Priv 1 Boot disk not working

D

Dionysos

Spaceman
Heya,

I probobly don't have the comp power to run VirtualPC dos, and so I tried the boot disk autoexec and config files in the boot disk thread, which my computer sadly felt was inadequate. Do I need to do that old system c: a: trick or whatever it was to make a boot disk?

Very eager to play a little Priv at last. I was POSITIVE it worked under 95 for me before, though now I have 98SE

Any help would be appreciated.
 
FORMAT A: /S for a bootdisk. Post what system files you're using (AUTOEXEC.BAT, CONFIG.SYS, etc) too.

I think you mean you ran Privateer in Win95's DOS mode, right?
 
Yes, that is what I meant, pardon. Also under an early version of 98 as well. However, with 98SE's dos mode it simply sits there, with no error message at all, until I reset. Enormously frustrating. I just created a boot disk with system c: a: and autoexec and config.sys of my own design, but the miserable thing now gives me memory errors and what's more, it won't run the mem command to show me what's wrong. Blast, blast blast. I really want to run around blowing things up in my Orion.
 
Victory

The following setup worked.

Autoexec.bat

SET TMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP
SET TEMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP
SET PROMPT=$p$g
SET winbootdir=C:\WINDOWS
SET CTSYN=C:\WINDOWS
SET GRIP=C:\GRAVIS\CORESO~1
SET PATH=C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND;C:\GRAVIS\CORESO~1
SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 H5 P330 T6

config.sys

DOS=HIGH,UMB
Device=C:\WINDOWS\Himem.Sys
DeviceHigh=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.Exe

Now I just have to tweak in a mouse driver and fix whatever is wrong with sound and I'll be set. A lot of that junk is copied from window's idea of what a boot should be so there's useless stuff in there also.
 
Originally posted by Dionysos
SET TMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP
SET TEMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP
SET winbootdir=C:\WINDOWS
Click to expand...
Don't need these, but it doesn't matter too much either way.

Originally posted by Dionysos
DeviceHigh=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.Exe
Click to expand...
Replace with:
DEVICE=EMM386.EXE RAM 16384 I=B000-B7FF

Originally posted by Dionysos
Now I just have to tweak in a mouse driver and fix whatever is wrong with sound and I'll be set.
Click to expand...
Mouse drivers here. Use: LH C:\[directory]\[filename]

Getting sound to work is much harder. I probably won't be able to help you much with that, but since your AUTOEXEC.BAT says:

SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 H5 P330 T6

Use IRQ 7, DMA 1 and High DMA 5 in the setup program.
 
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I'm not sure if those "set" commands still work. The end of my autoexec comes in a flurry of the set commands without any comments or delays like in olden days. And at any rate the installation program won't recognize an SB Pro/16 at 220/7/1 even though that's clearly what the setting is.

If the set command is actually working I might try 220/5/1 in the autoexec and see if it likes that any better. I wish I had my joystick! It was getting broken down and I junked it, and now I'm contemplating configuring my gamepad to use it as a poor man's joystick with the little joystick attachment to the directional pad.

Anyway, rather than fix the sound I played for a few hours, got an Orion blockade runner souped up pretty fast. It's funny thinking how long it took me to get out of a tarsus back when I first played, and now I did it in the first sitting... Just a matter of better math I guess. And, um, judicious contraband transportation.
 
Sorry , what Im gonna ask is off-topic but I just wanted to know , Where "Dionysos" (the guy) come from....

Well , its a Greek name cause its from a greek God from the mythology and since Im from Greece....I just wanted to know:D




P.S. I ll just make a multi-boot OS in my new PC and then Im gonna check every WC game.Then Ill be able to help I think, but for now I cant do anything....
 
Originally posted by Dionysos
If the set command is actually working I might try 220/5/1 in the autoexec and see if it likes that any better.
Click to expand...
For the BLASTER variable? I think that was the most common configuration in those days. You should probably check your soundcard's settings in Windows to check, though.

Originally posted by Dionysos
And, um, judicious contraband transportation.
Click to expand...
It's called freelance cargo delivery. ;)
 
I'm not sure all those "set" commands are doing anything, they just come in a big row like

A:\set yahadayada

A:\set yahadayada

A:\set yahadayada

A:\set yahadayada

all at once, with no delay, no other information... perhaps there is some dos driver that no longer exists. At any rate it's a good game even without sound or a joystick, which is saying something.
 
Don't worry about the SET variables, if you really don't want to look at them, just add @ECHO OFF to the start of your AUTOEXEC.BAT
 
I don't think my soundcard is active in dos now at the moment, however. It's an SB live so I dunno if those are even meant to work with dos, I don't think I've played Priv with this sound card.

BTW, Dionysos used to be my ICQ handle (until a particularly offensive pornographer decided he liked it to, but it's still a good handle outside of ICQ.) I'm not Greek, though two very old friends of mine are.
 
I'm not familiar with Live, I keep hearing all sorts of problems about them and WC games... or maybe that's just WCP. Sorry.
 
Here's the new problem. SB Live comes with a dos driver, Sbinit, and a dos settings changer sbeset. The problem is, when I run

C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\SBLIVE\DOSDRV\SBEINIT.COM

the soundcard turns on fine: but the system hangs when I try to run Priv! So it was probobly the sound card all along that was causing problems. I wouldn't care if it was sound but I'm very annoyed at not being able to use a joystick. Mouse control feels very very alien to me; there's no sensitivity changing that I'm aware of. The SB slot is my only joystick slot and using the keyboard, while adequate, often makes me hop over targets with the crosshairs and waste precious energy when an imperceptable joystick movement would have saved the day.
 
When you say "hop over targets", do you mean that the movement with the keyboard is not exactly 'smooth'? Because I have the same feeling - I think it's worse on my old 386. But I always play with the keyboard, so I'm used to it. And be happy, without a joystick plugged in, Privateer will play at half speed for some reason! :)
 
Well, the problem is that a keyboard and certain types of keypad are digital, so when you pitch up you pitch up at maximum "speed" and if you want to move the crosshairs by a quarter of a cm on the screen that sometimes doesn't work. With a joystick I think I could finish a lot of fights first... also I'd have a hand free to keep on the roll keys, which would let me align my gun spread with the target a little better.

But, if having a joystick detected made it go twice the current speed it might be unplayable. I miss sound and joystick control however. VDMsound doesn't work with Priv 1, the SB drivers make Priv crash, and I haven't found "soundfx" a driver some people mention.

Also I haven't gotten the 16 megs of ram command to work with my boot disk yet, I'm not sure why. When I added the 16384 RAM comment or whatever it is it crashed. Bah.

Now that I've gotten a centurion with 4 fusion cannons, and every single add on except a turret it's kind of academic I guess... thank you merchants guild missions.
 
Originally posted by Dionysos
...also I'd have a hand free to keep on the roll keys, which would let me align my gun spread with the target a little better.
Click to expand...
Wha? But to roll in Privateer, you just need to press 7 or 9 on the numpad.
 
So what you guys are saying is that it's not the joystick, it's the fact that the gameport is on the soundcard, which also doesn't happen to work in DOS? Can't one of those super-smart computer types figure out a way to make Privateer into a Windows game? I challenge any of you to do so. Please. For the sake of all that is good with the world of gaming.
 
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