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First post, by hydr0x

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I tried installing some multi-floppy games today but unfortunately my floppy drive is dead. I've got IMA backups though. Unfortunately, DOSBox doesn't allow to mount more than one to the same drive letter (like it does for CD images) which means I can't run the installation routine through cause it needs me to switch the disk in between.

I was able to circumvent this for some games by just copying the files or modifying the install.bat so it uses drive b for the 2nd disk which I can mount to that. But this doesn't work for all games, e.g. Super Space Invaders apparently wants to extract files and everything's hard coded into a install.exe. I have no way of installing that game (unless maybe I use a virtual floppy drive in windows which I don't want because of extra drivers etc.) 🙁

Seems kinda weird to me that this isn't supported yet. Does everyone else have working floppy drives or are you all just playing abandonware which doesn't need to be installed?!?

I'd love to see this feature in a future version. As the same is already there for CDs I don't think it should be too hard to do, should it?

thanks for listening 🤣

edit:

this

"To the OP: it seems like you should be able to mount a single directory (C:\DISK on your PC, let's say) to A: in DOSBox, and copy only the contents of Disk 1 to it; then, when prompted for Disk 2, simply delete everything in C:\DISK and copy the contents of Disk 2 into there, and rescan with CTRL+F4 in DOSBox. Doesn't this work? If not, where does it go wrong?"

from a user in a similar thread helped. BUT it's only a workaround and this functionality would be very welcomed

edit2:

bah, install worked but the game doesn't "abnormal program termination".... grrr

edit3:

okay, using invgame instead (which skips the intro) works 😀

Reply 1 of 36, by MikeRS

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With most install programs I've seen, you can copy all the contents of the disks into a single directory and it'll work from there.

(BTW, about your query about working floppy drives vs. illegal activities: Most of my games are on CD-ROM, and none of the floppy ones even have multiple disks 😉)

Reply 2 of 36, by hydr0x

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MikeRS wrote:

With most install programs I've seen, you can copy all the contents of the disks into a single directory and it'll work from there.

Yeah, I know, didn't work in this case. But even if all games would work like that, switching the floppy disk is an essential functionality of DOS. If DOSBox allows using Images instead of real floppies it should support switching them too! Imho that is 😁

Reply 3 of 36, by DosFreak

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I think some people use this:

http://chitchat.at.infoseek.co.jp/vmware/vfd.html

Note !!! This version works only on 32 bit systems !!!

Won't do anything for copy protected floppies though so Neverlock to the rescue!

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Reply 4 of 36, by hydr0x

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DosFreak wrote:

I think some people use this:

http://chitchat.at.infoseek.co.jp/vmware/vfd.html

Note !!! This version works only on 32 bit systems !!!

Yeah I considered that but I don't really want ANOTHER additional driver, especially one for virtual drives which always tend to mess up something somewhere.

Reply 5 of 36, by hydr0x

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I just realized this must be true also for games that need you to switch the floppy while playing!

@Qbix, in case you're reading this: Is there any technical problem that prevents support for this?

Reply 7 of 36, by Qbix

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the patch on sourceforge works as far as switching the disks work. I had it slightly modified in beta2.
However not all games work with it as it doesn't setup the tables and things like that. (so no lowlevel reading)

I don't like adding something as half working as that

A technical reason for not having it doesn't exist.
Aside from the fact that no one bothered or maybe even can be bothered
to code it.

Water flows down the stream
How to ask questions the smart way!

Reply 8 of 36, by rcblanke

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Qbix, would you be as kind to explain what tables you are referring to exactly? I might want to take a look at this patch, if I knew where the main issues were.

A few things I noticed so far in the original SourceForge patch:

- no exception handling whenever mounting errors occur
- no proper reloading of the disk volume label on reload

in fact, volume labels are not supported on imgmounted fatDrives at all currently (as shown in SVN now when typing just 'mount' with an imgmounted drive).

regards,
Ronald

Last edited by rcblanke on 2012-06-07, 20:29. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 11 of 36, by rcblanke

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Hi everybody,

Here is a first revised patch for the multi-floppy-mount patch. I hope it behaves at least a bit better than the original patch:

* First and foremost, some shared variables in drive_fat.cpp were moved to the fatDrive class in drives.h so that each mounted fatDrive correctly maintains its own data;
* FindFirst and FindNext were changed to allow for fetching the drive's volume label. The label now shows properly when issuing a 'mount' command. Note that upon mounting, a search for the volume label is automatically performed as to be able to store the value in the 'drivecache' label variable, so that Drives[d]->GetLabel() also returns the correct value;
* FindNext is now using modDate and modTime (instead of crtDate and crtTime), similar to the functionality in drive_local.cpp;
* The drive mounting type ('fatDrive') now shows up correctly in 'mount';
* Implemented exception handling whenever mounting errors occur;
* Also includes (dos_files.cpp) a small patch from ripsaw8080 for the 'Black Gold' installer.

