First off, my game arrived with some small scratches near the edge of disk 2 . Since shipping costs are high here, and not really worth it with all this frustration, I don't feel like returning the game for an exchange. Anyways...

I'm playing under XP. I had no problems whatsoever until I came to the monkey (Fig. 35) in Part 2 where I got my first "can hear, but can't see" cut-scene. I selected the "Always On Top" preference for the DivX Player, and from then on, I could see the cut-scenes. A big thanks to "dadguy" Boomer

Problem: I am now in the console room at the beginning of Part 5. My cursor changes into pan-mode and swings way too fast around the room! That's not the worst... I am unable to open the doors in this room. I just keep getting that pan-mode cursor. I can get out of it ok, and also used the x-key zoom out, but where ever I click, nothing happens. Also, I cannot save the game at this point! I keep clicking "ok" but nothing happens. Changing the graphic acceleration didn't help. Thank goodness I saved just before entering the portal.

I don't know if this a glitch, or because of the scratches on my disk.

Help! I was now wondering if someone could send me a saved game at the beginning of Part 5. Someone who's also used the walkthrough if possible, to make sure I have all the items.


Anne

CYE.

You got this in XP?
I thought it was a Win 98 problem.

It may be related you your using the DivX Player instead of Windows Media Player 9. You really only need the DivX codec, but you do need Windows Media Player 9 and it has to be configured to play your avi files.
In any case, Mr. Lipid has saved games.

Actually, it's a problem when there is too much video of any sort in a single node. Some video cards appear to handle it better than others. This is the same problem that crops up in the Administration Office.

I've recently expanded my fine line of saved games to enable discriminating players to fully savor the joy and wonder that it the last act of Forever Worlds. A discreet e-mail is all it takes to partake of this lush and succulent bounty.

Hi Mr. Lipid - looks like you are the person to talk to re problems re video in Forever Worlds game. I too, am having problems at start of Part 5 - just like person at beginning of this thread described. Have downloaded DivX and Media Player 9 as suggested and installed them. Now how do I configure them to make the game work properly? Many thanks for any help you can give me here.

If you have Win XP, you've probably done all you need to.
Which video card do you have? It seems there are problems with some video cards, even on XP.

I have ATI for my video card. Thanks for your quick reply to my post. Do you know if the ATI card is a problem here?

GeeGee,

CYE.

Mr. Lipid - Many many thanks! You really saved my bacon.

GeeGee,

You are very, very welcome. Glad the saved games got you through.

I can't get any of my saved games to open up. I'm up to where I've just been carried off by the bird to the cliff. Went to open that save after shutting down and couldn't. Any suggestions, Mr L. Jenny, anyone? Thanks in advance.

Bill

What happens if you start a new game, then try to load one of the saves?

Will give it a try Jenny, however once the game starts doen't it always begin with the boat? I don't recall an actual new game option. Thanks for the quick reply.

Bill

Yeah. It seems to start a new game every time.
But try playing a little, making a save, and then trying to load it. If it works, try loading one of the old ones.

Look in the GameData folder. What is the size of the saved games that won't load? A proper saved game should be 40-41KB.

That's exactly the size of the saved game Mr L, same as the other saves, but other than one at the beginning none of them will load.

I'll send you one of my saves that I think is right after the bird drops you off.
Check your email in a couple of minutes and see if that one loads. It goes in the GameData folder that's inside the Forever Worlds folder.

You've probably mentioned this already somewhere, but I'll ask again. Are you running the DivX player or Windows Media Player Series 9?

Someone else ran into this problem, uninstalled the DivX player, installed WMP9, and then ran a video before loading the game.

Yeah, it's a lot of work, but that was the only way this player could get previously saved games to load.

The symptom -- only the first saved game would load -- was the same.

I followed your "secret sauce recipe" to the letter Mr Lipid. I loaded only the codec and have the latest version of Media player. I play a movie before playing the game then start it up. The opening sequence and the game load come on then the opening sequence with the boat, however I can't, as stated, get any of my saves to work.
Thanks for the saved game Jenny, will see if it works tonight, however I might just give up on this one if I have to ask for saved games everytime I stop playing and go to resume again (already got a saved game from MaG).
Happy gaming all,
Bill

Bill,

What are your system specs? How beefy is your video card? Wondering if this might be a texture loading problem.

Athalon 900 784 Ram,ATI Radeon 7000 64 MB, Soundblaster16 Pci, running on Windows 98 SE.

That should be enough. If you'd like, you could send me one of your non-loading saved games and I could see if it will load on my system. If your saved game loads on my system, it will help us narrow the search a bit.

Will do tonight. Thanks

Hi Jenny,
The weirdness gets deeper. The saved game you sent me me at first didn't work yet when I moved my Mountain save that didn't work and renamed your save mountain it worked. Go figure. Just hope I don't need a saved game everytime I stop playing and then try to resume from a save where I left off. Thanks again for your help with this one.

Bill

That is weird. It sounds like the problem was caused by something different from what Mr. Lipid mentioned, even though the symptom was the same.

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