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Connections: It’s A Mind Game - FMVs don’t work

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Joined 2020-03-05

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Hi, everyone!

I’m running Connections: It’s A Mind Game in a VirtualBox with Windows XP Professional installed, and I’m having a bit of a problem.

You see, once I got the virtual machine set up, I installed Connections almost immediately, and started it up. Then, during the first string of long FMVs, each individual FMV would have its picture freeze partway in. The audio would keep going until the FMV ended; then, the next FMV would start, everything’s fine, and then the picture would freeze again. And again, the audio would keep going.

Running in Windows 95 compatibility mode doesn’t fix the problem, unfortunately. I don’t know about other compatibility modes, but the game lists Windows 95 in its system requirements, so if any compatibility mode should solve the problem, it’s that one.

What should I do to get the FMVs working right?

     
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I can’t find my copy of the game right now, but I think it used Quicktime.  You may have to install the game’s version of QT to run the videos.

     

Carpe chocolate.

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Lady Kestrel - 23 July 2020 05:53 PM

I can’t find my copy of the game right now, but I think it used Quicktime.  You may have to install the game’s version of QT to run the videos.

Unfortunately, I’ve always installed that version every time I’ve installed the game, so that can’t be the problem.

Does this problem happen on “real” Windows XP machines? If so, how did people fix it? Do you know?

     
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That I can’t help you with, MysteryMan.  I’m a Mac user.

     

Carpe chocolate.

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I’ve never had much luck running QuickTime games in VirtualBox.
I had better luck using VMware, but that was years ago and I don’t know how well the current “free” version of VMware works.

This guy has it working
https://www.allvideoclassicgames.com/collections/windows-adventure-games/products/connections-pc-game-james-burke-1clk-windows-10-8-7-vista-xp-install

I don’t know how he did it. Maybe something like this
https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=44089

     
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MysteryMan23 - 23 July 2020 03:36 PM

During the first string of long FMVs, each individual FMV would have its picture freeze partway in. The audio would keep going until the FMV ended; then, the next FMV would start, everything’s fine, and then the picture would freeze again. And again, the audio would keep going.

That’s not a problem with VirtualBox. The exact same thing happens on an actual Windows XP machine as I have just confirmed. The game just isn’t fully compatible with that OS.

The FMVs do work fine in a Win98SE VirtualBox virtual machine, but unfortunately there are problems with the game’s sound stuttering. The last time I played the game I had to play it on an actual Win98SE machine.

 

 

 

     

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Okay, so update time.

I switched to VMWare Workstation Player (version 15.5) in the hopes it would work better. However, the videos still freeze midway through, and worse yet, the sound is frequently distorted - which, I can assure you, did NOT happen with VirtualBox.

Even weirder, this person here seems to have gotten it going just fine using his VMWare; no sound distortion or FMV issues, at least from what I’ve been able to bring myself to look at. One post does claim that my problem doesn’t happen in the virtual machine on Windows 10 Pro, but I don’t have that, and would rather not pay money to get this working unless I have no choice.

Is there something I’m missing?

     

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Are you using Windows 98 in your VM? or are you using XP?
If you’re using XP, try using 95 or 98 in your VM instead.

     
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Joined 2014-07-01

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I don’t know if this helps or not but the game works perfectly fine in Windows 3.1 installed in DOSBox as long as you install Quicktime 2.12. The quicktime that comes with the game (2.03?) didn’t work for me.

I’m playing the game right now. Smile

     

Total Posts: 6

Joined 2020-03-05

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Unfortunately, I don’t have access to Windows 3.1, 95, or 98 at this point. XP is really all I’ve got at this point. And again, unless given no other option, I’d rather not spend money on this.

Though, it seems that even the guy I linked had some issues. I guess maybe going earlier might be my best option here. What would you say are my best options?

     

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MysteryMan23 - 04 August 2020 08:31 PM

Unfortunately, I don’t have access to Windows 3.1, 95, or 98 at this point.

Check archive.org
I’ve seen iso’s there.
For example,
https://archive.org/details/win98se_201801
https://archive.org/download/win98se_201801/Windows 98/windows98se.iso

And here is Windows 3.1
https://archive.org/details/Windows3.1_201906

     

Total Posts: 6

Joined 2020-03-05

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crabapple - 07 August 2020 12:38 PM
MysteryMan23 - 04 August 2020 08:31 PM

Unfortunately, I don’t have access to Windows 3.1, 95, or 98 at this point.

Check archive.org
I’ve seen iso’s there.
For example,
https://archive.org/details/win98se_201801
https://archive.org/download/win98se_201801/Windows 98/windows98se.iso

And here is Windows 3.1
https://archive.org/details/Windows3.1_201906

Hmm…I don’t know. I’m not 100% clear on the legality of this, and I’d rather do everything straight. Heck, I bought a copy of this game just for that reason.

Can anyone clear up the legal issues here?

     

Total Posts: 6

Joined 2020-03-05

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Sorry for the double-post.

Okay, so for the last few months, I’ve not made any progress with this. No VM has come forth that plays the game without freezing or audio distortion or some other problem that severely detracts from the experience, at least when using Windows XP. And right now, I have no legal copy of anything earlier than that, at least that I’m aware of.

At this point, the only option I’ve been told works perfectly is Windows 3.1, so that seems to be my best bet. So, should I go with crabapple’s links (assuming they’re not breaking the forum rules) or try some other method? And is there anything important I should know so far as getting Windows 3.1 working? Thank you.

     

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