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"scentext" problem


Tonweya

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I've been running what, I believe, is the "CBOE 2012" probram, (the one that places the three Icons on the Screen), on Windows 'XP' with a "Land Line" and, recently, an "8.1 laptop" for a few years now and have had an occasional problem with accessing the 'scentext' of a couple of scenarios.

The latest one in particular is "Dragon Within". The Scenairo loads and plays just fine.

However, when I run the "Scenario Editor" and do a "Full Text Dump" and then go to retrieve that "Text Dump", what I find is a File named, "Dragon Within 1" which displays, "0 KB". And, of course, nothing is displayed when I try to "Open" that File, because, I presume, there is nothing in it.

Although most of the Scenarios dump and display the "ScenText as expected, this one, and a few others, won't "Open" because, I assume", there is nothing in the File.

Any help would be GREATLY APPRECIATED.

Much thanx,

me

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CBoE is Ormus's older version. It runs more or less, but it's loaded with bugs. You may wish to use the "Experimental builds" linked in the forum header. I think the latest version is closest to the top of the list. We've been calling that "OBoE" or Open Blades of Exile and it has a lot of bug fixes, although it's still (supposedly) being tested.

 

One of these days I'll feel like my old self again and I can do all the things that I need and want to do again. Right now I'm semi-conscious, pointlessly anxious, and scrambling fruitlessly to get my business going for the holiday shopping season. Some day I'll help out again. I always loved it and I know it's probably pointless because next to nobody plays BoE anyway these days but I still wish I could help again...

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If you're using Windows XP, there's no guarantee that OBoE will run on your computer. I would like it to be able to run on XP, but I no longer have access to an XP computer, so I can't really test it. If you could at least download the latest version and test to see if it runs, that would be great. Even if it doesn't run on your XP computer, it should work on your laptop.

 

Note that, if you intend to design scenarios, you should skip the latest version and take the one just before that. If you only want to dump scenario text, the latest version is fine. It has a lot of improvements, but unfortunately it also has a partially broken scenario editor. (I think the text dumping feature will work though. Probably. If it doesn't you can download the previous version anyway.)

 

I can't help you with the CBoE edition.

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That's not what DosBox does, Ishad. It emulates(?) MS-DOS only. If you want to run the original BoE in DosBox you need to obtain a copy of Windows 3.x (I dunno, 95 or 98 might also work, but would probably be harder) and go through the process of installing it.

 

But you're right that DosBox won't help for running either CBoE or OBoE. Only CBoE would benefit from compatibility mode, as all my releases of OBoE were compiled on Windows 7 (or OSX 10.7).

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First, I want to thank all of you for the responses, but you're all light years ahead of me. I dropped out of the binary part of computers somewyere when they went from C-64 to MS-DOS. (That's a joke, son.)

Seriously, We have three sons and the oldest who ran BBs on the C-64 & C-128 now is a Programmer for a living and will turn 60 next October.

I'm 74 and feel quite comfortable with the MS Office Programs, so when I joined this Community, it didn't take me long to start making "Walk-Throughs" of Scenarios. I originally intended to turn them over to the Community, specifically to Traci, but soon felt that if I did it would undermine the work done by some really good Authors, so now I just keep an eye on this Board and answer if/when i can.

Althouth I was hoping for a "Quick-Fix" to my problem, it may not be possible.

1.) I'm on an "XP" which is a 32bit machine. (I think that's the right term), so I can't use the 64bit stuff.

2.) I bought an "8.1" laptop, fearing I was going to end up "in the dark" some day soon and really DO NOT LIKE it and wish someone had created a simple Office-Style machine with only a Web-Mail connection.

Right now I'm using the laptop as a 'Storage Device" while I try to "Clean-up the "XP" so I can "Recover" the original System.

 

On the "XP", I have the Original Blades Program and the CBOE version that is dated as '2012'. I used to have a version of BoE that was, I believe, 2009, but it also had the same problem with a "Text Dump" that, on ocasion there would be no data in the 'Filename' and I'm not knowledgeable enough about programming to know why the Files arrive, but are, (apparently), empty.

 

Since I first noticed this problem, I now "Read" the Data I want from Nodes, etc. by going through the "Back-Door", the 'Scenario Editor'. I have two "Windows" on the Screen while I'm playing. One is the BoE "Game" Screen and the other is the BoE 'Scenario Editor' Screen. I have to "click' on words, or "Specials", but it works, even though it takes a bit longer. I then transfer the information to *.XLS", or "Word" Files I run along with the Game Files.

