[SOLVED] Ever 17 on Windows 8.1?

[roninmedia]

I bought an open-box laptop for cheap, but unfortunately it comes with Windows 8.1. I went ahead and tested various visual novels I have on the new OS. I've managed to get every single one to run fine with the exception of Ever17.

 

I've gotten Kanon, Clannad, Tomoyo After, Little Busters, Sengoku Rance, Gadget Trial, Kamidori Alchemy Meister, Kono no Sora, Princess Lover, Walkure Romanze, Tsuma Shibori, etc to work fine.

 

 

I have it set to the same exact settings as my Windows 7 machine and it just crashes right at start-up. I've run it under various OS compatability settings from Windows XP to Windows 7 and it's the same result.

 

If I can't get to work on the Windows 8.1 machine, it's no harm no foul, but I'd still try my best to figure out what's wrong with it. According to this blog post, it works in Windows 8. http://visualnovelaer.fuwanovel.net/2013/02/your-visual-novelseroge-will-not-work-on-windows-8-compatibility-guide/

[nohman]

I recently ran into the exact same problem after I switched from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1. I was reorganizing my VN folder and re/installing every VN I had and that was the only one I hit a snag on.

 

I was barely able to find any information on the problem, let alone a fix/work around. All I could dig up was this: http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?t=30988&page=113

 

Last post, bottom of the page.

[Kaguya]

It's because of the godforsaken 0.1 extra O.o

just kidding. But, this should be moved to the "technical issues and feedback" section, I think.

Also, no harm in trying to post on this format:

https://forums.fuwanovel.net/index.php?/topic/813-game-issues-before-you-post/

 

EDIT: I just read what nohman posted, and it seems it really is because of the 0.1 upgrade O.o

That moment when your joke becomes true...

Edited November 11, 2013 by Yuyuko Saigyouji

[roninmedia]

I recently ran into the exact same problem after I switched from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1. I was reorganizing my VN folder and re/installing every VN I had and that was the only one I hit a snag on.

 

I was barely able to find any information on the problem, let alone a fix/work around. All I could dig up was this: http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?t=30988&page=113

 

Last post, bottom of the page.

 

Guess that game stays on my desktop. Was looking forward to not have to drag that 35-40 lb monstrosity to the living room to play on the big screen and back to my room for gaming that isn't compatible with being on the couch.

[REtransInternational]

Any of these solutions:

1. Downgrade to 7 or 8

2. Install a VM (XP suggested since it's the lightest and most compatible) and run the VN in there

3. RDP to your desktop and run it there, basically just using the laptop as a remote terminal

[Sioxz]

going the VM way seems like the best choice to me anyway you can just use like Virtual box made by oracle should be enough for this and super simple to setup aswell

[Kendjin]

I had a look into the issue, it seems when they brought out 8.1 they changed how DirectX is handled, meaning that some of the older fixes like installing 9c no longer work.

[Dragonclaw]

I've gone through the .exe with a debugger and have found the problem. The problem isn't with Windows 8.1 per se - it is due to the number of fonts installed!

 

Due to shoddy programming, the Ever17 engine only looks at the first 100 TrueType fonts that it finds using the EnumFontFamilies() call. It checks the list to see if it contains a font that it knows about, but doesn't know when to stop checking! This causes it to eventually stumble into an illegal area of memory, causing it to crash.

 

One solution might be to start deleting fonts until the font that the engine wants (Courier New) comes up in the first 100 fonts found. Probably not a good idea.

 

I've also tried to skip the font check. This allows the game to run, but you get a weird font in the text. If you want to try this, use a hex editor (e.g. HxD) to open up the ever17PC_us.exe file and at offset 13337 hex, enter:

 

B8 01 00 00 00 EB 52

 

I don't have the time to look into this any further at the moment.

[Dragonclaw]

Okay, looks like I have a better fix. In a hex-editor, change a clean copy of ever17PC_us.exe at offset 41382F from:

 

1C 40 74

 

to:

 

1B 31 75

 

This hijacks a bit of code to reject fonts starting with '@', making it filter for fonts with FIXED_PITCH and FF_MODERN instead (i.e. the fonts we want). With this, Ever17 runs just as it did before on Windows 8.1! This fix should last until we have >100 types of fixed-pitch fonts installed on our systems.

 

Enjoy!

[Dragonclaw]

Correction - the offset should be 1382F (41382F is the loaded address)!

[Luch]

Awesome! 

Seems like a perfect fix!

 

Uploaded a modified exe for those who do not want to try hex edits: http://goo.gl/mFdncf

 

Thank you Dragonclaw.

[REtransInternational]

at offset 13337 hex

That is some coincidence...

"100 fonts ought to be enough for anybody"

[strodium]

THANKS alot mate.

It F****king works! Finally.

[Petite Duck]

Awesome! 

Seems like a perfect fix!

 

Uploaded a modified exe for those who do not want to try hex edits: http://goo.gl/mFdncf

 

Thank you Dragonclaw.

 

It worked like a charm. Thank you very much, I can enjoy this visual novel now!

[Onurtag]

Thanks for the quick fix!

[Deep Blue]

Thanks for the fix, it's working great

[ahogehope]

For some reason the fix isn't working for me. Both of my computers have 8.1 (the one came with it and the other forcibly updated from Windows 8 at some point - the game ran fine before on that one) and I still get the error message saying the game has crashed. It does get a bit farther than if I just an the original .exe (it gets to the end of SDR Project logo before cutting out) but still crashes nonetheless. Any ideas?

[Joshua1207]

On 12/1/2013 at 6:06 PM, Luch said:

Awesome! 

Seems like a perfect fix!

 

Uploaded a modified exe for those who do not want to try hex edits: http://goo.gl/mFdncf

 

Thank you Dragonclaw.

Can someone re-up this

[rtx]

On 05/12/2016 at 2:01 AM, Joshua1207 said:

Can someone re-up this

Hey, I don't have the original, but I was looking for this answer too. Modified it myself using HxD and the values provided, on 8.1, works fine.

Since you asked pretty recently, I uploaded my modification. I don't have google drive, so a dropbox link will do?

You can download it as a .exe or a .rar file, people have their preferences right? Its a small executable either way:

EXE: https://www.dropbox.com/s/exwqfa5yxpo2ksy/ever17PC_us.exe?dl=0 (~360KB)

RAR: https://www.dropbox.com/s/4k6e45suvnoglpf/ever17PC_us.rar?dl=0 (~138KB)

EDIT: Did a tinypic upload of the values I changed in HxD:

Edited January 8, 2017 by rtx
Added tinypic image of hex-edit.

[guxekepim]

@rtx thank you a lot!