I'm currently playing Dr Tronic's Zoo and when I end up in room 15896 I find myself being short of one yellow key. I've only been able to discover five, in the areas below

Help, anyone?

Hi Ollie,

Look closely at your map on the right side of the mansion. Let us know if you need another hint.

Good luck!

I see it... thanx :)

For some reason, neither HD downloadable versions of this game (hard and normal)
open after the 1st save is made.  The pop up message says that the file cannot be
found and the game file should be stored in the custom mansions folder, which
it is, otherwise I could have not played it at all, let alone get to the 1st save.

I have not had this problem with the other HD custom mansions.  All the saves
were easily accessible.  Obviously there is a glitch somewhere and I just can
figure it out. 

Is anyone available to help with this problem?

And the name of the custom mansions folder is "Midnight Mansion HD Custom Mansions"?

Inside the game folders (like the "Doctor Tronic's Zoo Normal" folder) there are a lot of subfolders?

Are the save files stored in:

~/Library/Application Support/ActionSoft/Midnight Mansion/Saved Games/Player's folder/Name-of-game folder ?


If everything above is correct I am afraid I can't help you.

Missy, try this:

Play one of the games the fastest way (don't care about extra keys) until first save and resave.  Where does MM HD want to save the game?  It should be the path above in your Library.

brell wrote on 28.12.2014 at 20:27:25:

Missy, try this: Play one of the games the fastest way (don't care about extra keys) until first save and resave.  Where does MM HD want to save the game?  It should be the path above in your Library.

Hi Brell, Thank you for responding, yes, it saves it like it saves all the other custom mansion saves, exactly like the path you described, only it does not open from there. 
I get that pop up that says what I stated in the previous post.  Hmm?  This is so
very strange.  I don't have this problem with any of the other HD custom mansions.

I had removed the game several times, then re-downloaded it.  I even closed MM and re-opened it and re-downloaded it. I have no idea what else to do.  Pity bcos I really like this game.

I will try it again and see if it will work today.  If you don't hear from me, it means
that I still can't get the save to work.  I will try to get to the 2nd save this time to
see if that makes a difference.  I will use cheats to extend lives if need be to get
to the 2nd save.  Wish me luck.  :)

Oh, Merry Christmas and I wish you a Happy New Year!

Here is a pic of the pop up that appears:

I guess I will have to play the game without saving it.  :(

---

I went thru the mansion 2 more times and of course I had to use cheats bcos
I can't retrieve any saves.  And I get the same pop up as stated in my previous post.

Here are two pics to show that yes, this custom mansion is where it is suppose
to be, yet the system will not let the saves be accessed.   

The 2nd pic is where ALL saved mansions go.  See, there are 2 saves for this
mansion and none of them are accessible.
I do not have this problem with any of the other custom mansions, just this one.

---

The MM HD Custom Mansions folder must be inside the MM HD folder.

Also, the Dr. Tronic Zoo normal folder is one level too deep.  You are not supposed to have Dr. Tronic Zoo normal folder inside of another Dr. T.Z. normal folder.

brell wrote on 29.12.2014 at 06:56:23:

The MM HD Custom Mansions folder must be inside the MM HD folder. Also, the Dr. Tronic Zoo normal folder is one level too deep.  You are not supposed to have Dr. Tronic Zoo normal folder inside of another Dr. T.Z. normal folder.

Brell, I have no idea how to make the changes that you are talking about bcos
this is the way my system has been set up from day one and I have never had
any problems with it.  Even when I trash all MM files and re-download the original MM game, play all the mansions so that it unlocks the custom mansions for me,
this set up always appears automatically.

I think that this particular mansion must have some sort of setting in the save area that prevents it from opening.  Could someone just check out the save
settings in this custom mansion.  Perhaps an error was made when it was
transformed into a HD game and no one has played it since and now that I
am playing it, this mistake is coming to light.

In the past, MM use to show up in my Applications folder.  Now days, it just
shows up in my Downloads folder and I chose to leave it there. 

Now, bcos of you, I am trying to move things around, I moved the MM HD game to the Applications folder and now I can't put it back into downloads. 
My ENTIRE MM HD game is not working now!!!  I should have left the MM HD
game where it automatically placed itself, in my Download folder and I should
have left it there.  Now I have to trash EVERYTHING and start playing
Vern's games all over again so that I can unlock the custom mansions! Shoot!

