Thanks for the site !

[craquer]

Intro: Not new to SWR, but new to the forum. I've been playing SWR off-and-on since it first came out. I decided to try playing it on my current gaming PC (WinVista64) but it would'nt install. I searched and found these forums (great SWR resource ), read about modding the O/S etc and decided to go the VM route instead. I installed VMWare Player, dug out my old Win98 CD and created a VM, installed SWR but no go, the game always crashed on launch. I actually read the SWR readme.txt and it stated there could be page faults on startup if there were issues with the sound card. I hunted in the O/S Device Manager and there was no sound card, searched on the VMWare forum and the general consensus was to install SoundBlaster PCI128 drivers. I did that, Windows found a sound card, launched the game and I'm playing again.

 

 

Thanks to everyone for putting together this fantastic resource for SWR

[Master_Xan]

Welcome to the forums! And you're welcome! Though I won't take much of the credit for making this site amazing.

 

Unfortunately, there aren't many of us these days, but I'm glad you were able to get the game going and playable again! There are a few folks around still doing multiplayer games, and if you want to add-on there are definitely plenty of great ideas and pre-made material available. Feel free to ask us questions if you have any.

 

(And props for actually reading the threads instead of posting questions that are answered elsewhere!)

[craquer]

An Update (might aid someone in the future) :

 

My VM died a horrible death. I did not make a backup. I had to build a new one... The lesson learned from this one is obvious...

 

The steps I followed are:

 

1. Install VMWare Player on the host O/S (I used the "newest" version of 3.x, more to follow on that).

 

2. Create/Install the Windows 98 VM.

 

3. Install VMWare Tools, then increase the VM's screen resolution and change the colour setting to the highest possible.

 

4. Download Creative Labs Sound Blaster PCI128 drivers http://support.creative.com/downloads/download.aspx?nDownloadId=1843. The filename looks something like SBPCI_WebDrvsV5_12_01.exe. The O/S doesn't include Windows 98 but it will work with a tweak.

 

5. The "tweak". Move the PCI128 driver over to the VM (drag 'n drop between guest and host O/S is nice). In accordance with Yacomo2's post http://communities.vmware.com/message/722443#722443 attempt to install the driver (it will fail, informing you that this version of Windows is not supported). Before dismissing the "You have failed" error window navigate to C:\Windows\Temp and copy the folder Crf000 to another location. Dismiss the Creative Labs error message window and exit from the installation.

 

6. Manually install the PCI128 device driver via the system control panel device manager method. You will need the Windows 98 CD or ISO for part of the installation. Test out the sound after the reboot.

 

7. Install Rebellion vanilla. Install REBED and tweak the game to your liking.

 

Apparently the install program in step 5 runs smoothly when the guest O/S is Windows 98 SE or Windows ME etc. Windows 98 "First Edition" requires the tweak.

 

The first time I built the VM using VMWare Player 4.0.0-471780 which was "automagically" updated to the latest version 4.0.1-528992. Initially just Starting/Stopping the Windows 98 VM was slow, after the 4.0.0-to-4.0.1 upgrade the the VM crashed occasionally (BSOD). Finally the VM would no longer boot.

 

I'm now trying VMWare Player 3.1.5-491717 with the "automagic" upgrades/updates disabled. Start/Stop of the VM is quite fast now, what I've come to expect from other VM builds using other O/S'.

[Master_Xan]

That's good info to know. I need to check my VMWare graphic drivers... maybe then I can play that old DS9 game again!