Eroge and Tech - Various Issues and Solutions 2018/07/18 Updated 2019/07/24 2018 [0719] Amy's Fantasies clarification re: registry error Time Stripper Mako 256 color wording correction The Maid's Story addition 2019 [0724] Nocturnal Illusion addition True Love description typo fix Games I have played, tested, and actually ran into errors are listed here. True Love This game is nowadays only available in CD rip form, rather than CD image. I have personally seen the CD image, and literally the only thing missing is the installer. The rest was garbage data to the point that CD drives at the time couldn't rip the CD to an image. Not missing much. Registry Error - Use the registry key provided in the zip. Though, my personal cleaned-up version has two (for language support), en and de. - If SAVE is missing, create a 0-byte file called SAVE by using New Text Document or your favorite editor. Game does not run at all - Make sure the directory is max 8 characters long. e.g., "TRUELOVE" Game hangs for some seconds during music play/change - True Love doesn't play nice with software-based MIDI devices. It, however, plays nicer than any Foster game release. - In addition to that, from Windows 7 on, MIDI is only an afterthought, as some features regarding MIDI are gradually removed. - Alternatively, you can run Coolsoft VirtualMIDISynth or similar with your favorite soundfont as a possible workaround. Paradise Heights There are two archives, the one with the proper timestamps, and one with the year 2002 timestamps (which is incidentally the one with read-only file problems). Error message after trying to save (Unexpected error) - Please check if the files MA (save file) and MO (CG unlock data file) are not read-only. This is only in the 2002/09/02 19:12 EDT timestamped archive file pack. Registry Error - Use the registry key provided in the zip. - Strangely, the directory being longer than 8 characters trips this up. Game does not run at all - Make sure the directory is max 8 characters long. e.g., "RAKUEN" No voice acting present - They are 0-byte files due to historical space-, time-, and bandwidth-saving measures. You will have to get the voice file called WAV from the FM Towns version of the game. Alternatively, I do have the file. No MIDI/MIDI error message - Paradise Heights doesn't play nice with software-based MIDI devices. - Seriously, this game hates it. It expects actual hardware for its MIDI. However, the game will continue running without it after the message. Paradise Heights 2 Strangely the one with the LEAST issues. Registry Error - Use the registry key provided in the zip. - Strangely, the directory being longer than 8 characters trips this up. Game does not run at all - Make sure the directory is max 8 characters long. e.g., "RAKUEN2" No voice acting present - They are 0-byte files due to historical space-, time-, and bandwidth-saving measures. You will have to get the voice file called WAV from the FM Towns version of the game. Alternatively, I do have the file. No MIDI/MIDI error message - Paradise Heights 2 doesn't play nice with software-based MIDI devices. - Seriously, this game hates it. It expects actual hardware for its MIDI. However, the game will continue running without it after the message. Time Stripper Mako An archive of this game with messy organization exists. This game is odd in that its requirements differ from other Foster releases. Registry Error - Use the registry key provided in the zip. Though, my personal cleaned-up version has three (for language support), en, fr, and de. - Strangely, the directory being longer than 8 characters trips this up. Game does not run at all - Make sure the directory is max 8 characters long. e.g., "MAKO" No voice acting present - They are 0-byte files due to historical space-, time-, and bandwidth-saving measures. You will have to get the voice file called WAV from the FM Towns version of the game, which, I admit, can be quite difficult to locate. Alternatively, I do actually have the file. No MIDI/MIDI error message - Paradise Heights 2 doesn't play nice with software-based MIDI devices. - Seriously, this game hates it. It expects actual hardware for its MIDI. However, the game will continue running without it after the message. Game asks for CD - I'm surprised that you have the game uncracked, as it is rare nowadays. Either use the CD, mount the CD image, or use the historical NoCD crack for this game. Oh, a note: don't hit Enter immediately after the game asks for CD message. It will bug out. Game asks for 256 color mode - Self-explanatory. However, this game seems to have no issues using a mode higher than 256 color mode on most machines even back then. But, if colors are wrong, or the game starts tearing (seriously!), change your system to 256 color mode. Amy's Fantasies Ran into two archives: one with voices and one without voices. Purged the one without and kept the one with. The one without apparently needed some patching for it to run... MIDI