New computer woes

[GooRoo]

Computer died yesterday, and I just brought home a new computer, and just started the process of recovering as much as possible of what was lost from the "unmountable boot drive". For example, sending this stupid touchpad into oblivion, so only my mouse (not my fat wrists, etc.) selects where things go. My activity on this Forum will be very much on "the back burner" until I begin to feel comfortable with the new laptop.

[swietymiki]

What Operating System does it have? If the laptop also has Windows 10, then getting used to it shouldn't take too long.

[GooRoo]

Nov 21, 2017 13:06:06 GMT -8 swietymiki said:

What Operating System does it have? If the laptop also has Windows 10, then getting used to it shouldn't take too long.

The problem is that I lost loads of information that was only stored on the computer's hard drive. Since I could not access the computer (unmountable boot drive), I could not copy what I needed to an external device. I am changing the way I operate, so that where Windows 10 wants to store something is NOT the only place I have the file(s). Microsoft's idea of how things should be organized and/or presented, is NOT my idea of the way to do things. For me, music information I want to see is running time (length), year and comments (my MP3s display the highest chart position and the date reached, and the 'B' side (and possible chart info). The Microsoft default of track #, contributing artist (part of my file names) size, etc. is of little value to me. Fortunately, I know how to change Microsoft's templates so that any music folder I have (or create) contains headings and info meaningful to me.

Documents and Pictures (the only things I had on my old computer hard drive) are now copied to an external hard drive ... and frequently to a flash drive, as well. Compilations are written to a CD-ROM (or DVD) with LightScribe labelling.

I am a bit behind on Gruntz, because I have to restore from my Gruntz Extraz DVD, which does not have all of the 2017 changes. Those I have to get from the Forum's web host, as I remember them.

My current, most urgent, problem is that this computer does not play well with my all-in-one printer, which suddenly does not realize that it can print in color, and that it is capable of printing multiple page documents on both sides of a sheet of paper without any manual intervention. Before the computer woes, a page was printed, the sheet fed back into the machine and the software 'flip'ped the even page and printed on the reverse side. Now, there is a pause, and I am expected to reload the printed sheets in a certain way, then (on the computer) tell the printer to continue. And with printing in grey scale, when the source is in living color, that process is unacceptable to me.

[GooRoo]

I am not sure if the new computer is the cause of this problem, but I am not able to start Battlez (Multi-Grunt), which I wanted to do to get information (and possible maps) about the 'Standard' Battlez. I have absolutely nothing about the MPI supplied Battlez. My next attempt will be to see if my expanded GruntzRez archive has what I need. But perhaps those of you who have played on-line, or just alone against 3 computer (AI?) opponents have the ability to submit WWDs, Statz Page images, whatever for me to add to Forum support.

[GooRoo]

Apr 5, 2018 17:41:01 GMT -8 GooRoo said:

I am not sure if the new computer is the cause of this problem, but I am not able to start Battlez (Multi-Grunt), which I wanted to do to get information (and possible maps) about the 'Standard' Battlez. I have absolutely nothing about the MPI supplied Battlez. My next attempt will be to see if my expanded GruntzRez archive has what I need. But perhaps those of you who have played on-line, or just alone against 3 computer (AI?) opponents have the ability to submit WWDs, Statz Page images, whatever for me to add to Forum support.

Well. the problem was that I tried to do multi-player (host) without on-line parameters that would work. When I went back to single player, there was the 'Battlez' option, so I selected that and then selected Casino COnflictz to see what it was all about. I really wanted to acquire the WWD and do the GLE thing to prevent any Gruntz from moving from the GruntCreationPadz ... still no luck on that, so the extracted GruntzRez files are my only hope there. And (naturally!) Gruntz hung up during play, so my only recourse was full power down and re-boot. Senior moment had me start Gruntz with several projects still on my desktop ... all lost ... but fortunately all had been SAVEd, so only re-start time was actually lost.