Coders might notice that drive_fat.cpp features an ugly one-line hack:

if (skipClust == 1 && fattype == FAT12) break;

I noticed that FAT12 mounted images sometimes fail to traverse a cluster chain properly (looks like it's related to the file's size consisting of an exact odd number of sectors, but not sure about that). I think it's an off-by-1 somewhere, but not sure where it originates from. the Seek() function (DOS_SEEK_END) seems like a possibility, maybe someone has an idea what the cause is. For the moment, the hack seems to work in the problematic cases (for example the Dreamweb installer).

I'm interested in any problem cases remaining (I expect quite a lot 😜) and code regressions.

Also attached is a compiled DOSBox SVN Build for Windows containing this patch.

Attachments

  • Filename
    multi-floppy-mount-rev1.zip
    File size
    3.33 KiB
    Downloads
    241 downloads
    File comment
    The source patch (against rev3782)
    File license
    Fair use/fair dealing exception
  • Filename
    dosbox.zip
    File size
    908.52 KiB
    Downloads
    226 downloads
    File comment
    compiled exe
    File license
    Fair use/fair dealing exception

Reply 12 of 36, by DosFreak

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A small fraction of my floppy images that I need to test:

<D0SFreak> The Print Shop Deluxe 2 for Windows 3.1 & 95 13 disks
<D0SFreak> Hornet Naval Strike Fighter is 3 disks
<D0SFreak> I guess the MS-DOS and varianats and the various windows vers
<D0SFreak> Spear of destiny 3 discs
<D0SFreak> Simon the sorcerer 3 disks
<D0SFreak> Secret of monkey island 5.25 8 discs!
<D0SFreak> SOMI 3.5 4 disks
<D0SFreak> Sam & Max Hit the road german 7 disks
<D0SFreak> Quest for glory 4 9 disks
<D0SFreak> Psycho Pinball 5 disks
<D0SFreak> Prince of Persia 5.25 2 disks
<D0SFreak> Police Quest in Pursuit of Death Angel v2.000 Enhanced 5 disks
<D0SFreak> PQ PoDA v2.0G 3.5 2 disks
<D0SFreak> PQ PoDA v2.0G 5.25 3 disks
<D0SFreak> PQ2 3.5 3 disks
<D0SFreak> PQ2 5.25 6 disks
<D0SFreak> PQ3 3.5 4 disks
<Mastrius0713> I remember my aunt loaning us Windows 95 on diskette I think it had something like 12 disks
<D0SFreak> oh yeah PQ4 12 disks!!!!
<D0SFreak> Mortal Kombat 3 disks
<D0SFreak> MI2 5 disks
<D0SFreak> Maniac Mansion 5.25 2 disks
<D0SFreak> LSL1 5.25 2 disks
<D0SFreak> LSL 3 3.5 4 disks
<D0SFreak> LSL 3 5.25 8 disks
<D0SFreak> LSL 6 6 disks
<Elianda> you are going through your disk boxes?
<D0SFreak> Going through my unsorted games I have yet to test. 🙁
<D0SFreak> I'll post these in the floppy switch thread
<D0SFreak> KQ2 v1.0h 2 disks
<D0SFreak> KQ2 v1.0w 2 disks
<D0SFreak> Indiana Jones and the last crusade 5.25 6 disks
<D0SFreak> Ultima Underworld 4 disks
<D0SFreak> Wizardry v1.20 2 disks
<D0SFreak> World Tour Tennis 5.25 2 disks
<D0SFreak> World Cup USA
<D0SFreak> QbixAway, if we test all of those is that enough 😉

How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
Make your games work offline

Reply 13 of 36, by Great Hierophant

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DosFreak wrote:
A small fraction of my floppy images that I need to test: […]
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A small fraction of my floppy images that I need to test:

