Easily install the original Tomb Raider onto Windows XP/Vista

[tlr online]

Chris Ware from Mintra Systems has sent over a new solution for installing the original 1996 Tomb Raider on Windows XP and Windows Vista. The utility has been incorporated into our Tomb Raider Windows XP and Windows Vista Guide.

This is Core Design's original Tomb Raider game, repackaged to run under Windows 2000, XP and Vista without the need for any patching or complicated configuration work. The new setup program installs the game files and a DOS emulator, and sets them up as seamlessly as installing any modern game.

Please use this thread to submit comments and suggestions.

Tomb Raider Installer for Windows XP and Vista

[Helegad]

Great! I'm gonna try it now

Direct link to the .exe file: Click here to download.

Computer 1 test specs:

Pentium 4 3.06GHz
768MB RAM (128MB given to video card)
ATI Radeon X200 128MB integrated
Windows XP Media Centre Edition 2005 SP2

Original CD version:
FMV: Absolutely perfect, no problems (not even sound lag)
Sound: SFX lags a little bit (we're talking maybe 0.2 to 0.5 of a second behind). However, the music works
Gameplay: Controls fine
Framerate: Kinda wierd, it lags a little on 640x480 resolution (no lower than 15FPS though).

Sold Out CD version:
FMV: Absolutely perfect, no problems (not even sound lag)
Sound: SFX lags a little bit (we're talking maybe 0.2 to 0.5 of a second behind). No music, just like the normal problem with Sold Out versions
Gameplay: Controls fine
Framerate: Kinda wierd, it lags a little on 640x480 resolution (no lower than 15FPS though).

I'll test it on my much more powerful laptop when it's back from the repair shop

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How to slightly improve framerate problems

Start the game, and if you're running in fullscreen then press Alt+Enter to go to windowed mode. On the top of the window you'll see CPU Cycles and Frameskip. Make sure the CPU Cycles says "Max" and the Frameskip says "0". If the cycles are not at max, press Ctrl+F12 until it increases to 100% or "Max". If the Frameskip is not at 0, then press Ctrl+F7 until it is. However, these things are automatically set with the TR Installer, so they shouldn't pose a problem.

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In-game performance tweaks

There are three "F4" settings:

1. No perspective correction, no V-sync. Best performance.
2. Perspective correction, no V-sync. Choppy, but bearable performance.
3. Perspective correction, V-sync. Worst performance.

I choose to put it onto the second setting, because with "1" I can't stand the texture warping, and with "3", ironically the V-Sync manages to "tear" the screen because of the low framerate. Oh well, choose what you like.

There are two resoution settings, 320x240 and 640x480. I can't stand the pixellation on 320x240, so I choose to use 640x480. Press F1 to change the setting. Please note that 320x240 will make the game run best, even on the third F4 setting.

F2 decreases the display area while F3 increases it. Naturally, a smaller display area will result in better performance.

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Overall, a 7/10 from me. Even with it's minor problems, I'm still extremely happy I can finally play this epic game without screwing around with DOS emulator settings (which I can't do very well without mucking things up). THANK YOU CHRIS!

It seems that the lag is caused by my "underpowered system". Let me explain. DOSBox must be using only a very, VERY small fraction of my computer's power (I'd say only just above the recommended system requirements for Tomb Raider) as in the smallish areas, there's not much lag, and in the wide open areas, there's quite a lot (say 15FPS most of the time). If someone could increase the amount of power that DOSBox uses, then I'm sure this problem could be fixed. Anyway, with the second post in this topic, I feel obliged to use it to help other people out. As such, I will be constantly updating this post with my findings and observations. For example, I'm now gonna try out the Sold Out edition of Tomb Raider with the installer.

[laralover_07]

I'll be sure to try it out later today ot tomorrow. Any excuse to play the classic. Thanks Justin.

[Supernova]

Does that also work for the Unfinished Business levels?

[ccroft2003]

Installs great but yes the SFX lags a split second and actually the music/background tracks aren't working for me at all? Can anyone help?

[Edsta]

I was hoping for a bit more than DosBox as I have already been using this emulator.

It does install easily but I had some bad visual problems when running full screen. It was trippy

Running in windowed mode was fine apart from a few framerate issues, so thanks

[Love2Raid]

Excellent!

I have the original disk but it won't work on my laptop, which runs The Last Revelation just fine.

I will try it and see if it works!

[Philio]

Great! I'm gonna try it tomorrow or this week.
I hope it works on my laptop.

[TRfan23]

It's great runs smoothly Though very slightly buggy, and the graphics look rather awful.

But I'm glad they released something, that gets rid of the complex way of playing TR1 on PC

Thanks

[kagari]

for me it all works fine!
After all these years this is the first working installer for me (since the day when I got windows xp back then)

I don't care if the sound lags a bit... I CAN PLAY! XD