VOGONS


First post, by tekheppicor

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I've loved this game as a child and have a copy of it on the original hard disks... like that helps. Any help/advice would be great I'm not computer illiterate but other then follow the readme instructions I'm at a loss at what to do.

Computer

Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 2.40GHz 128mb ram, Windows XP

Apps

Global Conquest (dled from www.the-underdogs.info)
Dosbox 0.63 and 0.65 (I dled both to see if either would work)

Problem

Once I've mounted the folder that has the game and go through the directories to the exe files and type them in (I tried all of them multiple times) the typing cursor just moves down to the next line and the dos box just sits there, not frozen but unresponsive to any command or input and I have to close out of the dosbox and restart it. In the title bar it says 'Cpu Cycles:3000,Frameskip 0,Program:Conquest' if that helps at all. Anyone with any answers will be my hero, I love this game and bought a copy online a while back only to get it in 5 1/4' disks and I'll bet there is an easy solution that I just don't have the proper info to correct. Thanks in advance!

Chris

Reply 1 of 43, by MiniMax

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60 seconds guide to getting your game to run in DOSBox

DOSBox 60 seconds guide | How to ask questions
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Reply 2 of 43, by tekheppicor

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Thanks but I have been to all three of the aforementioned spots and after much frustrating pouring over them I haven't been able to come up with anything. Not to mention the readme in the actual game directory is the original and has no advice for emulation. Any other ideas?

Reply 4 of 43, by MiniMax

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I am sure you cheated and followed the guide h-a-l-9000 😉 That is totally unfair!

Edit: Works for me too. It was a bit tricky to get the animations to install from the 2nd "diskette", but otherwise it looked good (and sounded good with AdLib).

Reply 5 of 43, by tekheppicor

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I tried to run the install.exe from both windows and dosbox and after putting in all the info and hitting install it would prompt for disk1 but I already typed its location in. ( c:\oldgames\global\) I tried with it like that and with the disk1\install.exe added on. I was under the impression that I didn't need to run the install with the version I dled because it was the full game but I could be mistaken. Is there some prior to any use setup for the dosbox I'm not getting perhaps? I've already added the mount command to the config file, checked the game directory if it is read only or not, not sure what everything in the help guides meant....

Minimax is there anyway you could post a brief step by step of how you got it to work from start to finish for me? It might help to see how someone else did it since I'm not the programming type to begin with. Thanks

Reply 6 of 43, by tekheppicor

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OK ya Im really stuck. This may be a stupid question but should I have to run the install file from the download or is it suppose to be the equivilent of the installed game? I tried putting the three sub folders (disk1,disk2,disk3) onto seperate floppies respectively to meet the 'insert disk1' condition the install.exe is asking for and I got a loud buzzing like an alarm going off so ima staying away from that. I was reading abandonia's tuturiol and they said you need to run the setup or config but the install is the only file I can find like that. I also tried dumping the contents of all three disk folders into one but the files on disk2 & 3 are identical to each other and to some of the files on disk1 so it just copies over and still doesn't work.

Are there any settings in xp I should switch around?

Reply 7 of 43, by MiniMax

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Unzip the game-disks into a directory called Unzipped.

Then put this CMD-file (Run.cmd) in the same directory as the Unzipped directory:

@	echo off

if not exist C-drive mkdir C-drive
if not exist capture mkdir capture

if not exist C-drive\Conquest (
echo Copying Unzipped\DISK1 to DOSBox A-drive ...

if not exist A-drive mkdir A-drive

copy /b Unzipped\DISK1\*.* A-drive > NUL:
echo.

echo When asked to insert DISK2 during installation,
echo replace the contents of A-drive with the files
echo from Unzipped\DISK2. Then press CTRL-F4 to force
echo DOSBox to refresh the file list, and proceed
echo with the installation.
echo.
)

"%ProgramFiles%\DOSBox-0.65\dosbox.exe %*

And finally create a dosbox.conf that you put in the same directory as Run.cmd:

# DOSBox 0.65 configuration for "Global Conquest".
#
# By MiniMax

[cpu]
core=dynamic
cycles=24000
cycleup=1000
cycledown=1000

[render]
frameskip=1

[autoexec]
@ echo off

mount A "A-drive" -t floppy
mount C "C-drive"

A:

if exist C:\CONQUEST\CONQUEST.Exe C:
if exist C:\CONQUEST\CONQUEST.Exe cd \CONQUEST

echo on

Start Run.cmd, and follow the instructions.

