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an alternate EASY way to run XCOM Apoc on WinXP SP2


mackal

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Okay, got virtual PC and created a virtual disk then ... found out I could hit 'del' to go into the virtual bios... uh, how do I start the Win98SE install? I have old Win 98 floppy boot disks, but NO 3.5" DRIVE! Arrrggghhh. Any ideas?

 

(this is actually kinda funny)

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Greetings, slaughter!

 

Well, as usual I answered my own question, but it took some searching on the web. I found some downloadable starters for the virtual floppy image and a starter virtual hard drive. The virtual hard drive contains only COMMAND.COM, but using th virtual floppy you can then get access to the CD drive and install Windows 98. I've written it all up in a word document with some screen shots. I can upload it as a .DOC or as a .RTF (readable with wordpad).

 

I haven't posted in a while, but I recently wanted to run Apoc and revisited the problems involved.

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Good stuff! If you can't attach it to the topic, send it to me or one of the other staff members, and we'll do it. Have fun! :laugh:

 

Okay to do either of those I need an upload link or an email address. Any suggestions? The help here in the forum doesn't say anything about attaching something to the toplc. Is it called something else?

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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?

 

Yes. I got the same problem. I'm also going through a KVM, but that also shouldn't matter. My host OS is XP SP3, what's yours?

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Okay to do either of those I need an upload link or an email address. Any suggestions? The help here in the forum doesn't say anything about attaching something to the toplc. Is it called something else?

 

In a further attempt to answer my own question, <grin> I figured out that the file area does allow uploads. I tried uploading "Installing Virtual PC 2007 for XCOM APOC.rtf", which has lots of screen shots and got the following error.

 

Error: Uploaded file is larger than the maximum filesize allowed for this type of file.

Allowed size: 2048000

Filesize: 8065458

File type: application/msword

. If you believe this to be in error, please quote the above error and report this to the admin

 

Okay, the number of bytes is correct, do I have to split it into four files or is there another way?

 

BTW the upload form did not show the local path after I did the browse and selected the file. This made me wonder if it was even going to attempt the upload.

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Do you really need all those screenshots though? Your file is over 7 MB in size and some people might not be able to download it in a decent timeframe. Zipping it up might compress the file enough to allow an upload too. ;)

 

This seems better suited to be a site page here as we can format it perfectly and add as many pics as needed to explain things. Then all you would need is a text version of the document (or a version with just a handful of screenies) for people who want to download something. Try emailing me the zipped document and I'll create a site page out of it. :laugh:

 

- Zombie

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Do you really need all those screenshots though? Your file is over 7 MB in size and some people might not be able to download it in a decent timeframe. Zipping it up might compress the file enough to allow an upload too. ;)

 

This seems better suited to be a site page here as we can format it perfectly and add as many pics as needed to explain things. Then all you would need is a text version of the document (or a version with just a handful of screenies) for people who want to download something. Try emailing me the zipped document and I'll create a site page out of it. ;)

 

- Zombie

 

It's on its way to you. Let me know if you need anything else. DANG! forgot to zip it. I'm just spoiled by big pipes! :laugh:

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  • 3 weeks later...

Okay. Figured out how to get the mouse working in Apoc under virtual PC. I found an old dos boot diskette and using the networking (wow!) copied the files to the virtual PC's C: drive in a DOS subdirectory. Among the files is mouse.com. Then I added the following line to my AUTOEXEC.BAT file:

 

LH C:\DOS\MOUSE.COM

 

The LH command is for "Load High" which means it puts the driver in the area between 640K and 1MB. Note that when you start your first game of APOC, the only selection that works is to start a new game.

 

Now to figure out why the sound goes wonky after a few minutes of play... perhaps another driver...

 

Take Care,

Koloth

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  • 9 months later...

first of all,

 

im so happy to find out there are still gamers around the world who loves these games, and X-Com is one of my favourites.

 

now to my problem :)

 

i decided to test out this method with the VPC, i installed Win98 and all the needed drivers like mouse.exe (or .com), i also installed the official DOS mouse drivers from Microsoft for Win98 AND have also tried out the command given by Koloth above "LH C:\DOS\MOUSE.COM"

 

... all to no avail :) i can launch X-com apoco fine and the intro movie plays fine as well, but when it reaches the screen where im given the options to start a new game or load or exit, the mouse jz wont move.

 

i've tested my mouse in DOS text editor and it works fine. have also been playing around with the config.sys see if any magic can happen.

 

FYI - im using a USB mouse, but i think that shouldnt b a problem seeing that the DOS editor can still detect it.

 

anyone got any more ideas? ;)

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