And it gets weirder.

Bill sent me a copy of his saved game...and it doesn't work on my system, either.

So the corruption appears to be happening on his system. It creates a saved game of the proper size that won't load.

Great. Just great.

And TAC is now telling folks that the only thing that needs to be done to get Forever Worlds running on 98, 98SE or ME is to run a second or two of media on any available media player and everything will load and play just fine. In fact, just having the system make a noise when a program opens is enough. Who knew?

If that was true, the Windows startup sound would fix it every time you rebooted.

And it's not.

I just tried running Forever Worlds with no version of Windows Media Player installed and, guess what? It doesn't work.

It may not have to be WMP9, but it has to be some version of WMP or Forever Worlds just won't come out to play.

No matter how much noise programs kick out when they launch...

Well it didn't seem to work with WMP 6.4 when I tried it. So it has to be at least WMP 7.

Mr. Lipid,
I checked your post over at the TAC forum.
I think there must be some codec that does not uninstall when you uninstall WMP 9. I couldn't even get the avi files in the Forever World folder to play using WMP 6.4 - but that was on a system that had never had later than WMP 6.4. It may be possible to install the codecs without installing WMP 9 though, if you can find the download.

Jenny100,

So would it be fair to say that the current advice being offered by TAC Technical Support with regard to Forever Worlds is less than optimal?

As far as I can tell, they've only tested it on one computer, "they" being a single tech testing it on her home computer. TAC doesn't seem to have a Win 98 computer in their testing lab, if they have a testing lab at all.
Have you figured out why, when Melissa uninstalled WMP 9 she was left with WMP 6.1, while when you uninstalled it you were left with no WMP at all?

Yes, well, that is a ripe topic for speculation...

Actually, I found that my system was stuffed with all manner and vintage of Windows Media Players. I had to uninstall a total of six of them to get to a WMP-free system. (There is even a version of WMP lurking in the free download of DOOM95.)

And, once all the WMPs were off the system, Forever Worlds would not run. This, of course, tracks with what the lead programmer detailed for me with regard to how the video mixing renderer works in DirectX on 98SE. DirectX needs a more current version (7.1 or 9) of WMP present on 98SE in order to work. Also on 98.

Not that you would ever learn this on the TAC Tech Support forum...

Am going to try uninstalling the game tonight (after moving all my saves, well maybe just one of them, LOL as it seems to be the only one that works. That being the renamed one Jenny sent me) then reinstalling it and moving the saved game back into the "game data" folder. I'll then play for a bit and then save a game, close out of the game and go backto see if the new save works. Will let you know. As for the discussion that's been going on I've checked my email in AOL at times before going to play and have run the AOL Media Player which didn't have any effect on the game at all (the infamous 2 logo 2 step, LOL) Had to reboot, open WMP and then the game would run. Tell me both of you, is this game really worth all the aggravation?

Bill

Not in my opinion.
How do you like it so far?
IMO it doesn't get any better as you get further into the game.

Hi Jenny,
After reading Mr. L.'s review I decided it just isn't worth the hassle. I have a ton load of games to play which I know are good (currently in various stages of progress are BS3, Runaway, Syberia 2, Midnight Nowhere and Jack the Ripper as well as The Egytian Prophecy which I haven't started plus a huge amount of older classic games). What are you currently playing? Thanks for all the help regardless. Glad this was a loaner and I didn't wind up buying it!!!!
Happy Gaming
Bill