I tested ~100 DOS games (v14)

Discussion of development and patch submission.
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seth
Posts: 34
Joined: Tue 14 Mar, 2017 12:13 pm

I tested ~100 DOS games (v14)

Post by seth »

I wanted to help this amazing project so I decided to test as much dos games as possible in the last couple of months. I don't know about the real hardware behaviour but I tested those games with dosbox, too. Hope this helps to improve pcem.

Emulated OS:: DOS [486] AMI 486 clone (no dynamic recompiler), Intel i486DX2/66, 16MB Memory, Paradise Bahamas 64 (S3 Vision864) with Fast VLB/PCI, Sound Blaster 16 (driver installed):

My OS:: i7 3770k, 16GB RAM, GTX 1070, Windows 10 64bit

Working:

3 Skulls Of The Toltecs
Archibald Applebrook
Ark of Time
Amazon - Guardians of Eden
Animal
Alien Virus
Al-Qadim: The Genie's Curse
Alien Odyssey
Bad Blood
Bureau 13
Buck Rogers
Bud Tucker in Double Trouble
BloodNet
CyberMage - Darklight Awakening
Cyberia
Conquests of the Longbow - The Legend of Robin Hood
Dark Universe
Der Schatz Im Silbersee
Drascula - The Vampire Strikes Back
Dreamweb
Destruction Derby
Dunkle Schatten 3 - Tod in der Südkurve
Die Höhlenwelt-Saga
Down in the Dumps
Eye of the Beholder 1
Eye of the Beholder 2
Eye of the Beholder 3
Eco Quest 1
Escape from Delirium
Fable
Fascination
Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist
Full Throttle
Gobliiins 1
Gobliins 2
Hugo
Heart of China
I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream
Ishar 1
Ishar 2
Ishar 3
Iron Willy
Imperium Romanum
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Indiana Jones 4 - The Fate Of Atlantis
Innocent Until Caught
Jack Orlando - A Cinematic Adventure
Jonathan
King's Quest 5
The Legend of Nietoom
The Case Of The Cautious Condor
The City of Lost Children
Leisure Suit Larry 7
Lands of Lore 1 - The Throne of Chaos
Test Drive 2
Little Big Adventure - Twinsen’s Adventure
Lands of Lore 2
Loom
Lost In Time
Maniac Mansion 2 - Day Of The Tentacle
M.A.X. Mechanized - Assault and Exploration
Murder Makes Strange Deadfellows
Monkey Island 1 - The Secret Of Monkey Island CD
Monkey Island 2 - LeChuck's Revenge
Nippon Safes Inc.
Noctropolis
On the Ball: World Cup Edition
Privateer 2 - The Darkening
Return To Zork
Star Wars - Tie Fighter (Collector's CD)
Stronghold
Sam and Max: Hit the Road
Sea Legends
Secret Mission
Simon The Sorcerer 1
Simon The Sorcerer 2
Star Wars - X-Wing
The City of Lost Children
The Dig
The Legend of Kyrandia 3 - Malcolm's Revenge
The Orion Conspiracy
The Patrician
Touché: The Adventures of the Fifth Musketeer
Ultima VIII - Pagan
Wild West
Waxworks
Warcraft 2 - Tides of Darkness
Warcraft 2 - Beyond the Dark Portal

Bugs (DOS):

Inherit the Earth: Quest for the Orb
pcem sb16 -> no voiced dialogue but music (works with DOSBox).

Dark Universe
when i start the game with start.bat, the intro freezes (works with DOSBox). qstart.bat is an option, because the game starts, but I don't see the intro this way.

The Big Red Adventure
after a while the voiced dialogue in the intro begins to cracking and the game crashes. Same problem with dosbox.

B.A.T. II - THE KOSHAN CONSPIRACY
german and english version works fine with "Paradise Bahama". But when I choose "Diamond Stealth 3D 2000" I have some graphics gliches with the german version. english version works fine.

Time Paradox
karr wrote: Thu 18 Jul, 2019 11:27 pm Time Paradox won't work with sound no matter what i tried.
Music works with AWE32 (pcem v15), but with sb or sb16... I can't hear anything, yeah. And even with AWE32 I don't have speech (freezes when I want to take the stone in the first screen - not the worst timing, though :P). Can maybe somone else test this? Edit: with videcdd instead of oak there is still no speech, but at least text (freezes anyway): https://imgur.com/a/ibvav9R



Bugs (PCem):

- when I change the "output scale" in opengl 3.0 (when a game is running) and after that I want to open the menu with F5 (lucas arts games like 'sam and max') or want to skip dialogue (in those games with "."), it doesn't work anymore

- when I open pcem with a batchfile ("PCem.exe --config "DOS.cfg") and close the program with X (not shutdown), pcem is still open in the taskmanager (background process)

- When I toggle fullscreen (Ctrl+ALT+Page down) and go back to window mode again, I can't activate the menu in sam and max (F1) anymore. Can you replicate this behaviour, too?

