«

[myname1]

This has been such a great place to go to get answers to my questions, I figured it was time I gave something back to the DOS gaming community.
I am going to let you know what is the best way to play privateer 2 The Darkening.

First, you need the DOS Boxed Retail version...there are basically three versions of this game out there now for PC. One is the original boxed DOS version, the other is made for windows 95 called the "Deluxe Version" tacked on at the end...(NOTE: I never could get this going with win 7) and the very last is the GOG version which is basically the DOS version that has all three disks into one playable.exe

Second, Why do I say you need the DOS boxed retail version? (You can get them off of ebay for next to nothing) Well Privateer 2 offers a "main game" which is very, very short. It also offers 14 "extra cinematic missions" that you can play and all of them become unlocked after the main game is played (Just load in disk 1,2 or 3 and play from your last save after the main game is over)...BUT...YOU HAVE TO HAVE THE CORRECT DISK IN THE CD DRIVE IN ORDER TO PLAY THE EXTRA CINEMATIC MISSIONS!

With the GOG version...I have found that this is basically impossible to switch CD's after the main game is played. What CD you are on...is usually the one you stay on after the main game...so there is no WAY of getting all of the extra cinematic missions with the GOG version, because you cannot switch CD's! Hopefully a patch will be made so you can switch CD's but for now, it is impossible.

Third, I would also get the GOG version of the game also...why? why TWO games? first off the GOG version offers the official strategy guide...something that you really need to understand how this game works. And this guide usually costs about 15 to 20 bucks at place like amazon. But for a little over 6 bucks, you can have everything in the GOG version which includes the official strategy guide. I am not much for official strategy guides in most games, but this guide became invaluable in understanding how Privateer 2 the Darkening works.(I wish I would have had one in the 90's when I first played this game) You can buy the GOG version of Privateer 2 here:
http://www.gog.com/game/privateer_2_the_darkening

Fourth, you need DOSBOX...it is a program that lets you play original DOS games in modern windows like xp and vista and 7. You can download a free version here: http://www.dosbox.com/download.php?main=1,

Install Dosbox to your computer. And Install the original retail DOS boxed version of Privateer 2 The Darkening.(These instructions also work in win 7 32 bit)
Wing Commander Privateer 2: The Darkening

Instructions on how to play a DOS version of Wing Commander Privateer 2: The Darkening in Windows XP with DOSBox:

Download and install the DOSBox software. If you already have DOSBox installed, note that these instructions assume that you are beginning with the default settings for the program.
Start the DOSBox program via the shortcut that was created. Also note the link to the DOSBox.conf file which can be used to adjust settings later.
Type the following at the Z:\> prompt (ignore the red warning text): mount c: c:\
If your CD-ROM drive is letter D, type the following at the Z:\> prompt (change the second "d" to whatever your actual CD drive letter is): mount d: d:\ -t cdrom Mounting commands can be added under the [autoexec] section of DOSBox.conf to avoid having to retype them each time you start up DOSBox. Privateer 2 will also probably require the additional -ioctl switch when mounting the CD-ROM. See the Important Note below for more information.
Type d: at the Z:\> prompt to select your disc.
Type install and press enter.
You should now be at the PAD Download Status installation screen.
Click on the arrow next to Sound Card and pick the Creative Labs Sound Blaster 16 or AWE32 option by pressing the red arrow below the yellow arrow. Then click on the ball next to Okay Selecting Autodetect should configure the sound card. Press the balls to conduct a test and continue. If you selected Manual, input IO Value 220 and press enter.
Click on the arrow next to Music Card and pick the Generall MIDI (Roland MPU-401 Interface or 100% Compatible) option by pressing the ball next to Okay Selecting Autodetect should configure the sound card. Press the balls to conduct a test and continue. If you selected Manual, input IO Value 330 and press enter.
You have the option to install to a directory of your choice. Privateer 2 defaults to C:\DARK.
If you receive an error about lack of disk space, you can avoid this error message by creating the installation directory on your own.
Exit the installer, type MD DARK and press enter (this creates C:\DARK on your hard drive). You can replace DARK with any directory name that you want.
Now go back to the earlier steps above and attempt to install the game normally.
The installation program does not allow you to install to subdirectories (such as C:\WC\DARK). After installation, you can move the directory that the game is installed in to a subdirectory of your choice. If you do this, also be sure to open up DARK.CFG in a text editor such as Notepad and change the second line to match the game's new location on your hard drive.
Select Control and pick Mouse, Joystick or Joystick/Throttle. Note that Privateer 2 does not support flight using just a keyboard.
Select Install and a brief history screen with play as files are copied off the first disc.
The installer may exit directly to a prompt where you can type dark and start the game. In the future, you will need to mount the hard drive again (unless you include this line in DOSBox.conf) and navigate to the directory where your game is installed. Make a note of where you installed the game and type CD (directory name) to go there, and then type dark and enter.
DOSBox 0.70 and later versions automatically guess how fast each program needs to run. Play the game with these default speed settings first. If the game runs too fast or slow, manual customization can be enabled by altering values in the dosbox.conf file. Change core=auto to core=normal or core=dynamic and cycles=auto to cycles=8000. Save and restart dosbox. Control+F11 and Control+F12 manually change cycles (speed), and Control+F7 and Control+F8 adjust frameskip. We recommend approximately 12,500 cycles and 0 frameskip for Privateer 2. You may want to turn up the cycle rate when near large ships or planets.
Hold down ALT and press enter if you would like to enlarge the playing window to full screen. If there is a problem with full screen, adjusting scaler=normal2x to scaler=normal3x in dosbox.conf will enlarge the window by 50%.