<D0SFreak> The Print Shop Deluxe 2 for Windows 3.1 & 95 13 disks
<D0SFreak> Hornet Naval Strike Fighter is 3 disks
<D0SFreak> I guess the MS-DOS and varianats and the various windows vers
<D0SFreak> Spear of destiny 3 discs
<D0SFreak> Simon the sorcerer 3 disks
<D0SFreak> Secret of monkey island 5.25 8 discs!
<D0SFreak> SOMI 3.5 4 disks
<D0SFreak> Sam & Max Hit the road german 7 disks
<D0SFreak> Quest for glory 4 9 disks
<D0SFreak> Psycho Pinball 5 disks
<D0SFreak> Prince of Persia 5.25 2 disks
<D0SFreak> Police Quest in Pursuit of Death Angel v2.000 Enhanced 5 disks
<D0SFreak> PQ PoDA v2.0G 3.5 2 disks
<D0SFreak> PQ PoDA v2.0G 5.25 3 disks
<D0SFreak> PQ2 3.5 3 disks
<D0SFreak> PQ2 5.25 6 disks
<D0SFreak> PQ3 3.5 4 disks
<Mastrius0713> I remember my aunt loaning us Windows 95 on diskette I think it had something like 12 disks
<D0SFreak> oh yeah PQ4 12 disks!!!!
<D0SFreak> Mortal Kombat 3 disks
<D0SFreak> MI2 5 disks
<D0SFreak> Maniac Mansion 5.25 2 disks
<D0SFreak> LSL1 5.25 2 disks
<D0SFreak> LSL 3 3.5 4 disks
<D0SFreak> LSL 3 5.25 8 disks
<D0SFreak> LSL 6 6 disks
<Elianda> you are going through your disk boxes?
<D0SFreak> Going through my unsorted games I have yet to test. 🙁
<D0SFreak> I'll post these in the floppy switch thread
<D0SFreak> KQ2 v1.0h 2 disks
<D0SFreak> KQ2 v1.0w 2 disks
<D0SFreak> Indiana Jones and the last crusade 5.25 6 disks
<D0SFreak> Ultima Underworld 4 disks
<D0SFreak> Wizardry v1.20 2 disks
<D0SFreak> World Tour Tennis 5.25 2 disks
<D0SFreak> World Cup USA
<D0SFreak> QbixAway, if we test all of those is that enough 😉

If you need any help, I would be happy to assist. 😀 I have tested many disk images in my time, including many of the above. Most install fine, although the text-based Sierra installers need a SVN that will allow opening a batch file within a batch file.

http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/ - Nerdly Pleasures - My Retro Gaming, Computing & Tech Blog

Reply 14 of 36, by collector

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Great Hierophant wrote:

Most install fine, although the text-based Sierra installers need a SVN that will allow opening a batch file within a batch file.

Do you mean to call a second batch? I have never noticed any problems with the SCI0 installers.

Reply 15 of 36, by Great Hierophant

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collector wrote:
Great Hierophant wrote:

Most install fine, although the text-based Sierra installers need a SVN that will allow opening a batch file within a batch file.

Do you mean to call a second batch? I have never noticed any problems with the SCI0 installers.

Thats what I mean. Sierra SCI0 installers would fail on .74 stock DOSBox after "Copying Drivers". The program would hang at copying the Resource Files.

I think some people use this: […]
Show full quote

I think some people use this:

http://chitchat.at.infoseek.co.jp/vmware/vfd.html

Note !!! This version works only on 32 bit systems !!!

Won't do anything for copy protected floppies though so Neverlock to the rescue!

That program, Virtual Floppy Drive, works just fine in Windows 7 64-bit once you find a way to sign its driver program. I love it because it allows you double-click on an IMA file to open it, so multi-disk installs become a breeze if DOSBox works with the installer program.

http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/ - Nerdly Pleasures - My Retro Gaming, Computing & Tech Blog

Reply 16 of 36, by collector

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Odd. I don't remember problems before. Not to hijack the thread, but I just tried a couple of SCI0 installers with 0.74. They have no problems with copying all the files, but fail to write to the RESOURCE.CFG.

The Sierra Help Pages -- New Sierra Game Installers -- Sierra Game Patches -- New Non-Sierra Game Installers

Reply 18 of 36, by rcblanke

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Happy new year everybody!

I would like to inform you guys that the devs have been kind enough to commit the greatest part of this patch into SVN a couple of days ago.

The only missing part is the one-liner 'hack' that I mentioned earlier, that was left out. I believe I've found the real cause of the problem why certain games such as Dreamweb and Theme Park refuse to install; drive_fat.cpp, function "fatFile::Read" line 123 should be

curSectOff = seekpos % myDrive->getSectorSize();

instead of

curSectOff = 0;

This resolves at least the installation problems with Dreamweb and Theme Park.

Please note that this fix may very well apply to "fatFile::Write" as well (lines 193 & 216), though I didn't test this, nor do I know how to verify this.

Regards,
Ronald

Reply 19 of 36, by Great Hierophant

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rcblanke wrote:

OSFMount is free and has a signed 64-bit version as well.

I tried it, it is nowhere as quick to change mount & unmount floppies, cannot create blank floppy volumes, etc.

http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/ - Nerdly Pleasures - My Retro Gaming, Computing & Tech Blog