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Amstrad Action .dsk images

Started by CPC_Fan, 14:21, 04 October 15

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CPC_Fan

Hi all


Was just wondering if anyone knows of a site with downloadable .dsk images of the Amstrad Action cover tapes on itat all? Failing that, is it possible to somehow convert .cdt images of them into .dsk images? If so, how would I go about doing this? I only ask, as I don't have an external tape player that I can attach to my 6128 and therefore have no other way of doing it. Alternatively has anyone else already got copies of the AA tapes on disc and would be willing to either lend them to me so that I can copy them, or post .dsk images of them online so that I can download them myself?

pelrun

Converting them is almost trivial; most of them have a tape-to-disc option in the menu. You can just run the tape in an emulator and transfer straight to a dsk image :)

AMSDOS

As @pelrun mentioned, most of them could be transferred to Disk.


Some of the exceptions were:-


Defenders of Earth
Famous Five (Side B of that covertape which had City Slicker was transferrable to disk, though Famous Five was one of those games where if you ordered the Disk from Ablex, you'd get the Graphical version).
The Blues Brothers
Deleverance


which needed to be ordered through Ablex Audio Video.


At some point I thought AA did away with the Tape to Disk transfer.
I recall AA had Stormlord available for transferring to disc, but had forgot to include the Tape-to-Disk transfer program. Finally it made an appearance in AA101 type-ins. Elite similarly didn't have an transfer to disc program at all and like many people at the time I recall the loader tying to load the files from Disc, some people said that it didn't work, when they used JL-Copy to transfer the program to Disc, but for me it worked fine.


Then came:


Exolon
Cybernoid 2
Nebulus


Those 3 games used a Headerless Loader with a counter to display how long till the game would be loaded. There was no Tape-to-Disk program, so some knowledge of Headerless loaders to load the files, but these games were tricky to transfer to disk since a Second File (larger than 17Kb) had to be trimmed and saved to the Main file, just to have them working on disc.


Uridium was a straightforward JL-Copy (Tape 22 if your wondering), Zynaps was the same I think. I'm unsure if Ikari Warriors had a Transfer program, but I think Fantasy World Dizzy did, as did the following games (until AAs demise I think).


Only game I'm not sure about if it was Transferrable to Disk or not is Mystical (because I missed that issue!).
* Using the old Amstrad Languages :D   * with the Firmware :P
* I also like to problem solve code in BASIC :)   * And type-in Type-Ins! :D

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pelrun

And of course, almost every game on the covertapes have a normal disk version you could download from CPC-Power.

CPC_Fan

Thanks for the replies pelrun and AMSDOS. I wondered if you could just run the tape in an emulator and transfer straight to a dsk image. I did try and load a tape cdt image in winape earlier, but I couldn't get it to load it for some reason. Not sure what I am doing wrong? Have I got to type in |tape first or something like that?

EgoTrip

Yes you need to type |TAPE so the computer knows to load from tape, |DISC is set by default.

This wont likely apply to the covertape transfers but if you plan on transferring unprotected BASIC and BINARY programs from tape to disc, you can type |TAPE.IN and |DISC.OUT and it will load from tape and save to disc. (There are also |TAPE.OUT, |DISC.IN commands too)

CPC_Fan

Thought that might be the case, but wasn't sure. Thanks EgoTrip.

dodogildo

I have some dsk images of the AA cover tape transfers. I'll check tomorrow and try to upload them to the cloud. Cheers
M'enfin!

dodogildo

Here are some AA cover tapes in dsk images as promised  8)
Dropbox - AAcoverdsks.zip


Please let me know when you're done with it, I'll take it down later  :)
M'enfin!

Gryzor

Thanks for that, mate. Here are the contents of this:



