SPMBT/SP2WW2 anyone?

[Warhero]

Sorry off-topic but I would like to get ALL SP games into my HD:). Now I have SP1,2,3,SPWAW, SPWW2v5.5 (and WinMBT/WW2 of course). I use Dosbox for dos versions, so I would like to "refresh some memories" about those days before newest MBT/WW2 Windows-versions:p...

So if anyone knows where to d/l them let me know.

PS. Does anyone know can I save games any way in dos versions (via Dosbox)? I tried many times to save but no success:(...

Thanks in advance
Warhero

[Rosollia]

PS. Does anyone know can I save games any way in dos versions (via Dosbox)? I tried many times to save but no success...

I have no problems saving Steel Panthers 2 games on my computer using DosBox. One thing to note is that when setting up Dosbox you should make sure not to install it on your Program Files folder. And also to make sure the virtual Dos hard drive folder is not in a Windows UAC (User Account Control) managed folder like Program Files.

First thing I did on my windows 7 machine was to turn of UAC... It is quite anoying feature IMHO.

[Warhero]

Ok my Dosbox is under c:\dosbox folder but do I have to make that "User Account Control"-thing? How I do that?

[Rosollia]

In Windows 7 to turn UAC off go to:
Control panel
->User Accounts
->Change User Account Control settings
->In the User Account Control Settings window move the slider all the way down.

Turning UAC off reduces your systems security though.

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/disable-user-account-control-uac-the-easy-way-on-windows-vista/

[Imp]

Turning UAC off reduces your systems security though.

The increased security risk is minimal & can infact be negated easily.
Use a virus checker or firewall that has a sandbox & leave it on.
Less intrusive than UAC as only asks you the first time something new tries to do something, so when you install something or run it for the first time & does not move files.
TIP turn off the sandbox when you install a safe application or occasionally you can end up clicking a dozen times or so though normally it recognises its an installer & just asks you once if it should ignore it.

If your a security freak you should not be using an administrative account for day to day use. That is far more secure than UAC but a pain as need to switch accounts to make any changes to your system.

[Warhero]

Hmm is that really only way to get save game-thing to work? No alternatives?

(Sorry I'm not good what comes to PC security things etc.)

But I can handle that without saving at all too... Maybe it's good thing too;) (to concentrate into 1 battle from beginning to end)?

Btw, once again if anyone have/knows where to d/l at least SP2WW2 and/or SPMBT files, let me know asap! I really would like to get all SP-versions into my PC.

[Rosollia]

Hmm is that really only way to get save game-thing to work? No alternatives?

Well I found this tutorial on how to get dosbox running correctly:
http://vogons.zetafleet.com/viewtopic.php?t=8933

So basicaly you need to place all your dos games in your C:\Users\your-user-name\DOSgames -folder and mount it as a c: drive for DOSBox.

If you have UAC on and have your games outside of "C:\Users\your-user-name\" folder you get into trouble with UAC preventing Dosbox from writing data.

[Warhero]

Sorry I moved all dos-games into c:\users\user\dosgames-folder and mounted via Dosbox. Still cannot to save game in SP1 (for example):(...

Thanks about tips anyway.

edit:It FINALLY WORKS!!!1 :) I just copied dosgames back to c:\ and mounted as mormally and started SP1. I took one scenario and moved couple units and just save as normally!

[Warhero]

I noticed that only SPWW2 v.5.5 refused to save game (even with cd in cd-drive). Others worked anyway.

[Warhero]

I got SPWW2 v5.5 to save with those tips! Thanks a lot!

[Warhero]

FYI:I got SPMBTv3.1 and SPWW2v7 from another SP forum. So, only SP2ww2 left!

[Warhero]

Btw, I tried to launch SPMBT v3.1 via Dosbox v0.70 but every time comes only "No space mouse space"... Any help?

[Rosollia]

I do not have the DOS versions of SPWW2 or SPMBT anymore so I can´t test as to why they would not work with DOSBOX. However if you run version 0.70 of DOSbox there is also a newer version 0.74 available.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/dosbox/files/dosbox/0.74/DOSBox0.74-win32-installer.exe/download
Maybe it works better maybe not...

EDIT:
If I remember correctly SPMBT 3.01 was just a patch. You needed to have SPMBT 3.0 installed first.
Also back in the day there was a program called mousectl that was used by people having trouble with mouse cursor running the game from windows 2000/XP. Make sure not to use that mousectl thingy when running the game in dosbox. Try to start the game directly from SPMBT.exe or SPWW2.exe.


I did however have and uploaded SP2WW2 into here:
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showpost.php?p=812276&postcount=18

[Rosollia]

Also I had the very first? CAMO mods. The ones that add the camo graphis to units in SP2 and SP3 games. These graphics replace the original Green/Blue/Brown unit graphics with camouflaged more realistic ones.

So these mods work for both Steel Panthers 2 and 3 games (by SSI). To install you just unzip the files into your \SHP directory.
These are not to be used with the current games these are very old mods from 1997-1998 era.

Again I hope it is okay for me to upload these here?

[Warhero]

Thanks about camo icons (and of course about upload SP2WW2 Rosollia). I have already them in SP2 and 3. I got finally SPMBT work with Dosbox!!! Just reinstalled game and used those mount lines in earlier message link... Saving works well in all SP games too!

[troopie]

Are you running them in full screen in Windows 7, if so how I recently bought a new computer, my old one died, and I can't get DosBox to work in full screen. When I try, my mouse and keyboard freeze up. Any suggestions? They work fine in a window.

Also WinSPWW2 and WinSPMBT work just fine in Windows 7. They are on the C drive in their own folders, not in Program Files.

troopie

[Rosollia]

troopie

A quick google search brings a couple of possible solutions.
1. Try running DOSBox in Windows XP SP3 compatibility mode.
2. Try messing around with the DOSBox configuration file. Specificaly the lines "output=" and "fullresolution=". Change them to for example:
fullresolution=1024x768
output=overlay.

[Warhero]

Troopie, what comes to full screen just push ALT+ENTER. Works for me anyway;)...

[Warhero]

Btw, how I can get that Russo-German mod's Icons.exe to work in my SPww2v7.1? I have Windows 7 and then I tried to convert new icons via icons.exe came some "runtime memory" error message... If anyone here got it work, help me please?

[troopie]

troopie

A quick google search brings a couple of possible solutions.
1. Try running DOSBox in Windows XP SP3 compatibility mode.
2. Try messing around with the DOSBox configuration file. Specificaly the lines "output=" and "fullresolution=". Change them to for example:
fullresolution=1024x768
output=overlay.

Alt-Enter did not work. Changing to fullresolution=1024x768 and output=overlay did the deed. Baie Dankie Rosollia!.

troopie