error message/MIDI Header Not Prepared - This game is picky and wants hardware. - This game expects actual hardware for its MIDI. It will not even utilize Microsoft's DLS MIDI. The game will not continue until actual hardware MIDI is used. - Note: Do not attempt to ignore these messages; you will just be inundated with more such messages after each MIDI song change. Game will not run/registry error - This one is specifically for the one without voices. The one with voices runs fine without that patch. - This may be the installed version of the game, not the CD version, strangely enough. - There is a file called AMY.DAT (renamed for no real reason, so name it back) that you have to copy to C:\WINDOWS and then run the registry file that came with it. - Not sure if the patch itself lives anymore, but I do still have it. The Maid's Story Three archives exist: one without voices (which includes an unknown patcher for the game), one with voices, and one archive strangely wrapped into a Klik'n'Play Install Maker installer (and includes a trainer). The one without voices is apparently broken, unsurprisingly. Game will not run - Does not apply to the Install Maker package with the trainer - cs_md_t.ini will have to be edited to the directory path where the game resides, e.g. C:\Windows\Desktop\Maids - That file then has to reside in C:\Windows Game thinks it is still running after a save - Only applies to the one without voices - This game and modern (read: Windows NT-based) systems do not play nice with each other. - I do not recall running into this issue, but try running this in Windows 98 compatibility mode in systems up to Windows 7. I am not optimistic, however. Nocturnal Illusion [Original release] One historical archive exists, and that one is missing sound effect files (!). Another version exists on the Milky House Memorial Collection CD and JAST USA Memorial Collection Special Edition DVD, though that version is patched with BaSFTech's patches and fixes. (The one I have from 2005 is not, though it comes with the patcher itself and the Power Pack.) I will someday prepare a few archives myself because: 1) The English localization is rife with spelling, grammatical, punctuation, general text consistency issues, and in rare cases, text formatting errors, and it may mostly be fixed with BaSFTech's Power Pack. Quite a daunting task, especially with obvious space limitations, so really not much of a priority. 2) The original archive I have from 2005 is missing sound effects, and the only other way to fully experience the original version is to use the Milky House Memorial Collection CD or the JAST USA Memorial Collection Special Edition DVD. 3) The original archive I have from 2005 is strangely put together. I should repack it for better organizational purposes. Cannot install the game - From the original 1998 installer, the default path is C:\Program Files\Nocturnal - Windows 95 (codenamed Chicago), amusingly, does not have the Program Files directory as it is primarily presented as an upgrade from Windows 3.1/3.11. Windows 95 Service Pack 1, known as Windows 95A also lacks the Program Files directory. - The directory does exist in later versions of Windows 95 starting with the large Windows 95B (OSR 2) release (codenamed Detroit). Windows 95C, OSR 1.0, OSR2, OSR 2.1, OSR 2.5, and Windows 98/98SE/ME already have the directory. - Official workaround was to create the Program Files directory on drive C. The 2002 update, which changes the default path to C:\Nocturnal, makes the official workaround pointless. Game will not run - Seems the game is a 16-bit executable, no matter the release, as muge.exe or muge31.exe (only present in the historical archive). This will not run on a 64-bit machine running any modern Windows operating systems. - This may run in Windows XP (32-bit version only!), but Compatibility Mode may need to be used and be set to either Windows 98 or Windows 2000. - In the historical archive, especially for Windows 95 and Windows 98/98SE, there is a subdirectory called WINDOWS and a subdirectory of that called SYSTEM. Copy the files in those directories to their respective system directories. May not be necessary with Windows NT-based operating systems. - You may need to edit the MugE.ini file's SAVEDIR path to where your game is if it is not C:\Program Files\Nocturnal (original 1998 release) or C:\Nocturnal (later 2002 workaround update), otherwise you cannot save your game! Apparently not an issue with JAST USA's release... Machine is quite warm especially on a vintage computer/General perfomance issues - Game uses 100% of one CPU core. Especially on a vintage PC; that usually has a single-core CPU. - Not fixable by any means, unfortunately. Game crashes when focus is lost - There is actually some instability regarding using externally provided translation scripts and other assets within the game - Editing the MUG0.DAT file in question may or may not fix the issue. But, that's for more experienced users.