The old Frogwares game. I hear a noise like an unlocking type sound and then I just get a blank screen when I open the game. Anything I need to be doing? I know the reviews mention a patch but not what the patch is for and it is no longer available. The reviews also mention long load times but I don't think that's the problem at the moment. It just won't start. I'm trying to play it in Win XP.

You can get the 80 Days patch here. Not sure what the issue is, but you might as well try patching the game first and then we can take it from there.

I have a vague recollection that there were a lot of problems with this game. As Marian says, try the patch and see what happens. In the meantime, I'll see if I can find the old thread about it.

EDIT: I found some old threads about 80 days. In one of them Jenny posted a link to Frogwares support. 80 Days is still listed at the bottom of the list when you click on Choose a Game. I assume the page is still active. I went there and it appeared to be.

https://frogwares.com/support/

Interestingly, in the second thread of Windows 7 and Games, 80 Days is first on the list as a game that either ran perfectly or only needed minor tweaks. It might be worth considering trying the game on Windows 7 also to see what happens.

That a really good idea, Marian.

Yeah, I saw that in the Windows 7 thread and may try that. The patch site doesn't look like a site I want to try to use. I'm pretty sure I tried it once before with no good result. It may have been a different site though. I don't know about wasting my time with the Frogwares support site either.

Thanks for the information though which I will keep in mind. I often decide (in the moment) to not bother with a game giving me problems and later when it is still bothering me, I go ahead and try some of the stuff anyway .

The patches-scrolls website is safe and I've never had any problems with it.

Patches-scrolls has been around a very long time and I have been downloading from there for years and years with never a problem. They also have some patches that I have never been able to find anywhere else and I really don't know what I would have done without them.

Patchesl-scrolls has saved my bacon more than once with hard to find patches that are no longer available anywhere else! I noticed their extension is no longer .de but is now .com.

Okay, okay. No offense was intended. I DO trust you ladies! It just says something about the page no longer being updated and I have to "accept" some stuff. And, when I said I had "no good result" it wasn't that something bad actually happened but that I was unable to get the patch for some reason, though I don't remember what it was.

Yeah, you have to "accept" conditions at almost all pages any more. Too much legal stuff!

Okay, so I downloaded the patch to my Windows 10 computer. I wanted to scan it but that option does not show when I right click like it usually does. I think it needs to be extracted or something but I'm not sure. I copied the download to the disk I use to transfer to the XP. I did not open the file.

What next? Should I have opened the file first or should I wait until I get to the XP? And, how can I scan it to make sure it is okay?

How is the file named? Is it a zip file? You may need to extract it before you can scan.

It says 80Days_patch application type There is a pink box at the top of the screen that says "extract". Shouldn't you be able to scan before extracting though? What if there's something wrong with it and I extract it it? Anyway, right clicking gives me the option to "open" not extract. Is that what I should do? And then what about copying it over to the XP? Opened or not opened? And into the game file somewhere or ??

There are 2 reviews for 80 Days here on GB, and both of the reviewers said they used XP.

Hi oldbroad, I find it out that you could not scan a zipped file, you should be able to Scan a zipped file with MS Defender, I do it all the time, anyway as a test I downloaded the patch file you probably downloaded and I ran the Scan and all was good, I also ran the Scan with Malewarebytes and also all was good. So you should be safe to use it.

As a side note, a few months back my wife did not have the scan feature in the context menu at all and I had to add it to her context menu and all is good now.

That's what I'm trying to play it in Uncle Reg.

Thanks Starcom. I'll look at it some more tomorrow. (I haven't been to sleep yet.) I use Norton. My other downloaded files allow me to scan so I guess I have to open this one first.

Bumping this because I'm not sure what to do with the patch. Drac? Open to extract and then copy to disk for XP or copy unopened? And where do I place it in XP?

Is there a "read me" file after you unzipped it? Or a .exe file? Most of the time, you just double click the patch and it finds the game files and installs itself.

It is too bad that we can't find out what the patch is supposed to fix. I read an old post here on GameBoomers where someone stated that the patch wasn't strictly necessary. They had gotten the game running on Windows 10. But it can't hurt anything to patch it nevertheless. If patching it does not help, at least we can then rule that out as being the issue in this instance.

