Dungeon Master V2.0 IPF?

[alexh]

Originally Posted by BarryB

Keir has now modified his DM decoder in Disk-Utilities to make an IPF that works under emulation, so let's get testing!!

Wow I wrote to him on Facebook when this thread opened and he didn't think it would be possible.

[BarryB]

Under emulation it seems possible but writing back to disk may need it saving as an SCP file in DU and writing that back with a Greaseweazle to test!

[Supamax]

Originally Posted by BarryB

Just a 'heads up'!

Keir has now modified his DM decoder in Disk-Utilities to make an IPF that works under emulation, so let's get testing!!

WOW!

Where can it be downloaded from?

[Supamax]

Originally Posted by BarryB

Under emulation it seems possible but writing back to disk may need it saving as an SCP file in DU and writing that back with a Greaseweazle to test!

What do you mean with "saving as an SCP file in DU"?
DU = DM decoder?

Currently the .scp image done by lesta_smsc seems the better one (I'll test the others too, though). He wrote it back to real floppy disk and it seems to work, as opposed to other images.

[BarryB]

Originally Posted by Supamax

What do you mean with "saving as an SCP file in DU"?
DU = DM decoder?

Currently the .scp image done by lesta_smsc seems the better one (I'll test the others too, though). He wrote it back to real floppy disk and it seems to work, as opposed to other images.

Yes, use your KF/GW dump of DM in DU to make an SCP then write it back with a Greaseweazle, no guarantee that will work though.

[Supamax]

Originally Posted by BarryB

Yes, use your KF/GW dump of DM in DU to make an SCP then write it back with a Greaseweazle, no guarantee that will work though.

Where can I download the latest release/beta of DU?

[Thorham]

Originally Posted by Supamax

The problem with DM's protections is that one can't be sure until he longplays it till the very end .

If you just want to play DM (and Chaos Strikes Back and custom dungeons), then check out meynaf's version of the game: https://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=49830 Requires an accelerated Amiga (68020+ and some ram) but runs multitasking under the OS.

[Snoopy1234]

Originally Posted by Supamax

Where can I download the latest release/beta of DU?

in the Creating your own IPF's thread.

I've downloaded it and converted your non-working scp to ipf and this time it worked as far as the hall of champions and might be ok. I haven't tested further. It's in the Zone if you aren't converting your own image.

[Supamax]

Originally Posted by Snoopy1234

in the Creating your own IPF's thread.

Ok, thanks (I'm already following that thread, but I wanted to be sure to have the "official" source)

I've downloaded it and converted your non-working scp to ipf and this time it worked as far as the hall of champions and might be ok. I haven't tested further. It's in the Zone if you aren't converting your own image.

Thanks.
So it would seem that the IPF file derived from my image is working, even if I can't use anymore my original floppy (the protection kicks in) with my A600HD (bought by me on eBay some years ago)?
Last time I played it (MANY MANY years ago) it was working, on my old/original A500 KS1.2 (the first Amiga I had, which I bought new).
I don't remember, when I discovered it's not working anymore, if I tested it on that A500 also (which I still have), but it surely is not working on the A600HD.
If it's not a problem of the original floppy disk, than maybe it's a drive issue... or KS2 compatibility issue?

Or probably Keir utility, when creating the IPF, recreates/refreshes the weak track (or I should say stores that information in the IPF structure, without data) regardless of what's in track 0 side 1 of my (and others') .scp image?

[Snoopy1234]

[/QUOTE]
Last time I played it (MANY MANY years ago) it was working, on my old/original A500 KS1.2 (the first Amiga I had, which I bought new).
I don't remember, when I discovered it's not working anymore, if I tested it on that A500 also (which I still have), but it surely is not working on the A600HD.
If it's not a problem of the original floppy disk, than maybe it's a drive issue... or KS2 compatibility issue?
[/QUOTE]


I can confirm that the new ipf doesn't load under kickstart 2.05 A600 in emulation. It seems the rom revision is using some sort of double step disk access that is incompatible. It might be a case of your original disk being slightly worn and the A600 being incompatible. Someone else could test A600 emulation with the ipf. It is known that a lot of the games from the previous OS's were incompatible with 2.x OS.

[/QUOTE]
Or probably Keir utility, when creating the IPF, recreates/refreshes the weak track (or I should say stores that information in the IPF structure, without data) regardless of what's in track 0 side 1 of my (and others') .scp image?[/QUOTE]

Yes it delineates random data so only genuine digital master data is preserved. There are still variances when writing a disk due to physical equipment.

