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Can't make these games work (real old PC)

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First post, by DataPro

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I use XMS memory with EMM386, Cute mouse, SoftMPU v1.9, UNIVBE...

When I launch Lethal Weapon (OCEAN), the title screen is just fine but I can't go forward.
The computer plays the animation and music; it doesn't hang but it doesn't respond to any key or mouse...

When I try to play with Megaman X, the intro, menu work fine. When I launch the game, it hangs when Megaman appears in a laserbeam

Last edited by DataPro on 2014-12-02, 08:17. Edited 1 time in total.

HP Vectra 562 P166Mhz/256Ko L2 cache/Triton 430FX - 112Mo RAM - 2x 32Go+64Go CF Card - Matrox G2 8Mo - SB AWE64 ISA (PnP) + Roland MT-32 & M-GS64 (SC-88) & JV-1010 - Nec USB 2.0 PCI - Promise Ultra100 TX2 - Hama multicard reader

Reply 1 of 25, by filipetolhuizen

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Megamax X might have a problem with your Matrox card. Updating the card BIOS might fix it, if you haven't.
Lethal Weapon might not be compatible with your mouse driver. Try an alternate one.
I wouldn't rely on Univbe as it made all my past systems hang while playing any game.

Reply 2 of 25, by konc

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DataPro wrote:

When I launch Lethal Weapon (OCEAN), the title screen is just fine but I can't go forward.

Lethal weapon has a rather picky copy protection. If it doesn't respond to keyboard input and the intro loops, you need to reinstall it. Yes, this will work and I'm talking based on personal experience. I had my original floppy from back then copied all over my setups in order to protect it and not use it much, but I found out that it needed a reinstall to work. I have no clue what it binds to though.

I don't know if the game has become freeware or not or if you possess an original copy, but just saying, you need to have a version which you can install. Either the original one, or if the game is freeware by now, the original floppy files to run the installation. Not just the game's folder after installation.

Reply 3 of 25, by leileilol

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i'm pretty sure games licensed from other intellectual properties such as movies never go freeware ever.

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long live PCem

Reply 4 of 25, by DataPro

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* I can't have sound with the Need for Speed (there is no setup ??)
* I manage to make Megaman X work by changing level (speed) from normal to slowest. Back to normal the game freezes again when Megaman appears. Really strange...
* Crusader No Remose freeze during loading. The screen goes black. I try with XMS, EMS and no EMM386 : it's the same.
* Chasm: The Rift freeze during loading... no message...

Last edited by DataPro on 2014-12-02, 12:57. Edited 1 time in total.

HP Vectra 562 P166Mhz/256Ko L2 cache/Triton 430FX - 112Mo RAM - 2x 32Go+64Go CF Card - Matrox G2 8Mo - SB AWE64 ISA (PnP) + Roland MT-32 & M-GS64 (SC-88) & JV-1010 - Nec USB 2.0 PCI - Promise Ultra100 TX2 - Hama multicard reader

Reply 5 of 25, by DataPro

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I got Alone in the Dark's genuine CD with voices.
I can't play without the CD... Is there a way to put full game on harddisk ?

HP Vectra 562 P166Mhz/256Ko L2 cache/Triton 430FX - 112Mo RAM - 2x 32Go+64Go CF Card - Matrox G2 8Mo - SB AWE64 ISA (PnP) + Roland MT-32 & M-GS64 (SC-88) & JV-1010 - Nec USB 2.0 PCI - Promise Ultra100 TX2 - Hama multicard reader

Reply 6 of 25, by DataPro

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for the game the Need for Speed, I'll try this :
The Need for Speed

It's very uncommon method. Setup.exe or Install.exe is a better way to set sound.

HP Vectra 562 P166Mhz/256Ko L2 cache/Triton 430FX - 112Mo RAM - 2x 32Go+64Go CF Card - Matrox G2 8Mo - SB AWE64 ISA (PnP) + Roland MT-32 & M-GS64 (SC-88) & JV-1010 - Nec USB 2.0 PCI - Promise Ultra100 TX2 - Hama multicard reader

Reply 7 of 25, by filipetolhuizen

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DataPro wrote:
* I can't have sound with the Need for Speed (there is no setup ??) * I manage to make Megaman X work by changing level (speed) […]
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* I can't have sound with the Need for Speed (there is no setup ??)
* I manage to make Megaman X work by changing level (speed) from normal to slowest. Back to normal the game freezes again when Megaman appears. Really strange...
* Crusader No Remose freeze during loading. The screen goes black. I try with XMS, EMS and no EMM386 : it's the same.
* Chasm: The Rift freeze during loading... no message...

Except for NFS, the rest seems to be related to your Matrox card or Univbe. Univbe has caused a lot of trouble for me in the past, freezes to be more exact. Try running these games without it.

Reply 9 of 25, by DataPro

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For the Need for Speed, it works with TNFS SB (SB must be in capital letters, that's the point).
I didn't try but I found this :
SB - Sound Blaster
SB16 - Sound Blaster 16
SBPRO - Sound Blaster Pro
AWE - Sound Blaster AWE 32
GUS - Gravis UltraSound

@filipetolhuizen : For the others games, I remove UNIVBE after your first post. I didn't change anything.
It may be the Matrox, but I am not really sure...

