strain

[mawcor624]

just the other day, i downloaded strain and tried to install it, but i don't know how. i got: strain.001, strain.002, strain.003, strain.004, and unpack.bat. i put them in an uncompressed folder and clicked on unpack.bat. it opened and closed in about half a second without doing anything. so i tried it on a different computer running and older version of windows. i clicked on unpack.bat and it came up, said it was finished, but didn't do crap. has anyone here successfully installed strain that can help me out?

[Opulent]

are you running this in an Ms-dos session?
I suspect you are using winXP...

[Graf Zahl]

unpack bat requires 2 parameters: The input and output directory. Just type 'unpack . .' at a dos prompt and it copies all data files in the same directory as the other files.

[gemini09]

You do have Doom2 in the same directory?
Other then that i have no idea... :)
Even if you don't get to play it, it wasn't that great anyway. You should definitely try Batman Doom, and Darkening2, Alien Vendetta, Memento Mori 1/2, Requiem, and more :) Don't forget Batman Doom!

[mawcor624]

yes, i have all those other wads you mentioned :) i am running windows xp, and that's why i thought it didn't work, but then i tried unpacking it on windows me, and it still didn't work. doom2.wad was in the same directory, too. isn't there another way of unpacking it... or somewhere that the already-unpacked strain.wad exists?

[Graf Zahl]

mawcor624 said:

yes, i have all those other wads you mentioned :) i am running windows xp, and that's why i thought it didn't work, but then i tried unpacking it on windows me, and it still didn't work. doom2.wad was in the same directory, too. isn't there another way of unpacking it... or somewhere that the already-unpacked strain.wad exists?

Read my post! You can't simply start unpack.bat without parameters. It won't work.

[Grazza]

You need to append the four files (strain.001, strain.002, strain.003 and strain.004) together to make a self-extracting archive (which you can call strain.exe if you wish). That's basically what UNPACK.BAT does, but something must be screwing up when you run it.

When you run strain.exe, you will get all the files you need, including strain.wad and strain.deh.

One way to add the four files together is from a command prompt:
copy/b strain.001+strain.002+strain.003+strain.004 strain.exe
I've just done this (yes, under XP) and it worked fine. [copy/b is a binary copy: it just views each file as a sequence of 0s and 1s, and sticks them all together, one after the other.]

Another way, I imagine, would be to use a Hex Editor (then you don't need to use a command prompt), and copy/paste them together. I haven't tried this, but I see no reason why it shouldn't work.

[Graf Zahl]

Why all the complicated 'solutions' when a short look into the text file (which is available separately in the Zip-file) would help:

----------------------------
Unpacking the Distribution
----------------------------

Use the 'unpack.bat' script (which you just
downloaded) to unpack the distribution.
The command is of the form:

unpack <distribution-dir> <strain-dir>

"<distribution-dir>" is the location of your downloaded
distribution files. If they are on floppies, use "a:"
for this directory. Note that this must be a FULL path
name with the drive letter specified and NO trailing
backslash (this is due to a limitation of DOS BAT files).

"<strain-dir>" is the destination directory. This may
be your DOOM II directory or a special STRAIN directory
or anywhere you choose. This must also be a FULL path
name with the drive letter specified and NO trailing
backslash.

As I said: 'unpack . .' will do the job!

The only important thing to note is that you'd have to add the .deh-file manually to the command line if you are using a source port. And: Don't use PrBoom. It has a bug in its DEH-code that makes it incompatible with Strain. [Edit by Grazza: As of PrBoom version 2.2.6, the problems that prevent it from running STRAIN correctly appear to have been fixed.]

[mawcor624]

alright! i did read the readme file many times, but i never understood what that meant. i finally have it installed! thanks for your help guys.

[mawcor624]

strain is over-rated...

[Colusio]

I agree.

[Graf Zahl]

Coldfusio said:

I agree.

I don't! ;-)

[Ichor]

mawcor624 asked:
questions on how to install Strain.

...after finally getting the answer, he starts playing...

...a few hours go by...

mawcor624 said:

strain is over-rated...

Heheheh

I don't like wasting my time like that either.

[Fletcher`]

mawcor624 said:

strain is over-rated...

no.

Besides, you have to count in when it was made too.

[Grazza]

ravage said:

no.

Well, his statement is probably sort of correct. There is almost certainly someone somewhere who does over-rate STRAIN. :)

Maybe I do; I consider it the third greatest megawad (after HR and AV).