Originally posted by gatticus I am tring to get Age Of Rifles to run unde4r Windows XP. I have a 16MB ATI Rage 128...

This one requires some tweaking and even then, it has some problems.
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IIRC, this game requires VESA support (no VGA mode), so you may (or may not) have to use NOLFB.COM to get a VESA mode. There should be two .BAT files, one of which is probably trying to use a tool like UNIVBE. Ugh... Try this...run your sound setup program (SOUND.EXE) and choose "No digital audio" so you can test your video without audio interfering. Now try starting the game by running RIFLES.EXE

If you don't get video working, copy NOLFB.COM to your game's directory then edit one of the .BAT files to contain the following:

NOLFB.COM
rifles.exe

and run it instead.

Try this and let us know your results.

I tired running it (ages of Rifles) with the VMS and the white letter turn yellow and hangs. No difference with running NOLfb either. Any ideas?

Originally posted by gatticus I tired running it (ages of Rifles) with the VMS...

No, no, no. No sound, no VDMSound. Do not run it with VDMSound. Configure it to run with no sound, then try running it with no sound. Open up a command prompt, then change to your drive and directory where the game is. Make the command prompt full-screen and type out RIFLES.EXE and press return.

If that doesn't work, do the same thing again, except type NOLFB.COM before you start RIFLES.EXE. If neither of these work, you may be stuck, as it indicates a VESA problem between your card and your OS.

I tried running using the command prompt. Sound off. I still get the yellow text and hang. Using NOLFB or not it is the same. Whne I run the install again it shows all to be okay. I ran Univbe5.1 and it created a Generic VGA driver vbe 2.0. When I run it the dos screen closes and return back to the Windows wallpaper.

Is there a way to check the VESA configuration?

John

Originally posted by gatticus I still get the yellow text and hang. Using NOLFB or not it is the same.

Not at all good. Starting to sound like you might need full PC-emulation to fix your problem.

When I run the install again it shows all to be okay. I ran Univbe5.1 and it created a Generic VGA driver vbe 2.0.

Ech...Univbe is flaky in Dos/Win9x, worse in XP.

Is there a way to check the VESA configuration?

Within XP? Good question. As I understand it, RAGE128's are VESA 2.0 cards and ATI cards are usually more VESA compatible with XP.

I really don't know of a good DOS-VESA-under-XP tester other than actually running a DOS VESA program in XP. If you can, try downloading the demo for "Extreme Assault":
http://www.bluebyte.net/eng/products/extreme- … ssault/demo.htm

It runs a series of video tests before it chooses a "best mode" (based on your responses). If you can run this in a VESA mode, it may be something wrong with your "Rifles" game. If you can't, it's probably a video card problem.

I have a RAGE Pro in my Win9x laptop. It is VBE2.0, I believe.

I installed Extreme Assault and ran the test and no video worked.
Any ideas?
John

This what system I have:
Windows Xp
16Mb ATI rage 128 Ultra
Pent 4 1.6 GHz
JOhn

Originally posted by gatticus I installed Extreme Assault and ran the test and no video worked. Any ideas?

No good ones. By chance, did you install DirectX 9 recently?

This almost sounds like your card is defective. Anyone know of a good DOS-level video tester (that can be run off of a floppy)?

No have not installed Directx 9.

I ran a program that VESASPPED that ID the video adapter as VESA SuperVGA BIOs 2.0 Video Ram -64K ATI RAge.

I wonder if the -64k video ram is the issue?

Originally posted by gatticus I ran a program that VESASPPED that ID the video adapter as VESA SuperVGA BIOs 2.0 Video Ram -64K ATI RAge.

I'm sorry, Gatticus. I've hit a brick wall here. The "-64k" could indicate an actual problem with the card, but it's just as likely (in not more likely) that it's giving you inaccurate results.

Extreme Assault should have at least been able to use one of the 320x200 modes. That it couldn't use VESA modes either makes your card look very bad. You might try contacting ATI to make sure that their isn't some easy fix, maybe a bug in DOS video displays in XP that can be fixed by drivers or such.

Other than that, all I can think of is to replace your video card.

From AtIi they say in emulated DOS mode through Windows XP will not allow this product to work properly in a DOS environment.
So I don't want to do. The card seems to work good in Windows
JOhn

Originally posted by gatticus From AtIi they say in emulated DOS mode through Windows XP will not allow this product to work properly in a DOS environment.

*gah*

That sounds like "legal-speak" for "don't contact us about using DOS titles in XP". I'm sure it can run DOS titles within XP (I know of at least one setup with a similar chipset), it just appears that yours is having major problems. Are there any DOS titles that you can run with this card and XP?

Well, I have tried Extreme Assault, The CIvil War, and no go. On the Civil war it runs the video then returns to the Windows Window.
So not sure if Any dos games will run.
JOhn

Well I tried Pefect Generals II it did not run. But it did say My VESA Bios is 2.0, mem 256K. This game requires a SVGA video Card. I did get Jagged Alliance to run.

Please edit your posts if nobody has replied to them. In any case I would just recommend buying a newer el cheapo video card. Though if you got Jagged Alliance to work, there may be hope.

A nice game to try is "Star Trek Deep Space 9: Harbringer" since you can directly select VBE extensions. If your card doesn't work with those, you're pretty much hosed.

Originally posted by gatticus But it did say My VESA Bios is 2.0, mem 256K. This game requires a SVGA video Card. I did get Jagged Alliance to run.

Well at least you found one title that worked, but 1 out of 5 is not at all good.

You might try some other DOS titles as well, perhaps it refused to run "Extreme Assault" in low-res due to the 16-bit video it was looking for... (still, it should have least used the 256-color mode).

You might try looking for old DOS game demos, those tend to be relatively small and still easy to find on the Internet.

I noticed I need a SVGA card to run this and other games. Is the ATI RAge 128 Ultra SVGA?
JOhn