Usfox984

Joined: Sun Jun 03, 2007 7:32 am
Posts: 10

PC98 Policenauts boot disk

I finally managed to get a PC9821 and Policenauts. DOS 6.2 is installed and everything works fine but I can't format disks correctly. Therefore I can't create a Policenauts boot disk.
EDIT:
Problem solved. Typed in the wrong DOS command; as expected.

Within the last three days I made alot of progress, at least I think so. The only thing left to do is to activate the CD-Rom drive but I don't know how. Afterwards I should be finally able to play Policenauts on my PC9821 Na 7.
I'm somewhat frustrated and would really appreciate any small hint you could give.

Joined: Sun Feb 25, 2007 6:28 pm
Posts: 29
Location: Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands

Do you have the CD driver NECCD.SYS?
If so then you need to add the followi lines in 'config,sys':
DEVICE=<path>NECCD.SYS /D:CD_102 /I0
If you've loaded HIMEM.SYS and EMM386.EXE you could use DEVICEHIGH
In autoexec.bat you add:
<path>MSCDEX.EXE /E /D:CD_102 /L:M
This installs a CDROM drive at drive letter M
Ensure that the supplied <paths> are correct!
It's possible you must remove the /I0 option from the CDDriver loading command because I need this option to get it to work on the TN98 emulator but perhaps you don't need it on a real machine.
Oh and if you need some info about some options of drivers/dos commands, then goto
http://babel.altavista.com/urltrurl?lp=ja_en&url=http%3A//www.theochem.ru.nl/%7Edtanis/MSDOS1-JAP/msdindex.htm
I hope this helps.

I didn't have look at this thread in awhile. I'm somewhat late but thanks for your advice.
I can't give it a try until October but then I definitely will. I'm trying to play Policenauts on an PC9821 Na7 notebook. However, I suppose I won't be able to start the game on this notebook if I don't make any modifications.
Recently I was told by a Japanese trader that Policenauts won't run on a standard notebook of the Na series because it's missing a PC-9801-86 sound card. Moreover I'd need a PC-9821 N-U5 docking station according to him.
On the other, I've seen pictures of Policenauts running on an Na notebook at least without docking station. Confusing...

Joined: Wed Oct 06, 2004 11:33 am
Posts: 2938
Location: Mexico

I got myself an NA 12 just this month... I did make it work, buthave no CD audio (otheriwse it runs perfectly fine, the integrated sound board works quite well for the in game sound).
I can post my autoexec and config.sys files, they have all what mrSeed posted above, but they load an audio and video driver at the end. It is something like avdriver.sys, check on your C: drive to find all the sys files listed.

This might be very helpful. I already managed to create a boot disk but every time I tried to start the game, I received a message saying 'mukou-na doraiba no shiji desu'. Perhaps I can start the game by means of the audio and video driver you mentioned.

Joined: Sun Feb 25, 2007 6:28 pm
Posts: 29
Location: Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands

The Policenauts version I have runing with the emulator T98Next or Anex86 doesn't load any graphics driver so far as I see. It only loads the sounddriver avsdrv.sys. It's a standard dos sounddriver which is installed in the standard DOS directory. I use version 3.10 rev 1 from DOS 6.2.
You can load this driver with the same command as the other ones.
DEVICE=<path>AVSDRV.SYS
Adding the switches /F and /P to the former command you can select if the driver use PCM or FM sound.
Too bad you have to wait till October to test it.

Too bad I can't do anything at moment but at least there's some hope that I'll be able to make Policenauts work soon.
It's definitely a driver related problem. Everytime I tried to start the game I received a message about an 'invalid driver'. Might be the sound driver indeed.
This is what I did so far to make the game start:
1. formated a 1.44mb disk (I typed in 'format /4 /s b:' in DOS command)
2. created a boot disk by means of the Policenauts system-disk (I suppose all drivers where copied correctly)
3. changed the GDC from 5 MHz to 2.5 MHz
Finally I started the game by using the boot disk but only received the message mentioned above.
Snatcher already told me it won't work this way but he can't help at the moment. Someone's got an idea what I've missed out or done wrong?
P.S.: Does the Policenauts PC98 emulation already work properly or are there still those nasty sound problems?

Joined: Wed Jun 14, 2006 5:27 pm
Posts: 132
Location: Northern Europe

Anex86 emulates PC-98 Policenauts pretty much perfectly (PCM sound plays fine unlike in T98 where it'll choke when system load gets high), save for an issue with CD-DA (a.k.a. redbook) sound; tracks will play for about ten seconds and then stop entirely. This doesn't really affect playing the game that much though as most of the music is stored in a data file on the disc.
Edit: the emulator's name is Anex86, not Anex98 - my bad.

