Unofficial Tex Murphy

Okay, just a little background info: I can't run anything on my WinXP that isn't compatible with WinXP. I haven't yet figured out why running in different compatibility modes has never worked..but it never has. But that isn't what I'm writing about.

I have Virtual PC running Windows 98 to play my DOS-based games since my box with Windows 98 blew up. So, I installed the games over again on my Virtual PC, and I can't get any of them to run. Pandora Directive, for instance, appears to start up, shows me the arrow then freezes instantly with a black screen and the arrow just sitting there. Overseer in the CD version did the same thing. I haven't gotten the patience to try Under a Killing Moon yet, although it's installed.

I've tried installing the patches from Nilo's site that he provided me the link to on another post I made here. I then tried it without the patches. I don't know what's going on though. On my PC that I had with Windows 98 on it the games all worked just fine, but they're not working with Virtual PC. I can't think of why they wouldn't though--my other games run fine.

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks all!
~Ri

P.S. When I try to play the DVD version of Overseer I get a "Digital Sound Initialization Error" saying that I either need to install the RSX 3D Drivers or that something was already in use that the game needed to use...I didn't catch the whole error message because the game froze, as per usual...

Overseer, DVD version only.

Go to the Overseer directory and open the Tex.ini file. In the [DIGI] section there is a line named RSXDeviceType=wave. Change it to read RSXDeviceType=directsound. Save the file and reboot your PC. Now restart the game.

Ugh, this is so frustrating...

What you said fixed the audio error problem, so thank you for that.

I've been trying to play ANY of the TM games on CD for 5 days now without any luck whatsoever. I can't get any of them to run.

Overseer in the DVD version gives me the little opening sound then partially loads the main menu but it's frozen every single time.

Pandora Directive gives me a frozen black screen with the arrow in the middle.

I still have yet to try to load UAKM because I'm waiting for a new purchase of the game to arrive at my house.

Is this a problem that anyone else has had or do you think that it's due to the fact I'm trying to play on Virtual PC instead of a partitioned drive or a DOS-ready box? Should I try that "DOS Box" program?

Any advice and thoughts are truly appreciated!

~Ri

If you use DosBox, bear in mind it is very SLOOOOW unless you have a very impressive system to run. I've heard it runs well on certain configs, but I wouldn't know as I've always played it in native DOS, and always will do.

Poo. I don't want to play the games all slow...I wonder what the heck is causing this problem? Time to hit the Internet search engines. I doubt I'll find anything on this exacct issue, but it's worth a shot. I have a feeling that it is a conflict with VPC afterall. No one else seems to have had this issue...

~Ri

P.S. When I try to play the DVD version of Overseer I get a "Digital Sound Initialization Error" saying that I either need to install the RSX 3D Drivers or that something was already in use that the game needed to use...I didn't catch the whole error message because the game froze, as per usual...

What else can i do with it?

For the sound issue, I installed this program called "Miles Sound System" which fixed the problem without having to edit the .ini file. It can be found here: http://www.radgametools.com/miles.htm

Good luck!