Helpify me! Looking for...filesystem assistance? 95/98 emu?

Chardok · Post by **Chardok** » 2006-11-28 04:30pm

Okay, so a couple months back I d/l'd B-17 Flying Fortress: The Mighty 8th and had a GREAT time with it. Unfortunately, I couldn't save the game. According to the manufacturer, it's because it was written under a different architecture (NT 4.0? The email just said NT...I was like...they wrote a game that only works under Windows NT?!) and blah blah blah, I dunno. anyway, which is why I couldn't save my game. I recently got a bug up my ass to get this fucker working and working right. From what I've read, you need to be running 95/98/Me in order for this damn thing to work properly. I've not tried to run it in compatibility mode as of yet, I will when I get home. but I think I would be more comfortable, and my system is fast enough, that I could PROBABLY pull this game off using a VM. Does anyone know of one that Emulates 95/98/Me that you can run in XP?

Any help any of you can give would be greatly appreciated. I LOVE this game, and miss it terribly...they just do not make WWII bomber games that are this good a mix of simmy and Arcadey.

Bounty · Post by **Bounty** » 2006-11-28 04:35pm

I could PROBABLY pull this game off using a VM. Does anyone know of one that Emulates 95/98/Me that you can run in XP?

Virtual PC will work quite nicely and it's free, but you'll need a 95/98 disc (stay away from ME, for heaven's sake!).

Chardok · Post by **Chardok** » 2006-11-28 04:36pm

Crap....no 95/98 disk....any other ideas?

Bounty · Post by **Bounty** » 2006-11-28 04:37pm

Get one from eBay or some other place. It shouldn't be hard to track one down.

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2006-11-28 04:54pm

Are you sure it said Windows NT, and not NTFS? It could simply be that the game was designed to work for a FAT32 file structure and isn't compatible with NTFS, or vice versa.

Chardok · Post by **Chardok** » 2006-11-28 06:32pm

I don't...remember off the top of my head. I just know the words Architecture and NT and incompatible were used.

Chardok · Post by **Chardok** » 2006-11-28 09:45pm

2034 112806 Okay...I'm running the compatibility wizard now...Weird. Is says here...under settings NT4 SP5 (Holy shit, it WAS written for Windows NT, Looks like!)

2034- Selecting B17 Flying Fortress: The Mighty 8th.

2035- Hmm...Looks like Win XP Pro can compatibilify NT4 SP5 (NT 4.0 Service Pack 5? Strange) I'm about to spooge, I'm so happy. We'll see if it's well-founded happiness.

2036- Wow...XP fucking DETECTED the NT4 SP5 on it's own. My faith in Billy-Boy and Bawlz-mer may yet be restored.

2039- I have no idea what I should set this fucking thing at...I know it supports resolution over 640X480...so I should leave that unchecked, I think....Also, 256 colors...not sure about that...I'll leave it unchecked, too. But Disable visual themes?

Let's see...

2045- Tested Game using new compatibility settings- no dice. That tears it. I WANT this game. I'm hittin' Ebay. MOTHER FUCK I'm pissed.

Chardok · Post by **Chardok** » 2006-11-28 10:43pm

Another thought. Is there a program out there somehwere that can actually save the state of an application for resotration later? like...capture the snapshot of the application at that moment in time, and then restore the application to that very point...or...something? Does that make sense? Sort of a Ghetto save game?

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2006-12-03 03:17pm

As of now, Chardok is now in my thrall and is one of my helpless minions in my quest for WORLD DOMINATION!

And just in case, I now have his location programmed into a nuclear warhead if he thinks he can get uppity

Sikon · Post by **Sikon** » 2006-12-04 03:31am

Chardok wrote:Unfortunately, I couldn't save the game. According to the manufacturer, it's because it was written under a different architecture (NT 4.0? The email just said NT...I was like...they wrote a game that only works under Windows NT?!) and blah blah blah, I dunno. anyway, which is why I couldn't save my game. I recently got a bug up my ass to get this fucker working and working right. From what I've read, you need to be running 95/98/Me in order for this damn thing to work properly.

It wouldn't make sense for a game to be written for Windows NT in particular, and doing a google search with the keywords system requirements B-17 flying fortress the mighty 8th also suggests otherwise. Perhaps they were referring to the NTFS file system. If so, that would make sense. Old versions of Windows used FAT32, but Windows XP uses NTFS, which would make a disk writing operation different.

There is one more possibility that has the advantage of being relatively fast and easy, not waiting days for an ordered CD to arrive, but it would still cost some money and not be guaranteed to work. Partition management software like Partition Magic (google search to find) is available for immediate download online, though it costs money to get more than the trial version. Such can allow one to resize the partition on one's hard drive without losing data, then create a FAT32 partition in the unallocated space. If you did that, then reinstalled B-17 onto the new partition, I think it might work saving games.

Another possibility would be to just use the partition management software to convert one's entire original hard drive partition to FAT32.* I believe the software allows such without losing files. Although there are some slight disadvantages, Windows XP can run on FAT32 instead of the default NTFS, as in fact it is an option during the original installation from CD. Of course, the preceding is not at all guaranteed to make the game work, just probably doing so, more likely than not.

* If you do consider doing this, you would need to check the partition management software's documentation to be totally sure that it is okay to do so even on the partition with the operating system.

Pu-239 · Post by **Pu-239** » 2006-12-04 04:07pm

I believe knoppix has tools for resizing NTFS partitions. Of course, you can mess up your machine if you don't know what you are doing.

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2006-12-04 04:10pm

He no longer needs your pathetic attempts at "help", for he is now one of my minions as I have foreseen