Adventures In Microsoft Solitaire...
This subject is very off-topic, but, after trawling the depths of the internet for a couple of days, I thought I would share my experience. Your mileage may vary. Recently, I picked up a Windows 8.1-based PC. The PC came bundled with new XBox-ified versions of Microsoft Solitaire. I'm reasonably OK with the new Solitaire, but, it does complain mildly when I refuse to provide an XBox account log in. It also complains when it can't share scores. And, more recently, it is apparently pissed that I added the Microsoft Store Broker to the list of blocked applications in my firewall.And now, with Windows 10 looming, there's word that the next version of Solitaire will complain bitterly with nag boxes to play Solitaire for free. In light of these disturbing developments, I decided to take some decisive action in advance of a planned upgrade to Windows 10. The internet is wise, but, sadly, it took quite a while longer than I expected to find the wisdom I was looking for.
The first thing I did was to check for an archive in the stacks of archive CDs and DVDs I have on hand. When that proved unproductive, I turned to the web for an XP version of Solitaire. I found a fairly decent version with a nice installer out in the wild (sadly, I can't remember where in the wild at the time of this writing). Unfortunately, I don't see very well -- hence the thick glasses -- and, when I installed the XP version, I found that the cards were too tiny for my defective eyes and didn't resize when I maximized the screen.The next step was to try and locate a Windows 7 version of solitaire. I have a vague recollection that the Windows 7 version would resize when I maximized the screen. As fate would have it though, my hopes were dashed yet again, as downloads are hard to come by in the wild. But, hope was not completely lost, as I had access to a Windows 7 PC. So, it was a simple matter of copying the required files from the Windows 7 PC to the appropriate folder on my Windows 8.1 PC.
The next step was a bit mirky. The application wouldn't actually run and as I discovered, a patch would be required to make the executable playable on Windows 8. But, the fickle hand of fate struck again, as the patch software was nowhere to be found. Further research into the depths of the darker corners of the web indicated that the patch software was being used by unscrupulous people as a delivery mechanism for malware. Of course, over time, web sites that wished to not be associated with such unscrupulous people had arranged for the offending links to not work.
I was about to give up hope, when in a fit of fruitless Google searching, I stumbled upon a solution. RG, in a reply to an earlier post on this very subject on the Microsoft Answers forum, wrote:
...your #2 idea looked good but not successful. From several YouTube sites and your idea, I have copied each game's .exe Application and CardGame.dll to a thumb drive from Window 7, loaded into Window 8.1 computer
BUT your following steps do not work...and the Microsoft Games Patcher link is not live
To do so manually, you can use a hex editor to open each game's .exe file and search for the following bytes:
7D 04 83 65 FC 00 33 C0 83 7D FC 01 0F 94 C0 Replace the first 7D in the sequence above with EB, and then save the file. You'll need to do this manually for each game's .exe file.
I started up my friendly neighborhood Hex Editor and searched the solitaire.exe file for the offending code sequence and sure enough, it was there. I replaced the first 7D in the offending sequence with EB and saved the file. Of course, I made a backup just in case it didn't work. But, it did work. It took quite a bit longer than expected to find this solution, so, I thought I would share my experience.The one feature that I will miss in the XBox-ified version is the solve button. When I get to a certain point where all of the cards are revealed, I can select the solve button and the application will finish moving all the cards into their final positions for me. Being a lazy bum, I'm really going to miss the solve button.
August 14, 2015
Update
And the good news just keeps on coming. Recently, I discovered that the auto-solve feature can be enabled in the Windows 7 version of Solitaire by right-clicking on the background. 😜
Monday, August 31, 2015
