Getting Doom 64 TC to work

[Steve1664]

I really want to play the Doom 64 TC, but for the life of me, I can't ever get it to work even if I follow all the instructions. I tried the advice in this thread I found when searching for some troubleshooting, and I would've put my question in there if not for the fact it was closed. Anyway, every time I try to boot up the .exe, like it says in the instructions (after making sure all the appropriate WADs and such were in the right places) it just crashes to desktop and gives me the "Absolution.exe has stopped working" error message. I can't find any way around it and no other resource seems to have any advice on the matter. Any thoughts?

[Urchlay]

It's not exactly what you were asking for, but have you looked at doom64ex?

http://doom64ex.wordpress.com/

[Steve1664]

A) I don't have access to a Doom 64 ROM, and
B) Even if I could find one, it still seems pretty shady to me.

That said, I don't mind the TC, all I want to do is get it to work. It's still functional, right? I'm not missing anything that hasn't been mentioned before, am I?

[Guest DILDOMASTER666]

Kaiser, who is chiefly responsible for the TC, would probably just tell you to just use Doom64EX, which he also made. Doom64EX is much more accurate to the actual N64 game.

[Technician]

If you own the cart, I don't really see any moral dilemma.

[Marnetmar]

Fisk said:

Kaiser, who is chiefly responsible for the TC, would probably just tell you to just use Doom64EX, which he also made. Doom64EX is much more accurate to the actual N64 game.

Doom64EX IS the actual N64 game, as it uses the ROM of the original game.

[esselfortium]

Marnetmar said:

Doom64EX IS the actual N64 game, as it uses the ROM of the original game.

Much of its accuracy had to be manually and carefully programmed in using information gleaned from reverse-engineering the original game, though. Using the ROM itself isn't the only reason it's such an accurate port :)

[Urchlay]

It doesn't use the entire ROM, just the IWAD data extracted from the ROM. All that code in the ROM is what Kaiser had to reverse-engineer to write the engine... think of it as more like Wine than VMWare, if that means anything to you. Or think of it as being like a Doom source port, only the "source" was a disassembly since Midway never released the actual source.

And if it's worth anything, I agree with the poster above, there's no shadiness in using Doom64EX if you bought the N64 game.

[esselfortium]

Urchlay said:

And if it's worth anything, I agree with the poster above, there's no
shadiness in using Doom64EX if you bought the N64 game.

And if you didn't buy the game, you'd be on equally shaky legal/moral ground to be using the TC. The copyrighted game assets don't cease to be copyrighted when ripped and put into another wad, so you ought to own the game if you're going to play it, regardless.

So, really, there's no reason not to use Doom64EX if you want to play Doom 64 on your computer.

[DoomUK]

Steve1664 said:

A) I don't have access to a Doom 64 ROM, and
B) Even if I could find one, it still seems pretty shady to me.

Go on eBay, buy a Doom64 cartridge for a few pennies. Moral dilemma over.

[Steve1664]

Okay, seriously, I'm just asking a simple question here. I don't want to use EX, I don't want to spend extra money buying something that will rip a ROM from the cartridge just for one game that I can just as easily play in the format that has been available for years now, and I don't want to hear any more about the subject.

All I want is some information about how to get the TC to work when I have everything in place. Some simple troubleshooting is what I was hoping for, and if nobody here will help I'll go ask elsewhere. Sorry for the intrusion.

[printz]

esselfortium said:

And if you didn't buy the game, you'd be on equally shaky legal/moral ground to be using the TC. The copyrighted game assets don't cease to be copyrighted when ripped and put into another wad, so you ought to own the game if you're going to play it, regardless.

So, really, there's no reason not to use Doom64EX if you want to play Doom 64 on your computer.

And how the fuck am I supposed to read the data from the cartridge with the computer?

[chungy]

I don't think the point was so much of dumping the cartridge yourself, but rather to buy the cartridge just so any possible moral dilema of "ripping off" the game creators would be potentially solved. Though copyright infringement is copyright infringement whether it's with Absolution or downloading a N64 ROM....

On topic, you'll probably have to provide more information about your system to have a possiblity of getting Absolution working. Though I personally would strongly urge to use Doom64EX instead; it really is a far more accurate and faithful recreation of the game.

[printz]

Is the N64 protocol public? Can I use a microcontroller to extract the data from the cartridge? Are there actual rippers on the market? Or is it illegal to reverse engineer N64 carts?

[Master Bigode]

Google is your friend.

[Graf Zahl]

Wow, an entire thread of people not helping the original poster. Truly great how you persistently ignore him and don't even consider the possibility that this doesn't help.

Back on topic...


Since it crashes for you and not for me the problem must lie somewhere in your system
So, in order to help, some questions need to be answered first.

1. Can you start any other OpenGL based Doom ports? (GZDoom, a more recent Doomsday version, Risen3D, PrBoom+)?
2. What's your hardware specifications (CPU, amount of RAM, graphics hardware)?

[hex11]

DoomUK said:

Go on eBay, buy a Doom64 cartridge for a few pennies. Moral dilemma over.

No, that's a legal dilemma. The actual moral dilemma starts when you question the validity of modern copyright law as it applies to this particular case. You can buy stuff all day long to feel good about yourself, but that doesn't raise or answer any real philosophical questions. By the same token, you can pirate everything, and also never discover anything about yourself or your fellow men. They are effectively the same, as far as human developement goes.

