Help running some old Star Trek Games
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Binsk
Help running some old Star Trek Games
Ok, the first game I tried ran fine! but I don't know how to save my game. It is Star Trek First contact. I am told to remove the game disk and insert an un formatted one to save on. Since I'm not using real disks I don't know how to do this. The second game is Prometheus prophecy. The txt file that comes with the game says it won't run unless you set the memory to 0FC0:0000h up to 3000:0000h but I don't know what this means. I looked in the dos box config file but all I saw was memsize=16. I changed this but it did nothing. The last one is rebel universe which simply boots up to a blue screen, but does nothing. Any help is appreciated.
You are running all of these in dosbox? I haven't played any of these, but since no one is jumping on this, I'll see what I can do with general dosbox info. I'll give you the high level, and we can discuss from there:
1. Star Trek: First Contact - I'm not sure about the unformatted disk part, but it's possible a "blank" disk will work OK.
(Dosbox hint: you can mount multiple disk images in the a: drive like 'imgmount a one.img two.img', then press ctrl-f4 to swap the active disk. Just like changing disks in the drive.)
You'll need to use a program like Floppy Image or WinImage to create an empty IMG file (disk image file). Give it a name like 'saves.img' or 'blank.img'. Then in the dosbox.conf (or at the z: prompt) you'll have to use the 'imgmount a blank.img' to make that the a: drive.
You'll have to tell me how you mounted Start Trek: First Contact in dosbox, was it the a drive or the c drive? That might change some of the dosbox details.
Dosbox.com says it should work, if it isn't corrupted:
http://www.dosbox.com/comp_list.php?sho ... 5&letter=S
2. Promethean Prophecy: I don't know what it is asking for, but if that was for running it on the original PC that sounds like "no longer necessary in dosbox" kind of configurations. I assume you tried running it? What happened?
(Yes, memsize=16 line won't help you - that's the setting for 16MB of EMS/XMS memory, not what it's talking about.)
Dosbox.com says it should work, if it isn't corrupted:
http://www.dosbox.com/comp_list.php?sho ... 8&letter=S
3. Rebel Universe: I have no idea, unless it's a corrupted disk/download. From 1987, maybe dosbox is running too fast and you need to cycle down? Ctrl-F11, IIRC?
Dosbox.com says it should work, if it isn't corrupted:
http://www.dosbox.com/comp_list.php?sho ... 0&letter=S
Or maybe try an alternate emulation platform for these, like the AtariST. Will have better graphics and sound that way. For example, Mobygames says Rebel Universe is on several old platforms: http://www.mobygames.com/game/star-trek ... creenshots
1. Star Trek: First Contact - I'm not sure about the unformatted disk part, but it's possible a "blank" disk will work OK.
(Dosbox hint: you can mount multiple disk images in the a: drive like 'imgmount a one.img two.img', then press ctrl-f4 to swap the active disk. Just like changing disks in the drive.)
You'll need to use a program like Floppy Image or WinImage to create an empty IMG file (disk image file). Give it a name like 'saves.img' or 'blank.img'. Then in the dosbox.conf (or at the z: prompt) you'll have to use the 'imgmount a blank.img' to make that the a: drive.
You'll have to tell me how you mounted Start Trek: First Contact in dosbox, was it the a drive or the c drive? That might change some of the dosbox details.
Dosbox.com says it should work, if it isn't corrupted:
http://www.dosbox.com/comp_list.php?sho ... 5&letter=S
2. Promethean Prophecy: I don't know what it is asking for, but if that was for running it on the original PC that sounds like "no longer necessary in dosbox" kind of configurations. I assume you tried running it? What happened?
(Yes, memsize=16 line won't help you - that's the setting for 16MB of EMS/XMS memory, not what it's talking about.)
Dosbox.com says it should work, if it isn't corrupted:
http://www.dosbox.com/comp_list.php?sho ... 8&letter=S
3. Rebel Universe: I have no idea, unless it's a corrupted disk/download. From 1987, maybe dosbox is running too fast and you need to cycle down? Ctrl-F11, IIRC?
Dosbox.com says it should work, if it isn't corrupted:
http://www.dosbox.com/comp_list.php?sho ... 0&letter=S
Or maybe try an alternate emulation platform for these, like the AtariST. Will have better graphics and sound that way. For example, Mobygames says Rebel Universe is on several old platforms: http://www.mobygames.com/game/star-trek ... creenshots
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Binsk
Ok...
Ok, well I ran all the games in C drive in answer to your question. However, the games is not a disk img, so I can mount one drive with a blank disk and use the other drive as a normal directory? When I try running promethean prophecy it says disk error. Now I'm sure if you can get a hold of these games (or if you want to), but f it is convenient you might be able to test them out and see.
