id Games on Windows Vista/7

Some of the id Tech 3 (aka Quake 3)-engine based games won’t run correctly on Windows Vista, 7, etc. due to the UAC. Some people suggest turning UAC off or running the game as an administrator, but that is ill advised; turning off security or running it in a higher privilege to play a game is foolhardy at best, especially when a better, more secure solution is readily available.

The problem is that when these id Tech 3-engine games start up, they try to extract a DLL from one of the PK* files into the program directory. Since the Program Files directory is protected, and especially since the file being dropped into it is a DLL which as a security threat is second only to EXE files, and finally because it’s being put in the folder by a non-privileged program—the game itself—as opposed to a privileged program like the original setup program that installed the game in the first place. This all leads the system to blocking the extraction, which causes the game to terminate with an error that includes the following snippet.

found DLL in pak file: C:\Program Files\Prey\base\game03.pk4/gamex86.dll
copy gamex86.dll to C:\Program Files\Prey\base\gamex86.dll
could not create destination file
********************
ERROR: DLL extraction to fs_savepath failed

(Windows Vista/7 already have a system in place for this sort of thing and it usually works for games (eg for games that store screenshots or save games in the Program Files directory); such files are put in the VirtualStore directory in the user’s profile instead of in the actual Windows or Program Files directories, but for some reason it does not seem to work for these older id games.)

Instead of resorting to turning UAC off or running it with administrator privileges, a much more ideal solution is simply to manually extract the DLL file in question and place it into the program folder. Open the PK* file mentioned in the error (in the above example it is game03.pk4) with a ZIP compatible program (7-Zip is great). Then simply extract the file gamex86.dll into the game’s base folder (or other, possibly different folder as specified in the error).

Note: You probably won’t be able to simply extract the file directly to the program folder because of the permissions/UAC, you’ll likely need to either run the archiver as administrator or just take an intermediary step by extracting it to somewhere else like the desktop, then moving the file to the program folder (and saying yes/OK to the UAC prompt).

Done. Now launch the game, see how it runs as expected without requiring a security feature to be turned off or running it as administrator, and enjoy!

Billy Ray Cyrus: It’s the Show’s Fault

CNN recently reported that Billy Ray Cyrus is blaming the show (Hannah Montana) for destroying his family. It is well known that his daughter Miley has been involved in numerous scandals in the past couple of years including highly-sexualized performances, leaked underwear photos, and a video of doing drugs with a group of people. Dr. Drew Pinskey agrees that the show is partly responsible in a way; he claims that the problem is in Billy’s role as co-star on the show as opposed to full-time father.

While Dr. Pinskey’s point seems logical, it is actually quite specious. Most parents of young actors tend to spend less personal time with their children (standing on the sides of the set does not count) due to schedules and such than parents of non-working children do. As a result, young actors do not have the benefit of as much parenting and family life as “regular” kids, and invariably end up with all kinds of issues. The Cyruses however are not like that; in fact they are the opposite. Because Billy played Miley’s father on the show, he spent more direct time with her than even non-acting families do. In addition to any family time together while not working, they spent hours and hours together on set each day. That’s why it is almost astounding that Miley ended up with so many problems.

One could argue that because they spent so much time together normally, she felt it necessary to break away as much as possible in her off-time, and the fact that her older, heavily tattooed, rock-n-roll brother is off doing his own thing apart from the family probably doesn’t help, but regardless, eventually one has to point the finger at least in part at Miley herself.

While a parent is crucial and highly influential for the upbringing and resulting behavior of child, the fact is that their influence is nonetheless limited. The same parent could have two kids, even twins who turn out quite differently. No matter how well or badly a parent raises their children, eventually some of the blame/responsibility must get put on the child themselves, especially as the get older.

Billy Ray seems pretty genuine and like a good father, so it is kind of sad that he is in the far-too-common situation of having an out-of-control child and being in fear of losing them altogether. However he is placing the blame incorrectly, it is not the show’s fault, and not even entirely his or his wife’s faults. Inevitably Miley is responsible for her own choices.