Star Control 2 and Windows XP

[That Strange Girl]

I've had a sudden desire to play Star Control 2 again. I still have the original CD ... but I also have Windows XP now. I've tried tweaking some of the Windows settings to run in Windows 95 compatibility mode, but it doesn't seem to work - I can get past the copy protection to the 'start new game' button but there is no mouse, and I can't continue.

I was hoping maybe someone around here would know a good reference site with tips and tricks on getting old games like this to work on Windows XP ... or any other hints? I loved this game, I'd really like to play it again. :(

Also, don't you just wish that copy protection on games would simply expire after 10 years or so? Fortunately I still have the original map (by some miracle) but how annoying to have to look up the star coordinates every time just to play a game that nobody in their right mind would be pirating nowdays ...

[Rollory]

http://sc2.sourceforge.net/

Screw the CD, screw the DOS sound drivers, screw the copy protection. Get the Ultra-Mega-Cool-Enhanced version with the 3DO recorded voices.

[That Strange Girl]

Hmm ... I came across a few references to this while searching for answers, the main reason I was still looking to get the original to work was that it wasn't clear to me if the fan rebuilt version was identical to the original, or different in any way.

Though, I suppose different in the "working" kind of way is a good first step... :) I'll give it a try, though still interested to hear any tips on getting the original and other similar games to work with XP.

[Rollory]

It has everything the original had, plus more. I have both versions working on two different computers (one of which I specially built to be able to play this one game) and UQM (from sourceforge) is definitely the version I prefer.

[Jasper]

Urquan Masters is definitely the way to go.

[That Strange Girl]

OK ok, sold! I'm downloading it now. :)

[DennyA]

It's not "fan-rebuilt." The original developers are involved.

[roguefrog]

I played through The Qr-Quan Masters to completion. It wins.

[Rock8man]

I recommend avoiding the 3D0 Music and the 3D0 recorded voices. The PC version was much better. The voice acting, IMHO, is terrible. And the music isn't as good in the 3DO version either.

I've heard from people here on this forum that the new remixed fan-made music is worth getting, but I don't know if I trust them, since they might be the same people recommending the voice acting. (Winking smiley).

[Marcus]

The SF version of it friggin rules. I play the game a lot more then I ever though I would.

[brainfromarous]

In case you change your mind... the original one does work with DOSBox.

[Jab2565]

sadly there's still no news on if toysforbob got enough emails for a true sequel yet. *crossing fingers*

[DanielElliot]

They only got a few thousand e-mails. It's in the thread about that. :(

[Gendal]

I am trying to get into this game but finding the ship and controls just to wonky and unresponsive. I am guessing you can upgrade this with the turning boosters and engine upgrades, but how much? It takes so long to fly into a solar system and stop on a planet, then proceed to the next planet, that I generally just get frustrated and quit. I liked the starting system, decent amount to do with sweet promises of so much more, but the whole flying around is so painfully klunky.

How much does upgrading your ship help all of this? Combat just sucks in the very beginning.

[Rollory]

I am trying to get into this game but finding the ship and controls just to wonky and unresponsive. I am guessing you can upgrade this with the turning boosters and engine upgrades, but how much? It takes so long to fly into a solar system and stop on a planet, then proceed to the next planet, that I generally just get frustrated and quit. I liked the starting system, decent amount to do with sweet promises of so much more, but the whole flying around is so painfully klunky.

Oh DEFINITELY. Don't even leave the Solar System without putting 2-3 speed boosters and turning jets on. That's just ... wrong. You should be able to get enough RUs from Io, Mars, and Mercury to make the ship FAR more maneuverable. Sell the ion blaster that you start with, too; use those RUs for speed and maneuverability. Your escorts will do all the fighting early on. The FIRST priority is to max the ship's speed and turning.

Speed = life.

[Jab2565]

Yeah you shouldn't think about fighting with your main ship until you get max boosters and turning, also there's an alien who will sell you alien tech for alien lifeform data, once you find him make a note of his position, the tech he sells are lifesavers.

[flyinj]

I've played the original SC2 many times, and I started playing the SF version recently.

My memory is a bit foggy, but wasn't there a way to search for the name of a star on the starmap?

