Technical FAQ - Written and produced by Simulation

Technical Advice » Atlantean Scion & Unfinished Business

Tomb Raider was originally designed to run on MS-DOS and Windows 95/98/ME. To install Tomb Raider on Windows XP/2000 follow the guidelines below.

» 64 BIT OS USER NOTICE! (TR1 and UB Advanced solution for Windows Vista/7/8 x32/x64)
» Essential Software
» Optional Software
» Installing the game
» Advanced solution
» Common Problems [ General ] [ Sound ] [ Glidos ] [ dgVoodoo ]
» Acknowledgements

» Users of Windows Vista, Windows 7 and windows 8.1 x64 bit versions are welcome to use our TR1 Advanced solution x64 HERE.

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» VDM Sound V2.10 (Download - Freeware)
VDMSound is a program that allows Windows XP/2000 to play the in-game music and sound effects. VDMSound emulates an MPU-401 interface (for outputting high-quality MIDI music), a SoundBlaster compatible (SB16, SBPro 2, SB2, SBPro, etc.) implementation (for digital sound effects and FM/AdLib music), as well as a standard game-port interface (for playing games with joystick support).

» Advanced Tomb Raider Installer (Download - Freeware)
To run Tomb Raider Original on Windows 2000 or Windows XP, install the game using the Advanced Tomb Raider Installer from Bokkie. It Sets up audio and visual elements of the game and optionally works with with VDM Sound and Glide emulators GLIDOS or dgVoodoo (included in Installer).

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» dgVoodoo Glide Emulator (Freeware - Included with the Advanced TR Installer)
dgVoodoo is a Glide emulator that brings high resolution graphics to Tomb Raider. dgVoodoo is included with the Advanced Tomb Raider Installer. dgVoodoo implements Glide 2.11 and Glide 2.43 using DirectDraw7 and Direct3D7. dgVoodoo provides support to run Windows-based and DOS-based applications that use Glide. DOS applications can only be wrapped without VESA emulation under Windows XP.

» GLIDOS Glide Emulator (Download - Free to install, $10 to remove Logo)
GLIDOS (© Paul Gardiner 2002-2003) is a Glide emulator. Until the development of GLIDOS, there has been no way for the original Tomb Raider game to make use of modern graphics cards. GLIDOS is the first program to provide Glide emulation for DOS, and allow games like Tomb Raider to show their full detail on modern computers. You can download and install GLIDOS to try out the high resolution graphics. Once you are happy with the results you can purchase GLIDOS to remove the "Spinning logo".

» Tomb Raider Xtra (Download - Freeware)
Tomb Raider Xtra is a project to make the original Tomb Raider game look better by replacing the graphics with high resolution images. This brings new life to the 1996 graphics.
GLIDOS v1.33 or later is required.

» CD Audio Repair (How To - Instructions)
The Sold Out version of Tomb Raider sometimes does not contain valid audio tracks and the game loses a lot of its atmosphere as a result. However, this situation can be rectified if your PC has a CD-RW drive. Download the audio tracks from Tomb Raider Chronicles and burn your own replacement CD-ROM.

» Audio Pack (Download - Freeware)
Supplied by GLIDOS, this audio pack brings the PlayStation Audio to the PC. When the original Play Station version of Tomb Raider was ported over to the PC platform, it was such a shame that so much of Nathan McCree's haunting music was lost. This method will, when complete, provide an alternative solution for the corrupted audio tracks on the Sold Out version. GLIDOS v1.29 or later required.

» Unfinished Business Add-on (Download - Freeware)
Tomb Raider Unfinished Business/ Shadow of the Cat are four additional bonus levels released on the TR 1 Gold version. Players that have the original version can download the add-on for free. Download the 3DFX/PC version if you are using GLIDOS or dgVoodoo. Installation NOTE: You must have the original TOMB RAIDER game installed and the game CD in your CD-ROM drive in order for the free levels to install & work correctly. Install by Double-click on the .EXE file and the new levels will be installed to your hard drive (default is c:\tombraid). If you have the game installed in a different directory type in the correct path in the dialog box. Run the game by double-clicking on TOMBUB.EXE.

» ESCAPEplay (Download - Freeware)
If you are having trouble viewing the FMV (Full Motion Video) files or wish to see them again, download this FMV player. Set your desktop colour depth to 16bit otherwise the application will crash.

