Extracting Infocom story files
Michael Hoenig
Me again. :) I'm trying to extract the story files from disk images of Infocom
games, for use in Z-machine interpreters such as Frotz:
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Heights/3222/frotz.html
However this is not proving very easy. I am trying to use Apple II Oasis' Disk
Manager to extract files from the images, but when I try and open most of the
disk images I get a message about an invalid format. Hm. So these disks have a
non-standard file system?
Does anyone know what I am talking about? Has anyone succeeded in doing what I'm
trying to do?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Cheers,
Mike
Steve Evans
wrote:
There are some utilities at the GMD IF archive that purport to do just
what you are trying to do (I haven't tried them myself)
You can find them here:
ftp://ftp.gmd.de/if-archive/infocom/tools/
The descriptions of the ultiiliites in the archive index are:
ap2ifc.zip, a little utility to extract Infocom game files from Apple
II disk images, by Steve Hugg Pascal source code and DOS executable
ap2inf142.zip: ap2inf v1.4.2, a utility to convert Apple II disk
images (the .dsk images that the Apple II emulator apl2em uses)
to Infocom data files, by Stephen J. Tjasink. Portable ANSI C source
code and DOS executable.
Hope this helps.
Steve
Matthew T. Russotto
Michael Hoenig <mho...@ast.cam.ac.uk> wrote:
}Hi,
}
}Me again. :) I'm trying to extract the story files from disk images of Infocom
}games, for use in Z-machine interpreters such as Frotz:
}http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Heights/3222/frotz.html
}
}However this is not proving very easy. I am trying to use Apple II Oasis' Disk
}Manager to extract files from the images, but when I try and open most of the
}disk images I get a message about an invalid format. Hm. So these disks have a
}non-standard file system?
No file system at all. The game is at a fixed position (though not a
fixed size) on the disk, and the interpreter is written around it.
There's a program called 'zcut' on the Interactive Fiction archive
(ftp://ftp.gmd.de/if-archive) which can extract these things from
every known Apple II Infocom game format. But beware some of the disk
images out there are corrupt.
--
Matthew T. Russotto russ...@pond.com
"Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice, and moderation in pursuit
of justice is no virtue."
Paul Schlyter
Matthew T. Russotto <russ...@wanda.vf.pond.com> wrote:
> In article <93qlpo$5dn$1...@pegasus.csx.cam.ac.uk>,
> Michael Hoenig <mho...@ast.cam.ac.uk> wrote:
>}Hi,
>}
>}Me again. :) I'm trying to extract the story files from disk images of Infocom
>}games, for use in Z-machine interpreters such as Frotz:
>}http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Heights/3222/frotz.html
>}
>}However this is not proving very easy. I am trying to use Apple II Oasis' Disk
>}Manager to extract files from the images, but when I try and open most of the
>}disk images I get a message about an invalid format. Hm. So these disks have a
>}non-standard file system?
>
> No file system at all. The game is at a fixed position (though not a
> fixed size) on the disk, and the interpreter is written around it.
> There's a program called 'zcut' on the Interactive Fiction archive
> (ftp://ftp.gmd.de/if-archive) which can extract these things from
> every known Apple II Infocom game format. But beware some of the disk
> images out there are corrupt.
after the boot sector, and instead of a DOS, the game interpreter is
loaded. It's approximately 8K large on the Apple II.
The remainder of the disk is the game "file", which just is an
anonymous area of the disk. It's indeed "no file system at all",
instead the interpreter uses the game file on the disk as a "swap
area", implementing a simple kind if virtual memory. Infocom games
are typically 100+K large, which is too much for the Apple II's 64K
or 48K RAM. Therefore the game interpreter loads as much as needed
of the game into RAM from the game area of the disk. You'll notice
that because if you revisit newly visited rooms in the game, this
will cause no disk activity (as opposed to most other disk based
Apple II games of this time period). Sooner or later the game
interpreter will run out of RAM, of course, and when it then needs to
load another piece of the game from disk into RAM, a "page" of RAM
will be discarded using an LRU algorithm.
So Apple II Infocom disks indeed have no file system -- instead they
have a virtual memory system!
--
----------------------------------------------------------------
Paul Schlyter, Swedish Amateur Astronomer's Society (SAAF)
Grev Turegatan 40, S-114 38 Stockholm, SWEDEN
e-mail: pausch at saaf dot se or paul.schlyter at ausys dot se
WWW: http://hotel04.ausys.se/pausch http://welcome.to/pausch
Michael Hoenig
tried them out on some .DSK images, though none of them seemed to be
able to extract them all correctly (to be honest though I couldn't be
bothered to play with any parameters, just used the standard setting for
each program). "Leather Goddesses of Phobos" extracted fine, although
later stuff like "Bureaucreacy" and "Nord and Bert Couldn't Make Head or
Tail of It" didn't quite seem to work.
