About Me

Cambridge, Waikato, New Zealand
Otago man living in the Waikato.

Monday 31 August 2009

Getting Command and Conquer Generals to Work in Vista (but what about Linux Wine?).

A lot of folk have posted concerns on internet forums, regarding the inability of getting C&C Generals to work in the Microsoft Windows Vista operating environment. Even the Vista compatibility site states that it doesn't work (see http://www.microsoft.com/windows/compatibility/Search.aspx?type=Software&s=command%20conquer&page=2).

However, there is a way forward and the steps are quite simple. The following is what I did:

1. Installed Vista Service Pack 1

2. Installed C&C Generals.

3. Right clicked on desktop icon, selected Properties, selected Compatibility tab, then from the drop down menu select Windows XP Service Pack 2, ticked the little box and then clicked on Apply.

4. The final step was then to download the manual patch version 1.07 for the game.

5. The Game is ready to play.

The patch updates the generals.exe , as well as the data file for this game. Failure to apply the patch will result in the game freezing on the second splash screen.

There is a version 1.08 patch that can be installed in-game. But I preferred a manual patch that can be stored on a ROM for any necessary future use.

Now, if anyone can tell me how I can get this 2 disc game to work in Wine for Linux Mint , I'll be extremely grateful.

Monday 3 August 2009

A Letter From Scout Camp (Joke)

Dear Mom & Dad,

Our Scoutmaster told us to write to our parents in case you saw the flood on TV and are worried. We are okay. Only one of our tents and 2 sleeping bags got washed away. Luckily, none of us got drowned because we were all up on the mountain looking for Adam when it happened.

Oh yes, please call Adam's mother and tell her he is okay. He can't write because of the cast. I got to ride in one of the search and rescue jeeps. It was neat. We never would have found Adam in the dark if it hadn't been for the lightning.

Scoutmaster Ted got mad at Adam for going on a hike alone without telling anyone. Adam said he did tell him, but it was during the fire so he probably didn't hear him. Did you know that if you put gas on a fire, the gas will blow up?

The wet wood didn't burn, but one of the tents did and also some of our clothes. Matthew is going to look weird until his hair grows back.

We will be home on Saturday if Scoutmaster Ted gets the bus fixed. It wasn't his fault about the wreck. The brakes worked okay when we left. Scoutmaster Ted said that with a bus that old, you have to expect something to break down; that's probably why he can't get insurance.

We think it's a neat bus. He doesn't care if we get it dirty, and if it's hot, sometimes he lets us ride on the fenders. It gets pretty hot with 45 people in a bus made for 24. He let us take turns riding in the trailer until the highway patrol man stopped and talked to us.

Scoutmaster Ted is a neat guy. Don't worry, he is a good driver. In fact, he is teaching Jessie how to drive on the mountain roads where there aren't any cops. All we ever see up there are logging trucks.

This morning all of the guys were diving off the rocks and swimming out to the rapids. Scoutmaster Ted wouldn't let me because I can't swim, and Adam was afraid he would sink because of his cast (it's concrete because we didn't have any plaster), so he let us take the canoe out. It was great. You can still see some of the trees under the water from the flood.

Scoutmaster Ted isn't crabby like some scoutmasters. He didn't even get mad about the life jackets. He has to spend a lot of time working on the bus so we are trying not to cause him any trouble.

Guess what? We have all passed our first aid merit badges. When Andrew dove into the lake and cut his arm, we got to see how a tourniquet works.

Steven and I threw up, but Scoutmaster Ted said it probably was just food poisoning from the left-over chicken. He said they got sick that way with food they ate in prison. I'm so glad he got out and became our scoutmaster. He said he sure figured out how to get things done better while he was doing his time. By the way, what is a pedal-file?

I have to go now. We are going to town to mail our letters & buy some more beer and ammo. Don't worry about anything. We are fine and tonight it's my turn to sleep in the Scoutmaster's tent.

Love, Jimmie