Alien Legacy CD version and DosBox 0.72

Alien Legacy CD version and DosBox 0.72 - SOLVED

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First post, by HorsePants

Posted on 2009-05-27, 09:37

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Hi chaps,

I managed to get a copy of Alien Legacy (the budget CD version in a jewel case titled 'Sierra Originals' - not the original released boxed copy).

The game installs fine, I run setsound to configure the soundcard (all good) and then use the al.exe to run the game.

The game will not detect the CD in the drive. ("Place the Alien Legacy CD in the cdrom drive...etc")

I have tried every configuration that I can think of using dosbox and I've even installed the Dosbox debugger to see what I can find.

After running al.exe through the debugger there are 3 calls to MSCDEX on INT 2F that seem straight-forward enough:

150B (Test if it's a cdrom drive)
1500 (Read the number of CDROM drives installed)
150C (Read the MSCDEX driver version)

the game then craps out with the 'insert CD' prompt

Other bits of info that might help:

The CD label is reported as blank in both XP and inside Dosbox.
I have the CD in my D:\ drive.

Here is my DOSBOX (0.72) config:

1
2[dosbox]
3machine=vga
4captures=E:\D-Fend Reloaded\Capture\Alien Legacy\
5memsize=32
6
7[render]
8frameskip=0
9aspect=true
10scaler=hq3x
11
12[cpu]
13core=normal
14cycles=auto
15cycleup=500
16cycledown=20
17
18[mixer]
19nosound=false
20rate=48000
21blocksize=2048
22prebuffer=10
23
24[midi]
25mpu401=intelligent
26device=default
27config=
28
29[sblaster]
30sbtype=sb16
31sbbase=220
32irq=7
33dma=1
34hdma=5
35mixer=true
36oplmode=auto
37oplrate=48000
38
39[gus]
40gus=true
41gusrate=48000
42gusbase=240
43irq1=5
44irq2=5
45dma1=1
46dma2=1
47ultradir=C:\ULTRASND_OLD
48
49[speaker]
50pcspeaker=true
51pcrate=22050
52tandy=auto
53tandyrate=22050
54disney=true
55
56[dos]
57xms=true
58ems=true
59umb=true
60keyboardlayout=US

…Show last 22 lines

61
62[joystick]
63joysticktype=none
64timed=true
65autofire=false
66swap34=false
67buttonwrap=true
68
69[serial]
70serial1=dummy
71serial2=dummy
72serial3=disabled
73serial4=disabled
74
75[autoexec]
76@echo off
77SET PATH=Z:\
78keyb US 437
79mount C "E:\D-FEND~1\VIRTUA~1\"
80mount D "D:\" -t cdrom -IOCTL
81

A quick search of the forums such as:
Alien Legacy not finding the CD

suggests the problem may even be linked to some sort of MSCDEX driver call (since removed by Microsoft) when the game was released.

I'd be grateful for any suggestions on this - including posts from ppl who own the CD version and have no problems (do you have the original boxed release?).

I have also attached a screendump of the Dosbox debug state while stepping through al.exe

I just don't have enough technical knowledge regarding picking apart dos programs to take it any further myself.

Also, if anyone can see anything obvious that I have missed, please do tell 😊

Last edited by HorsePants on 2009-06-25, 21:05. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 1 of 19, by Qbix

Posted on 2009-05-27, 09:43

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those last 2 lines are bit scary.

Water flows down the stream
How to ask questions the smart way!

Reply 2 of 19, by Freddo

Posted on 2009-05-27, 09:48

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Have you tried making a bin/cue of the CD and use IMGMOUNT to mount it?

Reply 3 of 19, by MiniMax

Posted on 2009-05-27, 11:57

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> mount D "D:\" -t cdrom -IOCTL

Not sure if the upper-case version of -ioctl is recognized. Maybe try lower-case?

Reply 4 of 19, by collector

Posted on 2009-05-27, 17:24

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Why "SET PATH=Z:\" in your autoexec?

