I was wondering if you might want to try 'cdsetup c:' instead?
Most of the other install executables of that sort tend to use the destination, not the source. No guarantees though.
(Sadly I have this game, but I can't find it. Likely wouldn't use the same install mechanism anyways)

Here is what I have found for now:
This is the game cd file cdsetup.bat
echo off
cls
IF %1"==" GOTO CDID
echo %1 > var
copy ufoc.d+var ufo.bat >nul
setup
echo.
echo.
echo To run UFO enter UFO at the prompt
echo.
goto END
:CDID
echo.
echo.
echo You must enter CDSETUP followed by the drive letter for your CD ROM.
echo.
echo For example CDSETUP D: or CDSETUP E: etc...
echo.
echo.
:END

Here is the called install.bat file:
echo off
cls
IF %1"==" goto NOWAY
WELCOME
md %1 >nul
md %1\game_1 >nul
md %1\game_2 >nul
md %1\game_3 >nul
md %1\game_4 >nul
md %1\game_5 >nul
md %1\game_6 >nul
md %1\game_7 >nul
md %1\game_8 >nul
md %1\game_9 >nul
md %1\game_10 >nul
md %1\ufointro >nul
MD %1\MISSDAT >NUL
MD %1\SOUND >NUL
COPY SOUND\*.* %1\SOUND\*.* >NUL
copy intro.exe %1 >nul
copy ufocd.bat %1 >nul
copy dos4gw.exe %1 >nul
copy ufoc.d %1 >nul
copy cdsetup.bat %1 >nul
copy setup.exe %1 >nul
copy ufointro\*.lbm %1\ufointro\*.* >nul
done
pause >nul
cls
echo.
echo.
echo To setup UFO, ENEMY UNKNOWN.
echo.
echo Change directory to %1 and then enter
echo CDSETUP followed by your CD ROM drive letter.
echo.
echo For example CDSETUP D: or CDSETUP E: etc...
cd %1
echo.
echo.
goto end
:noway
cls
noway
pause >nul
cls
:end

OK, it looks like the program is getting to the install.bat, but I noticed that the line "Change directory to __ and then enter", the __ portion where the cdrom drive letter should be displayed is blank... so, it isn't recognizing my cdrom correctly? I have tried the "0" line in mounting the cdrom as well as without, but I must be missing something here.
It would make sense that the install fails if it is confused about "where" the cdrom drive is located, but my real drive is E: and I mount it as D:
Back to the drawing board...

Pdubya64 wrote:

Here is what I have found for now: This is the game cd file cdsetup.bat echo off cls IF %1"==" GOTO CDID echo %1 > var copy ufoc […]
Show full quote

Here is what I have found for now:
This is the game cd file cdsetup.bat
echo off
cls
IF %1"==" GOTO CDID
echo %1 > var
copy ufoc.d+var ufo.bat >nul

<snip>

It is the ufoc.d+var that is causing the problem.

cdsetup.bat expects to get a drive-letter as %1, e.g D:, which it writes into a tempoary file (var).
It then tries to use the copy file1+file2 syntax to create ufo.bat by appending the files udoc.d and var into ufo.bat.

But the command interpreter in DOSBox does not understand the +/appending syntax so the resulting ufo.bat is incomplete and only contains the contents of ufoc.d

If you change cdsetup.bat to

echo off
cls
IF %1"==" GOTO CDID
copy ufoc.d ufo.bat >nul
echo %1 >> ufo.bat >nul

then I think it will work.

I'll try it!
Thanks!!
😊

Oh, btw, I am mounting e e:\ -t cdrom now to simplify things.

😒
It still gives the same result- if I use e: install c: it creates the data directories from cd, but when i run ufo, it calls ufocd.bat and after executing a couple of commands, goes to a black screen and locks up DOSBox. If I use e: cdsetup e:, it immediately goes to the sound setup screen w/o installing the game.
I am running out of ideas...

Looking at the code above, where are we copying var to the ufo.bat file? Did I misinterpret your intent?
Thanks.
Here is the cdsetup.bat I ended up with:

echo off
cls
IF %1"==" GOTO CDID
copy ufoc.d ufo.bat >nul
echo %1 >> ufo.bat >nul
setup
echo.
echo.
echo To run UFO enter UFO at the prompt
echo.
goto END
:CDID
echo.
echo.
echo You must enter CDSETUP followed by the drive letter for your CD ROM.
echo.
echo For example CDSETUP D: or CDSETUP E: etc...
echo.
echo.
:END

Alright, I am trying to just ensure the HD files mimic the cdrom and see if that works- the game starts, but I only get a millisecond of the opening movie sequence with music before it cuts to the new game screen. Also not able to use SB16 music in setup- nothing plays in-game. When I ran the game off of the cdrom it worked as it should have.

