Difference between revisions of "The American Girls: Dress Designer"
From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
m (→Run the game straight from the hard drive: updated template usage) |
|||
| Line 17: | Line 17: | ||
{{--}} The game has issues on modern versions of Windows. See [[#Issues fixed|Issues fixed]]. | {{--}} The game has issues on modern versions of Windows. See [[#Issues fixed|Issues fixed]]. | ||
{{--}} Does not scale at all with higher resolutions; ''Dress Designer'' is fixed to run at 640x480, and playing it at 800x600 or higher introduces black borders around the screen. | {{--}} Does not scale at all with higher resolutions; ''Dress Designer'' is fixed to run at 640x480, and playing it at 800x600 or higher introduces black borders around the screen. | ||
| + | {{--}} While the game remains playable, ''Dress Designer'' appears to be poorly optimised when it comes to CPU utilisation, as it consumes too much processor time even on a modern systen. | ||
'''General information''' | '''General information''' | ||
| Line 161: | Line 162: | ||
'''Notes''' | '''Notes''' | ||
| − | {{ii}} This fixes the "An error occurred while opening a window" message when the game is played on an NT-based Windows OS, e.g. Windows 7, Vista or 10. Interestingly, the aforementioned error also occurs on operating systems as far back as Windows NT 4.0, an OS released a few years ''before'' the game. It can be presumed that the business-oriented nature of NT at the time accounted for why support for it was overlooked,<ref>[https://tcrf.net/Notes:The_American_Girls_Dress_Designer Notes:The American Girls Dress Designer]</ref><ref>[http://gtaforums.com/topic/865302-using-detourseasyhook-in-an-asi/ Using Detours/EasyHook in an .ASI?]</ref> only to end up being met with negative reviews on Amazon from irate parents | + | {{ii}} This fixes the "An error occurred while opening a window" message when the game is played on an NT-based Windows OS, e.g. Windows 7, Vista or 10. Interestingly, the aforementioned error also occurs on operating systems as far back as Windows NT 4.0, an OS released a few years ''before'' the game. It can be presumed that the business-oriented nature of NT at the time accounted for why support for it was overlooked,<ref>[https://tcrf.net/Notes:The_American_Girls_Dress_Designer Notes:The American Girls Dress Designer]</ref><ref>[http://gtaforums.com/topic/865302-using-detourseasyhook-in-an-asi/ Using Detours/EasyHook in an .ASI?]</ref> only to end up being met with negative reviews on Amazon from irate parents whose children were unable to play the game on their computers.<ref>{{Refurl|url=https://www.amazon.com/American-Girls-Dress-Designer-PC/product-reviews/B00002R2AQ/|title=Amazon.com: Customer Reviews: American Girls Dress Designer - PC|date=2016-11-08}}</ref><ref>{{Refurl|url=https://www.amazon.com/American-Girls-Dress-Designer-PC/product-reviews/B000B75M7S|title=Amazon.com: Customer Reviews: American Girls Dress Designer - PC|date=2016-11-08}}</ref> |
{{ii}} You can also download the patch via this [http://techknow.one/dressdesigner/ mirror site]. | {{ii}} You can also download the patch via this [http://techknow.one/dressdesigner/ mirror site]. | ||
}} | }} | ||
Revision as of 10:20, 5 June 2017
 |
|
| Developers | |
|---|---|
| Mattel Interactive | |
| Release dates | |
| Windows | 1999 |
 |
|
Key points
- The game has issues on modern versions of Windows. See Issues fixed.
- Does not scale at all with higher resolutions; Dress Designer is fixed to run at 640x480, and playing it at 800x600 or higher introduces black borders around the screen.
- While the game remains playable, Dress Designer appears to be poorly optimised when it comes to CPU utilisation, as it consumes too much processor time even on a modern systen.
General information
Availability
| Source | DRM | Notes | Keys | OS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail | |
Used copies of the game can be found on eBay and other online sellers. | |
Essential improvements
Run the game straight from the hard drive
| Instructions |
|---|
Game data
Configuration file(s) location
Template:Game data/row
| System | Location |
|---|
Save game data location
Template:Game data/row
| System | Location |
|---|
Video settings
Windowed
| Instructions |
|---|
Input settings
Audio settings
Localizations
| Language | UI | Audio | Sub | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English |
Issues fixed
Windows NT popup window crash fix
The dreaded error message that shows up whenever the player attempts to quit the game or bring up the options menu. See this GIF for an animated demo of the error.
| Instructions |
|---|
Audio stutters on newer operating systems
| Instructions |
|---|
Other information
API
| Technical specs | Supported | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| DirectDraw | 7.0 |
| Executable | 32-bit | 64-bit | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windows |
Middleware
| Middleware | Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| Cutscenes | QuickTime | Earlier runtime versions may cause the audio to stutter; see above fix for details |
System requirements
| Windows | ||
|---|---|---|
| Minimum | ||
| Operating system (OS) | 95 | |
| Processor (CPU) | Intel Pentium 166 MHz | |
| System memory (RAM) | 32 MB | |
| Hard disk drive (HDD) | 75 MB | |
| Video card (GPU) | 16-bit colour | |