Why can’t I play Future Pinball on my Mac?
This game, Future Pinball, can only be played on a Windows PC. I’m running WinXP on my MacBook Pro using VMWare Fusion v 12.1.0. When I attempt to run the executable I get an error message that reads
“This version of Future Pinball has expired. Future Pinball is time limited software to ensure that old versions are updated to the current stable release.
Please visit www.futurepinball.com to learn how to get an updated version.”
The only version on their download page is v1.9.1.20101231. which is what I’m using. My MacBook Pro is from 2019 running Monterey 12.9 if that helps.
What am I supposed to do?
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I have NO idea about which you are speaking. When it comes to computers, I tend to use the KISS principle!!! Have you tried downloading the same version again??? Maybe you lost a valuable file that will be reinstalled when you download again. The worst that should happen is nothing will be different. At best, it will suddenly work. Either way, you’re only out of a little bit of time!!!
You’ve got so many moving pieces here, Intel-based Mac laptop with an integrated gpu running an os optimized for M1 chips, running a virtual machine running an ancient version of windows, trying to play a game that’s over a decade old and may no longer be supported. It’s really tough to tease out where the problem is.
If you have access to a normal windows xp machine, trying to run it on that would be my first strategy just to eliminate variables. It could be the code itself has a “poison pill” timer on it designed to combat piracy. If there’s a bug in it, it could have unintentionally disabled itself in all versions after a certain date. That kind of bug would be hard to catch prior to the date happening.
@gorillapaws comment is WHY I added the 1st sentence to my comment!!! I’m a Windows baby who doesn’t understand the inner workings & I’ve NEVER owned a Mac. Still I have been Windowing long enough that I can usually get something to work even though I NEVER know what or how I got it to that point…other than I just don’t give up until I can appease the Windows gods!!! I “keep it simple” mainly because I “don’t understand”!!!
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