Also installed on Vista32 with NVidia GForce 8400GS without a problem. Installation took several minutes but not hours!
Tried to install it on a Laptop with WinXP and ATI RADEON 9700, but that did not work. Could not find the problem as the game crashes inmediately.

.........................Moderator comment......................


Thank you for your feedback.

This game installed very well, and the graphics are great! Love the storyline. Having a bit of trouble figuring out which way to go with my ship though. I will check out the walkthrough and such. Thanks so much, will post more after I have played it a bit. Wanted to post my first thoughts. I did have to install the second file needed as my Laptop is pretty new, got it in October.

Hope you are having a great weekend!!


.....................Moderator comment....................

Thanks, looking forwards to your further thoughs. :)

The game and story itself was okay, but definitely not 5/5. A couple of points why are listed below.

I have completed the game except for one quest called "A poopy job!, which took me a long time to collect all of the jewels and now it just crashes on me every time I go to turn in the quest. Very disappointing.

I thought the most major addition besides stability was the need for the user to be able to define his own controls. I kept wanting to use w,a,s,d to control my movement instead of the arrow keys and when I was using the arrow keys, I kept wanting to use something other than left shift to dock, etc.

Also, it would have made the game more enjoyable if a permanent faster movement method was available. Continually hitting "Star Blaze" was both costly and annoying.


.........................Moderator Comment.......................

Thank you for your feedback Steel, much appreciated. good to get feedback from someone whose managed to play the whole way through. :)

I still cannot understand why so many community members had problems with this game. I've been able to install on four different computers with no problems at all. Only one of the computers is new, the rest are from 5 to 3 years old with hardware varying from a single core cpu (laptop) with Vista Home Premium 32 bit, two dual core PC's one with XP Pro 32 bit and the other with Win 7 Pro 64bit plus my latest build a quad core with Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit. I've maintained all the computer so that they have the latest drivers and tend to install all the usual stuff like the XNA framework.

There were nearly 7000 downloads which is about average. for a better than usual game I think this is a great shame as I'm sure many of you will have lost out because of these user oriented/hardware/driver problems.

Regards

Moderator

No, it did not work for us. Tried on two systems and failed. Pity, really, as it seemed so good from looking in the video reviews above.

The installer indicated that all required files were present.

Perhaps the problem it the antique computers I tried to install this on, one purchased new at the end of 2008, and the other at the beginning of 2009. Obviously, dual core Pentium processors, 2 GB ram, Windows Vista are just too old fashioned for this software.

Download time was 41 minutes and installation took 26 minutes after that.

Developers should stay far away from any Micro$oft development environment - especially their so-called Net. Just a tip from a first rate programmer.

If it may help, I offer this report from one of the systems:

Description:
Stopped working

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: CLR20r3
Problem Signature 01: a sirius game.exe
Problem Signature 02: 1.0.0.0
Problem Signature 03: 4f16b7c0
Problem Signature 04: Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Game
Problem Signature 05: 4.0.0.0
Problem Signature 06: 4c72cd09
Problem Signature 07: 134
Problem Signature 08: 60
Problem Signature 09: AQRZ5UNGVPAAKLRWFFK35BWUV213BMTN
OS Version: 6.0.6001.2.1.0.768.3
Locale ID: 1033

Ahh yes, there's that Microsoft rubbish footprint in that report! Thankfully, this is one of the few 100% failed games ever offered on GGOTD. In addition, today's GOTD offer was yet another M$net failure. That's what we get for spending hours every year keeping our M$net RUBBISH updated. Thanks Billy B.K. Gates.


........................Moderator Comment......................

Thanks Mr Snoozles for your feedback.

Hi,
I downloaded and usually don't have any problems, only once.
But my computer told me that I am low on shadowing for this game and continue at my own risk. I usually listen to warnings. I saw the post about downloading a game booster. What I need to know is if this would make a difference or be better to wait til eventually get a new computer or graphics card? thanks!!!

..........................Moderator Comment....................

Low on shadowing is probably in reference to the shader model of your graphics chip. I don't think Game Booster would help in this case.

RE Mod Comment in 28: Thanks for the assistance. I appreciate the 99.9% of the time I'm able to download and install giveaways here without any issue. Unfortunately, I'm going to let this one go.

Spiel läuft nicht!
Weder auf Vista 32bit basic noch auf Win 7 Home Premium!

Downloaded and installed, failed to start. Tried for half an hour with different tricks. It even indicated that I had XNA installed. Hope for better tomorrow.
@ #18 It's sad attitude that needs fixing.


..........................Moderator comment......................

Absolutely

People: Check your event logs. If you can find the crash and view the stack trace, you'll have a better chance finding the solution. If you got a Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Graphics.NoSuitableGraphicsDeviceException, that means your graphic card and/or your graphics driver sucks, and needs updating. Otherwise, post here and I'll look at it. See my comment above (http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/a-sirius-game/#comment-252162).

.......................Moderator Comment......................

Thank you GMMan, you say it so eloquently. :) It's such a shame that many will be put off this game becasue of the comments made today. It works perfectly fine and is actually IMO one of the better game giveaways that we've had over the last year.

Installed. Will not run. Crashes instantly w/"has encountered a problem and needs to exit" box. XP Pro SP3 Q8200 processor, 4GB RAM, Radeon X1300.


......................Moderator comment.........................

Do you have XNA Framework v4 installed? This MUST be installed for the game to work. The game does not install this for you. This was an optional update when it was offered by Microsoft so it's possible that you didn't bother to install it.

I know how to download and install the games from this site-- I love them and most of them work!- this one just won't open and I don't think it is worth the stress to try to figure out what the heck you are talking about,I am not computer savvy enough to go into any files I haven't created. I won't take a chance on screwing up my laptop for a game -- I need it for school!! I'll just wait for the next game you offer! Thanks for all the great games!!

