Step by Step Installation

Joan O Arc
Watchdog
Posts: 1632
(4/18/01 4:15:28 pm )

Hello
This one is a bit tricky.

Included in the download is an informational file, RAZORCD.NFO, that can be read with notepad or the edit command. But it is a little misleading, and leaves some stuff out.

Here's what I did to get it running on my computer, I hope it'll work for you. Using this method, it ran for me in Windows 95 just fine.

1. Unzip the download to an empty temporary directory. You should have 14 .zips (Gwars01.ZIP through Gwars14.ZIP.) Unzip these 14 into the same temporary directory. Note that these .zips have a bunch of hacker signature files that are not needed. All you really need are the deluxe.001 through deluxe.014 files.

2. These deluxe files are .ARJ files. ARJs use a compression file format similar to .zip files. You'll need an extraction program that can handle this file format. I use Winzip with arj.exe plugged in as a "helper", but you can just use ARJ.EXE at the DOS prompt very easily too. You can download a free copy of ARJ.EXE here- www.arjsoft.com. It's a small download. Install it into it's own directory. It will come in handy with alot of the archives here.
   If using this stand alone ARJ.EXE, put a copy of the ARJ.EXE file in the temporary directory with the ARJs, and at the MS-DOS prompt type:
   

   cd \WhateverTheNameOfYourTemporaryDirectoryIs 
   and then type:
   arj x -v -y deluxe.001 c:\ 

   This will unpack all 14 of the deluxe files for you into a directory called \gender.

3. At the DOS prompt type:

   cd\gender 
   subst x: c:\gender 

   The Gender Wars installation program should auto-start after a few moments. Wait for it and if it doesn't, run the INSTALL.EXE program by typing:

   install 

   The default installation directory is \GW. Just hit Enter to have it install it there.
   You'll be asked to specify your sound card, and then the prog will offer to detect it for you. I suggest you select the option to set it up manually if you know your sound card settings- the prog was unable to detect mine correctly. Use the "Test Sound" option to be sure you've got it right, and then select "Sound is Okay" when you've got it setup correctly.
   The installation program will continue and start copying game files to the \GW directory.

4. When the installation is finished, you must remove the subst drive specification with:

   subst x: /d 

5. Put a copy of the GW.EXE file that is in the \GENDER directory into the \GW directory, overwriting the file that is there. This completes installation! But--

6. Now, in order to play this game, you have to make this drive substitution every time you want to play it. To play, at the DOS prompt type:

   cd\gw 
   subst x: c:\ 
   gw 

   Please NOTE! that you must remember to remove the drive substitution when you are finished playing with:

   subst x: /d 

Once installation is sucessful, you can safely delete the files in the temporary directory, but remember that the RAZORCD.NFO warns you *not* to delete the sub-directories from the \GENDER directory- these files are needed along with the \GW files to play the game.

IMPORTANT:
I need to add that this program might be confusing to some of you who have used the subst command before. Normally, when you use the subst command, "X" is a variable that you change to one of your drive letters. But in the case of this specific game you need to type in the commands exactly as above leaving the "X" in.
It's just the way it was hacked.
Hope this helps. :)

Step by Step Installation

Joan O Arc
Watchdog
Posts: 1633
(4/18/01 4:30:59 pm)

Edit Update: A new self-extracting version of The Gene Machine was kindly uploaded by doopwopman so you will not need to do steps 1 and 2 to unpack the archive unless you have the old version laying around. Proceed onto step 3 and finish setting up the game to run on your system.

1. Unzip the download to an empty temporary directory. You should have 37 smaller .zips (GMACH-01.ZIP through GMACH-37.ZIP) Unzip these 37 into the same temporary directory. Now you should have 37 .RAR files (GENEMACH.RAR and GENEMACH.R00 through GENEMACH.R35)

2. Unpack the .RAR files using a decompressor program that can handle these files types. I used WinRAR. If using WinRAR, Click on the GENEMACH.RAR file > Click on the "Extract To" Icon at the top of the WinRAR window > Unpack the game into the directory you'd like to put the game in by typing the full destination path in the box at the top (for this example I'll use C:\GENEMACH) > Click OK. When WinRAR has finished unpacking all the RARs close it up.

3. Change to the C:\GENEMACH directory and run SETSOUND.EXE to setup your MIDI sound card for music.
   NOTE! DO NOT set up ANY digitized voice card-- all the sound effects as well as 50% of the animations have been ripped from this copy so if you you designate a digital card the game will crash soon after the introduction.
   If you want to reconfigure sound later, simply run SETSOUND.EXE again.

