Sorry bout the double post, but I just realised that your google spreadsheets are back up and running...

Wats that about?

Hey guys.... I got Jack in the Dark and Alone in the Dark 2 working perfect with music. You had to add a line in the batch file that loads the necessary files to run the game without the CPS (prolly my own made-up acronym, but if you think about it hard enough, you'll know what I'm talking about)

For music in the version of Alone in the Dark 2 I have, you need to enter the bolded line below to the .BAT file:

ADLIBM.COM
aitd2crk
aitd2.exe
@echo off

For music in the version of Jack in the Dark I have, you need to enter the same bolded line below to the .BAT file:

@echo off
adlibm.com
indark2 16 1
cleardrv >NUL


Apparently adlibm.com is a program that sets up the adlib driver that needs to be run every time before the program itself is executed (some of you remember that silly DOS program..... nothing was ever autoconfigured and saved unless you knew enough about doing it yourself). Putting that line in the BAT file and then running the game from the DOS file subsequent times with the BAT set up as the launcher will ensure music every time you load either game.



Any version I've found of Alone in the Dark 1, sadly, isn't so simple.

I'm using DOSBOX .72 on my PC and everytime I start the game it starts with music with my current configuration. I've only gotten it to work with music once on the XBox with the newest beta (the first time). I remember having the exact same problem with the old emu. Even VampX tried getting it started with music a few years ago and couldn't get it to work.

I've only gotten it to work with music 2 or 3 times ever. Then, using the same settings the next time.... nothing. It's such a weird glitch because it just shouldn't be happening. I have never had this type of problem with any other game on DOSBox ever.

I know it's gotta be my fault somehow...... when you really take some time and effort to test a game out, you find out that aside from memory/processing power shortages inherent within dosxbox, all of the issues you're having is because you're missing something and/or doing something wrong.


If somebody could figure this out for me I'd be very appreciative





And now, the good news....

The list of games I've personally gotten configured. Thanks to Madmab and Guybird for already having all the files set up right with controller configs on any they did first, so it was easy for me to configure them.

Alien Carnage Shooter
Alone in the Dark I Survival Horror (Music almost never plays. Can't figure that out yet)
Alone in the Dark II Survival Horror
Jack in the Dark Survival Horror
Arctic Adventure - Vol 1 Platformer
Arctic Adventure - Vol 2 Platformer
Arctic Adventure - Vol 3 Platformer
Arctic Adventure - Vol 4 Platformer
Bio Menace I Platformer
Bio Menace II Platformer
Bio Menace III Platformer
Blake Stone - Aliens Of Gold 3D Shooter
Blood 3D Shooter
Carmen Sandiego - America's Past Educational
Carmen Sandiego - Europe Educational
Carmen Sandiego - USA Educational
Carmen Sandiego - World Educational
Castles II Strategy
Catacomb Abyss 3D Shooter
Civilization Strategy
Commander Keen - Episode I Platformer
Commander Keen - Episode II Platformer
Commander Keen - Episode III Platformer
Commander Keen - Episode IV Platformer
Commander Keen - Episode V Platformer
Commander Keen - Episode VI Platformer
Commander Keen - The Lost Episode Platformer
Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure I Platformer
Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure II Platformer
Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure III Platformer
Dark Sun I RPG
Dark Sun II RPG
Dizzy - Magicland Platformer
Dizzy - The Fantastic Adventures of D Platformer
Duke Nukem I Platformer
Duke Nukem II Platformer
Duke Nukem III Platformer
Fantastic Four Text Adventure
Flashback (CD) Platformer
Incredible Hulk Text Adventure
King's Quest VI (CD) Adventure (With sound and voice. Intro video glitchy.)
Nitemare 3D 3D Shooter
Oregon Trail Educational
Prince of Persia II Platformer
Quarantine I Vehicular Combat
Raptor - Call Of The Shadows Shooter
Spear Of Destiny - Episode I 3D Shooter
Spear Of Destiny - Episode II 3D Shooter
Spear Of Destiny - Episode III 3D Shooter
Star Wars - Dark Forces 3D Shooter (Has some speed problems with my setup)
Strife 3D Shooter
Warcraft I - Orcs And Humans Strategy
Wolfenstein 3D 3D Shooter


Yep... that's right. Kings Quest VI works with the voice acting. I'm very impressed with this emulator and wonder if we can get Phantasmagoria and the 7th Guest working now as well.







