I have Windows XP, and I have a lot of trouble running Jazz Jackrabbit 1. Everytime I open the program, it dumps me back to Windows with a Runtime Error message. SOMETIMES Jazz starts up, but when it does, the music skips badly.

Any ideas on what I can do?

I believe there's a DOS emulator called DOSbox that might help. Try looking it up.

Does this article help?

Originally Posted by Unknown Rabbit

Does this article help?

OK, now do I just download it into my Jazz folder and run it?

Originally Posted by The article I just linked you to

TPPATCH (the file is in .zip format, and it includes a help file)

The syntax for running the program is (from your JJ1 folder):

tppatch file0001.exe

Yes, put it in your Jazz folder, but don't just run it, run it with a command of file0001.exe.

Thanks!

OK, I downloaded that thing, and the program works and everything, but I'm still having one more issue.

The music is skipping.

How do I fix this?

Maybe try a lower sound quality setting (specified in the JJ1 setup).

I'm surprised that sound works at all for you on Windows XP - I've never been able to get it to work.

Didn't fix it.

Originally Posted by MG_EyE_04

Didn't fix it.

same here

O, for crying out loud... Windows XP hardly has any DOS foundations, so old DOS games aren't the best suited for playing on XP (well, unless they're so old, they use the internal speaker). XP users are best of with DOSBox, while others can use TPPatch. The sound skipping or lagging is annoying tho, you can use VDMSound to solve it. Here's a link:

VMDSound

- JelZe GoldRabbit =:3

Yeah, VDMSound and Dosbox are good choices. Coming from someone with past experiences with both.

aight i tryed it today and i manage to get it to work do u know if theres anyway to make that dos box window to go full screen?

OK, alt + enter is a standard combination for switching to Full Screen (if the program supports it), but that's temporary. To make it permanent, you'll need to edit the dosbox.conf file (Conf. stands for configuration, it's where all the setting are stored), Notepad will do. Then all you need to do is change this parametre:

fullscreen=false to fullscreen=true

You may change other things as well, everything is explained in the file itself. Happy playing

- JelZe GoldRabbit =:3

iv'e tryed serveral combinations swtichin the game to fullscreen i can on get the dos window the jazz game always remains the same

Seeing as how this topic is around, and I'm having problems with JJ1 (and, incidentally, the same problem with Stargunner), I shall post here.

Okay. So. I load up JJ1, and it runs fine. I'm able to watch the intro movie, see the main menu, select New Game, difficulty, and episode. However, once I get into actual gameplay, the display flicks to black and fades in, over and over again about every second, and the music skips slightly. I'm getting a sneaking feeling that this has to do with expanded memory services. I've seen a few messages that I don't have EMS support, but I don't know what I'm supposed to do about it. Any suggestions?

I got the DosBox and it works, thanks!

BUT, is there anyway to speed up the gameplay? It runs so slow. I mean it's bearable enough to play with, but I just wanna know if there's anything that'll help speed it up a little. Thanks.

Yes, there is a way with DOSBox. The reason some games run slow on DOSBox is because the amount of CPU cycles is set too low. Now, there are two ways you can raise the amount:

- pressing ctrl + F12 several times. That's the temporary way, it'll go back to the original setting when you close DOSBox.
- editing the dosbox.conf file using Notepad, which can be found in the DOSBox folder. Search for the [cpu] area in the file, and change the cycle parametre to a higher, but reasonable amount. That's the permanent way.

Either way works. In the case of Jazz Jackrabbit 1, a setting of roughly 10,000 cycles works just fine

- JelZe GoldRabbit =:3

One more uselss thing to add, VDMsound is not only for music and sound efx.

YAY THANKS FOR HELPING OUT GUYS!!! MUCHAS GRACIAS!

For future reference:

Yes it's true WINXP is the first build to not include a seperate ms-dos mode, therefore it won't support older sound drivers or OPL2 (required for AdLib music and sound).

However, if you have cash to spend I would reccomend buying a software called soundfx2000.

They offer a trial version that will allow any program that uses it to run for three minutes. Whenever a dos-based app is run, it will create a virtual sound driver for it to use, so that the music is perfect. The only thing it emulates is the sound card, and takes very little (almost none) system resources, which means that if your only problem before was sound, you will have perfect gameplay as if you didn't have XP.


If you're not satisfied with either DOSBox or VDMSound, there is always this costly alternative :P

costly = not free

Not meaning to sound impatient, but I'm still in the dark. Anyone have any suggestions regarding EMS problems?

Originally Posted by 4I Falcon

Not meaning to sound impatient, but I'm still in the dark. Anyone have any suggestions regarding EMS problems?

OK, for that I need to know the specs of the computer you're trying to run it with. But EMS? Back in the old DOS days, it was advised to play Jazz Jackrabbit after a "clean boot", meaning no memory drivers would be loaded during DOS start-up. It was a high-performance game at the time, so it needed all the memory it could get (can you imagine having only 2.5 or 4 MB of RAM on a 386 computer?)

I'll be waiting

- JelZe GoldRabbit =:3

1.3GHz, 256MB RAM, Windows 98. God knows how many accidental modifications I've made to my Windows folder. Anything else needed here?

Originally Posted by 4I Falcon

1.3GHz, 256MB RAM, Windows 98. God knows how many accidental modifications I've made to my Windows folder. Anything else needed here?

Windows 98 and "accidental modifications"? No offense, but that doesn't sound very good...

