Matrix Games Forums

I've tried everything I can think of and I just can't get this game to run. I get as far as the credits screen and then I get an error message that says "attempting to execute illegal command".
What's really frustrating is that War in Russia runs just fine so why doesn't this?

I have a Pentium III with 380+ megs of Ram using Windows 98 SE. I've tried many of the suggestions written here. I've tried in DOS mode (all I get there is a message that "this program doesn't run in DOS mode" or just a blank screen. I downloaded the ver. 2.3 update. Nothing! I read the note about using the rem command on all autoexec and config items but how will my computer boot if I do that? Other's have said that it runs just fine using Win98 so why not on mine? And like I said before, War in Russia runs just fine, so this program should too. Can anyone help me? Please.
I loved the original version of this game and can't wait to try this new update. AAAAHHHHGGGG!!

Are you playing on a Compaq? You might have to upgrade the BIOS. I remember a post by a Compaq tech who has access to Compaq DOS frendly BIOS's. You will have to search for the thread.

Have you modified your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT to add more memory? There are alot of these threads within this forum that you can use to do this.

I've tried everything I can think of and I just can't get this game to run. I get as far as the credits screen and then I get an error message that says "attempting to execute illegal command".
What's really frustrating is that War in Russia runs just fine so why doesn't this?
I have a Pentium III with 380+ megs of Ram using Windows 98 SE. I've tried many of the suggestions written here. I've tried in DOS mode (all I get there is a message that "this program doesn't run in DOS mode" or just a blank screen. I downloaded the ver. 2.3 update. Nothing! I read the note about using the rem command on all autoexec and config items but how will my computer boot if I do that? Other's have said that it runs just fine using Win98 so why not on mine? And like I said before, War in Russia runs just fine, so this program should too. Can anyone help me? Please.
I loved the original version of this game and can't wait to try this new update. AAAAHHHHGGGG!!

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REM in DOS is to tell the OS to ignore this line of the config string. You should not REM out all the lines - only specific lines.

Do you have the most current video drivers for your vid card? Some current drivers don't do DOS very well. You *might* need to find some old ones...

Is this computer a laptop? I've found my job laptop does not play these games at all. I have a Dell and a Compaq and neither do play WIR and PacWar. They play WAW, tho. Weird that WIR does play and PW does not... May not be video...

Can you supply some more data on your system to "kick it around" ? Maker? Type of machine? Video card?

[ January 20, 2002: Message edited by: Jeff Norton ]</p>

Thanks Jeff. I've tried adjusting memory but I'll try that again. I have a clone built by a local comp shop. It's a very stable computer and runs just about everything with no problems even most other dos programs. My vid card is a Diamond Stealth III s540 with 32 megs. Never have any probs or conflicts with it. Running ver2.2 the error message detail says something about an "invalid instruction" at fault location 0000:0297 and when I installed the ver. 2.3 update that fault location changed to 0000:028F. Is this any help?

Greetings, Reboot your computer. Now ctrl-alt-del
end task for everything except explorer and sys tray (you'll have to ctrl-alt-del as many times as it takes) now click on my computer/c:/the folder pac war is located in and then click on exe file.
Don't use the short cut. Lets see what happens...

[ January 20, 2002: Message edited by: Mogami ]</p>

Thanks for the help Mogami, but, sorry to say, no joy. I did exactly what you said (even had 97% resources free), avoiding the shortcut, and I still get that *&^%ing error message right after the credits screen. I know sound cards can be a major culprit but mine has always been very stable and compatible and never causes a conflict (so far). Like I said, it runs War in Russia and the DOS versions of Steel Panthers as well as Steel Panthers WaW. Anybody else out there using a Diamond Stealth sound card and getting PacWar to play? I've had the card for about two years. Should I try a new driver?

And the other usual suspect is memory. I fooled around with the memory allocation panel in the properties window but only ended up confused and PO'd. Any special settings for that?

So I'm still open to suggestions...and I appreciate the help so far.

How much conventional memory do you have in your DOS-window ? (Type MEM and hit Enter) .
I have 600KB and game runs without problems .
Anything below 580KB may be critical .

Greetings, start from scratch (you my have got a bad read on install) reinstall the program. My settings (98se) on right clicking pac.exe file, selecting mem are all on auto with hma checked

Originally posted by Dave Briggs:
. Nothing! I read the note about using the rem command on all autoexec and config items but how will my computer boot if I do that?

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You dont need those files to boot the computer. I deleted them (as a matter of fact i renamed them, so i can go back if something is wrong) and i could play.

I uninstalled Pacific War and reinstalled it but it didn't solve the problem. Then I checked my conventional memory under DOS and I only have 471K free and that's quite a surprise. I strongly suspect that that is the problem. Any ideas how to get that up to 600K? What I can't understand is why I can run War in Russia and not Pacific War. They are very similar programs.

Originally posted by Dave Briggs:
I checked my conventional memory under DOS and I only have 471K free and that's quite a surprise. I strongly suspect that that is the problem. Any ideas how to get that up to 600K?

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REMing the config.sys and autoexec.bat will free up more conventional memory. For some reason older computers generally have more conventional memory free than current-generation computers do. Those Operating Systems and affiliated software apparently suck up a lot of conventional memory.

Thanks guys. The game is running. See my "SUCCESS" post above.

Thanks again to all of you.