VOGONS


WTF- Gabriel Knight Vogons Page

Topic actions

First post, by DosFreak

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

Just found this today: https://gkpatches.vogons.org/

Why have I never heard of this page before?

How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
Make your games work offline

Reply 1 of 22, by collector

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

That has been there for quite a while, now. Hendroz was having problems with his server and Snover kindly offered to host his page. I wish that Hendroz offered patches for the DOS versions, not just a Windows installer. NewRisingSun had a GK1 patch, but withdrew it when Hendroz released his installer.

The Sierra Help Pages -- New Sierra Game Installers -- Sierra Game Patches -- New Non-Sierra Game Installers

Reply 2 of 22, by Reckless

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

But 'you' know it's available on a site on the net 😀

Reply 3 of 22, by avatar_58

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

Is there a dos version of that DVD install? I'm interested in it so that I can burn my GK2 copy onto my DOS games dvds, but this installer is only for the windows version. I've tried fooling around with the files but its non-transferable 😅

Reply 5 of 22, by hydr0x

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

talking of this, i have the following problem, i do own a "Best of Sierra" version of this game, the cd includes Gabriel Knight and Earthsiege, both in subfolders on the disc. Basically what's on the original disc is in a "gabriel" subfolder on this cd. The XP installer from that page does not recognize the CD because of that? is there a way around this so i can install it? i'd love to finally play the series 😒

Reply 6 of 22, by Reckless

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

A few thoughts of the top of my head...

Use a Subst drive pointing at the gabriel directory
Copy to HDD and try again if subst doesn't work on removable media
If subst doesn't work (not sure how the installer checks for the CD):
Use Nero (or similar) to create a new CD image with contents of gabriel as the root of the drive. Mount the virtual drive using a virtual drive tool (Nero has one)
If the virtual drive method doesn't work then:
dump the files to a CD-R.
If that doesn't work then I'm out of answers for my 5 mins spent on the post!

Reply 7 of 22, by neophyte

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

maybe you folks can help me. I dearly love GK2 and would love to be able to play it again, but my Dell isn't too keen on it (nor was my roommate's.) the problem is always the same, and it's early: right when the zoo boy is supposed to walk up (ater Gabriel has tried to get the wolves' attention) I get the 'we're sorry" message and this:

Read error on robot: 11027

Script 64960(1890)

...and I don't know what to do. I've scoured the web (at least I think I have) and I've followed Inferno's general instructions, but I still have the same problem. advice?

Reply 8 of 22, by neophyte

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

I should add that I am not particularly computer-literate (better than most, probably, but very far below the competence of most other gamer-types I know) and so I may have been stymied as much by my own inability to recognize the proper solution as by an inability to find it. I guess part of what I'm looking for is somebody to help me recognize the proper solution and explain to me in remedial-level terms how to make it work.

thanks.

Reply 10 of 22, by Simplex

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

Hello, anyone knows how can I contact Enrico Ralfi (Hendroz)? I looked through the page mentioned in the thread, I also tried googling him, but to no avail. I wanted to kindly ask him to meddle with the Freddy Pharkas CD version the way he did with gabriel knigh - making it playable under windows XP and also perhaps fixing a bug in the game (this one)

Regards,
Simplex

Reply 11 of 22, by collector

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

There is no need. Freddy Pharkas runs perfectly in DOSBox. Not being able to have both speech and text is not a bug, it's just design decision.

Reply 12 of 22, by Simplex

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

Well, for me it is yet another "it's not a bug, it's a feature" excuse. What is the rationale behind this decision? Why in Gabriel Knight (and a dozen other Sierra games) there is a possibility of simultaneous text and speech, while in Freddy Pharkas there is not? I think it is simply an ommision, not a conscious decision. And even if it was a conscious decision, it still is, IMO, error of judgement (read: stupid as hell). Therefore I still hope there is some way of enabling simultaneous text and speech in Freddy Pharkas.

In my case saving and restoring game in FPFF under DosBOX takes ages, that's why I wrote about the installer.

Regards,
Simplex

Reply 13 of 22, by wd

User metadata
Rank DOSBox Author
Rank
DOSBox Author

Well if it takes ages then don't save/load that much.
Or of course wait until Hendroz finds this page/forum/posting.

Reply 14 of 22, by Wintermute

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
Simplex wrote:

I think it is simply an ommision, not a conscious decision. And even if it was a conscious decision, it still is, IMO, error of judgement

It was a conscious decision, some of the earlier Sierra games were like this, e.g. Space Quest 4. Seems like many people complained so they changed it in later games. 😉

Reply 15 of 22, by Simplex

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie
wd wrote:

Well if it takes ages then don't save/load that much.
Or of course wait until Hendroz finds this page/forum/posting.

