X-COM on Windows7

[Pete]

I got Win7 Pro yesterday. I restrained myself from getting Ultimate even though it was only

[Pete]

Just ignore me - bought the complete pack on Steam just now and it works on Win7 without the need for XP Mode. Works fine just by launching it from Steam through the DOSBOX it's all packaged with. I guess most of you probably knew that already

[BladeFireLight]

Just ignore me - bought the complete pack on Steam just now and it works on Win7 without the need for XP Mode. Works fine just by launching it from Steam through the DOSBOX it's all packaged with. I guess most of you probably knew that already

 

You actually had to purchase another copy? I thought you would just dust off the old 3.5's and install it in dosbox

[Pete]

I didn't have to purchase it again I guess, but the CD's are at my brother's house and are doubtless scratched to bits anyway after all these years.

 

I don't mind paying for a digital version as that means I can get at it any time from any machine with an internet connection so it doesn't matter too much if I lose the CD's then either. Besides, one more person buying the games must show up on someone's sales figures

 

Sooo... the cost in petrol plus the time spent setting it up in dosbox probably comes to

[Doctoxic]

Hi

 

I have win7:64 so its good to see these xcom still works

 

A few questions though relating to the STEAM versions :

 

1) Does UFO/TFTD/APOC all work ok?

 

2) Are they all patched to latest version?

 

3) Does xcomutil work for them in steam

 

4) can you apply mods to the steam versions?

 

thanks

 

doc

[BladeFireLight]

1) Does UFO/TFTD/APOC all work ok?

Both the windows and dos versions are included. they are setup to use DOSBox by default, you may need to tweak the speed settings in DOSBox to get the speed ok. I have not played APOC.

 

2) Are they all patched to latest version?

Yes UFO is 1.4 and TFTD is 2.1.

 

3) Does xcomutil work for them in steam

9.7 is in beta and works with steam.

 

4) can you apply mods to the steam versions?

Steam does not auto check if the files have been changed. seb's Extender works just fine.

 

-Blade FireLight

[Pete]

Just to add to the above, Apoc does work, but with occasional weird "please insert CD-ROM message that stops you from bein able to play util you reload the game. I was trying to work out what was causing it a while back, but then other things took over.

 

You'll randomly get between 2-12 hours in at times before it does this, and it doesn't seem to corrupt the game so it's not the worst bug ever and the game is still quite playable.

 

You can read more about the issue with Apoc here: https://www.strategycore.co.uk/forums/Apoca...-ROM-t7812.html

[Zombie]

Just to add to the above, Apoc does work, but with occasional weird "please insert CD-ROM message that stops you from bein able to play util you reload the game. I was trying to work out what was causing it a while back, but then other things took over.

 

You'll randomly get between 2-12 hours in at times before it does this, and it doesn't seem to corrupt the game so it's not the worst bug ever and the game is still quite playable.

 

You can read more about the issue with Apoc here: https://www.strategycore.co.uk/forums/Apoca...-ROM-t7812.html

The way the steam version of Apoc is set up, the install is only the minimal configuration containing just the necessary files to run the game on your hard drive. Luckily they included an .iso of the game disc in the install, so the first thing I'd do is get WinRAR and use that to extract all the missing folders and files. Should be pretty easy for anyone (even with limited computer knowledge). Here is an excerpt on what the issue is:

 

Find ...\steamapps\common\xcom apocalypse\cd.iso

Mount cd.iso using Daemon Tools, or open it using a high-quality archiver like WinRAR.

 

Copy the following folders to ...\steamapps\common\xcom apocalypse\XCOMA

 

* MAPS

RAWSOUND

smk

TACDATA

TACEXE

TACINI

UFODATA

UFOEXE

UFOPAEDI

 

To repair damage by attempting to install this fix, have steam "verify integrity" on Apocalypse.

- Zombie

[Ki-tat Chung]

I've still had the error pop up on me once since I did the file copy. Much much rarer than before though.

[Pete]

Yeah, I found it pops up less the further through the game you get. Without looking, I suppose it could be that more early game assets are stored on the "CD" whereas later game assets are mostly on the hard disk, even in this minimal setup environment?

[Bomb Bloke]

Faulty read/writes happen all the time in computing. However, in most data transfer protocols, methods are built into the system to detect and silently rectify the matter.

 

For example, TCP/IP (used for just about everything on the internet) sends packets back to the receiver notifying of each packet received. On a "bad" line, where lots of packets are being lost, data automatically gets resent until such time as these acknowledgment packets get through - from the user's point of view, it's just a "slow" line.

 

(UDP is pretty much the same thing as TCP, only without the confirmation packets. Requires less bandwidth, but not worth using unless it "doesn't matter" if data gets through).

 

Likewise, even data being sent throughout your own local system continuously fails to reach it's destination, and is re-sent until the parity checks come out ok. Hence why 80-wire PATA/IDE cables are "faster" then 40-wire ones, regardless of the speed the computer can handle - there's no extra bandwidth (they both only use 40 pins), just greater reliability and less time wasted re-transmitting data.

 

CDs have the same sort of system in place, but since they're prone to permanent damage (what with kids using them as drink coasters, etc), they also have "extra" data pressed/burned on them for cyclic redundancy checks (which can, if you're lucky, be used to automatically "guess" what bits of a scratched disc are "supposed" to contain).

