2006 CRC updates and Clone Relationships

[Greg Zumwalt]

This is the last CRC and Clone Relationship update for the year 2006.

 

Total number of BINs in present archive: 4206 ROMs.

 

List generated Sun 12/24/2006 16:44:06.26

 

This is the database of CRC's for rom images in my Atari 2600 collection.

The names differ from the Good2600 tools as that utility uses many invalid characters within its filenames list.

If you have a ROM with a CRC not listed, please e-mail it to TheSnail@Bigfoot.com

 

 

Additionally, I have released a new archive package.

I can't provide a download link myself as I've limited bandwidth.

When those who receive the CD can upload the archive, they will post the links, so please don't ask me.

 

 

SNAILSOFT SOFTWARE'S ATARI 2600 ARCHIVES

========================================

--------------------------------

December 20th 2006

Major release #12

Nearly a year since the last update release.

This one marks 10 years now that this project has been in development.

 

Changes/additions include-

 

A legal disclaimer:

The world is shin to grin with elbows and assholes these days all tripped up on legalities.

So here is my disclaimer.

 

This package is a compilation of work by literally thousands and if anyone has a

copyright on anything, to them go those rights. Everything else is free.

This is a hobby project, not a money making scheme. Anyone who attempts to sell

this archive deserves the git of the decade award.

I have left a plethora of documents, credits, etc in their respective folders

where applicable. As for anyone else who wants to whine, make it constructive or else,

stick your finger in your ear and say tinga-linga-loo!

 

If you are now or have ever been a member of any law agency,

YOU DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO USE THIS ARCHIVE.

If you are a member of the B.S.A., E.S.A. or related group...

I've already buggered you twice in the courts and proven your criminal activities

as traitors of the American Constitution. Trifle with me again and I won't be

pleasant about my response this time. (View Docs\DMCA-BS.html for more info.)

 

This archive is meant to be fun, that's all. If your intent is anything else,

I recommend a double lobotomy and 10 rolls of rubber wall-paper.

Of course, if you've ever tried making a 2600 game, you may need those things anyhow

 

As always, added hundreds of new 2600 roms... and as always, many are alphas and betas. 4,200+ roms now in the collection.

Over the years, people seem to have missed or forgotten, the point of this project is not to have a complete official 2600 set;

it is to account for all 2600 roms dumped and in public hands. This of course includes all official 2600 roms, yet goes far beyond.

This database attempts to identify hacks, homebrewed games, alphas, betas, prototypes, revisions and

the all too unfortunately released "bad" dumps that plague the internet.

 

Added the "Tron-man Project" work files and updates (not for public release yet as the carts won't even go on sale until Jan. 2007.)

My upload server is still down but you can email me roms and/or info to TheSnail@Bigfoot.com

I can also be contacted at Atari Age; Greg Zumwalt, but be warned, I only check in there every few weeks so expect long delays in responses.

If the email bounces, try again. It is 12 years old and gets a lot of spam that fills the box quickly.

 

Updated the simulations section and expanded it to include:

Separation of the Atari emus, sims and Win32 ports into separate subfolders.

Updated and expanded the Arcade versions of the games.

 

Added bonus materials and interviews from the Atari 80 project (of which I helped create) now in public domain.

Added a Win9x-XP Atari Theme changer.

 

Added more snapshots to the frontend as well as vastly expanded the command switch overrides which means most of the previously non usable roms are now functioning.

Spent several days trying to weed out the "bad" roms and make as many functional as possible.

More precisely, changed/set the emulation switches, not the roms. Not many non-working left now, mainly beta's and bad dumps. I think less than 50.

(This includes updating/changing commandline switches that changed in z26 such as replacing J2 with W and F99 with G11.)

Improved NTSC, PAL, SECAM support.

Minor change to the CRC list generator script to include total roms in archive. (I always added the total manually before.)

Modified database to show KB size of roms in the Frontend.

 

Added a multi Atari 2600 emulator core system that allows you to enable/disable sound and switch between the z26, Stella or Atari's official emulator.

