Additionally, applying an Application Compatibility Toolkit "NoGDIHWAcceleration" fix on them will give you back higher frame rates.

Oh yeah, and the games might still be a bit crash-happy loading or exiting races :-p

Adding Win98 compatibility helps: Jetboat Superchamps 1 and SuperChix 76 crash a LOT without this.

Hot Chix has a different bug, after the countdown at the start of the race, your car is thrown to a distant part of the track and the game stops responding (though sounds continue). This might require more work...

Update: I found an older version of Hot Chix that works (on FilePlanet), but that uses a different registration program name (as it's the Fiendish Games original version). The registration program has a different name, but probably still resides in the same SysWOW64 path...

However the graphics (by comparison to the final Small Rockets version) look dreadful. More to check on this one.

Good detective work 😀

Update: if you're running the older Fiendish Games versions, the .exe to set Win98 mode on is in C:\Windows\SysWOW64\fgkey10.exe instead.

So yeah; the Small Rockets version of Hot Chix has better textures, but the car stops at the start of the race (unless you do time trials only). The Fiendish Games version works fine, but all the textures are on minimum quality; I think it requires an older DIrectX version (as the frontend.exe which you don't need to run complains about not having DirectX6 unless you use compatibility mode of Win98 on it).

So, consider it unsolved for now... can't seem to find a version in between the original chix-demo-v01.exe (Fiendish version) and the later sr-chix-demo-v01.exe (Small Rockets version).

Did Jetboat Superchamps 2 work for you? I get the error "The video card present in your machine is insufficient to run this game".

Yeah it worked for me, Win98 compatibility mode. But these games were given away for being generally flaky...

VirtuaIceMan wrote:

A long time ago, Small Rockets gave away the complete set of games that were developed for them by Russian company Driver-Inter […]
Show full quote

A long time ago, Small Rockets gave away the complete set of games that were developed for them by Russian company Driver-Inter (http://www.d-inter.ru/games/), as they were no longer guaranteed to work on Windows XP or newer. Ironically they seem to work well on Windows 7 and above!

The installers may still be found from the archived website here: https://web.archive.org/web/20110716093152/ht … eneral/free.htm but the registration system to access the license code generator is now dead, so you'll need to find an alternative to generate codes for you, there might be something out there, I haven't searched to find out...

However, I found that the license code unlocker would not work, so the games were stuck in demo mode on my 64bit Win8.1 machine. Using Process Monitor I dug around, to discover where the codes were being saved, and it turns out that on 64bit machines (at least) it tries writing them by default into a virtual machine area, which the game can then no longer find, so they're never unlocked.

There's a very easy fix, as follows:
1. Install the game/s of your choice (this may also work for the older ones, branded as Fiendish Games, but I didn't try them!)
2. Go to this path: C:\Windows\SysWOW64\ and find the file called srkey.exe
3. Right-click srkey.exe and set it's Compatibility Mode to Win98 (I expect Win95 will work too)
4. Register each game and you should be fine!

Note: If you don't have shortcuts to the license code unlocker for each game, then simply go into the game's install folder, then the "minisite" sub-folder and double-click license.srk, enter your name/unlock code, and submit it.

NOTE: Kayak Extreme has a couple of other issues: you need to apply Win98 or Win95 compatibility mode to it, and disable the "Water Foam" option in-game, or it won't work. The water foam crash might be an Nvidia only issue, or something else.

So, I checked and there's no such thing as a licence code generator for this game anywhere. The only thing that comes up is one of those fake download sites that pick up whatever term you say and place that on top of a fake download site. Do you have any ideas in regards to what I can do? This game is a decent part of childhood and I'd love to get it up and running again.

AntimatterTheFallen wrote:

VirtuaIceMan wrote:

A long time ago, Small Rockets gave away the complete set of games that were developed for them by Russian company Driver-Inter […]
Show full quote

A long time ago, Small Rockets gave away the complete set of games that were developed for them by Russian company Driver-Inter (http://www.d-inter.ru/games/), as they were no longer guaranteed to work on Windows XP or newer. Ironically they seem to work well on Windows 7 and above!

