an alternate EASY way to run XCOM Apoc on WinXP SP2

[Pete]

If you also get yourself Alcohol 120% you can burn the CD to an ISO file and mount it within Virtual PC (after you've used the original CD to install the game), so you're effectively creating a fake CD drive using the ISO file, and Virtual PC is non the wiser.

[UfoMan]

I have never done alcohol before, on computers or in real life.

 

I would probably need a bit of a tutorial or a link to one someplace, when it comes to Alcohol 120.

 

Is Alcohol a freeware program or something you guys have bought? Studying that side of the thing could probably take me as long as my long convoluted DOSBox list took me, knowing me and how slow I sometimes am to getting things going.

 

--

 

Hopefully, when Aralez gets it working, Aralez will come back in here with a more detailed tutorial, including links for the Alcohol ISO image side of things, along with tips as to what he did to get around it or what he did to implement it.

 

--

 

X-Com Apocalypse just wasn't like the others.

 

For the other DOS games, I just created separate DOSBox shortcut for each game, changed cycles=max in the master dosbox.conf file, and they all ran just fine after getting them properly installed. It was just so much more simple with the other DOS games -- fire and forget.

 

With X-Com Apocalypse, you have to do so much more, either Alcohol ISO image for Virtual PC 2007, or the long convoluted bug fixing route that I went through to get it to run under DOSBox, if you want it to run and run completely from the hard drive.

[Pete]

There is a trial version of Alcohol 120%. I'll have to check out whether it can make the ISO file before the trial expires, or it's a bit useless.

 

My long-term aim is to check out various ways of getting things running through Virtual Machine and then post up some proper tutorials on the main StrategyCore site.

[mackal]

There is a trial version of Alcohol 120%. I'll have to check out whether it can make the ISO file before the trial expires, or it's a bit useless.

I think there might also be some open-source, or nagware tools that rip ISOs. Generally Alcohol 120 is better due to the fact it does more exact rips (subchannel data, etc.), but I think a lot of the older games, such Apoc, would be quite happy running with an ISO using other, standard tools. (Just google for "iso rip".) In fact, there is toooons of ISO rippers out there, so even if most of them are payware, most of them also provide free trial periods, so there's really tons of free evaluation copies to choose from. And I wouldn't be surprised if a (legitimate) free version of a ripper does not come up from time to time on https://www.giveawayoftheday.com/.

[Ki-tat Chung]

Not totally related, but if you have VPC installed, and have always wanted to experiment with other OS's but didn't want to bother with partitioning/formatting another hard drive, now is a good chance. Anything you do within VPC is isolated, and if you so wanted, you could have Linux running within Windows. Funny, isn't it? =)

 

But yes, sounds like a good idea Pete. I should've written a guide/tute the first time I had Apoc running! =p Sorry guys!

[UfoMan]

My long-term aim is to check out various ways of getting things running through Virtual Machine and then post up some proper tutorials on the main StrategyCore site.

 

--

 

That sounds like some of the greatest news or the greatest plan I have heard yet!

 

I want a PM or a link when that's ready so that I can get a copy and study it, that's for sure!

[Timstone]

Hi all,

 

I've tried both solutions (DosBox and VM) and both work for me.

The strange thing is that I couldn't install VM2007. It came with some sort of error and wouldn't install. So DL'ed VM2004 and that works just fine.

The DosBox solution isn't such a big headache. I found it quite easy to do. I could be a bit more work for those who never laid eyes on DOS, but overall I was very content at how fast I was able to run X-Com Apocalypse.

The solution of VM caused quite a shock. It almost made me fall from my seat to be more accurate.

I was happily making my first virtual disk and went on to installing Win98SE. When the install begins it always formats the HDD. So the screen read "Formatting Disk C". I got scared and shut off the program as soon as possible and checked if all my data on the real C-disk was still present. Just to be sure I restarted my computer and checked again. Then my brains kicked in and I started to think like I should. Of course VM formatted the C-disk, but only inside VM. It wasn't a a real disk. That's the whole purpose of VM. Doh!

Damn, that was scary.

My only questions are about making an ISO with Alcohol 120%.

