ATI Demo Crack?

[gollybrian]

I have a PC demo verision that came bundled with my PC, and it was apparently part of the ATI 3D rage package (fastest card I could get in 1995).

How do I load it onto newer PC's? I get errors looking for missing DLL's.

Any ideas?
Thanks

[AmigoJack]

never heard of an ATI-only release.

i suppose its up to your operating system which is nowadays not the same as in 1995 i guess. truly said ive never checked whether the game runs with NT.

but i could not imagine of any DLL-errors - this MUST be something with that ATI-card. wipeout itself doesnt have any drivers at all (because of its DOS-graphics there is no need to use DLLs for directx or else...).

and why should wipeout be shipped with ATI-cards? they should have shipped 2097/XL with the cards to demonstrate something...


to help you at least a bit:
- try ebay. you get both pc versions for low prices as originals - that means no trouble at all.
- to help you "cracking" it i need way more details (system/wipeout or 2097-XL/which DLLs...)

[gollybrian]

When I bought the PC back in 1995 (I know, I know, so I'm old, ok?) - a demo for the original WipEout came with the video card, which I special ordered, as a promo (Along with Assult Rigs, which I'd also like to get working). The CD Roms have "Powered by ATi 3D Rage" on them. That's because they came with the video card, not the pc. So the games don't want to work on my new PC's, I guess because they don't have Ati drivers and vid cards.

So my question is, is there some way I can fool the game into thinking that they are still on the old (and very slow) PC, or that there is an ATi card installed?

The error I get is "Unable to Install WipeOut (or Assult Rigs) - Required Dll file, 'ATi123.Dll' missing"

Thanks dudes and dudettes!

[infoxicated]

I imagine that game buid was custom for that video card - so using it on another type of card will probably not be possible.

Unless you want to build an old spec PC and track down the old ATI drivers (probably on the disc with the games).

Best of luck with it

[AmigoJack]

try the most easiest things:
- create empty files in your windows or wipeout folder that have exactly the DLL-name the game is missing
- ever tried to "install" that old ATI-drivers?
- searched the inet for this problem?


otherwise its a task for a disassembler session. but i dont know if that helps. send me the EXE and i could give it a try (but i dont have much hope)...

[gollybrian]

I found the answer as to why I thought the game was much, much better quality than the regular PC version:

"If you are using a graphics card based on another chipset, such as the RAGE 128, then the game must be installed and configured for DirectX or OpenGL operation (if supported by the game). Please note that ATI3DCIF.DLL based games shipped with ATI's ATI 3D RAGE I, 3D RAGE II, 3D RAGE II+, 3D RAGE IIC, 3D RAGE PRO, and 3D RAGE LT PRO based products will not run on product based on other graphics chipsets.

INFO-BASE file # 3023

Keywords: 3D RAGE PRO for PC Games modified specifically for the 3D RAGE accelerators, such as WipeOut, Assault Rigs, MechWarrior II and Formula 1"

[AmigoJack]

v.interesting!

this game should run with my ATI AIW PRO (which has the rage chip). i wonder if i could buy an old copy out there to see hi-res graphics on my pc...

(wipe'out'' - the excitement never stops)

[gollybrian]

I have a regular PC version on the way to me. If there is a difference in the resolution, I'll see if I can come up with a copy of the rage one for you, if you would like. In the mean time, I'd like to get a hold of a rage card just to set up a machine to play the demo version. Any ideas on where I could get one?