Okay, so the day has finally come to release v2 into to the wild. Apologies it's taken longer than originally anticipated! There are now 1001 unique games included.
Anyway, the key points of note are:
The primary uncrunched games are now in Magic Desk CRT format for even quicker loading. These also support the display of loading screens, which wasn't always possible with the original PRG format due to space limitations. The uncrunched PRGs are still included for use when Magic Desk cartridge support is not available on a specific platform or device.
Screenshots are now included for all the core games in the collection. Future work is planned to improve these by replacing with larger resolution files which capture the full C64 screen, including the borders which are used by some games. But for now, they are the traditional 320x200.
Original cartridge images are now included in Extras\OriginalCRTs (thanks to Mayhem for his assistance in putting this set together)
Other cartridge images of interest (e.g. multiload games converted to CRT format etc) are now included in Extras\OtherCRTs
Please see the Docs\history.txt and Docs\Readme.pdf files for more info.
A download link for the updated collection can be found in the description of the YouTube release video.
Thanks to everyone who has supported the project thus far, it is really appreciated. I fully understand this collection is not for everyone, as many people prefer scene releases with intros and trainers. But I am still confident that there are use cases where people will also enjoy this type of collection. Now I just need to start prepping for v3! Please do keep the game suggestions coming in.
Enjoy!
Re: OneLoad64 Games Collection v2 Now Released!
Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2021 5:40 pm
by Alkadian
StatMat wrote: ↑Mon Feb 22, 2021 4:47 pm
Okay, so the day has finally come to release v2 into to the wild. Apologies it's taken longer than originally anticipated! There are now 1001 unique games included.
Anyway, the key points of note are:
The primary uncrunched games are now in Magic Desk CRT format for even quicker loading. These also support the display of loading screens, which wasn't always possible with the original PRG format due to space limitations. The uncrunched PRGs are still included for use when Magic Desk cartridge support is not available on a specific platform or device.
Screenshots are now included for all the core games in the collection. Future work is planned to improve these by replacing with larger resolution files which capture the full C64 screen, including the borders which are used by some games. But for now, they are the traditional 320x200.
Original cartridge images are now included in Extras\OriginalCRTs (thanks to Mayhem for his assistance in putting this set together)
Other cartridge images of interest (e.g. multiload games converted to CRT format etc) are now included in Extras\OtherCRTs
Please see the Docs\history.txt and Docs\Readme.pdf files for more info.
A download link for the updated collection can be found in the description of the YouTube release video.
Thanks to everyone who has supported the project thus far, it is really appreciated. I fully understand this collection is not for everyone, as many people prefer scene releases with intros and trainers. But I am still confident that there are use cases where people will also enjoy this type of collection. Now I just need to start prepping for v3! Please do keep the game suggestions coming in.
Enjoy!
Awesome news, thanks!
Re: OneLoad64 Games Collection v2 Now Released!
Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2021 6:19 pm
by grizzly
StatMat wrote: ↑Mon Feb 22, 2021 4:47 pm
Okay, so the day has finally come to release v2 into to the wild.
Damn it!
That will be this week gone with nothing done
Re: OneLoad64 Games Collection v2 Now Released!
Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 1:56 am
by MiSTer_Kirk
It's a real shame the C64 doesn't seem to have a preservation project like the Atari 800, has. The Atari 800 preservation project, much like the Amiga CAPS, preserves original disks to the ATX format, and original cassettes to the CAS format, and not a single crack intro in sight. Not all work on the Mister, but most of the good games work great.
Anyway, thanks for the V2 release. One thing you miss with instant loading is the loading screen and music, especially those from Ocean, Imagine, etc...
Re: OneLoad64 Games Collection v2 Now Released!
Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 5:00 am
by rhester72
MiSTer_Kirk wrote: ↑Tue Feb 23, 2021 1:56 am
It's a real shame the C64 doesn't seem to have a preservation project like the Atari 800, has. The Atari 800 preservation project, much like the Amiga CAPS, preserves original disks to the ATX format, and original cassettes to the CAS format, and not a single crack intro in sight. Not all work on the Mister, but most of the good games work great.
Anyway, thanks for the V2 release. One thing you miss with instant loading is the loading screen and music, especially those from Ocean, Imagine, etc...
The shame is that MiSTer doesn't support g64 images, but maybe someday.
Re: OneLoad64 Games Collection v2 Now Released!
Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 7:19 am
by breiztiger
or ips files whould be better ... for all computers
Re: OneLoad64 Games Collection v2 Now Released!
Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 9:19 am
by StatMat
MiSTer_Kirk wrote: ↑Tue Feb 23, 2021 1:56 am
It's a real shame the C64 doesn't seem to have a preservation project like the Atari 800, has. The Atari 800 preservation project, much like the Amiga CAPS, preserves original disks to the ATX format, and original cassettes to the CAS format, and not a single crack intro in sight. Not all work on the Mister, but most of the good games work great.
