Windows XP tends to put SP2 in this list even if you don't have SP2; if it says SP1 at all, then you just have SP1.

Yes, you are in the right forum.

Can you think of anything you added or changed (installed new software, for example) on your system around the time the games stopped working?

Also, have you tried the game CDs in both of your drives?

I can't think of anything, mostly because it was a LONG time since I'd last played either of the games. It was a truly grand space of time. In the meantime, I got an AntiVirus, some registry cleaners, VDMSound, DOSBox, an external hard drive, and several windows updates.

And I have tried them in both drives, yes, though I tend not to use the non-recordable drive (in this case, E:) - it runs slower than it used to. Could it be related? I mean, with most games it doesn't matter, since the drive I DO use - D: - is running perfectly... and E: DOES run. Just, not as well as it used to. Movie files skip a bit, and so does music sometime. Games are a bit slowed down - not a lot, but enough for me not to want to use it.

I don't think your CD problem is related; I have the same issue with my DVD-ROM drive.

You might try disabling your anti-virus temporarily. They tend to cause wierd problems.

Well, what do you know - I managed to play realMYST with AntiVir Personal Edition turned off! But Gabe Knight still doesn't work...

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Gabriel Knight 3
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Unrecognized fatal exception
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OK
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This is what I get. And QFG5 still doesn't work at all... but with the patch, it should, right?
Any more ideas? Would you like some more information? If you want me to tell you technical info about my PC, tell me where I should look for it, too.

ANd by the way - is anyone else experiencing a problem in realMYST? After I give the page to Atrus, the game freezes for about 2 seconds and quits. I never get the chance to see the "ending", or to play the bonus age. Am I the only one? This happens both with and without the patch, but the patch makes the whole thing SO much slower...

Do you have anything in your system tray (lower right hand corner, next to the clock) other than your anti-virus? Disable everything in there, and, if it works then, systematically re-enable everything until the culprit is identified.

Also, you should try Windows compatibility mode. You can get info about it from Microsoft's website.

I wish I could help you with realMYST, but I don't have it.

Consider asking about GK3 and QFG5 at Quest Studios.

Quest Studios? I hadn't thought of that. Will do. And Dr. Riptide, I don't have much of anything else in the system tray - messenger, getright and FreeMemPro, and that's it - but I'll give it a go. And I do know about compatibility mode, I use it extensively.

If compatibility mode doesn't help, I have Windows 95 running in VirtualPC for those few things that simply refuse to work in WinXP.

VirtualPC? Is that any good? No massive slowdowns and not buggy (as I've heard)? Will play even games like Gabe Knight and Riddle of Master Lu with no major tweaking?

Well, I can only speak from my own experience, but it works very well for me. As long as you don't want to do anything too CPU-intensive, it should work just fine.