Incomplete installation of Futurewave SmartSketch 95

[jimhabegger]

Someone suggested that I tell you about my experience trying to use the files from some installation floppies for Futurewave SmartSketch, after installing the latest otvdm recommended build yesterday, 2 June 2021. I was able to install it and to open some files that I created with it in 1998, but there were error messages during the installation, and the links didn’t work on some of the help pages. I've attached the installation files, lists of the files on each disk, screenshots of the error messages, and screenshots of two of the help pages where the links didn’t work.

I was able to install it inside Win31DOSBOX, and everything worked perfectly.

• lists of installation files on disks
  disk1.txt
  disk2.txt
  disk3.txt
  disk4.txt
  disk5.txt

• installation files
  SmartSketch.zip

• screenshots
  
  
  
  

[jimhabegger]

Success!

It installs without errors now, and the warning about running a program works.

There are still some links that don't work in the help menus, and links that don't function like they do in Win32DOSBOX. I'll post about those in another comment.

[jimhabegger]

It installs without errors now, and some of the links work in the help menus, but not all of them. Also, in some ways it doesn't run like it does in a Windows 3.1 environment. For example, sometimes instead of creating a new window in the app, it starts a new instance of the app.

[jimhabegger]

There are some other problems with the menus, which I'll post tomorrow.

[cracyc]

It installs without errors now, and some of the links work in the help menus, but not all of them. Also, in some ways it doesn't run like it does in a Windows 3.1 environment. For example, sometimes instead of creating a new window in the app, it starts a new instance of the app.

If you place a copy of win31 winhelp.exe in you winevdm windows dir then it behaves like win31. It probably won't be possible to make this work the same with winhlp32. Winevdm's winhlp32 can't be a full replacement for win16 winhelp for example it can't load win16 dlls although it works for 99% of win16 help files.

[jimhabegger]

It installs without errors now, and some of the links work in the help menus, but not all of them. Also, in some ways it doesn't run like it does in a Windows 3.1 environment. For example, sometimes instead of creating a new window in the app, it starts a new instance of the app.

If you place a copy of win31 winhelp.exe in you winevdm windows dir then it behaves like win31. It probably won't be possible to make this work the same with winhlp32. Winevdm's winhlp32 can't be a full replacement for win16 winhelp for example it can't load win16 dlls although it works for 99% of win16 help files.

Thank you. That solves the problem of starting new instances of the app, and a problem with opening the EasyArt books.

I'm wondering now if I should post any more about the differences between how SmartSketch works in a Windows 3.1 box, and how it works with otvdm. I don't know if that would be of any use for developers or not.

[cracyc]

I'm wondering now if I should post any more about the differences between how SmartSketch works in a Windows 3.1 box

This is useful info and worth posting even if it can't be fixed. It's also useful to post differences with ntvdm if you can which since it runs on nt is going to be most like how winevdm should behave.

[jimhabegger]

Now I only see three trivial differences between the behavior of SmartSketch in Win31DOSBOX and its behavior with otvdm, and for one of them, the behavior with otvdm is actually better.

• In the box,, the help window is inside the app window. With otvdm, the help window is a separate window and can be seen and used outside of the app window.
• With otvdm, to be able to use the SmartSketch help files without opening the app, I had to manually associate them with winhelp.exe in the otvdm Windows folder. Otherwise, it took me to a Web page with an error message.
• With otvdm, if I exit the app using the menu, this window stays open:
  

If I exit the app by clicking on the X at the top right, that window closes also, sometimes.

[jimhabegger]

Trying to use ntvdm on my 64-bit computer looks too risky to me. I'm wondering if I could use my Windows 10 license to install Windows 10 in a box, and install ntvdm on top of that.

(later) I see that Windows 10 can actually be legally installed and run without a license, possibly without any restrictions that would keep me from using ntvdm. Now I need to decide what VM to use for a Windows 10 guest on a Windows 10 host, and hope that I have enough disk space. Workstation Player?

(laterer) I see that I can download a Windows 10 Enterprise machine for VMWare, from the Microsoft website. Maybe I can run that on Workstation Player. Would there be any easier way than that, to run Windows 10 on a virtual machine on my Windows 10 computer, so I can try running SmartSketch with ntvdm on that? Doing it directly in my Windows 10 system looks too risky to me. I'm not comfortable with disabling Secure Boot and bypassing all the warnings that might come up.

[jimhabegger]

Too many hoops to jump through, for me, to try to use ntvdm on my computer. I don't like fooling around with the BIOS. I've tried installing Windows 10 64-bit on VMWare, and on VirtualBox, and I get a long list of reasons why it won't work on my computer.

[jimhabegger]

False alarm. I enabled virtualization technology in the bios, and easily installed VMWare Workstation Player with a Windows 10 x64 iso from the Microsoft website. Now I'm trying to install and run SmartSketch in that environment, and reporting the issues that come up on the ntvdm github page.

[otya128]

"ntvdm" is ntvdm on 32-bit version of Windows.
It is not necessary if you cannot build a 32-bit Windows environment.

[otya128]

Even if you use winhlp32.exe, setting SeparateWOWVDM=0 in otvdm.ini should prevent opening a new instance.

[jimhabegger]

"ntvdm" is ntvdm on 32-bit version of Windows.
It is not necessary if you cannot build a 32-bit Windows environment.

Oh. Sorry! I'm downloading a 32-bit Windows 10 iso now, from the Microsoft website.

[jimhabegger]

It's also useful to post differences with ntvdm if you can which since it runs on nt is going to be most like how winevdm should behave.

"ntvdm" is ntvdm on 32-bit version of Windows.

I got that confused with NTVDMx64 by Leecher1337. I'll start over now with ntvdm in 32-bit Windows 10 on VMWare, and the ntvdm github page.

[jimhabegger]

I installed 32-bit Windows 10 on VMWare, and copied the SmartSketch installation files into it. I double-clicked on _setup.exe, and a message came up saying that ntvdm needed to be installed. I agreed, and after that it installed and ran perfectly. so no issues to report on ntvdm.