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First post, by Marko

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Yes - 'D' ist the name of the game from Acclaim and - No - I have not yet managed to get it going on my GeForce Card. Neither on xp nor on win98 or even DOS...Vesa Problem. Has anybody managed it to get the right vesa modes on a GeForce Card to work with "D"?

Reply 1 of 13, by Nicht Sehr Gut

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Found and tested:
D-Game
I knew video was going to be a problem when I saw this:

Welcome back to the D installation […]
Show full quote

Welcome back to the D installation

Press ENTER if you could read the screen.

Press Y/N if the movie was not easily read.
The full motion video sequences require VESA
support for high color modes 110h or 111h
( 640x480 15 or 16 bit color ).

Press Y if you would like to install the
Scitech UniVBE VESA drivers at this point.

Press N to exit Install. Please contact your
video board or computer manufacturer for VESA
support and driver installation information.

Nasty audio problems:

w/o VDMSound, I can't get even basic SoundBlaster (it fails to detect XP's SB emulation)
Attempting to get around this by copying over a valid sound configuration (basic SoundBlaster A=220, I5, etc...) simply resulted in the game aborting due to the sound driver not responding.

w/VDMSound
Choosing SB16 results in pure noise. So 16-bit audio is out.
Choosing any other kind of SoundBlaster seems to work fine (intro and main game screen), but the moment you actually try to start...instantaneous game death.

Choosing no digital audio seems to allow the game to run properly, with one last fatal problem:

Video.
Although video "works" it's output is distorted. Apparently it is simply incompatible with my video card (GF3 Ti200). Confirmed this in Win98, same output.

BTW, when sound was enabled on Win98 it caused a spontaneous reboot when I tried to start the game (no, not because of the pre-configured PIF file...that had been deleted). In true DOS mode it simply died instantly with "granular errors", with or without audio.

Attempts to run it in "Bochs", "Virtual PC", and "VMware" all caused instant or near-instant crashes. Useless. Other than setting aside a "old" PC with a compatible video card. I see no way of making this one work.

Reply 2 of 13, by eL_PuSHeR

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I remember those 'granular errors' were caused by your microprocessor (or video card or computer) being too fast. Try reducing speed in real DOS somehow. Enter bios setup and disable the internal (microprocessor) and external (mainboard) caches if you're allowed. It's annoying but it could be the only way to play that particular game.

BTW: I don't really know if slowdown programs also work for protected mode games. And one other thing. I'm currently playing Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: Case of the Rose Tattoo and it is displaying the same symptoms. Hopefully it can be run from inside WinXP but not from real DOS.

Reply 3 of 13, by Marko

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I've already tested it under DOS the video problem still remains. The last weeks I tested over a hundred of games running under XP, Win98 and DOS - this is the ONLY Game not working with my Card (Geforc3 Ti) under any of the operating sytems. Maybe some VESA drivers could help? Are there others than Scitech?

Reply 4 of 13, by Jiri

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Marko wrote:

I've already tested it under DOS the video problem still remains. The last weeks I tested over a hundred of games running under XP, Win98 and DOS - this is the ONLY Game not working with my Card (Geforc3 Ti) under any of the operating sytems. Maybe some VESA drivers could help? Are there others than Scitech?

I´ve done similar thing recently and tested about 70 mostly adventure games with GeForce2MX card. I don´t have "D" game and adventure Ark of Time was the only game with a similar problem (doesn´t work in DOS, WIN98, WinXP and also in WMware, Virtual PC and DOSBox - everywhere I got "vesa not supported" notice). You can see in Pandora thread my info about it.
showthread.php?s=&postid=19116#post19116
I searched the net but old versions of Scitech Display Doctor don´t support GeForce cards and similar product from someone else probably doesn´t exist (except of AdvanceCab http://advancemame.sourceforge.net/cab-readme.html but it didn´t help on my comp. For example, my attempt to add 24bpp modes was not successful and game even with active AdvanceVBE reports "vesa not supported"). Partial solution is Scitech Display Doctor 7 Beta in Win98SE (Ark worked with it and you could try it with "D") but it is time limited (21days I think), no longer developed, unstable and impossible to register, so I wouldn´t reccomend it.
I also found an info that there is a game "Perfect General 2" with serious VESA problems on GeForce cards and can´t work with them at all. I downloaded the game and it really doesn´t work.
http://www.nvplanet.com/forums/index.php?show … st=0&#entry2409
http://www.scot-skinner.com/tpg2/faq.htm
In forums some users with GeForce cards also complain about big VESA problems with Angel Devoid game but I don´t have it so I can´t test it.

Last edited by Jiri on 2003-08-21, 12:14. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 6 of 13, by Jiri

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Snover wrote:

You might try seeing if you can't find the Playstation version (I have it).

