WC1 Deluxe CD-Rom on original hardware w DOS 6.22

kurutak

Spaceman
Been a lurker for years...and finally my first post.

I pulled out my old WC collection, and started installing my Wing Commander Deluxe CD which included SM 1 and 2 to one of my old 120mhz computers running DOS 6.22. The first problem I encountered was the famous Append.exe, Join.exe, and Subst.exe for the creation of a data disk. I found the append and subst.exe files off of a win95 CD, and copied the appened.exe and renamed it to join.exe since this file has eluded me for years.

The data disk is installed on the local c:\ and I proceed to install. During the installation process, it asks for the original disk in drive B:\ which the installer thinks is my 3.5" drive (which is a:\ everywhere else).

So I go into windows 3.1, copy the contents of the cd onto my c:\ and try to install from the local drive. Now, the installer is still looking for these files but from the c:\ now. End result, something is pointing to the incorrect letter drive which is preventing the install from the CD and there is no option in the installer to select a different source.

Any help would be greatly appreciated as since I'm home for the holidays, I figure I would get a taste of my childhood in. Thanks again, and happy holidays!
 
Instead of running in real DOS, I would recommend trying the program DosBox. It's a DOS emulator that runs on modern hardware and makes playing old DOS games a cinch and a joy.

Click here and make things easy!:)
 
Ok, the solution is simple... when you copy the disk to the harddrive, don't copy the whole thing. Only copy the WING directory to the harddrive and then run the setup file that is within that directory instead of the install batch files in the CDs root directory. It should only prompt you to choose your graphics mode and your sound hardware.

If that doesn't work, then you should be able to manually create a text file in that directory called wngcmdr.cfg
It's only contents should be
Code:
v a904
. Once that's done you should be able to run the game without running the installer.
 
Wing 1 might run too fast on a pentium 120... you will need to hunt for a slowdown utility like Moslo or another. Dosbox has it's own speed issues with WC1 so neither is a 100 percent solution. But it is probably less headache with the GOG version uless you have an old 386 that still runs as well.
 
Unfortunately Dosbox and GOG are both not options at this point in time.

I copied over the WC folder to the c:\ and the install is now pointing to the A: instead of the local disk c:\

I created the config file with the v a904 data however, after running the wc.exe it prompts with unable to find the install.dat then prompts for disk 38.
 
I'm wondering if this was a problem due to the packaging from software toolworks who created the CD. I also wonder if the Kilrathi Saga version is just as difficult, as I know I have that in a box somewhere around here as well, I just need to find it.
 
I'm wondering if this was a problem due to the packaging from software toolworks who created the CD. I also wonder if the Kilrathi Saga version is just as difficult, as I know I have that in a box somewhere around here as well, I just need to find it.
WC1 Kilrathi saga version on your system specs (if you have Win95 installed) is probably a little easier to get going.

Out of curiosity, please list all the contents of the WC directory that you copied to your HD. Also, did you try rerunning the install after creating the CFG file?
 
WC1 Kilrathi saga version on your system specs (if you have Win95 installed) is probably a little easier to get going.

Out of curiosity, please list all the contents of the WC directory that you copied to your HD. Also, did you try rerunning the install after creating the CFG file?

I did try re-installing after adding the config file, however the install still wants to point to the a: and not the local c:

Below are the contents of the WC folder from the CD which were copied under the C:

C:\ORIGIN\WC\dir

[.]
[..]
WNGCMDR.CFG (this was the new file which was added)
[GAMEDAT]
INSTALL.EXE
SM2.EXE
TRANS2.EXE
TRANSFER.EXE
WC.EXE

The files under Gamedat are all the files from the cd for the install which there are 194 files.
 
You are missing a letter in your cfg file... you missd the I

It should be WINGCMDR.CFG (eight characters plus the extention)

Sorry about that... I guess I typed it too fast originally and didn't catch it when I reread my other post.
 
You are missing a letter in your cfg file... you missd the I

It should be WINGCMDR.CFG (eight characters plus the extention)

Sorry about that... I guess I typed it too fast originally and didn't catch it when I reread my other post.

No problem :)

So, I renamed the file, and now the install skips the drive source and drive destination screen allows you to select your video and sound options, then aborts. This was running the install from the c:\origin\wc file.

If you try just running the wc.exe it again asks for disk 38.
 
hmm it's possible I left out a letter in the config file itself too... I must have been tired yesterday. Try adding a Z.

Code:
V A904 Z
 
hmm it's possible I left out a letter in the config file itself too... I must have been tired yesterday. Try adding a Z.

Code:
V A904 Z

Same thing after adding the Z. It aborts the install process, and trying to run the game asks for disk 38.
 
Well, here's some new news. After further research, and a few emails, I finally have some information regarding to this particular disk.

