Saving problem with "Pompeii: Legend of Vesuvius" (aka Timescape) DVD

Hi all,

I'm new to this forum. I'm into classic adventure games.

I just got the multilingual DVD from Amazon of the "Pompeii: The Legend of Vesuvius" adventure game from 2000, also known as "Timescape: Journey to Pompeii".

I'm playing this Windows 95/98 compatible game on a Windows XP Home Edition system. I had hardly any installation problems, though you do get that familiar old Cryo/Dreamcatcer "no disk space left" message when only, in this case, 262 MB are required! Old school limited disk space, I guess.

In the past, I used to install it on a 1 GB USB flash drive to avoid this, but this time straight installation to the C-drive turned out fine.

So, the game works fine, even without a switch to Windows 98/Windows ME compatibility mode for the executable, no choppy audio, good 3D panning, fluent cutscenes, accessible menu options.

But there's one major glitch: I can't save the game! This is frustrating when you can get killed in this game, and you have to start all over again.

This is what I get: just an endlessly blinking cursor in the lower lefthand corner, not resolving into anything.



User "char" in this old review on Amazon appears to have had the same problem, but I've been looking all over the place for a solution.

Amazon.com review

Does someone recognize this, and know what can be done? Emulation does not appear to work. Patch?

Thanks!

Rich

Hi RichAlexis and to GameBoomers. I have moved your post over to our Glitches forum where the techies should be able to give you some advice.

Oh thanks, still finding my way around!

Rich

If you installed to the default location, then it went in C:\Program Files and Windows may be preventing changes (like making saves). Try installing the game to your My Documents folder.

Thanks, Jenny.

I see what you mean, but I doubted this would be the solution, as I've never had any problems writing to Program Files. I tried it anyway.

I've found what it's about: the bar at the bottom of the save screen is not a sliding bar filling up during the saving action, as I'd thought, but a form where you're supposed to enter a filename!

Gee, I feel like an idiot, but I hadn't expected this 'manual labour' after years of automatic saving!

I have to work out, though, if I have to keep track of sequential file numbers, because otherwise I feel I could overwrite existing saves.

Rich

Hi, Rich.

I've recently spent some time installing a few of my "semi-older" games on Win7 systems. It's been an exercise in troubleshooting! So far, I've had luck though.

First I installed realMyst (download version), trying to work with compatibility and widescreen resolutions. Then I put Ankh (disc) on my laptop. Had to patch it using Google translate (the readme was in French!). Then I installed the 4 disc version of Secret Files: Tunguska on my desktop. I had to install the Tages drivers for that one. Each game requires a different tweak!

Anyway, just wanted to say I understand how you feel about getting used to the mechanics of older games. But GameBoomers is a great place to search for answers or ask for help.

Thanks, Lanlynk!

You get a wave back from me!

Yes, I had the same thing trying to get Atlantis II (aka Beyond Atlantis) running on Windows XP.

It took me ages, got it running in a Qemu Windows 95 emulation after much tweaking of DirectX settings, hardware acceleration, compatibility settings and the like.

Then I found a patch to get it running without all this tinkering.....

Still, a valuable learning experience - which I could share with others too!

As I haven't found the exact saving procedure for Pompeii anywhere yet, I will report on possible file naming conventions and the risk of overwriting later on.

Rich

P.S. At least I can read French and German reasonably well, being a fan of these mostly French-originated games

Some of the most confusing older games I played were those that were early 16-bit Windows games. You had to type in the name you wanted for your save, but it couldn't be more than 8 digits long and you had to add whatever extension the game wanted, be it .txt, .sav, or whatever. One game gave almost no clues at all -- it filled in ********.txt for me, but wouldn't accept that. Eventually I figured out I needed to replace the *'s with letters -- and no more than 8 of them. All the readme said was to type in the name of your save -- no details.

Another confusing one required you to click the picture of the screen, then type in a name before it would save. The trick was figuring out you had to give it a name. There was no box or anything to indicate you had to name it. Since some other games from around the same time only had a picture for a save, it wasn't obvious that you had to name it or do anything other than OK the picture of the save.

Hi Jenny,

Thanks for letting me in on this!

So many games, so many customs, apparently.

