Hello,

is there a way to open, add files in a CHD files ? I created a CHD files to use with PC Emulation, formatted under DOS, but is there any tools that can open .CHD files, like Winimage can do with .HDV files ?

Or can I use .hdv files with MAME.

If you have something that can work with a raw hard disk image, you can extract the contents of the CHD to a file and then use it on that. MAME's imgtool can theoretically work with files inside some images, but I wouldn't count on it actually working given how infrequently people test it and how frequently it seems to get broken. Another option is to use mkisofs or hdituil mkhybrid to create a CD image and mount that in an emulated CD-ROM drive in MAME, then copy the files. The Windows 98 boot disk from the software list has lots of CD-ROM drivers in it.

Yeah. I use chdman extracthd to get a raw image, and then run WinImage on it (inside CrossOver on my Mac or WINE on my Linux machine). It's not a perfect workflow but it's usable. We'd like to create DOS and Windows drivers eventually that allow host file system access like DOSBOX and VMWare have.

Ok, extracthd work. But... How can I recreate a chd with the modified hd image ???

I created an HD with

chdman createhd -opctest.chd -chs 615.4,17 =>21 Mb disk for PC1512 driver

Formatted and installed under dos 3.2
then

chdman extracthd -o pctest.ima -i pctest.chd

got a usable image disk for winimage, added file to it.

then

chdman -i pctest.ima -o pctest.chd -chs 615,4,17

=>At launch, message from MAME: Fatal error: Device Harddisk load failed: invalid parent

Do you need to use --compression none when supplying a source file? Creating an empty CHD always uses no compression, but it might produce a compressed (and hence read-only) CHD if you supply a source file.

Got it working with
chdman createhd -i pctest.ima -o pctest.chd -chs 615,4,17 -f -c none

No compression...

Not easy at all

I also have question about xtide emulation: doesn't seems to work with PC1512dd driver (no boot at all). I"m stuck with standard 20 Mb of the hdc emulation....
I can't add a 3.5 drive to PC1512 driver, also....

For a quick local fix of the 3.5" drive you need to add



around line 1041

and change




to



around line 1218.

Then you add the lines



to your config.sys and reboot. This results in a drive c: which can be formatted to 80 tracks /720KB

The xtide didn't work for me with the PC1512 driver, but the hdc controller does - at least for the 20MB CHD I had ready.

Another issue with the PC1512 driver is that it's missing the lower part of letters at the lower border of the screen