Purple Moon games (ISO and toast files) "unreadable"

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NeriSiren
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Purple Moon games (ISO and toast files) "unreadable"

Post by NeriSiren »

Hello! I have been downloading Purple Moon games from archive.org (https://archive.org/search.php?query=cr ... le+Moon%22) and Macintosh Garden, and although two of the games have worked ("Secret Paths in the Forest" and "Secret Paths to the Sea"), the "Rockett" games are rejected as "unreadable." I have tried downloading both the ISO files from archive.org and the toast files from Macintosh Garden, but every time I open Mac OS 9, I get an error message that says the games are "unreadable."

I am using the Mac OS 9 system downloaded from http://www.columbia.edu/~em36/macos9osx.html. I am also using the latest version of SheepShaver.

When I go through the mounting process (dragging the ISO or toast file to the Mac OS 9 icon, and then responding to the pop-up boxes) I have tried linking the Rockett games as well as copying them, but neither option works. I have also tried opening the games by first opening Mac OS 9, then dragging the games from the Unix folder to the Mac OS 9 desktop, but that also failed.
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24bit
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Re: Purple Moon games (ISO and toast files) "unreadable"

Post by 24bit »

I´ll give "Rockett's New School (1999)(Purple Moon)[Mac-PC].iso" from IA a go.

I´m not acquainted with those SheepShaver bundles, but my guess is, that MacOS dislikes a weird file name.
On my side, mounting ISO in general was most successful after moving the ISO to the emulated Mac´s HDD and mounting it with http://macintoshgarden.org/apps/virtual ... cd-utility.
Usually TOAST or ISO files are mounted without issues after adding them to the SheepShaver volumes tab.

Edit: Same here.
The iso above is mountable neither with SheepShaver nor macOS. :(
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adespoton
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Re: Purple Moon games (ISO and toast files) "unreadable"

Post by adespoton »

Is it mountable on your host?
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24bit
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Re: Purple Moon games (ISO and toast files) "unreadable"

Post by 24bit »

The file is from Toast Image Creator 1997 of mode 2 type.
Toast 5 Titanium does mount the .toast file, but the game does not accept the "fake CD" created that way.
I managed to burn the file with IMGBurn in Windows and the CD looks quite usable in a Windows 98SE VM.
256 colours are looking weird even with W98SE, but it works. :)

I also got the CD mounted once in SheepShaver macOS (I think) as the CD pictogram was there and I could install to a local volume and start the game.
Sadly I can´t reproduce how the CD was mounted.
The mounted CD is a must, SheepShaver or Windows 3.1/95.

Image

Edit:
The game plays with SheepShaver 2.4.20140201 on a Snow Leopard machine.

Image

Image

The game runs fine with SheepShaver on a Windows 10 64bit host on my side too.

If anybody should want to try Windows 98SE in VMWare, please send a PM.
I think I have a downloadable instance somewhere.
Last edited by 24bit on Sun Jun 09, 2019 5:11 pm, edited 3 times in total.
emendelson
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Re: Purple Moon games (ISO and toast files) "unreadable"

Post by emendelson »

Can this thread be moved to the main forum? The problem is about SheepShaver in general, not about the specific configuration (my Mac OS 9 setup).
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Ronald P. Regensburg
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Re: Purple Moon games (ISO and toast files) "unreadable"

Post by Ronald P. Regensburg »

Done.
Elyus
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Re: Purple Moon games (ISO and toast files) "unreadable"

Post by Elyus »

NeriSiren, based on discussion in this related topic, I'm guessing Rockett's games won't mount because of the encoding they use. I've had success on a Mac OS Mojave host with SheepShaver 2.5 using an ISO created with the following steps:

- Drag the .toast image into Toast 7
- Save as Bin/Cue Image...
- Convert the resulting Bin/Cue to an ISO using bchunk

It's a bit laborious to go through a middleman like that, but it sounds like ISOs created directly aren't working.
Elyus
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Re: Purple Moon games (ISO and toast files) "unreadable"

Post by Elyus »

I realized we were probably derailing the other topic about physical CD support in SheepShaver, so I'll move back to this thread.

Updated ISO images have been uploaded for each of the Rockett games except Camp Adventures. While the first five are encoded as PS discs, the final one is encoded as a PS2 disc (MODE1/2048). The method of creating a bin/cue in Toast and then converting with bchunk failed for this game, but I was able to mount the .toast image from mrdav just fine, making an additional image unnecessary.

Hopefully that fixes the problem with Purple Moon games. NeriSiren's original post suggests the Secret Path series will be fine, but if not, they may benefit from the same conversion.
NeriSiren
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Re: Purple Moon games (ISO and toast files) "unreadable"

Post by NeriSiren »

Thank you, everyone, for your advice! I'm sorry it took my so long to reply; I've been swamped these last few weeks. I will definitely try to download the updated ISO files (are they on IA and Mac Garden?), and follow the steps to convert them. We'll see how it goes!

Edit: So far, the updated ISO images from Mac Garden work without the need for conversion! I opened Rockett's New School so far. Now I'll try the rest of them!

Edit2: It looks like the Rockett games work best when you "link" them to the Mac OS9 app, while Secret Paths in the Forest and To the Sea work best when you "copy" them to the app.
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