Archimedes Software Preservation Project

[sirbod]

Terramex is now available and works on up to the Pi with the latest ADFFS beta

[wmd]

Nosher was a Pacman style game, I have a demo for Nosher but not the full version, they were both mail order games published by the author (I think) which is probably why they are obscure.

Do you know if the Nosher demo came from a cover disc? If not, any chance you could upload it? It isn't listed anywhere, and the only mention I found of the full version was from an old advert in Acorn User Oct '92 (page 30).

[acorn_fan]

I recall Nosher was written someone who I was friends with at the time. I might have a copy on floppy he posted me somewhere - I’ll see if I can dig it out (and if it still works) when I get a moment.

[wmd]

That would be great, as other than the advert I linked to, this is one of those games that seems to have been completely lost to time.

[acorn_fan]

Good news: I've found the disk and the game works on original kit.
Bad news: I've now remembered one of the authors hobbies in life was disk protection. I've attached the ADDFS Image but I couldn't run it from it or copy the files to HDD. Advice welcome! I've not uploaded files before here so hoping this works.

Nosher (it's an ADDFS Floppy Image but needs extensions/file types to be sorted after download I think)

https://www.mediafire.com/file/qm38la6w ... osher/file

Few pictures so you can see the game...





ADDFS read log:

[wmd]

If it's protected, you need to make a JFD rip instead of an ADF rip. To do this, you need to make a recording file before you create a JFD file. It's easy to do, see instructions here:

https://forums.jaspp.org.uk/forum/viewt ... a984b46e61

See section "Creating your own recording file".

After creating the recording file, you can use it to then create the JFD rip, see "Imaging using an existing recording file" in link above, except instead of selecting the game name from the text field, you simply drag and drop your recording file onto the ""Drop here" icon in the "Recording file section".

[acorn_fan]

thanks for the instructions. it fails at step 6 "Insert the floppy and copy all files to a temporary folder on your harddisc or RAM"... the filer doesn't seem to be able to copy the files from the floppy drive to RAM/HDD. The disc light stays on but the copy dialogue box is frozen for several minutes and it needs a ctrl-reset to regain use of the machine. am i missing something?

[wmd]

It does the same on my machine when I try to drag and drop the ADF contents to a folder on my HDD - the computer just freezes. Not sure if sirbod (author of ADFFS) is watching this thread as it's an old thread. Send him a PM to get him to have a look into it.

[wmd]

In the interim, you could try this as an alternative to step 6 - open every folder on the original disk, including application folders and normal folders within the app folders. With all folders open, proceed to step 7. No guarantee that will work but worth a try.

[wmd]

Looking at the contents of the disc, and it looks like the disc catalogue has been modified to obfuscate the file size for the file !ArmCode found in the !Nosher application dir. In the filer window it reports as being 16MB, which is technically impossible as floppy discs can only contain 1.4MB. This is what is preventing the manual file copy, not sure if it has anything to do with any other protection mechanisms that may be on the disc.

[acorn_fan]

Iopen every folder on the original disk, including application folders and normal folders within the app folders...No guarantee that will work but worth a try.

Had a go... the resultant recording file is <2k so seems to have stopped very early in the process.

[wmd]

To make ADFFS "see" the files you need to copy them to another location. You can do that for all files except the !ArmCode file. I wonder if there is another way for ADFFS to "see" that file without copying it. Let's wait and see what sirbod says.

[sirbod]

thanks for the instructions. it fails at step 6 "Insert the floppy and copy all files to a temporary folder on your harddisc or RAM"

Skip step 6, just start the recording and then run the game - just make sure the disc hasn't been seen by RISC OS before you start the recording - to ensure it captures everything FileCore sees.

Provided the game loads everything from floppy (step 6 is a fail-safe for this), ADFFS will capture a recording of all the important sectors. Play a bit of a level - to ensure any protection checks are captured, and then close the recording file.

Hopefully that captures enough for you to create a working JFD image.

[acorn_fan]

Skip step 6, just start the recording and then run the game

thanks - but still no luck. the recording file remains <2k. Maybe in part because I don't seem to be able to close the recording file (SHIFT-CTRL-F10) - all the keys are locked and only reset exits. is there anything else I can try?

[sirbod]

still no luck. the recording file remains <2k. Maybe in part because I don't seem to be able to close the recording file (SHIFT-CTRL-F10) - all the keys are locked and only reset exits. is there anything else I can try?

If it’s >0 bytes, it did close as it’s only written to disk when closed.

Have you tried imaging the floppy using the recording file?

