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[gufetto]

Well, that wasn't very nice of you to act like I'm a retarded just because I happen to not be an expert of tech stuff.
I'm a high school teacher; imagine if I were to act like you did whenever one of my students asks a silly question or doesn't understand something.
I always say that when the student keeps not understanding, the teacher must try to see if perhaps their explanation wasn't good enough.

Now, for example, how is linking me to an old version of DirectX going to fix my problem? Surely a very stupid question for someone like you who happens to know a lot about computer stuff. But not everyone is like you, and perhaps they want to learn.

I'm using basic logic to assume old DirectX contains the DDRAW.DLL. Now, here's another very stupid question: installing that old DirectX won't bring other issues to my machine, will it?

(I'm a she, by the way. And I'm pretty sure I can learn to do tricks with win32 and similar... if I get a good explanation.)

[dosraider]

Originally Posted by gufetto

Well, that wasn't very nice of you to act like I'm a retarded just because I happen to not be an expert of tech stuff.
I'm a high school teacher; imagine if I were to act like you did whenever one of my students asks a silly question or doesn't understand something.
I always say that when the student keeps not understanding, the teacher must try to see if perhaps their explanation wasn't good enough

- I'm not your teacher.
- I told you why I mentioned DX regarding your ddraw.dll problem.
- 'High school teacher' doesn't make you smarter than someone else.
- etcetera .. you had answers, and as I said: no pun intended.

Originally Posted by gufetto

I'm using basic logic to assume old DirectX contains the DDRAW.DLL. Now, here's another very stupid question: installing that old DirectX won't bring other issues to my machine, will it?

Only problems can occur in dosbox, that is as long you followed the basic instructions and work on your virtual C in dosbox, dosbox can only access what YOU mounted as virtual C, nothing else.
Of course if you do a mount c c:\ you're taking risks, and as we're talking altering sysfiles here, even old ones, you can indeed harm your 'machine' as you seems to call your PC.

Originally Posted by gufetto

(I'm a she, by the way. And I'm pretty sure I can learn to do tricks with win32 and similar... if I get a good explanation.)

You seems to have a reading problem, 'high school teacher ' or not, you already had an answer.

Originally Posted by dosraider

I say DX because ddraw.dll is part of DirectX , AKA as DirectX Application Program(ming) Interface (API) etcetera etcetera......
Started as DX 1.0 ..... and had a lot of updates since then...........
If you wanna know more: google, wiki, programmers sites, ......... and more, happy reading and learning.

The whole internet is filled with instructions - explanations about this subject, you'll have to dig your way through it if you want to understand it.
In very short and incomplete style:
->There are several DirectX versions, mostly newer are coping with older ones and include the instructions, but not always/obligatory.
So sometimes to get a game/soft running that needs a specific instruction set from an older one you'll need to install the correct version.
-> It can, (can, not will) screw things up for newer versions, however Win7 /8 seems to cope with them problems.
-> as long you mount a folder as virtual C in dosbox and work within dosbox nothing bad will happen with your 'machine' as dosbox can only access/alter files in that virtual C folder. Dosbox can't alter files on your 'machine' itself.

And once again: dig in your game install files, pretty sure there is a readme or similar, and in those days it was usual to include the needed DX version install files (can be named 'redist' ....)
Other possibility: you downloaded incomplete installation media?

Still remains the question: can this game run in W3 or does it need W9X? I have no idea.
High school teacher seems to like asking stuffs and seems to expect longwinded detailed answers but doesn't like to answer simple questions ....

[The Fifth Horseman]

Don't take Dosraider personally. He's like that all the time.

Dosraider, what did I tell you about biting newcomers?

Originally Posted by gufetto

Now, for example, how is linking me to an old version of DirectX going to fix my problem? Surely a very stupid question for someone like you who happens to know a lot about computer stuff. But not everyone is like you, and perhaps they want to learn.

I'm using basic logic to assume old DirectX contains the DDRAW.DLL. Now, here's another very stupid question: installing that old DirectX won't bring other issues to my machine, will it?

(I'm a she, by the way. And I'm pretty sure I can learn to do tricks with win32 and similar... if I get a good explanation.)

Right, this solution... won't work.

Dosraider linked you to DirectX because he assumed it was possible to set it up in Windows 3 ran in DOSBox.

