By the way...I can't get over how so many game companies are dragging their feet on DVD games. I got the "Deluxe" version of Diablo II, OK? It has a DVD. Amazingly, the game is not on the DVD. Just the cutscenes.

Look, here's how good the cinematics would've looked if we had used a DVD for the game. Oh, and you wouldn't have needed a stack of CD's either...except we didn't do that.

Here's the info I have found again. Quite informative.

Microsoft's list of Windows DVD-ROM games that won't work in the current WinNT-based operating systems.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?sci … b;EN-US;Q227514

Digital Leisure's article about the kinds of problems you'd see and how to work around them.
http://www.digitalleisure.com/Tech%20Support/ … ttextdldvd.html

Their patch shows that it is possible to take a game that used the MCI calls and translate it to DirectShow calls. What it does not show is whether it is possible to do this if you do not have access to the source code.

I will look more into this later. Furthermore, we should really go through Microsoft's list to see if Digital Leisure was the only one to release a compatibility patch. I bet they are, but you never know...

I think Access (made the Tex Murphy games) finally gave up and died. Don't quote me on that, though. I may try Overseer again to see if it does work or whatever for me. Unlikely, but maybe InterVideo kluged in a compatibility layer or something for WinDVD4.

Dark Side of the Moon won't work because, supposedly, computers now are "too fast" and Dreamweaver didn't bother to fix the problem. (Ain't that niiiice?) Before I reinstalled Windows, Safecracker didn't work either. Not sure what that's all about... I should ask about it!! 😁 It's not related to this outside that it was made by Dreamweaver and doesn't work, heheh.

Were there any DOS games that used MPEG-2?

There was a DVD of Gabriel Knight 2? That makes sense, except that that game was released before DVD technology was available.

And... there were only two CDs for Z:GI. Does the DVD version have better video or something?

I have the DVD version of The Journeyman Project 3, but it just uses QT video (no need for MCI-DVD access or whatever).

Snover wrote:

There was a DVD of Gabriel Knight 2? That makes sense, except that that game was released before DVD technology was available.

That list can't be right.

Like I said before, the Diablo II DVD only has cutscenes from the game. The game can only be played from the CD's.

I'm certain "Jet Fighter: Full Burn" wasn't on DVD either.

The clincher is "Star Trek: Vulcan's Fury". It would be difficult for this to be on DVD as it was never released.
(Much to my chagrin...).

And... there were only two CDs for Z:GI. Does the DVD version have better video or something?

Yes, it uses standard .VOB DVD format video (tested a few samples).

The only DVD based game I can add to the list is Descent: Freespace. I don't know if it was ever released retail, though - my copy is an OEM copy...

yawnmoth wrote:

The only DVD based game I can add to the list is Descent: Freespace

That is an oddball. I presume the only "enchancements" were that it fit on one disc and had MPEG2 cutscenes?

Actually, I don't know - I lent it to a friend of mine not to long ago - when I get it back, I'll take a look at it...
although, iirc, the DVD rom only had 900mb of data, so it wasn't anything that couldn't fit on two CD's...

yawnmoth wrote:

...the DVD rom only had 900mb of data, so it wasn't anything that couldn't fit on two CD's...

One of the strange things about many DVD releases is that the titles that need it most aren't available, but a large portion of DVD releases use little-to-nothing of the capacity of DVD.

Claw had MPEG2 cutscenes and nothing else. The original game didn't even come close to filling a single CD.

Arrrggh,

Recently my friend bought Baldur's Gate 2 + Tales of the Sword Coast which is 3 CD's.

MY original Baldur's Gate + Tales of The Sword Coast is 6 CD's.
I think the same thing is being done with Planescape Torment wheras my ver is 4 CD's and another ver is 2 CD's.

Look's like they are using HEAVY compression nowadays to fit on fewer CD's instead of going the easy route and just stuffing stuff onto DVD's. Sigh.

The problem is that, while there are many gamers on the bleeding edge of computing, there are many, many others that don't have/want/need/desire a DVD-ROM drive (for various reasons, including the millions that buy crappy computers from crappy OEMs (eg. HP) that cut $5 off the price by using a CD drive instead of a DVD drive. Ridiculousness). I love DVDs and wouldn't give up my DVD-ROM for the world, but, as an example, when the servo motor in the DVD-ROM drive in my dad's computer died, he decided to spend $20 less and get a CD-ROM instead. Loser. Just wait 'till he starts getting sent stuff on DVD, mwahaha. 😜

Uh, in conclusion... go DVDs!

I guess one of the major problems is that they cost a lot to make, and game revenues are generally much less than movie revenues. And I don't mind compression, as long as it's lossless, but all too often nowadays I see games employing 128Kbps MPEG Layer III audio, probably encoding with a Xing codec, which is satan. LEARN HOW TO !@#$ ENCODE MP3s. Anyway, yeah. I'm ranting now more than I meant to. Sorry about that.

