| Author: | hyper active (registered user: 296 posts ) |
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| Date: | Wed, Nov 07th, 2012 @ 20:06 ( . ) |
Hello there. I was lucky enough to get my hands on a xemag game from Microprose, Decision in the Desert. The fat tracks do read properly on a 128d machine, however, if I make a copy with nib tools and load the game, it dies on my 128d machine but still works on my c64. I tried an experiment, I measured the size of tracks 35 and 36 from the original, and then measured the size of the backup copy written out by nib tools. Running NibRead on the master tracks 35 and 36 of the original was 6233 bytes and running NibRead on the copy was 6260 bytes. The drive motor on My 1541 seems to be permanently stuck on 299.60 rpm and won't go any faster until the drive has been switched on for a while. The slower the drive motor runs, the larger the tracks will get when you write them out. Using Fast Hackem, I ran their fat track writer on my c128d with built in 1571 drive. The drive seems to run slightly over 300rpm. It took 3 or 4 tries at it but in the end, the protection was able to pass when I loaded the game on both machines. I ran nibread on the backup copy again and this time each track was 6543 bytes long. Only 11 bytes difference, but still enough to pass on both machines. Moral of the story, If you want to write back a xemag game to play on real hardware, make sure your drive runs at just over 300rpm, then use fast hackem's fat track writer. You may have to repeat this procedure several times and then load your game to see if the protection passes. I tested my copy on 2 xemag games, ocean ranger and decision in the Desert, and it took several goes on my c64 with 1541 to get the fat track check to work. It doesn't pass every time, but it will if you keep trying, as I said earlier, it might take 2 or 3 attempts. |
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