Screamer 2 was a late DOS game... it needed a fairliy high computer (Pentium, I guess)... Do you have enough power to run it at full speed?

Anyway... have you tried using VDMSound? Maybe it could run faster. Also, there was a Glide patch for Screamer, Screamer 2 and Screamer rally. You could run it with VDMSound and Glidos or dgVoodoo and take advantage of your 3D card.

I remember that game ran on 16 bit color modes... but I don't remember if it did in 8 bit color modes...

Since I can't even run it with the .pif file, I doubt that glidos or vdmsound would do any difference. But I posted here in the DOSbox forums because I would like to get it running under it.

The S23DFX.EXE was located in the patch folder as well, though.

I have set the game to run in 256 color mode and low resolution. My computer should be fast enough for that. But I'm only running at 4000 cycles, getting a reading (from the setup.exe) of 17mb/s in VGA speed. Could that be why the game says that I don't have PCI?

Anyway, in order to raise the CPU cycles, I would have to wait until I get home afer my summer break to try it on my stationary computer.

OK, yes... I've been trying with Screamer Rally. Maybe it would help you:

Requirements:
- Pentium@100 Mhz (fairly high... you will need a NASA computer with DOSBox).
- 16 Mb RAM (32 with Win95, but it doesn't have a native Win9x exe).
- A VGA card.
- Sound Blaster or compatible (although the game works with other cards).

- It works in my XP SP2 using VDMSound, speed ok. But you will need DOSBox to run setup. Also, use VDMSound AND sapucdex to run it.
- I've been able to run it in low res, 256 color mode. With NoLFB it starts, but soon it crashes.
- Replacing stub with DOS32A didn't help.
- The BEST option: Use dgVoodoo. Start cmd, use DOSDRV, use SAPUCDEX and start any 3dfx exe you have. Some gliches, but I think is a poorly configured dgVoodoo in my computer.

HINT: Don't rely on .PIF files 😉

Ok, what it worked:

Run cmd and then run VDMSound and sapucdex. Install the game. It will crash soon after the game is installed (when it tries to start setup). Close that window, now it's useless.

Run DOSBox and run setup within dosbox. Choose your graphic, sound and control options. Save the config and then close DOSBox.

To play: Run cmd, then DOSDRV from VDMSound, then SAPUCDEX and at last STARTL or STRT3FX or SR3DFX2 (are the ones that are working for me, you may want to try another exe). Play. Win or Lose. Exit the game. Exit the window.

This can (or not) be useful for you. Another HINT: In http://www.patches-scrolls.de you can find a patch for Screamer II. Is version 1.11.

Again, thanks, but those instructions won't help me to get it running in DOSbox, and I wanted to run it in DOSbox because I posted in the DOSbox forums! 😉

You're help is appreciated, though.

Also, that patch is the same patch that's on the CD I got, but the S2.EXE from the patch folder is much newer, as it is dated 1997-07-22 (it's also larger, at 1,24MB).

It's also interesting to see that the S23DFX.EXE is only around 400KB and from the year 2000.

Sorry... but I didn't realize you were in DOSBox forum.

DOSBox doesn't have 3DFX emulation, so I think the latter patch would not help you (unless you play it in XP).

The game works alright for me except the setup won't work. When I execute the setup it gives me a black screen and after closing after a few seconds it gives me an error:

16 bit MS-DOS Subsystem
C:\SCREAM~1\scream2\SETUP.EXE
The system cannot open COM2 port requested by the application. Choose 'Close' to terminate the application.

When I attempt to open setup through the means of DOSBox, it does not show me anything and just closes after a minute or so.

Ok, so this topic is very old, but no resolution seems to have been found, and the game still refuses to run with the "no PCI bus detected" error even in the new DosBox 0.65.

Also, if you try to run the game using Dos32A 9.1.1 you get the following additional errors:

1Dos/32A warning (9003): real mode interrupt vector has been modified: INT 08h
2Dos/32A warning (9003): real mode interrupt vector has been modified: INT 09h
3Dos/32A warning (9003): real mode interrupt vector has been modified: INT 0Fh

Has anyone had any luck using different configurations or tweaks?

EDIT: I just noticed that I ran the STARTL.EXE directly in my first post, so I tried that now. The game doesn't crash anymore, but it keeps asking for the CD, even though it is in the drive. I don't know, Sold Out Software adds a Macromedia Flash installer to all their discs, perhaps it's the fault of that, but I doubt it, since the CD otherwise looks pretty much like a DOS CD ought to, including the SCREAM2 label.

EDIT (again): With the aid of a few people I got to try out some cracks for the game which supposedly would remove the CD check. However, none of them fully worked, but in the process, I discovered that it was probably the copy protection's fault that the game asked for the CD. Adding -ioctl to the CD-ROM mount command makes the game run. Although, it's not pretty... about 1 fps on my machine, unfortunately and it takes about half a minute for it to even start.

I can run it perfectly - just make a CD image of the game and mount that. Also make sure to mount the CD as your D drive.

The problem I have is that the game's setup won't work in DOSBOX. It gives a black screen.

Version 0.70 now runs Screamer 2 amazingly fast! I even get about 25-30 fps in high resolution mode (using dos32a). Really impressive.

The setup still gives a black screen, though, but I wonder if that is due to IPX or CD or something like that...

I got Screamer 2 running with the 3dfx patch using ykhwong's cvs (20070305). The framerate is a bit low on my machine, but it is definitly playable. I used the cd and the setup worked fine for me.

Works smooth for me with the regular 0.70 release and default settings.

I got Screamer 2 and Screamer Rally to run in WindowsXP in 3DFX mode, high res with perfect(ish) sound using a combination of dgVoodoo and VDMSound.

The tricks are in VDMSound to use sapucdex in DOS Environment > Additional options and under Performance Try to reduce CPU usage to Low usage.

I shall be playing with these again shortly...

I can play S2 even in 640x480 256 colours and it's fast. To run the setup you have to select low cycles, not max, then it runs.

Can I get some help running this on DOSBox? I'm having the same "Insert Screamer 2 Disc" error when attempting to run.

I'm on a MacBook running OS X Leopard, with DOSBox 0.73. I'm using an original release CD of S2.

60 seconds guide to getting your game to run in DOSBox

Sorry, but I need some game-specific help here. That general guide doesn't cover enough.

what is your dosbox version and where have you got it from?
what is your Operating System?
what are your PC specifications?
post your exact mountings
post what is written after you mounted
post dosbox status window
post your dosbox's config file

DOSBox v0.73, downloaded from the DOSBox homepage.
Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.8
MacBook, Intel Core 2 Duo, 2.13 GHz, 2 GB RAM, GeForce 9400M w/ 256 MB VRAM

Drive C mount: mount c /Users/xxxxx/Documents/DOSGAMES/Screamer
Response is: Drive C is mounted as local directory /Users/xxxxx/Documents/DOSGAMES/Screamer/

Drive D mount: mount D /Volumes/SCREAM2 -t cdrom
(note I have tried the -ioctl command, and I could not tell if it activated or not.)
Response is: MSCDEX: Mounted subdirectory: limited support.
Drive D is mounted as CDRom /Volumes/SCREAM2/

For the status window, do you want a SS of the command line when I attempt to run the game, or is there another "status window" that I need to open somewhere?

Also, which exact config file is it that you're looking for?

you have to mount everything the same way when you installed it. I suppose it was this way:
Drive C mount: mount c /Users/xxxxx/Documents/DOSGAMES/