I'm running Windows 2003 Server SBS and want to play Area 51 but it only supports 2000/XP!

will I have to reinstall my XP Ghost image just to play it and set up another machine for server or is there a patch to make it run on 2K3?

has anyone played it? I've tried searching but never have much luck with forum searches

Have you tried running it on Server 2003?
Just because it says it is only supported on 2000/XP doesn't mean it wont work on Server 2003

if you can install it, you can play it

thing is that some installers just refuse to run if xp is not detected

well, you should see this page:

http://blogs.msdn.com/tparks/archive/2005/06/16/429836.aspx

The main ideea is to edit the Area 51®.msi with orca (msi database editor from microsoft) and look for LaunchCondition Table. There are several launch conditions that must be true to continue with setup...

If the condition is a boolean product: Condition1 AND Condition2 AND.... like this one

(Not Version9X=400) And (Not VersionNT=400) And (Not VersionNT=502)

just delete tjhe last part: And (Not VersionNT=502), save the msi and EXIT orca and it should work.

Or it coud do you problems as it happened to me... I installed it with logging so I discovered the errors:

msiexec /lvx c:\a51log.txt /i <path to Area 51®.msi>

1. DlgLine control from ReadyToInstall dialog was too wide (exceding 80 pixels the dialog bounds)! So it could not install. Geeez!

So I started again editing with orca, Table Controls, searched for dialog ReadyToInstall, control DlgLine and edited the Width from 374 to 290 (max 294). Save and exit.

2. After restarting installaton... error on custom action DX9.......blah blah blah... The **** installer wands to install DX9.. BUT I already have it! So edit again with orca (long live orca! :D) to delete from Table CustomAction the row containing DX9_blahblahblah.... Save and exit

3. Of course, because I copied the kit from the CD1 on hard-disk(to be able to modify the msi), it needed Data1.cab, Data2.cab and Data3.cab in the same location as msi :D... so at the middle of installation got an retriable error (thanx god was retriable) that it didnt find Data2.cab.... copied Data2.cab and Data3.cab... clicked on retry button and it worked :D

So.. you need a lot f disk space... well, actually, you coud delete Data1.cab and then copy Data2.cab, and then click Retry... at the next error, Delete Data2.cab and copy Data3.cab and then click retry :D (that was what I did, because I didn't have so much space left on the install partition.)

Do not forget to make backups of the msi while modifying different data :D.

This post is provided as is, without any warranty. It may be illegal to edit the msi. Be careful!

Drag the MSI file onto the icon.

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?act=At...pe=post&id=7684

This post has been edited by Aegis: Nov 20 2005, 03:23 PM