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MS-DOS Game Installation Wizard - Game Troubleshooting


Jason Carr

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It either cannot find the CD you mounted or the game will now require a cd crack to run. Like Jason said, enable debugging in DOSBox and confirm the ISO is mounted. You could also try to start DOSBox, mount the ISO in DOSBox and try to start the game. Mounting an ISO-File as volume Z:\>IMGMOUNT E C:\Images\MyImage.iso -t iso http://www.dosbox.com/wiki/MOUNT http://www.dosbox.com/wiki/IMGMOUNT Please let us know how you made out.
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  • 5 weeks later...
Jason.... I expect that this is more of a 'User Error' issue than a problem with the Wizard, but I can't figure out what I am doing wrong. I am trying to use the Wizard to install Warcraft II off of a two CD set. I can install the first CD "Tides of Darkness" without any problem. The game boots just fine works perfectly with no CD in the drive. (Although, as an aside, is there any setting I can change to slow down the mouse? Even at the minimum mouse speed setting in game, it just moves too darn fast.) However, I can't figure out how to install the Warcraft II Expansion CD "Beyond the Dark Portal". I tried specify the same Folder as the destination for both games and I tried putting them in different folders. I just can't figure out the correct way to set up the install so that the two CDs mount correctly to enable me to install the expansion disk. Can you provide some guidance? Thanks. RAZdan
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Sure Ed. I use the Wizard to install the expansion in the exact same way as I installed the original game. I tried specify the destination folder which gets mounted as C:\ in DosBox as the same folder as the one the original game is installed in. (I have also tried specifying a different one, which does not work.) The Wizard launches the installer and I get a non-specific error message saying that the Install has failed and to consult the ReadMe file under 'Troubleshooting'. The advice in the ReadMe consists of the following: TROUBLESHOOTING If you are having problems running under Windows 95, please shut down to DOS and then run Warcraft II from there. To do this, press the start button, select "Shut Down" and then select "Restart in DOS Mode". Does that clarify for you? Thanks for any guidance you can provide. Rick
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Make sure you are using the newest LaunchBox. At the time of this writing it is v4.9 1. Run DOSBox C:\LaunchBox\DOSBox\dosbox.exe. Your LaunchBox install might be at a different location. 2. Copy the ISO to a location of your choice C:\LaunchBox\DOSBox\ISO\Beyond the Dark Portal.iso 2. Mount Beyond the Dark Portal.iso as a volume Z:\>IMGMOUNT E C:\LaunchBox\DOSBox\ISO\Beyond the Dark Portal.iso -t iso http://www.dosbox.com/wiki/MOUNT http://www.dosbox.com/wiki/IMGMOUNT 3. Change the volume to the E drive E: 4. Try to install the expansion again. You should receive a more specific error. I wouldn't be surprised if you can't install the expansion in DOS. You will receive an error like illegal command win or this program cannot run in DOS. A little bit more info here http://www.dosbox.com/wiki/GAMES:Warcraft_II Please let us know your results.
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Ed... Thanks for the guidance, but I'm still having no success. I follow your instructions and I get an error that reads "Illegal command e." After reading through the links you provided, I also tried first mounting the installed program as the C drive using the following process: 1. Install 'Tides of Darkness' CD through LaunchBox Wizard. Program tested and working fine. 2. Use Wizard to create Bin/Cue Files for 'Beyond the Dark Portal' Expansion CD. 3. Launch DosBox manually. 4. "mount c [Path to Destination Folder where Launchbox Wizard installed 'Tides of Darkness']" 5. "imgmount e [Path and File Name for 'Beyond the Dark Portal' .cue File] -t iso -fs iso" 6. "e:" 7. Run "Install". DosBox begins to install the expansion, gets about 10% through the loading bar and exits the install with the following message: "An error prevented completion of the installation". It does not specify the error, but directs me to the same unhelpful ReadMe file I mentioned before. I've lurked around some other DosBox oriented Forums and can't seem to figure out what I might be doing wrong. Rick
