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BEWARE Windows XP and HMM4!!!
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RPGDot Forums > CRPGs General

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Guest







   

I just bought the game which states on the box that it will run under windows xp. When I brought it home and installed it XP chews it up and spits it out like a sour lemon.

It appears as though the game is trying to run some 16-bit DOS code which XP just will not handle.
I get "smartheap library: out of memory, free up resources and try again" errors no matter what I do to try running the game.
I've tried all compatibility modes, uninstall/reinstall, updating windows/drivers/etc..., nothing will work.

I've sent an email to 3do support but their webpage says they don't support Windows XP!!!!
If they dont come up with a fix they better send me a refund because Windows XP is written all over the box....

Anyways, I just wanted to warn everyone. Also, if anyone has found a way to get it to run please let me know ASAP!!!
thx
Post Sun Apr 07, 2002 10:31 pm
 
Guest







   

Oh by the way, I have 384 Megs of RDRAM, a P4 1.5 Gighertz, Hercules Geforce 3 Ti 500, Soundblaster Live! Value, and Windows XP/directx8.

I know I'm not actually running out of memory because I can watch it when I try to start the game. I think its trying to use the old DOS memory model where certain ram addresses were reserved. To WinXP memory is memory and it probably uses the addresses the game wants for other things....
At least, thats what I "think" is going on.
Post Sun Apr 07, 2002 10:36 pm
 
Guest







   

LOL, forgot HMM4 is Heroes of Might and Magic IV for anybody thats read this far and doesn't know.
sorry
Post Sun Apr 07, 2002 10:37 pm
 
jasuk70
Eager Tradesman
Eager Tradesman




Joined: 05 Apr 2002
Posts: 30
Location: London
   

I've just looked on the 3DO support site and found the following:

Question: I just purchased Windows® XP, will I be able to play your games on my system?

Answer: Unfortunately, we don't support any of our older or current game titles under Windows 2000/XP. Unless stated on the box under system requirements, only those operating systems are supportable. At this time, we do not support the Windows XP Operating System. While limited information is available on game performance, we cannot guarantee our games will work on Windows XP and advise that players using this system play our games at their own risk.

So if it says so on the box they DO support it. (I suspect unless it comes from outside the US and Canada which means that company support policy needs to be read, i.e. Ubisoft for the UK)

Jas
Post Mon Apr 08, 2002 3:59 pm
 View user's profile
Snome
Eager Tradesman
Eager Tradesman




Joined: 21 Mar 2002
Posts: 44
Location: Holland
   

Great ! I'm beginning to wonder why i bought a new computer, since most games will not work properly with the operating system (windows XP). Anyone know of a windows 98 emulator for XP or something like that ???
Post Mon Apr 08, 2002 4:11 pm
 View user's profile
Chekote
Where’s my Banana?!?!
Where’s my Banana?!?!




Joined: 08 Mar 2002
Posts: 1540
Location: Dont know, looks kind of green
   

Yeah you can get one called Virtual PC from Connectix (www.connectix.com) I've heard that its very good but it costs $200!

I play old games myself with a Dual boot. You will need to wipe your system and install Windows 98, and once that is installed insert your Windows XP CD and choose to install a new OS (Do not choose upgrade). Once this is installed whenever you start the machine you will be able to choose between windows 98 or windows XP.

Oh and btw, its a real good idea if you partition your hard drive into two cuz it will cause lots of problems otherwise. I suggest a minimum 5GB partition for 98, and leave the rest for XP.
Post Mon Apr 08, 2002 4:15 pm
 View user's profile
Ziw
Village Dweller
Village Dweller




Joined: 08 Apr 2002
Posts: 15
   

Hmmm.. I have XP too, and no problems with running HoMM4.
If you haven't tried running the game in compatibility mode yet, try it.
Post Mon Apr 08, 2002 4:27 pm
 View user's profile
Guest







   

I just wanted to report back and let everyone know whats up.

It turns out there was some issue with hiden processes associated with my virus software that caused the problem. The actual virus software was set to not startup but apparently some parts of it do regardless of what I want it to do...
I could not uninstall HMM4 even from safe mode after the latest attempt to instal.

I ended up having to do some major system hacking to fix things. It turns out there is a .inf file in the c:windowsinf folder that had to be edited to remove hidden startup programs. After I did that I reinstalled over the bad install of HMM4 with my virus software "really" turned off.

Now I can play the game!!!

I'm at work now so I don't have XP in front of me but I believe the file was called sysoc.inf or something very similar. You have to open it up and do a replace all on the word "hide". Replace all instances with nothing and just like magic you'll start seeing a bunch of new crappy programs that you probably never really wanted...

My personal favorite was the stupid MSN messenger!! I had been trying to get rid of that damn thing ever since I installed XP and I finally managed to do it!!!

So I guess the forum dudes can either delete or move this post as they see fit since the game actually does work with XP and it was my virus software that was actually to blame.

Hope this helps others that run across the same problem though.
Post Wed Apr 10, 2002 8:53 am
 
Bigpapa
Stranger from north
Stranger from north




Joined: 22 Oct 2001
Posts: 930
Location: Strange place.
   

I've had that same problem, but like most installers tell you, shut down all the other programs before installing. I hate MSN too
_________________
I'll be back...
Post Sat Apr 27, 2002 10:10 pm
 View user's profile
guest
Guest






   

" but like most installers tell you, shut down all the other programs before installing"

I had everything shut down that I could. The process that was to blame loaded in an area of the operating system that I had no direct control over. IE-it loads in the background without your knowledge.
The only way to turn it off was to hack the .inf file that starts hiden processes so that I could turn those things off.

Although I can understand why virus protection should be loaded in this manner it is a REAL pain the butt when it comes to troubleshooting.

If you want to get rid of MSN messenger do the hack I described above, it will then appear in your programs menu, msconfig, and everyplace else it is supposed to be. You can then uninstall it or just turn it off.
It works I've done it!

Summary of the process.

First make a backup copy of the file!!
Replace all instances of the word "hide" in the c:\windows\inf\sysoc.inf file with " "
Save the file to the same name and location.
reboot
uninstal from add/remove programs

This has no ill effects on your system at all. All it does is make hidden programs show up. Just don't play with anything else if you don't know what it does .
Post Thu May 09, 2002 11:04 am
 



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