Anyway, thanks for the V2 release. One thing you miss with instant loading is the loading screen and music, especially those from Ocean, Imagine, etc...
I do agree with you in general, although there are a number of groups actively trying to improve this, many of whom provided the dumps contained in the Originals folder of the collection. When working on this project, I've always wanted to keep the originals along with dumping notes in the collection so as to better preserve things.
In my opinion, the main reason the C64's preservationist stuff has suffered somewhat is because of the much more prevalent crack scene than the other 8-bits. The scene has been great at providing software to the community, but such large emphasis upon it has meant original media has been largely overlooked.
As for the loading screens, the Magic Desk CRT images in the collection preserve and display these before the game starts. In fact, I have added other loading screens for a lot of games where they didn't have one originally, by converting images from other platforms (i.e. Spectrum and Amstrad CPC), or by using later fan-made re-imaginings. So really, it's only the music that's not being retained yet. However, I have started work on a framework in the CRT format I've developed which should allow us to capture that too in the next release. Way of the Exploding Fist does already have the famous Bruce Lee sample when the loading screen is displayed. However, you need yo make sure you are using the C64 cores implementation of the older 6581 SID chip to hear it, just like the original.
Re: OneLoad64 Games Collection v2 Now Released!
Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 11:06 am
by limi
StatMat, this is stupendously great! Thank you for all your work on this. Fantastic effort by everyone involved, this is super polished already!
(And I sent you a message with some links for tools etc that might help for the upcoming versions — just wanted to let you know since forum private messages often go unnoticed, at least by me!)
As I said on IRC, this is such an impressive collection. Awesome work, dude!
Re: OneLoad64 Games Collection v2 Now Released!
Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2021 10:31 am
by Caldor
breiztiger wrote: ↑Tue Feb 23, 2021 7:19 am
or ips files whould be better ... for all computers
IPS? I know of G64, IPF and SCP. But I think emulators and such only support the G64 format when it comes to C64 floppies with copy protection? I have not heard of IPS before.
rhester72 wrote: ↑Tue Feb 23, 2021 5:00 am
as would, presumably, CAPS/SPS themselves:
I did mention that, at least bother to read my post.
You mentioned it as if it only focused on Amiga and not C64.
Re: OneLoad64 Games Collection v2 Now Released!
Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2021 10:44 am
by Caldor
Btw, if a game can be in one PRG file, then a simple way to "crack" the game would be using the save to disk feature that some cartridges have.
This example shows how a cartridge can be used to make a save state for a C64 game. Its on the Ultimate 1541 II+, but it should be quite similar on the C64 core on the MiSTer. I might make a video on how to do it with the MiSTer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lat9QPdHOtU&t=320s
So, idea is to load any C64 game, get past the point where it has crack intros and such, and then save the state of the game. The main issue here compared to the original version of the game is that it might then lack some intro screens. It can also be used for G64 games though.
I f.ex. have The Great Escape on its original floppy, then made a SCP file from it, and converted it to a G64 file. But you can load the game and once the game has started, you can make a save state. This way you practically cracked the game, but with no crack intro or anything. The downside here is that you will miss out on the intro screen I think. Pretty sure it had an intro screen.
Another downside to this though, is that it will probably end up making the PRG bigger than it has to be. It dumps the C64 RAM / state, and I do not think it cares whether the RAM is empty or not. So even a small game would end up being close to the max size PRG files can be. It should not matter much though as I think the MiSTer load PRGs directly into the RAM?
Not sure what method has been used so far... its probably even better than this I am guessing.
Re: OneLoad64 Games Collection v2 Now Released!
Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2021 11:57 am
by MiSTer_Kirk
You mentioned it as if it only focused on Amiga and not C64.
But I mentioned it, and that is all that matters. Fool.
Re: OneLoad64 Games Collection v2 Now Released!
Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2021 12:32 pm
by StatMat
Caldor wrote: ↑Thu Feb 25, 2021 10:44 am
Btw, if a game can be in one PRG file, then a simple way to "crack" the game would be using the save to disk feature that some cartridges have.
This example shows how a cartridge can be used to make a save state for a C64 game. Its on the Ultimate 1541 II+, but it should be quite similar on the C64 core on the MiSTer. I might make a video on how to do it with the MiSTer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lat9QPdHOtU&t=320s
So, idea is to load any C64 game, get past the point where it has crack intros and such, and then save the state of the game. The main issue here compared to the original version of the game is that it might then lack some intro screens. It can also be used for G64 games though.
I f.ex. have The Great Escape on its original floppy, then made a SCP file from it, and converted it to a G64 file. But you can load the game and once the game has started, you can make a save state. This way you practically cracked the game, but with no crack intro or anything. The downside here is that you will miss out on the intro screen I think. Pretty sure it had an intro screen.
