Star Wars: Rogue Squadron 3D

A game by LucasArts

*Unofficial* MSI Setup v1.1.0.2 by Markus Egger

Installation instructions

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Notes

Note 1: This setup uses WiX' VolumeLabel functionality which requires the CD to be correctly labelled ("ROGUE_1_000" ).

Note 2: I only have the German Rogue Squadron CD at my disposal so beware of any international issues! The file names, however, look very language-neutral; during tests with Antonio I encountered that there were specific translation files on my disc (INSTALL\LAUNCHER.TAB, INSTALL\LANGUAGE.TAB, INSTALL\LNGM.DAT) so I have made this files optional for installation! If you have a pure English CD and/or can't find these files on it just don't install the "Translation Files". You may also leave them out if you want to turn your in-game text to English ;-). (This does, however, not affect the prerendered graphical buttons on the start screen; they'll remain in the CD language)

Note 3: As a generic hint, keep in mind that these games are already very old. They usually work fine - which is like a little miracle - but they may also have minor or major issues. Racer is a good example with it's whitescreen bug that occurs depending on the graphics card and drivers (and now even on my ATi HD 3870 X2 :-( ). So you might have to consort to "retro gaming" sites or the like for specific hints or tools (eg. http://vogons.zetafleet.com/). I only deliver the technology to install old games but it usually is beyond my scope getting them to run properly on newer systems. They were built with older DirectX libraries and written for older systems so you never can be sure. I can only give hints. Common issues are:

• Compatibility mode and UAC: As I already showed you with Racer, there might be games exhibiting strange behavior when running on new operating systems. Using compatibility mode and/or the "Administrative Rights" option you will usually be able to tackle the most common problems. Some games, however, might even crash with compatibility mode on; you should only start using it if you notice any problems in-game. Windows 7 has a new compatibility wizard for applying and testing settings.
  
  
• Crossfire/SLI problems: Having multiple GPUs active usually breaks older games and creates specific display anomalies. This also affects many newer games and is not restricted to LucasArts' classics. But Crossfire/SLI people usually are aware of that.
  With Rogue for example the text is totally distorted und you get a flicker with a stereoscopic-like effect. On ATi cards you just have to disable "Catalyst A.I.".
  
  
• Multicore CPU problems: These might be more difficult to diagnose but speed issues, skipped frames or unusual hangs/freezes or crashes during the game might be an indication. You may manually assign only one CPU/core to the game EXE using Task Manager - but this would have to be done every time you start the game. So there are tools which help with this. But since you can never be sure about the quality of such tools you might also use the start.exe program which is included in modern Windows Operating Systems. Take a look at: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/start-an-application-assigned-to-a-specific-cpu-in-windows-vista/

Uninstallation note: Seems I presumed too much MSI knowledge from the user base. There is no "separate" uninstaller; MSIs are self-contained and thus maintained using Control Panel - Add/Remove Programs. Use ARP to repair or remove any MSI-based installation. Regarding my setups, search for strings beginning with Star Wars:. The (un)install capabilities of the LucasArts Launcher or any other uninstall links won't work for obvious reasons!
When removing MSIs, Windows Installer doesn't remove any registry or filesystem items (files, folders) that have not been part of the installation process itself. As a result, pilot files, mods or configuration files may be left behind during uninstallation. This is expected behavior and I don't really want to mess with that because I prefer a defensive approach as well. Just think upgrade packages would delete your pilot files ...
It's up to the user to backup and/or delete these remaining files/folders.
If there is anything that doesn't match the pattern above, tell me. If there's something I can fix, I will.

