Re: Help needed on Goblins 2 - DOS game

On Fri, 22 Jul 2005 22:06:56 -0400, "Mary" <nothere@xxxxxxx> wrote:

A couple of notes before I attempt to go through this. I just read
Jenny's thread about having trouble with this game and her suggestion
to use Dosbox in Win2K. She has a point. I've only used Dosbox in XP
because I never needed it in 95 and only used 98 at work.

There is yet another option of mounting your CD drives (the others are
in another post in case you haven't come to that yet):
mount e: e:\ -t cdrom -usecd 0 -ioctl
Or 1 in place of 0.
The -ioctl switch is for the NT line so I didn't mention it for 98.
But it's one to try if you want to try playing in Win2K.

Furthermore, there are sometimes specific notes for a game. You did
say you had v. 2.01, yes? The other CD version is not supported and
has a low mark for "barely runs" basically. The notes for v. 2.01
say:

"There is a problems with synchronization of AudioCD sound and intro
movie. - set "CPU cycles"=60000 (in DOSBox config file for this game);
- start game; - when goblin's King JUST START TO SPEAK (SOUND),
holding "Ctrl" button, press VERY FAST "F11" button 15 times (to
decrease "CPU cycles" from 60000 to 3000). WARNING! 1. In DOSBox
config you must mount CD-ROM drive with "-ioctl" option; 2. DON'T use
official patch update, because you should get (in DOSBox) better
synchronization during intro (but still NOT perfect), but you'll get
minor *** too - fucking delays every second while playing game."

For now, until you get further, you can skip all the junk up to
"Warning". But note what it says after that. I think those notes are
just sent in by people who have tested it with that game, so it may be
they were using an NT machine and that the comment about "must" use
the -ioctl option has nothing to do with 98.

><erimess> wrote in message
>news:03kud19cihknt57fi27ktffqkcoa2p2887@xxxxxxxxxx
>> On Thu, 21 Jul 2005 00:59:50 -0400, "Mary" <nothere@xxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>> >This is where I must be typing the wrong thing.
>> >In Dosbox there is a Z:\prompt and you can type intro for more
>> >instructions which I did.
>> >Then it says to mount the C drive at the Z:\ prompt to type c
>c:\sierra
>> >(directory name) which I did and it says "Drive C is mounted
>C:\sierra".
>> >So far OK.
>> > Then it said to type cd\ and the directory name to access the game,
>so
>> >I typed cd
>> >sierra\gob2- but it says "unable to change to C:\sierra\gob2" - I
>tried
>> >cd sierra and it says the same thing. I typed C:\sierra\gob2\go.exe
>and
>> >same thing. Obviously doing something wrong.
>>
>> Here's your problem. You need to mount all drives you are planning to
>> use, i.e. the one with the game install and the CD drives.
>
>I worked on the problem this afternoon for a couple of hours and still
>haven't got it going. When I read the Intro on the Dosbox screen, it
>said type Intro for instructions, which I did, and it said here is some
>instructions to get you going and it only mention ed mount c: c:\ so not
>knowing anything about Dosbox program or virtual drives, I thought thats
>all you had to do.
>I didn't know you had to mount the CD rom drive. You have to look at
>another area to find out that information.

I told you the help files stink. :-) I didn't get the mounting thing
*at all.* I had to call my brother, who is a programmer, and have him
explain it to me.

>
>> A few suggestions. You can add the mounting in the configuration
>> file, at the bottom, so that you don't have to do this every time.
>> So, for instance, type:
>>
>> mount c: c:\sierra\gob2\go.exe
>>
>> and then at the Z prompt just type C: and it will go to the directory
>> and execute the file automatically. I don't personally put that all
>> in the config file until I know everything's working OK though. Of
>> course, you don't *need* to do that -- you can do it manually each
>> time if you wanna. The first "c:" will be what you type at the Z
>> prompt. Everything after that is the path it will follow.
>
>For now, I won't try to create a config for this till I know what I am
>doing. I will just do it manually for now. more work, but easier for me
>for now. By the way do you mean the config.sys or the config file in
>Dosbox. program?

