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Someone please help!!!!! - Overseer in Windows XP

Hello all!!! First off just want to say that I am a long time fan of Tex Murphy and it was Under a Killing Moon that forced me to learn DOS at a young age of 10. Back then I did not know what a Sound Blaster or 16 MB of RAM meant. I basically learned how to configure DOS in order to get the game to run. I guess you can say I learned to love PCs because of the geniuses over at Access.

With that being said, I have hit a brick wall with Overseer in XP. About 2 years ago I installed it on this very same PC and everything was working great. Decided it was time to check in on it and see if everything was all and good and what do you know? It decides to crash on me. So I do a little research and try to start from scratch. Problem is, no matter what I try to do, it still crashes at the same spot.

Beginning video plays fine with no issues, the opening scene with Chelsea all fine. It's crashing when I load a game and it's trying to access the disc that I get that dumb Windows error report (the exact same one that shows up when the game actually works and you exit it).

My specs are: Pentium 4 2.53 MHZ
1 GB of RAM
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (updated to latest drivers 8.3, I think?)

Another thing of note, I have figured out how to play the game without the DVD by mounting the ISO using Daemon Tools and have tested this method on two different PCs with success. It just seems that no matter what I do, this game fails at the same spot on this PC (my gaming rig).

1.04 patch and DVD express both installed and working as they should.

Please, if anyone knows what the game calls at that particular point that is crashing the game it would be greatly appreciated. Last thing I want to do is re-install Windows just for this one particular game but I will if it comes down to it.

THANKS
Have you tried running Overseer directly from the DVD as opposed to running it from the ISO? This may very well be the reason behind the crashing! Also, have you downloaded the modified Overseer files from my website? If not, give them a try.

Nilo
Nilo

Website - http://home.wideopenwest.com/~hbech/

Email - [email protected]
Yes to both questions. Actually your website is what I used to test the install process (which worked) on other machines. You have everything right there which is super convenient.

I have tried to play with a copy of the DVD I burned from the ISO image but I got the same error. I have uninstalled and re-installed multiple times. What it really seems like to me is that the game is exiting before I even get to the exit from the VR interface, which usually causes the error.

The only discernible difference between my machine and the others is I was missing the imaadcp32.pcm audio codec in my codec properties but was getting sound regardless during the opening movies. I have since installed the codec, but it doesn't appear in the list the same as the other two machines. I believe they are loaded by default in a clean Windows XP installation. Same error though.

I just didn't know if anyone who has installed everything correctly has ever had this problem?
Of course microsoft doesn't have a reply when you send the error report.
Yes to both questions. Actually your website is what I used to test the install process (which worked) on other machines. You have everything right there which is super convenient.

I have tried to play with a copy of the DVD I burned from the ISO image but I got the same error. I have uninstalled and re-installed multiple times. What it really seems like to me is that the game is exiting before I even get to the exit from the VR interface, which usually causes the error.

The only discernible difference between my machine and the others is I was missing the imaadcp32.pcm audio codec in my codec properties but was getting sound regardless during the opening movies. I have since installed the codec, but it doesn't appear in the list the same as the other two machines. I believe they are loaded by default in a clean Windows XP installation. Same error though.

I just didn't know if anyone who has installed everything correctly has ever had this problem?
Of course microsoft doesn't have a reply when you send the error report.
I was having the exact same problem with Overseer as you are. I was also using an ISO with Farstone VirtualDrive 11.5. I thought the ISO might be the problem. So, I tried the Original DVD, but I still had the same problem. Then I got to thinking that perhaps it was a conflict between Overseer and the Farstone VirtualDrive 11.5, and not the ISO itself. Well, I uninstalled the VirtualDrive and tried the DVD again, and it worked!! So, The only thing I can suggest is that you try uninstalling Daemon Tools to see if that may be causing the problem for you as Farstone VirtualDrive was for me.
GREG
What Greg, said, "uninstalling Daemon Tools", would have been my next suggestion. I know of the conflict between Overseer and VirtualDrive 11.5. However, VirtualDrive 7.0.1 will not cause this problem with Overseer.
Nilo

Website - http://home.wideopenwest.com/~hbech/

Email - [email protected]
NILO LADIES AND GENTLEMEN.....We hope you have enjoyed his show today...he will performing here all week, solving all your Tex Murphy conundrums..let's give him a hand in appreciation for his brilliance!!! (Crowd erupts with cheer...standing on their feet screaming for an encore!!)
"Some men aren’t looking for anything logical. They can’t be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.”
Well that sorta worked! I uninstalled everything and played from the copied DVD, it actually loaded from the disc this time. But my DVD drive was making a weird noise (I think it's failing) so I decided to install directly from the disk, delete the ISO (which I believe was bad) and recreate a new one. Loaded Magic Disc and mounted the new ISO and what do you know, it worked!

Tested some more and found that when in Big Jim Slade's shower and he goes to pick up his coat (queing cut scene) after it tries to load the scene back up, here comes the error again. I did find that you can reload the game and get back to where you were and continue on.

Funny thing is on the other XP I used for testing, it does not have that loading problem. Thing is I can live with it as long as more do not creep up.

But the long and short of it is thanks everyone for your help and Nilo, thanks for replying so quickly, I appreciate it! I usually pull these games out once a year and play through them again, I can't believe it's been so long since a game of this caliber has been out. Truly ahead of their time and still amazing to play even today.
Nilo's got the goods, that's for sure. One of these days i'll summon up enough courage to try it on my Vista laptop. I still keep an old CPU box for busting out when I get the Dos game urge.

:mrgreen:
Wow, people jumped on this thread to help, like a pack of wild dogs on a 3 legged cat...

Good Job Guys...
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