TNM in Windows 10

[tnmlyger]

Hey guys,

Just wanted to alert you that a new Build of TNM 7 SE has been released. It is now able to run Windows-based plugins again while in DOSBOX.

Just unzip anywhere and run the file TNM.BAT right in the first folder down.

If you need to move data over from an older version of TNM, there's a way to do that.

1) OLD installation: Make a backup using the built-in function.

2) Navigate to the TNM 7 folder, then into TNM7SE\TNM7SE\BACKUPS and copy the newest(!) file. Its name will be something along the lines of TNMBU~01.TBU.

3) Paste said file into the TNM7SE\TNM7SE folder of your NEW installation. Use this folder for ease-of-use.

4) Open your NEW TNM, go to Database -> Backups.

5) There is a new option "Restore Backup From File". Select that.

6) The .TBU file you pasted should now show up in the window on the left.

7) Select it, restore and Bob's your uncle.

A few other questions and answers:

Q: Do I need to pay for this?
A: No - your TNM 7 SE codes will work. TNM 7 (original release) and TNM 6.2plus codes will not, however.

Q: Is there anything that's still not working?
A: Yes - the Visualizer can't operate under Windows 10 as its security watchdogs prevent it from working properly. For the same reason, ring introductions aren't back YET because a Windows program (such as the ring intros routine) can't write to a DOS window.

Q: How do I get my codes back?
A: E-mail me at copp at the domain hexacon.de.

[ICCanada]

Been playing with the new release a couple hours now. Very well done.

[tnmlyger]

As long as you guys are happy, I'm happy. I'll be honest... it bugged me to no end that plugins like the Circuit History plugin and the Database Cleaner that I'd use on almost a daily basis didn't work. It set TNM back by years in terms of what it can do.

Thanks for sticking around!

[dewelar]

While waiting for an update on my issue, I tried doing this with my old TNM. Unfortunately, I don't see the "Restore Backup From File" option on the Backup menu. Is this something that only works in Windows 10 / DosBox? I'm using Windows XP on a VM, and all I have are the copy of TNM I sent you a few days ago and the fresh Build 9 install you linked.

[rich17]

I'm using Build 8 on Windows 10 and the plugins won't run. They install and accept the registration codes but when I try to run them nothing happens. Any ideas?

[KWOAOA]

Rich - that tells me like it'll tell everyone else that your using a 64bit version of win10.. it's been said a few times that the plugins don't work with dosbox but Mr. Copp said he was working on a solution. The only suggestion is if you have a friend with a 32bit version of windows then go use there computer in order to run the plugins, but if it's something you feel you have to run constantly then you may want to snag up a cheap laptop that's 32 bit.

[tnmlyger]

Aug 1, 2018 13:14:10 GMT -5 dewelar said:

While waiting for an update on my issue, I tried doing this with my old TNM. Unfortunately, I don't see the "Restore Backup From File" option on the Backup menu. Is this something that only works in Windows 10 / DosBox? I'm using Windows XP on a VM, and all I have are the copy of TNM I sent you a few days ago and the fresh Build 9 install you linked.

Sorry - I just saw your DM. Best way to reach me is always via e-mail or on facebook. I'm not on the web that much and I don't check in here daily. You have mail.

"Restore Backup From File" is a new feature added to Build 8. Earlier versions don't have this feature - it is new.

Please let me know if everything works out for you.

[tnmlyger]

Aug 1, 2018 16:04:22 GMT -5 rich17 said:

I'm using Build 8 on Windows 10 and the plugins won't run. They install and accept the registration codes but when I try to run them nothing happens. Any ideas?

I'll need to ask you a few questions to figure out what's going on.

First of all, what is the exact path of your TNM folder?

Secondly, which file in which folder do you run to enter TNM?

Thirdly, is this a clean version or a version with old data added into it?

