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Discworld II and Windows XP

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First post, by Bouchehog

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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 […]
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Call to get VBE mode information failed (14f).
You may be able to correct this by installing a
software VBE (VESA BIOS Extension) driver

Failed to find a valid VESA video mode
You may be able to correct this by installing a
software VBE (VESA BIOS Extension) driver

Discworld 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.

Attachments

  • Filename
    UNIVBE.EXE
    File size
    72.67 KiB
    Downloads
    13134 downloads
    File license
    Fair use/fair dealing exception
Last edited by Bouchehog on 2004-04-11, 17:29. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 1 of 44, by Bouchehog

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Underdogs
I can get a similar situation if I copy the files over from the CD to the underdogs installation. However, I don't know if this will allow me to see any of the movies on the second disc and I still don't have any sound.

If I take the underdog's install and copy over all of the files from the CD's DW directory (but don't over-write anything) then I get back to the DOS VESA problem. If I run it through the DW2.BAT file then the game runs as before, but without cut scenes.

If I take the underdog's install and copy over all of the files from the CD's DW directory and over-write the underdog's install files then I can play the game perfectly using DW2.BAT, but I don't have any sound. Running DW2.BAT through VDMS Sound doesn't seem to help.

This over-writes the following files that are different:
CREDITS.BMV (1.38KB to 46.7MB), DTHINTRO.BMV (1.38KB to 5.31MB), ENGLISH.TXT (227KB to 229KB), GARDEN2.SCN (439KB to 438KB), INTRO.BMV (1.38KB to 68.8MB), MOUSE.BMV (1.38KB to 2.51MB), MOVIES.SCN (3.09KB to 3.59KB), PERFECT.BMV (1.38KB to 2.68MB), PSYG.BMV (1.38KB to 4.64MB), SURFING.BMV (1.38KB to 5.17MB), TITLE.SCN (1.34MB to 1.61MB), VOLUME (3bytes to 1byte), WILDCAT.BMV (1.38KB to 2.92MB), WIPEOUT.BMV (1.38KB to 5.01MB).
It also adds files such as ENGLISH.SMP (a 220MB file).

Edit: Added file for later post.

Attachments

  • Filename
    Vbeplus.exe
    File size
    14 KiB
    Downloads
    12806 downloads
    File license
    Fair use/fair dealing exception
Last edited by Bouchehog on 2004-04-11, 17:28. Edited 3 times in total.

Reply 2 of 44, by Bouchehog

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Thought I'd split this into three posts to make it easier to read. Anyway, am I doing something wrong here, and is this now a simple VDMS Sound problem, or should I resign myself to playing without Eric Idle's voice over?

Thanks!

Reply 3 of 44, by Bouchehog

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Sweet Jesus! It was a basic error - I just hadn't configured my sound card to run properly! 😀

I hope this thread will remain useful to the next person who comes this way. I'll just quickly post a fix for everyone:

The Fix

  1. Install the game using Nicht Sehr Gut's BAT file;
  2. Edit the DW2.BAT file to say:
    vbeplus.exe
    univbe.exe
    dwb.exe
  3. Copy the files vbeplus.exe and univbe.exe and put them in your "Discworld" directory;
  4. Download and install the latest version of VDM Sound;
  5. Right-click on your AUTOEXEC.VDMS files in the VDMS directory )C:\Program Files\VDMSound) and select edit;
  6. Remove "REM " from the line that says "REM lh %SystemRoot%\system32\mscdexnt.exe";
  7. Run SETSOUND.EXE in your "Discworld" Directory and configure your sound card as best you can;
  8. Download the Patch;
  9. Unzip the patch to your "Discworld" directory, over-writing any existing files (if you don't do this you might not be able to finish the game. 🙁);
  10. Right-Click on DW2.BAT and select "Run with VDMS";
  11. Play!

Hope this helps! Please post if it has! 😀

Edit: Added a line about the patch.

Reply 4 of 44, by pepi

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Oh yes, it has help 😁

So many thanks... I'm so pleased the web has people like you, who can clearly (Pratchett would have said "nicely and accurately", I think 😉 )give usefull tricks. Don't you ever change! Your guide is perfect ; one of the best I've read ever.

Thanks again.

pepi

Reply 5 of 44, by Shigawire

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Arg I wished it worked.. but it doesn't 🙁

I did everything on your list slavishly.. what it does now, is that it immediately quits to the desktop as soon as I try to run dw2.bat with vdms.. so it has had no change at all here..

I tried to rem the 2 vesa-lines:
rem vbeplus.exe
rem univbe.exe

now it tries to run, but it only says that it can't find my CD .. and now it thinks my CDrom is on J: when it's on I: !!
I don't even HAVE a J:

At the beginning of the list, I installed the game using Nicht Sehr Gut's bat-file, and I edited it to reflect the TRUE source/destination drives.

Is there ANYthing I should do? Please tell me 😁

[edit]
It seems the rom-LABEL on my CD is "untitled" , perhaps this causes the program to not recognize the CD?

