General abandonware rules:
- All abandonware must follow these guidelines:
- The title must be at least 10 years old from the date of release. Only exception is if the owners release it as public freeware. Any releases less than 10 years old will be kept in safe storage until release can be made.
- The title may not be sold in any stores or supported in any way. This applies to that particular title and not variants of it, such as GoG releases etc.
- The title may not be pre-cracked or modified in any way that makes it differ from an original release. Serials, keygens etc will be removed.
- No warez releases are permitted, only dumps of original discs and floppies. If you submit a web download please provide a source for verification.
- Nintendo releases are at the moment not accepted! Nintendo has very little tolerance for sites carrying ANY of their software, many sites has been shutdown by Nintendo because of it. This may change at a later date.
- Regardless of other sites definitions of "abandonware" the above definition is what matters on BetaArchive.
The above guidelines and definition applies to BetaArchive only. How others define abandonware do not apply on this site.
Computer abandonwares:
- If the title is floppy based you must upload the release as it is from the floppies. Raw .IMG dumps are preferred, if you have your floppy images in any other format please contact me. Use rawread or Winimage to create your floppy images. Kryodump stream files are preferred if possible.
- If the title is CD-ROM/DVD-ROM based you have to make a raw dump of the disc:
- MDF/MDS (Alcohol120%), BIN/CUE, .CCD (CloneCD) or .NRG (Nero) format for multisession discs (discs with multiple tracks such as audio or extra data). MDF is preferred.
- DMG, CDR or Toast images for Macintosh releases.
- No floppy-into-folder dumps are accepted (abandonware is commonly found online this way). Only raw dumps from the original media is accepted.
Console abandonwares:
- For the time being BetaArchive will not publish any console abandonware titles onto the FTP nor will they be accepted as FTP access contribution.
Remember these guidelines may be changed at any moment, contact me if you feel something should be added or changed. I will at a later point make a list of useful emulators to run the various releases in.
Due to the limited size on BetaArchive at the moment we ask members to contact me if you want to send up a considerable amount of abandonware. We deal with betas first, abandonware second. But if you have any special release that needs extra attention it will of course be added to the collection. Remember to make clean dumps of the releases and pack them up properly before uploading.
If you can provide a scan of the floppy, cartridge, disc and box it would add a bonus to the release. Be sure to make the scan in high resolution (300dpi or higher) and save it in a lossless format (png, tif), jpeg only if absolutely necessary. Be sure to scan the full media, not only the label. All scans will be processed by me before added to the release.
Got any questions? Feel free to ask.
< HAI.