Important Note: It is highly recommended that you install the Privateer 2 Patch. This fixes a critical flaw in the gameflow of the UK release and fixes numerous other glitches such as Privateer 2 Fatal Error - setstreamspeed messages that appear when trying to load the game. Save the file to your Privateer 2 directory. Running it will create four new files. Run patch.bat in the game directory to upgrade P2. This will upgrade the game to Version 17.0e (Buffalo Wings) Jan 31 1997

HERE IS WHERE YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THE PATCH FOR THE DOS VERSION ONLYJust place the exe into your game directory c:\DARK and double click it.

http://www.wcnews.com/webmirrors/tec...oad.html#priv2

Important Note: If you encounter the Privateer 2 Fatal Error - cdromread - Read Status Error=ffff8000 message, this can be fixed by performing a special CD-ROM mount. Set up your drive with mount d: d:\ -t cdrom -ioctl instead of the regular mounting command. The -ioctl switch does the trick. This may also alleviate setstream and other errors that the P2 Patch does not resolve.

ALSO NOTE: I would HIGHLY RECCOMEND THE d: d:\ -t cdrom -ioctl COMMAND...IT SAVES A LOT OF PROBLEMS LATER ON!

Important Note: Some freezing errors during movie or gameflow sequences can be resolved by choosing Soundblaster Pro/16 instead of General MIDI for music output. This is most common with laptops or motherboards with built-in sound that have a hardware conflict with Privateer 2.

General Tips for Windows

Getting Wing Commander games to work on modern Windows systems can be trickier than running older DOS games. While DOSBox provides a stable and consistent environment, the huge variety of hardware and software configurations in Windows makes troubleshooting more difficult. Provided they have sufficiently fast CPUs, virtually all players have the same experience with DOSBox. On the other hand, some obscure or motherboard based sound and video adapters conflict with certain WC games in Windows. Specific issues with known work-arounds are provided in the Windows tutorials below. There are also a handful of tweaks that can help with all Wing Commander games depending on the setup each person has. Some of these are described here.

Compatibility Mode is critical to running many Windows 95/98 games in Windows XP/Vista. This mode is set by right-clicking on the program's main executable file and selecting Properties. Click the Compatibility tab and examine the different options. Depending on each system, different combinations of settings enabled on this tab will produce different results. The most important thing to do is to check the Compatibility Mode box and try Windows 95 or 98 mode. If this does not solve the problem, experiment with different settings on this tab. It's important to make sure that these settings are being applied to the actual executable file for a game and not just shortcuts, batch files or launchers.
Audio & Video Acceleration adjustment can help resolve a variety of sound and video issues. To adjust audio acceleration, open the Control Panel and select Sounds and Audio Devices. Under the Audio tab, press Advanced. Under the Performance tab, there should be sliders for hardware acceleration and sample rate conversion quality. To adjust video acceleration, open up the Run box, type dxdiag and press enter. Under the Display (1) tab, there should be buttons to enable or disable DirectDraw, Direct3D and AGP Texture acceleration. Sound can also be tweaked from this interface. A variety of video card-specific settings can also be found under Display Properties in the control panel, under the Settings tab after pressing Advanced.

