i-War Defiance: (1997) how to setup (windows 7 and windows 10) with 3D acceleration – a old but genious scifi space ship simulator with real mass drifting inertia – how to switch to 3rd person “ship” external view

19.Apr.2022

games, General / Allgemein, Space / Cosmos / Kosmos / Galaxy / Galaxie / Weltall, StarTrek, StarTrek / Science Fiction

a word of warning: NEVER EVER INSTALL GAMES ON “FOR WORK” MACHINES!

NEVER run any downloaded games while being connected to a network of importance (no matter if private or business) (nobody knows what those C++ dlls are up to)
the deb-multimedia.org problem: it is UNKNOWN if the repository https://deb-multimedia.org can be trusted (it is (now in 2022) run by a Debian developer… so guess yes? BUT NO GUARANTEES!)
- 2013: “The unofficial third party repository Debian Multimedia stopped using the domain debian-multimedia.org some months ago. The domain expired and it is now registered again by someone unknown to Debian. (If we’re wrong on this point, please sent us an email so we can take over the domain! 😉 )
- This means that the repository is no longer safe to use, and you should remove the related entries from your sources.list file.” (src)

Remember Monkey Island and Tomb Raider 1? yeah… wanna play it on GNU Linux? yeeeessss!
- (holy crap, there will be a new Monkey Island in 2022 https://returntomonkeyisland.com (trailer here))
over 1600 FREE DOS GAMES! -> https://www.dosgames.com/
so the best way to run games, is on a hardware wise separate machine, without any connection to the outside world.
- or if network play is needed: setup a separate dedicated network.
or: the same laptop hardware can be used, but the harddisk would have to be swapped (game harddisk, work harddisk…)
- unfortunately hardware producers made this process more and more cumbersome… (e.g. for lenovo t440 the WHOLE bottom plate has to be taken off)
as more and more games are written specifically for mobile platforms (Android based smart phones) there is (now) actually a software, to run android games on a PC called “MuMu” (unfortunately it only supports windows) if that is of interested

nGlide support also coming to GNU LINUX 🙂

managed to get it to work in wine 🙂

GNU Linux – i-war running inside GNU Linux Debian 11 via wine – run old dos games (and windo(w)s games) from wine to dosbox-x – how to compile from latest src – first problems: keyboard / some keys “:” not working – mastering the game

https://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=version&iId=9586

https://www.winehq.org/news/

https://wiki.winehq.org/Winetricks

iwar (1997) vs “Elite Dangerous“

Have the player ever marveled at the pretty looks of the stars (suns) in the “Elite Dangerous” universe… they are gorgeous.

the player can almost feel the heat of this star’s fusion reaction…

Whoever says “Elite Dangerous” is a realistic simulation of how spaceships move in space… got things pretty wrong…

“Elite Dangerous” is simulating flight like “airplanes” fly…

Whereas iwar, SpaceEngineers and (of course) Kerbal Space Program (soon part 2) actually simulates the inertia of massive objects much more realistic (better imho)… which ALSO makes for interesting space flights & fights (they do not need to be like “air based dog fights”, inertia & thrust play a critical role in this and as can be seen in the iwar intro … (inertia can be the pilot’s friend)… e.g. with button (N) it is possible to switch off “course auto correction” in iwar and thus drift through space… with the given speed.

whoever says “Elite Dangerous” has complicated controls… never played iwar X-D

external views?

yes they exist, TAB = full screen mode

how to get into 3rd person “ship” external view?

hit TAB
Shift+F1,F2,F3,F4

imho the i-war controls are very rational… cycling targets in Elite is… tricky.

i-war: why this game is a genius space flight and fight sim

check out the the 3rd trainings mission: docking with containers (fast) and throwing them through a ring X-D

… this could make for an interesting ship space soccer game… X-D (dock with the ball… and inertia throw it through the goal of the enemy X-D)

it simulates realistic inertia
it simulates the loss of subsystems (tactics: make sure attacking enemies are always behind the upper or lower shield that is currently not down, if propulsion is damaged – drifting through space, if weapons are damaged…)
the SOUND of the game is incredible 🙂
- even when in space – there is (almost) no sound… there is SOME sound in space (stage separation) 🙂
U for docking 🙂
weapons systems:
- laser guns can also fire backwards
- attacking missiles can be fenced off with flares
very cool ship designs that actually make some sense
holy crap it has an up to 8x players online MULTIPLAYER mode (very revolutionary for 1997) (probably involves advanced insecure self hosted servers with port-forwardings that is not provided by valve-steam thus: UNTESTED!)
- “Play DeathMatch, Capture the Flag, and various other unique scenarios”

i-War: how to setup? in GNU Linux (Debian 11) with wine?

