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Win 98 SE USP 3.57 and DLLs missing exports

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First post, by PoulpSquad

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Here is an issue for you users of Windows 98 SE out there.

I'm trying to install a couple of games on Windows 98 SE with the unofficial Service Pack 3.57 installed, and I'm having some issues
with dlls.

For example, Dark Reign and MDK2 will show this error message:

"IMAGEHLP.DLL file is linked to missing export MSVCRT.DLL??_U@YAPAXI@Z."

After inspecting this IMAGEHLP.DLL file in C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM, it appears it comes from Windows XP.
Replacing this file with IMAGEHLP.DLL from Windows ME fixes the problem.

SimCity 3000 Unlimited will complain about MSVCP60.DLL and MSVCRT.DLL. Replacing these in WINDOWS\SYSTEM with the ones provided with the game fixes the issue.

The workaround isn't very satisfying, as it involves downgrading components after installing USP.
Besides, some of these files are locked (in use by Windows) and require booting in DOS mode to overwrite them.
Also, I'm not sure if replacing these files will not break something else somewhere.

I was wondering if there was a solution to force any giver game to use the dlls present in their installation directory, and only those.
I thought something in the line of a batch file that would register the required dlls for a specific game, run the game, and register USP dlls back.

Is there a better way of doing this? Please share your ideas!

Reply 1 of 2, by DosFreak

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It's possible that whoever put together the USP package was using a newer ver of MSVCRT for testing or mabye you overwrote it with an older ver

According to this v7 is included but I've only been able to use msvcrt v6 with 9x....of course I haven't modified msvcrt.dll so the v7 are likely modified.
http://www.htasoft.com/u98sesp/

So check the ver of msvcrt.dll if less than v7 or the link from below then that's likely the issue.

MSVCRT v6 from Q932590.zip appears to work fine in 9x from my testing with the programs I use but unknown what the dlls in USP require.
Post 629451

MSFN is likely the best place to ask for help for issues like these since that's where the people that use these packages hang out.

How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
Make your games work offline

Reply 2 of 2, by PoulpSquad

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Thank you for your reply DosFreak,

DosFreak wrote:
It's possible that whoever put together the USP package was using a newer ver of MSVCRT for testing or mabye you overwrote it wi […]
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It's possible that whoever put together the USP package was using a newer ver of MSVCRT for testing or mabye you overwrote it with an older ver

According to this v7 is included but I've only been able to use msvcrt v6 with 9x....of course I haven't modified msvcrt.dll so the v7 are likely modified.
http://www.htasoft.com/u98sesp/

So check the ver of msvcrt.dll if less than v7 or the link from below then that's likely the issue.

MSVCRT.DLL v7.00.9981.0 is present. I have to overwrite it with the one installed by the game.

DosFreak wrote:

MSVCRT v6 from Q932590.zip appears to work fine in 9x from my testing with the programs I use but unknown what the dlls in USP require.
Post 629451

Thank you for the link!
You are suggesting that I replace newer dlls with older ones. That works for the few games that have issues.

Nonetheless, I'd rather keep the files installed by USP and find a way to force programs to use the dlls in their install directories.

I'll test later today if I can manage to run games from a batch that would take care of registering older dlls/running a game/registering newer dlls.
I expect issues if other programs are running in the background though.

DosFreak wrote:

MSFN is likely the best place to ask for help for issues like these since that's where the people that use these packages hang out.

I agree; I posted a cry for help here https://www.techtalk.cc/viewtopic.php?t=65 and I'll probably follow your recommendation and also post on MSFN.

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