Ok, at least we know we're dealing with DOS foundation problems and JJ1 can run on it, it's just not playable... I've taken a look at the Jazz 1 helpme file and here's what it said:

Running with WINDOWS 3.xx
-------------------------

Jazz Jackrabbit works best when run directly from DOS. But, if you must
run it through Windows 3.xx, please run the file "JAZZ.PIF" (not "JAZZ.EXE").
Doing so will make Jazz work more reliably.

If you encounter any problems running through Windows, please exit and run
Jazz Jackrabbit through plain DOS instead. Here are some of the problems
you may encounter when running Jazz through Windows:

1. The game may not scroll as smoothly, sometimes "jumping" and "skipping".
2. The game may lock up while starting or while loading levels.
3. The game may slow down to half-speed.
4. The music may skip.

Running with Windows 95
-----------------------

Jazz should work under Windows 95 on most computers. However, if you
have any problems running under Windows 95, you'll have to run Jazz from
MS-DOS Mode instead.

If you are running Jazz through Windows, make sure you change the keyboard
configuration in the options menu, so the ALT key will not be used. Windows
has specific uses for the Alt key that may interfere with the game.

Which raises another question: are you running it through pure DOS (not in a window), or just through Windows? If the latter is the case I'd say you can try to edit the Jazz.pif file, mainly the "autoexec.bat" and "config.sys" area. I don't have the exact parametres for these files at the moment, i'll have to bug my dad for that

- JelZe GoldRabbit =:3

Originally Posted by JelZe GoldRabbit

Windows 98 and "accidental modifications"? No offense, but that doesn't sound very good...

Well, with all the things I've installed, not to mention all the ad/spy/elseware that's inconspicuously made itself at home on my computer, I'm not entirely sure what's original and what's not.

JJ1 and Stargunner worked at one point. I remember playing them some times, not playing either of them for a while, then trying to play them again, at which point they failed miserably. I'm not entirely sure what happened between those times, but it was obviously less than useful.

It also may be somewhat useful to note that ROTT's graphics started going barf at roughly the same time, but instead of flicking on and off, they simply became pixelated. Whether this is due to the same problem, I'm not sure, but I recall it working once or twice before that.

The main reason why I don't want to run Stargunner or ROTT in DOS is due to the lack of mouse drivers. That, and I just don't like to wait while my computer boots back and forth.

Ok, do that standard procedure with the spyware stuff (SpyBot and Ad-aware, not Ada-Ware) first.

Originally Posted by 4I Falcon

The main reason why I don't want to run Stargunner or ROTT in DOS is due to the lack of mouse drivers. That, and I just don't like to wait while my computer boots back and forth.

I'm gonna assume you're running them through Windows then. In such a case, I'd advise that "editing the .pif file" method. The consequence is that you'll be forced to play it in pure DOS (the .pif will automatically shut down Windows and restart it when you're done). How does that sound?

- JelZe GoldRabbit =:3

Well, minus the booting Windows to DOS and back and the fact that you called me 41, it's fine. So what precisely do I need to edit in the .pif file?

Sorry it took so long, apparently either nobody knows, or nobody cares. For the latter: shame on you!

*ahem* Well, running it through DOS seems to be the only answer for now... All you do is look at the proporties of the .pif file, find the Tab "Program" and click "Advanced options". Now you're getting in dangerous territory, so pay attention. Mark "MS-DOS mode" so the game will run in DOS, but keep the "Use current MS-DOS configuration" setting. Doing so will guarantee a faster boot to DOS and back to Windows, since the computer doesn't need to (temporarily) change settings in both autoexec.bat and config.sys (we'll only change those as a last resort). Save the changes and try running it now.

- JelZe GoldRabbit =:3

Cool. I didn't know just using the current DOS config allowed it to boot back and forth faster. And by the way, I'm in advanced options a lot, so it's not really dangerous territory once you know what you're doing.

On a side note, any suggestions for where I can find DOS mouse/Sound Blaster drivers?

Basicly the drivers you're using for Windows 98 can be used in DOS too, but if you have sound problems in DOS you'll need to do the "edit autoexec.bat and config.sys" thing, so DOS can see those drivers (and that's when the compy needs to reboot completely: first it adds the changes when booting to DOS and removes them when booting back to Windows). I don't have the exact parametres at hand right now....

- JelZe GoldRabbit =:3

Everything works fine for me except when I try to run setup.exe in the JJ1 folder with VDM, it says "Access denied", and I'm stuck. I'd be fine playing the game without sound, but the music was one of the reasons I dug this back out to play again.

Okay, I've got the sound problem fixed, but now everytime I start Jazz up, it gives me an error "16 bit MS-DOS Subsystem: c:\windows\system32\autoexec.nt. The system file is not suitable for running MSDOS and microsoft Windows Applications. Choose 'close' to terminate the application."

I don't think I've changed anything since it worked last, what is going wrong?

Originally Posted by MrGuru

Okay, I've got the sound problem fixed, but now everytime I start Jazz up, it gives me an error "16 bit MS-DOS Subsystem: c:\windows\system32\autoexec.nt. The system file is not suitable for running MSDOS and microsoft Windows Applications. Choose 'close' to terminate the application."

I don't think I've changed anything since it worked last, what is going wrong?

I think you can find a copy of that file in the C:\Windows\Repair directory. Just copy and paste the file back in system32 and you should be fine.