Getting Build Engine Games To Run On Xp
Stavesacre
Join Date: 2003-09-13 Member: 20816Members, Constellation
Join Date: 2003-09-13 Member: 20816Members, Constellation
in Off-Topic
I am sure I would be able to find out this information if every gaming site wasnt blocked by a military firewall (oddly PA isnt....)
But I have a few guys out here (Iraq) who want to do some old school gaming, so I had my wife send me out Duke Nukem 3d, and Blood. Now I cant get them to run on these XP machines, I am not incredably computer literate, so I would appreciate some help getting them up and running. And also getting the sound set up.
Thanks for the assist!
Also, keep in mind that pretty much any website you dish up out of google is blocked for me. So if you can paste the info in here that would be helpful.
And I cant get to any place that has the patch for these games, so I am working off version 1.0.
But I have a few guys out here (Iraq) who want to do some old school gaming, so I had my wife send me out Duke Nukem 3d, and Blood. Now I cant get them to run on these XP machines, I am not incredably computer literate, so I would appreciate some help getting them up and running. And also getting the sound set up.
Thanks for the assist!
Also, keep in mind that pretty much any website you dish up out of google is blocked for me. So if you can paste the info in here that would be helpful.
And I cant get to any place that has the patch for these games, so I am working off version 1.0.
Comments
edit: if you want to try a link, then <a href='http://jonof.edgenetwork.org/index.php?p=downloads&cat=1' target='_blank'>http://jonof.edgenetwork.org/index.php?p=downloads&cat=1</a> is the port I specifically used.
ive found a wrapper to run blood on xp, but i wasnt able yet to get it to run... and GL-blood to use hardware accelleration... i think there is GL-duke too..
I dont know if the sites will work if they are "gaming" related, but its worth a shot.
Sorry, I am not very computer literate.
"dosbox c:\Duke3D\Duke3D.exe"
without the quotes (you may have to type something different, depending on where you've got the program and what it's named), it should run DukeNukem3D under DOS emulation.
===== GUIDE BEGINS HERE ========
Step 1 - Install the games (use these directories!)
Install the game(s) you want to play if you haven't already. You MUST use the following directories or everything else you do will not matter! The games will NOT work if you do not use these directories. If you've already installed the game(s), just cut and paste the contents of the main directory of each game to its new directory. Yes, it's safe to do this; just ignore any warning Windows gives you. Once again, it's VERY important that you use these directories:
* Duke Nukem 3D - C:\Games\Duke3D\
* Shadow Warrior - C:\Games\SW\
* Blood - C:\Games\Blood\
Step 2 - Install VDMSound and the VDMSound update
Download and install the latest VDMSound release (<a href='http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/vdmsound/VDMSound-2.0.4-WinNT-i386.msi?download' target='_blank'>VDMSound-2.0.4-WinNT-i386.msi </a>). Next, download the update (<a href='http://vdmsound.sourceforge.net/files/VDMSound.2.0.4.update2.zip' target='_blank'>VDMSound 2.0.4 update 2</a>). Unzip this file directly over the VDMSound 2.0.4 files, typically residing in C:\Program Files\VDMSound. Answer yes when prompted to overwrite.
Step 3 - Install the VDMSound launcher
Download the latest VDMSound launchpad beta (<a href='http://vdmsound.sourceforge.net/files/VDMSLaunchPad.v1.0.1.1.zip' target='_blank'>VDMSLaunchPad.v1.0.1.1.zip</a>). Unzip the files into your VDMSound folder. Now browse to the folder and run install.bat by double-clicking it. If successful, a dialog should pop up that says DllRegisterServer in LaunchPad.dll succeeded. Click OK and reboot your computer then proceed to Step 4.
Step 4 - Get CLI2NOP
Download CLI2NOP (<a href='http://www.deathmask.net/buildxp/files/cli2nop.zip' target='_blank'>cli2nop.zip</a>). Extract the files into the main directory of every game you want to play. For the curious, CLI2NOP is a script that searches for and replaces interrupt disable instructions in an executable file image with no-ops. It does this to avoid the freezes that can occur with some applications as a result of the VDM interrupt problem. Apparently, some people think CLI2NOP is only required under Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000, but not Windows XP. VDMSound also has something like CLI2NOP built into it. If I were you, I'd use CLI2NOP just in case. It won't harm anything.
Step 4b - (Blood players only) Get Sound Blaster Live! crash fix
If you have the Sound Blaster Live! sound card, Blood might crash when you pick up certain power-up items. Download <a href='http://www.deathmask.net/buildxp/files/bloodsblivefix.zip' target='_blank'>this patch</a> and apply it to Blood.exe to correct the problem. To do this, unzip the file into your C:\Games\Blood directory and double-click it to patch your Blood executable (the .exe can't be write-protected).
