X-Com Apoc, Stability and mounting the ISO

[Sir Crashalot]

This is a rather unstable release so I thought I would throw out some helpful pointers for those new to this game.

Mounting the disk.
You will need to download Daemon Tools (I use the Lite version) in order to mount the ISO for this game. Once downloaded start it up and select the option to mount the ISO. Browse to the install path of X-Com Apoc (default is C:\Program Files\Steam\Steamapps\common\Xcom Apocalypse) and select the file called cd.

The game will now be playable without the "insert disk" error, however for some it will not be very stable and crashes may be common. This is because it is using an old version of Dos Box which isn't very stable with this game.

To fix it do the following.

First off, just to be safe create a backup folder in your Xcom Apocalypse folder and place the following inside it. zmbv folder, dosbox.exe, SDL.DLL and SDL_net.dll. This way, if it doesn't work out for you then you still have those files and can put them back.

Now you want to download and install Dosbox 0.74.
Once done go to its installation folder (default is: C\Program Files\DosBox-0.74) copy the following to your X-Com Apocalypse folder:

DOSBox.exe
SDL.DLL
SDL_net.dll
Video Codec folder

Now, with any luck you will have a more stable game without all those annoying crashes.

[Insatiable]

Does this have to be done prior to every launch, or is it a one time fix?

[Insatiable]

UPDATE: I mounted the cd.iso file using the instructions above and the game worked fine for some time. However, just a few minutes ago I go the same error: "Please insert CD into drive."

This does not seem to work.

[Sir Crashalot]

You should only have to mount it once and it "should" stay mounted unless you mount something else then it is replaced. Occasionally windows may decide to reset it though so it is worth checking once in a while.

I haven't had a single problem with the game asking for the cd, I'm not sure why you are having problems still. Have you checked to make sure it is still mounted?

[Insatiable]

I did it right before running the game. How do I check?

[Sir Crashalot]

Open Daemon tools lite and a window should pop up, there should be three sections on the left. Image catalogue, recently used images and underneath the add/remove/mount buttons there should be an icon showing the cd image currently mounted (on mine it says [DT - 0] (E:) XCOM APOC).

If that is not there then you will need to mount it.
If under recently used images there is an entry cd.ISO then select that and hit the mount button.
If not then use the add image button and locate the directory for the XCom Apoc image and select it, then mount it.
I'm wondering if you just added the image but didn't actually mount it, I noticed that I didn't mention that in the OP sorry.

Sorry for the slow reply, I do not check steam every day.

[Insatiable]

I checked and it is still mounted. One thing I did not mention that upon mounting, a dialog box popped up asking to run the autorun.exe file. I did that and it then gave me the "Install" "Play" "Exit" box for X-COM Apocalypse. Only Install and Exit were selectable, so I chose Install. It then gave me an error that said it couldn't run on Windows 64-bit. So I exited and have just been running it via Steam.

Another question: do I need to have Daemon Tools running? I immediately closed it after mounting.

[Sir Crashalot]

I launch by the desktop icon though I don't think that should make any difference.
Once mounted the disk should be available whether the Daemon tools window is open or not, if in doubt go to start menu/computer and you should see it there listed under devices with removable storage.

Apart from that I don't really know what to say. It *should* work as this is the way it is intended to be with this release of Xcom:Apoc. All I can suggest is to see if your issue is with Deamon tools itself, perhaps try a different disk mounting program if you cannot find the problem.

[Insatiable]

It is listed under My Computer, but I can't run it from there. It just pops up the same install box. I'm not sure if Steam recognizes the mounted image, though I don't know why it works for you.

[Dimwit Donald (very high IQ)]

I strongly doubt that DosBox is able to access any parts of the windows file system unless you mount the drives/directories in DosBox itself. So daemon tools doesn't do anything unless you also mount the virtual drive in DosBox. However, If you look inside the included dosbox.conf file, you can see that there's already a command for mounting the image in it, so you don't need daemon tools. If you remove that line, the game won't start at all, showing that the CD is otherwise available and the problem is something else.

Regardless, I did mount the image with daemon tools and (no surprise) still got the CD error.

edit: I replaced the DosBox files with version 0.74 and haven't had any CD errors since (without mounting the image in daemon tools). I also no longer need to change the output setting from surface to ddraw with that version.

[itsYiyas]

If you managed to mount the iso - continue by copying all files from XCOM3 inside the CD into the XCOMA folder in Steam. This will fix it. You don't have to overwrite files.

[Catattack]

Not sure if anyone is still struggling with this issue but I found Vanger's post to help out quite a bit (https://steamcommunity.com/app/7660/discussions/0/864971765368135445/):


"I found an interesting way to solve the problems with the "CD". To do this you need a couple of times to correct the configuration file dosbox.conf.

Pay attention here:

[autoexec]

@ echo off
mount c. -freesize 1024
imgmount d cd.iso-t iso
c:
cd xcoma
xcomapoc.exe
exit

Remove the 3 last lines. When the game starts you will see DOSBOX console.
Type:

d:
install

All you need is to install the game with the "optimal" settings using the installer from the disc.
When you do this return dosbox.conf to its original state.

Sorry for my english.
If a lot of errors, blame Google translator."


I have a lot less insert cd errors (but they still occasionally happen) after installing the full version of the game using this method. The downside is that the animation at the beginning is choppy with this version through Dosbox.