[philpem]

ADDFS read log:

If you're near Leeds, or willing to send the disk to me (I'll obviously return it!), I can image it with a Greaseweazle - disc protection won't matter as this reads at the level of the magnetic field on the disc. That'd give you a HFE file which should run in Arculator, should you so choose, or on a Gotek emulator. Either way it'll be preserved.

Otherwise if you're local to Manchester, I'll be at ABUG North at the end of the month and can probably meet you in the hotel lobby with a laptop and disk imaging gear.

And failing all that -- there might be someone local to you who can do the same and is easier to get to!


Also - there should be no need to use Mediafire or Putimg to send images and files - you should be able to attach them to your posts.

[acorn_fan]

send the disk to me

happy to do that - i'm drawing a blank here. tried recording again today and getting 0 byte file now. Pls can you PM me your address?

I suspect the copy protection will be the most impressive feature of this floppy! I also wonder if any one is up for trying to crack it?

Also - there should be no need to use Mediafire or Putimg to send images and files - you should be able to attach them to your posts.

Ta - i've never managed that for some reason... must be missing the icons but will pay more attention next time!

[sirbod]

I suspect the copy protection will be the most impressive feature of this floppy! I also wonder if any one is up for trying to crack it?

eMail the ADF to me, I might be able to create a recording file from what it did read.

[acorn_fan]

eMail the ADF to me, I might be able to create a recording file from what it did read.

... is that the same as the file I linked to above (quoted below)?

Nosher (it's an ADDFS Floppy Image but needs extensions/file types to be sorted after download I think)
https://www.mediafire.com/file/qm38la6w ... osher/file

[wmd]

We now have a HFE rip of this. It works perfectly in Arculator, although it seems to be very slow to load, possibly due to the disk protection. Is there a way to convert HFE to JFD? ADFFS won't create a JFD of the mounted HFE in Arculator.

[sirbod]

We now have a HFE rip of this. It works perfectly in Arculator, although it seems to be very slow to load, possibly due to the disk protection. Is there a way to convert HFE to JFD? ADFFS won't create a JFD of the mounted HFE in Arculator.

No, but if you email it to me I'll create the recording file and image it within Arculator. I'll also add it to the database and look at packaging it.

[wmd]

Email sent. BTW, I noticed that the JASPP website has been down now for at least a couple of days.

[sirbod]

Email sent. BTW, I noticed that the JASPP website has been down now for at least a couple of days.

Thanks, I've downloaded it if you want to remove it.

Regards the website, that's more likely to be either Internet backbone issues or a slow response from StopForumSpam where its checking your IP and/or eMail address.

Testing via 4G it loads in ms for me.

EDIT: Nosher imaged first time without any issues

[wmd]

I get this error using ADFFS 2.83:



Settings:

[sirbod]

I get this error using ADFFS 2.83

It's probably fixed in the 2.84 beta

[wmd]

Tried that version, and everything seemed to go OK. Was able to actually create the JFD, but when I try to open it I get the error: "FileCore does not understand this disc".

[sirbod]

Tried that version, and everything seemed to go OK. Was able to actually create the JFD, but when I try to open it I get the error: "FileCore does not understand this disc".

Did you image it from a clean boot, without mounting the HFE before starting the recording?

Here's how I imaged it:

1. Open Arculator
2. Run !ADFFS
3. F12
4. *ADFRecord hostfs::hostfs.$.recording
5. RETURN back to the desktop
6. Mount the HFE in Arculator
7. Open ADFS:0 Filer
8. Copy !1MbUsers to RAM: (I don't recall the exact name of this directory)
9. Run !Nosher
10. Play the game for a while
11. CTRL-SHIFT-F10 to close the recording file
12. Restart the machine, load !ADFFS, image using $.recording

I then ejected the HFE, restarted the machine, loaded !ADFFS, mounted the image and ran !Nosher to confirm it worked correctly.

[wmd]

I followed the steps exactly. I played the game and got to stage 2. When I pressed CTRL-SHIFT-F10 the game froze. I then did a hard reset, then continued with step 12. However, I get an error: "Unable to read file". I checked the file size of the recording file, and it is zero bytes. I'm using Arculator v2.2.

[sirbod]

I followed the steps exactly. I played the game and got to stage 2. When I pressed CTRL-SHIFT-F10 the game froze.

If you download the latest ADFFS 2.84 public beta I've added Nosher to the JFD imager.

I've also added a boot script (F1046301) with details on how to HD install it.

[wmd]

Thanks, seems to be working perfectly now.