I am not sure what is going then. You can try replacing the 'echo off' with 'echo on' so you can see what the BAT-files (and ufoc.d) are doing. Also, add a few 'pause' commands at strategic places in the BAT-files (and ufoc.d) so everything is not scrolling of the screen with the speed of light.

The black screen/lockup is probably a BAT-file calling a BAT-file calling a BAT-file calling .....

The 'echo on' will ensure that you see what is going on.

var (I hope) is simply used as a temporary file to hold the drive-letter. Instead of a file, I used

echo %1 >> ufo.bat >nul

to append the drive-letter (in %1) to the end of ufo.bat.

Did you check how the resulting ufo.bat looked like?

Yeah, it looks like that variable is messing things up.

Also remove the "> nul" from each line.

If worse comes to worse just run each line manually. If you don't understand what lines does what then just post back and ask.

Well, thanks for the assistance guys, but I managed to purchase a bundle of all the X-COM games (5) made for Windows on eBay for about $30 (18 P Sterling) and figure I will have better luck with this particular game by just getting the Windows compatible versions. So far all the other games I used to have running are fine... not sure what has changed from 0.63 to 0.65; maybe it is just my new Opteron 170 Dual Core rig 😖

This thread might help someone else out in the future though, so I'm glad I brought it up.
Thanks again,
Pdubya

I'll need to check my list but the Windows ver of the XCOM games also require some patching.

I've always had to lower hardware acceleration to get the games to work properly but I believe there are unofficial patches so you don't have to do this. I'm also not sure if the games have speed issues or not (running too fast), it's been a long time since I played the Windows version.

😒 - well phooey. I suppose I knew there would be issues regardless of the version. Thanks for the heads up- I will check back here if you update, or maybe a link to a previous thread would work just as well.

Bye for now.

Here's an update on the situation:

I found 😊 my X-COM UFO Defense cd from the "Conquer the Universe" bundle. It has Mythos Games Ltd on the disc and 1997. Also, the files are much simpler- an "hdinst.bat" that changes the directory and runs "install.bat" along with the basic directories. Seems like some programmer decided to get cute with the "Classic Series" version that just refused to install as noted above. What I was remembering was loading this "CtU" version and everything being fine... and it is! 😅

I have my profile in D-Fend set with 9000 cycles and a dynamic core (will try using the latest dos32a in place of dos4gw to see how it helps!). Still can't get SB16/AWE music to work, although the sound effects are OK. GUS is a no-go and I have unchecked PC speaker and Tandy. I am trying out the different MIDI device settings to see if any are better than the others. 16MB memory and XMS/EMS both enabled, no UMB. Under General section, at top, everything except Aspect Correction checked. 125 Mouse sensitivity, Surface rendering, Scale Normal2x.
The game looks great and seems to fit "right" and the font is not blurred or distorted at all. I also did a quick game with ground mission and scout ship with 1 Sectoid. The flashing cursor is just about the right speed, so I'm happy. Hope the stability holds out.

My rig specs:
Opteron 170 O/C to 2.2GHz
2GB OCZ Platinum DDR memory
2 WD 150GB Raptor drives
eVGA Nvidia 7900 GT 256MB 550MHz/1580MHz

So, I guess the lesson here is to stay away from the Microprose Classic Series X-COM UFO Defense version (dark blue box with the old original cover art reduced in size on front) unless you have a true DOS machine running- then it would work fine.

I'll need to check my list but the Windows ver of the XCOM games also require some patching.

I've always had to lower hardware acceleration to get the games to work properly but I believe there are unofficial patches so you don't have to do this. I'm also not sure if the games have speed issues or not (running too fast), it's been a long time since I played the Windows version.

yup you're right. under winxp you need the bugfix loader patch for the collectors edition (win32). it can be found here.
a slowdown tool is also required to get the games running at a playable speed. CPUGrab has done the job very good for me.

Thanks SysGOD, I'm sure to need those at some point.

Cheers! 😁