First post, by Bouchehog
Note: I've found a solution that works for me - check the forth post!
I'm having problems getting the second discworld game, Discworld II: Missing Presumed..., to work under XP. I'm running on a AMD Thunderbird 1Ghz @ 1.2Ghz, 512mb PC133, Abit AU10 soundcard, GF Ti4400, XP Pro SP1
I can install the game under windows, although it gives an error if I let it look for previous versions of DirectX (unsurprisingly!). If I run the game using the windows program then the screen goes black for a few seconds and then crashes to the desktop. If I run it in DOS mode I get this message:
Call to get VBE mode information failed (14f). You may be able to correct this by installing a software VBE (VESA BIOS Extension […]
Call to get VBE mode information failed (14f).
You may be able to correct this by installing a
software VBE (VESA BIOS Extension) driverFailed to find a valid VESA video mode
You may be able to correct this by installing a
software VBE (VESA BIOS Extension) driverDiscworld needs a VESA driver for Super VGA.
Please consult the manual.
I've checked out this thread, which is very helpful. Nicht Sehr Gut suggests installing the game using a BAT file to bypass the VESA drivers. This installs the game as usual, but leaves me in the same position as above (the DOS error message). In the thread eL_PuSHeR also suggests that I:
need to place a VBEPLUS statement inside the DW2.BAT file. This will call VBEPLUS a very very nice VESA replacement...
Ooops! Forgot to mention ONE IMPORTANT THING:
This game issues a call to UVCONFIG.EXE whether you like it or not and may be reporting bad VESA support. So I just created an exe file with Turbo Pascal that does just nothing. Renamed it to UVCONFIG.EXE and Vòila!.
He attaches a dummy uvconfig.exe file to put into the programs directory. If I edit the BAT file to add "uvconfig.exe" after "@echo off" then when I run the BAT file the screen goes black and then exits to the desktop, without keeping the DOS windows for either uvconfig.exe or DWB.exe open (so I can't read any error message despite asking the DOS window to remain open).
I have also tried using the underdogs version of the game. I install this to C:/DW2 and it runs perfectly using DW2.BAT, albeit without the sound and cutscenes (as this is a rip). Their BAT files has the following three commands: vbeplus.exe, univbe.exe, dwb.exe. DW2.exe gives me the VESA error, so I assumed that these two files bypassed this requirement.
The closest I've got so far
If I edit the BAT file created by Nicht Sehr Gut's install to add the underdog's commands, and copy the two relevant programs over then when I run the BAT file the game loads but cannot find the CD (CD1 is in H: and CD2 is in I:). If I try running with VDMS Sound (Version 2.0.4) with CD ROM extensions enabled (in the AUTOEXEC.VDMS file) then the game runs perfectly with the movies, but does not have any sound.
Edit: Added bit at top and file below.