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Archimedean Dynasty hangs on Voodoo3500 Win98 box

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First post, by GuruZeb

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Hi guys
Hope its ok to ask a query like this here, not many places with much expertise in legacy gaming.

After trying for (literally years) to get Archimedean Dynasty and I-War working with a Glide wrapper. On a modern machine IMHO thats only part of the challenge once you get the game running you have the next issue with games like it of no usb sticks working correctly, as old game port sticks used different protocols to the ones used by USB sticks now.

I bit the bullet and build a 'Retro Box', so i could mostly play I-War and its expansion I-War Defiance, which am sure many will agree ranks alongside 3DFX Archimedean Dynasty as THE benchmark for that genre of game.

Retro box runs Win98 SE
has a Voodoo 3500
128mb ram
PIII 1Ghz ( i think PIII in the 500mhz-1Ghz
and a old 16bit Aztec soundcard
As am a packrat i even still had a Saitek x35 flightstick/HOTAS
in mind condition to use. ( Just wish my old CH Combatstick+Throttle still worked)

It works great and it has never missed a beat with I-War. Everything is perfect. Never had to use any variables or switches.
However Archimedean Dynasty is a different matter.
If i start the instant action it works perfectly.
If i start the full game it always hangs at about exactly 4.5mins into the text dialogs, just freezes solid always at about the same time after starting the game. This occurs with both 3DFX and software exes, with and without sound enabled.
Played quite few other old 3DFX games on the Box too.

So am assuming its not a 3DFX or sound issue am having.
Please remember that I-war will happily work all day with no issues at all so its not overheating, general system stability or anything like that.

Back in the day i had both games on a 2x Voodoo2 SLI setup and had no issues. But am assuming its not the Voodoo 3500 as the game behaves the same in software mode.
Am thinking maybe its a too much virtual mem issue or a too much system Ram. Or a Win98 SE problem.

No offence but heres a list of 'Dumb suggestions' that will not help me.
Please do not make any of these dumb suggestions.

Play it in software mode = STFU
Use DOSBox = STFU unless someone has solved the issues of getting it working, but would still leave stick support as a hurdle.
Play Aquanox instead = STFU and wash your mouth out too Boi !!!!

Ok Thanks inadvance
Any helpful suggestions hugely appreciated

Zeb

Reply 2 of 7, by GuruZeb

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Just straight from windows98.
I tried to avoid having to use DOS, due to the mouse and joystick drivers hassles
but eventually desperation drove me to install a Dos mouse driver and try it.
I get an error when AD tries to launch
FILE OPEN ERROR: D:\AD\sfx\snd\bground\B02.pci ERRON: 1

Which i presume is a audio issue, sounds like its trying to find a file on the CD and can't find it or can't play it.
It is a Cd version of AD am using and i do have the CD.

Thanks for the reply
Zeb

Reply 3 of 7, by Davros

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could be a cd read error thats causing the crash
try copying all the files on the cd to a folder on your hard drive to see if they copy ok
also try cd check
http://www.kvipu.com/CDCheck/

Guardian of the Sacred Five Terabyte's of Gaming Goodness

Reply 6 of 7, by GuruZeb

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Yeah i tried DOS32a already and it didn't help.
however this error msg stopped after i copied more of the
files from the CD to the installation folder.
But the game is still no more stable under DOS than win98
actually its better under 98 since the sound and joystick support is much easier.
Also tried removing sound card since disabling ingame didn't seem to kill it in 98
didn't make much difference in 98.
Also different mice and mice drivers since i noticed using a different mouse seemed to affect
the time period to the lockup the most. Had quite a big effect certain mice driver combos
locked the game almost instantly, other combos seemed to be nearly free of the issue.
Have reinstalled 98 on a fresh HD (just incase) game is alot more stable now in 98 but still locks up
every once in awhile.
So you can see am trying myself not just begging for help and waiting.
Starting to think it maybe just a Hardware compat issue this is an old PC and not a quality one even in its day.
I have a lot of old PCs ( don't ask why ) and had another one setup as a retro box previous to this one but no matter what i could not get that PC to recognise my Saitek HOTAS flight gear at all, but the same g-card and sound card on this mobo with same os etc,etc works perfect. F*ckin PCs for the mudda luvin' win eh !?!?!?!?
Anyways thanks for the help any other ideas much appreciated.

Zeb

Reply 7 of 7, by Davros

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One idea would be to try an abandonware version to see if its more stable
because you own the game you have a license to use that code and therefore wouldnt be doing anything wrong in my opinion

Of course I would never suggest such a thing because we dont support abandonware here at vogons

Guardian of the Sacred Five Terabyte's of Gaming Goodness

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