How to Run System Shock 1 on Windows 2000/XP FAQ v 1.0

Omega on 16/8/2003 at 15:50

Okay, with the help of Unciaa I managed to overcome my com port problem.

The problem was that I had disabled the com ports in my BIOS. So, I switched them back on, and then it worked. Quite easy actually. :)

Bahu on 17/8/2003 at 16:10

Well, after following the stuff in the guide, as well as reading down to make sure there was no errata, I've managed to get SS1 working. Mostly.

First off, I've got that COM problem, but that's because my UPS is using COM1. No big deal, and I can probably trick it with a little more tweaking.

Secondly, and more importantly, it seems to crash often when switching resolutions. For example if I go to the full-screen automap then try to exit (ESC, right? I finally got my hands on a real copy off of eBay, but the blasted thing has no manual...), it crashes. Every other time I try to reboot after dying, it crashes. Oddly, if I just run CDSHOCK.EXE, I never have problems with it crashing like that. Of course, then I have the slow pointer and the lack of SFX (I've never figured out why XP's DOS emulation can only do adlib and general midi, but never sound blaster).

Being pretty rough on how old DOS games worked, mind shedding a little light on what settings I should be playing with?

System: AMD 1800+ XP chip, cheap motherboard, 512 DDR RAM, GeForce 3 Ti, Audigy, and a bunch of other components that shouldn't make any difference at all. Win XP Pro, naturally.

--Bahu

EDIT: Oh yeah, forgot to mention. I had to turn VESA off, as it causes massive, almost unplayable slowdown. Doesn't seem to prevent the crashes when it's on, though.

solaris on 18/8/2003 at 08:13

i followed the step by step instructions - about three times. so i'm quite sure i didn't
forget sth.
i'm on win2k - i get the same port error (com2). if i run the cdshock.exe and click
'ignore' then i can run ss1 (with working sound and music). unfortunately i still
have two problems:

1) if i leave everything on default setting i can play for a few minutes, then ss1 crashes.
2) changing the resolution seems to work - but after applying the mouse arrow is kinda
trapped in the top left corner of the screen (life bar) - i can only move it one or two
inches. i even can't quit the proggie after that (ctrl+shift+esc won't help - have to
reset the system manually)

thnx btw. for all the people trying to help :)

Rogue Keeper on 19/8/2003 at 06:51

Hmmm, does anybody have any idea what's the possible solution for the mouse cursor problem other people have described before?

After I start new game, it crashes and the DOS window shows this warning:

ERROR CODE 3007
MEMORY ERROR
NOT ENOUGH MEMORY TO MAKE EMAIL CURSOR!

I have played around with changing the memory setings in the properties of CDSHOCK.EXE, but it hasn't solved the problem. Also, it suggests to raise the FILES value in config.sus to more than 30. Doesn't help. It suggests to disable SMART cache writing. I have disabled it in BIOS. Doesn't help.

What should I do?
:erm:

Rogue Keeper on 20/8/2003 at 09:24

Okay, I think I am onto something... last two days I've spent searching some other information sources about how to runSS1 on current szstems and besides of interesting Daxim's Shock FAQ, I found the long thread "SYSTEM SHOCK and MEMORY" thread at VOGONS.

Worth of checking up if you have this 3007 or other problems...
(http://vogons.zetafleet.com/showthread.php?threadid=97&perpage=20&highlight=System%20Shock&pagenumber=1)

Gotta try it...

Daoloth on 11/9/2003 at 15:30

Up until maybe a month ago I used Win XP, and I could install and play both SS1 and 2 on it.
For SS1 I found a good guide similar to this on VOGONS, for SS2 I didn't have to do anything, just installed, played and E N J O Y E D :)

Now, on the other hand, I have Windows 2000. The reason for switching OS was because Windows XP fuxxed up almost everything, if I used the keyboard to control Winamp (something I usually do) the system would restart and so on. With Windows 2000 I no longer have any problems EXCEPT not being able to run System Shock. And now I'm seriously thinking of installing Win98SE on a different partition just so I can play System Shock.
Now, if anyone remembers where to find the VOGONS guide (I have posted there telling them about my problems, but to no avail), I'd really appreciate it. Maybe you have it bookmarked?
There were some differences between this one and that one, for instance, the VOGONS guide told me to simply copy the CDROM folder from the System Shock CD to my harddrive, whereas this one tells me to install the game as usual...and that is one of the things that confuses me...
Right now I've done all that this guide tells me to, but I have done the part with copying the CDROM dir as per instructions from the other guide, because installing it (System Shock, just to avoid confusion, I know my writing looks like shit) didn't work...but neither does this...

So, got tips?

EDIT: I also don't get the problem with SS asking for COM 1 and COM 2, but I got that on Win XP...just clicked "yes" or "cancel" or whatever it was and switched back to SS and played.

Shaundakahl on 21/10/2003 at 14:06

EDIT...er... 4, right?: I've noticed that I have all the needed files to start the game.. but not to run it! As in, my base and Gen folders are completely empty. There isn't a single file in either of them... and there isn't any on the CD. Wtf is the deal with that! I'm running madly through this and VOGON trying to find a link to get SS. I have come so far in so little time...

So could someone post an updated list of where to get the original SS?

EDIT3: I've deleted the useless information. I'm getting the classic Error 2000 about the memory and files needing to be increased. message... my cdshock.bat looks like this...
*sigh*

"@echo off
C:\SSHOCK\nolfb.com
C:\SSHOCK\MOUSE2KV.EXE 640 480 8 8 C:\SSHOCK\dos4gw.exe CDSHOCK"

EDIT2: I created an MS-DOS ComPrompt shortcut to an "~\install.pif" and it worked fine. Let's see what other problems I'll run into.

EDIT: I've searched through these forums and VOGONS forums to no avail. I found something about running with a -1gntforce paramater on the install.exe from disc and that didn't work. I also created a .bat with just the install.exe typed in and it gave me the same shit.

As my first post, lemme say "Heya" to the community as a whole. Just going through and reading these posts and the sshock2.com website has lead me onto a path that will hopefully culminate into me actually playing the first Sshock.

Thanks, Shaun

Shaundakahl on 21/10/2003 at 17:51

Quote:

Originally posted by Daoloth
Up until maybe a month ago I used Win XP, and I could install and play both SS1 and 2 on it.
For SS1 I found a good guide similar to this on VOGONS, for SS2 I didn't have to do anything, just installed, played and E N J O Y E D :)

~SNIP~

So, got tips?

EDIT: I also don't get the problem with SS asking for COM 1 and COM 2, but I got that on Win XP...just clicked "yes" or "cancel" or whatever it was and switched back to SS and played.

If you have problems installing, try copying a batch file. Rename it to install.pif. Run that... it seemed to work for me.

Fairlight on 22/10/2003 at 05:00

Thanks alot, XenivouS.

I followed your article step by step and got System Shock up and running on my Athlon XP system! It runs great.

Crion on 22/10/2003 at 14:37

Could someone point out the link on this page (http://www.advsys.net/ken/build.htm) where NOLFB.exe is supposedly at? There's nolfb.zip which has nolfb.asm and nolfb.com both of which aren't mentioned in the FAQ at all.