How to play Syndicate on Windows 7, FREE!

Since that last post I was inspired to see if there might be any way to get this game... amazingly, it's pretty bloody easy AND it's entirely free! What a treat!

First you need the game (shock). Download it here

freegameempire.com/games/Syndicate

Then you need this natty bit of software called DOSBOX, get that here

dosbox.com

You will need the win32 version... don't bother with a 'front end', it's not complicated and it might teach you something about how us old folks had to get our games working.

For the benefits of this 'tutorial', I will be using some drive names and folder names which may differ to yours, hopefully you will be intelligent enough to substitute.

Extract the files from the syndicate download (zip file) to your preferred disk, for me that's E:\, and into a folder, I put it in E:\DOS\SYND. I recommend having a 'DOS' folder to collate the other old games you will doubtless seek out after this one. For the actual game folder, stick to a folder name under 8 letters (hence SYND not SYNDICATE), it makes things easier (back in the old days, we couldn't use more than 8 letters for anything...).

Next install DOSBOX, I installed it to E:\DOSBOX but you can put it where you like really.

Now we have a few settings to fiddle with in DOSBOX. Jump through the start menu and find DOSBOX, and find the shortcut for 'options'. The configuration file will load up in notepad, don't be scared, go to the bottom where it says [autoexec] and, below the comments, add the following:

mount c: e:\dos
c:

This is to make things easier when we come to running games. Oh, and this is where you need to make your relevant substitution for 'E' to the drive you used. Leave the C intact.

Almost done... navigate to your SYND folder and edit the 'synd.bat' file. This may just show up as 'synd', if you have filetypes hidden (which is normal). To edit it, right click and hit 'edit', notepad will load. Change the '/iirq5' to '/iirq7', save and quit.

Still in the SYND folder, copy all the files (not folders) into the folder inside it called DATA. If it asks to replace choose yes or no, it really doesn't matter. Don't ask why we do this step, I don't really know, but the sound won't work otherwise.


Apparently these steps are no longer necessary (ignore the image also). Not sure whether that's due to advancements in DOSBOX or a change in the Syndicate package.

We're ready! Run DOSBOX from it's shortcut, and you will be presented with this:

Type the following commands

cd SYND [enter] (assuming you unpacked to this folder)
START [enter]

Away we go! Hit alt+enter for full screen, and enjoy some nostalgia.

Be sure to visit freegameempire.com and show them your support, God bless 'em!

Updated 20/12/11