Hi all,
I decided to make this guide despite of being currently very tired.... I feel that this is necessary because this question is being asked from time to time. Alrighty. I primarily concerned with running old DOS-based Koei games. Such games are:
* RTK 1 and 2
* Genghis Khan 1
* Bandit Kings of Ancient China
* Uncharted Waters 1
* Nobunaga Ambitions 1 and 2
* L'Empereur
* Gemfire
* Liberty or Death
I'll post newer DOS-based KOEI games later. This includes:
* RTK 3
* RTK 4 (Chinese only, English version is for Windows)
* RTK 5 (Chinese only, no English versions is available)
* Uncharted Waters 2 (New Horizons)
* Celtic Tales: Balor of Evil Eyes
* Genghis Khan 2
A. My assumption:
a. You have a Windows 9x/ME/2000/XP machine. (Throughout this guide, I'll use WinXP as a guideline. Other Windows versions might need to adjust a bit).
b. You know a decent knowledge on how to download stuffs off the net, copy files here and there, and extracting zip files.
c. You have downloaded the games you intended to run and you already extracted them.
d. You are quite familiar with Windows Explorer and how to make shortcuts.
e. You know how to start Notepad and use it.
B. Preliminaries: Do This Unless You Know What You're Doing
1. Start up your Windows Explorer
2. Click Tools, then Folder Options.
3. Select View tab
4. Select "Show hidden files and folders"
5. Unselect "Hide extensions for known file types"
6. Unselect "Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)"
7. Click OK
C. DOSBox Installation
1. You will need DOSBox installed in your PC. So, go to this homepage:
http://dosbox.sourceforge.net
Click the download menu, click the "Windows" (i.e. the one with Win32 installer). Take a note where you save this file.
2. Fire up your Windows Explorer and visit the downloaded file.
3. Double click it.
4. Follow the direction on the screen.
5. Take note the installation directory. It's usually in C:\Program Files\DOSBox-x.xx (where x.xx is the version number. For example: C:\Program Files\DOSBox-0.63)
There you go.
Note: Throughout this guide, I'll use "C:\Program Files\DOSBox-0.63" for the installation directory. For future versions, please change the version numbers accordingly.
D. Modifying Your DOSBox Configuration File
1. Open up your Windows Explorer if you haven't already and visit the DOSBox installation directory (i.e. C:\Program Files\DOSBox-0.63)
2. Backup dosbox.conf to koei.conf (that is, click dosbox.conf, then choose Edit menu, then Copy, then choose Edit menu again, then Paste. If you do this correctly, you will see "Copy of dosbox.conf" file. Click that file, then choose File menu, then Rename. Put in "koei.conf" and then press Enter.)
3. Edit the file koei.conf using Notepad. (that is, double click it and then you have a menu saying "Windows cannot open this file, what do you want to do". Choose "Select the program from a list" and then click OK. On the next menu, scroll down and select "Notepad", then click OK.
4. Change the line of:
fulldouble=false -----> fulldouble=true
output=surface -----> output=ddraw
hwscale=1.00 -----> hwscale=1.50 (only if you have monitor resolution of 1024x768 or better. For 1600x1200 or better, change 1.50 to 2.00)
memsize=16 -----> memsize=32 (for newer games)
5. After you did all the changes specified at step 4, click "File" then "Save".
6. Do step 2 and 3 again, but this time, name it koei-newer.conf instead.
7. Make the modification like step 4, EXCEPT for hwscale. Leave it 1.00. Also, change:
cycles=3000 -----> cycles=5000
8. Click "File" then "Save".
NOTE: Steps C and D are done once for many games. Step E below needs to be repeated for every game.
E. Preparing Up Your Games
As an example here, I'll use Romance of the Three Kingdoms 2 (RTK). (Use The Underdogs). I assume that you've unzipped the RTK2 into a directory. It doesn't have to be unzipped in the DOSBox directory. Let's say you put it in C:\games\romance2
1. Start up Windows Explorer if you haven't.
2. Go to C:\games\romance2
3. Right click anywhere on the empty space to create a shortcut (Right click on an empty space. Choose "New" then "Shortcut"). If you did this correctly, a dialog box will appear asking "Type the location of the new item".
4. In the text box, type:
- Code: Select all
"C:\Program Files\DOSBox-0.63\dosbox.exe" -conf koei.conf -noconsole -c "mount a C:\games\romance2" -c "mount b C:\games\romance2" -c "a:" -c "koei.bat"
IMPORTANT: The command above is one line! Double check that you don't miss anything.
Then you can click Next.
5. Name the shortcut as you wish. Then click OK.
If you did this correctly, a shortcut named just as you have specified in step 5 will show up.
F. Run the Game!
1. Just double click that shortcut you made above.
2. Enjoy!
3. After you're done with the game, you can safely close DOSBox console (if it remains).
Note: I'll continue writing this guide later. Each games is prepared differently since each has different executables. But most of the times, the "koei.bat" at line in step 4 in section E can be replaced by either "koei.com" or "koei.exe". Of course you need to modify the path in the mount statement. If you're feeling adventurous and can't wait, you're welcome to do it.
Okay... Time to go to sleep. Hope this helps.
Edit: If you have problems, post in this thread.
NOTE: This guide doesn't work for Nobunaga Ambition yet. I'm working on it. Previous versions (i.e. 0.61) is known to work. You can download DOSBox version 0.61 here.
RTK 1
With version 0.61, it should be no problem. However with version 0.63, the screen will appear garbled at first. You need to press "Y" at the very beginning of the game until the color "KOEI" logo shows up.
Assuming that your installation directory is a C:\games\romance1, below is the code that you need to put in in step 4 section E:
- Code: Select all
"C:\Program Files\DOSBox-0.63\dosbox.exe" -conf koei.conf -noconsole -c "mount a C:\games\romance1" -c "mount b C:\games\romance1" -c "a:" -c "sangoku.com"
RTK 3
It works for RTK3. Assuming that your installation directory is a C:\games\romance3, below is the code that you need to put in in step 4 section E:
- Code: Select all
"C:\Program Files\DOSBox-0.63\dosbox.exe" -conf koei-newer.conf -noconsole -c "mount a C:\games\romance3" -c "a:" -c "koei.com"
The sound should no longer be choppy.
Nobunaga Ambition 2
It works for Nobunaga Ambition 2. Assumption: It's put in C:\games\nobunaga2. Below is the code.
- Code: Select all
"C:\Program Files\DOSBox-0.63\dosbox.exe" -conf koei.conf -noconsole -c "mount a C:\games\nobunaga2" -c "mount b C:\games\nobunaga2" -c "a:" -c "koei.com"
-- Rob
Would you mind if you post the command line for Castle II? Thanks.