WC2+Ultima Underworld, won't install properly

K

KA101

Chief Petty Officer
I bought a CD, commercially pressed, etc containing both games at a local church sale. One CD for both. Is that typical, or should there be another disc?
 
You indeed have a legitimate copy of the game, and if memory serves, it should only be one disk. What sort of error are you getting? Are you attempting to simply install the software via Windows directly or are you using an emulator like Dosbox?
 
Optical drives on this tower are flaky, so I copied the entire thing over to my DFend directory in the "CDs" folder. (Worked fine for my Syndicate Plus & Syndicate Wars discs.) Via running it from the CD's executable, I can get it to run--albeit with no sound whatever--up to killing all the fighters around the Concordia in Gwynedd 2, then it just hangs. (I can save after Gwynedd 1, though.) That's why I thought perhaps I had a demo or somesuch.

Install attempts, from the CD-transfer:
1) From there, ran the "INSTALL" program via DFend/DOSBox's "run setup" slot, and it runs fine until it's time to start copying the files, at which point it first asks which drive I want to copy from, c or d. At this point, the only key that works is Esc, which prompts it to ask for CD 1 to be in the drive. Refuses to find CD1, so process fails.
2) OK, let's give it the CD. Got the working drive (E:, in WinXP) to cooperate and was all set to go. Too bad DFend can't run the file from the disc, for some reason. :-(
3) Directly copying everything from the CD's WING2 file over to the VirtualHD DFend directory--still, no effect.

Thanks much.
 
Ahh, if you're using DFend with DosBox, then I know what your issue is. Dosbox defaults 64kb of memory for programs to use. Wing Commander II's program is not expecting this much memory to be availible, so once you reach Gwynedd II, it triggers a memory overflow and the game crashes. You need to run the executable with the following command:

C:\"Install Directory"\WC2\loadfix -32 wc2

This will tell dosbox to subtract 32 kb of memory from the available cache when WC2 runs. Now the program will see the amount of memory its expecting, and you shouldn't have any issues progressing past Gwynedd II.

As for the sound issue, I imagine that is because the installation defaults the soundcard DMA and IRQ to ports other then what your dosbox is setup to emulate. I suggest running the WC2 "Install.exe" program and setting the sound and music card settings to match what your emulator is set up for.
 
Sylvester said:
<snip: that looks great & I'll try it once I get this poor sleepy kitten off my lap-KA101>
As for the sound issue, I imagine that is because the installation defaults the soundcard DMA and IRQ to ports other then what your dosbox is setup to emulate. I suggest running the WC2 "Install.exe" program and setting the sound and music card settings to match what your emulator is set up for.
Click to expand...

Problem is, the install refuses to complete. That's what those 1/2/3 steps were all about. :-/
 
Have you designated your CD drive as "-t cdrom" in Dosbox? You may need to do that to trick the installer in letting you install the data off of that drive onto the C drive.
 
KA101 said:
Nope. Will look into that. Thanks.
Click to expand...


Just wanted to also let you know that you can designate any directory as a CD drive - example is ("Mount D C:\MyGames\NewGameData -t cdrom"). That will make Dosbox think that the particular folder you've designated is the CD rom drive "D" and should let you install the game data to another part of the C drive.
 
Suggestions implemented. ... Well, Jazz's comment re 1-for-2 is descriptive, and so is Blair's reaction.

Enabling the loadfix and setting it to 32 made the game fail to run at all. Ratcheted it back to 64, and it runs...just at half-speed when the Fralthra's around in Gwynedd 3. (Lag ain't fun.) CD stuff...doesn't seem to be working. :-/

Annnd I'm spoiled by the SNES WC1. Having all the controls *right there* on my gamepad is far more workable than having to take my hand off the trigger to throttle up/tell Shadow to shut up so I can see my targeting display/lock or unlock a target. Definitely out of practice. Thanks just the same, though.
 
That is quite odd...normally the loadfix -32 wc2 makes it work fine. Then again, you have the one PC version of WC2 that I've never played. I've had the original floppies, the deluxe CD, the combination WC1/WC2 CD, and Kilrathi Saga.

I suggest you try doing all of this in straight DosBox instead of using DFend and see if that works.
 
KA101 said:
Enabling the loadfix and setting it to 32 made the game fail to run at all. Ratcheted it back to 64, and it runs...just at half-speed when the Fralthra's around in Gwynedd 3. (Lag ain't fun.) CD stuff...doesn't seem to be working. :-/
Click to expand...

What is your DOSBox Cycles setting? The default of 3,000 is too slow. The CIC's own tech support suggests 4,000. I normally play at 6,000. The GOG version defaults to 8,000. While WC1 goes berserk and unplayable at high cycles, WC2 has a frame limiter during flight. However, some cutscenes will animate too quickly, while running for the correct number of seconds. This makes conversations look ridiculous, and side shots of your craft slide past too quickly, like this:

WC2SlideHighCycles.png


(Edited because I didn't properly attach the image the first time.)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Right. I still haven't fixed the sound, but that hasn't stopped me from saving Stingray. Thanks for your help, all.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top