it’s a bit of a hazzle… but can be done 🙂 EVEN WITH 3Dfx / Voodoo / nGlide support! (THANKS ALL INVOLVED! GENIUS!)

wine: what works?

the setup
nGlide setup
the game itself EVEN in 3DFx-Voodoo-nGlide in full screen mode 🙂 (CONGRATZ ALL INVOLVED! GREAT JOB!)

wine: what does not work?

in-game menus
instructors sound output (might be a game “can’t find cdrom drive” related issue)
it crashes on the end of a mission, but the progress is still saved… so simply restart the game after every mission and should be good
possible problems: does not detect the CD-ROM drive (even when it is mounted and files are clearly accessible)
- possible workaround: copy the CD1 CD2 CD3 CD4 content simply into the game folder….

GNU Linux – i-war running inside GNU Linux Debian 11 via wine – run old dos games (and windo(w)s games) from wine to dosbox-x – how to compile from latest src – first problems: keyboard / some keys “:” not working – mastering the game

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-War_(1997_video_game)

the intro

how to run a 16Bit setup?

tested and the setup can be made to work with win 7 pro 64bit

via this trick:

“have Independence War Deluxe Edition (IWDE) original discs.

After installing nGlide… (for 3DFx support (Vodoo))

nGlide support also coming to GNU LINUX 🙂

(might test that out soon)

how to run iWar on Windows 7 / Windows 10 (also 64Bit)

managed to install it:

mount the first iWar.iso as Drive Letter D: (!!! NO OTHER DRIVE LETTER!!!)
Copied disk 1 of IWDE and/or Defiance disk to a temp directory (depending on what you will install) (e.g. C:\games\iwar\)
Downloaded IS3engine. It is a zip that contains a file called setup32.exe.
unzipped/place setup32.exe into same folder as iWar setup: C:\games\iwar\
- backup: Is3Engine.zip (sha512sum: 79d43bf8fc63d5ae4ed4c8902ce371bd2ba713a2b8fcb0b247eabd32782b5e30ba493303826303c7f946f784df9b497cb8bd741be974adc3b7ad8e649cfca1d7 Is3Engine.zip)
Run setup32.exe
iwar setup should start and work now, but quit without confirmation.
there should be an “C:\Program Files\Particle Systems\Independence War\IWar.exe” existing on the system.

Create Desktop shortcut like this:

"C:\Program Files\Particle Systems\Independence War\IWar.exe" -b -16 800x600 -english

Right click on the Iwar.exe (for defiance it would be IWDE.exe)
Properties > Compatibility
- Check Run this program in compatibility
- Select Windows XP SP3 in the dropdown list, Press Ok
mount iwar_cd2.iso
copy content of iwar_cd2.iso into “C:\Program Files\Particle Systems\Independence War\”
test-run the game:
- either by mounting CD1 again and clicking on “Installer.exe”
- or by the ShortCut on Desktop
not done yet: fixing registry
- download and add this reg key
  - https://dwaves.de/games/iwar-fix-correct-cd-rom-path.reg
- Creating registry entries so the game find’s the “Next Disc 2”
- When IS3engine installs, it adds your install directory as the CD drive
- need to correct registry entry to read the proper drive
- In this example will use drive D: as CD-ROM drive. Feel free to modify this to adapt to your drive letter.

give it another test run! 😀

it should work now! 😀

(bring the player to the main game screen :D)

HURRAY! celebrate!

registry keys involved:

(D: is the drive letter of the real or virtual cdrom that is the source if iwar installation)

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Particle Systems\I-War]
@="D:"

If you installed Independece War and Defiance, paste this too

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Particle Systems\IWDE]
@="D:"

If you installed only Independece War, and you have a 64bit machine, paste this

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Particle Systems\I-War]
@="D:"

If you installed Independece War and Defiance, and you have a 64bit machine paste this too

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Particle Systems\IWDE]
@="D:"

So, for example, if you install both Indepen dence war and defiance, your registry file should contain this…

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Particle Systems\IWDE]
@="D:"

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Particle Systems\I-War]
@="D:"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Particle Systems\IWDE]
@="D:"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Particle Systems\I-War]
@="D:"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Particle Systems\IWDE]
@="D:"

10. Save text file and close notepad
11. Rename the text file so instead of TXT extension it should have REG extension.
12. Double click the file you just created. This creates the registry entry to registed drive D: as your CD-ROM. If your drive letter is different, edit the text above to assign the proper drive letter.

