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Hello, I'm trying to copy a working copy of pinball dreams from 3"5 disk to a 3", it doesn't work with magic disk, nor discology 6.0. Am I missing something?

Not sure, if it fits at all, but you may try supercopy...

Steven 

you need to enable GAP size option with disco to keep the "short" GAP of that special format
and of course you cannot use the double sized version :)

Isn't there a 3" image that you can just do a direct copy from?

If you're worried about high scores saved, just take a photo of them and edit them in a hex editor on the new disc?

Did you try with Parados ROM ?

Is there no Amsdos/whatever DOS-independent mass storage version available for Pinball Dreams?

Quote from: Prodatron on 20:28, 05 December 23Is there no Amsdos/whatever DOS-independent mass storage version available for Pinball Dreams?

Yes, there is also a special version for M4 Board 😉

https://www.cpc-power.com/index.php?page=detail&onglet=dumps&num=16736

Thanks everyone for trying to help:
It's the dsk for two sides (it ask to switch B side after intro)

in disco: I select B: as source and A: as dest. (it does'nt work if B: is dest) Also I've tried with only A: as source and dest.

here's the actual settings, so Gap#3 is readed not calculated.

(https://i.ibb.co/Qp2bSwR/image-67129345.jpg) (https://ibb.co/sb0mxYG)
(https://i.ibb.co/Q6jdDTm/image-67153921.jpg) (https://ibb.co/rZfsdzy)

I haven't got parados rom on my cpc.
Still trying to figure why it's so difficult to do it...

For Parados rom, do you have any romboard (X-MEM, M4 Board, FlashGordon, ULIfAC, Megaflash, etc..) ?

This would really be the most practical solution for making copies from 3"1/2 to 3".

I've got a xmem, but never used it because I never need it. After reading the manual, I'm not sure how to plug the card on X4 mother, is it correct on the pic?
And after that how do you connect it on the CPC? I mean the red ribbon cable is on the right like the external floppy disc? or on your left when you are facing the CPC? sorry if I look dumb, but I really don't want to destroy my cpc nor the card.

(https://i.ibb.co/pxkVMbs/image-67204353.jpg) (https://ibb.co/g3cqfmX)

As far as I can see you have the CPC expansion backplane 1.0 with 3 slots.

https://github.com/revaldinho/cpc_ram_expansion/wiki/CPC-Expansion-Backplane
CPC_BACKPLANE_photo.jpg

Is that correct?

If so as in the picture you should plug the CPC cable in the other way, so that PIN1 is at the red indicator cable, and then turn the edge connector into your CPC with the PIN1 red cable pointing to the left.

So the components side of the module (X-MEM) is supposed to look at you when you place the backplane in front of your CPC and then plug in the cable and just connect it to the edge connector without twisting the cable.

Looking at your cable, I think it is actually reversed ... so compare it to the image above shows how you put on the IDC connector on the cable.
(It goes first from the crimp piece to the back and then returns through the strain relieve back to the front).
But I am not sure if your IDC connector has a strain relieve. Without a strain relieve you would actually connect the IDC connector directly in a way, the the cable would point to the front with the red line to the left. This cable is somehow odd.

So if you do not want to change the cable orientation, then you just lay it in front of your CPC and then plug in the cable into the edge connector the only way it will fit in, which would be in your case the red cable pointing to the right.

But again standard is to have the red cable indicating PIN1 and that would be on the left, both on the backplane as well as on the CPC edge connector (left if you look from the Keyboard side as if you would sit infront of your CPC).

deleted

Hi SerErris, thanks for trying to help.
It's the mother X4 card from tOTo, and I can't plug the ribbon cable as you said, ther's only one way to plug it to the X4 board, (https://i.ibb.co/FwzQrgQ/image-16850177.jpg) (https://ibb.co/7WK3f23)

Shouldn't that ribbon cable be connected to the pins on the other end of the board below the slots?

Quote from: Shaun M. Neary on 12:10, 12 December 23Shouldn't that ribbon cable be connected to the pins on the other end of the board below the slots?

NO! It even says right on the picture that that is the pass-through connector.

@jbaudrand, it's basically impossible to get this connected incorrectly unless you plug the entire MotherX4 in upside down. Ignore the red wire, as long as you plug in the board as shown into your expansion port, and put any boards into the X4 so they face towards you, it'll be correct.

It should be no problem. Just put it in the expansion port. there is literally only one way to fit it in. The marking for pin1 is on the wrong end, but that does not matter. You just need to remember that red = right. Then you cannot make any mistake :-)

Quote from: pelrun on 12:55, 12 December 23

Quote from: Shaun M. Neary on 12:10, 12 December 23Shouldn't that ribbon cable be connected to the pins on the other end of the board below the slots?

NO! It even says right on the picture that that is the pass-through connector.

Wow, that explains a lot. I had all sorts of problems with my MX4 that I couldn't figure out so it sat there gathering dust for years.

Turns out I'd been doing it wrong all that time!