In clearenv.bat you can now set two new options:

 

I. Because of cheap hardware, mainly onboard sound cards, the startup and shutdown music sometimes freezes the games.

This release has vastly improved on the audio playback routine and should eliminate further lockups, but just in case...

 

set AUDIOMODE=TRUE or set AUDIOMODE=FALSE

 

II. Which core to use?

The 2600.exe is the official Atari 2600 emulator but only handles up to 16K roms. It uses less resources which is better for older computers.

2600.exe has not been updated since 2003.

 

Stella is an OpenGlide 2600 emulator. It isn't as stable as 2600 or z26 but it does have some interesting features.

Although it tends to lock, Stella is for example, the only 2600 emu to feature save and load of a game in play.

In the past, I always avoided Stella as it was bloated, slow and very buggy. After testing this weeks release, I am impressed.

Stella has implimented many of the features of z26, including handling of 512K roms, and fixed many of the old bugs.

Stella is under heavy revision and was updated the week of this release.

 

Personally I prefer z26 over all, but now you can select. (If z26 doesn't see an update soon, Stella might surpass it.)

z26 was last updated mid 2004.

The z26 core is an advanced 2600 emulator with many features most users won't understand but handles far more than the other emulators.

z26 is also extremely stable and handles errors, such as bad dumps, very well.

 

Each has its own keyboard layout and performs slightly different.

 

set CORE=z26\z26.exe or set CORE=AtariEmu\2600.exe or set CORE=Stella\Stella.exe

 

To update any of these emulators simply update the respective folder.

 

I should also note that convert.bat, which contains the command-line options, was written for z26.

The 2600.exe doesn't support command-lines.

Stella supports command-line options but doesn't really need them for now and uses an ini file.

In the future, I may write a seperate conversion script for Stella, but for now have not.

 

I have been informed by Tabby that if I didn't mention her in my credits, she'd bust my balls. Have to love those subtle, precocious women.

So please, don't forget. She posed for my digital camera and wore coloured lingerie that allowed me to set up the colour palettes used in my digital photo projects.

These palettes allow for rapid and automated colour adjustments which saves me hours of work over the former manual method.

Sure, I could have used a colour chart... but hey, a cute brunette in lingerie... which would you have chose?

 

Updated the Scrolling Message Maker to work in WinXP and with a new Fuzzy Logic script. It otherwise remains the same.

 

Removed a 5200 rom that slipped in, Asteroids_-_Vector_Edition.

Identified and removed or renamed the last BINXXXX and Unknown files. Most were Marble Craze alpha test releases, source codes and Atari Hacking for Dummies Combat games.

These were mainly created by the automatic upload features of the Stella BIG List forum.

Sadly, that forum was destroyed and never really recovered. I sure hope Atari Age keeps regular backups. (AA's forums use true upload names.)

 

Renamed most of the Greeting Cart roms to indicate year and keep them separate from the Chrono Colour project.

GC Roms are 2-4K while CC Roms are 4-512K. This is merely an evolution project.

 

LOTS of name revisions. Some by author request, some just by reason. Corrected redundant info like xxxDemo_(PD). If the name says demo no need for PD also.

No doubt many more name changes can be made, but after doing over 2900, whew... Be careful if updating from one of my older archives as so many names have changed.

It is best to just replace the whole archive unless you have your own unique files.

If so, make backups, merge the roms folders and run the new List_Creator. Make certain to run the Duplicate roms testing tool.

 

I have eliminated any need for Good2600 at all and have totally stripped it out.

I mainly kept it to identify regions and pirate roms, but now that the data is in my database, the tool is redundant and only takes up time.

Its encrypted files, lack of updates and copyrights, makes it a poor choice of public use tools.

 

Finally updated the CRC database and lists as well as the Clone data relationships. This was about a 10 hour process which is why I don't do it often.

This process can be done manually as before and now is done automatically when List_Creator is launched (if you so choose).

