Zephyr Net

Hello I just bought FA from eBay and I am trying to intall it on a PII 350mhz machine with win98. I am having a problem getting it to install. When I put the cd in the install window comes up and I start to install the game. The setup wizard comes up with the install destination area showing me where it will be installed and the space required along with the drive information showing me that I have enough space on my hard drive. I click next and it goes the the setop information page and give me a message that says ERROR, preparing decompressor. Thats it, it wont do anything else. Do I need a patch or is there something that I need to do to my windows. I have installed janes WWII sim and it works fine. I also tried to install Janes F-15 and it went though the same thing but on the setup information when it tries to install it says, ERROR, copying files. and it wont do any things else. I would really love to get these games working on my machine please help me. Thanks

Jstar:

I have FA working on a WIn98SE box, but I've not encountered this particular error, so I'm working on hunches. A few questions:

1) How is your drive formatted? Plain old FAT or FAT-32 (the properties for your drive in My Computer should tell you)?

2) Is the drive compressed?

3) What other programs do you have running in the background?

Eric L. Howes

I am not sure if the drive is compressed or not. I also just got this computer from ebay as well. If you could give me some directions on how to check if the drive is compressed I can check on it. also not to sure on how to check if I have any other programs running in the background. Other than going to the task bar at the bottom and seeing if anythings is running there. I was able to install some other window 95 games on my system like Interstae 76 and diablo I on it. I will say that Diablo loaded really quick but interstate took a little bit of time if that helps any. I have tried to install ATF gold as well but the same thing happens so I am really confused on why some programs will load but my Janes flight sims wont expect for Janes WWII. That installed fine. I know that my ATF gold CD is good because I have another computer with a PIII 500mhz and it installed but the system is to fast for it and wont run rigth on it. I will check in my properties on my drive to see if they are formatted Plain FAT or TAT-32. Thanks

Jstar:

The properties box for the drive should also tell you whether the drive is compressed. It may not be on the first/top tab, though.

As for checking on other resident/running programs, the tray/clock area is a good place to start. You can also do Start >> Run, then type in MSCONFIG, then hit OK. The MSCONFIG program will start. Check the Startup tab for a list of programs that auto-start with Windows.

Eric L. Howes

Ok under the C drive properties tab it say that it is FAT32. Nothing under properties for that drive say that there is any drive compression. Under the control panel on systems icon. The system properties performace tab says disk compression not installed. File system 32, AMD-K6(tm) 3D processor. 128 ram. In the tray/clock area the only thing that is running is the ATI Desktop menu. When I ran the MSCONFIG program this is what was under the startup tam.
scan registy C:\windows\scanregw.exe/autorun
task montior C:\windows\taskmon.exe
system tray sys tray.exe
loadpowerprofile rundll32exe powrprof.dll, loadcurrentpwrscheme
ATIcwd32 ATIcwd32.exe
ATI key ATItask.exe
loadpowerprofile rundll32.exe powrprof.dll, loadcurrentpwrscheme
kb918547 c:\windows\system\kb918537\kb918547.exe
kb891711 c:\window\system\kb891711\kb891711.exe.

thats it. Also I did notice a program under system tools that is called drive converter (FAT32) it says that it covertes FAT16 into FAT32. I sure hope someone can help me fix this so that I can play all of my Janes sim. Thanks for checking this out for me.

Jstar:

I suspect the FAT32 formatted drive might be the culprit. I've heard reports of FAT32 being a problem for FA. Unfortunately, the only solution is to reformat the drive as plain old FAT16 and reinstall Windows.

Before you proceed with that drastic step, let's see if one of the more experienced FA gurus here can confirm whether or not FAT32 is indeed the problem.

Your startup profile is fairly clean, although the two ATI programs may cause problems with game play. On my WIn98 box, I had to disable those apps because they kept grabbing the keyboard, leaving me without keyboard controls in FA. They shouldn't affect installation, though.

