Forum posts to 'Games'

Re: Ultima IV with Mockingboard freezing??

robbo007 — Mon, 07 May 2012 17:44:49 +0200

The document I found had a hack where you needed to patch the original game disks. I never managed to get it working. I might again as I have not got an Apple IIe. I was trying to do it on a emulator.

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Re: Ultima IV with Mockingboard freezing??

tempest — Mon, 07 May 2012 17:35:41 +0200

I'll have to see if I can track it down, as I said, I'm really curious about this. Then again, I can just set up my IIgs and IIe next to each other and take a look I suppose. Nah. Too easy...

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Re: Ultima IV with Mockingboard freezing??

Mitchell Spector — Sat, 05 May 2012 02:15:56 +0200

Unfortunately I don't have that issue covering the GS's video emulation, I read it at my college library way back in the early 90's. Believe it or not, they had a magazine collection of almost every inCider, A+, Nibble and Apple Compute, from the very beginnings to the end. Yep, they kept their Apple II subscriptions running through to 1993!

A few months ago I actually contacted the college to see if they still had those old magazines, sadly they don't (or at least according to the person at their help desk; I'm almost tempted to drop in for a visit just to see if they aren't still there!).

Haven't seen Apple II magazines for ages, and trust me, I keep my eyes open....every thrift shop, garage sale or second-hand book store. I hope someone puts together a scanned PDF collection of these magazines one day.

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Re: Ultima IV with Mockingboard freezing??

tempest — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 20:48:14 +0200

>>If you're a purist though, the GS doesn't quite emulate High-Res and Double-Hi-Res video *exactly* like the Apple IIe. Not just through an RGB monitor, but even output to a composite display. It's very subtle and few, if any, will notice, though I remember an early 1986 issue of A+ (or inCider?) had an article about it complete with comparison magnified screen shots.

I'd be interested in seeing that if you can find it. I've asked about this issue before and never got a straight answer.

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Re: Ultima IV with Mockingboard freezing??

TanRuNomad — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 20:45:41 +0200

Yeah, Karateka and Hard Hat Mack (the original disk, not the cracked version) were the only two I can recall.

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Re: Ultima IV with Mockingboard freezing??

Mitchell Spector — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 18:57:55 +0200

I'd disagree, there's very few 8-bit games and programs that are incompatible with the IIGS. As a matter of fact, I originally purchased my GS in late '87 mainly to run my library of Apple II Plus software. Of course within days my interest in that dropped like a rock once I started playing with native GS software.

The biggest issue I've come across is the 5.25 drive connected to the Smartport, which is also an issue with the Apple IIc. A handful of 8-bit software won't boot unless it's from an actual slot-based floppy controller card. My cracked versions of Karateka and Drol immediately come to mind, but they don't like my IIc's either.

If you're a purist though, the GS doesn't quite emulate High-Res and Double-Hi-Res video *exactly* like the Apple IIe. Not just through an RGB monitor, but even output to a composite display. It's very subtle and few, if any, will notice, though I remember an early 1986 issue of A+ (or inCider?) had an article about it complete with comparison magnified screen shots.

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Re: Ultima IV with Mockingboard freezing??

robbo007 — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 09:39:01 +0200

Yeah, I've been finding out the hard way that the Apple IIgs is very incompatible with Apple II stuff. I've purchased an Apple IIe now and everything works. A shame as the IIgs is a cool machine.

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Re: Ultima IV with Mockingboard freezing??

Mitchell Spector — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 05:43:44 +0200

The topic jogged my memory, and sure enough, there was indeed a patched version of Ultima IV. It was only required if you had a Mockingboard installed in a IIGS. Here is a mention of it from comp.sys.apple2:
https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!topic/comp.sys.apple2/rOXAYTLrzcc

I ended up using an Apple II Plus and IIe with AE Phasor (in Mockingboard mode) so never ran into the issue. I also seem to recall the Phasor did not fit well inside the IIGS case--too long for the case.

Jimmy Huey (author of California Games and co-author Sword of Sodan) actually wrote a playback engine that used the IIGS Ensoniq to emulate the ALF/Mockingboard. Too bad he never developed it into something that could work with Ultima and other Mockingboard supported games and programs.

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Re: Ultima IV with Mockingboard freezing??

Alex Lee — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 00:25:27 +0200

An .SDK is a ShrinkIt disk archive. In a way, it's a bit like a disk image, except no emulators use it as a format and so it's an old school method of storage.

You'll need to unarchive the .SDK to a blank 140k sized disk image within an emulator. You can use the 8-bit version of Shrink-It to do this, or GShrink-it.

- Alex

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Re: Ultima IV with Mockingboard freezing??

robbo007 — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 15:31:48 +0200

ok I managed to find this:

Ground in the AOL area (U4MOCKV2.SHK and U5MBONGS.SHK):
http://www.apple2.org.za/mirrors/ground.icaen.uiowa.edu/Collections/AOL/
in the Games/Adv./Roleplay/ folder.

Im still not clear on converting .SDK files to ..DSK or .PO for use with ADTpro. I've managed to unshrink U4MOCKV2.SHK using nulib2 but I can't get the .SDK to another format. Any ideas?

/usr/local/bin/nulib2 -v u4mockv2.shk
u4mockv2.shk Created:24-Apr-97 04:36 Mod:24-Apr-97 04:36 Recs: 2

Name Type Auxtyp Archived Fmat Size Un-Length
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
U4DD.SDK LBR $8002 24-Apr-97 04:36 lz2 99% 99070
U4MB.INST.SDK LBR $8002 24-Apr-97 04:36 lz2 99% 57695
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Uncomp: 156765 Comp: 156435 %of orig: 99%

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Re: Ultima IV with Mockingboard freezing??

Alex Lee — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 01:08:44 +0200

I can't help with this one – never played Ultima IV, never owned a Mockingboard. I've caught wind of this has been an issue for IIGS players, and I'm pretty sure there's a fix somewhere, but someone else will have to reveal it.

Otherwise, Google may yield the answers you seek.

- Alex

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Ultima IV with Mockingboard freezing??

robbo007 — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 09:53:14 +0200

Hello all,
I have a Apple IIgs and use a Mockingboard in slot 4. Ultima III runs fine and sounds great but when I try and play Ultima IV I get to the main menu and when I select my mockingboard it freezes up??

Any ideas? I've changed the Apple's speed to normal in the bios and marked slot 4 as "use my card".

Thanks,
Rob

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