VOGONS


First post, by lukeman3000

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I got KQVII working in DOSBox, but I'm having trouble figuring out the optimal settings, specifically as it relates to the CPU settings.

For example, when I leave everything on auto, it runs ok, but then the sound glitches heavily especially when the two rabbits run across the screen at the beginning of the game.

If I set the core to normal or dynamic and the cycles to around 10000, the sound glitches are mostly gone, but I can still hear a faint glitch when the second bunny jumps across the screen. The cycles have to be around 5000 or so in order to not hear any sound glitches during the beginning sequence.

The only problem with this is that setting the cycles to 10000 and below slows the game down quite a bit. ESPECIALLY when I hit "Continue Old Game" from the main screen, it takes FOREVER before I can actually click "Play Game" because it waits until the screen fully fades in before it lets you click on anything. If the cycles are on max or even around 20-30000 this games much quicker and is much more tolerable, but around 5000 cycles it is just ridiculous in how long it takes.

So, what kind of CPU settings offer the best compromise between performance and sound glitches? Or is there a way to have fast performance without sound glitches?

Reply 1 of 15, by Xelasarg

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cycles=max
Without information about your system specs, any further advice is quite difficult.

"What's a paladin?!"

Reply 2 of 15, by lukeman3000

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Xelasarg wrote:

cycles=max
Without information about your system specs, any further advice is quite difficult.

Well, I'm running windows 7 64 bit, I have an intel i7 930 2.8ghz processor, 2x nvidia gtx 470s running in SLI, and 12gb of ram (I think it's ddr2).

Also, setting cycles to max seems to amplify the occurrence and intensity of sound glitches compared to, say, 10000 cycles. It's just that everything is quite slow when the cycles are this low.

Reply 3 of 15, by Xelasarg

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I haven't got the full version here , so I can't compare it, the demo just crashes... Does the sound skip, or merely sound wrong? 10000-20000 cycles should be perfectly alright, considering this game was made for 80486 PC's. At least the issue is definitely NOT related to your cpu being too weak. 😎
I'll see if I can find my old copy when I get home.

"What's a paladin?!"

Reply 4 of 15, by Dominus

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Get the installer from sierrahelp.com, this comes with dosbox settings

Windows 3.1x guide for DOSBox
60 seconds guide to DOSBox
DOSBox SVN snapshot for macOS (10.4-11.x ppc/intel 32/64bit) notarized for gatekeeper

Reply 5 of 15, by lukeman3000

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Xelasarg wrote:

I haven't got the full version here , so I can't compare it, the demo just crashes... Does the sound skip, or merely sound wrong? 10000-20000 cycles should be perfectly alright, considering this game was made for 80486 PC's. At least the issue is definitely NOT related to your cpu being too weak. 😎
I'll see if I can find my old copy when I get home.

It certainly can skip if the cycles are up too high, but the main thing is that it just sounds "glitchy". Like weird beeps and stuff every now and then, and occasionally some "noise", like during the tornado at the very beginning of the game.

I'll try the installer later, studying for a final right now : )

Reply 6 of 15, by collector

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If you have the cycles set to more than 10000 you will encounter the firecracker speed bug. The installer that Dominus mentioned will give you optimal settings for both the game and DOSBox. Additionally, you won't need the CD to play.

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

Reply 7 of 15, by lukeman3000

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collector wrote:

If you have the cycles set to more than 10000 you will encounter the firecracker speed bug. The installer that Dominus mentioned will give you optimal settings for both the game and DOSBox. Additionally, you won't need the CD to play.

That sounds great, however, I really like running the games out of d-fend reloaded.. If I get your installer, is there a way I can see the settings used by the installer so that I can manually put them into dosbox/the game?

Reply 8 of 15, by collector

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In the config files, but those settings may or may not be right for other games. The installers do come with a small config tool to easily change a few basic DOSBox settings for the game, such as full screen or Windowed mode, and copies over the ".DRV" files and the original install files in case you want to change the hardware that the game will use and don't want to have to manually edit the "RESOURCE.CFG" file.

That is not the only thing the installers do. They apply any relevant patches, both official and fan made and provide high res icons for the shortcuts the installers make for the games, too. The ones for the Windows games include compatibility patches that I made with the MS ACT, if needed. To play The Mask of Eternity on Vista/Win7 you have three choices. Buy it from GOG, use my installer for it or edit the MASK.EXE yourself.