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i think that "Illegal command e" means Illegal command error. Blizzard states this game is for MAC and PC. http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/games/legacy/ Wiki states this game should work on MS Dos and Windows and was released in 1996. So it should work in MS Dos. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warcraft_II:_Beyond_the_Dark_Portal There are 2 things you can try. 1. Take the mounting of the ISO out of the Equation. Extract the ISO to a directory and try to run the install again. Maybe the ISO is bad? 2. Do you have windows 7? Download this Windows XP virtual machine. Install it there to further troubleshoot the issue. Windows XP Mode v1.3.7600.16423 (Windows 8 does not support Windows XP Mode v1.3.7600.16423.) http://www.microsoft.com/en-us.....px?id=8002 Windows Virtual PC v6.1.7600.16393 http://www.microsoft.com/en-us.....px?id=3702 If it installs in that virtual machine, you might find out that it only copies the contents of the ISO to the installation directory. You can then do the same and bypass setup.exe with DOSBox. LaunchBox contains a great feature that will export the game you installed for easy install at a future date. In LaunchBox, highlight the game you installed, then click on Tools in the menu bar. From the drop down select Export Selected Games --> To LaunchBox Zip Package. EviLEd
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VMware Workstation can do both. But that would require him to install an operating system. I have used Windows XP Mode in the past to try out old games and it worked perfectly. The point of using a virtual machine is see how the expansion pack installs.
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  • 4 weeks later...
In LB 4.9 When I right click on the image of my DOS game and select Delete it only removes the shortcut but does not delete the game nor does it delete the Image folder. Also if I have to reinstall a game several times it creates several copies of the game image folder with the same images in them. Has this been fixed in your new Beta? Keep up the great work.Laugh Sincerely, Shades
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Shades2585 said In LB 4.9 When I right click on the image of my DOS game and select Delete it only removes the shortcut but does not delete the game nor does it delete the Image folder. Also if I have to reinstall a game several times it creates several copies of the game image folder with the same images in them. Has this been fixed in your new Beta? Keep up the great work.Laugh Sincerely, Shades
These are not bugs. Deleting any game entry inside of Launch Box is not meant to delete the game in its location located on your hard drive. Nor will it delete the image folder. You need to clean the image cache from time to time. Tools -> Clean Up Images (which is near the bottom). Image handling has been changed in how its stored which you can see in the Beta and will be in 5.0 but Clearing the Image Cache is something that you still need to do from time to time. Also, if you update to the beta or when 5.0 is released it will automatically transfer all your images to the new image storage method.
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Hi Shades, Brad's right; LaunchBox does not attempt to delete game files when deleting games. If it did this, there'd be all kinds of issues with Windows games that are installed, etc. I do have an item on my list though to allow deleting game files for ROMs or MS-DOS games, but I'm torn on whether that should be implemented or not. Per the images, I believe 5.0 does indeed solve the duplicate images problem. Images are still not deleted unless you use "Clean Up Images", but the prior images should automatically be re-used when creating a new game with the same platform and title.
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Jason Carr said I do have an item on my list though to allow deleting game files for ROMs or MS-DOS games, but I'm torn on whether that should be implemented or not.
Personally I'm only using this for MS-DOS games right now. I like the idea of making all my DOS game portable and stored in one place. Getting the games running properly, however, isn't easy and many time requires me to delete the installed files. I would rather make it a one step process instead of a three step processes. Thanks for all your hard work, Sincerely, Shades
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  • 1 month later...
Hello Jason It would be nice if we could select which drive we are installing from, for those of us who are installing games originally from floppy drives :) In the meantime, how do I do that btw? Sim Earth only lets me select whether I want to install from drive A or B... edit: I ended up following these steps to manually install! http://www.glennsguides.com/2009/05/simearth-living-planet-dos-pc-game-free.html edit 2: And then I tried to import it into launchbox and it broke all over again :(
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  • 3 months later...

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