Free Colonization CD with PC Gamer magazine or so it seems...

[Niptium]

The gamers magazine PC Gamers has an interesting bonus that comes with next months's package : the old 1994 Colonization game. Has anyone tested it out ?

[snoopy369]

I have the old 1994 col game (came in an old Strategy pack I got), and I think it works on DOSBox... i'll have to try running it at home.

I'll probably grab a new PC Gamer magazine also

[Zealot]

Originally posted by Niptium
The gamers magazine PC Gamers has an interesting bonus that comes with next months's package : the old 1994 Colonization game. Has anyone tested it out ?

Is that the DOS or Windows version?

[Locutus]

Nooooo!!! I'm working on an article that explains Colonization to people who've never played the original, but if everyone actually starts playing it now I just wasted a lot of my precious time...

[snoopy369]

Don't worry, plenty of people will ignore it and need the explanation anyway If nothing else, i'll read it and argue about it on MSN if it makes you feel better...

[fed1943]

The old Colonization works with DosBox (the DOS option,
of course).
Best regards,

[snoopy369]

It definitely comes with the mag ... have my copy of the mag now (haven't read it yet, but will soon!)

[snoopy369]

Ok, it comes with the DOS version, plus DOSBOX is installed for you (v0.72 for those who know/care about that). I'm about a third of the way through a game right now ... works like a charm, sound, everything - and it has a 3x size which works very well on my monitor!

[Niptium]

Thanks for the confirmation !

[Lord Avalon]

So this would be the August edition? Is it in stores now or do you guys have subs?

[Unimatrix11]

ping-dshuung.... ping-dshuuung ... detecting subs...

[snoopy369]

It's in stores (just got into Borders anyway this saturday).

[snoopy369]

As a clarification, realize I didn't answer this: Thanks to the time-travelling magic of the magazine industry, I have a copy of the September PC Gamer, which is the one with the Colonization DVD in it.

[DarkCloud]

Would the new version of the old game work with Vista?

[snoopy369]

Presumably ... it's running in DOSBox, so it's not really running "in" Vista.

[DarkCloud]

Hm. Random question then- I still have the original colonization game- I couldn't get it to run in XP, will it run in Vista? I might dig it out to see about that...

[snoopy369]

You just need to get it to work with Dos Box:

http://www.dosbox.com/

If I remember when I get home, i'll post the shortcut that runs it - it's a specific setup so that the game is the right size and such.

[DarkCloud]

Thanks snoopy. I'd never heard of that before. I'll check it out.

[2K_jason]

The version of Colonization that comes with the PC gamer demo disc is a custom install of DOSBox.

It has an installer/uninstaller and should work perfectly with Vista/Windows 9x/XP.

We will be releasing it for free online in the near future.

[Niptium]

Oh cool ! I'm waiting for that !

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by 2K_jason
The version of Colonization that comes with the PC gamer demo disc is a custom install of DOSBox.

It has an installer/uninstaller and should work perfectly with Vista/Windows 9x/XP.

We will be releasing it for free online in the near future.

Thanks, Jason!

[DarkCloud]

Okay. I have Colonization working with Vista on DosBox, but I havne't figured out how to install it on the computer- I can play off the CD but when I try to install to a directory it tells me that it cannot... it is "invalid".

Therefore, I cannot save.

Does everyone else just play off the CD or did you manage to do an install?

---
I also tried copying the files to C: and then installing from there- the install and creation of folders worked... but the game "could not locate CD" so it would not play.

---
I basically have the same problem as the guy who most recently posted on DosBox's colonization forums:

http://www.dosbox.com/comp_list.php?...h=colonization

[Zealot]

Why didn't they provide WinCol instead?
Would work with Vista and no more problems with it.

[DarkCloud]

WinCol?

[Dale]

Yeah, I got wincol at home.

It was for Win95.

[RichM]

Originally posted by Zealot
Why didn't they provide WinCol instead?
Would work with Vista and no more problems with it.

I have WinCol at home, but unfortunately I've never been able to get the music to work on modern computers. The dos version was always presented itself a little better in my opinion.

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by Zealot
Why didn't they provide WinCol instead?
Would work with Vista and no more problems with it.

I presume DC doesn't have the version they provided with PC Gamer ... as that does not require a CD or anything (I don't recall the original game requiring a CD, for that matter, as I didn't have a CD drive at the time I don't think...)

In any event, the way they provided it makes a lot of sense, and should work with Vista fine.

[Unimatrix11]

The CD-issue: I´d look for some kind of .ini file in the folder after having copied the whole thing to C: and look if there is a line in there saying something like: ´CD = E:´ or something like that and change ´E´ to whatever folder you copied it to.

[DarkCloud]

Okay thanks Unimatrix. I'll look up that.

Snoopy- my problem is that I can't install the game from the CD- the only way I can install the game is if I copy it from the CD to drive C and then install it from there.

How would one install from the CD using DosBox? When I try to install from the CD- it won't let me since it tries to create the files on my CD rom drive?

[snoopy369]

What CD? What are you talking about? Did Col originally come on a CD??

In any event, Firaxis will soon be releasing the Dosbox version, so perhaps just be patient?