GAMES:Star Wars: Dark Forces

Star Wars: Dark Forces
Box art for Dark Forces
Developer	LucasArts
Publisher	LucasArts
Released	1995
Status	Perfect
Tested on	0.72
Tested game version	1.0 (Build 2)
Links	Compatibility List
Commands
Executable	DARK.EXE
Installer	INSTALL.EXE
Setup	SETUP.EXE
DOS Extender
DOS4GW.EXE	Externally
Works with DOS32A	Yes

Star Wars: Dark Forces is first-person shooter (single person only - no multiplay) that is halfway between the basic playability of Doom and the advanced playability of Duke Nukem 3D.

Making it work without the CD

Even if you choose full installation, the game still demands you to insert the CD every time you want to play. Luckily, it just does a simple file check. So here's how to bypass that check:

1. Run the (obviously full) installation. For this example, let's assume you installed the game to c:\games\DARK\
2. Copy D:\CD.ID to the root of the DOSBox drive that you are running from (e.g. c:\games\ which you are mounting as drive C in DOSBox)
3. Edit DRIVE.CD (e.g. c:\games\DARK\DRIVE.CD) and change X to C (or whatever your hard drive is).
   • DRIVE.ID doesn't support more than one letter. If it's a problem for you, you can leave the original DRIVE.ID alone (assuming it contains the letter D), and alternatively put this dosbox.conf file in c:\games\DARK\ :
     • [autoexec]
     • mount d .

Now you can play the game without the CD!

Optimum configuration

(Note: The below was tested and confirmed to work using DOSBox v0.74)

Once you have the game installed, you may find that it runs at a very low (mostly unplayable) framerate even on a modern system. To get the game running it’s best, edit the following entries in the dosbox.conf file (note: change the “fullresolution” setting below to match your monitor’s native resolution):

[sdl]

fullscreen=true
fullresolution=1280x800
output=openglnb
sensitivity=250



[render]

aspect=true
scaler=none



[cpu]

cycles=max



[dos]

xms=false
ems=false
umb=false

The most important of the above entries is “output=openglnb”. This tells DOSBox to use the OpenGL renderer. (note: the “nb” in “openglnb” means “no bi-linear” filtering. This keeps the pixels looking “pixelated” and more true to the original game). This setting utilizes the power of your hardware accelerated graphics card to render the display and increases the frame rate from “slideshow” speed, to a silky-smooth hundreds of frames per second. For more information on output settings, see Configuration:SDL.

Also, make sure to use the “xms=false, ems=false, umb=false” settings as shown above, since this game runs in “DOS/4GW Protected Mode” and therefore has it’s own memory management system. Activating Extended (XMS) or Expanded (EMS) memory managers will interfere with the game’s memory manager and possibly cause memory corruption and undesirable gameplay effects. For more information on DOS/4GW DOS memory extenders and helpful hints on using them with Protected Mode games, see these external sites:

Tenberry Software - DOS4G (Original creators of DOS/4G and DOS/4GW)
Narech Kontcell - DOS/32 (A free and more memory efficient drop-in replacement for DOS/4G and DOS/4GW)
DOS/32 - How to use with games (Specific information on how to use the DOS/32 DOS extender EXE in place of the memory inefficient DOS/4GW EXE that came with your favorite games--and more!)

Additionally, also see personal suggestions in the talk page.

The 3-level-only demo

Star Wars: Dark Forces SE (Freeware Demo)
Developer	LucasArts
Publisher	LucasArts
Released	1995
Status	Perfect
Tested on	0.72
Tested game version	1.0L (Build 1)
Links	Compatibility List
Commands
Executable	DARK.EXE
Installer	D:\DARKSE\INSTALL.EXE
Setup	SETUP.EXE
DOS Extender
DOS4GW.EXE	Externally
Works with DOS32A	Yes

This is a freeware demo that lets you play only the first 3 levels. Once you complete level 3, the "next mission" button is just treated like the exit button (both display an ad for the full game before exiting).

Installation requirement

D:\DARKSE\INSTALL.EXE has a special requirement. You must MOUNT the entire CD-ROM drive and only then "CD" your way into it (in other words: you can't just directly mount DARKSE itself). Here is how to do it:

Z:\>mount d d:\
Z:\>d:
D:\>cd DARKSE
D:\DARKSE>install

Making it work

The game will run quite well in DOSBox, but there are two points to note:

• Run SETUP.EXE (it will also run automatically after a successful completion of the installation) and choose your settings.
• While the game has no CD protection per se, there is no choice for a full installation. Therefore, most of the game is played directly from the CD-ROM. Use this dosbox.conf file to support that behavior:

[autoexec]
mount d d:\ -t cdrom

(assuming your CD-ROM drive is D, of course)

Making it work without the CD

Since the game has no CD protection, but also no choice for a full installation, here is a way to copy just the needed files from the CD-ROM and thus simulate a CD-free full installation:

1. Install the game. For this example, let's assume you installed it to c:\games\DARKSE\
2. Create c:\games\DARKSE\CD
3. Copy D:\CD.ID to c:\games\DARKSE\CD\
4. Create c:\games\DARKSE\CD\DARKSE
5. Create c:\games\DARKSE\CD\DARKSE\DARK
6. Copy every GOB file that doesn't already exist in c:\games\DARKSE\ to c:\games\DARKSE\CD\DARKSE\DARK\
7. Create c:\games\DARKSE\CD\DARKSE\DARK\LFD
8. Copy every LFD file that doesn't already exist in c:\games\DARKSE\LFD\ to c:\games\DARKSE\CD\DARKSE\DARK\LFD\
9. Put this dosbox.conf file in c:\games\DARKSE\ :

[autoexec]
mount d cd -t cdrom

Now you can play the game without the CD!

Tip for those who eventually move from the demo to the full game

The demo version and the full version share the same save-file (DARKPILO.CFG). Therefore, if you like the demo and end up getting the full game, just copy over DARKPILO.CFG from the demo to the full game, and you'll be able to start playing directly in level 4 with your saved player from the demo.