ONCE DOSBOX IS INSTALLED:
Go to options.bat in the dosbox directory and change these settings:
Dosbox .074 Privateer 2 options.bat settings

fullscreen=true(Change if you want fullscreen)

frameskip=0(This should be there already)

core=dynamic(Change from auto)
cputype=auto
cycles=20000(This never worked on any other cycles setting until I came across this at a game forum...this worked perfectly on my machine)
cycleup=10
cycledown=20

ems=false(Change this also)

NOTE: I WOULD INSTALL DOSBOX and change the settings in options.bat then install the official patch.(Of course this is after the main game is already installed)

Be SURE to read the manuals.... especially the official strategy guide in the GOG version, they are a great source for "understanding what to do next"!

Last note: here is a list of how I found all of the extra cinematic missions...(some I played when I got an email in the main game itself and dropped everything and went and played it...so it did not "dissappear" on me.) Then went back to playing the regular game.

But some were only playable AFTER the main game completed...this is why you need the boxed DOS version to do this...so that you can physically "switch CD's" when you want to play an extra cinematic mission on a certian disk.

NOTE: THESE EXTRA MISSIONS ARE HOW I PLAYED THEM...YOUR MILAGE MAY VARY...THEY MAY NOT HAPPEN IN THE SAME ORDER...SO BE AWARE OF THAT.

Extra Cinematic Missions in the order I viewed them

CINEMATIC MISSIONS WHILE PLAYING MAIN PLOT

1. Xavier Shondi CD 1
I received e-mail from Xavier Shondi asking me to meet him at the Surgeon's
Blunder Bar on Crius. When I got there, he offered me 16,000 to protect an
arms shipment to the mutants on Karatikus of which half he would give me up
front. I couldn't resist such a sweet deal so I agreed. I met the cargo
ship in orbit of Crius and escorted it to Karatikus destroying quite a few
pirates on the way. When I returned to Crius, Xavier paid me the remaining
8000 credits.

2. Melissa Banks (1) CD 2
I got an mayday from a Melissa Banks who was under attack. I hurried to her
Nav point and managed to destroy the fighters attacking her. Melissa sent
a message thanking me and telling me to meet her at the Rampant Robot Bar
on Hephaestus. At the Rampant Robot, Melissa thanked me in her own unique
way. She told me how she had been getting shot at since she started asking
questions about her dead brother and asked me to be escort her to Nav 68.
Not being blind, I said yes and she was definitely appreciative. I only
had to space a couple of fools in defending Melissa on her way to Nav 68.
Once there, she sent me a message and promised to meet me soon.

3. Bill Maddox CD 2
I received an e-mail from Maddox asking to meet me at the Shadowplay Bar on
Anhur. Once there, he offered me 6000 credits to escort a ship from Bex to
Anhur. I took the mission and kept various pirates from trashing the cargo
ship. Maddox might not be able to hear very well but he paid up the next
time I saw him at the Shadowplay Bar.

4. Auntie Maria Gabriel CD 1
At the bar on Bex, I talked to Auntie Maria who offered me 3000 credits to
take her to Hephaestus. I agreed and it was a clean run. I met her at the
Rampant Robot and she paid my fee but seemed curiously distressed at my
mention of beer.

5. Melissa Banks (2) CD 2
The next time I saw Melissa was at Sinner's Inn on Hermes. She was as
stunning as ever and I had some company in the dark.


6. Serra Louissa Phillips CD ?(SOS)
I got a mayday from Louissa Phillips who was in trouble at Nav 104. I arrived
there and took care of the pirates attacking her. Her e-mail said I was her
hero and asked me to meet her at the Surgeon's Blunder Bar on Crius. I met
Louissa at the bar and wished I'd let the pirates have her. An underage
partner I don't need.

7. Lord Mike Vonx CD 3
Lord Vonx sent me a message asking me to meet him at his home on Anhur. He
offered to pay me 8000 credits to destroy an arms convoy that is coming to
Anhur from Hephaestus. I said yes and once in orbit he told me that only
two ships were carrying arms and not to destroy the ones carrying refugees.
I headed toward Hephaestus and after several Nav points I found the convoy.
This was one of the most difficult missions I've ever taken. Not only did
I have to avoid the turret fire of the cargo ships but there was also fighter
cover and way too many missiles for comfort. Eventually I identified the ship
carrying weapons (it returned a registration number on its ID) and took it
out. Vonx was good to his word and paid my fee.

CINEMATIC MISSIONS AFTER MAIN PLOT

8. Nelson Ramirez CD 1
I met Ramirez at the Sinner's Inn on Hermes. He mentioned that Joe said I was
dependable. Nelson offered 4000 credits to take him Janus IV. Even though it
sounded shady, I said yes. I managed to land on Janus after spacing a few
pirates and Ramirez paid me at the No Name Inn.

