High scores are stored on the hard disk drive.
High scores are stored on the hard disk drive.
I own this Atari Arcade Hits CD ROM
https://www.amazon.com/Atari-Arcade-Hits...B000DZC6K4
I tried to reset the high scores on a game but it didn’t work. I checked various locations like the Documents folder and user files, but they didn’t help much. I realized you can play everything directly from the CD ROM without installing anything. For ease, I copied all the necessary files to the HDD and everything functioned properly. It seems there’s no dedicated Atari program folder on the PC, yet high scores are stored elsewhere. Any advice on where to look? Thanks.
Do you have the player names? I would try using Powershell's Select-String cmdlet to look for them. If we locate the names, it’s likely the scores are also present.
For reference: https://java2blog.com/powershell-find-string-in-file/
Initially test the cmdlet by searching for strings that are known to exist in other saved files just to understand how it functions and what the results show. Then search for other terms like player names as needed.
The player names and scores might be encrypted, making them hard to find directly. But if they are found, altering or removing this data could cause problems. There may be safeguards in place to stop such changes.
The goal is to stop people from modifying scores for themselves or others. Be prepared to reinstall the CD-ROM onto the HDD and lose any files you want to keep. Make sure backups are at least twice as far away from your main computer and confirm they can be recovered.
Just in case...
Thanks for the details. I prefer not to alter hidden or encrypted files, but the Clear high score feature isn't functioning properly in the game I intended to use. If it's unclear what steps to take, I might just give up. I haven't installed the software before. As you noted, you can play directly from the CD-ROM. In my case, with a Windows 7 PC, I couldn't install it and ended up copying all the files to the HDD. With Windows 10, I simply copied them to an SSD, and now everything works smoothly. The games load, run, and already have high scores. This means they're already on the CD-ROM. If I end up being one of the high scores, it will be saved, but not in the same file on the disk. The updated score list must be stored somewhere else.
Have you attempted to play the game using admin privileges and then used the reset score feature?
You can obtain sandboxie and execute the game via it, which ensures all actions are recorded in the sandbox directory, allowing you to inspect any modifications made by the game.
I attempted to use PowerShell but haven’t succeeded yet. I’m unsure if my approach is correct and may need to review it further.
Tempest is the game I aim to achieve high scores for because all of them reached 10100 points. I’ve managed to beat that a few times. When I run as administrator, my high scores disappear, showing the original 10100 instead. If I run normally, they reappear.
I also tried running Missile Command as administrator, but it still didn’t display my high scores—only the original ones from the disk appeared. I set a new high score that only shows up when running in admin mode. When I run it normally, the new score isn’t visible.
In short, there seems to be two sets of high scores: normal and admin. Does this matter?
Probably, can you confirm the exact folder where the game was placed? If it's in a restricted area, it will store scores in the standard user directory during regular operation and might save them in the same directory when running with administrator privileges due to write permissions.
I set up a folder on the D: storage and called it Atari Arcade, moving all the CD-ROM files there.
The D: drive serves as my data storage and the program operates from there.
It doesn't need to be on the main C: drive since the disk will function through the optical drive.
What results did you obtain? Decimal figures?
"10100" seems unusual. Why not a whole number like 10000?
I believe the format might be binary, offering extra details when converted to Hex (14), Decimal (20), or Octal (24).
Perhaps it serves as an initial point where your earned or lost points are recorded.
I concur with @TerryLaze that scores are likely stored in a file folder since they can't be written directly to the CD ROM.
It's probable the game contains the "10100" value somewhere in its code, and this value is carried over when copying the CD-ROM to the main drive.
Keep in mind that arcade games often display player lists and high scores to encourage others to try and pay to surpass them.
It's highly likely the scores are encrypted to avoid tampering by users or players.
Even if the goal is simply to remove scores—highs, lows, everything—PowerShell can locate the strings and show their positions.
The key challenge is identifying the right string patterns.
I think searching for user or player names could be a good starting point.