 

In case you haven't caught on, "List_Creator" is the backbone of this project; my equivilant of Good2600, on steroids.

It is almost entirely scripted. Sure it means it is a little slower, however, it also means total control and freedom to modify.

 

An interesting comparison note. The Win32 port of Asteroids is 352K (including all needed support files) while the original rom + emulator is 132K.

Missle Command, whose rom is half that of Asteroids, is nearly 3 times larger in the windows port.

So much for the notion of improved technology. This is a perfect example of bloatware. Software coders of 30 years ago wasted no space.

 

Added a PDF version of the Service Repair Manual. Thanks Matt for the digital replacement to my stolen copy.

 

Modified the duplicate rom finding tool to handle up to 512K rom sizes now.

 

Added my old BASIC_Compiler. This is an XP version of the BAtari project which sadly seems to have been abandoned.

(My bad. BAtari was not abandoned, just moved out of sight. I have added nearly 200 new BINs from that project and updated codes!)

 

Updated the version of Atari Hacking for Dummies. "Gorden Bennet!", the headaches such tools have caused when maintaining a database such as this.

I know, I am just as guilty for the Vadermatic and other tools... of course, it is also why I waited years before releasing it to the public.

 

Re-added the cassette wave files for music in KidVid games. Not sure when they corrupted but it has been fixed.

Updated the Rarity Guides based on Atari Age's data.

Added a new test routine to the add-to-database function that eliminates sourcecodes with .BIN extensions.

I have updated the FAVORITES function to include 662 roms, no revs/proto/beta/non-working/etc., just playable games (and some of my work).

(This is a NTSC games list as I use NTSC hardware.)

 

For those digging into the scripts, CONVERT.BAT contains all the command-line switch overrides and has been moved to the FRONTEND subfolder.

This file must be edited manually; although with any luck, it should be complete.

Over 800 new PAL entries have been added with another 100 chip specific PAL formats.

The 2600.exe emu uses a simular type process with data stored in Sheets.txt That file is, according to Atari, complete.

 

When viewing image type carts, the mouse capture has been disabled. This allows you to switch to the folder and manually modifiy

snapshots with left-right fields to make a single snap before the program clears out the temp snaps and returns to the frontend.

Again, this has all been done, but I thought I'd mention it for anyone wondering.

 

Note, in DATABASE.txt (formerly CHECKIT.BAT) (where all the main info is held for the List_Creator) do be careful if manually editing name entries.

Be especially careful of causing a repeat name as this can result in roms becoming lost.

It producess a multiple CRC entry for the same name and during the sorting process deletes repeats.

This is usually not a problem as the sorting takes place only from within the ROMS folder, eliminating the chance of duplicate names.

Typically no one should have to change this data and I would prefer any change requests be sent to me for updating.

 

Corrected over 100 snapshot names I fouled up in my attempt at an automatic script in the event no snap exists (from the last release).

Removed the built in automatic snapshot script as it was slowing things down and instead, I have created a seperate AutoSnap tool.

It scans your ROMs folder and then looks in the Graphics\SnapShots folder. Any rom missing a snap will have one auto created.

This little tool saved me days of work. You can still take your own snapshots using = during play. 1 per game.

It uses the z26 to perform this feat, reguardless of %CORE% settings.

 

Gave the assembler a frontend using a modified 2600IDE tool.

Created a simple frontend for the DisAssembler with basic testing capabilities.

 

Completely rewrote the main frontend to cope with all the overall changes.

This time, I made the frontend call a batch script and pass data to it. FE2RW.cmd

By doing this, one can, if one must, modify to an extent the batch file rather than having to edit and recompile a new frontend.

I also made a new shell tool, ShellIt, that will pass the data to be executed. ShellIt resolved the many Win16 Subsystem errors under XP

and reduces resource stacking.

 

Some notes on "bugs" with laptops. It seems the use of DirectX is somewhat limited on some Laptops. Sometimes you will have to launch a game several times.

This mainly happens with monitors that don't support true VGA, especially 640x480x16bit or less modes.