Step 5 - Get NOLFB
Download Ken Silverman's NOLFB (<a href='http://www.deathmask.net/buildxp/files/nolfb.zip' target='_blank'>nolfb.zip</a>). Extract the files into the main directory of every game you want to play. Running this file in a DOS window before you run a game will let you use the 640x480 resolution in VESA mode. In Step 6 you will download a pre-configured shortcut that will automatically call this file before the game is launched (as long as it is in the correct directory). I've found that 800x600 doesn't work in any of the games (I get a "Out of scan range" error on my monitor when I try to use that resolution). You can try it, but I think all of the games look and play just fine in 640x480.
Step 6 - Get my pre-configured VDMSound shortcuts
This step is very important. Download my pre-configured VDMSound shortcuts and put them on your desktop or wherever you keep your game shortcuts (right-click and use Save Target As...). It doesn't matter where you put them as long as your games are in the directories I specified in Step 1 (C:\Games\Duke3D\ etc). You will be using these to launch the games instead of the Windows shortcuts the game's installer probably made on your desktop. Go ahead and delete those shortcuts (I don't think Duke Nukem 3D's installer makes a shortcut). Here's a Duke 3D icon you can use for the new shortcut (right-click the link and use Save Target As); put it in the C:\Games\Duke3D folder and the VDMSound shortcut should show the icon automatically. Same goes for the other games (the icons should already be in their respective folders).
# Blood - Use <a href='http://www.deathmask.net/buildxp/files/blood.vlp' target='_blank'>blood.vlp</a> for the full version of Blood as well as One Unit Whole Blood.
Step 7 - Patch the executable(s) with CLI2NOP
Now we need to patch all of the games' main executables (duke3d.exe, sw.exe, and blood.exe) with CLI2NOP. This must be done in a DOS window. Click the Windows Start button, then Run, then type cmd and press enter. This will open up a command prompt DOS window. Change to the drive you installed the games on (this won't be necessary if you only have one hard drive), and then change to the game directory. For example, to get to your Duke Nukem 3D directory in DOS you would type cd \games\duke3d ). All you need to do is type cli2nop -p game.exe once you're in the game's directory. Obviously you will be replacing 'game.exe' with either duke3d.exe, sw.exe or blood.exe (for example, cli2nop -p duke3d.exe ). If patching is successful, you should see a number and then the word "occurrences" (i.e. 54 occurrences). Shadow Warrior's executable had 60 occurrences when I patched it. Do this for every game you want to play, and then move on to Step 8.
Step 8 - Set up the games correctly
Configure every game using their respective Setup programs (setup.exe).
1. Browse to the main game directory with Windows Explorer. Double-click setup.exe to launch the Setup program.
2. You will be at the Main Menu of the Setup program. Sound Setup will be highlighted since it is the first option on the menu. Press enter to go to Sound Setup. The first and most important options you will want to change are found here.
3. Select Choose Sound FX Card. Select Sound Blaster. This will take you to Sound Blaster Configuration.
4. The correct address is 0x220. This should be the default address so you should not have to change it.
5. Move to Change Sound Card Type using the down arrow key and press enter. Select Sound Blaster 16 or AWE32.
6. Select Change Interrupt. Select IRQ 7.
7. You should not have to modify the 8-bit or 16-bit DMA unless you've changed them since their default values of 1 and 5, respectively, are correct.
8. Select Use These Settings and Continue. There will now be several consecutive dialogs that you must go through. In the first one you will select the highest number of voices possible. In the second, select the highest number of mixing bits. In the third, select Stereo sound. In the fourth, select the highest mixing rate.
9. You will automatically be taken back to Sound Setup after selecting the mixing rate. Now, select Choose Music Card. Select General Midi then select MIDI port 0x330.
10. Do not test either the Sound FX or Music within Setup. Neither will work correctly yet.
11. Press ESC to return to the Main Menu.
12. Select Screen Setup.
13. Select VESA modes (SVGA/VESA 2.0). Select 640x480.
14. Once you've configured your controls, press ESC until you're asked "Save Settings before Exiting?", then select Yes. You might want to start up Setup again to double-check everything is right. If even one option is wrong, the game will not work properly.
Step 9 - Play!
To play a game, double-click the shortcut you downloaded in Step 6, which should be on your desktop now. Please e-mail me with your results, questions, comments, and problems. I will probably write up a FAQ and results page once I start getting feedback from this.
Seems I cant get on to those sites to download the files though so I guess I am all out of luck unless I can find an FTP site or something.
Meh, I'll just stick to good ol' NS 2.0 sans Steam so all my buddies can play it.