VOGONS


First post, by DustyShinigami

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

Hi

I'm having a problem with getting Blood to work correctly under WIndows 98 SE. At one point, it ran fine. Since playing around with the DirectX to try and fix some other issues, the game no longer runs right. I've since upgraded back to DirectX 9.0c, though I don't have any GPU drivers that support 9. I'm using a regular RIVA TNT 16MB. Whether that would solve the problem though... When it was running fine, I was using 9.0c. I just don't think the right drivers were being used. Now, I'll start a new game (have yet to try saving and loading) and the game goes weird. It acts like it's running at one frame per second. On some occasions, it'll correct itself and then run fine, but for the most part, it doesn't. I've recorded a video showing the problem.

https://imgur.com/AIeWIdm

Again, it could be a driver issue, but I can't find or work out what the right ones would be to try. Many I have tried have been wrong. I'm currently using the first reference driver for it from here - https://dosdays.co.uk/topics/Manufacturers/nv … a_rivatnt.php#D - which is 1.55. Apart from that, I don't know what else to try. I've already uninstalled the game and reinstalled, and then re-configured the config, but it hasn't helped. The DOS version looks to run perfectly fine though. And while I could just stick to that, I'm too OCD. ^^; It was working fine once before, so I'd like to get it working right again, if possible.

EDIT: I made a mistake. The drivers I linked to were ones I was looking at last night, but not installed. The driver I installed is actually from the old drivers collection from here.

Any ideas or suggestions? Thanks.

Last edited by DustyShinigami on 2024-11-28, 22:15. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 1 of 27, by auron

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

you are using a windows 3.1 driver under windows 98 SE?

furthermore, blood is a DOS only game, there never was an official windows version. if you are running some much later source port with old drivers, issues shouldn't be surprising.

Reply 2 of 27, by DustyShinigami

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
auron wrote on 2024-11-28, 22:02:

you are using a windows 3.1 driver under windows 98 SE?

furthermore, blood is a DOS only game, there never was an official windows version. if you are running some much later source port with old drivers, issues shouldn't be surprising.

Ah. No. I remember looking at those reference drivers last night, but no. I think it was the old set from this site. These: https://www.vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?fil … 459&menustate=0

It was the first from under nvidia/tnt - a56678.exe

I believe it's the original retail release of Blood - 1.0...? Again, it was working fine before. I noticed the opening splash screens are different playing it under Windows than DOS.

Reply 3 of 27, by soggi

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

As auron said Blood is a DOS game... DirectX and the (wrong?) drivers shouldn't do anything bad. First I would download and install the latest appropriate patch for your version of Blood (-> http://dukertcm.com/knowledge-base/downloads- … m/blood-patchs/).

BTW the nVidia driver you have installed (the a56678.exe package) is version 1.15, not 1.55! Checked it just now.

kind regards
soggi

Vintage BIOSes, firmware, drivers, tools, manuals and (3dfx) game patches -> soggi's BIOS & Firmware Page

soggi.org on Twitter - inactive at the moment

Reply 5 of 27, by Robbbert

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

I have Blood running on 2 computers - a real 98SE, and also under Dosbox on Windows 10. The original DOS version ran fine, but with internal bugs, and the cutscenes didn't work. Earlier this year I investigated the issues, and found that the cutscene files were missing or 0 bytes, so I got them from AO. After playing around with file paths in the config files, the cutscenes finally worked.

Then, I visited the above blood patches site and applied the patch - this appears to have replaced the original bugs with new bugs (oh well). The main new bug is the game running out of memory when a cutscene is about to start, which wasn't an issue before (only happens in Dosbox - 98SE is fine).

When I applied the patch, it only actually worked on one of them - the other machine said it worked, but it didn't. I had to copy the working files across before it would run.

Also, the patch invalidates all your game saves - they won't work any more.

Reply 6 of 27, by DustyShinigami

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
soggi wrote on 2024-11-29, 06:24:
As auron said Blood is a DOS game... DirectX and the (wrong?) drivers shouldn't do anything bad. First I would download and inst […]
Show full quote

As auron said Blood is a DOS game... DirectX and the (wrong?) drivers shouldn't do anything bad. First I would download and install the latest appropriate patch for your version of Blood (-> http://dukertcm.com/knowledge-base/downloads- … m/blood-patchs/).

BTW the nVidia driver you have installed (the a56678.exe package) is version 1.15, not 1.55! Checked it just now.

kind regards
soggi

That site mentions at the top that if I have the European version, I shouldn’t apply any of those patches.

Reply 7 of 27, by DustyShinigami

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
leileilol wrote on 2024-11-29, 06:37:

Blood cutscenes tend to bug out under Windows so you'll have to start Blood without them in that situation. Nothing to do with having a newer DirectX.

