So basically all the games from the AGI era are flagged with CP. I’m pretty sure I’ve played Larry1 AGI and Black Cauldron from kryoflux archives, just copying the files from the disks and making a ZIP of it.
Black Cauldron has 3 versions (or more?)
Black Cauldron, The (1987) (v2.00, Int. 2.439) (360K) [cp cr]
Black Cauldron, The (1988) (v2.10, Int. 3.002.098) (360K)
Black Cauldron, The (1988) (v2.10, Int. 3.002.098) (720K)
Only the first (earliest) version is protected. You don’t need to copy the files manually because it has a very simple installer. Unfortunately, the game won’t run in DOSBox. Lary (the original one from 1987) has 4 versions, all protected with the same junk.
You’re right about the AGI. Sierra games at that time were very often protected. Perhaps some European release of Larry (the French version, if there was one?) didn’t have this protection, but that’s just my guess.
Sierra is just one of many publishers who used similar tricks. Probably several hundred (300?) DOS games may be protected in one way or another.
King’s Quest PC Booter raw image, Tandy graphics (option “Boot from disk Image” > “Tandy”)
With custom CGA composite shader based on artifact-colors.slang:
Or if you cant be bothered (and I guess you really cant), there’s already a built in CGA shader in DOSBox Pure in the options.
I’m going to leave this thread now, because for whatever reason you seem to try to convince yourself that it cant be done when just five minutes of testing shows the opposite. I think the main issue at play here is that you took a massive collection of raw images and got burnt out trying to install them all, like it’s some kind of MAME rom archive. This may be the most inefficient way to pirate stuff when ExoDOS is around, and ironically you wont play any of those games.
I don’t know where your sudden negative attitude comes from, because I didn’t write anything of the sort. I also don’t know where you drew this or that conclusion. I’ve written many times that I have CD versions of old Sierra games, and those are perfectly sufficient for me! I see absolutely no reason to bother with protected images and force them to run when there’s an alternative. I’m just slowly building a playlist of my favorite RA DOS games that I play regularly. ExoDOS will satisfy 99% of other users, but I like the challenge 
I also like the preservation project, but don’t force anything. If something doesn’t work, or I have a different version, that’s okay and I move on
Anyway, thanks for your help and time.
Guys, I don’t think we’re understanding each other.
@Elessar84 I already told you that copy protection isn’t the reason. In emulation, it doesn’t matter.
A little common sense, the FD game can be installed on Windows.
Furthermore, there is no protection to prevent installation.
This is how you install the original FD game on DOS:
- Unzip the FD file and open that folder in RetroArch with the “Use This Directory” option.
- Select DOSBox-core or SVN, it doesn’t matter.
- In Disk Control in the menu, select Load New Disc and select Disc 1.
- Type ‘A:’ and then ‘INSTALL’ and when I ask about disc 2, load it in the same way.
- When finished, you will have the folder created in the folder next to the floppy disks. You can compress it and load it directly with pure, or you can even insert it from the zip file with the images.
DB-Pure does not seem to be able to read discs with “labels.” Schelling might be interested in knowing this, If you want to report it on GitHub.
I read everything and I don’t know what one thing has to do with the other.
IMG is for any disk format, IMA is exclusive to floppy disks.
Syndicate (1993). This is the original release on FD and CD.
Syndicate: American Revolt (1993) is an expansion only on FD.
Syndicate Plus (1994) It is a compilation that includes the previous two and is only available on CD.
I meant that the Plus compilation does not have an installation like the FDs, explicitly in DOS. It has a small configuration interface when you start it up. If you consider this an installation, then fine.
The way to install FDs in Windows is fine in extreme cases. To do this, install it in the standalone/svn core, or it may even be better to install a driver for the MS-DOS floppy disk.
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@alexb3d Thanks for checking out Syndicate on DOSBox SVN. Even though I really didn’t want to, you convinced me that DOSBox SVN is worth installing. It seems to be much more compatible with IMA images than DOSBox Pure.
Regarding the problems with reading “labels,” I’ll try reporting it on GitHub. I hope Schelling knows what’s going on, as my DOS knowledge is quite limited.
