Regarding speed, just disable L1 (and L2 if you have to) Cache and you will be golden, even on your DX2.

Regarding the floppy discs, sorry I can't help you 🙁

I bought my version on GOG.com.

Still no luck and I just can't imagine what the problem is. The disks are definately ok, and a bit of research suggests that they're authentic, but it's as if the installer just wont accept disk 1 - i.e. the disk it's being called from - as a valid installation disk. My only thought is that a file is missing, or someone has changed the volume name of the disk for whatever reason. That's pretty unlikely I guess, the disks were still set to readonly.

Anyway, if anyone has the original Wing Commander floppy version (6 disks), would you be so kind as to have a quick peek at the first disk and tell me what the volume label is, if any? A file count would be great too if possible.

Thanks for any help.

Does it work in DOSBox if you make images of the disks? (You can use RawWrite to make images.)

Of course I understand you want to run it on your 486, but this might be useful for debugging purposes.

My apologies if you've already tried this, but are you including "-t floppy" when you mount the floppy?
In the past I have had trouble with some games not acting right when failing to use -t cdrom to mount cdroms, and it is likely that the same could be true for floppies.

dougdahl wrote:

My apologies if you've already tried this, but are you including "-t floppy" when you mount the floppy?

Psst: he's using original hardware, not DOSBox. Nothing requires mounting.

Doug: read the first post more closely. He's trying to install it on a real machine. Jorpho just suggested trying Dosbox as well in the post before yours 😉

Sorry.

What are the volume lables on the other disks? Is the label of the first disk different?

Have you tried copying the first disk and seeing if this hels?

I've never used dosbox but will give it a shot if all else fails. And no the other disks didn't have any volume labels either, so that's probably a dead end.

I like the 'copying the disk' idea though and will give it a shot.

In the mean time I've tried installing it on a different, slower machine. It made no difference.

HI, I've done a listing of the volume headers and contents of my Wing Commander disks - this is the original Origin release, rather than a budget one (check the images, the disks and box are different to yours), so, your mileage may vary!

Hope this helps!

1 Volume in drive A is PCT7U_02-07
2 Volume Serial Number is 10E3-2C62
3Directory for A:/
4
5DISK     001        48 1991-09-27  10:00 
6WC       EXE    304976 1991-09-27   9:40 
7INSTALL  EXE     55056 1991-09-19  15:01 
8INSTALL  DAT       976 1991-09-27   9:37 
9GAME     PAL      1120 1990-03-29  16:48 
10ARROW    VGA       299 1990-09-06  17:07 
11FONTS    FNT      7664 1990-09-07  15:30 
12CONVERT  PAL       256 1990-11-21  14:28 
13PCSHIP   V00     79186 1990-09-15  18:59 
14SAVEGAME WLD      6624 1990-11-26  12:57 
15MODULE   000     22085 1990-09-17   8:25 
16PLANETS  VGA     10548 1990-08-28  20:02 
17OBJECTS  VGA     74985 1990-08-24   0:10 
18STRAX    DRV      4869 1990-09-17   8:36 
19WINGLDR  TIM      5596 1990-09-18  15:54 
20COCKPIT  VGA     28434 1990-09-07  15:31 
21SHIP     V17     87302 1990-09-07  15:26 
22PCSHIP   V04     16108 1990-09-07  15:21 
23INTRO    DAT       630 1990-09-13  17:20 
24       19 files             706 762 bytes
25                             13 312 bytes fre
26
27==============================
28
29Volume in drive A is PCT7U_03-07
30 Volume Serial Number is 10E7-3B64
31Directory for A:/
32
33DISK     002        48 1991-09-27  10:02 
34PCSHIP   V01     89328 1990-09-13  13:02 
35PCSHIP   V02     71847 1990-09-07  15:20 
36PCSHIP   V03     86409 1990-09-07  15:21 
37PILOTANM VGA     88377 1990-08-07  15:49 
38SHIP     V18     94854 1990-09-12   6:23 
39SHIP     V21     47855 1990-09-12   6:24 
40SHIPTYPE V00     43254 1990-09-07  15:28 
41SHIPTYPE V01     50639 1990-09-07  15:28 
42SHIPTYPE V02     40923 1990-09-07  15:28 
43SHIPTYPE V03     47874 1990-09-07  15:29 
44SHIPTYPE V29      8799 1990-08-20  16:01 
45COMMUNIC DAT     12320 1990-09-16  16:55 
46WINGMEN  VGA     29963 1990-08-07  15:56 
47       14 files             712 490 bytes
48                              9 216 bytes free
49
50============================
51
52Volume in drive A is PCT7U_04-07
53 Volume Serial Number is 10EB-0E20
54Directory for A:/
55
56DISK     003        48 1991-09-27  10:03 
57CAMP     000       651 1990-09-16  19:22 
58BRIEFING 000    222366 1990-09-20  23:43 
59RECROOM  VGA    151583 1990-09-18  12:56 
60BRIEFING VGA    290931 1990-09-06   2:01 

