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California Games II

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
California Games II
California Games II cover
Developers
Epyx
Publishers
Epyx
Steam Pixel Games UK
Release dates
DOS 1990
Windows (DOSBox) September 21, 2020
Taxonomy
Themes North America
Series California Games
California Games II on MobyGames
California Games II on Wikipedia
California Games
Subseries of Games (Epyx)
California Games 1988
California Games II 1990
California Games (2009) 2009

General information

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
DRM details are not known
DOS
Steam
DRM-free after installation through Steam client (notes may include more details)
Pre-packaged with DOSBox.
Windows

Version differences

The following versions are known to exist[1]

Version 1.0

When looking through CGII.EXE, it contains the strings "Version 1.0" and "12/26/90". This version does not support Adlib sound. The box for this version said "Adlib upgrade available", this was an upgrade that could be ordered from Epyx for $10.

Version 1.2.1

When looking through GCII.EXE, it contains the strings "Version 1.2.1" and "4/3/91". This version has Adlib support.

Essential improvements

Bypass video selection

By default the game will ask on each start which video mode you want to use. This is not mentioned in the games manual, but this can be circumvented by appending a letter representing the video mode to CGII.EXE. For instance CGII V will bypass the video selection screen and start the game in VGA mode.

Video Mode Resolution Colours Commandline option Comment
CGA 320x200 4 CGII.EXE C
EGA 640x200 16 CGII.EXE E Gets line-doubled to 640x400 by the graphics adapter
Hercules 720x348 2 CGII.EXE H Only available with a Hercules adapter, or with DOSBox with machine=hercules
MCGA / VGA 320x200 256 CGII.EXE V
Tandy 320x200 16 CGII.EXE T Only available on Tandy 1000 machines, or with DOSBox with machine=tandy

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

The game auto asks for video hardware on each startup. There is no configuration file.

Save game data location

System Location
DOS <path-to-game>\CG2MED.YAY
Windows <path-to-game> (mounted in DOSBox)[Note 1]
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1418350/pfx/[Note 2]
The game does not support saving progress, it does however have a high-score table.

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
Steam Cloud

Video

Graphic capability options
Graphic capability options

Graphics feature State Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed
For DOSBox toggle with Alt+ Enter (see the glossary page for other workarounds).
Borderless fullscreen windowed
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Vertical sync (Vsync)
For DOSBox use an unofficial build (see the glossary page for other workarounds).
60 FPS and 120+ FPS

Input

Keyboard and mouse State Notes
Remapping
For DOSBox use the DOSBox Mapper (see the glossary page for other workarounds).
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
No mouse support.
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
If a Joystick is detected when starting the game, you will be prompted if you want to use it.
Full controller support
Controller remapping
For DOSBox use the DOSBox Mapper (see the glossary page for other workarounds).
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion
Controller types
XInput-compatible controllers
PlayStation controllers
Generic/other controllers
Button prompts
Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Digital movement supported
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Audio

The original 1.0 version only supports the IBM PC Speaker. The 1.2.1 version supports both the PC Speaker and Adlib.

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
For DOSBox change the priority background value in the DOSBox configuration file.

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
DOS video modes CGA, EGA, Hercules, MCGA, Tandy, PCjr, VGA

System requirements

DOS
Minimum
Operating system (OS) 2.0
Processor (CPU) Intel 8088 / 8086
System memory (RAM) 512 KB
Hard disk drive (HDD)
Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 7
Processor (CPU)
System memory (RAM)
Hard disk drive (HDD)


Notes

  1. File/folder structure within the installation folder reflects the path(s) listed for DOS game data.
  2. File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/1418350/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (1418350) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References

  1. CGII version discussion - last accessed on May 2023