Return to Zork running help

Hi all I have just got Return to Zork and would like to know about how
everyone else has got it to run on win Xp Home ed.
I am going to try all the versions of dosbox and vdmsound but I would like
to know about how people ran RTZ with full sound and steady graphics with
good performance. is there a site that explains this in detail because of
the install option with sound smoothing, use xms memory for video buffers,
load the drivers in upper memory, play a digital soundtrack during the
opening movie etc. So far what I have tried I get poor performance and
sometimes no sound.

Thanks
Shaun B.

Full instructions to achieve what you need are here: http://zorkgamearchive.proboards43.com/index.cgi?board=windows&action=display&thread=1 (http://zorkgamearchive.proboards43.com/index.cgi?board=windows&act...=displa)

Since I wrote them, I am free to post them anywhere I want so here goes:

I have discovered that the best way to run RTZ on Windows XP is doing so through DOSBOX. Before I get too deep into explanations on what I tried first I will instead post what you will need to get it to run SMOOTHLY and FLAWLESSLY WITH THE CD-ROM SOUNDTRACK! under Windows XP.

1. First of all, install DOSBOX into your system and install Return To Zork. When you install RTZ make sure you select the right CD drive and choose SoundBlaster Pro for sound (leave any default settings untouched).

2. Go into the DOSBOX directory you just installed and find the file called dosbox.conf and make a copy of it in the DOSBOX directory.

3. Find the copy and name it zork.conf (this will be the file where you will copy the configuration settings for Return To Zork ONLY; this wont affect ANY other DOS game you might want to play).

4. This part is tricky so follow instructions carefully. Open the file you just named zork.conf with NOTEPAD and modify the following settings into it, in this order:

--A. Go to where it says fullscreen=false and change it to fullscreen=true

--B. Go to where it says cycles=auto and change it to cycles=6000

--C. Go to the line that reads [autoexec] and replace what is there with this (copy and paste):

[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.
mount D D:\ -t cdrom -usecd 0 -ioctl
mount C C:\RTZ-CD\
C:RTZ.BAT

5. Now go to your desktop and create a shortcut for DOSBOX.

6. You will soon be launching Return To Zork DIRECTLY through this shortcut but you need to follow these instructions to the letter:

--A. Right click on this shortcut and rename it Return To Zork!

--B. Right click on the shortcut again and select Properties.

--C. Look at the target line (there should be something in it that looks like this "C:\Program Files\DOSBox-0.70\dosbox.exe").

--D. Now clear that line and change it into this: "C:\Program Files\DOSBox-0.70\dosbox.exe" -conf "C:\Program Files\DOSBox-0.70\zork.conf"

PLEASE NOTE: the directory might be named differently for older or newer versions of DOSBOX, in that case change the number 70 for whatever the number version you may have, remember to use every command, including the quotations.

--E. Change the icon of that shortcut by clicking on "change icon" and pasting this where it says "look for icons in this file": %SystemDrive%\RTZ-CD\RTZ.ICO


IMPORTANT: VDMS Launchpad and VDMS Sound may be required, but they were ALREADY installed in my system when I did all this, so when in doubt, if this should not work for you, make sure you install those.

That's it, when you double click on the shortcut it will run RTZ smoothly and with CD support/music.

THERE IS another way to install Return To Zork into your system and you don't need DOSBOX, the only thing is that it WONT play the CD soundtrack, it will play the default midi music instead, if you dont care about that, please follow this link for detailed instructions on how to do it without DOSBOX:

http://home.earthlink.net/~infernofilecabinet4/XpSetupsP_T/rtz_setup.htm

I originally used that walkthrough to play the game, but I experienced some problems with my configuration, as well as the fact that I wanted to hear the CD music soundtrack while I played, so I sorted to play it with DOSBOX.

I hope this helped a lot!!!


The Zork General