Lemmings Revolution on Windows 8

[Lemmy]

Update: It works!        
Hi everyone,

Lemmings Revolution apparently doesn't run on Windows 8 x64.  Could anybody help me?  I'd be happy to provide whatever diagnostic info I can and try some things out if necessary.  (I've already attached my DxDiag output to this post.)

When I run the program, it opens full screen on my primary display, but the screen remains entirely black and shortly after that Task Manager reports that the program is not responding.  There is no sound or video at all.  The CD spins very loudly but nothing happens.  The black screen and its unresponsiveness seems to remain this way indefinitely.

Alt+Tab doesn't really work, perhaps because the mouse remains captured on the primary display, which makes connecting a debugger impossible, it seems.  However, Ctrl+Alt+Del allows me to launch Task Manager to forcefully end the process, though sometimes it's hard to get the mouse to retain focus while opening the context menu.

I have the original installation CD.  I chose a "Typical" installation.  I also installed DirectX 7.0a, though not when the installer prompted me to -- at first I canceled the DX installation and got the results described above, so then I went back and installed it from the CD, but that didn't change anything.  I still get the exact behavior as described above.

Rebooting my computer did not change anything.

I really appreciate all of the work that GuyPerfect and others have done in this discussion for the Windows 7 patch.  I've installed the latest patch, but it doesn't seem to change anything for me.

I also manually overwrote the LEMMINGS.BOX file in my install directory with the file from the CD, but that didn't change anything.

Edit: I forgot to mention that I also tried running in XP compatibility mode and also Win98 compatibility mode, but neither of them changed anything.

Does anybody have any ideas that I can try to get this game to work for me?

Thanks in advance,
Lemmy

Mod Edit: Restored attachments.

[ccexplore]

I suspect it'll be a little difficult for people to help you unless they are willing to set aside some time and disk space to install Windows 8 themselves.  Nothing looks out of place in your DxDiag log.

I'm kinda thinking maybe the game is stuck at the point where it tries to play the intro movie, but I'm just speculating.  I'm fairly sure the DirectX 7 installation doesn't do anything of use on any of the modern versions of Windows (probably even XP).

MS seems quite willing to make big changes from Win7 to Win8, Lemmings Revolution compatibility might well be a casualty of that, especially since it wasn't all that compatible with modern versions of Windows to start with. http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/sad.gif" alt=":(" title="Sad" class="smiley" />  Good luck and hope eventually someone can get it to keep working on the latest version of Windows.

[Lemmy]

Understood, thanks for your reply.  I hope somebody will find the time to try it on Win 8 and get it working http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/XD.gif" alt=":XD:" title="XD" class="smiley" />

Maybe I'll try doing some debugging tonight if I can figure out how to break in the debugger while the game is running - difficult due to the mouse capture and video device issues, though perhaps my secondary monitor will be of use.

[Lemmy]

I got it working, thanks to the suggestion from ccexplore:

I'm kinda thinking maybe the game is stuck at the point where it tries to play the intro movie, but I'm just speculating.

That got me thinking... I did some searching and discovered FFDShow installed.  I opened the configuration (both x86 and x64 separately) and added the "Lemmings Revolution.exe" program to the "Don't use ffdshow in" list of programs.

That did the trick!  The game is working great.  It seems that GuyPerfect's patch also works because I can see all of the text and the icon colors appear correctly.

One problem: The game crashes on exit.  Who cares though?

Thanks everyone!

[ccexplore]

Cool, glad to be of help! http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/shocked.gif" alt=":o" title="Shocked" class="smiley" />  Also good to know that the game is still compatible even on Win8, without any additional patching beyond the ones we already have. http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/cool.gif" alt="8)" title="Cool" class="smiley" />

[Simon]

IIRC the game crashed upon exit on Win XP already 8 years ago. That crash shouldn't be a big worry.

-- Simon

[Colorful Arty]

I have the CD copy of the game, and I cannot get it to work. Whenever I try to run it, I get a black screen with the window: "No suitable 3D accelerator detected". Anyone know how to fix this or get my hands on a way to run Revolution on Windows 8. I was planning on Let's Playing this after LPI.

