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First post, by IMeganElisabeth

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I remember someone telling me I could try installing the game in a VM and then try moving the installed game to my Windows 10 OS since I know it will run, it’s just the installation getting in the way. When I click on the .exe it just notifies me I need to install the game first. I was wanting to know how I might attempt trying this? What folders/files would I need to copy out of my VM to my host machine for my machine to recognize is as an installed game? When I looked the only differences I noticed being added after installation in my VM was a folder within Windows with a registry .ini and a folder with 3 icons and a saved games folder within documents I believe. There obviously has to be more than that though. What else does the installed game add/change that I would need to copy over? Is there any way to find out exactly what the game places in registry and other places after installation?

ETA: So, I found a program that will snapshot the differences in the registry and documents for changes before and after an install. Besides registry, .ini files, and text documents is there anywhere else I need to check that a game’s installation adds to?

Reply 1 of 13, by dr_st

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Probably not.

There is the registry, and there are files on the disk. Theoretically, an installer can add any file at any arbitrary place, and the game executable will be looking for it. So you should search for changes across the entire drive. Typically, it will be either in the game installation directory, the user directory and/or the Windows directory.

https://cloakedthargoid.wordpress.com/ - Random content on hardware, software, games and toys

Reply 2 of 13, by IMeganElisabeth

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dr_st wrote:

Probably not.

There is the registry, and there are files on the disk. Theoretically, an installer can add any file at any arbitrary place, and the game executable will be looking for it. So you should search for changes across the entire drive. Typically, it will be either in the game installation directory, the user directory and/or the Windows directory.

Thank you very very much. Hopefully this program will allow the changes shown on an entire drive.

Reply 3 of 13, by Agathosdaimon

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have you tried installing the game just with a 32bit installer (typically an installshield installer)? you probably have tried it already but i will just repeat here in any case : copy contents of the game cd over to a folder on your own drive and stick the 32bit installer exe in that folder and run it , it just do the trick! - it doesnt always work and sometimes it needs to go in a different game folder, but try it if you havent already 😀

as for the installer you can get it here
https://community.pcgamingwiki.com/files/file … eric-installer/

what is the game you want to install btw - i am curious, but you dont have to say if you wish not to

Reply 4 of 13, by IMeganElisabeth

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Agathosdaimon wrote:
have you tried installing the game just with a 32bit installer (typically an installshield installer)? you probably have tried i […]
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have you tried installing the game just with a 32bit installer (typically an installshield installer)? you probably have tried it already but i will just repeat here in any case : copy contents of the game cd over to a folder on your own drive and stick the 32bit installer exe in that folder and run it , it just do the trick! - it doesnt always work and sometimes it needs to go in a different game folder, but try it if you havent already 😀

as for the installer you can get it here
https://community.pcgamingwiki.com/files/file … eric-installer/

what is the game you want to install btw - i am curious, but you dont have to say if you wish not to

I had no idea something like this even existed. This is really nice. Especially for future! Thank young SO much. I’m almost positive it doesn’t use installshield. I can’t figure out what it uses.. Im pretty sure I didn’t see any _inst32i.ex_ or ACMSETUP.exe so I’m thinking it’s a proprietary setup unfortunately. Maybe you could look into it and tell me what you think though? I suppose I could just try and find out? Couldn’t hurt and would save a lot of time and effort from transferring all of the registry’s and stuff. The registry’s and other files/folders I’m good with copying. However, where I get a little worried is messing with the logs and .ini’s as I think it has potential to not include or mess around with stuff my 64 bit Windows 10 needs that the 32 bit Windows XP I’m able to install in doesn’t. So I’m testing it in my Vista VM. I’m hoping maybe it won’t even need the altered logs/.ini’s to recognize installation and verify through Registry Keys and the other files/folders.

It is the very first PC game I remember playing on my first computer. Lol It’s called “Madeline: European Adventures”.

Last edited by IMeganElisabeth on 2018-04-11, 01:12. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 5 of 13, by Agathosdaimon

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thanks for your reply - the method i mentioned here does definitely work for some games, i have used it to get quite few old windows 95/98 games working on windows 10 (though often some other further programs and tweaks are needed too )

i see it was from 1996 - was it made for windows 95? windows 3.1 or does it still have a dos install option? I dont have the game myself, - in order to help you further i will just see if i can find a copy of it online just to see how it works, there are lots of ways to get old games working still

