Run All Old WC Games in DOSBox Walkthrough

ChrisReid

ChrisReid

Super Soaker Collector / Administrator
Hey, here's a walkthrough for getting older WC games to run in DOSBox. We have lots of threads on this subject, but here's a specific one that should do it.

1) Download DOSBox 0.63 http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/downl...site_session=c24de2816bac7f2f1cee45f3da45b774
2) When you load the program, you're presented with a Z drive dos interface. If you have Wing Commander games already copied to a hard drive directory, type "mount c: c:\wingcommander" where c:\wingcommander is the directory of your game.
3) Typing in "c:" will now take you to a C prompt where you can type the name of the executable or install file for your game. You may need to go into the installation menu to setup sound and music. DOSBox defaults the sound card's IRQ to 7.
4) Some games will run just from there. USB joystick support is automatic and EMS support is on by default. Some games, such as Privateer and Armada, need EMS to be disabled. DOSBox will install a dosbox.conf file. You can open this up and change "ems=true" to false to turn off EMS.
5) Additionally, some games may need an additional entry to execute. Privateer and Armada run well with "loadfix -65" typed before the game's main executable (for example "loadfix -65 armada"). Wing Commander 2 will also probably require "loadfix -32 WC2" to avoid some freezing a couple missions into the game.
6) Joystick and sound support may be glitchy depending on your hardware. In this case it can be difficult to get them to play smoothly. You can play with the CPU/frame rate options with Control+F7/F8 and Control+F11/F12. The game defaults to a 3000 cpu cycle speed. Games such as Armada will play best in the 6500 range (hit Control+F12 several times).

Installation Tips: Some people have had some difficulty installing games. The solution for this varies widely depending on the game and format. In some cases, simply copying over files from the CD will do the trick. In others, you may have to do a more complicated DOSBox mount to tell it where to find your installation discs. An easier way to do this is to copy discs to the hard drive and map your DOSBox prompt there. Edit 2.5: There's an easy way to trick WC2's installer. Just copy over all the files and create a WC2.cfg file in the WC2 folder. Then go into the installation program and the game will skip straight to the sound configuration settings.


Post any questions here.
 
Hard to say, because I believe it also depends on your machine's speed. For me, the default 3000 cycles with WC1 seemed okay. Privateer has a natural frame rate limiter, and gets a bit more intense at times, so bumping that up to 6000 cycles or so might be good.
 
Hot damn! It actually worked! I actually played Armada last night, for the first time in probably six years! It was tight!
 
I have troubles playing Privateer, it dosn't recognise my joystick. Well it does, but it keeps saying that it was calibrated wrong and needs recalibration, so i can't launch Privateer cause of that, it always demands to recalibrate, any solution?
 
Im having trouble running Wing Commander 3 on dosbox.
everytime i try to start it, it gives some sort of CD-rom error.

error message:

open failed on file: ...\...\data\sound\gfsample.iff

anybody know how to solve this ?


//shrap
 
Unregistered said:
Im having trouble running Wing Commander 3 on dosbox.
everytime i try to start it, it gives some sort of CD-rom error.

error message:

open failed on file: ...\...\data\sound\gfsample.iff

anybody know how to solve this ?


//shrap
Click to expand...

Ok I solved the problem, had to turn on mscdex in dosbox.

But now a new problem.

It's impossible to calibrate my usb joystick correctly :/
The numbers on the axes just keep going crazy (in the calibration).
When I play wc3, it automaticly pushes the cursor into the top left corner :(
 
I've also tried VDMsound, it works! no problems with the joystick.

But now I got problems with the mouse :(
using vdmsound the mouse keeps moving into the lower-right corner, which is very annoying if you want to select anything at all.

There is a program called mouse2kv which should solve it, but it's very unclear to me how I should use it.
I tried to run in manually, but then i keep getting that mscdex problem.
And I have no idea how to run vdmsound manually with low level cdrom support :(

help!
I'm so close to playing WC3 again ! :(((
 
Well, WC2 runs fine without sound under plain XP on my machine, but WC seems to have a few problems. When run under XP it does not start up, and under DOSBox the 2nd mission does not start, so I'm stuck there. Any ideas?
 
I'd recommend going into the installation menus and making sure the sound setup matches DOSBox's settings. DOSBox defaults the sound card IRQ to 7.

As for the various joystick problems, that's something that DOSBox is still working on. Some joysticks will work for some games, and in others they'll be choppy. You can try going into the game controllers setup in the windows control panel and trying to disable polling and other options to see if that helps.
 
That's a common problem. You need to start loadfix to prevent that bug. Either add it to your autoexec in the dosbox.conf or start it before starting wc2.

Btw, I guess it might be agood idea to post all my seperate conf files here, so you guys know what to set for each game. - Yes that'll be a LONG post. But imo it's easier thatn saying what line to change and such. Dosbox version 0.63, btw.