Joined: Tue Jul 24, 2007 9:10 am
Posts: 181

Interesting. The Anex98 is the least problematic of PC-98 emulators when it comes to emulating the original Policenauts.
Hey, just out of curiosity, how do I purchase an actual copy of Policenauts on the PC-98? Do I have to actually be in Japan in order to get one?

Joined: Wed Oct 06, 2004 11:33 am
Posts: 2938
Location: Mexico

Runner

But it says that the seller will not ship internationally.
Not only that, but it's in Japanese, and I don't think there is anyway to translate the Japanese yahoo auctions website into english.

Joined: Sun Feb 25, 2007 6:28 pm
Posts: 29
Location: Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands

Yes Anex86 is the better emulator to play policenauts, you can even run windowz on it. For my PC system it was important that I used and old version of AVSDRV.SYS. Version 3.10 gave stammer PCM sounds on my system. Yesterday I found version 1.00 of AVSDRV.SYS which solved these sound problems. Yeah

Joined: Wed Jun 14, 2006 5:27 pm
Posts: 132
Location: Northern Europe

Use a proxy bidding service like http://rinkya.com.

Joined: Sun Aug 12, 2007 7:51 am
Posts: 43
Location: Croatia

You can use 'Google Translate' to translate a webpage from japanese or any other major language to English or vice versa. Google Translate link
I hope that it will help.

Joined: Tue Jul 24, 2007 9:10 am
Posts: 181

Thank you very much, epitaph. I'll try that website if I ever get the chance.
Oh, and one more thing: In terms of American currency, on that website, how much does the PC-98 Policenauts, along with an actual PC-9821 Home Computer, usually go for separately?

Joined: Thu Oct 14, 2004 2:46 am
Posts: 3379

The game usually goes for around $110 dollars, which was the game's retail price when it first came out (so it isn't a bad deal, really).
A PC98, however... it depends on what exactly you get, a laptop or a desktop. Just a desktop can be had for under $100, but you'll also need a monitor that can run in 24KHz. Then you have the shipping costs from Japan to your home country. Go with emulation or a laptop if you can.

@Osiris:
According to Epitaph the Policenauts emulation seems to be almost perfect. You've played Policenauts on an original PC98 desktop and I quess you tried the anex98 emulator as well, right?
Did you notice any differences at all?

Joined: Thu Oct 14, 2004 2:46 am
Posts: 3379

I haven't tried it under emulation myself, but I know people who have and the only problem they had then was the sound (on TG98), so if that's fixable with an older driver with Anex86, then it should run fine, yeah (apart from the redbook audio cutting out, but there are only 3 tracks in the game that are redbook; just put them in an audio player and play them at the right times ).
Screens taken under emulation:
(courtesy of Snake Plissken)
This is exactly the way the game looks running on a real machine.

Joined: Tue Jul 24, 2007 9:10 am
Posts: 181

A question to those who have played Policenauts on an Anex86 emulator: What exactly are the 3 redbook tracks that suffer from audio problems?

Joined: Sun Feb 25, 2007 6:28 pm
Posts: 29
Location: Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands

I did not play it completely but I just checked the tracks from the CD and I found this till now:
track 1 - data
track 2 (0:04.2) - konami wave intro
track 3 (1:34) - Old LA 2040 short part1 (start of the game, perhaps somewhere else?)
track 4 (3:50) - Old LA 2040 short part2 (also at start, perhaps somewhere else too?)
track 5 (5:13) - Policenauts End title (as it already says, perhaps somewhere else?)
track 6 (7:18) - Old LA 2040 complete (don't know where this track is used in the game)

Joined: Thu Oct 14, 2004 2:46 am
Posts: 3379

It'll be the opening (split into two songs), and the ending song.

Joined: Tue Jul 24, 2007 9:10 am
Posts: 181

Hmm... maybe I should have said that they simply removed those videos, because to be honest, I really don't know the exact reason why youtube removed them.
Also, Osiris, you mentioned earlier in this thread that you can also play the original Policenauts on a PC-9821 laptop. Exactly what are the pros and cons of playing Policenauts on a PC-9821 laptop?

Joined: Thu Oct 14, 2004 2:46 am
Posts: 3379

Really? What terms did they violate?

Joined: Wed Jun 14, 2006 5:27 pm
Posts: 132
Location: Northern Europe

Not sure the Policenauts videos violated anything per se, but the guy who uploaded them did with some video and as a result his account and all of his uploaded clips got pulled. That's the way youtube policy works.