SS1 SYSTEMSHOCK-Portable questions

[666816b43f7fdNameless Voice]

Excellent work.
It seems to run like a charm, though I did have to tweak the configuration a bit, as my laptop didn't like the default 75Hz refresh rate.

If you encounter an error, please post a screenshot of the error message.

You might find ImageShack QuickShot useful for taking screenshots of message boxes and uploading them straight to somewhere you can link to them from.
If you don't want to use that, then you can just use the PrintScreen key and manually crop and upload the image to ImageShack, or some other online image repository.

[666816b43f97bDrFeelgood]

I really want to play this game but I keep on getting an error that won't let me run it. I have tryed to "ignore" it but it still won;t work. The error is.

16 bit MS-DOS Subsystem
C:\PROGRA~\SHOCK\vesa.pif
C:\WINDOWS/SYSTEM32/AUTOEXEC.NT. The system file is not suitable for running MS-DOS and microsoft windows applications. Choose close to terminate the application.

Well how in the heck do I make it suitable?

[666816b43fb00Kolya]

You are probably missing Config.nt, Autoexec.nt or Command.com, or one of them is damaged.
Copy Config.nt and Autoexec.nt from C:/windows/repair to C:/windows/system32.

You still have to extract command.com from the windows cd.
It can be found in: X:\i386\command.co_ (Where "X" is your cd drive letter.) And it should go to c:\windows\system32\command.com

[666816b43fcf9Hi-Torque]

I am sure this is old news, but System Shock 1 runs just fine on my Windows Mobile Samsung i830.
Thanks to Kolya's most excellent SSP for (cough files cough) the the inspiration to muck around with getting it to work.
You need the Pocket PC port of DOSBox here http://n0p.averest-k.ru/?DOSBox_PPC
And of course SSP here https://www.systemshock.org/inde...pic,211.0.html (even if you do have the CD or an image, it was kind of a bitch kitty to get the files installed...for me anyway) Thanks Kolya!
Then inside the RES folder, just copy the SShock executable, the data and sound folders and the config file over to a folder on your storage card.
Install DOSBox, mount your folder and your ready to go.
I had outstanding luck with movies and sound, though I had to fool around with frame skip and cycles abit.
Hope this is useful to someone 

Shock On!

[666816b43fff8v.dog]

This version is doing something the 0.5 didn't; the walls buckle and warp as I move or rotate. I've tried playing with the VESA settings, but I've only made things worse- it tells me the parameters are incorrect in the *.pifs, and even wiping everything and re-installing hasn't helped.

That is the error, nothing more.

vesa.pif

The parameter is incorrect.

If I run it in Mouse2KV mode:

mouse.pif

The parameter is incorrect.

[666816b440183Kolya]

Try running these pifs directly please (in RES).
It might be some obscure error in the launcher. I made a note and will look into that.

If you like to tinker around, there's a file called "SSP.bat" in the RES folder. That's the uncompiled launcher.
Copy it to the main folder "SHOCK" and try adding a "title" where the PIF is called as described here.
Then start the bat-file.

[666816b4403c3Kolya]

What Robert "Xemu" Fermier (one of System Shock's programmers) said when he heard of SYSTEMSHOCK-Portable:

Haha, I remember when we wrote the code to decide what resolutions we would allow on the UI, and how comically low they seem now. Anyways, cool find...

http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showpost.php?p=979661&postcount=10

[666816b440593Skafsgaard]

I've never gotten SS1 to work before, and I've wanted to play it since I had such a blast with SS2, so I'm in heavens, now that I got SS-P and it works!

However, there seems to be what looks like a bug, though I can't be too sure, since I've never played the game before. When I pick up logs (I've only tried picking up the first to logs) the voice and the text doesn't match. That is to say, they deliver completely different messages. How do I fix this?

I would just like to add that this "bug" affects both e-mails and logs.
A curious thing is that though the recorded voice and text of a given log or e-mail, though different in wording, regard some of the same issues. For example, I received an e-mail from SHODAN, an automated welcome greeting, and both the voice and the text of the e-mail was explaining what lies on each floor, though they were formulated differently.
Another example is that I picked up a log, of some person called Stack, I believe, and both the voice and the text was talking about some Gunther's death, though again in different wording.

Can you tell me which gives me the most info and plot details: the voice or the text?

[666816b4406e7Kolya]

This is not a bug, the messages really often do not match, likely because they weren't revised after the voices had been done for the CD version. Additionally when you set the text to be "scarce" in the game's options you get the necessary info but the text and voice match even less. Try this and see what works better for you.

If you have no problem to understand the audio I'd set the text to scarce and concentrate on the audio. It helps with immersion and the scarce text is good for looking something up quickly.

[666816b4407e3hike1]

This really takes me back, thank you! Crashes on 'start game' on my win 2000 machine but works fine on my XP box.

[666816b4408feDaniel]

Hello, its me again and thanks to this wonderful program iam now playing this wonderful game, but I have a problem, the volume on my computer suddenly jumps to almost full blast and it nearly defened me when I first tried it. No matter how low I turn the volume (ingame and in the computer) It always goes back to high everytime I start it.

I would be very appreciative if you guys coudl tell me how to remedy this issue.

[666816b4409e0Kolya]

Hello Daniel, how about the volume knob on your hifi?

[666816b440b06Vosla]

As my soundcard wasn't cooperating with real DOS, DOS-Box and even VMWare (that free server-thingie + plus the player), I had the choice to use an old PC or to quit on sound plus having my mouse behave like having a fit here and then.

