Giveaway of the Day Forums

1. 

   FireBride
   Member

   Maud, Merri or anyone else:

   You mentioned in your posts that it is possible to save the gamehouse game "stubs" that can then be subsequently installed days after the actual free game is offered.
   Is this successful and if so, can you give me simple instructions on how to do this.
   I have Vista 64 and my only option for the free game of the day is to download and install it the day it is offered. I don't see any option to save it to the PC. My PC is getting full with gamehouse games and it would be wonderful to be able to run the game stubs (what is meant by the term game stubs, please bear with me) after I finish some of the current games, so my PC stays running fast and not too bogged down by games. I would appreciate your input and thanks to you all.

   Posted 15 years ago #
2. 

   Alianthia
   Member

   hi FireBride!
   Well it USED to be possible to run the game days or weeks after it had been offered but _I_ can't seem to now..
   Maybe some one else is more successful.
   I tried the suggestion that Maude gave but it didn't work for me.
   :(
   (I am not sure why they are called stubs either.,..lol)
   It sure would be nice to be able to save them(I don't know that it would be a problem for Gamehouse, as you would still be getting the download file on the correct day)
   So anyone else out there have a solution??
   :)

   Posted 15 years ago #
3. 

   Terri218
   Member

   Is anyone having a problem with Mushroom Age? I played it a few times just fine but now it won't open.

   Posted 15 years ago #
4. 

   Buckleysmom
   Member

   Terri....I haven't so far but maybe I'm not as far into as you yet. What level are you on?

   Posted 15 years ago #
5. 

   Terri218
   Member

   It opened fine today. I must say giving a massage to a naked Socrates was VERY creepy. I just finished Chapter 6. The problem was at the beginning of Chapter 5.

   Posted 15 years ago #
6. 

   Buckleysmom
   Member

   Oh good. I was worried I'd run into the same issue. I'm already beyond that point anyway though. I can't remember what chapter I'm on or what order they're in but I've done the dinosaur and naked Soc chapters. I didn't mind the naked guy since they only showed his upper half. I grew up with 3 brothers so I've seen it all anyway. But I thought the dinosaur one was pretty lame. His voice was so "un-dinosaurish", and his roar? Oh brother! That chapter seemed more geared toward kids, well the caveman too for that matter.

   Posted 15 years ago #
7. 

   Maud
   Member

   Firebride -

   A GameHouse "stub" file is a small (653 kb) installer file which doesn't contain the actual game. When you run the stub it then downloads and installs the game itself. If you choose "save" rather than "run" when you click the download button at GameHouse, you can save this stub to your hard drive to run later.

   What browser are you using to download the file? I have Firefox 3.5, and running files directly when downloading them from the web isn't even an option any more I think; you have to save it, for security reasons. But if you use Internet Explorer or Opera, you are asked if you want to run the file or save it. The GameHouse download page says to choose "run" if you can when downloading the file, but you don't have to. You can choose "save", then your browser will probably ask you where you want to save it to, unless you have it set to always save to a specific location. "Windows usually saves them in the Downloads folder which is located under your user name in the users folder on the drive where Windows is installed (for example C:\users\your name\downloads)," according to Windows Help and Support, when using Internet Explorer.

   Having saved the stub file for a particular game, you can run it right away, or later that day, or as Merri says, you could previously run it anytime. Now GameHouse seems to have set some kind of time-limited lock on the stub, but for some reason, if I go through the weird procedure I outlined in my previous post, I can still get the stub to download and install the game days or weeks later, although Merri can't. Who knows why? Maybe it will work for you; try it. I hope this helps :).

   Posted 15 years ago #
8. 

   FireBride
   Member

   Hi Maud:

   Thanks so much for responding to my request; I really appreciate it. I will try
   your suggestions out and hopefully, it will work. I have IE8 as my web browser.
   It would be nice to download the stubs and run them at a future date so that the PC doesn't get bogged down with too many games.

