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Finally - Everyone can now play Dark Side of the Moon in XP
#702917
02/28/11 07:02 PM
02/28/11 07:02 PM
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 3,660
GreyFuss
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For those of you who have never played Dark Side of the Moon because it won't play on XP there is now great news. I just had to bring this fantastic news about a member at Adventure Gamers Forums. The members screen name is Winterfury and they are the first one to create a fix for the missing text for Dark Side of the Moon running in XP. And it is a simple fix. After all these years of techies and players trying to figure out why this game would run beautifully in XP except for the missing text which renders the game unplayable a fix is created. I am thrilled for Winterfury and Kudos to them. Now gamers everywhere can now enjoy this classic game without the need for an older computer or have the know how to use Virtual PC. I am replaying it now in XP and having a ball remembering this FMV, First Person, Sci-Fi Classic that so many have missed. I am quoting the Winterfury Posts right from Adventure Gamers here. I have tried it and it works. http://www.adventuregamers.com/forums/showthread.php?p=573255 & scroll down 1. Download this zip archive. Inside it you'll find a file named riched32.dll. Extract it somewhere. http://www.mediafire.com/?4hevvidc7bvcl032. Open the folder where you installed the game, then open 'bin' folder and put the extracted file in there. If, for example, the path for your installed game is 'CProgram Files\SouthPeak Interactive\DSOM', you should put the extracted file (riched32.dll) in the folder 'CProgram Files\SouthPeak Interactive\DSOM\bin' 3. Run the game and tell me if it works for you. I'll provide some details in case anyone is interested. The common belief is that the problem with the missing text in DSOM is caused by the game being unable to read text or some files not installed properly. I've run the game in the debugger and found out that it is not really the case - the text is actually there in memory while the game is running, it's just that for some reason it's not showing up. While examining the game in the debugger, I've also found out that DSOM handles text in Rich Text format and uses Microsoft Rich Edit control. Up till now there are several versions of Rich Edit and the newer ones, according to Microsoft, are supposed to be backward compatible with the older ones, but in reality it’s only true up to some degree. Now, different Rich Edit versions (read: different DLLs) are distributed with different versions of Windows. Rich Edit 1.0 (riched32.dll) is included in Windows 95. Windows 98 includes both Rich Edit 1.0 and Rich Edit 2.0 (riched32.dll and riched20.dll accordingly) and Windows XP includes Rich Edit 3.0 (its corresponding DLL is confusingly named riched20.dll) and Rich Edit 1.0 emulator (riched32.dll, which is in fact a thin wrapper around riched20.dll). DSOM loads riched32.dll, i.e. uses Rich Edit 1.0 (which figures, since the game was made for Windows 95.) I suspected that there might be an incompatibility between the Rich Edit 1.0 which the game was programmed with in mind and the emulator provided by the recent versions of Windows. So I copied the riched32.dll from my Windows 98 distribution to the game folder where there other DLLs that depend on it and you know the rest.
Also, there are three different versions of riched32.dll (can you imagine that) and only one of them (with the version number 4.0.993.4) is redistributable. Fortunately, the one that is also happens to be just the one that is required by the game.
The bottom line is that Microsoft is to blame for breaking compatibility and creating this mess Edit Added 3/21/11 WinterFury has developed an addition fix for those who had a little trouble getting the game to run and had to disable video acceleration... For those of you who have to disable video acceleration to make DSOM work, I've made a small patch which forces the game to use hardware emulation only, preventing it from using any hardware-supported features. The result should be exactly the same as disabling hardware acceleration, only the patch won't affect any global settings in your system (so you don't have to restore anything after playing the game). The patched game dll is in this archive . Open your DSOM\Bin folder, find the file named xvideoio.dll and make a backup copy of it. Then copy the patched xvideoio.dll from the downloaded archive to DSOM\Bin I recommend you use the patch only if the game doesn't work properly on your system unless hardware acceleration is disabled completely. Don't use it otherwise.
Last edited by GreyFuss; 03/21/11 09:59 PM.
"Don't Hate Me Because I Am Beautiful...There Are Many Other Reasons!"
