At the risk of accusations of
DOUBLE POST:
I have more information that may help towards the resolution of my problem.
First of all ... In my quest around the web I came across a very old post (2003) in another forum. It described the same problem as appears in my screenshot above, with the only exception being that it was a different game from TTO. Unfortunately, that post was the last in the thread and there was no resolution. So, the problem is not unique.
Next, my environment ... Windows98SE OEM running on a Compaq Deskpro 300Mhz CPU with 196MB RAM.
Some observations on running TTO without invoking VThief:
1. From the MS-DOS icon ... no problems.
2. From Restart in MS-DOS mode ... no problems.
3. From a reboot into Command Prompt Only ... TTO refused to load without a mouse. Invoking the mouse driver before calling TTO solved that.
Now, a new problem (probably related, maybe not) has arisen. In my quest for the mouse driver in 3 above, I loaded the wrong driver (The MS default one that only does two buttons). I had been using the Logitek drivers but they were hidden away under several layers of folders and were not where I expected them to be.
Now, VThief loads ok but it no longer does the screenshot thing. Furthermore, with VThief loaded, the mouse icon in TTO is extremely erratic, doing all sorts of things on its own, opening windows, scurrying about, scrolling suddenly. For some strange reason it seemed to have an affinity for the land inform tool. Exit TTO, stop VThief, restart TTO and the mouse behaves.
Don't ask me why, the answer probably lies in some obscure thread in a psychology forum somewhere out on the web, but I decided to trash my Logitek set up and go with the Windows default driver. Sure enough, the erratic mouse issue appeared in TTO with VThief loaded, no matter how I accessed DOS. Stopping VThief cleared the problem.
In a brief return to sanity, I searched in vain for my long lost Logitek install disk, went onto the web and downloaded and installed the Logitek software. I thought I'd be back to where I was before. NOT! The mouse icon in TTO with VThief loaded is still scrambled, no matter how I access DOS.
Obviously there is a conflict somewhere between VThief and my mouse setup.
Any hints as to where to go to resolve this would be greatly appreciated.