» JoyToKey (Download - Freeware)
This program can be used to drive your PSX Gamepad on the PC. You can purchase a PSX/PC converter and use an application called JoyToKey, which is a keyboard emulator for joysticks. See related Tech Thread. If the site isn't available use this alternate download.

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The installation program on Tomb Raider CD cannot work correctly on Windows XP/2000, so you may need a little help.

1. Download VDMSound and the ATR Installer.
2. Install VDMSound. On the Choose Components page select Complete from the pull down list. Reboot PC when complete.
3. Place the Tomb Raider CD into the drive (must be first drive if you have more than one).
4. Start the ATR Installer. This program will guide you through the installation process by taking you through the options available to you. This includes the option to run Tomb Raider with GLIDOS (if you have downloaded and purchased the program) or dgVoodoo (which is included in ATR Installer). Tomb Raider will be installed in C:\TOMBRAID. There is no choice available as the game will assume this directory.

New (fixing sound issues and Vista problems) solution is provided by gidierre.

» Extended DgVoodoo audio support:

» Quick start for Windows Vista users

1. Extract all files from ssdh.zip to the Tomb Raider folder, usually c:\tombraid.
2. Run install.bat
3. To play, provided the TR cdrom is in the drive,
- run Play TR1.bat for TombRaider 1 or
- run Play TR1 Gold.bat for TombRaider 1 Unfinished business.

» Instructions for Windows XP users

First of all: if it ain't broke...

Actually sapucdex/VDMSound/dgVoodoo all run smoothly under XP.
If you want to test/run via ssdh, drop both ssdh.exe & ssdh.dll into the folder where sapucdex exe/dll are, usually c:\tombraid, and assuming VDMSound, dgVoodoo and Tomb Raider are alreay installed preferably via the TRAdvancedInstaller, now you have 2 ways to run TR1/TR1 Gold w/ssdh, a hard and an easy one.
N.B.: Install.bat is for Windows Vista only!

» A. "Hard" way:

Run Command Prompt (cmd), go to C:\TOMBRAID folder and type (hitting Enter after each command):

dosdrv
dgvesa
ssdh
tomb


N.B.:Replace tomb with tombub in case you're running Unfinished Business.
OR use two batch files included: "Play TR1" and "Play TR1 Gold".

» B. "Easy" way:
Right click TR1 shortcut on your Desktop, go to Properties tab > VDMS Launchpad Advanced Settings > DOS Environment > AUTOEXEC.BAT > Additional options:

and edit the string from c:\tombraid\sapucdex.exe to c:\tombraid\ssdh.exe, press OK twice.

» Advanced DosBox solution:

1. Download DosBox 0.72 installer for Windows here.
2. Download glide patch here.
3. Install DosBox.
4. Extract glide patch files to DosBox folder confirming overwriting if necessary and DirectX 9 folder.
5. Download gidierre's Tomb Raider and Unfinished Business DosBox extensions.
6. Extract both to Tomb Raider folder, by default C:\TOMBRAID (if you have none, because haven't installed TR yet, create it manually).
7. Put your TR disc in CD-ROM drive and quit the Autorun menu.
8. Run Install Dosbox TR1.bat from your TR folder and proceed with normal TR installation routine.

To run Tomb Raider you'll need to use Run Dosbox TR1.bat, to run Unfinished Business - Run Dosbox TRUB.bat obviously.
N.B.: You can make desktop shortcuts for both batch files at your ease.

» Graphics tweak for Vista users only:

If the visual quality of the game doesn't satisfy you, you can try and improve it by tweaking the settings the following way:
Locate Run Dosbox TR1.bat and Run Dosbox TRUB.bat (in case you have Unfinished Business installed also) in c:\tombraid or wherever you extracted it to and open it with Notepad.
Find all strings beginning with "REM set..." and edit them all to be "set...":
E.g.: "REM set SDL_VIDEODRIVER=windib" - delete "REM" at the beginning, so it becomes "set SDL_VIDEODRIVER=windib" only.

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» The game freezes at the end of the first level. This can occur on systems with two CD-ROM drives. Try temporarily disabling the second drive. Control Panel > System > Device manager. When you have finished playing the game repeat the procedure and Enable the CD-ROM device.

