How To Install Tomb Raider On Pc

[Louella Kammann]

OkayI thought it was dos-based. Anyway...I tried to run the setup.exe...it wouldn't even do that. I made a folder on the hard drive for Tomb2. I tried copying the game disk content into that. It seemed to copy without complaint. I didn't think to count the number of files it copied. But the result was the same. I could bring up the first splash screen, but it still wouldn't start the installation. I tried the setup.exe from the folder, but still no-go. I ran the dxdiagnostic from the game disk, and it didn't show any problems. But then...I tried to install TR3. It wouldn't install either. Would just go right back to desktop after clicking "Install". I used the explore feature on this disk also. And tried the dxdiagnostic in there. It found obsolete files and several files missing from DirectX. ?

I have no idea what happened to them. So I went to Microsoft and downloaded the latest DirectX. (I think it's 9.2 or something like that).

At this point I was so disgusted, I went back to play TR1 a while longer. At least I got that one to work with Glidos. ?

Though it shouldn't be needed, try right-clicking on setup.exe and setting compatibility mode to Windows 95 or Windows 98. Also running the old dxdiagnostics or dxsetup from the tr2cd was a bad idea. It is a much much older directx version than the one on XP.

It's been a while since I installed TR2 on my XP OS. But I don't remember having any problem. If the installer offers you to install DirectX, don't do it. The version available on the CD is DX5, which will most definitely mess up your system. Make sure you have your DX9 up to date.

Okay. I tried copying the setup.exe on the desktop. It copied okay, but when I try to use it, it does nothing. Tried the autorun.exe on the desktop. It brings up the first splash screen, same as when I click the icon for D:

Same thing happens when I click Install..."DirectX setup initialization failed". I tried both of these executables in each of the four compatibility modes. With the first two, it gives the same "failed" message I just mentioned. In the last two, I hear the disk spinning faster in the drive, but nothing further happens.

Here's a thought: When I first bought these games back in 2000, I keep thinking I read or heard you had to have TR1 installed before you could play TR2 or TR3. Is this right?

I have TR1 on the pc, but I'm running it with VDMSound and using the Glidos server. Could that mess up the TR2's ability to recognize the presence of TR1?

Also: I used the Explore feature on the game disk. I see absolutely no sign of any Tomb2 game starting executable. ?

Also: On the disk are three zip files with a .cab extension. My Winzip won't unzip them. My PKZip won't unzip them. I don't know if they need to be opened or not. ?

You don't need to have Tomb Raider I installed in order to play Tomb Raider II. Also these three cab files are unpacked during the installation and it is there that the game executable resides. You can't unpack them with a tool like winzip though.

Error message when you install or start Tomb Raider :

C:\Windows\System32\Autoexec.nt The system file is not suitable for running MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows applications.

This issue may occur if one or more of the following files are missing or damaged.

This reminds me to ask you if by any chance you see a command prompt window opening for a second and then closing. Here's what I suggest you try next. Try opening the command prompt by typing cmd.exe in start/run or going to start/accessories/command prompt. Then switch to your drive by typing either d: or whatever your disc drive letter is, and then run setup.exe and see if it produces some kind of an error.

Didn't do any good. If I use "dir" in the command prompt under C:, it just tells me what is in my Windows directory. If I change the directory to D:, the command "dir" tells me the names of files or folders on the cd. But not how to access any of them.

I've even installed dosbox. But I haven't been able to find anyone who has time to tell me how to access anything on the cd. None of the FAQ's I' ve seen so far have been clear on this point.

?

Go to my computer and learn the drive letter of your tomb raider 2 cd. Then try going to the command prompt again, type f: or d: or whatever letter you found when looking at my computer, and then try running setup.exe, but first do a dir command as qbix suggested so that you see you are in the correct location.

I did that. I use drive D: for cdrom. It's actually a dvd-rom drive. I don't have a regular cdrom drive. I don't know if that's a problem or not. I get the same results. typing "dir" tells me what's on the cd. there are 4 directories there. It gives the name of the volume (I'm currently trying to install the tr2demo). It gives the serial number of the volume. Don't know if that's important either. But I still don't know what to type in to access any of the directories or files. I tried to type in autorun and autorun.exe (each one separately) right after the D: it tells me it's an illegal command.

I typed in setup and setup.exe (each one separately) right after the D: It still tells me to go to the Control Panel to etc. etc.