Here we go:

WING COMMANDER:
================

[sdl]
fullscreen=true
fulldouble=false
fullfixed=false
fullresolution=1024x768
output=surface
hwscale=1.00
autolock=true
sensitivity=100
waitonerror=true
priority=higher,normal
mapperfile=mapper.txt

[dosbox]
language=
machine=vga
captures=capture
memsize=64

[render]
frameskip=0
aspect=false
scaler=normal2x

[cpu]
core=normal
cycles=4000
cycleup=500
cycledown=500

[mixer]
nosound=false
rate=22050
blocksize=2048
prebuffer=10

[midi]
mpu401=true
intelligent=true
device=default
config=

[sblaster]
type=sb16
base=220
irq=7
dma=1
hdma=5
mixer=true
oplmode=auto
oplrate=22050

[gus]
gus=true
rate=22050
base=240
irq1=5
irq2=5
dma1=3
dma2=3
ultradir=C:\ULTRASND

[speaker]
pcspeaker=true
pcrate=22050
tandyrate=22050
disney=true

[dos]
xms=true
ems=true

[modem]
modem=false
comport=2
listenport=23

[directserial]
directserial=false
comport=1
realport=COM1
defaultbps=1200
parity=N
bytesize=8
stopbit=1

[ipx]
ipx=false

[autoexec]
mount C C:\Spiele\Dosbox\Games
C:
cd wing
wc.exe
exit

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Wing Commander II:
===============

[sdl]
fullscreen=true
fulldouble=false
fullfixed=false
fullresolution=1024x768
output=surface
hwscale=1.00
autolock=true
sensitivity=100
waitonerror=true
priority=higher,normal
mapperfile=mapper.txt

[dosbox]
language=
machine=vga
captures=capture
memsize=64

[render]
frameskip=0
aspect=false
scaler=normal2x

[cpu]
core=normal
cycles=6500
cycleup=500
cycledown=500

[mixer]
nosound=false
rate=22050
blocksize=2048
prebuffer=10

[midi]
mpu401=true
intelligent=true
device=default
config=

[sblaster]
type=sb16
base=220
irq=7
dma=1
hdma=5
mixer=true
oplmode=auto
oplrate=22050

[gus]
gus=true
rate=22050
base=240
irq1=5
irq2=5
dma1=3
dma2=3
ultradir=C:\ULTRASND

[speaker]
pcspeaker=true
pcrate=22050
tandyrate=22050
disney=true

[dos]
xms=true
ems=true

[modem]
modem=false
comport=2
listenport=23

[directserial]
directserial=false
comport=1
realport=COM1
defaultbps=1200
parity=N
bytesize=8
stopbit=1

[ipx]
ipx=false

[autoexec]
loadfix
mount C C:\Spiele\Dosbox\Games
C:
cd wing2
wc2.exe
exit

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Wing Commander III (slow in close combat):
================================

[sdl]
fullscreen=true
fulldouble=false
fullfixed=false
fullresolution=1024x768
output=overlay
hwscale=1.00
autolock=true
sensitivity=100
waitonerror=true
priority=highest,normal
mapperfile=mapper.txt

[dosbox]
language=
machine=vga
captures=capture
memsize=64

[render]
frameskip=1
aspect=false
scaler=normal2x

[cpu]
core=dynamic
cycles=30000
cycleup=500
cycledown=500

[mixer]
nosound=false
rate=22050
blocksize=2048
prebuffer=10

[midi]
mpu401=true
intelligent=true
device=default
config=

[sblaster]
type=sb16
base=220
irq=7
dma=1
hdma=5
mixer=true
oplmode=auto
oplrate=22050

[gus]
gus=true
rate=22050
base=240
irq1=5
irq2=5
dma1=3
dma2=3
ultradir=C:\ULTRASND

[speaker]
pcspeaker=true
pcrate=22050
tandyrate=22050
disney=true

[dos]
xms=true
ems=false

[modem]
modem=false
comport=2
listenport=23

[directserial]
directserial=false
comport=1
realport=COM1
defaultbps=1200
parity=N
bytesize=8
stopbit=1

[ipx]
ipx=false

[autoexec]
mount D E:\ -t cdrom
mount C C:\Spiele\Dosbox\Games
D:
wc3

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Wing Commander - Armada (Joystick running ugly, but game seems OK):
=====================================================

[sdl]
fullscreen=true
fulldouble=false
fullfixed=false
fullresolution=1024x768
output=surface
hwscale=1.00
autolock=true
sensitivity=100
waitonerror=true
priority=higher,normal
mapperfile=mapper.txt

[dosbox]
language=
machine=vga
captures=capture
memsize=16

[render]
frameskip=0
aspect=false
scaler=normal2x

[cpu]
core=normal
cycles=10000
cycleup=500
cycledown=500

[mixer]
nosound=false
rate=22050
blocksize=2048
prebuffer=10

[midi]
mpu401=true
intelligent=true
device=default
config=

[sblaster]
type=sb16
base=220
irq=7
dma=1
hdma=5
mixer=true
oplmode=auto
oplrate=22050

