MobilePro 770... the gamer's lament

I purchased an NEC MobilePro 770 to take with me to my college classes, since my Compaq laptop is anything but compact... there's no way I could lug both it and my books around in my backpack without breaking either the computer or my back!

Unfortunately, the MobilePro has proven to be a mixed blessing. It works great for taking notes in class, and everyone marvels at its tiny form factor. However, I quickly discovered the system's limitations when I went online to download some games. It seems like every game I throw at it is thrown right back in my face, along with a noxious noise and an error about missing files.

I'm downloading MIPS-compatible games, and have even tried a Executability Check program that's supposed to tell you what files your handheld PC is missing (surprise surprise, THAT won't run either!). I've also downloaded the GAPI .dll files from Microsoft's site, and they haven't helped me at all.

Is there something I'm not doing right here? Is there some mysterious file I need to unlock my machine's multimedia capabilities? Or am I just boned?

JR

Despair not - cmonex has your back.

At least some of what you're working with (eg, Executability Check) is written for Windows CE 3.0, but cmonex and a few others here have hexedited it to work in CE 2.11. My MobilePro 800 is a larger-screen version of the 770, and I've gotten tons of CE 3.0 apps working on it using Executability Check and several DLL files also hexedited by cmonex. See this thread:

http://www.hpcfactor.com/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=4994&posts=100&start=1

My hero!

Hmm... I'm noticing from the other thread that progress is a little slow on translating Pocket PC games to the Handheld PC format. Mostly it's just been utilities, card games, and the like... there's not much in the way of arcade-style games or emulators. Have you guys tested emulators like PocketNES or GnuBoy, or are they beyond the scope of my humble MP770?

JR

Edited by ArugulaZ 2006-09-15 2:32 AM

execheck needs to be edited first to work on a 770 but yes i have it for download there.

well, i think you need to get a newer hpc for serious games.

maybe hpcdoom would work though?

Once again.....there is more to this website than this forum. (My new mantra )

If you checkout the Reviews Section, you will notice that every game reviewed runs on a MIPS processor and all are for HPC's. I suggest you start by doing some research about software developers who have written software specific to the HPC platform (see HPCNEC.com or Handheld Attitude for software lists)....it's not easy to find because most developers have switch to creating Pocket PC software. I suspect that your problem is based on the fact that you are downloading MIPS version of Pocket PC software and trying to run them on your HPC.......as you find out rather quickly it doesn't work. There is plenty of MIPS software available for your 770, but you won't find it at Handango or Pocket Gear or any of the canned software houses....thats why I'm telling you that you need to do alittle reading so that you know what software works with your 770.

I know it's not as easy as you thought it would be, but that's what happens when you purchase old technology... you have to re-learn what you thought you already knew. :

Way ahead of you, man. The HPCNEC site is one of the first places I went to find software... and so far, all I've been able to run are the aforementioned ICBM and a simple but effective MP3 player called GSPlayer2. Everything else refuses to start, and it's a frustrating ordeal to say the very least. You'd think that a system with a 130MHz processor would have the power to handle 8-bit emulation; even the Game Boy Advance can run NES and Master System emulators at full speed with sound, and it's not exactly on the cutting edge of technology these days!

Cmonex, what do I need to do to get the Executability Check to work? Do I need to view the program in a hex editor and change all references to 3.00 to 2.11? That's what I gathered from the link that CE Geek mentioned earlier.

If worse comes to worse, I can always fall back on the iPAQ I received in the mail earlier today, or bring my Nintendo DS along with my HPC to classes, or even stick with my laptop for both gaming and productivity. I just think it's a shame to have a system like the MobilePro 770 be so game-phobic despite its apparent potential as a game machine.

JR

ArugulaZ, no, just download the mips211 package linked in that thread. that will include the already edited execheck. (no the method you described is no good)

if you buy a newer hpc that will be better

Yeah, generally, emulators and 3D-style games will work better in H/PC 2000 (or CE 4.x .net) than in H/PC Pro. On the other hand, though, there is a version of MAME for CE that works quite well (minus sound) in CE 2.11 - but it's designed strictly for the Cassiopeia E-105 Palm-size PC. (I haven't tried to port MAMECE3 to H/PC Pro yet, though - I wonder if there's any chance of it working with at least some game ROMs.)

Got a more direct link?

I wish I could afford a newer handheld PC, but I'm broke after my last eBay splurge! I'm going to have to live with the iPAQ after I replace its battery.
By the way, if anyone needs an HP 620LX or a MobilePro 800, let me know. They ended up in my collection as a result of the aforementioned splurge, and I just don't need this many handheld PCs!

JR

Try this:

http://users.atw.hu/csakugy2/mips211.zip

I used to have a cassiopeia a-20 (older device than yours, and of course less capable) and it played gameboy games (on its "modern" B&W screen) quite well.... the emulator I used was PalmGB. GNUBoyCE should work OK too, or PocketGB otherwise.

I was able to get GNUBoy to work, although it was fairly slow. One big surprise is that there's actually a SUPER NES emulator that works on the MobilePro 770. Granted, it doesn't run WELL, but it runs!

I can't install PalmGB on my system... it requires an ActiveSync connection with my computer, and that's just not going to happen until I get an infrared adapter (it's on order from eBay, and should arrive next week). When it gets here, I'll let you know how PalmGB runs on the MobilePro 770.

JR

Hey. I haven't bothered to try many games on my 780 because I think the STN screen would blur motion too much, but there are a few I really like. Perhaps Nethack?
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/nethack/nethack-343-ce-hpc.exe
(this is a desktop installer)

Or, maybe some interactive fiction:
http://www.geocities.com/zipceppc/
I've just gotten in to this, and have only played one interactive fiction, called Photopia. (you can try it here: http://adamcadre.ac/if.html#Photopia (get the Z-code file, and open it in ZipCE))

Have fun