The Sierra Help Pages -- New Sierra Game Installers -- Sierra Game Patches -- New Non-Sierra Game Installers

Reply 5 of 19, by Qbix

Posted on 2009-05-27, 17:25

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probably a dfend reloaded user.

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How to ask questions the smart way!

Reply 6 of 19, by collector

Posted on 2009-05-27, 17:41

collector Offline

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I just tried the game and cannot replicate the issue. It installs and runs just fine. I do, however have the first release, not the Originals version, but usually that makes little difference. Would the -label option help?

The Sierra Help Pages -- New Sierra Game Installers -- Sierra Game Patches -- New Non-Sierra Game Installers

Reply 7 of 19, by SKARDAVNELNATE

Posted on 2009-05-27, 18:08

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Works for me.

[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.
mount C C:\DOS\GAMES
imgmount D C:\DOS\Alien_Legacy.iso -t iso
C:
CD ALIEN
AL

Reply 8 of 19, by HorsePants

Posted on 2009-05-28, 07:47

HorsePants Offline

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Hi guys,

I do use D-Fend reloaded, but I've tried running the dosbox exe and mounting my images manually with the same result.

I've also tried:

- making an ISO of the cd, installing and running off of that.
- setting the CD label to 'ALIEN' or 'ALIENLEG'.
- praying

to no effect.

Does the original have a different CD label? Any other ideas guys?
All my other DosBox games work perfect. I even have an ISO of TFX using CD audio working perfectly.

😕

Reply 9 of 19, by franpa

Posted on 2009-05-28, 08:00

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Try DOSBox 0.73 >.>

heh someone had to start the flood of this suggestion 😜

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Reply 10 of 19, by HorsePants

Posted on 2009-05-28, 20:51

HorsePants Offline

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Tried it. Computer says no. 😐

Reply 11 of 19, by red_avatar

Posted on 2009-05-28, 21:19

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Very odd - my own version works fine as well.

Reply 12 of 19, by rcblanke

Posted on 2009-05-28, 22:09

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FWIW: My stand-alone version 1.1 CD - which works fine in DOSBox - has its label set to 'AL_CD_V110'. I tried making an iso image (works) and then resetting the label to '', resulting in the error you mention above. Maybe try making an iso image as well, setting the label according to your game version.

Reply 13 of 19, by HorsePants

Posted on 2009-05-29, 07:26

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Setting the label to 'AL_CD_V110' fixed the issue.

Thanks for all the help - the sad thing is that this jewel case version of the game must never have worked, even on old DOS rigs.

Thanks Guys!

Reply 14 of 19, by rcblanke

Posted on 2009-05-29, 09:28

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Very... Original indeed 🙄

Glad you got it working!

Reply 15 of 19, by red_avatar

Posted on 2009-05-29, 13:02

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Reprints often run into such problems. Well, not "often" often, but it's a known occurrence :p. They compile the CDs and give it some new name without checking if the game actually checks the label. I've had at least three games with such errors including Tex Murphy Overseer - one of the discs was called "Dsic 5" instead of "Disc 5" resulting in the game not detecting the CD.

Reply 16 of 19, by SKARDAVNELNATE

Posted on 2009-05-29, 20:19

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I have the Sierra Originals as well. Label is: Al_cd-v110, in lowercase. What was the label on yours that caused the problem?

Reply 17 of 19, by HorsePants

Posted on 2009-05-29, 22:21

HorsePants Offline

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My CD didn't have a label at all (It was set to '') - so I never had a chance of getting the game to detect the CD. 😒

Oh well - all happy now 😁

Reply 18 of 19, by Biotoxic

Posted on 2009-10-14, 13:20

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I don't get it to work... how did u guys do? Make me a movie or something so i can watch and redo as u did 😁

Reply 19 of 19, by SKARDAVNELNATE

Posted on 2009-10-14, 20:57

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It would help if you provide detailed information about what you tried how it didn't work.

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