Prince of Persia 1 Original Floppy Images

[tez]

Hi dear Prince of Persia Fans,

It's so nice to see that there are many active players in this forum. I believe there are also many veterans here who could help me about my situation.

As another PoP fan, I'm happy to say that I have all PoP games as original discs/floppies (even PoP2). Recently I bought Prince of Persia 1 (PC-UK version) as 3.5" and 5.25" double pack. I felt extremely happy and lucky to find this vintage in 2015! It was my only missing part of my PoP collection. But... whatever I do, I couldn't make these floppies work. Neither 3.5" single floppy, nor 5.25" two floppies.

Normally, for my original floppy games, I use a program called "WinImage" to create their backup file in .vfd or .img format. This way, I keep every details and datas in the floppy (even the floppy label and boot sector properties). So, I wonder, are there collectors here, who have made backups of their original PoP1 floppies just like I do (or any similar way)? I would be very happy if you share them with me.

Any help will be appreciated. Thank you

[Norbert]

Various images in .ima format can be found here.

[tez]

OMG that's awesome! I don't know how to thank you and the others who've uploaded those images. They all are just like how I wanted and none of them seems modded, great!

I checked v1.0, 1.1 and 1.3 -- Mine seems v1.1, because only v1.1's copy protection accepts the characters in my booklet. I think that's enough to make sure about this.

I just wonder, do the contents of the disks of UK and US versions exactly the same? For example, UK versions are released by Domark Software. May there be any note in the game or in setup/install windows about Domark?

[tez]

Hi again, today I did read the 5.25" disks of my UK version 1.1 floppies. But it seems WinImage cannot handle these 5.25" disks. When I click "Read disk" in both disks, it says "Disk error no 65535 on track 0, head 0". I know there is no problem in the disks because I could copy the files manually without WinImage. Any idea how to make image of them via WinImage? I need to check their boot sectors. And as I know, only way to do it is making image with WinImage.

[David]

But it seems WinImage cannot handle these 5.25" disks.

You could try some other disk-image software.
For example, RawWrite: http://www.chrysocome.net/rawwrite

[tez]

Thanks for assistance. I used some better devices and finally could read my floppies. All 3 disks work like a charm, and I want to share their ".vfd" images with other PoP fans here.

Just reminding again, these images are from original UK/EU release v1.1 by Broderbund and Domark (1989/1990). Disk contents are "almost" the same as US v1.1 release. As I see, file sizes are the same, but times are not. Also, the disk labels which are "PRINCE" in US version, while mine are "SIR PRINCE"

Enjoy

[David]

Your 3.5 image is similar to the one on PoPUW: http://popuw.com/download.html

The difference is that in PoPUW's (The Hit Squad) version:
* PRINCE.EXE was changed (hacked), see below,
* PRINCE.EXE and INSTALL.EXE were renamed to PRINCE1.EXE and INSTALL1.EXE,
* there are two extra files: PRINCE.BAT and INSTALL.BAT.

The differences in PRINCE.EXE are:
(Note that these are parts of the 1.0 disassembly, but the relevant parts of the code are the same.)

Code: Select all

show_copyprot()
seg000:23FC 83 3E 9E 0F 0F                       cmp     current_level, 15 ; potions level: dialog and statusbar message
seg000:2401 75 7F                                jnz     loc_2482 ; <- here

Change: 75->EB, that is: jnz->jmp
Effect: Skip the potions message.

Code: Select all

load_alter_mod()
seg008:19F8 39 84 A2 00                          cmp     copyprot_room[si], ax ; is this the selected room?
seg008:19FC 74 03                                jz      loc_B621 ; <- here
seg008:19FE E9 F0 00                             jmp     end
seg008:1A01                      loc_B621:
seg008:1A01 8B 46 06                             mov     ax, [bp+tile_ix]
seg008:1A04 39 84 BE 00                          cmp     copyprot_tile[si], ax ; is this the selected tile?
seg008:1A08 74 03                                jz      loc_B62D
seg008:1A0A E9 E4 00                             jmp     end
seg008:1A0D                      loc_B62D:
seg008:1A0D 8B 5E FE                             mov     bx, [bp+curr_tile_modif]
seg008:1A10 C6 07 C0                             mov     byte ptr [bx], 0C0h ; place open potion
seg008:1A13 E9 DB 00                             jmp     end

Change: 74 03 -> EB 0F, that is: jz loc_B621 -> jmp loc_B62D
Effect: All potions on level 15 become open potions.

These explain the oddities that Andrew noticed here: viewtopic.php?p=8207#p8207

[tez]

My set looks like exactly the same as this photo, which I found on internet.

It seems my version doesn't have music. Or I just couldn't configure, I'm not sure. Is there any way to enable it?

Also, I couldn't get work the "install.exe" properly. It opens but doesnt install anything. I tried on Win98 and Win7 (via DosBox). Do you know what problem is?

[David]

Also, I couldn't get work the "install.exe" properly. It opens but doesnt install anything. I tried on Win98 and Win7 (via DosBox). Do you know what problem is?

I think it's this problem: viewtopic.php?p=14201#p14201

It seems my version doesn't have music. Or I just couldn't configure, I'm not sure. Is there any way to enable it?

This might happen if the cycles value (in DOSBox) is too high. Try with cycles=3000.
See also here: viewtopic.php?p=13503#p13503