Atarimania Forum

Hey All,
My first time here and I was looking to see if anyone has a copy or original of Alternate Reality: The City. I bought one from a guy off ebay that is supposed to work for both the Atari XL/XE and the C64, but when I try to use it I die in the first 20 seconds of play. Please let me know if you know anyone who could help point me in the right direction. I'm really glad I found this site!
Thank you,
Tom Keeler

PS - What emulator do I need to play the games that are on the dump list??

Hi Tom,

I bought one from a guy off ebay that is supposed to work for both the Atari XL/XE and the C64,

did you buy the original disks?

but when I try to use it I die in the first 20 seconds of play.

Because of the enemies or occurs there a program failure?

Please let me know if you know anyone who could help point me in the right direction. What emulator do I need to play the games that are on the dump list??

For Windows-PCs you should try Atari800Win PLus 4.0, which can be downloaded at

http://atariarea.histeria.pl/PLus/index_us.htm

Another way of playing the game is to use a real Atari 800/XL/XE with the SIO2PC interface which connects your Atari with a PC. This allows for loading of Atari 8-Bit files from your PC harddisk (to be more precise: the PC emulates an Atari disk-drive). A professionally made interface and respective software (APE) for Windows PCs can be purchased at

www.atarimax.com

Ok, costs some money - but believe me, it's worth it! I use it and I am really satisfied.

For Linux-Systems (and for Windows also) another interesting emulator is available at:

http://www.math.tu-berlin.de/~thor/atari++/

I was told this emulator has the SIO2PC software built-in, but I never tried this emulator.

Of course other emulators float around, but the above mentioned are the best that is currently available.

Hope this helps,

André

Hi André,
Thank you for all the information you have provided. To answer your questions:

1. I bought the original disks, all in the original box with the original documentation.
2. There is a program failure - the program boots correctly, but as soon as I insert Disk 2 Side 2 it shows that my character is Diseased, as soon as the game begins I die.

I think I'm going to go to ebay and buy a SIO2PC interface, that sounds like the best idea. I bought a 130XE so that I could play the old games on it, and if I have to use a modern computer to help, so be it.

You've been a huge help to me, thank you again!

Best regards,
Tom

Hi,

Tomass wrote: 1. I bought the original disks, all in the original box with the original documentation.
2. There is a program failure - the program boots correctly, but as soon as I insert Disk 2 Side 2 it shows that my character is Diseased, as soon as the game begins I die.

then you probably have a defective disk, since AR checks its copy protection during the loading sequence. If the protection is missing or in the case a loading error occurs the program assumes that the disk contains a pirated version of AR and then "kills" your character.

André