First of all, you should update DOSBox. Your version is VERY ANCIENT.

DOSBox 0.74 Download

and then do yourself a favour and do a CLEAN INSTALLATION.

It could be a bug in the game itself. Are there any patches for this game?

Thanx eL_PuSheR,

yeah, I'm aware about the version. What I actually did is (since I didn't used Dosbox for years) last week, I actually installed the 0.74 version, and to my surprise, Alone wasn't working on my machine. After reading some threads, I got the idea from some people that if I would try an older version, it "could" work better...this version I'm using is actually the one I have used before (when I said I have played Alone before with Dosbox, it was this version)
And to my pleasant surprise, Alone was working fine, so I decided that I would stick to this version, for now.

By clean installation, are you referring to Alone?? I installed it from the original CD (it's the version where people talk in it when you read the books you find in the game), it installed the game right, and I am also using the CD when I play, because that's where the WAVs (or whatever sound format) are when you hear people talk. But yeah, good suggestion, could have had a problem when I installed it...I'll install it again...

And finally, as for a game bug, yeah, could be...the only thing that puzzle me is that, it's the only version of the games I ever had, and I know I played the game till the end more than once...(btw, if I remember well also, the second Alone had a bug at the time, and I think there was a patch for Alone 2 that they actually included on this CD version...so if this bug I'm having in the first is actually a common bug, my guess is that it would be suppose to be corrected in this version...anyway, just speculating here...maybe it is a bug...

Thanx again for the reply...I'll wait a bit for other to reply, just to see...in the mean time, I think I will try Dosbox 0.74 again...never know...

By clean installation I meant both installing DOSBox anew and Alone in the Dark from within it.

I don't remember such bug in AITD, why don't you post your save and I try it on a real pc that I have AITD installed?

@eL_PuSHeR: Yeah, I did installed Alone from within Dosbox the first time...but, I will re-install both again when I have the time and let you know if it's ok after that...beside, I don't have much choice, I can't go any further in the game...thanx man

@keropi: alright here is a zip file of all saves, it should be the SAVE04 (anyway, the one called danceroom in the game, you are right in front of the room and you have all three records and the gramophone) Thanx for trying this

I tested the saves on my DOS pc with my original floppy AITD game installed.
The first 2 saves load OK, but when you select open/search then you get dumped back to DOS.
All the rest upon loading just dump you to DOS.

what AITD version are you using?

Ok, you're saying the first 2 saves load ok...should I understand the other saves doesn't load at all?

Wow, that is so weird, because you get bugs I don't even get...

I am playing the Alone In The Dark that came in a box set that contains the trilogy, on CDs. (they did that version on CDs and took upon themselves to add people's voices that read the books we find in the game...otherwise, it's basically the same game...well, obviously recoded to add the voice loads...anyway...)

I guess I definitly have to try re-installing or something...or try an old DOS version...hoping I will find the trilogy also.

Thanx for trying this...

yep, only the first 2 load, the rest just dump back to DOS immediately... wait I will test the CD version now, I have it as standalone game (no trilogy set, I have each game in it's own big carton box, floppy versions for AITD1,2 and cd versions for all 3 ) 😊

edit: I just tried with the CD version, saves are OK. I load #4 , play the Death record , the ghosts started to dance and I got the key from the fireplace. So your saves at least work fine on a real DOS machine. Also there is no patch for AITD1 , there is only one for AITD2 that only updates the installer so it detects soundcards better...

o-k!

Well, only 2 possibilities than, have to re-install the game in case a file corrupted or something, when I installed it last week, or it has to do with Dosbox (somehow) (because it works on your real DOS install...)

Yeah, I knew about the patch for the second (and I think its included with the CD version, if I remember well...?)

...you don't happen to have a Windows machine with Dosbox on it? (hehehe)

Anyway, thanx a bunch for the time 😀

I've only played the first AITD for a short while, so this is a shot in the dark: did you try a fixed "cycles" value? I presume you're running the game with "cycles=max", maybe it's a timing problem, since you're playing on a pretty fast CPU.

Hi ADDiCT,

at first, my Dosbox CPU Cycle was at 4000 (previous settings of my previous machine with which I played the game before) I could actually play very fluently (and it didn't seem to be too fast either) until I reached this Dance room prob...where I then tried different CPU Cycle until 10000 (still freeze at this CPU Cycle)...should I try even higher?

(now that we are talking about that, and it's the reason why I also thought it could be the CPU Cycle, when I was in that room, and I was going next to the door that leads back to the main corridor (and apparently only there), at one point, my character "seemed" to be moving in a bit more gerky manner...but I unfortunately didn't try to go in that specific area again, while trying at 10000 CPU Cycle to see if it was still gerky...but I was still having the "freeze" prob...)

Could it be Dosbox settings, other than the CPU Cycle?

Thanx ADDiCT

p.s.: I hope we're talking about the same thing? I should try this "cycles=max" line (that would replace my cycles=10000, right?) ...didn't know we could put "max" 😊

here's my settings (at least for that part)

core=normal
cycles=10000
cycleup=500
cycledown=20

Ah, you're already using fixed cycles. I wonder why you're using "core=normal" though, that's not the default setting. If you've made the switch to 0.74 you could try using the default dosbox.conf. IIRC there's also a "writeconf" parameter or command in DOSBox which will write a default dosbox.conf to your harddisk, look in the readme/manual for details. Remember to backup your current config before using that param/command!

Other than that I can't really help as I don't have the game installed and no time to test it atm. To make testing easier you could describe exactly the steps needed to get to the "crashing point" after loading your savegame, for people not familiar with the game.

Good point ADDiCT, about writing the steps to get to this prob...

Thanx again, I will try other settings for Dosbox 😀