 

Also, due to the age of the VCS Simulator (1997), and XP eliminating much of DOS, I used DOSbox (wonderful program) to make VCSS (2.0) function.

It seems on some systems, especially with varsapad, touchmouse, mainly laptops, the mouse doesn't work properly. Just use the keyboard instead.

Also, in VCSS, F12 exits the system. Many people didn't bother to read the info and were bothered by that.

 

Moved the dozen occurances of the SDL.DLL to one copy in the TOOLS folder (with the exception of VCSS that requires an older build.)

 

Also, in keeping with this releases ability to be relocated, I added a test trap that makes sure the drive and path variables actually point to the archive.

Did this after tripping myself up moving the folder around for testing.

It is a fast test that seeks out 4 major exe files (3 emu cores and the frontend) and if not found where expected, halts the entire archive/frontend/emulator.

 

Reclaimed 25 Mb of space by dumping Adobe Reader and substituting FoxIt, which is also a lot faster as well as free.

This ensures users can view PDF documents if they don't have a viewer already. I tried to make this as much a self-contained archive as possible.

 

Added scans of the Atari comics to the DOCs folder.

 

I have been asked what the AtariServer folder is about.

In short, it is where users would upload/download files to/from me on the internet. The reason it remains in the archive is that when the CRC list generator is called,

it places a copy into that folder. On my server, the script is automatically called once a week. If the folder is missing when the script is called,

it produces an error message. This is very minor. I got more questions about the error than the folder so I left the folder in tact this time.

(No, I have not provided any form of server software in this archive.)

 

## The total packed size of this archive has now expanded to 1Gb. The interviews are a lot of it, 491 Mb.

## Graphics, with all the new snapshots, 75 Mb. The new Themes package is also almost 180 Mb.

## As such, this has now become a DVD distribution package. I considered 2 CDs but just know I'd lose one.

(hmmm, with some compression and less the interviews, this is down to just over 400 Mb, 1CD... skutters, must give this some thought)

I compressed the Themes down to 53 Mb.

I dug up some codec tools I used when working for Blitz Anime' and applied an H.264 codec to the interviews.

The result is lossless quality (it was already grainy) with 64% size reduction (177 Mb). If you are unable to see the clips, install ACEMCP603PRO.exe

It is the most complete all-in-one codec playback package of which I know.

(If you ever installed the KaZaa All-in-One codec pack, remove it first. This replaces all its functions with much newer code and far more support.)

Took the 251 Mb of BMP images from the bonus material and converted it to compressed PNG images, 125 Mb. Some of those original scans were from 1988.

Moved all images to the Graphics folders. As such, the Bonus feature now only supports the interviews.

That brought the archive to 749 Mb. Possibly with good compression on the installer, I will get this whole thing onto a CD afterall.

Eliminated 46 Mb of wasted data by processing the exe's with a code packer that removes byte 2 of two byte words in 32bit compiled programs even when they are only 16bit.

This archive WILL now fit onto a single CD, and for all purposes, without any loss of data!

In fact, I did such a good job at squeezing everything down, I had nearly 150 Mb free on the CD... so I added some more docs and goodies

 

A file, FIRST.RUN, an empty text file, exists during the installation. If this file is found, it is assumed you have never before run this package.

It will halt the current process and open up CLEARENV.BAT in notepad.

From here, you can set your drive and path of the archive. By default it is C:\Atari_2600xp as that is where it resides on my server.

If that is okay, then simply close the file. FIRST.RUN will be deleted and you won't be prompted again.

 

Last minute things.

Updated Stella, VCSS2 (added Ewoks) and got confirmation that the "missing" roms I was checking on were indeed never released.

As such, I am bundling this archive and shipping it off.

It should reach its destination by X-Mas.

Given the extra space, I included the ACEMCP603PRO codec pack in Tools\Misc\

 

My many thanks go out to Atari Age, the many users and supporters, all the programmers, and to Ann, for whom without the use of her computer, after mine died, this project would not exist.

