To everyone having any technical problem with Star Trek 25th Anniversary, Star Trek Judgment Rites, Star Trek TNG A Final Unity, or Star Trek DS9 Harbinger; my condolences!!! :-(

PROBLEM:

I have been involved with the Trek Gaming community for over three years now and have been one of the biggest fans of these four classic DOS adventure titles. Unfortunately, in this time I have seen SCORES of people have trouble getting these games to work on newer computers. The simple fact that you all must remember is that all four of these games were designed for *DOS* on computers with hardware from 1996 or earlier! THEY WERE NOT DESIGNED TO RUN ON ANYTHING NEWER!!!

Now, further advances in hardware and software by the computer industry have made and are continuing to make PCs more and more *incompatible* with DOS games, including these four. Certain efforts within the DOS community have created useful tools to help our mutual situation, but they still aren't perfect. The thing I want you all to understand before going on is that there is a seemingly infinite number of different computer configurations and MOST are bound to have trouble with these games!

SOLUTION:

It really pains me to say this, but there is no "perfect" solution as of this posting. Your chances of running these games depend on how new your computer's hardware and software is. On top of this, you could also have a specific configuration that is less friendly to these games than others.

For some of us lucky few, we can get these games to work in Windows by themselves. One trick is to right click the excecutable file and "play around" with the available settings (like compatibility settings or just telling Windows not to let the program detect Windows). Since every computer is different, however, your best bet is to "play around" and learn all you can about your computer, these games, and the following tools to help you run them:

DOSBOX: http://dosbox.sourceforge.net

This is an actual emulator for DOS for use in a Windows environment. It is in development, however, and is far from perfect, but it is still incredibly useful and something that everyone should at least try. Rather than try to explain how it works here, I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you carefully examine the website, download the program, and READ the documentation! Like I indicated above, the best troubleshooter for your problems is yourself.

VDMS: http://ntvdm.cjb.net/

Rather than being an emulator for DOS, this program compliments the existing DOS "emulation" included in Windows XP. It's primary focus is sound emulation, so if you are having problems with sound in these games then give it a try. It also wouldn't hurt to try this program no matter what your problem. NOTE: It runs only on Windows XP and 2000, so users of Windows 95 through ME need to check the site for any "9x" version of the program that might be available.

SUPPORT:

If you still need to ask questions, GameTalk isn't a very good place to do so. This board is rarely visited, so you'll have a much greater chance of finding help on the below boards:

The DOSBOX and VDMS forums at VOGONS:

http://vogons.zetafleet.com/

The "Trek Gaming" forum of the TrekBBS:

http://www.trekbbs.com

The proper forum of the STGU BBS:

http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/~starmada/tunforum/

he latter two require registration, the first doesn't. The first is also filled with DOS game experts, so that should be your main stop. If any links in this thread don't work then do a Google search on the name and you'll likely find it.

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Finally, I just want to say that the current situation with these four classic adventures has saddened me greatly. So many of today's Trek gamers tend to ignore these titles based on age or graphics when they all continue to provide some of the best experiences Trek gaming has to offer. It is even more of a tragedy when those of you who DO wish to play them are unfairly prevented from doing so by technical obstructions. I have hope, however, that someday there *will* be a nearly perfect DOS emulator for tomorrow's computer systems capable of running most DOS programs without issue. I hope that "someday" comes soon.

Peter McDuff

Gaming Section Coordinator for TrekPulse.com