MoO2 Win2k Buggy>?

[dexters]

Anyone find MoO2 to be buggy ? This is my first time playing the game, and it is on a Win2k machine. I've updated to the 1.3 patch by Micropose (not the mod patch) and found 2 bugs

1. cursor freezing up
2. The menu screens and layers of graphics disappearing making the game unplayable

[vmxa1]

I played it on NT/XP/Win9x/Dos, but not W2k. Get to 1.31 and apply SP2 to W2K. I have not seen this second bug. Moo2 still has a few bugs and will freeze or crash on rare occasions. I get into crash/hangs on games I get from the web were they use an editor to mod the game and the editor introduces bugs with the map.

[black98z]

Yup, I had the same problem. I came here looking for a solution. When I didn't find one, I played around with my drivers. I tried a new mouse driver and that didn't work....then I discovered that I had a beta Nvidia driver and didn't realize it. I tried the latest released on Nvidia's site and it works great now.

Try that.

[vmxa1]

I just wonder why so many cling to W2K with all the problems it seems to have? I see many complaints about game X or Y not working and they all work on XP, what is the attraction, is it cost?. It si the only microsoft OS I never used.

[black98z]

Not true.

This has nothing to do with Win2k and everything to do with accidently installing a beta driver.

XP blows.

[vmxa1]

Did you think that up all by yourself? Irregardless of what this particular problem and solution is, I have seen numerous post on many boards for problems with games in W2K. I have no idea what blows means, but I do not hear any responsible techs saying to jerk XP and install W2K and since the kernnel is basically the same, if XP "blows" then what does it say about its predecessor?

[moomin]

I can't speak for anybody else, vmxa, but as for myself I won't pay windows tax, nor will I steal by copying it. The old faithful W98SE I've have on my current machine (and my previous six or so boxes) will be with me till nobody produces any kind of drivers for it anymore - which I hope will be like fifteen years from now.

I'm sure there are ppl out there who cling to W2K for much the same reasons. I've read that unless you do gaming, W2K is a more stable, less resource consuming environment than XP.

[vmxa1]

It was that I keep seeing post about one game or another not working in W2K and they are all working fine in XP and 98SE. I understand your position. I W2K is not any more stable than XP. it may use less resources, but W2K uses plenty. If I have a game that is very important to me and it does not play on a given platform, I am going find one that it does. W2K already is lacking much of the hardware support tha exist in XP and is not going to get better. If you play games, it is a very poor choice for an OS. It has no future.

[Spaced Cowboy]

Vmxa1,

I don't know if that is entirely accurate. I've had trouble getting some of my old DOS games to run on XP. One even came up with a message that my version of DOS was not high enough to play the game (LOL).

XP is a great OS, but not if you want to run DOS games. (Not all of them would not work, just most of them).

[vmxa1]

Well, they all work for me. MoM/Moo/Alien Legacy/Star General/Civ I and others. Can't think of any older than those.

[Spaced Cowboy]

Is star general the one with the map-copy protection? (Wait that was star control 2?) I couldn't get either to run. Any tips that you would like to share?

[vmxa1]

Do you get an error msg, but can not see it has it flashes by?

Right click on the exe and select properties and then Program tab. Clear the close on exit box. This will allow the dos window to remain open so you can see the msg.


Was it a memory issue?

Go to the exe properties select Mem tab. Set the three drop downs to the highest values. Check protected and use HMA boxes.

Does the game require EMS?

If so you should create copies of the Config.Nt and Autoexec.NT files and put them in the directory of that game.
Edit the Config.NT file and check the box for compatible timer. I have not need the autoexec so far, so change the Config filename to point to the new one you are creating. In this file add EMM=RAM after dos=high statement. This will force emulation of EMS memory.
Other items may require changs to Config or even Autoexec and will likely be defined in the install doc for that game, I have not required any so far and all of my games are runningat this time, but I may buy others later.

It could be that you need to go to the compat tab and select run in compat mode for Win95. A game that requires 256 colors may need that box checked.
Misc tab you should look at the Exclusive mode for the mouse. Resolution 640 may be required for some.

Windows XP has a tool that can be downloaded to test various setting for desperate situations.
Star General has naval ships in space and uses the General engine.

[Spaced Cowboy]

vmxa1,

Thanks for the info. I just emailed it home to myself. I will try to get Star General to work 1st. Can I count on your help if I get stuck?

I'm assuming that you have SG working?

[vmxa1]

No problem. I do not recall having much problem with it, not like MoM, that was tricky. I did MoM first so maybe by the time I did StarGen I had it down.