TAP files for DivIDE/DivMMC

[cmal]

I gave a spin at Nuggetreggae's Split Personalities file, the game is still one of my personal all-time favorites, but I was dismayed, when I reached the last level - the one with Marilyn Monroe - to see that it hanged up just at the start of it

I'll try @bob_fossil 's TAP file and see if it is affected by the same issue.

Edit: Bob's TAP file works, I reached the last level!

Edit 2: The game can be completed

Split Personalities also ranks up there with my all-time favorites. It's an excellent spin on the puzzle slider type game.

Thanks for testing the full gameplay [mention]Alessandro[/mention] , good to know which one plays through to the end.

[Bubu]

[mention]Alessandro[/mention], thank you for your work, I'd like to ask you: these TAP files begin just at de real beginning of the game? I mean, some Z80 files start 2 or 3 seconds after the beginning of the game.

[Alessandro]

Hi [mention]Bubu[/mention], all of the games start when they should. If I remember correctly, a short pause has been put sometimes when I had to restore the registers in order to circumvent some protection. Or maybe it is due to the way Transpack 2 re-records game data at normal speed.

[Alessandro]

A new TAP file has been added: Thrust II.

[patters]

I have several suggestions of games I can't find working TAP files for :
Flunky
Ghost 'n' Goblins
Repton
Space Harrier
Tai Pan 128K

[Daveysloan]

Absolutely fantastic work. Thank you.

[Alessandro]

[mention]Daveysloan[/mention] : You are welcome

[mention]patters[/mention] :

• The TAP file of Flunky from the archive works.
• Repton was never among my favorites, in fact I find it pretty dire but it is recorded as Speedlock 7 so I will try to convert it to the ROM loader with Transpack 2.
• Tai-Pan was too much of a chore to convert into a TAP file. Personally, I stuck with the Z80 snapshot from the archive.
• I have a working TAP file of Space Harrier. To be honest I do not remember where I found it, so I shall include it with the next update.
• As for Ghosts 'n Goblins... well it is a denied title so I am not going to host it, sorry.

[Alessandro]

Update: 08.01.2022

New titles available:

• Repton
• Repton II
• Space Harrier
• Tai-Pan 128K (packed and trained version by MATASOFT'93 supplied by Bob Fossil)

[patters]

Wow fantastic work @Alessandro.

I see now that the regular Flunky TAP file is fine. I hadn't played the game back in the day, so I had recently been bewildered by that unconventional control selection screen and had thought the TAP file was broken!

The Repton games were BBC Micro staple titles which I had played a lot at school, but I was surprised to only recently discover that they had Spectrum ports. There were some others too: Dogfight, and I only recently discovered that the BBC game I knew as Starstriker was in fact an unlicensed port of Moon Cresta, also on Speccy.

Btw, isn't there a case to be made for uploading all of these to ZXDB? I mean most TAP files of turbo loader games that are already in ZXDB are hacks, so your releases are filling in some gaps, and are an important preservation effort for playing on real hardware with DIVMMC.

I have searched high and low for workable TAP files for the four Super Hang-On courses, but all I have are Z80 images. I thought I had already asked about this game in here, but apparently not.

[Alessandro]

Super Hang-On is also a denied title. I made working TAP files for all four courses with LERM COMB, but I do not wish to distribute them, sorry.

However, if you need advice on how to make your TAP image yourself with such utility, I can help you

[toot_toot]

Super Hang-On is also a denied title. I made working TAP files for all four courses with LERM COMB, but I do not wish to distribute them, sorry.

However, if you need advice on how to make your TAP image yourself with such utility, I can help you

It’s probably not the right thread, but are “we” absolutely certain Activision have denied access to “Roms”. I’m certain the “denied access” comes from Martin at WOS getting in touch with publishers years ago to see if WOS could host files and while some publishers (Codemasters, Ultimate) did reply denying access, Activision never responded meaning a decision was made to deny any Activision or Electric Dreams games from being hosted. It wasn’t that they didn’t say no, it was just that they didn’t reply (which is understandable as Activision post 90s is almost a different company from the 80s when they went bust).