I think it would make a valuable addition to walkthroughs, cheat sheets and the like. It's important to know how the controls of the game work before you start. It has very little to do with your intelligence or problem solving skills, which is what the game should be about.

Now I just read hints like "save as often as you can, but don't overwrite", while it would be great getting the exact details how to go about this.

Rich

I just found out a weird bug of the "Pompeii" game - multilingual DVD edition. If your system clock changes, which happens regularly at Daylight Saving Time in spring, and back in autumn, you lose all your saved games, and even the ability to use Visit Mode!

Or at least, the 'mtime' (modification time) of those saved files, which is used to preserve their order, gets messed up, because this is apparently calculated relative to the system time.

So, unless you find a way to edit these timestamps, the only thing you can do is start a new game, or perhaps even better, reinstall the whole thing!

I wonder if this is something that plagues other games too?

Rich

I've never experienced anything like that and I have several old games permanently installed on at least one of my computers

Well, perhaps if you wait long enough for the clock to move back in fall, (or forward in spring) the problem resolves itself!

Rich

That is certainly a weird bug.
I suppose it's possible that some other games developed by Arxel might have the same problem -- at least if they produced saves in the same way.
http://www.mobygames.com/browse/games/arxel-tribe-doo/developed-by/

Yes, there is a possibility.

You come across errors like these on game boards, but it appears to be very rare:

Heroes Charge:

Pokémon Black/White:
Rich

If you're going from a game started in winter to playing in summer, I suppose you could try disabling daylight time in your clock settings. I don't know if that would work though, and it wouldn't be so easy the other way (game started in summer). Have you tried resetting your computer clock by an hour?

I checked for Pompeii/Timelapse saved games at the usual saved game websites, and there weren't any.

Seems like a serious flaw in the game design for saves to be affected like this.

Yes, I tried that, moved the clock forward by an hour to mimic DST - which is indeed easier than trying to modify the saved files, but the game still froze, and the error log read: "MTIME is not the same", so it is a serious flaw.

Rich

I don't know if I'll get an anwser after two years of inactivity on this post, but I'll give it a try.
I can't install the game, I have it on two CDs, but whenever I try to run the installation process, a window pops up with this message:

Error copying to TEMP directory : source:D:\vcl35.bpl
dest:C:\Windows\\TEMP\vcl35.bpl

Anyone knows how to fix it? Thanks

Try Right-clicking the game setup and choosing Run As Administrator.

You might also want to delete the contents of C:\Windows\Temp
before installing if you're low on hard drive space.

That's a well-known problem for almost all Arxel Tribe games! Running as an administrator etc. would not help. Saving games does not work as well.

But I have asked a friend of mine to make a patch! It is in Russian, but it works with most English versions as well. Here: http://nquest.ucoz.com/index/0-106#NQ_ATGSF

Thanks Iurii!

I can't understand a word, will it solve my installation issue?

Copy/paste the Russian text into Google's online translator and you get this:

+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+

The main objective of this program, to solve the problem with the inability to implement the preservation of the games developed by the company "Arxel Tribe" when starting them in the OS "Windows 7" and younger. Also, this program will help you solve the problem with installing games from "Arxel Tribe" in the OS "Windows 7" and younger, and run them without CD or DVD discs in the drive. Also, in this program, there are instructions for installing some other games from the company "Arxel Tribe".

SUPPORTED GAMES:
- Ring: The Legend of the Nibelungen (4CD) (6CD) (DVD);
- Faust: The Seven Games of the Soul (RU "1C") (EN 4CD) (DVD);
- Pompei: The Legend of Vesuvius (RU "1C") (EN 2CD) (DVD);
- The Legend of the Prophet and the Assassin (RU "1C") (EN 2CD);
- The Secrets of Alamut (RU "1C") (EN 2CD);
- Casanova: The Duel of the Black Rose (RU "1C") (EN 2CD);
- Jerusalem: The Three Roads to the Holy Land (EN Fargus) (EN 2CD);
- Ring II: Twilight of the Gods (RU "1C") (EN 2CD).
Author, company: Kirill Games
Version: 1.06
Compatibility: "Windows Vista", "Windows 7", "Windows 8.1", Windows 10 "
OS type: 32-bit, 64-bit
Website: visit
Help: Forum "Naphthalene Quests"


I can't get the patch to download, but maybe you'll have more luck.

