A few (perhaps obvious) questions

[ogoptimus]

Hi everyone! I'm new here.

First off, I have to say that the information here is absolutely awesome! I haven't played MW2 or GBL since I had my old Win 98SE system back in 2002. Then it died in early 2003 and when I got my new system later that year, it was time to update to XP. And things didn't work so well.

Now I'm going back on my newest computer (still resisting Vista too) and playing these and reliving all the excitement.

I had a few questions though.

My sound in GBL is good. I downloaded VDMSound and put that into the batch file to run the game, and the in game sounds were even better. There's just one thing missing--the briefing/debriefing voiceovers. Has anyone run into this problem before? I've tried searching and can't seem to come up with anything.

And I know this isn't in the right forum, but I should be getting MW2 Mercenaries running for the first time (never played it back in the day), and I'm wondering if I'm likely to encounter a similar problem, or if there are briefing/debriefing voiceovers in the game?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again to everyone who did all the testing and compiled all this info. This site is a huge treasure.

[Skyfaller]

Welcome to mech2.org!

MW2:31stcc and MW2:GBL don't have mission (de-)briefing voiceovers, but MW2:Mercs and MW3 do, even with video.

[ogoptimus]

I could have sworn that GBL did. When you get to the mission summary screen, there's a section in the upper left that has a view button next to it. I remember clicking on it, getting a short animation and a voiceover for it too. The one I vividly remember was when you kill you Star Captain for disobeying orders, your new Star Captain said something along the lines of "don't do that to me, cuz I'll kill you if you try."

Also, I'm running Win XP Pro SP3.

[Sir MMPD Radick]

(Echos Skyfaller) Welcome to mech2.org!

And I know this isn't in the right forum

Actually, you have the right section. GBL/Mech2 we combine mainly because people wanting to play GBL is rare and most problems are similar.

there's a section in the upper left that has a view button next to it. I remember clicking on it, getting a short animation and a voiceover for it too.

Yes there are voices in GBL.
Before and after there is like you said a button that brings up speech and a vid.
There is not any voice overs other than that for text on the screen.

So are you saying the videos and audio for the videos does not work?

[ogoptimus]

Thanks for the welcomes guys!

The video plays. So for instance, the first mission (trial on Alshain) has an overview of the map that the camera pans around. And afterward the video is of the rank you acquired, and it spins when you press view.

These play, but I get no speech while they do. All the other sounds in the dropship work fine, like the mission computer and the Link Established "morphing" sound.

[Sir MMPD Radick]

Very odd, have you considered using dosbox?
I really have no idea why it would be doing that.

[ogoptimus]

Just went through the Dosbox setup using the video and...EVERYTHING WORKS! The speech is back! Awesome! Thanks for all the help and suggestions, and the step by step instructions for installing.

One more set of questions though.

Can you mount more than one CD image for dosbox successfully in the config file? I know that Mech2 and GBL don't care which CD you have in the drive, but the non-functional D3D edition of mercenaries (loads game fine, but missions crash) I have complains if the CD isn't there. Once I get a good copy of Mercs, am I going to have to edit the config file or type the new line each time I want to play the other game?

I installed the game under Win XP and patched it using the application here. I made a copy of the batch file and the three included files and took them over to GBL and got it running the same way. Then, I copied these two directories to my dosbox folder and am using them to run the game. Is there any problem with this? One of the install guides says to install the game under dosbox while the video just copies the directory.

And off-topic, when I get a good copy of Mercs (post office says it's on it's way today), is the best way to install it to go through dosbox and install it that way? Can I then create the proper batch file I need like I did for MW2/GBL in windows, or do I have to make it through dosbox?

[Sir MMPD Radick]

Installation through dosbox is not necessary if you can do it through XP. The result is the same; it truly does not make any difference.
As you said, copying the folder into the DOSBOX directory has the same effect as installing through dosbox.
The only difference is that you will want to change the sound type if you install through XP when you actually run dosbox.
Most of the time the only soundblaster which will be compatible on XP is soundblaster compatible or soundblaster pro.
For dosbox it supports soundblaster 16 which is better.

Your strategy for installing is pretty much same as what I usually do.
You are on the right track.

In truth the batch file is not necessary when you are running in dosbox.
It is only necessary if your mouse is running slugish when you run it directly.
For some it is slugish others it is not. For me with my G9 mouse it is not because I can change my mouse sensitivity anytime i want.

Now as for multiplie mounts.....
Yes and no. Mounting several in the dosbox.conf will not work that I can tell you.
However, skyfaller has pointed out in the past that you can use a batch file to mount the disc and run the game.
I would go with that solution. Try putting the mount line in each of the games batch files so it is mounted prior to launch.

[ogoptimus]

That's a good idea to mount them in the batch files.

I've now done that and both Mech 2 and GBL work.

One further question: The resolution is great, but it seems to run in a small window even when the screen is full size. Is that just how it is? Might be my screen though, since I'm on a laptop.

[Sir MMPD Radick]

alt + enter to go full screen