Oh... also, as cheema201 first noticed, Google fixed the problem so the spreadsheets are back up. 3 cheers for Google

This also means that I can answer any emails people have sent me. I know Ex sent me some, but I haven't had access for a few months now. I'll be checking soon.

~Rx

Heya ressurectionx, madmab, gillou9999, all:

I finally got around to downloading a few packs (NES, SNES, Genesis, PCE) from Usenet (thanks to whoever posted the Xtras there) and just wanted to give my Thanks to you for putting these packages together. They really are very nice and save people that want to get something nice and usable up and running very quickly.

Awesome job!

Thanks to you for mentioning it BillyBobX

Why didn't number munchers make the list RX?

Haha... that's where I saw that guy from before.

I'll have to remember to put it in there. Just kick me if it doesn't make the spreadsheet.


EDIT: Hey! I'm an XB Knowledgebase now

you know, this thread got 342 views a day since you first posted it..... crazy

That is pretty cool

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uelHwf8o7_U&ob=av2e

Being the old dog that I am now, it's been a while since I was really into a new song. Gotta be the best new song I've heard all year.

That whole CD was decent. I'm sick of that song though, it's been on the radio so much I must of heard it a thousand times already lol

Haha....

I barely listen to the radio anymore with all this tech I got.... just happened to hear it. How long has it been out lol?

It was about 2 months into it when I first heard we'd ripped a hole in the planet. How's that cleanup going now anyways? It's still plugged, right?





Anyways.... I'm officially giving up the Doom WAD project for DOSXBox. No point....

Check this awesome project out: Odamex

Really bad-ass project and I hope it gets completed someday and that interested people see if there is anything else they can do to help out.

Two thumbs up Hyper Eye

6835 unique Xtras downloads on 47 t0rrents so far.

Thanks for seeding.

Spread the word

I could use help getting media for DOS games from abandonia. Manuals, walkthroughs, faqs, etc....

Anyone want to help?

Over 200 DOS synopsis entries made today on some of the most awesome DOS games. Hopefully most of them work when they're tested.

Tons of manuals and boxarts and walkthroughs and other things collected so far too today. If some people would like to look on sites other than Abandonia for me for media that's still missing for these games, I would be very appreciative. There is one or two sites we could use somebody ripping the vids from too, if somebody has some video ripping software installed.

We're all about eliminating double-work through teamwork....

BTW.... in 15 days there were 942 unique downloads of Rx T0rrents.

~Rx

Woaw ... fantastic work ... i really stand bye to see a final DOSBox pack lol
Thanks a lot

Hehe....

Actually getting these games to play is the real bitch though.

With the help of Madmab, BombBloke and Guybird I finally got The 7th Guest working on the XBox about 20 minutes ago. Seems to work perfectly. Something I thought I'd never see.

Just gotta get that "crazy mouse syndrome" under control or it won't be as enjoyable as it would be if you have a USB keyboard.

Well... it will take a bit of work but it looks like there is a good workaround for about 80% of the crashes I was having with DOS games. Seems madmab had to alter some things around so that DOS4GW.EXE was really misbehaving and refusing to load a game after 1 or 2 games were loaded before it.

Seems there's a fix though....

DOS32A.EXE, and all of it's extra files that make it work if DOS4GW.EXE has a deathgrip on the game....

Here's a little info I found out about this just now....



