darry wrote on 2021-06-24, 00:39:

blejicaaa wrote on 2021-06-23, 23:56:

IIGS_User wrote on 2021-06-17, 17:54:

And do "mount c c:/"
"cd popple"
as it seems the game expects itself to sit inside the sub folder, as seen from within DOSBox.

Alright, when I type "mount c c:/" then it says "Drive C is mounted as local directory c:/\" BUT when I type "cd popple" it says "You are still on drive Z, change it to a mounted drive with C:."

Type "c:" followed by Enter to switch to the c: drive .

Alright, it works. Now what? It says " c:\Popple> on the terminal

Now, you need to actually execute the proper file to start the game .
Typically this will be a .bat or a .exe file .

To find out what it's name is, type

a) "dir *.bat" followed by Enter and look if any filenames are listed .

b) "dir *.bat" followed by Enter and look if any filenames are listed .

c) If there is a file like "run.bat" or "popple.bat" or "start.bat" or something similar, that is likely the file needed to start the game .

d) Otherwise, if there is a file like "run.exe" or "popple.exe" or "start.exe" or something similar, that is likely the file needed to start the game .

e) To start the game you need to execute one of the files found at step c) or d) . To do this, type the name of the aforementioned file (typing its .bat or .exe extension is optional) and press Enter . For example, if you want to execute a file named popple.exe , you would need to type either "popple.exe" OR "popple" and press Enter .

You may want to consider purchasing a DOS primer (like MS-DOS for Dummies) to help you get started with DOS and its commands . Alternatively, maybe somebody else can recommend a good online tutorial . My own introduction to MS-DOS was a read-through of the manual that came bundled with MS-DOS 5.0 , which is another valid option if have one (otherwise you can borrow a virtual copy through archive.org 's lending system) .

darry wrote on 2021-06-25, 00:32:

Now, you need to actually execute the proper file to start the game .

If you go back and read the earlier posts, you will find that M. Blejicaaa has already been able to run the game. The issue is getting the game installed properly with the disc mounted appropriately.

Alright, it works. Now what? It says " c:\Popple> on the terminal

What do you see when you type "dir"?
You should be able to upload screenshots here if you find that easier.

Jorpho wrote on 2021-06-25, 03:15:

darry wrote on 2021-06-25, 00:32:

Now, you need to actually execute the proper file to start the game .

If you go back and read the earlier posts, you will find that M. Blejicaaa has already been able to run the game. The issue is getting the game installed properly with the disc mounted appropriately.

Sorry, I should have read from the beginning . OP, please ignore my previous posts . I misunderstood the issue .

Now that I have read it, I don't think that the CD image is actually mounted successfully in DOSBox .

You are probably getting the "Could not load image file c:\popple\popple.cue. MSCDEX: Failure: Invalid file or unable to open." error message because the CUE file is pointing towards a non existent bin file .
Assuming the bin file is named popple.bin , the first line of popple.cue should contain the line

1FILE "popple.bin" BINARY

and popple.cue and popple.bin should be in the same directory, which is c:\popple on your computer .

EDIT : IMPORTANT If any command below fails , stop and post the error message .

After that

To install the game :
# Start DOSBox

1imgmount d c:\popple\popple.cue -t cdrom
2mount c c:\popple
3mkdir c:\poptemp
4copy d:*.* c:\poptemp
5c:
6cd poptemp
7install

# Follow installation instructions during installation

1del c:\poptemp\*.*
2rmdir c:\poptemp
3popple

#Configure the sound card (choose Sound Blaster 16)
# Play the game
# Exit game and exit DOSBox when finished .
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------
To play the game next time you start DOSBox :

1imgmount d c:\popple\popple.cue -t cdrom
2mount c c:\popple
3c:
4cd popple
5popple

# Play the game
# Exit game and exit DOSBox when finished .

NOTE : for some reason, starting install directly from the mounted CD gives a black screen, which is why I copy the files to c:\poptemp and run install from there which works for some reason .

darry wrote on 2021-06-25, 04:49:

You are probably getting the "Could not load image file c:\popple\popple.cue. MSCDEX: Failure: Invalid file or unable to open." error message because the CUE file is pointing towards a non existent bin file .

I thought about that, but that would be unusual. Then again, a lot of this is unusual.

NOTE : for some reason, starting install directly from the mounted CD gives a black screen, which is why I copy the files to c:\poptemp and run install from there which works for some reason .

Yes, that precise problem is discussed in the thread Electronic Popple CD that M. Ripsaw linked to in the second post in this thread. 🙄

Jorpho wrote on 2021-06-25, 15:05:

I thought about that, but that would be unusual. Then again, a lot of this is unusual. […]
Show full quote

darry wrote on 2021-06-25, 04:49:

You are probably getting the "Could not load image file c:\popple\popple.cue. MSCDEX: Failure: Invalid file or unable to open." error message because the CUE file is pointing towards a non existent bin file .

I thought about that, but that would be unusual. Then again, a lot of this is unusual.

NOTE : for some reason, starting install directly from the mounted CD gives a black screen, which is why I copy the files to c:\poptemp and run install from there which works for some reason .

Yes, that precise problem is discussed in the thread Electronic Popple CD that M. Ripsaw linked to in the second post in this thread. 🙄

The cue pointing to the wrong file would happen if someone created the cue/bin image and then renamed at least the bin file (which would be a typical reflex in a user wanting to shorten the name for convenience) without editing the cue file correspondingly.

As for the copying workaround already being documented, it is one more case of me trying to reinvent the wheel because I did not bother reading enough . 😉 In the end, no harm done except some time loss for me .

I appreciate you people so much for helping me but all sorts of "errors" and "illegal paths" are showing, it would be a great time saver if one of you fellas just added me on discord and resolve it in 5 minutes...

blejicaaa wrote on 2021-06-28, 12:25:

I appreciate you people so much for helping me but all sorts of "errors" and "illegal paths" are showing

Darry's last post was very thorough. As was suggested: if any command there fails , stop and post the error message. You can post screenshots if you like.

Also, please try checking your .cue file. You can do this by opening Notepad and then dragging and dropping the .cue file on top of the Notepad window. You can copy and paste the contents in a post here.

After fiddling with the .cue file I saw that the problem was "FILE "popple.bin" BINARY". It said something like "GameByte Electronic_Popple_Gamepedia" or something like that and I renamed it just Popple as the file is named. After that I followed the steps that Mr. Darry provided and it works! I even tried seeing if the level up loop will happen and it didn't! Thank you so much! Please don't delete or archive this thread because it's so helpful and if some problems emerge in the future I will reply with it. Once again thank you so much to everyone who tried helping me here, you are all wonderful people! Have a blessed day.

blejicaaa wrote on 2021-06-28, 19:45:

After fiddling with the .cue file I saw that the problem was "FILE "popple.bin" BINARY". It said something like "GameByte Electronic_Popple_Gamepedia" or something like that and I renamed it just Popple as the file is named. After that I followed the steps that Mr. Darry provided and it works! I even tried seeing if the level up loop will happen and it didn't! Thank you so much! Please don't delete or archive this thread because it's so helpful and if some problems emerge in the future I will reply with it. Once again thank you so much to everyone who tried helping me here, you are all wonderful people! Have a blessed day.

Glad it worked for you .

Have fun!