16 Blitz, 16 Blitz Tronix, and 16 Blitz Tronix Plus

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Mikerochip
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16 Blitz, 16 Blitz Tronix, and 16 Blitz Tronix Plus

Post by Mikerochip » Wed Apr 29, 2020 11:56 pm

Hi all,

You just added my disks for Double Dragon, http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-st ... 29932.html
to the 16 Blitz Plus version of the game but it should be for the 16 Blitz Tronix version.
(Same with the two disk images)

Those white disks, that say 16 Blitz on them are from the 16 Blitz Tronix releases. (The 16 Blitz Plus disks actually say plus on the logo)

You have a number of just "16 Blitz" label games, I believe these should all be "16 Blitz Tronix"
http://www.atarimania.com/list_games_at ... 0_S_G.html

So, merge these into the http://www.atarimania.com/list_games_at ... 8_S_G.html list maybe?

An ebay link to the whole package I have: https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/k4QAAOSw ... -l1600.jpg
I don't have the box any more, but I still have the manual. I'll get around to scanning it this year hopefully!

Is there any chance, too, I could have a username and pw to the FTP site that has Read/Write access?
(Say, for my own folder, just mine)
Or, can you delete the Mikerochip folder contents, and I'll start uploading again.
I've cleaned many of my disks, got a handle on dumping the disks with a greaseweazle, changed to a new drive, and wrote some batch files with standard naming conventions etc.

If not, can you just delete the Mikerochip folder contents, and I'll upload these perfect/better dumps for you to host. (Along with the manuals I've scanned, and boxes too. Not that many of those yet, but getting there)

Included in all the disk dumps are .scp files, now with 5 revolutions (the standard number for archival purposes), the STX file from both Aufit, and, if it's working, from the HxC tools.
Then, the .hfe file, from the HxC tools, for use with a Gotek/HxC disk emulator.
If there's no copy protection, I included the .st file too.
A text file with a log of the dumping process, a log from Aufit of the protection on the disk.
Then finally, a picture of the disk from Aufit and from HxC tools too.
I've also tried to dump each disk at least twice.
If both dumps are ok, I've included the .stx file from both dumps. If not, I've cleaned the disk etc, and included just one .stx, .hfe, .st etc etc.
If you prefer, I can remove the non-working .scp files before I re-upload them, to make it easier for you guys.

I wonder, would it be useful to include an article or section on using the Greaseweazle or similar flux level dumping board, the Aufit software, and HxC, and maybe the HxC or Gotek emulator too, for use in a real Atari?
(And then, using the GW to write those .SCP files back to a real disk, for an exact duplicate of the original disk)

So, to give out information on a fully working cheap solution to making Atari disk backups etc, where you don't need 2 disk drives, and it's relatively quick and painless, and works fine on modern hardware.
(And you can use either Atari ST/Amiga disk drives or PC disk drives to create the images too)
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marakatti
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Re: 16 Blitz, 16 Blitz Tronix, and 16 Blitz Tronix Plus

Post by marakatti » Sun May 03, 2020 2:32 pm

Mikerochip wrote:
Wed Apr 29, 2020 11:56 pm
Hi all,

You just added my disks for Double Dragon, http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-st ... 29932.html
to the 16 Blitz Plus version of the game but it should be for the 16 Blitz Tronix version.
(Same with the two disk images)

Those white disks, that say 16 Blitz on them are from the 16 Blitz Tronix releases. (The 16 Blitz Plus disks actually say plus on the logo)
Hi and thanks, i've moved your dump and disk scans to the correct entry now. So thanks for clarifying things :) I'll try to remember this in the future.
One problem i need to deal in many cases is that when people send dumps or scans, there's not always precise detail of where the material belongs to. So when stuff for the one entry might come from 5 different people over 5 years it's a bit hit and miss sometimes ;) Sorry about that.

You have a number of just "16 Blitz" label games, I believe these should all be "16 Blitz Tronix"
http://www.atarimania.com/list_games_at ... 0_S_G.html

So, merge these into the http://www.atarimania.com/list_games_at ... 8_S_G.html list maybe?
Yes it's a bit confusing how many labels there are for 16 Blitz, just like US Gold's Kixx have the original series, Kixx XL and KlassiX series.