» In the cut- scene where Lara confronts Larsen for the first time the audio often stops short and the game may freeze.
Press Esc or Enter - persevere and then keep a saved game past this point.

» How do I get rid of the Frame Rate?
Press F2. The game may pause for a second before removing the FPS.

» Error message when you install or start Tomb Raider:
C:\Windows\System32\Autoexec.nt The system file is not suitable for running MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows applications.
This issue may occur if one or more of the following files are missing or damaged.

CONFIG.NT
AUTOEXEC.BAT
COMMAND.COM

For full explanation and solution read this page.

» I get the error message "Cannot find *LASERLOK* CD_ROM in any drive."
Some Tomb Raider CD-ROM's used a copy protection system called LASERLOK. Download DOS4GW.ZIP. The zip file contains a non-laserlok DOS4GW.EXE that can be copied to C:\TOMBRAID folder to replace your installed version.

» The Start screen is only using half the screen.
The game was started when the Command Prompt window was not in Full Screen mode.

» I want to use my PSX Game PAD on PC.
You can purchase a PSX/PC converter and use an application called JoyToKey, which is a keyboard emulator for joysticks. See related Tech Thread.

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» I cannot hear any gun fire or foot steps. Either VDMSound has not loaded or your Sound Card configuration is wrong for your PC. Run the Installer again and select IRQ5 if you previously selected IRQ7 or visa-versa. » I cannot hear any music. 1. VDMSound has not loaded: VDMSound has to be installed on Windows 2000 and Windows XP operating systems. Make sure you reboot the PC after the installing VDMSound before playing Tomb Raider. 2. Sold Out Version of Tomb Raider: The Sold Out version (image on the right) can have corrupted music audio tracks. Download the music tracks and burn your own replacement CD. Instructions can be found here.

3. CD Audio is muted: The CD Audio may have been muted. Check the Volume Control panel...
... and any sound control program installed with your sound card.
4. Audio cable missing from CD-ROM drive: It is possible that the CD-ROM does not have an audio cable connected and therefore does not play music. To rectify the missing audio problem try enabling Digital CD Audio (Control Panel > System > Device manager). Right mouse click on the CD-ROM Drive and select Properties. On the Properties Tab tick the option Enable digital CD audio for this CD-ROM device. If your CD-ROM has an audio jack plug in a headphones set to see if the music can be heard. Now check and see if the audio cable has been connected between the CD-ROM drive and the sound card.

» C:\TOMBRAID\DOSDRV TOMB.EXE (no such command or filename) FAILED TO LOAD VDDLOADER.DLL
You probably installed VDMSound but your computer has not been restarted. Restart the computer and start the game again, it should work.

» Crackling sound when running with dgVoodoo
Try following the advice given in this Tech Thread.

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» The in-game cut scenes have no sound.
Edit the file Glidos.ini (Program Files\ Glidos): Remove the lines Mp3BackgroundSounds: Yes and Set RedbookEmulation: Yes

Click here to see a standard glidos.ini file.

» The game runs really slow.
Try to disable Mipmapping. If you don't have Anisotropic option, your graphic card probably does not support Anisotropic filtering.

» I can't see the health bar.
The screen size needs adjusting. First of all set the GLIDOS screen resolution to the same value as your Desktop. If there is still a problem adjust the monitors Horizontal/ Vertical position and size while in the game.

» Setting up Unfinished Business with GLIDOS.
After installing TRUB you may need to edit Glidos.ini (Program Files\ Glidos) and remove the line CDCheckFile: data\End2.phd from the Unfinished Business section. The TR1 CD must still be placed in the first CD-ROM drive.

Click here to see a standard glidos.ini file.

» I start Tomb Raider, but what I get a is a black screen.
Start the game within Glidos. Then press ESC and after few seconds press ESC again to skip introduction movies. After few moments you will be in the game main screen.

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» I start Tomb Raider, there is a background sound, but I don't see any introduction movies.
Start the game by double clicking on TOMB.VLP file located in C:\TOMBRAID folder or click on TR desktop shortcut if it's created. Press ESC key two times to skip introduction movies. After few moments you will be in the game main screen and ready to go raiding.

» Game crashes to desktop immediately just before introduction FMV (WinXP SP2).
This may be due to the VDMSound settings. Right-click on Tomb Raider (Glide) shortcut, click Properties, in VDMSound tab click Advanced, choose SoundBlaster tab, and set DSP ver. to 3.02 SoundBlaster Pro 2. All other settings except from Sound Blaster 16 work as well.

