for running from hard disk, gamestate saving, TOS 2.06, Falcon, TT compatibility
Would be good to read instructions
about how to use all this in best way - on following pages. Of course
stays mostly for beginners in this, with Atari ST family.
One
of things what people asked over last years was compilation of all
games here, in single download - like archive with all games here.
Indeed makes things faster and easier. And I made diverse compilations,
over 1000 DLs of some, and sadly with very poor feedback. Here to
mention that some people made self some compilations, without any
asking and consulting with me. Like they made good thing. Sure - just
few 'little problems' - not crediting me (who did huge work on it,
thousands of hours, buying diverse equipment for testing it with real
Ataris, newer storage HW, Flash cards, etc. ) .Then making really silly
mistakes: like double DIRs for game - When you open DIR DEJAVU will see
another subDIR DEJAVU instead files :-) There
were 4 compilations available for DL in last year, and all they contain
same games (depending on available space) - but because of TOS version
differences it can not be all in just one, while keeping efficient
space usage (images are of size 1, 1.6 GB, so can use them with
adapters limited to 1 GB, or with 2 GB Flash cards (real capacity is
always less)) . TOS 1.00-1.02 need little different partitioning, so I
took effort and time to make special image for users with those TOS
versions.
New images, which contain over 1600 games (all adapts I did) available,
some games in multiple versions, and to add there are some game compilations
too in all this - which were on floppy - like DISK15, or some other
with 20 games - sure, simpler games. There is new Game Menu,
with GUI, what works in all TOS (regular and iTOS) versions. And even
aka game names included in game list. It means that there is title
Driller and title Space Station Oblivion - both pointing on same DIR,
because it is same game. There are about 30 games with 2 English titles
- mostly US release names differ from UK, Eu releases. That will help
people to easier find desired games. And there are screenshots from games - can look them in Game menu.
Compilations available for DL: Note: they are hard disk image files (RAW images, so 100% org
content). They contain multiple partitions, like 8 - C, D, E, F, G, H,
I, J . And hard disk driver with low RAM usage, optimized for specific TOS
versions. You don't need to create anything on SD cards. Just to write
whole image to SD card with USB reader, as image, not as simple file
copy. It will of course overwrite what is there, so only write where
nothing is to keep . This mine Win program can serve: drimus.php Work under emulators:
I have bad news: recently made some tests with latest Hatari (Win
v.) and Steem SSE versions. And there are problems - Steem SSE 4.1.2
works not with images above 2 GB size, and this is about 3.5 GB. In
both there is unreliable work, as I see especially from area near to
end of image. I
sent report to Sensei Software about it. And hope
that they will work on problem(s). Today storage is cheap, so something
like 7 GB SD card image file is nothing special. So, this is not
for emulators. Will it be ? Of course depends on emulator programmers,
developers.
1. Special for iTOS - 1400 games + couple latest releases in 1 GB long image, so good for Mega STE internal adapter too. Only
with iTOS is possible to put so many games in 1 GB (more efficient
space usage). It is with special driver too. 8 partitions. Game start
menu for easier usage . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thnASI5rQ54 1B. Special for iTOS
- 1600 games (1660 DIRs), incl. latest releases in 3.5 GB long image. It was not
possible to add more in 1 GB image, so this needs ACSI adapter capable
over 1 GB. Emulators: will not work in Steem, because regular one with
aid of pasti can max 1 GB. Steem SSE still does not work well with hard
disk images over 1 GB.
2. Special for TOS 1.00-1.02 . Those TOS versions are not so good with hard disks, so need special partitioning. 14 partitions, latest are empty. About 1630 DIRs, special autoboot driver . This can be used with later regular TOS versions too. Image size is 3.5 GB. 3. For usual TOS versions, so 1.04 and later. About 1630 DIRs - some games are with multiple versions, audio track(s). 10 partitions, 2 latest are empty. Image
size is 3.5 GB. That is because fit on 4 GB Flash cards, which
usually have about 10% less capacity than indicated (what stays for
other size cards too). Just
tested it with MiSTer, and works fine. Setup is really easy - just need
to rename image extension to VHD (from IMG), and use MiSTer settings
menu to set it as HDD0 image.
Above 4 images are hard disk/Flash card image files, with autoboot driver, so ready
to use with real Ataris equipped with mass storage. And drivers used
are optimized for game playing. For instance Timer-C is not used
in driver at all, because some games take control over it (Space
Harrier for example). Other popular drivers usually use Timer-C for
time-out check. If it changes machine may stuck instead loading files
from disk. In all 4 cases partitions are DOS FAT16 compatible, so you can access them with modern OS, computers. Doing file transfers.
For details, how to get link, please write e-mail (link at bottom of this
page). It must contain details about your config(s). Like Atari model, RAM size, TOS version, what hard disk/Flash card adapter using. Sorry, but with Atari ST family it is much more complicated than with 8-bitters. And must say this again: not for current Atari ST emulators. Image with size of 3.5 GB is problem for them.
Note for those who want to put game adaptations from here on their
sites, or doing some other way of distribution. Instead it, use link to
this site.
Ask for permission and explanations about how to use this - result of
my hard work over many years. I saw really shameless things - like not
crediting author of all it at all. This is not so simple as with 8-bit
computer games - like just run it's file. This games were on floppies,
not on tapes. Much more ways for loading, running them. Then TOS
versions, how to set computer, hard disk driver, copy protections in
hundreds of ways ... Now
is trendy to make so called 'frontends' , with which can launch
specific game with simple click on it's title. Actually nothing new,
Gamebase (ST) did it long time ago. But with floppy images. Talking
about emulators on PC, Windows . As is stated above, it can not
work just like that with lot of Atari ST games. For instance there are
multiple launchers for same game in many cases. Not to mention that
user should read README.TXT before starting to play. Whole hard
disk type approach is little different. Hardest part (especially in
case of 1600 games) is to open game's DIR. But really not so hard,
maybe for those not familiar with GEM (what differs really not much
from Windows file explorer). And really no need for those
frontends. I made it - and it runs on Atari STs, so may run under
emulators. And it is easy to use. Latest v. works with all TOS
versions: YT video .
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