Building a Better Moustrap

Originally posted by Happy

the WCIV DVD requires a CL DXR2 board, it is ver touchy about that, i have a DXR3, i have used both creative's and sigma designs drivers, and niether works with the WCIV DVD, though the game still runs, it just uses the original XAN movies:(
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I have a Drx3 card and WC4 DVD plays beautifully on it. I replace my Dxr2 with a Drx3 card. It running much better then the Dxr2 card. I just install XP Pro with the XP beta driver (sigma designs writes the drivers for both cards. Drx3 is the hollywood card.) WC4 DVD plays beautifully.

Happy, it seems I have better luck setting things up and getting it working than you do.:D I am a trouble-shooter. My rep at work is if can be done I will fine away to do it.
 
Originally posted by Bandit LOAF
I used an all-in-wonder card a while back and was pretty happy with everything but the DVD portion. I didn't really bother to fool around with it much, though... (I recently saw an external USB-based ATI TV-in device, which looked awfully convenient -- I'd still need a 2D card).

IIRC my Canopus is an original Voodoo -- this is it here. Would a pair of Voodoo 2's be better in any way? (Not *that* interested in the high res patch -- it'd be cool, but my preference is to have the game run as well as was originally intended).
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Yes you'll want a Voodoo 2 card over your Canopus card. (I thought you had a Voodoo 2 version of this card.) If you connect two Voodoo 2 cards together via the SLI port you get a higher resolution and better refresh rate. The only reason to use Voodoo 2 cards over the Voodoo 3/4/5 cards is because it has a past-through connector like your Voodoo 1 card. So you can connect you primary card to the Voodoo 2 card than to the monitor. This is important because if you're going to have three graphic cards (I count two voodoo 2 cards as one) Drx3 decoder and ATI ALL in Wonder card you will need to be able to daisy chain them together or use a KVM device.

If you go with a KVM device for gaming and graphic editing you'll want to get a really good one with a high refresh rate. That could cost some money. Now this brings up a very good question. Just how much money are you prepare to spend? We all assume you just wanted to play WC games. Now it sounds like you want a super computer.

Now if that "USB-based ATI TV-in device" you are talk about does what you believe it does your back to the Voodoo 3/4/5 cards. I recommend voodoo 4/5 over Voodoo 3 card because you'll find you'll get better support. There are users of these cards, which are creating their own patches to keep these cards working in today's environment. You can get these updates here http://www.voodoofiles.com/.
 
I'm starting to think that I should dump my TNT2 M64 for a Voodoo 2 or something... my system is more built for it, plus doesn't one get glide, OpenGL and Direct3D?

Anyway, the music in WC1/2 always sounds best using the Roland MT-32. I have a SB PCI 128 too, so you have to set the MT-32 synth mode on it using the DOS program, but you can make a batch file that will do that for you automatically.

The other games' music sounds fine with general midi.

Although, IMO, it would be easier and more convenient to run the main series from Windows... play KS, 4, WCP, and WCPSO in windows, and play everything else in DOS. You wouldn't need a partition, just don't boot to windows. Although, I personally go through one line at a time to make sure my computer doesn't boot anything it doesn't need... boot disks still don't stop a lot of memory eating modules from loading and taking up conventional memory.
 
Originally posted by Saturnyne
I'm starting to think that I should dump my TNT2 M64 for a Voodoo 2 or something... my system is more built for it, plus doesn't one get glide, OpenGL and Direct3D?
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I don't remember is the TNT2 M64 a 2d/3d card? If it is you just need to add the Voodoo 2 card to you systems with it. The Voodoo 2 is a 3d only card. The Voodoo 3/4/5 had limited OpenGL support.
Originally posted by Saturnyne
Although, IMO, it would be easier and more convenient to run the main series from Windows... play KS, 4, WCP, and WCPSO in windows, and play everything else in DOS. You wouldn't need a partition, just don't boot to windows. Although, I personally go through one line at a time to make sure my computer doesn't boot anything it doesn't need... boot disks still don't stop a lot of memory eating modules from loading and taking up conventional memory.
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The problem running these games using the F8 is that each of this games have there own memory setting. What works for WC1 doesn't work for P1. This means you'll need to edit the config.sys each time before running a new game. LOAF want all has games install on his PC and setup to run without making any changes. Dual booting with a menu driven autoexec.bat and config.sys would do that.
 
Happy, it seems I have better luck setting things up and getting it working than you do.
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I just don't have the time any more, between school, and work i have little time.

i got it running, but not with the dvd. or maybe it is and the video it not as sharp as i thought i'd be. idk. i just haven't spent the time with it.

BTW, what drivers r u using? Crestive or Sigma?
 
http://www.atitech.com/products/pc/tvwonderusb/index.html
This is the USB TV device I found -- looks like it's just a USB version of the
stand-alone TV-wonder card. It sounds like a good solution to me... I'll look
at some reviews, but I think it's what I'm going to go for.

