Doesn't Even Start

[Guest toasty]

I've been having trouble with running the normal BC3000AD game, 3dfx BC3000AD

game, and sound setup program in Windows. My computer completely freezes right after I

click the icon for any of those programs, before the program even gets

displayed on the screen.

My retail version is 2.07, and I've patched to 2.09, trying each version, but

none work. I've double-checked and I'm positive that I've used the correct

patches in the correct order.

I have tried everything seemingly relevant in the FAQ and in the message boards,

including downloading the Voodoo2 drivers from the 3000ad.com site, altering the memory

settings in the Properties of the shortcuts, and adding things to the BAT files.

The sound setup DOES work in pure DOS mode, however it doesn't autodetect the

correct settings for my Sound Blaster 16, and even when I enter the correct

settings, it still doesn't work. I can get the non-3dfx game to display the

opening movie in DOS mode as long as I set the game to "no digital sound". The

game then freezes at the title screen. The game still doesn't work in Windows

after running sound setup from DOS, though.

I've reinstalled the game twice already after deleting all of the program's

files, and have downloaded the patches twice to make sure I didn't just get a

bad download. I have also double-checked my sound card settings and they match

in Windows and DOS. Anyone have any suggestions?

Here is my system configuration:

Pentium 166MHz

EPoX P55TV2 motherboard (with latest BIOS)

96MB RAM

3dfx Voodoo2 12MB (with the latest drivers from 3dfx)

Diamond Stealth II S220 (Rendition 2100 chipset)

Creative Sound Blaster 16 (with latest drivers)

Microsoft PS/2 Intellimouse

Windows 98

DirectX 8

[Papi]

Does your soundcard work in other DOS games under windows?

Sounds like IRQ problem to me.

[Guest toasty]

Yes it does. All other DOS games that use my sound card work fine both in DOS and in Windows.

I have checked the settings to the sound card, and I haven't found any conflicts.

[ 06-18-2001: Message edited by: toasty ]

[Guest toasty]

Any more ideas, anyone?

[Charles Lindsey]

You are not supposed to use autodetect in the sound setup program. Yes it's there but it often chokes.

Do not use the setup icon that looks like a miniature "Windows" window. Use the icon (also named setup) that has MS-DOS icon for it. You should not have to run that program from pure dos. And if you do how does windows know what you did when you try to start the game?

Once in the setup program use the arrow keys to navigate the choices. Select and test.

If it plays in the setup program it will

play in the game.

With one exception from personal experience. My former computer reported the DMA as 1. Setup tested ok at 1. Game would not play. Try setting DMA to zero (or anything else) and see if that works. Weird but true for me.

It's broke anyway. try anything.

Best as I recall. hope that helps.

[Aleksey Kichigin]

do you have a 'multicard'? (COM1/2,LPT and so on in one extended card)

[Guest toasty]

No I don't.

[Wold]

Out of curiosity, what are your dos settings (base I/O, IRQ, & DMA) for your sound card? Do you have a network card installed? (whether it's used or not)

[Guest toasty]

Sound Blaster 16:

Port 220

IRQ 10

DMA 3

And no network card.

[Wold]

There should be a command line in your autoexec.bat file that reads something like

SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D3 H7 P330 T6

These are the settings that Windows really uses when running DOS based sound.

(BTW, A=Address, I=interupt, D=low DMA, H=High DMA.)

There should be a second file loaded called sbeinit.com. (dosdrv should be in the path)

When possible,(some system bios don't have this feature) I set CMOS up so that the IRQ used by the Sound Blaster emulator is Legacy ISA device vs. PCI/ISA or plug n play.

Try uninstalling and zapping the install folder again. Install the game to the default folder. Run the sound setup (using the short-cut created during install) and see if sound will work. Use the settings in the Autoexec.bat file.

[Emmett.hendrick]

quick note as I have seen this before IRQ 10 which you list as being used by your soundcard is usually used by a system device and while (in theory) it can be shared with your soundcard your better off setting your card IRQ to 5 if you can. I have seen this cause problems in the past with creative sound cards

hope this helps

[Guest toasty]

Well, I set my IRQ to 5, checked if I had the SET BLASTER lines (I do), and deleted the game. I reinstalled, but both the sound setup and the game still do the same thing (freeze Windows the right after I click the shortcut).

[Wold]

hummm... In CMOS your Epox bd should allow you to reserve IRQ5 as a legacy ISA device. Try that if you haven't.

Are you running any tweak utilities or overclocking your video card? If not, set it back to defaults...

IF it still won't work....check other settings even if they aren't related to sound, such as the memory settings for the short cuts. Also make sure (someone correct me if I'm wrong here) that the correct (the one for the voodoo2) GLIDE2X.OVL is in the BC3000ad folder

Also from the FAQ, voodoo section "make sure your desktop color depth is set to 16-Bit hi color mode."

I'm running out of suggestions.