Here is what actually needs to be done to run Forever Worlds on 98SE and ME. (For all those still running Win98 First Edition, you can stop reading now. Windows Media Player 9 will not run on 98 and without Windows Media Player 9, Forever Worlds won't run. Sorry.)

The secret is to install (or reinstall), in a specific order, a specific group of support programs. Speaking as someone who has tried everything else, nothing else works like this.

EXISTING INSTALLATIONS

If you have already installed Forever Worlds, do the following. It is not necessary to reinstall Forever Worlds itself.

STEP ONE: Install the latest version of DirectX directly from Microsoft. (You'll find it HERE .) This is version 9.0b. Even if you have already installed 9.0b, do it again. A reinstall never hurt and this is as much about getting all the dependencies right as it is about getting all the apps in place. So, install (or reinstall) DirectX 9.0b. (If you have philosophical issues with DirectX 9, fine. Don't install it. Just don't expect Forever Worlds to run because DirectX 9.0b is essential for the functioning of the next item you are going to install.)

STEP TWO: Install Windows Media Player 9 direct from Microsoft. (You'll find it HERE .) Let WMP9 associate itself with all the files it wants to...especially the video files.

STEP THREE: Find the right video driver for your card and download it directly from the manufacturer. If, like I do, you have an nVidia card, version 53.04 seems a bit more stable than version 56.64. I've also heard from some folks that the older Radeon drivers work better. Your mileage may vary.

STEP FOUR: Install the DivX 5.1.1 Codec, either from the Forever Worlds CD or the DivX website. DO NOT INSTALL THE DIVX PLAYER.

You are now ready to play Forever Worlds. If you click on the desktop icon and still get the logo-logo-lockup problem, it can be cured by running a video in WMP9 before asking Forever Worlds to load.

NEW INSTALLATIONS

STEP ONE: The installation routine will ask to check for DirectX 9 and, if it is not present, to install it. You don't have a choice here so, if it is not present, say "Yes."

STEP TWO: You will be asked to install the DivX Codec. Install the Codec but not the DivX Player.

STEP THREE: Install the game.

STEP FOUR: Once the Forever Worlds is installed, follow the steps listed above for an Existing Installation.

That's it. That's the Secret Sauce that's necessary to put Forever Worlds on its feet in 98SE and ME. Enjoy!

mr. Lipid do I have to RE-install everything i.e. Media Player if its already installed? Is this your solution or form TAC.?

Yes, you have to reinstall everything in the order laid out in the list.

As for where the solution comes from, it comes from the head programmer on Forever Worlds. And it works.

Mr. Lipid your wonderful. I have an Nvidia card with the latest drivers. Could you give me the link to the ideal drivers? I assume I'll have to install manually or should I try my drivers first...?

You can try your drivers first, though, as mentioned, you'll still need to uninstall and reinstall.

Or you could go to the nVidia website and download the previous version from the driver archive. That would be the 53.04 drivers. Then when it comes time to change drivers, after the install of DirectX 9.0b and the WMP9, you can remove the latest drivers and replace them with the 53.04 drivers.

MrLipid, I appreciate your posting these instructions. Also, thank you for your previous offer to burn CDs for those of us on dial-up. You really put a lot of time and effort into all of this and you have my gratitude.

Marian

Marian,

Aw, shucks....

Hope the instructions will get Forever Worlds on its feet for you. It's an interesting trip...

Hi Mr. Lipid,
Thanks for the instructions, however I followed them as stated, the game started playing and then started going like an unstoppable freight train (I'd click and I'd fly, screen spinning, sideways, up and down. Finally stopped it saved the game, then went back in again, got the 2 logo freeze! rebooted played a movie in Media Player and started up the game. Loaded fine then said it coudn't find files and I just got the scenery moving around and little else. any suggestions?
Thanks in advance,

Bill

F1 brings up the in-game options menu.

It allows you to alter the panning speed (A to increase mouse speed, S to decrease mouse speed), Z to zoom in on node details, X to zoom out and R to reset the camera distance to default.

A right click brings up the main menu which is where games are saved.

It takes a bit of getting used to, but at least it sounds like you've gotten the game running...which is more than was happening to most folks, myself included, just a few days ago.

As for in-game error messages, I have no experience with them because I've never gotten any. My suggestion would be the old standby. Shut down, wait a few moments, reboot and see if Windows has forgotten what it was upset about.

Will try the slowdown suggestions tonight or tomorrow, depending on what time I get home tonight. The error messages seem to be coming from the game itself not windows (the message words just go accross the game screen not in a Windows dialogue box. If I uninstall the game do I have to go through the whole procedure again before reinstalling? Thanks for all your help with this one Mr Lipid.

Bill

As far as I know, the game installation is actually separate from the setup so, no, no need to reinstall DirectX, Windows Media Player, etc.

