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[technophobe]

First of all if this has already been covered I'm sorry but there's over 100 troubleshooting forum posts and I'm not trawling through that lot.

Any responders please be aware that I will need lamens terms only, thanks.

I downloaded X-com Enemy Unknown/UFO Defence. When I click on the Alien icon the screen goes black and after a short while a bar of garbled colours comes across the top of the screen, there is sound but you can't make out any images. Needless to say the program is useless. If I click on the yellow sun/star icon titled simply 'UFO' the game starts up and is playable until you intercept a crashed UFO which seems to be the signal for the game it's self to crash.

I am using an Acer Aspire lap top with a Radeon Xpress 1100 graphics thingy, according to the sticker. My operating system is Windows XP, Media Centre edition. I've no idea what a dosbox is, so I'm certain I must be running the Windows version. Is DOS that scary black box which contains technical jargon? I don't like that, it looks too easy to break your computer by playing with that.
Help!
:confused::confused::confused::confused::confused: :confused::confused:

[_r.u.s.s.]

dosbox can't break your computer, it's an emulator, not dos itself.

in any case YES DOSBOX IS BIG SCARY THING, IT USUALLY CRAWLS UNDER BED OF CHILDREN WHO DON'T LISTEN TO THEIR PARENTS AND EATS THEIR TEETH

NEVER try it. never

[dosraider]

ZOMFG .... technophobe has borked teh poor _r.u.s.s. :laugh:

BTW technothingy, there it all begins:
>A beginner's guide to DosBox<
>wtf IS dos bOX AND DOES IT WORK ON wIN xp?<

[The Fifth Horseman]

Originally Posted by technophobe

I downloaded X-com Enemy Unknown/UFO Defence. When I click on the Alien icon the screen goes black and after a short while a bar of garbled colours comes across the top of the screen, there is sound but you can't make out any images. Needless to say the program is useless. If I click on the yellow sun/star icon titled simply 'UFO' the game starts up and is playable until you intercept a crashed UFO which seems to be the signal for the game it's self to crash.

The game does that on certain machines. If it crashes every time like that, you will have to run the DOS version of the game using DOSBox - simply because there is no other option.

I've no idea what a dosbox is, so I'm certain I must be running the Windows version.

A beginners guide to DOSBox, written by yours truly, should quickly get you past that misconception. :amused:

Is DOS that scary black box which contains technical jargon?

Scary? Only if you never knew it. You won't be dealing with most of said "technical jargon" anyway.

I don't like that, it looks too easy to break your computer by playing with that.

Just like _r.u.s.s. said, you won't be dealing with real DOS, so you won't risk anything.
Unless you're one of those people who format their hard drives when trying to unpack a file, in which case nobody here could help you anyway.

[_r.u.s.s.]

i moved the problem of the other dude in here

[Jake Grey]

Russ, stop mocking the newbies; it took me until I passed my A+ Certification to stop being intimidated by command prompts.
Anyway, Technophobe, if you learn nothing else from those tutorials then learn this; it is really hard to screw up your computer permanently using a program like Dosbox, so don't worry too much about making a mistake.

[Eagle of Fire]

Russ, stop mocking the newbies; it took me until I passed my A+ Certification to stop being intimidated by command prompts.

It is sentences like that which wake me up at night. I fall down from by bed, laughing... :amused:

The command prompt should be just as scary as the Windows Explorer, since it's exactly the same thing!

[Jake Grey]

Originally Posted by Eagle of Fire

The command prompt should be just as scary as the Windows Explorer, since it's exactly the same thing!

The livelihoods of untold millions of people -including me- depend on it not becoming widely known that the care and feeding of computers is actually a lot easier than it looks, so kindly keep your smegging voice down! :amused: