Infocom Trinity - How to make a disk that is playable on Macintosh 512K

[old_hitech]

I must be doing something wrong. My goal is to make a playable 400K 3.5 inch disk of the Infocom Trinity game for my original Mac that has 512K ram. I've dowloaded the disk image for the Trinity game and can run this disk image on mini vMac, but when I transfer the disk image to my FloppyEmu (FE) and connect the FE to my original Macintosh with 512K RAM as an external drive, the FE LCD screen says that the disk image is not useable (or something like that). On my Mac screen it asks if I would like to format the disk or eject it. I eject it. Next, I tried creating a blank 400K disk image in mini Vmac and copy the Trinity game to this 400K disk image. I've transferred this new 400K Trinity disk image to the FE and on my Mac the disk can be mounted using the FE as an external disk drive. When I double-click the new 400K Trinity disk image the Mac system (Finder 4.1 or Finder 5.3) I get a system bomb/error and have to restart my Mac. Has anyone successfully made a 400K disk image of the Infocom Trinity game?

 

[Crutch]

I don’t know much about FloppyEmus, but if the disk image works in Mini vMac, it is good. I strongly suspect an issue with either the FE (equipment or setup) or (less likely) your Mac.

 

[Crutch]

Oh also, I love the old Infocom games, great choice! Sorry it isn’t working so far.

 

[ArmorAlley]

Just a thought: must the 400K floppy image be formatted in MFS to work on the 512K or will HFS also do?

 

[Crutch]

if it’s an original unEnhanced 512K, HFS won’t work. It would be extremely odd for a 400K disk to be HFS-formatted.

 

[old_hitech]

Just tried my FE with my MacPlus booted with my 400k disk with Finder 4.1and the 400k Trinity disk image I made on mini Vmac and that works. Hmmmm…not sure why it doesn’t work on my original Mac with 512K (system bomb/error). Even when connected to my MacPlus the FE doesn’t like the Trinity disk image that is on Macintosh Garden and Macintosh Repository and that appears to be a 400k disk image. Anyway, I feel I am getting closer to being to play Trinity on my original Mac with 512k. I think I need to configure my mini Vmac as an original Mac with 512k RAM. I currently have it configured as a MacPlus (using Mac Plus ROM image).

 

[4seasonphoto]

How much free space is available on that floppy disk, is it a genuine 400/800K floppy, and is it unlocked? For the sake of conserving memory, I wonder if it would make a difference if you set Trinity as the startup item, rather than Finder. Been so long since I played in that way that I don't recall how the original disks were configured.

 

[old_hitech]

I tried to use the latest Macintosh system for the 512k Macintosh (Finder 5.5, I think) with the Trinity game on its own 400k disk (System and Finder and Trinity game will not fit on 400k disk), but this would not work on my original Macintosh with 512k RAM. As soon as I double click on Trinity disk to open it in the Finder, I get an error message and need power down. These same disks work fine on my Macintosh Plus. So, that is the computer I will use to play Trinity. I keep thinking about the actual Trinity game for the Macintosh with the box that says it needs 512K. Does any have an original Trinity game disk for the Macintosh? Does it work with a 512K Macintosh?

 

[LaPorta]

As others stated, if the disk is formatted as HFS (which is possible), it won’t work on a regular 512k. Here’s a question: since it works on the Plus, why not get an actual DD floppy and format it on the 512k to make sure it will work. Then, set up the floppy emu on the Plus, and mount the game disk. Then, copy it to the real floppy, and use that floppy to try and play on the 512k.

 

[Crutch]

I do have an original Trinity game disk (pretty sure I have all the graybox Infocom editions except Plundered Hearts…), and yes it works on a 512k Macintosh.

 

[LaPorta]

I do have an original Trinity game disk (pretty sure I have all the graybox Infocom editions except Plundered Hearts…), and yes it works on a 512k Macintosh.

…do you also have an AppleSauce?

 

[Crutch]

I do. I can make an image!

 

[LaPorta]

A nice .moof or (better yet) .a2s would be awesome. Is the disk copy-protected, or no?

 

[Crutch]

It’s not copy-protected, no. I don’t think any of the Infocom games were. I am familiar with .moof … what’s .a2s?

 

[LaPorta]

.a2s is the full-on, every little magnetic variation format that the AppleSauce makes. It is used to be able to copy those old-school copy protected disks (Shadowgate, for example), and if you know how to start the track order correctly, you can actually make a copy-protected version that functions just as the original did.

 

[old_hitech]

As it turns out, my 400k Trinity disk had the CDEF virus. The CDEF virus does not affect the Mac Plus running system 6.0.3 and the Trinity disk worked fine on that computer. I repaired the disk using Disinfectant 3.7.1 and am now able to run the Trinity on my original Macintosh with 512K.

 

[erd]

Thanks for reporting back. I remember when CDEF was everwhere but it's been so long that it was totally not the first thing I think of.

 

[erd]

It’s not copy-protected, no. I don’t think any of the Infocom games were.

For those that find this thread later, they were not. Infocom never did disk-based copy-protection, they used manual/packaging-based copy-protection - a word, a code number, colors, etc., in the "feelies" included with the purchased games. Over time, they did simplify the methods occasionally (large Starcross Map -> small map/chart, Infotater wheel -> Infotater table, etc) but the informational contents were identical. The games themselves were just a platform-specific "game engine" (Z-machine) and a game file that was identical across all supported platforms. On older platforms (Commodore 64, Apple II...) where files weren't seekable, they tended to embed the game data on the floppy as raw sectors, but for the Mac, it's just a file. They didn't intentionally obscure anything, but they never shared their implementation details with customers. We had to figure all that out for ourselves.