————————————
Now fingers crossed & run the game 🙂

13. Double click on the Iwar.exe or iwde.exe
Update. Check posts down below for additional steps ”

http://www.theworldforgotten.com/showthread.php?t=6343

to run iwar.exe in 3DFx mode r-click on the iwar.exe -> new link

r-click on the link -> properties

iwar.exe -b -16 800x600 -english

managed all of this? congratz

the game should now work full screen, full res in all it’s 1997 beauty.

mastering the game, tips & tricks:

problems with the trainings mission “throw container through ring” (yes it is hard to do it within the time limit but YOU CAN DO IT!) check out the video:
- how to repair the FTL relay?
  - hit BACKSPACE until “probe” is selected (as a form of rocket)
  - hit SPACE to launch probe, now the player is flying the probe
  - select FTL relay as target – navigate probe inside relay – hit F8 for docking 🙂
how to basically defeat ANY enemy X-D “hit & run” via LDS
- whenever the odds are bad (outnumbered, outgunned, damaged) as long as LDS is not blocked or damaged
- HIT L to escape the battlefield… wait until ship is repaired…
  - then steer back to the enemies
  - drop out of LDS (L)
  - fire rockets & blasters like crazy
  - escape via LDS (again, and again… X-D)
- rapid fire: when the blaster-laser is selected (PCB?) hit ENTER to get into “rapid fire but no auto aim” mode (cross hair)
- LDS approach (e.g. a large ship) from behind (no shields) and give em hell, hit LDS again to escape
how to handle the target list?
- hit (m) to cycle through types of targets (nav points (green), friendly (blue), enemeis (red)
- hit (; semicolon) and (: colon) to cycle up and down target list
- hit (/ forward slash or “division”) to mark a target “selected” (for autopilot or docking, symbol circle turns into triangle)
- “looking at targets”: when in cockpit (F1) press V to cycle between orb-map, view-target and energy-focus
tactical energy focus on shields, thrust or weapons – press V until a triangle occurs, hold Ctrl + Cursor Up/Down/Left/Right
- - check out this video demonstrates it:

the morgan mission:

this mission plays completely in a gigantic asteroid field that extends for billions of miles
the best approach is to select the mines (Backspace, Backspace) and then (L) LDS approach every pod to 3 (3000m), then drop out of LDS (L) and place the mine
proceed with next pod
problem: the menus are not shown correctly in wine
- there is a in-game menu popping up at the moment morgan docks with the dreadnaught and tries to hijack it (throwing one mechanic after the other out of the airlock…)
- in this in-game menu the player can (usually) select an answer to morgan (lead him to the mined treasure pods)
- but the menu does not show so the player is “stuck” having to watch dead bodies float through space… endlessly …

so let's cheat
(problem: this also does not work.. because the game crashes)

Cheat Codes:
------------
In the player credits screen type "darkgoat".



This will enable the following cheat keys:

-=In the player history screen=-
Left-Shift Backspace - Add selected mission to history.
Left-Shift - Toggle outcome of selected mission.
Left-Shift 0 - Add all missions. (Make all missions accessible).

-=In the game=
Left-Shift P - dump a PCX image file to PSG\RESOURCE\ART\SCREENS
Left-Shift M - dump a continuous stream of PCXs (fill up your 
hard disk quick)

Left-Shift 8 - jump to vicinity of target
Left-Shift 9 - match velocity with target
Left-Shift 0 - explode targeted ship
Left-Shift i - make player invulnerable.
Left-Shift w - force mission win


OTHER VERSIONS:
---------------
Enter the following keys while depressing the LEFT-SHIFT key:

K - Dock with ANY vessel
0 - Destroy targeted ship
S - Force next mission event
; - Freeze target
I - Invulnerability
J - Jump to Lagrange point
8 - Jump to target
9 - Match target's velocity
A - Super speed
BACKSPACE - View previous movie
W - Win the mission


Repairing damage:
-----------------
When your ship is heavily damaged, press [Left Shoft] + O to enter the options 
menu. While the enemy ships are paused, your repair teams will still be working.