Privateer 2 patch issue - Game freezes on landing

Whistler said:
Sorry, I was wrong. What you actually want to do is edit dosbox_privateer2_single.conf in Notepad.

Second to last line says: dark

Change to: darkfix

Save.

Apologies for the confusion, I thought the exe loaded from the shortcut initially.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, I made the edit for the file. Now running the launcher from the shortcut opens DOSBox for a moment and then it closes with nothing happening. DARKFIX .exe is in the same directory as DARK.exe., so by all rights it should work. I'm going to try downloading and copying the patch fileset back over again, in case there was some corruption somewhere. I've copied the text from dosbox_privateer2_single.conf here for confirmation.

[ipx]
ipx=false

[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.
@Echo off
mount c ".."
c:
cls
darkfix
exit

The launcher worked fine for the DARK.EXE so I'm not sure why it won't launch DARKFIX.exe. I can say there is a difference in file size between DARK.exe (956kb) and DARKFIX.exe (868kb) although I don't know if this is by design by the patch writer.
 
Last edited:
Knathraak said:
Hmmm, I made the edit for the file. Now running the launcher from the shortcut opens DOSBox for a moment and then it closes with nothing happening. DARKFIX .exe is in the same directory as DARK.exe., so by all rights it should work. I'm going to try downloading and copying the patch fileset back over again, in case there was some corruption somewhere. I've copied the text from dosbox_privateer2_single.conf here for confirmation.

[ipx]
ipx=false

[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.
@Echo off
mount c ".."
c:
cls
darkfix
exit

The launcher worked fine for the DARK.EXE so I'm not sure why it won't launch DARKFIX.exe.
Click to expand...
Giving me the same issue, will investigate.
 
Last edited:
Figured out the patch turns the DOS version into the Windows version. Oops :oops:, you need to run darkfix.exe directly in Windows. Set the exe to run in Windows 95 compatibility mode. A direct shortcut to the Desktop works fine.

Now me, I've run into a new issue.

I tried running Darkfix.exe on Windows 10 Pro x64 with the patch installed correctly and it would not run load. I installed to my Vista Ultimate x86 build and it works normally.

Nevermind, found a fix for my issue in a previous thread:

@centaurianmudpig said: "I re-installed windows, but had P2 installed to a seperate drive. Now it just wont load. Fixed the issue by looking at DARK.FIX and changing the first two entries to from C to D."

Edited it in Notepad to reflect that I have P2 installed on my other drive. :p
 
Last edited:
Whistler said:
Figured out the patch turns the DOS version into the Windows version. Oops :oops:, you need to run darkfix.exe directly in Windows. Set the exe to run in Windows 95 compatibility mode. A direct shortcut to the Desktop works fine.

Now me, I've run into a new issue.

I tried running Darkfix.exe on Windows 10 Pro x64 with the patch installed correctly and it would not run load. I installed to my Vista Ultimate x86 build and it works normally.

Nevermind, found a fix for my issue in a previous thread:

@centaurianmudpig said: "I re-installed windows, but had P2 installed to a seperate drive. Now it just wont load. Fixed the issue by looking at DARK.FIX and changing the first two entries to from C to D."

Edited it in Notepad to reflect that I have P2 installed on my other drive. :p
Click to expand...
Modifying DARK.FIX and running the DARKFIX.exe from the directory did the trick. Thank you Whistler for your perseverance.

New question, maybe I should start a new thread, but here goes. I can't seem to get my Logitech 3D Extreme joystick to be recognized by the game. When I go to space, the mouse is all I have to control flight. I find this strange as I also play WC4 and there are no issues there. I know there should be a config file I can modify for CH or FCS and thought I could see if either of those work, but not sure which file to modify. Any thoughts?
 
Last edited:
Knathraak said:
Modifying DARK.FIX and running the DARKFIX.exe from the directory did the trick. Thank you Whistler for your perseverance.

New question, maybe I should start a new thread, but here goes. I can't seem to get my Logitech 3D Extreme joystick to be recognized by the game. When I go to space, the mouse is all I have to control flight. I find this strange as I also play WC4 and there are no issues there. I know there should be a config file I can modify for CH or FCS and thought I could see if either of those work, but not sure which file to modify. Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

You can use Logitech Profiler to map the keyboard keys to individual buttons. This was a life saver for me. If Windows sees your stick then so does P2. However, you have to enable and calibrate the joystick in the in-flight options menu using Alt-O.

I've had issues where the Profiler mapping wouldn't take so I set Profiler to apply my customization globally; that nailed it.

Good luck with your forays into the Tri-System.
 
Whistler said:
You can use Logitech Profiler to map the keyboard keys to individual buttons. This was a life saver for me. If Windows sees your stick then so does P2. However, you have to enable and calibrate the joystick in the in-flight options menu using Alt-O.

