Floppy Disk Stream Image Repository

[kodak80]

I just sent up a dump of Cosmic Pirate I did in May to dropbox. Don't think I sent it before as it was in my TODO folder, if I did, sorry.

Thank you. I have added CT Raw versions of your KF dumps into the 7z file you sent through and added it to the repository. Always useful to have multiple versions of disks for comparison.

I note that Cosmic Pirate writes back to disk and stores pilot names etc. on disk B.

I managed to get the other SCP dump working in Steem as it was looking for disk B in drive B!! Anyway, I should now be able to repair my disk B. Thank you.

I have added Atomic Robokid to the repository as well to share.

[Total Eclipse]

Folks, I'm dumping some of my budget titles now. There's some really questionable stuff in there, but it's all worth preserving.

I've hit a snag with one game - Extensor. AUFIT and HXC show a disk layout that just looks like a mess, yet Steem loads the SCP file and plays it fine. I've re-read the disk three times and always get the same result.

So, could it be considered a good dump or not?

Extensor.jpg

[kodak80]

Folks, I'm dumping some of my budget titles now. There's some really questionable stuff in there, but it's all worth preserving.

I've hit a snag with one game - Extensor. AUFIT and HXC show a disk layout that just looks like a mess, yet Steem loads the SCP file and plays it fine. I've re-read the disk three times and always get the same result.

So, could it be considered a good dump or not?

Extensor.jpg

The dump looks fine to me. There is another dump copy Extensor (Smash 16) [GW] (MugUK) in the repository and it looks very similar.

[Total Eclipse]

Great, thanks.

Strange disk format though, I've never seen anything like that one before.

[Mikerochip]

It's not really a mess, it's just a single sided disk.
The right side, track 1, with all the red, is an unused side.
On the left side, side 0, the bottom of the disk, it looks like there's 2 tracks with data? in the sector gap.

Otherwise, the start sector is just rotated. There's info about it in the Aufit docs, I think is where I read about disks like that.
If it's not that, it's the copy protections document also from DrCoolZic.

[Total Eclipse]

kodak80, I've just uploaded another set of disks to your dropbox.

There's one bad dump in there - Time Scanners second disk is bad. The others all seem good.

[kodak80]

kodak80, I've just uploaded another set of disks to your dropbox.

There's one bad dump in there - Time Scanners second disk is bad. The others all seem good.

Thank you. They have all been moved to the repository. Time Scanners is located in the bad folder:

Action Service [GW] (Total Eclipse)
Bombuzal [GW] (Total Eclipse)
Captain Blood [GW] (Total Eclipse)
Extensor [GW] (Total Eclipse)
Fastlane [GW] (Total Eclipse)
Graffiti Man [GW] (Total Eclipse)
Pandora [GW] (Total Eclipse)
Powerdrome [GW] (Total Eclipse)
Time Scanner (DISK B BAD) [GW] (Total Eclipse)
Treasure Island Dizzy [GW] (Total Eclipse)
Turbo GT [GW] (Total Eclipse)
Whirligig [GW] (Total Eclipse)

[Total Eclipse]

It's not really a mess, it's just a single sided disk.
The right side, track 1, with all the red, is an unused side.
On the left side, side 0, the bottom of the disk, it looks like there's 2 tracks with data? in the sector gap.

Otherwise, the start sector is just rotated. There's info about it in the Aufit docs, I think is where I read about disks like that.
If it's not that, it's the copy protections document also from DrCoolZic.

It's quite fascinating to me.

I've not seen any other disks that show banding on the unused side, and definitely not anything like side 0, with no obviously laid out sector alignment.

I feel some heavy reading coming on.

[Mikerochip]

Yeah.

I asked the guys in the Atari-Forum if they were going to start including the images from Aufit, since some of them are quite cool/interesting.

The sectors are aligned, they're just stepped. Look at a less stepped image below (ST Protector) which gives a nice wave effect.
Your disk is more like Turrican 1 (Kixx)

eg:

my fav: https://archive.org/details/Turrican_Ki ... _DiskImage
and
https://archive.org/details/ST_Protecto ... _DiskImage
https://archive.org/details/Kick_Off_2_ ... _DiskImage
https://archive.org/details/The_Power_P ... iskImage_3
https://archive.org/details/Turrican_II ... _DiskImage

and another side 2 disk that's not unformatted:
https://archive.org/details/Hotshot_16b ... _DiskImage
https://archive.org/details/ChuckieEgg_ ... _DiskImage

custom loader disks:
https://archive.org/details/Tenstar_Dri ... _DiskImage
https://archive.org/details/Super_Off_R ... _DiskImage
https://archive.org/details/Batman_The_ ... _DiskImage

non standard sector count:
https://archive.org/details/Tandy_Disco ... _DiskImage
https://archive.org/details/Power_Pack_ ... _DiskImage


I have a few of those Smash 16 and Action 16 floppies too, and they look similar to yours.
(I haven't uploaded them, since they have bad sectors)

[ijor]

The sectors are aligned, they're just stepped. Look at a less stepped image below (ST Protector) which gives a nice wave effect.
Your disk is more like Turrican 1 (Kixx)
..
I have a few of those Smash 16 and Action 16 floppies too, and they look similar to yours.
(I haven't uploaded them, since they have bad sectors)

Many of those disks you mention are Budget releases. Budget releases many times reused and old, non virgin, disk without bothering bulk erasing it first. Sometimes they even didn't remove the old label and you can see the new label on top of the old one.

