Wing Commander III Under Windows 95

Installing and Configuring Wing Commander III Under Windows 95

The following article describes the steps necessary to install and operate Wing Commander III under Windows 95. This application requires MS-DOS Mode to function. In order to do this, you need to modify the settings created after running the installation program to include the necessary drivers. If you install it using the Add/Remove Programs feature in Control Panel, Windows will configure the application with it the settings it feels is necessary to make the game function properly. However, it isnít fool-proof. The rest of this article will explain how to install and change the configuration.
Getting Ready to Install

Before installing Wing Commander III you will need to know the hardware settings of your sound card. If you know the settings already, skip this section and begin installing. Otherwise, grab a pen or pencil and follow this procedure to find the settings of your card:
If your card is a SoundBlaster

Open the Control Panel,
Double click System,
Choose the Device Manager tab
Choose the Sound, Video and Game controllers options.
This will display the installed Creative Labs Sound Blaster 16 Plug and Play.
Click the Creative Labs Sound Blaster 16 Plug and Play, then click Properties.
Click the Resources tab. This will display the settings for the card. Write them down, close the Control Panel and skip to Installing Wing Commander III.

If your card is an Ensoniq

Open the Control Panel,
Double click System,
Choose the Device Manager tab
Choose the Sound, Video and Game controllers options.
Two options are displayed: the Soundscape Plug and Play and Soundscape Plug and Play Sound Blaster Emulation.
Click the Soundscape Plug and Play, then click Properties.
Click the Resources tab. This will display some of the settings for the card.
Write down the settings on a sheet of paper, close the Property sheet. This will return you to the Device Manager.
Click Soundscape Plug and Play Sound Blaster Emulation, then click Properties.
Click the Resources tab. This will display the rest of the settings for the card. Write them down, and close the Control Panel.

To Install Wing Commander III

Insert the Wing Commander III CD labeled Disc #1 into the CD-ROM.
Click on Start, choose Settings and open Control Panel. Then click on Add/Remove Programs.
The wizard will locate the WC3.EXE file located in the root of the CD. Click on the Finish button to start the install program.
If no joystick is present, skip to next step. If a joystick is attached to the sound card a joystick calibration screen appears. Follow the directions for calibrating the joystick and press the ESC key to exit.
A machine/video speed test screen appears. Start the test by pressing a key and after each additional screen press the ESC key to exit to the next screen. Arrow down, highlight and select exit this menu on the change video settings menu. The next screen asks you to press anykey again.
Using the arrow keys, highlight the Setup Music Card. For the Ensoniq Soundscape sound card choose Ensoniq Soundscape. Select the appropriate I/O port. For the Vibra 16 choose SoundBlaster/compatibles. Select the appropriate I/O,IRQ and DMA setting which we found earlier in this document.
Using the arrow keys, highlight the Setup Digital FX card. For both the Ensoniq Soundscape and the Vibra 16 sound card choose SoundBlaster/compatibles. After testing sound, choose donít care from channel select menu, then exit.
For better performance, arrow down and select copy files to hard drive. Select the amount of data (in megabytes) you want to install to your hard drive and press enter. If you want to run off of the CD-ROM continue to next step.
Arrow down and select Save settings and exit.

Configuring Wing Commander III

To get Wing Commander III to properly operate, you must make changes to the MS-DOS mode configuration. To make these changes, perform the following steps.

Right Click on the My Computer icon. Then choose Explore.
Double click on the CD-ROM drive letter.
Find the wc3.exe and right click then choose Properties.
Choose the Program tab and then click on the Advanced button.
Click on MS-DOS mode and then Specify a new MS-DOS configuration and add these lines:

CONFIG.SYS
dos=high,umb
device=c:\windows\himem.sys
device=c:\cdrom\nec_ide.sys /d:mscd001 /v

(This line can be copied from your config.dos file, it depends on the CD-ROM drive you have - our example shows a NEC dual speed)

Note: The line listed below must be here if Plug-n-Play cards are installed, otherwise it is not needed.

devicehigh=c:\plugplay\drivers\dos\dwcfgmg.sys

AUTOEXEC.BAT
set blaster=A220 Ixx Dx T1

(The set blaster line should be copied from your autoexec.dos file, as it depends on your specific hardware settings)

set sndscape=c:\sndscape

(This line will only be there on the Ensoniq sound card)

C:\Sndscape\ssinit.exe /I

(This line will only be there on the Ensoniq sound card)

c:\windows\command\mscdex /d:mscd001 /m:10
prompt $p$g
path c:\windows;c:\windows\command;c:\dos
set temp=c:\dos

Click on OK on the advanced program settings screen. Click on OK on the WC3 properties.
An MS-DOS icon will now be created for your convenience. You can drag the icon to a folder or the desktop.
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