What did you try EXACTLY?

i installed it under windows xp and the only thing i tweaked on it was to convert to 256 color under it's short cut properties and that error comes up

Hmmm. You should uninstall and try it again with the fewest options possible.

tried that and stil pulls up the same thing

Might try running in Win95 compatability mode too

"Dll not initialized."
"The instruction at 00000000 referenced memory at 00000000,
The memory could not be read from.
Click ok to terminate"

that's 2 new popups it gave me

What about this: http://support2.vugames.com/vug/answer.aspx?ID=5961

Just a stab in the dark...

Also this: http://www.sierragamers.com/bbs/BBSTopicPage.asp/t/5516/p/1

And in case that forum ever goes down:

myllyhouseATkotiDOTluukkuDOTcom You'll need to use the sierraw.exe executable copied from the cd into your kq7 folder rather th […]
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myllyhouseATkotiDOTluukkuDOTcom
You'll need to use the sierraw.exe executable copied from the cd into your kq7 folder rather than the sierraws.exe executable that is installed by default. Also, run in 256 color compatibility mode. If you want the game to run full screen, use run it from a batch file using Multires (free from www.entechtaiwan.com). Here's the batch file I use:

c:
cd multires
multires.exe /640,480,8 /exit
d:
start /w C:\SIERRA\KQ7\SIERRAW.EXE c:\SIERRA\KQ7\RESOURCE.WIN
c:
multires.exe /restore /exit

where my cdrom drive is d:, multires in installed on c: i the "Multires" folder, and the game is in the c:\sierra\kq7 folder. If you use the batch file, do not use use XP's own 256 color setting on the compatibility tab.
#26080
4/13/05 at 15:15

Let us know if it works...

well using your first suggestion the game acted like it was going to load but then this came up.

"We're sorry, you have encountered an internal game error. Please restart your game and restore a saved game. If you have continued problems, please report the following information to Sierra Tech Support:

Error 99: Error loading resource 10.wav
I:\sys\sci\restype.cpp(56)
Script 15/$2cc

Is it possible that the game isn't installed correctly? Sounds like it's looking for a file named 10.wav but can't find/open it.

i'm not real sure how the game can't be install correctly but i'll try it again just for the h*ll of it. also tried your second suggestion but it's confusing me a little. let me try uninstalling and reinstalling to see what happens.

well reinstalling didn't help me out any still get the same error message. i copied the file from the cd and edited the shortcut settings. manually put windows into 256 color and it gives me the same message

Have you tried using that sierraw.exe file in place of the sierraws.exe file?

Versions of this game earlier than 2 won't work on an NT system with the default executable, SIERRAWS.EXE and will give exactly the error that you first posted. The sad thing is that there is no DOS game on 1x versions of the game. Version 2 of the game runs well on XP AND has a DOS version.

The only thing that you need to do is delete SIERRAWS.EXE from your installed folder and copy SIERRAW.EXE from the CD and rename it to SIERRAWS.EXE. Then just set SIERRAWS.EXE to run in 256 colors and if you want, 640x480.

i did what you suggested collector and i still get the error 99 message.

What version is your game? Look in the base directory of the CD for a file called VERSION and open it in Notepad.

it's version 1.51 but i managed to find a copy of the kings quest collection from 99 that had the laura bow games on it also and it works fine.