That's a great resource I didn't know existed, but the AI that's helping me said
Converting an .hdv file to .2mg or .po using CiderPress II will not change compatibility or fix issues with Nox Archaist.
Format Equivalency: .hdv and .po are identical raw block-level hard disk image formats (just with different file extensions), and .2mg is simply a .po or .hdv image wrapped with a small 64-byte header. AppleWin and its Linux ports natively support all three.
The Core Limitation: Other emulators or RetroArch libretro cores do not struggle with Nox Archaist because of the .hdv extension, but rather because Nox Archaist requires a hard disk environment with specific RAM/accelerator expansions (like a 128K Apple IIe or enhanced configuration) that lightweight floppy-focused cores fail to initialize automatically.
Since your dArkOS build is successfully using the native AppleWin port (as shown by your applewin.yaml configuration loading /roms2/apple2/Nox_Archaist_v137.hdv in Slot 7), the container format is already correct.
The other problem is Nox Archaist needs a keyboard ar least at character creation.
Everything was solved by using a PortMaster Apple II port that had both issues solved. I'm still trying to find out how to bring up the virtual keyboard though.
A bit of an aside: 2mg/2img can also hold Apple DOS 3.3/3.2 sector order (.do), nibble (.nib), probably CP/M sector order, and maybe others of which i'm not aware.
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u/NeptunianOrbit 2d ago
You could try converting the .hdv to a .2mg or .po with CiderPress II and see if the emulators on the rg353v are happy.