Let The Squashing Begin/Eight-Legged Freaks (3D Groove Game)

[Purblind Gamer]

Hello all. Has anybody had any luck getting this old freeware game (based on the movie) to run in a window? I've tried so many different options, but it persists in running fullscreen! I thought I might as well ask here, as it could be an easy fix that I just haven't figured out. There are so many settings in dxwnd! (Which is amazing--this program is so helpful and works for so many games!)

[gho]

It is a game using (by default) an OpenGL rendering engine, so this is explains some more problems. Curiously, the game worked in window mode (though with some problems) at the beginning, then it ceased to stay in window mode and started to force fullscreen mode.
I think I'll have to analyze it a little better.

[Purblind Gamer]

Oh, yeah, I did see it had that OpenGL option prominently in the options. It's fascinating that some games will work in windowed mode once, then will subsequently only open in fullscreen mode, even though the settings are identical. I ran into that when I was playing "Delaware St. John Volume 1" through dxwnd. It would work in windowed mode when it pleased--which wasn't often. Some of these programs seem to have a mind of their own!

[gho]

I agree. The sad thing is that, looking at the log and game behavior, the culprit is not OpenGL but the infamous Macromedia projector. The game, despite its apparent banality, is very well designed to defeat my attempts to hook it. It starts decompressing itself into a hidden temporary folder and then executes the Macromedia projector. Then, it keeps restoring its video mode settings every time that DxWnd tries to force it to a window mode in the default desktop video mode. It also seems to gain a permanent shim to force it to 640x480 resolution that gets reset every time you clear it. A real nightmare, I never saw such a case!

[huh]

I found a mention of this obscure game by chance on one forum. I originally wanted to create a new thread, but I see an old one already exists. The game works without DxWnd in Win7. You can try this (OpenGL) test configuration with DxWnd. It's the only profil that's worked for me so far, but it's pretty bad. The intro is displayed in a small window in the lower right corner, and the game itself and its menu are not stretched. You can also switch to sw mode, but that won't fix the situation. Maybe improvements in DxWnd have progressed since then so we might be able to handle it?
You can find the game on Myabandonware.

[gho]

I'm trying, but Macromedia is a nasty beast ...

[huh]

Yes, after reading the thread when I found out that the game was using Macromedia director, I became skeptical. However, I managed to enlarge at least the main game window using DxWnd + QindieGL, although there are some disadvantages, for example, the menu is not scaled and you cannot use the map in the game, the window is only modal.
I will post the configuration and instructions later.

[huh]

Here are the instructions:
1) Copy opengl32.dll to the game folder and import the "QindieGL-setup.reg" entry into the registry (you can clear the entry again via "unregQindieGL-setup.reg").
2) Import the profile into DxWnd and start the game. Menu and itnro video will not be scaled. Make sure your game is set for OpenGL. Run the mission and wait for the game to load.
3) Now press the Win/Start key twice on the keyboard.
It works here in Win7, but as I already wrote, it's a half solution.

Wrong.
My mistake fixed.
Take Qindie2.7z again I mistook Qindie registry entry with game entry.
Well, it's time to go eat...