4. Now you will most likely have to edit the GENE.INI file before you can play this game. The default drive is D and is set in the second line of Gene.ini with:
   /DD
   So if your copy of the game is on your C drive, use Notepad or the edit command to change the second line in Gene.ini to read:
   /DC

5. Start the game by typing:

   GENE.BAT 

Pressing the spacebar or moving the mouse off the bottom of the screen brings up the Inventory Panel / Game options. (Save, Load, Quit, etc.)
If you wish, you can play the game with this Panel at the top of the screen by pressing the PageUp key. Once this is done, pressing the spacebar will bring up the Panel at the top of the screen, and you may also access the inventory by moving your cursor to the TOP of the screen.
To return the panel to the default position at the bottom of the screen, press the PageDown key.

Pressing the F1 Key will pause the game.

s game ran fine for me in both DOS and Windows 95, but as always, if you encounter problems running the game in Windows on your particular system try it in pure DOS.

Hope this helps you :)

Step by Step Installation

Joan O Arc� 
Watchdog
Posts: 2266
(7/30/01 10:15:20 pm)

[Edit Update - I've uploaded a new self-extracting, pre-cracked copy of this game so most of the information below no longer applies. See the Read_Me.txt file included in the new download for more information.]

Hello Thullen
Here's what I did; give it a try and see if it helps.

1. Unzip the download into an empty temporary directory. You should have 4 smaller .zips (G-FLEET-1.ZIP, G-FLEET-2.ZIP, G-FLEET-3.ZIP and GFCRACK.ZIP.) Unzip these 4 .zips into the same temporary directory.

2. Run INSTALL.EXE to unpack the game. The default installation directory is \Gfleet. Go with this directory. After all the game files have been unpacked, the sound & graphics card configuration routine begins. I suggest you configure the sound card yourself if you know your settings. The config program didn't detect my card properly. If you need to reconfigure later after the installation is complete, change to the Gfleet directory and run SETUP.BAT.

3. After you have successfully installed the game, you'll need to crack the copy protection.
   As explained in the Crack.nfo file, you need to put a copy of the cracked 0COVER0.OVL file that is in the GFCRACK.ZIP into the \Gfleet game directory. You will replace (overwrite) the copy of 0COVER0.OVL that is there- that's normal.

4. Go to the Gfleet directory and run Gfleet.exe to start the game. When the copy protection screen comes up, just hit the Enter key.

After the game has been successfully installed/cracked into the Gfleet directory, you can safely delete the temporary directory.

It ran in Win95 for me; but as always- if you have troubles running this oldie in Windows run it in Pure DOS, the enviroment it was written and intended for.

Hope this helps.
Deb

Installing...

bill22� 
Watchdog
Posts: 1605
(8/30/01 7:08:20 am)

[Edit Update: A new pre-installed, pre-patched to version 1.2 copy of this game was tweaked and uploaded by bill22; so you no longer need to go through the steps he outlines below unless you have an old version lying around you'd like to update and patch using his tweak. This new copy also includes the "Super Ships of the Atlantic" expansion pack kindly provided by Tommy. See the read1st.txt file included in the new download for more information.]

Installing the game:

Extract the .zip file with the program of your choice. This will give you install.exe and a .arj archive. It seems that there are several different ways that you can go from here...

1. Unarj the game to a directory of your choice and create a /save subdirectory under it.

2. Use the games install.exe program and the Floppy Disk install method (3 floppy disks).

3. Use the games install.exe program and the Subst command. ie. Open a DOS box and type in:

   subst a: c:\temp 

   (but you must switch to drive a: before running install.exe) After in is install type

   subst a: /D

   to turn it off.

(If you have a "false start" with methods 2 + 3, you must delete the installed to directory and start fresh). *do not* apply r-gnb1na.com.com

Patching to Ver 1.2

bill22� 
Watchdog
Posts: 1605
(8/30/01 7:08:20 am)

[Edit Update: A new pre-installed, pre-patched to version 1.2 copy of this game was tweaked and uploaded by bill22; so you no longer need to go through the steps he outlines below unless you have an old version lying around you'd like to update and patch using his tweak. This new copy also includes the "Super Ships of the Atlantic" expansion pack kindly provided by Tommy. See the read1st.txt file included in the new download for more information.]

Download the Great Naval Battles: North Atlantic patch:

• http//www.dlh.net/cgi-bin/dp.cgi?lang=eng&ref=ps&sys=pc&cap=g
• gnb_12.rar

Copy it into your game directory and extract gnb_12.rar (This extracts/updates a bunch of files so you may want to make a copy of your game directory in case things go wrong. If you want to save the old readme file you will have to rename it before patching or it will be overwriten.

If you now DblClick on gnbna.bat or gnbna386.exe to start the game you will get a copy protection question a couple of screens in.
Perhaps if you made some changes...