[EvilIdler]

My memory is a bit foggy, but wasn't there a way to search for the name of a star on the starmap?
All I can remember is that the map is physical with an index chart in the
corner or on the back :P

[LesJarvis]

I've played the original SC2 many times, and I started playing the SF version recently.

My memory is a bit foggy, but wasn't there a way to search for the name of a star on the starmap?

I have vague memories of this as well, but the last 2-3 times I've played SC2 I've been unable to figure out how to do so. It's certainly possible that I just hallucinated it, and it's good to know that it's a shared hallucincation if that's the case.

[Gendal]

I've played the original SC2 many times, and I started playing the SF version recently.

My memory is a bit foggy, but wasn't there a way to search for the name of a star on the starmap?

From the Ur-Quan Masters Manual
Star Map

Arrow Keys: Move the crosshair
ENTER or RIGHT CTRL: Select destination
SPACE or RIGHT SHIFT: Main menu
Keypad +: Zoom in
Keypad -: Zoom out
/: Begin search.
(Type star or constellation name to
find matches)
TAB: Jump to next match.

[Kevin McGuire]

I'm also finding it a bit hard to get started. Do you have to play this one with a game pad? I'm finding the combat a bit difficult using the keyboard - is that what everyone used when SC 2 first came out?

[DanielElliot]

Keyboard is fine for combat. What you need to get used to is the different ships, and when to use which ship. Many of the ships are best used as counters to specific other ships, while others are more general purpose (read: more powerful). The Earthling Cruiser, for example, will completely tear up any number of VUX ships you throw at it, but is likely to be destroyed by a single Slylandro Probe if you're not really, really good at the combat. If you go into Super Melee and load up the New Alliance team, that's a good way of getting used to the different ships.

Without spoiling too much, you can get a non-Earth ship very early on, right in the Sol system. Be sure to do that, as it's a nice versatile one.

[Jab2565]

I loved that ship, I pretty much used it against the probes early on. Also from someone who messed up a bit, be careful about waiting too long to visit alien home worlds, or you might find an unexpected sight :)

[roguefrog]

Yeah, after a few years pass something "really bad" happens. (were talking BAD!)

I found that you don't really need to spend more than a year collecting resources. You want all the tech and info from the alien traders. Very useful. Take notes, follow up on everything. And there are certain things that should be done as soon as possible!

Good Luck!

[Soapyfrog]

Oh yeah and be sure to collect biologicals for the melnorme. In fairly short order you should be able to get all the advanced tech toys from them. Triple guiding hellbores makes your mothership fairly well unstoppable!

[Mike O'Malley]

Unstoppable until the Sa'Matra, anyway, at which point it's all about the Pkunk.

[Rimbo]

They only got a few thousand e-mails. It's in the thread about that. :(

"Only?"

[Jab2565]

Yeah they were looking for alot more, at this point I would take a star control sequel with the old school style graphics if it means getting another out.

[Rimbo]

Do they really need that many more? When you consider how popular UQM is after all this time...

[Robert Sharp]

I have the ship mentioned, and I still get my but kicked by everything out there. I just can't fight with the arrow keys. The bad guys seem to fly around me constantly, I can't turn fast enough. And they seem to be able to shoot from any direction. It's very frustrating.

[DanielElliot]

Are you talking about the Slylandro probes? The things that swing around like crazy and shoot lightning? They are nasty, you might be better off just running away from them.

[Robert Sharp]

Yeah, those. I can kill them, but I lose most of my ships first.

[Jab2565]

I fight the probes whenever I see them, the *hidden*ship at the beginning or the earth ship are pretty good if you can get the first shot off before it starts flying around crazly.

[Robert Sharp]

I just can't aim very well. I miss all the time, and then my batteries are out. I'd really prefer to play with a gamepad. The arrow key thing doesn't feel right at all.

[Jab2565]

Did you get the hidden ship yet? Use it's special fire to hit it while flying away.
I use that to kill the ilwrath, probes easily. Doesn't work much on the Ur Quan

[Saber Cherry]

I suggest you play Super Melee until you can routinely destroy enemy ships in combat before you spend much time in the real game. Otherwise, you'll waste a lot of money and a lot of crew due to a lack of skill, and it will be very frustrating. And only fight with little side ships until your main one is highly upgraded...