The installers may still be found from the archived website here: https://web.archive.org/web/20110716093152/ht … eneral/free.htm but the registration system to access the license code generator is now dead, so you'll need to find an alternative to generate codes for you, there might be something out there, I haven't searched to find out...

However, I found that the license code unlocker would not work, so the games were stuck in demo mode on my 64bit Win8.1 machine. Using Process Monitor I dug around, to discover where the codes were being saved, and it turns out that on 64bit machines (at least) it tries writing them by default into a virtual machine area, which the game can then no longer find, so they're never unlocked.

There's a very easy fix, as follows:
1. Install the game/s of your choice (this may also work for the older ones, branded as Fiendish Games, but I didn't try them!)
2. Go to this path: C:\Windows\SysWOW64\ and find the file called srkey.exe
3. Right-click srkey.exe and set it's Compatibility Mode to Win98 (I expect Win95 will work too)
4. Register each game and you should be fine!

Note: If you don't have shortcuts to the license code unlocker for each game, then simply go into the game's install folder, then the "minisite" sub-folder and double-click license.srk, enter your name/unlock code, and submit it.

NOTE: Kayak Extreme has a couple of other issues: you need to apply Win98 or Win95 compatibility mode to it, and disable the "Water Foam" option in-game, or it won't work. The water foam crash might be an Nvidia only issue, or something else.

So, I checked and there's no such thing as a licence code generator for this game anywhere. The only thing that comes up is one of those fake download sites that pick up whatever term you say and place that on top of a fake download site. Do you have any ideas in regards to what I can do? This game is a decent part of childhood and I'd love to get it up and running again.

Since the company gave away licenses for free at the end of their existence: https://web.archive.org/web/20110716093152/ht … eneral/free.htm

I think sharing a license for those who have lost their own is just fair. I have found this license through google.
To redeem the license, you have to go to the minisite folder in the installation directory and then doubleclick license.srk file.
Then insert these details to get the full version:
Name: Ray Bengen
Code: S-2J5Z-DPMC-ELHS

Edit: If entering the key did not remove the demo in the game, you have to go to C:\Windows\SysWow64 fodler and set compatibility mode of srkey.exe to Windows 98 - and at best also enable admin priviledges. Afterwards doubleclick the license.srk file again, the windows will look slightly different and you have to re-enter the key.

I found the driving games that get stuck at the start of the race can be fixed by running 60hz

janmm14 wrote:

Since the company gave away licenses for free at the end of their existence: https://web.archive.org/web/20110716093152/ht … ene […]
Show full quote

AntimatterTheFallen wrote:

VirtuaIceMan wrote:

A long time ago, Small Rockets gave away the complete set of games that were developed for them by Russian company Driver-Inter […]
Show full quote

A long time ago, Small Rockets gave away the complete set of games that were developed for them by Russian company Driver-Inter (http://www.d-inter.ru/games/), as they were no longer guaranteed to work on Windows XP or newer. Ironically they seem to work well on Windows 7 and above!

The installers may still be found from the archived website here: https://web.archive.org/web/20110716093152/ht … eneral/free.htm but the registration system to access the license code generator is now dead, so you'll need to find an alternative to generate codes for you, there might be something out there, I haven't searched to find out...

However, I found that the license code unlocker would not work, so the games were stuck in demo mode on my 64bit Win8.1 machine. Using Process Monitor I dug around, to discover where the codes were being saved, and it turns out that on 64bit machines (at least) it tries writing them by default into a virtual machine area, which the game can then no longer find, so they're never unlocked.

There's a very easy fix, as follows:
1. Install the game/s of your choice (this may also work for the older ones, branded as Fiendish Games, but I didn't try them!)
2. Go to this path: C:\Windows\SysWOW64\ and find the file called srkey.exe
3. Right-click srkey.exe and set it's Compatibility Mode to Win98 (I expect Win95 will work too)
4. Register each game and you should be fine!

Note: If you don't have shortcuts to the license code unlocker for each game, then simply go into the game's install folder, then the "minisite" sub-folder and double-click license.srk, enter your name/unlock code, and submit it.