Thank you, but I don´t have Playstation (and I don´t want to buy it because of Ark) so the only way is to use an emulator. Besides, such an old game is probably hard to find and I doubt that this particular title is worth such an effort. But I found out that to try get problematic VESA games running is also an interesting game 😀

Reply 7 of 13, by Nicht Sehr Gut

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Originally posted by eL_PuSHeR Enter bios setup and disable the internal (microprocessor) and external (mainboard) caches if you're allowed. It's annoying but it could be the only way to play that particular game.

Not doing it. Would still have the video issue. Besides, if that were the case, it should've bombed out in the command prompt of Win98.

BTW: I don't really know if slowdown programs also work for protected mode games.

Most don't. I think there are 1 or 2 that will... I don't really keep track as I hate using them.

And one other thing. I'm currently playing Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: Case of the Rose Tattoo and it is displaying the same symptoms.

Hrmm. Don't remember having any problems with that one. May have to find mine and test it.

Reply 9 of 13, by Nicht Sehr Gut

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Originally posted by eL_PuSHeR Checking http://www.mobygames.com It seems there are both DOS & windows versions for this game.

Much as I applaud the attention to detail for cataloging games over at Mobygames, occasional mistakes are made. I don't believe a Windows version exists.

Reply 11 of 13, by Nicht Sehr Gut

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Originally posted by eL_PuSHeR I'm currently playing Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes: Case of the Rose Tattoo and it is displaying the same symptoms.

Found my CD, but haven't had a chance to test it yet.

Originally posted by Jiri I also found an info that there is a game "Perfect General 2" with serious VESA problems on GeForce cards and can´t work with them at all.

Sounds about right. Someday we'll have to make a concentrated effort to break through this compatibility wall (again). At least part of the effort seems it should concentrate on how to tell these "detection" programs that the video card really is VESA.

In forums some users with GeForce cards also complain about big VESA problems with Angel Devoid game but I don´t have it so I can´t test it.

Indeed. I'm looking for the Mac version as a workaround.

Originally posted by Jiri Thank you, but I don´t have Playstation (and I don´t want to buy it because of Ark) so the only way is to use an emulator.

Well, I think part of the idea is to use a PlayStation emulator so you could still play it on your PC. Console emulators are easier to deal with and have a much higher degree of success (due to them having far fewer variables than PC's).

Besides, such an old game is probably hard to find and I doubt that this particular title is worth such an effort.

While used Playstation games tend to be overpriced, less popular oddball games tend to be cheaper (I think D qualifies).

But I found out that to try get problematic VESA games running is also an interesting game

Yes, but I want the cheat code so I can just "win", now.

Reply 12 of 13, by Jiri

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Nicht Sehr Gut wrote:

Sounds about right. Someday we'll have to make a concentrated effort to break through this compatibility wall (again). At least part of the effort seems it should concentrate on how to tell these "detection" programs that the video card really is VESA.

It would be great and I´m looking forward for it, but surely not an easy task. Except of detection problem there are probably other problems as imperfect VESA support on certain modern graphic cards (missing modes for example). It looks promising that there is already VESA support (still very basic) in the last CVS of DOSBox. In the future DOSBox could be very helpful in this regard but I fear that many VESA games will be slow because of their hardware demands.

Nicht Sehr Gut wrote:

Yes, but I want the cheat code so I can just "win", now.

Perhaps an interesting game, but not amusing and at this moment definitely not satisfactory. I also wouldn´t mind cheating at all.

Reply 13 of 13, by darkspan

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I'm a new member here, bringing up an old topic- please forgive me... 😉

Has anyone ever found success in running this "D" game on modern hardware?

I've gotten it installed on my Win98 box, but no joy to be found yet...

Specs:

MSI K7T Pro2-A (onboard SoundBlaster compatible sound-chip)
Athlon 1.2Ghz
GeForce2 GTS 32 Mb
512Mb RAM

Installation seemed to go fine, selected SoundBlaster16- which was recognized. Tried starting the game, system hardlocks... forcing reboot.

Google newsgroups says problems abound whilst trying to run this game under Win98, using the traditional workarounds- which leads me to this forum. Further investigation of the newsgroups reveals something about Win95 being more compatible than Win98, big surprise there...

I believe that the problem lies as indicated in this thread, no support for VESA modes on GeForce cards.

Questions:

Can this game run under Win98 or Win95, or is it DOS only?
(My DOS skills are quite rusty, but I think they're still there)

What kind of video card would support VESA 1.2 in the above system?
(Matrox, Number Nine, SIS, it all seems so long ago)

Please feel free to suggest any and all fixes, as I would really like to play this game... 😎

Help please?