DOS/32A is a free, open-source DOS Extender which can be used as a drop-in replacement for the popular DOS/4GW DOS Extender and compatibles. Being fast, small and flexible DOS/32A can be used in many environments, from embedded systems to DOS emulators, by both developers and end users alike.

Since May 2002 DOS/32A and its source code have been opened to the public. Nowadays the project is being maintained by its original author and, although no active development is currently planned, patches and bug-reports are accepted and reviewed during my spare time.

http://dos32a.narechk.net/index_en.html




Well folks.... this is the stuff that needs to be done to make things plug'n'play for ya'all.....

I won't pretend to know the details of how it all works, but obviously the memory allocation stuff works a lot better for a lot of games with the new configurations that madmab has.... Looks like making fixes to make this run instead of DOS4GW.EXE is the price you pay for great compatibility with a system as limited as the XBox is.

Hopefully in the end everything works perfect and this post doesn't even matter to ya.




When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all.

~Rx

Yep... that fix above works miracles. I barely get any freezups at all anymore after replacing that file. Some games are more tricky than others though and I'll need Madmab and Guybird's help with them.

I just wanted to let Gilles know here that Incredible Machine 1 & 2 work fine in Dosbox.

146 DOS games configured and confirmed working on my rig now. 116 to go (from the first, and hopefully largest, collection of adds).

I'm thinking I will also see if I can get all of the Scummvmx games working as well.

There's currently drawbacks to both systems. Scumm doesn't allow you to adjust the screen like the Madmab/XPORT emus, and Dosbox currently has some pretty spotty mouse controls. If they are configured to work 100% on DOSbox though, and you have a USB keyboard, you will be able to see the full screen... making it the best DOS experience currently on the XBox for compatible games.



If I do try to add those scumm games, there would be about 35 more games that weren't accounted for on the list so far.


I may also try to add all the games that there were ports made for. I would never have considered that before, but DOSbox just works so much better than I expected it to that they may end up playing just as well as the ports.

Later,
~Rx


EDIT:

Thanks again to Madmab and Guybird for all their pre-configuring which saved probably hundreds of hours of hair pulling, and to Madmab for adding a few awesome new tweaks that make configuring games so much easier than it used to be.

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=t3a...CMLJjfsH#gid=10

Here's the current list of games I've verified as working 100% in DOSXBox. Any help collecting the missing media would be greatly appreciated (Don't bother with abandonia, as I've already got whatever I could for all games included from that site).

Games that I'm having problems getting running are towards the bottom of the list. Problems are detailed in the notes section for each game. Some of these games are ones that Madmab and Guybird already got working, but I just couldn't figure out.

You should all be thrilled to know that Number Munchers does indeed work without any problems

~Rx

I could have told you that.
He's the best character to use in super mario wars too.

Hehe... I didn't even know you could play in in SMW. I've got an old version. Time for an update





I just finished playing Dark Sun: Shattered Lands for DOS on my rig. It plays as perfect as I remembered it playing. The original's got a few bugs, but a very loyal online fanbase could fill you in on every single one of them.... (Does the Sword Blank actually do anything, or is it a red herring placed in the game to drive you insane?)

Don't let the bugs fool you though.

THIS IS AN AWESOME GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!

I haven't played it for about 12 years until now. Probably never would have played it again if it wasn't on my XBox and big screen TV now. (I hate playing PC games on that tiny screen and uncomfortable chair).

I recommend this game to anybody who's a fan of RPG games in general. If you were a fan of the old SSI games like Pools of Radiance and Gateway to the Savage Frontier, this is so much more advanced and easier to play with just a USB mouse and no keyboard required. Hopefully madmab will get the "crazy mouse syndrome" on lockdown and this and other great point and click DOS games like Monkey Island and X-Com will be accessible to everyone.

All files necessary to play this will be available *somewhere* soon. I had to take a few days off to enjoy this classic treasure.

Later,
~Rx

Dark Sun: Shattered Lands WAS an awesome game. I have fond memories. I look forward to loadin' it up when the new DOSXbox is out!

