Ask in Software. Qbix added several new forums specifically for the retro hardware related stuff. This forum is for games in *modern* systems.

Windows ME doesn't count as modern?

Probably better for this thread to be moved to Marvin Software.

To be clear, does the game work again if you reboot? Or do you have to reinstall?

Reboot, reinstall, none of that affects this bug. The game still hangs at the MECC logo screen.

Not sure if it's relevant, but when the MECC logo window appears, there is no window in the task bar, that only happens after the MECC logo and the actual game starts up. If only there was a way to skip the MECC logo...

*moved*

Modern is like supported by microsoft

notsofossil wrote:

Reboot, reinstall, none of that affects this bug.

So, you're saying you'd have to re-install Windows in order to duplicate the issue? Can you duplicate the issue in Windows 3.1 (i.e. in DOSBox or PCem) ?

You are using a legitimate copy of the the game, right? Otherwise, maybe it's some strange anti-piracy measure.

The website says it's a hybrid CD (Windows and Mac).
Do you have software on your computer that allows it to read Mac file formats?
I remember reading a post from someone who couldn't play a game on a hybrid CD, and it turned out to be because he was using software that allowed his Windows computer to read Mac file formats. The computer was seeing all this extra stuff on the hybrid game CD and got confused trying to play the game.

Yeah, most likely the only fix is a re-install. At this time I don't know if KernelEx is causing the problem. I could test on vanilla WinME. I don't have a Windows 3.1 system, would take some time to set one up in DOSBox, which I almost never use.

Yes I'm using a real copy of Amazon Trail, I install it off the original CD. If I could find my Yukon Trail disc, I could try that to see if the bug exists there too. I also have Oregon Trail, some sort of re-release from the same product line as Amazon and Yukon.

My Windows ME laptop doesn't have any Mac-centric software installed on it. It just has the Windows ME unofficial service pack and KernelEx 4.5.2 (plus games and other programs).

Have you tried uninstalling and re-installing just Amazon Trail? Or even running the installer a second time?

Also, have you tried emptying the Windows Temp directory?

Yes I've tried uninstall and re-install, game still locks up.

No I haven't tried emptying the Temp folder. I'll test again.

I tried out Amazon Trail on my AMD K6-2-based desktop PC, it was already installed and it works good. This PC runs at 400MHz (as opposed to 1.7GHz Pentium M), Windows 98SE (instead of ME), no KernelEx (installed on WinME). Is it possible this game is speed sensitive? Has anyone else ever tried running this game on an overpowered Win9x system?

notsofossil wrote:

Is it possible this game is speed sensitive? Has anyone else ever tried running this game on an overpowered Win9x system?

You already got it running once. If it happens to be just a little bit speed sensitive, then maybe you were running something unusually intensive in the background the first time you ran it. (Or you were just lucky.)

If that's the case, any slowdown program should do.

I found my Yukon Trail CD, tried installing that. It worked ok until I restarted Windows ME, now it does the same thing as Amazon Trail. I should really try this on a WinME system with no KernelEx and see if that makes any difference.

I tried Amazon and Yukon on a Pentium 4-M laptop running Windows 98SE, uSP2 and KernelEx 4.5 Final. Both games work fine, even after a reboot.

Perhaps there's something Microsoft changed in Windows ME that breaks Win3.1 compatibility?

notsofossil wrote:

Perhaps there's something Microsoft changed in Windows ME that breaks Win3.1 compatibility?

It still remains that the games run correctly the first time.

I tried to look up a video and found https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpGigpKE03A . I think it is very significant that at the end of the MECC logo screen, the "Licensed To:" text appears. This strongly suggests some kind of copy protection measure. Did you see this "Licensed To:" text the first time you started the games?

Have you checked your Upperfilters and Lowerfilters registry keys in Windows ME? (Google should tell you how to do that.) Sometimes those have been known to cause unexpected problems with CDs. It also might be worth installing Daemon Tools and seeing if it works any better that way.

If all else fails there is probably some kind of CD crack out there that will solve the problem.