First thing is, where are you downloading these .dlls from? Dll download sites are notorious for malware. Did you scan the download with your anti-virus program before you did anything with it?

I have to leave to go muck stalls in just a few minutes, but hopefully someone can check in later to help you out. Have you tried right clicking the game icon and running as administrator. Or right clicking and selecting Properties and running the Troubleshooter?

Hi Draclvr,

I used a site called dll-files.com. I am pretty wary and Norton confirmed it as safe. And, yes, I did try running as administrator and running the trouble shooter but neither worked.

There may be nothing wrong with the files you downloaded, but there are different versions of those files and the ones you found online may not be the ones the game needs. The game "should" install the files it needs, so you may have had a bad install. You might try uninstalling the game, setting the installer to run with compatibility mode set to to an older version of Windows (I'd try XP first), and then running the installer.

I've tried absolutely everything now and nothing works. Still getting the same message. There are some blogs from people getting this message when trying to run Firefox but they are quite old and I don't get what Firefox has to do with running a game from disc! Looks like I may have to give up unless there are any other suggestions out there.

I sure can't think of anything else to try. I've had one or two games that I simply had to give up on. That's why I've kept my trusty old XP computer. I've taken it off-line and just use it for stuff like this.

Oh well. Had to give up on Dreamfall too. In fact it corrupted this Pc and the previous one! Had to restore to a previous point in order to get it working....the pitfalls of being an old addict!

I've purchased Windows 8 recently but reading all your posts on it, it looks like I have my work cut out for me. Thanks for all the info. I'm sure I'll be back.

Midgie

Midge, if you have any questions or need any help at all, please PM me! I can do Windows 8.1 in my sleep!

Has anyone found a way to make Pandora's Box work with 8.1? I just keep getting a message "not compatible, etc.".

Hi, Bristol... sorry I have responded, but I've been out of town for 5 days. Just got off the road and have to run in town to a meeting. I'll try to get back to you tomorrow! I don't have this game and don't know anything about it, but I'll see what I can find out.

Drac, will Grim Fandango work on Windows 7? I don't have 8 and I didn't see it in the Win 7 list.

It is in the Windows 7 and Games thread with a link to the installer. Check down in the "G's." It works great!

I've read that ResidualVM. has at long last made it possible to play Grim Fandango on modern machines if you're lucky enough to have a copy.
You still need the original patch from LucasArts which is availble on the ResidualVM download page.

Gil.

I'll have to check it out... thanks, Gil. The game is working great on both my Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 machines using the installers though.

Mine works fine on my Win 7, too, but I thought I'd mention it.

Gil.

I've checked out your link and am going to try it on both my drives... always good to have more than one solution for a great game!

Good to know about this, Gil - thank you!

I tried the Grim Fandango installer and tried to play the game. It says it won't run without the registry keys. Am I supposed to install from my CD also?
It also says PKZIP can't remove temp files.

Melia, I noticed the link in the Windows 7 and Games thread has changed the target to the Grim Launcher, not the Grim Setup. Use the links in the Windows 8 and Games thread - you'll need to download both files... the setup file to install the game and the Launcher to play the game. I'll need to have Jenny or MaG change the Windows 7 and Games link to say it is for the Launcher and add a link to the Grim Setup.

You will need to have your Grim CD in the drive and then run the Setup file.

OK I changed the links in the Windows 7 thread to match the ones in the Windows 8 thread. Do you want the description changed as well?

OK. Will give it a shot. Thanks.

Jenny, it might not hurt... It seems they have changed a few things since I made the post in the Windows 7 and Games thread. Thank you!

Hey Drac,

I replayed Aura: Fate of the Ages recently on my Win 8.1 machine. I didn't try to install it as-is but instead, for some reason, ran the installation and game executable using XP compatibility. Anyway, no worries. The game played flawlessly. I then wanted to play Aura: The Sacred Rings but I couldn't get it to play. The game installs fine but when I try to launch the game it goes unresponsive. I tried installing with no compatibility but that failed. I tried running the compatibility troubleshooter but no joy there (8.1 wanted to run Vista compatibility). I also tried XP but no luck. I see that this problem came up in the Windows 7 thread where Kemal said they couldn't get it running and ended up using VMWare to play it. However, Sarahandus got it to run without any issues.

Is VMWare a good way to go? I haven't run any virtual environments on my 8.1 machine.

I don't use any of the virtual machines, so can't comment on them. You do need to have a copy of a Windows operating system. I think Jenny and Inland are much more familiar with them, so you might ask in the general Glitches forum.

Installing VMWare.

Cue,
Have you tried installing and running as Administrator?
(Right-click the icon and choose "Run As Administrator" from the context menu.)
You could also try installing to some location other than C:\Program Files or C:\Program Files (x86). This is what games from GOG do -- they install in a "C:\GOG Games" folder instead of where the original disc version of the games installed.


It is worth a try, since Kemal was able to get Sacred Rings playing inside VMware.

VMware is the best for running Windows 95/98 virtual machines on Windows 8/8.1.
VMware Player is free.
VMware Workstation is expensive --> ***link***.
VMware Fusion is for Macs, and is generally less expensive than Workstation --> ***link***.
So most gamers who use VMware use VMware Player.
I used Fusion when I was using a Mac.

VirtualBox is free, but does not run Windows 95 or 98 well at all.
It should work OK with Windows XP.

VirtualPC won't install and run without crashing on Windows 8/8.1 without a lot of fuss. Getting it to install and getting it to work without crashing are two different things. It worked much better with Windows 7. To get it working without crashes, I had to locate and download an antique version of Windows Phone, as well as an obscure upgrade that was not too new.

So of these three, VMware Player is the best choice for installing Windows 95/98 in a virtual machine that is running on Windows 8/8.1.

As Draclvr pointed out, all of these virtual environment programs need a Windows installation disc. And if you install XP or later on a virtual machine, you'll have to activate it after installing. If you do this, I'd advise you to back up your virtual machine immediately after Windows activation, before installing any games on it, so you can restore it to a fresh install condition without using up another activation.