Amstrad Action 1992 (UK) (1992).dsk
Amstrad Action 1993 (UK) (1993).dsk
Amstrad Action Christmas 1987 (UK) (Disk 1 of 2).dsk
Amstrad Action Christmas 1987 (UK) (Disk 2 of 2).dsk
Amstrad Action Cover Tape 69 (Spindizzy & Wizard's Lair & Toolkit v1.0).dsk
Amstrad Action Cover Tape 69 (Spindizzy & Wizard's Lair & Toolkit v1.0) [a1].dsk
Amstrad Action Cover Tape 70 (Switchblade Demo & MegaPhoenix Demo & Future Knight & Balldozer).dsk
Amstrad Action Cover Tape 70 (Switchblade Demo & MegaPhoenix Demo & Future Knight & Balldozer) [a1].dsk
Amstrad Action Cover Tape 71 (Hero Quest Demo & Technician Ted &3D Con Kit Demo & Hisosft Devpack).dsk
Amstrad Action Cover Tape 72 (Robozone Demo & Lightforce & Heavy on the Magick & Database) (Disk 1 of 2).dsk
Amstrad Action Cover Tape 72 (Robozone Demo & Lightforce & Heavy on the Magick & Database) (Disk 1 of 2) [a1].dsk
Amstrad Action Cover Tape 72 (Robozone Demo & Lightforce & Heavy on the Magick & Database) (Disk 2 of 2).dsk
Amstrad Action Cover Tape 73 (Sweevo's World & Drumkit & Smart 2 & Turtles Demo & Terror of the Deep).dsk
Amstrad Action Cover Tape 74 (Seymour Take 1 & Firelord & Pokes & Pools Predicter & Fonts).dsk
Amstrad Action Cover Tape 78 (Space Crusade Demo & Total Eclipse 2 & Shockway Rider & Discontent & Pokes).dsk
Amstrad Action Cover Tape 80 (Striker Demo & Croco Magneto & Anarchy & GPaint & Type-Ins & Pokes) (Disk 1 of 2).dsk
Amstrad Action Cover Tape 80 (Striker Demo & Croco Magneto & Anarchy & GPaint & Type-Ins & Pokes) (Disk 2 of 2).dsk
Amstrad Action Cover Tape 82 (Lemmings Demo & Type-Ins & Pokes & Dragontorc & Powerpage) (Disk 1 of 2).dsk
Amstrad Action Cover Tape 92 (Bootracker & Balloon Buster & Syntax).dsk
Amstrad Action Cover Tape 93 (Racing Boxform & The Balrog & Mystical).dsk


Does anyone else have any more? It'd be nice to have a complete collection...

CPC_Fan

Quote from: dodogildo on 21:52, 28 October 15
Here are some AA cover tapes in dsk images as promised  8)
Dropbox - AAcoverdsks.zip


Please let me know when you're done with it, I'll take it down later  :)

Thanks for uploading them for me dodogildo. Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to download them yet. If you could keep them up for a little while longer, I would really appreciate that. Hopefully I will get a chance to download them at the end of the week/weekend.

dodogildo

Quote from: CPC_Fan on 23:46, 10 November 15
Thanks for uploading them for me dodogildo. Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to download them yet. If you could keep them up for a little while longer, I would really appreciate that. Hopefully I will get a chance to download them at the end of the week/weekend.
No rush, mate, they're waiting on the cloud for you. :)

Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk

M'enfin!

Gryzor

Would you mind if I added these to the AA wiki page @dodogildo ?

dodogildo

Quote from: Gryzor on 08:26, 11 November 15
Would you mind if I added these to the AA wiki page @dodogildo ?
Sure, go ahead :)

Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk

M'enfin!

AMSDOS

Quote from: Gryzor on 17:01, 10 November 15
Amstrad Action Cover Tape 93 (Racing Boxform & The Balrog & Mystical).dsk


I originally missed this issue of AA, so decided to download just to play Mystical. Though when I came to play it, the Menu couldn't find Mystical and the computer Reset itself.


Fortunately I have the entire AA Covertape CDT collection and got lucky finding Mystical file on Block 27. The main loader takes 2 Blocks and then you get the Inforgrammes Logo (nice!) at Block 30. It then proceeds to load some Headerless Files!  ???  The main opening screen is complete at Block 31, it then loads another headerless file (Block 32)!  ??? ???  side A of the CDT is done. Turn over to Side B (it appears Mystical takes up the entire Side B of this Covertape!).  Block 33 is a short block, followed by Block 34 and then the 1st level appears. The 1st time I was playing it fine, though every-time it's game over a little Rewind Tape logo appears, I tried rewinding it back to the start of the CDT, it would do that and then nothing happened. It wouldn't load anything else, so don't know if it's looking for Block 34 to go back to the 1st Level or if it was looking for the main opening screen for the game. After I loaded it a second time & third I don't know what I did differently the 1st time, but on those occasions the game was in 2 player mode!


Quote
Does anyone else have any more? It'd be nice to have a complete collection...


Including Hacked Games from AA Covertape or all the Ablex Copies? That will require someone who took up all the Disk Offers willing to Digitalise them to DSK file.  :)
* Using the old Amstrad Languages :D   * with the Firmware :P
* I also like to problem solve code in BASIC :)   * And type-in Type-Ins! :D

Home Computing Weekly Programs
Popular Computing Weekly Programs
Your Computer Programs
Updated Other Program Links on Profile Page (Update April 16/15 phew!)
Programs for Turbo Pascal 3

Gryzor


Zoe Robinson

Just a quick spelling correction on that link: Amstrad Action - CPCWiki because I'm not sure the tapes were covert. ;)

Gryzor


Zoe Robinson


Gryzor


Zoe Robinson

Quote from: Gryzor on 13:19, 11 November 15
Shhh, Bryce will get in on the action!


Bryce is already in on the action. Bryce is everywhere, he lives in the dark spaces, between machine and code.

Gryzor

This is the point the dark glasses come down over your face, right?

Zoe Robinson


Gryzor

More or less, yes. Nice touch with the ice, makes it even cooler.

Zoe Robinson


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