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bmascho Group: Members Posts: 4 Joined: June 2002 Posted: June 14 2002, 03:26 Yesterday an update was released to solve problems mainly for Windows ME and Windows 98. I hoped all my problems were gone too (although I am using Windows 2000), but no :-( As many other has described, I hear pieces of music as scratched old records. After the update it became better, now the music sometimes disappear to come back again after a second or so. But later in the game, the repeated pieces of music/voice came back and spoiled the experience.. I am using a Dell laptop with a NVIDIA GeForce2 GO with 32 Mb ram. The laptop has a 1 Ghz CPU and 256 Mb ram. And I have NEVER seen a game not capable of running on this laptop. With all respect, there must be something wrong with this piece of software.. If any of the developers would like to have some more information about the errors or and where, please let me know. Being an IT professional, I might be able to give some debug or system information. I surely hope that I one day will be able to have the full experience with this game. rgds, Bjarne. Back to top

TinkerBell Group: Members Posts: 25 Joined: June 2002 Posted: June 14 2002, 14:40 I agree - there are problems still. For example, I did a bit-fo-bit comparison of the "new" download - no difference to previous ones (at least for me). ... setup_game[4].exe 55,061,085 byte (11/06/02) setup_game[5].exe 55,061,085 byte (14/06/02) I am using Windows 98 (4.10.1998), with 192MB memory and (max) 36GB of HD. Anyone have any ideas about what is going on here? Downloading from the official website (www.mikeoldfield.com) is giving me a consistently truncated file - apparently, it "should" be 56.9MB ... or thereabouts. I have now done this from two different systems - with the SAME results. So, it isn't my particular machine ... Has *anyone* with Windows 98 succeeded in installing correctly? If so, what is the size of _your_ download? Did you have to reset any OS parameters etc? My Temp Internet Cache is set to 400MB + ... I wonder if the developers have actually bothered to test installing their product from Windows 98, by downloading it from their web site, and then doing a **clean** install (just like a standard customer would). By all accounts, the sound is also not up to much on Windows 98 - which is a bit of a shame for a "music" related product ... I am beginning to wonder if the developers fell into the common trap of developing some really cool stuff on a particular platform (i.e. a bunch of high-performance multimedia workstations) and didn't fully think through that the end-product has to work - and install - on EVERYONE ELSE's systems. In which case, there is a good possibility that the CD version may not be much better - likely to be an out-of-date version anyway by now. Oldfield Interactive will probably be releasing new versions of MVR from their web-site - for some time to come. The games manufacturers certainly know how to release mass-distribution commercial software which works (at leasts installs upon) on all sorts of platforms. It looks as though Oldfield Interactive Ltd are going through a very severe learning curve on how to publish commercial software ... one that many software publishers have already had to go through. So, I wouldn't hold your breath for a working MVR any time soon - it's probably going to take months and months for this to be sorted out . Back to top

Jerome C Group: Members Posts: 138 Joined: Mar. 2002 Posted: June 14 2002, 16:39 So I did well not to install that again, it's the same stuff and the supposed update page on the site is empty (www.mikeoldfield.com/update/index.html). But considering that the game is credited (appart from MO) with ONE developper and ONE graphic artist, I'm afraid we'll have a hard time with software distribution and support... Such a pity, really. -------------- Jerome C (long time out of here, but always having MO in mind somewhere) Back to top

bmascho Group: Members Posts: 4 Joined: June 2002 Posted: June 14 2002, 19:57 The upgrade I downloaded was actually new. It was at least 4-5 Mb smaller than the version I downloaded last week. I have just spend about 2-3 hours experimenting with the OpenGL settings for my card, but still with no luck. I really hope that there are more updates comming.. regards, Bjarne Back to top

TinkerBell Group: Members Posts: 25 Joined: June 2002 Posted: June 14 2002, 20:44 Quote Jerome C: So I did well not to install that again, it's the same stuff and the supposed update page on the site is empty (www.mikeoldfield.com/update/index.html). Thanks for the link - I hadn't seen that advertised anywhere. Inspired guesswork? Back to top