Depending on the answers, I'll may need to ask to be sent a ZIP of your TNM's folder (the one containing DOSBOX.EXE and all folders and files contained within) because of about 10,000 downloads since I released it, you're the first one to report this issue. I need to make sure it's not due to something other than a bug in the program itself.

[tnmlyger]

Aug 1, 2018 21:11:56 GMT -5 KWOAOA said:

Rich - that tells me like it'll tell everyone else that your using a 64bit version of win10.. it's been said a few times that the plugins don't work with dosbox but Mr. Copp said he was working on a solution. The only suggestion is if you have a friend with a 32bit version of windows then go use there computer in order to run the plugins, but if it's something you feel you have to run constantly then you may want to snag up a cheap laptop that's 32 bit.

Thank you. TNM 7 SE Build 8 is able to run all Windows-based extensions except for the Visualizer and ring intros (with audio), on any Windows version of 95 or higher. If it doesn't, something's up.

[dewelar]

Aug 2, 2018 12:14:29 GMT -5 tnmlyger said:

Aug 1, 2018 13:14:10 GMT -5 dewelar said:

While waiting for an update on my issue, I tried doing this with my old TNM. Unfortunately, I don't see the "Restore Backup From File" option on the Backup menu. Is this something that only works in Windows 10 / DosBox? I'm using Windows XP on a VM, and all I have are the copy of TNM I sent you a few days ago and the fresh Build 9 install you linked.

Sorry - I just saw your DM. Best way to reach me is always via e-mail or on facebook. I'm not on the web that much and I don't check in here daily. You have mail.

"Restore Backup From File" is a new feature added to Build 8. Earlier versions don't have this feature - it is new.

Please let me know if everything works out for you.

OK, will make sure to send future stuff to hexacon. It looks like the fix you posted may not have worked, so will e-mail you about it.

Not sure how I got "Build 9"...

[rich17]

I'll need to ask you a few questions to figure out what's going on.

First of all, what is the exact path of your TNM folder?

C:\TNM7SE\TNM7SE_build8_release

Secondly, which file in which folder do you run to enter TNM?

C:\TNM7SE\TNM7SE_build8_release

Thirdly, is this a clean version or a version with old data added into it?

It has old data added into it

Thank you for your help.

Rich

[rich17]

I did a clean reinstall and all plugins work fine now. Thanks to all who helped.

[ahcapps]

I've been playing with the new Window 10 plugin-compatible version for the last few days. I have one fluky issue that I'm pretty sure I did to myself, but can't figure out how to fix it.

I went into the HTML Tree, then hit [ESCAPE] twice to get out. I probably hit [ENTER] next, and I guess it created at HTML tree. But it also disabled introductions. And no matter how many times I unclick the "Disable Introductions" box in General Options, the "X" comes back every time I close and reopen TNM. Does someone know hat I did and what file I can go into to fix it?

[dewelar]

I had a similar issue a couple weeks ago and discussed it by e-mail with Mr. Copp. He told me that ring intros had been disabled entirely for the time being due to Windows-related issues, and a work-around was still pending.

[jlamb]

just want to chime in and say that this worked like a charm. thanks so much for continuing to support this, Oliver.

[Carlzilla]

tnmlyger, is it intended that windows based match plugins do not load even with the new system for loading windows based plugins? If not, I'm having trouble getting them to load, and I'm not sure why. Circuit level and general plugins load fine...but once you get down to the match level, they just spit out a "this program can not be run in DOS mode" error and you get a "[plug-in results unavailable]" message back in TNM.

[mdale2k]

Question...I have been using this for awhile.

Suddenly when I hit the tnm7se.exe, it looks like its going to come up and then bam it closes. Any ideas?

[sanji]

Just a general question before I buy (I have been around the product since 1999 and I love it).

If I leave a log file behind in DOSBOX, how can I access it on the Windows side for general editing and publication?

[SockWulf]

Am I right in believing that Ring Intros are still disabled in Build 9 and there's Still no way of playing intro themes? It's a shame if so, but it's great to have TNM back again regardless.