Thanks for the help. I’ll start testing DOSBox SVN soon; I’m very curious to see the results
Hey Alex dont you think it’s too little too late at this point? Workaround for Syndicate Plus was provided for DOSBox Pure already which is the core we’re discussing here, as you could read in the title of the very thread. And next time, please use your chatGPT translator better before throwing your kneejerk “this is piracy” armchair moderator remark. As if the LLM you use was not already a complete violation of copyrights. XD
As for the King’s Quest series, ironically, they’ve been used as examples in the very documentation of the core. People claiming they don’t run from whatever disk image they found on archive.org should maybe read the friendly manual first.
It should be easier to list the cores that don’t run a version of King’s Quest at this point, from ScummVM where you could use the floppy files as is, to the Master System, GameBoy Advance, Apple2…
And once you guys finally figure out how to install the games eventually, if you finally decide to play them, you’ll soon realize that Bullfrog games are really capricious in term of speed, and any DOSBox version will show problems, and you’ll have to tweak and patch them, or use VMs or Windows as another layer.
For now, I’m using it, testing the CD version, and I don’t see any major performance issues with the 20 MHz setting. I’m more dissatisfied with the graphics and color palette. I think I’m too used to the Amiga 1200 version, which was playable, even though it performed terribly in many areas. The same thing happened with Theme Park. Even with a 4 MB memory expansion, when I enabled the additional sounds, performance was very poor. So, performance in Bullfrog games probably isn’t limited to the DOS platform.
Probably you’re just making stuff up… It’s not a matter of performance, but speed discrepancy between phases in 320x200 going too fast and 640x480 being laggy, on DOSBox.
@Obsolete you know you’re annoying? I don’t know what you’re talking about, buddy. You’ve been trying to prove from the start that pirated versions are better than the originals. I thought you were trying to help, but I see that’s not true.
Go bother someone else, because your posts are leading nowhere.
If you look closely, the capture uses the stable core and not the SVN.
As I mentioned before, (in RetroArch) you can use either core and it works, but DB-Pure does not. I guess the original cores use the RA disk driver (which is more advanced) and Pure uses its own driver.
If you use the standalone desktop version, the stable version does not work at all. With SVN you have to use "-label “SYNDICATE 1” in the disk load line and in each of the five.
You are confused and need to be educated.
The alternative solution you gave is just that, an alternative. The original question was, how to install the FD in the original DOS? And it was answered.
I don’t know what LLM is, but the thing about piracy is just a warning: you are responsible for your own actions.
@alexb3d, referring to your previous post:
I downloaded dosbox svn, and I also have the game in .img format. I have a synd folder on my desktop with the files disk1.img, disk2.img, etc. in it.
I select load content in RA and choose “use this directory” and load it using dosbox svn.
But when I try, I select load new disk and it points to disk1, RA says “Failed to close virtual tray” and “Failed to append disk1.img.”
So I’m a bit lost as to what I’m doing wrong
Edit:
I’m not sure what helped, but probably a different version of the game Now the game installs without any problems.
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The workaround also address problems with Theme Park being unplayable on DOSBox with game speed changing with the different display resolutions. Which is also an issue in Syndicate and other Bullfrog games, long standing dosbox issues, and you’d have realized that if you had played it for five mins, or just read my post. XD
So thank you so much really for showing the proper way to install a game that cant then be played with the correct speed… So educated! XD
And remind me who you are again to give “warnings”? Cant you report posts here like anyone else? What a big deal for something you can find right on MS site… A barely functional Win95 image disk poorly emulated on DOSBox… XD If it’s piracy, report it so it’s removed and then no one else would bother to actually test the stuff, thanks to your concern troll. Hypocrite. XD
@Obsolete esteemed distinguished…
DOS? You’re talking about Windows.
Floppy? You’re talking about CDs.
Install? You’re talking about extracting files from the FD.
CP? You’re talking about ‘mouse’.
You confuse the Plus edition with the original.
You talk nonsense about other cores.
You talk nonsense about speed.
You share a Theme Park link with only two comments, and in the second one they give you the solution.
You share one from Syndicate that explains the solution in detail. (This one is a little more complicated; it has nine answers.)
Are you upset that I called you out on piracy? You should be ashamed and be a little more responsible because this forum is not your responsibility.
Are you insulting me? Do you think that bothers me?
Seriously? Really? For real? Yes? Yes…? Yes?
Am I offended?
You have serious problems, son, and I feel a little sorry for you, but I’m going to help you.
Put away your smartphone, stay away from social media, and read a little every day. It’s important to take care of your brain health. And most importantly, kick your hentai addiction.
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Guys, please try to get along. If you can’t, just block each other and move on.
