Searching for a old game in which you control the player using a voodoo doll

Question

I played a game a long time ago, in which you start out in a flat and can't leave trough the door because there is a robot which won't let you out. You control the character (which is a male boy) actions with a 'voodoo doll' (ingame). I remember having to go inside a factory and collect items and such. I played it several years ago (3/4?), after I bought on a 'Jumble Sale'. I think the game was meant for win 95 or 98. I remember the voodoo doll being in the right bottom corner as a overlay. I know the game was visible from the side.. but I am not sure about what angle and such.

You started out in a apartment, then you went outside, trough the window, then you get too a mall and I remember a level with a factory.

I really hope anyone can give me a hint, sorry for being a bit vague about some of the things, I really tried my best. :)

It's not: Voodoo Vince

Asked by HiddenKnowledge

Answer

Why that's Normality.

Answered by Jeff Mercado

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Looking for old Windows maze-like 3D game

Question

I'm trying to find a 3D game that one could play on a Windows PC many years ago. It was like a 3D maze (but not this maze), if I remember correctly it was an official Microsoft game and it was preinstalled (probably). The reason why I think it was a preinstalled game is because I could select in from the Games section in the Start Menu.

The point of the game was not to solve the maze. I think you were controlling a pod or vehicle of some kind and there were other pods (enemy players?). You were inside some huge building. I also remember bouncing and colliding with other AI players/enemies. The setting of the game was futuristic. For some reason the world reminded me of a big pinball machine.

I'm almost certain it was released before Windows XP, I think it was a Windows 98 game. It wasn't a DOS game.

I know it's a bad description, but I can't remember more than that I'm afraid, it was ages ago. Any help will be much appreciated.

Asked by MMM

Answer

It's weird how easily I found the game after posting a question here.

The game in topic was Hover.

Answered by MMM

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Platformer/action game about a guy in a yellow shirt and a red hat

Question

I used to play it 9 years ago on Windows 98. It came with a lot of other games on a CD.

The game was a single file. It was a kind of an action/beat'em up game. You started in a forest, playing a yellow-shirted guy that had a red hat. He had to kill aliens and you gained exp by doing it. This could be used to acquire new weapons from a cowboy that was always in-between levels. I only remember 50 exp gave you a lightsaber and 600 gave you bombs. There were either 4 or Five levels:

• The Woods\Jungle which the boss was a Robot
• The Shopping Mall which the boss was M. Bison from Street Fighter
• The Street\The Alley (May be 2 separated levels or not, don't think there was a boss)
• The Lab (The Final level, with a Giant Alien as the boss)

. It was a small game. It could be MS-DOS or Delphi-based game, I don't remember.It was probably produced by a small or indie company.Any further questions, just ask!

EDIT:Additional info:

Interface Detail

• The icon was the head of the character below.
• The Main screen displayed an art with the title of the game, and the options Play,Quit (there could also be "help",if not it showed up when F1 was hit)
• The help screen was blue with a white font.
• Life bar was yellow when full, and red when empty.
• Grpahics, Scenary and levels looks a bit like "Flashback".

Gameplay Detail

This was the main hero. I did this in paint, but it's what he looks like.

• The aliens were light-skinned, and had blades in the place of hands, and big oval-shaped black eyes.Also, a oval-shaped head
• I'm almost shure you started with a pistol.
• You had to click the weapon name in the ballon to get it with the cowboy.
• The control system was easy-to-handle.

Stuff That Might have been in the game This are the itens i'm not really shure but have might been there.

• I think the title screen and the game had a soundtrack.

• My friend who played with me said that the title might have been a name+adventure

• I vaguely remember the "adventure" part in the title, but it was probably there.

Well, that's pretty much it.It's the fourth bounty on this.This time i hope i achieve my goal.

NOTE I'll delete my comments after 2 days or so to keep mods work easy.Thanks for understanding.

Asked by n/a

Answer

The Adventures of Mark Basehore. An old Klik 'n' Play/MultiMedia Fusion game, by Darksun Games. Same guy also did W.A.R.B.O.T.S. and Triumph! War 2099, all of which I fondly remember playing.

Answered by n/a

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Identify a game where you feed Kangaroos popcorn

Question

When I was a child, my sister and I would play this kangaroo game for Windows 95 (I think...). You'd have to go around searching for these kangaroos (hide and go seek really).