[tnmlyger]

Jun 2, 2019 8:34:53 GMT -5 Carlzilla said:

tnmlyger , is it intended that windows based match plugins do not load even with the new system for loading windows based plugins? If not, I'm having trouble getting them to load, and I'm not sure why. Circuit level and general plugins load fine...but once you get down to the match level, they just spit out a "this program can not be run in DOS mode" error and you get a "[plug-in results unavailable]" message back in TNM.

Hi Carl,

I wasn't even aware of there being Windows-based match plugins. Could you please give me some more info on this?

I can confirm that there is currently no support for Windows-based match plugins on account of my not being aware of there being Windows-based match plugins. Unless I missed it while looking through the list of plugins I've authorized, I can't find a record of having generated the necessary files for a Windows-based match plugin either. 

So... I'm puzzled at the moment. Any info you can give will definitely go a long way towards being able to resolve this :-)

[tnmlyger]

Jul 6, 2019 13:31:38 GMT -5 mdale2k said:

Question...I have been using this for awhile.

Suddenly when I hit the tnm7se.exe, it looks like its going to come up and then bam it closes. Any ideas?

None off the top of my head. If you want, feel free to send a ZIP file of your entire "TNM 7 Second Edition" folder to [e-mail] - I'll surely be able to find out what's wrong.

[tnmlyger]

Sept 11, 2019 4:07:30 GMT -5 sanji said:

Just a general question before I buy (I have been around the product since 1999 and I love it).

If I leave a log file behind in DOSBOX, how can I access it on the Windows side for general editing and publication?

All files can be found in tnm7se_build_9\tnm7se and its subfolders. If you use a log file in a circuit, the path will be tnm7se_build_9\tnm7se\(circuit_folder)\matches.log

Thanks to you (and all the other people here) for still using the program :-)

[tnmlyger]

Sept 11, 2019 6:35:00 GMT -5 SockWulf said:

Am I right in believing that Ring Intros are still disabled in Build 9 and there's Still no way of playing intro themes? It's a shame if so, but it's great to have TNM back again regardless.

I had to deactivate ring intros for the time being because they were clunky.

Ring intros have been a Win32 program since 2003 / TNM 7 SE. There is no way for a DOS program being executed in a sandbox to launch a Windows program at all. And even with the architecture I created to run Windows-based plugins outside the sandbox on demand, ring intros remain a challenge from a user experience perspective.

The reason for this is that even if I were able to launch the ring intro Win32 program, there is no technical way to have it output its text into the DOS window running inside the sandbox (emulator). That functionality just isn't doesn't exist and also can't be implemented on my end. I hate to use the word "impossible" but from a technical perspective, it is as close to impossible as you can get because adding such functionality on the emulator developers' end would offer a way to break the sandbox and would make the emulator less robust against attacks from malicious processes on the system ("hacks").

So... practically speaking: I could extend the functionality of the server software I wrote which bridges the gap for Windows-based plugins, and I actually added that code early on in its development.

There are two practical issues I'm facing which range from annoying to clunky:
a) Each time a ring intro were to happen, another window would pop up and then close before the match starts.
b) This window will sometimes pop up in the background, and there is no reliable way to prevent that from happening aside from making the window system modal. While this would force the window into the foreground, it would also prevent you from doing anything else on your system while the intros are running. You couldn't switch away to a different program until the intros have run.

For this reason and until there is a way to ensure the window appears and stays in the foreground without preventing you from doing anything else on your computer at that time, ring intros will remain disabled.

[SockWulf]

That's fine Lyger. A simple "no" would have sufficed, but I do appreciate the in-depth explanation, friend. It gives me an excuse to dig out the ol' XP laptop I have tucked away .. somewhere ..

Anyway, keep up the fine work. It's truly appreciated.

[tnmlyger]

It's not a dead issue by any means. Just wanted to be transparent because it's a very valid question.