SPACEKids Installation Issue [FIXED] \ VOGONS

SPACEKids Installation Issue [FIXED]

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First post, by StingyS

Posted on 2013-03-21, 10:42

StingyS Offline

Rank Newbie

Rank: Newbie
Posts: 2
Joined: 2012-03-15, 21:30

I'm having a myriad of issues with the installation off of a disk of the '94 Microprose game "SPACEKids: Where's Grandpa?" I have been able to solve every problem so far, but this one has me stuck. Here are my commands:

Z:\>mount c c:\
Mounting c:\ is NOT recommended. Please mount a (sub)directory next time.
Drive C is mounted as local directory c:\

Z:\>c:

C:\>cd games

C:\GAMES>cd mpsfix

C:\GAMES\MPSFIX>mpsfix.com

C:\GAMES\MPSFIX>mount d d:\ -t cdrom
MSCDEX installed.
Drive D is mounted as CDRom d:\

C:\GAMES\MPSFIX>d:

D:\>cd spacekid

D:\SPACEKID>install.exe

Everything works great so far. I begin installation and here is what happens.

So far so good. No problems.. at least as far as I know. But then, uh oh..

File D:\SPACEKID\mpslabs.idx could not be opened.

An error occured during the install process !
The ERROR CODE is 21.
We're sorry for the inconvenience. Please call Microprose Customer Support for assistance.
(410) - 771 - 1151

Oh boy, here we go again. Here are the contents of D:\SPACEKID. Hidden files are on.

Where is this little bugger hiding, and why can't it be opened? Hope some of you folks that are much smarter than I can help me out!

Cheers
- Chris

Last edited by StingyS on 2013-03-21, 23:13. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 1 of 2, by ripsaw8080

Posted on 2013-03-21, 11:18

ripsaw8080 Offline

Rank DOSBox Author

Rank: DOSBox Author
Posts: 5094
Joined: 2006-04-25, 23:24

Microprose installers should have one or more large archive files with extensions like .001, .002, .003, etc. in addition to the MPSLABS.IDX file.

Quite a detailed report you've made here for your first post on vogons, but the "myriad of issues" you're having are caused by trying to install from an installed copy of the game.

If what you have is on cdrom, copy the \SPACEKID folder to something like C:\DOS\SPACEKID on your real C: drive. You may need to remove read-only attributes on the copied files. Then in DOSBox:

mount c c:\dos
c:
cd spacekid
install
(click on "Set Up Sound" button to configure sound)
kids

Reply 2 of 2, by StingyS

Posted on 2013-03-21, 23:12

StingyS Offline

Rank Newbie

Rank: Newbie
Posts: 2
Joined: 2012-03-15, 21:30

ripsaw8080 wrote:
Microprose installers should have one or more large archive files with extensions like .001, .002, .003, etc. in addition to the MPSLABS.IDX file.

Yes, I found some of those elsewhere on the disk. More on that in a bit.

ripsaw8080 wrote:
mount c c:\dos c: cd spacekid install (click on "Set Up Sound" button to configure sound) kids […]
Show full quote
mount c c:\dos
c:
cd spacekid
install
(click on "Set Up Sound" button to configure sound)
kids

The problem with this is that I can only configure the sound once it has been installed, and I can't install it from anywhere but the disk because when I try to use the copied files it tells me that I require the CD to install, even when the CD is mounted and read.

Nevertheless, I fixed my issue by installing from a different folder; one with an MPSlabs archive and .idx file in it. I was trying to install from:

D:\SPACEKID\install.exe

Which seems like the logical place to go, but instead I installed from:

D:\CHRISPY\install.exe

Which was the folder with the archive in it, using the same technique in my OP except with the folder difference. Thanks for you help both inside and out of this topic. I'm sure you recognized that I used one of your fixes in part of the installation process.

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