RGB Classic Games Forum

I've just discovered that the "CDROM Shareware" version of Zorro currently on site is vastly incomplete. Originally this version came with an installer and lot of Smacker videos, with the total size of files around 19 MiB:
http://www.kultcds.com/Catalog/index.ph ... f=$2FZorro

NOTE: This seems like an earlier version of the CDROM Shareware. The one that I have found zipped here is dated March 24, 1995, and the component files match the contents of the CDROM Shareware zip here on site. I haven't checked the seemingly earlier release linked to above. It might be a German version. I'm assuming that it is otherwise identical to the March 24 version, as the video files are all the same.

When installed, the videos are not copied to the hard disk, as the demo expects to play them off the CD. Apparently someone just zipped the installed files and ignored the videos (which were too large to distribute online back then anyway), resulting in an incomplete archive. They also provided incorrect information in FILE_ID.DIZ when stating that the game comes "from the makers of Prince of Persia". The archive contains the file PATH.DAT which should point to the location of the videos on the CD (D:\ZORRO\). The "AOL SHAREWARE" version does not have any such file.

It seems that the AOL SHAREWARE version includes most of the videos anyway (except VID5.SMK and VID14.SMK, which are low-res FMV cutscenes), so I would suggest to remove the incomplete CDROM Shareware version altogether.

I have just found a few more Apogee shareware archives without authenticity verification that may be replaced:

Alien Carnage
File to replace: 1harry.zip
Reason for replacement: Missing PKZIP authenticity verification from Apogee Software.
Replace with: 1harry.zip [Replaced]

File to replace: 1hh12.zip
Reason for replacement: Missing PKZIP authenticity verification from Apogee Software.
Replace with: 1hh12.zip [Replaced]
NOTE: Interestingly, the file found at the Apogee/3D Realms' FTP does not have authenticity verification. I guess they had replaced the shareware version entirely with that of Alien Carnage when the game was re-released, and added Halloween Harry shareware retroactively upon the freeware release of the game.

Raptor: Call of the Shadows
File to replace: 1raptor.zip
Reason for replacement: Missing PKZIP authenticity verification from Apogee Software.
Replace with: 1raptor.zip [Replaced]

File to replace: 1rap11.zip
Reason for replacement: Pre-installed version with wrong date stamps (from 2005).
Replace with: 1rap11.zip (rename manually) [Replaced]

Earthworm Jim
File to replace: ewj_1.zip
Reason for replacement: Playmates interactive distributed a demo package for its Earthworm Jim 1 & 2: The Whole Can O' Worms release, which included DOS demo versions for both games. The file is called ewjpc.zip. Apparently, some third party broke this file down into two packages, and edited the readme file to remove links to the Playmates website. Thus the demo file currently hosted is unofficial.
Replace with: ewjpc.zip [Replaced]

Earthworm Jim 2
File to replace: ewj_2.zip
Reason for replacement: see above.
Replace with: ewjpc.zip [Replaced]

Mortal Kombat II
File to replace: mk2demo.zip
Replace with: mk2demo.zip [Replaced]
Reason for replacement: This is apparently the original zip archive, while the version on site is a repack from 2010.
NOTE: The original file was found thanks to Hallfiry's catalogue here:
http://www.kultcds.com/Catalog/index.ph ... 80045&o=da

BTW, you might also want to add the info that pressing F10 allows to set up the sound card and configure player keys, while F1 and F2 function as the Start button for player 1 and 2 respectively.

Alone in the Dark
File to replace: alondark.zip (demo with slideshow)
Replace with: alone.zip [Replaced]
Reason for replacement: the current ZIP is not an original distribution and includes three third-party files. The original Interplay demo file includes an installer, and is also dated 16 December 1992 (15 January 1993 are the date stamps on third-party files). The file name is also wrong, alone.zip was mentioned on Interplay's game page from 1996.

Fantastic work! Thank you so much. Especially for solving the Corridor 7 problem, where the zip file had a c7.zip instead of c7.lzh. What a pain that was.