.....................Moderator comment.......................

The ony difference between this games installaton compared to other games given away is that you first have to unpack an MSI file which ultimately becomes your set up file, but you must also ensure that you have XNA framework v4 installed otherwise this game won't work. (and the latest version of diect X 9.0)

How do I fully delete this thing (including registry entries)? Every other game has installed and run without problems. I've run the install process twice (running the msi after unpacking it from the zip file). I have a basic HP Pavilion laptop, dual core T6600,4 GB RAM, integrated Invidia graphics, running Windows 7 Ultimate SP 1. All drivers up to date. No matter what combination of compatibility settings I use, all I get when I run the program is an error message "A Sirius Game has stopped working." I wish it would work, but it doesn't. I've spent too much time tinkering with it. How do I fully uninstall it? I stupidly did not set a restore point before loading it.


.....................Moderator comment........................

Windows puts literally millions of registry entries into the registry so a couple of thousand more are not going to create a problem. If anything these entries will slow your computer by at most a couple of milli seconds. That's so fast you'd never notice the change.

Once I'd discovered that this game installed a lot of registry entries I did suggest to users that they create a restore point so that if they wanted to delete the game they could restore their computers to a pre install state.

I've downloaded many games from GGOTD and this one has to be the longest and slowest. Many UAC prompts from Vista, and unless your babysitting the install, I can see why many people are having issues with the installation. As for the game, it looks pretty good but unfortunately I had no sound? I adjusted the sound levels from the limited in game settings and nothing. (Sounds, music, videos work fine in windows...just not in game)Anyway, I tried the tutorial but didnt get much out of it, moved the ship around a bit, docked it, tried to buy some cannon balls and couldnt...so I just quit and uninstalled this as I was getting too frustrated. Looks good but this version has too many issues/buggy for my taste.

Does not run.

When trying to activate on the Giveawayoftheday website, error message is:-

:Failed to connect - try again later"

Have tried several time, nogo.

Win7, 32-bit, lots of memory & hard disk space available.

I finally got the files to change, and it is loaded, but the shortcut will not take me to the game. I can click on the other image for the web address to buy it though. I have wasted so much time today trying to get this to download, but perhaps I'll have to admit defeat.


......................Moderator comment.................................

Did you follow the install path and create a shortcut to the game? There is no shortcut created for this game, you have to do it yourself. The default path for the installation is C:\Programfiles\A sirius Game\ but I've found that sometimes these giveaway games may even intall to the previous giveaways path. If all else fails do a search for the games executable which is:

A Sirius Game

@promytius. Get off your high horse for a minute. Remember that the Internet has made the world basically one large global market. While business may be conducted predominantly in English, English is not the most spoken language in the world nor is it the only language. I daresay that if you tried to translate your comment into some other language, let alone program in that language, you too would make a royal mess of it.

You indicate that English is the preferred programming language. I hate to burst that rosy bubble that is your world but from the few links I checked in Google, One of the C variants seems to be the preferred language. As far as I know, English isn't even a programming language.

Look up the definition of tolerance then practice it, ............!

@29: You should do a virus check. There's probably some malware rewriting download links to some random junk.

Installation ok. Win7 home premium 64bit/HP Pavilion DV7. At runtime the game does not start... error dialog A Sirius Game does not work anymore... Search 4 online solution or close the application.

Installatie van dit programma = ok. Win7 home premium 64bit//HP Pavilion DV7. Bij het uitvoeren van het programma komt er enkel een dialoogvenster met een foutmelding "A Sirius Game werkt niet meer". U kunt online naar een oplossing voor het probleem zoeken. -> Online naar een oplossing zoeken en dit programma sluiten. -> Het programma sluiten.

Installed on Vista 64 SP2 with Radeon HD2600XT and on Win7 64 with Radeon HD6550M without problems. Mouse is indeed a little slow but it is playable.
Nice game and that for free...

When I download this game, it says it is a real player download. Suddenly all my downloads are saying they are real player ones when they should not be. Any advice or thoughts on this.

.......................Moderator comment......................

You've probably picked up some malware from elsewhere. This game is perfectly fine.

One of the most involved GGOTD installs, and all for nothing. Installer says everything is in place and ready, I click the icon to run the game, the computer thinks for a second and then nothing.

The game appears to start up (according to the task manager) and then quits with no explanation or error message.

Even after all that, no Uninstaller included for the game or any of the additional software the game required and installed.

Hopefully I can just delete the folder and call it a day?

(Running Win 7 x64 Home [SP1] w/4GB ram)


.........................Moderator comment......................

Yes this has been a lot different to any other game giveaway i've ever downloaded. You state part of your computers spec but not the most important i.e. graphics. what graphics card does your computer have. If you're not sure, you can find out by going to the start menu and typing in dxdiag in the search field. This will bring up the direct X diagnostics panel. open up the display tab to find out which graphics card you have. It will tell you the graphics memory, but not the shader model number so you will than need to do a little research to find the shader model number. This will then tell you whether or not it was your computers specs that were at fault for this game not running. memory

about #19 moderator:
My grafhic card support :
NVIDIA Quadro NVS 110M (nVidia Quadro NVS 110M / GeForce Go 7300)
DirectX 9c, Shader 3.0
so it is not that!


....................Moderator Comment..............................

Okay.

I would love to try this game but as I see you have to have a min of 2gb that leaves me out. Which is to bad as it looks like my kind of game.

sadly after a couple of installs and try to make compatible, can't spend any more time on this today, just refuses to run and no message or error to look at, nothing.??


......................Moderator comment......................