Could someone please post a short "how to"? And how do I put this ISO on my virtual C-disk? Some more info about this would be greatly appreciated.

 

And to all those people that worked on making it possible again to play my much beloved X-Com Apocalypse on XP:

Two thumbs up, very cool!!

[THE_KILLER]

This solution worked well. Though I almost wet myself when the 'formatting disk' notice came up...

 

Yay I don't have to boot up the old dinosaur with win98 - it can be used by my son for potty training (don't ask you don't want to know)

 

I do have one lingering problem. Rather often the sound will start stuttering, is there anything I can do to correct this. It goes away for a while when I restart the game but always returns.

 

Hmm better report in sick for the next few days to fight off the alien hordes...

[illegal youth]

i've tried this several times and i keep getting this error:

 

https://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s219/illegalyouth/xcomapocerror.jpg

 

i've installed windows 98 se on my virtual computer. i've installed dos mouse drivers. i used the xcomcrk to bypass the cd copyright check. i've copied the missing maps, the music file, and the smk folder from the cd over to the game directory. then i shutdown to ms-dos mode to run the game, and every time i get that error message directly after the game intro finishes playing (or if i click through the game intro). i do not have the vmadditions stuff installed either.

 

any idea what i can do? did i miss a step somewhere?

[Bomb Bloke]

The problem isn't with Apocalypse, it's with DOS/4GW.

 

My first idea was to try dropping a different version of DOS/4GW into the game folder to see if it included a fix. Catch is, I can't actually find the thing.... It seems to be directly compiled into the game executables that require it, making replacement near impossible.

 

There are a number of posts around the web about this problem (with various programs), it seems to happen only on certain systems. One guy specifically mentioned that with Apocalypse, it only occured if he moved the mouse (the type of mouse made no difference)... Unfortunately I can't find anything definitive about it.

 

The closest I got was this:

 

* (DOS/LAN) If you install filePro into a subdirectory several levels

* deep (such as D:\PROGRAMS\DOSAPPS\FP) and use forward slashes in your

* menu command line ("/fp/dclerk") the program will abort immediately

* with a "DOS/4GW error (2001): exception 0Dh" message. This is a bug in

* the DOS/4GW startup code.

Sooooo, it's a long shot, but maybe that can lead us somewhere. Check your batch files and "xcom3.cfg" and see if that helps. If the game is buried deep into your directory structure, try moving it.

[illegal youth]

its not buried deep at all. the path is C:\XCOMA. and the xcom3.cfg file just has this line " C:\XCOMA" exactly (with the space). it was " D:\" but since i installed the crack to bypass the CD check, i changed it to my game directory.

 

i found this support page at atari.com: https://www.atari.com/us/support/faq/xcomapocalypse_pc.asp

 

After the movie plays, I get the error message "" DOS/4GW Professional Error : 2001""

 

You may be loading a TSR that could be conflicting with the game. Create a Minimum Configuration Bootdisk, according to your Computer Manufacturers specifications, or download our ""BOOTALL"" automated bootdisk maker utility, By clicking on the link below. Further Information: ""BOOTALL"" Automated Bootdisk Maker Utility

 

how do i create a minimum configuration bootdisk? what's a TSR? and there's no link i can find for their "bOOTALL" disk... not that i expected there to be one, heh.

[Bomb Bloke]

TSRs (Terminate and Stay Resident) are small programs that computers used to load up to handle drivers and the like. For example, on boot you'd load the mouse driver program - It'd stay in memory and hey presto, you could move the mouse cursor.

 

Quite often if a program didn't work, the "troubleshooting" guide would recommend using a "minimum configuration". Basically it's a way of saying "there must be something specifically wrong with your system, and we don't know what... So don't load anything you don't have to and see what happens".

 

The usual method of doing this was to create a boot disk to load your system from which had the custom configuration (by memory, the DOS command "format a: /s" would create a bootable disk). All you had to do was stick it in the drive and the computer would load the new settings on boot, which meant you didn't need to edit your "real" system settings just to make one game run.

 

If all you've done is install 98 SE and try to play Apocalypse, then odds are your configuration is as minimalistic as it gets. But, since we don't have any other leads, reboot your VM and just as you get the message "Starting Windows 98..." tap your F8 button. Choose "Safe mode with command prompt" (or whatever it is), and you'll be running no other software then the OS itself.