If you search on Google for Activision denied roms, the only sites that come up are WOS and other Spectrum related sites. There’s plenty of non-Specgrum sites that host Activision games, AFAIK it’s only WOS derived sites that don’t host Activision games, and I think that all comes from Activision not replying to Martin’s email 15-20 years ago!

[MarkRJones1970]

I downloaded this zip ages ago, thanks. I just downloaded the newest version but it has less files in it than my old one. How come?

[Alessandro]

[mention]toot_toot[/mention] : I don't know the details of the Activision question, and I know that technically speaking denied files are not ROM images but software. But being in doubt, since those titles are not hosted on the SC archive, I decided not to include them, and to remove any denied title that was present earlier (hence the ZIP file being smaller). On my list of +2A/+3 fixed games, I did the same from the beginning.

[patters]

I've finally discovered a TAP for Ghosts 'n' Goblins inside a TOSEC set from 2020, so Super Hang-On is now the only title on my SD card that I can't find a TAP for.
[mention]Alessandro[/mention], if you're able to make a quick tutorial on how we go about extracting these turbo loaders ourselves with LERM that would be very useful

[zup]

Erm... time to shameless self promotion: if the game does not load levels, use snap2transfer. It's easy, fast, at the low price of some screen corruption.

How to use:
- Load the game using your favourite emulator.
- When loaded, make a sna snapshot.
- Use any suitable utility to convert it to tap (sna2transtape, sna2phoenix and sna2zx7 differs in the type of interface they "emulate" and if the output is compressed or not).

This programs will convert 48k and 128k snapshots, so if you have a 48k multi-load game that load completely in 128k mode (i.e.: Chase H.Q.) you can make a working tap (Note that if your game is heavily protected but the levels are standard loading, you can make a snapshot of the "main" game and join it with a levels only tape).

[goodboy]

in the emul (which can save memory block to bin) set BreakPoint at 24850
and save block 24850,31850 after loading game
now create simple basic loader and randomize usr 24850 to start game

[patters]

Thanks. It would be good to grab the loading screen too - Super Hang-On has a nice one.

[goodboy]

Update: 08.01.2022
[*]Tai-Pan 128K (packed and trained version by MATASOFT'93 supplied by Bob Fossil)[/list]

TaiPan uses its own procedures to save/load game state and will not work on esxdos

[patters]

The TAP file I found for Ghosts 'n' Goblins doesn't work on a real DIVMMC.

[bob_fossil]

Update: 08.01.2022
[*]Tai-Pan 128K (packed and trained version by MATASOFT'93 supplied by Bob Fossil)[/list]

TaiPan uses its own procedures to save/load game state and will not work on esxdos

True, however the divMMC can save and load snapshots so you could use that as a workaround.

[goodboy]

why ask games (without levels) in TAP format if esxdos support SnapShot ???

[Alessandro]

The problem with snapshots, especially with the SNA and Z80 formats supported by ESXDOS, is that they reflect the architecture of the machine they have been recorded from. Therefore, they are not guaranteed to work on every system they are loaded on, due to the differences between the various Spectrums (and clones thereof). They should be avoided at all costs, unless you record them yourself for your own system.

TAP files, on the other hand, do not have this disadvantage, and unless in case of original incompatibilities, like those affecting the +2A/+3 for instance, can be succesfully employed on a variety of models.

[goodboy]

Therefore, they are not guaranteed to work on every system they are loaded on, due to the differences between the various Spectrums (and clones thereof)

show a specific example
(the option of loading sna128 on the 48 model is not naturally considered)
and i just know sna48k is a bad format - the PC value is stored on the stack
(stack may well be in the data and then they will corrupted)

[Alessandro]

Too many examples. Different timings, different architectures of ULA and RAM in 128/+2A/Pentagon and so on, Ultimate titles not working on other than a 48K unless an OUT 32765,48 command is issued before loading due to differences in memory paging etc. Too much of a fuss, believe me. TAP files are "agnostic", since they just store the program data. This thread is called "TAP files for DivIDE/DivMMC" for a reason

[goodboy]

the program designed only for pentagon you will not run on a firm machine in any format.
for example https://files.zxdemo.org/files/Eyeache.zip