I downloaded Crystal Caves (following the download guide) and downloaded winzip81 to unzip the file. It apparently works, so I go to the only .exe file (a blue and white icon) and open it.
The game starts running then, and things run great until after first log entry. I press 'any key', my screen momentarily flickers to a blue error and then goes on to the second log entry, where it freezes.
Ctrl+Alt+Del bring up the right box, and I can click End Program first up, but after that the computer freezes and after about five minutes I turn the pc off the hard way.
My computer's OS is Windows 98, I have 56.0MbRAM - 71% free at this exact time, and 7.85Gb - 2.87Gb free.
Is it my computer or am I doing something wrong? I really really REALLY want to play Crystal Caves again! Please help me.
Crystal Caves freezes
...
hi,
try extracting again this time make sure nothing is selected if that doesnt work
Please go to http://www.wally4000dosonline.tk and then to utillties then moslo
follow all instructions in the instructions for moslo
try extracting again this time make sure nothing is selected if that doesnt work
Please go to http://www.wally4000dosonline.tk and then to utillties then moslo
follow all instructions in the instructions for moslo
-
elle_pajote
MS DOS for Dummies
Thanks for your help, Wally, but I'm afraid the Instructions sheet kind of left a bit out for me. How do I apply MOSLO to Crystal Caves? I downloaded the file and unzipped it, and then couldn't find what on earth to do with it.
That aside, though, I now have a new problem. I found a different page (still offered by DOS Games) and as I was installing crystal caves from there, I was asked to enter a name for it in DOS mode (this didn't happen before). I went with what it suggested "C:\CAVES" but when I go to MS DOS I can't lose the "WINDOWS>" from the "C:\WINDOWS>"
I can't save the game with the WINDOWS> in the name, so I thought I'd try saving it to a disk ("A:\>caves"), but the DOS won't accept > as part of the game's name, nor let me delete it from the "A:\>" prompt in DOS!
When I re-read this, I feel as though I'm a useless twit who can't talk straight - please tell me you have some idea of what I'm talking about?
That aside, though, I now have a new problem. I found a different page (still offered by DOS Games) and as I was installing crystal caves from there, I was asked to enter a name for it in DOS mode (this didn't happen before). I went with what it suggested "C:\CAVES" but when I go to MS DOS I can't lose the "WINDOWS>" from the "C:\WINDOWS>"
I can't save the game with the WINDOWS> in the name, so I thought I'd try saving it to a disk ("A:\>caves"), but the DOS won't accept > as part of the game's name, nor let me delete it from the "A:\>" prompt in DOS!
When I re-read this, I feel as though I'm a useless twit who can't talk straight - please tell me you have some idea of what I'm talking about?
You'll get from "C:/WINDOWS/" to "C:/" by typing
and pressing 'Enter'. (notice exactly two periods)
It brings you back one directory in DOS...
And when going a directory forward, enter
in front of the directory name. Right, folks?
Code: Select all
cd..It brings you back one directory in DOS...
And when going a directory forward, enter
Code: Select all
cd"Long before there was ultra-super-duper-128-bit-polygon-video-capture, hardware hype, wEiRd TyPe, pointless game ratings, E3, SCREAMING GUYS in ads, Virtual Reality, cliches like "in your face" and "it's the ultimate", 360 degree roto-scope-rhetoric from self righteous reviewers, CD-this, 3-D that, multi-million-dollar TV commercials tainted with TOILET humor...
...there was fun."
The OPCFG - dedicated to the preservation of classic forms of gaming since 1998!
...there was fun."
The OPCFG - dedicated to the preservation of classic forms of gaming since 1998!
-
Elle_pajote
-
Splodginator
- Way too much free time
- Posts: 558
- Joined: Wed Apr 23, 2003 10:28 pm
- Location: Nowhere.
-
elle_pajote
Ah, I give up. Thanks anyway, guys. I thought I had a lead, I kind of worked out how to get it to run even with the ">" there, but some error came up. I didn't have time to suss it out then, and when I went back to it today I must have done something different cos it came up with a runtime error. I had another shot at trying to understand moslo (lol and I had a go at just using moslo without any knowhow) but I'm afraid it's all a bit beyond me...
Who knows, some nice person might one day put together a compilation of some of these great games and sell them on a cd - I know I'd pay a bit for that!