There actually are many games published by 16 Blitz, or 16 Blitz Mastertronic as the full label name was.
It's the label which belonged to Virgin Mastertronic back when they bought Mastertronic. It was established to sell original titles at a budget price of £4.99 each.
For example http://www.atarimania.com/st/boxes/hi_r ... itz_d7.jpg

An ebay link to the whole package I have: https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/k4QAAOSw ... -l1600.jpg
I don't have the box any more, but I still have the manual. I'll get around to scanning it this year hopefully!
That would be highly appreciated as your great help in general :)

Is there any chance, too, I could have a username and pw to the FTP site that has Read/Write access?
(Say, for my own folder, just mine)
Or, can you delete the Mikerochip folder contents, and I'll start uploading again.
I've cleaned many of my disks, got a handle on dumping the disks with a greaseweazle, changed to a new drive, and wrote some batch files with standard naming conventions etc.

If not, can you just delete the Mikerochip folder contents, and I'll upload these perfect/better dumps for you to host. (Along with the manuals I've scanned, and boxes too. Not that many of those yet, but getting there)
For the FTP i don't unfortunately have any access to create or modify user accounts. But i cleared it as you wished.

Included in all the disk dumps are .scp files, now with 5 revolutions (the standard number for archival purposes), the STX file from both Aufit, and, if it's working, from the HxC tools.
Then, the .hfe file, from the HxC tools, for use with a Gotek/HxC disk emulator.
If there's no copy protection, I included the .st file too.
A text file with a log of the dumping process, a log from Aufit of the protection on the disk.
Then finally, a picture of the disk from Aufit and from HxC tools too.
I've also tried to dump each disk at least twice.
If both dumps are ok, I've included the .stx file from both dumps. If not, I've cleaned the disk etc, and included just one .stx, .hfe, .st etc etc.
If you prefer, I can remove the non-working .scp files before I re-upload them, to make it easier for you guys.
It would indeed help a lot if you have time to check them in advance. It really saves many weeks of time when there are dozens of new dumps check out. So big thanks for that :)

I wonder, would it be useful to include an article or section on using the Greaseweazle or similar flux level dumping board, the Aufit software, and HxC, and maybe the HxC or Gotek emulator too, for use in a real Atari?
(And then, using the GW to write those .SCP files back to a real disk, for an exact duplicate of the original disk)

So, to give out information on a fully working cheap solution to making Atari disk backups etc, where you don't need 2 disk drives, and it's relatively quick and painless, and works fine on modern hardware.
(And you can use either Atari ST/Amiga disk drives or PC disk drives to create the images too)
Indeed if you have time to write such article it would be very helpful for a lot of people. We can either put it on the forum - or if it's ok for our website owner - create a new tab on the main ST page.
---
Marko
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Mikerochip
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Re: 16 Blitz, 16 Blitz Tronix, and 16 Blitz Tronix Plus

Post by Mikerochip » Thu Jun 11, 2020 10:22 pm

Hi:

OK, I've taken a break from this for a bit, but I started back again!
So,
I've now made a few folders on the FTP:
One for Magazine disk dumps, one for games/utils etc.

I've uploaded almost all the working SCP images I have. I have still to do the Atari PowerPack and Superpacks.

I've made a folder for scans, and then for software/tools/docs.

All the disks I've made disk images of, I've also scanned the front of.
I just need to get around to cropping them!!
~
I've uploaded my v1.06 Gotek setup guide.
It includes buying the Gotek, flashing, setup and software required for all the above.

I've more to add, but that's a start on the articles on a modern Atari ST :D
Can you use that as the basis for a web article/web page?
It should be reasonably detailed, with pictures, and links!
If not, let me know, and I'll add whatever you need.
(Is it ok as DOCx file? Would you prefer PDF? or just plain text?)

The extra bits I still need to do are:
Mounting the Gotek in the Atari,
Adding a trackball for image selection,
3d printing a mount for internal use or for the display/trackball/rotary encoder,
How to use PC software to copy across images to the Gotek,
How to manage a HxC disk list. (And what it is, and why use it)
What image formats each firmware supports.
(HxC firmware uses .hfe, v1,v2,v3 and .st, and flashfloppy is .st, .hfe v1, .hfe v3)

I'll upload the Greaseweazle stuff, and then write a little on that over the next week or so.

(In short, the guide will be: Bluepill device, plus dupont cables or pcb, how to flash, how to connect Atari ST/Amiga/PC disk drive, how to spot fake st32mf1, how to dump via command line, then how to use front end)

~

Each disk image, I've checked if the SCP file for any errors, and if any, deleted the .stx, .st, .hfe etc. And redumped. If I can't get a good image, I've not uploaded them.
Some disk sets I'm missing a disk. if so, I've uploaded a txt file noting this.

