Getting Worms to a real Amiga

[vjaz]

I want to get the original Worms running on my Amiga 500. The problem is that the copy here is in IPF format, which isn't supported by any existing Amiga software, only emulators. I understand that the IPF format is used because it's a more exact copy of the original diskette making the copy protection scheme think that the diskette is in fact original. I could make and ADF image using an emulator on a PC, but that way the extra data that IPF stores would be lost. Has anyone tried this, or knows some proper way to get an IPF file copied exactly on a real Amiga diskette? I'm guessing WormShell might help with the copy protection, but that requires KickStart 2.0+, and I only have 1.3 on my Amiga, so it's not a realistic option.

[Squirminator2k]

Hi vjaz.

I think your best bet would be the English Amiga Board, as they know more about this sort of thing than us.

[xpresschok]

I want to get the original Worms running on my Amiga 500. The problem is that the copy here is in IPF format, which isn't supported by any existing Amiga software, only emulators. I understand that the IPF format is used because it's a more exact copy of the original diskette making the copy protection scheme think that the diskette is in fact original. I could make and ADF image using an emulator on a PC, but that way the extra data that IPF stores would be lost. Has anyone tried this, or knows some proper way to get an IPF file copied exactly on a real Amiga diskette? I'm guessing WormShell might help with the copy protection, but that requires KickStart 2.0+, and I only have 1.3 on my Amiga, so it's not a realistic option.

Having had some contact with the people behind the IPF format, I have been told that it is not currently possible to get the disk images back onto real Amiga disks. I would take their word for it. They are working on a solution, though I wouldn't know how long it'll take.

Your best bet would probably be to, in the emulator environment, use DCopy (or XCopy, if available), mount an empty ADF on DF1 and the IPF on DF0, and use a nibblecopy routine. I don't really believe it'll work, though.

Anyway, there'd be no way you could write an actual Amiga disk in your PC without the Catweasel (advanced disk controller) card. There may be other easier-to-handle equipment under development, but for now that's it. If you had a harddisk in your Amiga with OS 2.0+, things might be different as you'd be able to zip-split the ADF file to PC disks and unsplit to your harddisk, then transfer to disk with ADFBlitzer or adf2disk or some such tool.

I'm afraid that wasn't very helpful, but that's pretty much where things stand now, and we'll have to wait for new hardware to come along before we can make full use of IPF files.

[K^2]

It seems like it would be easier to emulate a floppy drive on Amiga which will use the IPF file.

[xpresschok]

It seems like it would be easier to emulate a floppy drive on Amiga which will use the IPF file.

Yes, but that would require a rather more powerful machine than what the thread starter seems to have. Even a regular A1200HD wouldn't cut it, and you'd still need XCopy to make an actual disk before you could boot the game.

In the case of Worms:TDC, though (assuming that's the one he was talking about), I think they were really standard AmigaDOS disks and therefore might be copyable with the method I outlined above (IPF to ADF via WinUAE running DCopy). Though my memory may fail me.

[Squirminator2k]

and you'd still need XCopy to make an actual disk before you could boot the game.

Surely not if you're going to install the game on the Hard Drive (which makes more sense, really).

[xpresschok]

and you'd still need XCopy to make an actual disk before you could boot the game.

Surely not if you're going to install the game on the Hard Drive (which makes more sense, really).

Well, there are (AFAIK) many technical intricacies concerning installation of non-AmigaDOS disks on HD.
Worms TDC was delivered on regular AmigaDOS disks IIRC, and thus also had it's own installer. But earlier versions (also IIRC, which is not guaranteed) used their own filesystems with various copy protection mechanisms beside the regular manual protection ("input word x on page y"-like). An ADF wouldn't be able to hold the extra timing information required to make such a disk readable again, and an IPF can't be read directly by the thirdparty loaders that must be used to install non-AmigaDOS-filesystem-based games onto HD.

If there were an emulated IPF drive for Amiga (it would surely require OS 2.0 or higher), yes it could probably be used as a reader device for one of those installer tools (that work by dumping the raw bits to file and using a loader to initialize the games' own filesystem routines to read the file correctly). But as I said, all of this would require something along the lines of an A4000 at a minimum (all required tools require OS 2.0+ and quite a few of them wouldn't cut it on a regular 68000 CPU with no extra RAM). I understand the guy asking this has something along the lines of an A500 with no HD, and in that case he can probably just forget about it and be better off running WinUAE on a modern PC. Sad but true.

[Squirminator2k]

WormsDC was Team17's first title since 1994 to not feature their black-print-on-black-paper copy protection system. In fact the game had none to speak of. The disks were easily copied.

[Pooka]

The black-on-black copy system was pretty easy to copy anyway, with a photocopier even.