I've posted comments above that will tell you how to check on errors. You just have to check the event log. Most problems will be recorded there. If you find the message incomprehensible, then Google the message for further explanations.

Write and description looks great - Downloaded and worked on installing.

First problem: something about my laptop graphics not having "shader" ability - continue? - Sure - it looked like I would really like this offering.

Goes to extracting: Uses RAR - and I didn't notice until later it put it in some previous directory instead of a SiriusGame directory ... Finally figure that out ... abandon. Extract again.

Next: Run .msi install - Need .NET framework 4 --- started to do that. Then abandoned it due to too much time spent - Time to get on with other things today, plus don't know if it will work at all.

Sad. I suspect I would really like this if it weren't such a pain to get on my machine.

It is too bad that with todays BYOD society, that is are still so many issues with the integrated video. 99.9% of everything I do is on one laptop or another. So, not today! Thank You, GAOTD!

Sorry so many are having problems installing. I didn't have any problems installing on two different computers. One is a powerful Win7 (x64) desktop with a 27" screen, but the other is a low powered netbook.

I am running the netbook with the screen set to 800x600, but changed the desktop to 1920x1080. In both cases I also changed to full screen. All of this worked flawlessly. I haven't played much yet, but started a game on each and checked that they were working.

It is a plus for me when a game like this works on my netbook which is very convenient to take with me when I travel.


................................Moderator Comment..........................

Thank you for your feed back Campy

Installing the game on my computer took 3 minutes (but it did not run). As already mentioned in comment #12 and others, the installer does indicate that...
- The application requires a graphics card with hardware support for Shader Model 2.0.
Additional required system components include:
- Microsoft DirectX 9.0c February 2010.
- Microsoft XNA Framework 4.0.
- - - - -
Maybe not for this game; but you can try emulating Shader Model 2 support, using software.
Look for online tutorials beforehand, to avoid destabilizing your operating system.
- - - - -
'SwiftShader' (Download Commercial Demo):
http://transgaming.com/business/swiftshader
[quote]To test SwiftShader with an existing D3D application, you may download the SwiftShader DirectX® 9 SM 3.0 demo, and move the provided D3D9.dll file next to your application.[/quote]
- - - - -
'3D-Analyze' (Download Freeware)
http://www.tommti-systems.de/go.html?http://www.tommti-systems.com/main-Dateien/files.html


...........................Moderator comment......................

Thank you for your feedback last shadow. I totally missed checking the specifications this mornning. That's a good point: re Shader model 2. Although a few years old now, I'm sure some who have older systems won't have this requirement. Thanks for the suggestions.

Installed fine on XP pro, Service Pack 3 No error messages. Installed a setup file that you would run as usual.
Did not start, but got a message that Windows had encountered a problem. Do you want to exit the program?
A game should not be so hard to install that you have to be computer guru to do it.
A complex program, the installation should examin the hardware and software to determine if your computer meets the requirements of the program. If not, it must notify what is missing and not complete the installation.
It is not easy for the uninitiated, after a bad installation, to clean up the computer from any debris that a poorly programmed applications been up to!


.......................Moderator Comment.........................

Did you make a note of the error message. This woild tell us more about what the problem could be, for example does your graphics chip support shader model 2? which is a requirement for this game.

I'd loved to try this game out, but unfortunately my graphics card sucks, and the game crashes instantly upon launch. It would have been nice if they caught exceptions and displayed a message, but I tracked down my problem to a Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Graphics.NoSuitableGraphicsDeviceException exception. If you're having problems with the game crashing, take a look in the Event Viewer (it's in the Administrative Tools folder in the start menu; on Vista and Win7 just type it into the search box). It should be the top error in the Application logs. Post the error description in the comments if you want me to interpret them.

Note that to run this game, you'll need Pixel Shader 2.0 and at least DirectX 9.0c. You'll also need the XNA Framework Redistributable (see Whiterabbit's post above).

BTW, this is a game written in C# (or VB) using the XNA Framework, hence its small executable size. Contrast this to Elementals: The Magic Key, which also is written in C# but has its own interface implementation of DirectX. From the number of classes (and relative disorganization) in the assembly, I'll say that this game is not too complex.


............................Moderator Comment........................

Thank you for your feedback GMMan

Learn English. Your description of the game is riddled with errors. I will not bother with any software if the authors cannot even write a simple English sentence. We all know English is the preferred programming language, and if you cannot write a proper English sentence, then I assume your software is crap; that's not just an opinion, that is experience talking. Programs with English errors always have programming problems...

.............................Moderator Comment......................

This is a very arrogant attitude. You cannot expect a non-English speaking developer to be able to write perfect English. It would exclude a whole section of the development community. In my travels searching for freeware games I've discovered some amazing software from non-English speaking developers that are not only fantastic in their creativity, they put to shame lots of developers that do have a good command of English.

to avoid troubles if your worried about the registry entries try sandboxie run the game in the sand box and if you don't like it, just delete it from the box and not have to worry about the reg entries. sandboxie is free google it.

Installed fine on W7 32 Home Premium.
The game itself runs, however, by clicking on the Settings menu it always crashes. I can only play the game in windowed mode, and that window can't be maximized. On a 1600x1400 monitor, the game window is quite small, and the letters are almost painfuly small to read.

I most seriously miss the ability to use key combos or shortkeys. For example, practically all PC games utilize the excellent feature of the ESC key by which you're supposed to be able to exit and close the various menu windows or shop windows in the game. Here, you must always click on a Close 'button' to leave a window. In the (above mentioned) small game window, it is doubly hard to hit the little red X in the right top corner.

Also, some speed control could be built in. When I leave a port, and click to another port on the horizon, my ship sails there all right, but the sailing progress is slow and boring.

