Giveaway of the Day Forums

1. 

   Runzwsizzorz
   Member

   Hello! I downloaded and installed Detective of Spirit World today. Everything appeared fine until I launched it. The game did not open, instead it went right to the webpage saying thank you for playing. There were at least 2 other people having the same issue. I am running Windows 11.
   This is the first HOG in a while that I really wanted to have.

   It activated without an issue. I downloaded it again and reinstalled it. I tried the game.exe command in the game folder and it listed several .dll files that I needed. I don't think I'm going down that rabbit hole. I would appreciate any help available.

   Thank you!

   Posted 2 years ago #
2. 

   ChrisS
   Administrator

   The game did not install.

   GOTD uses a "wrapper" to restrict software installation to a single day. Most security software now objects to the "wrapper" since the actions are hidden from the system and for quite some time the readme.txt file has included a statement that you should deactivate (or suspend) your security software for the time it takes to install the GOTD program. So, you download the program, unzip it into a temp folder, suspend your security software, install the program, then reactivate your security software.

   I didn't download the game yesterday so I don't know if the readme file said anything about suspending your security software but I checked both offers today (before I simply told you to check the readme file) and they DO NOT contain the disclaimer. If you want to install anything from GOTD then you'll need to temporarily disable your security.

   Posted 2 years ago #
3. 

   mikiem2
   Moderator

   Don't know if this will be any help, & don't know how far anyone wants to pursue getting the game to run...

   Some of the comments talked about getting a notice to install the Microsoft C/C++ runtimes. The runtime files the game uses are: msvcp_win.dll, msvcp110.dll, msvcp120.dll, msvcr100.dll, msvcr110.dll, msvcr120.dll. Installing the runtimes using the setup file you download from Microsoft *usually* puts the runtime files in Windows\ WinSxS\ -- I don't know if that's the case with these two versions, but they're present in Windows\ System32\ in my VM & in this copy of Win10, where the game seems to run fine.

   The game uses OpenGL rather than DX, and higher rez displays don't seem to bother it -- this monitor is at 4k. The game uses lots of .js files that can be opened/viewed in Notepad -- double clicking one brings up a notice from Windows that it's an improper JScript file. Looking at a few I didn't find any hints of what could be going wrong for some people, but I only looked at a few. The game.exe file is internally named "Search for the Wonderland", so Googling on that, looking for reported problems ***might*** have some success.

   Posted 2 years ago #
4. 

   Runzwsizzorz
   Member

   The game did not install.

   GOTD uses a "wrapper" to restrict software installation to a single day. Most security software now objects to the "wrapper" since the actions are hidden from the system and for quite some time the readme.txt file has included a statement that you should deactivate (or suspend) your security software for the time it takes to install the GOTD program. So, you download the program, unzip it into a temp folder, suspend your security software, install the program, then reactivate your security software.

   thanks for replying chriss. i did read the disclaimer and i did pause my security software. i also went and checked in my uninstall software and it is listed as a program that i can uninstall. and the activation screen popped up telling me it had been successfully activated.

   Posted 2 years ago #
5. 

   Runzwsizzorz
   Member

   Don't know if this will be any help, & don't know how far anyone wants to pursue getting the game to run...

   thanks for replying mikiem2. i did some of the things you mentioned. for a minute i was getting error messages that those dll files were missing. i took care of that and now it is doing what it was doing initially and simply opening the website that says "thank you for playing".

   Posted 2 years ago #
6. 

   mikiem2
   Moderator

   If the game starts, but immediately crashes, the final step or process of opening the page on their web site would proceed normally -- it knows the game ran & was shut down, but it doesn't know that you didn't shut it down normally when you were done playing.

   WR usually recommends Event Viewer -- I'm not optimistic it'll help in this case, but a quick look couldn't hurt.

   howtogeek[.]com/123646/htg-explains-what-the-windows-event-viewer-is-and-how-you-can-use-it/

   Microsoft recommends performing a clean boot, which is basically turning off everything that can be turned off for diagnosis -- if something is interfering with the game running properly, then it should run OK if/when you turn that something off. Note that Microsoft hasn't updated their web page to include Win11, but other sites show the process is the same.