The file in the Dosbox program. I'm not aware of a reason you should
have to do anything with the config.sys in conjunction with Dosbox.
In fact, it's possible that might mess something up, I don't know. I
have even used it to play games requiring endless amounts of memory
that I had a tough time using a boot disk, and it just wasn't a
problem in Dosbox.

But I don't blame you for not wanting to mess with the config file.
Except for mounting any or all drives I may want to use, I don't save
anything in it until I've got a game running properly.

However, if you're having issues, you might be *forced* into going
into the config file (which is just in the Dosbox folder - open it
with Notepad). But one step at a time...

>
>> I would also suggest that you uninstall the game. Then mount both the
>> C: and CD drives. Then reinstall it FROM Dosbox. So from the Z
>> prompt you'd change directory to your CD drive and install like usual.
>>
>> See if any of that helps.
>
>This is what I did this afternoon in detail right from a new Install.
>
>In Dosbox there is a Z:\ prompt, so at the Z prompt, I typed "mount c:
>c:\ " - then Enter and it said "mounted c local directory successfully"
>or similar. In next line with still a Z prompt, I typed "mount e: e:
>/ -t cdrom" Enter. And it says "E drive mounted successfullY" and right
>below that
>line it says "MSCDEX loaded" which we didn't discuss at all but that is
>loaded.

Yeah, so far OK. And if it's telling you the E drive mounted
successfully, I'm not quite sure what is causing the problem.

> Then still with a Z prompt, I typed C:\ at the Z prompt and it
>changed to C drive. At this point, I guess the C prompt will give me all
>my files on my "real" C drive?

If all you type is "mount c: c:\" then yes.

You've pretty much got the idea. You're used to DOS and Windows where
you tell it to go to C and it knows what to do. Well, Doxbox doesn't
know what to do. It needs for you to tell it *where* to go when you
type "c:". So the "c:\" is telling it where to go. It seems a little
silly when you're telling it to go where you just told it to go. :-)

You could just as easily do "mount c: d:\," and then typing c: would
cause it to go to d instead. Not to confuse you - just thought an
example with two drive letters would illustrate the point better.

So you gave it the instruction, "When I type c:, go to c:\." And once
there, that's where you are, and anything at c:\ that's really on your
C drive will be there. That doesn't mean it's going to run, cause
after all, it's DOSbox. Think of it this way. If you were really in
DOS, and you were at a C prompt, you'd be able to see everything, but
you wouldn't necessarily be able to run it or do anything with it.

Later if you want, you can deal with shortcutting.

> Then I typed "install" and the install
>program came up on the screen, and Soundblaster was already inserted as
>the sound card.

You typed install from the C drive? I'm lost on that. Did you skip
telling us a step in here? Do you mean you typed "e:" first? (Or f:
or whatever.) Or, do you mean you went to the game folder first?

The game I presume has a configuration setup, where you pick your
sound card and such. I would think, then, that from the game
directory you would type setup, or I guess it could be install. Is
this what you're talking about?

Also, is this after installing in Windows, DOS or from Dosbox?

> Before, it said No sound and soundblaster was dimmed
>out. The game is now installed, so I am back at C prompt in Dos box and
>I typed cd sierra\gob2 Enter, then go, and the next screen was black and
>blank with a big cursor and that was it. It never went anywhere.

That is sounding like a game issue. Sounds like the same thing Jenny
was talking about.

> There
>was no lilght flickering on the CD drive where the CD was and no hard
>drive flickering. so looks like the drive is not detected. Yet, when I
>go to E in Dosbox, or Dos in Windows or Windows explorer, the files on
>Goblins CD show up.

