A Bug's Life Action Game gets Integer Divide by Zero error

[in2horses247]

I'm running Windows 7 Enterprise, with Windows XP mode enabled.

One of the first computer games I ever played, A Bug's Life Action Game, won't work on Windows 7, but it worked on the XP I had for years, which is why I downloaded XP Mode because I'd heard you could run old games on it.

While it wouldn't even install on Windows 7, it installs on the XP mode. There's a catch though. It tries to install Windows Media Player along with the codecs for that program, only I already have it installed even in XP mode. Windows shows me this: http://tinypic.com/r/2eg8hvd/7 When I click "STOP installation" it stops the installation of Windows Media Player and resumes installation of the game.

When I start it up, the game will show me the three animations that come before the menu screen: Disney Interactive, Traveller's Tales, and a clip from the Bug's Life movie. Then when it gets to the part where it's supposed to display the menu, it plays the background music but displays a black screen, saying

"An integer divide by zero was encountered at address 0041fd13."

So, I went back and reinstalled the game, this time choosing to "continue anyway" when Windows suggests that I stop installation of Windows Media player. It finishes installing again, but this time when I start the program, nothing comes up, not even the animations before the menu, except this error message:

"The program encountered a problem at address 0041e51f and cannot continue."

Sorry for the long post, but I just wanted to give as much information as I have so someone will know how to help. Since this game is super old (1998) there's little to no support for it. What should I do?

[SpywareDr]

What is the game's requirement for the number of colors? I believe XP Mode maxes out at 256.

Microsoft.com > Install and use Windows XP Mode in Windows 7
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/w...e-in-windows-7

Windows XP Mode was primarily designed to help businesses move from Windows XP to Windows 7. It isn't optimized for graphic-intensive programs such as 3D games, nor is it well suited for programs with hardware requirements such as TV tuners.

[in2horses247]

The only thing it says about visual quality in the system requirements is this:

Required:
2MB video card supporting a 16-bit color video display
Reccommended:
4MB video card supporting 3-D acceleration

Since the animations played in full color before the menu was supposed to come up, I didn't think the visual was the problem. Could it still be?

[SuperSparks]

Rather than installing the game in XP Mode, have you tried installing it directly in Win7 in Compatibility Mode? Have a read of this excellent article here, in particular the bit about "troubleshooting compatibility", which explains better than I can about installing in compatibility mode:

Using Program Comapatibility Mode in Windows 7

[SpywareDr]

I was WRONG! Windows XP Mode is able to do 16-bit color, but not 32-bit, (which is what most Windows users usually use).

256 color is 256 colors. 16-bit gives you up to 65,536 available colors. And 32-bit is up to 16,777,216 color variations.

--

Try Compatibility Mode next, like SuperSparks suggested.

[in2horses247]

I can't get the first part of that link to come up (the part where the compatibility assistant realizes that it didn't install correctly) and the second part and the program compatibility troubleshooter refuses to work at all. I've heard something about 16-bit installers... can anyone link me to a good one?

[SpywareDr]

There is no 16-bit subsystem on 64-bit version of Windows 7 ... which is why it cannot run any 16-bit programs, (including 16-bit installers).

The 64-bit version of Windows 7 is able to run 32-bit and 64-bit programs.

The 32-bit version of Windows 7 is able to run 16-bit and 32-bit programs.

[in2horses247]

Okay, one last question. I looked up VirtualBox. If I took my copy of Windows XP and installed it using VirtualBox, would that work? Or, if that wouldn't work, I have an extra external hard drive; could I install Windows XP onto that? If so, could you point me toward a tutorial of how to do that and how to tell my computer which boot volume to use when I boot up?

[SpywareDr]

Okay, one last question. I looked up VirtualBox. If I took my copy of Windows XP and installed it using VirtualBox, would that work?

Windows XP will run fine. Don't know about Bug's Life, you'd have to try it.

Or, if that wouldn't work, I have an extra external hard drive; could I install Windows XP onto that? If so, could you point me toward a tutorial of how to do that and how to tell my computer which boot volume to use when I boot up?

How to Install Windows XP on a Removable Hard Drive
http://www.ehow.com/how_5869406_inst...ard-drive.html

More: http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy-a...w=1272&bih=951