Page Index (click on topic to
jump down):
General
Registration Information Doesn't Work
Game Gives Error Code When Starting
Plays The Same Game Over and Over
Cannot Find Card Images (Regular.wmf)
Run Time Error 339 (Component mswinsck.ocx...)
Create mpeg32.task_cmd is not successful
Slow Response / Freezing / Display Problems
Update Manager Doesn't Work Or Keeps Trying To Update Itself
Corrupt Download
Problems with Microsoft Text-To-Speech
Sounds/Speech not heard or being curtailed
Unexpected Online Disconnection
Cannot Connect to the Online Forum Server
Resetting Registry Preferences
General.
First ensure that you have the latest versions installed. The
Updates page always contains the latest officially released builds; the Base Versions
page, and other online sources, may not. Beta Versions (if
available) are the
next scheduled release, and are therefore more up-to-date than update
versions. The build number of
your current version is shown in the Help/About window of the games
(versions 10.0 and later).
If you then encounter any problems not noted below,
first review the ReadMe.txt file to ensure that your
installation was performed correctly. If all
appears to be in order, deinstall the program(s) and then reinstall.
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Registration
Information Doesn't Work.
If
the registration information that you have been provided is not being accepted, the reason
will be one of the following:
- You are not entering it into the game for which it was issued (each game has a different
registration coding)
- You are not entering your name exactly as shown on your registration information.
(If you are registered as "John Doe", entering the registration name
as "john doe" or "JOHN DOE" will not be successful.)
- You are not entering your registration code exactly as shown on your registration
information, including the dashes.
- The validation code that you entered at the bottom of the Registration
Entry window is not identical to the validation code displayed at the top.
- You are using a fairly old version of the game (Version 14.3 or earlier) which
is no longer supported and which does not understand the current code format. Please download and install the
latest version from the downloads section.
- You are using a code which is considered to be unauthorized. In this
case, you should send an email to support@meggiesoftgames.com
with the following information: your name, the registration code, your Register
Now order id (if ordered online), and the approximate date of issue.
Click here for
an example of the process for entering registration information into the game
for which you have registered.
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Game Gives Error Code When Starting.
Occasionally
the file which saves the game in progress from the previous session may have
become corrupted or is otherwise causing problems. If you receive an error
code when starting one of the MeggieSoft Games, you should first find and delete this
file (if it exists). The file will be in your MeggieSoft Games installation folder (the
default is C:\Program Files\MeggieSoft Games), with the following name - where
xxxxxx is your player name (the default is "player"):
Canasta:xxxxxx.cnk, Cribbage:xxxxxx.cbk, Euchre & Écarté:xxxxxx.euk, German Whist:xxxxxx.gwk, Gin
Rummy:xxxxxx.gbk, Pinochle:xxxxxx.psk, Piquet:xxxxxx.pqk, Rummy 500:xxxxxx.rbk
If this does not fix the problem, you
should use the Registry Reset utility to reset player
preferences to their defaults.
If the problem persists and there is a
file in your MeggieSoft Games installation folder named xxstart.log (where
"xx" is cn, cb, eu, gw, gr, pn, pq, or r5, depending upon the game which
generated it), please email this file to MeggieSoft Games with a report of the
error code you received.
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Plays the Same
Game Over and Over.
If the
AutoRestore preference option is not set, the game will always restart at the
beginning of the same round until you complete the round and advance to the
next. Also, if you have advanced to the next and receive a "Save
Scoreboard?" prompt to which you respond "No", the next session
will start back from the same round again. To avoid restarting the same
game, always respond "Yes" to a "Save Scoreboard?" prompt,
and consider setting the AutoRestore option under Preferences/Automatic.
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Cannot Find
Card Images.
The card
images are installed as part of a base version installation, to a subfolder
named "cards" within the installation folder. If you receive a
fatal error that this file is not found, the installation is incorrect.
This problem is usually caused when an update installation has been performed to a
filefolder where no base installation has be installed - updates must be applied
to a filefolder which already contains a base version of at least one of the
MeggieSoft Games. The solution is to either reapply the update to the
correct filefolder, or to reinstall using the base version.
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Run Time Error
339 (Component mswinsck.ocx...)
The
mswinsck.ocx component is a Microsoft file which is needed for the operation of
the games' online capabilities. The MeggieSoft Games base installations
will install and register this file if it is not found to already be installed
on your system. ("Register" means entering a record into the
system registry to inform Windows that the component is installed.)
We receive rare reports of users
encountering this run time error, which states that "Component mswinsck.ocx
or one of its dependencies is not correctly registered. A file is missing
or invalid".
MeggieSoft Games does not know for sure
why this error would occur on your system if a base installation of one of the
games has been performed. However, Internet research has indicated that some
viruses target this component. A likely conclusion is that the component
was already present on your system but is not correctly registered.
The solution is to force re-registration
by entering the following command via the Run entry in the Windows Start menu:
regsvr32 mswinsck.ocx (there is a space after "regsvr32")
If this fails, you may need to include the
full location name including your Windows system filefolder path. By
default this would be:
regsvr32 C:\Windows\System\mswinsck.ocx (for Windows 95/98/Me)
regsvr32 C:\Windows\System32\mswinsck.ocx (for Windows XP)
regsvr32 C:\WINNT\System32\mswinsck.ocx (for Windows NT)
If there is still a problem, locate mswinsck.ocx on your system and
rename it (to, say, mswinsck.ocz). Then perform
a base installation of one of the MeggieSoft Games to force a new installation
and registration of the component. If operation is then
trouble-free, the renamed file may be deleted.