Lastly, I'm sorry to run-on so, but it's a cold,dreary day here and I'm a reasonable good typiist. ;^}

Thanks a bunch for listening and answering the posts,

me

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Since you are running XP, it would be nice if you could test one of the versions found here and let me know whether it works. I don't think it will, but if I'm right, I'd like to try to fix it so it can run on XP. These are the versions that I (and ADoS) have referred to as "OBoE" (rather than "CBoE"), and they're all from this year, so they're quite a bit newer than the versions you have.

 

Regarding your 8.1 laptop that you dislike, if it's possible, it may be worthwhile to upgrade it to Windows 10 (which I think might still be free). From what I've heard, Win10 still has problems and may be worse than Win7 in some ways, but it's also better than Win8 (if you want more details, I'm sure you can find out a lot through Google). One problem with Win10 is that it's really terrible about trying to force you to install updates and reboot after they're installed (by which I mean, it has been known to reboot your computer without your consent). If you have wifi (which is likely the case since it's a laptop), this is avoidable by telling Windows that it's a low-bandwidth connection, and if you have ethernet, you could also avoid it by simply unplugging the cable when you're not using the Internet, but a true fix unfortunately requires the Pro edition.

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"If you want to run the original BoE in DosBox you need to obtain a copy of Windows 3.x (I dunno, 95 or 98 might also work, but would probably be harder) and go through the process of installing it."

I did not know that, I have never tried to run the original BoE.

Even Compatibility Mode won't work!

Edited by Ishad Nha
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@Ishad Nha

 

It used to be possible to run them in Wine, before Wine's 16-bit support broke forever.

 

These days my preferred solution is Windows 2000 under Virtualbox. Windows XP still has the 16-bit NTVDM subsystem, and should work just as well.

 

(In both cases I'd recommend exporting an OVF appliance, so that you can just import it instead of reinstalling if your VM somehow gets trashed.)

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  • 2 weeks later...

To C.M.

I started a Download of the latest File, (BoE-WIN-aecbea0.zip). On a 'Land-Line' it indicated that the download time would be nearly 4.0 hrs.

At present, today, that is not impossible, but seriously impractical. We have a 5G account w/ Verizon for Wireless service, but at present but both of us have chosen to NOT UPLOAD Updates. I will, probably, give another attempt on the "Land Line" after the holidays and will run the Program on this 'XP".

As to the statement that I don't like the Laptop, that was a mis-statement on my part. I think the Laptop works fine; it's the overly redundant, busy operation of the 'Social-Networking' Modern Operating Systems that I don't like. I'm a "Nature-Boy, born in a small mid-west town in 1941 and would probably be much happier on a '386' or, maybe better on a "C-64', or 'C-128'. ;^}

 

And, back to the original problem I've had a few times now... I've used a couple of different upgrades over the years, (I've been here since 2004), and the only problem that I've had is that a very few Scenarios don't give me a "SCENTEXT" file when I do a "Text Dump" with the Scenario Editor. All other functions work as they should. As I said previously, when I do a textdump and go to retrieve the File, I find the "SCENNAME" with only a "0" or "!" indicating the volume of that File. Also, obviously, when I try to open that File, nothing happens.

Other than that, I've had no problems and am ecstatically happy with all the work all of you have done with this system.

For reference: The BLADES.EXE 'Application' file I've been using for quite a while now is 2,327K in it's 'opened' state and is dated 18 May 98 14:35.

P.S. I feel like I'm overworking this 'Board'. If I/we should be discussing this problem via E-mail, or whatever, let me know and I'll be glad to change.

again, tx, me

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To C.M.

I started a Download of the latest File, (BoE-WIN-aecbea0.zip). On a 'Land-Line' it indicated that the download time would be nearly 4.0 hrs.

Ah, I see. I don't think there's a lot I can do to decrease the filesize, unfortunately. There may be some ways to reduce it a little, but probably not much.

 

I will, probably, give another attempt on the "Land Line" after the holidays and will run the Program on this 'XP".

If it takes that long to download for you, it's probably better for me to find someone else with XP to verify the support of that platform. Still, if you want to download it and try anyway, go ahead. (I guess even if it doesn't work on your XP you could still try it on your laptop.)
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