For Grand Prix 2 by MicroProse

Tutorial: Running GP2 on Windows NT, Windows 2000 or Windows XP
Author : Marc Aarts
Every now and then I get e-mail from people who ask me how they can keep playing GP2 now they have a new computer with a new Windows version. It always has been possible to play GP2 on computers running Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows ME if you had the right drivers for your soundcard and perhaps a little luck.

Getting GP2 to run on computers with Windows NT or one of the more modern Windows versions based on Windows NT like Windows 2000 and Windows XP is a bigger problem. The reason is mostly the way old "real mode" games like GP2 want to access the hardware in your computer. It wants to go directly to your soundcard which is not allowed by Windows NT/2000/XP and therefor it's not possible to have GP2 with sound in these Windows versions.

As you might have guessed because of the very existence of this little tutorial, it's not so impossible anymore to get GP2 working. It requires some additional software though, and a bit of work and patience.

The secret of the succes of this process is the use of a freeware program named VDMSound. It's not a soundcard driver, but an emulator that works with any soundcard that works in Windows NT/2000/XP. VDMSound does NOT work in Windows 95/98/ME, but it's not needed there either. VDMSound emulates a SoundBlaster soundcard no matter what real card you have in your computer. There are some additional features but those are not needed or will be addressed later on.

Just GP2 is not enough for me, I want the great GP2lap as well. Luckily, it is no problem at all to use it once you have managed to get GP2 working. As an added bonus, it will be possible to use a USB or serial steering wheels as well in GP2, while it normally only supports wheels that connect to the gameport.

Requirements:
This is what you need:
Grand Prix 2: Find your old GP2 cd and remove the dust.
Download GP2 "no cdrom" patch: gp2nocd.zip (13kb).
Download GP2 "no cdrom" patched setup.exe: setup_nocd.zip (39kb).
Download VDMSound 2.0.4: VDMSound-2.0.4-WinNT-i386.zip (850).
Download VDMSound LaunchPad v1.0.0.7: VDMSLaunchPad.v1.0.0.7.zip (505kb).
Download GP2Lap 1.15: gp2lp115.zip (175kb). (You might require DOS4/GW as well: dos4gw.zip (141kb).
GP2 Installation: 
--Do an "optimal" (most complete) installation of the game from the CD onto your harddisk. This requires about 58Mb.
--Unzip the contents of the gp2nocd.zip to the GP2 folder on your harddisk.
--Run the "no cdrom" patch once. This patches GP2 in a way so you are not required to have the CD in your cdrom drive when playing the game anymore.
--Create a new folder in the GP2 folder on your harddrive called "CIRCUITS".
--Browse the CD and find the circuits folder.
--Copy only the circuits (F1ct01.dat - F1ct16.dat) from the CD to the \GP2\CIRCUITS\ folder on your harddisk.
--Unzip the contents of the setup_nocd.zip to the GP2 folder on your harddisk.
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Now you should be able to run the game from your harddisk, without the CD, but still with no sound.
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Optional: If you want to use GP2Lap you must install it as well.
--Unzip the contents of gp2lp115.zip to your GP2 folder.
--Unzip the contents of dos4gw.zip to your GP2 folder.
VDMSound Installation: 
VDMSound needs to be installed so it integrates into Windows. VDMSound Launchpad will add some options to Windows' explorer so it's very easy to use.
--Install VDMSound 2.0.4 by double-clicking on VDMSound-2.0.4-WinNT-i386.msi. Use the default installation options.
--Unzip the contents of VDMSLaunchPad.v1.0.0.7.zip to the folder you have installed VDMSound in (typically C:\Program Files\VDMSound\) and run "install.bat" once by double-clicking on it.
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Note:
If for some reason you don't want to have VDMSound installed anymore, you can uninstall it from Windows' control panel (using "Add/Remove Programs").
VDMSound Launchpad is uninstalled by running the "uninstall.bat" file from the VDMSound directory. You will need to log off and log on again to remove the integration in Windows completely.
Configure GP2 to run with VDMSound:
Now both GP2 and VDMSound are installed, the need to be configured to work together. After some not too complicated steps you will soon be able to play GP2 with sound again, even on Windows NT/2000/XP.
Set up the sound for GP2:
Right-click on "SETUP.EXE" in the GP2 folder on your harddisk. There should be an option "Run with VDMS" with a little "musical note" image in front of it. Click that option to start the VDMS wizard.
In the wizard that follows, click "next" to use a "default configuration" and click "Finish" to end the wizard. 
You have created a VDMS shortcut to "setup.exe" now which will typically be named "SETUP" and it's icon will be a little black box with the text "C:\" on it. Double-click this shortcut to start GP2's sound setup program while using VDMS.
In GP2's sound setup program, double-click on "Set up sound card" and then double-click on "autodetect". A dialog should be presented showing the detection of a "SB16 16 Stereo" soundcard. Click "ok" and twice "ok" again to go to the main screen of the sound setup program.
Double-click on "Exit and save configuration" to save the settings you just made for future use. (It could be a black box stays on your screen after exiting the setup program. Use the little [x] button on the top-right of that box to close it).
Set up GP2 itself:
Right-click on "GP2.EXE" in the GP2 folder on your harddisk and choose "Run with VDMS" (the one with the note again) to configure GP2 for use with VDMS.
In the wizard that follows, click "next" to use a "default configuration" and click "Finish" to end the wizard. 
You have created a VDMS shortcut to "setup.exe" now which will typically be named "GP2" and it's icon will be a little black box with the text "C:\" on it.
That's it! You can now double-click the "GP2" shortcut to start GP2 while using VDMS.
Make sure NOT to start GP2 by double-clicking on "GP2.EXE" itself. Chances are that your computer will stop responding if you do this and the only way out of it is using the reset button on your computer. Always use the VDMS shortcut!
If you want to use GP2Lap, you can set it up in the same way you have just set up "GP2.EXE". Right-click on "GP2LAP.EXE" and repeat the steps.
Extra VDMSound configuration options:
You should have GP2 running properly now in Windows NT/2000/XP with sound. However, VDMSound has some other options you might want to use.

