Graphics+ Patch

[Scorpion82]

Have found a link to the G+ patch, it's for the German version of EF2000(TACTCOM).
So far I have failed to get it applied though, or at least it first complaints about Operating system blabla, then nevertheless open the installer which offers the choice 3DFX & RENDITION and tells me that it will bring the German installed to English v2.0. Patch applied succesfully, but game doesn't start therafter (incl. config.exe run therafter, before launch). Needs some further investigation. I've maintained a separate copy of the fresh installation without running the config.exe.

Here is the link:
https://www.patches-scrolls.com/dl.php?file=tacpatg.zip

[mikew]

Great progress!

I haven't had much time today, but have been comparing the English and German versions of SEF2000. As might be expected, the main difference is the strings in each language hard-coded into the exe.

[Scorpion82]

This site seems to have multiple GFXPlus patches:
https://discmaster.textfiles.com/browse ... fxplus.zip

The one I linked to is the one with the latest date.

I was able to successfully apply the GFX+ patch for the German EF2000 TACTCOM, but the game now asks for a CD-ROM to be inserted. I don't really know which one, thus far none has worked. Interestingly the GFX+ patch has created a second executable ef2000.exe. Before there was only the _ef2000.exe and the ef2000.bat. The later seems to be gone since the patch,

[mikew]

I've come across this before, and it might be that it's not finding the dat file, so you could try running it from the command line.
These are the command line parameters I use:
>_ef2000 DID=C:\<your path to did.dat> quick_flag=1 gui

[Scorpion82]

The error message is "dataset not found" and it talks about inserting the SEF-2000 CD. That's interesting enough. Have tried it with the V2 image and my SEF2000 CD. Interestingly it only happens, if I try to start with the _ef2000.exe. When I use the ef2000.exe it simply skips with no error message.

I'll give your example aa try. Tanks for the hint.

[Scorpion82]

I've come across this before, and it might be that it's not finding the dat file, so you could try running it from the command line.
These are the command line parameters I use:
>_ef2000 DID=C:\<your path to did.dat> quick_flag=1 gui

Tried running as administrator, but it doesn't work, stating access denied.

My path is E:\EF2000GE

So would the command look like:
>_ef2000 DID=E:\EF2000GE quick_flag=1 gui

or

>_ef2000 DID=E:\<EF2000GE> quick_flag=1 gui

or

>_ef2000 DID=C:\<E:\EF2000GE> quick_flag=1 gui

[mikew]

It would be the first of those...

Looking at my directory for V2.0, I see I have an exe called ef2000.exe of about 1kB...which is what I run from DosBox. There is also the actual game exe called _ef2000.exe which will be called from the first one with those extra parameters.

[Scorpion82]

I have succeeded. Seems the game didn't like the retrospective renaming of the game folder. Changing it back to EF2000 solved the problem. Unfortunately I could have saved myself a lot of time, because applying the GFXplus patch has indeed turned my German EF2000 TACTCOM install into the US EF2000 v2.0. US insignias and language in game completely switched to English. Even the background screen and everything else is now the same.

[mikew]

Well, it's sort of a win...

So, was there ever a German version of the Graphics+ patch?

[Scorpion82]

The one that I used was for the German version, but it stated German to English v2.0. Hoped that the insignias would remain the same. I might try the standard GFX+ patch, but doubt it will make any difference. Maybe somebody can confirm what happened to the British or any other (non-US) TACTCOM version when subjected to the GFX+ Patch,

[mikew]

It's looks like that if you're already at the Tactcom level, there is only the Graphics+ to go.
This was the largely pre-internet era, so the patch was probably distributed physically for the most part.
There is one here on this Czech magazine CD, which I can't download right now to see what it is:
https://archive.org/details/czlevel31cd

So, it was probably on British and German magazine CDs as well, maybe with different versions.

[Scorpion82]

The website I have linked to above contains the GFXPlus.zip containing the tacpat.exe. The site linked to in the opening post contained the tacpatg.exe. The "g" apparently for German. Wouldn't be surprised, if there was no separate patch other than this. I have dowloaded Mernava's UK package, but can't get the UK TACTCOM plus GFX+ to run. Same problem as before, but this time renaming to EF2000 didn't work. Maybe I should try to use the command again using DOSBox on this version, maybe it had an effect, not sure though. When I can makevit run, I'll verify whether it's also the US version or not. Maybe some swapping of certain files has an impact, but that requires a mpre thorough analysis.

[mikew]

Unfortunately, it seems you are right.
I found this disk that specifically states it has the German Graphics+ patch, but after downloading the iso and extracting, I get exactly the same file as in the first post.
Well, it was worth a try in case things got mislabeled over the years....
https://archive.org/details/kultcds_276

[Scorpion82]

Yep, I will checkout the UK TACTCOM + GFX to see whether it results into the same US v2.0 conversion. I have already tried swapping the executables between the unaccelerated versions of GE and UK TACTCOM, which interestingly had no impact on the roundles, unlike your test with the W95 versions. The file structure is different anyway. Might be worth to have a closer look at the individual files. Maybe some hybrid is a solution, albeit I'm not too confident.

[mikew]

To be thorough, I found the English Graphics+ patch on a UK Magazine CD. It's dated 30th June 1997 and probably the same as we already have from elsewhere.
It's Readme contains this:
"The Graphics+ upgrade will also upgrade your version of DOS EF2000 to DOS EF2000V2.0."
So, that doesn't sound good. It seems that isn't really a patch at all, but a replacement of the entire game.

[Scorpion82]

Sounds like it. Probably they didn't bother to mske a proper upgrade, as they were already too heavily engaged in F-22ADF already.