Newbie-san needs a helping hand

[reinohito]

Hello, everyone ! I did it!
Today I finally downloaded an eroge from here lol. Please note this is my first post here, I don't know if this is the right topic, or if I'm going to stick around here a little more after that.

But it went all wrong. The game is composed of a .mds and a .mdf file. Here is what I tried, among many other things :
-"unzip" the mdf file
-convert the whole folder into a .iso file with ImgBurn (using this tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bwb55hZPhOQ)
-burn the iso file on a DVD
Whenever I try launching the setup executable, it does install the game on my PC, and when I start the game it always shows this error message :



"???????????" is also my reaction.

I'm starting to wander if the game itself is not broken... I tried searching for answers everywhere but all of them are too vague. I though "experts" like in this forum may help me show the errors of my ways :)
Could you please explain me in the most detailed way possible how I could run this game ?

Thank you in advance for your answers and good job at ripping all these eroge !

 

[kzel]

The first step would be to set up your system locale to Japanese so you can actually read the error message, rather than gibberish or ???????.

Since it does mention administrator have you tried to run the game as administrator (right-click run as admin)? If you installed the game in the (usually default) Program Files directory, it will probably need permission to create save files and other logs that often end up in the game own's directory (especially for low budget games), rather than the usual Documents or Appdata places. Generally you should install your games somewhere other than Program Files, to avoid this specific issue.

 

[Komaoto]

mds/mdf files are media files, just like .iso (common CD/DVD in digital format) and don't need to be converted to anything to play them.
You are supposed to mount the mdf (or the mds, I don't remember quite well which one) with Daemon Tool Lite, or any other virtual disk program, and run the disk.
Usually, using DTLite, you need to create the virtual drive (that will act as your CD/DVD/BD reader) and then you select your desired image with the virtual drive.

I attached a image for you to check how to work with the interface. (Yes DTLite have adds, but I never got anything harmful from them). Create the virtual drive with single click on 1 and double click on 2. From there you select your image file, in your case mdf/mds, and it will run. If you check My Computer, you will see that you have a drive with your CD/DVD/BD mounted and running. When you want to dismount, open DTLite and select the drive that you created and click on the icon with a red X (it's the one from two spaces after the one you used to create the virtual drive).

And like kzel said, change your system locale to Japan/japanese or you will keep seeing gibberish.

View attachment 21528

 

[reinohito]

Hello, and thank you for your two answers.

I will try to first answer about what I know, and then try what you said a bit later.
Actually, I believe my locale is set to Japanese, as you can see on this screenshot :

(Sorry, I know the rules here are english only, but it's easy to guess that "Japon" means "Japan")

That's why I'm concerned by this error message, it may be the actual text from the game...
I have also tried running the game as an administrator, with the same results.
Next time, I will install it somewhere else than program files, as kzel suggested.

About your picture, Komaoto, I can't open it, it redirects me to a page of this forum saying "Invalid Attachment specified. If you followed a valid link, please notify the administrator". Maybe could you send it through a different hosting website ? I got your point though, I will give DaemonTool a shot (I was trying to burn a DVD because I tried virtual drives before and failed the same way, "Administrator ??????????")

I will try to update as soon as possible, it may take one day because I'm busy right now. Stay tuned ! (and don't forget me...)

 

[Komaoto]

Hopefully it's showing alright now.


Since the text is not showing up, the game could very well not be a japanese one. If thats the case, and since I don't know which game it is, try to change the locale to the one that the game was made.

 

[reinohito]

Hello, I am here with update.
First, thank you for your answer Komato. I am sure the game is japanese, and this error message has to be correct, if it wasn't it would be a series of weird ASCII characters or japanese characters in my case, not a series of points of interrogation.
I tried with DAEMON, and did not install it in program files (the default wasn't program files though), and it gave me the same results. It really installs the game with all its components (musics), the only problem is this message when opening the installed executable.

My conclusion is that the game itself was badly ripped by the one who distributed it, or is somehow incompatible with my version of windows. (I would go for the former more than the latter)
The only way to verify that that I can think of would be for me to send you the game for you guys to try yourself. If anyone would be willing to check, I can upload it myself temporarily (i obtained it from both rapidshare and slow torrent, and no one likes these), but not long enough to get striked or anything.

Anyway thanks as always, I'll be waiting for your answers!

 

[Komaoto]

It's really hard to look for an answer without knowing what the message there is supposed to say.
You probably already did it, but did you install the crack that, might, have come with the game?
It could be some sort of autentication issue.
I'm out of ideas at this point, and I doubt it is a, for example, "This game doesn't run in win 7. Try compatibility more".

 

[kzel]

This is it, right?

If so you do need to download the patch that removes the net activation to run the game, did you by chance click through a message in Japanese before getting the error?
You can download the patch on the official site, here -> http://score.nexton-net.jp/~syu_core/mikosyo/ (click 『巫女さんといっしょ！』ネット認証解除パッチファイル).
Then replace the .exe in the program's folder and you should be good to go.

 

[reinohito]

Hello, yes, I can see my mistake now. I didn't notice it, but the archive had a note (I had to open it with winrar to notice it) which mentions a crack needed, but it isn't precised anywhere where it is, or how to find it. I'll search for it, there's no helping it.
Playing an old eroge crack is a struggle, because everything is scattered or taken down, lesson learned.
Anyway, thank you for your time and for helping me through this !

 

[reinohito]

Oh, by the time I was typing this, kzel already responded with what I was looking for. This is too much thank you.
Also, it feels so weird to see this screenshot and the site, I was so involved in the software problem that I forgot the whole thing was about pr0n lol.

You guys are fantastic and very helpful. Thank you !

EDIT: This is odd though, the official game site gives a patch to cancel the internet activation? Is it because the game is old or something ?
EDIT2: It works, yay !

 

[kzel]

Glad you got it to work. It's not that strange that the official site offers an anti net-activation patch. Activation servers cost money and the brand is no more, so it's only natural that they'd at least allow people who bought the game to still play it.

I have to say, quite the choice for a first foray into the genre. It's quite the old and obscure game, but I guess you have to start somewhere.