My overall impression is that the game could be quite enjoyable, but handling it is roundabout. For free, for testing, it's OK, but I wouldn't pay 13 bucks for it. Especially, since Spellforce Universe cost me almost the same amount a few years back, and there's a huge difference between this one and that.


...................Moderator Comment....................

Thank you for your feedback. I checked again and found that there is no actual full screen toggle. chenging the screen res to higher ones increases the size of the window till it fills the screen at (for me) 1920x1080., that's on a 25" monitor. Personally I think most arcade games are overpriced when you consider that you can get older AAA games such as The Elder Scrolls III and IV (Morrowind and Oblivion) for around the same when the sales are on and you cannot compare the two. Both those and many more are supported by modders with hundreds of Gigabytes of extra content. Unfortunately there has always been a isparity between the two types of games.

I ran the setup, which downloaded and extracted another setup file for the game. After running this "A Sirius Game" setup, an icon was placed on my desktop, so I clicked it thinking this would start the game, but all it did was bring up the developer's website, with the opportunity to buy the game for $12.99 ???? Doesn't seem like a FREE Game Giveawayoftheday to me ???


.........................Moderator comment........................

The icon you mentioned says "Visit A Sirius Game purchase page", that doesn't look much like a game executable shortcut, it says to me that it takes me to the developers purchase page where I may be able to purchase a copy, which is exactly where you were taken. When you click on the MSI file you will see an installation path to where the game is being installed to. I changed mine to a different drive and folder to the default, which I think was C:\Program files\A sirius Game. If you follow the path that is cleary shown during the installation process you'll find the games executable which you'll also find is fully registered totally for free. Thus confirming that this is indeed a totally free game giveawayoftheday :)

Ne démarre pas sous XP.

Pour désinstaller, Revo Uninstaller indique avoir trouvé 2163 éléments du registre, et 1072 répertoires ! Ahurissant !

J'espère qu'il n'y aura pas de problème...

Et je déconseille fortement d'installer ce jeu.

.......................Moderator comment.....................

Translated using Google translator..


Do not start under XP.

To uninstall, Revo Uninstaller 2163 reports finding registry items, and 1072 directories! Amazing!

I hope there will be no problem ...

And I strongly recommend to install this game


As I mention earlier, it seems that every file in the game has created a registry entry. Remember also that XNA Framework was installed

Installed but won't open :(


..................Moderator comment..............

Have you followed the installation path and created a shortcut? Check to see that you have the XNA Framework v4.0 and have you checked your event log to see what the problem was/is?

It's such a shame that community members are getting problems running this game. I have it working absolutely fine on a win XP Pro 32 bit with SP3, a Vista Home Premium 32 bit laptop, A Win 7 Ultimate SP1 64 bit and a Win 7 Pro SP1 64 bit computer and the game works perfectly well on all four computers. For those having problems running this game I can only suggest you ensure your computer has all of the drivers up to day, that you have the latest XNA Framework and direct X v9.0c already installed on your computers before installing this game (even though the game is supposed to install them).


Microsoft XNA Network v4.0:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=20914
http://microsoft-xna-framework.en.softonic.com/

Microsoft Direct X v9.0cl>:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=19320

http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/OS-Enhancements/Microsoft-DirectX-Control-Panel.shtml




I'd also ensure your computer has been defragged to ensure smooth running of the game. If your hard drive is badly defragmented it can cause problems with running some games

After playing the game for a while I think it's a pity that the above problems will undoubtedly put some off even bothering to try this game. I'm sure if your computer is set up correctly that you'll have no problem getting this game to run.

There could be compatibility problems with other programs running in the background. As suggested previously, try running something like Game Booster, setting it up to turn of most other programs. If you have downloaded and installed many of the giveaways from the other side of the giveaway project you may well find that one or more of the programs is running in the background. you can find out which firstly by checking the tray nest to the clock and also checking via Task Manager

If you do have problems running the game, i suggest checking the even log to find out what is causing the problem. Usually any conflicts or problem will be recorded there.

Rather than explain how to do this (as there are differences between the different versions of Windows I'll post some links to decent articles that can help to along the way. Hopefully doing this will enqble you to track down the problems you may be having.

Checking the Event log in XP:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308427

Checking the event log in Vista:

http://www.petri.co.il/vista-event-viewer.htm

Checking the event log in win 7:

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/window-on-windows/use-windows-7-event-viewer-to-track-down-issues-that-cause-slower-boot-times/3253

To put this in perspective there has been nearly 3000 downloads of this game less than a quarter of the way into the game giveaway. I'm sure if there was something seriously wrong with it; firstly I wouldn't have got all four copies installed to work perfectly and there would have been far more posts requesting help. Also the game is sold on one of the top game download sites Gamersgate. I'm sure if there was a serious flaw in the game they would not be selling the game.

moderator thank you very much for your advice... i will not follow any of it as it is way above my head ....thanx anyway !

a pity though as it seems like a very good game that i would like a lot ! especially after reading whiterabbits description .....maybe next time if the developers can work out why a brand new laptop running 7 can not handle their offer.......

thanx anyway to ggotd and the developer..good luck to others !

Impossible d'utiliser le menu "setting" le heu crash à chaque fois.
Il ne fonctionne qu'en mode fenêtre...illisible
Installé sur Win 7 X64 ATI radeon

Downloaded and installed the program. The GAOTD wrapper installed the installer, which I subsequently launched, and I unstructed the installer to include the "extra" files/drivers that were indicated by the install (.msi) program as being necessary.

