According to my interactive movie list, Burn: Cycle is the last known I-movie left in the experiment, for the PC. There could be other games whose I-movie-ness I am unaware of. Plus, I have at least one more I-movie for each the Sega CD, Sega Saturn, and Mac systems. I’m seeing that precious light at the end of this cold, dark, interactive tunnel.
Burn: Cycle didn’t work for me. I’m not sure how I should feel about that, necessarily. When I popped in the first of the 2 game discs, it offered to let me play right away, off the CD-ROM:
So far so good, and I appreciate the no-nonsense, no-install-hassle, cut-straight-to-the-chase attitude of this game. Pressing the Play button is rewarded by this dialog:
This is one of the worst kind of cryptic error messages you can possibly receive. Generally, it means that your machine is just too advanced to run this ancient software. The dialog reads: “Application Error: BURNCYCL caused a General Protection Fault in module
Next, I tried my Windows 95 VMware image. It didn’t GPF but it also didn’t play due to this error:
This must be a hardcore I-movie, without even subtitles. This is when I finally recognize that this Win95 install isn’t set up to recognize VMware’s virtual ENS1371 audio hardware. I have no idea how to set it up, either, or maybe it’s more trouble than I care to bother with. That brings tonight’s experiment to a screeching halt.
There is hope, however. This game is for Windows 3.1, Windows 95, and Mac. I am trying to get an emulated Mac environment running for another Mac-only I-movie in my pile. Failing that, there’s always — groan — an actual Win3.1 or Win95 machine.
Kostya says:
Why not also try QEMU (http://www.qemu.org)? It has SB and Adlib emulation and IIRC VMware disk support too. While Adlib support on PowerPC was bad(yesterday a new version come, haven’t tested it yet) SB worked fine, I’ve managed to complete Toonstruck on my MacOSX/PPC.
And you can also test Win 3.11 support in DosBox too ;)
Multimedia Mike says:
Do you mean install Win 3.11 inside DOSBox? Because I did try to run the game EXE in DOSBox only to be told it was a 16-bit Windows executable. That error brings back memories.
Kostya says:
Yes, install or use existing installation. And what you’ve seen – it’s the greatest solution from Micro$oft. Any EXE compiled for different processors will run under DOS/x86 (printing “This program cannot be run in DOS mode” but at least it’s bug-free).
VAG says:
To get sound to work under VMWare, you need to download 9x-comatible driver separately. As I remember, you can find correct driver in package called SBAudioSetup_W9x.zip (google will give you a bunch of links).
Kodi says:
Virtual PC /w Windows 98 SE ran this game perfectly! Just completed it after having all the same issues you guys were having. Free to download and easy to setup direct from Microsoft to boot!
el_stratego says:
Having problems with playing this on a virtual pc win 95 and 98. I get stuttering in some parts and outright freezes when I do things like pull up the options screen as well as the ‘map’ on the first level. I have noticed that many freezes can be escaped from by pushing both mouse buttons together simultaneously. any other tips on how to get this game to run smoothly on a vpc or otherwise would be greatly appreciated. My native os is xp pro. Thanks all.
Newwjakk says:
I thought the point was to be able to play the game on an XP? I don’t want to go backward just to play one game, no matter how great it is. Incidentally, it’s the best game I’ve ever played for the $4 I bought it for at Electronics Boutique, now known as EB Games. Don’t even remember what year I bought the game. Still looking to play it on XP.
Newwjakk says:
I just looked up something and have an idea if anyone wants to try. I checked the DosBox site and it says that it has the capability of installing windows 3.1 in DosBox. Not sure what this means, whether Windows 3.1 is in DosBox only when it’s running or replacing the Windows version on your computer system altogether. If someone tries this before I get a chance, please post the results.
Multimedia Mike says:
Installing Windows 3.1 under DosBox means that the Win3.1 OS will be running inside of DosBox, rather than supplanting the Windows system already on your machine. Using the DosBox method, you could run Windows 3.1 on any machine that supports DosBox (such as Mac OS X or Linux).
