Frontier - First Encounters(Elite3)

[duke o' york]

Out of interest, how large is the download file?
I've only got dial-up I'm afraid, and at the moment I'm sitting waiting for a 30MB file to DL. It'll end up being nearly 2 hours.

[J Bytheway]

I think the game was originally released on floppy disc(s), so it can't be very substantial...

[DrSpike]

Depends. With Monkey Island 2 there were 12 disks.

[Gamecube64]

I'm no DOS expert, how do I run this thing? I typed in the file name but I just got an error. I have it in
C:\Program files\firstenc

[child of Thor]

Originally posted by duke o' york
Out of interest, how large is the download file?
I've only got dial-up I'm afraid, and at the moment I'm sitting waiting for a 30MB file to DL. It'll end up being nearly 2 hours.

well the one you want is 2.34Mb - its the complete patched(v1.06) version(and the one i'm using). From that first link in my first post, you can also get the Floppy disk version which is around 440K approx[EDIT: NO this is for the disk version of Frontier(elite2)].

Still 2.34mb should be ok even on dial-up?

@Gamecube64,

ok i take it your going with the DOS version then(the full shareware version).

Ok do this:

1: restart in DOS mode only
2: goto the directory 'C\Program files\firstenc'
3: then type 'firstenc.bat'

(ignore the quote marks-i'm just putting them in to show that its the bit between you need to type).

you should see the opening shareware agreement title screen, from here it asks you to type Y or N to continue to the game.

At this point if you type Y you should see the opening title animation. If so then everything is working.

A few more things are worth doing to make things better.

1. You may not have any sounds/music
A: before typeing 'firstenc.bat', first type 'setsound(either .bat or .exe)', this should bring up a dodgy old DOS looking soundcard testing screen.

The trick here is to try all the options if your not sure what soundcard you've got, untill you prefrably get both digital and midi sounds working.

For example on my machine i've got a Creative AWE32 soundcard.

In the digital mode the program recognises it and i get sound when i run the test.

In Midi mode it doesnt like the port setting, so i started chooseing other card options for Midi, in the end the best sound i could get was by selecting the Soundblaster Pro for Midi. Not exactly correct, but it works.

So you may have to play around with these settings untill your happy.

2. You will need a dos mouse driver, which you would load before running 'firstenc.bat'.

I use a small one called Mouse5.exe. You need to install the mouse driver for sure before running the game, as once your in the game you cant exit without a mouse - i got caught out by this and had to do a hard reboot to exit the game!

There are a few other things that are good to run in the DOS version(a program called 'forcecol.exe' for example that makes space black, rather than the default blue!) .

What i'll do is bring in and attach the files i use tomorrow. I'll also add a step by step guide to getting the game running in DOS mode

I prefer to run in the DOS version - the graphics just move much more smoothly, although there is one big drawback - you have no 'Roll' (left/right) keyboard command! which makes manual landing pretty tricky!

hopefully i can find a file to fix this and add it to the others.

[Gamecube64]

When I start DOS the command line looks like this
C:\WINDOWS>
Yeah... I moved it into the windows directory and it still said bad filename. Moved it out since I don't want to lose it in the infinite depths of Windows.
So it was,

"C:\WINDOWS>firstenc"
"Bad filename"

[DrSpike]

You need to browse to the directory the .exe is in right?

cd c:\games\frontier (or whatever), then firstenc will run the .exe.

[child of Thor]

as Dr.spike said - you need to use the 'cd' command to tell it to change to the correct directory.

RUNNING DOS(SHAREWARE) VERSION OF FFE:

(or the way i get it working )

1. download the shareware(v1.06) game from http://www.eliteclub.co.uk/download/

2. It will install by default into 'C:\Program files\firstenc', but you can put it where you want - just change the relevent info in the instructions below to make it apply to your installation on FFE.

3. next make sure you have a DOS mouse driver in the same directory(you can use the one below in the ffefiles.zip file, its called Mouse5.exe) before running the game in DOS mode.

I've also included a file called forcecol.exe - this will turn space black, you will also need to put this in the 'C:\Program files\firstenc' directory.

Both these files just need to be unzipped/extracted into your firstenc directory, its easy in windows.

4. Now restart in MS-DOS mode.

5. At the prompt type 'cd..' this will clear you into the plain 'C:\>' prompt.

next type 'cd progra~1' this will give you the prompt:
'C:\Program Files>'

[NOTE: type 'dir' to see what your Program Files folder has beed shortend to. In mine its always 'PROGRA~1', use whatever its called in your dir listing.]

next type 'cd firstenc' this will give you the prompt:
'C:\Program Files\Firstenc>'

[NOTE: this is longwinded, but you will not get any 'invalid directory' comments]

6. now type 'mouse5.exe' - this will run the dos mouse driver

7. now type 'forcecol.exe' - this will run the program to turn blue space into black.(This is an opptional step, if you prefer blue dont bother with it)

8. now type 'setsound' - this will run the DOS soundcard setup program. First run Auto-detect, if you still get no sound after this(or your pc hangs up!) then you will have to just go through each soundcard in the list and try the various settings.

