Installing TR1 with DgVoodoo on Windows XP

[Blín D'ñero]

Installing TR1 with DgVoodoo

• Download and install VDMSound 2.1.0 (freeware)
• Make sure to do a complete install:
  
  
• Download the TRAI v1.06: TR Advanced Installer (freeware)
  Unzip.
  (Any older version of TRA Installer than version 1.06 can cause problems on hyperthreaded and dual core systems)
• Put the TR1 CD in the drive. Close the DOS menu and Exit the game.
• Double-click tr1setup.exe.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  For the "Idle Priority" setting, see next post. Choose 72 for now.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  This picture shows how it should look when you have an ATI card.
  NVidia card users: proceed with "Disable Dgvoodoo VDD mode" unchecked!
  
  
  
  When dgvoodoo-setup opens it will look like this:
  
  
  On the "Global' tab, first thing you do is select "DOS". For the rest see picture:
  
  
  On the "Glide" tab:
  
• Then select your desired texture memory size
  (note: when you have a 128 MB videocard select 12288 kB, when you have a 256 MB or beyond you can select the highest size)
  and screen resolution.
• Then click OK to close the menu.
• Then Right-click on the Tomb Raider (Glide) shortcut on Desktop ... and
  
  go to > Properties > VDMSound tab > Advanced. Select "SoundBlaster" tab, and set 'DSP ver.' to '3.02 SoundBlaster Pro 2'. You can also choose any of the other, but NOT Sound Blaster 16, which in most cases just crashes the game before it even starts.
• AND THEN TO LAUNCH THE GAME:
  
  • ATI card users:
    while having the CD in the drive,
    1. double-click "Disable VDD Mode" icon
    2. this message pops up:
    
    DO NOT CLOSE THIS MESSAGE!
    3. launch the game by double-clicking the "Tomb Raider (Glide)" icon.
    4. after you quit the game, you may close the message.
  • nVidia card users:
    while having the CD in the drive,
    1. launch the game by double-clicking the "Tomb Raider (Glide)" icon.
• Once ingame, hit F2 (toggle key) to get rid of the "30 FPS" info in the top left corner.

[Blín D'ñero]

Problem running TR1 in DgVoodoo: Lara is moving too fast, and sound and animations are not synchronous

Lara moving too fast and sounds and animations not synchronous are related and depending on the IdlePrio (CPU-usage) setting in VDMSound. It can be altered by the CPU-usage slider, or by changing the IdlePrio setting.

• For entertainment reason, first the very tiresome and timeconsuming way: the CPU-usage slider that is specially designed for it. For the much more efficient way, scroll down in this post.
  
  The time consuming way:
  Right-click on the Tomb Raider (Glide) shortcut that is on your Desktop,
  
  
  
  and choose "Properties". On the VDMSound tab, choose "Advanced", then tab "Performance".
  
  
  
  Move the CPU usage slider to the best setting for your pc. Start with moving it to the right, somewhere like in the following picture.
  
  
  
  The slidebar is very sensitive, it makes a lot of difference where you set its pointer.
  The stripes on the bar are much too coarse; the space between two tiny stripes is where you can find your ideal setting.
  An excellent occasion to use the Windows XP Magnifier: Start > All Programs > Accessories > Accessability > Magnifier.
  Or install Magical Glass. This freeware tool allows you to magnify any portion on your screen to 1-pixel level, zoom in and out. It is also neat.
  The best place may differ per cpu. However, my test PC's were Pentium4 ~2.66 Ghz, Pentium 650 3.2 Ghz (HT), Core2Duo 6750, and all three have the same ideal setting:
  
  

Efficient way of solving the "Too Fast Lara" problem:


The most easy method is to edit the Tomb Raider (Glide) using Notepad.
Do the following:

1. Open Notepad, or
   right-click on your Desktop, choose New > Textfile.
2. Click File > Open...
3. At Filetypes choose "All files".
4. In the top-dropdownlist navigate to where your Tomb Raider (Glide) shortcut is situated, for instance your Desktop.
5. Select the file, (notice that at Filename the file is now called "Tomb Raider (Glide).VLP)
6. Choose to Open.
7. Now you can edit the .vlp file.
8. Find the line "idlePrio".
9. on my pc's the ideal value is idlePrio=72
10. For a start, you can use this value.
11. Save and Exit.
12. The result is hard to test out ingame, with Lara running around and shooting. But it becomes an exact science in the FMV's. So, the best method to determine your best setting for the silder, is as follows.
    I have this savepoint here, at the end of "Tomb of Qualopec". DOWNLOAD. Unzip, and put it into C:\TOMBRAID. Change the savegame number to one that does not already exist in your TOMBRAID.
    Launch the game, and try it out.
    Load the savegame (it starts just just before the Lara and Larson FMV) and try out if this is your ideal setting too. Otherwise, change down to 71, 70... or up to 73, 74, 75... everytime after edit in Notepad: save and close Notepad, start the game and load the savegame before the FMV:
    
    
    
    
    What i do first, is turn around and run back through the corridor, into the tomb. If that feels normal (not too slow, not too fast), i go back to first spot, dive into the water and encounter Larson, shooting him. Cutscene follows.
    
    Now when i have the slider too far to the right, the conversation between Lara and Larson is finished earlier than the animation. Slider too far to the left, the cutscene is finished earlier than the conversation. The moment that Lara kicks Larson is the ultimate test, because it is near the end. If you hear Lara's footkick on Larson at the same moment as you see it, you've got your game perfectly balanced.
    
    
    
    "Thank you, i will." says Lara.

[Blín D'ñero]

Problem using older version of Advanced Installer:
Your PC has a 'hyperthreaded' (HT) or dualcore CPU, and running TR1 on DgVoodoo it often crashes when saving and your savegames get corrupted.

Solution: delete your C:\TOMBRAID completely.
Reinstall TR1 using the TR Advanced Installer v 1.06

[20. january 2007]
- Added TR1 multiprocessor support which fixes game freezing and
savegame corruptions on dual-core or Hyperthreaded Intel CPU's.
If more than one CPU is detected, Tomb Raider Advanced Installer
will automatically install, register and start the service named
"Tomb Raider Advanced Installer Multiprocessor Helper" which may
monitor and fix Tomb Raider executables while the game is running.

Copyright Bokkie.

I beta-tested this before release.

[Blín D'ñero]

• Problem: starting the game, screen goes black and two beeps sound from the computer, then back to desktop. Game crashed.
  Solution: you have forgotten this step:

  Right-click on the Tomb Raider (Glide) ...
  
  ...shortcut on Desktop > Properties > VDMSound tab > Advanced. Select "SoundBlaster" tab, and set 'DSP ver.' to '3.02 SoundBlaster Pro 2'. You can also choose any of the other, but NOT Sound Blaster 16, which in most cases just crashes the game before it even starts.

• Problem: white outlining around the pistols and various elements in the environment.
  Solution: Hit F3.
• Problem: geometric lines in the environments
  Solution: hit F4.

[Blín D'ñero]

I have not tried it out myself yet, but this should also work on windows 10.
using the latest version of dgvoodoo:
https://www.play-old-pc-games.com/compa ... -tutorial/

btw for those who don't know yet (but possibly i'm the last one to have noticed this yet) : in steam, this runs automatically in included Dosbox.
Like i myself bought all of them in Steam a few months ago... while i already have them all in cd versions at least 5, 6 times already (for almost 2 decades, i'm that old! ). Steam eliminates the need-for-cd-in-tray part which is so nice.