You learn something new every day  ;)

I will try this week end. thanks for trying to help, but frankly I understand that coders try to have best disk performance, but it's a dying disk, I have received a malfunction disk of revenge of trasmoz: I just had to use magic disk to repair disk and restaure it from dsk.
using a parados rom just to copy a public domain disk in 2023, it's completly nonsense...

You could also use Kryoflux or Greaseweazle

i need to check the Xmem card on another cpc, there's only a screen with rectangular black border and a light brown color on the center of the screen.
Maybe @TotO  knows the error code of these colors?

What are you talking about? There is no Pinball version for 3" and that's the end of the story. You won't fit 800K on 180K. The author of the game did not provide for such an option because he thought that most of them play on an emulator anyway and a handful of die-hard Amstrad fans already have a 3.5" drive, and for a few people it doesn't It's worth making the 3" version.
There is no device or program that will copy it to 3". If you are a great coder, you would be able to make a version that loads data in installments and tells you to change disks. But if you ask such questions, it means you are not one.
Although there may be some early demo versions with one table and no music, small enough to fit on 3".

Quote from: ZbyniuR on 13:22, 18 December 23What are you talking about? There is no Pinball version for 3" and that's the end of the story. You won't fit 800K on 180K. The author of the game did not provide for such an option because he thought that most of them play on an emulator anyway and a handful of die-hard Amstrad fans already have a 3.5" drive, and for a few people it doesn't It's worth making the 3" version.
There is no device or program that will copy it to 3". If you are a great coder, you would be able to make a version that loads data in installments and tells you to change disks. But if you ask such questions, it means you are not one.
Although there may be some early demo versions with one table and no music, small enough to fit on 3".

Wrong.

Here you can find full official versions and complete of the game :

https://www.cpc-power.com/index.php?page=detail&onglet=dumps&num=16736

• 1 version 3" Pinball Dreams Preview
• 1 version 3" Pinball Dreams on 2 sides.
• 1 version 3"1/2 Pinball Dreams (double size).
• 1 version M4 Board.

The size of 3" and 3"1/2 of the game are exactly the same : 2x209 KB for 3" and 419 KB for 3"1/2

UPS. :-X

ZbyniusR: Please, when you don't know something, stay cool.

Poulette: Connais-tu quelqu'un qui répare les mauvaise connections de bord de carte en France? Je pense que mon port d'expansion est defectueux. (I ask Poulette if someone could fix bad board in France)

Non désolé... 

Il y a 20 ans en arrière, je t'aurais redirigé vers @Giants (qui officiait sur le site Phenix Informatique) et touchait pas mal au hardware, mais je n'ai pas ses coordonnées...
Tu peux poser la question sur le site CPCRulez, ça ne coûte rien.

Another solution as suggested by @SerErris : buy a greaseweazle.

With this, you can export 3" floppy disks directly to the PC, or write images directly to the 3" drive from the PC.

Some photos of mine :

(https://cpcrulez.fr/im4/2/poulette73-img12810.jpg)

(https://cpcrulez.fr/im4/2/poulette73-img12910.jpg)

(https://cpcrulez.fr/im4/2/poulette73-img13010.jpg)

And the link to the CPCRulez forum where I created several 3" floppy disks from the DSK images : https://cpcrulez.fr/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=6829&start=45#p58709

With this solution, you can copy both sides of Pinball Dreams directly onto 3" in less than 2 minutes.  ;)

I must admit I haven't looked at greasewezel along time ago, it's very cheap now. If it's my amstrad board that is faulty it will probably my next step.

thanks for your link. I have to wait christmas to test the XMEM on CPC's wife (at her mother's house), until that: 
Merry Christmas

Your Wife has an CPC?  :o

I am jealous

Quote from: poulette73 on 21:08, 18 December 23Another solution as suggested by @SerErris : buy a greaseweazle.

With this, you can export 3" floppy disks directly to the PC, or write images directly to the 3" drive from the PC.

Regarding the cable to connect the 3" cable. Do you have any details on how this cable has to be created? 

Or is it just the cable we find in the inside of the FD1 drive?

Just asking as your cable has the twisted version, vs. actually for CPC a straight cable would do with and using --drive=0. 

It is a cable modified especially for communication with the PC.
This is explained a few posts further down in my link:

https://cpcrulez.fr/hardware_montage_drive-nappe_lecteur_3_sur_PC_par_JMD.htm

Nothing complicated but the implementation is not easy...

The best thing is to do like me, and buy a ready-made version, which also includes the special "inverted" power supply for drive 3" :

https://www.ebay.fr/itm/234651177028

Ok I finally managed to make X-mem working. I'm clueless about the next step, how it can help me to make a working copy from a working 3"1/2 disk? the manual doesn't explain how to launch PARADOS, and moreover how PARADOS will help me to copy 3"1/2 to 3"?
I will try to launch discology and take benefit of extra ram, maybe it won't break the copy by doing it in a single pass?

