The Brain on 6/7/2007 at 12:43
Did you try click it? As far I know, both menu entries should give same result by enabling you to hear game music and its sound effects at your computer.
northeast on 7/7/2007 at 05:32
Yeah, I did. It tries to launch, the DOS box writes a bunch of text that goes away too fast for me to read. Then it kicks me to windowed mode and give me an error box.
Quote:
16 bit MS-DOS SubsystemVDMSound 2.0.4 - DOS Prompt
The system cannot open COM1 port requested by the application. Choose "Close" to terminate the application
[CLOSE] [IGNORE]
Ignoring it doesn't help much. Still doesn't respond.
Edit: never mind. I just ignored it several times and then it finally worked. I figured it was hanging on me.
Edit2: OK, no shortcut is created, but the game runs. :p There is no VDMS configuration screen. Just COM1 errors then the game runs.
uk_john on 17/8/2007 at 15:06
I followed the faq and tried the vdmsound shortcut option, but had problems with it. I have XP Pro SP2 with an Athlon XP 2400 CPU with 1GB ram. I have a soundblaster live card and a wirelss keyboard mouse.
So first, what I did was rem out the mouse2k from the CDSHOCK.BAT, to get my mouse moving at a reasonable speed rather than a crawl. I played around with the VDMSound to get the sound working properly instead of being choppy, and finally I tried running directly from the CDSHOCK.EXE and all was working and sounding brilliant, with correct gaming and mouse speed!
With regard setting up sound. I used soundblaster for digital sounds and midi for the music. With that I got the best overall sounds and music.
I would follow the FAQ completely, but be prepared to tweak and try things. Certainly after installing and successfully setting up the sound and music (meaning you hear music and Shodan when you test the two setups) I would try running the CDSHOCK.EXE and seeing what happens, then running it again with a right click and 'use VDMSound' option, and finally, try the vdmsound shortcut that was created.
In any event, with the FAQ and all the various utilities I really do believe everyone will be able to get System Shock running either following the instructions completely or just doing a little tweaking here and there. Either way, it's a darn site quicker than the trail and error without the FAQ being used at all! :)
EDIT: I forgot to say how brilliant this game is when set up right. Plaed it when it first game out but never got it looking and sounding as good as I have now - so kudos to the FAQ and various program creators, because I have to say, you have made System Shock play, look and sound better than I ever did back in the day! Kudos! (Also, I am a better FPS/RPG player so am enjoying the game and doing better as well - so basically EVERYTHING is fantastic about this game now!) :)
Bem on 18/8/2007 at 10:36
I first must admit I'm using the HOTU version. The note does not appear but most people said they didn't need that. Everything is fine until the intro where I get another error that keeps coming back. I tried deleting the intro but it was just colored lines. Can I please have some help?
uk_john on 18/8/2007 at 11:17
Bem, are you trying it from the FAQ? Have you therefore tried DOSBox yet? I don't know if the HOTU is a complete CD, maybe I will download and try, even though I have the full game. In any event, make sure you copy to a different folder than you INSTAL to, and let it just create a c:\sshock folder as default rather than your own.
Finally, is it possible that the HOTU file has been created in such a way that if it includes a sshock folder you just run that? Also have you tried just right clicking on CDSHOCK.EXE, like I did? Also you might want to try using the XP Compatibility option if you haven't. Lastly, make sure you have set all the memory options as per the FAQ.
Hope all the above helps. Without more information from you it's hard to know what direction to point you in! :)
Bem on 18/8/2007 at 22:25
I tried DosBOX, it says "error 2004" and reccomends I increase FILES in config.sys to 30 or more, disable SMARTDRV or use a minimal config.sys and autoexec.bat. They also say if none of those work I call the number of a company that no longer exists.
I tried the Quandary solution and got the above error and when I tried this one the musical note in VDMSound does not appear.
uk_john on 18/8/2007 at 22:42
Bem, are you using the 2.1.0 version of VDMSound? I know a lot of links point to the 2.04 version. Also could you tell us about your system? I am presuming XP, but you may have Vista, and all my advice was assuming you had XP. As regard DOSBox, if you have the 7.01 version try downloading a 0.65 or 0.63, they barely take up any hard drive space, and it allows you to quickly try a couple different versions. You might also want to try a front end like D-Fend, or D.O.G. The former is available on this site and the latter on the official DOSBox site, along with a few other front ends. The advantage of front ends is they make all the dosbox tweaking much more user friendly and allow you to try things almost on the fly. Then, because they save the details as a profile, you can just click on the game name and open DOSBox with all the previous option you made without having to re-configure DOSBox.
Hope something above helps! :)
Bem on 19/8/2007 at 03:48
Didn't need it after all.
If anyone is having problems (or doesn't want to go through a whole bunch of crap), go here:
(
http://www.strangebedfellows.de/index.php/topic,211.0.html)
The download links are a bit down, still in this first post. I think the third is the one that works.
Then just extract it, open the folder, click on the exe and press 1 then enter.
If it works, great, if not press 3 then enter, change the top setting to DOS then change the refresh rate to 60.
It is DESIGNED to work on XP.
Once it is started, go to video (the mouse will seem VERY fast) and set the resolution to the highest (you need to start a new game then press ESC) and it will look great and work fine.
Much easier (and cheaper) than all this crap, it is freeware BTW, but it is completely an interpretation of the code of the CD Version.
Better yet the high-res packs are installed out of the box.
It will also work on a Pocket PC, but it isn't necessary.
uk_john on 19/8/2007 at 16:23
I agree Bern, but you are being very tough on a bunch of people that have worked very hard to get SS1 working in XP. And don't forget that your bedfellow's link included links to work done by guys in this thread that you diss so badly! So without their work, you comment that bedfellow's is so easy would be far from true. What he has done is worked on the portable part and then linked into all the good work done here over the last couple years!
Some_twerp on 26/8/2007 at 11:14
I've been trying to use that but been getting random close-to-desktop moments. Which sucks.