 

Much of this is a lot less noticeable then it used to be, due to caching techniques employed by modern operating systems (which allow programs to continue on without waiting for certain disk operations - hence why DOS games run a heck of a lot faster under Windows then they do under real DOS, or DOSBox, for that matter).

 

DOSBox has to read files off your "real" hardware and pass them on to the programs within it's emulated "DOS machine". Long story short, DOSBox isn't always handling these little "failures" like it should. It's "giving up" too early, and deciding if it can't access such-and-such a bit of data on the spot, then it isn't there.

 

If the data really was missing, then it wouldn't work at all.

 

Hence why I suggested trying different versions of DOSBox. But heck, you might even be able to get some more reliability out of it by doing a defrag or something. NTFS is pretty good at avoiding fragmentation, but if a file gets copied to the drive and the file system isn't first notified how large it'll be (eg you're downloading and the server didn't provide that information), the data will likely be spread all over the platters of your HDD.

 

(The defrag tool included with Windows these days can give you a list of the most fragmented files on your system prior to doing the re-organisation work. As an example, I downloaded a bunch of FLV files of the Angry Video Nerd the other month. About 100mb each, averaging 1,000 fragments each around my drive).

 

A very quick way to defrag certain files is to move them to another drive/partition, then move them back to their original location. So long as they aren't too large and you've got plenty of free disk space, that'll probably do the job.

[Raion]

I use the original CD's when I can. I only have XP. I for awhile could not install the complete XCOMA in dosbox, but then it finally took, and the entire game was installed. The point being that if they are going to sell it in a download, then they should have it where it will install entirely. At first it did not want to do it, and I was in doxbox 0.72, but it finally did, and I did not give up. Now, I do not need the CD in the drive to play and that is what matters. Something to do with the speed of the CD drive which is way faster but dosbox don't see it correctly or the game does not when trying to install. All it takes is one time of seeing it correctly and then all of the game installs.

[Preda]

What if one wanted to play the free-download version of XCom on Windows 7. Can that be done? Because right now I'm getting the intro movie sounds on a black screen.

[Blueyetuo]

Hi,

My apoc on Win7-64 works fine at startup, then all the text & some of the map effects go green. Playable, but Painful.

 

I'm guessing its a graphics card thing, so DL'd x3svga, but that hasn't helped and haven't found anything else on the forum.

 

Any ideas?

[Bomb Bloke]

Which version of DOSBox?

 

If you alt-tab out then back in, does that make a difference?

 

If you boot in safe mode (tap F8 while the computer starts up for this option, reboot normally when you're done to get out of it), does it still do it?

[Randor20]

Hi,

My apoc on Win7-64 works fine at startup, then all the text & some of the map effects go green. Playable, but Painful.

 

I'm guessing its a graphics card thing, so DL'd x3svga, but that hasn't helped and haven't found anything else on the forum.

 

Any ideas?

 

For UFO: Enemy Unknown it worked for me to: start the game, alt-tab out of it, kill explorer.exe and then alt-tab back into the game. It might laps back to going green later, but that is usually fixed by alt-tab out and in of the game.

[Wolfyy7]

So after spending hours upon hours of getting XCOM to work on win7, 8 and basically all versions of Windows I came up with a step by step process to get X-COM to work from a bunch of different places. This is guaranteed to be the easiest and quickest way. Enjoy! https://www.squidoo.com/x-com-ufo-defense

[Zombie]

Thanks for putting that together, very informative and helpful!

 

- Zombie

[NoXTheRoXStaR]

Hours upon Hours? Pfft.

[Ros]

Guide that Wolfyy7 posted isn't there anymore so I thought I'll update this topic with some, in my eyes at least , useful stuff.

 

 

OK, ladies and gentleman I've found out (thanks to the tip from Tycho) how to run TFTD Collector's Edition from Steam on Windows 7 64-bit system. So let me just share this knowledge with You

 

Step 1) First things first You have to find TFTD install directory in Your Steam main directory - for example in my case it's:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\X-COM Terror from the Deep\TFD

Step 2) When You're there You'll see many subdirectories and files, because it's a strange hybrid of DOS and Windows versions, but the one You're interested with is called "Terror from the Deep.exe". It's got a nice icon as You can see on my screenshot below:

Step 3) Now run it and You'll be playing Collector's Edition (a.k.a as Gold Edition) of TFTD which You purchased from Steam. You don't have to be logged in to Your Steam account to do it.

 

Et voila! Very simple isn't? But that's not all because probably You've noticed that there's another file - Terror from the Deep_patched.exe. This is a version of f0dder's loader which fixed some TFTD bugs but it's very outdated. Tycho with his TFTDextender is light years ahead so why we should not use it? How You ask me? Just read on.

 

Step 4) Download latest version of TFTDextender (1.0.7.3 Beta 11) from here:

https://www.strategyc...&attach_id=7662

Don't worry if Your antivirus software screams it's a virus (ESET32 classifies it as "probably unknown dangerous software "NewHE virus" so really scary ) - it's perfectly safe.

Step 5) Extract contents of downloaded archive to Your Steam TFTD directory.

Step 6) Configure TFTDExtender.ini to Your liking and run TFTDextender.exe. You don't have to be logged in to Your Steam account to do it.

Now You can enjoy the game

 

Final words? Personally I recommend copy whole TFTD directory from Your Steam directory somewhere else, then apply TFTDextender and run the game from that other location.