Talk:Solitaire (Microsoft, PC)

Title Screen
I was considering grabbing a screenshot for the title image (as the game doesn't actually have a title screen, of course), but wasn't sure whether or not I should use the Vista version (I don't have a working XP setup at the moment), as I think they rewrote the game for Vista... could be wrong, though.

I did do a screencap of the Win98 version through Linux/Wine (non-maximized, without the window's titlebar). It's a 589x407 PNG, though. Would a scaling command have to be used, if the picture was used?--Aoi 05:37, 21 February 2011 (EST)
 * Well we already do scale other title screens of PC games that are too large by itself to be on the page, so that should be no problem. Since MediaWiki can scale by itself, you can upload the screen in original resolution. -- Prince Kassad 05:40, 21 February 2011 (EST)
 * Okay, I've uploaded MicrosoftSolitaire-title.png. Let me know when anyone would rather I have used the Vista version, instead.  (I'll probably have to remind myself to take a look at that EXE, anyway...)  Wasn't sure how to scale the image in the bob, though, as it displayed full-size, for me. --Aoi 18:37, 21 February 2011 (EST)
 * Prince Kassad - Oh, so that's how you do it. Thanks! (Yeah, I know, I should've taken a look at the bob template again...)--Aoi 18:48, 21 February 2011 (EST)

Versions
Am I correct in assuming that most if not all of this article only applies to the pre-Vista version of Solitaire? If that's the case, it should probably be mentioned in the article... I notice that at the very least, the Alt-Shift-2 combination mentioned doesn't work in the Vista version. (Unless I'm doing something wrong?) --Imajin 14:12, 20 March 2011 (EDT)
 * Might be worth mentioning, yes. I have only XP so I don't know what they changed in later versions. -- Prince Kassad 15:12, 20 March 2011 (EDT)
 * The Vista version has all sorts of fancy graphical effects and what-not... might be a complete rewrite, I don't know. --Imajin 15:53, 20 March 2011 (EDT)
 * Vista's version also has recordkeeping and background support, among a few others. Someone should poke around inside it - knowing MS, I'm sure there's some old/unused stuff lurking around in it... --Bloodstar 16:04, 20 March 2011 (EDT)
 * Well, as I mentioned above, it does seem to be something of a rewrite. I did take a rather quick look at the executable (I think it was the executable... does the 'normal' version use the same executable as the Media Center version?) with a regular binary/hex viewer about a month or two ago, and I don't remember anything that really stood out, offhand.  I'll have to do it again, and maybe find a way to check the resources if Resource Hacker doesn't work on Vista binaries. (If I can find the time, that is.  -_-) --Aoi 17:21, 20 March 2011 (EDT)
 * It's true; this info is about the XP version. The Vista version is a lot different, and, amongst other things, the Alt+Shift+2 code doesn't work. Maybe we can find some info about the Vista version though. Either way, if we find extra info exclusive to the Vista version, we should reorganize the article. Espyo 19:50, 20 March 2011 (EDT)
 * Is it possible to find out a range of versions these apply to — earlier than XP? Of course that would mean asking around... (I could talk to a few people) - Andlabs 20:35, 20 March 2011 (EDT)
 * It always seemed to me that at least until Vista, Microsoft just recompiled the game for each release of Windows (or Windows+MS Plus), or at worst just bumping the version number. Win98's version appears to be a 16-bit program (I'll have to go extract Win3's version from the install disks...), so Resource Hacker doesn't like it (and I don't have anything else immediately available, like it, to muck around with the resources.  They probably recompiled it as a 32-bit .EXE for XP.  The green/custom background question is in the Win98 version, though, from scanning the text in the EXE.  For some reason, I couldn't get the Alt+Shift+2 cheat to work, even though I remember using the cheat on that version at one time.  (The cheat - not sure about the keypress.)
 * Anyone know what I can use to check the resources of a 16-bit Windows executable? --Aoi 22:23, 20 March 2011 (EDT)
 * Okay, I've tested a number of versions, and posted what I've found so far, here. --Aoi 05:25, 5 April 2011 (EDT)

