Game problems in Windows XP

I have recently started using a CD-based game called "Fire Fight" on my new computer running on Windows XP which I bought 3 years ago, and could run faultlessly on my old computer running Windows 95
I have set the compatability to W-95, so it loads up fine and works reasonably well, but there are two problems:
1. The mouse doesn't work in the game.
2. The game doesn't store information about progress through the levels as it used to, so each time I play, I have to start from scratch.

The new mouse I'm using is a Logitech Explorer which doesn't have a trackball, and it works fine in every other application, but Fire Fight doesn't see it at all. Unfortunately, I didn't keep the old mouse, so I can't test another one on the game at the moment.

The game manufacturer's website (Epic Megagames) doesn't list Fire Fight, which it brought out in 1996, and there is no help listed on this issue, nor any clear way of contacting them about it.

I was wondering if anyone else had had any similar experience

 

Fitz,

Get the patch for the game. The patch fixes a few bugs and adds support for Windows NT.

Fire Fight patch v1.2 (1.3 MB):
http://www.gamexperts.com/index.php?patch_id=252

HTH,
ski123

 

Thanks for the reply.
I tried this link before, and the link they post to the Fire fight patch is dead.

 

Never mind! I need to learn read.

=======
Here's the patch:{requires site registration[free]. I didn't do it so I can't varify if that link will produce.)

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/firefight/downloads.html

or here with the UK link:
http://www.gamesdomain.com/patches/f/749.html

 

Hi Ann,
Thanks for that. I managed to download the patch and for a little while I managed to get the mouse working in the game, but was still unable to fix the problem of the game's data being wiped after each time I play.
I tinkered with the virtual memory settings in XP, because the original game used a Swap file in Windows 95, but this didn't have any effect.

The mouse function has not returned even though I've tried re-installing the patch after loading the game. I think it stopped working because I changed the compatability setting from Windows 98 to Windows 95 in an attempt to make the programme remeber game data.

 

OK, I'm just adding further information on the limited progress that I've made in getting the game to function fully, because I can't believe that I'm the only one having a problem with this game in XP, or with CD-ROM based earlier Windows games like it.

The mouse works fine now. I unchecked the W-95 compatability box and then reloaded the patch which made the mouse work fine.
Now the only problem is getting the game to remember where I've got to between play-sessions, which begs the question of where such information used to be stored when I ran the game on my old W-95 computer. I suppose it must have stored progress information somewhere on the hard disk, even though the game will only run from the CD. (I've tried copying all the files onto a directory on my computer and running it from there but it doesn't work.)

 

I know I'm replying to my own messages, but I feel that I may be breaking some new ground here regarding the operation of XP and certain CD-based games. I've now managed to test the game out on a PC with Windows 2000 Pro, having loaded the patch and it seems to work OK and stores the game data as it's supposed to.
Unless there's a problem with my particular machine, this would seem to indicate that it's a problem with XP's handling of the game...but I can't think what.
Direct X seems to work OK so it's not a question of updating the drivers, which is the major piece of advice floated when running older games.
My machine has 512 MB of RAM and the page setting is 700+ MB, but I don't think the memeory settings have any bearing on the main remaining problem which is that the computer just doesn't know where to park the game data, so it doesn't.

 

I think I've found a solution.
There is a widely-publicised "cheat" for Fire Fight that restores shields and weapons for play on one level, which I found early on in this research. What I hadn't realised until this morning is that, having activated this, other levels, which are normally unobtainable, can be selected by pressing F-12. I should assure game purists that, having moved to another level, shields and weapons are removed!

 

Hi Fitz,

Just popped in to offer some emotional support. I have been peeking in here, from time to time, just to see how your doing. If I had the game, I would do more but as this is most likely "game specific" plus "OS_XP" I can only cross my fingers for ya' while you try to iron this out.

I just didn't want you to think that you were "typing to yourself ".

 

Hi goddez,
Thanks for your message of support.
As I say, I had come across the "cheat" very early on in my research, and kept finding it in subsequent trawls through search engines, but I noticed the instructions on the latest occasion to include how you can move between levels, which was the only piece of information I was after.

My conclusion from this is that XP is very robust, and so is the game's software, but there is something in XP that normally prevents a game "data dump" which doesn't happen even in OS 2000.

It's been an interesting and enlightening experience from which I've learned quite a bit of useful information.
Throughout the thread, I've kept the BB up to date on what's happening to let others know the results of my research.