red_avatar wrote:

Actually Sierra games of that age in Windows XP aren't too stable and there's some issues.

I've said already that I've and friends have beat Phantasmagoria on several XP machines. It works fine. Yes you should drop the resolution down because it will probably run letterboxed otherwise. It's undoubtedly a 640x480 game, so that may be tricky in XP because it only lets you go to 800x600. Something like powerstrip can get around that easily though.

By running in XP, his entire first post problem is negated too because disk swapping will work fine.

wd wrote:

If he's running an x64 Windows

Yeh and he didn't say that as well etc.

He did mention Windows virtual drive software, so I'd say that suggesting Windows makes more sense than telling him to work his way around DOSBOX when it's probably unnecessary. Daemon Tools comes in a x64 version too.

collector wrote:

If there is a choice, you are almost always better off with the DOS version of Sierra SCI games. Most of the bugs with the DOS version tend to be just speed issues, which are easily addressed with DOSBox. The Windows games tend to be rather buggy. With most there is little difference aesthetically between the two. Also, don't forget, 64 bit Windows will become more and more common.

If it can autorun and install as easily as the newest game, I disagree. When it becomes a problem, then it's time to mess with DOSBOX, which itself can be mysteriously unstable too.

Phantasmagoria 2 does not work in XP though. There you have to use the rather awful DOS version, which reduces your videos to 8-bit color. It may have audio problems too in DOSBOX, if I recall correctly. That was a much older version of DOSBOX tho.

Autorun (which is often a problem with older Sierra games and has nothing to do with how well the game will install or run) and installation have nothing to say about the issues that are often encountered from the games during game play. There are several SCI Windows games that will install and run just fine, but have impassable bugs later in the game. most people aren't very happy when they play most of the way through a game only to find that they have to start all over again, because they have to switch versions and find that their save games don't work.

The SCI speed bugs affect both DOS and Windows versions, but DOSBox makes these moot with the DOS versions. The Windows versions often have odd bugs under XP, like the endless loop of "audio out" error messages that pop up in the Windows version of QfG4.

There has to be compelling reason to use the Windows version over the DOS version when there is a choice of both. The Windows version of KQ6 is about the only SCI DOS/Windows game that I want to run the Windows version, because of the much higher rez dialog images. Greater color depth might be desirable, but it is no where near the huge difference between the two versions of KQ6.