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Author Topic: Ur-Quan Masters 0.5.0 Run Problem  (Read 2287 times)
sc_2006
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Ur-Quan Masters 0.5.0 Run Problem
« on: June 29, 2006, 04:22:01 am »

Hey guys. I am a newbie from Malaysia and I don't know next to nothing about computer codes, programming and stuffs except for the fact that my PC's OS is an XP. I got interested in this game because of glowing recommendation from the Home Of The Underdogs (HOTU) site and followed their link here. I subsequently downloaded the installer to this game as well as the content files and the music files (separately) from my housemate's PC (mine's not connected to the net) and transfer them via pendrive to my PC before unzipping and installing. My problem is, when I run the game I get a DOSBOX  flashing on my screen with a whole lot of technical mumbo jumbo I don't know anything about except that each task was successfully loaded. But the most important is the last 2 lines which goes like this:

Warning: Can't open 'starcon.1st'
Kernel fail to load! 

And it just sits there freezing for hours until I turn it off. Fyi, I did not download and install the voiceover file nor did I burn the files I downloaded and install it from there. Are these gonna cause problems?? Please help. Like I say I am not the least bit tech savvy so if there are any stupid mistakes or simple things that I don't understand, I do beg for y'all's forgiveness in advance.

Thank you.
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Novus
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Re: Ur-Quan Masters 0.5.0 Run Problem
« Reply #1 on: June 29, 2006, 10:54:35 am »

If UQM can't find starcon.lst, the main content package has probably been installed incorrectly. In particular, the content packages should not, under normal circumstances, be unzipped; they should be placed without modification (with the original file names, including a ".uqm" extension which Internet Explorer occasionally corrupts for no apparent reason) in the content/packages subdirectory of the UQM directory; the installer places these files in the right place if it can download them from the Internet or you have them in the same directory as the installer.
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RTFM = Read the fine manual.
RTTFAQ = Read the Ur-Quan Masters Technical FAQ.
sc_2006
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Re: Ur-Quan Masters 0.5.0 Run Problem
« Reply #2 on: June 29, 2006, 11:08:06 am »

Novus,

I have the Content packages in the same directory as the Installer but for some reason when running Installer it cannot detect the Content packages and will try to look for it online. Of course, my PC is not connected to the Internet so I have to unzip the files in the Content packages into the same directory the Installer has installed its files. I think now this is the wrong way to do it after reading your post.

So which of the files in the Content packages should have its extension renamed and how? My Content package that I downloaded have a zip extension because they are in a zipped file after downloading. Are these the ones that should be renamed? Sorry for all the questions but I'm really trying hard to understand all of these  Wink

Thanks for the reply.
« Last Edit: June 29, 2006, 11:11:53 am by sc_2006 » Logged
Novus
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Re: Ur-Quan Masters 0.5.0 Run Problem
« Reply #3 on: June 29, 2006, 11:32:02 am »

Thank you for your clear description of your situation. This seems like a common problem we can solve easily. Basically, the main content file should be "uqm-0.5.0-content.uqm" and the 3DO music file should be "uqm-0.5.0-3domusic.uqm". Change the extensions back from ".zip" to ".uqm" and the installer should be able to recognise them (uninstalling UQM and deleting the install directory before reinstalling is strongly recommended, as the installation directory is probably a mess right now).

An alternative, harder and less standard solution is to make sure that the unzipped content is in the content subdirectory of the UQM directory, which should also work. Getting this to work reliably requires some knowledge of the UQM directory structure, so I don't recommend you try this.

Your problem stems from the fact that some web browsers (mostly notably IE) change the extension of downloaded files if they feel that the extension is wrong. UQM uses the extension ".uqm" for its ZIP file packages to discourage users from unpacking them, as the game (usually) works with all the content in ZIP files. Unfortunately, this makes things even worse when the extension is changed, as the changed extension prevents the installer from recognising the package (future versions will probably address this behaviour either by accepting a .zip extension or changing the ZIP files to prevent them from being detected as such by web servers and/or browsers).
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RTFM = Read the fine manual.
RTTFAQ = Read the Ur-Quan Masters Technical FAQ.
sc_2006
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Re: Ur-Quan Masters 0.5.0 Run Problem
« Reply #4 on: June 29, 2006, 09:14:37 pm »

Novus,

Thank you, thank you, thank you.  Smiley

Finally got the game up and running. I didn't expect the solution to be that simple. Hope all newbies who face the same problem can refer to this thread for help.

Thanks again Novus. Owe you one.
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Zeep-Eeep
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Re: Ur-Quan Masters 0.5.0 Run Problem
« Reply #5 on: June 29, 2006, 10:31:55 pm »

If I remeber correctly, Novus can be re-paid in "cold ones" or
"blonde ones".
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