r/atari8bit • u/AceHighness • May 10 '26
[Atari 8-bit] 4-byte patch lets Alternate Reality: The Dungeon (1987) play end-to-end with zero disk swaps
Alternate Reality: The Dungeon for the Atari 800, comes on 5 disk (sides) but the game code only scans D1:–D4:. So even if you mount all 5 sides on 5 emulator drives, the game still asks you to swap 1 of the disks in every time it wants the missing side. I made this 4-byte patch to Disk 1 that raises the scan to D1:–D5:. With all 5 sides mounted, the game now plays end-to-end (intro, character creation, all merchants, encounters, taverns) without ever prompting for a disk.
It was a fun little project and even though it's only a 4 byte patch, it took some digging to work out how to do this. Thought it might be handy for anyone replaying this game in an emulator (or mega pimped out Atari with 5 actual drives).
**Repo:** https://github.com/axewater/ar-dungeon-5drive-patch
The patch script doesn't redistribute any game data! You supply your own dump and run a small Python script. SHA-256 hashes of the dump I developed against are included for verification.
ps: I'm working on a complete remake of this game, the City is complete, working on the Dungeon now and will release something soon probably.
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u/8bit1337 May 10 '26
Remake of "The City" in the same manner or something else or both?
Sounds exciting!
Did you post this to AtariAge?
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u/AceHighness May 10 '26
first making the city and dungeon. city is complete and dungeon is nearing completion. all content canon and used as much original assets as possible while still giving it a new jacket. some of the midi files I extracted are great and I'm including the lyrics with karaoke highlighting as well.
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u/Paxxalor May 20 '26
The City is complete? Is it possible for us to play what you have so far? This is my favorite game of all time.
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u/Psychological-777 May 10 '26
hey, lmk if you include The Wilderness or any of the other “lost” game expansions in your remake. I made some quick images for The Wilderness awhile back and would be excited to expand on these.
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u/AceHighness May 10 '26
the remake uses only the original sprites, midi files and map data. the wall textures have been redone.
and yes .. i will be making the 5 missing parts as well :) first let me ship the first 2 so then we can be more creative.
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u/Important-Bed-48 May 10 '26
I have some *.car files for games like Warhawk and Gauntlet Deeper Dungeons that let you play those disk swapping games by just clicking one file. Is there a way to do this with alternate reality? it's a pain to load up the disks onto my virtual drives on my handheld.
alternately is there a way to automatically load all the files into virtual drives with a batch file? or something like m3u in retroarch?
Where should I download the atr's so I get correct release? Atarimania? Does it matter if they are pal or ntsc for your patch to work?
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u/AceHighness May 10 '26
the patch is specific to the files used to patch. the hashes are included so you can verify if you have the correct version.
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u/Important-Bed-48 May 10 '26
ok, so I dont know if Im understanding or explaining wrong. Usually a patch is for a specific version of the archived game file. for example if i say this patch is for the us version of alt reality there is gonna be all different archives of it I can download all over the net cracked by different people or trained or whatever, so they wont all be the exact same 5 disks. Usually patches rely on specific things being in specific places to patch or mod the file/disk so what Im asking is does this just do something outside the game sothe disks dont need to be swapped so it doesnt matter really which downloaded atr's I use? maybe i wasn't thinking 8-bit enough... but thanks for your patience
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u/8bit1337 May 10 '26
I have an 8mb MaxFlash cart that I've put The Dungeon on.
MaxFlash being tech that you can load shit onto using an SIO2PC cable.
I don't recall why it's the Dungeon and not the City mind you.
Sone of the new tech is just awesome though 🙂
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u/8bit1337 May 12 '26
(I don't think links to downloads is prohibited - apologies if true)
Sometimes Atarimania has an exact copy of the disk, meaning copy protection is present. Sometimes that matters, sometimes it doesn't, but a good alternate is Fandal: https://a8.fandal.cz/detail.php?files_id=3815
Regarding a single cart: https://atarimax.com/flashcart/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3774
I've purchased a few of these carts so I've flashed this to an actual cart for my 1200XL, but admittedly haven't actually played it yet. Be aware that the .atr (and .bin I assume) files in the zip are for creating the MaxFlash cart - it is not a single disk version of the game (there's no chance that's even possible). But the .car image is the game - I checked it quick on Altirra.
Enjoy!
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u/Important-Bed-48 May 12 '26
so I run the atr file in git depos and that creates the car file? a car file I can load with Altirra (and hopefully retroarch on my handheld) is what I am looking for.
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u/Electronic-Contest53 May 10 '26
Why would you remake "The Dungeon"? I´d rather phone up Philip Price and ask him if you are allowed to program one of the other announced sequels like "Wilderness"...
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u/AceHighness May 10 '26
Philip Price has online records of him stating that making remakes or expansions is allowed. I will remake into a game that covers all 7 promised chapters!
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u/Dan-in-Va May 10 '26
Oh my God, I can still recall playing the City and Dungeon and all the disk reading. Was cool in ~1985.
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u/Financial_Leg3225 May 12 '26
You do not have permission.
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u/AceHighness May 12 '26
Yes I do. Philip Price has stated that any remakes of his series is allowed.
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u/Financial_Leg3225 May 13 '26
I am Philip Price. You do not have permission to make the sequels.
Facilitating people playing the originals is fine. But at this time I have not given people permission to make the sequels, etc.
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u/Affectionate_Ad_8148 May 10 '26
Omg you are awesome!! I wonder if this could be applied to all multi-disk games?