Apple ][e version of Maniac Mansion question

gzsfrk · Post by **gzsfrk** » Tue Jan 24, 2006 7:18 pm

I asked a question a while back about what was holding back support for the Apple ][e version of Maniac Mansion, and I seem to recall one of the ScummVM devs stating that there would need to be someone who understood the file system to extract the resource files from the game, since (if I understand correctly) the MM game disks are copy-protected in some way.

I did find a utility bundled with the Apple 2 Oasis emulator that lets you extract and manages files on an Apple II disk image, but again, due to the copy protection (or at least, I'm assuming that's what the problem was), I was unable to view and/or copy the contents of the disks.

So I guess my question is, would finding someone who can extract the resources files off the Apple II disks be the next step forward in adding support of the Apple II version of Maniac Mansion to ScummVM? If so, then I wouldn't mind trying to organize the effort to find/contact someone with the needed expertise to accomplish this (I imagine one or more of the Apple II emulator authors could likely be able to help).

And yes, I -do- know that extracting the resource files would only be the very first preliminary step, and a driver wouldn't magically appear the next day. But if that's the first step toward getting support, it makes sense that those of us lacking the proper coding expertise could at least try and help where we can.

Granted, it's no big loss not having it included, as it's easily the worst port of the game by a mile. However, for the sake of completeness and gaming-historical value, it would be nice if as many versions as possible are supported.

Cheers...

Post by **sev** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 1:26 am

No, the problem there is not just a copy protection. The problem there is that those disks do not have any file system at all, just like C64 disks. I.e. most probably resources are just sticked sequentally and there are some kind of index or something. The objective is to start disassembling original engine and find where those resources are locaed.

Eugene