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[jfritzyb]

Originally Posted by Eagle of Fire

I am afraid that this is not a problem with the game itself, but more a problem with Micro$oft deciding to retire compatibility with old systems... Every 64 bits systems which got out recently are not compatible with 16 bit programs, such as old DOS games and... Any program made for Win 3.11.

To be able to play STARS! in such a situation, you need to use either:

• DOSBox along with a copy of Win 3.11 (you can find a pre-made DOSBox/Win3.11 version here (download DOSBoxStars.rar 4.92MB))
• Realise that 64bits OSes are incompatible with old games, and are thus useless ()
• Use en emulator other than DOSBox to be able to get the compatibility you need via another system (anything up to XP works way past fine).
• Partition your HD with another kind of OS simply to play old games.

Ok, I downloaded Dosboxstars.rar; now what?

[dosraider]

Originally Posted by jfritzyb

Ok, I downloaded Dosboxstars.rar; now what?

http://www.7-zip.org/ ? Yes?

[jfritzyb]

Originally Posted by dosraider

http://www.7-zip.org/ ? Yes?

Yep...everything is unpacked and in a folder.

[dosraider]

Included readme:

Readme file for DOSBox Stars by Gible

This requires DOSBox to work. Get it here: http://www.dosbox.com/

After installing DOSBox edit the (end of) dosbox.conf supplied to correct the path in the line "mount c c:\dosboxc"

To run Stars! in DOSBox, either:
1) (recommended) associate .conf files with DOSBox (with XP I just run(double-click)the .conf file supplied and choose the dosbox.exe from the application/file selector)
or 2) create a shortcut with the following command: "C:\Program Files\DOSBox-0.72\dosbox.exe" -conf "C:\DOSBoxC\dosbox.conf"

Stars! command-line options are defined near the end of dosbox.conf (under [AUTOEXEC.BAT]). AFAIK there is no way to pass commandline options from your system(VISTA or whatever) through dosbox (and wfw311) to Stars so they must be added in dosbox.conf. If you want to setup short cuts to multiple games, make multiple copies of dosbox.conf (game1.conf, game2.conf etc)

After installing DOSBox edit the (end of) dosbox.conf supplied to correct the path in the line "mount c c:\dosboxc"

Replace c:\dosboxc by the correct path/folder where you have your stuff.

If you're on Vista/Win7 read the tutorials.
http://www.abandonia.com/vbullet/forumdisplay.php?f=90

[jfritzyb]

Originally Posted by dosraider

Included readme:


After installing DOSBox edit the (end of) dosbox.conf supplied to correct the path in the line "mount c c:\dosboxc"

Replace c:\dosboxc by the correct path/folder where you have your stuff.

If you're on Vista/Win7 read the tutorials.
http://www.abandonia.com/vbullet/forumdisplay.php?f=90

K; it all worked out fine and game works. However, shortcut thingie doesn't seem to work. I am probably not doing something right though.

[dosraider]

Glad to hear it works, it's a nice game, enjoy.

Shortcut trick works if you fill in the correct paths and don't make tipooz.
Notice:
Latest release is dosbox 0.74, not 0.72
If you're on a 64 bit OS dosbox will be in 'program files (x86)', adapt accordingly.
Easiest is to use the 'search target' option when creating the shortcut.

But of course you don't really need that shortcut trick, a couple of clicks extra to launch the game won't hurt ya.

[Eagle of Fire]

Then do not miss out about the main community of this game, on AutoHost.

[Eagle of Fire]

Unfortunately no. Your code is likely gone forever... But you can always get a new code at autohost if you pay a small donation to keep the site running. Just make sure you are using the latest version of STARS!, I'm not entirely sure those codes can work for every version (but you can get the latest version anywhere for free anyways).

Here is the relevant link. You might need to subscribe to the forum to see it.

Great game. I've been playing it for almost 10 yrs on and off on just my local network. I'm running 26J and I have a couple of codes to share. I hope I'm not offending anyone. I think its safe to say the game is abandonware at this point. Be warned - although these codes allow me to start the game with 2 human players, I think the cheat protection kicks in at some point and I start experiencing "random" occurrences. Like whole worlds being reduced to about 5% of their population!! I just mark it up to the plague and continue on

[Code snip]

Please don't post codes for this game it seems the codes are still for sale. (or at least you donate some money to get them)

[Eagle of Fire]

Hi. Nice to see someone who play STARS! too.

The reason why you have those "random occurrences" is indeed because of the cheat protection. It is actually called "the Emperor Bug" and is triggered by the fact that you produce those two players turns on the same computer. STARS! is able to make the difference between two different computers and if it realize that two players have the same "signature" then the Emperor Bug is triggered.

This is of course to prevent a single player controlling several races in the same (multiplayer) game.