Reply 6 of 13, by IMeganElisabeth

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Agathosdaimon wrote:

thanks for your reply - the method i mentioned here does definitely work for some games, i have used it to get quite few old windows 95/98 games working on windows 10 (though often some other further programs and tweaks are needed too )

i see it was from 1996 - was it made for windows 95? windows 3.1 or does it still have a dos install option? I dont have the game myself, - in order to help you further i will just see if i can find a copy of it online just to see how it works, there are lots of ways to get old games working still

I edited my post to add more so just copying it here in case you didn’t see it. The registry’s and other files/folders I’m good with copying. However, where I get a little worried is messing with the logs and .ini’s as I think it has potential to not include or mess around with stuff my 64 bit Windows 10 needs that the 32 bit Windows XP I’m able to install in doesn’t. So I’m testing it in my Vista VM. I’m hoping maybe it won’t even need the altered logs/.ini’s to recognize installation and verify through Registry Keys and the other files/folders. Do you think the game will need all of the logs and changed .ini’s?

Yes, it was made for Windows 95. Compatibility says for 95/98. It also works with XP. Thank you so so much I know it is online. I greatly appreciate your help so much.

Reply 7 of 13, by IMeganElisabeth

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Agathosdaimon wrote:

thanks for your reply - the method i mentioned here does definitely work for some games, i have used it to get quite few old windows 95/98 games working on windows 10 (though often some other further programs and tweaks are needed too )

i see it was from 1996 - was it made for windows 95? windows 3.1 or does it still have a dos install option? I dont have the game myself, - in order to help you further i will just see if i can find a copy of it online just to see how it works, there are lots of ways to get old games working still

I’ve made another post too with more details. Copying System Files & Registry Keys with VirtualBox

Reply 8 of 13, by Agathosdaimon

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okay i have tried to see if i could install the game with alternative setup.exe files but its a no go - even when put the setup32.exe into different install folders for the game, it is the same come error message that _setup.dll and _ires.dll (or something like that, i have deleted it all now) are needed - so i think a virtual system is going to be the only way to go - so you were able to install it in an XP virtual system and does it work there?

Reply 9 of 13, by IMeganElisabeth

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Agathosdaimon wrote:

okay i have tried to see if i could install the game with alternative setup.exe files but its a no go - even when put the setup32.exe into different install folders for the game, it is the same come error message that _setup.dll and _ires.dll (or something like that, i have deleted it all now) are needed - so i think a virtual system is going to be the only way to go - so you were able to install it in an XP virtual system and does it work there?

Thank you so much for taking the time to try that for me! Yes I am. Thankfully. Am just trying to get it to work with an application that requires Vista+.

Reply 10 of 13, by Agathosdaimon

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oh i see, well that could be difficult..... but there is one last idea that comes to mind and i have seen it done and there are instructions online how to do it, but i havent done it myself and that is to install windows 95 through dosbox, which is of course a emulator for dos, but which you can install things through too and they will stay confined to the folder that you make to be the emulated "c drive" for it. I have installed Windows 3.1 through dosbox, but windows 95 can be done as well - there is an ebay seller Allvideo, who sells old games with complementary install disks that often have this exact setup going

so if you have a copy of windows 95 on cdrom or something and have the time to read up on how to install it into dosbox, that may create the environment for you to install it there, and then as a dosbox install it is very portable and can just plonk it all into vista and run it in vista as i am sure dosbox runs in vista too!

this site is dedicated to instructing users on how to install windows 95 into dosbox

http://dosbox95.darktraveler.com/index.html

Reply 11 of 13, by IMeganElisabeth

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Agathosdaimon wrote:
oh i see, well that could be difficult..... but there is one last idea that comes to mind and i have seen it done and there are […]
Show full quote

oh i see, well that could be difficult..... but there is one last idea that comes to mind and i have seen it done and there are instructions online how to do it, but i havent done it myself and that is to install windows 95 through dosbox, which is of course a emulator for dos, but which you can install things through too and they will stay confined to the folder that you make to be the emulated "c drive" for it. I have installed Windows 3.1 through dosbox, but windows 95 can be done as well - there is an ebay seller Allvideo, who sells old games with complementary install disks that often have this exact setup going

so if you have a copy of windows 95 on cdrom or something and have the time to read up on how to install it into dosbox, that may create the environment for you to install it there, and then as a dosbox install it is very portable and can just plonk it all into vista and run it in vista as i am sure dosbox runs in vista too!

this site is dedicated to instructing users on how to install windows 95 into dosbox

http://dosbox95.darktraveler.com/index.html

Thank you very much for that suggestion! First though I think I’m going to try dragging and dropping all of the log changes seen with the installation including registry keys to my host system all within a folder and then dragging and dropping it into my Vista VM and copying the files to the appropriate places and adding to registry. Hoping it works.