- sometimes I have the same problem like this guy: viewtopic.php?t=3005



Bugs (Windows 98SE):

Emulated OS: Socket 7, Award 430VX PCI, Intel OverDrive 125 MMX, 256MB RAM, S3 Virge/DX, Voodoo 2 SLI, Windows 98SE

Age of Empires 2
I can't regulate the music volume in options with "windows sound system" in a game. Sound Blaster PCI 128 works though.

Kana: Little Sister
flickering cursor (book symbol) https://abload.de/img/screenshotfrom2018-08ore4p.png




Paradise Bahama / Diamond Stealth 3D 2000 problems and two others (maybe same behaviour on real hardware?
)

Beneath a Steel Sky
automatic sound configuration doesn't work (no voiced dialogue). I have to choose the settings manually. (automatic configuration works with DOSBox)

Synnergist
automatic sound configuaration doesn't work. finds wrong DMA channel number (same with dosbox), and the game freezes on startup (synn.exe) (same with dosbox).


Jonathan (german DOS game)
when I want to start the game with "Paradise Bahama" this message appears: "Mode 101 doesn't support your monitor". With "Diamond Stealth 3D 2000" this game works fine.

Druid - Daemons of the Mind (german version)
when I want to start the game with "Paradise Bahama" this message appears: "Video -> Vesa 640x480x256 mode support required". With "Diamond Stealth 3D 2000 (S3 VirGE)" this game works fine. Also, there are some weird black linkes in the intro (in dosbox too)

Nemesis - The Wizardry Adventure
when I want to start the game with "Paradise Bahama" this message appears: "Video -> Vesa 640x480x256 mode support required". With "Diamond Stealth 3D 2000 (S3 VirGE)" this game works fine. Also, there are some weird black lines in the intro (in dosbox too)

Ruler of the Seas
when I want to start the game with "Paradise Bahama" this message appears: "error (19), unable to set graphic mode < hardware >". With "Diamond Stealth 3D 2000 (S3 VirGE)" this game works fine.
Last edited by seth on Mon 22 Jul, 2019 9:28 pm, edited 29 times in total.
User avatar
xXLuckyXx
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Joined: Tue 06 Feb, 2018 3:52 pm

Re: I tested ~100 DOS games (v14)

Post by xXLuckyXx »

Great job!
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omarsis81
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Re: I tested ~100 DOS games (v14)

Post by omarsis81 »

Excellent job, thanks!
seth
Posts: 34
Joined: Tue 14 Mar, 2017 12:13 pm

Re: I tested ~100 DOS games (v14)

Post by seth »

Some more games added.
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te_lanus
Posts: 135
Joined: Tue 28 Jul, 2015 4:47 am

Re: I tested ~100 DOS games (v14)

Post by te_lanus »

Tested Test Drive 2, and mine work without asking for d:
seth
Posts: 34
Joined: Tue 14 Mar, 2017 12:13 pm

Re: I tested ~100 DOS games (v14)

Post by seth »

I will push this one last time. Maybe there are some useful informations to improve the emulation.
karr
Posts: 24
Joined: Thu 19 Jul, 2018 1:05 am

Re: I tested ~100 DOS games (v14)

Post by karr »

hi

i did some tests as well :-)


"Test Drive 2
seems like this game wants access to my cd drive d: (maybe it searches for floppy disk) otherwise it doesn't start. As soon as I mount a random cd... the game starts."

i have the same problem with v15
i guess its the copy protection from the game causing this behavior.


"Star Wars - Tie Fighter (Collector's CD)
blackscreen when I start the game. (works with DOSBox)"

happens also in v15
but this can be fixed :-)
the game needs to be started for the 1st time without dynamic recompiler.
after that dynamic recompiler can be enabled again and the game should work with and without it.
Last edited by karr on Sat 13 Jul, 2019 6:02 am, edited 1 time in total.
karr
Posts: 24
Joined: Thu 19 Jul, 2018 1:05 am

Re: I tested ~100 DOS games (v14)

Post by karr »

"Little Big Adventure - Twinsen’s Adventure
no speech in the intro and when I skip the last part of the intro, the game freezes."

happens also with v15.
yep there is no speech in the intro, even the text is not shown and the game will crash when the intro is finished no matter if you skip it or not.
happens with us and eu version.

after some testing i found a fix for both problems :-)

usually the game will copy the speech files from cd to harddisc before the intro starts
(a message is shown that speech files are transferred)

BUT for unknown reasons the game is not doing this.
to fix it you have to copy the speech files manually.
before doing this go to the setup programm > speech configuration and
set "keep speech files on hard disc" = yes
(otherwise speech files may get deleted when you exit the game)

the speech files are in lba/vox folder on the cd
copy the files from cd's lba/vox folder to the vox folder in your installed lba folder.

game should now run with speech and text and without freezes.