» ATI graphic card and ATI Catalyst 4.7 drivers (or higher). The game doesn't seem to work at all or it's not working well.
Ensure that you selected the option Disable dgVoodoo VDD mode and follow the installation instructions.

» nVidia drivers v6x.xx on Windows XP. Game crashes.
Ensure you have updated to v71.84 or later.

» Radeon Mobility - Game crashes running dgVoodoo 1.31
Update to dgVoodoo 1.40+ will cure the problem. Download 1.40+ from HERE. Unzip the following files and overwrite the versions in the c:\tombraid folder. GLIDE2X.DLL GLIDE2X.OVL DGVOODOOSETUP.EXE DGVOODOO.EXE DGVESA.COM

» Crash and Savegame corruptions in TR1 on dual-core or Hyperthreaded Intel CPU's
A hyperthreaded or dual core Intel CPU running DgVoodoo sometimes crashes and can corrupt a savegame. This can be fixed by modifying ntvdm.exe. Full details are covered in this Tech Thread.

» Are there additional settings available with dgVoodoo?
Yes, there is. When installation is finished, check the following checkbox I want to setup dgVoodoo after Installer closes itself or double click dgVoodooSetup.exe in C:\TOMBRAID folder. In Platform groupbox always choose DOS (it defaults to Windows). Choose 32-bit screen depth. Then go to Glide tab and select 32-bit Direct3D textures and resolution you want to use.

Tomb Raider Advanced Installer implements the following dgVoodoo settings automatically:

• 32 bit screen depth
• FullScreen mode
• 32 bit Direct3D textures depth
• Enables W-buffering
• Applies Texture memory size to 8192kB
• Sets a screen resolution to 1024x768
• Forces tripple buffering
• Fixes TR1's shadow-problem

» The game is running too fast.
If your game runs too fast right click on tomb.vlp, go to Properties, switch to VDMSound tab, click Advanced button, switch to Performance tab and move the CPU usage slider to the right. An easier and more accurate method is to edit the VLP file as described in this Tech Thread.

» How can I change the screen resolution?
Run the program C:\ TOMBRAID\ dgVoodooSetup.exe. In Platform groupbox always choose DOS (it defaults to Windows). Select the Glide tab and change the Resolution and Refresh Rate to suit your monitor's capabilities.

» How can I remove Frame Rate from top left corner?
Press F2. The game may pause for a second before removing the FPS.

» How can I run the game in windowed mode?
Run the program C:\TOMBRAID\dgVoodooSetup.exe. In Platform groupbox always choose DOS (it defaults to Windows). See Setup Image Ref: 2.

» I see white outline on Lara's guns and edges of scenery.
When this occurs press the F3 key.

» Game crashes when exiting the program.
Check you are running VDMSound v2.10Beta or later.

» Game has missing textures (ATI cards).
Check you are running VDMSound v2.10Beta or later.Try changing the Colorkeying Method to Alpha Based. See Setup Image Ref: 13.

» Lara is invisible!!
Ensure Depth Buffering is set to Emulate W-buffering. See Setup Image Ref: 9. ATI cards and nVidia 6xxx series require this setting.

» How can I take screen shots with dgVoodoo?
Run the program C:\TOMBRAID\dgVoodooSetup.exe. In Platform groupbox always choose DOS (it defaults to Windows). Select the Glide tab and tick Screen Capturing On. Choose between Saving to File or Clipboard. If File is selected the images will be saved to c:\temp. Press the Pause/Break to take a screen shot. See Setup Image Ref: 4.

» About dgVoodoo.
For more information about dgVoodoo visit http://dege.freeweb.hu
You can also view the readme.txt supplied with dgVoodoo in English or Hungarian.

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• Glidos - Paul Gardiner © 2002-2003
• Tomb Raider Xtra Matthew Hill - © 2003
• Advanced TR Installer - Slobodan Ratkovic © 2003
• dgVoodoo Glide Wrapper - DÉGÉ © 2004
• ESCAPEplay - Eidos Technologies © 1997
• TRF Members: Bokkie, ELEN, gidierre, Joseph, Neteru, Nicky, SYS, tlr online and Zebius

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