I downloaded it, but as I expected, everything was on russian

I don't know what I'm supposed to do now...

Sorry - Kirill (the author of the patch) is unavailable for several months already, and the patch is not yet translated into English.

OK, let me help:

1. On that page, press the green button on the right.
2. On the next page, press "⤓ Скачать", i.e. 'Download' button.
3. Unzip it.

(The patch has the text help on how install the games, but it is in Russian. Here is some translation as for English CD version of 'Pompei')

4. Create a directory on your HD, like "C:\Pompei" (without empty spaces in the path).
5. Put your 1st CD in the drive and copy all the files to your new directory.
6. Put the 2nd disk in the drive and copy folder 'DATA' to the directory on your HD answering 'Yes' to replacing the file.
7. Put the unzipped 'nq_atgsf.exe' to your 'C:\Pompei' (or something).
8. Run 'nq_atgsf.exe'.
9. The options on the bottom row are: language (that's for DVD versions); speed correction (on/off - turn it on if the screen rotation is too fast for you), launch the game (green button), make a link to the program on the desktop (white button), exit (red button).

Please tell me if it works!

Thank you, Iurii!

Hi Andiox,

I tried to install the game (from my multilingual single DVD) on my Windows 8.1 desktop, and I get the exact same error message. The Setup.exe couldn't copy the *.bdl, *.dll and install.exe files to C:\Windows\Temp, whatever compatibility options I tried, such as set Setup to Administrator rights, and change the compatibility mode to Windows 98/Windows ME.

I then tried to manually copy all *.bdl and *.dll files from the installation directory on the disk to C:\Windows\Temp, but while this worked, it broke down at attempts to install the 'install.exe' to Temp. When I had copied it manually, the installation failed, because the program again tried to overwrite 'install.exe'.

I then followed Iurii's instructions, and they worked perfectly! Thanks, Iurii!

I copied all the files from the DVD straight to a C-directory, copied the 'NQ_ATGSF.exe' to the same drectory, and started the game from there. It ran astonishingly well: proper low screen resolution of 640x480 at once (I think), cinematics displayed properly, no audio echo or stutter, no spinning 3D image, and saves end up in the same location, in a subdirectory '_backup', and can easily be loaded from inside the game. He really did a fine job!

Generally speaking though, I only install these vintage games inside a virtual machine (emulator) on my desktop host system now, in my case VMware Player (free version). Virtual PC would work as well, as per Jenny's instructions.

The emulator itself takes some time to tweak, but once you have mounted the appropriate old operating system inside it, like Windows 98 or Windows XP, if you still have them, it's nearly always plain sailing installing all the Arxel Tribe, Cryo or DreamCatcher games on these guest systems. It may be worth it, if you plan to play more of these games!

Best,

Rich

Hi guys,

Yesterday I installed Pompeii on my PC (OS: Win7). Since it didn't work because of the .bdl files, I searched the web and found this forum, so I downloaded the Russian patch and followed Iurii's instructions. Now the game works, but there's a big problem: I can't save! When I enter the Menu and try to save, writing a file-name in the bar, an error box appears:

[img]https://ibb.co/jh4bxc[/img]

I'm Italian, so I'm playing the game in my language. The message says: "It's impossible to save the game".

RichAlexis told that the game "saves end up in the same location, in a subdirectory '_backup'", but there's no '_backup' subdirectory in the folder which contains the game.

What can I do? I tried to play without saving, but it's so frustrating when you die and must restart the game from the beginning.

Please, help me!

Thanks

Does it make a difference if you start the game by right-clicking the game shortcut and choosing "Run As Administrator" ?

If that doesn't help, try uninstalling the game and reinstalling it. But before reinstalling, change the compatibility mode on the game's setup.exe file (on the DVD) to Windows 98 compatibility before reinstalling. Once installed, patch it and see how it works.

Thank you for the answer. I didn't install the game by using the Setup.exe file: I followed RichAlexis's instructions, so I copied the files contained in the two CDs in the folder I created (C:/POMPEI).

I tried to run the game as administrator, but it didn't work.

paskdigia, the problem is that the patch was created for Russian and English versions only - we did not have the Italian version of the game to test it with, so I am totally not sure if it is supported!

