got my hands on some rare cartridges

6502dude · Post by **6502dude** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 6:14 pm

I had quick look at circuit board from pics posted.

It appears to be a simple TTL to RS232 interface board that was not populated with a couple of chips.

I suspect the OEM folks just wrote their extra joystick support for pin out on DB9 connector, which just happened to have a couple of pins wired directly to the Vic-20 port.

So I think their programming just was adapted to an exisitng interface board that people were buying, in order to connect their C64 or Vic-20 to local BBS ssytems.

Mayhem · Post by **Mayhem** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 7:45 pm

carlsson wrote:Since the joystick interface mentions Commodore 64, it suggests it was a fairly late product. If OEM had been around by early 1982 with these games and hardware, maybe they would've been more successful and even got other 3rd party software houses -both cartridge and tape releases - to support a such interface.

Many OEM games are 83 I believe... and Amazing Maze for C64 supports 3 players, probably where this adapter comes in.

Cheers for the pics btw

ral-clan · Post by **ral-clan** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 8:31 pm

KilrPilr wrote:I did a quick look through my roms and didnt see it listed. I did remember there being a version on zimmers but didnt know if it was the actual cart game or not. Having a dump of brents cart would be great!

I'm pretty sure the SPACE-RIC-O-SHAY on Zimmers is a dump from my very own cartridge Ward Shrake did for me about five years ago. If not then I'll dump it again.

stonan · Post by **stonan** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 11:12 am

I had just a visit from Carlsson, "Close Encounters" and "Tank Wars" are now dumped on a disk. Some kind of copy protection was discovered but are probably easy to remove .
Carlsson took the disk home and will post the dump soon.

Mayhem · Post by **Mayhem** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 1:07 pm

Tank Wars got dumped from my cart last year, didn't realise that was still needed...?

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 2:30 pm

Just in case, to compare if they are identical.

I haven't yet uploaded the files, will do later or tomorrow.

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 3:10 pm

Ok, here are the files:

http://www.cbm.sfks.se/files/close-encounters.prg
http://www.cbm.sfks.se/files/tank-wars.prg

Tank Wars probably is identical to Mayhem's dump, I haven't compared them. Please note that both these games are copy protected, so currently you can NOT load them and run from RAM. I believe the Mega-Cart per default executes games as ROM so it should not be a problem. Also both games boot to NTSC position, but are possible to center screen. If someone wants to patch them futher, you're welcome.

Big thanks to Stonan to let me dump these, even if one already was known. I have not uploaded them to Zimmers, someone else can get the honors in particular if you have a number of other images to upload at the same time.

6502dude · Post by **6502dude** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 4:39 pm

carlsson wrote:Ok, here are the files:
Big thanks to Stonan to let me dump these, even if one already was known. I have not uploaded them to Zimmers, someone else can get the honors in particular if you have a number of other images to upload at the same time.

I agree.... many thanks to Stonan and to carlsson for dumping this image and making it available for for Denial members' enjoyment.

I have loaded it to multicart and it works 100% in NTSC mode.

I refer to this game as "shoot the crap out of everything that is coming at you"

I suggest choose level 1 to play this game .... game play is very quick.

WRT to uploading games to zimmers site for global availability, I believe credit should be to folks who dumped or donated images from their collections (rather than who was first to send image along to Bo).

For example:

Droids - Ral-Clan
Space-Ric-O-Shay - Ral-Clan
Squish'Em - Ral-Clan
Frogman - Mayhem
Keyquest - Mayhem
Close Encounters - Stonan/carlsson

Those which have modifed images for PAL/NTSC compatibility or bug fixes should receive similar credit.

eslapion · Post by **eslapion** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 5:46 pm

6502dude wrote:WRT to uploading games to zimmers site for global availability, I believe credit should be to folks who dumped or donated images from their collections (rather than who was first to send image along to Bo).

I recovered Basic V4 back in 1997 but I only got it fixed last year... I also recovered Mobile Attack and the correct NTSC version of Rally-X. Recently, I recovered Spiders of Mars from a cart I bought from Ral-Clan.

Let's make it clear, I want NO CREDIT whatsoever for it. If anyone ever gives me credit for it then I will ask that my name be removed.

Why? Its not about ego, its about the VIC and future generations. I did not create these games, I am just the lucky one who managed to lay his hands on these.

I tolerate that my name is mentioned with the instructions I recovered because these are actually files that I have created, such as the Programmer's Aid instructions. This one was a lot of work too.

My point of view: shame on anyone who turns digital archaeology into an ego trip.

davidv_ · Post by **davidv_** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 6:04 pm

eslapion wrote: My point of view: shame on anyone who turns digital archaeology into an ego trip.

While i agree with this, you need to give respect for people , like Arma, who spent unimaginable number of hours in dumping all these taps.

Some people will want that recognition. On my end, i dont really mind either way. Like you i want this stuff archived in a easy to navigate and comprehensive database on line, the rest is not important.

But i do want to see all the databases merged. Zimmers/Arma/GB20/Mayehm site/Yours/My stuff ...

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Tue Aug 07, 2007 12:30 am

Yes, Arma built a whole website of files and images which is quite much more than just dumping and uploading a few cartridges. I think it is very uncommon to denote on a FTP site who uploaded or supplied a file, in particular if it is grey zone to piracy. In the case of a very uncommon title, whoever owns the original may not want to make it public in more places than he or she chooses, and most definitely not in the mentioned grey zone that Zimmers, Arma's site and all the others clearly are.

Even the Multi and Mega cartridges will legally be in doubt, as filled with mostly pirated software. On a few other systems, I believe the multicarts are sold as empty, only with menu software loaded and then the consumer has to load the software sets you want. I'm not writing this trying to be a hypocrate, just as a reminder what we're working with. There still is a fine line between digital archeology and illegal copies, even if there are suggested amendments to the laws to open up for archiving obsolete software etc.

nbla000 · Post by **nbla000** » Tue Aug 07, 2007 4:11 am

carlsson wrote:Ok, here are the files:

http://www.cbm.sfks.se/files/close-encounters.prg
http://www.cbm.sfks.se/files/tank-wars.prg

Tank Wars probably is identical to Mayhem's dump, I haven't compared them.

Tank Wars it's identical to the Zimmer version, CRC32 verified.

davidv_ · Post by **davidv_** » Tue Aug 07, 2007 5:50 am

carlsson wrote: There still is a fine line between digital archeology and illegal copies, even if there are suggested amendments to the laws to open up for archiving obsolete software etc.

Sure, but i would go with the "if you are the copyright owner of this work ..."

Or like some rom sites i know : "This title is ESA protected and is N/A for download"

got my hands on some rare cartridges

Re: got my hands on some rare cartridges