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Re: Windows 8 and Games [Re: Draclvr] #1001700
02/09/15 11:18 AM
02/09/15 11:18 AM
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Thanks Drac and Jenny. As usual, you are both very resourceful and informative.

I did try to run as administrator but it still came up unresponsive.

We use VMWare VSphere on our work network where SBS2008 Server hosts Windows 2000 Server and Window 2003 Server so I'm a little familiar with it. I didn't install it so that will be new to me. If the player has similar functionality and appearance as VSphere I may have a fighting chance to figure it out. I'm just a little nervous with the installation in Win 8.1 since everything I've done so far in Win 8 has been a bit trying. By the way, Drac, I did install Classic Shell for Win 8 and love the look. So much easier for me to get around.

I recently scrapped my XP computer when I bought my new Win 8 machine. Can I use the OS product code from that PC for the virtual installation?


Did you ever stop to think and then forget to start again?
Re: Windows 8 and Games [Re: Draclvr] #1001702
02/09/15 11:33 AM
02/09/15 11:33 AM
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Classic Shell has been a godsend for everyone who wants to take advantage of the "under the hood" improvements in Windows 8.1, but just can't stomach the UI. I called it Windows 7 Plus to someone last week!

I don't know about whether you can use the XP code or not - sometimes those OEM versions are tied to a certain computer. Jenny will know more.


Gardens put to bed. Time for more reading and gaming.
Re: Windows 8 and Games [Re: Draclvr] #1001703
02/09/15 11:53 AM
02/09/15 11:53 AM
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The interface in VSphere is somewhat different from what you see in VMware Workstation -- and the interface you have in Player is a diminished version of what you see in Workstation. You may have to edit files to get access to some functionality.

However if you've been using VSphere, you shouldn't have trouble with VMware Player other than some differences in the user interface.

Whether it's legal to re-use the product code for your old XP computer would depend on whether the XP installed on it is a retail or OEM version. Often retail versions of XP were transferrable up to 3 activations, while OEM versions were only good for the activation on the computer they were originally installed on.

Re: Windows 8 and Games [Re: Draclvr] #1001711
02/09/15 01:00 PM
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Am I remembering your old XP being somewhat the vintage of mine? Like an HP from around 2004? I've moved that hard drive to new computers twice meaning I had to activate the OEM version of XP twice as it recognized that is was on a different motherboard and never had any problems. But it might be different for just using the activation code.


Gardens put to bed. Time for more reading and gaming.
Re: Windows 8 and Games [Re: Draclvr] #1001744
02/09/15 03:31 PM
02/09/15 03:31 PM
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I watched a YouTube video showing the VMWare installation as well as the OS installation within it. Looks pretty straightforward. I see that Microsoft actually offers an ISO image download for XP SP3 on their website. I'll try it with my OEM product key and see what happens. The worst that can happen is it fails...no harm, no fowl.

Great memory, Drac! I had that computer many years and finally gave it up. I really liked it but it was pretty technically challenged for gaming and I finally bit the bullet and bought a new machine when the motherboard died.


Did you ever stop to think and then forget to start again?
Re: Windows 8 and Games [Re: Jenny100] #1025123
07/26/15 07:06 PM
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Thank you, Jenny, for your as ever astute and very helpful comments on this matter! thumbsup

I've just moved to Windows 8.1., and boy, how hard it is to get just everything up running again. Windows has become so terribly restrictive and monopolist (or at least it's even more obvious than it was), that even some applications that were native Windows 7 software (and some quite expensive at that!) will no longer work, which takes you ages to work around issues or look for alternatives.

For instance, Virtual PC, which worked well on 7, is no longer supported and cannot even be installed. Microsoft now uses 'Hyper-V', but that's only available for Windows 8.1. Pro-edition, and I have the regular 'Home' Edition. Just awful.

I tried Oracle's VirtualBox, only to find out, that, as I wanted to run Windows 98 SE as a guest operating system (emulation, in other words), the so-called 'Guest Additions', which offer indispensable monitor, mouse and sound tweaking (otherwise you're stuck with just 16 colours on your screen) cannot be installed for Windows 98! It took me ages to at least attempt to install it, changing administrator settings and copying files to and fro, mounting and unmounting devices, but all to no avail, because the documentation clearly states that these Additions, somehow, are unsuitable for 98. Again, I should have taken your word for it! wink

So I got VMware Player. Installation of the application and installation of Windows 98 inside the virtual machine worked perfectly.

I got no sound devices, however, so I downloaded the Creative Labs sound drivers from here, and installed them inside the virtual machine (copied them to rewritable DVD first):

https://communities.vmware.com/message/2272670
Direct link: http://ccftp.creative.com/manualdn/Drivers/Others/1843/SBPCI_WebDrvsV5_12_01.exe

Then I got sound that skipped and was out of sync with the video.

So I went to Control Panel -> Multimedia -> Audio -> Advanced -> Hardware Acceleration -> None.

