Paying Off The Speeding Ticket

[Helegad]

Well, guys. On the topic of RE running too fast on XP, I've found what the problem is: the sound.

My story:

I bought a new computer. It first ran DOS and then I finally got a Windows 98SE OEM. I installed it, but the sound didn't work.

"Okay," I said, "I'll just keep trying drivers until I find the right one."

So day after day, I sift through sound driver after sound driver, installing, uninstalling, etc. In the meantime, I entertain myself with playing games like RE and RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 without any sound (don't worry; I do own a nice stereo with a BH3 soundtrack loaded into it).

One day, I get a new driver, and lo and behold: it works! I nearly danced around the house while listening to my long forgotten record rips of Slyder's Neo (The One) and Score. However, I go back into RE, and nearly shite myself. The game seems to want to run fast like on XP, and freeze up when Barry wants to take you back to the main hall.

"Okay," I said, "This really sucks. I'll try and find the problem."

Alas, it was only by pure luck (or is that unluck? Read on), that I accidentally uninstalled my sound driver by clicking on some stupid DOS application that didn't even appear or give any warnings of what I was about to do.

Luckily, on the other hand, I remembered something: The day I installed the sound, RE screwed up. So I opened up the game again, and typically, it works just fucking fine.

"Okay," I said, "I can't go on without sound, so I'll try and get the sound and RE to cooperate."

So I reinstalled my sound driver, and tried disabling certain things (acceleration, CD music, etc), but to no avail.

So this is where I am: I might have found the problem, but that is only half the situation. Fixing it is the other half.

Does anyone want to help me? I've got a few more ideas, and this will all be trial and error from now on. But, hey, think of it this way: If I/we succeed, we'll have solved one of the shittiest RE problems there is.

(P.S: I also found out that RE3: Nemesis doesn't work without a sound driver, so don't bother.)

(P.S.S: My sound driver is a SoundMax AD1881 [integrated sound: pretty povvo]. My motherboard is an Intel 810.)

[Evil_Rob]

I had the XP problem long ago, as did everyone else. Remember my brother saying, just do a quick install of either Windows '95 or '98, and use it specifically for the RE games.

Never got around to it though, it seemed easier to just turn on the console to play them. ...Don't know if the '95/'98 would help fix your sound problem though.

[Dot50Cal]

The game might work with a DOSBOX type application, something that emulates a Windows 95 environment. I'm not sure if something like that exists for 95 though.

[Helegad]

What my goal is to find out how to fix the problem. Not how to just temporarily fix it. Sorry, guys.

[lanaka]

In response to Dot, you could run a Virtual Machine on your PC to run an authentic copy of Windows 95 (by authentic I don't mean you'd need an authentic key, but it'd be authentic as in non-emulation) while running your core OS. What this would do is basically run a windowed mode of whichever VM OS you decide you want to run. Very handy for older games that no longer run well on newer software.

[Helegad]

That might work, but wouldn't it take up a hell of a lot more system resources?

[lanaka]

well, yes, but you can set aside so much ram, hard disk space, clock cycles, etc, for the VM, and leave those completely separate from the core OS when you have the VM running, which will mean that you won't have to worry about either interfering with the other.

[Helegad]

So 1GB of RAM would be advisable?

[kevstah2004]

I can't even get Resident Evil to run in XP i've tried setting to Win95 16BIT COMPAT but it just crashes on the red installation screen, I might try VirtualPC and see what happens.

[Helegad]

That's what happens to me, too. Try Alt-Tabbing to the error message that pops up, press enter to close it, and then you can install it. If the installation screen closes without warning, then you have the problem I had, but managed to fix. I think the way I did it was to set compatibility for all the executables on the CD to Windows 95 + Disable Visual Themes (just for good luck). It should work, IIRC.

[lanaka]

I would imagine that, if you were to run Windows 95 on a VM, 1 gb of RAM set aside for it would be plenty.

[kevstah2004]

That's what happens to me, too. Try Alt-Tabbing to the error message that pops up, press enter to close it, and then you can install it. If the installation screen closes without warning, then you have the problem I had, but managed to fix. I think the way I did it was to set compatibility for all the executables on the CD to Windows 95 + Disable Visual Themes (just for good luck). It should work, IIRC.

Thanks it worked although

Matrox Mystique (Mystique) - Crashes when Barry shoots the zombie near the fireplace "not the clock" during Jill's speech but you can alt+f4 to quit.
(3DFX) - Both modes do nothing but show a black screen and crash.
Canpos Total 3D (Rendition) - Same as (Mystique)
Creative 3D Blaster (Rendition) - Did the blue screen of death on me and restarted my computer when the fmv was about to play during the first zombie encounter.
Intergraph Intense 3D (Rendition) - Same as (Mystique)
Also do you get a thin black line running through from top to bottom on the right hand side of the screen? I also audio problems where it runs slightly to fast also the whole game seems to run way too quick.

[Helegad]

That crashing/stopping problem is normal for XP users. To get around it, exit the dining room twice ("Lost courage already? It's not like you...), and then Barry can kill the zombie coming for Jill past the clock. It won't crash this way.

The Creative 3D Blaster setting seems to be the most compatible video setting for most people. Hmmm. Your video card is...?

3DFX doesn't work for me too. I think it's purely because my video card doesn't support it. Oh well, we don't need it anyway.

[kevstah2004]

Leadtek WinFast GeForce TI 4600 (A250 ULTRA TD)

[Helegad]

Lol, that's nice. Probably too nice for RE, if you know what I mean.

Anyway, does your game run too fast?