This is something I have been wanting to try in order to experience some of these older games which resolutely insist on a Windows 3.1 environment.
Miguelito says:
Hah.. I just started playing this classic over again in a win98se install inside parallels on my macbook pro. Works out ok in there actually. Stutters now and then is about it.
The only part of the game that I’ve ever found frustrating (in gameplay and inside a virtual install) is the maze near the end. Long and touchy puzzle where a stutter in parallels can make you lose.
BTW, there’s only 1 disk, the 2nd one is the soundtrack. I ripped that into itunes ages ago and still listen to it occasionally. :)
Gabriel Kent says:
Alright, so I got B:C running after a bit of annoyance… so I thought I’d post my method here for posterity.
I am running Vista 64.
You will need:
– MS Virtual PC 2007 (avail for free from MS)
– Win98 SE (readily avail as a torrent)
– Burn:Cycle
When launching Virtual PC, make sure to right-click > run as admin otherwise you may get ‘this is not a valid win32 app’ errors when trying to run the game in the VM.
As for the VM settings, VPC has settings for win98 which I left default except for disk size which I set to 512MB (could be set smaller I suppose) since this was only for B:C and win98 is only a couple hundred megs big.
Enjoy!
(;||<
Crash Override says:
How about running the game under Linux, using Wine?
Multimedia Mike says:
I wouldn’t put a lot of stock in the WINE option. It has almost never worked for me in the past when I used to try it.
Joey says:
I’m also running Windows 98 SE under Virtual PC. When playing B:C I get lots of stutters from the start also when like pulling up the menu or moving somewhere. I can’t even exit the mace or the game already locks up.
I’m not using the original CD but injected an .ISO. I get the idea that it might be related to reading the CD but I’m not sure.
Any ideas?
NewwJakk says:
This is in my response to my previous post about Dosbox and Window 3.1. I installed Windows 3.1 within Dosbox with no hazardous results and came across the error about needing a sound driver capable of 22.05 khz. With Windows 3.1 loaded, you have to install another driver in control panel. It’s going to ask you to install disk #5 when you select a soundblaster driver. Just copy the contents of disk #5 to the doswin directory you created when you first installed 3.1 and direct the installer to that directory. I’ve been playing since…all on Windows XP!
Dale says:
It works perfectly for me using the dosbox method! I am on Vista x32
Pariah says:
I have the PC version of the game that I just dusted off. I figured I’d try and run it in DosBox on my XP OS.
I want to try NewwJakk’s method to get this thing running, but I’m not sure how to install Windows 3.1 inside of DosBox.
mr x says:
Hello, I have got this game to work on all 3 systems… dos box (with win 3.1), vmwares with windows xp and microsoft virtual pc. (the secret is that vmwares requires a very special driver…) and dosbox requires a new driver…that win3.1 actually has. This is creative’s soundblaster 1.5, I learned this the hard way, it will install but requires you to but in the speed and interupt…use 220 and 7 for the interrupts and it will work….All three systems will work, except at the very last maze, right before the end, windows xp will not work and you get stuck. Dosbox with windows 3.1 works perfectly and you can complete the maze and finish the game…. Simply install windows 3.1 as you would within dos box.. open dos box and install. It is actually very easy. Enjoy the game.
mr x says:
The sound driver for windows 98 for Vmware workstation is NOT….SBAudioSetup_W9x.zip, Which is difficult to find and will not work. Try SBPCI_WebDrvsV5_12_01.exe, which is creative Tech,,file version 5.12.01.5017 and is for SB PCI(WDM)
The driver is from 10-22-202
It can be downloaded at http://www.techbug.com/en/knowledge-base/vmware/
If you want install eapci8m.ecw, which can be downloaded from the same website..Save it and click to it in device manager. The instructions are on the web site.