Who knows, some nice person might one day put together a compilation of some of these great games and sell them on a cd - I know I'd pay a bit for that!
-
Guest
The run time error sounds like it could be due to processor speed meaning you either need to fix program or slow down execution. Slowing down execution is where moslo comes in. The other way is by applying tppatch (or one of its derivates).
If you want to get this to run, it should be fairly simple. It just seems you lack some fundamental DOS knowledge. So, bear with me and get through this text. Will take 10-20 minutes at most and teach you what you need to know (if what I suspect is wrong, is indeed wrong. Else, you won't get hurt by this knowledge anyways)
First off, to get rid of the path (such as C:\Windows) confusion you will need to differ between path and prompt. The path tells the computer where a specific file is on the disk while the prompt is just there to visualize things for you. The topmost place (directory) is called the root and symbolized by drive letter :\, such as
C:\ - normally first hard drive is assigned this letter
A:\ - disk drive
B:\ - rare these days, disk drive
D-Z are also used for drives and can be of any variety, such as RAM disk, hard drive, CD-ROM etc.
Commands to learn: dir, cd
dir <enter> (don't type the <enter>, just hit the enter key)
will give you a listing of the directory you are currently in.
prompt
C:\> dir <enter> might show
WINDOWS <DIR>
My Documents <DIR>
command com
autoexec bat
The two first are so called directories in which other files or directories resides. The last two are files. There are two types of executables, those having a file extension of EXE and those having an extension of COM (as shown above). They are both programs, but their internal function differs. The other type shown above, the BAT file, is a so called batch file which may also be run.
Some nice things to know about the DIR command is the wild card *, any single character ? and the /p parameter.
If you want to list only directories (well, more or less)
dir *. will do this for you. Very few files except directories have no file extension.
dir *.exe list exe files only
dir crysta?.* list all files starting with crysta followed by exactly zero or one unknown character and any file extension
adding /p after command will make screen output pause once screen is full. hit any key to continue
dir *.txt /p or dir /p will do this for you
One more word about file names. DOS used a naming convention called 8+3, since file names could be at most 8 characters long, followed by a 3 character file extension (used to indicate type such as EXEcutable, TeXT, DOCument...) However, windows supports longer file names. In DOS mode, those longer names will, if used, be truncated to 8+3 (don't worry, the full name is still there when you return to windows). The process is simple enough. Let's say you put your files in My Documents\Crystal Caves\ and already had My Documents\Crystal Sound.
First thing is to remove all white spaces, then truncate file name to 6 characters and add ~ as well as a numeral.
My Documents would become MyDocu~1 (no file extension, else it would follow hereafter). Since Crystal Sound already existed and hence is Crysta~1, your new directory would be Crysta~2.
You may use the CD command (Change Directory) to move around your hard drive (files aren't really stored in a way that resembles what you see. This is just a matter of representation and keeping certain files together when presented to user).
So, standing in the root, issue
cd windows <enter>
and your prompt will change to
C:\Windows\> (path is still C:\Windows)
Moving in this direction is easy enough. When typing the dir command, you may have noted the two first entries (at least they used to show up on DOS and earlier versions of windows.
. <DIR>
.. <DIR>
The . refers to the directory you're currently in and has marginal use (on some OS you would need to make use of the . to refer to things where you are implicitly. In DOS/Windows it's always explicit unless other path is given.
The .. refers to the directly above the one you're in.
Finally the \ refers to the root (and also acts as separator between directories in path and prompt)
in the windows directory, move down to some other directory such as
cd system <enter>
and you get the prompt
c:\windows\system\>
From there
cd\ <enter> would take you to C:\>
cd .. <enter> would take you to C:\Windows\>
So, what's different between path and prompt? Path tells a computer in what "place" to look for things, while the prompt is there for you :)
Another command: prompt
prompt /? <enter> will give you a list of possible paramters to use with this command. The standard prompt is
prompt $p$g where $p tells your computer to show the path and $g tells it to show >
So, in order to remove the >, just issue the command
prompt $p <enter> unless you have a whitespace after $p, the next input would look like this
C:\WINDOWSprompt$g <enter> (see how WINDOWs and prompt are stuck together. makes it harder to see what you've types)
which would produce this result
>
you're still in the windows directory, i.e. the path to where you are is still C:\windows, but your prompt now is only >
Enough of the DOS knowledge for now. This should suffice for you unless you have to run a bat file to get your game running.