Have you tried just waiting a REALLY long time for the game to start, oldbroad ??

I've forgotten the title now but years ago I do remember playing an Adventure that actually took several minutes to start up.
Used to have to sit twiddling my thumbs waiting for signs of life 🤡

That's not a bad idea, Mad!

I had left it for quite awhile. I'll see what happens. I don't know if I have the energy to deal with it tonight. Still not sure what to do with the patch!

I download a patch and then put it (unzipped) into the folder where the game files are - and unzip it there.
(Normally there will be an option to "extract here" if you right click on a zipped file.)

Look for a readme file after you unzip it.

Okay, thank you!!!

There is no readme file. Just an exe file and a link to the Patches Scrolls website. The website doesn't give any description of the patch.

Uncle, Reg is there an .exe file? If so, I guess then you would then extract to the game file and then run the .exe.

Or maybe just give up and try to run the game on your Windows 7 computer, oldbroad?

The 2 files in the zip are:

80Days_patch.exe
Game Patches.url

Ah, so there IS an .exe file. So, I guess you would unzip the file into the game file and then run the .exe. Thanks, Uncle Reg!

I'm sorry. I have not gone back to this yet. Other things on my mind right now. I'll let you know what happens.

Okay, patch installed into game folder. Game still not loading. I get the menu screen, hit play, and get that one sound and darkness. Left it for a half hour so far.

Well, in prior attempts I was able to get back to the desktop and "end task" in task manager. This time it froze my system and I had to unplug it.

According to the manual, after clicking "new game" another menu should come up regarding the difficulty level. That does not happen.

Could this be due to DRM which means it will not run on Win7 either then?

GOG has this game, you could wait for it to go on sale and you should be able to play it if you want to go that route.
Good luck

I believe that's a different game Starcom.

I don't think it's DRM. I think it is a different problem. All the posts I have found talking about this do not mention there being a DRM issue.

We had someone here last year posting about how they got the game running on Windows 10, so now we have reports of people running the game on three different operating systems.

Oldbroad, you could try this if all else has failed:



The entire thread can be read here. The first post is from 2013 and the ending post is from 2020.

Now, that's an interesting solution. Might be worth a try, oldbroad.

Thanks. I'll look into that and/or try it in Win 7. This seems to be the same problem I had with A Vampyre Story and it was determined it probably had to do with DRM, is why I asked that.

Hmm, I thought for sure the 80 Days at GOG was the same, funny thing having 2 games with the same title, oh well, once again I learn something new.
Again, good luck with getting your game to work.

Yes, with A Vampyre Story, it is all about the DRM. I finally just downloaded it from GOG so I could play it again!

Thanks Starcom. I have a bazillion other games to play so it won't really be a big loss if I don't play this one.

So Drac, why do you think this one is NOT about the DRM? I bought and downloaded A Vampyre Story from GOG also when it came out but it's still waiting to be played.

I started playing this game the year after it was released, but when I realized what the save system involved, I stopped playing.

Here is a quote from an Adventure Gamers review:



I don't think this was ever fixed in a patch.

The reason I don't think it has anything to do with DRM is because over the years, with all the people I have seen playing the game, what fixed the problem for people who were having issues never involved a NoCD fix. If the problem were DRM, that is something they probably would have needed to utilize to get the game running.

Anyway, I also know folks who enjoyed the game despite the save system. My gaming time was very limited when I tried to play the game and I just did not have the patience for it.

But A Vampyre Story was not a problem for a long time either and then all of a sudden it was as far as I understand it. Didn't Drac play it on Win7 and then couldn't play it again due to DRM (after that Windows update I guess)? Though I am not sure why that would have affected it in my XP since I didn't get that update on my XP. Anyway, I'll see what happens and will let you know.

Thanks for looking into all that stuff!

Yes, DRM such as SafeDisc and SecuROM are not supported by Windows 10; therefore, when people switched to Windows 10, they found that some of their older games that used this copy protection no longer worked.

