Nancy Drew: The Secret of the Old Clock Forum

I could use some help getting this game to run. I've tried to install it several times, and I keep getting a message about a sound error and digisound. Could someone offer me some advice?

Chanda

did you try installing it with the crosstie?
What problems are you encountering?
Also what system are you using? Mac or Linux? And System specs too please.

I have a Mac OS 10.6.4. My version of Crossover is 10.1. I've tried installing with the crosstie, and without, but I keep getting the same problem. The message I'm getting is CSound::LoudDIGISound()-channel 16 error file D:\CDSound\silence.his, CDirectSound() Could not open file, most recent HRESULT Direct Sound func Return=DS_OK I have to have the disk I installed the game from in the CD drive, too. On the other three Nancy games I've installed from a disk I didn't have to do that. I really hope you can give me some advice. I'd like to get this game running, and at least one of the other Nancy games that's giving me issues as well.

Well the good news is that the game is rated gold on a Mac so it should be possible to get it to work flawlessly. If you were on Linux we'd be walking into new undiscovered country. The bad news is that I don't have this game, so the help I can give you is a bit more limited. If we can't fix it maybe Don can help with his skillz extraudinaire.

Now the first thing is to check if you have cxg version 9 or 10. The app hasn't been rated on 10 but it should work, though we may need to check on that. Because the crosstie is almost surely for cxg 9 (it is I checked: 9.1), let's try installing it fresh.

Being a sound problem it might have something to do with Directx, so install it twice on one bottle with the DirectX9 dependency and one without. Make sure you install it on a Win98 bottle for the without directx and on a winXP bottle for the one with. Let me know how it goes.

Chanda Keith wrote:

I have a Mac OS 10.6.4. My version of Crossover is 10.1. I've
tried installing with the crosstie, and without, but I keep getting
the same problem. The message I'm getting is
CSound::LoudDIGISound()-channel 16 error file
D:\CDSound\silence.his, CDirectSound() Could not open file, most
recent HRESULT Direct Sound func Return=DS_OK I have to have the
disk I installed the game from in the CD drive, too. On the other
three Nancy games I've installed from a disk I didn't have to do
that. I really hope you can give me some advice. I'd like to get
this game running, and at least one of the other Nancy games that's
giving me issues as well.

Hi,

...{sigh}...I hope Cupcake Ninja sees this -- "I told you this would continue for some time to come" =)
That's a Ninja joke, just laugh and ignore it...<grin>...

..as it turns out, there was a reason this thread rang a couple of bells ; in one of my other user accounts
it seems I looked at demo versions of these Nancy Drew titles (where available) during my last Big Fish Games
assault. Iirc, there were sound issues on my linux box here ... I think I got that resolved, but, ran into
other graphics problems as a result. Unlike many other BFG titles, the available demos aren't the full versions,
and I probably discontinued tinkering based on that view ; what I was having trouble with may not be in the full
version of the game ... {shrug} ...in any event, I didn't end up creating any crossties as a result of those
tinkerings, which usually means I had some fiasco happening that I couldn't resolve...

....I suspect David has similar thoughts to myself regarding CD media ; it's got a bit of a 'insert floppy-disc 1
in drive A: and press enter' kinda feel to it ... I see he listed the Steam distribution of the title, and I've
followed suit and listed the Big Fish Games release .. yo-ho! ... but I've little interest in Nancy Drew ;) ...

@ Chanda Keith -- if you'd like to try/be gifted the Big Fish Games release, let me know -- I'll email you a gift voucher.

Cheers!

Okay, I tried this with the two different bottles, but ran into the same problem both times. Don, do you think it might help if I got the Big Fish version? If you think it might work better and you have a certificate, I would be willing to try it. I love Nancy and would really like to get these games to work. I was able to get Secret of the Scarlet Hand, Curse of Blackmoor Manor and Legend of the Crystal Skull running without any problems, but then I ran into the problem with this one, and with Danger by Design and Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon. I expected issues with Blue Moon, but I would really love to get the other two working. I'm a giant Nancy Drew fan, who's envied my friends for years for their being able to play these.

Tbh, I have no idea (yet) whether the BFG version will fair any better,
but what I do know is that these games have been released on various
disc based media over the years (from different distributors), and some
of these releases had CD-Checks and others did not....

