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Hey, thank you so much. I'm still getting a black screen, but I may have found the problem.

I slowed the CPU cycles down to 2 so I could watch the start up sequence. It goes to a black screen after this error:

illegal command: intro.exe

By the way: this is what my ufocd.bat file looks like

@echo off

cls

%1ufoexe\black

%1sound\sndstart

%1intro %1

%1ufoexe\black

%1ufoexe\geoscape "0" %1

if errorlevel 2 goto begin

goto end

:begin

%1ufoexe\black

%1ufo2exe\tactical "1" %1

:geo

%1ufoexe\black

%1ufoexe\geoscape "1" %1

if errorlevel 2 goto begin

:end

%1sound\sndend

[_r.u.s.s.]

edit:wops i misread it

you must have put the batch file in to a wrong directory it goes directly to the game dir

btw, dont use ufocd.bat but my fullgame.bat

I'm sorry, my post wasn't clear. I used the game.bat file you made. It gave me the illegal command intro.exe

[_r.u.s.s.]

try downloading this whole pack of the game as it should work with proper directories http://www.sendspace.com/file/q3dvcb

sorry, for all your trouble. I really, really appreciate your help.

I'm still getting the same error.

I took the pack of the game, put it in Macintosh HD in a folder called dbgm where I keep my other dos games.

I opened dosbox, typed in mount c /dbgm

I switched to c:

then typed cd xcom

then typed game

Perhaps I'm doing it wrong?

Should I use install? Should I do setup?

As I said, sincerely, thank you for your time. I'd love to play x-com, but it seems like either I'm doing something wrong, or it doesn't like my mac, or both.

[_r.u.s.s.]

but that just doesn't give any sense. cause the intro.exe is there. unless there is some incompatibility with batch commands and macs, i don't know

ok.. try the most simplistic version available without the intro http://www.sendspace.com/file/9mnewg
so now you should type simple.bat

First, thanks again for your help. You've really done a lot of work to help me. I appreciate it very much.

I used the new simple.bat. I have bad news, and what I hope might be good news.

Bad news: Again, black screen: the error this time is

illegal command: ufoexe/geoscape

I thought this was odd. However, I think it's put me on the trail of what's wrong, though I don't really understand it.

I looked at the simple.bat file you sent: geoscape is the only thing there. The line is:

ufoexe/geoscape "0"

So I looked in the ufoexe folder. There are only two files there: black.exe and a unix executable file called -

So I looked around for the intro.exe: there isn't one in the folder. This is the folder that I downloaded from you. It looks pretty much like the one I got from Abandonia.

Here are the files I have:
xcom folder:
* dP
_¿]__ò____
_____0_ (Unix Executable File)
* - (Unix Executable File)
* cdsetup.bat
* done.com
* full.bat
* game.bat

10 folders: game_1 to game_10, which each only have one file: dum.bin
a geodata folder with various .dat files
a geograph folder with various .scr files, basebits.pck, basebits.tab, db_prefs, inticon.pck, inticon.tab, texture.dat, and a variety of .spk files)

* go.com
* install.bin
* intr.o

maps folder (filled with .map files, .rmp files and geodata.dat)
misdat folder with one dum.bin file

* noway.com
* readme.txt

routes folder with various .rmp files.
runexe folder with one file: a Unix Executable File called -

* setup.exe
* small.bat

sound folder with .cat files, music.com, sndend.exe, sndstart.exe, lapc1.pat, sound.cfg, soundrv.com and vector.com

* sound.cfg

terrain folder with .mcd files, .pck files, and .tab files

ufo2exe folder with one Unix Executable File called -

* ufoc.d
* ufocd.bat

ufoexe folder with black.exe and one Unix Executable File called -

ufograph folder filled with .pck files, cursor.tab, detblob.dat, dp_prefs, .spk files, medibits.dat, moc1.lbm, spicons.dat, tac00.scr, and tac01.scr

ufointro folder with .lbm files, and ufoint.fli

units folder with .pck files, and .tab files

* welcome.com
* simple.bat (thanks to you ).

Now, from the looks of this: I don't have the files that the .bat file is looking for. I don't seem to have intro or geoscape, but I can't figure out why.

Is it possible that all the Unix Executable Files called - are actually supposed to be other things, but somehow when they met my mac, there was a problem with the names? If so, it might be possible to simply rename those files.

Mac Issue:

I did a search for Unix Executable File, and according to some posts on this forum, this is a Mac 10.4 issue.

http://www.macworld.com/forums/ubbth...?Number=517779

I'm really sorry for the amount of time you've spent helping me with this, when it seems there's a problem with how the mac reads the files.

For those files that have - as a name, and are Unix Executable Files, if I know the original name, I might try to rename the file and see if that works.

further update:

according to this forum here:

http://www.macworld.com/forums/ubbth...15&Main=488826

if I rename the file and add the proper extension, the files should work.

Apparently (for you mac users who in the future may follow in my footsteps and wonder why xcom doesn't work on your mac dosbox) OS X 10.4 sometimes doesn't know how to read older files, and so temporarily reassigns them as Unix Executable Files.

The person in this thread was working with jpegs and excel files and said this:

Gsahli's suggestion to add .jpg worked. I encountered the same problem with some Excel files until I added .xls to them.[/b]

So, if I know the name and file type and/or extension, I can rename the files so that they'll work.

r.u.s.s., thanks again sincerely for your patience and help.