Compatibility mode may not be working for you. Try setting the color depth to 256 colors manually in the advanced display settings.

Also see if there is a DOS installation.If there is,then use dosbox to install and play,have fun 😉

@collector:
That's a good idea, but I can't seem to find the option to do that. There's a link at the bottom to "Learn more about running programs in 256 color mode", but no option to set it. I've tried the right-click-and-set-it-in-the-properties trick, and that doesn't work either.

@F2bnp:
I've never noticed it offer a DOS install, but I'll look again. That might just work.

Try changing your desktop color to 256 colors by right-clicking on the desktop and going to properties.

I don't have the option to do that. I can choose from 16-bit and 32-bit color.

I feel a bit of (not exactly) helpful explanation is in order...

Lost Mind was one of Sierra's first Windows-exclusive games. There was no DOS installation on the disc whatsoever. As for why there is no 256-color option, that was inexplicably removed in Windows XP. However, if you have an Nvidia video card, the Nvidia Control Panel included with the drivers will allow you to force an 8-bit color depth, so maybe that will work.

Technically though, it IS possible to run Lost Mind through DOSBox - if you have Windows 3.1 installed in it. I don't even think it requires the Win32 extensions - just run it straight off the disc.

You can also go into the Advanced Settings -> Adapter -> List all modes and choose 256 colors in there.

@wildweasel:
I don't have a graphics card. Wish I did. Thanks for the explanation about the install and such, though. That actually helped a fair bit.

@DosFreak:
I've managed to set the colors, as you suggested I do. And it worked. But now the colors on my screen are all messed up. Which leads me to believe it's not windows, but the drivers... or some such.

Well now that we know that works then you can use this utility:
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Video … ools/QRes.shtml
in a batch file to execute the game and change your color depth for you and then switch it back when you close the game.

Of course the biggest issue there is if you want to do other things while playing the game then you'll have to put up with 256 colors.

So unless someone has hacked\patched the game to fix this issue then your only other option is to run the game in DosBox\Qemu\VirtualBox\Vmware or VPC.

This utility can also do the same thing and the developer is still active:
http://alter.org.ua/en/soft/win/vidcontrol/

Well, given that the problem isn't the resolution or the lack of ability to set the colors, I think I may be stuck, then. I can change the colors and resolution already without the two utilities you so kindly pointed me towards. The problem is more that the colors don't want to display properly.

I think I'll check on my chipset drivers and, if that doesn't work, maybe give it up. Unless there's something hopelessly obvious that I'm missing.

I am using Windows XP SP2 and I still have the option to "run in 256 color mode" in the compatibility tab.

cailamaia wrote:

Well, given that the problem isn't the resolution or the lack of ability to set the colors, I think I may be stuck, then. I can change the colors and resolution already without the two utilities you so kindly pointed me towards. The problem is more that the colors don't want to display properly.

I think I'll check on my chipset drivers and, if that doesn't work, maybe give it up. Unless there's something hopelessly obvious that I'm missing.

I thought you said that switching the desktop to 256 colors fixed the game? If so then using the above utility to change the color depth easily would work.

I have the same video chipset in a Dell Latitude D510. I don't have the game but I do have many games from the same company and my "fix" for those kinds of games is to use DosBox/Qemu (or you can use Vmware/VirtualBox/Qemu/VPC). I do this instead of using the utility because I don't like my desktop changing to funky colors and I like to read the web while playing a game.

and I think he stated up above that he already tried the 256 colors in the compatibility tab but it did not work. (He didn't phrase it that well though).

Heh. Sorry if I wasn't clear. I made it as clear as I could.

Yes, I have the option. No, it doesn't work properly. I have tried running it in 256 color mode, and what I get is that the characters in the foreground are rendered correctly and the colors of the backgrounds are all funky. I can upload a screencap if it will help clear up my explanation.

Bah. It seems to be working fine now. I have no idea what changed. Dumb thing wanted a restart or some such, I guess.

just so you know, I get the same issue with SQV on Win98SE back in '00 with a Geforce2 also in 256-colors, so it's not totally XP related, but more related with non-ISA video card palette access in Sierra's code.

It turns out that if I try to run anything else beside the game that requires the use of the graphics card to run, it messes up the colors. I had AllWallpapers running in the background, when I got it to work the first time, and the first cycle of the wallpaper skewed the colors of the game horribly, and once I turned off the other program it worked fine.

Problem solved. Thanks, all.

eL_PuSHeR wrote:

I am using Windows XP SP2 and I still have the option to "run in 256 color mode" in the compatibility tab.

On some systems Compatibility mode doesn't seem to work to automatically change resolution or color depth. Lowering refresh rate sometimes helps. On such systems, the only sure way to change it is to manually set the display settings or to use a utility such as DosFreak posted links to.