..that's the reason I mentioned the BFG version -- the error you cited..

CSound::LoudDIGISound()-channel 16 error file D:\CDSound\silence.his, CDirectSound() Could not open file, most recent HRESULT Direct Sound func Return=DS_OK

..this, will not happen with the BFG version - no 'D:' drive is used.

...in fact, you should have a look at the registry and/or for any config
files the game uses, and see if you can change that behavior...ie; copy
the 'CDSound' directory to your bottle's drive_c directory (C:), and change
the config or registry entry to look there instead, 'C:\CDSound\silence.his'
Of course, that won't work if the path is hardcoded into the game executable,
but if it's in registry/config files, it'd be worth a shot...

If that's not possible, let me know...oh, also try installing DirectX9 (not the
modern version) into the same bottle ; that may change some behavior here..

Oh, Don, which Nancy games did you have trouble with? I've played with the ones they have demos for on Big Fish, and they seem to work for me.

Chanda

I'm afraid I wouldn't have a clue how to find the config files. I'm not really good with the technical stuff as far as the computer goes. Searching, now, I'm really good at that, but as far as the technical details I get totally lost. It sounds like the Big Fish version of the game is what I need to get.

Chanda

Hi again...

Some of these titles, in demo form, are hard to find...but...

...this title is likely going to need a win98 bottle type with
DirectX 9 (not modern) installed into it...at least, that made
the demo work properly...

Cheers!

Okay, I tried to do this, but it didn't work for some reason. It wouldn't let me install DirectX, although I did figure out how the install should have worked.

Chanda

I do not understand - are you trying to install DirectX 9 using
the builtin target in cxinstaller?

Chanda to install the DirectX9 to a bottle use CodeWeaver's installer from Runtime Support Components on the Install Software dialog.
Make sure you change the bottle to Win98 (New Win98 Bottle... in the Select Bottle tab.)

The Big Fish one might work better than the CD, the problem with CD's is that some work and other don't based only on the distributor. I had that issue with Myst.

DirectX 9 also handles sound so it might solve the problem.

Yes, I tried to install it like you said, but for some reason it didn't want to install. I'm starting to think that Big Fish is what I need too. I got a batch of five Nancy games second hand, so I'm not sure of exactly what company made them all. Two installed just fine, Legend of the Crystal Skull and Curse of Blackmoor Manor, but then I had the problem with this one, Death by Design and Blue Moon Canyon.

..I sent you a BFG gift voucher over 12hours ago....but...

...that does not explain why DirectX will not install - you
must provide more details about that...ie; what error message
does the DirectX installation generate?

Thank you so much for the Big Fish gift certificate. I really appreciate it. This is the message I got when I was trying to install DirectX. I'm not sure why that happened.

An internal system error occurred Please refer to DXError.log and DirectX.log in your windows folder to determine the problem.

Chanda

Okay, I got the Big Fish version of this game, and this is the error message I'm getting now.

Unable to open CAL or CIF TREE File Check the path in your .ini file

Any suggestions as to what's gone wrong now? Honestly, I know the Nancy stories this game is based on. Not a ghost or a curse to be found in them, so heaven only knows why I'm running into this trouble.

Chanda

Hi again,

The BFG version is different - it's probably best if you install the following ;

http://www.codeweavers.com/compatibility/browse/name/?app_id=6268

...and then install this game into that same bottle.

Cheers!

Thanks, Don. I'll try that now. Hopefully that will work. Really, with the trouble I'm having with this game, I wonder if I should be afraid to try getting Haunted Mansion or Ghost Dogs. <G>

Chanda

I hope you don't think I'm a lost cause, but I got the same error message, and then this.

Error: Access violation at 0x004D3A60 (tried to read from 0x00000000) program terminated.

What in the world am I doing wrong?

Chanda

Hi,

You should not have any trouble installing DirectX 9 - if you still do have
that trouble, something is wrong... I suspect with your Crossover installation.
I say thing, because you're reciting too may differing errors -- if it were the
same error (or sorts of errors) you were seeing all the time, that I would come
to understand ... but nothing here is following any same pattern/path, so I'm
starting to consider something else is awry - just what, I have no idea. You will
likely need DirectX9 in the same bottle as David explained - the game may not run
without it...but that is beside the point ; th efact DirectX 9 won't install at
all, means there's something fundamentally wrong beyond the app...

