X-Com in DOSBOX \ VOGONS

X-Com in DOSBOX

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First post, by mooggy

Posted on 2008-10-03, 13:16

mooggy Offline

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Hello people,
I am wondering if I could get some help with X-Com using DOSBOX please? Forgive me if this is structured incorrectly, I am not very experienced at asking for tech help.

Ok, I have the Dos version of X-Com on CD (for those of you against abandonware/illegal downloading, etc) that I bought a few years ago. I downloaded DOSBOX and mounted my D drive and am playing from the cd rom drive.

The game starts up just fine, but with no music, and i can place my base and do everything in the base screen and the Geoscape screen. As soon as I land at a crash site, the screen goes dark and nothing happens. If I continually press escape it jumps to the mission complete screen, then my graphics on the Geoscape are all messed up and I cannot interact with anything.

Now, as far as the music. I have done the d: setup.exe and put in the soundblaster and then the default channels and such, but after I make the last selection, I think it is music board, then 330, I get an error that says "Null Pointer".

I am very inexperienced with troubleshooting, so if there is a fix for these, can you please take it easy with me, or point me to a step by step tutorial on these fixes? I have searched these forums for an answer to this and did not find my exact problems.

Thank you very much for your time and insight.

Reply 1 of 8, by Qbix

Posted on 2008-10-03, 13:26

Qbix Offline

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you have to select adlib/soundblaster in the configuration program.

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Reply 2 of 8, by mooggy

Posted on 2008-10-03, 13:58

mooggy Offline

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Thank you Qbix, I will try the Adlib/Soundblaster option when I am back home.

Does anyone have any ideas about the Crash Site screen problems I am having?

Thanks again all.

Reply 3 of 8, by Qbix

Posted on 2008-10-03, 14:04

Qbix Offline

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that sound thing might fix it. with gus as sound it crashes that way.

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Reply 4 of 8, by ADDiCT

Posted on 2008-10-03, 14:59

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I'm not 100% sure, but i think you have to install the CD version on your hd. There are some games that can be run directly from the CD, and will save their config to a file on the c:\ drive, but i think i remember XCom (or UFO) needs to be installed.

So, first you should mount both a c:\ drive and your CD/DVD (d:\). Then try setting up the game again. If you're still having troubles, look for a menu item "install to hd" or something similar. If you find one, install the game to your c:\ drive, and run it from there.

Reply 5 of 8, by Neville

Posted on 2008-10-04, 09:34

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If that one is like most MicroProse CD-ROM games from that era, you can do a full HD install from the Windows explorer. Just look for the MPS\<Name of the game> folder in the CD and copy it to the folder you use to mount as C: within DOSBox.

As for your other problems, I can't help you. I've tried several versions of both "UFO: Enemy Unknown" and "XCOM: Terror from ther Deep" under DOSBox and they all worked OK out of the box, without any further tweaking.

Reply 6 of 8, by Captain Amazing

Posted on 2008-10-04, 15:41

Captain Amazing Offline

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I have to agree with the advice given above; do a full HD install/copy everything from CD to HD install dir. I have the CD-ROM version of both Enemy Unknown and Terror From the Deep and both play without the CD. The only minor issue I have is that when starting UFO Enemy Unknown I get a black screen and I have to press ESC a couple of times to get to the start menu.

Reply 7 of 8, by IrMel

Posted on 2008-10-10, 17:17

IrMel Offline

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Hi X-Com-Fanatics!

I'm sorry for my english, I'm german so already my first question: how do i make the \ in dos box? (not the / )

Then: I have installed the CD-Rom version of X-Com enemy unknown but the same problem as the creator of this thread, I have a black screen.
---------
Thus I took the DOS-Version but I don't have sound. I tried another sound-config-file of another x-com player but it still doesn't work. I have the impression that whatever sound-options I try it won't be saved. anyone the same problem? I have opened the sound-config-file but there was but spaces and a "y" or some other strange signs.
I tried the soundoptions what you have written in this thread but nothing was written in the config. I didn't "install" the version, I'm not shure if it is necessary because I can save the game. When I install the game I find but the folders (the save-game-folders) and so on but no .exe ("go")

I took the DOS-Version from www.XXXXXXXX.com (there is the cd-version but in the article at the end is written the link to the dos-version)

Thank you.

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Reply 8 of 8, by MiniMax

Posted on 2008-10-10, 17:38

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For you keyboard problem, type this command:

Z:\>keyb de

For problems with licensed games that you download, please ask the people you downloaded it from. Or buy it here:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/7760/

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