Help loading original Worms on Windows XP please!

[Umscau]

Hi all,

I am new to this forum so forgive me if this question has been answered elsewhere... :confused:

I have a laptop with Windows XP and have just bought an old copy of the original Worms game for PC. I understand that XP does not have DOS as such, but the instructions say to restart the machine in DOS to run the game. Please could someone explain (as simply as possible!!) how I can do this and get playing?

Thanks in advance!

[bonz]

http://www.dosbox.com/

DOSBox is a great DOS emulator.
Install it, read the FAQ about mounting drives (CD and HDD), then install the game from there as you would have done 10 years ago in MS DOS.
You can then also create your own auto-start script which does the mounting and execution of the game automatically for you with the click of a desktop shortcut.

The CD version of Worms United works fine for me, complete with CD audio and sound effects.
Only the intro videos and the random FMVs tend to stutter and stop playing after a few seconds, so I skip or disable them respectively.

[franpa]

I agree DOSBox is excellent, so is there forum staff and community. (that is if you know the basics to DOS)

[robowurmz]

DOSBox is amazing. Full sound, everything. It's great to play all my old games again.

[StoneFrog]

Use DOSBox foo! While you're at it go dig out your copies of Lemmings and other childhood memories.

Also get D-Fend, a front end for DOSBox, if you don't like typing all that stuff out.

[robowurmz]

Use DOSBox foo! While you're at it go dig out your copies of Lemmings and other childhood memories.

Also get D-Fend, a front end for DOSBox, if you don't like typing all that stuff out.

Typing is all part of the fun and memoires to me. :P

[StoneFrog]

Well, ever since my computer's SYSTEM32/CONFIG blew up and I spent a whole day going through the recovery console and the BIOS, I've gained a phobia of the command prompt. Or at least fullscreen ones. :(

[robowurmz]

Well, ever since my computer's SYSTEM32/CONFIG blew up and I spent a whole day going through the recovery console and the BIOS, I've gained a phobia of the command prompt. Or at least fullscreen ones. :(

Ooh, nasty. Condolences.

[CyberShadow]

Well, ever since my computer's SYSTEM32/CONFIG blew up and I spent a whole day going through the recovery console and the BIOS, I've gained a phobia of the command prompt. Or at least fullscreen ones. :(
This is usually solved by restoring a copy from the C:\WINDOWS\repair\ folder, or doing a "Repair" install using the original CD - and can be avoided by using journalled file systems (NTFS vs FAT) and not powering off/resetting the PC while it's starting up and shutting down. How did you solve it?

[StoneFrog]

CyberShadow - the "repair install" is unreliable and sometimes leaves some things in, and some things are removed. It tells you with that error to hit R when the CD is in also, but that just brings up the Recovery Console - I proceeded to chkdsk /r, but for some reason in my case it would hit 75% and drop down to 50 and never update. I googled this on another computer and found out the only way to fix that is by means you can only do if you can actually boot Windows.

Microsoft also has this (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307545) particularly lengthy method, but in my case I just got "access denied" when attempting this. Odd as I do have admin privileges on all accounts. Guest accounts are also disabled and all.

In the end, I gave up. Used a Norton Ghost and my other backed up data.

I don't know what particularly caused it, and still don't know to this day. The last thing I recall doing that involved some system/registry changing was installing Pidgin - dun dun DUN!

[CyberShadow]

It tells you with that error to hit R when the CD is in also, but that just brings up the Recovery Console - I proceeded to chkdsk /r, but for some reason in my case it would hit 75% and drop down to 50 and never update.That's a common misunderstanding :) If you go on further through the install, Setup will detect an existing installation and will offer you either to perform a "repair install", or delete the entire Windows folder and perform a clean install.

I don't know why you were getting "Access Denied" errors when using the recovery console - possibly because the ACL was set to only allow the "SYSTEM" user access to the files (some other folders have such an ACL, such as the "System Volume Information" folder). Anyway, the alternative would have been to use a BartPE or Linux boot CD (with NTFS write support).