NOTE: Kayak Extreme has a couple of other issues: you need to apply Win98 or Win95 compatibility mode to it, and disable the "Water Foam" option in-game, or it won't work. The water foam crash might be an Nvidia only issue, or something else.

So, I checked and there's no such thing as a licence code generator for this game anywhere. The only thing that comes up is one of those fake download sites that pick up whatever term you say and place that on top of a fake download site. Do you have any ideas in regards to what I can do? This game is a decent part of childhood and I'd love to get it up and running again.

Since the company gave away licenses for free at the end of their existence: https://web.archive.org/web/20110716093152/ht … eneral/free.htm

I think sharing a license for those who have lost their own is just fair. I have found this license through google.
To redeem the license, you have to go to the minisite folder in the installation directory and then doubleclick license.srk file.
Then insert these details to get the full version:
Name: Ray Bengen
Code: S-2J5Z-DPMC-ELHS

Thank you very much. That worked perfectly. However, I'm unable to get the game running. I've followed the directions on Setting the compatiblilty mode on Windows 98 for the Srkey.exe and even tried setting the compatibility mode on the main EXE for Jetboat Superchamps 2. I'm running windows 10 (which might be the problem) but I was wondering what possible solutions there is.

AntimatterTheFallen wrote:

janmm14 wrote:

Since the company gave away licenses for free at the end of their existence: https://web.archive.org/web/20110716093152/ht … ene […]
Show full quote

AntimatterTheFallen wrote:

So, I checked and there's no such thing as a licence code generator for this game anywhere. The only thing that comes up is one of those fake download sites that pick up whatever term you say and place that on top of a fake download site. Do you have any ideas in regards to what I can do? This game is a decent part of childhood and I'd love to get it up and running again.

Since the company gave away licenses for free at the end of their existence: https://web.archive.org/web/20110716093152/ht … eneral/free.htm

I think sharing a license for those who have lost their own is just fair. I have found this license through google.
To redeem the license, you have to go to the minisite folder in the installation directory and then doubleclick license.srk file.
Then insert these details to get the full version:
Name: Ray Bengen
Code: S-2J5Z-DPMC-ELHS

Thank you very much. That worked perfectly. However, I'm unable to get the game running. I've followed the directions on Setting the compatiblilty mode on Windows 98 for the Srkey.exe and even tried setting the compatibility mode on the main EXE for Jetboat Superchamps 2. I'm running windows 10 (which might be the problem) but I was wondering what possible solutions there is.

You can run the game with the help of the program DXWnd.
Download it here: https://sourceforge.net/projects/dxwnd/

After you downloaded it, extract the rar file (for example with 7zip), open dxwnd.exe and click File -> Import, navigate to the extracted directory, go into exports directory and select Jetboat Superchamps 2.

Right click on the created icon, select "Modify" and change the path to your Jbs2.exe location.

If you want to increase the window position and size of the game, you can do it in the modify window at the bottom. However you might have to switch to the "Video" tab, "select "locked size" and tick "initial resolution" where you also enter your desired resolution again.

The notes show:
Needs early hooking + "Hook dinput" + "Skip HID device type" to avoid a crash at startup.

But this should be set up correctly already by importing.

Otherwise, if hte game still does not run for you, you can find alternative patched exe files in this thread (no need to replace the original exe, just place it in the same folder and change exe in dxwnd modify menu): https://sourceforge.net/p/dxwnd/discussion/ge … c70cab868/#662d

It works great. Thank you so much for your assistance!

I see discussion on that sourceforge site about the srkey.exe file possibly not existing; these games were released several times, both by original Fiendish Games and Small Rockets, so it's possible the srkey.exe (sounds like Small Rockets key) may be called something else for older Fiendish Games (or other renamed/republished) versions.

janmm14 wrote on 2019-08-23, 14:09:

Since the company gave away licenses for free at the end of their existence: https://web.archive.org/web/20110716093152/ht … ene […]
Show full quote

AntimatterTheFallen wrote:

VirtuaIceMan wrote:

A long time ago, Small Rockets gave away the complete set of games that were developed for them by Russian company Driver-Inter […]
Show full quote

A long time ago, Small Rockets gave away the complete set of games that were developed for them by Russian company Driver-Inter (http://www.d-inter.ru/games/), as they were no longer guaranteed to work on Windows XP or newer. Ironically they seem to work well on Windows 7 and above!

