Saving tape games to diskettes..

Want to talks about games you like, would like to see developed on the Oric, it's here.
User avatar
peacer
Flight Lieutenant
Posts: 451
Joined: Wed Jun 09, 2010 9:23 pm
Location: Turkey
Contact:

Saving tape games to diskettes..

Post by peacer »

I am trying to load tape wav. files to my Oric and save them to my 3" diskettes.

Basic programs are easy : cload them while playing the wav file, stop running by ctrl-c or reset button and save it to disk.

Machine code programs are diffucult. Even if reset button works, start & end adresses of machine code in the memory is to be known. Oric Explorer program is helping in this stage and we can learn memory location of machine code in tape files.

But if machine code programs are autorun and protected to stop by reset its impossible to save them to diskettes.

Is there a way to break from autorun games and cancel the autorun after loading from tapes so that we can save them to the disc?

There is another problem for multipart loading tape images.. They has to be parted into different data files on disc .

Any ideas?
User avatar
Chema
Game master
Posts: 3013
Joined: Tue Jan 17, 2006 10:55 am
Location: Gijón, SPAIN
Contact:

Re: Saving tape games to diskettes..

Post by Chema »

I cannot imagine how that can be done with some kind of general method. Any program with a custom loader, or multipart, or any kind of protection would need to be handled differently.

I think you would need some kind of copier program for unprotected or one part programs, but for the rest...

But we talked about something related in the tapes and disk converters forum. Why not use tap2cd tools to create disk images, connect your drive to the PC and create the disks from there?

Sure there are some inconveniences, such as booting from dos to use writedsk, connecting the 3'' drive to the PC or, alternatively, a 3 1/2 drive to the Microdisc, but it will do the trick.

Well that unless the game uses a custom loader with some protection... For those a kind of snapshot of the memory contents would be needed...
User avatar
Dbug
Site Admin
Posts: 4437
Joined: Fri Jan 06, 2006 10:00 pm
Location: Oslo, Norway
Contact:

Re: Saving tape games to diskettes..

Post by Dbug »

peacer wrote:Is there a way to break from autorun games and cancel the autorun after loading from tapes so that we can save them to the disc?
Patch the header, replace the $80 by $00
User avatar
peacer
Flight Lieutenant
Posts: 451
Joined: Wed Jun 09, 2010 9:23 pm
Location: Turkey
Contact:

Re: Saving tape games to diskettes..

Post by peacer »

Connecting the drive to PC is way beyond my experience and I can't risk my drive with such experiments...

Is there an easy way to change header?
User avatar
Steve M
Squad Leader
Posts: 787
Joined: Fri Mar 24, 2006 3:33 am
Location: Cumbria, UK
Contact:

Re: Saving tape games to diskettes..

Post by Steve M »

I used to use BDDISK to convert tapes. It saved the various program parts to file with no autorun. You would then have to change loading instructions from CLOAD to LOAD and resave files that need autorun to work.

With some programs you'll need to use QUIT to free up some memory. For some of the large adventure games GRAB was needed.
GAMEINIT was used to produce disks with less DOS code so it interfered less with games, but I think Sedoric3 is better in that regard so there is less need for GAMINIT.

The problem I'm having is that BDDISK doesn't want to load tapes with the disk system connected. According to The'Oric something like Amplibus (or Cumulbus?) should sort the problem.

There is a couple of autorun inhibit programs about. I put one on Rhetoric disk #5, (which are on Oric-org, thanks to Symoon).


The autorun inhibit can be used to enter cheat codes - see Jim Grooms cheat guide.

(I've attached a disk image of a actual disk I has used to convert Tevrog's Kingdom and Waydor. It also has Supercopy which can be used to copy tapes IIRC, but I'm not sure if I have instructions.
Copies made with BDDISK have the French title COPIE, as you'll see on the disk). I'm not sure if this will work on the Cumulus - it might be worth trying.)
Attachments
copier.dsk
(1 MiB) Downloaded 532 times
User avatar
Steve M
Squad Leader
Posts: 787
Joined: Fri Mar 24, 2006 3:33 am
Location: Cumbria, UK
Contact:

Re: Saving tape games to diskettes..

Post by Steve M »

Making progress !
I've bought a new (second hand) tape recorder and got it loading tapes. I found a buffer which has a 74ls125 chip connected between the Atmos and interface and I can now load tapes with the disk interface attached - so that means BDDISK is working again for me ! I'm so pleased.
I recently got my Atmos back. I'd sent it to someone for repair and never heard from them again. I wrote letters and asked for it back but never heard anything. That was years ago so I'd given up on it really. But I found the guy's email address so sent him an email asking him if he wanted any more Oric stuff, (just to see if I could get a response), and he actually replied and said he'd send my stuff back.

He did and I have my (still broken) Atmos back that has the twin ROM modification. He also sent me some tapes which included some rare Quark Data ones so I've been converting a few with BDDISK.

Now I just need to get my Atmos fixed.
User avatar
ibisum
Wing Commander
Posts: 1643
Joined: Fri Apr 03, 2009 8:56 am
Location: Vienna, Austria
Contact:

Re: Saving tape games to diskettes..

Post by ibisum »

I've got a spare Atmos in case you want it? I'd be happy to send it to you for the cost of shipping, if you're going to use it to bring more DSK's to the world ..
User avatar
Steve M
Squad Leader
Posts: 787
Joined: Fri Mar 24, 2006 3:33 am
Location: Cumbria, UK
Contact:

Re: Saving tape games to diskettes..

Post by Steve M »

Thanks - I have enough Atmoses. My twin ROM one worked with BDDISK whilst the others I have don't seem to. But I've found the buffer allows BDdisk to work so I can do it now. I will have another look at the old Atmos and see if I can figure out what has blown. (There's no hot chips.)
My old Oric-1 is working. It is a twin ROM version with IC11 in place. It had a keyboard problem so I'll see if I can sort that first as it should be an easier fix. Then I have some other ROM pairs I want to test as I have no other Oric-1 with two ROMs working.

I've converted Moonster and Oricle from Quark Data and there's a program called Code Master by G Bates which is a mastermind type game.
I'm not sure if Moonster is a completed game. It is like space invaders but with static aliens. A red alien moves around shooting at you but I've not been able to kill it so there doesn't seem to be a way to progress past the first screen.

I guess the next step is to get a PC running Win98 so I can convert the disks to disk images.
User avatar
ibisum
Wing Commander
Posts: 1643
Joined: Fri Apr 03, 2009 8:56 am
Location: Vienna, Austria
Contact:

Re: Saving tape games to diskettes..

Post by ibisum »

Monster and Code Master sound like familiar type-in's from somewhere .. ZAP magazine, or something? What was Oricle about? Its a very blank page: http://www.oric.org/software/oricle-260.html

EDIT: PS; your hardware setup is pretty nice!
User avatar
Steve M
Squad Leader
Posts: 787
Joined: Fri Mar 24, 2006 3:33 am
Location: Cumbria, UK
Contact:

Re: Saving tape games to diskettes..

Post by Steve M »

Oricle is the Oric oracle. It's a learning program that tries to identify something by asking questions - does it have four legs? Is it a table? Does it have arms? etc

Not that interesting really.

It is Moonster not Monster. I'm not aware of it being a type-in, but it is in Basic.
Post Reply