I've asked about this because I had the opportunity of fixing quite a few broken Windows installations, and I'm curious about others' experience in the area :)

[franpa]

The recovery console is well known as being a piece of crap @ recovering computers from problems. One of the advantages of Win9x (and one of it's downfalls) is that you could do anything to windows via DOS.

[MrBunsy]

The recovery console is well known as being a piece of crap @ recovering computers from problems. One of the advantages of Win9x (and one of it's downfalls) is that you could do anything to windows via DOS.

Eh? You could still do anything to XP via DOS if you so wished to install it :p

[franpa]

Not if XP is on a NTFS partition and NTFS is strongly recommended for NT based windows.

[MrBunsy]

Not if XP is on a NTFS partition and NTFS is strongly recommended for NT based windows.

Pff, picky picky. A linux boot disc then. Or write an NTFS reader for DOS.

[Squirminator2k]

I need to have a chat with K^2. He was talking about "porting" Worms: The Directors Cut to Windows. I need to see if he's still doing that.

[Muzer]

I need to have a chat with K^2. He was talking about "porting" Worms: The Directors Cut to Windows. I need to see if he's still doing that.
ZOMG! That would be the best thing ever!

Just make sure he makes a linux port.

[StoneFrog]

And leave the WinUAE amiga floppy drive emulation sound in.

Muahahaha...

[Squirminator2k]

For a HD-installed version of the game.

Tch.

[robowurmz]

DC for PC? Nice!
DC was great fun.

[bonz]

I need to have a chat with K^2. He was talking about "porting" Worms: The Directors Cut to Windows. I need to see if he's still doing that.
Oh, I totally forgot that since you mentioned it.

I'm looking forward too it, although with the latest version of WinUAE WDC works perfectly fine for me.
It would probably reduce the loading times and clicking in the Amiga Workbench windows.

[Squirminator2k]

I remember talking with Andy Davidson last year about how he'd feel about a Windows port. He didn't like the idea - WormsDC was very much his Swansong to the Amiga community. And I admit, there is a certain amount of enjoyment to be had in booting up the emulator (or, if you've got one, an actual Amiga) to play the game.

Good times.

[Muzer]

I have an amiga, but I can't figure out how to get the image onto a disk :(

[Squirminator2k]

What model do you have, and which version of Workbench are you running? I haven't had to copy an image to a disk in a while but I more or less remember the basics. It mostly required spreading a .zip of the image across multiple Amiga floppy disks formatted as PC floppy disks, then using the Amiga's built-in PC floppy support and an unzip tool downloaded from AmiNET to reconstitute the image. It's probably a lot easier now what with tools like Amiga Forever which allow you to network a PC and an Amiga seamlessly.

[Muzer]

I have an A1200 with a broken harddrive, and an A600 with a working hard drive. I also have workbench 2.04 and Extras 2.04. I only have HD floppies.

[Squirminator2k]

The A600 isn't going to be able to run WormsDC natively - the game requires the AGA graphics chipset which AFAIK was only ever used in the A1200, A4000, A4000T and the CD32. Some Amiga graphics cards can emulate AGA on other systems, but I've never used them so I don't know what their success rate is.

If nothing else I'm fairly certain WormsDC requires Workbench 3.0 or later.

[Muzer]

Yeah, I have an A1200 as I said.

I thought that you could boot it directly from floppy without going via wb?

And it's more of not knowing how to get the game actually onto the floppy, rather than not being able to run it.

I don't need it installed or anything.

[Squirminator2k]

Pity, it runs a lot smoother when it's installed.

You'll have to use the A600 to copy the images to disk but yeah, you can use the disks in the A1200.

[StoneFrog]

Worms DC uses the A1200.

[Squirminator2k]

Thanks for the update, Tiger. Let us know if anything changes.