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Don't Fear Upgrading Windows
With the public preview of Windows Vista beta 2 now available, we took the opportunity to test its compatibility with various WC games. The findings are quite positive with Windows XP suffering many of the same problems, and almost all of them have a solution.
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Kilrathi Saga WC1/WC2 - The games start, but the graphics are distorted making the game unplayable. This is quite likely to be an issue with the PC's graphics card driver being unable to switch to 320x200 resolution since I had much the same issue with XP. I haven't found a solution for this as of yet, but with DosBox now able to run the DOS versions so well, this could be considered a minor problem.
- Kilrathi Saga WC3 - Running the game straight after installation produces a problem with the wrong colors being displayed, but setting "Run in 256 colors" and "Run in 640x480" in compatibility mode options solves this, making the game perfectly playable.
- Wing Commander 4 Windows - Installation proved a problem with the DOS mode installer refusing to run in Windows and DosBox crashing, but fortunately I found an old installation on my hard drive. Using that, the game itself ran with no issues.
- Wing Commander 4 DVD - Tested with Gulilkoza's patch to run the game without a DXR board, and with the game set to Windows 98 compatibility mode. No problems at all.
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Privateer 2 Deluxe Windows - The installer's colors were mixed up unless it was set to run in Windows 98 compatibility mode. The installer also has the well-known "not enough space" error which is fixed by simply creating a c:\dark directory before running the installer. The game also ran too fast until Jonathan Scobbie's speed patch was applied.
- Wing Commander Prophecy - Tested with the latest version of HCl's high-res patch which will be released with the multiplayer patch. The game ran flawlessly.
- Wing Commander Secret Ops - Tested with HCl's high-res patch. The version of the patch available for Secret Ops is older than the one used to test Prophecy. SO worked fine, but it was also necessary to set Windows 98 compatibility mode. This may not be required with a more up-to-date high-res patch.
So there you have it. You can play virtually everything current XP systems allow, which includes almost every Wing Commander game. Unless something major changes between now and release, there is no reason for anyone not to upgrade to the full version of Vista. Other than it not actually offering any major advantages over XP that is.
[Cpl Hades] [# 7127] [Discuss]
Holding The Line Chapter 210
Raptor has arrived with the latest chapter of Holding the Line. The latest chapter in the series offers a confrontation with an alien ship killer, complete with its big old gun.
Hey all, Raptor here
HTL continues with the third installment of Battlegroup
Auriga's battle against a deadly Kraken Shipkiller. As you
saw in previous chapters, the pilots and crews had found the
Shipkiller, and begun trying to defang the beast. In spite
of their best efforts however, the human capital ships had
been forced to close with the Kraken, which in turn had
begun charging its lethal plasma weapon.
The story is at:
http://www.holdingtheline.net/ch210.htm
Best, Raptor
[Cpl Hades] [# 7128] [Discuss]
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