When you found them they could get bored and run away after a while, so you gave them popcorn, to which they reply

"Yum yum yum yum munch munch"

I really want to find a Youtube video of this, but I can't for the love of me remember what the name of the game was. Does anyone have any idea?

It seems someone else asked this question at another site, but it doesn't look like anyone found the name of it. The game is probably suppose to be edutainment, released in the mid to late 90s.

Asked by Jeff

Answer

Thanks to lxtly, I was able to find the game on the website in their answer. It looks like it's most likely The Wanderoos Go Exploring

Answered by Jeff

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Help identify this Windows adventure game starring a young boy

Question

I played this on Windows 98 I believe. It's an adventure game like Monkey Island but set in modern times. I remember the following from the game:

• The character the player controls is a boy
• There is a scene in a restaurant where someone farts and then someone says "HE WHO SMELT IT DEALT IT"
• The kid goes somewhere by boat (like a ferry or something) but cant leave because the boat breaks down.
• I remember one scene where he steals some money from a wishing fountain.

Anyone remember this one?

Answer

This reminds me of the Adventures of Willy Beamish:

This was a point-and-click adventure game by Dynamix (which I believe was part of Sierra at the time). Willy's overall goal is to get to the Nintari world championships and win first place!

Here's Willy stealing coins from a fountain:

Willy noticing a fart at a restaurant:

There's a ferry sequence, but I can't find a screenshot.

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How to make the key 'WIN' used for key bindings?

Question

I know there is a method in windows to ban the WIN key(To edit the register), and when I hit the WIN key, nothing happens. However, can I use the key for key-bindings?

Answer

You can use a utility to rebind keys to other keys, or manually hack your registry to do so. Here's the source MSKB article that they used.

For instance, the following registry key will swap F11 and LWIN:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout]
"Scancode Map"=hex:00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,03,00,00,00,57,00,5b,e0,5b,e0,57,00,\
  00,00,00,00

Broken down:

• 00,00,00,00,: Version (0)
• 00,00,00,00,: Flags (0)
• 03,00,00,00,: Number of entries, including trailing null (3)
• 57,00,5b,e0,: The left Windows Key (E0 5B, it's backwards) is interpreted as an F11 (00 57)
• 5b,e0,57,00,: F11 (00 57) is interpreted as the left Windows Key (E0 5B)
• 00,00,00,00 : Null ("we're done")

After modifying your registry, you must relog (or restart) in order for the changes to take effect.

What scancode is what key? See this WHDC article, specifically the Word document in it. Use the values from the "scan 1 make" column. Alternatively, some "keyboard test" utilities will tell you.

Once you've remapped keys in windows, you can bind them as you see fit.

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90s PC game in which you and/or your sister get kidnapped, revolving around minigames

Question

About 10 years ago, I picked up an old PC game that ran on Windows 2000. It was different from any other game I played at the time. It came from the bargain bin, so I don't think it was very popular.

I'll set it up for you. The story (what I can remember of it) was very simple. You control a blue blob-like alien(?) that lands on a new planet with his sister. When they emerge onto the planet, one or both of them get kidnapped. If your sister gets kidnapped, you need to rescue her. If you get kidnapped, you need to escape. If you both get kidnapped, you need to escape together. The story was told without words. As far as I can remember, there were no voice-overs and no text bubbles.

The gameplay was unconventional. Instead of an 3D adventure game or an FPS, this was a collection of minigames. A lot of them were controlled with the arrow keys, but I think some of them were point-and-click. The games were played in sequence to tell a story. Depending on the outcome of the minigame, the story would progress in different directions. It was like a "Choose Your Own Adventure" game.

The art design was very simple, just cel-shaded(?) 2D graphics. I don't remember any amazing artwork. I think most of the game involved the character's interacting with props on a primarily black background. The aliens looked like small, cute blobs with floating hands and feet. I think the boy wore a baseball cap, and the girl might have worn a bow.

