cosell@cosell.bbn.com (Bernie Cosell) (12/08/87)
I'm not sure quite where to ask about this (can one ask the MarauderII folks directly?): what I'm trying to do is get MarbleMadness to run out of RAM:. I have an A2000 with piles of memory, and I _know_ I've seen MM run off of a hard disk, so I think it _ought_ to be possible. In addition to an honest-to-god store-bought, registered copy of MM, I also have MarauderII (again, h-t-g, s-b). MII _did_ back up MM with no problem, so it runs fine off a spare floppy (in fact, I'm not even sure right now WHERE I put the original master...sigh...). Handholding time: what do I do now? I tried the "decoder" stuff on MII, and it seemed to produce a file, but I can't manage to run it without guruing. There are a bunch of files on the MM disk (one, called sigfile, seems to be uncopyable, so I can't just "copy" the whole thing down to RAM:). Would someone who has managed to get this all to work give me a step-by-step? Thanks!! /Bernie\ ps, while you're at it, I'd also like to try to do the same for MindWalker. I haven't hacked with MW in a while now, but I seem to recall seeing that it won't run very happily on a 2000. That true? Will just "NoFastMem" fix it? (Presumably that would b eeasy if I got it all loaded into and runngin out of RAM). Thanks again.. /b\ Bernie Cosell Internet: cosell@bbn.com Bolt, Beranek & Newman, Inc USENET: bbn.com!cosell Cambridge, MA 02238 Telco: (617) 873-3503
hsgj@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (Dan Green) (12/09/87)
In article <19084@bbn.COM> cosell@bbn.com.UUCP (Bernie Cosell) writes: > >I'm not sure quite where to ask about this (can one ask the MarauderII >folks directly?): what I'm trying to do is get MarbleMadness to run >out of RAM:... I tried the same thing, also with no success. In fact, I specifically bought MarauderII for the SOLE REASON of getting MM to run in RAM: The Marauder 'decoder' program did absolutely nothing except replicate a 175Kbyte file that did not even have any errors on it! There is a small 93 byte file "sigfile" that is unreadable -- decoder didn't even touch it. By the way, I got MM in June 87, and Marauder in Sepp 87, with the latest "Brain file" (Num. 8). So there is no excuse for Discovery Software. I was really amused to read a note posted the other day where someone said that "Arkanoids (sp?)", a new game marketed by Discovery Software, is massively copy protected and can't be broken by Marauder II! Discovery specifically advertises that Marauder will back up "anything" and that this copy breaking is to be used only for the sole and legal purpose of making backups. But you can't even backup their own program! What this implies is that Discovery Software is really marketing Marauder II as a pirate's tool. I think the people at Discovery Software are a bunch of dispicable hypocrites. I have "Discovered" a new place for Discovery Software. It is called the toilet. -- Dan Green -- ARPA: hsgj@tcgould.tn.cornell.edu UUCP: ihnp4!cornell!batcomputer!hsgj BITNET: hsgj@cornella
hrlaser@pnet02.cts.com (Harv Laser) (12/09/87)
cosell@cosell.bbn.com (Bernie Cosell) writes: > >I'm not sure quite where to ask about this (can one ask the MarauderII >folks directly?): what I'm trying to do is get MarbleMadness to run >out of RAM:. I have an A2000 with piles of memory, and I _know_ I've >seen MM run off of a hard disk, so I think it _ought_ to be possible. >In addition to an honest-to-god store-bought, registered copy of MM, >I also have MarauderII (again, h-t-g, s-b). MII _did_ back up MM with >no problem, so it runs fine off a spare floppy (in fact, I'm not even >sure right now WHERE I put the original master...sigh...). > > > /Bernie\ > Okay...dug this file out of the attic... make a backup of your MM (Marauder II should handle that) and then make the following the startup-sequence:: loadwb makedir ram:c copy c:copy ram:c assign m: MarbleMadness!: cd ram: assign c: ram:c copy m:#? ram: copy m:c/??? c: copy m:c/?????? c: copy m:c/b#? c: copy m:c/m#? c: Then click on the MM icon as usual to start the game.. everything should run out of ram. No more gronking between levels of the game. By the way, E/A, how come this fine game of yours can be launged from an icon but one has to reboot when done playing it. C'mon, you can do better than that! +------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Harv Laser - Chairman (sysop) The PeopleLink AmigaZone // | | PeopleLink: CBM*HARV \X/ | | UUCP: {ihnp4!crash, hplabs!hp-sdd!crash}!gryphon!pnet02!hrlaser | | INET: hrlaser@pnet02.CTS.COM | +------------------------------------------------------------------+