61        5 files             665 579 bytes
62                             60 416 bytes free
63
64==============================
65
66Volume in drive A is PCT7U_05-07
67 Volume Serial Number is 10F0-2043
68Directory for A:/
69
70DISK     004        48 1991-09-27  10:05 
71TALKING  VGA    137800 1990-09-13   8:48 
72SHIPTYPE V09     45287 1990-09-07  15:29 
73SHIPTYPE V10     49511 1990-09-15  13:20 
74SHIPTYPE V12     50607 1990-09-07  15:30 
75SHIPTYPE V13     45517 1990-09-07  15:30 
76SHIP     V06     92859 1990-09-07  15:22 
77SHIP     V07     90532 1990-09-07  15:23 
78SHIP     V08    102872 1990-09-07  15:24 
79SHIP     V15     99824 1990-09-12   6:22 
80       10 files             714 857 bytes
81                              9 216 bytes free
82
83=================================
84
85Volume in drive A is PCT7U_06-07
86 Volume Serial Number is 10F5-2E49
87Directory for A:/
88
89DISK     005        48 1991-09-27  10:06 
90SCRAMBLE VGA    165009 1990-08-29  16:34 
91MUSIC    MID    139707 1990-09-12   6:51 
92SHIPTYPE V11     53016 1990-09-07  15:30 
93        4 files             357 780 bytes
94                            369 664 bytes free
95
96==================================
97
98Volume in drive A is PCT7U_WINA 
99 Volume Serial Number is 10FC-4037
100Directory for A:/
101
102DISK     006        48 1991-09-27  10:07 
103TITLE    VGA    150008 1990-09-17  12:48 
104MIDGAME  V00     64561 1990-09-13   7:59 
105MIDGAME  V01     51885 1990-09-13   7:59 
106MIDGAME  V02     62986 1990-09-13   7:58 
107MIDGAME  V03     37231 1990-09-13   7:59 
108SUPERTM  DRV     65281 1990-11-20  14:35 
109TM       DRV     29779 1990-11-20  14:35 
110        8 files             461 779 bytes
111                            263 168 bytes free

Oh wow thanks for going to all that trouble, excellent work!

Unfortunately though I'm still stuck. My disk 1 has exactly the same files as yours so I tried changing the volume label to PCT7U_02-07, but I still get the same message. I notice that your disks have a serial number too - can that be changed? But even if it can, surely the copy protection is not that strong on a 20 year old floppy disk game??

I just can't imagine what the problem could be, it's like I'm missing another product or or validation disk, but this isn't an add-on, it's the full game. I tried copying disk 1 to another disk and get the same message, so I'm convinced the disk itself is physically OK.

Oh well it only cost me 2 bucks, I should probably just move on with my life. Frustrating though, it should work!

My Wing Commander disk images (6x720KB) have no difficulty installing in DOSBox. They have no disk labels. I have never heard of WC using disk-based copy protection, which usually comes into play when you are trying to run the game, not install it. Perhaps the disks were already damaged before you tried installing it.

Dumb idea, but maybe you could try copying all of the install files to a directory and running the install from there? Just a thought. 🤣 If it's really insistent on running from drive A:, you could probably use SUBST to fool the system into thinking that that directory is drive A:.

Right I've had a bit of a poke around with my trusty hex editor and have decided that my "install.dat" file is corrupted. This file is supposed to be a list of the files on each disk, but most of mine is rubbish.

I've since bought the GOG version in the hope of getting a valid copy of that file, but unfortunately they sell the 3 disk copy of the game, and mine is the 6 disk version, so obviously the files have different content.

Would someone with the 6 disk copy be so kind as to upload their version of the "install.dat" file somewhere please? It's on the first disk.

I know its a bit of work to do that, and is possibly illegal? So I'll understand if not!

Thanks either way!

Here's my INSTALL.DAT file.

Nice one megatron, that did the trick! Thanks very much for your help mate, a 20+ year old piece of computer history lives on!

It was just that one file on the first disk that had been corrupted - the rest of the disks installed no problems.

Now I have the game running, but it hangs just after the fireworks... my next challenge!

Awesome outcome!

badmofo wrote:

Nice one megatron, that did the trick! Thanks very much for your help mate, a 20+ year old piece of computer history lives on!

It was just that one file on the first disk that had been corrupted - the rest of the disks installed no problems.

Now I have the game running, but it hangs just after the fireworks... my next challenge!

Hmm, wonder if there aren't some more files out of that entire set that are corrupted?

megatron-uk wrote:

Hmm, wonder if there aren't some more files out of that entire set that are corrupted?

That's true, just because it installed doesn't mean some files still ain't broke.

It only hangs if I'm using the MT-32 sound option - with Sound Blaster selected it makes it through the opening credits at least. I haven't actually tried to play the game yet.

I know my MT-32 setup works in games that require intelligent mode, so I guess I should discount a hardware issue for now and look more closely at the files.

I'll try the GOG version first and if that works, then I'll track down the other dodgy file(s).

Thanks again for your help!