...can you do this ;

Create a new win98 bottle, give it a name ... ie; TEST ...

Go to the Crossover Games menu -> Configure -> Manage Bottles

In the GUI that appears, highlight the TEST bottle in the left pane and click on Applications

Click on Install Software -> Community Supported Applications -> Microsoft HTML Rendering Engine 7 -> Install

..allow that to complete, then...

Click on Install Software -> Runtime Support Components -> DirectX 9 -> Install

..allow that to complete, then try installing this Nancy Drew game into the TEST bottle.
If any of those steps fail, something else is wrong -- you will need advise us of the outcome.

Cheers!

I'll try that in a little bit, and let you know how it goes, Don. On the up side, though, I just heard about a few more people who have been having issues with installing games on Big Fish in the last few hours, so I'm hoping that the problem I'm having with the BF Secret of the Old Clock might be from that, and will be okay, once they fix what's going on.

Don, I tried doing what you said, creating the new bottle and everything, but it didn't work. I couldn't get the Microsoft HTML Rendering Engine installed, and ran into the same errors for DirectX. Do you have any ideas what could be wrong? Until I tried to install these Nancy games, I hadn't ran into a problem at all.

Chanda

Okay.... delete that bottle ; I actually forgot about the fact the windows-installer 2.0
conflicts with that install method - but that's a consistent result...

...can you do this instead, but using a winxp bottle...ie;

Create a new winxp bottle, give it a name ... ie; TEST ...

Go to the Crossover Games menu -> Configure -> Manage Bottles

In the GUI that appears, highlight the TEST bottle in the left pane and click on Applications

Click on Install Software -> Community Supported Applications -> Microsoft HTML Rendering Engine 7 -> Install

..allow that to complete, then...

Click on Install Software -> Runtime Support Components -> DirectX 9 -> Install

..allow that to complete, then try installing this Nancy Drew game into the TEST bottle.
As before, let us know how you get on...

Cheers!

Okay, it worked just fine when I used the xp bottle. Then when I went to install the game in that bottle, it said it wasn't the right bottle for the game. I installed it anyway, but now I can't figure out how to open the game to try to play and see if it worked or not.

Chanda

If you are on a Mac and it didn't create a nice Icon for you, and it's not listed under the menu "Programs" then go to "Programs >Run Command..." Select the bottle where you installed Nancy Drew from the first drop-down menu. Then hit "Browse..."

From there go into Program Files, and look for the Nancy Drew folder and in it the .exe that starts the game. Select it and then run it. See if that works. If not, make sure you have the right .exe. If you are still getting errors, run the exe with the generate log check marked (the log is for looking for a persistent error, we may need it, but DON'T post it, it's typically too long.) Report back.

I don't know how it happened, perhaps the power of prayer, perhaps just installing those two programs, but I went and installed The Secret of the Old Clock again, using a XP bottle, and it's working! I'm so happy! I still have another Nancy game that's being difficult, but I'm so happy I got this to work!

Chanda

Great! - if you mean you got the BigFishGames version to work, just be aware
there's a 'rogue' process that hangs around after you quit/exit the game for
around 5minutes with that version ; you may notice it as the game icon not
removing itself from the dock after you quit the game. It's no big deal as
such, I'm just letting you know this is expected behavior..

For some reason, the Big Fish version is still not working. I've heard of a few more people having some sort of issue, though, so I think it might be something that's going on with Big Fish instead of Crossover. I was able to get the version running from the disk! I'm not sure how well I'm doing as far as playing the game goes, but I'm definitely enjoying it. I'm so glad I finally got it running somehow.

Chanda

The BigFishGames version probably needs a winecfg tweak to get the
game exe to run in win98 mode ... but not to worry, as long as you're
having fun =)

I'm definitely having fun, and Big Fish gave me a replacement coupon since the game didn't work, so I'll be able to get another Nancy that ought to work hopefully without trouble so I'm very happy.

Chanda

Awww, that's sooo kewl of them =) ..and very typical of their customer support
I might add -- I never have any trouble recommending BigFishGames as a games
software distributor, just because they do look after the customers like
this... excellent to see you've got the 'win win' result - rejoice! B^)