Huey, how does that explain that just plain .dsk files don't even work in an emulator when he downloads them? DemonSeed: can you try that again, by the way?

The last plain disk images I downloaded worked.

Earlier still won't.

I discovered that the (underlying?) problem really starts when the contained files are extracted.

When those are put into a .dsk image, they are corrupt or damage other files.


So, yes manuel, it seems after all I have to turn "it" back off in the registry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MISC\DAMAGE_LOOSE_MSX_FILES_WHEN_EXTRACTED_FROM_AN_EXISTING_DSK_FILE

OK, so dsk files work fine, no need to rar/zip them. It goes wrong if you extract files from them or put them back on. Which software did you use to do that? Just Diskmanager?

I also used DskExplorer (with the magnifying glass logo) and a Japanese program called Disk Explorer V1.65 E2

Well, try this:

phase 1:
1) download a new disk image, which you know is OK and which you know has normal files on it.
2) make it read only.
3) verify that it works fine in an emulator.
4) use each extraction program to extract the files and see if they are OK. You could even try a program called md5sum or sha1sum to get a checksum of them. See if any of them is different.

phase 2:
1) download some loose MSX files and put them in a directory
2) make the files readonly
3) verify that the files work in an emulator, using a dir-as-disk feature (e.g. blueMSX and openMSX)
4) use each DSK tool to make a disk image out of it and see if (or which of) the resulting disk images work in an emulator.

This should give some more information of where things could be going wrong.
When you try the different DSK programs, make sure you keep the old results. Never mix files in several tests, unless they are read only!

Thanks again manuel.

I tried it in different combinations.

Checksum of failing compiled .dsk's shows no discrepancies with working ones, read-only or not.


Here you can download a copy of Blue Warrior I made on my computer with the loose files:

www.geocities.com/johnhassink/bluewarrior.zip


You'll find that the files check out okay; however the disk itself will not work.

So, the files on the disk are OK, as the game works fine if you boot it manually. (Insert disk after startup and RUN"TITLE.BAS".)

Ah, I see it. The disk won't boot, because COMMAND.COM is not on it. If you add it, it will boot fine to MSX-DOS. I'm not sure how this game is supposed to (auto)start, but OK.

So, except for a missing file, nothing seems to have gone wrong this time...

Hmmm, bad example.

Other downloads seem to work well now also.

You know, it's hard to find an example which doesn't involve warez or my own stuff which I don't want to throw out in the open yet.

So I'll have to browse the downloads section further and see when "it" happens again...

It seems that merely opening a .dsk with File Manager puts it in write protected mode (on my system, at least).

However, it will not show read-only on "Properties" and there's no way to disable write protection.

File Manager? You mean Disk Manager?

I'm not sure what you are talking about here anyway. What are the symptoms and what are you trying to do?

DS: check if the issue is somehow related to the Archived attribute being set. I remember Disk Manager having some issues with that.

@ manuel: Yes, sorry, I meant Disk Manager indeed.
The symptoms are damaged files on images; however it doesn't happen all the time and it goes way over my hat.

If I would discover the cause, I will share it with (all of) you for future reference (I can't believe I'm the only one who's ever had this problem).

@ Sonic_aka_T: Thanks, I'll try!