 

---

 

This is a prerelease update.

 

Dec. 02

Testing out a ramdrive version for speed increase. This will require 32Mb free ram to function. As this is an XP project, that shouldn't be an issue.

It won't effect emulation or typical use, it will only be called (fully automated) when updating/sorting/testing lists and databases.

Early tests have taken the 10 hour process and reduced it to 3 hours.

Minor changes to the LFN/SFN scripts which now allow for filenames of 128 characters and possibly longer.

It depends upon how much resource XP itself is hogging.

 

Dec. 19

Testing with the ramdrive has been so successful I have massively overhauled the scripts and many tools.

 

What this meant for me:

Rewriting almost every script; creating a new CRC tool; writing a new frontend; days of testing.

Eliminated several tools that were buggy (thus requiring more work to handle the bugs); reducing the overall number of scan passes required to identify a rom uniquely.

 

What this means for the user:

1. Definable drive and path which means you are no longer locked into a specific folder location!

2. A game launch time reduced from a maximum 64 seconds to a maximum 8 seconds.

3. Harddrive I/O reduced by a ratio of 16:1 which means less wear on the equipment.

4. Stabler code that now works again under Win9x

5. Filenames up to 512 characters in length! (Was a max of 32.)

6. Reduced the database quick create from 32 minutes to under 2 minutes (1GHz machine).

 

The main change is the new CRC tool that can do CRC/CRC32/LFN's and bubble sort it in RAM!

This also means no actual need for the ramdrive or the SuperDIR tool (mainly the cause of bugs and redundant error catching and looping.)

Not only is this a massive performance improvement, it has eliminated many of the former restrictions and decreased the overall archive size.

 

Processing 4,187 roms took 1 hour 39 minutes on a 1 GHz system with a slow harddrive (5400rpm).

That is a full name test, crc check, database comparison and rebuild.

From the previous 10 hour method this is quite an improvement.

 

--------------------------------

ArchiveDATA2006final.zip

[Thomas Jentzsch]

So you have written a new CloneSpy?

[Greg Zumwalt]

So you have written a new CloneSpy?

 

Not precisely.

True I am using a modified version of your last release, but it remains basicly the same.

It runs slightly better on XP and can be called from my scripts.

More precisely to the post, I created a new database of over 4,200 roms and their relationships.

True, anyone could do it, yet most have not.

 

I find the tool especially useful to identifying unknown roms.

For example, many of the unknown had a 98% match to the Marble Craze beta's.

By researching forums for early MC releases, I was able to identify the roms as Marble Craze alpha's.

[Greg Zumwalt]

This is a 2009 update, a bit late, but had a lot of last minute entries and had to sort out Cowering's mess.

FYI, the 24 roms in Good2600 3.14 that most everyone is missing are private, never released to the public roms, so claims Cowering. I have at least 3 of those, downloaded from public websites.

Thus I'm only missing 21 roms according to his tool.

My archive, as always, includes more than 1,000 additional roms.

 

Please do not ask me for roms at this time as I am in the process of updating the entire Atari 2600 Archive project, building new games, and still hip deep in the never ending lawsuit.

Further, my games and works are now being released via "Gray Games" as I've no steady internet where I presently live.

Sadly, since Atari Age has seen fit to [black-ball] Charles, most of this new work will never get released here until they lift that ban. I don't desire to get in the middle of whatever misunderstanding has taken place with Gray Games and Atari Age, it is simply a condition I must endure.

 

As an original Atari employee, technician, founder of the AHS, and in short, person who's been on this scene since before it was a scene, I urge AA to consider resolving those issues. Charles has long been a respected person even if his sales methods have sometimes been quirky. I've know plenty of people to do far worse and still be openly welcomed here.

 

That aside, here is the current CRC32 list of my 8,122 ROMs.

Less about 2,000 alphas, betas, WIP, etc, that the public never will see thus don't belong in a public [you are missing] list.

crc.txt

[gambler172]

This is a 2009 update, a bit late, but had a lot of last minute entries and had to sort out Cowering's mess.

