Lotus, you remember that you can't save until you get to a Save Pedestal? I think this was my 5th time playing the game and sure enough, I tried to save without a pedestal. Couldn't figure it out until I had one of those "head-slapping" moments and called myself something unpleasant!! The phrase, "You big dummy!" comes to mind...

Har, har, har. Uh, not really.

Great lunch Drac. Had lots of fun. Good conversation too.

Bets

It was, wasn't it! Hope you get your CyberSnipa tomorrow. After all, you have Minions to kill and (really big) spiders to battle!

If you decide to give up, I can always send you a save...

I'm back.

Never say never. <gulp>

Hope it comes in today.

I need to work on the platforms/doors area before I totally get distracted by Bioshock.

My Cyber Snape came in but have not had much time to play.

Hope this one works better than the last one!

Hullo Everyone,

Just wish to update you and I did my clean install and put in compatibility for XP. Then it started to crash again. I suddenly remembered I had put that patch, (found here a very long time ago), on a CD. I installed that and the game is working perfectly. I did notice it included a fix for Meridian.exe, yay!! I probably won't catch up to any of you if you are even still playing but I am having great fun. Just getting ready to enter the whirlpool. BTW, what is a Cyber Snape and do I need one???

Hi ya Lotus, so glad you got it working

A Cyber Snipa is a gamepad that can make it easier to play the Keyboard controlled games.

It is fun to have but it is not a necessity

I was wondering if you ever got it running, lotus. Yay! Glad you are having fun...

I love my Cyber Snipa and it has made my gaming life much easier, but like L4L says it's not an absolute necessity. What I notice is that my left hand doesn't get "tired" from trying to use the keyboard keys.

Thanks for all of your encouragement and ...looks like I must have a gamepad. Thanks much for the link, L4L. The only reason I have taken a break from the game is my fingers are stiffening up!!! Ah, the perils of aging!!

That's excactly why I love my gamepad! I've been using mine for about 3 years now and I think my left hand has become permanently attached to it! The nice thing about this particular one (there are plenty of others out there) is that it can be used with either hand.

I'm sold!!! I will order it later on today....whoohoo...that is really going to get me in trouble ie. longer periods of gaming!!

But surely that's not BAD thing, is it??

But of course not....I think!!!

I drug my feet for some unknown reason but after talking to my hubby on phone he said go for it and I just did. It should arrive early next week, yay!!!! I haven't even played the Hobbit as I want to savor this wonderful new method of play, . This should work well with games like Tomb Raider and Indiana Jones, right? I haven't played those either because of the tired finger syndrome. What would we do without the wit and wisdom of GB???

Yes, yes and YES to the other games! Most of the games have an option to change the keys to whatever suits you. For instance, I've become used to using the "N" key for looking at maps, so I always change the default map key to N.

Can't wait to hear how you like it!

You guys will be the first to know, that is for certain! Thanks so much for cluing me in on this marvelous little toy.

Hi All, I got my game pad!!!! And I am more than confused. Do I have to use this simultaneously with the mouse? I am so not ambidextrous. I can't figure out how to move him to turn. I can get him to jump and vault, fight with his walking stick and throw rocks, go forward, crouch, go sideways and backwards but NOT turn. I may have to start this game all over in order to give myself a learning curve. Also entertaining company from far, far away for the next few days so am otherwise more occupied than usual. I will appreciate any hints and help you ladies may have and thank you very much.

Yes, you use your mouse to make Bilbo change direction. Assuming you are used to using your mouse with your right hand, you do that as usual. Then you place your left hand on the gamepad and press the keys that you want.

If you want to go forward, press the "W" key and hold it down while you use the mouse to turn him right or left. It's pretty much the same way you used your keyboard with the mouse, but the gamepad has keys placed for gaming, not typing, so you will have less fatigue with your left hand. Play around with it for awhile until you get used to how it feels. It will soon become completely intuitive and you won't even think about what you're doing!

Thank you, Draclvr. I think I am going to start the game over so I can learn to use this in the easier parts. I am not so far into the game and love it so that isn't a big problem. I am at the part where he is trying to destroy the monster and it's minions and I keep getting him killed so maybe I will be better at this once I become intuitive, lol.

Oh, yeah, that couldn't be a worse place to try to learn to use the gamepad!!

I would definitely start over. The beginning of the game is a great place to learn how to use it.

While our guests were out playing today I was inside playing. I did start over and I am getting the feel for this. I love it!! This will be practice though, as I was informed that my WIN7 shipped today. Once that is installed I will begin the game again in earnest, yay!!!! Have you finished this game yet? Do you plan on playing The Lord of the Rings or any of the others? I think I have them all except for the Two Towers....what fun!!

Yes, I finished it some time ago - but then I think it was the 5th time I've played it! I did play one of the Hobbit games after this that I really enjoyed, but don't remember which one it was. Then I tried the next one, but the controls were impossible. The game looked great, but all I did was fight the controls. Finally, it just wasn't worth it.

It was Lord of the Rings, the second one, can't remember the subtitle though. I also have the first Lord of the Rings, bought ages ago for my grandson. He didn't continue it since he was much younger and it scared him. Now nothing scares him but I don't know if it plays on XP or Vista.

Grandson tried the controls on the one Drac mentioned, he didn't like it either.

I still haven't finished Hobbit, I got stuck with the platforms, can't get to the door in time, then I got distracted by Goo and now Machinarium.

I will try again soon, probably when I get stuck with something else.