Win2000 - game does not run

[hamade]

Hi, I am trying to run an old Disney game (Lion King 2 Simba's pride) on a virtual Win2000.
Installation works fine, but when I press play after install nothing happens, even when I double click the .exe it quickly prompts a dos window which closes immediately. I tried all types of install (minimum / cd required / full install) and the result is the same.

I tried running the exe from DOS and I got : Program too big to fit in memory.
*I have allocated 2GB of ram and 2GB of storage
Can someone help? The game holds a lot of sentimental value to me and I would love to relive the memories.

Notes:
- Trying to run the game on Windows 10 prompts compatibility issues, even with compatibility modes turned on
- I ran into problems earlier with the install as it required 256 colors, but I solved that with the guest additions

Thanks in advance!

[mpack]

What OS was the game originally designed for?

Incidentally: there is no DOS shell in Win2K or any other derivative of NT. There is a command terminal which has a syntax which is similar to the old DOS shell, but the similarities end there, e.g. you can't install DOS memory drivers in an NT command shell.

[hamade]

It was released in 1998 so I assume Windows 95/NT 4.0/98

[mpack]

I see. How sure are you about that 1998 date? In fact I wouldn't be surprised to learn that this game is 16 bit, designed for the Windows 3.x era. Windows software from 1998 shouldn't be doing their own memory management.

Turning to the error message, "Program too big to fit in memory", that doesn't mean you didn't provide enough RAM to the VM. It most likely means that this program is looking for a DOS era memory extender API and not finding it. I'm pretty sure that will be it, but having no knowledge of this specific game that's about all I can tell you.

I would suggest Googling for that game title, if it was popular then perhaps there will be an enthusiasts site. Or Google for general info on getting games of that era running on newer Windows.

[hamade]

I googled previously but did not find much. However I did see a few youtube videos running it on Win98/XP, I will give that a try.
Would you suggest I try it with a Windows 3.x version as well?

Below are a few details I found about the game:

Software Name: The Lion King II: Simba's Pride - GameBreak
Software Version: 1.0.1
Release Year: 1998
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 95
Processor Speed: 90 MHz
System Memory: 16 MB
Graphics Resolution: 640 x 480
Hard Disk Space Required: 15 MB
Sound: 16-Bit Soundcard

[mpack]

Would you suggest I try it with a Windows 3.x version as well?

No, if it truly is a 32bit app then trying to install it on 16bit Windows would just waste time.

Perhaps I've been misled by your original post. You said that you had no problems installing, but that the game exe would not work. You tried running the game exe in "DOS" (i.e. the Win2K command console) but get the memory size error. If what you meant to say is that you tried to run the installer again or you tried a DOS VM instead of Win2K then that might explain the error message - which I'm currently having difficulty placing into a credible single scenario.

[hamade]

The whole scenario was happening inside the Win2K virtual machine.
1. The game installs successfully
2. Pressing play after install flashes a dos window, although it disappears immediately I can see it is trying to run the game exe. Running the exe manually from the game folder gives me the same result.
3. Running the exe from the command prompt returns the memory size error.

I tried my luck with WinXP and I get the same result. Running the exe from the command prompt (inside WinXP VM) returns : program too big to fit in memory. Whether it's the exe directly from the optical drive or the one installed on the hard drive.

I'm not sure where to go from here.

[fth0]

There seems to be another method of installing and running the game on newer Windows OS, see http://www.danjb.com/blog/how_to_gamebreak. It doesn't work on my Windows 10 64-bit VM though.

[socratis]

I'm not sure where to go from here.

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 95

That's where you should go, Windows 95. Or Win98.

Trying to run a Win95 app in either Win2K or WinXP, especially a game, is bound to have issues. These were two completely different family OSes, especially when it came to how much "freedom" an app could have over the hardware, see GPU, sound, memory.

[hamade]

There seems to be another method of installing and running the game on newer Windows OS, see http://www.danjb.com/blog/how_to_gamebreak. It doesn't work on my Windows 10 64-bit VM though.

I tried that before and the result is the same as yours.

That's where you should go, Windows 95. Or Win98.

Win95 and Win98 both return: exe is not a valid Win32 application.

[hamade]

I solved it! The solution is simple, turns out it there was something wrong with my game image. I simply downloaded a different one and it worked with [deleted]'s method!

For anyone that stumbles on this post in the future. If you wish to play The Lion King 2 Simba's Pride GameBreak on Windows 10, simply download this game image:
[link deleted] (if this gets taken down sorry, I did not see anything against this in the rules. Just search on [link deleted])
Then follow this method and have fun! [link deleted]

mpack and fth0, thanks for the replies! I appreciate you trying to help.

[mpack]

User hamade formally warned for breaching forum rules on providing illegal links to stolen software. Any repeat will result in a ban.