XCOM: Apocalypse

[LHammonds]

I started to setup an ancient PC I had for use by my son to play some old games (not letting him play the eye-candy of today just yet). I found xcom3 in the games folder. I began reminiscing about the good 'ol days for a little bit and it didn't take very long for me to start trying it out to see if it would still run. It worked perfectly except the PC had no sound. I copied the folder over to my Win7 PC and ran "xcomapoc.exe" and was greeted with the following message:

 

The version of this file is not compatible with the version of Windows you're running. Check your computer's system information to see whether you need an x86 (32-bit) or x64 (64-bit) version of the program, and then contact the software publisher.

Well, I think it is safe to say contacting the original software publisher (Microprose) is not possible. The current owner of the franchise (Take-Two Interactive) has an updated version sold through Steam that is supposed to work for WinXP and Vista...however, not sure if it works with 64-bit versions though...but anyways, I'm not buying this game again...and a Steam version on top of that!

 

I started thinking that I needed to install something like VMware Server or VirtualBox to get an old 32-bit OS such as Win95, Win98 or maybe WinXP setup to use as a virtual environment for my old games. Since I tend to overthink and complicate matters, I decided to instead to do some Internet searching and reading and found out that DOSBox can emulate the 32-bit environment and allow games like XCOM to run even on my Win7 64-bit PC. Sweet. Now I just need to figure out how to get 'er done! Simply installing DOSBox did not allow for an easy "get the game started right now" sort of thing so some more reading was necessary.

 

I still have my original Apocalypse box sitting proudly on my top shelf (where the kids cannot reach and destroy it) but I'd rather not mess with the CD (assuming it is still in there) when I have a backup of it on my hard drive (shouldn't need to install anything like today's Windows apps). So, it is just a matter of figuring out what needs to be done to this install folder with DOSBox to get it working.

 

After much trial and error, here is what I did:

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List of assumptions (these are my settings, yours may differ)

• Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate Edition, 64-bit
  
• XCOM Install Folder --> E:\Games\xcom3\
  
• DOSBox Install Folder --> D:\Apps\DOSBox-0.74\
  

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1. Download and install the latest version of DOSBox (version 0.74 as of today)
   
2. Double-click the DOSBox 0.74 Options.bat file in the DOSBox Install Folder
   
3. This will open a file called dosbox-0.74.conf in Notepad. Save this file to the XCOM Install Folder as xcomapoc.conf (NOTE: This will add .txt to the end of the filename)
   
4. Here are the changes I made to the xcomapoc.conf.txt file residing in my XCOM Install Folder:
   Line 24: change fullscreen=false to fullscreen=true
   Line 82: change cycles=auto to cycles=fixed 76000
   Line 243: add mount c e:\games -freesize 1024
   Line 244: add c:
   Line 245: add cd xcom3
   Line 246: add xcomapoc.exe
   Line 247: add exit
   
5. In the DOSBox Install Folder, right-click and hold on DOSBox.exe file and drag-n-drop it to the XCOM Install Folder and select Create shortcuts here
   
6. Select the shortcut you just created in the XCOM Install Folder and press F2 to rename it. Change it from DOSBox.exe - Shortcut to StartApoc
   
7. Right-click on the StartApoc shortcut and select Properties
   
8. The Target should read something like D:\Apps\DOSBox-0.74\DOSBox.exe but you need to add the conf file to the end like this --> D:\Apps\DOSBox-0.74\DOSBox.exe -conf "E:\Games\xcom3\xcomapoc.conf"
   
9. Remember how Notepad nicely (/sarcasm) added the .txt to the end of our conf filename? We need to undo that. If you don't have viewing extensions already enabled, this is how: Open Control Panel --> Folder Options --> View tab --> Uncheck "Hide extensions for known file types"
   
10. Select the xcomapoc.conf.txt file and press F2 to rename it. Delete the .txt at the end so it looks like xcomapoc.conf
    
11. At this point, you should be ready to try it out by double-clicking on the StartApoc shortcut in your XCOM Install folder. If it works, go ahead and pin the shortcut to your Start Menu by right-clicking on the shortcut and selecting Pin to Start Menu for easy access to it later.
    
12. If you want to get really snazzy, grab a cool icon image and create a Windows icon (.ico) so you can associate your shortcut to a nice-looking icon. You can use IcoFX to convert a PNG image to a Windows icon.
    

If you are not as lucky as me and have to install the game from your CD, I'm willing to bet you will get the same error message and won't even be able to install XCOM to a folder to do this...so, you'll need to "mount" the CD inside of DOSBox in order to install the game. I don't have step-for-step instructions for that process since I did not need to do it myself but I'm sure it is very similar and just needs some tweaking at the end of the .conf file to mount the CDROM drive. You would then install it to c:\xcom3 (which would actually be E:\Games\xcom3 since we are mapping a fake virtual C: in the above example)

 

Enjoy,

LHammonds

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWKDNX_heak

[Michlo]

I never played it but the upcoming new one looks interesting: http://www.xcom.com/index.html

 

Will you be playing it?

 

Oh and hello again, long time no speak. ;)

[Ghogiel]

Man I remember epic weekend sessions with UFO on my cousins amiga. never played the series after that :(

 

Same era as was syndicate for me.

[LHammonds]

Will you be playing it?

Howdy. The new XCOM just doesn't interest me that much.

 

Man I remember epic weekend sessions with UFO on my cousins amiga. never played the series after that :(

 

Same era as was syndicate for me.

Yes, Syndicate was awesome back in the day. I tried it again not too long ago and it just didn't hold the same appeal it once did (was not ageless like XCOM is to me).

 

LHammonds

[Sepherose]

DosBox is a good one, I use that to run my old xcom games when i decide i want to. Speaking of which, I ought to dig that out. lol

[Ghogiel]

 

Yes, Syndicate was awesome back in the day. I tried it again not too long ago and it just didn't hold the same appeal it once did (was not ageless like XCOM is to me).

 

LHammonds

Yeah oddly had the same experience trying to relive the awesomeness of syndicate. it just wasn't the same.