However, when I attempt to launch the game using the desktop shortcut (or any other means for that matter), the infamous Microsoft "crash box" pops up, including the following data:

"EventType : clr20r3 P1 : a sirius game.exe P2 : 1.0.0.0
P3 : 4f16b7c0 P4 : microsoft.xna.framework.game P5 : 4.0.0.0
P6 : 4c72cd09 P7 : 134 P8 : 60 P9 : aqrz5ungvpaaklrwffk35bwuv213bmtn"

Running IoBit's Game Booster in various configurations has no effect. I'm running XP SP3 on an older IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad G41 with 2GB of RAM, which naturally has an integrated video system (which I noticed in another comment may possibly be at least part of the issue). I'm also running an external monitor via the integrated graphic subsystem, which is based on the NVidia GeForce 5200 series chipset. I can't get the game to run on either display, with the above error message resulting from any and all attempts.

I'll check back later in the day to see if I'm the only one experiencing this problem, and to see if any solutions have been proffered. If not, I'm afraid I'll have no choice but to uninstall and make note of the apparent incompatibility with my system along with a caveat for future game giveaways by this provider.

Thanks anyway - I know your intentions are the best. I also know I should consider getting a newer and faster system if I'm going to run graphics-intensive games on it. Perhaps I'll be able to afford one when the economy turns around (the direct cerebral interface should be out by then - LOL).

.....................Moderator comment..........................


Thanks Don. I hope you get things solved. :)

Beta as beta can be. Damned!!! WAs this really your intentionto let us betatest your scrap program? TEST IT YOURSELF, and state it as a BETA.
It´s a pity what is going on on the softwaremarket. No new ideas. No quality. Come back, when it is stable and installable.

......................Moderator comment........................

There's loads of brilliant new games being developed. You just have to look. check the Indie sites and forums and you'll find an alladins Cave of new games and up and coming developers with bright ideas.

Installation was very simple and took about 10 minutes on an office grade pc (low end NVidia graphic card) with Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit.

I am using full screen with my monitor's native resolution of 1980x1080. The animation is smooth.

So technically I have no complaint.

As for the gameplay - I am on duty today so I will try it next week.

Installed fine on win7,plays good besides a noticeable lag between mouse movement and cursor moving(can no doubt be adjusted out by mouse settings on computer-but would be nice to have a sensitivity slider for mouse in game options). Thanks GOTD & OVER CLOUD 9 for a nice game!

This game will not run properly on integrated video cards it seems. My laptop is such and I've tried before with this game and its not working to the date (its been available as a demo download for months). it works fine on my gaming machine so I happy and wooded out to play.

This looks like it's very similar to the Tradewinds and Uncharted Waters games. Luckily, I enjoy both, so I'll give this one a shot!

just will not launch despite 2 hours of my time and trying compatibility fixers and puts over 2000 new items into my registry

does not uninstall correctly

a right pain ...i am sorry i even saw it on offer

.......................Moderator comment.........................

Hello Pat, check your event log to see if there is an underlying problem i.e a compatibility issue with something running in the background. The game is a decent quality game and it would be a shame if you wern't able to get it running. My I suggest using Game booster. With that you are able to close a lot of background programs automatically, that may solve the problem right away, plus boost system resources by around 40% or moe (depending on what you have running in the background). The great thing about Game Booster is once you're done playing it onluy takes one click of a button to return your computer to normal. The program is also free from IObit:

http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/wp-admin/comment.php?action=editcomment&c=252111

With respect to the registy entries, i checked this and found the usual entries for installation etc plus it seems to have installed registry entries for each file that you'll find in the game and these are repeated for the different hives thus accounting for a large number of entries. They may seem a lot, but they do not impact on the running of your computer.

Crashed on XPsp3


........................Moderator comment...................

Installed and Worked fine on my XP Pro SP3 32 bit installation. Did you allow the XNA Network v4 to be installed? also try updating your graphics drivers. Check your event log to see if there was a reason given for the crash. Thank you.

Before installing this game PLEASE ensure you have the latest version of Direct X 9.0c (I think it's from 2010) and the XNA Framework v4.0 installed otherwise you WILL have problems getting this game to work. You also need to ensure that your computer comes up to scratch w.r.t. the specifications, for example does your graphics card/chip have shader model 2.0 or above?

It's unfortunate that the majority of commenters today have had problems installing this game. I personally have installed it to four different computers, each with a different operating system and all four work perfectly fine.

THERE IS NOTHING wrong with this game despite what you may read below. For example, Someone said

"It took me 2 hours to install", that's an exaggeration, it took me less than two minutes"

There has been several thousand downloads so the majority in all probability have got this excellent game to work. From my research over the years since moderating the game giveaway comments section I have found that less than 0.1% of those downloading bother to comment when all is hunky dory. When problems arise that figure rises almost exponentialy.

This game is sold by one of the biggest game distributors around today (Gamersgate. It would not be in their catalogue if there was something fundamentally wrong with it.

Please note that there are a lot of registry entries installed with this game. This will not impact on the running of your computer. (e.g when I rebooted my comuter there was no difference it the speed of reboot after installing this game to previously - I timed it) If you want to ensure the full removal of this game including registry entries it is important that you create a restore point before installing the game. In the event that you either can't get it to work, or that you decide it's not for you, you will then be able to fully remove the program and all the registry entries that it installed.

Thank you.





Sorry, somethings cropped up today and I don't have time to write a full review. The following is a very brief summary of the game, plus I've copied a whole bunch of information directly from the developers site.

One user has posted that there are a lot of registry entries associated with this game. I checked and found that there seems to be entries for every single file contained within the game. these are repeated in at least three of the main hives. That said, they do not impact on the performance of my computer after installing this game. If you are unsre as to what to do i would suggest creating a restore point so that you can try out the game. if you don't like it you can then delete it and restore the computer to pre installation, thus getting rid of all of the entries.