I've subscribed to this thread, so things will get replaced immediately from now on. You may want to remove any entries that have been replaced to make it easier to search the list and reduce clutter.

Unfortunately, I couldn't replace the Zorro CD-ROM demo because kultcds.com is no longer hosting the files. I noticed this awhile ago and it has caused me so much distress that I've reached out to Halfiry about it.

Thanks!

DOSGuy wrote: ↑September 16th, 2018, 12:49 am You may want to remove any entries that have been replaced to make it easier to search the list and reduce clutter.

TBH I'm not a fan of the idea of removing information that may still be useful (e.g. download links). Also keeping track of various errors in files might raise awareness for some users of the fact that there might be "impurities" in the old files.

Hallfiry's catalogue still exists as a WhereIsIt database which, although outdated compared to the now unavailable online version, is still quite useful. Hopefully he will send this out to you.

I think this is the right zip with the In Pursuit of GREED demo v2.0: greedemo(2.0).zip

The old one has the date stamps on the files all messed up.

The only difference is that the timestamps are 3:26 PM instead of 6:26 PM (likely because one saved as local time and the other as UTC, or some other time zone-related issue). Other than the fact that the FILE_ID.DIZ is 3:02 PM in both, which is closer to 3:26 than 6:26, how do you know 3:26 is the correct time?

DOSGuy wrote: ↑March 22nd, 2021, 3:24 pm The only difference is that the timestamps are 3:26 PM instead of 6:26 PM (likely because one saved as local time and the other as UTC, or some other time zone-related issue). Other than the fact that the FILE_ID.DIZ is 3:02 PM in both, which is closer to 3:26 than 6:26, how do you know 3:26 is the correct time?

I will describe the process in detail.

a. The files are from this PC Games coverdisk where they are in unpacked form (sans FILE_ID.DIZ):
https://archive.org/details/cdrom-pcgamer-cd-14-1996-01

b. From my previous tests I have determined that if I download a CD image from archive.org (or elsewhere) and then mount it in DOSBox SVN Daum (which preserves date/time stamps on files it creates or copies) and copy any contents to my HDD, the date/time stamps are not adjusted for the local time zone. Unlike 7-Zip which will automatically change timestamps based on my time zone.

How do I know SVN Daum does not do that? If a CD contains unpacked files from an archive which is available in its authentic form (e.g. retrieved from the Wayback Machine), I can compare the time stamps in that archive and what is on the CD. This is very helpful for sources where you can't get an actual ISO (e.g. cd.textfiles.com) where you need to adjust time stamps manually. The date stamps on the files which were copied from a CD image using SVN Daum exactly match those in authentic archives.

c. The demo installer, when run in SVN Daum, will also produce files with original date/time stamps, including the FILE_ID.DIZ which as you can see is not available on the PC Gamer CD. You can see that in the new archive, the FILE_ID.DIZ has the same date and hour as the other files which I copied from the PC Gamer ISO via SVN Daum. This is hardly a coincidence, and corroborates my previous observation that SVN Daum allows to get the unadjusted, "original" date/time stamps on the files.

d. How do I know the FILE_D.DIZ belongs in the archive? We have another demo of a Channel 7 game with the authentic ZIP available: Iron Seed (isdemo.zip). It contains a very similar installer and a FILE_ID.DIZ, with the date/time stamps closely following the pattern seen in the reconstructed greedemo.zip.

e. If the above was not enough I ran an additional test: I unpacked isdemo.zip and packed back its contents in DOSBox using PKZIP shareware 2.04g (with maximum compression level). The resulting file had the exact same size in bytes as the original isdemo.zip.

I then used the same parameters to zip up greedemo(2.0).zip - that is, the installer files from the PC Gamer CD plus FILE_ID.DIZ and minus the BAT file that PC Gamer had added to the folder.

I do not remember what steps I took back in 2014 when creating the previous version of greedemo.zip which you now have. I know for certain that I did not correct the date/time stamps on the installer files but simply extracted them from the ISO using 7-Zip. I also believe that I either added or removed something from the ZIP after packing it up, which explains why the size in bytes does not match the size of the new file.