TinkerBell Group: Members Posts: 25 Joined: June 2002 Posted: June 14 2002, 20:58 Quote bmascho: The upgrade I downloaded was actually new. It was at least 4-5 Mb smaller than the version I downloaded last week. ... I really hope that there are more updates coming. Yeah, well it seems that the size of download is "variable". I guess you have had no problems downloading/installing on Win2k - just sound is a problem for you? Anyway, did you do the same? (1) Start download from www.mikeoldfield.com by either clicking the MusicVR icon on top or the DOWNLOAD GAME button). (2) The dialog box then offers me a 52.5MB file ("setup_game.exe"). Downloading then takes a long time (3.5 hrs++) and I then get 55,061,085 byte file. If we both do the same thing but get a different result, then I am somewhat at a loss to explain what is going on ... Something is definitely strange here ... Back to top

bmascho Group: Members Posts: 4 Joined: June 2002 Posted: June 15 2002, 18:44 Yes, I did download the file from the normal link. The 6th June I have got a file 59.670.591 bytes big (59.674.624 bytes on disk). The 13th June, I have got a file 55.061.085 bytes big (55.062.528 bytes on disk). So we arte most likely using the same file. And yes, installation went fine. It is entirely an OpenGL and/or sound problem that spoils my experience. Back to top

TinkerBell Group: Members Posts: 25 Joined: June 2002 Posted: June 16 2002, 22:38 Quote Yes, I did download the file from the normal link. The 6th June I have got a file 59.670.591 bytes big (59.674.624 bytes on disk). The 13th June, I have got a file 55.061.085 bytes big (55.062.528 bytes on disk). So we are most likely using the same file. And yes, installation went fine. It is entirely an OpenGL and/or sound problem that spoils my experience. Ok, Thanks for replying. It is clear now that I never succeeded in downloading the original file (59.6MB) - I've only managed to get the current version, by chance. I agree that MVR needs more sound/graphic card support to make it truly successful. (BTW, I've managed to install now - see other news posting ...). Cheers ... and good luck. Back to top

bmascho Group: Members Posts: 4 Joined: June 2002 Posted: June 17 2002, 18:54 Yez! After almost 2 weeks it seems to be running now. A fresh version of the Geforce2 Go driver did it. Now it only crashes when the original resolution does not match the setting I choose in MusicVR. Enough talk, time for a real play session.. Back to top

Jerome C Group: Members Posts: 138 Joined: Mar. 2002 Posted: July 08 2002, 05:27 Hi, I've also found an upgrade for my GeForce 2 Go board driver (for a Toshiba, pretty similar to your machine), and guess what, I still have that bloody sound problem, scratching the game ! (music overlaps and repeats itself, not-not-not-not-ha-ha-ha-py-py-py, sometimes I hear several musics at the same time - one a first one won't stop while another one will start, etc). There is a Open GL "something" checkbox on the launching window of the game, I tried to uncheck it : maybe it was a little bit better, I'm not sure though. Too sad...   I've not installed the supposed upgrade of MVR yet. Jerome C -------------- Jerome C (long time out of here, but always having MO in mind somewhere) Back to top

TinkerBell Unregistered Posted: July 08 2002, 18:57 Quote I've also found an upgrade for my GeForce 2 Go board driver (for a Toshiba, pretty similar to your machine), and guess what, I still have that bloody sound problem, scratching the game ! You have similar symptoms to those reported in this thread: TubularBoard » Music VR » Troubleshooting » SOUND PROBLEMS with MVR So, does changing your sound card options (in Control Panel) help - i.e. sound card acceleration - set it to min?  Also what about setting the game up (in the game set-up) for a smaller system than you actually have e.g.. 16 Meg video card instead of 32 meg card, etc.  The video/sound options are often not independent.  Memory used for heavy graphics can impact audio playback ... Good luck ... Back to top

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