A Sirius Game is a 3D, action-adventure game with RPG elements. It requires the player’s ship to escort other merchant ships to different ports unharmed by the pirates and also trade different items for money. The game is set in a medieval environment with quirky humour and a lots of side quests and fantasy based pirate ships.


Videol>:


You can see videos of A Sirius game play HERE, HERE and HERE.



Featuresl>:

* Explore 4 unique environments.

* Cast new spells, cannons and destroy those who stand in Sirius’s way.

* Win challenging trophies!

* Fight pirate ships of various sorts like Peacocks, sharks, whales, swordfish, eagle, swans, ghost ships, etc.

* Unlock engaging side quests as you unravel Sirius’s story

* Get numerous ship upgrades and trade items.


The following is part of the guide that the developer has created to help you play this game. The full guide costs $4.99, but the demo of the guide, which i've copied here for you is adequate enough to give players a firm enough foundation to play the game. I would highly recommend you read this before playing the game a sit will give you some tips on how to play a winning gme as well as explain the ins and outs of game play. This is no match three, but an action adventure.

The Guidel>:

Game Controlsl>:

The game controls are also explained in the ‘Help’ section of the main menu, in-game. Screen resolution: The game might start in 800 X 600 screen resolution in windowed mode. To change that:

1) ... As soon as the game starts, click on the ‘Settings’ button.

2) ... Change the screen resolution to your monitor’s resolution and select ‘Full screen’ option. Click on ‘Save’ and then start the game.

3) ... If the game crashes or lags, change the screen resolution to a smaller size than your current resolution, while the full screen mode is still on.

4) ... If you aren’t sure where to find your monitor’s resolution, here are some simple steps to check/change where to find them- Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7.


Movementl>:

Left click on the ocean to move your ship.

Rotate Cameral>:


Press and hold the middle mouse button (scroll) and move the mouse to rotate the camera angle. Alternately you can use the left and right arrow keys on your keyboard to rotate (useful for laptop users). Rotating the camera is important when you are escorting the merchant ships as it helps you keep a lookout on pirate ships that might come close and attack your ship from behind.

Docking/ Undockingl>:

This is the dock of any port. Whenever you are trying to go to a port, you need to dock to that port to be able to interact. When your ship is very close to this dock, press the left shift key of your keyboard to dock. Once docked, you can do a number of things from the dock point options like buying or selling of ammos, trade items, upgrading ship or repairing it and getting side quests from the tavern or the merchant guild. To undock from any port, click on the ‘Set Sail’ button.
HUD: This is the hud of your game. All things that you are going to need to play the game are available here.

Menu optionsl>:

Menu buttonl>:

Essentially it pauses the game if you click on it and brings you a lot of options to play around with like load game, save game, main menu, settings, help, etc. Save button: Click on it to save the game anytime except when the ship is docked.

World mapl>:

The world map gives you a picture of the whole world and each zones. You can visit another zone by clicking on the zone buttons in the world map once the newer zones are unlocked.

Trophiesl>:

When you accomplish some special task or achievement, you earn a trophy. There are a total of 10 trophies that you can earn.

Quest journall>:

All the tasks you need to do while you are playing the game are mentioned here. It includes main quests, side quests and mini quests.

Weapon screenl>:

Whenever you buy a new cannon, you can check it in your weapon screen and change cannons from it. Cannons are weapons that you can use to fight the pirates and require certain reputation points to buy them. You can buy a maximum of 50 cannons for each type, and this capacity is increased to 100 later if you buy the storage upgrade from ship merchandise. Some cannons can be unlocked by completing certain side quests while the others are unlocked by visiting different zones. To use cannon, buy some of them from the ammo shop. Then open the weapon screen and clock on the icons on the screen to put them in the HUD. Once they are in the hud, you can close the weapon screen. Now you can use the cannons from the hud.

To change a cannon, open the weapon screen and right on the cannon icon on the hud. Then click on a different cannon in the weapon screen to fill the empty slot. The notification area: the scroll in the hud is for notifications. The gold and reputation points are shown at the bottom of this area. Active quests, weapon descriptions, pick up notifications and docking information is displayed here.

Magic ammo screenl>:

Magic ammos are special powers that you can use to gain advantage in battle or use for healing or speeding up purposes. You can buy a maximum of 10 for each ammos, at first. If you purchase the ammo upgrade from the ship merchandise, you can buy a maximum of 20 ammos each. To equip an ammo in the hud, open the magic ammo screen from the hud and click on the ones you bought. Like cannons, you can use a maximum of four ammos during a battle from the hud, so choose wisely. Magic ammos do not require rep points for purchase, but they each have a different recharge time. You cannot use the ammos unless their recharge is complete. The grayed out shade on the ammo decreasing means the ammo is recharging is going to be available soon. To change magic ammo, follow the same procedure as changing cannons.

Cannonsl>:

To the extreme left side of the hud are the cannons. When the game starts, the cannon slots are empty. You have to select cannons from the weapon screen to the hud before you can use them. Click on any of the cannon icon to select them and right click on the enemy to use them during battle. To change to different cannon, click on another cannon icon on the hud. If you don’t have time to click and too many enemies are attacking you, you can use the CTRL key on the keyboard to quickly change cannons serially. The number of cannon balls left is marked by a small number on the top left corner of each cannon icon.

Magic ammol>:

Just beside the cannon slots are the magic ammo slots. Fill up the empty slots from the magic ammo screen before you can use them in battle. Click on any ammo icon on the hud to use them in game. During intense battle when you don’t have enough time to click, you can use the corresponding number of the ammo slot to launch it.