More unused text
I decided to open the XP version with a hex editor, despite it being done already. However, it seems the program is localized with the OS, which means that mine has Portuguese strings. Well, amongst them I stumbled upon "Glup, não sei!" which translates to "Glup, I don't know!" (yes, it's written "glup"). Silly translator. Probably found a tough string he couldn't translate! Well, I decided to search thoroughly, and I found these string: Are we sure we found every unused string? Someone with an English version should fire up a hex editor and search for strings similar to mine. Also, someone needs to check what the hell couldn't the translator translate! It's between the "# of cards in each column" one and the "configure for screencaps" one. Finally, we should also add to the unused text list the status bar explanation for the game number option. {EspyoT} 15:05, 5 April 2011 (EDT)
 * "Jogo n"
 * "Game n"
 * Either I'm reading it wrong, or the n is meant to be part of this string.
 * "Anterior" and "Opções" and "Mapa de bits"
 * "Previous" and "Options" and "Bitmap"
 * These don't appear anywhere, I think.
 * "Mostrar o número de cartas em cada coluna"
 * "Show the number of cards in each column"
 * "Configurar o 'Solitário' para capturas de ecrã"
 * "Configure 'Solitaire' for screencaps"
 * "Forçar a victória"
 * "Force victory"


 * I found Print # of cards in each col, pretty sure that is not used anywhere. Looks suspiciously like a debug option. As for the options, Solitaire has an Options menu and also an Undo option. The Bitmap one might be a bad translation of the Deck option (which allows you to choose from a select amount of pictures for the card's backside). -- Prince Kassad 15:13, 5 April 2011 (EDT)


 * The # of cards in each column is probably the 3rd one I listed. "Previous" really hints to the undo function, but it's not. There's another string that's officially used, named "Anular", which really means Undo. The Options one... is a duplicate. Next to the real undo string, there is an options string, but I found an options string again next to previous and bitmap. Same thing for the deck options. Their correct string are also present elsewhere. {EspyoT} 16:14, 5 April 2011 (EDT)


 * Ah, gotcha. There's Back, Options and Bitmap here as well. No idea what it's there for. -- Prince Kassad 16:20, 5 April 2011 (EDT)


 * I'd gone through all the versions I'd tested with a hex editor. :)  The "Bitmap" string does exist in the Win3 through XP versions, yes, next to the "Currency" strings, as I recall... but beyond that, I don't know if anything else could be done with it, even through changing things in Resource Hacker.  (Programs like Resource Hacker and XN Resource Editor will work fine for messing with the XP version, if you want to experiment.  It's the Win16 (Win3/9X/ME) programs they won't like, and the Vista/7 versions may not be supported well, I don't know.) --Aoi 16:43, 5 April 2011 (EDT)


 * Oh, one thing I should note about the currency string. In my strings, it appeared as "CurrencysCurrency", untranslated. I thought it was a call to a function or something, and not a string. Well, these extra string were confirmed, so I'll just add them to the article! {EspyoT} 17:30, 5 April 2011 (EDT)
 * Prince Kassad beat me to it. Oh, and I just notice that that string I thought the translator didn't translate, the force victory string and the screencap config string were already discovered. Should've payed more attention. {EspyoT} 17:36, 5 April 2011 (EDT)


 * It appears among the strings, but I've seen that quite a lot in Windows applications, so dunno. -- Prince Kassad 17:33, 5 April 2011 (EDT)

Windows Vista/7 version
Should the Windows Vista/7 version have it's own article, considering this page is called "Solitaire (Microsoft, PC, 1990)"? --AttackedbyGlitch 19:47, 7 August 2012 (EDT)
 * Hah, indeed it should. Or at the very least, it should be a sub-page. {EspyoT} 20:55, 7 August 2012 (EDT)
 * Two pages for what is essentially the same game (minus enhancements) seems kind of silly in this case, so I just renamed the article. Now it's all-inclusive! --BMF54123 22:36, 7 August 2012 (EDT)

The Ctrl-Alt-Shift thing is old and has been there since the beginnings. I thought it was more of a cheat, but shrug. -- Sheeza 07:46, 8 August 2012 (EDT)

Lights and dials
I don't have a PC old enough to check, but I'm guessing they match up with the robot-design card back. Maybe it was going to be animated at one point before they scrapped the idea? Miles of SmashWiki 23:46, 10 August 2012 (EDT)


 * They're not even scrapped. They're animated backgrounds for four decks in the Windows NT version (and various versions before that).  The dials indeed match up with the robot deck design, the "weird blue smiley" is in fact the birds in the black castle deck design, the smiley goes to the sun in the beach deck design (it shows up very rarely), and the "card coming out of the box" is in fact a card coming out of the sleeve of the very last deck design.  They all work properly, so there's absolutely no reason to have them on this page.   犬夜叉 ( Inuyasha )  00:29, 11 August 2012 (EDT)