dsg on 26/3/2005 at 15:13
Hi,
I just set up an old Pentium (100 or 133MHz, IIRC) machine for MS-DOS 6.22 to run some of the good old DOS games. It's been quite nice, I found an SB16 here, and a 3com network card with packet driver, and it's been hours of fun.
Now, I just dug up Terra Nova again, and with anticipation, installed it and started it. However, there is a very weird problem: the menu fadeout/fadein effects take *WAY* too long. The effect should take around half a second, but it really takes about 4-5 minutes. You're staring at the menu screen for a couple of minutes without change, and then suddenly it goes just a little bit darker... and a little bit more...
Anyway, the videos play at full-speed, and the mouse is active at normal speed even during the fade-out. Sound is also normal. I guess this must be some timing loop gone horribly wrong, but I can't really imagine where.
I tried several (video-card-related) options mentioned on this messageboard, including running vesafix (with and without -6), and running the game with +nounivbe, +nolinmodes and +badpaldac, but there was no change.
Any help would be greatly appreciated, to help an old TN:SFC addict get his fix!
-David
Shadowcat on 28/3/2005 at 22:34
Oo, that's unpleasent. What video card are you using? It could be a weird driver issue that was missed because it doesn't get triggered in modern games. You might try plugging in a different card if you have one available.
dsg on 28/3/2005 at 23:22
Hi,
Thanks for the reply.
I don't think I have another graphics card around here. This is an onboard 2MB SiS chip ("SiS 6205"), on an AST Bravo machine I found in the attic. It works fine in other games I've tried, including System Shock.
Too bad, really. I'll see if I can get a better card somewhere.
With regards,
David
Shadowcat on 29/3/2005 at 03:20
Well the video card suggestion is nothing more than a wild guess, so don't spend more than you're willing to waste on getting another one.
Does the game itself (i.e. the missions) run okay? Or have you not yet sat through the multiple fades to find out? :)
I see you've tried running it with the +nounivbe option. I'm guessing that this would only have an effect if you asked the game to build a UniVBE driver when you installed it. Did you do that?
If not then definitely give that a try (and make sure you remove the +nounivbe option, if you added it permanently!)
dsg on 29/3/2005 at 15:01
Hi,
I just tried entering the game (took about 20 minutes), and it works great once it starts.
I didn't build a UniVBE driver when I first installed, and then I tried it later and it had no effect.
Thanks,
David
Shadowcat on 29/3/2005 at 22:37
Quote Posted by dsg
I just tried entering the game (took about 20 minutes), and it works great once it starts.
Well that's something. Maybe it's just trying to simulate the mission flights in real-time :)
Quote:
I didn't build a UniVBE driver when I first installed, and then I tried it later and it had no effect.
Damn. That was my best guess, really.
You could try another OS, like <a href="http://www.freedos.org/">FreeDOS</a>, but I can't envision that having any effect.
Beyond that, I think you'll probably be looking at making changes to the PC itself. You could start by pulling out anything not necessary for TN (like the network card), and then the sound card. I don't know what else to suggest, though. It's a weird one, that's for sure.
dsg on 1/4/2005 at 14:20
Hi again,
As luck would have it I was offered another, considerably more powerful machine for running DOS (an AMD 233MHz machine, and I got an ET6000 graphics card and a gravis ultrasound. What I wouldn't have given for this machine 8-9 years ago...)
Terra Nova runs perfectly on it, I think I'll be busy for the next few days.
By the way, was there any way to set another resolution mode in TN? I can't remember.
With regards,
David
Shadowcat on 2/4/2005 at 02:39
Excellent!!!
> By the way, was there any way to set another resolution mode in TN?
You're stuck with 320x400 maximum, I'm afraid. Press 'O' for options if you're still playing in the lower default resolution, and remember to also increase the terrain detail to its maximum (which isn't done by the game if you select its overall high-detail selector).
The game only remembers your options in saved games, so if you just load it up to play with the random mission generator (grab the patch if you're playing with this, btw), you should reset those two options (resolution and terrain) before playing. If you load a game, you'll be fine.