The ammo slot on the extreme left is 1, the one beside that is 2, then 3 and the last one is 4. So to launch ammo from slot 1, press 1 on the keyboard; to launch ammo from slot 2, press 2 on the keyboard and so on and so forth. Wait for the ammo to recharge before you can launch it again. The number of ammos left is marked on the top left corner of each ammo icon.







Other Game Elementsl>:


Quests: There are 3 types of quests- main quest, side quest and mini quest. The quest journal doesn’t differentiate between these three though.

1) ... Main quest helps you progress in the game till the end. If you do not do the main quest, you cannot complete the game.

2) ... The side quests are optional and give you interesting tasks in exchange of useful stuff like unlocking new trade item, ammo or cannon, extra reputation points, etc. side quests can be obtained from the tavern or merchant guild and might not appear all the time.

3) ... Mini quests are the quests given by random merchants that pass by. You have to escort those merchants to their destination in exchange of reputation points and gold.

It is important that you check the box beside the quest you wish to do, or else you cannot complete it. If no quests are checked in the journal, you will be in a free roam mode where you can collect more mini quests, fight pirates and trade items only. Reputation points: These are important as you need to have a certain amount of these points to purchase different cannons. Reputation points can by earned from main quest and mini quest task completion. Trading: To earn extra money without much effort, you can buy different items from the trade item at low price and sell them when the market price is high. The more expensive trading items you buy the more profit you do.


Pickupsl>:

While exploring the sea, you might find random treasure chests, potion bottles and barrels floating in water. Those are pickup items and give gold, ammos or items for free! Pickups don’t disappear from their spots unless you leave the current zone to a different zone, so you can take your time to pick them up. They keep randomly appearing each time you enter a zone.


Piratesl>:

They are the ones you should lookout as they can harm your ship or the merchant ship you are escorting. They usually have a red health bar on top of them. When they hit you, the green bar on top of your ship will decrease. That green thing is your health, and you must repair or replenish it by magic ammo before it is completely grayed out. If the whole bar becomes grey, your ship will be destroyed.

If they destroy your ship, the game is over and you have to reload from an older save. If they destroy your merchant ship (purple health bars), you have to restart the quest again. Pirates come in all shapes and sizes ranging from birds, fish, ghost ships and what not? Each zone has different pirates with different HP and strengths, dropping different item when killed. Kill as many pirates as you can to earn extra gold and drop items. Minimap: The minimap is the small transparent map of a zone on the top right corner of the screen. It gives you an idea of where the ports are located and where you need to go. Your ship’s location is marked by a red arrow on the minimap. The pointer direction of that arrow is based on the direction your ship is facing and can be changed by rotating the camera angle.
Click on this minimap button on the top to expand or minimize it.

Extra Game Tipsl>:

1) ... While escorting a merchant ship, you only need to get very close to its destination port (near the dock) and wait for it to come. You don’t have to dock for the ship to complete the quest. As soon as it reaches near the dock, the quest will be completed. Keep rotating the camera to see any approaching pirate ship and kill it until the merchant reaches safely.

2) ... Arrow direction in minimap is based on the direction your ship is facing and can be changed by rotating the camera angle (press and hold scroll button and move mouse or use left and right arrow keys).

3) ... You can check your trophies, inventory, ammo or weapon screens while moving from one place to another.

4) ... Click on the tavern or merchant guild while your ship is docked to get side quests. Side quests might not appear all the time, so keep checking all the ports whenever you can, even the ones you have visited before. When a side quest unlocks, this icon will appear on top of the port.

5) ... Ammos bound to numbers and you can use those numbers to rapid fire them during battle.

6) ... Tap the CTRL key to change cannons during battle quickly.

7) ... Pickups appear randomly and stay on the map unless the zone is changed.

8 ) ... Can’t see minimap? Click on minimap button to expand it.

9) ... Keep moving during battles so that you don’t get hit by enemy cannons. Use the healing ammos to heal your ship if the HP is too low.

10) ... The numbers of ammos or cannons you have are shown by a small number on the top left corner of each icon (in the HUD).

11) ... Underwater ships are difficult to hit. Either, wait for them to surface and then hit them (do not move around your ship or they will go back into water) or use Avenger (ammo) or Devastator (cannon).

12) ... Ships in zone 4 are ghost ships and can steal your gold. So either use a shield or don’t let them come too close to you.

13) ... To complete or do any quest, do not forget to check the box beside it in the quest journal.

14) .... Whenever you are not doing any quest actively (i.e. no quest is checked in the journal), then you are in the free roam mode where you will be approached by merchant ships passing by for mini quests. If you want to do that quest when approached, press ENTER in your keyboard, else simply sail away. Doing such mini quests of escorting other merchant ships might not fetch you a lot of gold, but they earn your extra reputation points.

15) ... When you are docked, pirates move away from you. If you going to undock and the enemies are close to your ship, simply wait for some time until they have left.


You can find more information over on the developers forums HERE






System requirements (Minimum)l>:

• OS : Windows7, Vista, XP.
• Processor: 2GHz or higher
• Memory: 2GB
• Graphics: DirectX 10 Support
• Hard Drive: 150 MB
• Sound: Windows compatible sound card







Conclusionl>:


I’d give this a good 8.8 out of 10 for re-playability and family fun.


Scoringl>:



Download and installation – 7
Registration process – 10
Graphic Appearance in Game – 8+2
Audio – 7
Game Play – 7+7
Replayability – 7
Originality – 7


Total score out of 10 = 8.8

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If todys game doesn't take your fancy then check out the game discussion forums and the free games synopsis. We’ve posted a couple of thousand free games over the last three years, some of which are fantastic.



All of the major game distributors such as Steam, Impulse and GOG all have some sales with savings as good as 75% in some cases.



