I was hoping to play Safecracker on my XP-Pro-SP2. It loaded just find and then I right-clicked on the Safecracker icon, chose properties and selected Windows 95 compatibility mode, 256 colors, 640 x 480 resolution. I also tried disabling/enabling "Disable visual themes" and "Turn off advanced text service..." When I try to play the game I get an error message: "This program requires at least 3MB of free virtual memory to run." Can anyone explain this to me and how to fix it. Thanks.

PIV, XP-Pro-Sp2.
3.0 GHz, 160 Gig hard drive
1 GB DDR2 SDRAM
256MB Nvidia GeForce 6800 GTO graphics card
Soundblaster Live! 24-bit Advanced HD

tuesday next

This sounds like a problem that surfaced while trying to get Nine: The Last Resort to run on a newer system.

The error message was:

This application requires at least 8MB of RAM to run properly.

Unfortunately, the only newer system that Nine would not run on was XP Pro.

Nor would Nine run on XP Home if more than 512MB of memory were present.

Which suggests you've got two issues: a finicky OS in XP Pro and an overly generous amount of memory with 1GB.

This is a programming issue and there is no known fix. Sorry.

OK, guess I'll play it on my 98SE.

tuesday next

Should run just fine on 98SE.

OKokokok,.... sorry to tease........

I'm playing it right now and just finishing up the SETUP Walkthrough for it. Hopefully up by Saturday.

Music is uh..loud and very interesting.

3rd puzzle (first safe) is a slider.... Saves are in text format in My Documents....Pretty interesting game.

Inferno

Inferno, were you able to control the inventory from scrolling too fast? I was playing the game fine in XP until I couldn't get the keys out of inventory that I needed to because it was just scroll through without stopping near what I needed.

Ana

Hats off if you've figured out a way past the XP Pro beast. There is a warehouse full of apps that tip over and die with this problem. Nine among them...

Then again, like all things involving computers, the actual issue with Nine might not be quite the same issue as with Safecracker. A bit here, a bit there....

That said, anything that can get Safecracker, one of my personal favorites, running on a newer machine is to be applauded!

According to ***this*** Inferno has XP Home and 512 MB of RAM.

From what you said about Nine
that would make a difference, assuming Safecracker is having the same problem as Nine.

Well, yes.

The amount of memory makes a difference and the flavor of XP makes a difference.

No one...not one tester...was able to get Nine to run on XP Pro.

And too much memory was also a nasty problem. More than 512MB on XP Home and the party was over.

To be continued...apparently...

Is there some way - some utility maybe - to get XP (or the game) to think it has 512 MB or less RAM installed? There is a utility called Philip that makes the hard drive appear smaller. Is there anything similar for RAM? This might at least help those with XP Home and more than 512 MB RAM.

Sorry if I'm confusing things by talking about 2 games here.

It's not RAM that was the problem here the error message is for "Virtual Memory"

Anyway .... plays fine... you need a patch (which is actually a stand alone app) and a tweak... I'm working on the setup right now. Let you knwo when it is up.

Hi Mr Lipid!!!
Maybe you could apply the principles in the setup to "Nine" and test it for me??? I don't have that game...

Inferno

I'm wondering if maybe some older games expect to find the page file before a certain cylinder? Would account for the symptom but I have no idea why that would be the case. Just musing. (I'm one of those people who knows just enough to REALLY screw things up!)

Howdy Doodie Y'all!

The setup is complete.

You may find it here:

SafeCracker Setup

Inferno

Looks good, Inferno.

Unfortunately, I don't have XP, Home or Pro.

I came at the challenge of getting Nine to run from the other side. I was solving an install issue, not a play issue.

If Nine can be installed, it will run on everything except XP Pro. The catch was getting the main files unpacked and in place.

Safecracker appears to be a question of getting it to run, not install.

Still interested to see what pops on the question of getting it to run on an XP Pro system with 1GB of RAM.

