Hi Antimodes - and everyone else into Battle Isle 2

I run BI2 directly from the CD-ROM. The trick is the specify the CD-ROM drive as D:\BI2 instead of just D:

Btw - this is the BI2 version I run (README.TXT):

BATTLE ISLE 2 - TITAN
Network CD
----------------------------------
Version 1.0 OEM, 01-FEB-96

Beating a not quite dead horse here. I am trying to run BI2200 and it runs just fine, but the piracy detector is being tripped. I get the almighty invincible computer opponent. I am currently using Win98 First Edition with F:\ as my CD-ROM drive. Actually my CD-ROM drive is a CD-RW drive, but I thought that would make no difference. I am running DOSBOX .62

mount c C:\bi2200 (root directory)
mount d F:\ -t cdrom -usecd 0 -label BATTLEISLE2

My CD is according to the README an originall copy of the game. The header of the readme is labeled as: Battle Isle 2200 README.TXT
October 11, 1994

The game files are in the root of the CD Filestructure, not in a :\BI2 directory.

Now that I have specified my problem to the best of my ability, I have my questions. Is there a command in DOSBOX that lets me see what the current virtual directory is labeled as to confirm that it is indeed labeled properly?

Minimax mentioned to specify the drive as D:\BI2. What would the command line for that look like?

Thank you

Further update:

I tried the game again in DOSBOX .60 with the same conditions as above and received the same results. I also confirmed that the usecd number was right for the drive.

I also have a DVD-ROM on this thing. I am through for the night, but excluding further input from anyone I will try switching the CD from the CD-RW to the DVD-ROM.

With the time I am putting into this, I could have gone out to the surplus computer shop, built my own DOSBox, load it with DOS 6.0, and run all the old games I want 😀 but that's also about $200 I don't have to waste.

I'm not sure if you really need to label the drive. I'm using this mount-command to play Battle Isle 2:
mount d: i:\ -t cdrom -ioctl -usecd 2
So add -ioctl to your line and it might work.

I will try that when I get back home. (at school now) However, according to the Readme.txt file -ioctl is only for Win2000/XP

Warhawk80 wrote:

Now that I have specified my problem to the best of my ability, I have my questions. Is there a command in DOSBOX that lets me see what the current virtual directory is labeled as to confirm that it is indeed labeled properly?

Try the attached program:

MS-DOS Disk Info v3.0 by Geoffrey Welsh: shows disk space, label, and current directory for local hard and floppy drives, network drives, CD-ROMs, etc

Warhawk80 wrote:

Minimax mentioned to specify the drive as D:\BI2. What would the command line for that look like?

Has nothing to do with DOSBox per se. I was refering to the game's setup screen, where you have to enter the path to the game CD.

I officially don't get it. According to the info reader (Thanks a bunch Minimax, that's what I needed) the label is indeed "BATTLEISLE2". Entering in the -ioctl line did not help. I will make another run at it later.

@Warhawk80: What is the EXACT label on the CD-ROM when viewed from Windows? Exactly - UPPERCASE as well as lowercase?

Somewhere in the game (BATTLE2.EXE) there is string that must match the CD-ROM label - EXACTLY. It is burried between these strings:

1$ strings BATTLE2.EXE | nl -ba | grep '   51'
2    51  ]&f&
3   510  v/ww
4   511  GFEDR
5   512   X4J*d
6   513  .___XXXXXXXXX
7   514  COMPUTER: EMS OVERFLOW!
8   515  COMPUTER: EXTERN DATA CHECKSUM WRONG !!!
9   516  COMPUTER: EMS CHECKSUM WRONG!!!
10   517  BATTLEISLE2
11   518  FREE DOS MEM: %ld
12   519  OVL  DOS BUF SIZE: %u

1$ od -c BATTLE2.EXE | grep '^0551'
20551440  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0   C   O   M   P   U   T   E   R   :
30551460   E   M   S       O   V   E   R   F   L   O   W   !  \0   C   O
40551500   M   P   U   T   E   R   :       E   X   T   E   R   N       D
50551520   A   T   A       C   H   E   C   K   S   U   M       W   R   O
60551540   N   G       !   !   !  \0   C   O   M   P   U   T   E   R   :
70551560       E   M   S       C   H   E   C   K   S   U   M       W   R
80551600   O   N   G   !   !   !  \0  \0  \0  \0 377 377 377 377 377 377
90551620 377 377   B   A   T   T   L   E   I   S   L   E   2  \0  \0  \0
100551640  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0

(sorry, I'am an Unix-addict, so I get used to the Unix commands).

Note: As far as I know, the BATTLE2.EXE in "Battle Isle Platinum Edition" has this label listed as:

10551620 377 377   B   I   _   1   _   _   _   2              \0  \0  \0

I encountered the super-strong computer opponent, and the 'This is an illegal copy' message until I used a binary editor to fix the BATTLE2.EXE (which expected uppercase "BATTLEISLE2" as the label) to match the label on my CD-ROM: "Battleisle2".

So in Win98, I would probably want to find a hex editor again to view this. And since this is something to be changed, it should be in Battle2.exe on the harddrive.

Thank you alot. Yes, Windows says "Battleisle2" with lower case.

HexView - a binary editor for Windows:

http://www.qtam-computer.com/product.shtml