Lost my first post, oops. In brief:
1. Yes, dosbox won't care, mount C: as directory like now, imgmount a blank disk image in A. Works great. Same way as for mounting CDs.
2. Possibly the game won't like being on C, might have to run the game out of a:, but try the other way first. Otherwise might have to make a disk image of the game - easy to do with WinImage, etc. tools.
3. Disk error could mean "run it in A" - just mount to a like to c "mount a c:\gamedir" or whatever directory you are mounting. I've seen at least one game that must be run from the A: drive, crazy programmers.
4. If I had time I might give them a try, but I'm swamped right now, so it's unlikely. Don't wait for me.
1. Yes, dosbox won't care, mount C: as directory like now, imgmount a blank disk image in A. Works great. Same way as for mounting CDs.
2. Possibly the game won't like being on C, might have to run the game out of a:, but try the other way first. Otherwise might have to make a disk image of the game - easy to do with WinImage, etc. tools.
3. Disk error could mean "run it in A" - just mount to a like to c "mount a c:\gamedir" or whatever directory you are mounting. I've seen at least one game that must be run from the A: drive, crazy programmers.
4. If I had time I might give them a try, but I'm swamped right now, so it's unlikely. Don't wait for me.
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Binsk
Thanks!
Well, I was able to successfully save my game in first contact with a blank img file in drive a, so thanks for that! I'll try mounting the other game in drive a and report back to you. As for The game that boots to a blue screen, someone suggested I lower the number of cycles in dosbox to 1000, so I'll try that.
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Binsk
Help...
Sorry, I realized you're the one who told me to lower the cycles. However this did not work. I mount the main directory "documents" in drive a and then changed the directory twice, first to my dos game folder, and then to the rebel universe game folder. It would not let me directly mount the dos game directory and thus not the rebel directory, stating that the directory did not exist.mi could only mount up to my main documents directory. I tried running both rebel universe and promethean prophecy in this method by mounting up to the documents directory in drive a and then using the "cd" command twice. Do you have any other suggestions for promethean prophecy or rebel universe.
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Binsk
Info
A couple of things that might help you find the problem with Promethean prophecy: File is .com rather than .exe
Here is the exact wording of the txt file:
The game requires DOS memory at 0FC0:0000h up to 3000:0000h to be free,
because it uses absolute addressing at some points. I have no time
to search for all the fixed code so you need to have enough free DOS memory
or it will not start at all.
WARNING: To save/load ALWAYS select DRIVE B, the driver will redirect all
access to file SAVE.DAT. If you select drive A, the driver will use STPP.DAT
and the game will either crash (load) or overwrite the game data (save).
Here is the exact wording of the txt file:
The game requires DOS memory at 0FC0:0000h up to 3000:0000h to be free,
because it uses absolute addressing at some points. I have no time
to search for all the fixed code so you need to have enough free DOS memory
or it will not start at all.
WARNING: To save/load ALWAYS select DRIVE B, the driver will redirect all
access to file SAVE.DAT. If you select drive A, the driver will use STPP.DAT
and the game will either crash (load) or overwrite the game data (save).
I'm glad the blank disk trick worked, very cool!
Interesting text file data. Dosbox is designed to have as much memory free as possible, so I doubt the first part is the problem, and I have no idea how to fix it in any case.
You might have to mount a blank disk in drive b so dosbox reports 'drive b exists', but that's just speculation and dos wasn't really that smart.
Googling run rebel universe in dosbox, there was a guide someone (glen?) wrote. It doesn't look look like there are any particular tricks, other than the game is installed in a dos directory and that might be important. (For example Daggerfall really wants to be in c:\dagger, so I mount my documents/game folder as c: in dosbox, but have a \dagger directory under that to make the game happy and think it's in c:\dagger.)
You could try following the guide, and it could just be a corrupt download; worth trying another download, maybe from a different location? It also looks like the game runs with a blue background with white text & graphics, so maybe the game is crashing after starting to draw the first screen.
I don't see anything quite as specific for Prophecy, but the same general ideas apply there, too.
You also might try setting core=simple and cputype=386_slow in dosbox.conf since these are old games. Use http://www.dosbox.com/wiki/Dosbox.conf to get the syntax perfect, the above is off the top of my head. Sometimes "advanced" emulation messes up the old games.
Interesting text file data. Dosbox is designed to have as much memory free as possible, so I doubt the first part is the problem, and I have no idea how to fix it in any case.
You might have to mount a blank disk in drive b so dosbox reports 'drive b exists', but that's just speculation and dos wasn't really that smart.
Googling run rebel universe in dosbox, there was a guide someone (glen?) wrote. It doesn't look look like there are any particular tricks, other than the game is installed in a dos directory and that might be important. (For example Daggerfall really wants to be in c:\dagger, so I mount my documents/game folder as c: in dosbox, but have a \dagger directory under that to make the game happy and think it's in c:\dagger.)