If that's not the problem, is there some config-file that stores drive-information for this game?

Furthermore, this thread IS about running the game on fairly NEW computers, right? Well, I tried running the Vesa-files seperately in CMD, and all I got was this...

For VBEPLUS.EXE , I got:
"Not enough free mode numbers available"

For UNIVBE.EXE , I got (unsurprisingly):
UniVBE(tm)/Lite - Universal VESA BIOS Extension (VBE) - Bundle Copy
Licensed to Electronic Arts, Inc. SLA: 1020A
Release 5.0 (Aug 22 1994)

Copyright (C) 1993-94 SciTech Software, All Rights Reserved.

Supported video card not detected - installation aborted.

Of course, this shouldn't surprise me.. since univbe only supports a handful ancient videocards. And I have an ATI Radeon Sapphire 9800XT 256 mb :p

But, still, in accordance with the context of this thread, I thought these VESA-lines in the DW2.bat would be related to running the game in Windows XP, on fairly new computers. So, now I need an ancient video card or something?

Reply 6 of 44, by Shigawire

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Oki. I got it working very well now 😁

I just had to set the soundcard to something lower.. I only have an AC`97 onboard soundcard (good enough for me), so it didn't do such a good job at emulating SB16.. it gave a huge brrrrrt-noise 😉

I set it to SB1.. and now it works well.

I think the addition of your own methodology helped a lot on this, so Thanks..

Reply 9 of 44, by Aloronbunny

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It's been a while since this was posted, so I just hope someone is still watching this post to help me out.

I just recently bought a copy of Discworld2 off of Ebay, since I've wanted to play a copy of it again ever since Underdogs no longer offered it for download (plus I love hearing Eric Idle's voice as rincewind, and wanted to actually hear his voice) But, as everyone else, I've been having problems running it on XP

Now, I followed the well-written instructions by bouchehog, but I ran into two problems.
1) I found no file titled autoexec.vdms anywhere on my computer
2) After skipping that part (since I couldn't find it) and did all the other instructions, I've still been unable to get it to work.

I did upgrade the problem from it just instantly crashing back to my desktop, to just not being able to find the cd... but I'd like it to actually run the game.

Can anyone help me try to fix the problem with it not finding the cd?

Reply 11 of 44, by Aloronbunny

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As I said, I followed all the other instructions, so yes. I installed it along with all of it's optional components. Are you sure the latest version of the program uses that file?

Reply 12 of 44, by Aloronbunny

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Found the problem! It seems that the file mentioned was dropped back in version 2.0.4. I did find where it was replaced in the new version though... but I'm still having problems still.

It's no longer having problems finding the cdrom... but instead all it does is just sit there and do nothing with a black screen.

Reply 13 of 44, by Snizle

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Bouchehog wrote:
Sweet Jesus! It was a basic error - I just hadn't configured my sound card to run properly! :) […]
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Sweet Jesus! It was a basic error - I just hadn't configured my sound card to run properly! 😀

I hope this thread will remain useful to the next person who comes this way. I'll just quickly post a fix for everyone:

The Fix

  1. Install the game using Nicht Sehr Gut's BAT file;
  2. Edit the DW2.BAT file to say:
    vbeplus.exe
    univbe.exe
    dwb.exe
  3. Copy the files vbeplus.exe and univbe.exe and put them in your "Discworld" directory;
  4. Download and install the latest version of VDM Sound;
  5. Right-click on your AUTOEXEC.VDMS files in the VDMS directory )C:\Program Files\VDMSound) and select edit;
  6. Remove "REM " from the line that says "REM lh %SystemRoot%\system32\mscdexnt.exe";
  7. Run SETSOUND.EXE in your "Discworld" Directory and configure your sound card as best you can;
  8. Download the Patch;
  9. Unzip the patch to your "Discworld" directory, over-writing any existing files (if you don't do this you might not be able to finish the game. 🙁);
  10. Right-Click on DW2.BAT and select "Run with VDMS";
  11. Play!

Hope this helps! Please post if it has! 😀

Edit: Added a line about the patch.

Yeah, about this, im stuck on step 1 🤣! I cant seem to download teh BAT File. It always gievs my a pop up saying im missing a file, am i suppose to install DW2 first, and then download it. Cuz if i am, im stuck with that too, cuz i cant possibly get anythign to install on XP. Ive been trying everything. And r u suppose to have DOS in Order to play this game?
Reply soon.

Reply 14 of 44, by skitfish

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Thank you Bouchehog. Followed your instructions and didn't have a single problem from then on 😀
The only thing I will say is this:
Nicht Sehr Gut's batch file copies all the SCN files from the DW2 folder of the CD you have in the specified drive to the cache folder in the chosen install directory. For most people following the instructions on the second line of Gut's batch file, only the SCN files from the first CD will be copied.
There are in fact more SCN files on the second CD (same place) which I assume should also be copied to the cache folder.
If you don't copy the SCN's from the second CD then you will not have all of them on your hard drive when you play the game!

Just something I thought you should know. Appologies if for some reason you don't need the SCN's from the second CD.