Once I have a good dump, I've added the Aufit .stx which always work. Then, created the HxC .stx. These often don't work, so, I've removed these after testing. (I can't remember if I tested them all, but I've tested most of them!)
I added the .st file too, if the disk had no copy protection, and tested it. And often removed it, since most copy protected games don't work.

Then, added the HxC hfe v3 file (v3 is required for protection) to use with a Gotek/HxC.

And then, pictures of the disk surface.
Is that something you'd be interested in adding to the list of files for each game?
Some of them are quite interesting looking!
But, you can easily see then, if dumps are good.
And, easily see if a disk is single or double sided.

I'll upload my batch files for HxC then, and Aufit, for creating all of these.
(And nConvert for converting bmp to png)

Aufit will work with Kryoflux heavy files: Track00.raw or Supercard Pro *.scp files,
and HxC will let you load anything: ST, STX, SCP, Kryoflux etc and then save in other formats.
The other HxC export formats are disk surface bitmap, stx, st (that we care about!)
So, I made a batch file to do each one of those too.
Just drop on the .scp file or track00.raw and it'll work away.

~
I was just wondering if my Freedom disk 1 would work with the french disk 2:
But, you're actually missing disk 2 from the archive here:
http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-st ... _9384.html

Since only disk 1 is there, the game loads, but remains unplayable.
You're also missing the copy protection chart, so you can't get to the screen asking for disk 2.
I have the one from my own budget release, but have yet to scan it.
(My scanner isn't here. Maybe a photo will do until then?)
I've my cover still, too. (Front is display, back is the manual, I think)
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Re: 16 Blitz, 16 Blitz Tronix, and 16 Blitz Tronix Plus

Post by marakatti » Mon Jun 22, 2020 7:36 am

Hi Mikerochip,

Huge thanks for your efforts! Keeps me busy for a while :)

My vacation starts next week so i'll take a look at everything next monday.

Once again, many, many thanks! You've done extraordinary job!

Marko
---
Marko
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Mikerochip
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Re: 16 Blitz, 16 Blitz Tronix, and 16 Blitz Tronix Plus

Post by Mikerochip » Sat Jul 04, 2020 10:19 am

No problem!

Any questions about whatever I uploaded, just ask/post here/email etc and I'll do my best.

Hopefully you find the tools/scripts useful. I certainly do!
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Mikerochip
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Re: 16 Blitz, 16 Blitz Tronix, and 16 Blitz Tronix Plus

Post by Mikerochip » Mon Aug 31, 2020 7:05 am

I've added a few more disk scans I've cleaned up.
I never noticed I had already uploaded some of them,
so, you're free to delete whatever you wish obviously!
I just wanted to get them in sync.
(Not sure if you want to use the slightly cleaned up disk images, since, while they look better at 1200dpi, there's not a huge difference, mostly, at 200dpi)

I added a slightly better disk dump of Heroes: Disk 2, Barbarian 2 (palace)
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Mikerochip
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Re: 16 Blitz, 16 Blitz Tronix, and 16 Blitz Tronix Plus

Post by Mikerochip » Mon Aug 31, 2020 9:26 pm

Also, http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-st ... 21603.html is missing one of the games from the games it contains list (Mig-29 Soviet Fighter is missing)
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Mikerochip
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Re: 16 Blitz, 16 Blitz Tronix, and 16 Blitz Tronix Plus

Post by Mikerochip » Fri Sep 11, 2020 6:42 pm

Also, some more info:

The game, "The Final Day" looks like it was published as a coverdisk on the MC Publications magazine "ST Fun" which seems to be quite hard to track down.

The Amiga has it's own Amiga Fun magazine, which also published The Final Day, and it's floppy disk label is extrememly similar to the ST one I uploaded to the FTP.

All of the ST FUN / Amiga Fun magazine coverdisks seem to be full games, or unreleased / previously unpublished full games, and all the disk labels I've seen have the message "Attention: This is no budget game" at the bottom, the same as "The Final Day".

I can only find a mention of "ST Fun" in two places: http://www.amigahistory.plus.com/amigafun.html which includes a tiny photo of the logo, and https://magazinesfromthepast.fandom.com/wiki/Amiga_Fun
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Mikerochip
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Re: 16 Blitz, 16 Blitz Tronix, and 16 Blitz Tronix Plus

Post by Mikerochip » Tue Sep 29, 2020 7:59 pm

Hi again!

