Originally posted by uly I'm running Celtic Tales with VDMS in WinXP.

Is it visible when run without VDMSound?

Well, I couldn't run it at all without VDMS. But then the cursor is also invisible in the sound configuration program, so my guess is it would have been invisible without VDMS in the main program as well.

In fact, I have had this problem with several Koei games and never with other games. Don't know what's causing this, though.

You might try running it in DOSBox to see what it outputs regarding text mode cursor changes. I've got no idea what this game is, though, so that probably won't be useful at all, nor will it probably run, but it's worth a try.

Originally posted by Snover You might try running it in DOSBox to see what it outputs regarding text mode cursor changes.

Well, if the original needs low-level CD-ROM access, it won't. The hacked (ripped) version will run with multiple caveats:
1)Too slow, even if adjusted, speed adjustments will cause problems. Seems to like running just under 10000 cycles on a 1.7GHz Celeron.

2) Mouse "droppings" (ghost images left behind). Doesn't affect operation, but if you stay on any one screen for too long, it can start to get ugly.

3) Still generates errors from time-to-time (only displays in error window, not in-game).

4) Occasionally will crash hard and take DosBox down with it.

Oh, and make it full-screen before you start or the audio will stutter badly.

Still, if you're desperate.

I have no clue why the mouse is invisible on the install/sound-setup program, but I know the game itself uses that effect of "ghosting" the mouse whenever it's not over something "clickable".

Note in the picture below, that sometimes (even during normal operation) the pointer can be near invisible. It's just to the right of the words "Year 1" in the top right. I would've picked a more obvious "near invisible" picture, but I kept forgetting where it was and had a hard time finding it.

By the way ignore the "ghost" mouse in the clouds.

yep, same problem here. Is not VDMSound related, look like stupid M$ and EGA/VGA emulation + crappy mouse driver. For some reason M$ don't reset the EGA/VGA Map_Mask register before draw the mouse cursor.
Just put this little proggy in the first line of koei.bat , or if you don't use LaunchPad put in autoexec.vdms. Note that is only a quick & dirty fix. Also fix the same mouse problem with others Koei games like Genghis Khan 2.

I have no clue why the mouse is invisible on the install/sound-setup program, but I know the game itself uses that effect of "ghosting" the mouse whenever it's not over something "clickable".

Is a bug, i play the original version back in plain DOS years ago, and never got the "ghosting" effect.
The game here work great , (get mouse in install sound). for sound effect to work you have to use SB IRQ5, look like Koei autodetection don't work with default IRQ 7.

Hope that this solve your problem

G

my specs
P4 1.6ghz
512MB PC800
GF4 TI 4200
SB 128
M$ IntelliMouse

No luck for me.

I put mo.com at the top of koei.bat, but the result was just the same. Could you post your koei.bat so I can check I didn't do anything wrong? And could you tell me what exactly this mo.com does so that I might search for alternatives?

Thanks.

is a custom made DOS resident proggy, just hook INT 33 and every time that mouse state is asked , reset the EGA masp_mask
something like this

INT33:
out 3c4,0F02h
jump original_int33

look at my spec, maybe only work for nvidia cards, do you get mouse in the sound setup??? Do you get a freeze mouse cursor in the sound setup???, you don't need mo.com for the sound setup. It only fix the ghosting effect if you don't get mouse in sound setup or in the initial menu this is not the solution.
First time that i run setup my mouse freeze i had to update my mouse driver, also disable the mouse wheel solve the problem for me.

G

Hmm. Well, honestly, I have no idea what you said there,that's a bit too advanced for me. 😕 I do have a nVidia card, though. Here's my spec:

Athlon 1.2GHz
768mb PC800 (I think. Or was it PC100?)
GF2 MX (with latest Detonator)
SB Audigy 2
Logitech MX 700 Optical Wireless
(I also have a Logitech MouseMan Wheel+, same result tho)

I tried mo.com for sound.bat as well and didn't get the cursor either. Not sure if it's my system's problem but I was able to run this game before I switched to XP. Am I an isolated case or is this a common thing for XP and old Koei's?

Thanks.

hmm , try another mouse , better a vanilla PS2 mouse with default microsoft driver.

G

Well, I just switched to Logitech MX 700 very recently. When I was using MouseMan Wheel I only used Windows' default driver and didn't use Logitech's MouseWare. That's when I posted the first post, though, so I doubt changing the mouse would make the difference. 🙁

try using default driver and disable wheel.
btw i run Windows 2000

G

Nicht, any results from someone that knows what Gitoshi is talking about? (and that has the game, and that is running a WinNT-based OS of course, otherwise I'd field it. 😀)

@echo off
mo.com
cd xm
sbdrv
bgmdrv
grpdrv
.......

my koei.bat file, mo.com in the same dir that koei.bat, NOT in XM dir.
this solve the ghost effect , I never had invisible mouse problems.

G

Originally posted by Gitoshi Is a bug, i play the original version back in plain DOS years ago, and never got the "ghosting" effect.

Oops. You're right, I was going on a combo of vague memory and logic based on how it acted in XP. The strange part is, as I had said earlier, it "solidifies" whenever over something "clickable", so I had presumed this was intentional. It's very odd that it should be accidental.

...for sound effect to work you have to use SB IRQ5, look like Koei autodetection don't work with default IRQ 7.

From what I can tell, it ignores the IRQ completely. No identification of IRQ # in the setup program or KOEI.BAT.

...any results from someone that knows what Gitoshi is talking about?

Mouse works fine in setup for me (always did). The mouse was never truly "invisible" for me within the game, but "ghosted". MO.COM seems to fix that just fine.

I'm still on a GF3 video card.

Sorry for reviving an old thread, but seems like nobody ever found the solution to this problem, and this might be of interest to people who get the same problem in the future:

I had the same bug as the OP's (mouse works fine, but cursor is invisible) while playing Celtic Tales. The strange thing was it was working fine until today when I tried to open it with vdms launchpad. At first I thought it had something to do with launchpad, but after uninstalling and reinstalling a bunch of times it was obvious that wasn't the case.

Then I remembered that just this morning I had changed the language settings for XP from English to Japanese. So I tried reverting back to English, having tried everything else that could have affected the program since the day before... and oddly enough, it worked! Out of curiousity, I tried changing back to the Japanese setting and, surely enough, after another reboot, the cursor once again disappeared.

In short: If you get this problem, try changing the "Language for non-Unicode programs" to English(Canada) under the Advanced tab of the Regional and Language Options menu of your control panel. I have no idea if it's just theJapanese setting that's causing problem (which kinda makes sense in a twisted sort of way since KOEI is Japanese, and I assume CT was originally in Japanese as well) or if other languages are also affected, however.

Of course, I could just be lucky and this could be another bug that just happens to share the same characteristics of the OP's. Still, it's worth a shot.