First post, by Unregistered
Just wanted to let anyone wishing to run Realms of the Haunting -- the best game of this type ever made(!) -- how I got it working with the help of VDMSound on an XP box.
NOTES:
(a) There are two versions of ROTH as far as I am aware: a UK (European) and a USA version. I originally bought and played the UK version (back in '96), I recently purchased the USA version from eBay (UK). The USA version allows you to use your mouse to pan your view (up, down, left and right -- in the style of most modern 1st person shooters). The USA version also allows you set the 'arcade' difficulty (4 levels) as well as the 'adventure' difficulty (2 levels). The UK version only has a 2 global levels (easy or hard). Your UK save games are NOT compatible with the USA save games!
(b) You will need to install the game through VDMS, otherwise your sound card won't be detected when playing the game. You *can* change your settings at a later date if you wish, by running 'install.exe' in your installed directory.
(c) Game machine is a P3, WinXP Pro, SoundBlaster Live, NVIDIA GeForce3 Ti 500. I am also running VDMSound 2.0.4 and the VDMSLaunchPad.
(d) The following solutions were used on the USA version of the game.
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With *both* the UK/USA versions I encountered two problems:
1. The default movement keys (cursor keys) caused Adam to rotate and keep on rotating! Weird. Likewise the jump key made Adam bob up and down like a small boat in a stormy sea!
2. Stuttering sound/video, with additional 'pops'.
Intially I used the Launcher to create a default configuration (and a desktop shortcut). To customise your settings for the game, right-click on the shortcut and select 'Properties' and hit the 'VDMSound' tab, then the Advanced button.
The following Properties were changed from the Launcher default:
Performance: Cap DOS timer frequency -- Checked
Performance: Try to reduce CPU usage -- Checked
Performance: Low Usage (slide control)
Joystick: Enable Joystick (Gameport) emulation -- UNchecked
AdLib: Enable AdLib (FM) Emulation -- UNchecked
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The keyboard repeat problem was fixed (through the above) and by customising my movement keys, so that I was NOT using the cursor keys. This is a bit of a problem for the UK version, where you cannot customise your movement keys .... grrrrr.
The sound problem wasn't totally cured. However the stuttering is gone and the game still 'crackles' a little; but it's nothing that will affect your enjoyment of the game.
Good luck!
Robbie