(Also accessible by right-clicking Loudspeaker logo at bottom right of screen -> Audio properties.)

That way I got the old Timescape: Journey to Pompeii/Pompeii: The Legend of Vesuvius running perfectly again, just as a test.

More to come, hopefully!

Rich


Re: Windows 8 and Games [Re: Draclvr] #1025124
07/26/15 07:20 PM
07/26/15 07:20 PM
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Thank you so much, Rich! It will be interesting to see how Windows 10 does with games. I guess time and technology marches on. I keep my old XP computer handy for the older games, but I play them so seldom. I have been getting the urge to load up Shivers though!


Gardens put to bed. Time for more reading and gaming.
Re: Windows 8 and Games [Re: Draclvr] #1025127
07/26/15 07:36 PM
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Originally Posted By: Draclvr
Thank you so much, Rich! It will be interesting to see how Windows 10 does with games. I guess time and technology marches on. I keep my old XP computer handy for the older games, but I play them so seldom. I have been getting the urge to load up Shivers though!
My old desktop which ran XP got 'fried' though, so I decided to go for a radical update of hardware and software, which was long overdue anyway, also because XP is no longer supported, so I guess should only be run offline to rule out vulnerability.

As for Windows 10, my advice would be: no rush whatsoever! I think it's pretty ridiculous that you have to throw away fully operational applications and peripherals (like printers or scanners), just because a new operating system no longer supports its versions or drivers! Especially when its content is far more important than the technology it's embedded in, and there are no real alternatives. Of course, emulation might help, which is exactly what I'm trying out! wink

Best,

Rich

Re: Windows 8 and Games [Re: Draclvr] #1025128
07/26/15 07:36 PM
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Jenny said that she got Virtual PC running on Windows 8.1, but she went through a lot of hassles to get there.

Quote:
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.


Sounds like a headache and a half...

Re: Windows 8 and Games [Re: Marian] #1025131
07/26/15 07:40 PM
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Originally Posted By: Marian
I'm pretty sure that Jenny said that she got Virtual PC running on Windows 8.1, but she went through a lot of hassles to get there.

It's possible, of course, that I am misremembering.

I think I misread, because the triple negatives did me in!

Rich

Re: Windows 8 and Games [Re: RichAlexis] #1025147
07/26/15 09:28 PM
07/26/15 09:28 PM
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Originally Posted By: RichAlexis
Originally Posted By: Marian
I'm pretty sure that Jenny said that she got Virtual PC running on Windows 8.1, but she went through a lot of hassles to get there.

It's possible, of course, that I am misremembering.

I think I misread, because the triple negatives did me in!

Rich


Virtual PC can be installed under Windows 8.x - just rename the executable to something other than setup.exe (e.g. Mysetup.exe).

Re: Windows 8 and Games [Re: InlandAZ] #1025150
07/26/15 10:15 PM
07/26/15 10:15 PM
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Originally Posted By: InlandAZ
Virtual PC can be installed under Windows 8.x - just rename the executable to something other than setup.exe (e.g. Mysetup.exe).

Tried that. It installed, but crashed immediately when I tried to do anything with it. I had to install the Windows Phone and the update to get it to behave.

Re: Windows 8 and Games [Re: Jenny100] #1025273
07/27/15 02:15 PM
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Oh dear, it turns out VMware Player doesn't play other games I installed al all .....

Installation runs deceptively smoothly, but games like Odyssey, China, Egypt II and Aztec (DVD versions) immediately crash on start-up.

In all cases, I get 'DirectDraw invalid mode' (DDERR_INVALIDMODE) error messages, and some more investigation reveals VMware doesn't support Direct3D acceleration at all for a Windows 98 guest, only later systems - 2000 and XP!

This makes VMware as an emulator pretty much useless for playing adventure games of the late Nineties/early 2000s, I guess!

I think I need to return to Qemu again, a really cumbersome program to start off with, but where you can set and tweak all installation parameters individually and manually! And once I'd gotten all of these right on XP, I could play most of these games!

Rich

P.S. But first of all I need a rest sleep

Re: Windows 8 and Games [Re: RichAlexis] #1025877
07/30/15 12:22 PM
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After my little much-needed rest, some more VMware Player hints.

Another problem with playing vintage games on WMware Player is that they mostly have a fixed screen resolution of 800x600 pixels.

Though you can set the window running the guest system to any display size you want, when you start the game, it reverts to a small window of 800x600. You can set the VMware window to full screen mode, but then the game size will stay fixed, and you get huge black borders around your game screen.

See image for this anomaly.

In the free Player version, there is no facility to scale the screen (in VMware Workstation, there is a 'Stretch Guest' option), which means that every time you want to play the game, you have to set the display size of your (underlying) host system to 800x600!

There is, however, a program you can install to start VMware Player in a fixed, adjusted display of 800x600 by downloading the 12 Noon Display Changer 4.3.2.