[gus]
gus=true
rate=22050
base=240
irq1=5
irq2=5
dma1=3
dma2=3
ultradir=C:\ULTRASND

[speaker]
pcspeaker=true
pcrate=22050
tandyrate=22050
disney=true

[dos]
xms=true
ems=false

[modem]
modem=false
comport=2
listenport=23

[directserial]
directserial=false
comport=1
realport=COM1
defaultbps=1200
parity=N
bytesize=8
stopbit=1

[ipx]
ipx=false

[autoexec]
mount C C:\Spiele\Dosbox\Games
C:
cd armada
loadfix

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Wing Commander Privateer (semi-stable. crash in intro and maybe needs higher cycles):
================================================================

[sdl]
fullscreen=true
fulldouble=false
fullfixed=false
fullresolution=1024x768
output=surface
hwscale=1.00
autolock=true
sensitivity=100
waitonerror=true
priority=higher,normal
mapperfile=mapper.txt

[dosbox]
language=
machine=vga
captures=capture
memsize=64

[render]
frameskip=0
aspect=false
scaler=normal2x

[cpu]
core=normal
cycles=10000
cycleup=500
cycledown=500

[mixer]
nosound=false
rate=22050
blocksize=2048
prebuffer=10

[midi]
mpu401=true
intelligent=true
device=default
config=

[sblaster]
type=sb16
base=220
irq=7
dma=1
hdma=5
mixer=true
oplmode=auto
oplrate=22050

[gus]
gus=true
rate=22050
base=240
irq1=5
irq2=5
dma1=3
dma2=3
ultradir=C:\ULTRASND

[speaker]
pcspeaker=true
pcrate=22050
tandyrate=22050
disney=true

[dos]
xms=true
ems=false

[modem]
modem=false
comport=2
listenport=23

[directserial]
directserial=false
comport=1
realport=COM1
defaultbps=1200
parity=N
bytesize=8
stopbit=1

[ipx]
ipx=false

[autoexec]
mount D C:\Spiele\Dosbox\cds\privateer -t cdrom
mount C C:\Spiele\Dosbox\Games
C:
cd privater
priv.exe
exit
 
My problem seems to be that I successfully mount the drive and everything but when I type the exe file it says CD Drive not found. I don't know if that's a old computer game problem or just a regular computer problem cause my cd drives are seemingly okay.

Sorry, I really do hate to sound dumb about these things. I do appreciate any help.
 
Shipgate said:
My problem seems to be that I successfully mount the drive and everything but when I type the exe file it says CD Drive not found. I don't know if that's a old computer game problem or just a regular computer problem cause my cd drives are seemingly okay.

Sorry, I really do hate to sound dumb about these things. I do appreciate any help.
Click to expand...

That's a relatively simple problem. If it's not seeing the CD drive, there's only a few possible solutions.

1) DOSBox isn't a real operating system, you must individually tell it when you have a CD in a drive and what drives are CD drives, etc. If you haven't explicitly done this, then DOSBox won't recognize any discs you have in your drives.
2) If you've told DOSBox what drives are what, you must then tell the games. Run the installers or edit the config files so the games know what drives to look at for their data.
3) It's not necessary to do any of the above really. The earlier games can all be copied and run from the hard drive. It's unnecessarily complicated if you're trying to run Privateer or whatever off the CD. Just copy the tre files to the hard drive and point the install to them. Most of the newer games that are on multiple CDs have Windows versions/patches that makes DOSBox unnecessary.
 
On Privateer...

For some reason, when I increased the number of CPU cycles in the configuration file, it went slower. I had it up to 30000 and it was like molasses. When I put it back to 10000, it was fast again.
 
You PC is too slow for such a high rate. The end result is as you noted a slower performance then when using a lower one. You migth want to try the dynamic kernel for DOSBox, which does not have this problem (but is less stable)
 
Ah wouldn't it be nice if you could just turn of the speed in DOSbox as high as you wanted.. We wouldn't need supercomputers, we could just run all computations in DOSbox and turn it up as fast as necessary.

That obviously wouldn't work, it would be limited by how fast your actual computer is. If you tell DOSbox to try to go faster than your computer can handle, it will just get bogged down. Not surprising at all.
 
I have tried everything I can think of, but I can't get the game to even INSTALL using DosBox, or VDMS, or compatibility modes, nothing works. It tries to determine the speed of my computer (the part where it'd normally show the Victory rotating lengthwise), instead, the screen blanks, and comes up again with those words I've come to despise: Exception 13.
Claims it's a bad CD read. Bollocks. My CD's are cleaner than Saint Mary's underwear. Can anyone help with this? I know if I could get it installed, I could get it working in DB or VDMS, no problem, as I've had quite a lot of success with other games in the past with those two runners.

Aaron
 
The Problem I've having is, first of all installing Privateer on XP using DosBox, I have 10 G free but for some reason the disk space avaible appears to be -1. How can I solve this problem
 
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