I am operating a Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks.  Maybe this is why MM no longer
appears in the Application Folder.  I just trashed EVERYTHING and re-downloaded
the MM HD game and again, it only appears in my Downloads folder with
NO Custom Mansion Folder.


See pic below:

Before the move mentioned above I tried to put the MM HD Custom Mansions folder into the MM HD, the one with the little man, that Vern created and sold to us, but it won't go into it and there is NO other MM HD folder that you are
talking about.

---

I just downloaded the MM HD game again and when I clicked on Open Mansion
I got this pop up, see below pic.

And if I don't move the custom game into this folder, which creates the 3 deep
you were talking about, the custom mansion does not play if it's only left
in the Download folder, where it's only 2 deep as you say it should be.

It looks like I don't have to play all the mansions in the MM (Vern's) game
to access the custom mansions.  Whew!

Like I said before, I think that someone made an error in the game itself
when converting it into HD.  Please have someone check the "save" settings
in the mansion level builder.

---

I figured out what's going on. Did a fresh download of both DTZs, and upon unzipping it creates a folder with a readme and another zip file. If you unzip this 2nd one you get the folder with all the subfolders of game data ('BGND' etc.) Moved this folder into MMHD Custom Mansions and all works fine.

josephine wrote on 29.12.2014 at 16:37:07:

I figured out what's going on. Did a fresh download of both DTZs, and upon unzipping it creates a folder with a readme and another zip file. If you unzip this 2nd one you get the folder with all the subfolders of game data ('BGND' etc.) Moved this folder into MMHD Custom Mansions and all works fine.

Hi Josephine,   Thank you for trying to help.  But the zip and the subfolders
are in the MM HD Custom Mansion folder to begin with. 

Moving it to the 1st window makes no difference.  Yes the game will play whether you moved it to the main folder or left it in the sub folder.  It's the "save pedestal" that is the problem.  The game saves but it will not open when I am ready to play it at another time.

Missy, the MM HD folder and all of it's subfolders must be within the Applications folder.  Otherwise you will eventually run into problems.

Now, the "Midnight Mansion HD Custom Mansions" folder is not created when you download the game from the App store.  You must create it yourself inside the "Midnight Mansion HD" folder which is inside the Application folder.  Then you must drag the custom mansions folder from downloads to the MM HD CM folder.

And, Josephine is right.  Some of the HD custom mansions were uploaded to the forums in such a way that when you unzip the file, you'll get a folder with a readme and another zip file.  Unzip the 2nd one and you'll get the CM folder with all it's subfolders.  Drag this subfolder into the MM HD CM folder.  This should work.

Below is a screenshot of the folder layout in my computer. The "Midnight M...m Mansions" is my MM HD CM folder.

---

Brell, I cannot say it plainer.  When I download the MM HD game from Action Soft,
it does NOT provide a MM HD folder.  The game downloads in a zip format then I
click on it and Vern's MM game appears.  There is no separate MM HD folder
as it appears in the pic you provided.  AND THE GAME DOES NOT WORK IF I MOVE IT TO THE APPLICATIONS FOLDER.

If I want to create a MM HD Custom Mansion folder, I then have to open the
MM HD Vern's game and click on Open Mansion, then a pop up appears asking me if I want the Custom Mansion folder to
appear be stored in the same place the MM game is stored.  I click yes and the
below pic is what I end up with. 

I AM OPERATING WITH A 10.9 MAVERICKS PROGRAM.  MAYBE THAT'S WHY
YOURS, JOSEPHINE'S AND MINE ARE DIFFERENT???

The left column IS my download folder.  I made a "download sub folder" within
the download column on the left, so as to store my more permanent downloads.
The left column is full of things that I delete and I don't want to accidentally delete things of importance.  Perhaps that is what is confusing you?   Either way,
the MM game is in the download folder, only it's a sub folder within the download
folder.  But there is no separate MM HD FOLDER as you have in your pic.

---

Hi Missy- maybe your saved game is going into the wrong folder. It should be:

hard drive > Users > whatever the account's user name is > Library > Application Support > ActionSoft > Midnight Mansion > Saved Games > whatever the game's user name is > Doctor Tronic's Zoo.