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Re: Finally - Everyone can now play Dark Side of the Moon in XP
[Re: BrownEyedTigre]
#702926
02/28/11 07:57 PM
02/28/11 07:57 PM
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Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 5,818
Beverly Hills, Florida
kjos
BAAG Specialist
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BAAG Specialist
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Posts: 5,818
Beverly Hills, Florida
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GreyFuss, just wondering if I downloaded the right one--riched32.dll. thanks
richard
Last edited by kjos; 02/28/11 08:01 PM.
***To Error is Human**To Forgive is Divine***
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Re: Finally - Everyone can now play Dark Side of the Moon in XP
[Re: GreyFuss]
#702934
02/28/11 08:25 PM
02/28/11 08:25 PM
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Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 5,818
Beverly Hills, Florida
kjos
BAAG Specialist
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Thanks GreyFuss ,now I just have to hunt where I put my game. Been years since I played it.
Richard
***To Error is Human**To Forgive is Divine***
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Re: Finally - Everyone can now play Dark Side of the Moon in XP
[Re: doowopman]
#703070
03/01/11 09:55 AM
03/01/11 09:55 AM
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 3,660
GreyFuss
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Flutist
Winterfury would like input from those who have Windows 7 to see if it works with that OS. If you have the game and since the fix is so easy why don't you give it a try and let everyone know if it works. You will know if it works right after the opening cinematics if dialog text choices show up below.
Doowopman
All thanks should go Winterfury's way as they are the ones that discovered the fix...but you are welcome
Marian
The DVD version is what I am using now to replay the game in XP using this fix. been at it for a few hours and still the game runs perfect. Game has a great story doesn't it?
"Don't Hate Me Because I Am Beautiful...There Are Many Other Reasons!"
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Re: Finally - Everyone can now play Dark Side of the Moon in XP
[Re: GreyFuss]
#703145
03/01/11 02:28 PM
03/01/11 02:28 PM
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 7,767
Calgary Alberta Canada
Cathy1
BAAG Specialist
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Calgary Alberta Canada
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Is there any way to copy all the cd's to the hard drive so you won't have to do all the disc swapping (especially near the end) ?
" If Cornoil Comes From Corn
Where Doe's Babyoil Come From "
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Re: Finally - Everyone can now play Dark Side of the Moon in XP
[Re: Cathy1]
#703258
03/01/11 07:52 PM
03/01/11 07:52 PM
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 40,644
southeast USA
Jenny100
GB Reviewer Glitches Moderator
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GB Reviewer Glitches Moderator
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southeast USA
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Is there any way to copy all the cd's to the hard drive so you won't have to do all the disc swapping (especially near the end) ? You'd probably have to use a CD emulation program and mount images of all the discs when you play.
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Re: Finally - Everyone can now play Dark Side of the Moon in XP
[Re: doowopman]
#703774
03/03/11 12:17 PM
03/03/11 12:17 PM
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 1,874
Edmonton, Alberta Canada
judith
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Hi GreyFuss; I installed the game & put the riched32.dll into the bin folder & started the game to see if it works. It runs but (there's always a but)I have a trailing cursor. I move the mouse around the screen & get a good hundred cursors on it. I guess this one will be played on my old 98. Judy
Edit: WooHoo!!! fixed the problem. In programs, I went into accessories; system tools; system information. then tools, then display. beside "Direct Draw Acceleration" I clicked to disable. exited the screen & restarted the comp. Went into the game & it worked. I just have to remember to go back in & enable the direct draw when I come out of the game. Judy
Last edited by judith; 03/03/11 02:26 PM. Reason: got the game to work
A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand.
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Re: Finally - Everyone can now play Dark Side of the Moon in XP
[Re: judith]
#703791
03/03/11 01:18 PM
03/03/11 01:18 PM
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 7,767
Calgary Alberta Canada
Cathy1
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Calgary Alberta Canada
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Thanks for the link Greyfuss. I installed it and it works like a charm. I had to turn the acceleration down a notch. The speech in the videos was skipping a bit. Thanks for the info Jenny. Cathy 
" If Cornoil Comes From Corn
Where Doe's Babyoil Come From "
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Re: Finally - Everyone can now play Dark Side of the Moon in XP
[Re: flutist]
#703853
03/03/11 05:09 PM
03/03/11 05:09 PM
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Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 694
Stockholm, Sweden
Lagavulin
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Stockholm, Sweden
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"Will it play on Win 7"
An answer to that question, at least if you have Win 7 Prof 64 bit is at this stage sadly NO. It wont even let me install the game.
