Pandora Bugs at Autotech ---spoiler alert

Are you using CDs??? Is it possible your CD is scratched or corrupt??? Can't say I've ever heard of Pandora locking up in the hallway there... You didn't go into Dag Horton's office, did you??? I do remember someone complaining about going in there before taking out the guard, but their game still worked...

All patches installed??? Are you using an older computer or are you using Dosbox??? Give the specs of your machine when you answer as well... It will help anyone checking out this thread to better analyze...



P.S. Welcome to the boards... Always nice to meet a fellow Tex fan...
Be sure to check out www.bigfinishgames.com It is owned and operated by Aaron Connors and Chris Jones... The more support BFG receives the closer we come to a New Tex Game...

Thank you so much for your reply.

I don't know if this matters, but in the interest of full disclosure this is a downloaded copy.

Im running windows XP, using power ISO to mount virtual drives. I am also not that computer literate, my friend followed the installation instructions. The program is running in windows with vitrual discs. I do have dosbox but am not using it.
Gateway
1.10 GHz processor, 448 mb Ram

What is happening is that I watch the cutscene where he mops the floor, and when it returns from the cutscene, I have the cursor with the mop (use Mop) movable, but nothing is selectable. THe music plays, everything as normal (don't believe that the guard will make his rounds) except that I have to go back to windows and shut the program down.

What I did since posting this initial thread, is I put soap in bucket, saved game. Put mop in bucket, and his escape at some point during the cutscene. WHen it returned I could move around. The first time, I went back into the closet, when the door shut the game kicked me out and I had to restart. The second time it worked after mopping the floor, I saved it, but the guard never slipped, he went back into his office like the floor was never mopped.


There has also been several times that the game went into an error and kicked me out when I looked for the soap box and when I left the closet.



Anything that you guys can do to help me will be very appreciated.

FWIW, I have the original purchased 4 cd set of UAKM but when I went to give the Chocolate to clint, theres some kind of error. I think its disc 2. So I hope that you don't refuse to help me because I downloaded a copy.

Respectfully,
Rhythmicons

Let me give you a little more detail about the overall gameplay..

We could have used the CD but the videos were choppy. We copied the files to the harddrive and mounted them using the ISO program. The video runs at normal speed, i.e. not choppy.

However, the mouse is really slow and the auxilliary panel takes a long time to pop up. We haven't figured out what is with the super slow mouse cursor. It is especially difficult on high mouse sensitivity in the CONFIG to assemble items, but I have gotten used to it.

After the cutscene when the game is frozen, the mouse moves at regular speed, but the music seems to be sped up in places because its choppy.

I haven't gone in DAG's office yet, and the guard hasn't made his rounds yet.

I was perplexed when I mopped the floor and he didn't slip.

THe only solution for me unless you can offer a better one is to switch to entertainment mode....but I am a hardcore fan of Tex.

I loved MM and Countdown, all the Sierra Adventure games (larry especially) and the really sad part about the fact that I have a downloaded copy is that I really want to support BFG so they can make Fedora. I probably will purchase the games. Is what I have discovered a bug?

Thanks again for your response and your help.


Eric
Rhythmicons

I don't think anyone will refuse to help you, but when you use outside channels like that you're bound to experience errors that others may not have, and you'll have a harder time getting answers...

We use Dosbox because Dos based games have trouble running in XP, no matter what kinds of tricks or shortcuts you use... XP wasn't designed to run Dos based games, so someone figured out a way to put Dos into XP...

The only Error I've heard of people having at Autotech is in the Evidence room, if you back up the wrong way from the machine or something you'll lock the game up, I haven't experienced it myself, but it's a common error that a lot of people get...

You're experiencing the problem around the same general area, the mopping of the floor... It sounds like there might be a corrupt file somewhere for this specific area... Could be the Video file, could be the soap file, could be a number of files associated with this scene...

But it sounds like a File problem and if you don't have the original CDs to reinstall or copy the file from, then there isn't much anyone is going to be able to do to help you... Especially since we can't pin-point the file that is causing the problem...


You know GOG has all 5 of the Tex Murphy games for sale, Pandora is only 10 bucks and they have it all setup with Dosbox and all... All you have to do is download the game and you're basically ready to play...
And there is always Ebay, you can usually find Pandora on there for under 10 bucks, though there are people who try to get some outrageous prices, you just need to weed through them and avoid those price spikers...

Im really considering it because as Ive spent a considerable amount of time without the hintbooks to get this far, and after a few of the to-be-expected-adventure-game-screwed-up-save-file-restarts, I can't quit now.

Tell me, if I download this game, are there any overly tricky installations with dosbox that I will have to worry about?

I should be able to use my save file from the one I already started if I drag and drop it into the right place, right?

Overseer, though, is designed to run on windows, right?

Thanks again

(going to GOG and buying the game)



Rhythmicons

No the installation is pretty much straight forward... Yes, the save game file should be usable, if like you said you put it in the proper place...

Overseer was made to run in Windows 95/98 and runs well in XP... I don't know about other Operating Systems, just what I've used myself... The DVD version locks up and crashes on most people... There are some who have gotten it to run by messing with this and messing with that, but there have been people who followed those steps and still end up crashing, so I guess it is a system by system process for Overseer...

The Download game of Overseer that GOG has, I'm pretty sure they have worked out all the bugs and that it runs pretty smoothly now... So you should be okay with getting that one as well...


A few people here are very well versed with GOG, so if you have any problems downloading or installing from them, just come on back and ask... GOG also has Forums you can ask specific questions regarding GOG and GOG's Downloader, if you have any problems...
You seem to know a bit more than the common slug when it comes to computers, so I don't think you'll have any major issues... You should be able to handle it...

If not though, we are happy to help if we're able to...

i occassionaly get the crash when mopping the floor, however when you start the game again it will allow to recover from before it crashed. Over the years I have found a lot of people with the same problem. You must use dos box on xp & later systems.

gog version will run quite well on any system but at times there is a problem when getting the box from sewer (you need to stand well back before getting the box) roswell on the third level stand well back when trying to get into the door.

most of the problems are not the game but have arisen from the hard disk versions of the game.

best advice is save often

Okay friends,
I know its been awhile but true to my word I tried to go to Good Old Games and create an account there to order the game. I tried 3 different credit cards but the various banks rejected the transaction because of the country GOG is located in, like camaroon or Maldives or some place like that which has an exceptionally high rate of credit card theft.

So I absolutely will not and would encourage anyone to take pretective measures when doing business with them.


As far as the bug is concerned, I figured out the solution to the puzzle. I would mop and the game would freeze. I would force a quit and then "Resume Game in Progress" which would take me to a point after the mop up. Then After I did that I did to get the guard to run down the hall, he slipped and the game continued.

Thanks for all the help and best of luck with GOG.


Rhythmicons

I only use paypal, & its safe to buy from gog. I actually thought they were in germany

When I mounted the cds I think I got this too. Also it seems to happen after using the chisel. One way to work around it is control alt delete to close the application. Then use Pandora's crash support interface to start where you left off.