Another downside to this though, is that it will probably end up making the PRG bigger than it has to be. It dumps the C64 RAM / state, and I do not think it cares whether the RAM is empty or not. So even a small game would end up being close to the max size PRG files can be. It should not matter much though as I think the MiSTer load PRGs directly into the RAM?
Not sure what method has been used so far... its probably even better than this I am guessing.
Indeed, that is what is called "freeze cracking" and of course is nice and simple, but the cracking part is somewhat of a misnomer as you suggested. This is the quick and dirty method of achieving what we're after, but has a couple of drawbacks:
1. It looks a bit crap as the screen displays varying amounts of garbage as the program is unfrozen.
2. As the frozen file is not started at the precise start address (i.e. it starts at the point at which the freeze button was pressed), things that rely on correct IO register state and such can be broken, leading to corrupt gfx or sound. This actually happened quite frequently with freeze carts, but can be subtle and therefore go unnoticed.
However, the games in OL64 use an actual cracking approach to allow for clean startup of the games. I load up an image of the original media (TAP, D64, G64 etc, which are included in the Originals folder of the project) in an emulator, and then use it's inbuilt machine code monitor to step through the loader and find the games starting address after it has completed loading into the emulated C64's memory. I then dump most of the emulated C64's RAM to a file (either $0334 or $0400 upwards, which ends up in the Dumps folder along with a metadata XML file which documents the dump specifics, which I then convert to the Magic Desk CRT format, as well as both uncrunched and crunched PRGs using a custom tool and boot code I've written, making the files bootable in an emulator, or with a device such as the Kung Fu Fash, BackBit, Ultimate-1541, SD2IEC, Tapecart etc on real hardware.
I should also point out that none of the games in OL64 are based on scene releases with their intros removed, as distributing games extracted from scene releases is quite rightly frowned upon. This is why I created the OneLoad64 Games Collection which only uses images of original media as the source, with a couple of exceptions where I've had to use an unattributed scene release for something that was never officially unreleased (e.g. Mario Bros from Atarisoft).
rhester72 wrote: ↑Tue Feb 23, 2021 5:00 am
as would, presumably, CAPS/SPS themselves:
I did mention that, at least bother to read my post.
I did, in which you expressed understanding that SPS supports Atari and Amiga, but you clearly didn't seem to realize they also support C64. C64PP/NIB grossly predates IPS and has preserved a VAST spectrum of the C64 library perfectly as well.
You mentioned it as if it only focused on Amiga and not C64.
But I mentioned it, and that is all that matters. Fool.
Guys, can we have a civilised discussion in this thread please. I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking that's not particularly useful or warranted here.
I never asked to be called a liar. I mentioned CAPS, that doesn't mean I meant anything else, or what it supported.
I did, in which you expressed understanding that SPS supports Atari and Amiga, but you clearly didn't seem to realize they also support C64. C64PP/NIB grossly predates IPS and has preserved a VAST spectrum of the C64 library perfectly as well.
I never said it had anything to do with the Atari, the Atari preservation is being done by Atariage, not CAPS. And for the rest of your crap, you could have politely stated that CAPS extends to other platforms, not try to make me out as a liar and that I never mentioned it.
Now I'm done with you.
Re: OneLoad64 Games Collection v2 Now Released!
Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2021 5:05 pm
by metalfacemark
Does anyone have an updated download link for this? The one in the video no longer works.
Re: OneLoad64 Games Collection v2 Now Released!
Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2021 6:17 pm
by StatMat
That's strange, seems to be working fine here. What happens when you try it?
Re: OneLoad64 Games Collection v2 Now Released!
Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2021 7:49 pm
by grizzly
Google drive have some kind of download limit for users/ip numbers.
Can´t remember exactly how or what it is though.
But from what i remember it was 15gig download and then it is "locked" for a while and if i remember right it was not 24 hours or something like that before 15gig could be downloaded again.
It was something around 2 to 3 days if i remember right.
rhester72 wrote: ↑Tue Feb 23, 2021 5:00 am
as would, presumably, CAPS/SPS themselves:
I did mention that, at least bother to read my post.
I did, in which you expressed understanding that SPS supports Atari and Amiga, but you clearly didn't seem to realize they also support C64. C64PP/NIB grossly predates IPS and has preserved a VAST spectrum of the C64 library perfectly as well.
Lets just ignore him. He does not exactly contribute with anything useful here. His original point was refuted and now he refuses to just accept that, which is strange. He wanted a there to be a projects that preserve C64 games, and was informed there are at least two of them already. Not sure why he then decides to act like this.