"Animal
Blackscreen when I start the game. (works with DOSBox)"

works with v15 (with s3 virge dx gfx problems, use diamond stealth 3d 2000 or paradise bahamas 64)



"Dark Universe
when i start the game with start.bat, the intro freezes (works with DOSBox). qstart.bat is an option, because the game starts, but I don't see the intro this way."

intro runs with v15.
the intro requires xms memory with ems the intro will freeze immediately after 1. frame.
intro is not shown with s3 virge dx, only audio (plays perfect with diamond stealth 3d 2000 or paradise bahamas 64).
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te_lanus
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Re: I tested ~100 DOS games (v14)

Post by te_lanus »

karr wrote: Fri 12 Jul, 2019 9:24 pm hi

i did some tests as well :-)


"Test Drive 2
seems like this game wants access to my cd drive d: (maybe it searches for floppy disk) otherwise it doesn't start. As soon as I mount a random cd... the game starts."

i have the same problem with v15
i guess its the copy protection from the game causing this behavior.
Weird, as I can run it without any issue. I do remember that I did had that issue way back (think 2008-9) but that was caused by a incomplete rip that I got from the internet
karr
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Joined: Thu 19 Jul, 2018 1:05 am

Re: I tested ~100 DOS games (v14)

Post by karr »

te_lanus wrote: Mon 15 Jul, 2019 6:19 pm Weird, as I can run it without any issue. I do remember that I did had that issue way back (think 2008-9) but that was caused by a incomplete rip that I got from the internet

i tested a version from the net
the org floppy has a copy protection
seth
Posts: 34
Joined: Tue 14 Mar, 2017 12:13 pm

Re: I tested ~100 DOS games (v14)

Post by seth »

Thanks for testing! I found another bug:

When I toggle fullscreen (Ctrl+ALT+Page down) and go back to window mode again, I can't activate the menu in sam and max (F1) anymore. Can you replicate this behaviour, too?
karr
Posts: 24
Joined: Thu 19 Jul, 2018 1:05 am

Re: I tested ~100 DOS games (v14)

Post by karr »

seth wrote: Mon 15 Jul, 2019 9:49 pm Thanks for testing! I found another bug:

When I toggle fullscreen (Ctrl+ALT+Page down) and go back to window mode again, I can't activate the menu in sam and max (F1) anymore. Can you replicate this behaviour, too?
just tested it with various machines and gfx cards.
f1 works for me without problems in fullscreen and window mode and still works when i go back to fullscreen.

(tested it with german and english cd)
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omarsis81
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Re: I tested ~100 DOS games (v14)

Post by omarsis81 »

seth wrote: Mon 15 Jul, 2019 9:49 pm Thanks for testing! I found another bug:

When I toggle fullscreen (Ctrl+ALT+Page down) and go back to window mode again, I can't activate the menu in sam and max (F1) anymore. Can you replicate this behaviour, too?
Try using different renders: eg. OpenGL, Direct3D, etc
seth
Posts: 34
Joined: Tue 14 Mar, 2017 12:13 pm

Re: I tested ~100 DOS games (v14)

Post by seth »

Unfortunately, this didn't change anything. Strange bug. Thanks anyway.

Edit:

Is it maybe because of the fn key on my laptop?
karr
Posts: 24
Joined: Thu 19 Jul, 2018 1:05 am

Re: I tested ~100 DOS games (v14)

Post by karr »

"Little Big Adventure - Twinsen’s Adventure"

and "Test Drive 2"


both bugs are gone when i change from mscdex + videcdd.sys
to shsucdx + videcdd.sys
but cd drive is a bit slower with shsucdx
seth
Posts: 34
Joined: Tue 14 Mar, 2017 12:13 pm

Re: I tested ~100 DOS games (v14)

Post by seth »

Wow, you're right. This fixed those problems! Did you try more games from the list? Seems like I should do this... =) Thanks!
karr
Posts: 24
Joined: Thu 19 Jul, 2018 1:05 am

Re: I tested ~100 DOS games (v14)

Post by karr »

problem with shsucdx is the slow drive speed.
install huger games takes years with it.
and according to vogons some games won't work with shsucdx.

i tried oakcdrom.sys + mscdex combo from te_lanus.
Litte Big Adventure works with oakcdrom driver as well
but oakcdrom.sys requires a lot memory.


Time Paradox won't work with sound no matter what i tried.
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omarsis81
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Re: I tested ~100 DOS games (v14)

Post by omarsis81 »

Do you have the MobyGames link for "Ruler of the Seas"? I can't find any info on the Web. Who developed it?
seth
Posts: 34
Joined: Tue 14 Mar, 2017 12:13 pm

Re: I tested ~100 DOS games (v14)

Post by seth »

seth
Posts: 34
Joined: Tue 14 Mar, 2017 12:13 pm

Re: I tested ~100 DOS games (v14)

Post by seth »

karr wrote: Thu 18 Jul, 2019 11:27 pm Time Paradox won't work with sound no matter what i tried.
Music works with AWE32 (pcem v15), but with sb or sb16... I can't hear anything, yeah. And even with AWE32 I don't have speech (freezes when I want to take the stone in the first screen - not the worst timing, though :P). Can maybe somone else test this? Edit: with videcdd instead of oak there is still no speech, but at least text (freezes anyway): https://imgur.com/a/ibvav9R
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