NFG Games + GameSX

You will need X68000 with 2MB of ram and a keyboard. It is possible to run some small games with 1MB as well, but the majority of them require 2MB. Download the latest English version of DiskExplorer here:

http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA013937/editdisk/index_e.html

And download the hard disk image from here:

http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68000:sxsi_disk_image_with_games_and_lots_of_mdx_files

This will save you the trouble of setting up a working environment. Open the downloaded image with DiskExplorer, have a look around.

Lucky for us the HumanOS is very much like ye good old MS-DOS. Now let me explain what happens when X68000 tries to boot from hard drive:

• FIrst it checks for partition which is set as BOOTABLE and tries to boot from it. If none are found, insert disk prompt appears
• Tries to execute HUMAN.SYS, COMMAND.X These files are mandatory for X68000 to boot into command prompt
• Executes scripts from CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT. They perform a chain of DOS commands and execute files.
• Files with extension *.R and *.X are executable. Just type the name of file in command prompt and press enter to execute it or highlight it in file commander and press enter.

Every game disk which has these files boots in the same manner. There are some very rare exotic games which use trackloaders, kind of like on Amiga. Motos and Flying Shark, to name a few. You can recognize them very easy because if you try to list contents of such disk, they will look like empty or have one or more dummy files. Please note that in most cases you will have to convert *.dim floppy image files to *.xdf before opening them in DiskExplorer.

You can do it with Virtual Floppy Image Converter. Grab it from here:

http://www.vector.co.jp/soft/win95/util/se151106.html

We all know that Hard drive is the ultimate thing to have on X68000 so to cut a long story short, we want games on hard drive, and we want them now ;)

• Make a directory in Games2 and call it FantasyZone
• Copy the contents of floppy to created directory
• Delete HUMAN.SYS and COMMAND.X from directory FantasyZone
• Rename AUTOEXEC.BAT to !Start.bat
• Run !Start.bat

This method should work with the majority of one floppy games. If for some reason it refuses to load, try the SUBST A: A:\GAMES2\NameOfYourGame method described in the next example. If that fails, try to exit all file commanders and run it from pure DOS. If that doesn't help, it could be some sort of protection. Try a different game.

• Make a directory in Games2 and call it StarCruiser
• Copy the contents of both floppies to created directory
• Delete HUMAN.SYS and COMMAND.X from directory StarCruiser
• Rename AUTOEXEC.BAT to !Start.bat and add the following two lines at the very beginning:

SUBST B: A:\GAMES2\STARCRUISER

SUBST A: A:\GAMES2\STARCRUISER

The resulting !Start.bat should look like this:

SUBST B: A:\GAMES2\STARCRUISER

SUBST A: A:\GAMES2\STARCRUISER

CRUISER

• Run !Start.bat

• Make a directory in Games2 and call it DragonBuster
• Copy the contents of floppy to created directory
• Delete HUMAN.SYS and COMMAND.X from directory DragonBuster

Please note that there is no CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT. Now search for files with *.R or *.X file extension. Those files are executable. Most of the times the names of those files give hints on which one of them is the main. If in doubt, try to execute them one by one until you find the right one. Then create a new !Start.bat file and write the name of the file which launches game. In this case !Start.bat should look like this:

BOOT.X

• Make a directory in Games2 and call it Nama68
• Copy ADDDRV.X and the contents of both floppies to created directory
• Delete HUMAN.SYS from directory Nama68
• Rename config.sys to !Start.bat
• Use SUBST, as mentioned in Exapmle #2, to map both drives to Nama68 directory
• Use ADDDR.X to load OPMXDRV.X

The resulting !Start.bat should look like this:

SUBST B: A:\Games2\Nama68 SUBST A: A:\Games2\Nama68 ADDDRV.X OPMXDRV.X NAMA68.X

That's it. Try it ! It really isn't that hard. The most annoying part is understanding when a game has not enough free memory or if there is a protection.

Keep the scene alive !

Eidis