Try trashing the prefs file too, maybe there's something wonky going on. (Same path as above but ActionSoft > Midnight Mansion > Midnight Mansion HD Prefs.)

josephine wrote on 29.12.2014 at 19:37:27:

Hi Missy- maybe your saved game is going into the wrong folder. It should be: hard drive > Users > whatever the account's user name is > Library > Application Support > ActionSoft > Midnight Mansion > Saved Games > whatever the game's user name is > Doctor Tronic's Zoo. Try trashing the prefs file too, maybe there's something wonky going on. (Same path as above but ActionSoft > Midnight Mansion > Midnight Mansion HD Prefs.)

Keep in mind, I am operating a 10.9 Mavericks platform.

If I follow your instructions, starting with Finder/Hard Drive/ etc., there is
is nothing to do with MM after I click on Application.

Perhaps you meant that I should click on Finder/whatever the account user name is/Library etc.  then yes, the trail leads to Action Soft/MM/ etc.  (I had to use my
Easy Find to locate this info)

Thank you for this lead.  I forgot to trash there as well.  I will use Easy Find to
locate ALL MM folders and trash them too.  You're right, maybe that's what's causing the problems. 

Anyway, the MM game does not load into my Finder/Applications folder like it use to.  It only goes to the downloads folder and I have to play it from there.  Any idea as to why?

Edit:  I just took a pic of the trail from Finder/my user account name.
My question is, other than deleting the Midnight Mansion HD Prefs folder as you suggested, pls look at the pic and tell me what else I should delete in order to
re-download the MM HD (Vern's game) again.   Pls note that there are license folders too, should I delete everything to do with MM???  If yes, won't that cause a lot of problems for me when I try to re-download the game from scratch?

---

Hi Josephine,

I posted a reply to you but I had to edit it a few times, now I'm not sure if
you got the newer reply?  Please look at it and respond.  Thank you.

Hi Missy- I'm not on Mavericks, so just to make sure I have this clear:


Quote:

... starting with Finder/Hard Drive/ etc., there is is nothing to do with MM after I click on Application.

You're sure you're going to "Application Support" and NOT "Applications?" (Your screenshot looks correct though.)



Quote:

It only goes to the downloads folder and I have to play it from there.

Can you manually move the DTZ mansion folder (with all the weirdly named subfolders) to the CM folder and have it play OK? If not, try moving the  downloaded  zip to the CM folder. Then unzip (you'll get a new folder called Doctor Tronics Zoo with a readme and a new zip file), move the new zip file up to the CM folder, and delete the old zip file and folder. Unzip the new file- you'll get the folder with the weird subfolders- and then move that folder up a level to the CM folder, and delete the folder it was in.



Quote:

...there are license folders too, should I delete everything to do with MM???

Keep the licenses, that wouldn't mess up your saved games. Just delete the "Midnight Mansion HD Prefs" file.

Also- are there any saved games in that Saved Games folder? Do a search and see if Mavericks is putting DTZ saved games somewhere else. If so, manually move them to the Saved Games folder and try to play.

Hi Josephine,

I waited and waited & then gave up expecting a reply, bcos not to many players
have the Mavericks platform.  I deleted everything to do with MM, thanks to
Easy Find.  And re-installed it.  Now I have to play all the section 1 & 2 games
in order for the Custom Mansion access.   :(
On the upside, perhaps with the Mavericks installation, this was necessary. 

In Mavericks, the House/Home folder, DOES NOT have Libraries visible.  Apple hid it bcos people were deleting major files that needed to be in the Mac system.  That means that "saved" MM HD games cannot be accessed from
the MM main page bcos the Finder window that pops up within the MM game, does not show the saved games bcos we can't see the Libraries folder and the Go
to Folder is not accessible in that MM HD Finder window. That's why I made a short cut showing the Downloads in the side bar.

Anyway, I will save your reply and wait until I finish all the mansions in order to
activate the Custom Mansions and I will try to play DTZ again to see if it does "save" this time.   If not, then I give up and will have to play it using "Extra Lives" cheats.

To answer one of your questions.  No, the Finder/Hard Drive/Users/my name/
Application Support....... has NOTHING in it, not even other MM stuff.  Nothing!

With Mavericks, MM is no longer stored in the Applications Folder either. 
And the MM HD appears in the down loads folder with the zip file.  Yep, in Mavericks, everything is stored in different places.  I'm delaying installing their new free Yosemite platform bcos of all the bugs that come with the newest platforms.

I will let you know if Dr. Tronic's Zoo continues to give me problems when I can finally download the game.  It may take me a week or so. 

Bless you for being there for me and trying to help.  I really appreciate it.
I wish for you that the Universe grants you your heart desires for the New Year and beyond that.  Happy New Year!    :)

Quote:

...Whether Hard Drive or User (house)Name, both these areas DO NOT have libraries visible..

