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dfgordon edited this page Apr 15, 2023 · 8 revisions

Notes on Apple ][

  • The FP prompt, ], allows input of AppleSoft BASIC and operating system commands.
  • The INT prompt, >, allows input of Integer BASIC and operating system commands.
  • DOS 3.3 was the operating system on early models. It uses a flat filing system.
  • ProDOS was the operating sytstem on later models. It added directories and bigger disks.
  • Disk drives are plugged into cards, which are inserted into numbered slots.
  • By convention, slot 6 is for floppy drives, and slot 7 is for hard drives.
  • From either BASIC prompt, type PR#6 to boot to slot 6, drive 1, PR#7 to boot to slot 7, drive 1, etc..

Running on Emulators

First install an emulator on the modern computer. Then click on the links to the disk images in the latest release to download them.

Just about any Apple II emulator will allow you to insert (virtually) realm-dos33-setup.woz into an emulated 5.25 inch drive and boot. The specific process depends on the emulator. Once the setup program is running follow the steps and the prompts. This mode of play will involve disk swapping.

Some emulators can also emulate a 3.5 inch drive, in which case you can boot realm-prodos.woz and play without having to swap disks. Even if the emulator cannot emulate a 3.5 inch drive, you can sometimes still use realm-prodos.po (see OmniDrive in Virtual ][, and disk configuration in AppleWin). This represents the 3.5 inch disk as a logical volume.

Video

Counter-intuitively, the artwork looks best on an old-style display with significant artifacts (because the artifacts were part of the artist's toolkit). Some emulators can adjust the rendering on your modern display to look like an old one. Set the video emulation to color TV if possible.

Installing on Emulated Hard Drives

If you already have your emulator setup with a hard drive, you can copy Realm onto that same hard drive using the installer disks. Insert realm-install-1 and boot it (with the hard drive still mounted). You will be prompted to select the install location and to insert the other two install disks in turn. Once the installation is finished, navigate to the REALM directory and run START.REALM to play the game. This can be done from BASIC or using a menu driven interface like BITSY BYE.

You can upgrade an existing installation by selecting the old REALM directory as the install location. This will preserve the old configuration and parties.

Please note Realm requires BASIC.SYSTEM.

Installing on Vintage Computers

Realm has been tested on vintage hardware. Realm should work on a 48K Apple ][ plus or higher. The main question is what sort of data storage device to use. Options that have been tested are as follows.

MicroDrive Turbo

This is probably the most playable. There are two possibilities.

  1. If you have the MicroDrive and Floppy Emu, copy the installer disks to the Floppy Emu (see below), and then run the installer from the Floppy Emu.

  2. Otherwise use CiderPress and a CF card reader

    • Remove the CF card from the MicroDrive Turbo, and put it in your CF card reader. If Windows offers to format the card, do not let it. Run CiderPress, and open the Volume copier (open volume) option under the Tools menu. This will let you create a disk image of the volume.
    • Now that you have a hard drive image, use the emulator procedure to install Realm on the image.
    • Finally run the Volume Copier (open volume) again, but this time check the write-enable box, and copy the disk image of the CF card volume back onto the CF card itself. Eject the CF card from Windows and put it back in the MicroDrive Turbo.

Floppy Emu

This is probably the most authentic, barring real floppy disks.

To prepare the Floppy Emu is simple. Just remove the micro-SD card from the Floppy Emu and plug it into your modern computer. Copy the Realm disk images to the micro-SD card. You can put them in their own folder if you like. Safely remove the micro-SD card and put it back in the Floppy Emu.

Floppy Emu DOS 3.3

If you have the standard Disk II controller, you can only use 5.25 inch disk images. As a result, you must use the DOS 3.3 version of Realm. Configure the Floppy Emu for either single or dual drive emulation (dual drive is much better, but you might need a special hardware attachment from BMOW). Virtually insert the Realm setup disk in drive 1 and reboot.

Floppy Emu ProDOS (untested)

If you have a disk controller that supports 3.5 inch floppy drives, configure the Floppy Emu for 3.5 inch drive emulation. Insert the proDOS Realm disk image and reboot. If the computer has 128K, playability can be improved by enabling the RAM disk during configuration.

Sider Hard Drive

Sider DOS 3.3

To install on the Sider's DOS 3.3 small volume partitions, use the Image Copy utility provided by First Class Peripherals to copy the four Realm disks to the four small volume partitions of your choice. Then (as an example) get to the FP prompt and type RUN GUTEN TAG,S7,D1,V5, supposing the Sider is in slot 7, and the setup disk image was copied to volume 5. When the Realm setup menu comes up, use the CONFIGURE option to assign the proper volume numbers to the four Realm disks (this must be done first). When you deploy your party, you can reboot, get to the FP prompt, and type RUN GUTEN TAG,S7,D1,V2, assuming the master disk is volume 2.

Sider ProDOS

This can be done the same way as the MicroDrive, i.e., run the installer from the Floppy Emu.

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