No circular cursor in Games Room? Win 8.1 laptop.

[Lonicera]

Love Amanita Games!      Stuck in Games Room though...  I simply cannot get the circular cursor to appear.  Aaargh!  Am using Windows 8.1 on a laptop that has a touchpad but prefer using the mouse.  Poor little guy is darn near played out from cycling!  Help him PULEEZE!  (And me!     )  TIA

[Alex]

I just opened Machinarium (and this is why I love when people ask questions about specific levels of 'M' ~ because I get to play through those once more ;~)  and I think your best bet is to continue using a mouse instead of the touchpad.   btw, I'm on WinXP but I assume that a "Win" is a "Win" so what I experience can't be that far off your experience on 8.1...

Anyway, for me the circular cursor shows up quite readily whenever I move the mouse pointer near the cycle generator.  Hopefully this is just a confluence of confused chips and bits on your laptop that will force you to find a "sweet spot" where the cursor will finally appear.  Keep Trying!

You must also remember to hold your left mouse button down as you "spin" the pedals.  Holding = "holding".  

Good luck!

[Lonicera]

~~~snip~~~
Anyway, for me the circular cursor shows up quite readily whenever I move the mouse pointer near the cycle generator.  Hopefully this is just a confluence of confused chips and bits on your laptop that will force you to find a "sweet spot" where the cursor will finally appear.  Keep Trying!

You must also remember to hold your left mouse button down as you "spin" the pedals.  Holding = "holding".  

Good luck!

LOL  I'm thinking of duct taping that left mouse button down!   

Many thanks for the speedy response, Alex.     Windows 8.1 often makes me wish I'd stayed with XP.   

I've spent hours trying the mouse cursor everywhere possible but, as you say, it may well be either it's that small a spot to find or Microsoft has to fix a glitch in their compatibility between the game & the Windows 8.1 OS (Machinarium is sold as an app in the Microsoft 'Store' - I wish I'd checked Humble Bundle first).

I'll try again...  also see if changing cursor sets make any difference...  if no luck with that, then I'll try & get Amanita & Microsoft to check on a possible compatability problem...

Thanks again...  I'll report back in case this happens for any other Win 8/8.1 users.

[Lonicera]

~~~snip~~~
Anyway, for me the circular cursor shows up quite readily whenever I move the mouse pointer near the cycle generator.  Hopefully this is just a confluence of confused chips and bits on your laptop that will force you to find a "sweet spot" where the cursor will finally appear.  Keep Trying!

You must also remember to hold your left mouse button down as you "spin" the pedals.  Holding = "holding".  

Good luck!

LOL  I'm thinking of duct taping that left mouse button down!   

Many thanks for the speedy response, Alex.     Windows 8.1 often makes me wish I'd stayed with XP.   

I've spent hours trying the mouse cursor everywhere possible but, as you say, it may well be either it's that small a spot to find or Microsoft has to fix a glitch in their compatibility between the game & the Windows 8.1 OS (Machinarium is sold as an app in the Microsoft 'Store' - I wish I'd checked Humble Bundle first).

I'll try again...  also see if changing cursor sets make any difference...  if no luck with that, then I'll try & get Amanita & Microsoft to check on a possible compatability problem...

Thanks again...  I'll report back in case this happens for any other Win 8/8.1 users.

Back again!     Well, after trying the demo game I now know that Windows 8/8.1 version isn't showing any of the helpful cursors that are supposed to appear, no hand, no walking feet, no circular cursor, nothing except the extended arrow occasionally!  So I think I've done pretty well in getting as far as the Arcade Room without that built in help. 
BUT something has to be done to fix this in Win 8/8.1...  either Microsoft or Amanita or both have to fix this as Microsoft has made it impossible to access app game files for a DIY fix (I think the suggestion in the below post about the built in Flash file in Macharium being too outdated for Win 8.1 highly likely - but no way to install an updated stand alone version  ).
I've posted here;  on Windows/Microsoft Gaming Support (useless really, MS just ignores posts there  ), also reported the app in the MicroSoft Store as well as in the app Review in the MS Store - which BTW is charging $4.99 US for it when MS's link for Machinarium from Amanita's site says it's on sale for $2.99!!  SHEESH!   
So....  Is my only solution to uninstall Machinarium & make MS give me a refund?  I've had to do this before with Microsoft apps since going with the 8.1 upgrade - MS simply ignores customer problems...      I'm hoping Amanita will show them how to treat customers politely & get this sorted - I'll give it two days for a response from either &, if none is forthcoming, then it's uninstall & refund.   

[Alex]

...after trying the demo game I now know that Windows 8/8.1 version isn't showing any of the helpful cursors that are supposed to appear, no hand, no walking feet, no circular cursor, nothing except the extended arrow occasionally!

By "demo game" I'm guessing you mean the online version that Maremare0 discovered had cursor clues where the Win8 port does not.

And I agree with my buddy Lamkin's idea about this being a Flash player version conflict.

So this is good!  This is helpful information.  The more precise we can be about identifying what is causing specific kerfuffles the more likely it is that we will get the attention of the folks on the Amanita Support Team.  Imagine: they get "Game no work! Fix!" emails by the hundreds so when they finally get a fixit ticket with some details they can work with THAT is when they can shine.  So give Amanita a week and THEN go with your "uninstall & refund" plan if you haven't seen any progress made.  I'll write to support (via the About tab above) for you, including all the collected particulars and then post a follow-up as soon as I hear back.


Meantime, keep playing!  I mean, just because the circular cursor's not there it's not like Josef's legs don't pump the bicycle generator.  Or do they?  You haven't mentioned yet if there is a total failure of the game when the hint cursors are gone.  Is that happening?  

~A

[Lamkin]

I had also e-mailed Amanita to ask about this issue. I got a response today:

current W8 version is primarily meant to be played on W8 touch devices. Microsoft asked for this. The fact that it works also with a mouse is rather a bonus. Well, maybe it is a bit confusing bonus right now.
But lets break some news here - we are preparing an update adding the full mouse support including all these features like cursor changes and so on. But it will take a while.
It will be an update so  it's free of charge for all who already bought it.

Makes sense to me about it being a bonus that the Windows 8 version works with the mouse.
Anyway, this is good news about the update. :)