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It has become a common occurrence for users to offend me. Why am I asking you not to share pirated content? And it’s okay, my gray hairs are just for decoration.
I’m clearly not needed here.
I am trying to delete my account and cannot find the option.
Please delete my account and remove my alias.
Thank you for everything.
To give you a clearer picture of copy protection.
The CP of FD has nothing to do with that of CD.
FDs use primitive or very basic systems.
The main one was the directory path, which pointed to A: to work, it prevented you from copying it to the hard drive.
The other was to enter a code or a series of images from the manual or a code wheel, You needed the complete original game to run it.
In both cases, they can be easily fixed with a crack-type patch.
The other is binary, involving unusual tricks in the FD, such as deep bits(?) or deliberately damaged sectors.
This system was immune to the native DOS COPY tool because it only copied the file structure, i.e., a normal copy/paste.
But there were alternatives such as X-Copy, which were capable of cloning an entire disk with all the tricks included, including the binary CP.
In emulation. IMA is an image format exclusively for floppy disks, and only copies the file structure, like a normal copy/paste.
IMG is for all types of discs, is a complete image of the disk structure, is an exact clone. You can clone all binary tricks.
If the FD has binary CP, it is most likely in IMG. Now, the floppy drive emulation has to be advanced. DOSBox standalone fails because of the tags. Obviously RetroArch handles them well.
OT: Is your MK3 the one that cannot be installed on C from the CD? Are you loading the game from a zip file? Unzip the ZIP file, load the folder with Pure (as I indicated above), and install as normal. Please note this in the report.
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@alexb3d First of all, deleting an account is the worst possible course of action. I simply recommend ignoring assholes like @Obsolete. It’s a shame the moderators aren’t doing anything about it. Blocking a user on this forum is a joke, unfortunately. They can still add to posts, which is absurd!
Regarding floppy-protected games. I have some knowledge on the subject, starting from the very beginning. I helped test a program for the C64 that archives original (protected) floppies from nbz images to g64 and allows them to run on emulators. Regarding DOS, my knowledge is based on what you told me and what I’ve read online over the past week Although these are mostly very old posts.
I reported the “labels” issue you mentioned on GitHub, and from what I see, it’s been fixed. Games like Syndicat should now install normally. However, it’s important to remember that this isn’t a game marked as “CP.”
From what I understand, no core emulates a floppy drive 100%. I wonder if that will ever change
As for Mortal Kombat 3, yes, that’s my GitHub report. And from what I’ve seen, it was also recently fixed. My disks have large partitions, and nothing helps (the game ISO is unpacked, of course). I also found another game with the same problem – Pinball Fantasies (floppy .ima version). Although I can’t compile the core myself, so I’ll have to wait for the tests.
Thanks again for your help, cheers
P.S. sorry for my English, I hope everything is understandable
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I already tried it, and it’s working great. THX! Apparently, the DB-Pure’s floppy emulation is good; it just needed a little tweaking.
I don’t know anything about CP, just the basics because I used x-copy (regularly) lol. But I was reading the Vogon forum and there is a lot of overwhelming technical information. Although I don’t want to go into depth, as long as it works for me, that’s fine. Like flux formats, it’s mainly for forensics and restoration, not for emulation.
Regarding disks, space is not an issue. I have the same configuration as you, and the games are small. When you install, it shows you three partitions: C is the main disk, D is the CD-ROM, and Z is where DOSBox stores the operating system. If you had an FD, it would also show you A.
The KryoFlux documentation can be a little confusing with CP, because it is also the tab that has the FDs to protect them from copying files. Windows always modifies something, and many cracks modified the disk’s exe file. I have read in the reports that “the FD had CP and was not modified” because it had the tab active.
I tried Pinball Fantasies (ima), it installs perfectly and works well. It has CP, meaning it is not cracked. Ask to write words from the manual
You can use it the old-school way: get the manual and write down the word.
Or install the crack. You can load the zip file as a disc using “Load New Disc” and run the following command:
trick: if you select the first letter and press tab, it will show you the entire file or directory.
Or simply copy the COM file into the installed zip file.
Important If you select SoundBlaster 16, the crack will not apply. First, choose SoundBlaster clean, and then after the crack, choose 16. Although I recommend using it with the manual so that you can (suffer) live the original experience.
I don’t know how good your English is, but I guess it’s as good or bad as mine. I use DeepL; it’s the best for European languages.