American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

<font face="Book Antiqua"><font size="4"><font color="beige">Gents,

I know this subject has come up before and I will be darn if I can recall (must be the age thing[:D]!) what the out come was. So please let me know if there is a doable solution to downloading the old BG games into Vista and then being able to apply the patches and upgrades?

While I am at it has there been any issues with the new Matrix BG games and Vista?

Many Thanks as always!
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<font color="limegreen"><font size="4">Gen Nick Kunz

Commanding
3/4/II Corps
Army of Georgia</font id="limegreen"><font color="orange">
Chief of Engineering
VMI & CSA</font id="orange"></font id="size4">

Check on the Matrix site as they should have good info on their games.

<b><font color="gold">Ernie Sands
General, Commanding, Army of Ohio

ACWGC Cabinet Member
ACWGC Records Site Administrator
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I tried to get the BG games (32 bit version) to work on my Vista machine, but they would not work - I did not expect them to. I then brought the matrix versions and they work fine. I have no problems swaping files between vista and non vista. I have also uploaded some modified battles and they also work fine.

Brig Gen Gam McOmish
Georgia State Volunteers
Gainsville Infantry Division
King Cotton Corps
Army of Georgia
CSA

I originally couldn't get them to work, either. I found a workaround is to start the game with the game executable, NOT the bg_start.exe file that the shortcut points to. Downside is you can't read the scenario names. You only pick the module, then select a file name. But the game works fine for me after that.

I haven't installed the BG games in years. I simply copy the Talonsoft folder and run the .exe like those old DOS games. Ah, good old DOS (not!).

Lt. General Dirk Gross
XIV Corps/AoC

Greetings, All:
This is a work around that works for all BG ACW games that you wish to run on Vista (except Chickamauga, I just haven't played around with it).
I am currently successfully running 32 bit Talonsoft BG games on my Vista machine. How? I COPIED them (after patching them)from my old machine (XP) to my new machine (Vista). So, get a flash drive (or burn a CD), copy the files to the flash drive, copy them to the Vista machine. I recommend creating a new folder for BG games and a new separate folder for each of the games; do not recommend installing to program files. You will need to have either the original disk or a master disk in the same named drive that you originally installed from: i.e. if you originally installed the games from an 'e:' drive, then the disc must be in an 'e:' drive. The game looks for application files on the disk in the same location it was originally installed from. As for a start icon, choose (as LG Gross suggests) the game executable file (right click on it and choose Create Shortcut if you want a shortcut on your desktop).
IF your old machine died, get a friend with XP to allow you to install and patch, then transfer to new machine.
IF you originally installed from a drive 'd: or e:' and your new machine, does not have a similarly named drive, then you will need to re-install using a named drive that your new machine has.
If I can help, let me know.

Lt. Col. Neal Carney
AoO/IX/2/6

I do not know if INI files work with VISTA, but each BG game has an INI file named, like BGG.ini or BGS.ini, etc. You can find these files, usually, in someplace in your WINDOWS folder. For best results, just do a search for *.ini and you will find them all.

The best thing about INI files, is that they may be edited in any text editor, like notepad. Load the file into notepad and look for the drive letter originally used. You may then edit that drive letter to any different drive letter used on your VISTA machine, but I doubt you would need to modify the files.





<b><font color="gold">Ernie Sands
General, Commanding, Army of Ohio

ACWGC Cabinet Member
ACWGC Records Site Administrator
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I was able to get the old BG games working, by updating to 32 bit then installing, to a folder, not in program files, setting the .exe to XP mode, right click on exe, properties, compatibility, and it worked. It is possible to use them in Vista, no need to buy new versions but it might be easier. I do not get any sound but I have not looked at it. Basically decided to stick with HPS/TS.

Best Regards,

General Pierre D.
1st Bde, 3rd Div,I Corps
Army of Georgia, CSA