Mr. Lipid still won't work. May be you could clarify. It looks like when you do a new install your directions say to load the DivX codecs 2 seperate times. Is that correct? I.E. once when you load the game and then when reinstalling the other apps.....? Chris
PS-Now that you've got it to work is it worth it? Amazon said they'd take it back and credit me. My dog needs a new bed anyway.

Yes, you load the DivX Codec twice. This is all about the order in which things are loaded, not whether or not they have been loaded before.

As for whether it's worth it or not, if your dog needs a new bed...well, what can I say? That's between you and your dog, isn't it?

Mr. Lipid -- any suggestions for Sleeping Dragon on Win98 SE? The install bar completes then it just doesn't load anything.
Puter is AMD Athlon XP 2100
256 mg sd ram
120g h/d MSIK7N2 mainboard Radeon 128 nb video card, 9800 series
Sound card - I added Sound Blaster 16 pci 4.1 didgital
I also have nvida but it wouldn't work when my modem was loaded for some reason, which is why I got the Sblaster.
Thanks in advance if you have any ideas?

Ok Mr Lipid, Oh great Forever Worlds Guru, or anyone else who's gotten this far in. Everything was running smoothly actually perfect until now. Here it is:
Hi all,
I saw the book lying on the ground went to it , saw a flash of light and now it looks like I'm inside of a tree trunk. Explored a bit and was confronted with a bodyless face in tribal mask. There's also some sort of set up with gears which seem to be controlled by a series of keys below it. Now here's my problem with no clues as to how to set that up I haven't a clue what to do. I also don't know if I hit a glitch but when I right click the menu doesn't come up so I can't save a game and exit out. Had to reboot out. Not too far in so I can right back there but will I be stuck again f it's not a glitch or is HELP!!!!


Bill

Sorry. Never played Sleeping Dragon and probably won't.

Forever Worlds has pretty much sated my appetite for debugging for the moment.

The save screen doesn't come up in some areas where you're in a puzzle or have the inventory open or something. I can't tell if you had a crash or not. I think the game doesn't let you back away from that gear screen once you've seen the face. I didn't try to save there.

Do you see a triangle if you hover the cursor over the screen with the gears? You need to click on that to access the puzzle. Then you should be able to click the 6 buttons under the screen to do the puzzle.

Is that an onboard card?
If yes, that might be your problem.

Jenny -- the spec from dxdiag say:
Amd Athlong XP 2100
256 mb SD ram
1.7 g processor
Nvida (r)nForce Audio (default) tho I have a Sound Blaster 16 card installed too.
MSlk7N2 Main board 128mb Video card Radeon 9200 Series. Does that answer the question?
Also my OS is Win98SE
That's as far as my puter guru status goes.
**** Went back for another look -- it says "internal" by the Radeon 9200 so I assume that mean "on board'?

Can you tell where your monitor is plugged into the video card in the back of the computer? Is it toward the top of the computer or lower down toward the bottom. If it's toward the top, it's probably an onboard card.

It's near the bottom Jenny

Then it's probably a separate card, which is good.

What do you mean by "it just won't load anything?"
Do you mean the icon to start the game is just dead - no response when you click it?
Do you see the StarForce logo?
Do you get as far as the TAC intro screens?
Did the game really install? Do you see it listed in the Program menu? (it might be in a "The Adventure Company" folder)
Have you tried running DXDIAG and checking the Display tab to see if your video card passes all the tests?

Next to Forever Worlds, BS3 is the Windows game I had the most trouble getting to start. I had to change my desktop resolution to 60 Hz. I changed it for 3 different resolutions (640x480, 800x600, 1024x768) because I wasn't sure which one the game was trying to start in. It also seemed to start more reliably for me if my desktop was set to 1024x768, though some people have reported that starting in 800x600 worked best for them. And reducing audio acceleration all the way is something else they tell you to do. I also had to clean my registry and make sure there was no key left over from a disc imaging program (I'd had Disc Dump installed at one time, and the uninstall left a key behind that caused StarForce to freeze the computer every time I tried to run the game). Even after clearing out the registry and setting the desktop to accommodate the game, it would only work from one of my CD drives because of StarForce.

If you're getting as far as the TAC logos, it's unlikely that StarForce is the problem. If you're not getting that far, it might be.

Mr. Lipid, just one more question?
Do I restart after each re-install, wait till the end, or does it matter? Chris

You do not have to restart after each re-install.

You can install (or re-install) DirectX 9.0b, then Windows Media Player Series 9, the correct video driver and the DivX Codec one after another.

And, if I remember correctly, you can fire up WMP9, run a video, close down WMP9 and start up Forever Worlds.

It's worked for me since I did it.

The installation shows the setup bar scooting to install then flashes and goes back to plain desk top. There is NO installation on my system.
I do have "goback' by Norton loaded. Very useful tool. I'd hate to take a chance and take it out as I've had to use it a few times. I'll try just closing it and see what happens.
Thanks Jenny - I've tried the other things mentioned for the resolution etc but it didn't do any good. Very annoying when you pay so much games then can't play!