As he seems to have realized later, though (and should have from the start - now it's our turn to at him ), that is not the case - DirectX was developed for Windows 95 and above.

Installing that version of DirectX is flat out impossible on modern Windows versions, which come with DirectX already bundled.

Metal and Lace 2 can run on Windows XP - I've done so myself some years ago - so the first thing you should try is running it in compatibility mode (context menu on the game's executable -> Properties -> Compatibility).
If that doesn't work, there is another solution: you'll need Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 and a setup disk for an older Windows version - anything from 95 to XP. MSVPC allows you to create a virtual machine and install an older version of Windows inside that, then run the game in it.

Originally Posted by dosraider

You seems to have a reading problem, 'high school teacher ' or not, you already had an answer.

Still remains the question: can this game run in W3 or does it need W9X? I have no idea.
High school teacher seems to like asking stuffs and seems to expect longwinded detailed answers but doesn't like to answer simple questions ....

*cough* Dosraider, you seem to forget that not everyone's a techie, nor has over a decade's experience in running very old games on modern systems. Things you and I consider obvious and take for granted are far from either to a typical computer user.

[dosraider]

Originally Posted by The Fifth Horseman

...blah blah ....

Yeah, you're right, of course, sometimes I think that chemo I got made a chaotic sponge of my brain, no Dx in W3, damn. Prob confused with WinG and that horrific direct draw .... ah well, good thing once in a while someone calls me back a bit, THX for that.

Originally Posted by gufetto

Well, if it helps, I used to play it on a W9X system back in the days, but now I've installed it on that emulated Win3.X and at least the installation went correctly. It only asks me for that DDRAW.DLL file when I try to launch the game.

If it asks for ddraw.dll it means DirectX is needed.
First thought it could be a version problem but as Fifth correctly stated no DX in Win3, minimal W9x, first DirectX files were shipped with W95 and onwards.
Just to be complete: some half baked attempts were made to get DirectX working in Win3 but they all failed, as Win3 still relied on the old MsDos heritage of using DMA etcetera long story, and MS never supported bringing DirectX to Win3, maybe for good reasons (and they wanted to promote-sell W95...)

Originally Posted by gufetto

Now, please bear with me, as I'm probably thick-minded on these things, but... you mention that mounting c: on dosbox after installing the old DirectX, in a way that looks like you're implying that I should install that DirectX not on actual windows, but only on the dosbox folder? Is that so? If so, how do I do it?

Take a look at the tutorial section, those are written for a reason, to help beginners, not much use that I repeat everything here .....

Ah well, repeat same stuff ance again?
Basics:
You always mount a FOLDER as virtual C:, what folder where folder depends a bit of that OS you're on, again: tutorial section.
You always run those old files IN dosbox, that way your main system is safe as dosbox can only access-alter-read-write-whatever do with files on the virtual C
How you do that? Move-copy the files in your virtual C folder, launch dosbox with that folder mounted as virtual C and run files in dosbox.
(Also means: close dosbox and restart after adding things into virtual C via Windows, cache needs refresh, or read manual, there are other ways)

Originally Posted by gufetto

I can't find any readme file. But I've downloaded the game off the internet because it's been a lot of years and I don't remember at all where my game copy is. It does look like it's the full, working game, tho.

Nope it probably isn't the full install media but missing a lot.
There is no game released with a least a 'readme' with tech info about OS-sys requirements.
As said before, early games always included (or mostly) the needed files to run the game, as in those days it was too costly to have to download MBs of extra files, and conn wasn't really reliable neither, so there were on the CD.
Etcetera, makes your downloaded thing is a (poor?) rip.

Possible remaining solutions:
Or comp settings as Fifth said, but I doubt it will work, W7 64 is kinda nitpicking about those matters.
Or VPC2007/W9X or Xp ..... probably your best shot.

[gufetto]

Oh man, I think I'm screwed.
I don't have any setup of Windows XP or anything, that OP just came bundled with my old pc.

(Because yes, it's confirmed: I asked my brother and the game run on Windows XP.)


That's such a bummer. I thought perhaps I could get the game to work on that Win 3.X emulation since it gets installed.

[dosraider]

Depending of what ver of W7/64 you have you maybe can get XPMode for free from MS ... however in my opinion XPMode isn't really suited for gaming purposes ... a bit too restricted.