Haven’t noticed any issues with cutscenes yet. The opening splash scenes work fine as well as the first main cutscene before starting the first episode. Can’t speak for the others though.

Reply 8 of 27, by DustyShinigami

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
Robbbert wrote on 2024-11-29, 12:00:
I have Blood running on 2 computers - a real 98SE, and also under Dosbox on Windows 10. The original DOS version ran fine, but w […]
Show full quote

I have Blood running on 2 computers - a real 98SE, and also under Dosbox on Windows 10. The original DOS version ran fine, but with internal bugs, and the cutscenes didn't work. Earlier this year I investigated the issues, and found that the cutscene files were missing or 0 bytes, so I got them from AO. After playing around with file paths in the config files, the cutscenes finally worked.

Then, I visited the above blood patches site and applied the patch - this appears to have replaced the original bugs with new bugs (oh well). The main new bug is the game running out of memory when a cutscene is about to start, which wasn't an issue before (only happens in Dosbox - 98SE is fine).

When I applied the patch, it only actually worked on one of them - the other machine said it worked, but it didn't. I had to copy the working files across before it would run.

Also, the patch invalidates all your game saves - they won't work any more.

Is that by running it directly under DOS? Or loading the game up within Windows?

Reply 9 of 27, by DustyShinigami

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

I don’t really understand the argument that Blood is a DOS game only. Maybe the US version is, but the UK/European copy is definitely for Windows as well. Like I mentioned previously, the cinematics are different between the DOS and Windows versions.

IMG_3831.jpeg
Filename
IMG_3831.jpeg
File size
1.87 MiB
Views
282 views
File license
GPL-2.0-or-later

I’ve also done some experimenting. I decided to try the game with the actual CD in the drive. I did a complete reinstallation and loaded the game up, and one thing that struck me, which I didn’t realise before, is that music plays during gameplay. With the CD image file, it doesn’t. And with the actual CD, the game runs perfectly fine. With the CD image - it’s an unresponsive slideshow. So like with Quake, I need to figure out how to get the image file to run the game properly and give me music. It was installed with the image file mounted…

Reply 10 of 27, by feda

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-11-29, 17:31:

I don’t really understand the argument that Blood is a DOS game only. Maybe the US version is, but the UK/European copy is definitely for Windows as well. Like I mentioned previously, the cinematics are different between the DOS and Windows versions.

IMG_3831.jpeg
Filename
IMG_3831.jpeg
File size
1.87 MiB
Views
282 views
File license
GPL-2.0-or-later

I’ve also done some experimenting. I decided to try the game with the actual CD in the drive. I did a complete reinstallation and loaded the game up, and one thing that struck me, which I didn’t realise before, is that music plays during gameplay. With the CD image file, it doesn’t. And with the actual CD, the game runs perfectly fine. With the CD image - it’s an unresponsive slideshow. So like with Quake, I need to figure out how to get the image file to run the game properly and give me music. It was installed with the image file mounted…

There's no argument, Blood is a native DOS application. The reason it also runs under Win 95/98 is because 9x can run DOS apps natively. This capability was removed from XP onwards. Blood 2, on the other hand, is a native Windows app and can't run under DOS.
As for your weird image mounting issues, what tool are you using for that? And is the virtual drive designated D: (it should be)?

Reply 11 of 27, by DustyShinigami

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
feda wrote on 2024-11-29, 18:43:
DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-11-29, 17:31:

I don’t really understand the argument that Blood is a DOS game only. Maybe the US version is, but the UK/European copy is definitely for Windows as well. Like I mentioned previously, the cinematics are different between the DOS and Windows versions.

IMG_3831.jpeg
Filename
IMG_3831.jpeg
File size
1.87 MiB
Views
282 views
File license
GPL-2.0-or-later

I’ve also done some experimenting. I decided to try the game with the actual CD in the drive. I did a complete reinstallation and loaded the game up, and one thing that struck me, which I didn’t realise before, is that music plays during gameplay. With the CD image file, it doesn’t. And with the actual CD, the game runs perfectly fine. With the CD image - it’s an unresponsive slideshow. So like with Quake, I need to figure out how to get the image file to run the game properly and give me music. It was installed with the image file mounted…

There's no argument, Blood is a native DOS application. The reason it also runs under Win 95/98 is because 9x can run DOS apps natively. This capability was removed from XP onwards. Blood 2, on the other hand, is a native Windows app and can't run under DOS.
As for your weird image mounting issues, what tool are you using for that? And is the virtual drive designated D: (it should be)?

I’m using Daemon Tools and Alcohol 120%. I have two HDDs (at the moment. Will likely need another one for CD images at this rate. 😬) and they’re C and D. I’ve set the mounted drive as E: and the physical CD drive is F. Under DOS, the physical CD drive is E. When I get around to getting image files working under DOS, that will likely change.

