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Logical Journey of the Zoombinis

General Discussion
MrPepka
2021-05-20
2021-09-15

  • MrPepka

    MrPepka - 2021-05-20

    Another Win XP incompatible game and up, another challenge. This game, when started by DxWnd, will display a message that it needs 256 colors. What's even more fun, it seems that the game ignores any color palette settings in DxWnd or even via the "Compatibility" tab in the exe file properties. I am unable to fix this game at home. I enclose a link to it and logs - https://www.old-games.ru/game/download/6423.html

     
    dxwnd.log

    • gho

      gho - 2021-05-20

      If you want the game and don't want too much trouble, you may forget the original version on old-games.ru and use the 2001 XP-compatible version that you can find on AdventureLegends. I will make a try.
      If, instead, you really want troubles, since I couldn't install the original game (otvdmw crashes!) may you post somewhere your HD files (and possibly the registry keys)?

       

      Last edit: gho 2021-05-20

  • MrPepka

    MrPepka - 2021-05-20
     

    • gho

      gho - 2021-05-20

      But despite the XP support, it seems that DxWnd is having some problems with the game! It seems that it can't find a proper video mode .... that's awfully interesting!

      update: D3DWindower has the same problem.

       

      Last edit: gho 2021-05-20

  • MrPepka

    MrPepka - 2021-05-21

    Which version on legendsworld is compatible with Win XP?

     

    • gho

      gho - 2021-05-21

      I was trying the "2001 Deluxe 2CD ISO Demo (includes Printable Acitivities CD) 101+497MB (uploaded by Internet Archive Software Collection)".
      You don't need to download the whole pack, you can pick the 101MB ISO only, but honestly despite the claimed XP compatibility I couldn't make it run yet. It starts with an error dialog saying "unable to initialize graphics" for who knows what reason and the logs shows no errors, but just the attempt to chose among all possible video modes.

      P.s. IMPORTANT: the game protects itself by locking a global atom. The first time the game crashes it won't be possible to start it again until reboot or a new logon, unless you set the "shim:FakeGlobalAtom" tweak.

       

      Last edit: gho 2021-05-21

  • gho

    gho - 2021-05-21

    Oh, my! Maybe not all Win9x stuff was cleaned away from this zoombini exe!

    GetVolumeInformationA: root="X:\" vnamesize=34 fsnamesize=64
> vname="ZOOMBINI"
> fsname="CDFS"
> serial=C4F5A7E6
> maxcomplen=221
> fsflags= 1080001
CreateFileA: FileName="\\.\VWIN32" DesiredAccess=0() SharedMode=0 Disposition=0 Flags=0x4000000(FILE_FLAG_DELETE_ON_CLOSE)
CreateFileA ERROR: err=87 fname="\\.\VWIN32"
DeviceIoControl: hdevice=0xffffffff code=0x1() insize=28 outsize=28
DeviceIoControl: code {DeviceType=0(FILE_DEVICE_unknown) Function=0 Method=0x1 Access=0(ANY_ACCESS)}
DeviceIoControl: ERROR err=6
CloseHandle: BYPASS hFile=0xffffffff
CreateFileA: FileName="\\.\VWIN32" DesiredAccess=0() SharedMode=0 Disposition=0 Flags=0x4000000(FILE_FLAG_DELETE_ON_CLOSE)
CreateFileA ERROR: err=87 fname="\\.\VWIN32"
DeviceIoControl: hdevice=0xffffffff code=0x1() insize=28 outsize=28
DeviceIoControl: code {DeviceType=0(FILE_DEVICE_unknown) Function=0 Method=0x1 Access=0(ANY_ACCESS)}
DeviceIoControl: ERROR err=6
CloseHandle: BYPASS hFile=0xffffffff

    Access to raw disk "\.\VWIN32" is explained here: https://www.codeguru.com/cpp/w-p/system/misc/article.php/c5765/ReadingWriting-Disk-Sectors-Absolute-Disk-ReadWrite.htm

     

  • MrPepka

    MrPepka - 2021-05-21

    Eraser Turnabout from what I remember also tried to create a VWIN32 file, but it also works without it, so a bad lead
    This game was also in Polish, but I can't find a Polish version of it

     

  • MrPepka

    MrPepka - 2021-05-21

    By the way, now I can't start the game at all (nothing happens when I start it). Of course I have the tweak "shim: FakeGlobalAtom" enabled

     

  • MrPepka

    MrPepka - 2021-05-21

    I checked other games from the Zoombinis series (Matmoludki in Polish) and these work perfectly well under DxWnd

     

  • gho

    gho - 2021-05-23

    This game has a silly but big problem: I know where it pops the error message out, but I can't debug until there, the game terminates before when controlled by a debugger. So, every little step forward takes a lot of work to guess a possible problem, rebuild dxwnd and capture new logs. It seems that despite the XP support, also this version has its own tricks ...

     

  • gho

    gho - 2021-05-25

    Awesome: the USA edition is much easier to tame, it installs and runs with almost default settings!
    Of course, the game seems to have many problems and crashes very often, but it is a good start.
    Nice finding, thanks!

     
    Thumbnail
    zoo1.png

  • MrPepka

    MrPepka - 2021-05-27

    @ghotik And did you try to make hexdump exe from the European edition (French or whatever) and the USA edition? Maybe you would find something interesting then?

     

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