I've had issues where the Profiler mapping wouldn't take so I set Profiler to apply my customization globally; that nailed it.

Good luck with your forays into the Tri-System.
Click to expand...

All set. I had done an OS re-install and forgotten to install my Logitech Gaming Software. Thank you again Whistler.
 
I'm not sure how long this link will last but grab it while it's live.

http://www.filedropper.com/kswc3mp3

Make sure you're downloading only KSWC3mp3.zip

All the files are straight conversions from the raw wav extension to a 64 kbs bitrate at 22500 Hz.

Not the best bitrate I'll admit but they sound fine to my ears.
 
I've been looking for literally two days for a solution to this. I messed around with frame cycles, dynamic CPU, etc, in the GOG dosbox version. While I kinda fixed the slow to a crawl FPS issue near objects, I wasn't totally happy and the game constantly crashed on FMVs. I kept losing so much game time I gave up and used your latest version patch. Welp, seems it helps, but I can't get anywhere because my mouse jumps instantly to the bottom right and locks up. I'm pretty computer savvy and 48 hours later everything I've tried based on advice here and on other places doesn't work. Tried every combo of settings, plugged mouse into different port, tried a different mouse, tried messing with a joystick to see if that was causing it... nothing. Even tried every old version of the patch. I'm about to give up, GOG is such money grubbing pieces of crap to begin with that this should have been fixed, and not let a freaking customer patch it... Anyways, anyone know what's causing this mouse BS? Again, about to return the game, it's one of my favorites of all time, and can't even get it to work properly even once. Note: Trying in the normal dosbox launcher the mouse works fine. It's only when using darkfix, in any mode...
 
I have the GOG version and it runs fine.
I put in the Test3 patch and run it. No Joy.
I change the Dark.fix file lines from C: to D: and run it and it asks for the CD1. I checked the CD.DAT and it says 1.
I also checked the Darkfix and it is in 95 compatibility mode.
What am I missing please? Thanks for all your help! :D

I'm curious, could you patch the higher res landing sequences in to the game?

Thanks for all your hard work.

PS. It looks like the GOG version is the DOS version. Is there a way for this to work through DOS?
I also get the User Account Control when ever I launch the Darkfix.exe

I have Win10 Pro 64 just in case you are wondering.
 
Last edited:
Hi, how does nocd works in this patch (which is marvelous btw). Do I need to change cd.dat manually for side missions? fiddle with movies.iff? I have a gog version.

edit:
Silly me, I had no idea how big one CD is :) After some playing everything works as expected.
 
Last edited:
An important thing to note is that you will have to change the drive in DARK.FIX if you have the game on a drive other than C:.
I just found that out. The game will not run unless you change it.

I do like that there is no longer any interlacing. Reminds me of the Gabriel Knight 2 unofficial patch.
It seems like gog removed interlacing on Wing Commander 3.
 
Vakex said:
I've been looking for literally two days for a solution to this. I messed around with frame cycles, dynamic CPU, etc, in the GOG dosbox version. While I kinda fixed the slow to a crawl FPS issue near objects, I wasn't totally happy and the game constantly crashed on FMVs. I kept losing so much game time I gave up and used your latest version patch. Welp, seems it helps, but I can't get anywhere because my mouse jumps instantly to the bottom right and locks up. I'm pretty computer savvy and 48 hours later everything I've tried based on advice here and on other places doesn't work. Tried every combo of settings, plugged mouse into different port, tried a different mouse, tried messing with a joystick to see if that was causing it... nothing. Even tried every old version of the patch. I'm about to give up, GOG is such money grubbing pieces of crap to begin with that this should have been fixed, and not let a freaking customer patch it... Anyways, anyone know what's causing this mouse BS? Again, about to return the game, it's one of my favorites of all time, and can't even get it to work properly even once. Note: Trying in the normal dosbox launcher the mouse works fine. It's only when using darkfix, in any mode...
Click to expand...
I have this exact problem. Has anyone find a fix in all these years?

I'm running the GOG version (with language specific files changed with those from a spanish version) in Windows 11.
 
Ansark said:
I have this exact problem. Has anyone find a fix in all these years?

I'm running the GOG version (with language specific files changed with those from a spanish version) in Windows 11.
Click to expand...
So I found the solution. You need to go to compatibility settings, "Change high DPI settings" and then check "Override high DPI scaling behavious. Scaling preformed" And set it to "Application".

BTW. I found another problem that seems to be related to the spanish version. The alt + O menu causes a freeze. But it's easily fixed by swapping the spanish GAMEFLOW.IFF with the english one. Some things in the menu will be in english, but it's better than the alternative.

Interestingly, this menu works normal on GOG-s regular Dosbox, but it also causes the same problem with Dosbox Staging.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top