Todays 24hr deal is Wolfenstein with 75% off. A new 24 hour deal starts at 6pm GMT. Every day on Steam. you can also get the latest Call of duty for 33% off and if your interested there's a free play this weekend with no obligation to buy. that is only the multiplayer portion of the game, but for free this is well worth checking out. The Call of Duty franchise is one of the biggest game sellers ever though modern Warfare three will probably not win this years game of the year as that will go to The Elder Scroll IV: Skyrim. Good Old Games have three games on a 505 deal this week, the three Age of wonders games (Age of Wonders, Age of Wonders 2: The Wizards Throne and Age of Wonders 3: Shadow Magic. Over on Gamestop you can get 75% off Borderlands and Bioshock and finally from Gamersgate you can get 75% off The first Templar, 83% off Section 8 (An Unreal tournament like game only better) and 85% off Stardrone and amazingly 95% off 1C's complete pack that contains 86 top quality games for example The Theatre of War franchise, Star Wolves franchise, Men of War franchise, Kings bounty Franchise, plus a whole load of other excellent games (total cost only $69/£56) (actual cost before the deal is over a thousand pounds/ $1500). There are loads more games on special offers, too many to mention here. :) You can check out all of the main distributors deals via the Didematic Site

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Problems installing, activating and running today’s game:

If you have difficulty downloading or activating the game you can try again later or do one of the following - for example once downloaded when you click on the dual activation and set up file you may get the message “Failed to connect. Please try again later” Check to see if your internet explorer isn't offline (thanks to MrSnoozles/Mike and GMMan for that fix). If the previous suggestion doesn't work go check out previous comments from the last several weeks and look for comments from GMMan and Mike. They have also posted their possible fixes for this problem.

Mike suggests that you check to see if Internet Explorer is offline (even if you use firefox). If it is make sure that it's online thn try again. I’ve always tried re-booting my modem and/or router with some success, though Mike has said that doing that does nothing. Still, it’s worth a try if all else fails.


If you are getting the black screen problem right click on the games executable and select properties then click on the compatibility mode and select the disable visual themes. This should fix the problem, if not try disabling the display scaling on higher dpi settings and disabling the desktop composition.

Other fixes include changing your screen resolution, installing the latest direct X (remember that XP uses DX 9 or earlier only, Vista uses DX 10 or before and Win 7 DX11 or before). Also try updating your graphics drivers. The main two chip manufacturers are NVIDIA and ATI (now AMD) both of which offer driver downloads for free. Just go to the respective manufactures home page and you'll find a link to the driver download page. To find out which graphic card or graphics chip your computer uses type in Dxdiag in the search field (Vista or Win 7) or the run command (XP); this opens up the DirectX diagnostics panel. click on the display tab and look to the left panel. You should easily see what graphics card or chip you are using. (This is required information when selecting the correct download from the developers site).

If you are asked to turn off your Data Execution Prevention for this game to run. You can create an exception so that the game will run without having to turn DEP off. Please bear in mind it's rare that anyone even mentioned getting a DEP warning. If you are not sure how to create an exception read THIS article, which tells you how to do it.


If you are having problems unzipping the game giveaways zip file, for example getting a message saying the file is invalid try using a different file archiver such as 7-Zip, J-Zip, CAM UnZip, Hamster Free Zip Archiver, GZip, B Zip2, peazip, ZipUnzip, FreeRAR Extract Frog, RAR File Open Knife, ALZip, The Extractor, RarZilla Free Unrar

Okay, that should be enough. there are actually many more free versions available. also there are other commercial titles such as the well-known WinRAR, Stuffit, WinAce, NXPowerlite and Corel Winzip Pro, but IMO 7-Zip is probably one of the better freebies. I did purchase a copy of Stuffit when it was on sale a few years ago and recently repurchased a more up to date version when it was o offer via BitsDuJour, but didn't like the interface for some reason, so hardly ever use it.

If you are posting requests for help late in the day I would suggest posting in the main giveaway forums in the game Game Discussion . If you’ve installed the game but it won’t work for some reason, it should still be registered, so someone may be able to help at another time. Unfortunately if your problem is actually installing it then once the giveaway period is over there’s nothing that can be done until the game is given away again (though that isn’t guaranteed. It’s always worth checking out the free games sites as sometimes the games we get here are also available for free from them as well.

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Developers rely on good feedback to improve their games. If you download this game PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE take some time once you’ve played it a while to leave some constructive feedback either positive or negative. The more constructive feedback we get, the more likely developers are to give more games away. The giveaway site already has a very good standing with search engines like Google. Developers want their products out there on the WWW, this site has the potential to do that. The game giveaway project gives away on average between 9 to 17 thousand downloads for each game depending upon what genre and how obscure the game is. That’s a lot of homes these games are being downloaded into and a lot of potential cash that’s being lost by the developers. If we get better games because of better feedback, the community are likely to continue to benefit from the generosity of the developers. Satisfied community members are then more likely to visit the home sites of those developers and purchase games that they may not have bothered with before they discovered the developer via the game giveaway site, thus giving the developers more incentives to give away more decent games to draw more users to their site. There are a lot of game sites and they all want your business. I really do think if we can improve on the quality and numbers of users leaving suitable feedback more developers will join the project. It's a great environment to recruit beta testers as well; giving the community the opportunity to try out games that aren't on general release yet.

Again PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE leave some suitable feedback once you’ve played the game for an hour or so. It can be positive or negative, but please explain your reasons for the feedback you post. It doesn't need to be a dissertation, just a paragraph or two explaining what you think could improve the game and maybe what you didn't like about the game with suggestions to replace the negative area's. Thank you in advance to all those who take the time to post a constructive comment. It will be very much appreciated by the developer, the giveaway team and me. Thank you.