Since it's a sierra game, where you can die or get stuck easily, saving and restoring is unavoidable. The Windows version works like a charm (with Windows 95 compatability option), the only problem is that it runs in 640x480 window, not full screen, so the window is small even in 1024x768, not to mention higher resolutions.
Anyways, congratulations on DosBOX, it is a great piece of software for which I am eternally grateful to it's creators 😀

Wintermute wrote:
Simplex wrote:

I think it is simply an ommision, not a conscious decision. And even if it was a conscious decision, it still is, IMO, error of judgement

It was a conscious decision, some of the earlier Sierra games were like this, e.g. Space Quest 4. Seems like many people complained so they changed it in later games. 😉

Which kind of proves my point, that this conscious decision was... not the smartest one, to put it mildly 😉

Regards,
Simplex

Reply 16 of 22, by collector

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
Simplex wrote:

The Windows version works like a charm

Then why do you want Hendroz to make it playable under windows XP. Even if there were problems, any effort would be a waste. Remember that the Windows version will never be playable on many new PCs (any 64 bit Vista machine and future versions of Windows) natively. Best to use the DOS version in DOSBox, anyway.

While you might not agree with design decisions that does not make it a bug. What you are asking for is to have someone hack in a feature not intended to be in the game. If the hack takes little time and effort, fine. If not, you are asking for someone to put a great deal of effort into something that there would probably be little demand for. You'd probably find more demand for a hack that gets the DOS version of KQ6 to use the Windows version's graphics.

Reply 17 of 22, by Simplex

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

Then why do you want Hendroz to make it playable under windows XP. Even if there were problems, any effort would be a waste. Remember that the Windows version will never be playable on many new PCs (any 64 bit Vista machine and future versions of Windows) natively. Best to use the DOS version in DOSBox, anyway.

You could say the same about Gabriel Knight 😉 (at least in dosbox 0.7.0.0 it works great)
I am asking because I am unable to run it full screen, only in a small window. The exaxt same things happens when you install Gabriel Knight CD using the original Windows (3.11) installer - the game runs, but in a window (even if I check "Run in 640x480) in the compatability tab). Hendroz managed to make an installer which installs the game in such a way, that it is run in full screen.

While you might not agree with design decisions that does not make it a bug. What you are asking for is to have someone hack in a feature not intended to be in the game.

You're probably right. I'll ask Al Lowe if he can confirm it as I wrote him about this problem and he said he'd take a look at it.

If the hack takes little time and effort, fine. If not, you are asking for someone to put a great deal of effort into something that there would probably be little demand for.

I am not asking anyone to put great deal of effort into something that there would be little demand - If what I ask for would indeed be complicated and time consuming I would not expect anyone to do it, at least without proper compensation of some sorts.
Anyways, Al Lowe seems happy to try and help me, he asked me to send him my "resource.cfg" file - that probably wont do much good, but it's a start. Who knows, maybe he'll miracoulosly find easy way to hack Freedy. He designed the game after all 😀

You'd probably find more demand for a hack that gets the DOS version of KQ6 to use the Windows version's graphics.

You got me here - not being a KQ fan (not that I don't like it, I just never played it) I did not even know there are differences in graphics between dos and windows version. Is it a matter of low- / high-res?

Regards,
Simplex

Reply 18 of 22, by Wintermute

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
Simplex wrote:

I am asking because I am unable to run it full screen, only in a small window. The exaxt same things happens when you install Gabriel Knight CD using the original Windows (3.11) installer - the game runs, but in a window (even if I check "Run in 640x480) in the compatability tab).

Create a batch file inside the game directory with only one the line "SIERRAW .\RESOURCE.INI" (could also be "...RESOURCE.CFG" or "...RESORCE.WIN", this depends on the game), apply the compatibility settings (640x480, 256 colours) to this batch file and start the game with it.

Reply 19 of 22, by collector

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

That won't work. FFFP does not exit if the screen is not 640x480 256 colors. That was a method that I devised for the Windows KQ5, which bombs if the screen is not what it wants before launch. His problem seems to be that compatibility mode does not switch to 640x480, automatically on his PC. He'll have to manually set down the resolution before starting the game. Also, you can't get rid of the title bar like you can with GK1.

The Sierra Help Pages -- New Sierra Game Installers -- Sierra Game Patches -- New Non-Sierra Game Installers