9. Bernice Barlow CD 2
Bernice sent me an e-mail asking to meet at the Rampant Robot Bar on
Hephaestus for an assignment. At the bar, she was impossible to miss. It
seemed that her former boss had screwed her (in more than one way I might add)
and she wanted the creep dead. For 7000 credits, I agreed to take care of it.
In orbit, I got his position at Nav 97. This corporate exec might have been
able to make money but he sure couldn't fly. It was definitely easy money.

10. Senator Ames(Tamessa Ames) CD 2
Senator Ames sent me a desperate e-mail asking me to meet his daughter at
Nav 17 and escort her Janus IV because she had been abandoned by her guards.
Once I got Temissa Ames safely to Janus IV, she sent me a message expressing
her thanks and an invitation to her apartment. At Temissa's apartment, I got
7000 credits for my trouble and Temissa thanked me in a much more personal
manner

11. Ralph McCloud CD 2
McCloud sent me an e-mail asking for help at Nav 57. I arrived and quickly
ended the miserable existence of the pirates attacking him. He sent me a
message thanking me and telling me he'd buy me a beer if I stopped by the
Sinner's Inn. When I showed up at the Sinner's Inn he not only bought drinks
but offered me Kraven Mark IV Lasers. I really liked this guy even if he
did have a terrible accent.

12. Uncle Kashumai/Alberto Fossa CD 2
I got an e-mail from Uncle Kashumai asking me to go to the Holy Museum of Hom
on Bex. When I arrived, he was quite upset because the Bray brothers had
stolen a holy image and offered me 10,000 credits to get it back or exact
vengeance on those thieving infidels. Looking for Ronnie or Reggie Bray,
I went to the bar and talked to Alberto Fossa who offered me 5000 credits
to attend an auction for him. I gladly accepted and later met Reggie Bray who
conducted the auction. Since Fossa was fronting the money, I gave Bray
100,000 credits for the Holy Brew's Sun. Instead of talking to Fossa, I went
back to the Holy Museum of Hom and gave the statue to Uncle Kashumai. He
was so overjoyed that he gave me 20,000 credits for my efforts.

13. Dr. Graham Gould CD 2
Dr. Gould's e-mail asked me to deliver a vaccine from the hospital on Crius
to Angus Santana on Anhur. I agreed and collected the package from the
receptionist at Crius Hospital. The trip to Anhur was fairly quiet and I
gave the package to Santana for a 2000 credit fee.

14. Angus Santana CD 2 (AFTER DR GRAHM GOULD MISSION)
offered me 4000 credits to take another package to Shernikov
Medical Supplies on Crius. I agreed and made the delivery run with a minimum
of fuss.

15. Xavier Shondi (2) CD 2
Later, Shondi sent me an e-mail asking me to meet him at the Surgeon's
Blunder Bar for a job. Once there, he offered me 5000 credits to guard a
mining base of his. Even though he couldn't give me any up front money I
took the deal. In orbit I got the coordinates of the mining station at
Nav 144. But before I got there, I received an e-mail from Fark telling me
that Xavier was going to be ambushed at Nav 167 and only I could get there
in time. I just managed to destroy the fighters attacking Xavier by using
nearly constant afterburners and all my missiles. Shondi sent me a message
thanking me and telling me to see him at the Surgeon's Blunder Bar. At the
bar, Xavier thanked me and gave me 10,000 credits for my efforts.

Oh one more very, very useful tool you may want to get to play this game if you do not want to take eons making money upgrading your ship....
is the Privateer Editor Version 2.0 (They have a version 1.0, but it has fewer options) With this version...you can literally go into dark.exe and change the prices of the ships you buy, the missles and guns you buy, etc. It was a must have for me. But if you wnat to play the game without cheating at all, then good luck...it is going to take you a lot of missions to get the best ships, systems and weapons! But for those that want this, here is the download link. You simply install this into your game directory C:\DARK and use the exe. From there you simply choose your latest savegame or Dark .exe (which has the prices) to edit. you can make aship that is worth 250,000 credits go for 100 credits!

http://www.wcnews.com/news/update/10711

Oh, I need to tell you about the extra cinematic missions...they are RANDOM! This means they can pop up at anytime during gameplay...so if you want to see them you may want to do them first. This also means they may take a LONG TIME to show up and there is no way to manually trigger them...the game determines that! I played I think for two solid weeks before I got all of mine and saved the savegame files. I just played the game a couple hours each night after I came home from work until I got all of them. But there is no way to manually get them to trigger, just thought I would warn you about that!

Good luck.