Here is where I list all of the minigames that I can remember:

• The first game involved you and your sister exiting the ship on a large slide (because why not?). You control your left and right movement with the arrow keys. If one or both of you fell, there would be a shadowy figure waiting down below who catches you in a large sack.
• When one of you is captured, you are thrown into a large box (possibly a crib?). To escape from it, you need to run into the sides of the box by using the arrow keys. You need to time it correctly, or the box will not tip over
• If one of you makes it from the ship to the ground safely, I think you find an old woman who offers you dinner. She offers you some kind of food. I can only assume that the food was wretchedly disgusting, because the next minigame involved you force-feeding the blob-alien by guiding the spoon into his mouth. Maybe the spoon had medicine in it. I don't know.

And that's all I've got. I can't remember anything else about the game. I only played it a few times, but it's been bugging me for months. I'd like to go back and revisit it if I can ever figure out what it was called.

So what do you say? Do you know what game I was playing?

Answer

I got it. I was pointed in the right direction by a true master of obscure DOS games. The game was a 1996 title called Space Kids. After taking a look back at it, I can only conclude that this game was a primary factor in my current mental state.

Man, I played some weird games back then.

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What is the name of this submarine game?

Question

I remember playing this game once, a long time ago, and now I want to play it again. I tried searching for it with several keywords relating to "submarine" but I'm not able to find it. Does anyone know the name of this game?

Specifics that I remember

• The game was in first-person mode.
• The ship can be docked to the base after each mission manually (which I love doing in all games).
• In the third level, I remember I had to shoot a big sea creature thingy which I was not able to get past at that time, so I stopped playing it.

Additional Specifics

• its a PC game, played it on windows xp
• definitely around 4 years back probably 2006-2008
• game play wa nice and the water seemed realistic
• You can bail out during a mission and dock if you get hurt (Remember it vaguely) :)
• Both keyboard and mouse are used

Answer

Possibly Aquanox or, as a better fit for the timeframe given, Aquanox 2

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How can I disable Steam from starting up with Windows without logging in to Steam?

Question

Is there a way to disable Steam from starting up automatically with Windows (XP/Vista/7) after installing it?

I fix systems for people and some of them request or have Steam, so I reinstall it for them. However, I want to prevent it from starting up with windows without having to log-in with an account. I can easily hack the registry, but I'm curious if there is an alternative way to disable it without going that route.

I also don't want to log-in with my own account; call it paranoia or whatever. :)

EDIT: It seems as though there's some confusion in this request judging from the confused answers, so maybe I should elaborate further on this.

I'm already deleting Steam's registry key from HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run, but I want to know if there is a way to get into the Steam client to disable/delete this key such that it won't repopulate that setting if you were to start it again manually. The reason for this is because if you start Steam again, there may be a chance that it will auto-start again (but I haven't confirmed this, so if anybody's done so already, feel free to let me know). UPDATE: Confirmed! Steam does not recreate the registry key. See my last comment under the answer I selected.

What I'm trying to accomplish is sort of like a pseudo-sysprep where the user will get a freshly re-imaged machine with everything set at default values but optimized to boot faster without annoying programs starting up on you. Since Steam starts up for the first time with a first-run wizard prompt, the only way to get in and change the setting (that I can see) is to login with an existing account (or a create a new one but that seems moot if the user already has an account). I'd like for that wizard to stay where it is instead of it popping up with my own account being the last account logged on when they first launch Steam (it's just unprofessional), and I also want to keep Steam from auto-starting on my customers with Windows yet again.

Maybe I'm asking this in the wrong area, but I'm sure there must be some other IT pros like me who run into these problems (with Steam or other programs). If there's no way to do it, then I'll just keep on trucking with the registry edits.

Sorry for the level 99 difficulty of this question; I googled for answers well before asking this question and I realized that this is a very specific request, so I thought I'd ask the internet for help with it.

Thanks again, everybody!

Answer

Modifying the registry is the best option, in my opinion. The autostart checkbox is directly tied to a registry key — simply deleting it is all the Steam client does when said checkbox is unchecked.

Navigate to HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run and delete the Steam key. Or as a .reg file:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]
"Steam"=-

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How can I change the Install Directory of Games in Origin

Question

In preparation of the upcoming Battlefield 3 Open Beta, today I attempted to set up Origin to install to the proper directories.

My base Origin is installed at:

"E:\Games\Origin".

For some reason though, Origin wants to install all of my games to:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\".