The Wing Commander CD-Rom Deluxe Edition from Software Toolworks (which includes SM1 and SM2) does not have a working launcher, nor does it have a working installer. For one reason or another, this was distributed as broken software.

That being said, the supposed work around is to install WC1 from another source then it may be possible to copy over SM1 and SM2 on that working install. It just so happens that I also have the floppy version of WC1 so I'll run an install of that tomorrow, then try to see if I can port SM1 and SM2 and leave an update here.
 
Odd... If you created the config file you shouldn't need to run the installer.. It should automatically launch into the game. I feel like we're missing something here. Can you post the exact error message? I'm unclear about whatever the append stuff you mentioned at the start of the thread is for. Can we restart from scratch? Recopy the WC folder to your harrdrive somewhere. Create WINGCMDR.CFG in the WC directory, and then run WC.exe from that directory (you won't need the CD anymore). Don't bother with the installer.exe at all.

Does that give you the error still? What is the exact error message text?
 
Odd... If you created the config file you shouldn't need to run the installer.. It should automatically launch into the game. I feel like we're missing something here. Can you post the exact error message? I'm unclear about whatever the append stuff you mentioned at the start of the thread is for. Can we restart from scratch? Recopy the WC folder to your harrdrive somewhere. Create WINGCMDR.CFG in the WC directory, and then run WC.exe from that directory (you won't need the CD anymore). Don't bother with the installer.exe at all.

Does that give you the error still? What is the exact error message text?

Sure,

When running the install I receive the following screen:

Loading install.bat...
Unable to find install.dat...
Aborting...

When I try to run the game, I get the following screen:

Please insert disk labeled 38. Press any key to continue.

Let's start from the beginning.

So a lot of the older games required the use of dos specific tools mainly because when they came out, I believe DOS 3.x was out. Ultima 1 has the same issues. So under the CD heres the directory:

d:\dir

[ORIGIN]
origin.bat

Now, when I run the origin.bat, it wants to create a data disk, which requires the use of append.exe, join.exe, and subst.exe. My version of dos 6.22 doesn't include these files since it's an OEM version of dos. If you purchased DOS 6.22 upgrade, or just flat out DOS 6.22, theres a third or fourth disk with additional tools on it, mainly append.exe, join.exe, and subst.exe. So, to create this data disk, I grabbed the append.exe and subst.exe from my Win95 CD and copied it over to c:\ then I copied appened.exe to join.exe (basically, the same contents of append.exe, just renamed to join.exe since I do not have this file) which then allowed me to create the data disk.
 
Now under the origin directory of the cd we have...

d:\ORIGIN\dir

[WC]
cdgames.exe
cdgames.pac
copyrit.scr
t.exe
version.lst

I'm not really sure what any of these files do so, went ahead and went into the WC director:

d:\ORIGIN\WC\dir

[GAMEDAT]
install.exe
sm2.exe
trans2.exe
transfer.exe
wc.exe

So, here's the install. I'd list whats under the gamedat but theres 192 files in there, and I unfortunately have no way at this time to pipe it to a .txt file then transfer it (don't have windows 3.x for networking....yet). Going through them, they contain no .bat or .exe files.

Now, running the install.exe program from the CD brings up the installation menu however, after making the menu selections, it prompts you to insert the Wing Commander Disk 1 in drive A:\ which....I suppose software toolworks never changed the installer to point to the D:\ when they packaged the CD. So, now I'll copy the WC folder to my C:\
 
Here's any easy one, install the floppy version, configure it, run it. Rename wingcmder.cfg to wingcmder.cf_(or whatever you want), copy the CD's file into the directory created by the original installer. now, remove the READ only attribute from the files(!), easiest way to do this is within windows(properties of folder, flag out read-only, apply). Otherwise use the attrib command from dos(apply the -r switch to all files, and the files within the subdir)

Lastly, rename the renamed wingcmder.cfg back to wingcmdr.cfg.

If the game still will not run, apply this final modification to your config.sys in the root of your c-drive, or however you told dos 6.22 where to look:
Files=100
Buffers=99

And reboot(these values are overkill, but should definitely suffice to get wing commander 1, tweaking it would be next)

Now you should be able to run the game, if it still does not run, likely there is more bad to the software toolworks release then just the installer.
 
I'll be damned...it works...

I copied over the WC folder, created the config file, ended up with the same errors as last time. I went back into windows, and removed the read only and archive attributes from the WC folder and all files and sub directories, and POOF, wing commander 1 now launches. Now I'll need to find how to slow it down, because on 120mhz, this thing screams right passed the intro to the game which is rather hilarious. At least however, not only is WC1 "installed" and able to run, but the software toolworks installer I now know is no longer needed.

Thank you AD and Mace, as your contributions have really helped my 4 days of being stumped.
 
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