[illegal youth]

thanks bomb bloke. i tried the above method and i still got the same error message. i even tried installing the DOS32a extender to replace DOS/4GW, but still no luck.

 

maybe i'll try the DOSbox method and see if i can get it working that way. i'm not sure what else to try for the VM method at this point.

[Bomb Bloke]

You actually found the DOS/4GW file in your game? Mine doesn't seem to have it.

[illegal youth]

no i didn't, but the dos32a extender says that if you can't find the dos/4gw file that it's probably in the executable, so there's a bind function that puts the dos32a extender in your xcomapoc executable by creating a .bat file. that's what i tried, but it didn't work either.

 

look here:

 

https://dos32a.narechk.net/manual/index.html

[Bomb Bloke]

Like its forerunners, Apocalypse uses multiple executable files to operate. Applying a different extender via a batch file most likely won't work because you need to target all of them.

 

Try using the "sb" tool on each one. There's "TACP.EXE" in the "TACEXE" folder, as well as "SMKP.EXE" and "UFO2P.EXE" in the "UFOEXE" folder. "XCOMAPOC.EXE" doesn't actually use an extender so you don't need to worry about that.

 

The command is this:

 

sb /r

 

Note that once you've doctored each file you should just be able to run the game in the normal way. No need to use a batch file.

[illegal youth]

thanks again! i'll give that a try next chance i get and report back the results.

[Bomb Bloke]

If that doesn't work, one last ditch effort...

[illegal youth]

i haven't had a chance to test it out yet... but i thought i'd mention that the link you provided in your last post is broken.

[Zombie]

I think it's this topic. Merging has that effect.

 

- Zombie

[illegal youth]

thanks!

[XComFan]

I managed to get the game installed and running fine on Virtual PC 2007 with a Win98SE vm, but my mouse doesn't work in the game. The mouse works in the VM just fine, and it works in DOS programs if I run mouse.com, but it just doesn't want to work in Apocalypse.

 

Anyone else have this problem? I've tried messing around with the pointer integration options, but have not had any luck.

 

I'm wondering if the fact that I'm using a wireless USB mouse might have something to do with it. For those of you who have managed to get this working, what kind of mouse are you using?

[Cpl. Facehugger]

I managed to get the game installed and running fine on Virtual PC 2007 with a Win98SE vm, but my mouse doesn't work in the game. The mouse works in the VM just fine, and it works in DOS programs if I run mouse.com, but it just doesn't want to work in Apocalypse.

 

Anyone else have this problem? I've tried messing around with the pointer integration options, but have not had any luck.

 

I'm wondering if the fact that I'm using a wireless USB mouse might have something to do with it. For those of you who have managed to get this working, what kind of mouse are you using?

 

I'm afraid I haven't encountered that problem. But then, I use dosbox to emulate a dos environment rather than going with VM. I've found dosbox works great for apoc, so maybe you might want to give it a try.

[XComFan]

I'm afraid I haven't encountered that problem. But then, I use dosbox to emulate a dos environment rather than going with VM. I've found dosbox works great for apoc, so maybe you might want to give it a try.

 

I tried the game with DOSBox 0.72 -- the latest version -- but I can't get the music to work. I've copied over the MUSIC file, made sure the xcom3.cfg file had the right path (with the space before it), but nothing seems to work. The regular sound effects work, though.

 

With Virtual PC 2007, the music works perfectly; it's the mouse that doesn't work.

 

I can't win. lol

[Cpl. Facehugger]

I tried the game with DOSBox 0.72 -- the latest version -- but I can't get the music to work. I've copied over the MUSIC file, made sure the xcom3.cfg file had the right path (with the space before it), but nothing seems to work. The regular sound effects work, though.

 

With Virtual PC 2007, the music works perfectly; it's the mouse that doesn't work.

 

I can't win. lol

 

Hmm. Have you tried just downloading the apoc music files and plugging them into a media player? Then playing that in the background while slaughtering the alien scum? I mean, it sounds like a lack of mouse is a bit more serious than a lack of music.