Any METALTECH Fans?

[Collector]

Since I have written installers for some of the METALTECH games, I have created this new forum for the games. Share your thoughts on these games.

[Windozed]

Hi to all the members of this great forum, and apologies if I'm posting in the wrong place.

I just wanted to say 'Thank You' to Collector for his Earthsiege 2 installer. The game runs flawlessly on my little netbook.

Again, many, many thanks.

[Collector]

You are welcome. Enjoy the game.

[Windozed]

Hi Collector,

Is there a special procedure required to download your Starsiege installer? Each time I try, I get a 'Directory Listing Denied' webpage.

[Collector]

Just a broken link. Try it again.

[Windozed]

Collector, is your Starsiege installer intended for use with the single disk version of the game?

[Collector]

I based it on my copy, which is the 2 disc version. I can make no guarantees as whether it will work with any other version.

[Windozed]

Hi Collector,

I hope I haven't made a grievous error here.

I have the single disk version of Starsiege, v.1.02 according to the Readme file on the CD. I used the SHP installer, and everything went well (as expected), then, after the Starsiege CD ejected, a dialog box popped up asking for a Buddy disk. It was at this point that I think I might have made a mistake. Not having a Buddy disk, or (at that time), knowing what a Buddy disk was, I dismissed the dialog box by clicking Cancel. I realize now that I should have at least reinserted my Starsiege CD to see if the files the installer was looking for were on it. Anyway, another message appeared (also as expected), saying that Starsiege had not been installed.

I was pleasantly surprised, therefore, to see the Starsiege icon on my Desktop. I launched the game, and I saw that the updates had successfully brought it up to v.001.004R. Fullscreen (OpenGL) mode was glacial, with extremely poor visual quality, but Windowed (software) mode was superb. No big deal. I exited the game, changed screen resolution to 640 by 480, hid the Taskbar, restarted the game and played a training mission fullscreen in a window. For about 5 minutes. Then Starsiege made an abrupt exit. No freeze, no slowdown, no lockup, just gone. And no error message. Not even a listing in Event Viewer.

That was about three weeks ago. Since then I have tried just about everything I can think of to get the game running properly, short of trying to remove and reinstall it, that is! I've gotten the OpenGL fullscreen mode to work correctly (it runs perfectly on highest settings, the game looks looks stunning), but the 5 minute bug remains.

No Compatibility Mode is required to run the game, neither is disabling Desktop Composition in Advanced Settings (or anywhere else). I don't have to Auto-Hide the Taskbar, and running as Administrator makes no difference.

I think the problem is caused by the operating system not seeing the game as being installed, as I notice that there is no entry for Starsiege in the Installed Programs list. Earthsiege 2 (and again, many, many thanks for that installer!) and 3D Ultra Pinball-Creep Night (another gem!) are listed correctly.

Do you think that if I tried removing and reinstalling the game, and this time giving your installer my Starsiege disk when it asks for the Buddy disk, that it would find whatever files it is looking for? I'm attaching a copy of the original diagnostic log, as well as the most current. The only changes I've made is renaming four .dll files in the Starsiege folder.

Sorry for the length of the post. I think I've had more fun playing with Starsiege than I would have had playing it!