Yes, exactly as Marian said. In Windows 10 and then through a Windows 7 update, certain forms of DRM would no longer work. There were good reasons for it, but it still made me mad!

So I finally got back to looking at this game in my XP. Regarding this:



First, it is not Anaconda. It is Trisynergy. I don't know if that makes some difference or not which is why I am mentioning that. Second, I found the Graphics folder but I didn't find any video files.

I still haven't tried the game In Win 7 so maybe I'll do that and if that doesn't work, I'll give up I think.

Yeah, now and then there are older games that just aren't going to work.

There's a guy with Windows 10 on YouTube here who is playing the game, but it involved some tweaks.

He says the following:



Someone else in the comments section says, "It works perfect on Windows 10." No idea whether he needed to do anything extra to get the game working (although you would think he might mention this if it did).

Of the above things mentioned, compatibility mode would be the easiest thing to try.

It sounds like 80 Days had more than one publisher, both Tri-Synergy and Anaconda. Not sure why the video files that were referenced would not be there. Unfortunately I got rid of my copy years ago, so I can't take a look at it myself. I had the Tri-Synergy version. If I could find the game for cheap, I might be tempted to look into it myself.

Thanks for all the info. I somehow was still probably not in the right place to find the video files I guess, though I was in the Graphics folder as that post showed.

I don't really want to try these really old games in my Windows 10 computer. Not sure why, but I don't. I'll try it in Win 7. My brain always says that with all the games I have to play I shouldn't worry about a game here and there that doesn't work, but for some (stubborn) reason I still do .

Since I was fiddling in my Windows 7 I finally tried installing this game. It will not open at all with or without the patch. Not even that sound was that I had gotten in XP.

There was some pop up message that said:

This version of Windows Media Runtime can be installed only on a Windows XP (32-bit) operating system. Only option to click OK which closed the message.

That runtime error message was mentioned in that old GameBoomers link I posted where people were talking about trying to get the game working. One poster mentioned an exe file that could be downloaded from Frogwares that replaced the original exe file in the game, and then the game worked for him. Unfortunately this file does not appear to be on the Frogwares site anymore - I looked.

If find any more info about getting this game running, something that you could try, I will post about it. Again, maybe I will pick up a copy of it one of these days to look into it myself.

Well, I just decided to send off an email to Frogwares asking about possible patches/fixes for this game. On their website it says that they stopped selling the game in 2011, but I asked them about the patch/fix they used to have available and whether they still had it. I will let you know if I hear back from them.

Thanks Marian! You really need not go through so much trouble for me!!!

No trouble at all. And I am kind of tempted to pick up the game at some point and see what's involved in getting it to work on a newer OS, anyway.

Inquiring minds and all that hmm .

Yes.

Update on 80 Days. I haven't heard back from Frogwares, but I now have the game running perfectly on my Windows 7 computer. How I got it working is a bit convoluted. It involved installing the German version of 80 Days which a friend of mine had, which must be a different build than the one that has been giving people here trouble who have the English version. This version installed and played with no issues aside from the fact that the spoken voice and subtitles were both in German, with no options for English.

I also discovered that in fact I did still have my old CD of 80 Days, buried in the back of a closet full of old games and CDs. I was able to copy the voice and text files from this CD and replace the German voice and text files with the English ones. Now the game is running in English, with English subtitles, and no technical problems whatsoever.

Anyway, I wanted to let you know what I did to get it working.

This isn't the first time that a European version of a game turned out to be a different build than the version I had in the States, and for whatever reason proved to be easier to get running.

Now, that's dedication!

That's interesting Marian. Are you going to attempt to play the game then? I have uninstalled it for now since it didn't work. I was going to play in the easier mode.

I have one or two games lined up ahead of this one, ob, but yes I plan on trying to play the game in Tourist mode, which is the easiest one. There are three levels of difficulty. Tourist is the untimed mode.

I have only played through the intro and part of the beginning of the game, but what strikes me immediately is that it runs so much better now than it did around 15 years ago when I had installed it and taken a look at it. The loading screens aren't long anymore, and the graphics quality is so much better on a newer system. Of course this is to be expected, but the difference is really striking.