Microsoft Comic Chat Editor Running in Windows 10 & 11

[Darkalchemyxex]

My first post I want it to be beneficial to old and new Microsoft Comic Chat users . Windows 10 & 11 as some may know , backwards compatibility for the Character editor does not work unless a virtual machine is set up with a installation of a older Windows operating system which in my opinion takes a large amount of space and resources. However Windows 10 & 11 has a Windows Linux Subsystem that can be used to run the Character editor as well . Follow the guide carefully . Any questions I will answer as soon as I can . 

Installing Windows Linux Subsystem and Ubuntu-----------------------

 

*First make sure windows has done all updates, check your windows updates

 

*Bottom left had corner Windows search bar type in CMD

 

Open CMD

 

*In CMD window Type in

 

wsl –install

 

*When Linux subsystem and Ubuntu finish installing restart the computer

 

*after reboot linux will continue installation and promt to set up a user name and password , if nothing opens after your computer restart click the start menu and select ubuntu to finish installation

 

*Ubuntu will open in terminal and the user will make a username and password

Installing Flathub Repo ------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

*when installation finished type in

 

sudo apt-get update

 

*when the update is finished type in

 

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

 

*when that finishes type in

 

sudo reboot

 

*go to start menu and reopen ubuntu type in

 

sudo apt install flatpack -y

 

*now type in

 

sudo reboot

 

*re open ubuntu from the start menu

 

*now type in

 

sudo flatpak remote-add –if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpackrepo

 

*now type in

 

sudo wget https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.gpg

Installing Bottles---------------------------------------------------

 

*now type

 

sudo flatpak install flathub com.usebottles.bottles

 

*select yes for all installations.

 

*Now type in

 

flatpak run com.usebottles.bottles

 

*when bottles open follow the prompts to finish installation, do not close the ubuntu window .

Installing Microsoft Comic Chat Editor Bottle--------------------------------------

 

When bottles finished click the bottles tab and create a new bottle

 

Name the bottle : Ex Microsoft Comic Chat Editor

 

select custom

 

under runner select sys-wine 8.0

 

Architecture Select 32 bit

 

click the create bottle

 

close the promt

 

on microsoft comic chat editor bottle you created click the “>” icon next to the gear icon

 

click settings

 

scroll down to Compatabilty , Select windows version Windows 95

 

Upper left hand corner select back “<”

 

scroll down to tools and click the drop down icon where it says Legacy Wine Tools“\/”

 

select configuration

 

click graphics tab

 

set screen resolution to 192 dpi

 

click apply then ok – leave bottles open -

 

Go to your start menu and type in file explorer

 

On the address bar click and type in Linux and make your way to the following folder

 

Ubuntu > Home > “ a folder with your user name”>

 

Drop the msccedit.exe file here

 

Go back to bottles and click run executable

 

click +other locations

 

click computer

 

now go to the following folders

 

home > “your user name” >

 

click on msccedit.exe

 

Click Yes on all promts

 

Go back to bottles Upper Left hand corner select back “<”

 

Click +Add Shortcut

 

Right click somewhere in the empty window where msccedit.exe resides and select “Show hidden files”

 

make your way to the following folder

 

.var > app > .com.usebottles.bottles > data > bottles > bottles > microsoft comic chat editor > drive_c >program files > microsoft comic chat editor >

 

Click on Ccedit.exe

 

Upper right hand corner Click “Add”

 

Under Program you should see Ccedit with a play button and 3 dots

 

Click the 3 Dots

 

Add to Library

 

Click the back button , upper left hand corner “<”

 

Click on Library

 

Should see a square with no icon , hover your mouse over it and select Launch

 

---------------------------------------------------------

 

Q&A

 

How do I start this everytime?

I don’t know how to set a shortcut like a normal windows program , Just open Ubuntu from the start menu and type in

 

flatpak run com.usebottles.bottles

 

When I open Comic Chat editor , Im missing other tools like line, paintbucket ect?

 

On the Microsoft Comic Chat Editor bottles , select “>”

 

scroll down to tools and click the drop down icon where it says Legacy Wine Tools“\/”

 

select configuration

 

click graphics tab

 

set screen resolution to a number higher than 192, but don’t max it out . The windows will become unusable. Slowly change it and try the program again until you reach a desired result . For some reason the program refuses to adjust to a proper resolution , making fonts bigger does help but do it a few at a time until you reach the desired result or else the windows will become unsuable and you will have to delete the microsoft comic chat bottle and start a whole new microsoft comic chat bottle process.

Have fun making characters again

Cheers **

 

-DarkAlchemyXEX

[Koach]

Thanks DarkAlchemyXEX, 

I've never used that tool before, but I'm sure your instructions will be helpful to others.

Thanks, Koach

 

 

[Lizzie]

I'm sure Koach or Stormy know much more about this than I do. I am assuming based on something Koach said in chat many years ago that the MSN staff was using comic chat many years ago. I suspect at a minimum comic chat was no longer supported past at least 2006. It is even possible that comic chat was coded for DOS versions of early Windows. This kind of reminds me of when I upgraded from XP to Vista. I finally had to just go buy a new 3 in 1 scanner printer. I was looking through some of my old containers a while back. I imagine I have at least $1500 worth of old software that will no longer run in Windows 10 or 11 without running a virtual machine. While I agree with Koach about the information being helpful, sometimes I think it is best to not live in the past!

Peace

[Darkalchemyxex]

I ran a hex editor on the Microsoft Comic chat software recently- poking around see what I can do , one of the errors that shows as a return print syntax error is this software cannot run on MS-DOS lol . It's a relic software of the past yes , but I repurpose it for art . People love it on my twitch page and never heard of it . Can't blame em though they weren't even born when this software was popular lol