I emailed the program creator the other day to get some help
with the problem I was having getting this to run. Here is his reply:
Hi Ken,
I am not sure why you are having that issue. I do not currently host the
program due to a lack of personal resources; the site you downloaded it from is
run by someone else. From what I have been told, he zipped up the files
himself, and I am not sure if maybe the folder structure is off.
I made a Windows installer for it, but unfortunately I am unable to send it via
email because it is 50 MB and Gmail chokes whenever I try. I used to host
it when I had webspace, but at the moment have no idea how to go about getting
it up off my computer again (am currently not willing to spend anything to do
so).
The exception message you are getting is happening because the data\ directory
is not found relative to the program's "current working
directory". From the main installation directory, you should have
classes\classes.jar, and a data\ directory. Do you have both of
these? If that is the case, then Java probably thinks you're running the
program from a different location. The data\ directory location is
"..\data\", so you need to be sitting in the classes\
directory. You may need to try messing with parameters to javaw.exe such
as classpath. My advice, however, would be to simply completely remove
all Java installations from your computer, and then reinstall it. This
should (hopefully) override whatever other programs have hijacked your jar
mapping in Windows and get it going again.
Good luck,
-Michael Barbieri
Basically, try uninstalling your version of Java and
reinstall it. That worked for me, but I had the problem of WinRAR had hijacked
the .jar file extension. Also, try changing the shortcut so it starts in the
classes subfolder of whatever directory you unzipped to. I do have it working
now but I did unzip it to “Program Files\Chrononauts PC” on my C drive, so you
might have to do that to get it working.
Ken
From:
chrononauts-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:chrononauts-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Christian
Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2007 12:30 PM
To: Chrononauts@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [Chrononauts] Java Version
:o(
I can't get this to work for me. I didn't install it to the directory it says
to though, so maybe that's it.
(I put it on my flash drive, since I'm at work) It didn't work when I clicked
on the shortcut, but I noticed someone said to try clicking on the classes.jar
and trying to run it that way. Sadly all I got was an error message saying it
couldn't find the main class. I am assuming it's a relative file path problem,
but was hoping someone had either figured a good way around this. If anyone has
some suggestions, I'm all ears. I would love to be able to get in a game of
Chrononauts during my lunch break!
Hmm, I'm wondering if anyone has the Java skills to try and repackage the .jar
and class files to stand alone? Basically, what I mean is to make all the files
sit in their own directory that has no references to anything outside of that
directory. That way the directory could be copied anywhere (i.e. flash
drive/ipod/etc) and no installer would be necessary, just an updated shortcut
to the file that launches the game.
Just a thought...I wish I had the skills to do that, but I will have to hope
that someone nerdier than I can take up the mantle and save the day!
Christian
P.s. There's a great portable applications website that would love
something like this, and that's good word o' mouth for Chrononauts!