npm.cmd force closes immediately and i can't proceed

[QuestioningEspecialy]

Version

24.19.0.0

Platform

Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.19045.0 x64

Subsystem

No response

What steps will reproduce the bug?

1. node -v in node.exe produces Uncaught ReferenceError: node is not defined in node.exe
2. 'npm.cmd' immediately closes and, when the monitor is recorded in OBS Studio, causes the entire screen to be blank/black
3. using ShareX to screenshot the active monitor or just the region consistently shows "C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe" for the application name (top bar) before switching to just "npm" and the usual "_" in the top left corner of the area typed text would be.
4. the gulp.cmd(?) used force close too, but now no longer exists after a System Restore to immediately after running the 'node-v24.19.0-x64.msi' and auto-installing the dependencies after
5. i realized that running 'install_tools.bat' a second time is most likely what caused both problems after testing it shortly after the 1st system restoration, but~ it stopped working again after restoring for the 2nd time
6. for the record, i ran npm install --global gulp in Windows PowerShell iirc. running it in node.exe at this point produces "npm should be run outside of the Node.js REPL, in your normal shell."

i just want to finally start using Raconteur, but here we bloody are

How often does it reproduce? Is there a required condition?

consistently (see above)

What is the expected behavior? Why is that the expected behavior?

i expect both exe's to stay open like they used to

What do you see instead?

both exe's close a second after launching

Additional information

No response

[QuestioningEspecialy]

according to sequitur/raconteur-scaffold#2, it should've been npm install --global gulp build, btw

while i'm here, does anybody know for sure which program is being referred to here?:

Once this is in place, you can download this repository as a zip or tar.gz file, unpack it wherever you like, and use it as a template to start building your game. To get started, cd to the directory you unpacked the scaffold in and do npm install. This will install Raconteur itself and all of its dependencies as separate libraries, locally inside your project directory.

feels like the explanation suddenly started assuming the user was already familiar with such things, but i'm not even sure what the whole command is supposed to be for "do npm install"