spierce@pnet01.cts.com (Stuart Pierce) (12/09/87)
Try the decoder again. I have broken Marble Madness with Marauder II, and it now runs fine from a RAM disk. Stuart
thompson@savax.UUCP (thompson mark) (12/10/87)
In article <3126@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu>, hsgj@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (Dan Green) writes: > In article <19084@bbn.COM> cosell@bbn.com.UUCP (Bernie Cosell) writes: > > > >I'm not sure quite where to ask about this (can one ask the MarauderII > >folks directly?): what I'm trying to do is get MarbleMadness to run > >out of RAM:... > > What this implies is that Discovery Software is really marketing > Marauder II as a pirate's tool. I think the people at Discovery > Software are a bunch of dispicable hypocrites. > > I have "Discovered" a new place for Discovery Software. It is called > the toilet. > > -- Dan Green First of all, yes, you can contact Discovery software directly. When I purchased Deluxe Video 2.0, I did this because the version of Maurauder II I had couldn't back it up. Since I had just purchased the upgrade from Maurauder to Maurauder II, Discovery sent me an updated Brain file to backup DV 2.0 . HOWVEVER, don't get the foolish impression that these upgrades will always come cheap. Not by a long shot!!! First I bought Maurauder at $35. This was quickly obsoleted by new protection schemes. So can I get new copy codes? "NO, we don't support Maurauder anymore, you should upgrade to Maurauder II, for a mere $18 (I think thats what it was)" Of course this is only a few dollars less than I could have bought it for without an upgrade at a mail order software house. So I spring for the new program. Its not upto date so this time upgrade is free. Now Brain file number 9 is out. Upgrade? "Sure, for a mere $18". ~:-[ What the hell is going on here!!??!! It seems to me that afew years down the road, maintaining an upto date Maurauder could add up to a few hundred dollars, a bit ridiculous for backups. $5 I could accept. Its probably not unlikey that brain files will fall victom to piracy for this reason. If so, Discovery won't get my sympathy! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Mark Thompson | | decvax!savax!thompson <-- Center of the Universe about | | (603)885-9229 which all revolves | --------------------------------------------------------------------------
acphssrw@csun.UUCP (Stephen R. Walton) (12/11/87)
In article <3126@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu> hsgj@tcgould.tn.cornell.edu (Dan Green) writes many bad things about Marauder II and Marble Madness, among them: >I specifically >bought MarauderII for the SOLE REASON of getting MM to run in RAM: >The Marauder 'decoder' program did absolutely nothing except replicate >a 175Kbyte file that did not even have any errors on it! That's odd. I have MM with Brain File #6 and it both backed up Marble Madness onto a spare floppy, and the decoder program decoded the file "MarbleMadness!.dat" into a stand-alone executable. That done, I was able to put a copy of FaccII and the run command on my backup copy and change the startup-sequence to: run FaccII 1760 MarbleMadness! which starts up FaccII with enough buffers to hold the entire floppy (a bit of overkill) and then starts the game. After the first time through each level, successive reads of the levels come from memory. Stephen Walton, representing myself swalton@solar.stanford.edu Cal State, Northridge rckg01m@calstate.BITNET
ins_adjb@jhunix.UUCP (Daniel Jay Barrett) (12/12/87)
