Trying to make the original Tennis Elbow work

General discussions about the 3rd edition of Tennis Elbow

Trying to make the original Tennis Elbow work

Postby Chandler » 10 Dec 2018, 15:19

Hi there! I know this is a long shot, but I haven't managed to find any info at all on the net regarding this issue, so I hope I can get some support here.

I'm trying to revisit the old Tennis Elbow (Sport Tennis, specifically, which is just the original game with a different title screen, as given away long ago by the Spanish newspaper Sport), but I've had no luck so far, either on my regular Windows 8 PC, an older one using Windows XP or even a virtual machine using Windows 98. I've managed to execute the game, and the menus basically work, but as soon as I try to actually step into the court, it just skips the match and shows the results screen. It looks like the main application works on Windows, but the actual match engine runs in DOS (which prevents the option of just running the whole thing in DOSBox, like I've managed to do with some other old games).

So what could be preventing the main app from transitioning properly to the DOS-based match engine? Would there be any kind of fix for this? Some specific setting for Windows' compatibility mode, perhaps? Some specific settings for however many executable files are involved in the game? Some kind of patch? Something else entirely?
Chandler
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Re: Trying to make the original Tennis Elbow work

Postby manutoo » 11 Dec 2018, 07:44

Hello,

this is not the original Tennis Elbow, and Google doesn't know this "Sport Tennis", but from your description, I'll take a wild guess and say it's "Tennis Elbow 98" renamed for Spanish speaking countries by my then publisher Goto Software.

So yup, it was a pretty bad way to make this work so I'm not sure how you can run it now. A correctly configured Windows 98 in a virtual machine should do the trick though.

Else if you want to play the real 1st Tennis Elbow, head there : https://www.abandonware-france.org/ltf_ ... hp?id=1823 .

And its working windows port is TE2004 : https://www.managames.com/predownload_e ... 04_ote.exe .
ManuTOO
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Re: Trying to make the original Tennis Elbow work

Postby Chandler » 11 Dec 2018, 19:46

Thanks so much for the quick reply. Come to think of it, it might have been TE98 instead of the original. I'll try to find the disc (it's at my old room at my parents') so we can identify what this version was exactly, since I'm curious now. It was definitely not the "standard" Tennis Elbow for Spain. Sport did give away a handful of sports games at the time, often slightly rebranded to include their name in the title. I doubt these were bootlegs, but they probably negotiated with the publishers (Goto does ring a bell). I'll post some pics if and when I find it.

Anyway, I'll try both the actual original and TE2004 and see if I can make those work :hiding:.
Chandler
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Gaming Since: 10 Dec 2018, 14:50

Re: Trying to make the original Tennis Elbow work

Postby Chandler » 14 Dec 2018, 15:31

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you... Sport Tennis:

STboxfront.jpg
STboxfront.jpg (100.78 KiB) Viewed 1047 times


STboxback.jpg


STmainmenu.jpg
STmainmenu.jpg (119.05 KiB) Viewed 1047 times


STplayerselect.png
STplayerselect.png (184.94 KiB) Viewed 1047 times


As you can see, that is indeed Tennis Elbow 98.

As per the alternatives mentioned, unfortunately the one from Abandonware France is mislabeled... and is also TE 98, so I have the exact same problems: I can run the match engine in DOSBox and I can run the main application in any Windows PC, but I can't run both at the same time.

TE2004 seems to run fine on my old PC at my parents' on Windows XP, but not on an XP virtual machine (it gets stuck in the loading screen just after starting up, even though the main menu music plays). It does run on my main Windows 8 PC, but unfortunately the match engine runs way too fast. Would there be a way to slow it down (or to fix whatever's preventing it from running in the VM)?
Chandler
tennis curious
 
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Gaming Since: 10 Dec 2018, 14:50

Re: Trying to make the original Tennis Elbow work

Postby manutoo » 15 Dec 2018, 07:26

I have no idea what could prevent TE2004 to run in an XP virtual machine.

I just checked the game on my Windows 10 and it worked normally while I have 120 Hz monitor (and the game is running at 60 fps), so the only thing I can think of is that you should install DirectX 9.0c on your Win8 : https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/downloa ... x?id=34429 .
ManuTOO
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