OK, just trying to keep clear here. When you go to E *in Dosbox* the
files are showing up. You mean they show up when you do a directory
for E? If this is the case, it *is* detecting the CD drive. Or at
least, Dosbox is. Maybe the game isn't.

As for DOS in Windows or explorer, there isn't a reason the files
shouldn't show up.

Um, that reminds me... some things are popping in my head that haven't
been asked, but they probably need to be. If you *leave* Dosbox, are
you mounting the drives again when you return to it? If you don't
save this stuff in your config file, it's all gone when you close
Dosbox and you have to start all over again. If the game is
installed, then it's installed. But if you don't mount the drives
again, it won't know they're there.

Something that might help. Whether you use DOS or Windows, all your
stuff is where you put it, right? If you installed Office on your C
drive, you can see if from Windows and you can see it from DOS,
because it's all on your hard drive. Just think of Dosbox as yet
another operating system, one that looks a whole heck of a lot like
DOS. :-) Whatever you installed is really there on your hard drive,
and you have access to the files. Now, Office won't run from DOS even
though you can see the files. And it won't run in Dosbox either, but
you can see the files. If you understand that idea, it'll help answer
your questions like "when I go to c:\ are all my files on C there"?

And you use it almost exactly like you would DOS, which is why I said
you've got part of the battle won by already knowing DOS. So far the
only thing you've done that is strictly a "Dosbox" thing is the drive
mounting. But once they're mounted, just pretend you're in DOS and
you should get along with it better.

Another thing that popped in my head, you did install Dosbox and are
running it from within Windows, right? (I'm not sure it would run
from real DOS, but I never tried.)

> My E drive is a DVD rom, and I tried all of the
>above on F drive which is a cdrom drive, but made no difference. So this
>time because I mounted the cdrom drive I guess, I can get the
>soundblaster choice, but the game won't come up on the screen at all.
>When I didn't mount the CDrom drive at all, I got the game on the
>screen, but there was no sound and soundblaster was dimmed out on the
>install. Now, I can't get the game to show on the screen at all.

Some more confusion. If you got the game on the screen when you
didn't mount the CD drive.... Sounds like it doesn't need the CD to
run.

The real question is whether or not the game needs the CD to be in the
drive. Games now generally have to run partially off the CD so you
would have to mount the CD drive every time so it could do that. Some
older games didn't need the CD in the drive to play. You could
install the game and just pop the CD out, put it away, and no
problems. If that's the case, you would not need to re-mount the CD
drive every time. The point being, if you need to *use* the CD drive
for whatever reason (install, run the game, whatever), then you *will*
need to mount the CD drive.

Since you're "on manual" for the moment, you will have to re-mount
anything needed each time you close and re-open Dosbox. If you're
still in there and haven't left yet, you won't have to re-mount
anything no matter what else you do. Any settings you put into it
will remain until you either change them, or close the program. Which
leads me to asking, are you closing Dosbox and re-opening it in
between this stuff you're saying you did? That'll make a big
difference in how it reacts.

I'm not sure what getting the soundblaster choice would have to do
with mounting the CD drive. The *only* thing that would make sense at
all (to me at least) is if you need the CD in order to configure the
sound, but don't need it to run the game? In which case, you'd need
to mount the drive to configure the sound, but wouldn't need to in
order to just run the game. Does this make sense, given that you need
to mount the CD drive *if something needs access* to it? And you may
not know what does or doesn't need access.

>
>I went back to the Help file in Dosbox program, and there are a lot of
>instructions, and it said if the basic instructions for mounting the
>cdrom drive doesn't work, you may need to type the CD label. What CD
>label? I've never had to do that with any game.

I've not seen that instruction before. But the label would be
whatever the manufacturers decided to name the CD. For instance, when
you open explorer and look at your CD drives, if a disk is in the
drive, they have the name of the disk, right? If no disk, it just
says "DVD drive (e)" or whatever. The name that's on there is the
label. So it might say "GOBLINS (E:)" or "GOB2 (E:)" How you enter
it when you do the mounting I don't know. Let me see if I can find
that somewhere.