9. now type 'firstenc.bat' - this will run Frontier First Encounters. First you will see the shareware agreement title screen. If you agree with it type 'Y' to run the game.

At this point you will see the opening animation - and hear some music. hit the space bar/Return key/left mouse button to start the game.

If all this seems like too much hard work - then have a look back earlier in the thread to where the JJFFE program was discused - its a windows friendly version, no messing around in DOS required
Although you will still need the shareware version to get all the sound and music.

[Gamecube64]

Hmm... I guesse I should have read the manual. (never got off the ground, I guesse I have to figure out how to close the airlocks or something...) forcecol.exe gives me a runtime error and everytime I select a sound driver my computer freezes.

[DrSpike]

Welcome to the joy of old games.

[child of Thor]

yes i should mention that this game was designed for a 486! I run it on a P166, an old PC i keep specificaly for running old games - it saves so many problems.

XP wont like the DOS mode. And by running it in DOS mode it needs to be full DOS mode, not the MS-dos prompt you can get in win98 from the start>program files menu. You need to do a Start>Shutdown>restart in MS-DOS mode only. then try the steps from 2 or 3 above.

If it crashes all the time when trying to set up the sound card then chances are you card is too modern, so you will just have to skip this step(8) and play without sound or music.

The cure to your problems would seem to be trying the JJFFE option - look for the post by reds4ever further up - this will give you the link and that site has all the info you will need to get it running in Windows enviroment, you wont need to mess around, simply double click the JJFEwin28.exe to run the game

And as Doctor spike says.

Windows has its advantages

[J Bytheway]

There's always DOSBox. That's how I play Frontier under XP, since there is no analogue of JJFFE for Frontier.

[Gamecube64]

Hmm... How do you reccomend getting to Sol/Barnard from the starting area? I can't find a way that isn't littered with pirates.

[J Bytheway]

Originally posted by Gamecube64
Hmm... How do you reccomend getting to Sol/Barnard from the starting area? I can't find a way that isn't littered with pirates.

If you sell extraneous equipment (weapon, etc.) you can probably fit enough fuel to make all the necessary jumps back to back, and thus avoid pirates.

[Gamecube64]

Silly me, I didn't realize you could store extra Hydrogen fuel. Darn pirates always blowing me up before I can see them.

[snoopy369]

I also recommend DosBox as above or another similar program (there are many). Trying to run DOS games on a windows computer - especially NT based, like 2000 or XP - is a tortorous mess, unless you have an emulator ...

[Snotty]

There a button in the bottom right that makes all the names of stars and ships appear. That and getting used to the lines on the scanner are the easiest ways to spot pirates.

I seem to remember the combat computer supposed to help you with that as well, but i think there was a problem with it, maybe you cant move your ship or something when using it? I dont know

[DrSpike]

Originally posted by snoopy369
I also recommend DosBox as above or another similar program (there are many). Trying to run DOS games on a windows computer - especially NT based, like 2000 or XP - is a tortorous mess, unless you have an emulator ...

I actually still have my old machine with Win98 for emergencies.

[child of Thor]

mine is my main games playing pc

The combat computer is a pain i find - maybe i'm just not used to it, but it kind of clutters the display.

To help see things more clearly i play with the 'space dust etc' turned to off. And when you get the pirates jumping you, as snotty said; click the button that turns planet/spaceship names on to help you see where they are.
Sometimes if they are far away you will have to wait a few minutes before they attack you.

For some reason things have got pretty peacefull in my current game. I hardly ever get attacked by pirates now, unless i go into an anarchic system??

I havent been able to find any files that will include the roll command in the DOS shareware version, but i have got a sort of work-around.

What i do is whenever i've started the docking procedure(either with a space station or on a planet), i go into the menu screen and select the 'Elite controls' option.
I dont like dog-fighting in this mode(didnt in Frontier either - the mouse is more useful), but you can use the '<' and '>' keys to roll left and right, which is very usefull when going for a manual flight normal speed landing.

[Gamecube64]

I bought myself a Cobra MKIII, It seems good value with all the extra space. I bought an Adder (I think) before this to discover since it required a class 2 hyperspace drive it only had enough room for one extra item in it's hull. I didn't like that a bit, but now with my Cobra I'm raking in money more than 4 times as fast. After I get some more money I'll probably switch over to an Asp or keep the Cobra. How good is a Cobra MKIII for combat? What do crew do for you, on bigger ships do you need all of them?