I know that the new Microsoft Visual Studio comes on DVD (it would be 7CDs otherwise, FFS, can anyone say "bloat"!?), but that's about the only new release I've seen that uses DVDs. While I think that seeing more games on DVD would be a great thing (especially seeing as how I have already 300CDs of games plus sixty-odd of other stuff (no, not pr0n, you sick monkey)), but I don't think it's gonna happen. Not enough consumer interest, and not enough revenue. I cherish my Riven, Journeyman Project 3, Overseer, and Dark Side of the Moon DVDs, even though only the first two will actually run. 😉

Nicht Sehr Gut wrote:

That is an oddball. I presume the only "enchancements" were that it fit on one disc and had MPEG2 cutscenes?

Nah, the cutscenes would have stayed in Interplays proprietary MVE format. I think high-res versions of some of the textures are included (but not installed) on the FS1 DVD but I'm not sure, it might have been the FS2 (the place where I read that info was a little cryptic) DVD.

Oh yeah, FreeSpace 2 was also released on DVD but I'm not sure if it was the regular version or the Sci-Fi Sim of the Year edition which had a bunch of extra stuff with it (concept art and extra missions mainly and I think it came pre-patched to version 1.2). I saw it for sale when I was looking for a copy of FreeSpace 2 but passed it by because, at the time, I didn't have a DVD-ROM drive (I still don't, but will have by next Tuesday hopefully).

The problem is that, while there are many gamers on the bleeding edge of computing, there are many, many others that don't have/want/need/desire a DVD-ROM drive (for various reasons, including the millions that buy crappy computers from crappy OEMs (eg. HP) that cut off the price by using a CD drive instead of a DVD drive. Ridiculousness).

That argument may fit for offline games, but what about for online games? Broadband isn't super cheap, and if Final Fantasy 11, an online only game which is planned to be released on the PC is released on CD's, I'll sorta be annoyed. I would speculate that just about every one who has broadband internet has a DVD drive...

I know that the new Microsoft Visual Studio comes on DVD (it would be 7CDs otherwise, FFS, can anyone say "bloat"!?), but that's about the only new release I've seen that uses DVDs.

I have Linux on DVD! 😀 I think most copies of Linux you would buy at a store are on a DVD... but beyond that, I don't know of any...

And actually, about Descent: Freespace... not only was it 900mb, but.. you can actually buy CD-R's that support 900mb's. So them releasing it on a DVD was lavish, in addition to a waste of space...

You can read about those CD's here:
http://www.medeainternational.com/info/90min.htm

Ridiculous. I agree that DVD was a waste of space, but not only do these CD-Rs probably break Redbook AND Orangebook standards, they probably couldn't be read in the cheap shit CD drives most OEMs use anyway.

Yeah - they do break all the standards - that's apparently why you have to enable overburning in Nero to burn them, and their sizes aren't specified in the ATIP...

Originally posted by Snover I think Access (made the Tex Murphy games) finally gave up and died. Don't quote me on that, though. I may try Overseer again to see if it does work or whatever for me.

Found this interesting thread:
http://pub24.ezboard.com/funofficialtexmurphy … start=1&stop=20

It's especially interesting at the part where the guy claims (partial) success in XP.

Wowwee!

I thought that something like that might work!

Mediamatics DVD Express! Thats funny since they have a new product out, DVMatics!

Well, now people should try this with other DVD games mentioned here and by Microsoft with this!

Give it a try!

Schadenfreude, what is that?

Also, you know what game could have really, REALLY used DVD? Obsidian. I mean, it had all the major players going for it: Industrial Light & Magic, Thomas Dolby... the audio and visuals are spectacular; unfortunately Quicktime does not do it justice. Nor does stereo sound. This would be the coolest game in the world to have on DVD.

Snover wrote:

Schadenfreude, what is that?

What Nicht Sehr Gut posted:
http://pub24.ezboard.com/funofficialtexmurphy … tart=21&stop=40

See post by JeffR:

Hi Ikon, […]
Show full quote

Hi Ikon,

Try using DVD Express - works for me - I have Win XP, NTFS on one of my drives, and have no problems playing it al all.

You can get DVD express from (courtesy of "Checkmates" post on 5/9/02):

oops i didn't really put this here

The file is DVDExpress.zip (20.00MB!)

The file is WAREZ, too. But supposedly, it gets Overseer working.

Read the whole thing for more comments.

What I meant, was, maybe it works for other DVD games in Windows XP too. Like the ones in Stiletto's link to Microsoft. Pleasee try.

When is Blizzard going to get it through their thick skulls?
http://www.blizzard.com/market/blizzard-dvd.shtml

Cinematics only, for StarCraft, Diablo II, and Warcraft III. 3 DVD's in an all-in-one pack. They could've easily made these DVD game versions, simplifying installation and enhancing the game experience. The only "advantage" of a plain DVD instead a DVD-ROM is that you can play them in any standard DVD player.

I don't get this. As small as the number of PC's with DVD-ROM drives may be (compared to CD drives), I'm pretty sure the number of people who are willing to pay $20 just to watch the game cinematics on a DVD is even smaller.

(Yes, I know there's "bonus material", but still...)