Corrupted Vic 20 game (Not seen before)

fgasking · Post by **fgasking** » Thu Apr 03, 2008 2:01 am

Luigi wrote:Could you please put a link to the post you are referring to or quote it here?

Sure, here's the part copied...

Frank wrote:One for the tape experts... I have a old tape which has remains of a SEUCK game I was working on many years ago (Saved in SEUCK file format). It picks up the game (in SEUCK) halfway through the tape, but the tape finishes before all the blocks are loaded in. Hence its missing about 5-10 blocks. However, I am pretty sure I had a second copy at the *start* of the tape originally, but for some reason recorded over the start header with a 5/10 block type-in cheat for Delta. Would anyone be able to patch over the Delta cheat signals with the SEUCK game start header from half way through and produce a full file? Or is this maybe a step too far?

Luigi · Post by **Luigi** » Thu Apr 03, 2008 7:22 am

Frank wrote:One for the tape experts... I have a old tape which has remains of a SEUCK game I was working on many years ago (Saved in SEUCK file format). It picks up the game (in SEUCK) halfway through the tape, but the tape finishes before all the blocks are loaded in. Hence its missing about 5-10 blocks. However, I am pretty sure I had a second copy at the *start* of the tape originally, but for some reason recorded over the start header with a 5/10 block type-in cheat for Delta. Would anyone be able to patch over the Delta cheat signals with the SEUCK game start header from half way through and produce a full file? Or is this maybe a step too far?

Of course, that's an easy one actually: if all of the required parts are still there, I can restore the original file, taking bits from both copies, as required.

fgasking · Post by **fgasking** » Thu Apr 03, 2008 7:34 am

Here it is if you wanted to have a look: http://gtw64.retro-net.de/FRANK9.rar

The SEUCK filename is called "b****cks" unfortunately - I think I named it when I was an immature teenager

In the SEUCK editor, you will pick up the file around half way through the tape (55 on the counter I think), but the tape ends prematurely. I am fairly certain that after the Delta cheat at the beginning of the tape follows with the first copy of this SEUCK file (albeit, missing the header).

I haven't got a clue what the game itself is... i'm hoping its not just a single sprite change with the Outlaw preset game

Potentially it could be a long lost game I was making with a friend back in 1995.

Luigi · Post by **Luigi** » Thu Apr 03, 2008 1:50 pm

fgasking wrote:Here it is if you wanted to have a look: http://gtw64.retro-net.de/FRANK9.rar

The head of the c2n used to make the TAP file is not properly aligned to read this tape. I can rebuild the SEUK file but there will be 7 read errors.

General suggestion:
- when dumping a VIC20 or C64 tape, first check the c2n head alignment for that tape on a C64 using "Recorder Justage" (aka Head Tester) by H. Diebek;
- do more than one dump of your tapes. Hopefully random errors will show up in different sections so that it is possible to remaster a working copy.

You may send me this tape if you cannot do additional dumps as per the above suggestions. Include a note with the info on which side your game has been saved, please.

Cheers,

Luigi.

fgasking · Post by **fgasking** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 2:09 am

Hi Luigi,

I will try and give that a go, otherwise i'll pop the tape in the package when I send it along.

EDIT - I assume this will be ok to use if I dump it down my MMC64 ... http://noname.c64.org/csdb/release/?id=49944

Many thanks!

Frank

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 3:05 am

fgasking wrote:The SEUCK filename is called "b****cks"

Barracks, bedrocks, buttocks?

If you had named it ***b****cks, words like lumberjacks and rubbernecks also would've fitted.

Good luck with the restoration project. It reminds me I have a tape with a possibly unreleased game "Fruit Hunt" by Zyntax Software that I should try to preserve.

fgasking · Post by **fgasking** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 3:49 am

carlsson wrote:Good luck with the restoration project. It reminds me I have a tape with a possibly unreleased game "Fruit Hunt" by Zyntax Software that I should try to preserve.

Is that a Vic 20 game?

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 7:13 am

Yes, I believe once even released on cartridge. I have a few loose labels suitable for a cartridge shell but no complete cartridge, only a tape with the Basic (?) listing.

