VOGONS


First post, by Justin1091

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Hello guys,

I have a 16mhz 286 pc and I am trying to run Lands of Lore 1, the floppy version. When the installation program asks for diskette 2 and I insert it, the installer hangs at 'Decompressing introduction speech'.
I tried installing it on a Pentium 2 pc and it worked. So I put the 286's HDD in the Pentium 2 pc and copied the installation folder.

When trying to run setup.exe on the 286 to setup the sound card nothing happens and I have to ctrl alt del. The system stays at the DOS prompt.

I know the minimum requirement is a 386, does that cpu has additional instructions the game needs? It's not really important, I'd just like to see how the game performs. It's odd that I don't get an error message of some sorts.

Anyone have a 286 that is willing to try and run this game? I'm curious if someone else has more luck.

Reply 1 of 9, by Jo22

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Hi! If the game really requires a 386SX, you can try to install a 386 emulator (emu386).
It could work for certain real-mode games. Re: Worst cpus and worst computer builds

Good luck! 😀

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//

Reply 2 of 9, by Justin1091

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Thank you, that is very interesting. Will try it as soon as I'm able and post back results.

I suddenly realize that the CD version of Lands of Lore comes with a vwwsd.386 driver, which installs to system.ini when installing under Windows 3.11 (or 95, 98). According to the manual, this is for digitized samples (eg speech). The DOS version doesn't need this driver (at least you don't need to install it), but maybe this has something to do with the game locking up. It probably has the .386 file extension for a reason.

Reply 3 of 9, by CkRtech

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Hey Justin1091,

Just out of curiosity, are you seeing a graphical glitch and freeze when it attempts to decompress introduction speech, or does it just not seem to be doing anything for a bit of time? I wouldn't be surprised if the installation's decompression is crippling that 286 processor. It it possible that it is still functioning but going to take a very, very long time.

I don't know how Lands of Lore configuration works, but you could check the directory of the install and try renaming the configuration file and starting setup from scratch. It is also possible the config file is text - it always depends on the game.

That Windows 3.1 version most likely requires Enhanced Mode, and that isn't going to happen on a 286.

Displaced Gamers (YouTube) - DOS Gaming Aspect Ratio - 320x200 || The History of 240p || Dithering on the Sega Genesis with Composite Video

Reply 5 of 9, by Justin1091

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derSammler wrote:
Justin1091 wrote:

I know the minimum requirement is a 386

That's the point. It simply doesn't work on a 286.

So you tested it? Thanks for letting me know.

Edit: see my next post, it might work. And because it doesn't return an error I'm curious if it should work (slower of course) or if something else is wrong, maybe bad memory or anything.

Last edited by Justin1091 on 2017-09-22, 20:07. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 6 of 9, by Justin1091

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CkRtech wrote:
Hey Justin1091, […]
Show full quote

Hey Justin1091,

Just out of curiosity, are you seeing a graphical glitch and freeze when it attempts to decompress introduction speech, or does it just not seem to be doing anything for a bit of time? I wouldn't be surprised if the installation's decompression is crippling that 286 processor. It it possible that it is still functioning but going to take a very, very long time.

I don't know how Lands of Lore configuration works, but you could check the directory of the install and try renaming the configuration file and starting setup from scratch. It is also possible the config file is text - it always depends on the game.

That Windows 3.1 version most likely requires Enhanced Mode, and that isn't going to happen on a 286.

Hey CkRtech,

No, no glitches whatsoever. Keyboard lights still function (press num-lock, etc.) I've downloaded an emulator (PCem) and installed DOS 6.22 and tried installing the game on my Windows 7 PC.

I installed a 286 BIOS on the emulator and tried to install the game: same problem. I then installed a 386 bios: worked fine.

Then, decided to give Jo22's tip a go and after 1.5 hours it's past the 'decompressing introduction speech'. I'm not sure if the EMU386S helped or the long wait did. I'm going to wait a couple of more hours and see what happens. When I'm near the real 286 pc, I'll try the EMU386S and wait longer than a few hours.

Please understand I'm not desperate to make this work. I've played this game so many times. I'm just fiddling around with this old machine that I just fixed. Curious how some games will run (or not).

Thanks again to everyone for tips!

Reply 7 of 9, by Jo22

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Did it work ?

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//

Reply 8 of 9, by Justin1091

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Jo22 wrote:

Did it work ?

Well I first had to buy some memory for the pc. 1 MB wasn't enough.
After installing emu386 the game installed and I got the intro working, surprisingly it wasn't really slow. After selecting a character I got a black screen and didn't have time to try other things.

I also installed it on my Windows 7 pc with dosbox and got the same black screen. I'll adjust some BIOS and memory settings when I have time and try to start it again.

Reply 9 of 9, by Osprey

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derSammler wrote:

That's the point. It simply doesn't work on a 286.

That's not really what minimum requirements meant in those days, at least not all of the time. Often, it simply meant the minimum requirement to play the game acceptably, i.e. the way that the developers intended it. I played some games on my aging 286 that "required" a 386, such as Wing Commander II. They didn't run very acceptably, but they ran. For example, I remember that Wing Commander II's cutscenes ran too slowly and were very tedious to get through because of it. Even though the actual gameplay was acceptable enough, I imagine that Origin realized that they couldn't put a minimum requirement of 286 on the box with that cutscene problem, or else customers would be unhappy. Something similar was the case a few years later, when CD-ROM games started requiring double-speed CD-ROMs. There was literally nothing preventing you from playing the game on a single-speed drive; you just probably wouldn't be happy with the performance and wait times.