It must be very easy for you, but I'm a complete newbie when it comes to make anything else than play on CPC.
thanks for your patience.

Yes my wife got a CPC. it's her CPC, not mine. :)

To use PARADOS, start it with command |DRIVE

Here you can find some documentations about PARADOS : http://quasar.cpcscene.net/doku.php?id=dossier:roms#la_rom_de_substitution_parados

To summarize, PARADOS uses 3 types of menus (and functions) :

• MAIN Menu (without SHIFT or CONTROL key) to : use Attributes/Copy/Erase/Filespec/Move/Rename/Tag/un-Tag

(https://cpcrulez.fr/im4/7/poulette73-par1.jpg)

• SHIFT Menu (use it when SHIFT pressed) to : Backup/Configure/Format/Log/Sort/Un-Log/Verify)

(https://cpcrulez.fr/im4/7/poulette73-par2.jpg)

• CONTROL Menu (use it when CONTROL pressed) to : Attributes/Copy/Erase/Filespec/Move/Rename/Tag/un-Tag

(https://cpcrulez.fr/im4/7/poulette73-par3.jpg)

So, to copy from B to A :
Select LOG DRIVE (SHIFT + L) as B.
Select COPY (in standard menu, without SHIFT and CONTROL).
Select DESTINATION as A.

If necessary, you can specify the media type on drive B before copy (number of tracks, single or double sided) with SHIFT + Configure.

It's very effective, and very fast ! :)

One last solution when you have cleaned or corrected your Edge extension port, with the fantastic USIfAC II interface from @ikonsgr !

Especially since it is only available at 11€ for the month of December, you have to hurry!!  8)


With the RSX |DSK : it allows you to make instant copies from a DSK image to drive A, drive B, or the Gotek drive, without any parameters !

The RSX itself detects whether the DSK image is a 40-track or 80-track mode image (single-sided or double-sided) !

All you have to do is download the DSK image of your choice and copy it to the USB key.


Example here, where I did the opposite operation to you : I recreated the version of the game "Orion Prime" on a real 3"1/2 floppy disk with my external 3"1/2 drive, from the DSK image specially designed for 3"1/2.

The copy only took a few seconds :
(Beforehand I had set the switch of my external 3"1/2 drive as drive A)

(https://cpcrulez.fr/im4/2/poulette73-2022-010.jpg)

And the game works perfectly on my new 3" 1/2 floppy disk :

(https://cpcrulez.fr/im4/2/poulette73-img06810.jpg)


So in your case:
Simply copy the two 3" DSK images of the "Pinball Dreams" game onto the USIfAC II USB key.
Then use the RSX |DSK.

Sorry to be totally newbie:
(https://i.ibb.co/QcW90fT/image-50388225.jpg) (https://ibb.co/vBN19HT)

I don't have a X-MEM so I can't help you anymore, sorry...

Are you sure you have loaded PARADOS rom into X-MEM ? You should see the PARADOS Copyright on boot.
Can you try standard OS Firmware instead of Firmware 3.15 ?

Maybe ask to @TotO if he can help you with X-MEM.  ;)

Ok, 

I need a .dsk containing parados .rom to put it on 3"1/2 via XPCPC. I only found zip containing .rom

 where can I find a ready to use .DSK?

Quote from: jbaudrand on 22:37, 27 December 23Ok,

I need a .dsk containing parados .rom to put it on 3"1/2 via XPCPC. I only found zip containing .rom

 where can I find a ready to use .DSK?

like this ?

Thanks to @SkulleateR.

Note you can create your own DSK with the wonderfull ManageDSK utility : https://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/ManageDsk

With ManageDSK it's possible to :
- open an existing DSK.
- create a new formatted DSK image.
- add/remove/rename/delete files with import or export button.
- view files as hexa/ascii/amsdos format
- etc.

wow, thanks for dsk, I've never heard of that tool. Ok, I'll try to upload rom, and try to finally copy this game.

Quote from: jbaudrand on 21:13, 28 December 23wow, thanks for dsk, I've never heard of that tool. Ok, I'll try to upload rom, and try to finally copy this game.

I used this one btw ;) 

http://www.cpcmania.com/cpcdiskxp/cpcdiskxp.htm

You're trying to copy the 3.5" version of Pinball Dreams onto 3" disk? That's not going to work, surely. You need to download the version that's specifically made for a 3" drive and copy that, and forget about doing a disk to disk copy of the wrong version.

Have I misunderstood?

Yes, there's a two sided A/B 3" .dsk available on cpc power. but it's a non standard format discology can't copy it.
I was unable to upload parados on x-mem via the dsk, ther's a pb with header in the provided dsk. so I've switched to FutureOS, very nice OS. unfortunately the format used by batman required a greazeweasel to be written on real 3". so I bough it, hope I will succeed I'm planning to offer the disks to my bros for his birthday next month (he got a vanilla 6128+)
I'm reading poulette73 stories, and the manual carrefully I don't want to destroy something.
Cheers and thanks for support.