Tired of Windows 10 limitations ... bought an XP laptop

[GooRoo]

Yes, I used over one month's discretionary funds to purchase an XP equipped laptop computer with CD drive ... just for Gruntz play. I will "sneakernet" with my main computer for "View the map!", "Statz Page" images and simply playing Gruntz the way I did back in 2003. Gruntz Extraz DVDs will be created from the main computer, with additions from the stand-alone laptop. I probably will not even have the two computers in the same room! XP with no access to anything on-line (especially virii boo to you, hackers) with inexpensive CD-ROMs used to pass along files.

Ask me how it works, about ten days from now.

[swietymiki]

Sure we'll ask... Maybe thanks to this change something bigger than 32x24 in size will be created; the X-Ray themed level for instance?




Also I'd suggest moving this thread away from the HTML Walkthroughz board 

[GooRoo]

Aug 25, 2018 14:44:16 GMT -8 swietymiki said:

Sure we'll ask... Maybe thanks to this change something bigger than 32x24 in size will be created; the X-Ray themed level for instance?




Also I'd suggest moving this thread away from the HTML Walkthroughz board 

I clicked on the wrong line, when I set out to create the thread.

[MMM]

Aug 25, 2018 13:50:00 GMT -8 GooRoo said:

Yes, I used over one month's discretionary funds to purchase an XP equipped laptop computer with CD drive ... just for Gruntz play.

I honestly considered this before, maybe minus the CD drive part, since there's no point for me in that (I tried both of my gruntz CDs half a year ago... neither work as of today). I expect (and hope) this works out much better for you than windows 10!

[GooRoo]

Aug 25, 2018 23:09:30 GMT -8 MMM said:

Aug 25, 2018 13:50:00 GMT -8 GooRoo said:

Yes, I used over one month's discretionary funds to purchase an XP equipped laptop computer with CD drive ... just for Gruntz play.

I honestly considered this before, maybe minus the CD drive part, since there's no point for me in that (I tried both of my gruntz CDs half a year ago... neither work as of today). I expect (and hope) this works out much better for you than windows 10!

I can provide a replacement CD-ROM, if you need one. My LightScribe drive died, so I can longer provide that kind of labeling ... plain LightScribe disc that can be written on is the best I can do.

[MMM]

Aug 26, 2018 6:16:07 GMT -8 GooRoo said:

I can provide a replacement CD-ROM, if you need one. My LightScribe drive died, so I can longer provide that kind of labeling ... plain LightScribe disc that can be written on is the best I can do.

Thankfully I managed to get it to work already (as can be seen by fair amount of statz pages I got from multiplayer games with swietymiki and zazor already), even despite the lack of a working physical copy of the game. Thank you for offering this service nevertheless, it will be something to consider if I take up your solution in the (probably somewhat distant) future!

[swietymiki]

Any progress on getting Gruntz CLz to work?

[GooRoo]

Sept 4, 2018 8:12:27 GMT -8 swietymiki said:

Any progress on getting Gruntz CLz to work?

No. I have not been able to remove the microfloppy drive in order to plug in the CD drive, so cannot do a full installation ... yet. And with only 4.5GB of hard drive space, I will have to severely limit what I have in what is available on a Gruntz Extraz DVD. I have done some trimming of Designer/Custom Level folders ... only Designers active since 2008 are installed ... and there is only about 198MB of disc space remaining. Disc Defragmenter prefers 15% free space, and I only have 2%. It works, but very slowly ... and no doubt inefficiently. BTW, I have been plagued with kidney stones, which causes extremely frequent trips to the bathroom, which hasn't helped my concentration at all. So I have been reluctant to embark on any long term processes. When my system is once again quiescent, I will try again.

[GooRoo]

Sept 4, 2018 8:12:27 GMT -8 swietymiki said:

Any progress on getting Gruntz CLz to work?

Yes! I managed to achieve enough leverage with my right hand while sliding a toggle to the unlocked position (and holding it there) to remove the microfloppy drive. Then, on the second or third try, I managed to get the CD drive properly connected. The drive didn't like the Gruntz CD, so I got another one, and that one was accepted. I now have Version 1.0 installed ... but it doesn't detect my custom folder, so selecting Custom Level is not working ... yet. Perhaps when I apply the Version 1.01 patch it will magically begin to locate the custom folder.

[GooRoo]

I loaded every Custom Level (Questz and Battlez) into the custom folder, and perhaps that is where the problem lies. This XP computer only has a 4.5GB (usable) hard drive, and if I were to check on the RAM available, I might find that there is not enough free RAM to collect the entire folder's directory. So I am going to delete everything except Locked Away and one or tow of Gaby's Questz without a game-time "View the map!" image, with the plan to solve the one, and attempt screen grabs for those others.

Watch this space!

[swietymiki]

By the recent silence on the forum I suspect that this problem still persists. Are you sure the CLz are placed in correct relative location to the Gruntz .exe file? What about that preinstalled copy of the game - was it replaced with the CD version?

[GooRoo]

Sept 15, 2018 8:46:35 GMT -8 swietymiki said:

By the recent silence on the forum I suspect that this problem still persists. Are you sure the CLz are placed in correct relative location to the Gruntz .exe file? What about that preinstalled copy of the game - was it replaced with the CD version?

