Trespasser on Windows 7

[SOCL]

Hello all,

This being my first post, I feel obliged to ask a question which I am fairly certain will be easy to answer, though the answer itself is unfortunately not self-evident to me.

I am trying to install Trespasser on Windows 7. The CD itself is not recognized by my computer, so I attempted to copy and paste the contents of the disc to my C-drive. From there I attempted to run the program in compatibility mode for Windows 95, but found myself receiving the same error message I got when I manually tried to get the SETUP.exe file to run from the disc. The error message reads as follows:

The version of this file is not compatible with the version of Windows you're running. Check your computer's system information to see if you need an x86 (32-bit) or x64 (64-bit) version of the program, and then contact the software publisher.

Seeing as how I seriously doubt Dreamworks Interactive is still running support for this game, I thought to get in contact with the fan-base as they often find solutions for these sorts of issues (as the Star Wars fan-base did when I needed to install TIE Fighter on this same machine).

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

[enigma]

The SETUP.exe i guess is what your trying instead.
Run setup95.exe in the setup folder, should work fine

You may not even not need to set compatibility for any of trespassers exe's, win7 is nice like that.

When installing, its best not install to program files, restrictions are in place on the programs files folders, might cause some permission access problems. Not sure if it would for certain, just save some potential headache.
Have fun with it. You should not encounter any problems, so I've far installed it, installed patches, ATX and ran it without no trouble.

[machf]

I installed it just yesterday on a Windows 7 machine, no problems at all. Performed a HDD install. No need to adjust any compatibility settings, nothing. ATX works fine, too. Haven't tried TresEd yet...

[RexHunter99]

This looks like a problem with the bitness of your CPU architecture, yours being an x64 (64-bit) and trespasser being programmed for x86 (32-bit)

[machf]

Most likely that's it, the one I was talking about is a 32-bit version.

[RexHunter99]

I was looking into x64 and found that it's a little more tricky to recompile Trespasser for 64-bit machines than jsut setting an option. You need the x64 binaries and headers (which I did not install in my previous Windows SDK v7.1 update) and then you need to make sure that integers will not conflict with any dynamic data (eg; all calls to sizes of dynamic data must use sizeof() macro) simply because ints in x64 are 8 bytes long where as in x86 they are 4 bytes long...

Well all this doesn't matter since we don't have the source

[Nick3069]

Wouldn't it be possible to run Trespasser on a virtual machine like VMWare or Microsoft virtual Machine? If the 64-bit Windows 7 is emulating a 32-bit environment, it should work.

[RexHunter99]

Wouldn't it be possible to run Trespasser on a virtual machine like VMWare or Microsoft virtual Machine? If the 64-bit Windows 7 is emulating a 32-bit environment, it should work.

Maybe, don't quote me but I don't think it's that simple in this case. Trespasser was compiled using Windows 95/98 binaries, I'm surprised they worked as well as they did on WindowsXP 32-bit, let alone Vista or 7

[SOCL]

I'm not sure I followed all the jargon, but let me see if I have it: the issue is the fact that my computer has 32 and 64-bit parts (or whatever is the right term); for instance, I have two Program Files folders, one that is simply "Program Files" and another that is "Program Files (x86)". The fact is, though, that when I put in the CD, the computer doesn't recognize anything it can run via the AutoPlay. Thus, I may order it to open the game manually, but it just gives me an error screen, telling me that same message I quoted in the first post of this thread. So I opened the CD manually and tried to click on the SETUP.exe file (I don't have a setup95.exe file that I can see anywhere on the CD), but it gave me the same message about not knowing the 32/64-bit thing and all that. So... Sadly, I'm not much when it comes to programming and software and computer jargon and such, so I'm at a bit of a loss when you start throwing out terms like binaries and headers and HDD install, etc. It's for that reason that I tried copying all the files to my C drive in hopes I could run it from the hard-drive and thus set the compatibility back to Windows 95.

So... What should I do? Is there a way to resolve the bitness issue? Or it simply a matter of being unable to install the game on a 64-bit computer because we lack the source code and thus cannot modify it to work?

[LtSten]

There's a thread somewhere about a HDD install... In short, you make sure you can view hidden files (Under tools > options/folder options somewhere in your file browser), select everything on the CD, copyPaste into a folder (Such as C:\TresCD), remove the disk and install using "Setup95.exe" in there, under <cd>:/setup/setup95.exe.

Maybe look for solutions to running 32bit applications on 64bit operating systems, some search on Google or similar, I don't know what you'll find, though.

Hope I've been of some help, anyway.

[SOCL]

There's a thread somewhere about a HDD install... In short, you make sure you can view hidden files (Under tools > options/folder options somewhere in your file browser), select everything on the CD, copyPaste into a folder (Such as C:\TresCD), remove the disk and install using "Setup95.exe" in there, under <cd>:/setup/setup95.exe.

Maybe look for solutions to running 32bit applications on 64bit operating systems, some search on Google or similar, I don't know what you'll find, though.

Hope I've been of some help, anyway.

I feel rather foolish. It was as simple as going into the search feature in the Start menu and writing C:/tres cd/setup/setup95.exe. I feel rather silly having not realized that the setup95.exe was a integral part within the SETUP.exe file, not without. Oh goodness, goodness, goodness, do I feel ridiculous. The game works, by the way - perfectly, it would seem. Unfortunately, having now discovered this and watched the opening video with Hammond's introduction to his memoirs regarding Site B, I have to go to work and won't be able to enjoy any of this until Monday at the earliest. Blast this confounded job and the money I need to pay bills!

Anyhow, thanks for the helps, mates. I figured it was likely to be something simple I had managed to overlook.

[machf]

Blast this confounded job and the money I need to pay bills!

I know the feeling...

[LtSten]

Good to hear I managed to help and that it's all working! Enjoy.

[SOCL]

Good to hear I managed to help and that it's all working! Enjoy.

Oh, I will. Now that I'm a tad older, I'll be able to concentrate on the literary goodies in Hammond's memoirs rather than just bask in dinosaur-shooting-fun - not that I won't enjoy that either.

[SOCL]

Having finished the game yesterday (I would have finished the day before except for a slight "hiccup in the power" where I live), I must say that I am quite impressed with how well it has aged and just how much fun it can still be. Considering the advances in video game technology, and the way shooter games in particular have evolved (e.g. Half-Life 2 and its sequels and spin-offs), Trespasser seems to be a game destined to stand the test of time; it is indeed worthy of the moniker "ahead of its time". It is rather unfortunate that not everything that was planned made it in to the final cut, such as the more complex dinosaur emotions - though I was pleasantly surprised to see raptors running when wounded and not being hunted by the two T. rexes outside the town and the one before the Harbor due to their hunger being sated by other creatures - and the geothermal plant, but all in all I am still impressed that now, 12 years after its release, the game continues to score well and having a following.

Has any thought been given to remaking the game using modern game engines? I am thinking in particular the Source/Steam engine technology used to create the Half-Life 2 series, as in the case of the in-progress "Black Mesa" mod that aims to remake the original Half-Life using that engine. I mean, being an avid fan and player of Half-Life 2, I think that many of the textures, scenes, locations, and even sequences play well into Trespasser's themes, and certainly are a match for the end-of-the-world feel. Does anyone know of any plans or even attempts in this direction? That is not to say that the current work being done by the Trespasser fan-base isn't already quite admirable and remarkable, but I am curious about outside endeavors...