Luigi · Post by **Luigi** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 1:47 pm

fgasking wrote:EDIT - I assume this will be ok to use if I dump it down my MMC64 ... http://noname.c64.org/csdb/release/?id=49944

Yes, that's the version translated by Martin. It will do the job. Try to end up with thin bars and no scattering.

fgasking · Post by **fgasking** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 3:25 am

If I get this working ok on my 1531, would just reporting the TAP images in question be enough rather than sending the tapes through - or would you prefer it in particular on the tape with the Motherhen file?

(I don't mind sending - but wanted to check if this would be better for you)

Luigi · Post by **Luigi** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 6:04 am

fgasking wrote:If I get this working ok on my 1531, would just reporting the TAP images in question be enough rather than sending the tapes through - or would you prefer it in particular on the tape with the Motherhen file?

(I don't mind sending - but wanted to check if this would be better for you)

If you end up with good TAP images after doing some tuning of the datassette head that's enough for me to work with and I won't need the tapes.

fgasking · Post by **fgasking** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 1:11 pm

Sorted my 1531 - though not sure if you'll see many improvements. A conversion of a SEUCK tape still had loading errors. Not sure if its my cable.

I've done the tapes discussed, and also two other Vic 20 related tapes, incase there were any other games hidden on them aswell.
Here we go: http://gtw64.retro-net.de/mystuff/archive.zip

Here is a breakdown of the tapes:

Vic1-1.tap and Vic1-2.tap - Same side containing a Joy and Bleep set of programmes. Might be others on here too?

Vic2-1.tap and Vic2-2.tap - The Motherhen tape with possible adventure game on too. Two copies.

Vic3-1.tap and Vic3-2.tap - Skier and Strip games, might be more too?

Vic4-1.tap and Vic4-2.tap - Doesn't seem to be anything, but was the second side of the Skier/Strip tape.

Vic5-1.tap and Vic5-2.tap - Star Treck game, but might be others?

Seuck1.tap and Seuck2.tap - The game with the "b****cks" SEUCK file. Start of first file overwritten accidently by the Delta cheat file. Header for file exists at the mid point, but last 10-15 blocks are missing on the end. Can the start of the second copy be patched to the start of the tape to overwrite the Delta code?

Thanks Luigi, and if the tapes are still bad - let me know and i'll package some tapes up etc to post.

Luigi · Post by **Luigi** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 4:16 pm

fgasking wrote: Seuck1.tap and Seuck2.tap - The game with the "b****cks" SEUCK file. Start of first file overwritten accidently by the Delta cheat file. Header for file exists at the mid point, but last 10-15 blocks are missing on the end. Can the start of the second copy be patched to the start of the tape to overwrite the Delta code?

I already rebuilt the file using the old tap file you made available before, but there are 7 read errors (which I refer to as "joined pulses" or "light scattering"). The following image pictures 2 "joined pulses" (the ones out of the 2 main streams):

The new tap images of the game do not show any improvement in terms of head alignment:

An optimal head alignment with a screwer would make a signal look like this (thinner bands without scattering):

The optimal alignment may fix the problem with joined pulses.

I could myself argue that it is possible to reconstruct the data where those 7 joined pulses occur. Indeed I rebuilt tapes which were much worse.

On the other side I think it's worth trying to digitalize this file properly in the first instance. That's because the data encoding does not use redundancy/checkbyte information with which I could verify the data after reconstruction: The stream may be broken also where it appears to be fine if the digitalization is not done properly.

Did you manage to try and change the alignment at all or is this the best result you had with Recorder Justage/Head Tester after tuning the datassette, please?

Cheers,

Luigi.

fgasking · Post by **fgasking** » Sun Apr 06, 2008 10:36 am

Hi Luigi,

Unfortunately this was the best I could get with Recorder Justage after some careful alignment

I've tried cleaning the heads, and also tried a few more 1531's and the same signal patterns.

Cannot seem to get any good signals at all on any other tapes either.

If any of the tapes are still quite poor, let me know and I can mail them to you.

Sorry about that!

Luigi · Post by **Luigi** » Sun Apr 06, 2008 5:31 pm

fgasking wrote:If any of the tapes are still quite poor, let me know and I can mail them to you.

Sorry about that!

As far as I understand, you never managed to load the Motherhen game by yourself on a VIC20 from the tape. The tape itself contains different files and I am afraid the game was overwritten by the adventure game as Bo said, which is incomplete as well.
Fragments is all we have on the tape. Interesting maybe, but hopeless.