Jagged Alliance 2 and WIndows XP

[udarnik]

Has anyone here managed to get JA2 to run under XP? Do you know any tricks for getting old games in general to run?

 

[Spazmo]

For old games in general, try compatability mode. Go in the .exe's properties screen and go to the compatability tab.

 

[udarnik]

Yep, yep. I've tried that. It works for some games (Fallout) but not for others (JA2). Sound is the usual hangup in these old games, but in JA's case, it's the cutscenes. It's too bad SirTech is out of business and no longer able to support their games. So, have any JA2 fans out there actually got the program to work under XP, or are you clinging stubbornly to 95/98?

 

[Spazmo]

Never played JA2 myself, so I couldn't tell you what to do to get it running in XP, buuuuut...

Well, I can think of one thing. However, it's nasty and complicated and unpleasant. Basically, you could back up your hard drive, then format it. And then make two partitions on it: one for Windows XP and most games, and the other for an installation of Windows 98 that you keep for certain older games. Then, whenever you want to play something like JA2, you just have to restart and switch partitions. You can do all of this in the command prompt, by the way. Just look up your DOS commands first.

 

[udarnik]

Formatting my hard drive is kind of a harsh solution. I would be tempted to buy Virtual PC if I were a truly hardcore DOS game player. Most games seem to have work arounds, though. For example, in order to get Heroes of Might and Magic 1 to work all I had to do was turn off the sound. I am half heartedly trying to get Battletech 1 to work too, but I suspect I need a program to slow down my processor (I'm failing the timed missions). One of the reasons I got JA2 was because of the good words some of the forum dwellers here had for it, though perhaps they were just recalling fond memories, and haven't tried installing it recently.

 

[Jarinor]

Actually, I got JA2 running under Windows XP no problems, at all. Course, it could have been the completely new hard drive and fresh installation of XP. I don't have to turn off anything, I don't run in compatibility mode or anything like that. Maybe I'm just lucky.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Formatting my hard drive is kind of a harsh solution. I would be tempted to buy Virtual PC if I were a truly hardcore DOS game player. Most games seem to have work arounds, though. For example, in order to get Heroes of Might and Magic 1 to work all I had to do was turn off the sound. I am half heartedly trying to get Battletech 1 to work too, but I suspect I need a program to slow down my processor (I'm failing the timed missions). One of the reasons I got JA2 was because of the good words some of the forum dwellers here had for it, though perhaps they were just recalling fond memories, and haven't tried installing it recently.

For the old DOS games, you should check out DOSBox:

http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/news.php?show_news=1

It's fairly functional right now and still being worked on.

As for JA2, I can't help you as I'm still clinging to the Win9x thing for the same reason you're having trouble with.

BTW, that old BattleTech RPG ruled. I have fond memories of the prison break in that game. :D

 

[axel]

Has anyone here managed to get JA2 to run under XP? Do you know any tricks for getting old games in general to run?

Yeah I got JA2 running on XP, but it has a habit of locking up. After some experimentation and a bit of frustration I found that if I brought up the task manager and let it sit there for a few minutes it might decide to start repsonding again. Was kinda odd, but it worked.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Just get JA2 Gold. Works like a charm.

 

[udarnik]

I've got JA2 Gold, but it behaves exactly like axel described. It freezes up, but if you bring up the task manager it might break out of it and work. Or it might not. Not a great solution because I hate having to babysit the game as though it were a smallpox-ridden hospital patient on the verge of death saying "come on baby, you can pull through."

Jarinor and Exitum are very lucky, but maybe I'll try turning compatibility mode OFF, since that works for J.

And yeah, Battletech 1 was cool, athough it's more of a tactical adventure game than an RPG. You don't have stats, though you do have skills, and your identity is fixed. But being able to walk around and explore, or get in a mech (if you can find/buy one), and pick up NPCs (who might betray you) is something that hasn't been done with the Battletech license since. I dimly remember aggravating mazes, but then, didn't every '80s computer game have a maze in it?

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

And yeah, Battletech 1 was cool, athough it's more of a tactical adventure game than an RPG. You don't have stats, though you do have skills, and your identity is fixed. But being able to walk around and explore, or get in a mech (if you can find/buy one), and pick up NPCs (who might betray you) is something that hasn't been done with the Battletech license since. I dimly remember aggravating mazes, but then, didn't every '80s computer game have a maze in it?

Yes, that's true. It was released before the MechWarrior PnP RPG ruleset, but they ended up tossing out the BattleTech rules out anyway. I still found it enjoyable when I was a teenager playing through it. The only maze I remember was at the very end of it, though.

 

[Jinxed]

I've never had any problems running JA2 on any OS. Actually I still have an old installation of the game which took place on ME but stayed on my disk through the years. I've played it many times on XP SP1 without any problems.

 

[udarnik]

You too are blessed.
Since I started working with it I found a nice webpage at http://www.the-underdogs.org/guidewin.php that describes a lot of things that you can do to get these old programs to work, but I've been too lazy to go through that checklist and see if any of their advice helps. Maybe someone else will find it helpful. I've also bookmarked the pages Saint_P mentioned in case I work up the will to tackle it again.
Right now, though, I've regressed to playing only Rogue-likes. Their simplicity calms me...