Most of the uninstallers will offer to let you keep your save games. They are light on the registry, only adding uninstall information in the case of DOS games. For the Windows games, the installers they generally make far fewer Reg entries than the original installers, only what is needed to let the games run. They are all 32 bit files, so all will run on 64-bit Windows, in fact, some are nothing more than 32-bit replacements for the original 16-bit installers of some of 32-bit Windows games. Many more advanced users that are well versed in using DOSBox use them for the convenience and time savings (including myself).

http://sierrahelp.com/Patches-Updates/NewSier … Installers.html

Reply 9 of 15, by lukeman3000

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collector wrote:
In the config files, but those settings may or may not be right for other games. The installers do come with a small config tool […]
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In the config files, but those settings may or may not be right for other games. The installers do come with a small config tool to easily change a few basic DOSBox settings for the game, such as full screen or Windowed mode, and copies over the ".DRV" files and the original install files in case you want to change the hardware that the game will use and don't want to have to manually edit the "RESOURCE.CFG" file.

That is not the only thing the installers do. They apply any relevant patches, both official and fan made and provide high res icons for the shortcuts the installers make for the games, too. The ones for the Windows games include compatibility patches that I made with the MS ACT, if needed. To play The Mask of Eternity on Vista/Win7 you have three choices. Buy it from GOG, use my installer for it or edit the MASK.EXE yourself.

Most of the uninstallers will offer to let you keep your save games. They are light on the registry, only adding uninstall information in the case of DOS games. For the Windows games, the installers they generally make far fewer Reg entries than the original installers, only what is needed to let the games run. They are all 32 bit files, so all will run on 64-bit Windows, in fact, some are nothing more than 32-bit replacements for the original 16-bit installers of some of 32-bit Windows games. Many more advanced users that are well versed in using DOSBox use them for the convenience and time savings (including myself).

http://sierrahelp.com/Patches-Updates/NewSier … Installers.html

Awesome. Well, I mounted my kq7 iso that I ripped last night and your installer worked great. Then I just copied the whole folder into my d-fend virtual hd folder and copied the .conf settings (that are only used when kq7 is played) and it seems to work great.

I have space quest 4, 5, and 6, and 4 worked great with your installer, but 5 is giving me trouble. Whenever I copy the files from my disks into a folder and run your installer (like the instructions say), it says "The files from the Space Quest V: The Next Mutation original install disks are required to install Space Quest V: The Next Mutation. Please copy the files from your Space Quest V: The Next Mutation disks to:"

The instructions for your installers seem fairly straightforward.. I double checked the folder to make sure I wasn't missing any files, but I'm pretty sure I'm not. Other than that, your installers have been working great so far. I got sq1-3 off gog.com and I plan on using your installers for them, too.

Last edited by lukeman3000 on 2011-07-27, 23:39. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 11 of 15, by lukeman3000

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collector wrote:

What files do you have for SQ5?

I got it from the gog collection, so whatever files are included there. Is it not compatible with this version?

I guess that would make sense.. I have the physical disks for 4 and 6 and your installers worked flawlessly. I didn't have 5 in physical disk format so I got it from gog and the installer doesn't seem to recognize that it's in the space quest V folder.

Will I have to get a copy from ebay for the installer to work?

Reply 12 of 15, by collector

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All of my installers are designed for the original media. This is why they often fail with people who try to use them with abandonware. I am not familiar with most of the GOG Quest releases. I do know that they include the AGI versions of the early games and not the SCI remakes where as the 2006 VU collections (and the Steam collections use these releases) have the SCI remakes instead of the original AGI games. Many files were ripped from the games by the company that compiled these collections for VU. The GOG releases must missing files that the installers are looking for.

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

Reply 13 of 15, by lukeman3000

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collector wrote:

All of my installers are designed for the original media. This is why they often fail with people who try to use them with abandonware. I am not familiar with most of the GOG Quest releases. I do know that they include the AGI versions of the early games and not the SCI remakes where as the 2006 VU collections (and the Steam collections use these releases) have the SCI remakes instead of the original AGI games. Many files were ripped from the games by the company that compiled these collections for VU. The GOG releases must missing files that the installers are looking for.

That kind of stinks. I hate to buy the game twice, but I guess it is what it is.

Reply 14 of 15, by wd

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That kind of stinks.

Of course you can complain to GOG where you spent your money on the game rather than to collector who is doing all this to help people getting things streamlined (he usually appreciates a *thanks* for sure).

Reply 15 of 15, by lukeman3000

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wd wrote:

That kind of stinks.

Of course you can complain to GOG where you spent your money on the game rather than to collector who is doing all this to help people getting things streamlined (he usually appreciates a *thanks* for sure).

Well, when you say it that way. Don't get me wrong, I'm very thankful for collector's installers and the fact that they optimize the games automatically. It's just been frustrating trying to get sq5 to work. I hardly think what I said classifies as complaining.