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First post, by ervty

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I ran Starcontrol 2 from using DOSBox. Everything seemed to be running fine, but the color kept getting screwey.
color2sm.jpg
color3sm.jpg

So, I'll try to give as much information as I can as told by the forum guidelines Topic 2929

System:
Here's what my computer properties says:
Microsoft Windows XP
Professional
Version 2002
Service Pack 2

Computer:
Intel[R]
Pentium [R] 3 CPU 3.00 GHz
2.99 GHz, 512 MP of RAM

Game: Starcontrol 2
Description of problem: Whenever the game switches to a new screen, like from solar systems to hyperdive, or hyperdrive to deep space encounter for example, the screen switches to random colors.
Reproducability: Every time I play
Played on DOSox Shell v0.63

that's as much as I know
Steps to solve problem: None. I'm stumped.

There were some of the guideline things I didn't understand, but if you need them, just ask and tell me how to find them. I hope this was enough information to solve the problem.

Reply 1 of 8, by eL_PuSHeR

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I think you need to use a command-line parameter: /g:bios

e.g. starcon.exe /g:bios

😎

Intel i7 5960X
Gigabye GA-X99-Gaming 5
8 GB DDR4 (2100)
8 GB GeForce GTX 1070 G1 Gaming (Gigabyte)

Reply 4 of 8, by eL_PuSHeR

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I see you are not familiar with ms-dos.

At the c:\> prompt, just type the name of the executable used for running the game, a space, and then the parameter.

C:\>star /g:bios

If you are using a front-end, you may need to specify the parameter elsewhere.

You could even create a batch file that calls the appropiate command for you.

BEGIN --- COPY HERE ---
star.exe /g:bios
END --- PASTE INTO NOTEPAD. SAVE IT IN THE GAME FOLDER AS PLAY.BAT ---

Intel i7 5960X
Gigabye GA-X99-Gaming 5
8 GB DDR4 (2100)
8 GB GeForce GTX 1070 G1 Gaming (Gigabyte)

Reply 5 of 8, by ervty

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Well, using dosbox, it sounds like in order to do that, I'd have to first mount g drive, and I'm not sure how to mount that.

Anywho, I got the modern remake of Star Control 2, and couldn't be happier. Probably the best thing ( besides perfect color) is I don't have to name stars at the beginning to start playing. So, I no longer need to worry about trying to get the original verson to work.

Problem solved, in a roundabout way I guess.

Reply 6 of 8, by HunterZ

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No, /g:bios has nothing to do with a file on the g: drive. The "g" stands for "graphics" and tells the game to use a different way of talking to the virtual video card.

Reply 8 of 8, by Ze_ro

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I'm not entirely sure what causes this problem, but it's not necessarily a bug in Dosbox... I had this same problem running Star Control II on an actual DOS machine I set up for myself, and adding /g:bios fixes it on actual hardware too. In fact, I couldn't figure out how to fix it until I managed to find this forum! I guess sometimes Dosbox is a little TOO accurate...

I just recently bought the 3DO version of the game though, so I doubt I'll be playing the DOS version much anymore.

--Zero