While I'm waiting for this slow page to load, you did say you have the
latest version .63 right?

Oh, I found it. Let's say the label on the CD is just "GOBLINS" At
its simplist, type
mount e: e:\ -t cdrom -label GOBLINS

You've been give 3 other ways to do that cdrom elsewhere. (I mean
with the usecd # and all that.) You can add "-label GOBLINS" to any
of those 3 if you wish to try that. Just tack it onto the end of the
line like I did above.

>
>> Also, in the config file is stuff for sound cards. You might want to
>> check the irq, dma, etc., and make sure it matches what you've got.
>> There's several popular old sound cards in there. Just scroll through
>> all the stuff and have a look around.
>
>Sb16 is there. Doesn't mention sblive. The irq,dma etc. matches my
>autoexec.bat.

Game's too old for an sblive. You *don't* have to choose the SB16.
Try *all* of them. Remember, Dosbox is just emulating it anyway.
(That means it's "faking it" :-)) It's not gonna emulate an sblive
cause it wasn't around in DOS days. And when I said to match the irq,
etc., I meant in the config files for Dosbox, not the autoexec.bat.

But... you need to get into the config file to do this. :-) (Do NOT
assume the config is bad. There *are* some very, very simple things
you can do in there.) When you are chosing a sound card from the
game's list, does it also list the irq and stuff with it? If so,
you'll want to make note of what they say. (You don't need to do that
now, unless you want to write down what the SB16 says.) Also, will
it let you change those settings? Once you have that info and answer
that, we can deal with the config file later.

>
>> If you get this working, I would suggest mounting *all* your drives
>> and save that in the config file permanently. Then you can add the
>> path to your game below that, and when you start Dosbox it will
>> automatically go there and execute your game. When you start a new
>> game, you leave all the mounting, but just replace the path with the
>> new game.
>
>You are probably right, but for now I think it better if I don't concern
>myself with a config file right now till I know what I am doing (if
>ever). Right now, I am getting very frustrated and not going to spend
>much more time on this if I am not able to understand it and get it
>going soon.

Yes, it's obvious you're frustrated. I very much believe it's partly
because you got bombarded by too much information too quickly. It
probably still seems like too much. (Except I'm trying really hard to
stay away from config stuff and just stick to mounting issues.) If it
is, just walk away from it when you need to and come back when you're
ready.

Just as kind of a summary, you need to make sure that:
a) You installed and are running Dosbox from Windows. I don't know
that it can run from DOS so that might be a dumb thing to say. :-)
b) I believe you need to ignore your config.sys and autoexec.bat
files. In fact, if this were me, I think I'd put them back where they
were already.
c) Remember that you must mount your drives each time you open Dosbox
again. You can save this eventually, but we won't mess with the
config for now. Also, remember that if something (you or the game)
needs access to the CD, then you must mount the CD drive. I would
just do it each time, because you may not know if the game needs it.
(And remember if you don't close Dosbox, everything stays mounted.)
d) Everything else we've had you type is just DOS stuff. So far the
only "Dosbox" thing you've done is mounting drives. Keep that in mind
and it will be much simplier for you since you already know DOS.

Now, keeping the above in mind... I would make sure the game is
installed from within Dosbox. IF IT INSTALLS from Dosbox, then it
*is* recognizing the CD drive. If the game can't find the CD after
it's installed, you might try that label switch.

It would probably help if you gave a more verbatim listing of
everything you do cause I'm a bit confused over exactly what you're
doing when it goes blank, when the sb is grayed out, etc.

---
erimess

This is the comfort of everyone: That tho' they
may be said to die, yet their love and devotion
are, in best sense, ever present because immortal.
~William Penn
In memory of my father, 1 Jan 05
.