Wanderer Posted May 23, 2007 Report Share Posted May 23, 2007 I've been able to locate copies of Xcom Ufo and TftD for sale in order to replace my current copies... , but I'm hesitant to purchase them right away. You see, both are the DOS versions, not the gold editions ment for windows. Now the question I had are as follows: Is if there's any difference between these and the gold editions? Are there any special bugs I should be aware of? Lastly, I know that using XP they won't run normally, however I've had bad luck with DOS emulators in the past. Is there any method you'd recommend on getting them to run? I just wanted to ask about these things before I pick them up, and I apologise if these have already been awnsered. Thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TherilAlPenn Posted May 23, 2007 Report Share Posted May 23, 2007 I've been able to locate copies of Xcom Ufo and TftD for sale in order to replace my current copies... , but I'm hesitant to purchase them right away. You see, both are the DOS versions, not the gold editions ment for windows. Now the question I had are as follows: Is if there's any difference between these and the gold editions? Are there any special bugs I should be aware of? Lastly, I know that using XP they won't run normally, however I've had bad luck with DOS emulators in the past. Is there any method you'd recommend on getting them to run? I just wanted to ask about these things before I pick them up, and I apologise if these have already been awnsered. Thanks in advance. Dosbox runs both UFO and TftD better than Windows XP runs the collectors' editions, (actually, better than my Windows 95/98 machines ever ran them either) and is pretty much guaranteed to be able to keep running them in future versions of Windows, which is not true for the CE versions. I've been using it for years now, and it's got to the point where I don't have any dos programs that don't run on it at full speed. If you're getting version 1.0 or 1.2 of the original UFO (I recommend patching to at least 1.2 for bug fixes. 1.4 or CE breaks a lot of sound.), you will have better sound in the intro and a larger variety of death screams than 1.4 or CE. Otherwise, mostly the same issues, particularly the save corruption bugs. The xcomufo site has a bug faq that covers the problems with different versions. XComUtil has some features, iirc, that only work with the dos versions (you need XComUtil to work around/fix some bugs in UFO regardless of which version you have). The only major TftD differences that I am aware of (I don't currently have the dos version of it) are that the research tree works a little differently in both dos and CE versions, but both versions have pretty much the same major game-breaking research bugs that can make the game unwinnable without 'cheating'. Overall, the dos version's tech tree makes the game a little more difficult because a few important techs have additional prerequisites. TftD has a wierd PWT pathing bug in CE that I've heard is not present in any of the dos versions. Other people have had trouble getting the keyboard to work in both CE versions, but that doesn't seem common, and I've only had that problem in WINE. If you really want the CE version of TftD, you could always get it from Steam for $5, although XComUtil's .exe modifying stuff currently doesn't work with it. Personally, I'd rather have the dos version, since I know I'll always be able to get that to work, and it gives me more control over speed, easy screenshots, audio/video capture, works on about any platform, runs in a window if I want, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanderer Posted May 24, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 24, 2007 Thanks, that cleared up more than a few issue's I had. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NRN_R_Sumo1 Posted May 30, 2007 Report Share Posted May 30, 2007 Well, my advice would have been something along the lines of Download a Warez copy, since they seem to have a higher success rate on Xp than the Cd's do in my experiance. But Also, if I am not correct, Would not downloading a Warez copy of a game you had already purchased not be simply backing it up? I know that Snes Games work that way, and Gba games that way too, so why not X-Com? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanderer Posted May 31, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2007 Well both games are now in hand, and I like what I see. For UFO I got both the Microprose CD's and a burned CD with the Gold Version, already patched to 1.4 it seems. The box for TftD has seen better days, which explains the low price it had. However it does contain all the goodies as promised, including of all things a CD which was also a bit rough. Still reads just fine. It seems I got the gold edition instead of the dos one, but thats not a problem. Not sure what patches I might need for it then other than Xcom Util. All in all I'm happy. Oh, the reason I payed 20 something for TftD Gold was more for getting the hard copies of the game/fluff manual etc. That stuffs always worth more to me personally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NRN_R_Sumo1 Posted June 1, 2007 Report Share Posted June 1, 2007 Ah, on my hard copy of Apoc which I got in a bargain bin at an auction for 2 dollars, I had the manual. So Basically Im the luckiest legal buyer on the forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanderer Posted June 1, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2007 (edited) Sounds like. Though now I have yet another question. Does anyone know what the copy protection on TftD was, as I've yet to run into it. Ie the game runs without the CD just fine, and the actual CD's not a copy. I did do a full install to the HD if that could be why. Second, XcomUtil says its version 1, how exactly do I go about patching it to V2? Ie I have the patch, but no bloody idea on how to use it. **Edit**Ok yeah it was due to the install to HD. The patch question still remains though. Edited June 1, 2007 by Wanderer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Azrael Posted June 1, 2007 Report Share Posted June 1, 2007 Most games back then did not have copy protection..Happier, easier days Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
[NKF] Posted June 2, 2007 Report Share Posted June 2, 2007 Games back then were rife with copy protection. It was also present in the earlier releases of UFO, and then it was officially removed. As far as I can remember, TFTD does not have copy protection. Actually, if you have a version of TFTD that needs the CD to run, it can easily be converted into the full hard disk installation with a few copies. But I guess it's easier to have the facility available to you to make the HD install right away. - NKF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanderer Posted June 2, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2007 Thank you guys, I really do appreciate it. Of course UFO's copy protection is giving me issues now, but I'll figure them out. In short it doesn't like the number I put in from the correct page of the Xcom1 manual PDF, my guess is I'm punching them in wrong. Somehow. Anyway I'll work on that today, then worry about the weird sounds its giving me second. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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