DustyShinigami wrote on 2025-01-11, 16:25:

From what I’ve read, 53a supports Discworld 2, but surely a later version would work fine as well…? I can’t use 53a because that also complains there’s no supported device. And I have no Nvidia patch for that. I’m guessing there isn’t one either?

If I’m having these problems with an old Riva TNT, I can’t see me having much luck with my GeForce 4 MX 440 if that’s newer. 😕

Since SDD 5.3a only supports NV1 when it comes to nVidia and you are having troubles, check the following modded drivers: Re: VESA Fix Utility Listing (for old video cards). These are much straightforward than NVPatch and directly uses the VBIOS of the video card.

There won't be 15bpp nor certain lower resolution VESA video modes though.

Gmlb256 wrote on 2025-01-11, 17:11:

DustyShinigami wrote on 2025-01-11, 16:25:

From what I’ve read, 53a supports Discworld 2, but surely a later version would work fine as well…? I can’t use 53a because that also complains there’s no supported device. And I have no Nvidia patch for that. I’m guessing there isn’t one either?

If I’m having these problems with an old Riva TNT, I can’t see me having much luck with my GeForce 4 MX 440 if that’s newer. 😕

Since SDD 5.3a only supports NV1 when it comes to nVidia and you are having troubles, check the following modded drivers: Re: VESA Fix Utility Listing (for old video cards). These are much straightforward than NVPatch and directly uses the VBIOS of the video card.

There won't be 15bpp nor certain lower resolution VESA video modes though.

Oh cool. Thanks for the link. And that's fine. I doubt I'll be in need of 15bpp or lower resolutions to be honest. 😀 I'll give these modified drivers a try and report back.

Had some issues getting the fix utility to work. Was about to give up, especially as the utility only enables some extra resolutions and colour depths, which isn't what Discworld 2 needed to install. But then I did some further experimenting...

I decided to try copying the contents of the CD to a folder in DOS. Then I deleted all the VBE related files, particularly uvconfig.dat, uvconfig.exe, and I think univbe.drv. The installer loaded up, but I think it was messy. Like with BS1 and how the image was in a rectangle at the top of the screen and flickering like crazy. So I tried replacing the files by adding the VBE files for 5.3, including the driver. If I remember right, I think the installer displayed correctly! However, when installing, it would get halfway and fail. But then after installing the VBEPlus utility, it seemed to do the trick!

I did try doing some further experimenting for BS1's flickering mouse cursor, but still no dice. However, I'm going to try copying the contents of the CD to the HDD, delete the VBE files, and then burn it all to a blank CD. And/or try adding the other VBE files. See if preventing the game to use the provided VBE drivers helps.

Well, I've copied the contents of BS1's first disc to the HDD and removed the VBE files on there. Loading up the executable in Notepad, it mentions that it uses version 5.2, so it's not far off from the version needed for Discworld 2. I'll see later if removing the files from the disc makes any difference when loading the game from it. I suspect probably not. The experiment with Discworld 2 did work by removing the files, but that was to get the installer working. If VBE drivers have no bearing on the mouse flicker, I've absolutely no idea what's causing it.

Yeah, it doesn't work. I get a similar error when trying to run the game as when I tried to load Discworld 2's installer. So I'll try adding VBE 5.3 to the root of the CD contents and try that. Might even try reinstalling the game from scratch using this 'modified' CD.

Yeah, I’ve essentially given up. I’m totally out of ideas. I tried. I’m not sure if it is a VBE issue with the game. Maybe it’s just a quirk with the original CD-ROM/DOS release of the game.
At any rate, looks like I hadn’t set up the contents of the modified disc correctly. Plus I’d failed to copy the subdirectories when I last copied the contents of the original disc to the HDD. Did it correctly this time and then replaced the VBE files from the disc with those from both 5.3 and 6.53. Reinstalled the game from the HDD a number of times as well. The game loaded up fine with each version, but the flickering cursor remained.