Yeah... too bad the second one is so full of bugs it's not playable. I don't think it's the emus fault either. I don't ever remember playing much of it back in the day and I think I remember why now. Bummer.... Maybe there's a working patch for it that I don't know about?





Anyways.... Got all of the working games, game saves, launcher files, controller configs, boxart/cartarts, screenshots, manuals and walkthroughs upped for the games I have working in my spreadsheet. If anyone who's interested in DOS would like to give them a try to let me know if they work right away for you, please let me know.

Later,
~Rx


DOS Compatibility List: https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=t3a...CMLJjfsH#gid=10

Hey Rx,

Sure, I'd be interested in testing it! -- that spreadsheet is KILLER. I played many many of those back in the day. Where's Might and Magic 1&2 though!?

Hey Losgar. Join the chat to find out about how to test the stuff.

Might and Magic I & II were before my time on the PC. So were quite a few of the other games I included, but they were easy to do controller configurations. I spent about 10 minutes trying to get MMI to even start up, but couldn't figure it out. Assumed the same would hold true with MMII so I didn't bother. Anybody's welcome to add games they like though once they've got everything set up right.

Okay..... doing one last sweep on the DOS games that I don't care much about (many of them were marked as working by others on the spreadsheets, but since I don't care about them personally I didn't put the time in them if they didn't work right away, if they were very difficult to configure CD games, or the control configurations would take a lot of work).

I'm getting towards the end of configuring games that I personally want to get working on this. I'd say that for the ones I've remembered so far, I've had at least a 90-95% success rate here.

I have quite a few more to go through on the spreadsheet, and probably some that I will remember along the way that aren't there yet. All in all, at this point, I would guess that there are nearly 200 working games that I've verified and organized to the point that I believe they should all work for you out of the box.

Cool, sounds good! I'll jump on the chat this evening. I remember trying to get MM1 and 2 working for the PC dosbox a few years back and having some trouble-- it was one of the few games I tested that would throw up an error message-- some kind of memory error, I think. I did eventually get them to work but have no recollection how. Anyway, these are great games. They were my introduction to PC-gaming. I'll definitely try to get them rolling once I get used to the system. Thanks!

oh man cant wait for 7th guest and number munchers! thanks guys for your work

Yeah.... 7th Guest was a trip setting up.

It took Madmab, BombBloke, Guybird and me to set it up. That's because the dumbest guy was actually the one with his hands on the goods (me).

Several hours later we got it working finally. :B

I learned a lot that night. Mostly, I'm not the guy to be setting up CD games.



It works great, but it has froze the XBox on me twice while going into the in-game menu. It's never frozen up otherwise on me, although I've been too busy with other games to give it a real test. Fortunately, there is little need to go into the in-game menu when playing DOS games. Savestates don't work in DOSbox, and you need to use the actual save method for the game to save a game.

Anyways... I'd just make sure you saved it every time you solve a puzzle, and expect that this one probably won't work 100%, but I think it should be completable.

Hopefully I'm around whenever you come by. Would like to see somebody else try out this setup. At least a few games anyways.

Later,
~Rx

I counted it up now and it's 204 games working perfect, or at least as near perfect as I could make them. :B

Got about 21 games I'm still personally trying to get working. Maybe more, if I decide to do the Scummvmx games as well.

Other than those possible additions, I don't know if I'm going to continue working on this at all, besides trying to get the Xtras together for the games configured now.

Figure out how to configure games and either fix or add new games and we'll make sure that it has a full Xtras treatment if it works.

Later,
~Rx

Hi

I think it is an good idee to make work Scummvm games too, because on xbox so many are not working because scumvmm is old
And scumvmm have not extras on xbox too
No source is displayed around the web ...

Your work is impressive and very important because make games works is the hardest !!!
Make Xtras is easyer, but longer for sure

Thanks

I've got some of them working, I'm just debating the need for making all of them work (or attempting to anyways), especially until the crazy mouse syndrome is fixed. Large games, like the nearly 3GB Feeble Files will definitely be skipped for now since that would be 6GB devoted to a single game if it were on two systems. Besides 7th Guest, I haven't had much luck configuring CD games myself anyways.