So this afternoon I did something different. Caught my brotherinlaw away from his pc long enough to try TR2Demo and the full TR2 on it. My cpu is athlon xp 2000+ (32-bit), his is athlon dual core (64-bit). My video card is Geforce 6600 (32), his is Geforce 6800 (64). I have Windows XP Pro and his is Windows XP Home. They loaded right up on his..."install", "setup"...everything! (although I didn't test the sound on his...that's not my first concern right now)...but it installed on his...But not on mine?

?

Obviously it can't be damaged game CDs... ?

I spent a good 20 minutes performing searches on this forum for information on this BEFORE I created this post/thread, so please be aware that I may not have found the exact answer already here, but I'm posting anyway. Good discussion.

Now, I know a number of people have gotten Voodoo1 Glide games to work on their Voodoo2 cards, albeit with a few hiccups here and there. I ALSO know from the afor-mentioned search that people get it working on their Voodoo3 cards using the Voodoo-Rush patch (which I do not currently have). I am asking for assistance in trying to get this to work if I can. If I can't, well that's life.

I JUST downloaded Tombrush.exe from Phil's Computer Lab and tried using it with this BAT file (replaced the final line with tombrush.exe) and my system crashed directly to a reboot - like a full blown reboot with memory testing and a C: scan at Windows start and everything. I'll next test using tombrush.exe without that bat file, but I expect similar.

Am I supposed to copy a glide file over to the folder? I'll attempt that as well before I post back. Please, any thought that might help OTHER THAN BUYING SOME NEW CRAP. I really get tired of these on forums - there's always some ass-hat who, instead of trying to troubleshoot or answer a question, they say something stupid like "buy a new video card" or "buy a new motherboard", "buy this..." "buy that..."

I also tried disabling my SLI in the control panel, limiting the texture memory space to 2MB, and a few other things in the control panel, but please feel free to suggest things, even if I've already done them.

If I can't get it working on the Voodoo2, then so be it. At 600Mhz, the software renderer is perfectly smooth anyway, just no nice mipmapping, smoothing of textures, image dithering, etc. Would have been nice to have those.

I guess it should also be noted that when I run the BAT (with tomb3dfx.exe), when it tries to execute the SET FX_GLIDE_ALLOC_COLOR=3 line, I get an Out of Environment Space error...or something like that. But the game starts, the opening two videos play, then when it gets to the part the 3dfx card has to activate, I get a black screen with no response and the CD-ROM starts playing track 2 (the background music for the main menu). I can ALT+TAB back into Windows where it says the executable is still running and I can force-close the program from there. I then use Windows CD Player to stop the cd-audio from playing.

Ok, found the Glide2x.ogl file in my C:\Windows directory and copied it to my Tomb Raider folder, then tried the BAT file again - this time instead of being able to ALT+TAB out to Windows, there was NO CD-Audio and I had to CTRL+ALT+DEL 3-4 times to get the system to actually restart.

The Tomb3DFX works fine with Voodoo 2, and do not require an external ovl file, but needs environment variables. Try using a batch file from a Static link game here if they don't match: Voodoo 2 DOS Glide compatibility matrix. Loading environment variables in your Autoexec.bat and some in your game.bat file and run it all from within Windows could be the cause of your trouble. I've successfully run DOS 3DFX games from within Windows, but I've always had all the environment variables in the game.bat file.

For the Tombrush.exe you should NOT use enviroment variables. It's not a statically linked executable, but is looking for an glide2x.ovl in either C:/Windows or in the game folder. Do you have an .ovl file in any of those folders? You wrote .ogl above you see. You also need a ovl file that is not too old. I'd recommend trying version 2.5 (you can find it in old driver releases on falconfly.de)

If everything else fails, then FastVoodoo2 drivers are known to create some compatibility issues, I'd avoid them unless you are going to run only newer games and/or have mismatched cards for SLI and instead use the official 3DFX drivers. Even DOS games directly from Windows can be affected. You can circumvent this by manually installing an older .ovl file in either gamefolder or Windows directory, or just run directly from DOS as thandor suggested.

Ok, I've configured HIMEM, MSCD0001, and had to download MOUSE.COM from somewhere to get all of that straightened out. Now, DOS loads high with 613KB free of Conventional Memory, everything loads from way up higher - which is always cool. Both CD-ROM and Mouse work (verified mouse with Carmen Sandiego game).

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