I haven't played this game since 2000 when I upgraded. I get the message "VESA not supported"during install. At the time, I scoured the internet for a fix, but gave up. I've since upgraded(again!), and it still doesn't install. Inferno's site doesn't cover it(even in the "no way" section). I'm just curious-do I have a mini-frisbee or is there a trick I can use. I remember liking it.

It worked on Win95, with a Compaq Presario(don't remember specs-it was your standard store bought)
It hasn't worked on WinME with NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 model64/model64Pro 32MB PCI or the newer WinXP SP2 home with NVIDIA GeForce 6800(256 RAM)

Newer video cards don't support the old non-standard VESA modes that some older games used. I would have thought Ark of Time would work with a TNT2, but maybe not with all versions of the drivers. On the Win ME computer that has the TNT2 card, you might try the UVesa or Uvbe51a drivers Inferno has links for on her page here
http://home.earthlink.net/~infernoj13usa/ComputeSpecs.htm

I don't know if newer versions of DOSBox will support Ark of Time. However the latest version does have some VESA emulation capability, so it's possible Ark of Time might work using the latest DOSBox (even though it's listed as "broken" for the old version).

If you haven't used DOSBox before, I recommend you "practice" with a less finicky game.

THANK YOU Jenny! I've given my mom my old system(when I upgrade, she gets one too), so using the old system isn't feasable. But I have used DOSBox for I Have No Mouth, so I'll try it.

Well that didn't work. Using DOSBox-0.63 & UNIVBE51(both from inferno's site), the install DOS'd me the same message. I attempted to read the documentation that came with UNIVBE(no problem with DOSBox-I've used it for 2 other older games), but I understood it less than a legal contract. I'm hoping I'm missing a configuration, or some such. Any thoughts?

Actually I don't see much documentation for the univbe51a. It just says to unzip in a temporary folder other than C:\UNIVBE and it will try to install automatically. So if you installed it, I'd think it would work automatically - at least on the Win ME computer. The Geforce 6800 in your new computer wouldn't be supported by either of the VESA utilities on Inferno's site. I think the Geforce 2 was the latest model Geforce that could use them.

My mom's got the ME. I just have the XP. The documentation is a readme rich text file unzipt to the C:\UNIVBE51 folder. And it's(to me)incomprehensible. There's an .exe file that flashes info on when the trial version expires. Since there's no running process(taskman)indicating UNIVBE is "activated"(?), am I to assume that when DOSBox is executed, the UNIVBE is too?

I believe Vogons have info on this somewhere.

Inferno

I don't know if there's any point trying to use univbe on a computer with a Geforce 6800. I think the card is too new to be supported. Do you know anything about this, Inferno?

DOSBox should be able to emulate VESA, at least for some games, which would mean you wouldn't need anything like univbe. But you might have to reduce your video acceleration for this old game.

If you want to try a VESA app, there's one called SolVBE mentioned in ***this VOGONS thread*** .

I think there's another called "uvesa"

Hey..... just a thought... vdmsound also uses some vesa support. Did you try installing it through VDMSound?

I don't have this game and don't know what the files looks like on the cd, so I don't know how much help I can be. The problem with newer card and vesa is becoming quite apparent. This why I haven't upgraded my card yet... I figure if the games I like work then I'm keeping my system the way it is. You could try to roll back drivers but I don't know if that will help.

Try reading this and adapt what you learn from it
Graphics Mode Survival Guide

Video Cards Which Support Vesa

Can your tower support more than one video card?

Inferno


Vesa Support and Nvidia Drivers

Ouch! Y'know, despite your protestations to the contrary, you gals are SHARP! I read those links and...well, I'm dumber than a bag of rocks(at least with this subject). About all I gleaned was that GEForce 6800 is a wash for this game. I just downloaded the VDM's(for a successful Pandora Directive-thanx Inferno!). So I've got: DOSBox 0.63, uvbe51a, VDMSLaunchPad.v1.0.1.1 & VDMSound2[1].1.0 all installed. I'm slowly getting the hang of "tweaking"(meant something VERY different to me-which led to some confusion reading Boomer posts!)
My tower is a Dell XPS-pure game monster(I thought!) Looks like I could put a Volkswagon in there(so the answer is yes). I installed an NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 model64Pro in my last computer(for Alice), so I just need to know what I'm getting into. I'd like to minimize difficulty(hardware conflicts, etc). The former computer(no longer with me)played all my older games, with Ark the one exception. I'm using the XP list(again I'm awed at your knowledge)for my only computer, and would LOVE to be able to play EVERYTHING on it. I'm going to try the VDMSound trick for Ark.
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edited: rite clikt on the CD "install" using run with VDMS- "not enough memory: only 1,855,478 byte avail"; used VDMS on "mem"(otherwise, the screen flashes too fast to read)-655k total conventional, same avail to DOS, 4M total EMS, same free, 21M tot cont ext mem, 0 avail, & 16 M avail XMS.(I hope this stuff helps). Tried copying the CD on my hard & installing-it accessed the CD anyway(I thought it MIGHT work!). Next step, a secondary video card?

Yup.

By the bye....... you didn't mention that you also installed the update for VDMsound
if you want it send me an email and I'll fwd it to you.


Inferno

Yes, please