FYI, the 24 roms in Good2600 3.14 that most everyone is missing are private, never released to the public roms, so claims Cowering. I have at least 3 of those, downloaded from public websites.

Thus I'm only missing 21 roms according to his tool.

My archive, as always, includes more than 1,000 additional roms.

 

Please do not ask me for roms at this time as I am in the process of updating the entire Atari 2600 Archive project, building new games, and still hip deep in the never ending lawsuit.

Further, my games and works are now being released via "Gray Games" as I've no steady internet where I presently live.

Sadly, since Atari Age has seen fit to [black-ball] Charles, most of this new work will never get released here until they lift that ban. I don't desire to get in the middle of whatever misunderstanding has taken place with Gray Games and Atari Age, it is simply a condition I must endure.

 

As an original Atari employee, technician, founder of the AHS, and in short, person who's been on this scene since before it was a scene, I urge AA to consider resolving those issues. Charles has long been a respected person even if his sales methods have sometimes been quirky. I've know plenty of people to do far worse and still be openly welcomed here.

 

That aside, here is the current CRC32 list of my 8,122 ROMs.

Less about 2,000 alphas, betas, WIP, etc, that the public never will see thus don't belong in a public [you are missing] list.

Hi Greg

 

I would agree,if Atariage could lift the ban of CHARLES,cause i never had any problems with him.He was always correct and i always got,what i wanted.But this is a problem between Al and Charles.And only Al and Charles should solve it.

Certainly i would like to see the big collection of roms

greetings Walter

[gambler172]

Hi Guys

I would like to know,what other people think about this?You can discuss about the games,made by CHARLES,but no one is forced to buy his games.And i was always satisfied,especially with his last releases.

greetings Walter

Edited February 22, 2009 by gambler172

[Rom Hunter]

IMO it's something between Al and Charles.

 

If Al bans someone, it must be because that person has crossed the line more than once.

 

[gambler172]

IMO it's something between Al and Charles.

 

If Al bans someone, it must be because that person has crossed the line more than once.

 

Hi Rom

I agree,it is something between Al and Charles.........

I do not know exactly,what happened,so i cannot say anything about the situation.

greetings Walter

[Impaler_26]

Hi Guys

I would like to know,what other people think about this?You can discuss about the games,made by CHARLES,but no one is forced to buy his games.And i was always satisfied,especially with his last releases.

greetings Walter

His last release was just an annoying und unnecessary bad joke. I don't have anything against this guy but i don't think many people will miss his pathetic overpriced releases.

 

And i think Al wouldn't ban someone from this site without a good reason. IIRC he has also been banned from DP (again?) recently...

[carmel_andrews]

only 4209 roms, well i seem to have over 5200 unzipped and a zipped file with over 8000 roms i got from somewhere (i guess mostly dupes)

 

Best make that over 12000 2600 roms, just unzipped the zip file with over 8000 2600 games

 

it's made up of commerical releases, hacks and PD software (bin and a26 versions)

Edited February 22, 2009 by carmel_andrews

[slampam]

Hi Guys

I would like to know,what other people think about this?You can discuss about the games,made by CHARLES,but no one is forced to buy his games.And i was always satisfied,especially with his last releases.

greetings Walter

His last release was just an annoying und unnecessary bad joke. I don't have anything against this guy but i don't think many people will miss his pathetic overpriced releases.

 

And i think Al wouldn't ban someone from this site without a good reason. IIRC he has also been banned from DP (again?) recently...

Well, Death Race was banned from the arcades. But I assume there would be a PM warning first.

[Rom Hunter]

it's made up of commerical releases, hacks and PD software (bin and a26 versions)

Personally, I think it's a complete mess.

 

If you truly want every VCS ROM ever released (including every bad dump and WIP .bin), you should get it.

 

But don't expect any overview here.

 

[Greg Zumwalt]

Hey gang. Sorry it has been so long since I've updated, but lifes been busy and I've been working on other projects. I have updated my personal archive and rescanned all the roms.