[child of Thor]

The cobra mkIII was the ship that started it all so it has some history behind it.
In the first Elite (info here: http://www.mobygames.com/game/sheet/p,2/gameId,1324/ ) you could only fly in one ship, and this was the Cobra mkIII. Its a pretty versitile ship, and many Elite veterans still choose it on principle. So you should find it serves you well.

Still the fun that the second and third elites(Frontier+FFE respectively) brought to the game was the vast choice of ship types. Now you can role-play as a pure big time trader in a large slow ship, become a specialist assasin or military missions expert in fast deadly craft etc

Its this choice that i like in these later games, although some find it too 'free-form'.

From the standard ships in FFE i usualy end up in an Asp. Its just got the edge on the Cobra mkIII imho, and more space for extra cargo/equipement.

As for the extra crewmen. Yes you will need all the stated crew before you can take off. Its worth keeping this in mind when going for a huge ship with a large crew requirement, especialy if your in a fairly small starport - it can take a while for you to find enough crew(you might have to wait for months!).

[Gamecube64]

More questions! I'm guessing that the tractor beam cargo scoop does everything the cargo scoop conversion does (and doesn't need the fuel scoop), but you still need a fuel scoop if you want to scoop fuel.

[child of Thor]

well i'm a realtive newbie to FFE too, and haven't yet worked this out.
In normal Elite the fuel scoop allowed you to 'skim' hydrogen fuel from a sun(and you can do the same in FFE).
The cargo scoop conversion(which is an addition to the fule scoop-you need both) also allowed you to fly over the refuse and cargo left after you destroyed an enemy ship and scoop it up(same for FFE).

Now i've got a tractor beam added to this setup and i dont appear to have any specific extra controls on the flight console to activate it? And i seem to just be able to scoop stuff up as normal.....so i'm not really sure how it works. I need to experiment some more

[Asmodean]

Just downloaded it, and am now trying to get it to run. DosBox seems like a good idea, but the frame rate I'm getting is appalling - even with my 2.2 GHz AMD processor.

Any other ideas for getting it to run?

Asmodean

[child of Thor]

On the first page of this thread i think it was Reds4ever posted a link to JJFFE.
Its a windows friendly version of FFE.

After failing to find a way to introduce the roll commands in the DOS version of the game i've reverted back to playing the JJFFE version, even though on my P166 the game doesn't run as smoothly as the Shareware DOS version(its just slightly less smooth so not a big problem).

I've been playing with that ship i created(the Galactica Falcon). For those that are finding the combat too frustrating(or too frequent), i'd give that ship a try.

The reason you will get engaged less often is because of the speed of your hyperdrive. You always arrive at a system days before the fastest regular ship can catch you on an intercept!

Now this was not a planned thing - just what happens when you have a class4 military drive fitted.

The way to ensure you get the frequency of combat encounters back is to just stop when you arrive into a new system. Engines completely off(so you dont burn fuel) then increase time flow to let a couple of days skip by, or untill you get the alarm sounds

This way you can kind of choose when you want to engage in combat or not, and still increase you combat rateing(important for some of the latter main quest missions).

I've since made a slightly slower version of the Galactica Falcon which i'm using now, it handles a bit less wild in combat - i've updated the download file to this version(its got forward thrust of 25 and retro of 11, as opposed to the origonal 30g's and 15g's)

[J Bytheway]

Originally posted by Asmodean
Just downloaded it, and am now trying to get it to run. DosBox seems like a good idea, but the frame rate I'm getting is appalling - even with my 2.2 GHz AMD processor.

Any other ideas for getting it to run?

Asmodean

On my 1.6GHz Pentium machine I had to set frameskip=2 and cycles=4500 to get a decent framerate for Frontier in DosBox.

I suggest you tweak these until you find settings that work well, and then enshrine them in a config file. See the DosBox docs for more info.

[child of Thor]

all you guys with your fancy pc's

Thank god i just like old games best.......i'd be an unhappy gamer otherwise on my setup

I'm trying to come up with a way to intertwine the story from my current Xcom game with my FFE one - its proving tricky

[child of Thor]

Anyone got any experience of using those MB4 mining machine things?
I've never ever used them, but am thinking about it if they are a worthwhile thing to do. I'm just looking for some tips and hints on the best way to use them

I'm guessing the nice thing about them is once setup you get a regular income flow, so that frees up your time from cargo runs(to pay your bills) and gives the chance to explore much more?

[child of Thor]

I've added the link to the JJFFE(windows version of FFE) in the first post(the other link that red posted appears to be down).

And i'm now contemplating a completely new option with Elite for me. I'm going to go exploring - like deep space exploring. What ship type + setup would people reccomend? Has anyone here done this before?

[Snotty]

I think I tried it with an imp explorer last time this thread came up. First off I got mobbed by pirates for sector after sector, but then just empty space, and crashing into stars when i tried to scoop gas.

Good luck dude