If you've got some free time to grab some media for us, it would be appreciated D. Missing a lot of stuff still and I'm too busy testing out games when I have time to look for any of it now.

Later,
~Rx

I think I've figured out this CD configuring business for a lot of games now. Some have weird problems still that need to be figured out, but a lot of them are much easier to configure than you'd think.

Special thanks to Shistocity for reinstating my UG account.

So sad... all those torrent descriptions lost

Oh well. At least I can test DOS games on my own without bothering people about it now.

Thanks again Shistocity,
~Rx

No no no lol
You are not bothering us ...
We want to know what you do and test
Thanks

Thanks D.

I'm not going anywhere. I just meant I don't have to bother other people to dl stuff for me now and I don't have to wait up to a week to get something I'm looking to setup and configure.




To Losgar and anyone else looking to find out more...

Don't be discouraged if somebody in the chat room doesn't answer you right away. Hang around long enough and you'll notice that most of the regulars in there seem to have their connection on nearly 24/7 so they aren't often right by the computer right when you post.

If you ask a question and nobody's around, try to stay logged in as long as possible. I see a lot of questions being asked only to see the person asking to log out before somebody is around to give an answer. A lot of my questions take 12 hours or even more than a few days when the right person who knows the answer is available.

Looking forward to seeing new faces. It's been a little quieter in there than it was when the Xtras and Madmab emus were being released. Here's hoping the cold winter months bring a lot of new faces.

Later,
~Rx

Wow......

Even for those who try to avoid real life as much as possible, things change.

I'll be around for a little while longer, and I plan to be back down the road, but soon I will be unable to be effective here at all for a while.

Nothing to worry about and all good things, I assure you. Simply new ventures....




Thanks again to everyone who helped, and especially to Madmab for his emu work.




I'll be around a little more to work, only on DOSbox. If you want a game that hasn't been included while I'm still involved, now's the time to ask.

Later,
~Rx

Hey, what's about this DosBox business?

Will a new DosBox version by Madmab be released? Will configurations for the games be released?

-YRUSirius

Yes.

Concise.

-YRUSirius

Does anybody who uses DOSBox use a different modified USB cord for the Mouse and Keyboard?

I just told Madmab that the USB Keyboard feature wasn't working in his newest beta the other night, but last night it was working just fine. I played around with it and it seems that if you have a mouse and keyboard going to one controller port that you get unexpected and unpredictable results. Sometimes it works fine, sometimes the mouse works and the keyboard doesn't (and vice versa) and sometimes nothing works. Sometimes you can just unplug one mid-game and the other will work, sometimes you have to unplug everything and just plug the one you want to use back in and it works, sometimes you have to restart a game or even the emu with only one plugged in to make it work.

Verdict: Many games that use either only the keyboard or only the mouse are playable this way, but since the chances that the mouse and keyboard won't play nice together you should probably pass on the games that require both to operate if proper controller configurations cannot be made (Which then leaves you open to the "Crazy Mouse Syndrome" which would render most of the games of this nature unplayable anyhow until that issue is tamed.)




I was just wondering if anybody tried putting say the keyboard in controller 2 and the mouse in controller 3? I was just wondering if this clears up the problem and you can get the mouse and keyboard working this way.

Damn.... Never thought I'd be complaining that I'm out of broken controllers. I'm going to have to buy some knockoffs on ebay if this is the case.





By the way... if anybody wants to make their own modified USB cord to plug in a USB Keyboard/Mouse, it's VEEEEEEERY SIMPLE!!!!!

CHEAP AND DIRTY INSTRUCTIONS FOR MAKING YOUR OWN USB CABLE FOR DOSBOX

I don't even have to give pictures since it's so easy to do. I just did one the other night after not having done one for 4 years and didn't have to look up how to online.