Btw, there is also another possibility: Freedoom64.

[Steve1664]

Graf Zahl said:

Wow, an entire thread of people not helping the original poster. Truly great how you persistently ignore him and don't even consider the possibility that this doesn't help.

Back on topic...


Since it crashes for you and not for me the problem must lie somewhere in your system
So, in order to help, some questions need to be answered first.

1. Can you start any other OpenGL based Doom ports? (GZDoom, a more recent Doomsday version, Risen3D, PrBoom+)?
2. What's your hardware specifications (CPU, amount of RAM, graphics hardware)?

Thank you Graf. It's good to see a respected member of the community being helpful. As for your questions. . .
1. GZDoom, Skulltag and any other OpenGL ports work fine for me. I use 'em all the time.
2. I run an Intel Core2 Duo CPU @2.20 GHz, 289 GB of memory, with an NVIDIA GeForce 9600M graphics card, using Vista. I don't think hardware is the problem here.

If it helps any, here's the details from the error report:
Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: Absolution.exe
Application Version: 0.0.0.0
Application Timestamp: 3fdeb622
Fault Module Name: Absolution.exe
Fault Module Version: 0.0.0.0
Fault Module Timestamp: 3fdeb622
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Offset: 0007e90b
OS Version: 6.0.6002.2.2.0.768.3
Locale ID: 1033
Additional Information 1: e24c
Additional Information 2: 02d62e91155580a3c64055340416cc9f
Additional Information 3: 85d5
Additional Information 4: 69a72b73ca90f1962303285a71b386ed

I have doom2.wad in the bin file where it should be, and the music WAD where it should be, but it just ups and crashes upon launch. Let me know if there's anything you can extrapolate from the problem.

[qoncept]

Graf Zahl said:
Wow, an entire thread of people not helping the original poster. Truly great how you persistently ignore him and don't even consider the possibility that this doesn't help.

I can't believe these assholes are suggesting a better alternative.

[Graf Zahl]

Yeah, do you also telling someone whose 10 year old car just broke down to buy a new one or would you advise him to have it repaired?

[esselfortium]

You wouldn't download a car...

[ptoing]

esselfortium said:

You wouldn't download a car...

If it was possible I totally would. And then sell it to people to dumb to do it.

[Marcaek]

Graf Zahl said:

Wow, an entire thread of people not helping the original poster.

They are helping him by pointing him in the direction of a port which is 100% compatible with the original game that he would otherwise play via the Absolution TC. It may not be the answer he's looking for, but it is helpful information.

Graf Zahl said:

Yeah, do you also telling someone whose 10 year old car just broke down to buy a new one or would you advise him to have it repaired?

He's not paying for anything, try another analogy.

[Enjay]

But the point is, right from the outset he says:

Steve1664 said:

I really want to play the Doom 64 TC

So telling him to play something else does not solve the problem. D64 Ex may well give a much better representation of Doom64 but that doesn't change the fact that Steve1664 wants to play the TC.

[Marcaek]

It's an acceptable assumption that he wants to play the TC because he wants to play Doom 64 without owning a cart.

My point was, he still received helpful advice, it's just not exactly what he was looking for. Regardless it's probably best for him to contact kaiser about it.

[qoncept]

Enjay said:

But the point is, right from the outset he says:

So telling him to play something else does not solve the problem. D64 Ex may well give a much better representation of Doom64 but that doesn't change the fact that Steve1664 wants to play the TC.

He wants to take the bus from San Diego to New York, but a plane ticket is the same price.

[Snakes]

qoncept said:

He wants to take the bus from San Diego to New York, but a plane ticket is the same price.

There are a number of reasons why one might want to partake in the alternative (no matter how silly it looks to others).

I thought the reaction to Graf's post was the unnecessary tone he took, not the fact that he actually addressed the original question, but I suppose I misread.

[Enjay]

Meh, it's such an internet phenomenon.

Whenever a person asks for help with software A, you can guarantee he will be told "use software b, c, d or e". Sometimes the "advice" is put across with little or no explanation or/and in a rude manner (not in this case) - eg "LOL, WTF n00b, ProgA is shit, use ProgB or UR teh loser" Sometimes the advice to use an alternative does help, of course it does. A lot of the time, however, the person asking the question wants to run software A or has to for some reason or other and has to follow up with a "thanks but no thanks" post.

When the advice to use an alternative continues after the OP has said they know about the alternative but don't want to use it. well, that's when it gets a bit silly - no?

[Kaiser]

Steve1664 said:

I really want to play the Doom 64 TC, but for the life of me, I can't ever get it to work even if I follow all the instructions. I tried the advice in this thread I found when searching for some troubleshooting, and I would've put my question in there if not for the fact it was closed. Anyway, every time I try to boot up the .exe, like it says in the instructions (after making sure all the appropriate WADs and such were in the right places) it just crashes to desktop and gives me the "Absolution.exe has stopped working" error message. I can't find any way around it and no other resource seems to have any advice on the matter. Any thoughts?

The TC is completely unsupported HOWEVER the Doomsday community will be able to help. Particularly DanJ who maintains a Doom64-TC branch for Doomsday. Getting a hold of him in regards to this issue should help.

[Steve1664]

Okay, the problem has been resolved thanks to some help from the ZDoom forums. A moderator can close and lock this thread so as to discourage any further arguments.