I uploaded the disk scans for Strider - US Gold.
I also uploaded some disk scans from the Tenstar pack (I also cleaned up the images a bit, since they were awful)

You forgot to actually add the disk image for "The Final Day" :D
http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-st ... 10546.html

And the Indiana Jones disk from Movie Stars
http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-st ... 28399.html
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Re: 16 Blitz, 16 Blitz Tronix, and 16 Blitz Tronix Plus

Post by marakatti » Wed Sep 30, 2020 6:50 am

Thanks. Sorry for a slow progress of uploading. Unfortunately things go very slow atm.

Didn't actually forget to upload the scans you mentioned. They sure sit nicely on our server. But our update software started to behave strangely and had to stop scan uploads for the day. I informed our webmaster but haven't received an answer, or as it seems, a fix for the bug yet. Same happened to a few ST Action coverdisk scans which also appear missing at this point.
So another delay unfortunately until its solved :(

But i sure forgot to clean the news for the broken uploads 😆

Interesting bit of info for the Final day. That would explain why i haven't seen any ST box art for it.
---
Marko
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Re: 16 Blitz, 16 Blitz Tronix, and 16 Blitz Tronix Plus

Post by marakatti » Wed Sep 30, 2020 7:10 am

Ah i see you talked about the dump. One wrong check button was activated.

I still have tons of your dumps not uploaded. I always do things in batches when someone sends a huge amount of stuff to keep me busy. Goes faster this ways as there are a lot of conversion and renaming to be done. That alone takes several hours if the format is not the one our system uses. So i try to automate it as much as possible.

Dumps comes last as i need to run them in various environments to check compatibility with basic ST, STe, TT and in some cases Falcon. And the problematic ones for TOS 1.0 and 512k, in some cases even a specific language localization of TOS.
And also check for special features like amount of colours used, digisound or not, blitter support, STe specific support, hard disk installability.
So it requires much more work than just uploading a dump which actually only takes a 30 seconds or so 😁
30 minutes to one hour per dump is a pretty close estimation, depending it's compatibility.

But i've finally resorted your dumps to publisher directories. Once i finish the scans from you, i'll get on cataloging dumps. And of course do a smaller updates for other contributors and the database itself :)

Marko
---
Marko
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Mikerochip
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Re: 16 Blitz, 16 Blitz Tronix, and 16 Blitz Tronix Plus

Post by Mikerochip » Wed Sep 30, 2020 9:22 am

Morning Marko! :)

Interesting to read about the testing processes.

Here's the Amiga "The Final Day" http://hol.abime.net/4550/diskscan disk, btw. Looks extremely similar!
(Front cover of the magazine: http://hol.abime.net/4550/boxscan )

"Interesting" :P about the uploading the images! Hopefully that gets resolved!!

I've collected up almost all the covers of the magazine ST Action from various places, and uploaded them, just so you can have a look at them, if needed!

http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-st ... 25667.html :
Quattro fighters year is 1992, btw. https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/suEAAOSw ... -l1600.jpg
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Re: 16 Blitz, 16 Blitz Tronix, and 16 Blitz Tronix Plus

Post by Mikerochip » Tue Oct 06, 2020 10:55 am

Finally got around to start scanning some boxes!

I uploaded the Leaderboard birdie box, and some light cleaning up of it too.
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Re: 16 Blitz, 16 Blitz Tronix, and 16 Blitz Tronix Plus

Post by marakatti » Sat Oct 10, 2020 8:24 am

Thanks for your research and new scans. I've fixed things mentioned above :)

I also edited the publisher and distributor of The Final Day based on your research.
---
Marko
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Mikerochip
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Re: 16 Blitz, 16 Blitz Tronix, and 16 Blitz Tronix Plus

Post by Mikerochip » Thu Dec 03, 2020 3:23 pm

Hi again!

I've found pictures of two more 'ST Fun' magazine coverdisks. (Attached)

With 'The Final Day', that makes three found in total.

So, according to http://www.bambi-amiga.co.uk/amigahistory/amigafun.html, that means there's only one left to find.

ST Fun ran alongside Amiga Fun, from issue 6 of Amiga Fun, to issue 9, with issue 10 recombining all four magazines so Amiga History said.

You already have an entry for Secession http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-st ... 31527.html
but not PABLO and the GOLD of MONTEZUMA
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