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Create mpeg32.task_cmd is not successful
This problem is a problem with your Windows system, not with the MeggieSoft
Games. We have researched this issue and it appears that the issue is related to a problem with an
installation or update of the
Windows Media Player on your system. Many of the references we found recommend the
following resolution:
- Open your Window's system.ini file with
a text editor like notepad.
- Find the line MPEGVideo=mpeg16.dll"
(probably under the header "mci") and change it to "MPEGVideo=mciqtz.drv".
- After making the change, resave it as
system.ini and restart your system.
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Slow
Response / Freezing / Display Problems.
Occasionally a user will report that the movement of cards on the screen
or other display operations are extremely slow on their system,
sometimes to the degree that the game appears to be frozen.
This problem is almost invariably found to be a function of the graphics driver
on the user's system. The MeggieSoft Games issue display instructions to
Windows which in turn passes the instructions to the graphics
driver. Graphics card manufacturers add their own tweaks
regarding how
their drivers process these instructions with the intention of
improving their product's performance. Unfortunately these tweaks
sometimes backfire with MeggieSoft Games and numerous other vendors'
products, and result in a system slowdown. The slowdown is
caused by processing activity by the graphics driver, not by Windows
or by MeggieSoft Games.
If you are affected by such
problems, the first action is to check your graphics card
manufacturer's website to ensure that you have that latest versions of
their drivers installed on your system. Frequently
the manufacturers are alerted to such problems with their drivers and
release updates to fix the problem.
Alternatively, the Windows Display Control
Panel (Display, Settings, Advanced, Performance) provides the means to
overcome this problem by specifying that some or all of the special
acceleration features of your particular graphics driver should not be
used. This facility is a slider which is used to indicate how
much of the graphic driver's special acceleration features should be disabled.
You should try backing off these features one step at a time until the
problem is circumvented. This Windows facility is provided
by Microsoft because such problems are
unfortunately not rare.
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Update Manager
Doesn't
Work Or Keeps Trying To Update Itself.
Occasionally updates to the Update Manager routines (updater.exe and
installer.exe) can become out of sync with what is installed on individual
user's systems. To force a fresh installation of the latest versions of
these routines without needing to download and install a new base version,
install the download by Clicking
Here (373KB).
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Corrupt Download
This is almost invariably the result of a download terminating
prematurely, leaving you with an incomplete install file. The
simple solution is to try again later and/or select a different site. Another solution is to use a
program like Download Accelerator (from www.speedbit.com)
which allows you to pause and resume downloads (and resume prematurely
terminated downloads).
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Problems with Microsoft
Text-To-Speech.
The Microsoft Text-To-Speech capability is downloadable from the Speech System section. If you
experience trouble with using this facility, be sure that you are
using the latest version(s) of the game(s). Also note that TTS
v5.1 cannot be used with Windows 95.
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Sounds/Speech not
heard or being curtailed.
The sound processing modules were rewritten in version 10.5. If you are
using version 10.4 or earlier, you should update to the latest version.
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Unexpected Online
Disconnection.
When you are connected online to another player, the connection is made directly
between your computer and your opponent's computer. This is true whether
you connected via "direct connect" or via the
"find-a-partner" forum (which is merely a type of directory assistance
service.) In other words, the MeggieSoft Games' internet server is not
involved in any connection once it has been made.
If you are unexpectedly disconnected
during and online game, the link between your computer and that of your opponent
has been broken for some reason. In many cases this could be due to the
physical connection or other conditions pertaining to the internet.
However, particularly if it happens frequently, it may be because the IP Port
number used by the game to make the connection has been disrupted by some other
program on your, or your opponent's, system. If this may be the case, you
should try a different port number via the Online Preferences in the game's
"Online" menu. In most cases, using a port number a little
higher or lower will solve the problem. If you frequently directly connect
to the same opponent, they too should change their Online Preferences to the
same port number.
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Cannot Connect to the Online Forum Server.
On September 10, 2004, MeggieSoft Games released version 15.3 of all games with
a new forumserver module. Prior to that date, the Online Forum was at a
different server than it is currently. If you have not appropriately updated
your game(s) since that time, your connection attempts would be searching for
the forum at a location that no longer exists.
To be sure that this is not the cause of
the problem, please download and install the latest "Base Version" of the
game(s) from the Downloads section. This will ensure that you have the latest
releases of all software. Note
that the Online Update facility under the Admin menu of each game will allow you
to easily keep up-to-date thenceforth.
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Resetting
Registry Preferences.
Very occasionally a game will not start due to an anomaly with some of the
player preferences that are stored in the registry. This anomaly may have
been caused by changes to your system's configuration, or the installation and
de-installation of components resulting in registry entries which are no longer
meaningful, or some other cause.
If you encounter this problem, you may
clear the registry of all player preferences for the game by downloading and
running the "MeggieSoft Games Registry Reset" utility. Click
Here to download this utility program (msgreset.exe, 28K).
After you have run the reset utility, all
player preferences will assume the original installation defaults when you next
run the game at issue.
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