[XPav]

And once you get it upgraded... stand back.

[Marcus]

You know someone was working on an Xbox version of this game and I think they got pretty far but I dont think it ever ended up getting released. Man that woulda been hot shit right there.

EDIT

I guess it can be done

two ways to do it atm :

http://www.crusaders.no/~joker/sc2/

1)
get the xbe, then the uqm's and unzip them, put it all into content dir.

2)
get the rar-file and run the batchfile inside of it, it'll get all the files you need and unpack them, then you transfer it to the xbox.


-tj

I am gonna try this tomorrow I think.

[Shiroko]

If this is your first run in the game don't try fighting the probes. They're extremely effective in killing newbies, and causing serious damage before destroyed.

If you already got maximum turn-engines and good homing weapons you can try to "pillbox" which is standing still (You start with 0 speed, later on you can't do it again) and simply shoot the probe is it comes, even this is not perfect.

The other way people mentioned is that "hidden ship" that can take probes easily once you get the trick.

[Rimbo]

I just can't aim very well. I miss all the time, and then my batteries are out. I'd really prefer to play with a gamepad. The arrow key thing doesn't feel right at all.

Well, that's because it's not right. Use one hand: Thumb fires, middle finger thrusts, pinky fires special, using index and ring for right and left. Find a comfortable position for the hand (space bar plus 'j' through ';' on the home row works). Once you get used to it, you'll dominate.

[Robert Sharp]

In SM mode, I do fine, except against the Ur-Quan ship, which kicks my butt. And Rimbo, I can't config the controls. I go to that option in the menu and it says it isn't implemented. But apparently, I am good enough in SM. I guess my ship just blows early in the game and I am fighting the wrong guys.

[Rimbo]

Hmmm... I seem to remember that there was a way to reconfigure the controls in UQM, just not through the menus. I could be remembering wrong!

[XPav]

You can edit the .cfg file.

[Robert Sharp]

You know the enterprise looking ship you get from the start, which has a homing missile? In SM that missile hits all the time, but when I am playing the actual game it seems to miss a lot. Why is that?

[Rimbo]

Are you shooting at the same kind of enemy?

[Robert Sharp]

Not sure. Do some of them have anti-homing fields of some sort?

[Jab2565]

How close are you to the ships when shooting? If your too close then the missle won't get a lock, they're much better at hitting if your pretty far away like half a screen.

[Robert Sharp]

Ok, thanks. BTW, I'm not huge on the combat in this game, but I love the humor and such. Since I haven't played far into it, will I be able to get over the combat and still enjoy the game? I mean there's more to it than just fighting a bunch, right?

[DanielElliot]

Yes, it's a big huge adventure game with a great storyline and tons and tons and tons of great characters (in the form of alien races), except instead of puzzles you play Asteroids.

[Rimbo]

Not sure. Do some of them have anti-homing fields of some sort?

Ilwrath ships cloak, which means you actually have to aim... but then, the Ilwrath flamethrower is very good at shooting the missiles down. So I don't recommend fucking with any Ilwrath until you've got a few ships capable of dealing with the Ilwrath properly. Problem is, the Ilwrath are one of the first races you'll meet.

There are other ships that are better able to dodge or shoot down the Earthling nukes than others; Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah can deal with Earth Cruisers easily, but Kzer-Ah are surprisingly vulnerable if the Earth Cruiser can stay out of range of that big plasma gun.

Although you can affect the outcome of battles a great deal with skill, there really are some ships that are better at dealing with others. Even a ship that looks horribly weak just might end up, well, being devastating against the right target...

[Rollory]

Ilwrath ships cloak, which means you actually have to aim... but then, the Ilwrath flamethrower is very good at shooting the missiles down. So I don't recommend fucking with any Ilwrath until you've got a few ships capable of dealing with the Ilwrath properly. Problem is, the Ilwrath are one of the first races you'll meet.

Only if you deliberately go looking for them. You can pretty much avoid them for the most part.

One of the main tricks in dealing with the AI ships is figuring out how/when to get them to turn around and try to catch you coming around the other side of the battlefield. Basically, if you're moving at a decent clip, and are at least a certain distance away, and turn around and face them (coasting backwards), that usually fulfills the conditions. So (for example) an Earthling can often fool faster ships to turn around and try to catch it from the other side, when if the faster ship had just kept chasing it would have caught up much sooner. Result is usually an Earthling victory.

