Windows 98 help needed

[Spacewolfomega]

Sorry to post this on here, but I am really in a bind and I know we have a lot of experienced people on here. I have tried to fix this problem and searched the web repeatedly for answers, but I have come up with nada.

I am trying to install Mechwarrior 2 on a Windows 98 computer. However, the computer only sees the audio files, since MW2 is an "enhanced CD". It doesn't even see the data files. Even when I go into DOS, only the cda (audio files) files show up! Can anyone tell me how to get my computer to see the entirity of what is on the CD?

[NydaLynn]

Sorry to post this on here, but I am really in a bind and I know we have a lot of experienced people on here. I have tried to fix this problem and searched the web repeatedly for answers, but I have come up with nada.

I am trying to install Mechwarrior 2 on a Windows 98 computer. However, the computer only sees the audio files, since MW2 is an "enhanced CD". It doesn't even see the data files. Even when I go into DOS, only the cda (audio files) files show up! Can anyone tell me how to get my computer to see the entirity of what is on the CD?

Can't get into the 'my computer' section to see data files at all?

[Calbeck]

If you're using the DOS shell (which you access from the Start Menu via Accessories), then you STILL have the same basic problem because Win98 remains the controlling OS.

What you have here is one of the more annoying Win95/98 issues: running a program in DOS which needs CD-ROM support. Creating a DOS boot disk won't do the trick by itself because it has no idea what DOS-level drivers your CD-ROM needs. So you boot into DOS...and can't access the CD at all.

Unfortunately, it has been a LONG time since I've had to tweak files for this kind of thing. I know there's a step-by-step process to do it, but I'm unable to find it --- the search engines are clogged with people trying to run it from Win2K or ME or XP...not 98.

AHA! Found the original FASA install card info!

http://www.hpgx.net/willday/mw2/mech2/misc/mw2info.txt

[Spacewolfomega]

Sorry, NydaLynn... the computer won't "see" the other files in anything... *sigh*

And Calbeck, thanks for the link! I'll try making the boot disk and see if that works. I skimmed through the link but I didn't find anything that specifically addressed the problem I'm having. Maybe the boot disk will get around that, though.

I know what the computer's doing. It's seeing the audio files and immediately classifying the CD as strictly a music CD, so it refuses to acknowledge that there are data files in existence. If I could only figure out how to tell the computer to stop trying to be so "smart" and let me tell it what to do!

[TMLutas]

If Windows sees the files but DOS doesn't, try copying everything to an HD directory and see if it will install from there (though I'm dubious that copy protection will allow this simple fix). You could also make an ISO file and mount it in DOS. This might help.

Alternatively, you can just set up CDROM drivers for DOS. Here are instructions.

[Wanderwolf]

Not sure if it's any help, but I found a .exe of Mechwarrior 2 (trial version) here, on ZDNet.

[Spacewolfomega]

Thanks, everyone! I'm going to try these solutions later tonight and I'll post my results. Thanks again!

[Solarfox]

I know what the computer's doing. It's seeing the audio files and immediately classifying the CD as strictly a music CD, so it refuses to acknowledge that there are data files in existence. If I could only figure out how to tell the computer to stop trying to be so "smart" and let me tell it what to do!

Unfortunately, Windows 9x can be kind of quirky when it comes to dealing with multisession and mixed-mode discs.

First, if you haven't already done so, I recommend downloading and installing TweakUI. This will add an additional control to the Control Panel called, naturally enough, "Tweak UI." Open it, go to the "Paranoia" tab, then uncheck both the "Play audio CDs automatically" and the "Play data CDs automatically" options. This will stop Windows from trying to identify and launch the CD on its own.

Did your CD-ROM drive come with its own drivers on a CD or floppy? If so, make sure those are the drivers Windows is using to control the drive; sometimes, the "generic" drivers built-in to Windows are a bit too generic, since they're trying to cover as many different hardware pieces as possible with a single "one-size-fits-all" driver, which results in
devices that sort-of work, but not entirely.

Do you have CD-burning software installed? Especially anything (like Roxio) that installed some kind of "easy-burn" helper application that lets you drag-and-drop files onto a CD-R/RW disc in Explorer like any other kind of drive, or onto an icon in the system tray? If so, disable and/or uninstall that "easy-burn" application; they've been known to interfere with the proper identification of multisession discs.

How old is the CD-ROM drive? Older drives might not support Mode-2/XA discs properly, which can cause problems like this. (I wouldn't think this too likely unless your drive is 6+ years old, but...)

You might also try the Nero Multimounter tool, to see if you can force Windows to mount the data session rather than the audio session.

[Spacewolfomega]

Well, the computer is one that I bought from work after it was replaced by a newer one. Unfortunately, no one kept up with the original CDs or software, so I'm pretty much on my own. Let me try the sugegstions you offered, Solarfox, and if they don't work we'll see where we go from there.

I'll admit, I've been pretty busy so I haven't had much of a chance to try out anyone's suggestions yet, but I've been gathering up all the info! Thanks so much, everyone!