I'm trying to run Death Gate (available at HoTU) on my system, but the mouse is stuck in the top half of the screen, no doubt due to VESA mode mouse handling in Win2K. I've tried using Mouse2KV, but I can't get it to affect anything - the mouse stays stuck. I've tried the game's optional 'XMouse' mode both on and off as well. I would appreciate any help that anyone could offer on this.
Diagnostic stuff:
EPoX 8KHA
AMD Athlon 1333Mhz
512MB PC2100 DDR-SDRAM
GeForce 4 Ti4200 w/ 512MB RAM
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live! Value
Windows 2000 Professional Service Pack 2
Death Gate
The mouse is stuck in the top half of the screen, and I can't get Mouse2KV to help
Always reproducable
VDMSound used - SB 16 and General MIDI
VESA Video emulated in VDMSound (Update 1)
Well, that managed to get the game to run without VDMSound's VESA support - but as soon as I move the mouse, it shifts back up into the top half of the screen again, and I can't get it out.
The game offers its own mouse driver, and I have to wonder whether that's something to do with it - but it does claim that it can be disabled, and I've tried it both on and off.
Just for reference, "VESA Emulation" is the wrong name for the feature, I suppose. All it does is automatically switch to full-screen (and Windows takes over from there - I'm told that XP supports this VESA full-screen a bit better than Win2K, but not by much.) But Vlad reported long ago (use the search) that Death Gate seems to have problems with this.
If the game uses VESA modes, also try seeing if NOLFB makes a difference.
Until then, hope Vlad or one of the other moderators will take a look at it.
Ah, thanks for that information - that would explain how Alt+Enter helps 😀 Unfortunately NOLFB doesn't do anything - the game wasn't crashing before, the issue was only with the mouse.
you can try the >>mouseset<<; it takes a little different approach than mouse2kv so i'm not completely sure if it (mouseset) is obsolete (as the link says 😉 ); and a question: does changing parameters (from command line) in mouse2kv change anything in mouse behavior in the game? (try giving doubled and halved values)
Mouseset drops me to desktop straight away - the game must be using Protected Mode.
DosBox won't run it either, immediately closing its whole system without message. Again, I assume it's Protected Mode - and the game needs VESA, anyway, since the version from HotU only has the VESA mode graphics included.
As for changing Mouse2KV parameters - nothing appears to happen, with one exception - if I set the parameters high, the cursor begins at the middle of the correct box, I think. However, as soon as I move the mouse, it flicks back into Windows' incorrect box. It seems like something's taking over the mouse after Mouse2KV. I've checked many times that the game is set not to install its own mouse driver, and even tried changing the line to 'MOUSE=' in the INI file, but that doesn't appear to be changing anything. Nor does installing the mouse driver.
As an alternative strategy, is there any chance this game might work on the Win98 machine I also have? It seems to be hanging when I run the Install programme, but that's character-mode so I can't see why it should.
Yes, I may be forced to hurt Harekiet/Qbix about that one. It would be a really good idea for them to give error codes so that people can post them on the site so they have an idea of what people want implemented the most.
Originally posted by Mithent DosBox won't run it either, immediately closing its whole system without message. Again, I assume it's Protected Mode - and the game needs VESA, anyway, since the version from HotU only has the VESA mode graphics included.
All correct. It needs VESA and tries to use VCPI...
As an alternative strategy, is there any chance this game might work on the Win98 machine I also have? It seems to be hanging when I run the Install programme, but that's character-mode so I can't see why it should.
It shouldn't have a problem, I was able to run it in Win98SE.
Yes, I may be forced to hurt Harekiet/Qbix about that one. It would be a really good idea for them to give error codes so that people can post them on the site so they have an idea of what people want implemented the most.
Be gentle then:)
When we run out of ideas of which want in dosbox then we might consider looking on what features are really wanted 😀 for know we work mainly on our instints 😀 (Not really userfriendly is it ? (evil smiley)
Well I would say wait for the next version which has protected mode and vesa support. 😀
no vcpi support i think. only dpmi.
With the current cvs you can play DOOM and such (wacky wheels)if you feel like it 😉
Not yet, no. I'm going to try running it on Win98 SE, although I think it needs a fresh install, uncluttered by VDMSound files and so on.
I still think that Death Gate may be interacting with the mouse in some unusual way - it's like it's bypassing Mouse2KV and reading the values directly from Windows as soon as the mouse is moved.
Well, at any rate, I've got it work under Win98 SE using VDMSound for Win9x (here on VOGONS) for the sound support. It stutters a bit, so isn't perfect, but the mouse doesn't have a problem there. It's definitely playable though.
I saw the game Death Gate mention in a few other threads, but decided that this older one would be the best place to tack on a conclusion to the matter...
I can understand the problems that people are having with the game Death Gate on WinNT or Win2K, but it works fine on WinXP Pro (SP1). Downloaded from HOTU, the game was installed on my drive "E:" in the sub-directory \DGATE and it works just fine with the following settings for the below listed files and of course the VDMSound 2.1.0 Beta.
Sounds the same under WinXP as it does on the same PC hardware with a Dual-boot to DOS 6.22 (SoundBlaster AWE32 PNP) (see profile)
The biggest problem? The game designers use an Int 33h/Sub-function 0Ch mouse callback with a mouse-movement mask, but then they continuously poll the mouse driver for Int 33h, sub-function 03h (Return position and button status) and sub-function 0Bh (Read motion counters).
They blew it. No difference between "Mouse" and "XMouse" setting in the LEGEND.INI file. Who the hell creates a mouse callback and then POLLS the damn mouse in a really tight loop ???
Anyway, Death Gate works AOK in WinXP Pro (SP1). Any WinNT4 or Win2K users will have the "stuck mouse" problem even if they use Mouse2KV, given the way the game was programmed to handle the mouse, until the underlying WinNT4/Win2k mouse problem is solved.
Originally posted by dvwjr I can understand the problems that people are having with the game Death Gate on WinNT or Win2K, but it works fine on WinXP Pro (SP1).
Same here (XP Pro, no SP1).
The biggest problem? The game designers use an Int 33h/Sub-function 0Ch mouse callback with a mouse-movement mask, but then they continuously poll the mouse driver for Int 33h, sub-function 03h (Return position and button status) and sub-function 0Bh (Read motion counters).
Naughty.
Anyway, Death Gate works AOK in WinXP Pro (SP1). Any WinNT4 or Win2K users will have the "stuck mouse" problem even if they use Mouse2KV, given the way the game was programmed to handle the mouse, until the underlying WinNT4/Win2k mouse problem is solved.
Just to be sure I'm understanding you properly...You're saying that the video card has no relativity to this problem?