The installers may still be found from the archived website here: https://web.archive.org/web/20110716093152/ht … eneral/free.htm but the registration system to access the license code generator is now dead, so you'll need to find an alternative to generate codes for you, there might be something out there, I haven't searched to find out...

However, I found that the license code unlocker would not work, so the games were stuck in demo mode on my 64bit Win8.1 machine. Using Process Monitor I dug around, to discover where the codes were being saved, and it turns out that on 64bit machines (at least) it tries writing them by default into a virtual machine area, which the game can then no longer find, so they're never unlocked.

There's a very easy fix, as follows:
1. Install the game/s of your choice (this may also work for the older ones, branded as Fiendish Games, but I didn't try them!)
2. Go to this path: C:\Windows\SysWOW64\ and find the file called srkey.exe
3. Right-click srkey.exe and set it's Compatibility Mode to Win98 (I expect Win95 will work too)
4. Register each game and you should be fine!

Note: If you don't have shortcuts to the license code unlocker for each game, then simply go into the game's install folder, then the "minisite" sub-folder and double-click license.srk, enter your name/unlock code, and submit it.

NOTE: Kayak Extreme has a couple of other issues: you need to apply Win98 or Win95 compatibility mode to it, and disable the "Water Foam" option in-game, or it won't work. The water foam crash might be an Nvidia only issue, or something else.

So, I checked and there's no such thing as a licence code generator for this game anywhere. The only thing that comes up is one of those fake download sites that pick up whatever term you say and place that on top of a fake download site. Do you have any ideas in regards to what I can do? This game is a decent part of childhood and I'd love to get it up and running again.

Since the company gave away licenses for free at the end of their existence: https://web.archive.org/web/20110716093152/ht … eneral/free.htm

I think sharing a license for those who have lost their own is just fair. I have found this license through google.
To redeem the license, you have to go to the minisite folder in the installation directory and then doubleclick license.srk file.
Then insert these details to get the full version:
Name: Ray Bengen
Code: S-2J5Z-DPMC-ELHS

Will that licence code with every Small Rockets games? I mean if it works for both JBSC2 and Kayak Extreme then i'm golden, those are the two Small Rockets games i remember the most

I used to play Kayak Extreme as a kid and I'm 100% sure it was Windows XP since I only discovered the joys of Windows 9x when I started to play with old computers. My first videocard was Radeon 8500, the game did not have any issues.

I hated the game with deep passion though. It was really - really - not fun to play. The funny part was my father was a semi-pro kayak racer, Chuya Rally '86 participant, 30 years into water sports. He really wanted me to play and like it and I still feel kinda guilty I never enjoyed Kayak Extreme.

Scouring online a little bit, i found licence codes for the other games mentioned in the thread!
Meaning we now have licence codes for JBSC1 and 2, Hot Chix 'n' Gear Stix, Superchix '76 and Kayak Extreme!
Have fun revisiting these games everyone!

Licence for Kayak Extreme
Name: cats are cool
Code: E-PP9N-GNK5-LNKV

Licence code for Hot Chix 'n' Gear Stix
Name: cats are cool
Code: 4-Q798-4XJP-PGWZ

Licence for Superchix '76
Name: cats are cool
Code: A-58GS-XQVW-JLGP

Licence for Jetboat Superchamps 1
Name: cats are cool
Code: U-TJZJ-RU2J-MZKE

I've been trying to run SuperChix 76 on Windows XP to no avail. The game process hangs after launching it, and I have to kill it from the task manager. I have two versions of this game, the one that's the demo that can be unlocked, and a (believe it or not) CD version. Both do the same thing. No generic compatibility settings helped. I tried dxwnd too just in case but that didn't work either.