DOSBox 60 seconds guide | How to ask questions
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Reply 8 of 43, by tekheppicor

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Alright, ty much max got it up and running. Now can anyone let me know why every game I try to play is only 15 turns long regardless of what I set it at in the menu options? Is this some kind of anti theft coding?

Reply 9 of 43, by tekheppicor

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I've spent the better part of this summer trying to get this game to run and finally got it going with the help of someone on this forum. WTH does the turn counter on everygame I start count down from 15 (15 turn total before game ends) regardless of the scenario parameters? I didn't have much luck with dosbox on my own but I know how this game works and this isn't part of it. Any suggestions?

I also noticed a file not on any of the install disks but in the game directory on my hardrive called '$$$STEAL.ME' but it's listed as 0 bytes. Could this be connected to not typing the correct pw in from installation (although I have the manual and have tried reinstalling it just incase I got the pw wrong the first time). I've deleted it and still same result but it's the only thing I can think of....

Reply 10 of 43, by eL_PuSHeR

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*** Merging topics ***

Please avoid splitting topics when they are related to the same subject.

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

Reply 11 of 43, by tekheppicor

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My apoligies, thought the problem had evolved to a different topic. Anyways, anyone know? Also, I saw on ebay or something someone selling the game on a cdrom. Does anyone know if microprose released a version on cd? I'm ready to give up this hassle and just try buyin it on cd. Any info is appreciated!

Reply 12 of 43, by ux-3

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I was struggeling with this game too. I found it rather difficult to run with dosbox, due to the copy protection 15 turn problem. I got it running fine through WinXP, and enhanced to sound with VDMS. I wrote down the way I installed it here:

http://www.the-underdogs.info/forum/viewtopic.php?p=730891

As a sidenote, there is no need for the correct password with the underdogs download! Just press enter. It seems to me, that dosbox somehow triggers the copy protection.

Reply 13 of 43, by Thraka

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Seems this game should be marked as broken then. This false copy protection detection seems to break multiplayer also...

I had another topic on this awhile back but it was moved to a private area if I remember correctly.

I really wish this was fixed 😀

Reply 14 of 43, by buntenfan

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This is my first visit to this site. I am having the exact same problem with GC and the cursor that moves to the next line. I will try the various fixes that have been suggested.

Regarding the 15 moves thing, I've found that saving a game and then pulling it up solves the problem, at least in one-player mode. This fix also worked when running the program in DOS.

ETA:
I've tried the various fixes, with no luck. Fwiw, I was able to use the program with Dosbox 0.65 in the past on one computer, but not on other computers. I've concluded that it's the quirks of the program that allow it to run or not.

ETA2:
I've found that the version of GC that works was last modified on January 4, 1995. The version that freezes Doxbo was last modified on July 9, 1992.

Reply 17 of 43, by Thraka

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nah it still doesn't. From what i remember from soooo long ago was that GC wants to not see that a file is available in a normal directory lookup, but then wants to see file when looking for hidden files, which doesn't end up working.

But just trying this now, it still is broken

When you change a player slot to REMOTE PLAYER and click START GAME it just crashes with stack overflow error.

Reply 18 of 43, by h-a-l-9000

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I must have a different or cracked version then

Attachments

  • Filename
    gc.png
    File size
    32.78 KiB
    Downloads
    357 downloads
    File license
    Fair use/fair dealing exception

1+1=10

Reply 19 of 43, by Thraka

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Doh 😀

Well I ordered a new fan for my dos machine and when that comes I'll install it with the original disks and copy it over the network to see what happens.

Have you upgraded the game to the latest version? There was a patch back in like 95.