try it ?

My apologies - I didn't state the problem clearly enough.

When starting A.G.E. using DOSBOX 0.73 and the normal dosbox.conf file, I get to the standard configuration screens of A.G.E (language, sound), and then the intro runs without a problem. After the intro (and pressing F2 for proceeding to the game), I see the starting screen for the game where I can choose between a "Guided Tour" and "Start of game". Whatever I choose, I see the message "loading ..." and the game hangs.

I have played with the DOSBox settings a little already (changed parameters like core, cycles, machine, ...), installed A.G.E. to different drives and directories like C:\AGE or D:\AGE (with corresponding DOSBox mounts).

Any idea?

Yes. Try DOSBOX 0.65. This is the only version which make playing A.G.E. possible.

Thanks, but 0.65 isn't different from 0.73. Vista? But I tried Win98 compatibility mode, too. No change. Any specific settings required?
By the way, the task manager tells me, DOSBox is using about 30% of my CPU capacity while "loading". I terminated it after about 15 minutes.

greywolf wrote:

Thanks, but 0.65 isn't different from 0.73.

I assume, you've tried it?

greywolf wrote:

Vista? But I tried Win98 compatibility mode, too. No change. Any specific settings required?

Maybe. I don't have Vista, but compatibility should be irrelevant in this case.

I HAVE tried it indeed! :-)

You shouldn't recommend old versions of DOSBox.

I was very surprised but I've tested different versions of DOSBOX and the only one version wchich works wit this game was 0.65. I don't know why, but this is a fact.

A.G.E. is working in CVS builds. The DOSBox devs may be interested to know that the Rocket Science RTC fix (Loadstar, Wing Nuts, etc.) is also fixing this game.

In 0.73 there is a longish pause after selecting the language in the game while some timing is worked out with the RTC, and then the game hangs or crashes later (it's executing rubbish, so how it dies can vary a bit). With CVS there is hardly any pause during the timing stuff after selecting a language, and the game doesn't hang/crash.

BTW, the original Galactic Empire works fine in DOSBox. I debugged it awhile ago, and it has a particularly nasty copy protection that intentionally brings down the system by overwriting all of lower memory with zeros if you fail to answer the copy protection question correctly. With a correct answer or a proper crack, there is no problem.

I have managed to get hold of a French manual of A.G.E. (on a French abandonware site). This manual mentions a copy protection procedure which appears to be identical with that of Galactic Empire. No surprise, but I haven't been prompted to go through this procedure in A.G.E. so far.

Another observation: If you don't start go.bat or intro.exe, but empire.exe (which I believe starts the real game), you are taken through something which might be a scenario introduction (all in French), and then there is a "loading" message followed by a screen showing a vessel on a spaceport and the text: "Ramassez l'objet que vous voyez!" (which means something like "collect the object you're seeing!" or possibly "identify the object you're seeing!" - my French is not too good). Unfortunately I can't do anything there because my mouse pointer has disappeared - looks like the program is hanging, too.

Is there anything else I can do or try? Or should I give up?

And is it worth the effort? Is it a lot better than its predecessor, Galactic Empire?

There is a string of beeps during a blank screen that I believe is part of the copy protection which has been hacked out. I don't know for sure if the game's hang/crash problem is related to the crack or not, but I suspect it is not because of the relationship to the RTC stuff going on after selecting a language. Would be nice to get a confirmation of the problem with a clean copy. Anyway, a simple solution is to play the game with a recent CVS build: http://builds.tharos-online.de/

Thanks, ripsaw8080 - it works indeed. :-)