Eric L. Howes

Thanks for the info. I am not to sure it is the FAT32 it might be but I went to a friends house and he was able to install FA on his win98 machine and the drive was FAT32. If I need to reformat the drive thats fine I have all the drives. I just need some instructions on how to reformat. Hopefully some one else has a better way to do this though so I hope to hear from anyone that can help.

Thanks

FAT32 is NOT a problem for FA...

I have run FA and built libs on a FAT32 with no issues...

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CAG Hotshot:

OK, any idea what the problem in this situation might be? Could the AMD K-6 be the culprit?

Could Jstar install FA on another machine (like his friend's PC), patch the install with the 1.02F patch, then copy over the installed files to his Win98 box?

Thanks,

Eric L. Howes

Yes and yes...

But most likely he has a corrupt installation of Win98...

Sounds like he is missing certain files due to bad install or corruption...

He should reformat and do a complete reinstall anyway, but he doesnt have to worry to much about FAT32, though it can cause problems, this isnt one of them...

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Hotshot
"FAF Shape Meister"
FAF/FA-2 Design team
TSH Member/Developer
VNFAWING.com Forum Administrator

VNFAWING Forums
VNFAWING Website

FA Futures/FA-2 is Still Being Worked On and Will Be Released...

CAG Hotshot:

Thanks for the info. I am wonding if I do have a corrupt installation of Win98 why I am able to install other win95 games onto this system with no problems and install Janes win98 games like F-18, USAF with no problems but not the Janes win95 games like Longbow Gold, or ATF Gold or Janes F-15, or FA. I just want to make sure that before I do a complete reformat and reinstall that its not something else. Can someone also just for FYI tell me how to copy the files over to another computer. Do I just install the files on one machine then use a burning software like Nero or Easy CD creator and burn the files onto a CD then try to copy the files onto the other machine or is there an easyier way to copying FA files from one computer to another. Thanks for all the help

Jstar

Jstar:

The are a number of explanations for why some Win95 games would install but others wouldn't on that machine. One possibility, as CAG suggested, is that you're missing a file or two that the installers for only some of the games rely on. Another possibility, as CAG confirmed, is the AMD K-6 processor. Lots of software companies in the late '90's, esp. game companies, had to release patches in order to get their software to operate properly with the K-6.

It is interesting that the Janes games causing you problems are from 1997 and earlier. USAF and F/A-18 are later releases from 1998-1999.

Since you bought the computer off eBay, it probably would be a good idea to do a reformat and clean install of Windows 98, as you've no idea what else might have been on there and what kind of state it's in.

If you'd rather not bother with it now, you could install FA on one machine, patch the install, then copy over the files to your Win98 machine. To do the copying, you could burn the files to a CD-R. You could also use a 250 mb or larger USB jump drive, assuming the maker of the USB stick has drivers for Win98. You could also use a ZIP drive, if you've got one of those.

Install FA on the first box, then patch that install using the 1.02F patch:

http://farc.3synergy.net/misc/fae102.exe

Just drop the fae102.exe in the Fighters Anthology install directory and run it. After the patch is finished doing its thing, you're ready to copy.

If you accept the default path for the FA install, here's what you need to copy:

1. The entire C:\Janes directory (which has the Fighters Anthology sub-dir)

2. The following files out of C:\Windows\System (or \System32, if you initially install on a WinXP box):

EA1.UIL
EA2.UIL
EA3.UIL
EAEXEC.EXE
ealtest.exe
EAREMOVE.EXE

On your Win98 box, drop the Janes directory right on your C-drive. Then copy the six files listed above to C:\Windows\System.

Finally, download this ZIP file and unpack it:

https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/ehowes/www/fa/merge.zip

The merge.reg inside contains a few Registry keys that FA creates when it installs. Just double-click on the merge.reg and then click "Yes" when Win98 confirms that you want to merge the changes into the Registry.

You can then create a shortcut to FA.exe (the main FA program) on your desktop.

At this point, you should be ready to go. (Don't forget to put the 1st FA CD-ROM in the drive).

Best,

Eric L. Howes