Remove Copy Protection

bill22� 
Watchdog
Posts: 1605
(8/30/01 7:08:20 am)

[Edit Update: A new pre-installed, pre-patched to version 1.2 copy of this game was tweaked and uploaded by bill22; so you no longer need to go through the steps he outlines below unless you have an old version lying around you'd like to update and patch using his tweak. This new copy also includes the "Super Ships of the Atlantic" expansion pack kindly provided by Tommy. See the read1st.txt file included in the new download for more information.]

The Tweak:
These instructions are for Advanced Hex Editor from Kahei Co. or you can use your own.

"Open" the gnbna386.exe file using the "edit" and then the "find" commands, search for....

56 57 83 3e 4a ab 01 75 03 e9

56 57 c7 06 4a ab 01 00 90 e9

DblClick* on gnbna.bat or gnbna386.exe and the game will (hopefully) not ask any questions and run perfectly.
*Note this game looks like it may need to be Moslo-ed and it will probably operate best in real DOS mode.

Changing Sound Card Settings

bill22� 
Watchdog
Posts: 1605
(8/30/01 7:08:20 am)

If you need to change your sound card setting:
sound.exe will not work by DblClicking on it. However, it will work in real DOS mode or in a Windows DOS box. So open a DOS prompt at your game directory and type...

sound 

Installing...

bill22� 
Watchdog
Posts: 1606
(8/30/01 7:11:06 am)

Install the game:

1. Extract gnb2.zip with your unzipper of choice.

2. Extract gnb2-1 thru gnb2-4 with your unzipper of choice. (Make sure that you keep the directory structure intact).

3. DblClick on gnb2.bat to make sure that the game works.

Patching to Ver 1.1

bill22� 
Watchdog
Posts: 1606
(8/30/01 7:11:06 am)

The ver. 1.1 patch is already included in the game's .zip file (gnb2v11.exe). So...

[..]

The Patch:

DblClick on gnb2v11.exe to extract the files within. There is now a install.exe program and a .arj file. (I couldn't get install.exe working in Win98, you may have better luck). I used arj.exe (from the faq page: http://www.the-underdogs.org/faq.php ) I opened a dos box at the file's location and typed in the following command...

ARJ x -v -y data.a00 

This extracted a new gnbg.exe and 2 files into a \data subfolder. Copy gnbg.exe to you game directory and the other 2 files to the games \data subfolder. (or just make sure that they were updated if the install progam works for you).

The Problem:
Now when you start up the game it asks you to answer a question from the manual.

The Solution:
The program "LockSmith" available from the faq page: http://www.the-underdogs.org/faq.php takes care of the problem quite nicely.

Installing...

bill22� 
Watchdog
Posts: 1607
(8/30/01 7:17:05 am)

Installing the game:

1. Extract gnb3.zip with your unzipper of choice.

2. Extract data.a00 (Make sure that you keep the directory structure intact). I used arj.exe, from the faq page: http://www.the-underdogs.org/faq.php (Winrar/Powerachiver/etc might also work). I opened a dos box at the file's directory and typed in the following command...
   

   ARJ x -v -y data.a00 

3. DblClick on sound.bat to set up your sound card.

4. Now DblClick on start.bat to make sure that the game works.

Patching to ver 1.2

bill22� 
Watchdog
Posts: 1607
(8/30/01 7:17:05 am)

The version of the game currently available is 1.1. There is a version 1.2 patch. (You will need the ver 1.1 to ver 1.2 patch) So...

(NOTE: You can download the patch 1.2 from here: http//www.dlh.net/cgi-bin/dp.cgi?lang=eng&ref=ps&sys=pc&cap=g)

[..]

The Patch:

1. DblClick on gnb11_12.rar to extract the files within.

2. Place the 3 files into your game directory and DblClick on patch.exe

This updates several files including a new gnb3.exe.

The Problem:
Now when you start up the game you get a really weird screen with memory registers and numbers all over the place. It's trying to find a file. A file called install.exe

The Solution:

• Copy the file called sinstall.exe from your game directory someplace else.

• Rename the file install.exe. Copy it back to your game directory.

• Place a copy of the program FakeCd into your game directory. (FakeCd is also available here: http//community.the-underdogs.org/pub/tools/other/) Open a DOS box at the game directory. Type....
  

  fakecd c:\game\gnb3 /L:e 
  start 

  Game should begin. (c:\game\gnb3 = where the game/install.exe file is located). [Interesting note: Yes, fakecd does work from within Windows98 in this case.]

Misc notes: The "e" in the fakecd line above is my actual CD-rom drive, the letter you need to use may vary. Once you get the fakecd command right for your system, you can Open start.bat in notepad and add it as the first line in the file. You can now just use start.bat
If you have the right kind of CD in your CD-rom drive you will hear music. Otherwise it's just not there.