Oregon Trail 2 Problems

The place to ask for technical support and offer assistance
Post Reply
jetblue1717
Less than a nibble
Posts: 9
Joined: July 6th, 2009, 1:50 pm

Oregon Trail 2 Problems

Post by jetblue1717 »

This is one of my favorite games which is terribly underrated!
But before I go into a rant, I have a problem with videos playing in the game. For example: When I insert the cd and click run the screen goes to black and does nothing (as opposed to playing the intro, logos etc.). If I eject and then put the game in again, the start menu comes up with the actual game behind it (this is what I usually do to play). Also, along the trail there are videos of wildlife and wagons and other western-y stuff that should play on the map, but they don't, of course. Finally, there are videos of wagons/ferries crossing the river that should be played to tell you the outcome of river crossings, but they don't. :|
I've gone to the cd folder for the videos and played them with quicktime (they're fine). Any help at all would be appreciated!!!
Thanks.
User avatar
DOSGuy
Website Administrator
Posts: 1063
Joined: September 2nd, 2005, 8:28 pm
Contact:

Re: Oregon Trail 2 Problems

Post by DOSGuy »

Old QuickTime games tend to fail or crash on me in Windows XP with a version of QuickTime that is several versions newer than the one the game came with. As usual, the solution here is probably going to be DOSBox. You can use DOSBox to install a copy of Windows 3.1 in a folder on your C: drive and either mount your CD-ROM drive as D: or copy the contents (or make an ISO) of the CD onto your hard drive. The game should offer to install QuickTime into your Windows 3.1 virtual hard drive.
Today entirely the maniac there is no excuse with the article.
jetblue1717
Less than a nibble
Posts: 9
Joined: July 6th, 2009, 1:50 pm

Re: Oregon Trail 2 Problems

Post by jetblue1717 »

I've installed Quicktime 2.1 (as offered by the game), and the intro will now play and go to the game when finished, but the river crossings still won't play along with the scenic videos!
And please don't advise dosbox. I really don't know anything about it.
User avatar
DOSGuy
Website Administrator
Posts: 1063
Joined: September 2nd, 2005, 8:28 pm
Contact:

Re: Oregon Trail 2 Problems

Post by DOSGuy »

It's the solution to getting old DOS/Win16 games working 99% of the time, so it's time to learn! Read the tutorial Basic DOSBox Tutorial.
Today entirely the maniac there is no excuse with the article.
jetblue1717
Less than a nibble
Posts: 9
Joined: July 6th, 2009, 1:50 pm

Re: Oregon Trail 2 Problems

Post by jetblue1717 »

I used dosbox.
And quite simply, it didn't work.
I mounted drive c at my cd drive and directed it to the main folder (mount c d:\data).
There I tried to run both exe files (OTII32 and OTII16) and got these two messages:
"This program cannot be run in DOS Mode" and
"This program requires Microsoft windows"
User avatar
DOSGuy
Website Administrator
Posts: 1063
Joined: September 2nd, 2005, 8:28 pm
Contact:

Re: Oregon Trail 2 Problems

Post by DOSGuy »

Like I said, you'll need to install a copy of Windows in a virtual C: drive and mount the CD-ROM as your D: drive. If you've read the Basic Tutorial, you're half way there. The Advanced DOSBox Tutorial explains how to install Windows 3.1 in DOSBox.

I know this may seem like a lot of work, but installing a real copy of Windows 3.1/95 in an emulator or virtualization environment -- DOSBox, Bochs, QEMU, Virtual PC or VMWare -- is probably the only way you're going to get this game working. Once you've done this, you'll be able to play any Windows 3.1 game you want! There are over 50 on this site alone, so think of it as an investment in being able to play dozens, maybe hundreds of games that you otherwise couldn't.

The advantage to using DOSBox, as opposed to the other programs I mentioned, is that DOSBox was designed specifically for playing DOS games, so learning DOSBox opens the world of DOS and Windows to you.
Today entirely the maniac there is no excuse with the article.
jetblue1717
Less than a nibble
Posts: 9
Joined: July 6th, 2009, 1:50 pm

Re: Oregon Trail 2 Problems

Post by jetblue1717 »

Blah. Ok.
So I've installed windows 3.1 on my hard drive, ran it with dosbox, installed oregon trail and quicktime with windows 3.1, and when I tried to run the game I got this message:

"This product requires a video mode that supports at least 256 colors"
I feel so close to it I can almost smell it!!!

By the way, the mouse is working fine for me.
jetblue1717
Less than a nibble
Posts: 9
Joined: July 6th, 2009, 1:50 pm

Re: Oregon Trail 2 Problems

Post by jetblue1717 »

Ok, I installed the necessary video and sound drivers and when I run the game, the intro works fine and then after in I get this message:
"Application Error
integer divide by 0"
Almost there, I think.
User avatar
DOSGuy
Website Administrator
Posts: 1063
Joined: September 2nd, 2005, 8:28 pm
Contact:

Re: Oregon Trail 2 Problems

Post by DOSGuy »

That's not a good message. It sounds a bit like the error message some DOS games give when your CPU is too fast. This is worth a try.

Cycle count probably lists as "Max" in DOSBox's title bar. Press Ctrl+F11 to reduce the cycle count. Start with something conservative like 3000 and work your way down to 2000, 1000, 500 if necessary. If that's not the problem, I don't know what else to suggest.
Today entirely the maniac there is no excuse with the article.
jetblue1717
Less than a nibble
Posts: 9
Joined: July 6th, 2009, 1:50 pm

Re: Oregon Trail 2 Problems

Post by jetblue1717 »

It doesn't work.
This is really frustrating.
User avatar
DOSGuy
Website Administrator
Posts: 1063
Joined: September 2nd, 2005, 8:28 pm
Contact:

Re: Oregon Trail 2 Problems

Post by DOSGuy »

Sorry, I was too busy this morning to load up DOSBox. Once it shows "max", pressing Ctrl+F11 reduces the emulation speed by 5% at a time.

If you've reduced the emulation speed down to the lowest setting that would still move the emulation along and the game still gave you a divide by zero error, you're probably screwed. You're running a real copy of Windows 3.1, so that mostly eliminates the operating system as the cause of your problem.

Since DOSBox was designed for playing DOS games and not running Windows, it could still be a problem with DOSBox. It may still be worth installing a copy of Windows 3.1 in a PC emulator like Bochs or QEMU, or a virtualization suite like Virtual PC or VMWare. If a real copy of Windows 3.1 won't run a Windows 3.1 game, that suggests data corruption, such as a scratch on the CD or disc rot.

One last possibility worth checking out is a Windows alternative. ReactOS is a full-fledged operating system designed to be a free, third-party alternative to Windows -- basically ReactOS is to Windows what FreeDOS is to MS-DOS. Also, if you're running a Unix-based operating system, you can try running Wine.

If all else fails, consider picking up an ancient computer from your local Goodwill or Salvation Army Thrift Store for $5 and install Windows 3.1 on that. That would give you the hardware that the game was designed to run on but, frankly, if it doesn't run in Windows 3.1 in a program that emulates an old computer, I'm not that hopeful that an actual old computer is the answer. Still, it only costs you $5 and part of a Saturday to find out.
Today entirely the maniac there is no excuse with the article.
Post Reply