[X4U] OT: Harry Potter stumbles on Windows XP

[Stroller]

On 16 Jul 2007, at 01:45, John Erdman wrote:
> The longer version:
>
> For my grandkids I recently bought on eBay a new-in-box set of 4
> Harry Potter games intending to run them in Win-XP on the Boot camp
> side. I've a few other PC games that I use there with no problems at
> all.
>
> So I'm running a recent model 24" Intel iMac with 1 gig memory and
> lots of speed. The OS in Boot Camp is a registered version of Windows
> XP SP2 with MS updates thru about the end of May 07.

This mailing list is for discussion of Mac OS X. You should really  
post to a Windows-orientated mailing list if you have problems with  
Windows. I feel far more tolerant of nk's post 4 days ago because a  
drink split on a laptop keyboard is a genuine emergency that needs  
dealing with immediately.

> The games are:
> 	 1) Sorcerer's Stone
> 	2 )Chamber of Secrets
> 	3) Prisoner of Azkaban
>
> For some reason none of the games operate correctly. The problems
> seem to be related....
>        In game #1: It loads, the display works but the
> synchronization with voice is way off. The voice reading text at the
> bottom of the screen only gets about halfway thru before the scene
> changes.  Time allowed for complex tasks counts down very fast
> ...
> Loaded on my wife's Compac laptop, it doesn't work there either.

Since you say this is an older game it sounds like it might be  
depending upon the PC's clock frequency for the timing. The faster  
clock speeds of modern computers might well cause such a speed up.  
You don't say how old your wife's laptop is, but have you tried this  
on a PC contemporary with the game's manufacture? (e.g. a PIII  
500mhz). Since it doesn't work on your wife's PC the problem is  
clearly not unique to your Mac & is unsuitable for this list.

> 	In game #2. It loads, video is a bit choppy and the controls
> sluggish. ...
>
> 	In Game #3. When I try to start it up, it aborts and goes to the
> WinXP desktop. I get a Critical Error window that tells me I've got a
> Pentium processor and that I have a problem with negative delta time.
> No error number tho. Loading it on my wife 's Compac laptop with Win-
> XP older than mine it works beautifully.

Are you running the latest version of DirectX?
<http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0A9B6820- 
BFBB-4799-9908-D418CDEAC197>

If you've tried that & you get the same symptoms look to see if  
there's a version of DirectX bundled on the game CD. Uninstall the  
latest version & try this older version.

> So far EA (Electronic Arts) has not been any help. Their knowledge
> base has no similar problems discussed. The only suggestion is to
> make sure my video drivers are up to date. Se

Clearly, as long as your computer meets the specifications on the  
box, the problem is with EA's software & the onus should be on them  
to rectify it. IMO you have a right to support from them. Kick up a  
stink, but don't mention you're running XP on you Mac as it's  
irrelevant & will only give them wiggle room. They would not say  
"sorry, we didn't test this software on Packard Bell, it's not  
supported" so they have no justification to say "we didn't test this  
software under Bootcamp, it's not supported".

Stroller.