Reply 13 of 27, by DustyShinigami

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
feda wrote on 2024-11-29, 19:36:

Your Daemon virtual CD drive should be D: under Windows. Some games don't like when it's not.

Hmm, okay. So I take it I would need to change my D drive to something else? That will mess up the installation of the games I've installed.

Reply 14 of 27, by Robbbert

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-11-29, 13:17:
Robbbert wrote on 2024-11-29, 12:00:
I have Blood running on 2 computers - a real 98SE, and also under Dosbox on Windows 10. The original DOS version ran fine, but w […]
Show full quote

I have Blood running on 2 computers - a real 98SE, and also under Dosbox on Windows 10. The original DOS version ran fine, but with internal bugs, and the cutscenes didn't work. Earlier this year I investigated the issues, and found that the cutscene files were missing or 0 bytes, so I got them from AO. After playing around with file paths in the config files, the cutscenes finally worked.

Then, I visited the above blood patches site and applied the patch - this appears to have replaced the original bugs with new bugs (oh well). The main new bug is the game running out of memory when a cutscene is about to start, which wasn't an issue before (only happens in Dosbox - 98SE is fine).

When I applied the patch, it only actually worked on one of them - the other machine said it worked, but it didn't. I had to copy the working files across before it would run.

Also, the patch invalidates all your game saves - they won't work any more.

Is that by running it directly under DOS? Or loading the game up within Windows?

Within Windows. My desktop has an icon for the game, I double-click it, and Blood starts up - just like starting up Notepad.
As the other person said, win9x has native support for well-written DOS games, with no need to switch to DOS.

Reply 15 of 27, by DudeFace

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-11-29, 19:52:
feda wrote on 2024-11-29, 19:36:

Your Daemon virtual CD drive should be D: under Windows. Some games don't like when it's not.

Hmm, okay. So I take it I would need to change my D drive to something else? That will mess up the installation of the games I've installed.

with some games if you install from a physical drive, then try to run from a virtual drive with a different letter it doesnt like it and sometimes doesnt detect the disc, try installing from the virtual drive before running from it

feda wrote on 2024-11-29, 18:43:

The reason it also runs under Win 95/98 is because 9x can run DOS apps natively. This capability was removed from XP onwards.

i think this is hardware dependant, as far as i could remember dos games wouldnt work under XP, the system im using for dos/98 will run dos games on XP but the sound is glitchy AF in duke3d and doom speeds up and slows down. on another similar xp system i have dos games dont even open.

Reply 16 of 27, by DustyShinigami

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
DudeFace wrote on 2024-11-29, 21:21:
with some games if you install from a physical drive, then try to run from a virtual drive with a different letter it doesnt lik […]
Show full quote
DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-11-29, 19:52:
feda wrote on 2024-11-29, 19:36:

Your Daemon virtual CD drive should be D: under Windows. Some games don't like when it's not.

Hmm, okay. So I take it I would need to change my D drive to something else? That will mess up the installation of the games I've installed.

with some games if you install from a physical drive, then try to run from a virtual drive with a different letter it doesnt like it and sometimes doesnt detect the disc, try installing from the virtual drive before running from it

feda wrote on 2024-11-29, 18:43:

The reason it also runs under Win 95/98 is because 9x can run DOS apps natively. This capability was removed from XP onwards.

i think this is hardware dependant, as far as i could remember dos games wouldnt work under XP, the system im using for dos/98 will run dos games on XP but the sound is glitchy AF in duke3d and doom speeds up and slows down. on another similar xp system i have dos games dont even open.

Yeah, I've been making sure to install with the virtual drive first. For the most part that's been working fine, but some games I've still had to modify the target path, such as Simon the Sorcerer. And for course, Quake and Blood not playing music.

Reply 17 of 27, by eddman

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-11-29, 17:31:

with the actual CD in the drive... music plays during gameplay. With the CD image file, it doesn’t.

Don't use .ISO format for CD images.

Maybe mess with the "Analog audio" option in daemon tools.

Last edited by eddman on 2024-11-29, 22:13. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 18 of 27, by DustyShinigami

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
eddman wrote on 2024-11-29, 22:07:
DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-11-29, 17:31:

with the actual CD in the drive... music plays during gameplay. With the CD image file, it doesn’t.

Don't use .ISO format for CD images.

I've been using .mds for the most part. I did try .cue for the game, but it didn't help.

Reply 19 of 27, by DustyShinigami

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-11-29, 19:52:
feda wrote on 2024-11-29, 19:36:

Your Daemon virtual CD drive should be D: under Windows. Some games don't like when it's not.

Hmm, okay. So I take it I would need to change my D drive to something else? That will mess up the installation of the games I've installed.

Hmm. From what I'm reading, it's not easy to change the drive letters in Win98...? And it's not advised to mess with them...?