Access to the extra options is as easy as right-clicking on a VDMS shortcut and selecting the "properties" option from the popup menu.

The basic options are good enough to play GP2 with sound but there are some "advanced" options that might be able to make things even easier and better.
 
On the "Program" tab, check the "Close DOS window on exit" checkbox.
If you have performance problems, you can try checking both checkboxes on the "Performance" tab.
If GP2 complains about now having enough "range" when calibrating your steering wheel, you can try increasing the "max ticks" value on the "Joystick" tab from 250 to something like 500. With the default 250 it didn't work for me, with 500 it worked very well.

I don't think you'll need to change any of the other options, but feel free to experiment with them if you have problems or want more than you already have. 
Notes:
Some notes about running GP2 on Windows NT/2000/XP:
GP2 is not made to run on Windows NT/2000/XP so it might behave strangely at times or even crash.
It could be the GP2 install program doesn't work properly from within Windows NT/2000/XP. You might have to make a DOS bootdisk with cdrom drivers and install it from DOS. 
GP2 might give you an error about not being able to access your cd-rom drive when you start it. Unzip "f1system.dat" from this zip to your GP2 folder overwriting the one you originally have there: f1system_dat.zip (1kb).
Copyright : Marc Aarts
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GP2 is old and not designed for modern operation systems like Windows XP and Windows 2000, or even older ones like Windows NT. Until now I thought it was not possible to run GP2 on these Windows versions, but with the help of a clever program named VDMSound it actually is possible! 

In this tutorial I will show you the steps needed to play GP2 on Windows NT/2000/XP.

Happy racing! 


Table of contents:
Introduction
Requirements
GP2 Installation
VDMSound Installation
Configure GP2 to run with VDMSound
Extra VDMSound configuration options
 Notes

Related files:
- GP2 "no cdrom" patch
- GP2 "no cdrom" patched setup.exe
- VDMSound 2.0.4
- VDMSound LaunchPad v1.0.0.7
- GP2Lap 1.15 (DOS4/GW)
- Modified f1system.dat


 
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