On the other hand VPC2007+W98Se or maybe even better VPC2007+XP should work.
http://www.abandonia.com/vbullet/showthread.php?t=28390
http://www.abandonia.com/vbullet/showthread.php?t=25508
It ain't that hard to set up a VPC2007 virtual PC, just follow instructions.

..... however, problem could be you have a rip, dunno if game has software/D3D mode, D3D won't run in VPC or really badly, software mode usually do run fine for gaming, if software mode has been ripped .... aie, screwed again....

BTW, did you at least try what Fifth said about compability? Ya never know ....

Originally Posted by The Fifth Horseman

..blah blah................
Metal and Lace 2 can run on Windows XP - I've done so myself some years ago - so the first thing you should try is running it in compatibility mode (context menu on the game's executable -> Properties -> Compatibility).
If that doesn't work, there is another solution: you'll need Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 and a setup disk for an older Windows version - anything from 95 to XP. MSVPC allows you to create a virtual machine and install an older version of Windows inside that, then run the game in it.....blah blah......

Problem is I can't find any relevant info about this game, even not on Dosfreak's comp list ... PC Game Compatibility List

As you mentioned 'downloaded', I may hope you scanned that download for nasty things with an updated avir-malware-spyware/somethingware scanner, yes?

And honestly, you didn't lose your precious time setting up dosbox/W3, is handy to have around and most W3 era games run fine in it....

[Edit]
Of course proposed solution of getting some old XP laptop still stands and can be an easy way out.
Dunno how it is where you live but here in Belgium those things are getting dropped by piles in the trash, many of them still working OK, just completely outdated ..... and as MS will drop support shortly, plenty ol'small office gear is to salvage nowadays.
Even if a laptop isn't really my thing for gaming, plug in an external keyb+mouse and you're set.
If you have enough room an ol' XP desktop is even better .......
Just think about it for a sec.

[gufetto]

Yes, I forgot to mention: I did try the compatibility trick, but it didn't work. Would've been too simple to be true. :P

Trying to come up with a solution, I realize the pc game is actually a port from a PC38 version. So I assumed if I found the original PX38 rom and played it with a PC38 emulator, it'd work.

It wasn't easy to find the rom, but it appears to be in this torrent:

http://torrentz-proxy.com/31b33735c0...cae4c4ee2280cd

http://www.nyaa.se/?page=view&tid=320480&showfiles=1

Here's the problem, tho: there's about 280.000 files or more in that torrent, and there's no option to deselect them all when I try to launch it. Is there a way to deselect them all except Metal & Lace 2?

[The Fifth Horseman]

Originally Posted by gufetto

Here's the problem, tho: there's about 280.000 files or more in that torrent, and there's no option to deselect them all when I try to launch it. Is there a way to deselect them all except Metal & Lace 2?

Depends on the torrent client you are using. There definitely is an option to do that in uTorrent.

Originally Posted by gufetto

I don't have any setup of Windows XP or anything, that OP just came bundled with my old pc.

Disc images for Windows 95, 98 and XP are relatively easy to *ahem* obtain if you know where to look.

Originally Posted by gufetto

Odd thing is, by accessing my directx data I can see DirectDraw: Enabled....

The problem isn't with not having DirectX or not having it enabled.
It's with the game relying on a different - much older - version of the API .
You could try disabling DirectDraw and seeing if that changes the game's reaction - it's known to fix similar issues with certain old games, but there is no certainity as to whether it will work here (and obviously you'll want to set it back on after you've finished playing the game)

[gufetto]

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE:

I've downloaded another, bigger version of the game, which isn't ripped but the real deal... and it works.

BUT: I still get the error. I launch the game, it works perfectly, I select my character, but once the fight begins the game closes and I get "Direct Draw error"...

[gufetto]

Ok, it won't let me edit my post for some reason, which is annoying, because I had edited it and wrote a lot of stuff.

I've tried everything, even going into regedit and altering stuff, but nope.

So here is the link to the full game upload:

http://www.filestube.to/eqXqebudKuKS6tl3qnp76n

The game also contains a folder called directx but I can't get it to work. If I copy the folder inside the game folder, everything crashes.
I've tried to just install the directx in the installer, but the installer refuses to do so.

Can someone, perhaps, take a few minutes to download this and give it a look?