I replaced the no-CD version with the normal installation. Other things have prevented me from attempting a solution to the XP problem. About 16 hours fro now, I have a window of opportunity to see if I can get the XP to recognize Custom Levelz.

[GooRoo]

I removed all but Locked Away and some of Gaby's CLz starting with G that are without game-time maps, thinking that my custom folder was just too full to be displayed on the XP computer with limited resources. Clicking on "Custom Levelz" provides me with a dialog box ... unpopulated ... even though there are about half a dozen CLz in it.

Any ideas about what the problem is, and how to go about fixing it?

[swietymiki]

I have some ideas as to what the issue might be:

Make multiple Custom folders in various localisations and put a level for testing in each of them. Maybe the game is searching for files in a different path.

Try launching Gruntz as administrator and/or in older compatibility modes.

Reinstall the game, put installed files in a different directory (like the desktop).

[Tomalla]

In my game directory I have two executables, one being a result of some reverse engineering while the other is the original Gruntz.exe. The one that I have modified does not list any levels from the Custom folder for some reason. I've never inspected why's that happening, simply used the original executable. Perhaps your case might be related in someway.

Is your executable the same as the one on the Gruntz CD? If not a simple copy & paste should do the trick.

[GooRoo]

Sept 28, 2018 13:54:24 GMT -8 Tomalla said:

In my game directory I have two executables, one being a result of some reverse engineering while the other is the original Gruntz.exe. The one that I have modified does not list any levels from the Custom folder for some reason. I've never inspected why's that happening, simply used the original executable. Perhaps your case might be related in someway.

Is your executable the same as the one on the Gruntz CD? If not a simple copy & paste should do the trick.

Perhaps if I ensured that the version 1.01 patch is properly applied, that would help. The display on the XP machine always opens 640X480 pixels wide; the 1024X768 pixel resolution is available in the game itself. But I do not see the 1.01 in the lower left-hand corner. The date of the exe is the same as my v1.01 on the Windows 10 computer.

The mouse supplied with the computer is flaky. Even removing the ball and removing the hairs(!) I found on it only marginally improved the performance; just moving the mouse has no effect on the cursor; only 'bouncing' the mouse encourages cursor movement. Which is very disadvantageous to even the minimally difficulty timing events. Next step: wireless optical mouse; followed by checking with the local computer tech house for the possibility of replacing the 4.5GB hard drive with a larger capacity hard drive with the current XP system cloned to the new drive.

[swietymiki]

Perhaps if I ensured that the version 1.01 patch is properly applied, that would help. The display on the XP machine always opens 640X480 pixels wide; the 1024X768 pixel resolution is available in the game itself. But I do not see the 1.01 in the lower left-hand corner. The date of the exe is the same as my v1.01 on the Windows 10 computer.

The mouse supplied with the computer is flaky. Even removing the ball and removing the hairs(!) I found on it only marginally improved the performance; just moving the mouse has no effect on the cursor; only 'bouncing' the mouse encourages cursor movement. Which is very disadvantageous to even the minimally difficulty timing events. Next step: wireless optical mouse; followed by checking with the local computer tech house for the possibility of replacing the 4.5GB hard drive with a larger capacity hard drive with the current XP system cloned to the new drive.

Applying the patch isn't necessary for playing CLz. I've been playing on unpatched version myself due to the game translation. Have you tried my suggestions from the post above?

[GooRoo]

It apppears that the question may be moot ... increasing the disc space by replacing the 4.3Gb hard drive with a 20Gb drive, cloned from the 4.3 so it still had XP, when I tried to start up Gruntz in the shop, the computer powered itself off. We thought it was simply that the computer had been run too long from the battery, and it just needed to be plugged in for a while. Turns out that after two and a half hours plugged in, it still would not power up. Took it back to the tech shop, and it seems that a circuit was fried. Over $200 spent to get a usable XP computer, and nothing to show for it.

[GooRoo]

Yep. It is definitely a deader. I'll go retrieve the carcass later today, since the 20Gb hard drive is definitely still viable, containing XP operating system and with Gruntz installed on it. I just need to figure out how to get the CD-ROM out, without power to the system. That also would be salvageable from the otherwise potential ship's anchor.

I doubt that I could find another compatible laptop computer to replace the deader, even if I could convince myself to put out another month's worth of discretionary ca$h to acquire one.

Without a suitable place to play-test Gruntz Custom Level submissions, my contribution to this Forum is severely limited.

[swietymiki]

Oct 4, 2018 12:25:56 GMT -8 GooRoo said:

Yep. It is definitely a deader. I'll go retrieve the carcass later today, since the 20Gb hard drive is definitely still viable, containing XP operating system and with Gruntz installed on it. I just need to figure out how to get the CD-ROM out, without power to the system. That also would be salvageable from the otherwise potential ship's anchor.

I doubt that I could find another compatible laptop computer to replace the deader, even if I could convince myself to put out another month's worth of discretionary ca$h to acquire one.

Without a suitable place to play-test Gruntz Custom Level submissions, my contribution to this Forum is severely limited.

Perhaps you'd have another go at the Virtual Machine option I suggested long time ago? Your modern computer should be able to handle it and I could help with configuration.