WSCART01@ULKYVX.BITNET (01/17/90)
> > Hi. I have an Atari 1040STfm and a Megafile 30. Is there any way that I >can install copy protected games such as Dungeon Master and F/16 Combat Pilot >on my hard drive? I just recently purchased these two programs and would like >the convienience of having them on my hard drive. > Personaly, i know of no way to put DM on hard disk. Theoriticaly it is possible to make a copy that will run on hard disk but to the best of my knowledge, no such program is on the market that will do this for you. In some cases though there are two possiblities. 1)If it is a program that load in all parts of itself and need not make further disk access, i've heard that switchback will let you put it on hard disk. (Only hearsay, since i dont have it.) 2)Some programs are easy to modify the code such that it doesn't access the disk for bad sectors and has files that can be moved to hard disk. Unfortunatly this is time consuming and need some 68000 Assembly knowledge. I am positive this can be done for Rouge, PC Intercom, and Shanghia to mention a few. (This method is fun in itself since it has a bit of challange to it with a visible reward afterwards. :-) Hope this helped... Stuart Carter : This space for rent!
SML108@PSUVM.BITNET (01/18/90)
On the Subject of DM on a Hard Drive.... It doesn't appear possible, but even with software protection, it would have been SIMPLE, VERY SIMPLE for them to allow it. The data for the game is compressed, and is uncompressed at run-time. This is why it takes so long for the thing to load. All one would have to do is re-direct the I/O for reading this data to the hard drive and it would fly. They could then check for the presence of an original copy protected diskette in drive A and everything would be hunky dorey... It's such an incredible game otherwise.....Sheeeeeeesh.... Scott Le Grand aka sml108@psuvm.psu.edu