So I attempted to change this to:

"E:\Games\Origin\Games", or even just "E:\Games",

however I keep getting the error message: "The game installation directory is invalid. Please select a different directory." This always comes up unless I pick a directory that is in "C:\Program Files (x86)\" somewhere.

As you can see below: Red is the error message I get every time I try to change the directory, Green is the default location which can only be changed to VERY similar locations, and Blue is showing the fact that I can change the location of the installers just fine.

Is there any way (even using other programs, like a registry editor) to change the directory that Origin will install my games to?

Answer

Locate the "Origin" sub-folder in your Application Data - or simply use Start | Run | "%AppData%\Origin".

There's a settings.xml file, open it with a text editor and change the path in the line that begins with

<Setting key="DownloadInPlaceDir"

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Are Dungeon Defenders saves cross-platform?

Question

I just bought Dungeon Defenders on PC, and its ridiculously awesome, so I'm considering buying it on iOS as well. Is there any way I would be able to transfer my heroes from the PC version to the iOS version, and back again?

My iPod is jailbroken and I know how to access its filesystem, so its mostly a matter of what to copy where, and whether or not they're compatible.

Answer

According to the wiki:

The PC, PS3 and mobile device can share character save files. XBOX 360 will not support this.

So yes, you can just move your local save files over.

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Is it possible to escape the Yeti in SkiFree

Question

Is it possible to escape the Yeti in SkiFree? I heard that pressing F makes you go faster, but fast enough?

Answer

According to this article, yes.

It is possible to escape the Snow Monster by traveling another 2000 m from the point which the monster gives chase, creating a loop and starting over from the beginning. One way to evade the monster is to go directly left or right in fast mode. He is right behind you, but cannot catch you unless you hit an obstacle. Pressing "F" can make you move faster than the monster.

Also, here's a video that shows it

And XKCD:

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Do Mac and Windows versions of Source games contain the exact same files?

Question

Basically what the title says.

I want to do this, because I want to copy my Mac game to my Windows PC, without re-downloading it.

Answer

The executables and libraries may be different between Mac and Windows, but I would expect the assets to be the same in most cases. And the assets are what take up the most space.

I would copy the files over and then open Steam, go to the Library, right-click on the game and hit Properties, go to the Local files tab, and hit "Verify integrity of game cache". That should verify the assets and allow you to download the platform-specific files.

I've only done this Windows -> Windows with partial backups of games, but hopefully this works! To avoid wasting time, you could try copying over a few smaller assets and see if they get verified properly before copying everything over wholesale.

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Why are my flash game saves getting erased?

Question

After installing stand-alone flash games like Machinarium, Dino Run SE, and Space Rubbish (all of which are good games by the way) I find that my game saves keep disappearing.

I have read how cleaning programs like CCleaner can have this effect. I have CCleaner installed, but do not have it run automatically. I have found that whenever start and then quit IE 8, my saves disappear. I also run Firefox 7, but it seems to have no effect.

My question is: how can i stop IE from deleting these local Flash caches?

As a side note i wonder if any other browser does this by default.

Answer

Make sure you allow flash to save data to your hard drive.

Right click the flash game and select Setting (or Global settings). Under the "Storage" tab, make sure "Allow sites to save information on this computer" is checked.

Adobe also has a page you can use to set flash settings: http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager03.html

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Where does Rage store its savegames?

Question

I can't find where Rage is storing its savegames. It's not in AppData, and not in my documents, and not in the installation folder. Anyone knows where the save games go?

Answer

The save games should be located at: "C:\Users\<username>\Saved Games\id Software\Rage\base\savegame\".

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Why are my Sprites Flickering in Braid?

Question

While playing Braid, I constantly see sprites flickering and disappearing through the whole game. I have searched a lot but no one seems to have the same problem on PC or Console.

here are some example screenshots:

here is the full album of woe

I bought Braid as part of Humble Bundle 3 and activated it on Steam.

It is running on XP Professional with 2.00 GHz processor and 1.37 GB of RAM video card Nvidia GeForce 6100

Thanks in advance.

Answer

I had that flickering, too. Turning VSync off did the trick for me: In Steam, right click Braid, choose properties, then Set Launch Options... and enter -no_vsync there. You can also try -windowed or -30fps. There's a list of Braid's command line switches with which you could further play around.