Edit: Apparently he thinks he was called a liar? Maybe English is not his first language? Sure seems to be a lot of misunderstandings going on here. He was told politely that CAPS is now called SPS and supports other platforms. It now supports C64, Atari, Amstrad and more. Not sure why the responding post was to have suggested he had not mentioned CAPS at all, just that CAPS actually does now preserve C64 and Atari now.
Caldor wrote: ↑Thu Feb 25, 2021 10:44 am
Btw, if a game can be in one PRG file, then a simple way to "crack" the game would be using the save to disk feature that some cartridges have.
This example shows how a cartridge can be used to make a save state for a C64 game. Its on the Ultimate 1541 II+, but it should be quite similar on the C64 core on the MiSTer. I might make a video on how to do it with the MiSTer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lat9QPdHOtU&t=320s
So, idea is to load any C64 game, get past the point where it has crack intros and such, and then save the state of the game. The main issue here compared to the original version of the game is that it might then lack some intro screens. It can also be used for G64 games though.
I f.ex. have The Great Escape on its original floppy, then made a SCP file from it, and converted it to a G64 file. But you can load the game and once the game has started, you can make a save state. This way you practically cracked the game, but with no crack intro or anything. The downside here is that you will miss out on the intro screen I think. Pretty sure it had an intro screen.
Another downside to this though, is that it will probably end up making the PRG bigger than it has to be. It dumps the C64 RAM / state, and I do not think it cares whether the RAM is empty or not. So even a small game would end up being close to the max size PRG files can be. It should not matter much though as I think the MiSTer load PRGs directly into the RAM?
Not sure what method has been used so far... its probably even better than this I am guessing.
Indeed, that is what is called "freeze cracking" and of course is nice and simple, but the cracking part is somewhat of a misnomer as you suggested. This is the quick and dirty method of achieving what we're after, but has a couple of drawbacks:
1. It looks a bit crap as the screen displays varying amounts of garbage as the program is unfrozen.
2. As the frozen file is not started at the precise start address (i.e. it starts at the point at which the freeze button was pressed), things that rely on correct IO register state and such can be broken, leading to corrupt gfx or sound. This actually happened quite frequently with freeze carts, but can be subtle and therefore go unnoticed.
However, the games in OL64 use an actual cracking approach to allow for clean startup of the games. I load up an image of the original media (TAP, D64, G64 etc, which are included in the Originals folder of the project) in an emulator, and then use it's inbuilt machine code monitor to step through the loader and find the games starting address after it has completed loading into the emulated C64's memory. I then dump most of the emulated C64's RAM to a file (either $0334 or $0400 upwards, which ends up in the Dumps folder along with a metadata XML file which documents the dump specifics, which I then convert to the Magic Desk CRT format, as well as both uncrunched and crunched PRGs using a custom tool and boot code I've written, making the files bootable in an emulator, or with a device such as the Kung Fu Fash, BackBit, Ultimate-1541, SD2IEC, Tapecart etc on real hardware.
I should also point out that none of the games in OL64 are based on scene releases with their intros removed, as distributing games extracted from scene releases is quite rightly frowned upon. This is why I created the OneLoad64 Games Collection which only uses images of original media as the source, with a couple of exceptions where I've had to use an unattributed scene release for something that was never officially unreleased (e.g. Mario Bros from Atarisoft).
Ahh, that is good to know.
I noticed the people in the CRT cracking group that did advanced C64 memory hacking stuff also mentioned using emulators like Vice to dig into the RAM and such. Because while the game might be copy protected and maybe even compressed, that is not the case when the game is read into the RAM. So I think they took the game from the RAM and remake the game from RAM dumps, but also to get around the disk swapping, they found the parts of the code that would wait for a disk to be swapped and where to look for the files and replaced it with the address for where they put the files on the cartridge... I think.
I look forward to try out this collection myself.
Re: OneLoad64 Games Collection v2 Now Released!
Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2021 8:32 pm
by StatMat
I've just uploaded a sneak peek of the new prototype Magic Desk CRT format for OL64 games, including simulated tape loader raster bars and music, with Wizball and the original Ocean Loader music as an example!
The CRT file can be downloaded from the description of the YT video:
Re: OneLoad64 Games Collection v2 Now Released!
Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2021 10:11 pm
by Alkadian
That's very cool! Thanks a lot for that!!
Just given a thumb up on your YT channell as well
Re: OneLoad64 Games Collection v2 Now Released!
Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2021 11:05 pm
by StatMat
Thanks and no problem! I know it's all a bit daft really, but it should make some old tape users chuckle anyway.
Re: OneLoad64 Games Collection v2 Now Released!
Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2021 11:52 pm
by Alkadian
StatMat wrote: ↑Fri Mar 12, 2021 11:05 pm
Thanks and no problem! I know it's all a bit daft really, but it should make some old tape users chuckle anyway.