To use moslo, you will need to run it directly on an EXE file (when implicitly specifying extension to a file name, you make use of the . ) It does not work if you run a batch file that you would normally do with some old games.
I assume the file you have to execute is called crystal.exe and that both this file and moslo.exe are located in C:\CRYSTAL. Many ways of doing this. If in windows directory (prompt C:\windows\>) issue command:
\crystal\moslo /20 \crystal\crystal.exe (run at 20% of full speed)
..\crystal\moslo /50 ..\crystal\crystal.exe (run at 50% of full speed)
C:\crystal\moslo /50 ..\crystal\crystal.exe
Note that you can mix different styles when specifying path. First is a semi absolute path, starting at root of current drive. Second line is a relative path, starting from your current directory (c:\windows) from where it backs up one directory, then moves down to crystal. First part on third line is an abosulte (full) path stating both drive and path.
Sometimes this won't work though, and you need to move to the place where the files you want to execute are.
cd \crystal
moslo /50 crytal.exe
DOS doesn't care wether you use give the file extension .exe when running a file. If it is a program or batchfile (.exe, .com, .bat) it will run. But if I recall correctly, moslo needs the extension, hence the use of full file name crystal.exe.
In case you're making use of a batchfile, let's assume it's called crystal.bat, you'll need to figure out what it's doing.
New command: type
issue command:
type crystal.bat <enter>
and you'll see some text. If there are multiple lines in your bat file, locate the line where it says crystal and insert "moslo /desried-speed" in front of crystal, and append .exe to crystal. You can make use of the DOS editor for this
when in c:\crystal
edit crystal.bat <enter>
When done with changes hit the ALT key, arrow UP, exit. It will prompt you for saving, hit <enter> to do so.
That should do the trick.
If the run time error is the one I suspect, you could also try applying tppatch. This will change your executable though, so if you want to keep the original file, make a backup first. When in C:\crystal
copy crystal.exe crystal.bak <enter>
Then patch the exe file
tppatch crystal.exe
If you want to get this to run, it should be fairly simple. It just seems you lack some fundamental DOS knowledge. So, bear with me and get through this text. Will take 10-20 minutes at most and teach you what you need to know (if what I suspect is wrong, is indeed wrong. Else, you won't get hurt by this knowledge anyways)
First off, to get rid of the path (such as C:\Windows) confusion you will need to differ between path and prompt. The path tells the computer where a specific file is on the disk while the prompt is just there to visualize things for you. The topmost place (directory) is called the root and symbolized by drive letter :\, such as
C:\ - normally first hard drive is assigned this letter
A:\ - disk drive
B:\ - rare these days, disk drive
D-Z are also used for drives and can be of any variety, such as RAM disk, hard drive, CD-ROM etc.
Commands to learn: dir, cd
dir <enter> (don't type the <enter>, just hit the enter key)
will give you a listing of the directory you are currently in.
prompt
C:\> dir <enter> might show
WINDOWS <DIR>
My Documents <DIR>
command com
autoexec bat
The two first are so called directories in which other files or directories resides. The last two are files. There are two types of executables, those having a file extension of EXE and those having an extension of COM (as shown above). They are both programs, but their internal function differs. The other type shown above, the BAT file, is a so called batch file which may also be run.
Some nice things to know about the DIR command is the wild card *, any single character ? and the /p parameter.
If you want to list only directories (well, more or less)
dir *. will do this for you. Very few files except directories have no file extension.
dir *.exe list exe files only
dir crysta?.* list all files starting with crysta followed by exactly zero or one unknown character and any file extension
adding /p after command will make screen output pause once screen is full. hit any key to continue
dir *.txt /p or dir /p will do this for you
One more word about file names. DOS used a naming convention called 8+3, since file names could be at most 8 characters long, followed by a 3 character file extension (used to indicate type such as EXEcutable, TeXT, DOCument...) However, windows supports longer file names. In DOS mode, those longer names will, if used, be truncated to 8+3 (don't worry, the full name is still there when you return to windows). The process is simple enough. Let's say you put your files in My Documents\Crystal Caves\ and already had My Documents\Crystal Sound.
First thing is to remove all white spaces, then truncate file name to 6 characters and add ~ as well as a numeral.
My Documents would become MyDocu~1 (no file extension, else it would follow hereafter). Since Crystal Sound already existed and hence is Crysta~1, your new directory would be Crysta~2.