Well hmph. If you're comfortable using Terminal it's possible to show/search hidden files. I don't want to try to walk you through that since I haven't done it in Mavericks, but there's plenty of info out there on how.

Also, Mavericks does something called "sandboxing" (basically, some applications aren't automatically available to all user accounts/other applications) and I have no idea what-so-ever if this is the case here. But AFAIK Apple now requires anything sold through the App Store to sandbox. (This is Apple's fault, not MM!) Either way it looks like Mavericks structures/hides things differently, especially if you download in one user account and try to use it in another. (Again, just speculation here.) Did you download from the App Store or from the MM website?



Quote:

I wish for you that the Universe grants you your heart desires for the New Year and beyond that.  Happy New Year!   :)

Thanks! Happy New Year  :)

Missy, I didn't know that the MM HD at ActionSoft's site acts like it does.  I downloaded it and unzipped it and it didn't give me the Game Data subfolder so I do not know where the built-in mansin data is stored.

I have had the same MM layout since Snow Leopard through Mountain Lion through Mavericks through Yosemite so this has nothing to do with the system - BUT - Mavericks has the annoying habit of hiding your library folder.  Your problem may lie in the ActionSoft folder within the Application Support folder within your Library folder.  Here are three way to access your Library folder.  The first two are easy and temporary but the third one is permanent and more complicated as it includes using the Terminal application:

https://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/global/access-hidden-user-library-files.html

If you open your library folder then check the /Application Support/ActionSoft/Midnight Mansion folder.  All your saved games should be there within the Saved games subfolder.

josephine wrote on 30.12.2014 at 14:58:23:

Well hmph. If you're comfortable using Terminal it's possible to show/search hidden files.

Me??? ...... No way am I even remotely going to mess around in the taboo Terminal.
lololol. 

Let me explain the House/Home Library folder further.  Since it's hidden, Apple Care does give the info on how to find it, which boggles the mind that they hid it in the first place.

You have to open the Finder window, select House/Home, then you have go to the top and click on "GO", then when the pop up appears, click "Go to Folder" then enter "~/Library" ...... see pics provided. 

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brell wrote on 30.12.2014 at 18:14:13:

Missy, I didn't know that the MM HD at ActionSoft's site acts like it does.  I downloaded it and unzipped it and it didn't give me the Game Data subfolder so I do not know where the built-in mansin data is stored.

Hi Brell, I used my "Easy Find" software program (which is Free and the best at finding everything on your Mac & it offers view in Finder and delete) to locate the "Game Data subfolder" and all I could find was something called "Suspended Game Data, (located in House/Library/Application Support/ActionSoft/MM/Suspended Game Data/Missy and when I clicked on it, to the right appears my game name "Missy" and when I click on Missy, nothing is to the right of it at all.  Hmm?

Brell, Thank you so much for taking the time to help me with this issue.  I will also let you know, once I re-play all the MM games to access the Custom Mansion folder, if the CM Dr Tronic's Zoo is saving okay.

I wish you the highest and best of your hearts desires for this coming New Year
and every year after that.  Happy New Year!  :)

brell wrote on 30.12.2014 at 18:14:13:

Missy, If you open your library folder then check the /Application Support/ActionSoft/Midnight Mansion folder.  All your saved games should be there within the Saved games subfolder.

Hi Brell, that is such a long way to access the saved games so I just dragged the
Saved Games name from there and dragged it to the side bar of the Finder window.
It's just a short cut, but all the saved games are in their original place.

Missy, if all your save games are in the right folder I'm afraid I cannot help you anymore on your DTZ saved games.  Sorry.

Quote:

Let me explain the House/Home Library folder further...

Missy- thanks for posting those pics and explaining it. Will keep that in mind when I update the OS. Post when you get to DTZ again and let us know if it saves properly this time.

josephine wrote on 31.12.2014 at 16:31:47:

Missy- thanks for posting those pics and explaining it. Will keep that in mind when I update the OS. Post when you get to DTZ again and let us know if it saves properly this time.

As Brell mentions in his post above, the hidden "Library" folder is only a Mavericks thing, I believe it's not an issue in the newer upgrade Yosemite, for now, you'd have to ask Brell about Yosemite. 

