Tales From the Punchbowl: Enhanced CD

Compatibility Survey | FAQ (Troubleshooter) | Compatibility Chart

In case you haven't heard, the Tales From the Punchbowl: Enhaced CD really sucks. In addition to being a regualr audio CD, it is an interactive CD-ROM that let you experince unique animation to go along with each song. The problem with the Enhaced CD is that it is very demanding in terms of hardware, and very picky on what drivers it runs under. This list has been set up to help you correct any problems you might be having. If you have a problem that isn't listed here, or have a question about any of the information about this page, mail me.


Warning!

Before buying the Enhanced CD, make sure you're not planning on using any ATAPI CD-ROM Drive under Windows 95. Also, the CD-ROM will not run on Windows 3.1 for most Toshiba and NEC drives.


Please Help!

In order to prevent people from buying incompatible CDs, I'm trying to build a list of CD-ROM drives and whether or not they work. If you could take the time to complete this form, it would be greatly appreciated!

CD-ROM Manufacturer:
Speed:
Windows 3.1 (DOS):
Windows 95:

Hint: You can check for Windows 3.1 Compatibility by restarting Windows 95 in DOS mode, and then typing 'dir' on your CD-ROM drive



FAQ (Troubleshooter)

Problem: When I go to run the CD, it behaves only as an audio CD, and I can't see INSTALL.EXE or any of the files.

The Enhanced CD was written in a format that the newer ATAPI CD-ROMs can't understand. There are no drivers that will let you correct this. There are however, a few solutions:


Problem: I get a message about the display colors being incorrect.

You must run the CD-ROM in 256 colors mode. In Windows 95, go to control panel and double-click on display. Click on the settings tab and change the color palette box to 256 color. In Windows 3.1, go to control panel and double-click on the icon for your display driver. If you don't have one, double-click on Windows Setup in the Main group, and from the Options menu, select Change system settings. Change the Display box to a mode that will display 256 colors (i.e. 640x480x256). In Macintosh, select Monitors under co ntrol panel, and change the setting.


Problem: I get a message saying "can't initialize helm".

As far as we can tell, this has something to do with the display drivers being used. Make sure you are running in 640x480, 256 colors mode. If you already are, try using a different driver for that same resolution if possible.


Problem: The program appears as a small rectangle in the middle of the screen with black around it.

The CD is designed to run in the 640x480 resolution. Resize your screen to this resolution and try it again.


Problem: I can't beat the @#!& computer at Primus pong! (Or even score, for that matter!)

It's impossible to score against the computer


Compatibility List

Below are various CD-ROM models and their compatibility with Windows 95 and Windows 3.1 for using the Enhanced CD.

Windows NT users should assume the result for Windows 95 will be the same as NT 4.0, and likewise the result for Windows 3.1 should be the same for NT 3.5 / 3.51. These result come in from anonymous people, so there's no guarantee they're correct.

CD-ROM Drive Windows 3.1Windows 95