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Some infos about FDS Spray 2.2a

Needed: I still need data from the following games if dumps exist (or if they don't too). All others should be recognised and repaired.

----Confirmed (someone owns)----

----Probable (various sources)----

What's new in Windows Beta (1.5):

• Option to have or not have the 16-byte headers that you don't really need.
• Refill #7 added with minor changes, nothing new.

• Zeroes unused bytes safely for cleaner games and better compression when archiving.
• Removes Save-game Info (not perfect)
• Renames games to their real, actual names
• Resizes games, saving 127k to 191k of useless crap per file
• Removes some stamps by converters like "hCon by hal9999" *Note* This is done automatically, and you have no way to disable it. I don't see any reason to, and neither do you!
• Converts .FAM version 4.0 files to .FDS (a better format for your Famicom games)
• Child proof safety seal for your protection.
• Hypo-allergenic, dermatologist tested.
   

First, this is a fully functional program. It's pretty much finished now, but there is no way it can be tested on every FDS or FAM game image out there. Do not use it on your collection and then delete all the files in ".\bak" or ".\dupes" unless you know what you're doing. I have taken many precautions, but I make no guarantees. If you have a public access archive, please do not use SPRAY in case it does something bad. This final release will be safe, but we don't want to lose data until we are 100% certain.

A word about iNes. The newest version apparently has FDS support. You apparently need to remove the first 16 bytes of the FDS file for it to run in iNes. Cookies for anyone who can confirm or refute this. The first 16 bytes will look like this:

46 44 53 1A 0? 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ; FDS.............

Options:
     Zero Unused:  Writes zeros over anything the game does
                   not use. For cleaning and better compression.
     Zero Save:    Zeros out any save games.  This is not
         perfect. Some games just zero the block (like
         Spray does), others delete the save block.
         Feedback here would be nice.				    

FDSdat *
     dumps block info for whole directory (FDS only, I think)
FDSdat [filename]
     dumps block info for file.
FDSdat * > info.txt  or  FDSdat [filename] > info.txt
     saves info to a file to be sent to the Webulator       

223 games identified, all of the info is in "ingredients.dat" so you can change whatever you don't like *g*

Once the game is identified, it checks various things:

• The FDS header should have "FDS followed by hex 1A, followed by the number of disk sides the game has. Spray fixes this if necessary.
• It also truncates games which only take up one or two disk sides so that they are not twice as big (or four times as big) as needed.
• It also removes the "hCon by HAL9999" crap from the header.
• If it finds two games within one disk image, like Donkey Kong Jr. and the Goonies, it splits them up. The final version of SPRAY will not do that, if the games were originally sold on the same disk. Cookies to anyone who can confirm this!
• Optional: Any information outside of file blocks are zeroed. For example, when copying from FDS disk to PC, extra or random bytes in memory might be saved to fill out the 65500 bytes of a FDS disk side. Also, save games are not usually zeroed out. When the block shrinks, the additional data is left there. Spray can zero this data.
• Optional: Any saved game can be detected and removed. This might result in you having three characters in Zelda with the name 00000000, but at least the save game is gone.
• NOTE: any game which is sprayed using -z -s options will be byte-identical to someone else's game if they used those options, too.
   

This program creates the .dat file from games in your dir.

	FDSdat * > info.dat

If there are any unrecognised games, send me the "FDSdat.exe [game] > info.txt" output.

Any filenames you think need to be changed, need to be changed, so let me know "ATTN: Webulator" in ABEN or ABEND or by e-mail.
 

And a final note: The miss.txt file only remembers those files scanned during that session. Running multiple times will work, but once you close WinSpray the info is lost.
 

It won't scan files it rescues from other games always. If Volleyball is created and Tennis is written as a temp file, Volleyball will be processed and moved to ".\ren" but Tennis will be written as "tmpxxxx.fds" and possibly processed, possibly not depending on how "clean" your directory is. Just run it again.

Sailor Fuku 4 has a "bad dump" version in which the second side is placed first, and the first side second. Spray now fixes this by cutting the game up. You can put it back together properly by using the DOS copy command with the /b switch. Use copy /? for hints and good luck... Not all .FAM files are converted. An earlier .FAM format (maybe 2.0) is a ROM image and can't be converted to FDS. These look like ass in Famtasia,and *should be* moved to the \fam2\ directory. thanks, tW

the balzano50 guy at the hotmail.com place