I stumbled upon this thread, thought: "Well, let's give it a try..." and IT WORKS!!!
You gave me back my Systemshock!
Thanks, people! This is awesome!

[666816b440e6aflexbuster]

I'm having some extremely horrible/stupid problems running this properly.

Just to get this out of the way, I'm running an Acer Travelmate250 Laptop from Hell, with Windows XP Professional and an Intel Extreme Graphics 2 (82852/82855 GM/GME) graphics chipset (also from Hell) with the latest drivers.

I've always been able to run System Shock just fine with the basic Windows XP-fixed cdshock executable with no real problems anywhere except one: For some reason, 640x480 mode causes the screen to basically get REALLY garbled up (or, with more recent drivers for my graphics chipset, give up and become completely black instead). This has happened with at least one other old DOS game before, so I'm thinking it's some problem my graphics chipset has with certain VESA modes. It's ONLY the graphics that screw up when this happens, nothing else. I have to exit the game by using the keyboard to navigate/use the menu buttons to quit the game.

I know some other people have also had this problem, but haven't found out what, if anything, fixed it for them.

How this relates to System Shock Portable:
Running it with dgvoodoo's built-in VESA mode enabled doesn't even let the game run properly at ALL. Often, the intro cutscene will play in the upper-left corner of the screen, but afterwards, I basically see a fullscreen version of the console window, sometimes garbled a bit, and sometimes with text missing, and always with some weirdass color-cycling going on. Music, on the other hand, is playing just dandy.

If I change the DirectX setting to DirectX7 from DirectX9 in the "Global" tab, it does one better: It just crashes to desktop. Or SEEMS to. The music still is playing, and vesa.exe and ntvdm.exe are still running processes, but the taskbar button comletely disappears and god only knows how or if I could access the program again. Considering that the credits screen elevator muzak still gets going sometimes, I'm thinking the game is actually still running, oddly enough.


I just tried UNchecking Mode 0x13 Support and running it to see if that would help, and it did. The mouse cursor was missing from the main menus, but you can use the keyboard so that didn't matter. I started a new game, could get into 1024x768 mode just fine (albeit with slightly choppy music/graphics, but apparently that's to be expected), and was happy, and wasn't about to post this.

HOWEVER: I just tried running the game again like that, and it failed. I can start a new game just fine, the level music loads, the HUD loads, but... about a tenth of a second later, before the actual gameplay area gets a chance to start rendering, the game crashes while flashing me this error message in huge text (most likely a small fraction of the actual message, and I can't make any sense of it) for about another tenth of a second before crashing to desktop entirely.


My main question is: What the hell. Has anyone else had a problem with this or know of any solutions?

mouse2kv doesn't solve the issue either.

[666816b440f95kiph]

hi, first off i'd just like to say a big THANK YOU!! i wasted hours trying to get my old copy of SS1 running using the guide on TTLG, with absolutely no luck at all, then i download and try your game and it works perfectly!

i just have one quesiton though. is it possible to run the game in a window? i selected 'Windowed mode' in the dgVoodoo configuration menu, but it still launches the game in a full screen for some reason.

[666816b4410fcKolya]

kiph, you first have to select PLATFORM: DOS, then check Windowed mode.

Flexbuster, is there any way to figure out what the error message says? (screenshot perhaps?) If it says "out of range" download the nVidiaGeForce4_winxpfix.exe from above. I know you don't have that card. Try it anyway, it worked for a few people with different cards before. Remember to go to a winXP Administrator account and backup the file C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\vga.sys. Then run the Geforce4-fix and reboot.

If you think it's a problem with dgvoodoo, then take a look at the threads mentioned on DG's page.

[666816b44154dkiph]

kiph, you first have to select PLATFORM: DOS, then check Windowed mode.

kolya, your suggestion worked, but for some reason the game runs significantly slower in windowed mode than in full, and even begins stuttering. is there any way to fix this?

i dont have anything else running. the game runs smooth as silk in fullscreen mode, but slows to a crawl and stutters like crazy in a window. weird. i didn't touch any other settings in the config menu either.

[666816b44163dKolya]

Lower the refresh rate in DGVoodoo setup.

[666816b441719Алек]

Спасибо !!! (THX from Russia). I receive huge pleasure from game.

[666816b44184aSilicon Hero]

The intro, credits, and title screen work like a charm, but whenever I try starting the game, it just exits out.  On VESA mode, the sounds continue, and nothing seems to stop it, not even ending the process.  Mouse2kv does the same thing except when it crashes, nothing's left, no sound, no process, nothing.

[666816b44193aKolya]

Did you check the trouble shooting section above? Sounds like the "Out of range" error.

[666816b441a58Some_twerp]

I've been playing with it so far, and after following the instructions, I'm still getting instances where the game randomly closes to desktop with no error message-as if I'd just exited the game as normal. It happens with both the emulators enclosed. It puzzles me because from what I gathered about your readme, since it's running via an emulator there's no need to worry abnout compatability modes and whatnot (Cough)SS2(cough).

[666816b441b58Kolya]

The game is not running through an emulator. (Unless you count the Windows NT virtual DOS Machine, NTVDM.exe.)
If it closes randomly, do the usual stuff, turn off background services and ... save a lot. There's no guarantee it will run smoothly on every system.

[666816b441c6aSome_twerp]

Or to be more succinct suck it up and when you play, pray? Right, thanks. :p