[Search for users] [Overall Top Noters] [List of all Conferences] [Download this site]

Conference hydra::amiga_v1

Title:	AMIGA NOTES
Notice:	Join us in the NEW conference - HYDRA::AMIGA_V2
Moderator:	HYDRA::MOORE

Created:	Sat Apr 26 1986
Last Modified:	Wed Feb 05 1992
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	5378
Total number of notes:	38326

5059.0. "Reverse Boot Loader Virus" by BOUTYE::MULLAN () Fri Sep 20 1991 07:23

    
    I picked up Reverse Boot Loader virus from a UK magazine cover disk but
    have successfully removed it from the majority of my disks which were
    subsequently infected.
    
    Unfortunately, it has also infected the disks I copied my Wings game
    onto and I played away at it for weeks without knowing.  Wings takes
    the player through WW1 and sets different missions for different dates. 
    As I am up to July 1917, I have no wish to go back to the beginning and
    start again which may happen if I decide to clear the virus off the
    boot blocks of the Wings disks.
    
    So....
    
    1. What does Reverse Boot Loader do - I haven't seen any problems so
    far.
    
    2. If I replace the boot blocks using VirusX or Master Virus Killer,
    will I still be able to boot up the game at the date I left off, or
    will I have to make new copies and go back to 1914?
    
    Cheers,
    
    Gerry.

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
5059.1		DEFOE::JAMIE	Thunder knows all things.	`Fri Sep 20 1991 09:42`	14
	I doubt if replacing the boot block would affect your save game. I assume you saved the boot block beforehand. Which mag was it on ? I've probably got it!!! I picked up the Australian Parasite Virus the other day. Anyone know what that does ? Does anyone collect Viruses ? I'd be interested in looking through some. Cheers, Jamie.
5059.2		STAR::DCARR	Guru: a 4-letter word to Amiga owners	`Fri Sep 20 1991 09:43`	10
	There's a file on the Wings disk "Reel 2" which saves the state of the game. It's called pilot.dat. I would think you wouldn't have a problem, but for safety's sake copy the pilot.dat file to another disk just in case. And, if you weren't aware of it, this file can be copied and restored in case your pilot is killed. I usually name my backups with the date of the mission in the format pilot-mmm-dd-yyyy.dat and keep a few around. Check out the Wings note for additional info. -Dom
5059.3	CU Amiga	BELFST::MULLAN		`Fri Sep 20 1991 11:56`	8
	The Reverse Boot Loader Virus was on some of the CU Amiga magazine cover disks, I think it was issue 16. They issued MVKIII on the next issue. I'll try the tip with Wings at the weekend and see how it goes. Gerry.
5059.4		LODGE::LEN	David M. Len	`Sat Sep 21 1991 19:27`	10
	The version of Wings that I have does not any floppy based protection (it uses Manual protection). Therefore, it uses the standard boot block, and re-installing the boot-block will not damage the playability of the game. This will get rid of the virus, if it is a typical boot-block virus. BTW I have played all the way thru Wings to the end. I really enjoyed the game, except that I couldn't win many of the straffing runs at the higher levels.