Now, more graphics problems...

A Voodoo 5 sounds perfect -- apparently it'll do the high res stuff and it has
the Full Screen Anti-Aliasing thing that makes Prophecy look smoother (Jan
27th, 2001 CIC update)...

So here's an odd question: can I run a Voodoo 5 *and* an original Voodoo daughter
card? I ask because of the original Prophecy 3Dfx test, which will only run with
an original Vodooo card. Is something like this possible?

If you go with a KVM device for gaming and graphic editing you'll want to get a really good one with a high refresh rate. That could cost some money. Now this brings up a very good question. Just how much money are you prepare to spend? We all assume you just wanted to play WC games. Now it sounds like you want a super computer.
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More than I want to admit. :) I'm not looking for a cheap DOS box -- I want a
'archival' machine that will be able to play every Wing Commander game in the
best possible manner while my current machine advances beyond them. I'll say
I have an unlimited budget -- I'm certainly willing to put more money into this
computer than I would into building a speedy new computer.

Okay, sound card questions...

http://ebayimages.dhs.org/4033-1.jpg
That's the Roland LAPC-I, the card that will supposedly work best with the early
Wing Commanders. It's a full length ISA card -- so I'd need to take that into
account when I'm picking a case, I suppose. What I haven't figured out is how the heck
it works with the soundblaster. In the case of WC2, it makes use of the Roland for
effects and the SoundBlaster for speech... do I attack the Roland to the SB's audio
in, or do I need an external mixer of some sort?
 
ugh... ISA... my modem is ISA.

If you want Roland LAPC/MT-32 usage, just get the Creative SB PCI 128. In addition to the Sound Blaster, it can also emulate the Adlib card and the Roland LAPC/MT-32 in DOS and in Windows. As I said, there are .bat files you can make that will do that for you.

The Nvidia Riva TNT2 M64 is a 3D accelerator card. I'm out of PCI slots, and have no AGP, so adding a voodoo is out of the question as is.
 
Originally posted by Happy


I just don't have the time any more, between school, and work i have little time.

i got it running, but not with the dvd. or maybe it is and the video it not as sharp as i thought i'd be. idk. i just haven't spent the time with it.

BTW, what drivers r u using? Crestive or Sigma?
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It sounds to me liike you have the single sided WC4 DVD with regular, non MPEG-2 video... What you're describing isn't really possible... The double sided DVD won't play the original movies if the DVD video doesn't work... It doesn't *have* the original game's compressed movies on the DVD... the video just won't play, or will stop when you need to make a selection.
 
Originally posted by Happy


I just don't have the time any more, between school, and work i have little time.

i got it running, but not with the dvd. or maybe it is and the video it not as sharp as i thought i'd be. idk. i just haven't spent the time with it.

BTW, what drivers r u using? Crestive or Sigma?
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I am using Creative's but Sigma's should work. The Drx3/Hollywood cards don't like sharing IRQ. The way MS is using ACPI you may have more devices share a single IRQ than you should. My Dxr3 is only sharing with on other device. I remember the first time I setup a Win2000 machine. I freak out, 8 devices sharing one IRQ. I don't care what Intel or MS says thats not good.

The solution I found was to make sure OS PNP is disable (MS recommends that) in the BIOS and disable serial port 2. That spread everything out. Also, never let your AGP card share it's IRQ.

I remember when I was working and going to school fulltime. I would get home around midnight and get up at 4:30 AM. I had no time for games, friends, or personal PC building. I did that for almost 13 months.
 
Originally posted by TC


It sounds to me liike you have the single sided WC4 DVD with regular, non MPEG-2 video... What you're describing isn't really possible... The double sided DVD won't play the original movies if the DVD video doesn't work... It doesn't *have* the original game's compressed movies on the DVD... the video just won't play, or will stop when you need to make a selection.
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Damn!! no wonder i was able to win it then, everybody else knew there were 2 versions of WCIV on DVD.
 
Originally posted by Happy

Damn!! no wonder i was able to win it then, everybody else knew there were 2 versions of WCIV on DVD.
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I heard about it but never seen the one sided DVD version. I got my copy with the CL Encore 5x.
 
Originally posted by Bandit LOAF
You can get a copy for $9.99 at softwareoutlet.com
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It looks like the one sided version. Will it play correctly? Considering Happy's problem with his one-sided version and what TC said about it. I would be a little weary to buy it.:confused:
 
i got mine off ebay, i can't remember if it was advertised with the newer videos or not, i need to look.
 
no, it was not sold with enhanced movies, i just saw WCIV dvd, and baught it on impulse.:(
next time, i'll make sure. but i guess on the up-side, no more cd swapping!!!
 
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