First post, by Nick Spolec
Hey all,
I've been doing some testing with X-Com: Apocalypse, and I've got it to work pretty damn good DosBox. It's a very tricky game to get working right. Here's how..
First, download DosBox .63 and install, then download the latest CVS public compile build (http://cvscompile.aep-emu.de/dosbox.htm) and install it over .63.
Now, I'm working with the actual CD the game (got it from here http://www.fcdsoft.com/sku-APOCAL.html?sessid … t0202VkTE1DdT5M).. I actually made a CD image of it, and that is what I am using..
First step, you need to make sure DosBox sees your mounted drive as having enough space to meet the FULL INSTALLATION requirement of Apocalypse. I have my DosBox drive set to 1GB. You can do this by added the following line to the "AUTOEXEC" area of the dosbox.conf file...
mount c YOURDRIVEHERE -freesize 1024
Next, start DosBox and load up the CD installation. When asked to select the size of the install, select FULL. Full is the ONLY install that will work properly. This is vital. Also select SB16 as your sound.
Once the game has install, download and extract this zip file (http://www.xcomufo.com/x3cdfix.zip) into your main X-Com Apocalypse folder/directory. The files extracted are needed.
Now, you need to setup the DosBox conf correctly. Apocalypse runs best with NORMAL CPU Core and SB16. Dynamic CPU does not work, and the other Sound emulation gives very chopping sound in Apocalypse. So set your DosBox .conf accordingly. Apocalypse always needs a heafy BLOCKSIZE (at least 4096) and prebuffer (at least 12).
After you have done that, load DosBox and go to X-Com directory and type xcom3.bat (or just xcom3). This is one of the files extracted from the zip. The game should load the intro, you can skip this, and then you will be taken into the main game.
You might encounter a lot of choppiness in the game, so watch your CPU usage level when running the game, and make sure it is not at 100 percent. Higher CPU cycles does not mean better. I had to turn my CPU cycles down from 100,000 to 8,500 when running Apoclypse. I guess it is a CPU hog.
While there is still some choppiness (usually only happens when changing to one of the subscreen) here and there, I find it is very playable. Maybe once the dynamic core works for the game (future release) it will be much better.