HP Vectra 562 P166Mhz/256Ko L2 cache/Triton 430FX - 112Mo RAM - 2x 32Go+64Go CF Card - Matrox G2 8Mo - SB AWE64 ISA (PnP) + Roland MT-32 & M-GS64 (SC-88) & JV-1010 - Nec USB 2.0 PCI - Promise Ultra100 TX2 - Hama multicard reader

Reply 10 of 25, by konc

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DataPro wrote:

* I can't have sound with the Need for Speed (there is no setup ??)

There is no setup program in the installation folder, you're correct.
Sound configuration is done during the installation from the cdrom (installd.exe for dos)

You can always edit the .cfg in the installation folder later, but I'd suggest to reinstall anyway

Reply 11 of 25, by filipetolhuizen

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DataPro wrote:

For the Need for Speed, it works with TNFS SB (SB must be in capital letters, that's the point).
@filipetolhuizen : For the others games, I remove UNIVBE after your first post. I didn't change anything.
It may be the Matrox, but I am not really sure...

See if there's a BIOS update for your card. Some older Matrox BIOS tend to be problematic.

Reply 12 of 25, by DataPro

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Crusader no Remorse (Demo version) works well.

I've found the lastest BIOS update for Matrox : ftp://ftp.matrox.com/pub/mga/previous/bios/setup351.exe
Content : ftp://ftp.matrox.com/pub/mga/previous/bios/351notes.txt

I will see if mine is up to date or not.

HP Vectra 562 P166Mhz/256Ko L2 cache/Triton 430FX - 112Mo RAM - 2x 32Go+64Go CF Card - Matrox G2 8Mo - SB AWE64 ISA (PnP) + Roland MT-32 & M-GS64 (SC-88) & JV-1010 - Nec USB 2.0 PCI - Promise Ultra100 TX2 - Hama multicard reader

Reply 13 of 25, by DataPro

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I finally succeed with Crusader No Remorse. I use Crusader No Remorse Demo's config file with the game. Crusader No Regret works too.
So there was not any problems with Matrox card.

I updated the Matrox Mystique's Bios from v1.3 to v1.8 only yesterday.

Lethal Weapon and Megaman X continue to freeze.

HP Vectra 562 P166Mhz/256Ko L2 cache/Triton 430FX - 112Mo RAM - 2x 32Go+64Go CF Card - Matrox G2 8Mo - SB AWE64 ISA (PnP) + Roland MT-32 & M-GS64 (SC-88) & JV-1010 - Nec USB 2.0 PCI - Promise Ultra100 TX2 - Hama multicard reader

Reply 14 of 25, by DataPro

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DataPro wrote:

I got Alone in the Dark's genuine CD with voices.
I can't play without the CD... Is there a way to put full game on harddisk ?

The original set up should look like this :
290px-AiTD3-options.png
But mine is totally messed with strange characters under DOS (Need ANSI.SYS ?)
Finally I use a cracked version... 😢 Now my setup is like this :
Alone_In_the_Dark_-_DOS_-_Setup_-_Sound.png

Last edited by DataPro on 2014-12-10, 15:03. Edited 1 time in total.

HP Vectra 562 P166Mhz/256Ko L2 cache/Triton 430FX - 112Mo RAM - 2x 32Go+64Go CF Card - Matrox G2 8Mo - SB AWE64 ISA (PnP) + Roland MT-32 & M-GS64 (SC-88) & JV-1010 - Nec USB 2.0 PCI - Promise Ultra100 TX2 - Hama multicard reader

Reply 15 of 25, by filipetolhuizen

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DataPro wrote:
I finally succeed with Crusader No Remorse. I use Crusader No Remorse Demo's config file with the game. Crusader No Regret works […]
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I finally succeed with Crusader No Remorse. I use Crusader No Remorse Demo's config file with the game. Crusader No Regret works too.
So there was not any problems with Matrox card.

I updated the Matrox Mystique's Bios from v1.3 to v1.8 only yesterday.

Lethal Weapon and Megaman X continue to freeze.

Try enabling Memory Hole at 15-16MB in BIOS setup.

Reply 16 of 25, by bjt

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I recommend only running SoftMPU when you need it for a particular game. It does various things to the hardware that some games may not like.

Reply 17 of 25, by DataPro

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The memory hole is just needed by some OLD ISA card and maybe for SB PCI128... I just have an ISA AWE64 so enabling memory hole may create more problems than it can solve.

I will probably remove SoftMPU. But I remeber than Megaman X freeze also without it.

HP Vectra 562 P166Mhz/256Ko L2 cache/Triton 430FX - 112Mo RAM - 2x 32Go+64Go CF Card - Matrox G2 8Mo - SB AWE64 ISA (PnP) + Roland MT-32 & M-GS64 (SC-88) & JV-1010 - Nec USB 2.0 PCI - Promise Ultra100 TX2 - Hama multicard reader

Reply 18 of 25, by filipetolhuizen

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DataPro wrote:

The memory hole is just needed by some OLD ISA card and maybe for SB PCI128... I just have an ISA AWE64 so enabling memory hole may create more problems than it can solve.

I will probably remove SoftMPU. But I remeber than Megaman X freeze also without it.

The memory hole in this case is intended for limiting the available RAM. Lots of RAM can stop some games from running properly.

Reply 19 of 25, by 5u3

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filipetolhuizen wrote:
DataPro wrote:

The memory hole is just needed by some OLD ISA card and maybe for SB PCI128... I just have an ISA AWE64 so enabling memory hole may create more problems than it can solve.

The memory hole in this case is intended for limiting the available RAM. Lots of RAM can stop some games from running properly.

DataPro has a good point here. There are more practical ways to limit DOS memory, see this topic for example.