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First post, by Hazekel

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Okay, I know the game got low reviews (mainly for its poor programing and crashes), but I thought the game was quite good. I got it running on my old Windows 7 machine (64 bit) but cannot get it to work on my new Windows 7 (64 bit) machine. The problem right now is that it is open under "processes" but not running. It simply won't start even though Windows shows it under "processes."

What I have tried so far :

All compatibility settings.
Setting it for single core only.
Used the existing patches I am aware of (only one official patch).
Installed it with the LegacySetupP1
Ran the "LDT" diagnostic tool which reads :

"Check installation:
entitis\videotex\videotex_64_64.tga
End installation test"

Please help if you can. I know it will work on Windows 7 because it worked on my old machine. It was killer to get running, but never crashed once I did. I like the game and consider it underrated because of dated graphics and the programing (crashes) issues.

David

Reply 2 of 19, by ZellSF

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Hazekel wrote:

Please help if you can. I know it will work on Windows 7 because it worked on my old machine.

I have no idea how you expect us to help you, you haven't provided any information about the differences between your old and new machine.

The output from the diagnostic tool is normal, so ignore that. Like you should ignore everything but finding out what's different between your old and new machine.

Reply 3 of 19, by Hazekel

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Well, I am using the same video card (Radeon R7 370) although I did upgrade to this card on my old machine and can't swear I played it on this card. My new computer is a 4ghz octocore.

The thing is I remember the game ran in processes before I finally got it to work, I just don't remember HOW I got it to work. If I get it working this time I will write down step by step instructions.

Reply 6 of 19, by ZellSF

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It's not a core affinity problem. You install the game and it plays perfectly out of the box. I've tried, on a quad core (and I doubt this game was any more made for a quad core than an octo core).

The only difference in what information Hazekel has given me and my computer is that he has an AMD and I have an Nvidia. Since he has a DX12 GPU he can easily eliminate this variable by using dgVoodoo2 as a render.

If that's not the problem, the problem is with his configuration specifically and given that he's given us zero details about it, we really cannot help him effectively.

Hazekel: You said you've upgraded the processor? Just the processor? No motherboard upgrade (different sound card)? No Windows reinstall, perhaps with different third party software?

Have you eliminated any software incompatibility problem by disabling all non-Microsoft programs and services from services and startup in msconfig?

Also, let's examine another thing, I said earlier that the game works out of the box, have you tried this? No patched setup program, no patches, no compatibility settings, no core affinity settings?

More things to check: does the event log (run eventvwr.msc, go to custom views then administrative events) log anything when this happens?

Reply 7 of 19, by Hazekel

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Just tried dgVoodoo2. No difference. It is still running under processes only.

Full specs on my computer are as follows:
Motherboard : Asus 970 Pro AURO (NEW)
Processor : AMD FX 8370 4 ghx Octocore (NEW)
Video Card : Radeon R7 370 (Old - replaced a Radeon HD 5450)
Memory : 32 GB
Soundcard : Realtek HD Integrated in motherboard

The only non-eseential programs running in my startup is my anti-virus (I disabled it when tested Legacy) and Java.

Is eventvwr.msc a third party program, I do not see it in Legacy folder anywhere?

I will give try a fresh install and some other things.

{Edit} Tried the fresh install and it still has the same problem. Then tried the update patch. No difference. Then tried the dgVoodoo2. No difference. Tried GlideX, etc. No difference.

Then I tried Windows 2000 compatibility mode and it appeared to do nothing, but after about 5 minutes I got an error message reading

"legacy cannot find api-ms-win-core-libraryloader-l1-2-0.dll" or something like that. THEN it started except that the screen was messed up and I was unable to play. I have since been unable to duplicate this! Whenever I try the same thing it doesn't work. I downloaded the said file from the internet and put it in the game folder, but no difference!

Thanks.

Reply 8 of 19, by Hazekel

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Newest update.

After playing around for a while I basically quit only to find the program starting after five minutes. Unfortunately, the Main Screen has BAD double images. There are like two NEW GAME buttons and two QUIT buttons, etc. I can start the game by playing around with the mouse and figuring out where the magic button is hidden, but when I exit the game it crashes. So we are ALMOST there, but not quite. I need to figure out :

1. Why does it take five minutes to start the game (this always occurs).
2. How can I get the screen to fit normally? I have tried messing with the settings in the dgVoodooSetup but to no avail.

I have the following DLLs in the game folder at the present.

api-ms-win-core-libraryloader-l1-2-0.dll
D3D8.dll
D3DCompiler_43.dll
D3DCompiler_47.dll
D3DImm.dll
d3drm.dll
DDraw.dll
Glide.dll
Glide2x.dll
Glide3x.dll
binkw32.dll (came with the game)

Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

Reply 9 of 19, by skitters

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Hazekel wrote:

1. Why does it take five minutes to start the game (this always occurs).

You mentioned antivirus in an earlier post. Maybe the antivirus is scanning everything the game is trying to do before it allows it. Can you add the game .exe to the antivirus' exclusions list?