All you need is an xbox controller (broken preferably, since you will be destroying it), a spare USB cord with a male and female standard size USB port on either end, electric tape and wire cutters (if you have a pair... it could be done without them but they make life easier).

1. Cut the XBox controller wire to your desired length. If you have a large TV and sit far away from the XBox, you should make the cable long. If you have a smaller TV and will be sitting rather close to it, you can make it very short so it's easier to store when you're not using it. Usually you get a few feet of length from a keyboard. Just make sure it's long enough that if you make any mistakes in step 3 that you have a do-over or two.

2. Cut the USB wire in half. You will be using the female end. There's really no need to decide how long to make this cord since you will have several feet of XBox cord to make that decision in step 1. You may choose to make it longer to ensure it's long enough that if you make any mistakes in step 3 that you have a do-over or two, but definitely think before you cut if you go that route. If you accidentally make the male end long, you may not have a lot to work with on the female end once you realize your mistake.

3. Strip the protective layers of plastic and shielding from 1 1/2" of the end of each wire. You probably will have to do this by carefully cutting into the wire softly with the closest part of the cutters since it's likely none of the holes are large enough to cut these without cutting the actual wires inside. If you've given yourself enough slack as advised earlier, you should have plenty of cord to try this over again if you accidentally sever any of the individual wires.

4. Strip the individual wires in the XBox controller cord. There will be 5 wires. Don't strip the yellow wire. Strip all 4 of the other colors. These will likely be too small for your wire cutters to work on, but you can really just clamp your fingernails on these wires and pull the plastic off. Make sure to expose about a 1/2" on each one.

5. Strip the individual wires in the USB controller. There will only be 4 wires here. Strip all of them as you did in step 4. You will notice that the 4 colors match the 4 you stripped on the XBox controller cord.

6. Twist the exposed wires to the matching colored wires on each cord together. This should go without saying, but make sure that you don't accidentally attach any of the wrong colors in any way. Also, if you left a mess of the protective shielding exposed around the wires in step 3, you'll definitely want to avoid twisting any of that up here too.

7. TEST: Make sure that the keyboard/mouse works properly in either XBMC, DOSBox and/or Scummvmx. No sense in taping everything up if you've done something wrong.

8. Cover the individual wires. Cut 4 small pieces of electric tape and then wrap them around the individual twisted wires, being sure to cover any exposed wire.

9. TEST: Again, make sure that the keyboard/mouse works properly in either XBMC, DOSBox and/or Scummvmx. Nothing more frustrating than patting yourself on the back for a job well done only to find out later you botched it.

10. Wrap it up. Take a long piece of electric tape and start wrapping it around the entire new cord you've made. Take a little time doing this to make it as tight and professional looking as possible since this will be what you see from now on whenever you're using this cord.

I've only ever had stability with the mouse and keyboard in seperate ports.
If you choose the 2 in 1 port method the on/off syndrome always happens Rx.

Cool.... Thanks Cbagy.

So do you use the 2nd and 3rd ports so you can still have the joystick in the 1st?

Yeah usually, even have my remote eye in port 4 and everything works as it should.
Seperate connections is the way to go mate.

Cool.... didn't send my bro home with the cable I made for him then. I'll have to buy a few broken controllers on ebay.

Thanks cbagy

Why not just get a usb adapter on ebay? They're pretty cheap. Like this one.

Hi , Ive read the instructions for romcentre and want to make a set to match ressurection xtras from my goodsets and join some of the torrents on demonoid .

How do I get the dat files to use for the set , I dont seem to be able to find them .

They should be on the front page of this topic,
or included with the sets you are getting.

or,

Check out my signature for some....
They are outdated..but they were they newest ones made... I think...
Most people are just grabbing the corrected "romsets" themselves (that are floating around out there with the Xtras packs.)

Good luck
- MM?

Thanks MM

Least I will be able to join with a partial set and have the torrent correct them .