Game won't launch!

Ok, just for the record, the help I was asking for a few days was on behalf of a friend who is running it via Vista.

*My* problem is that it won't launch & I'm using XP. (SP3)

I installed via the instructions here

Did Patches 1 & 2 after I installed & I keep getting that spinning disc that won't stop & everything freezes. I don't even get to the demo screen. Just spins on my desktop & I gotta manually restart.

What to do? Thanks!

(btw, I'm playing without the Co8 modpack for now)

 

Are you using the game disk in the cd-rom or are you using a no-cd crack? It kinda sounds like it might be the cd-rom not reading the disk, but if you're using the crack, then I don't know.

 

Using the game disc. I've seen the term around, but have no clue what 'the crack' is. =/

 

A no-cd crack is when a sneaky programmer/hacker modifies the original .exe file so that it no longer needs the game disk to run the game. It's sort of taboo around here to post a link to the place where you can download it. The mod developers/moderators frown on it. I would search for it on google or the search engine of your preference. It's 33kb in size. I don't use one but usually you just replace the original .exe with the downloaded one, or I've also seen them where you place the downloaded one into the game directory and just run it so that it "cracks" the original .exe. Hope this helps. If not, one of the head honchos will be around to tell you what's up.

 

Ok...well, I *think* i found it, but I'm not 100% because it's not 33kb in size, it's 1.50mb.

 

The short story is this:

If you patched to Patch 2 (or 3, which you shouldn't for the Co8 modpack), the crack is only ~30kb because the entire game was moved from the .exe file to the temple.dll in patch 1 or 2, so the "crack" just calls the .dll (which has no copy protection), and thus is *very* small.
If your "crack" is >1MB, it's likely for version 1 of the game, and thus, outdated.

Regards,
Storm

 

Ok. So is there no easy fix without the crack?

 

If you do a google search for the "TOEE Patch 2 no-cd" you should find it fairly easily. It usually comes in a zip that is about 17kb, then unpacked is 33kb. Using the 1.5MB version will totally hose any Co8 mod or Patch 2 game.

And yes, there is really nothing you can do to fix the problem without the no-cd. Atari shipped this game with really screwed up Securerom that has only gotten worse as new CD/DVD drives have hit the market.

 

I pm'ed you....

 

Just a non-update- As of today, I'm still not up & running yet. =/

I'm open to any workarounds or Anything.

This game was never a problem for me. I've played it before just fine a few times on the same laptop. Wondering if my settings may've changed since(?)

 

Have you gotten the crack for version 2 that has to be 33 or so kb.

 

Yeah, tried that. Still getting the spinning disc/ freeze.
Someone else thought it may be an active securom protection. (which the crack should fix?)
Another person suggested d'ling & installing the Co8 mod & try running through there. Spinning disc again. (on both vanilla & Co8) Plus, it asked me for the Play disc, which totally threw me off because I thought the crack was supposed to run it without the disc.

Have no clue what else to try except throw my hands up, uninstall everything & try again.


** I Un- & then Re-installed normally. No patches or anything yet. My next step is to install the 2 official patches, right? Then the crack? or should I try putting in the Co8 mod 1st (to play vanilla), *Then* the crack? Or crack, then the mod?

 

Is there a difference between...

..the "bargain bin" version & the older "boxed" version that came w. the physical manual?

I'm starting to think that's what my problem could be. (see 'Game Won't Launch" thread)
I have an install disc & 2 play discs. (I'd lost an install disc a while back- then lent it to my g/f)

I noticed different serial #s on them.

 

Re: Is there a difference between...

Mine appear identical (I have 3 boxed and 1 jewel case). The manual is included as a .pdf file on both sets.