Cheers,
Mike
Matthew T. Russotto
Rubywand
With diskettes-- have not tried disk images. There's a good collection of
Infocom extraction, etc. utilities in the GSWV archive (
http://www.grin.net/~cturley/a2zine/gswv/Sel/index.html) in the Utilities folder.
Actually, if you just need the Infocom story files, you could download the
Lost Treasures of Infocom stuff from TikTok ( http://abandonwarering.com/tiktok/
click on "Adventures").
Rubywand
ChIpMaStErZ
"Rubywand" <ruby...@swbell.net> wrote in message
news:3A64B9D0...@swbell.net...
You have one more chance to extract the DSK Files...I tried it with DSK/HFV
Explorer. I know it is freeware. I've got it from a finish Website which I
don't remember, but it definetely works. You can extract the dsk image
directly to a HFv or HFx Hard file Volume. Just type DSK/HFV Explorer as a
search term into google.com and it will come up...if not give me your email
address and I'll mail it to you.
Chip
Rubywand
>
> "Rubywand" <ruby...@swbell.net> wrote in message
> news:3A64B9D0...@swbell.net...
> > Michael Hoenig writes ...
> > >
> > > Me again. :) I'm trying to extract the story files from disk images of
> > > Infocom games, for use in Z-machine interpreters such as Frotz:
....
> > There's a good collection of Infocom extraction, etc. utilities in the
> > GSWV archive (http://www.grin.net/~cturley/a2zine/gswv/Sel/index.html)
> > in the Utilities folder.
....
> > you could download the Lost Treasures of Infocom stuff from
> > TikTok (http://abandonwarering.com/tiktok/ click on "Adventures").
> >
....
> You have one more chance to extract the DSK Files...I tried it with DSK/HFV
> Explorer. I know it is freeware. I've got it from a finish Website which I
> don't remember, but it definetely works. You can extract the dsk image
> directly to a HFv or HFx Hard file Volume. Just type DSK/HFV Explorer as a
> search term into google.com and it will come up...if not give me your email
> address and I'll mail it to you.
>
> Chip
Thanks for the offer and the info! Did the search and found HFVExplorer at
http://netti.nic.fi/~lpesonen/HFVExplorer/ .
How do you use HFVExplorer to extract the contents of Apple II .dsk files?
Rubywand
Simon Biber
HFVExplorer at
> http://netti.nic.fi/~lpesonen/HFVExplorer/ .
>
> How do you use HFVExplorer to extract the contents of Apple II .dsk
files?
I use that HFVExplorer all the time, but it has nothing to do with Apple II
.dsk files. It works only on HFS volumes. It's commonly used for moving
files back and forth from HFS Volumes (HFVs, also called DSKs) as used in
Mac emulators like Executor, FUSION, Basilisk II, vMac and SoftMac.
Did you know this? You can assign an Apple II DSK file as an emulated floppy
disk in a Mac emulator such as Basilisk II (basilisk2.cjb.net), and the
MacOS can read/write it. This is assuming it is in ProDOS order, and the
contents are in a supported filesystem (of which HFS, ProDOS, FAT and
ISO-9660 all are ok for my version of System 7.5.5).
I have successfully created real 140k Apple disks with HFS format by
transferring these with ADT to my IIe. I don't have anything which could
read 140k 5.25" HFS disks currently. Maybe a IIgs with the HFS FST or a Mac
LC with IIe PDS card?
I tried connecting the Apple 5.25 Drive to my Mac Plus's DB-19 floppy port,
which didn't work. I see on www.lowendmac.com they tell you not to do this
as it may wreck the circuitry in the controller. Luckily both the drive (on
my IIe) and the controller (in the Plus) are still working!
On the other hand, I think the Apple II Oasis emulator comes with a program
which can read Apple II DSK files.
Simon.
Michael Hoenig
>
> On the other hand, I think the Apple II Oasis emulator comes with a program
> which can read Apple II DSK files.
Indeed, the Apple II Oasis package contains the Apple II Disk Manager
which enables you to view the contents of DSK images, extract them etc.
Go to
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lakes/4414/A4W.HTM
for more info.
Cheers,
Mike