[Supamax]

Originally Posted by Thorham

If you just want to play DM (and Chaos Strikes Back and custom dungeons), then check out meynaf's version of the game: https://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=49830 Requires an accelerated Amiga (68020+ and some ram) but runs multitasking under the OS.

Thanks .
Noted , but I'm currently mainly interested to contributing to correctly image/preserve the original DM 2.

[Snoopy1234]

[QUOTE=Supamax;1582078]Ok, thanks (I'm already following that thread, but I wanted to be sure to have the "official" source)



you would have to compile it yourself with something like Visual Studios in Windows or a Linux alternative. Keir Frasers' Github page.
I couldn't work it out myself so the pre-compiled version available here is a bonus.

[Supamax]

Originally Posted by Snoopy1234

I can confirm that the new ipf doesn't load under kickstart 2.05 A600 in emulation. It seems the rom revision is using some sort of double step disk access that is incompatible. It might be a case of your original disk being slightly worn and the A600 being incompatible. Someone else could test A600 emulation with the ipf. It is known that a lot of the games from the previous OS's were incompatible with 2.x OS.

Hmmm, I see... so my original floppy might be undamaged, after all...
I'll test it on my A500 when I have time... although it would be strange I didn't do it when I found the issue on my A600HD. We'll see...

Yes it delineates random data so only genuine digital master data is preserved. There are still variances when writing a disk due to physical equipment.

Ok.
I tested your .ipf and it seems working.
I then converted it back to .scp (using Keirf disk-utilities and the correct format parameter) but the protection kicks in when clicking on the floppy save icon in the character menu.
So I would say that the original .scp image MUST be kept, too.
(unless I did something wrong when using the Keirf disk-utilities. Do you want to try the ipf-->scp conversion, too?)

Originally Posted by BarryB

Under emulation it seems possible but writing back to disk may need it saving as an SCP file in DU and writing that back with a Greaseweazle to test!

Yes, that's what I did (see above). If I did it correctly, it's not working.

[Supamax]

Originally Posted by Supamax

So I would say that the original .scp image MUST be kept, too.

If we want to be able to write it back to real floppy (thus creating a 100% working protected copy), I mean.
Unless I did something wrong with Keirf utility, of course.

If I did the conversion correctly, another way could be trying to directly using the .ipf with Greaseweazle's GW.exe utility for writing to a real floppy.
And then see if the recreated original is working... (I fear not)

[Snoopy1234]

Originally Posted by Supamax

Hmmm, I see... so my original floppy might be undamaged, after all...
I'll test it on my A500 when I have time... although it would be strange I didn't do it when I found the issue on my A600HD. We'll see...



Ok.
I tested your .ipf and it seems working.
I then converted it back to .scp (using Keirf disk-utilities and the correct format parameter) but the protection kicks in when clicking on the floppy save icon in the character menu.
So I would say that the original .scp image MUST be kept, too.
(unless I did something wrong when using the Keirf disk-utilities. Do you want to try the ipf-->scp conversion, too?)

Seems ips won't stand back engineering. converted ipf => scp fails on disk save.

[Supamax]

Originally Posted by Snoopy1234

Seems ips won't stand back engineering. converted ipf => scp fails on disk save.

Ok.
However now we can have a working .ipf and that's already a great result!

[Snoopy1234]

Originally Posted by Supamax

Ok.
However now we can have a working .ipf and that's already a great result!

I now know. I've written the "track shifted" version of the scp of yours to disk and it passes the character save test on my A1200 with Relokick 1.4 - OS 1.3.

The new ipf doesn't pass the character save test when written to disk as you suspected!

Your original scp doesn't work anywhere so I think the shifted one of that might be the most viable image.

[BarryB]

I've been playing the IPF in WinUAE from a saved game disk (ADF) I had when I was using the SCP and for nearly 2 hours now not ran into any issue with saving to the ADF, it not recognising the IPF as the original disk or guru'ing while playing!

Only on Level 2, Choose your door choose your fate!

[Snoopy1234]

Originally Posted by BarryB

I've been playing the IPF in WinUAE from a saved game disk (ADF) I had when I was using the SCP and for nearly 2 hours now not ran into any issue with saving to the ADF, it not recognising the IPF as the original disk or guru'ing while playing!

Only on Level 2, Choose your door choose your fate!

Emulation maybe but on real hardware the ipf doesn't work

[BarryB]

Originally Posted by Snoopy1234

Emulation maybe but on real hardware the ipf doesn't work

It was never stated the IPF would work on real hardware, the IPF generated is for emulation only, rather a conversion of IPF > SCP > Greaseweazle > Disk *may* work.