Re: Windows XP Problems WITH Solutions
Tallguy said:Does anyone have any ideas on how to get Captain's Chair up and running on Windows XP? (I'm amazed at how little info there is on this title!)
All of the Simon and Schuster titles... every last one of 'em it seems... used Quicktime as a major component.
The problem with Quicktime is that there are a series of totally incompatible versions out there. It just generally sucks. And that's pretty much entirely Apple's fault.
The GOOD thing about Quicktime, in any version, is that it's entirely non-3D-accelerated. Which means that it will run perfectly from within a "VirtualPC" environment.
So, to run any of these old S&S Trek titles... Captain's chair, the Encyclopedia (any version), the TNG Tech Manual... you need to install VirtualPC, set up a virtual Win9x machine, and install the Trek programs into that virtual environment.
Usually, I've found that VirtualPC isn't the best option... in cases where any direct hardware access is part of the program. But these programs are IDEAL for virtualization.
I'm going to assume you have an old Win98SE disk laying around someplace. That's what I've done, so that's all I can address.
You need to get VirtualPC from the Microsoft website. There are other "virtual pc" type programs out there, as well... VMWare, for instance... but this is the one I'm using. Heres' the link to get the program. It's free...
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/virtualpc/default.mspx
Install it. Create a "virtual drive" to use (it'll look like a single huge file from within your REAL operating system). The program does this quite easily, so don't get intimidated.
What you have is a software program which is a complete virtual computer INSIDE of your REAL computer. It thinks it has certain pieces of hardware installed (even though these don't actually physically exist). It will run more slowly than your REAL machine does... but since the programs are old, this should not be a problem.
So, once you have a "virtual machine" created (through a wizard, most likely), you'll "boot up" that virtual machine and, using the NORMAL procedure, "install" Windows 98SE onto that virtual machine (realizing that this is not happening on your REAL machine..).
So you have a nice clean "virtual computer" running Windows 98 now, with no other software installed. Go into that virtual machine and install, IN THERE, the Simon and Schuster programs. They will install the appropriate versions of Quicktime and everything will work perfectly.
This will work for most all of your older programs which do not require direct hardware access (for instance, anything involving 3d acceleration WILL NOT WORK).
Now, realize that many programs can be run more easily using DOSBox, or using VDMSound, directly from within WinXP. But anything involving Quicktime in the "older" versions will need to be on a separate machine... or a separate VIRTUAL machine, in this case. Also note that some programs... say, Captain's Chair... may install a newer version of Quicktime that may interfere with the older versions in, say, the Tech Manual (I'm not 100% sure that this can't be resolved!). If this turns out to be unresolvable... you can create a complete "virtual machine" for each program if you want (and if you have the hard drive space!)
Hope this helps!
