"Error Code:-9" "MPLibraryIsLoaded not" with Gridz 1.5

[spookydeedee]

Hi all,
Trying for quite some time to get Gridz 1.5 to work on my imac 2012/10.8.5
I tried many different things, but it won't run on osx at all, so I tried emulations, but it really wants ppc emulation under classic, so I ended up setting up sheepshaver (latest I think).
I did get sheepshaver working, after many failed attempts, but gridz just won't run at all and always gives back the Error Code:-9 MPLibraryIsLoaded not system error.
I update carbonlib to 1.6, but that has nothing to do with MPLibraryIsLoaded anyway.
I tried setting up a clean vm from scratch in sheepshaver, using OS 9.0 and the 9.0.4 update, so I have a complete clean system with everything that's supposed to come with it, and still, that error is there no matter what.
I suspect that MPLibraryIsLoaded has something to do with the multi-processing, but not certain and googling didn't reveal anything useful about this.
I only found one reference to this specific error with MPLibraryIsLoaded on this forum, and also specifically for gridz 1.5 but that's only listed among loads of other things and there are no other postings about this issue.

I really want to get gridz to run again. I ran it long ago on my old 604PPC machine, but now I am on a recent imac with 10.8.5, so this is far from compatible.

I am also trying to get an other game working, Solace from Freeverse, which is now pretty much defunct, and at least total abandonware like gridz. I will have to post about this some other time.

Can I get some help to get gridz running on this sheepshaver please? If anyone wants the gridz installer, I can send it, but although rare now, it can still be found (not easy). Not quite the same for solace, it's really long gone and abandoned, but I did find an installer for it.

Thanks

[Ronald P. Regensburg]

I tried Gridz 1.2 demo, downloaded from Macintosh Garden, and it worked fine here in SheepShaver (2014-02-01) with MacOS 9.0.4 on OSX 10.10.3.
(The download also includes a disk image and registration code. I did not try that one.)

[spookydeedee]

Perhaps I should start from that earlier version and update from there. Maybe this would allow the missing pieces to be there.
But is that 1.2 version still available now for download?
I didn't find that one. I do have an updater to 1.4 and then one for 1.5.1, and the full install for 1.5
It's totally abandonware for a long time. Same thing for solace, which is almost impossible to find now.

[spookydeedee]

I managed to find gridz 1.2 from macintosh garden and install it in my sheepshaver with the 9.0.4 updated full install.
Perhaps the fact that this 1.2 version comes as a CD image full install may explain why it works better, maybe because it does install some of those missing pieces with the installer, which we may not get with the drag-n-drop of the app folder.
However I still get one error, this time different, which may be related to how sheepshaver works. It's an error -50 which says the sound system could not be started, and although I get this error, after showing it and dismissing it, the game does start now, but without sound though.
I got similar errors when trying to get solace working, either in sheepshaver of osx. Solace is unusable under sheepshaver, being way too extremely slow. That one complains of sound system and also missing display under sheepshaver.
I know I didn't disable the output sound system in sheepshaver, which I verified again to make sure.
This may be some sheepshaver emulation issue with the sound system.

[Ronald P. Regensburg]

Sound worked here with the Gridz 1.2 demo.

Does sound work otherwise (like with system sounds)? Did you enable sound as decribed in our setup manual?
http://www.emaculation.com/doku.php/she ... heepshaver

[spookydeedee]

I did everything as explained and the sound was not disabled. I even tried pulling up the sound control panel, which crashed sheepshaver.
I noticed a post from someone who mentioned having a similar problem and who switched to a different rom to fix this, so I figured I'd try that too, and sure enough, the sound came back once I switched to a different rom.
The rom file I used at first was that newworld86 one, but obviously this may not work right for every situation.
The one I switched to now came with a sheepshaver ready made install, which wouldn't work at all for me, but I extracted the rom file from it and put it in my working sheepshaver vm.
This did solve the error about the sound system not starting, but now I am up against one entirely different issue.
When I tried running solace in that vm, it was far too slow to be usable, but with gridz, the game runs too fast and there is no way to compete with the ai that way.
Is there any way to control the speed at which a game runs under emulation?

[Ronald P. Regensburg]

You can try if disabling JIT Compiler (Miscellaneous tab in SheepShaver preferences) does slow down the emulation. Note that for changes in preferences to take effect, SheepShaver must be quit and started again.

[spookydeedee]

You can try if disabling JIT Compiler (Miscellaneous tab in SheepShaver preferences) does slow down the emulation. Note that for changes in preferences to take effect, SheepShaver must be quit and started again.

You were right. Disabling this definitely slowed everything down, enough to make the game playable again.

I left it as v1.2. I'm not risking upsetting it. If it ain't broke, don't fix it

I had not found any posts or any info anywhere about this issue, so now this may help others in the same situation.

Now Gridz can run fine, but I don't think there is any way to fix it for Solace.

Thanks