You could try following the guide, and it could just be a corrupt download; worth trying another download, maybe from a different location? It also looks like the game runs with a blue background with white text & graphics, so maybe the game is crashing after starting to draw the first screen.
I don't see anything quite as specific for Prophecy, but the same general ideas apply there, too.
You also might try setting core=simple and cputype=386_slow in dosbox.conf since these are old games. Use http://www.dosbox.com/wiki/Dosbox.conf to get the syntax perfect, the above is off the top of my head. Sometimes "advanced" emulation messes up the old games.
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Guest
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Binsk
I tried mounting a blank img in drive b like you said for Promethean prophecy and ran into mixed results, however I think you might be onto something. The game did start this time, however the first time I did this it simply said "hi" and would not let me type and commands in the game. The second time, it did let me type commands but when I tried to "look" it said "There is a here." With a double space between a and here, like there was supposed to be an object. I have downloaded these games from multiple sources, but have encountered the same problem. Anyway tell me what you think. 
Hm, other than trying mounting Prophecy in the A: drive (instead of C: ) and a blank disk in B:, nothing more is jumping out at me on that one. It's like it can't find a data file or misread it or something.
I might have some time this weekend to give it a try myself, no promises but at least some hope.
Silly question, I should have asked earlier, you are definitely running the latest version of DosBox, currently v.74? I assume so, but just in case.
I might have some time this weekend to give it a try myself, no promises but at least some hope.
Silly question, I should have asked earlier, you are definitely running the latest version of DosBox, currently v.74? I assume so, but just in case.
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Binsk
Yes, I'm running latest version of dosbox. One other thing I'm going to try later is running both games as img files with -t floppy. Maybe this will work for promethean prophecy, though I'm not sure. I'm also going to contact someone else and see what they say. If I get either game working, I'll let you know.
3. Rebel Universe worked the first time, too. Don't know what to tell you. I tried it in the 'C:\Rebel' directory and just in the C:\ path. Both loaded fine.
Here's my dosbox.conf
I just put the empty saves directory and game directory with the rebel (and prophecy) files under my dosbox directory for quick testing.
---
[autoexec]
mount b .\saves
mount c .\game
c:
[render]
frameskip=0
aspect=false
scaler=normal3x
[sdl]
fullscreen = true
output = ddraw
Here's my dosbox.conf
I just put the empty saves directory and game directory with the rebel (and prophecy) files under my dosbox directory for quick testing.
---
[autoexec]
mount b .\saves
mount c .\game
c:
[render]
frameskip=0
aspect=false
scaler=normal3x
[sdl]
fullscreen = true
output = ddraw
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Binsk
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Guest
I googled it, but I. Having trouble finding what you're talking about. One i download only comes with a jog and an exe. The other comes with st.com which give me disk error and starvtrek.com which does nothing at all. The game doesn't launch. Do you think you could email me? My email is [email protected]
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Binsk
I was finally able to get these games running. I'm using a Mac by the way. The fact that Rebel universe wouldn't run May have been my fault, as it is working now. However, this is what you need to know to get the other 2 to work:
-Promethean Prophecy may or may not work for you running it from the game folder. If it does, good for you! But if it doesn't, I was blue to get it to work by making the game folder into a disk img and using the command imgmount to mount the game. To run First Contact all you need to remember is to mount a blank img in drive a. You must mount it with the imgmount command with -t floppy at the end. You can download a blank floppy image from the internet or create one yourself with a disk img program. If you download one that is .ima rather than .img, simply change the ending and it will still work. Always make sure that any disks you are mounting have the proper permissions so that other programs can use them. Mine only had the read permission, but I added the write and execute permissions and it then worked. You can find out how to change file permissions online. Remember if you cannot get a game to run, try it from more than one source and if all else fails make a disk img of it and try to run it that way. As Spock would say, "Live long and prosper." \V/ (Vulcan Salute)
-Promethean Prophecy may or may not work for you running it from the game folder. If it does, good for you!
But if it doesn't, I was blue to get it to work by making the game folder into a disk img and using the command imgmount to mount the game. To run First Contact all you need to remember is to mount a blank img in drive a. You must mount it with the imgmount command with -t floppy at the end. You can download a blank floppy image from the internet or create one yourself with a disk img program. If you download one that is .ima rather than .img, simply change the ending and it will still work. Always make sure that any disks you are mounting have the proper permissions so that other programs can use them. Mine only had the read permission, but I added the write and execute permissions and it then worked. You can find out how to change file permissions online. Remember if you cannot get a game to run, try it from more than one source and if all else fails make a disk img of it and try to run it that way. As Spock would say, "Live long and prosper." \V/ (Vulcan Salute)"One of the advantages of being a Captain is being able to ask for advice without necessarily having to take it." -Captain James T. Kirk (in Dagger of the Mind)