   support.microsoft[.]com/en-us/topic/how-to-perform-a-clean-boot-in-windows-da2f9573-6eec-00ad-2f8a-a97a1807f3dd

   windowscentral[.]com/how-clean-boot-windows-10

   Finally, if nothing else has helped, an app called Process Monitor will show you just what happened when you started the game. CAUTION -- using Process Monitor can have very negative effects on your mood, if not your overall mental health [unless you're a masochist]. In a nutshell you start recording, start the game, then stop recording the instant the web page opens. You'll then have probably thousands of lines detailing everything, every read & write to the registry etc. -- there are filters to cut down on the number of lines you're shown, but it's hard to make good use of them if you're unsure what to look for. Search for the game, then start going over every line for some time before that, & continue until you either spot something or are sure you're no longer seeing anything related to the game. Then, if you haven't found any problems, search again from that point, since you may find the game listed again later on. And repeat... [I've used Process Monitor a few times to fix software problems, & while I was lucky enough to be successful each time, it took a few days to get over the effects of scanning line after maddening line, which is why I normally don't recommend it.]

   docs.microsoft[.]com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/procmon

   Posted 2 years ago #
7. 

   Runzwsizzorz
   Member

   using Process Monitor can have very negative effects on your mood, if not your overall mental health

   thank you, mikiem2, for all of that! there are some donkeys running around here on my street and in my yard, and once that is taken care of i will start going down your post. thank you so much for taking the time to get and give me this information. i will let you know if any of it worked.

   Posted 2 years ago #
8. 

   Runzwsizzorz
   Member

   Mikiem2

   OMIGOD BECKY! i have spent the last several hours down the event viewer rabbit hole. the error that logged was "embedded controller did not respond within specified timeout period. this is either an error in the EC hardware or firmware, or the BIOS is accessing EC incorrectly. check with the manufacturer for upgraded BIOS" ACPI error 13

   i just bought my laptop a couple of weeks ago and it's running windows 11. the last couple of times it booted up, it showed to be doing something with the BIOS. honestly i didn't pay that much attention. i assumed with all the updates to windows 11, the BIOS was just one of them. i did take a little notice the 2nd time it booted up and again, appeared to be updating the BIOS.
   in the device manager, the firmware had an error saying it couldn't start. i looked up what to do if the BIOS is unable to update and i ended up rolling back the driver and that took care of the firmware error.

   i was so excited, i figured because the firmware wasn't able to start, that was most likely the problem.
   i was wrong.
   it opened up the website that said thank you for playing.

   tomorrow is another day.

   Posted 2 years ago #
9. 

   mikiem2
   Moderator

   Just general info RE: the BIOS in case it's of any use...

   The device manufacturer may have proprietary Windows software for updating the BIOS, but other than that, the BIOS is totally separate from Windows or any software. While Intel & AMD supply hardware manufacturers with the basic code that the BIOS uses, the manufacturer then tweaks it to suit their products, so the manufacturer is the only source for BIOS updates for the devices they produce. And unfortunately they do screw up -- this PC uses a Gigabyte motherboard, they've released 15 updated BIOS since 3/16/18, and roughly half of them had problems making them unusable for me. You can check with the manufacturer -- either their web site or by contacting support -- to see if there is a newer BIOS version, and it can also be worthwhile to see if others are reporting problems with a BIOS version. A free app, available in a portable version, called HWInfo, will tell you the BIOS version your laptop's using. hwinfo[.]com/download/

   When you turn on your laptop from a power off state, the BIOS is the 1st thing active, and may display a logo or some information while it's preparing to load Windows. Usually pressing the F2 or Delete keys repeatedly as soon as you turn the laptop on will bring up the BIOS settings screen -- the manual should spell out which key to use etc. You often need to go into those settings to update [flash] the BIOS, but follow the manufacturer's directions. Note: while some manufacturers provide a Windows app to update the BIOS, if they also allow you to update the BIOS from the BIOS settings, that's considered more reliable. Also note, to update the BIOS using its settings menus, you'll normally have the file to update the BIOS on a USB stick -- not every USB stick is compatible, so don't panic if the BIOS doesn't see the USB stick, just use another.

   Posted 2 years ago #
10. 

    Runzwsizzorz
    Member

    Just general info RE: the BIOS in case it's of any use...

    Thanks for that, Mikiem2.
    Well, i consider myself to be smarter than the average bear but i'm not understanding how to use the process monitor. i'm still working on some learning. i just wanted to tell you that it's still the same and i haven't tried the process monitor yet.

    Posted 2 years ago #

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