Installation Steps

• Prerequisites - download and install from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/
  (refer to Add/Remove Programs whether they are already installed on your machine):
  • Windows Installer 3.1 Redistributable
    (for Windows 2000)
    - or -
    Windows Installer 4.5
    (for Windows XP SP2/SP3, Windows Vista)
  • Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package (x86)
    (grab the one with the latest Service Pack level - SP1 at the time of this writing;
    for this MSI, the x86 redist is obligatory - the x64 redist alone won't work!)
    Note! Since I upgraded to VS 2008, you will now need the 2008 runtime (not 2005)!
  • You may get or already have installed more recent Visual C++ runtimes from Microsoft WindowsUpdate (July 2009 out-of-band security updates).
• Create a temporary folder on your hard disk (eg. C:\ROGUE_1_000) - about 70 MiB free space is needed.
• Copy the contents of your Rogue Squadron 3D CD to that folder - but beware of the dummy files being part of the copy protection! Just skip/DON'T copy:
  • ROGUE\DATA\BUNDLE.001 (do NOT confuse with ROGUE\BUNDLE.001 which is a regular/required file!!!)
  (in case there is any protection on your CD at all)
• Let this self-extracting archive extract to that folder (eg. C:\ROGUE_1_000).
• When asked to replace Setup.exe, confirm.
• There should be 4 new files in your temporary folder:
  • Instructions.html (this file; may be deleted at discretion)
  • Setup.exe (new version)
  • Rogue.ico
  • Rogue Squadron 3D.msi
• You may create a folder named Support within the temporary folder.
• You can get the version 1.2.0 patch at:
  
  • http://www.lucasarts.com/support/update/rogue.html
• As stated above, you may place the VC/MSI redistributables, patch, useful files and the source setup package in the Support folder.
• Burn the contents of your temporary Rogue Squadron folder (! - not the folder itself) to a blank CD-R and label it accordingly in the CD burning program of your choice (eg. Nero). The original label of the game CD usually is: ROGUE_1_000
• Use your new "Installation CD" to install Rogue Squadron 3D on your computer by double-clicking on
  • Setup.exe or
  • Rogue Squadron 3D.msi directly.
  • Do not use the install button of the game launcher that starts when inserting the CD!
• !!! Obligatory: To be on the safe side, use your original Rogue Squadron CD for playing from now on. There might be copy protection, missing CD-Audio or stuff like that. Store your new "Installation CD" in a safe place ;-)
• !!! Obligatory: Please install the version 1.2.0 patch. Also fixes some graphical issues on new systems.
• Note! If Administrator compatibility is applied to the game EXE and the game runs from C:\Program Files (x86), the game configuration and player profiles will be saved within the installation folder.
  Running without administrative privileges (default) will cause the settings and profiles to be saved within the virtual compatiblity storage folder (see Explorer toolbar while browsing the installation folder or take a look at %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore). That's called folder redirection as a part of UAC.
• It seems like Rogue Squadron is not compatible with Creative ALchemy. If ALchemy is enabled for Rogue Squadron, Rogue Squadron.exe crashes.
• Launch/enjoy the game!
• (Uninstallation see above - but who really wants to do that? Just kidding ;-) )

*** This installer is dedicated to Wolfgang, Rodrigo, Kier and Antonio ***

Disclaimer

This setup is Freeware and a gift for the community. It shall ease the pain of all fellows in misery failing to install this game on Vista/7 x64 (and other modern Windows operating systems like XP64). It is neither supported nor endorsed by LucasArts. Use at your own risk! Original CD required (developed/tested using Rogue Squadron 3D German version - may or may not work with English/other localized editions).
MSI tested under Vista Ultimate x64 SP2, Windows 7 Ultimate x64 and Windows XP Pro SP3 (x86).

You may only redistribute the original archive when done free of charge and all files are left intact (no additions, removals or alterations).

The MSI is fully Standards-compliant: It passes all ICE validation tests except ICE66 - which is an irrelevant warning since the MSI is not meant to be Vista-only (tested with WiX Light v3.0.5419.0 (RTM) and Orca v4.5.6001.0).

Created by Markus Egger <markus@NOSPAMmarkusegger.at> using Visual Studio 2008 Standard and the Microsoft WiX 3 Toolkit/Votive. Downloaded from http://www.markusegger.at/

Star Wars, Rogue Squadron (3D), LucasArts, Microsoft, Windows, Windows 7, Vista, XP, Visual Studio, Visual C++, Windows Installer, WiX, Orca, Nero, Creative Labs, ALchemy are (C) and/or (TM) of their respective holders.