Gosh, all these new names and upgrades, it's so hard to keep track of them all, especially if something goes wrong with the Mac and we need to re-install the entire system again, it will take days I think.  I shudder to think about it.  Perhaps it would be easier to just buy a brand new Mac.  lololol

Missy (and all of you):  If you upgrade to yosemite I recommend a clean install.

brell wrote on 31.12.2014 at 21:39:51:

Missy (and all of you):  If you upgrade to yosemite I recommend a clean install.

You are a mind reader!  I was going to ask you about your opinion on Yosemite.
What do you mean by a clean install?   

http://macs.about.com/od/OS-X-Yosemite/ss/Perform-a-Clean-Install-of-OS-X-Yosemite-on-Your-Macs-Startup-Drive.htm#step-heading

A bit complicated and you need a backup disk

Happy New Year Everyone!  :)

Well, after all that work and having to re-play all the MM HD games, I still can't open
Dr. Tronic's Zoo from the save point.  Below is the pop up that appears when I
click on "Load Save".

I have just started The Dragon's Trap Normal to see if it opens after the save.
And now it doesn't open either!!!  I don't understand.  All the custom mansions
were opening just fine before I came across Dr. Tronic's Zoo.  After I moved the MM and custom mansion folder as per Brell's instructions, none of the custom mansion games worked again.  What is going on???  Perhaps the CM's don't like working
with Mavericks?  Perhaps Vern should be notified?  Maybe he will know the answer to this problem.  :(

---

Well, I moved MM HD and MM HD Custom Mansions from the Download section
to the ActionSoft/MM folder and then I clicked on Saved Mansions and tried to open both games from there.  No dice!  :( 
So I double clicked on Dr. T's title and this is the pop up I got from that ActionSoft section, see below pic.

What does that mean "Document Format"?   I thought that after the zip file was open, the actual game appeared, not a document format.  Any ideas, anyone?

---

GREAT NEWS!  I FINALLY GOT IT TO WORK!  YEAH!!!  AND I OWE IT ALL TO
BRELL & JOSEPHINE's INPUT and Vern's instructions!  Thank you very much
for all your help!

The below pic & instructions are from the ActionSoft website instruction.

Pls note that Vern does not show where this MM Custom Mansion folder is stored
when it is created. 
Nor does he show where the MM HD 1&2 is stored when downloaded. 
Are they both to stay in the Download Folder?  Or are they both to be moved to the
House/Library/ApplicationSupport/ActionSoft/MidnightMansion folder???

Are those instructions for Mac Versions less than 10.9?

NOTE:  Somewhere in Vern's instructions he says something about MM HD not recognizing sub-folders and Brell, you too said something about that.

So I messed around some more, while trying to follow Vern's instructions.  After several tries, I finally figured it out.

Att:  Mavericks users.  MM HD 1&2 game & the Custom Mansions Folder will be downloaded to your "Download Folder". 
JUST LEAVE THEM THERE, DO NOT RELOCATED THEM!

- Download the Custom Mansion game of your choice.  The zip file will go into your Download Folder.  Open the zip file from there (OR from the shortcut in the upper right corner of your Safari window, to the right of Reader) and a brand new (name of the CM game) folder will appear above the zip file, in the Downloads Folder. 

- CLICK ON THAT NEW FOLDER and to the right of that section, in the sub-section, a brand new zip file will appear along with a ReadMe file.  DOUBLE CLICK ON THAT NEW ZIP FILE and a new (name of the CM game) folder will appear right above it again.  CLICK ON THAT NEW FOLDER and to the right of it, in the sub-section, you will see the game data that belongs to it.

Take that 2nd newly created folder (name of the CM game) and drag that to the
Custom Game Folder. 
DO NOT DRAG ANYTHING ELSE INTO THE CM FOLDER!!!

Now your saved games will play!  TaDa!!

I blame Apple for all this confusion bcos they are always coming out with a newer
version.  If they just checked their revisions before releasing them to the public, they wouldn't have to always come out with a newer version to correct their previous mistakes and then the newer version screws everything up.  It's a vicious circle.

P.S. The downside to this set up is that you will have a lot of clutter left over in
your Download Folder and if you ever want to clean it out as I do, you will have a mess on your hands bcos it's hard to keep track of all the active games from other games sites as well.  :(

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i am having the same prob, when i land up in room 15896, i hv 1 yellow key short, i hv taken the key hidden in the very right side of mansion... i hv searched the map, i dont know where m i missing it .. !

ohhhh yes ...found it .. :P :D