If you're not running Braid via Steam, first, as Fambida suggested, make sure you got the required DirectX files etc. Then right click your Braid shortcut, choose properties and append -no_vsync after Braid.exe (if there are quotes, after these).

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Is it possible to transfer Steam games from one PC to another?

Question

Recently, I bought Portal 2 from Steam. I downloaded and installed it on my PC, which is running Windows. Unfortunately, days later, my PC crashed, and it was rendered useless. Thankfully, my technician helped me transfer everything in my hard drives to a back up drive. Yesterday, I got a new PC, which runs Windows too. Could I transfer the game files from the back up drive to my new PC without buying the game again? It's okay if my game progress is lost in the process, because I don't want to spend more money buying the game again.

Answer

Once you have the game in your Steam Library, you own that license and can install it on as many computers as you want*. Simply install the Steam client, log in, and you'll be able to download and install any games you own.

If your program files were recovered, you can save some time and bandwidth after you reinstall Steam by copying what's in your old \steamapps folder to the new one

For example, copy [your backup drive]\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\ to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\ (or wherever you installed the client). If you wanted to just copy (all) games between two functional computers you could do the same.

^{*Beware games with additional 3rd party DRM}

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Back up and restore Bejeweled 3 after HDD format on Windows 7 PC

Question

I'm going to format my Windows 7 x64 PC and I will make a fresh installation of Bejeweled 3. The problem is, I've made a big progress in the game and I don't want to lose the current state of the game (some levels are available only after a certain progress in the game).

What should I do to protect my state in the game? Are just backing up C:\Program Files (x86)\PopCap Games\Bejeweled 3 folder and restoring it enough?

Answer

Gladly that will only backup your game not all your stats...

You have to go to the c:\Users\&YourUserName&\AppData\Local\PopCap Games\Bejeweled3\Users

Note to do this you need to unhide the hidden files and folders...

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What is the simplest way to re-encode Fraps recordings to something more sensible? [closed]

Question

I took a quick FRAPS recording showing this clever answer at work.

The output was a 54 seconds long 424×240 video for a mere 138 MBs, or 45 minutes of upload on my link.

Now, as long as the video takes a reasonable amount of time to upload, I'm fine with just getting the process done in background while I get other stuff done in the meantime. However, this isn't always the case.

How I can turn this into something more reasonable before uploading? I'd prefer answers that get the job done in Windows, but if there's something super-awesome in Linux that's fine by me.

Please post a step-by-step guide. If there is some one-time fine tuning that can be useful to make a better job of transcoding gaming videos, don't forget to mention them!

Answer

I am always a fan of VirtualDub on Windows, but it might require you to download some additional codecs. ffmpeg and mp3 (ACM) would be the more popular ones.

If you are looking for a quicker solution then there is Any Video Converter. I'm linking to the free version.

On Linux, I would definitely suggest AviDemux, or if you are into command line, mencoder.

OK here is an updated rough tutorial to VDub:

• Prior to all else, install Lame MP3 ACM codec, or any other codec with direct show filter.
• Start VDub
• Drag/drop input file into the main window.

• Configure video compression: menu -> video -> "full processing mode" is chosen, click on video -> Compression. Select a compression. For example, if you installed ffdshow, choose ffdshow video codec and click configure, select your encoding there. Click OK when done.

• Configure Audio compression: Click on audio, select full processing mode (direct stream copy takes the input audio and writes to output, without modifying it). Click on Audio again, then Compression. Lame MP3 should appear there, if you successfully installed Lame MP3 ACM codec.

• Click OK and close all setting windows.

• Press F7, or File -> Save as AVI.

Choose output directory and let it encode.

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Can I purchase and download Halo 2 for windows online somewhere?

Question

I have Googled this to no avail. Every place I've found that sells this game insists on shipping it.

1. I don't want to wait
2. I don't want to pay for shipping on a digital product that can just as well be downloaded
3. I'm stubborn

So if there's somewhere I can purchase and download Halo 2, I offer you reputation points for the location. Thanks

Answer

There is no place where you can purchase and download a digital legit copy, at the moment.

Usually Microsoft PC Games can be bought here but, for some reasons, Halo 2 is not available ATM.

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