Ahhhhh! I see..... Then what would happen if you tried the pronciples set down in Atlantis the lost tales??? By this I mean using the Phillips program ( a Balloon file program) of course...it may not work .... no, now that I think on it, propbably not as that program addresses available had disk space. Is there a utility program that would address Ram possible divide it?

It sounds like a bios thing, and probably not recommended for tweaking. What about Virtual PC?



Inferno

It is my understanding that there are certain permissions in terms of how programs can interact with the OS which XP Home allows and XP Pro denies. This makes XP Pro a non-starter for some apps regardless of the memory involved.

As for the memory, I'm not aware of a program that can fool another program into believing that a system has less than it actually has.

Virtual PC seems like the best bet.

Wow, my topic really took off! I haven't a clue as to what you're all talking about. But I'm having the same problem as Ana. I cannot go any farther in the game because I cannot access my Inventory. It either scrolls to the top or the end - can't get to the items in between. This really bums me out because I'm enjoying the game a lot (except I'm running out of time - forgot to pause). I hate it when I start out a game and am really enjoying it and then something happens to prevent me from finishing the game. Bummer.

tuesday next

Tuesday, check Inferno\'s setup .
You need that SCFix program to slow down the inventory scrolling. Inferno has the link on her page. You start the SCFix program, then start the game.

Thanks Jenny. But how do I change virtual memory and disable autoplay?

tuesday next

Nevermind I found it!

tuesday next

OK. I followed inferno's setup and the game plays great but there is no change in the speed of scrolling through the inventory. I have the icon for "SCFIX" on the desktop (I think that was the one that was supposed to go there). When I click on it I get the "Do you want to run this program?" I click "yes" and there's a box to change the inventory scrolling. I set it to the maximum speed (far right - I assume that does the opposite and slows down the scroll) but it doesn't do anything to the game. On the top of the box where you change the speed it say that it is "Unhooked." Does that mean that it's not "hooked" into the game and that's why there's no change in scolling speed. I don't see any instructions for that on Inferno's site. However, she does have this "Then Click on Change ICON --> Browse-->Choose--> sc1_icon.ico-->Click on "Open".-->" I don't know what the Change icon is. If it means the icon I was talking about above it doesn't give an option to "Change", etc. The only option is to "run" the program (the scrolling program). I know this sounds totally confusing but then so am I. HELP

tuesday next

"Change icon" is just to change what the icon for SCFix on your desktop looks like. It doesn't change the functionality of the program.

I think you'd want something less than maximum speed for inventory scrolling. Maximum speed sounds like what you have without SCFix. Try some speed in the middle and if that's too fast, try minimum speed.

I don't know what "unhooked" means. Maybe it just means that you haven't started up the game yet so it isn't "hooked" to anything. That's a guess.

Then why am I sending the other icon to the desktop and what is the purpose of changing what the icon looks like? Also, the speed was already set to the minimum and didn't help. And it couldn't be that it's "unhooked" because I haven't started the game because I have gotten a good way through it. How frustrating!

tuesday next

My Goodness! Let's answer this questions one step at a time here.

[list]
[*] The General Drill
This page has all the basic tweaks in it...check back often as there are a few more things I going to add... but for your purposes everything is there tht you'll need.
[*]Read carefully here:

[quote][b]Now, Locate the files--> "sc_eng.exe" and "SCFIX.exe" in the Game Folder C:\sc.

So from all this can we assume (always dangerous!) that Safecracker runs on XP Pro AND runs on a system with 1GB RAM?

No..ther's a little more to it ...... From this:
SafeCracker Setup


Inferno

Do we have any another game from this era and engine that gives the same error message?

Inferno

Sorry. I assumed (but didn't say) that the setup had been used prior to playing the game.

Just surprised to see Safecracker running at all on such a monster system.

Inferno - I redid everything and followed your setup EXACTLY. It did not help the scrolling speed at all. I tried all different settings for the scrolling - far left, middle and far right. Nothing changed. What does "Unhooked" mean up at the top of the box? Since my saves are in Documents and weren't deleted I just used my last save - Is that a problem? Also at the very beginning of your setup you say "Decrease Virtual Memory" (did that - I have 1gig of RAM so I had to go as low as 400/800 otherwise I got that error message about not having enough memory) and then "Increasing Files." What does that mean? Also, I cannot change my display to 800X600 at 100Mhz. I can only go to 75Mhz.

tuesday next

Using old saves shouldn't be a problem. Not with something that operates like SCFix.