Since it did not work I tried to install and play the game under the preinstalled Virtual PC with XP. It installed allright but when i tried to launch the game all I got was the intro music/sound but no video. The "Video reality program" that the game uses loaded but not fully load only to about 80%. I tried different compability variants with no luck.
Cheers
ON:Ether One Redux
Recent:Stasis,Gabriel Knight3(RP),Gabriel Knight2(RP),Barrow Hill D P,Syberia2(RP),Secret Files P C,Inner World,Eyes Of Ara
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Re: Finally - Everyone can now play Dark Side of the Moon in XP
[Re: Cathy1]
#703857
03/03/11 05:27 PM
03/03/11 05:27 PM
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Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 5,818
Beverly Hills, Florida
kjos
BAAG Specialist
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BAAG Specialist
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Beverly Hills, Florida
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Tried to play it on xp played for about 10 minutes and it froze. Used riched32.dll. to.
Richard
***To Error is Human**To Forgive is Divine***
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Re: Finally - Everyone can now play Dark Side of the Moon in XP
[Re: Jenny100]
#704747
03/06/11 06:22 PM
03/06/11 06:22 PM
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Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 694
Stockholm, Sweden
Lagavulin
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Have you tried setting the affinity of the game to a single processor? Jenny100 Well I'm not an expert on computers so you will have to be more "straight" on this matter. Before I go any further I'll tell you what I have in the "box": Intel Core i3 CPU 540. How do I set the affinity of a game to a single processor  Cheers 
ON:Ether One Redux
Recent:Stasis,Gabriel Knight3(RP),Gabriel Knight2(RP),Barrow Hill D P,Syberia2(RP),Secret Files P C,Inner World,Eyes Of Ara
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Re: Finally - Everyone can now play Dark Side of the Moon in XP
[Re: Lagavulin]
#704794
03/06/11 08:30 PM
03/06/11 08:30 PM
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 40,644
southeast USA
Jenny100
GB Reviewer Glitches Moderator
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GB Reviewer Glitches Moderator
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southeast USA
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Check the ***Legacy Games and Hyperthreading*** page. Yes I know it should be called "Legacy Games, Hyperthreading, and Dual and Multiple Processors" but we haven't gotten around to renaming it yet. The instructions for setting affinity are the same and there are 3 ways of doing it described on that webpage.
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Re: Finally - Everyone can now play Dark Side of the Moon in XP
[Re: BubbaJake]
#705096
03/07/11 05:26 PM
03/07/11 05:26 PM
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 3,660
GreyFuss
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BubbaJake
Don't understand why the game won't work for you with this fix when it helps most everyone else.
Did you unzip the downloaded riched32.dll file and then place it in the 'bin' folder in the games files in your Program Files?
"Don't Hate Me Because I Am Beautiful...There Are Many Other Reasons!"
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Re: Finally - Everyone can now play Dark Side of the Moon in XP
[Re: GreyFuss]
#705126
03/07/11 06:52 PM
03/07/11 06:52 PM
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Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 890
Illinois
BubbaJake
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Illinois
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I really like this game and am disappointed that it looks good and actually plays smoothly on XP, but you can't see your responses or save on XP. Maybe I've made some mistake.
OK, I'm gonna give it another try from the beginning. I only used the link I found here. I don't know why it wouldn't work and I want it to work very much. Thanks.
Last edited by BubbaJake; 03/09/11 01:58 PM.
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Re: Finally - Everyone can now play Dark Side of the Moon in XP
[Re: BubbaJake]
#705137
03/07/11 07:20 PM
03/07/11 07:20 PM
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 3,660
GreyFuss
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All I can tell you is that if you downloaded the file from the link above, unzipped it and placed it in the Bin folder you should be able to see the text you need to ask questions. If you used another link for the file it may not be the version that the creator says worked or if you didn't unzip the file the fix wouldn't work. I am still playing the game in XP and I am quite far into the game and it is playing perfectly. Sorry it isn't working for you.
"Don't Hate Me Because I Am Beautiful...There Are Many Other Reasons!"
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