[GooRoo]

My copy of the Gruntz Extraz DVD from October 2, 2016 had the files I was looking for, and I copied them onto my hard drive so I have a great start on the 'Standard' Battlez Forum maintenance. And (I suppose) that if I scanned the Forum's Battlez Board everything missing from my current computer was available there. I noticed that the Miniature Masterz battle had a "View the map" where only a single Green Grunt (a Bricklayer) was near the Blue King's Fortress ... no other Gruntz visible anywhere! A lot of work went into creating that PNG image to eliminate most of the Gruntz!!!

Now I just need to see what exists on the Forum's web host (however out-of-date it may be) in order to add the Statz Page image and its thumbnail provided by our successful(!) on-line players.

[Zu]

Apr 5, 2018 18:39:07 GMT -8 GooRoo said:

And (naturally!) Gruntz hung up during play, so my only recourse was full power down and re-boot.

Have you tried what I suggested before? Opening the Task Manager with CTRL+ALT+Delete, using arrow keys to select the Gruntz process, and using the Delete key to stop it? That should prevent having to restart the whole computer.

[GooRoo]

Apr 5, 2018 23:25:57 GMT -8 Zu said:

Apr 5, 2018 18:39:07 GMT -8 GooRoo said:

And (naturally!) Gruntz hung up during play, so my only recourse was full power down and re-boot.

Have you tried what I suggested before? Opening the Task Manager with CTRL+ALT+Delete, using arrow keys to select the Gruntz process, and using the Delete key to stop it? That should prevent having to restart the whole computer.

Forgot about the 'delete' key! I will try that next time ... if I remember.

[GooRoo]

I can almost play Gruntz on my Windows 10 computer now. I even have it displaying 1024X768 pixel screen resolution! I have played Oldone's "AsFarAs" Custom Level to giving the Warpstone Piece to the King (but missed one Secret and 8 Coinz). Starting over, and trying to get the "PERFECT!" score, I ran into the problem where the display refused to scroll down to the bottom, so I could not break Rock Crystalz at the bottom of the main area ... stops one tile short of the bottom of the main area. The 'trick' of doing a SAVE only works from the Statz area, not once a SAVE has been done, and there have been subsequent SAVEs via F5. And the display refuses to allow the mouse to go to the Statz display. I will try reloading Gruntz, and doing a Restore (F8) from my last SAVE to see if I can access the full height and width of the map. This is definitely one of those 'flaky' problems. Everything worked perfectly in my imPERFECT! attempt, but on the new attempt the scroll limitation problem cropped up.

At least, now, when Gruntz locks up, I am able to get rid of it via Task Manager, keyboard arrows and the delete key (the del key does NOT work!). Thank You for that reminder of the work-around.

[GooRoo]

Success! (Well, almost, anyway ... missed the "PERFECT!" by one Coin ... and was unable to do a print screen to prove that I can now play Gruntz (after a fashion ... still some flaky bugs).)

I am playing in one of the Windows compatibility modes (either Vista or Windows 7) with dgVoodoo at 1024X768 (32 tiles wide by 24 tiles tall) Win7_64_1024x768 with frequent SAVEz.

Gruntz on this system setup has a tendency to freeze up, requiring the "three finger salute" to invoke Task Manager ... which usually works, but sometimes even it cannot get control and power down/power up is required. Most of the time the keyboard can be used to select Gruntz as the task to be removed, and the full 'delete' key then does the job (the number pad 'del' key does NOT work).

All this means that I may once again try my hand at creating a new Custom Quest, since the Gruntz Level Editor works flawlessly on this system.

[swietymiki]

Great news! I've been wondering if any level idea popped into your mind, after all these years of not creating anything.

[GooRoo]

Apr 25, 2018 4:38:42 GMT -8 swietymiki said:

Great news! I've been wondering if any level idea popped into your mind, after all these years of not creating anything.

For now, all I know is that the CL name begins with X.

[GooRoo]

I have an oddity in the CL I am working on; a Yellow Toggle Switch that is supposed to control 4 Two-Way Arrowz only changes one of the four. As it turns out, that one that actually changes is the correct one to do the (solver the) most good. Go figure! Has anyone come across this problem? And solved it!?!