All dupes removed, 8,239 roms remain. You can download the latest list with multiple HASH's here: http://www1.datafilehost.com/d/819f2cde Size: 1.96 MB A26Report.rar

(Make sure you UNcheck "Use our download manager and get recommended downloads").

SnailSoft Software's Atari 2600 ROM's Report Mon 05/20/2013 22:05:49.80. [8239] .A26 Roms identified.

 

If you have any roms not on the list, please email them to me at SnailSoftSoftware @ GMail.com and I will include them in the next update.

[Greg Zumwalt]

Thanks to those of you who submitted new roms. You know who you are

I have updated the list again and posted the file here.

 

SnailSoft Software's Atari 2600 ROM's Report Wed 05/29/2013 2:26:35.91. [8954] .A26 Roms identified.

Edited May 29, 2013 by Greg Zumwalt

[OldSchoolRetroGamer]

@Greg Zumwalt

 

You seem to of included the word "Size" as part of your link above so clicking it results in:

http://www1.datafilehost.com/d/819f2cde%C2%A0%C2%A0Size:

 

instead of the correct

http://www1.datafile....com/d/819f2cde

Edited May 29, 2013 by OldSchoolRetroGamer

[Greg Zumwalt]

I see that.

Had issues with dialup upload.

Here is another upload from in town on broadband :0

A26Report.rar

[Greg Zumwalt]

This is the most recent update.

 

SnailSoft Software's Atari 2600 ROM's Report Sun 02/09/2014 0:00:46.57. [9017] .A26 Roms identified.

 

This is only a report, NOT the roms.

 

SnailSoft Software's Atari 2600 ROM's Report.zip

[Greg Zumwalt]

Greetings.
I am posting what is likely to be the last public update of this database.
I started this more than a decade ago and have maintained this thread for nearly 8 years.
In that time, the database grew from a few hundred to over 10,000!
Also in that time, I had a lot of changes occure, including being forced back to dialup internet.

Dialup internet is horrible on todays web as most webhosts do not take dialup use into consideration.
Bloated sites, excessive flash, heavy graphics, all make searching forums and other sites near impossible.
In fact, it took me 18 minutes to load this page from logon.

Half a year ago I put out requests, sent emails, and asked that anyone with 2600 roms not in the database send them to me (or the data) and I'd include it. I did this as it is easier for others to email me their work rather than me trying to search it out.

In half a year, I received 3 emails for this request

2 with rom data/bin files.
Al didn't reply at all. Nor did most of the larger Atari forum hosts.

Okay, so, that being said, I have built this last database.

SnailSoft Software's Atari 2600 ROM's Report Mon 09/29/2014 14:35:37.74. [10054] .A26 Roms identified.

While that's 1,037 more roms than the prior report, I counted over 50 new projects on this site alone with roms not listed in the database.
Also, 850 of those new entries were submitted by one anonynous person (to whom I am very gratefull.)
Another 98 were submitted by Hozer Video. The rest, I scrounged up on my own.

I do appologize, but I simply can't maintain this database on my own and half a year has shown not enough interest exists to continue maintaining it.

To that end, I provide this last entry and hope someone finds it of use.
It's been an intersting couple years.

A26Report.rar

[Greg Zumwalt]

SnailSoft Software's Atari 2600 ROM's Report Mon 09/05/2016 16:04:23.66. [10918] .A26 Roms identified.

It has been some time since I have done any updates on this database, but as I presently have broadband, I thought I would take the time.

Some people have asked me what this is and why it is important.

 

This is an HTML generated document.
It lists over 10,000 roms and their unique CRC/MD5 identifiers.
Due to the file being over 10 Mb it must be downloaded and viewed locally.

 

How does it work?

Found a rom on the internet?
Only it doesn't have a name, or has nothing but numbers for a name, or perhaps you downloaded two (or more) roms with slightly different names...
Well, you may not be able to tell what the rom is by just looking at it.
Every file created has a unique value.
This value can be found with an MD5 or CRC hash calculator.

http://www.winmd5.com has one for free.