The Ilwrath are somewhat vulnerable to this, but the fact that they're cloaked makes it harder - the timing and aiming of your shots is touch and go. Much easier to kill them with a fastship, like the hidden one - you can maneuver to take up a position just out of range of the flames and pepper them with small shots to wear them down.

Oh, and as far as horribly weak ships go - my dad, back when he played this, was capable of reliably taking out Ur-Quan Kzer-Za with a Shofixti (pretty much the smallest, weakest ship in the game). And not via self-destruct, either - by systematically shooting down any fighters with the popgun, and then systematically taking down the Dreadnought's points one by one, sitting just in the angle between where the plasma bursts go.

[XPav]

If I recall, the first Ilwatch ship doesn't even cloak, so just point the cruiser at em, fire off 2 missiles, and watch it burn.

Of course, after that, any real Ilwrath you encounter will eat your cruisers for breakfast.

FRUNGY!
FRUNGY!
FRUNGY!
FRUNGY!

[Jab2565]

In one of the games I played I went after the ilwrath first, some of their planets near the borders has great resources. All I needed was the hidden ship to take them out. You just need to be good at timing .

[Mike O'Malley]

Is the "hidden ship" a UQM or 3DO thing? I sure don't remember it from the PC version.

[Jab2565]

I know alot of the people who played the game know it already, it's just that it's hidden in the sol system, I don't want to spoil it for someone who never played it.

I know for a fact its in the 3d0 version, don't know about the pc.

[Enidigm]

I only remember the Ilwrath as one of the weakest ships in the game. It had good firepower up close, but man was it hopelessly slow. Anything with some speed will beat it every time.

[Jasper]

If I recall, the first Ilwatch ship doesn't even cloak, so just point the cruiser at em, fire off 2 missiles, and watch it burn.

Of course, after that, any real Ilwrath you encounter will eat your cruisers for breakfast.
I remember playing SC2 for the first time, and about pissing myself when I saw the Ilwrath coming, and all I had was Earthling cruisers (I'd played SC1 enough to know how rough that'd be).

Against literally anything else the Ilwrath are easy prey though.

[Jasper]

Is the "hidden ship" a UQM or 3DO thing? I sure don't remember it from the PC version.
It's in the PC version as well. I don't know if I'd really consider it "hidden", as it's right in the path of the plot, and you're basically told to check it out. One of the better ships too, and could be a real pain in the ass when run by the AI.

[DanielElliot]

Yeah, it's not really hidden, it's part of the plot that you find it. I just didn't want to spoil the plot.

[Aeon221]

This game is the shit. As in, I wonder how I lived before it!

My lil brother and I are hardcore fans of it now.

Why is there no sequel to the uubersweetness that is this game?

... its also proof that 3d != good.

[Alan Au]

I'm also finding it a bit hard to get started. Do you have to play this one with a game pad? I'm finding the combat a bit difficult using the keyboard - is that what everyone used when SC 2 first came out?This reminds me of the days when I used to play a lot of supermelee with my buddies, and we had to put in a house rule that each player was only supposed to hit two keys at a time. Otherwise, it would be possible for one player to lock out the other player's controls by overloading the keyboard.

- Alan

[jpinard]

Is this right? It's only 1.1 Meg? That seems way too small.

[Gendal]

Is this right? It's only 1.1 Meg? That seems way too small.

That's just the game and graphics, no music or voice work. After that it balloons to 233mb. The installer auto downloads it for you.

[Jab2565]

Heh, I remember when I first saw UQM and the file size on my 56k modem. Thought what the hell, then saw the download time, and screamed on the inside..

[jpinard]

That's just the game and graphics, no music or voice work. After that it balloons to 233mb. The installer auto downloads it for you.

Sweet, thanks! :)

[Zylon]

That's just the game and graphics, no music or voice work. After that it balloons to 233mb. The installer auto downloads it for you.
I'm pretty sure the installer package is the engine only. You need the content package to play.

[Ryan Markel]

The Ilwrath are a lot more interesting once you have the Hyperwave 'Caster.

:)

[XPav]

Nah, I got the content package with the installer, at least on my Mac.