Given the site ethos on abandonware, I don't understand why you posted this using the words you did. It flagrsntly crosses the line taken on this site.

It would not have taken much effort to edit it appropriately, nor indeed to directly pm the dosbox authors as that seems to be what you really need to do.

Wrong site. DOSBox is not based on "abandonware" or ROMs. The fact that may abandonware sites link to dosbox.com and these forums is simply because DOSBox is one of the few ways without slapping together a dinosaur machine to play many of the DOS games offered on such sites. No support for abandonware games is knowingly given on these forums or the DOSBox Wiki. Besides the legal and ethical issues, abandonware often comes from the warez of the era and is likely to be ripped, hacked, cracked or otherwise altered from the original in ways that frequently cause bugs that do not exist in legitimate copies. This make troubleshooting a user's issue sometimes impossible when the problem is unique to the "abandonware version." As to the legal issues, the last thing that a project wants is to be associated with it when there is no need to do so. That invites C and D orders or worse.

NO!

I store my games by having the original media - no strange high scores and saves leftover from scene groups (or 'abandonware' "preservation" repackers), no misconfigurations or stripped setup programs and data, and no malformed timestamps of 12-25-1996. Is that concept too alien?

Also MrFlibble, I didn't appreciate recieving that PM which is duplicating this topic.

leileilol wrote:

Also MrFlibble, I didn't appreciate recieving that PM which is duplicating this topic.

Sorry to have bothered you, I have sent it before the message was posted here.

I understand that "abandonware" is a risky topic, and I certainly not cannot speak on behalf of Ms. Heiberg about the scope of her research, but it seemed to me that the field that is to be covered in the study is the preservation of electronic records in general, not just creation of console game ROMs.

leileilol wrote:

I store my games by having the original media - no strange high scores and saves leftover from scene groups (or 'abandonware' "preservation" repackers), no misconfigurations or stripped setup programs and data, and no malformed timestamps of 12-25-1996.

In the realm of PC games, I believe that those who preserve original distributions like you should have priority in a research dedicated to the preservation of electronic media, this is why I have taken the liberty to address you with a request to participate. It is exactly because of your professional attitude to the level of authenticity of preserved material that I thought your experience, if you were willing to share it, would make a serious contribution to Ms. Heiberg's research.

If there has been a misunderstanding, please accept my apologies, especially since it is I who have advised Ms. Heiberg to seek informants for her study here.

As for DOSBox developers, I don't think there is an issue here in the first place, since DOSBox is probably the most popular and affordable way to run DOS programmes on modern hardware.

Actually I think this is a good place to ask your questions. We are well practiced in discerning if someone has access to the original media or just downloaded it from somewhere. As well as explaining why we can't provide help with the latter.

MrFlibble wrote:

In the realm of PC games, I believe that those who preserve original distributions like you should have priority in a research dedicated to the preservation of electronic media

As you said, you cannot speak on behalf of Ms. Heiberg about the scope of her research. And none of that is indicated in the original post.
However, if that is an avenue to be explored I think a "purist" view point may reveal some issues that might not be addressed otherwise.

Hi everyone!

I'm sorry for using the incorrect terminology for this website. I didn't mean to imply that what you were doing was illegal or a hack-job as some of you have pointed out in the comments. I'd be happy to edit the subject line of my original post to more accurately reflect the range of what this project is about.

Technology preservation as a model for preserving digital games is finite. What I'm interested in is helping to build an emulation-based model of digital preservation of games that utilizes images of original copies of digital games or other digital copies that are as close to the original as possible if an original copy cannot be found (though that would present issues with authenticity). The more authentic the better! The more LEGAL the better! The ultimate goal is to create a digital copy that is as close to the original version as possible - the original version of the code being ideal. This is for preservation purposes, not for profit. This is why I want to talk to communities of gamers, like you, who are the experts at this kind of preservation.

If anyone is still interested in talking to me, great! I'd love a chance to talk to you about what you do. If not, that's completely fine as well. I don't want to make anyone feel as if I'm stepping on any toes or degrading the good work that you do. Don't blame MrFlibble either; he's been wonderful and welcoming to me in the short time that I've been asking about this and doesn't deserve any rancor.

Have a great day, and keep doing the good work that you are doing. Without people who preserve the original distributions of games, a lot of them would be lost to historical oblivion.

Heiberg: You may want to try contacting someone at redump.org , it is a database dedicated to preservation of optical media. (NO WARES!)

Interesting topic, I must say. Although it's quite unfortunate that the OP had to mention abandonware, which is quite a sensitive subject to discuss, especially here in Vogons.

Let's get back to the topic, shall we? Digital preservation, that is. As a matter of fact, I do preserve my games, playing from mounted image files whenever possible, or playing from backup media while storing the original in a safe place. There is not much to say about it, I'm afraid, since making backup CDs or image files is pretty much trivial.

