk" (Gotek .HFE file) even after reboot. Still though, the high scores tables are not visible from the main menu as they were orginally before they got blanked, even with your own high scores being saved. This of course means that you have to go into each table individually to see the high scores for each table, one at a time.

It's not brilliant, but acceptable. At least it still means you're playing towards something, and achievements (after the first one on each table) are kept saved.

I wonder now if anyone else has found this, or am I the first to analyse the whole situation so much?

As you might be able to tell, the Pinball games are our favourite in this house.

[BarryB]

Just setup my gotek (that was a laugh, couldn't remember where the wires went and my LCD doesn't work), but I did get it flashed with FF 3.25, created HFE files of Pinball Dreams and added them to slots 001 and 002 and saved, rebooted and played table 1 Ignition until I got a High Score of 775490 and entered BAZ for the name!

Rebooted the Amiga and loaded PD Disk 1, inserted Disk 2 and the High Score has been saved correctly and no corruption?

Not sure what's going wrong for you but it works for me.

Update: Lol, jumper had fallen off the I2C backpack so the LCD display was turned off, popped on a jumper and the display is now working!!

[Rissy]

Yes, PD is working perfect for me too. It's PF which is "working", but only to the details i've already discussed above.

[BarryB]

My bad!

PF seems to corrupt for me if you use AUTOBOOT.HFE, HXCSDFE.CFG and FF.CFG! I played Party Land and got a High Score of over 7 million, exited the table so it could save the score and when I rebooted and loaded the game again the High Score was corrupt/blank!

Tried in Native mode with just the 4 PF HFE files in the root of the USB, no config or autoboot files, played Party Land and got a score just over 12 million, exited the table so it could save the score and rebooted and when the game loaded the score was saved correctly!

[Rissy]

Oh right. So i'm using the AUTOBOOT.HFE etc method. What "Native mode" is there that you're discussing? Just put the Pinball Fantasy files on a USB with nothing else?

You can still use PF using the AUTOBOOT.HFE method, and it DOES save your scores, but only after the first save and reboot. But your scores are saved in a sea of ZERO as I mentioned in my post from Friday (21st). There's also no way to see the high scores from anywhere else other than inside each table's own environment, rather than previously being able to see them from the main menu on a per disk instance.

[Rissy]

Right. Got a blank memory stick. Formatted it to FAT32. Put ONLY the three Pinball Fantasy disks (0025 converted from .IPF to HFE (Rev 3))on to the route of that memory stick. Nothing else. Loaded it up into Course Disk 2. Played Stones and Bones. Got just over 25M points. Input my initials for the scoreboard. Quit out of Stones and Bones back to the main menu, but reselected Course disk 2 so that I could see the high score table from the main menu. You could press space bar to bring up the high scores. Saw my initials on the leaderboard. At this point CRTL-Amiga-Amiga to reboot. Reselected the main boot disk 1 to load up Pinball Fanstasies again. When given the option to insert a course disk, I gave it course disk 2 again. Let it load up to main menu. Pressed spacebar to see the highscore table from the main menu. Nothing comes up. Blank black screen with nothing whatsover displayed. Loaded up Stones and Bones table again at that point. When it starts showing you todays highscores, it just has (1) - (2) - (3) - (4) - (All blanked, just like it does with the AUTOBOOT.HFE route which i how i'm typically using my other memory stick).

So far this is exactly the same with no change. I bet now, if I went on to play Stones and Bones again now, and get a high score again (easy to do because I just have to beat ZERO), and insert my initials and save it back by going to the main menu again, THIS time it will save my highscore, which will be surrounded by blank scores, so of course i'll have top spot, but i'll only be able to see this from within the Stones and Bones table displayed "today's high scores" and not from the main menu....ever again.

So if you're saying yours works perfectly, then this is different from my experience. How are you doing it?

[Rissy]

Nope i'm wrong. Just went on to play from where i left the Amiga to write tha above post. Got a high score (easy, just beat ZERO and get a free extra ball for your troubles). Saved it back to disk by heading to the main menu. Once at the main menu, I rebooted and load back up to Stone and Bones. Nothing. No high scores at all. So for me, using this "native mode" is even worse that using AUTOBOOT.HFE method! At least there, it saves from your second highscore onwards for each table. Native mode doesn't save anything!

Something is getting corrupt from the Gotek upon saving back highscores. I don't see how you're making it work if we're both using the same hardware and software.

Unless FAT32 is the problem. I might try again later on tonight with a FAT (Default) formatted memory stick instead of FAT32....

[BarryB]

My USB stick is a cheap 2GB one formatted to FAT32 so nothing special and I used HFE v3 in the HxC software to convert the IPFs and flashed the Gotek with FlashFloppy 3.25. My Gotek also has an ARM 7 STM32F105 chip on it so maybe the type of Gotek you have is the problem? My A500 is a REV6 with a generic trapdoor RAM expansion and KS 1.3 so pretty common!

I only played 1 table but it saved the score and after a reboot was still there so for me in native mode it worked but not in HxC legacy mode! Native mode is just image files in the root of the stick, no other files!

You could have a dodgy CIA chip in your A500, if they are socketed just swap them around and see if the same issues occur!

[Rissy]

Originally Posted by BarryB

My USB stick is a cheap 2GB one formatted to FAT32 so nothing special and I used HFE v3 in the HxC software to convert the IPFs and flashed the Gotek with FlashFloppy 3.25. My Gotek also has an ARM 7 STM32F105 chip on it so maybe the type of Gotek you have is the problem? My A500 is a REV6 with a generic trapdoor RAM expansion and KS 1.3 so pretty common!

I only played 1 table but it saved the score and after a reboot was still there so for me in native mode it worked but not in HxC legacy mode! Native mode is just image files in the root of the stick, no other files!

You could have a dodgy CIA chip in your A500, if they are socketed just swap them around and see if the same issues occur!

I don't know what chips i have on my Gotek, but i bought it from AmigaStore.eu. If that goes for anything? It's got FlashFloppy 3.25 on it too.

I'm running the exact same Amiga 500 as you. A501 expanded memory on a Rev6 motherobard. I've no idea about CIA chips, but Amiga Test 1.6 doesn't bring up any errors or indication of faults of any sort, and for everthing else, the computer works fine.

I'v just tried a FAT (Default) format of a yet again different memory stick now. Exactly the same result.

I'm better off continuing to use AUTOBOOT.HFE mode, because at least there it still saves my scores even if the original game makers scores are all blanked out.

[BarryB]

Can't really understand what the problem is to be honest, native mode seems to work OK for me but testing is a problem as I can't play the damn game well enough to get a high score

Your only other alternative is use real disks and a floppy drive!

[Rissy]

Originally Posted by BarryB

Can't really understand what the problem is to be honest, native mode seems to work OK for me but testing is a problem as I can't play the damn game well enough to get a high score

Your only other alternative is use real disks and a floppy drive!

Yes, indeed. I've already proven that the .IPF file written to floppy is fine. It's the conversion to .HFE OR the Gotek itself which is screwing up the .HFE upon saving. I could always keep my external floppy disk drive connected to the Amiga, and simply use it for the Table disks and leave the Gotek set to disk 1. That would perhaps sort the issue out (I may try that!). But it does mean i'm still reliant on old magnetic media quality. The whole point in Gotek is to allow us to move away from the old disks!

I honestly find it impossible that nobody; not one other person here, is having, or had the same problems!

I can't be the only one who loves the game enough to care, and/or the only person to be experiencing this issue. Surely!??