Tutorial:
Running GP2 on Windows NT, Windows 2000 or Windows XP
Author
: Marc Aarts
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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. |
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Requirements: |
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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. |
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|
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. |
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|
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. |
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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. |
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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). |