[mobius]

I have the CD copy of the game, and I cannot get it to work. Whenever I try to run it, I get a black screen with the window: "No suitable 3D accelerator detected". Anyone know how to fix this or get my hands on a way to run Revolution on Windows 8. I was planning on Let's Playing this after LPI.

Are you already using the patch? If not try the patch, though there's no grantee it'll work.

IMO; your best bet is to try getting a program called "Oracle Virtual Box" and a copy of an earlier version of Windows install disk.* There might be an additional charge* but it may honestly be easier than figuring it out this way or trying to use the patch.
Better yet would be using an older computer.

*This program emulates another operating system on your PC. It's very handy, but requires a little work to set up, but nothing too difficult. I have one currently for Windows XP. I've never tried running Revolution on it. If you do try this; I would recommend Windows 98; that's the system I've run Revolution best on.
*ebay should have affordable CDs

note: the game always crashes on exit, at least on Windows XP and 7. Also the game sometimes randomly crashes; especially when a lot of intensive things are going on like 100 lems on the level and you use the nuke.

[ccexplore]

I get a black screen with the window: "No suitable 3D accelerator detected".

Hmm, that almost sounds like you don't have the correct video driver installed on the computer.  We could check for that case by running dxdiag, and once we confirm that's the cause I can walk you through how to get the correct driver installed.  Unfortunately it's been a while since I have done anything with Windows 8, but give below instructions a try:

1) right-click (ie. click with right mouse button rather than the usual left button) on the Start button at the bottom left of the screen.  Or if it's a version of Windows 8 that doesn't have the Start button at all, just right-click on the very bottom-left corner of the screen.

2) This should bring up a menu of advanced commands.  Look for "Run" near the bottom of the menu and click it.

3) A small window appears asking for name of program to run.  Type "dxdiag" (no quotes) and press Enter to launch the program.

4) The "Direct X Diagnostic Tool" window appears.  Around the bottom-right of the window should be a button labeled "Save All Information...".  Click it, then select a filename and location for the program to save information to.  Then click the "Exit" button to close the dxdiag window.

5) Now upload the file or PM it to me.  It is just a human-readable text file, you can open it yourself if you're curious what's in it.

The main thing I'm looking for in that report is the manufacturer/model of the graphics card on your computer, and the associated driver software installed for it.

[namida]

1) right-click (ie. click with right mouse button rather than the usual left button) on the Start button at the bottom left of the screen.  Or if it's a version of Windows 8 that doesn't have the Start button at all, just right-click on the very bottom-left corner of the screen.

2) This should bring up a menu of advanced commands.  Look for "Run" near the bottom of the menu and click it.

Quicker way that works on all Windows versions (as far as I know) - Windows key + R.

[Colorful Arty]

So I managed to get the game to run, but there is no music/SFX and there are a few graphical issues (like the the Let's Go! being black instead of white.) While the game seems operational, it would be nice to fix these problems if anyone has any ideas.



Edit by namida: Put the actual image into the post correctly.

[mobius]

So I managed to get the game to run, but there is no music/SFX and there are a few graphical issues (like the the Let's Go! being black instead of white.) While the game seems operational, it would be nice to fix these problems if anyone has any ideas.

the image in your post isn't showing up for some reason. --try display it as a link instead.

Anyways, that's normal for running the game on any modern system. The only way to fix those issues is using the patch. Or using a virtual machine like I mentioned earlier.

[ccexplore]

So I managed to get the game to run, but there is no music/SFX and there are a few graphical issues (like the the Let's Go! being black instead of white.) While the game seems operational, it would be nice to fix these problems if anyone has any ideas.

Those are known issues that are all fixed by the GuyPerfect's patch.  (A copy of instructions on how to use here.)  Give it a try and see if it works for you.

Out of curiosity, what did you end up doing to get the game to run?  I looked at the dxdiag you sent and my theory was incorrect, it appears you do have the correct video driver software installed for the graphics card model identified.

[Colorful Arty]

To get it to run, I set the compatibility to run the program as if it was an earlier version of windows.

[Colorful Arty]

The game runs flawlessly now! Thank you so much ccexplore!

EDIT - Never mind. On closer inspection, the game crashes every time I start a new game or complete a level. :p

Also, every level is now titled "Unknown String". No idea what the problem is