   Posted 15 years ago #
9. 

   Terri218
   Member

   Yes that's a great idea. That way I can reload them at a later date if I want to play them again.

   Posted 15 years ago #
10. 

    Terri218
    Member

    Mushroom Age wouldn't open again. It seems very hit and miss.

    Posted 15 years ago #
11. 

    Terri218
    Member

    It opened again. The one thing I really hate about this game is that if you have to exit before the end of the chapter, you have to replay the entire chapter.

    Posted 15 years ago #
12. 

    Alianthia
    Member

    Hi Terri!
    Yes I have just gotten into this game; I am quite enjoying it, except for that fact that you can't save where you want!
    Nice graphics and clever story though!
    :)

    Posted 15 years ago #
13. 

    Alianthia
    Member

    Firebride and Maud..I just cannot save the stubs the way you mentioned, Maud!
    At least I can save games I like onto my second hard drive, but it WOULD be nice to not have them taking up space until I want them!
    However I have gotten some great games lately so no complaints ...lol!
    :)

    Posted 15 years ago #
14. 

    Brit
    Member

    Hi,
    I have just finished mushroom age. I thought it a very clever & varied game. Had the same trouble as Terri218, it seemed to be caused by the adverts. A very clever idea to play a computer game in a computer game, & I found the pinball games very difficult!
    Really enjoyable.

    Posted 15 years ago #
15. 

    Maud
    Member

    Merri -

    I will never for the life of me understand what seem to be random differences in the outcomes people get from the same procedures on computers, even when they have the same operating system! In this case, Firebride and I both have Vista, and I seem to remember you have XP, so perhaps Firebride also will be able to get the stubs to run later, but even so, I don't see why a different OS should make any difference in whether Task Manager does or doesn't get rid of whatever is blocking the game installer from running. Oh, well, I know people who have been working with computers from the inside out for 30 years who can't always figure out why they do what they do! I guess out ability to create software long ago outstripped our ability to understand it!

    Posted 15 years ago #
16. 

    notblocklox
    retired

    Hi, Maud, computers are like all the other people.
    We are made of the same material and have the same OS - however, some know how to behave, others will never learn. :)

    Each software you install and every code you feed the puter with, will change the system.
    I don't think there are two computers totally identical - just like humans.

    uniquelox

    Posted 15 years ago #
17. 

    Maud
    Member

    Hi, Uniquelox :)

    You're quite right. I'm afraid I find myself saying the same thing about people, i.e: I will never understand why some people feel the need to (whatever it is that's driving me nuts that day). I guess I'll just have to remind myself of your post the next time that happens - with either people or computers!

    Posted 15 years ago #
18. 

    Buckleysmom
    Member

    Yourerightblox....you hit the nail on the head. Like I said....they have minds of their own....and they can only be as flawless as the people who make them. (Of course we all know what that means).

    Here's an interesting story for you....
    2 friends, both needing a second car to use just to run back and forth to work so they could leave the family car with their wives, went to a Volkswagon dealer together and ordered identical cars. They came off the assembly line one right after the other. Their VIN #'s were just one digit different. One guy had no problems with his car....it ran fine for many years. The other guy had problems from day 1. (This was way before the "Lemon Law"). They claimed they also had very similar driving habits which made them think that wasn't the problem. They couldn't come up with any logical reason for the difference. It just seemed that one car was good and the other was bad. This is a true story as told to my mom and I by 2 guys who had come to the house to make a delivery.
    Go figure!

    Posted 15 years ago #
19. 

    Alianthia
    Member

    Hi Maud!
    Yes it is odd; and yes I do have XP...
    Funny how it worked until about 2 weeks ago!
    Now if I try to install a stub, not only does it not work but if I try too many times, it whisks away the stub as the error message close...lol!
    :D
    Hi uniquelox!

