Unpacking SIT files on Windows (and other newbie questions)

This page is a wiki. Please login or create an account to begin editing.

7 posts / 0 new

Last post

2014, September 7 - 11:07am

RubyC42

Offline

Joined: 2014 Sep 7

Unpacking SIT files on Windows (and other newbie questions)

Hello everyone,

I'm trying to remember how to properly unpack .sit/.hqx files that many files on this sit use.

I remember there was a forum thread (don't think it was on here) that unpacking on Windows-based OS (e.g. using StuffIt 5.5 installed inside B-II on Win7) would make the files unworkable because of a Mac-unique "file forking" that is ignored by Windows so one have to use an unar.exe to properly extract all files from it.

Though I remember one had to manually input a very complicated command line, and I have since forgotten it completely - anyone may have the details (or even the forum thread to it)

Cheers!
RubyC42 (currently using Basilisk II on Windows 7 64Bit)

PS. what program should I use to unpack/mount .bin and .toast files?

Comments

2014, September 7 - 12:33pm

24bit

Offline

Joined: 2010 Nov 19

Toast should be easiest - rename it to ISO, thats it.
BIN/CUE can not be mounted by BII or SS AFAIK.
You can only restore bin/cue image back to CD, but chances are CDs wont play properly in emulation anyway because of the "uncommon" partition table.

For the usual SIT and HQX stuff, why not install Stuffit4 on your BII emulated HDD?
Even better, set up SheepShaver and use Stuffit7 in there as S7 will inflate almost anything.

2014, September 7 - 3:28pm

(Reply to #2) #3

RubyC42

Offline

Joined: 2014 Sep 7

so all .bin/.toast/.iso games on here can only be played on actual Macintosh/MacOS?

I haven't tried SS yet, because majority of my Mac-playing years were on System 7.6 and there are games I got from here that cannot be played on SS, besides, aren't file transfer between different emus a real hassle?

my B2 has StuffIt 5.5, but some .sit files came out corrupt due to the aformentioned problem from my earlier post.

2014, September 7 - 6:49pm

(Reply to #3) #4

24bit

Offline

Joined: 2010 Nov 19

Many ISOs can be mounted with the emulators, even real CDs do work if the host OS supports it.
Images of bin/cue type are often mixed mode and only the first partition will mount in emulation.

SS plays many 68k only games just as well as BII, sometimes better.

File transfers between the host OS and the emulators is best done with IMG containers, methinks.
I am using 2GB HFS IMG containers for my stuff, the drives mount with BII or SS just fine.

Bildschirmfoto 2014-09-07

2014, September 7 - 7:55pm

(Reply to #4) #5

RubyC42

Offline

Joined: 2014 Sep 7

OK, once my upmarket Laptop comes back from service depot I shall give SS a try, then!

hope you'll be around (or if there's a link on here already) to guide me through with ISO mounting and file transfers.

has anyone tested whether SheepShaver is Fraps-detectable?

[edit] does SS/System 8 have the issue with game playing "too fast" as it could happen with older 68k/B&W games on System 7.6/BII?

2014, September 7 - 9:46pm

(Reply to #5) #6

24bit

Offline

Joined: 2010 Nov 19

Give SS a go, absolutely.
GS12 hosts a bunch of useful files to get started: http://www.redundantrobot.com/sheepshaver-tutorial/
If you want to run OS8.1 or lower with SS, choose the 4MB OldWorldRom.
As SS is up and running, be sure to set up a fresh OS version in the language of your choice on a 1-2GB volume.

For emulation issues, Emaculation is the place to ask.

I don´t think Fraps will work with emulators, as it relies on DirectX or OpenGL and yes, some old games run way too fast on modern Macs and emulators. More recent games used a different timing and should not have the issues of System6 games.

If you want to play old monochrome games, MiniVMac is the one, it is the only Mac emulator I´m aware of, were the "cpu" speed can be adjusted.

2014, September 8 - 1:16am

MikeTomTom

Offline

Joined: 2009 Dec 7

"...unpacking on Windows-based OS (e.g. using StuffIt 5.5 installed inside B-II on Win7) would make the files unworkable because of a Mac-unique "file forking" that is ignored by Windows so one have to use an unar.exe to properly extract all files from it.

Though I remember one had to manually input a very complicated command line, and I have since forgotten it completely - anyone may have the details (or even the forum thread to it)"

Re: .sit/.hqx etc files; Unpacking Mac archives using Stuffit 5.5 is perfectly safe and is the preferred method to use if you want fully functioning classic Mac programs and files running on your emulator.
Note: Stuffit 5.5 is installed on the emulated Mac and runs during the emulated session, not from the host OS.

There is however, a gotcha involved which affects many new users. That is, these emulators have an optional feature that uses a shared directory which mounts as a disk drive during the emulated session (named "Unix" on Mac/Linux and "My Computer" on Win emu's). The gotcha being, these shared directories are just that, shared (to be used only for transferring files between the host & emulator). Files 1st need to be transferred from the shared drive into a mounted Macintosh drive, such as Basilisk II's startup disk, before attempting to use any Mac file. Remember to do this and your files will be safe and usable.

Re: unar.exe; This is an excellent tool for unpacking Mac files. I use it primarily to unpack Mac CD images, so I can add the extracted CD image as a mountable disk in SheepShaver. The command line doesn't need to be complicated. For example:

unar -k skip "A Lot o Mac Files.toast.sit"

This would extract the imaged CD file named "A Lot o Mac Files.toast" into the same directory as the .sit archive. Quotemarks used around the archive name in the command-line are necessary if the archive has spaces in its name, as in the above example. The option "skip" ignores any resource data if present (unlikely to be any, in a .toast only archive).

unar.exe is easily invoked if it is added to Windows PATH, if not, you can run it by adding the .exe into the directory you DL your Mac archives to.