I tried to follow the instructions to run F14 Gold. When I start the game I get the main menu and the flight school instructions run fine. However, when I try to run the game itself, all it does it reboot back to the main menu.

Could someone lay out in simple language how to get this game to work in Dosbox?
thanks

Sobe,

I'm on the road and don't have my notes in front of me but I'll try to 'get you started'.

I found Dosbox confusing at first.

Question: do you have the latest version - if not, download it so you will be able to edit the config file (for your 'Stick, Throttle, etc.). I also recommend that you print out the instructions from the Dosbox site as I've found other instructions confusing.

1. Install Dosbox.

2. Set up a folder (I call mine Old Games) and create a separate folder within Old Games for each game you want to install.

3. I set up mine (in Win XP SP2) as: C:\Old Games\FDGOLD\F14GOLD

4. Install F-14 Gold (in the Old Games folder\FDGOLD) - I installed with Compatibility Mode 640x480, etc. on.

5. The key to understand is that Dosbox does not install the game - it allows you to run it - 'this was my initial mistake!

6. Now follow the instructions from the Dosbox site instructions and mount your drives; i.e., C drive (the drive you installed F-14 Gold in) and your CD-ROM drive.

7. After your drives are mounted it's simply a matter of switching directories to run the game thru Dosbox.

8. So when I want to run F-14 Gold I type the following from the Dosbox prompt:

C:\FDGOLD\F14GOLD

then

f14 (enter)

'Hope this helps...

Regards,

J. P. Kelly

Thanks for the help. I will try this tonight. Are you saying that I have to go thru all this each time I play f14 as it does not get installed?

Sobe,

Please read ALL the posts in this thread. There are clear instructions on how to install the F14 game (as opposed to "F14 Gold"). The game is on the F14 Gold CDROM and can be installed seperately. Do not confuse installing F14 Gold with installing the F14 game. These are not the same thing. You do not need F14 Gold installed for any reason (including playing the F14 game). F14 Gold is simply multimedia stuff that you can access off the CDROM without installing it.

And yes, DOSBox installation is completely different.

OK. I got it installed and it worked except I have to lower the cycle rate and figure out how to get the rudder and throttle to work. I have all ch products and I read some prior messages on the throttle and rudder but it was a little confusing this late at night.
Editing the config file in Dosbox did not seem to help the throttle and rudder situation.
Should I just use the CH mapping program and map the throttle and rudders to keys?

I've found that using CHCM to make multiple controllers a combined controller with the least amount of buttons and axes works best for me in DOSBox. This doesn't preclude you from using all the buttons, it just limits the number of stick buttons the software sees. The rest can still be programmed as KB input.

Re Cycles

Once I got my Saitek X52 (throttle) working I started to experiment with Dosbox cycles and frameskip.

Although I'm sure there is a direct relationship between 'your' (i.e your meaning anyone's) PC and the cycles setting I've found that with my 'rig the various settings have an effect on sound as well as frame rate.

After getting a little frustrated, I finally went into the Dosbox config (off the Start Menu) and set the cycles to Max - 'just to see how this would play out.

The Max setting gave me the highest frame rate with no degradation in sound quality.

LawnDartLeo: thanks for the CH info.

Regards,

J. P. Kelly