Additionally some of the latter budget releases used cheap duplicators that couldn't reproduce the original protection.

[Mikerochip]

Interesting about the cheap duplicators.

What did they do in that case, create 'cracked' copies of the games?

I've heard various people talking about budget games and in one case (In SPS), saying at least one release used a 'scene' crack on their release!!

I knew budget releases were often double sided releases, rather than 2x single sided disks.
(Which I'm actually thankful for. or, well, I was at the time. They often seemed to be STE fixed too.)

But some budget releases, when I bought them at least, compilations too, came with original disks.
I presume they were left over from an initial run?

My budget Midnight Resistance, in a The Hit Squad box, etc, came on the original 2x disks, in the original format.
So, they didn't have "The Hit Squad" printed on them anywhere, just Ocean, and the name of the game.
(Where I've seen actual pictures of other peoples disks, and it's one single disk, with the budget logo)

Also, my Raving Mad compilation, with 4 disks, has 2x disks with the raving mad logo, but the two 'The Mega Twins' doesn't have it.
I've seen other people's disks, where their Mega Twins is still 2 disks like mine, but, has the Raving Mad logo, like the first 2 disks
ie all 4 disks have "RAVING MAD" in the middle of the disk.

[Zippy]

Interesting about the cheap duplicators.

What did they do in that case, create 'cracked' copies of the games?

I've heard various people talking about budget games and in one case (In SPS), saying at least one release used a 'scene' crack on their release!!

I made quite a few of the official budget compilations using existing cracked/packed copies or making new cracks. Some details here at the very end of this interview : https://codetapper.com/atari-st/st-interviews/zippy/

[Mikerochip]

Wow. @Zippy!

Fantastic interview.
And, that's crazy! The original disks, protected by the original disk protector, were cracked by you!!!

It's like meeting a celebrity, isn't it

[Zippy]

It's like meeting a celebrity, isn't it

And we all know what to do with those...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4ox7CvSUIA

[Mikerochip]

I dumped ST Action Disk 18, Armour-Geddon, and uploaded to dropbox.

The image is a little surprising in that kier's disk-utilities can't make a working .ipf (well, not much of a surprise, really),
but neither can HxC tools make a working .stx (slightly less surprising) an finally, neither can Aufit make a working .stx!
(Most surprising!)

The .scp itself loads and runs fine though in SteemSSE.

Dumped using GW 0.22.

*edit*
And I added Disk 22 too, Maddog Williams.
And Disk 17.

And ST Format Issue 42 Disk 42a (I think I might have named the disk incorrectly as Issue 44)
and Issue 36, Disk 36a

[kodak80]

STAction_Issue38_1991-06_InteractivePublishing_Disk18Of58_AtariST_Dump [GW] (mikerochip)
STAction_Issue37_1991-05_InteractivePublishing_Disk17Of58_AtariST_Dump [GW] (mikerochip)
STAction_Issue41_1991-09_InteractivePublishing_Disk22Of58_AtariST_Dump [GW] (mikerochip)
STAction_Issue47_1992-03_InteractivePublishing_Disk34Of58_AtariST_Dump [GW] (mikerochip)

have been added to the repository in the Magazine disks folder.

[Mikerochip]

Uploaded some more STReview disks.

[kodak80]

Uploaded some more STReview disks.

Now moved to repository...

[Mikerochip]

I uploaded a cleaner X-Out (disk 1 only still though), Heroes Disk 2 and STFormat Disk 51.
And Sorcery Plus.

[kodak80]

I uploaded a cleaner X-Out (disk 1 only still though), Heroes Disk 2 and STFormat Disk 51.
And Sorcery Plus.

All updated in the repository now. Old dumps for X-Out and Heroes disk 2 have now been replaced with the new dumps.

[Mikerochip]

And a cleaner Power Monger disk, too.

[kodak80]

And a cleaner Power Monger disk, too.

Updated.

[Mikerochip]

I did buy a box of 300 ST Magazine floppy disks, but I've looked at them all, and they entire lot is useless

I've tried cleaning a few of them, but nothing helps. At least, I'll have some good label scans

[ijor]

I dumped ST Action Disk 18, Armour-Geddon, and uploaded to dropbox.

The image is a little surprising in that kier's disk-utilities can't make a working .ipf (well, not much of a surprise, really),
but neither can HxC tools make a working .stx (slightly less surprising) an finally, neither can Aufit make a working .stx!
(Most surprising!)

The .scp itself loads and runs fine though in SteemSSE.

I tested and I get the same result with the STX image created by Aufit that you posted and with the SCP image itself. In both cases the game loads and the protection seems to be passed correctly. I don't how to start a game so may be it isn't 100%, but seems to be exactly the same in both cases.

Do you see something different?

[Mikerochip]

Huh.
No, it's something to do with my SteemSSE config it seems.
But I can't see what.

I set up a new Steem folder, set all my usual defaults, let pasti manage the disk images etc, MegaST, 2mb, Tos 1.4,
and it works fine on the new install.
(To clarify, the .scp and Aufit .stx work fine)

My existing setup, from what I can see, looks the same, but it still refuses to work.
Everything else I have works fine in it, but not this.
No clue why. Thanks for checking though!

What I see is a disk error screen.
"Disk Swap: Please place demo disk in any drive"

(Try the HxC .stx, you'll see what I see)