What is more interesting - and more difficult I have to say - is preserving the game's printed documentations and manuals. I try so much not to touch the original manuals, especially since most of them come in paperbacks that tend to bend and wear as you read them. Instead, I always try to find softcopy manuals in places like replacementdocs.com and print them myself, using spiral boundto maximize comfort and minimize wear and tear while reading. In fact, I have growing collecion of self-printed game manuals, and every single of them is spiral-bound. Naturally, I have the electronic files too - which are part of my digital library.

But of course, sources of digital documentation like replacementdocs do not always have what you want. When it happens, then I wouldn't have the choice but scanning the original manual, and then print the resulting soft copy for everyday use.

As for sharing, I like to share as much as possible as long as it's legal. Unlike the game files themselves, however, there are not many places to upload and share scanned manuals, I'm afraid.

I agree that preservation is a worthy topic. I am sure that many of us here do it on some level or another. I am aware of several who do go through some effort to do this, but these are private collections for obvious reasons. I usually do not backup CDs. I am able to get most to run without the CDs, so I only need to handle them for installing the games. Two exceptions are for discs that may be damaged or difficult to read. The other is just for multi-disc games that I am troubleshooting a new installer and want the convenience and speed of images. Obviously the latter does not concern preservation.

Floppies are the main thing that I go through the trouble of making copies. Given the fragility of the data on floppies and the pain that it is to deal with 5.25" disks on modern machines. Many make images of the disks for authenticity's sake. I see this as unnecessary. Most disks have nothing of worth on them out side of the files. Disks that have "bad track" copy protection cannot be properly imaged, anyway. I just ZIP the entire contents of the disks, preserving the original directory structure, if any. I also preserve any disk labels by naming any ZIP files or folders with the original disk's label. The ZIP name will also include any other pertinent information, such as game/interpreter versions, type and size of disk, etc. If I need more, I include a text file in the zip.

I also make scans of the packaging and documentation, but this is far from being as complete as the game data.

collector wrote:

Disks that have "bad track" copy protection cannot be properly imaged, anyway.

Can't they? What about Teledisk?

As far as I know, not with the CPC copy protection.

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

What is more interesting - and more difficult I have to say - is preserving the game's printed documentations and manuals.

You are right, that is absolutely interesting (and difficult; it's hard enough to find a game with its original casing and manual in the modern console world, let alone the world of older DOS games). Why do you preserve these materials if they are so difficult to locate?

RoyBatty wrote:

Heiberg: You may want to try contacting someone at redump.org , it is a database dedicated to preservation of optical media. (NO WARES!)

Thank you for the tip. I'm looking into it. 😀

heiberg wrote:

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

What is more interesting - and more difficult I have to say - is preserving the game's printed documentations and manuals.

You are right, that is absolutely interesting (and difficult; it's hard enough to find a game with its original casing and manual in the modern console world, let alone the world of older DOS games). Why do you preserve these materials if they are so difficult to locate?

My jolly good fellow, if they're easy to find, why bother preserving them? 😉

Anyway, allow me to show you some of my self-printed game manuals. Please note that they are all ring-bound despite the original are not always bound that way. There was a point in my life when I was so obsessed to print game manuals that now I have a mountain of them! 🤣

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

My jolly good fellow, if they're easy to find, why bother preserving them? 😉

There are times that I wish that phpBB had a like button. 😉

those mobygames watermarks on the covers are cute 😀

collector wrote:

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

My jolly good fellow, if they're easy to find, why bother preserving them? 😉

There are times that I wish that phpBB had a like button. 😉

Thanks! As long as it doesn't come with entire web 2.0 stuff, I must say. 😁

leileilol wrote:

those mobygames watermarks on the covers are cute 😀

Oh, I tried. I tried to scan my own boxes, but I can never match mobygames box scan quality. 🙁 Did they get the actual softcopy from the game publishers themselves?

I'm looking for hi-resolution softcopy box art of Total Air War, by the way. I want to print my own Total Air War poster, but my box is not exactly in pristine condition, while Mobygames resolution is not sufficiently high for the purpose.

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

leileilol wrote:

those mobygames watermarks on the covers are cute 😀

Oh, I tried. I tried to scan my own boxes, but I can never match mobygames box scan quality. 🙁 Did they get the actual softcopy from the game publishers themselves?

I'm looking for hi-resolution softcopy box art of Total Air War, by the way. I want to print my own Total Air War poster, but my box is not exactly in pristine condition, while Mobygames resolution is not sufficiently high for the purpose.

Moby proptip: view image url, change "/large/" to "/original/". 😀

VileRancour wrote:

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

leileilol wrote:

those mobygames watermarks on the covers are cute 😀

Oh, I tried. I tried to scan my own boxes, but I can never match mobygames box scan quality. 🙁 Did they get the actual softcopy from the game publishers themselves?

I'm looking for hi-resolution softcopy box art of Total Air War, by the way. I want to print my own Total Air War poster, but my box is not exactly in pristine condition, while Mobygames resolution is not sufficiently high for the purpose.

Moby proptip: view image url, change "/large/" to "/original/". 😀

Hey, this one is large enough!:D

The color is too washed, though. Wonder if it could be restored using Photoshop.