Using 75 Hz (just Hz - not MHz when you're talking about refresh rate) should be OK. Do you have a TFT monitor? You shouldn't use more than 75 Hz with one of those (and with some you shouldn't use more than 60 or 70 Hz or it could damage the monitor).

I can't help much with details about SCFix or Safecracker because I sold my copy of the game a long time ago.

Inferno, do you see that "unhooked" when you run SCFix? Does that mean anything? Could the type of mouse or mouse drivers you use affect whether SCFix can work or not?

Jenny - Does a TFT monitor mean a flat panel or something else? Thanks.

tuesday next

Yes a TFT monitor is a flat panel type.

Thanks. Actually, that 100Mhz comes straight out of inferno's setup: "Change your display to 800X600 - 16bit - 100Mhz." Although, when she says to change compatibility mode, the setup says: "Display Setting 640X480 Resolution." I'm sure what she says is correct, I just don't understand why.

tuesday next

MHz would be a typo if you're talking about refresh rates. Refresh rates are in Hz.

If you do have a TFT (flat panel) monitor, just change the resolution and color depth (800x600, 16-bit color) and don't worry about the refresh rate. Use whatever refresh rate you normally do with your TFT.

"Status: Not Hooked"
SCFix will check every 30 seconds for a running copy of SafeCracker,and attach to it.

"Status: Hooked but disabled"
SCFix has attached to a running copy of SafeCracker, but will do nothing because the "hook" is disabled.
This will only be shown if you unchecked the "Enable Hook" checkbox in the Advanced
portion of the SCFix dialog.

"Status: Hooked and enabled"
SCFix has attached to a running copy of SafeCracker, and will generate virtual left-clicks in response to right-clicks in the
game window.


The utility must be enabled and hooked. You'll find this in the "advanced section" of the utility.

You also may need to use turbo at 50%. (I didn't though)

Inferno

Sorry, for the typo as well 100Hz is correct.

I have that mistake all over the place!!!!

Inferno

PS I find that older games run better for me at 100Hz and some even at 120Hz........ but that's my system. That is a variable which you have to determine for yourself and you own system. If the game looks good at 75Hz then that is what you should use.

Keep in mind I have a two year old system
PIV/2.00Gig 512RAM but I use a very very old monitor........10yrs old.

Inferno

Inferno - thanks for clearing that up. I am taking a short break from the game to play Last Half of Darkness. I don't want to have to reconfigure my computer and jump back and forth between the two games. Probable try again tomorrow. Thanks.

tuesday next

Inferno - hope you don't mind but I emailed you because I'm back to SafeCracker and having the exact same problems.

tuesday next

resend the email... I accidently deleted it.

Inferno

Inferno - I sent you an email. I've given up. The patch will not work on my 98SE or my XP even though I followed your instructions for the general drill and the setup to the letter. Another game in the garbage can.

tuesday next

It doesn't work like a regular patch - more like a trainer or slowdown program.

Did you put the SCFix in the same folder as the game?

Jenny - I used the word "patch" because I think inferno uses the word in her setup (and she goes on to say it is not really a patch). The "patch" also will not work on my 98E - inferno thought it might. I have been communicating with inferno about this problems via email. I find it easier that way.

tuesday next

No, from this we can only assume exactly what you said before. That it will run on Windows XP Home(SP1)/512RAM with VM set no higher than 766Mb/1532Mb and using the SCFIX.EXE standalone utility

I need 4 gamers who might be able to test the Setup for me.
someone else who has:

• Windows PRO (SP2) with 512RAM
• Windows PRO (SP2)with memory larger than 512RAM
• Windows PRO (SP1) with 512RAM
• Windows PRO (SP1)with memory larger than 512RAM

any takers????


pls email me if there are.

Inferno