 

Put all your unknown roms into a folder, run WinMD5 (or what ever calc you like) and generate the hash tags.
(These are not the bullshit Twitter messages! These are real HASH tags.)

 

In this example we have 2 roms. One, Pacman, the other, Qbert.
When we run our hash calculator and select Create, the hash values are generated.
Having download and extracted A26Report.rar to get the A26Report.html file, load the A26Report.html into any web browser.
Be warned. It is a very large file and may cause your browser to freeze for a while.
Once loaded, go back to your calc and COPY the hash value.
In your browser, SEARCH for that value... and wait....

As it turns out, ba3525368894f36e20b411d2f26caaf7, is NOT Pacman at all! It is Qbert.

Code:

QBERT2.a26 BA3525368894F36E20B411D2F26CAAF7 DFF5FD5BC17129E73A96F6AD6EDCDCDBFFEF6F84 32BE7E22 4931796697C9FD86C30A14A488920370E5811EC4E1771EB8AC54D3A34561FD1E FEC1C1C859A0A6553D371A57F5049357FB9C1A726F15444417641494DFE86750A051A6FA7BAF64B4DF6AC9F176200168262BE2581DBDB0CB10F78ED1E11E86E2 87AF2A265FAA77246596D8A0BAF21481F85D299689833820BD6EDC5A038591AC644C2D9421F99E2AF1ECB43E892FEB63 ..\..\Atari_2600\Roms\QBERT2.a26

 

And, 369d7b869bfd2785179aff18af07bc63, is Qbert, but not the original. It is Nukey's modified version!

Code:

Qbert(Supercharger)_(Nukey_Shay_Modified).a26 369D7B869BFD2785179AFF18AF07BC63 16C9B1EC1D78A9A5A748FFCDA713EC14316B22BA B8034CEA DB5E8997000C734FF83C6DCF421B75576117B50FEC4DB7366FC3EF06AFDBDFF9 B144BD565D28553377E18CBDE43ADD76F5F08525AEC04E83EE796FAFCE72CC688F75A703E99972D77BD4F37A735E87D28D6428796395B2694DCD3268A23C4294 0C83473845F64892EACFBCCDDC0AB7064407E5681DEDF136D89C599A0500763321278173085147B09DF11191B562B369 ..\..\Atari_2600\Roms\Qbert(Supercharger)_(Nukey_Shay_Modified).a26

 

And THAT is what one can do with this database

It also includes other HASH reports, file size and more, all meant to be used to identify roms.

Filename MD5 SHA1 CRC32 SHA-256 SHA-512 SHA-384 Full Path Modified Time Created Time File Size File Version Product Version Identical Extension File Attributes

For those of you who are familiar with Cowering's GOOD Atari 2600 tool, you may ask, why use this database?
1. Cowering has not updated his tool in years
2. His database is not public
3. His database contains hundreds of roms never released
4. His database contains less than 2,000 roms
5. His database is based on CRC16, which has known issues
6. His tools do not work well on Win8 up
7. His tools use all sorts of flags in renaming roms that look ugly and often are wrong

His tools were good back in the day of XP and when far less roms had been dumped or created, but its lack of update no longer make it viable.

What's that you say?!?!?! You have a ROM and it doesn't appear in the database?
Well, send me a copy of the ROM. I will test it to confirm it is an Atari 2600 rom and add it to the database

 

Using this database, and a simple comparison tool, archives like this-

 

Best make that over 12000 2600 roms, just unzipped the zip file with over 8000 2600 games

get reduced down to less then 2,000 and everyone of those roms identifiable in the database.

 

No, this database will not automate testing. I have a private tool I use to do that.

If someone wants to make a new tool based upon this data, you have my permission.

 

If you have ROM's you feel are not in the database, send them to me snailsoftsoftware@gmail.com

Do not ask for roms.

 

A26Report.rar

winmd5free.zip

[Rom Hunter]

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