Do you run nq_atgsf.exe before launching the game? What does it say? Does it recognize the game?

Hi Iurii. Yes, I ran nq_atgsf.exe before launching the game, but the patch is in Russian.
When I open the patch, I see this:

https://www.photobox.co.uk/my/photo/full?photo_id=500624649422

Clicking on the green button, I see this:

https://www.photobox.co.uk/my/photo/full?photo_id=500624648731

Now, when I click again on the green button, the patch shows this message:

https://www.photobox.co.uk/my/photo/full?photo_id=500624648945

Clicking on the green button, I come back to the games list (the second screenshot I linked); so I try clicking on the title "Pompeii: The Legend of Vesuvius (EN 2 CD)", and I see this message:

https://www.photobox.co.uk/my/photo/full?photo_id=500624650058

I can't translate Russian texts, so I don't know if the patch really works. In your posts I read that the patch usually shows many white buttons, but in my case it doesn't: it shows only the green and the red buttons. Maybe the problem is that, as you wrote, I own the Italian version of the software. In any case, I'll play also without saving the game: I love Pompeii, it's a great game.

Thanks for your help (and sorry for my bad English).

paskdigia

This translator might help:
( https://www.freetranslation.com/en/translate-english-spanish )

Thank you Geo, but I can't copy the Russian text from the patch: it's locked, you can not select it. So, in order to translate I should manually copy the full text, letter by letter, in Microsoft Word, using the cyrillic alphabet.
Before doing such a big work, I'd like to understand if there's another way to fix the bug.

Thanks anyway

Hi paskdigia.

Sorry, but I can't see your pictures! All links lead me to the main page https://www.photobox.co.uk
Can you please upload them somewhere else? Like Google Drive?

I have the same problem with the picture links re-directing to the main page. I wonder if paskdigia has to tell photobox to "share" the photos for the links to work properly.

Hi Paskdigia!

I felt intrigued, because I own the multilingual Pompei DVD, and Italian is one of the languages on it!

So I again copied all the DVD files to my C-directory on my Windows 8.1 desktop, copied the 'NQ_ATGSF.exe' patch to it, and when I started it, I got an ITA language option, as shown below in the lower left-hand corner. So I hit the green button:

(for bigger images, right-click on them and select 'View Image')



And lo and behold, it worked: I got the Italian menu, and was able to start playing the game. I could also save the game, and yes, there is a '_backup' subdirectory for it. See the screenshots below (images uploaded to TinyPic, by the way):

Italian menu:



In-game screenshots:




Saving the game:



Ti auguro buona fortuna!

Rich

P.S. I happen to really love Italian educational multimedia by companies like Capware, Altair4, Tipot Studio, De Agostini and Scala (in collaboration with L'Espresso magazine). Though I don't speak Italian, I manage to piece together enough Italian to find a number of those CDs, DVDs and books online, order them, and enjoy them.

A week ago, I was running a trial version of EnigmaSoft's SpyHunter 5 anti-malware tool on my desktop PC, and I was shocked to find it detected a so-called backdoor virus (RAT: remote access trojan) in a script generated by Kirill's vintage Arxel Tribe/Cryo game program. As described in this thread, his script is designed to run these games on Windows Vista to 10:

http://nquest.ucoz.com/index/0-106#NQ_ATGSF

As you can see in the image below, SpyHunter signalled the DarkComet, or DarkKomet virus, which can bypass the operating system's authentication process to allow hackers remote, undetected access to your system. Once they are in, they can take control of your computer to install, change or delete programs, register entries and files, capture video and audio from your webcam or microphone, steal passwords (keylogging) and turn it into a client in a global botnet to attack other computers.



This RAT is mainly active in Russia:

https://threats.kaspersky.com/en/threat/Backdoor.Win32.DarkKomet/

Of course I had my regular internet security providers, in my case Kaspersky, check the script, and they assured me twice it was a false alarm, a so-called false positive. Because the script apparently contains a 'sandbox' (StubExe?) to run the game shielded from the host system, it is extremely likely that SpyHunter is designed to flag all of these as potential malware.

So I wouldn't worry, but since Kaspersky is a Russian firm, which sometimes has a hard time defending its nonpartisanship, you can check for yourselves using your own protection software, just to make sure.

Best,

Rich