Pandora Directive and XP

Steve's XP Legacy Games Corner - The Pandora Directive in DOSBox

By Steve Metzler (Last updated: 8th June, 2008)

Note: if you don't have at least a 2GHZ processor, then read no further. Your machine won't have enough power to enable you to control Tex when he is exploring the 3D world. Sorry about that. Otherwise, here we go...

Download and install the latest version of DOSBox. Get the Win32 installer version, which at the time of writing was called: Dosbox0.72-win32-installer.exe
Wherever you installed DOSBox to, go there and use Notepad to edit the file dosbox.conf, replacing the section at the very bottom of the file with the following (Note: if your CD-ROM drive is letter 'E', then replace the 'D:' below with 'E:'):
```
[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.
mount D D:\ -t cdrom -usecd 0 -ioctl
mount C C:\
C:
```
Another note: you have to get that exactly right, so it's best just to copy and paste right out of this web page and into the dosbox.conf file using Notepad or a text editor. While you're in that file, you should also set: fullscreen=true (it's set to false by default) and cycles=max.
Open a Command Prompt (Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> Command Prompt), enter: d: (or e: if that is your CD-ROM drive letter) and use the INSTALL.EXE programme there to install Pandora Directive to its default folder, C:\PANDORA.
And now we're ready to roll! In a Command Prompt, switch to the folder where you installed DOSBox (for instance: cd \Program Files\DOSBox-0.72). Start up DOSBox by entering:
```
dosbox
```
Then enter the following 2 commands after it starts up:
```
cd pandora
pandora
```
...and we're away!
The very first time you start the game, you are taken directly to the sound setup page. It's best to set up the sound manually. Use the following settings for the DIGITAL SOUND DEVICE:

SoundBlaster Pro, I/O Port: 220, Interrupt: 7, DMA Channel: 1

And for the MIDI MUSIC DEVICE: SoundBlaster, I/O Port: 388.
When it comes time to set up the screen and so forth, try setting the Window Size to: 640 x 480, and the Rendering Quality to: HIGH. If the in-game motion turns out to be not fluid enough for you, then you can set these parameters to lower values later.

Well, that's about it. That should have been a lot easier than using VDMSound and patching the executable file, as per my previous instructions for this game!

See also the metzomagic.com Help! page for links to additional help in getting games to run.