You may use the CD command (Change Directory) to move around your hard drive (files aren't really stored in a way that resembles what you see. This is just a matter of representation and keeping certain files together when presented to user).
So, standing in the root, issue
cd windows <enter>
and your prompt will change to
C:\Windows\> (path is still C:\Windows)
Moving in this direction is easy enough. When typing the dir command, you may have noted the two first entries (at least they used to show up on DOS and earlier versions of windows.
. <DIR>
.. <DIR>
The . refers to the directory you're currently in and has marginal use (on some OS you would need to make use of the . to refer to things where you are implicitly. In DOS/Windows it's always explicit unless other path is given.
The .. refers to the directly above the one you're in.
Finally the \ refers to the root (and also acts as separator between directories in path and prompt)
in the windows directory, move down to some other directory such as
cd system <enter>
and you get the prompt
c:\windows\system\>
From there
cd\ <enter> would take you to C:\>
cd .. <enter> would take you to C:\Windows\>
So, what's different between path and prompt? Path tells a computer in what "place" to look for things, while the prompt is there for you :)
Another command: prompt
prompt /? <enter> will give you a list of possible paramters to use with this command. The standard prompt is
prompt $p$g where $p tells your computer to show the path and $g tells it to show >
So, in order to remove the >, just issue the command
prompt $p <enter> unless you have a whitespace after $p, the next input would look like this
C:\WINDOWSprompt$g <enter> (see how WINDOWs and prompt are stuck together. makes it harder to see what you've types)
which would produce this result
>
you're still in the windows directory, i.e. the path to where you are is still C:\windows, but your prompt now is only >
Enough of the DOS knowledge for now. This should suffice for you unless you have to run a bat file to get your game running.
To use moslo, you will need to run it directly on an EXE file (when implicitly specifying extension to a file name, you make use of the . ) It does not work if you run a batch file that you would normally do with some old games.
I assume the file you have to execute is called crystal.exe and that both this file and moslo.exe are located in C:\CRYSTAL. Many ways of doing this. If in windows directory (prompt C:\windows\>) issue command:
\crystal\moslo /20 \crystal\crystal.exe (run at 20% of full speed)
..\crystal\moslo /50 ..\crystal\crystal.exe (run at 50% of full speed)
C:\crystal\moslo /50 ..\crystal\crystal.exe
Note that you can mix different styles when specifying path. First is a semi absolute path, starting at root of current drive. Second line is a relative path, starting from your current directory (c:\windows) from where it backs up one directory, then moves down to crystal. First part on third line is an abosulte (full) path stating both drive and path.
Sometimes this won't work though, and you need to move to the place where the files you want to execute are.
cd \crystal
moslo /50 crytal.exe
DOS doesn't care wether you use give the file extension .exe when running a file. If it is a program or batchfile (.exe, .com, .bat) it will run. But if I recall correctly, moslo needs the extension, hence the use of full file name crystal.exe.
In case you're making use of a batchfile, let's assume it's called crystal.bat, you'll need to figure out what it's doing.
New command: type
issue command:
type crystal.bat <enter>
and you'll see some text. If there are multiple lines in your bat file, locate the line where it says crystal and insert "moslo /desried-speed" in front of crystal, and append .exe to crystal. You can make use of the DOS editor for this
when in c:\crystal
edit crystal.bat <enter>
When done with changes hit the ALT key, arrow UP, exit. It will prompt you for saving, hit <enter> to do so.
That should do the trick.
If the run time error is the one I suspect, you could also try applying tppatch. This will change your executable though, so if you want to keep the original file, make a backup first. When in C:\crystal
copy crystal.exe crystal.bak <enter>
Then patch the exe file
tppatch crystal.exe
Huge manual! But didn't the guy say he gives up?
"Long before there was ultra-super-duper-128-bit-polygon-video-capture, hardware hype, wEiRd TyPe, pointless game ratings, E3, SCREAMING GUYS in ads, Virtual Reality, cliches like "in your face" and "it's the ultimate", 360 degree roto-scope-rhetoric from self righteous reviewers, CD-this, 3-D that, multi-million-dollar TV commercials tainted with TOILET humor...
...there was fun."
The OPCFG - dedicated to the preservation of classic forms of gaming since 1998!
...there was fun."
The OPCFG - dedicated to the preservation of classic forms of gaming since 1998!