So I’m moving on. At least I got the VBE driver issue sorted for the DOS version of Discworld 2, so it wasn’t a total loss. 😀

Not sure I should carry on with this thread or start another one? I've done all I can regarding VBE and fixed one game that needed it anyway. However, regarding the flickering issue in BS1, I believe I've found out the problem. And it was simple all along. Like a lot of these classic adventure games in DOS, the CPU speed is too fast. So I need some advice regarding a CPU throttler.

I only briefly touched on a CPU throttler for the game and it made no difference. However, that was only by disabling the L2 cache. Using Throttle, I experimented with the different speed options and that has helped, to an extent. What I need though, is a CPU throttler that gives me more control. I need something between setting 2. and 3. 2 sets the speed to 25% slow whereas 3. sets it to 37.5% slow. I need something inbetween. So I can slow it down around 30%.
The 'safevideo' command fixes the flickering sprites, but introduces a flickering cursor. If I play the game as normal without the command, the sprites flicker, but the cursor is fine. Setting Throttle 2 still gives me sprite flicker. Setting it to 3 eliminates the flicker, but introduces some stutter during animations, hence why I need to fine tune things manually, if possible. 😀

Have to resurrect this thread as I'm currently stuck with it again. Unfortunately, the instructions I wrote aren't very clear or accurate. ^^; I probably won't get any suggestions with this, so at the very least I hope to better record the steps required to get it working for future reference.

The problem is with Discworld 2 again. And how trying to run the DOS installer seems to think there's no VESA adapter/driver. The game uses UNIVBE 5.3 and there is a modified patch for it, which is 5.3a, I believe. Unless the one with the game is also 5.3a. Ordinarily, all that's required is to drop it where the game is installed, but this issue is before it's installed. With the files on the disc. The plan last time was to copy all the files off the disc onto the HDD and then replace the UNIVBE files. Unfortunately, that hasn't been working out this time and I'm not quite sure why. Scitech Display Doctor UNIVBE 5.3 just doesn't work with my graphics cards, particularly the Riva TNT. Only 6.53 does thanks to the patch specifically for the Riva TNT. I've tried mixing the files from 5.3a and 6.53 and I think just 6.53, but I've still been unable to get the game's setup to work.
The modified patch is the univbe.drv file. Last time I supposedly removed and replaced three files - uvconfig.dat, uvconfig.exe and univbe.drv. The problem I've discovered is that there's been no sign of uvconfig.dat anywhere, which has completely baffled me. Not with 5.3(a) or 6.53. And there's no sign of it on the CD either. So God only knows how those factored into it last time. So I'm not sure if that's the missing piece of the puzzle. Even after installing and running uvconfig.exe for 6.53, no uvconfig.dat appears.

The other problem I have, which I think I've figured out, is if I place univbe.drv and uvconfig.exe into a folder containing the CD's files, create a CD image, mount the image using SHSUCD, and trying to run the setup, it makes it complain there's no CD present in drive F. I think that problem is similar to mounting the CD images for Harvester. If the CD drive is set up first by SHSUCD, and is assigned F, the game doesn't load correctly. I think it confuses it. So it has to be unloaded beforehand.

Apart from trying everything again and burning the files to a physical CD instead, I'm not quite sure what to do or try.

Alright! Crisis averted. Hopefully. I've figured out the key ingredient. I'm not quite sure how or why it helps, but VBEPlus fixes the issue. Must be some additional resolution mode...? It's possible that alone will help the game install just by running it first. Going to test it further.

Okay, the solution looks to be even easier than I originally thought. So, for future reference:

- Copy the contents of Discworld 2's CD somewhere on the HDD. Will need to play the game thoroughly in future to see if the same is needed for disc 2.
- Install UNIVBE Scitech Display Doctor 6.53
- Copy and paste UVCONFIG.EXE to the root of the game's folder, replacing the original
- Optional: burn to a CD or create an image
- Run VBEPLUS before installing, which will add 30-32 new modes
- Run the game's INSTALL from the new CD/image

Again, will need to test it further. Go through the entire installer, load the game, play it all the way through etc.