Anyway, have fun!
skitfish

Reply 15 of 44, by Frosty

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I found this site through googling "Discworld 2 xp", and saw that most people are having the same problem as me. I followed Bouchehog's instructions, which got me from just getting a black screen to getting an incorrect cd message.

After fiddling about for a while, I found that for some reason, the batch file works if you run it from in a DOS window, but not if you run it from an explorer window. After this, I found that if you simply set application compatability to Windows 95 for the 3 exes called from the batch file (vbeplus.exe, univbe.exe, and dwb.exe), the game works fine run from windows!

Just thought I'd return the favour and help people out who're in the same problem as me 😀

Frosty

Reply 16 of 44, by dragonball

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ok i tried to download the .bat file first and its a text file so i changed it and saved it as a .bat i take it thats right? then you say add these lines in
vbeplus.exe
univbe.exe
dwb.exe
where exactly ive no idea where to put them?
ive got:

vbeplus.exe
univbe.exe

REM SET=c:\program files\discworld 2
REM SOURCE=dwb.exe

SET SOURCE=E:
SET DEST=C:\Discworld

mkdir %DEST%
mkdir %DEST%\CACHE
mkdir %DEST%\SAVE

copy %SOURCE%\DOSCONF %DEST%
copy %SOURCE%\DW2.BAT %DEST%
copy %SOURCE%\DWB.EXE %DEST%
copy %SOURCE%\GERINS.IMJ %DEST%
copy %SOURCE%\INSTALLD.INF %DEST%
copy %SOURCE%\RM.DRV %DEST%
copy %SOURCE%\SAMPLE.AD %DEST%
copy %SOURCE%\SAMPLE.BNK %DEST%
copy %SOURCE%\SAMPLE.OPL %DEST%
copy %SOURCE%\SETSOUND.EXE %DEST%
copy %SOURCE%\SETUP.EXE %DEST%
copy %SOURCE%\TITLEDOS.BMP %DEST%
copy %SOURCE%\UNINSTLL.EXE %DEST%

copy %SOURCE%\*.lst %DEST%
copy %SOURCE%\*.dig %DEST%
copy %SOURCE%\DW2\*.SCN %DEST%\CACHE\

at this point. i recon this is completely wrong?

then i put the files into the correct dir and got latest version of VDM sound.
then i cant find the AUTOEXEC.VDMS anywhere? any ideas? therefore i cant remove the REM bit and there isnt a:
REM lh %SystemRoot%\system32\mscdexnt.exe in my created bat.
next there is no SETSOUND.EXE in my dir of discworld, am i supposed to get it from somewhere?
i then got the patch and overwrite into the dir. then
Right-Click on DW2.BAT and select "Run with VDMS and it goes black then comes back to desktop.
please can i have a more clearer way to install this lot.

thanks

Reply 17 of 44, by Jiri

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dragonball wrote:

There is no SETSOUND.EXE in my dir of discworld, am i supposed to get it from somewhere?

SETSOUND.EXE (with other needed files) should appear in C:\Discworld directory after running the Nicht Sehr Gut's BAT file. Download the text file, rename it to disc.bat and run it. You may need to change letter in the line SET SOURCE=E: so it corresponds to your CD ROM drive letter.

dragonball wrote:
you say add these lines in vbeplus.exe univbe.exe dwb.exe where exactly ive no idea where to put them? […]
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you say add these lines in
vbeplus.exe
univbe.exe
dwb.exe
where exactly ive no idea where to put them?

After running the Nicht Sehr Gut's BAT file you should have DW2.BAT in your C:\Discworld directory as well. Edit DW2.BAT. Right click on the file and choose "edit" in the menu. Put the lines inside.

dragonball wrote:

then i cant find the AUTOEXEC.VDMS anywhere? any ideas?

The instructions by Bouchehog can be a bit confusing for users who have VDMSound 2.1.0. You can either download an older version or simply use VDMSound 2.1.0 - setup is even easier with it, no need for steps 5 and 6. Just right click on the setsound.exe and choose "run with VDMS", use a default configuration, finish.
Also do not forget to enable low-level CD ROM support, when you will be running DW2.BAT. (right click on DW2.BAT, run with VDMS, set up a custom configuration, create a new configuration, advanced, compatibility tab, enable low-level CD ROM support)

Reply 18 of 44, by dragonball

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ok now ive done that when i come to run the game it goes blank as if its gonna run then i get 'supported video card not supported-installation aborted
and later it says discworld cannot locate the discworld cd?

any ideas dad?

ps:cheers for the last info i see where i went wrong.
thanks

Reply 19 of 44, by dragonball

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ok ive finally managed to get it working and its mint but then ive come stuck in game play, i currently need to get the rooster and i remember that i needed it and basically i cant get it ive looked up walkthroughs and so on for it and they all say to but the drink tankard on the corn but i cant find the corn anywhere in the garden. and also i need the false teeth from the coffin but when i go up the ladders all there is a glass of water. any ideas?

thanks for all your previous help everyone.