VOGONS


First post, by DJSRC

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Hi:

I have the series on floppies, and I just can't seem to get the Utah Beach game loaded in DOSBOX, let alone running, no matter what I do, such as trying to load from the floppies, after mounting the A drive, or even downloading into the C drive, and then trying to run INSTALL from there. START doesn't work either.

It starts the install, and then says there is no appropriate drive to download into, even after I have properly mounted the C drive, and then I type DIR, and it shows me the files on that drive.

Other games like: Doom, Merchant Prince, etc., no prob.

(BTW, I can't believe that I just recently got my US NAVY FIGHTERS CD working for the first time, after buying it lotsa years ago, with the help of DOXBOX .74,. I was thrilled.)

Re: V4V again, I recall having a heck of a time installing and running the games in the past, as well.

I am more ancient than even DOS, 🤣, but I must say I am stumped on this one.

Any help would be apprieciated. Thanks!

Reply 1 of 11, by Dominus

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Give us your exact mountings, all of them

Windows 3.1x guide for DOSBox
60 seconds guide to DOSBox
DOSBox SVN snapshot for macOS (10.4-11.x ppc/intel 32/64bit) notarized for gatekeeper

Reply 2 of 11, by DJSRC

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Thanks for getting back so quickly. This is embarrassing for me because I actually used to be a dedicated soldier in the vast army of DOS gamers, eventually even achieving the rank of KERNEL. 🤣

(Trying to install the game from the files copied to the C Drive first, with my DOS Game Folder being "DOS", and renaming my V4V Subfolder as "V4V-D-Day"):

(Within the DOSBOX .74 Shell in Drive Z:)

Mount c c:\dos\v4v-d-day
c:
dir (to verify that the copied files are seen on c)
install (I then get the blue "V for Victory, Uah Beach, Installation Program" window. It says: "Press a key to continue", which I do, and then I get the "Select a drive for installation" window, in which it shows NO drive, and it then immediately shows a red window with the message "Sorry, no suitable installation drive is present. Press a dey to continue.)

(I press a key, and it takes me back to)
c:

(From the Floppy:)

mount a a:\
mount c c:\dos\v4v-d-day
a:
dir (to verify that the a drive is present)
install c

(It takes me to the same blue window, and then the same red window, with the same negative results.)

I know just the slightest incorrect keystroke in DOS will be a disaster, but I can't seem to figure this out on my own. I got other great DOS classics running just recently with no prob.

Thanks again,

Dazed & Confused

Reply 4 of 11, by DJSRC

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Hi:

It looks perfectly workable, and I tried it, but unfortunately with the exact same resulting red screen saying there is no suitable drive to install into.

Anyway, I thought that the "-T", loads MSDEX.exe into a mounted CDROM drive which would be accessed during a game, along with game files installed on a hard drive. To my knowledge, there are no game files on the floppy, which are accessed during gameplay, negating any need for the "-T".

Reply 5 of 11, by Dominus

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-t gives the type and can be floppy, cdrom or iso

Windows 3.1x guide for DOSBox
60 seconds guide to DOSBox
DOSBox SVN snapshot for macOS (10.4-11.x ppc/intel 32/64bit) notarized for gatekeeper

Reply 6 of 11, by ripsaw8080

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The installer calls INT 2F/150B for each active drive, and will only allow installation on drives where BX != 0xADAD. This is actually an erroneous test because BX == 0xADAD for any drive when MSCDEX is installed. It should be checking for AX == 0 to find drives that are not cdroms. This flaw in the installer's programming can be avoided on real systems by not loading MSCDEX, but it's not currently possible in DOSBox because of how the function is handled.

One solution is to change the value of BX based on the existence of the MSCDEX device. DOSBox creates its emulated MSCDEX device when the first cdrom is mounted, but subsequently unmounting all cdroms does not remove or otherwise deactivate the device, so this approach follows that design:

         case 0x150B:    /* Valid CDROM drive ? */
reg_ax = (mscdex->IsValidDrive(reg_cx) ? 0x5ad8 : 0x0000);
- reg_bx = 0xADAD;
+ if (mscdex->rootDriverHeaderSeg != 0) reg_bx = 0xADAD;
return true;

Another approach is to check (mscdex->GetNumDrives() != 0) so you could unmount all cdroms and the function would indicate MSCDEX is not loaded. More flexible, but not fully accurate because the device might still exist.

Reply 8 of 11, by DJSRC

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Yes, yes.

I appreciate your avatars.

Have you reviewed the new IPhone App: Grafighters?

Never mind.

Don't get me started.

🤣

I am a legitimate user of the V-for-V Series.

No matter what I do, I cannot access the programs, within your SHELL, even though you state that you fully support this series.

If you support it, please let me know how to access it.

Otherwise, I assume there are other issues involved here, in which you don't need to respond.

Just lower the support level of this program, if that is the case.

TY

Reply 9 of 11, by ripsaw8080

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even though you state that you fully support this series.

If you're referring to the compatibility list, those reports are contributed by users, and do not represent the opinion of anyone other than the contributor. However, I think the reported support level is accurate for the game itself; it's only the game's installer that is snagged on a compatibility issue.

The game files are packaged in what appears to be a proprietary archive format, so using the installer is the only practical way to install the game from original media. Run the attached program in DOSBox before running the installer, and you should be able to install the game. The installer may complain about not finding AUTOEXEC.BAT, which it wants for setting up an SVGA driver, but that is not needed because DOSBox has built-in VESA support with the default machine=svga_s3 setting.

Attachments

  • Filename
    V4VFIX.ZIP
    File size
    710 Bytes
    Downloads
    339 downloads
    File license
    Fair use/fair dealing exception

Reply 10 of 11, by DJSRC

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Happy Happy Joy Joy!

The 1KB Fix works like a charm!

You, my friend, are a genius, and way ahead of your time.

Such powers have been duly noted by the Central Committee.

A comic book series could possibly be in the offing here.

(Of course, notwithstanding that the Situation is first in line on that one.)

May the Force be with you.

Reply 11 of 11, by ikrananka1

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Sorry for resurrecting an old thread, but I just wanted to express my thanks to ripsaw8080 for the V4VFIX. Worked perfectly, allowing me to install Utah Beach v1.1 😎

Note that the fix is NOT necessary to install any of the later versions of Utah Beach or the later games as they use an updated installation program.