Reply 10 of 19, by Jorpho

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Hazekel wrote:

Is eventvwr.msc a third party program, I do not see it in Legacy folder anywhere?

It is a Windows component. You can also get to it via Control Panel->Administrative Tools->Event Viewer.

Reply 11 of 19, by Hazekel

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skitters wrote:
Hazekel wrote:

1. Why does it take five minutes to start the game (this always occurs).

You mentioned antivirus in an earlier post. Maybe the antivirus is scanning everything the game is trying to do before it allows it. Can you add the game .exe to the antivirus' exclusions list?

I did that and even turned off the anti-virus. Same with the Firewall. Neither seem to be the issue.

Reply 12 of 19, by ZellSF

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Hazekel wrote:
Newest update. […]
Show full quote

Newest update.

After playing around for a while I basically quit only to find the program starting after five minutes. Unfortunately, the Main Screen has BAD double images. There are like two NEW GAME buttons and two QUIT buttons, etc. I can start the game by playing around with the mouse and figuring out where the magic button is hidden, but when I exit the game it crashes. So we are ALMOST there, but not quite. I need to figure out :

1. Why does it take five minutes to start the game (this always occurs).
2. How can I get the screen to fit normally? I have tried messing with the settings in the dgVoodooSetup but to no avail.

I have the following DLLs in the game folder at the present.

api-ms-win-core-libraryloader-l1-2-0.dll
D3D8.dll
D3DCompiler_43.dll
D3DCompiler_47.dll
D3DImm.dll
d3drm.dll
DDraw.dll
Glide.dll
Glide2x.dll
Glide3x.dll
binkw32.dll (came with the game)

Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

Personally I wouldn't care about the menu issue (I get it too, but really easy to deal with) or the crashing at exit issue, neither really hinder the playability of the game.

Remove:
-
api-ms-win-core-libraryloader-l1-2-0.dll
D3DCompiler_43.dll
D3DCompiler_47.dll
d3drm.dll
Glide.dll
Glide2x.dll
Glide3x.dll
-
From your game directory, none of them should be needed (and the top three may create problems) and you should update DirectX:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35

Reply 13 of 19, by Hazekel

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ZellSF wrote:
Remove: - api-ms-win-core-libraryloader-l1-2-0.dll D3DCompiler_43.dll D3DCompiler_47.dll d3drm.dll Glide.dll Glide2x.dll Glide3x […]
Show full quote

Remove:
-
api-ms-win-core-libraryloader-l1-2-0.dll
D3DCompiler_43.dll
D3DCompiler_47.dll
d3drm.dll
Glide.dll
Glide2x.dll
Glide3x.dll

Removed all but api-ms-win-core-libraryloader-l1-2-0.dll For some reason I get an error message specifically asking for the dll, which is why I put it there. I no longer get the error message.

The result is the same. The start time is actually 3 minutes (I timed it). Strange. I agree it is basically playable (although the save menu is very confusing with the image problem), but I would like to get the 3 minute lag gone. Any other ideas?

Thanks for the help.

Reply 15 of 19, by ZellSF

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Hazekel wrote:

Removed all but api-ms-win-core-libraryloader-l1-2-0.dll For some reason I get an error message specifically asking for the dll, which is why I put it there. I no longer get the error message.

That's because you were using a D3DCompiler for a different version of DirectX or Windows (dege might have made a small mistake in distributing them like that). It shouldn't be needed if you're removed both D3DCompiler files and updated DirectX.

Now I don't think that's why the game is slow to start, but it could be and ruling it out wouldn't hurt.

Reply 17 of 19, by Jorpho

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Well, if you really want to see what it's doing, usually my first step would be to get Process Explorer from Sysinternals. Perhaps it is trying to search the entire registry for some strange reason.

I assume you've also tried the other compatibility modes at this point.

Reply 18 of 19, by Hazekel

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ZellSF wrote:

Personally I wouldn't care about the menu issue (I get it too, but really easy to deal with) or the crashing at exit issue, neither really hinder the playability of the game.

Well, the only playability problem I am getting is that the save menu only allows me to save a new slot (not record over old ones - at least that I can see) so eventually I wind up with so many save games that I cannot see to scroll down to the latest one. That makes it unplayable at some point later in the game.

Do you know how to get around this? Manually delete old Saves or how to scroll to the latest save without actually seeing the button?

Reply 19 of 19, by Hazekel

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I know it has been three years, but that is why I wanted to ask if anyone else has found a solution to this problem? The game runs in processes for a few minutes before attempting to start, and then crashes.

Full specs on my computer are as follows:
Motherboard : Asus 970 Pro AURO (NEW)
Processor : AMD FX 8370 4 ghx Octocore (NEW)
Video Card : Radeon RX 580
Memory : 32 GB
Soundcard : Realtek HD Integrated in motherboard

I have thought about running it in a Windows 95 emulator, but alas, there is none that works right for me.