From here: http://12noon.com/

If you follow the instructions found here:

https://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-16772

you can create another 'VMware Player Game shortcut' on your desktop and specify as its target (mind you, this is on a Windows 8.1 host):

Quote:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\12noon Display Changer\dc64.exe" -width=800 -height=600 -depth=32 "C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Player\vmplayer.exe"

The initial rescaling of your screen looks truly terrible, but that way, you can still enjoy your old games in a Windows 98 or XP virtual machine!

And of course, if you shut your guest session, your host display will revert to its normal state.

Best,

Rich

P.S. The problem remains of the lack of DirectDraw and Direct3D support in the Windows 98 guest.

Re: Windows 8 and Games [Re: Draclvr] #1031126
09/06/15 07:06 AM
09/06/15 07:06 AM
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I just has a new gaming computer built and I attempted to load my latest Tex Murphy game and surprise it mentioned that there were missing files and could not continue installation. I have Windows 8. I had no problems with this game with windows xp. If anyone using windows 8 has had good luck installing with windows 8 please tell me what to do.


carol
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Re: Windows 8 and Games [Re: Draclvr] #1031140
09/06/15 08:53 AM
09/06/15 08:53 AM
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Can you tell us what missing files it mentioned?


Gardens put to bed. Time for more reading and gaming.
Re: Windows 8 and Games [Re: Draclvr] #1031351
09/07/15 02:49 PM
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I will get back to you because I became so frustrated and disappointed I just stopped installation. Today is labor day and I want NO drama.


carol
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Re: Windows 8 and Games [Re: Draclvr] #1031438
09/08/15 06:16 AM
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I was so happy when I got my new custom built computer but the happiness was short lived when I began to install/reinstall my games. My guy would not install WXP as my o/s because xp was not supported as of July 2015 and Windows 8.1 was the wave of the future. I had bought Phantasmagoria at GOG a few months ago and wanted to install and play it on my new computer. It has three levels om install so I download part 1 and wanted to continue but oh no I got the following: The file could not be located in the installer folder. Please make sure that the file is in the correct folder or specify the current locationI found that the file in question is Binary file 813kb @ http://cdn.gog.com. That is important but I don't know what to do with it. Has anyone using 8.1 found this to be a problem or is it just me. I miss my old Windows XP


carol
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Re: Windows 8 and Games [Re: lexxy] #1031445
09/08/15 07:41 AM
09/08/15 07:41 AM
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Originally Posted By: lexxy
I had bought Phantasmagoria at GOG a few months ago and wanted to install and play it on my new computer. It has three levels om install so I download part 1 and wanted to continue but oh no I got the following: The file could not be located in the installer folder. Please make sure that the file is in the correct folder or specify the current locationI found that the file in question is Binary file 813kb @ http://cdn.gog.com.

I am not sure what you mean by "three levels" and I wonder if you've misunderstood what the files are. I don't have this particular game, but it sounds like there may be one exe file and 2 bin files for data.

You have to have all installation files downloaded in order to install.

You can't install the first file, then the second file, then the third. You need all three in order to install anything.

You may have had a similar problem with the Tex Murphy game.

Re: Windows 8 and Games [Re: Draclvr] #1031473
09/08/15 10:22 AM
09/08/15 10:22 AM
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I can't add anything to what Jenny said - you must have all three files downloaded and in the correct folder before you can install anything.

This has nothing to do with what Windows operating system you have. This is how GOG manages their game downloads. If you continue to have problem, you can always contact them for help.


Gardens put to bed. Time for more reading and gaming.
Re: Windows 8 and Games [Re: Draclvr] #1031480
09/08/15 10:35 AM
09/08/15 10:35 AM
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Are you using the GOG downloader to download the game?

Re: Windows 8 and Games [Re: Draclvr] #1031493
09/08/15 11:00 AM
09/08/15 11:00 AM
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Marian, I thought of that as soon as I posted earlier. If you use the GOG downloader, that will download all three parts into the correct folder and you don't have to do them individually.


Gardens put to bed. Time for more reading and gaming.
Re: Windows 8 and Games [Re: Draclvr] #1031495
09/08/15 11:03 AM
09/08/15 11:03 AM
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Originally Posted By: Draclvr
Marian, I thought of that as soon as I posted earlier. If you use the GOG downloader, that will download all three parts into the correct folder and you don't have to do them individually.


Right. The option to use the GOG downloader is a bit hidden now in menu choices, but we can direct lexxy to that option if needed.

Re: Windows 8 and Games [Re: Draclvr] #1031587
09/08/15 11:00 PM
09/08/15 11:00 PM
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I used the word level when I meant 1of2/3/4/5. I have attempted using galaxy and so far so good. It seems to be taking a long time to download but I am sure it will be worth it. Thanks everyone for your input.


carol
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Re: Windows 8 and Games [Re: Draclvr] #1031589
09/08/15 11:29 PM
09/08/15 11:29 PM
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Let us know how it works out!


Gardens put to bed. Time for more reading and gaming.
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