In article <3126@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu> hsgj@tcgould.tn.cornell.edu (Dan Green) writes: >I tried the same thing, also with no success. In fact, I specifically >bought MarauderII for the SOLE REASON of getting MM to run in RAM: >The Marauder 'decoder' program did absolutely nothing except replicate >a 175Kbyte file that did not even have any errors on it! Are you sure you did it right? I used Decoder successfully with no problems at all: cd marblemadness!:c decoder marblemadness!.dat ram:marble protect rwed marblemadness!.dat delete marblemadness!.dat copy ram:marble marblemadness!:/marblemadness! Notice... you DON'T copy the decoded file into marblemadness!.dat. You copy it into marblemadness! in the root directory. You see, the original marblemadness! program decodes the ".dat" file and runs the game. "Decoder" does the decoding permanently, eliminating the need for the original marblemadness! program (which checks the copy protection). >I have "Discovered" a new place for Discovery Software. It is called >the toilet. MarauderII has never failed me, and I've used it dozens of times. I think you're being a little harsh. --- Dan Barrett ins_adjb@jhunix.UUCP barrett@hopkins-eecs-bravo.arpa
robert@trwind.TRW.COM (Robert W. Snyder) (12/15/87)
Robert Snyder >In article <3126@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu> hsgj@tcgould.tn.cornell.edu >(Dan Green) writes many bad things about Marauder II and Marble Madness, >among them: >>I specifically >>bought MarauderII for the SOLE REASON of getting MM to run in RAM: >>The Marauder 'decoder' program did absolutely nothing except replicate >>a 175Kbyte file that did not even have any errors on it! >That's odd. I have MM with Brain File #6 and it both backed up Marble >Madness onto a spare floppy, and the decoder program decoded the file >"MarbleMadness!.dat" into a stand-alone executable. That done, I was >able to put a copy of FaccII and the run command on my backup copy and >change the startup-sequence to: > >run FaccII 1760 >MarbleMadness! > >which starts up FaccII with enough buffers to hold the entire floppy >(a bit of overkill) and then starts the game. After the first time >through each level, successive reads of the levels come from memory. > >Stephen Walton, representing myself swalton@solar.stanford.edu >Cal State, Northridge rckg01m@calstate.BITNET Can anyone tell me how much memory you need to acomplish this?? -- Robert Snyder Disclaimer -- nobody claims dis, but me TRW Information Networks Division 23800 Hawthorne Blvd, Torrance CA 90505 USENET: {ucbvax,ihnp4,sdcrdcf}!trwrb!trwind!robert ARPA: robert@trwind.TRW.COM
ross@ulowell.cs.ulowell.edu (Ross Miller) (12/16/87)
On the subject of Marauder II and people being hypocrites. It seems to me that every version of Marauder II I have seen used was not copy protected, but you did have to type in a word from the reference manual to get it. I would disagree with conclusions that Discovery seeks only to produce a pirate program. Ross -- csnet: ross@ulowell.cs.ulowell.edu uucp: ross@ulowell.cs.ulowell.edu || ...harvard!ulowell!ross Trust the computer. The computer is your friend.
richc@vaxwaller.UUCP (Rich Commins) (12/18/87)
In article <2132@ulowell.cs.ulowell.edu>, ross@ulowell.cs.ulowell.edu (Ross Miller) writes: > > On the subject of Marauder II and people being hypocrites. It seems to > me that every version of Marauder II I have seen used was not copy ^^^^^^^^ > protected, but you did have to type in a word from the reference manual ^^^^^^^^^ > to get it. I would disagree with conclusions that Discovery seeks > only to produce a pirate program. > Ross Typing in a word from a manual is copy protection in my book. I feel that Marauder II is a necessary tool for the Amiga because of all the copy protection on the productivity software. Without this tool, the power of the Amiga (multitasking, ram disk etc.) would be useless. The ability to make a backup is a fact of life with PCs. Copy-protection on games is OK in my book as long as it doesn't cripple the Amiga. Unlike any powerful tool, "power currupts" some people and benifits those who would use it for evil purposes. -- -- Rich Commins (415)939-2400 \ /\ Varian Instruments, 2700 Mitchell Drive, Walnut Creek, CA 94598 \/--\ {ptsfa,lll-crg,zehntel,dual,amd,fortune,ista,rtech,csi,normac}varian!richc
wedlake@AUSTIN.LOCKHEED.COM (William Wedlake) (12/19/87)
I also have decided to get off the Maurauder cost bandwagon. I went through Maurader that wouldn't copy anything I wanted; was fooled into buying Maurader II that didn't copy what it was advertised too; and then being invited to buy new brain files when I complained. This type of copy protection must be supported by the software developers. Soon everyone will buy backup disks just to put Discovery out of business. Bill