    TOO true about computers and people! I will try to remember this too, the next time someone seems to act irrationally(especially at work...lol!)
    :)

    BK..interesting story indeed about the two cars!
    :)

    Posted 15 years ago #
20. 

    AlexSJ
    Member

    I had the stub from the Mushroom Game laying around since I never installed it before. So this morning, it being Saturday and all I thought let me give it a try.
    Didn't work though, couldn't connect or something. However, after installing today's free game right after that try, it did and I could download the Mushroom game. So perhaps, if you have old game stubs, try installing today's free game and then the stub, it might just work then.
    Pura vida, AlexSJ

    Posted 15 years ago #
21. 

    Alianthia
    Member

    Hey Alex,
    that is interesting! I might start saving the stubs again then from games I particularly like(all of my old ones are gone now..lol) and then try that sort of piggy back download...thanks!

    :)

    Posted 15 years ago #
22. 

    Terri218
    Member

    How do you find the stub on the computer? I mean what is the file extension?

    Posted 15 years ago #
23. 

    Maud
    Member

    Hi, Terri218 -

    It's an .exe file, so that won't help you much. But every one has a file name in this form: GameHouse-Installer_amg-(name of the specific game)_gamehouse.exe
    There are no parentheses, I just used them to set off the part that is different with each game. Also, if the game's name is a long one, it might just be the shorter form, rather than the whole thing. But you can use the part of the file name which doesn't change to find it.

    Are you sure you've downloaded some stubs, and just don't remember where you downloaded them to? Because if you choose "run" when downloading the game, and install it directly from the web, you won't have a stub installer on your computer. You only get that if you choose "save" and then save the stub to a specific location - your Downloads file, or your Desktop, or wherever you like to put them.

    Also, once you've installed the game from the stub, it normally disappears. I say normally, because two of the old stubs from games I installed using the Task Manager, as explained in an earlier post, stayed right where they were even after I installed the games; all the others disappeared. No idea why.

    Posted 15 years ago #
24. 

    Maud
    Member

    Hi, AlexSJ -

    Thanks for the info. That's a lot simpler than the method I'm using, and will hopefully work for everyone!

    Posted 15 years ago #
25. 

    Alianthia
    Member

    How I saved my stubs was this...I let it(which ever game it was for) download onto the desktop then copied it over to my download folder on my other drive.
    So I had two ..

    Posted 15 years ago #
26. 

    Terri218
    Member

    I always click Run instead of Save. I'll try it the other way next time.

    I finally gave in and installed the BFG toolbar since nobody mentioned today's $2.99 game. It's Abra Academy and I got about 30 minutes into the trial and realized I hated it and it's not worth even $2.99 for me. I hate the extra toolbar so I'll hide it when I'm not checking to see that day's game and remove it completely after August.

    Posted 15 years ago #
27. 

    Alianthia
    Member

    Yes hopefully you will have luck in installing the games at a later date!

    Oh no about the toolbar...
    How disappointing!

    I am so leery that I always check game reviews at Gamezebo before I get any from Gamehouse or anywhere. I have avoided some terrible games that way and also gotten some great ones that I might have otherwise passed on.
    Mushroom age is one; I am LOVING it!!!

    :)

    Posted 15 years ago #
28. 

    Terri218
    Member

    I tried it again and liked it better but I'm still not sure I want to keep it. I've gotten really spoiled by Gamehouse's free games and BFG's 99 cent deals that $2.99 seems like a lot of money for a so-so game.

    Posted 15 years ago #
29. 

    Buckleysmom
    Member

    I don't care how cheap the games are, even if they're free, I will not take any toolbars, I've tried them in the past and they were always nothing but trouble.

    Posted 15 years ago #
30. 

    Alianthia
    Member

    Terri, me too..
    Funny isn't it!
    LOL
    Also, the fact that they have the deal attached to a tool bar makes it DOUBLY not worth it..

    BK I am wary of toolbars too...
    I too tried one or two and had terrible results so have learned to avoid them...

    Posted 15 years ago #

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