Technical Help & Tips

[Marek]

This thread is intended as a collective effort to help as much people with their technical problems as possible. The focus obviously lies on getting adventure games to run on modern computers, specifically older adventures that weren't designed for Windows 2000 or XP.

All your tips and links will eventually be consolidated into a permanent article on the site, which we'll link to at the top of this forum.

Sadly, we couldn't recover the old sticky thread we had in the 'technical problems' forum, but we're confident that we can restore it in all its greatness just as we have done with the entire articles database.

Feel free to post your tips below, but please make a new thread if you're looking for help with a specific problem.

[ragnar]

For all questions about lucasarts scummgames, plus Revolutions Beneath a Steel Sky and Broken Sword games (soon at least) you should refer to ScummVM (http://www.scummvm.org). :)

[bigjko]

Using VDMSound to emulate DOS

VDMSound (http://ntvdm.cjb.net/) lets you run old DOS games and software by emulating the sound and video drivers and tricking the program into thinking you have that freaky Extended Memory that no one actually has anymore.

Usage is quite simple. Start by downloading the install file (http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/vdmsound/VDMSound-2.0.4-WinNT-i386.msi?download), install it to your computer, and lo behold, the power of opening DOS games is within your grasps. If the program asks you to restart your computer, do so. Then, find the file that runs your DOS game (it should in almost all cases be either an .exe or a .bat file) and right-click on it. What's this new option? "Run with VDMS", no matter how much VDMS sounds like a disease click that option.

Example 1 (http://picserver.student.utwente.nl/getpicture.php?id=322361)

Now, a Tips window should appear. It's worth a look, there are some informative tips there, but if you prefer not to see that everytime you start your game, just untick the "Show tips at start" checkbox. Regardless, press Close and your DOS game should be running in tip-top condition.

Example 2 (http://picserver.student.utwente.nl/getpicture.php?id=322361)

Happy Playing.

Update: There's now a patch (http://vdmsound.sourceforge.net/files/VDMSound.2.0.4.update2.zip) available for VDMSound. Just unzip the contents into the main VDMSound directory, which defaults to "C: \Program Files\VDMSound\"

[remixor]

I have to throw in my recommendation for LucasArts Quick and Easy (http://quick.mixnmojo.com/). It's a good front-end interface combining ScummVM and VDMS, as well as some other useful tools such as a CMI launcher. In my experience, it's a bit simpler to use than to juggle the two other programs separately. Try it out (and remember it only applies to LucasArts games plus everything else covered by ScummVM).

[Marek]

Extremely recommended for all W2k/XP problems:
http://vogons.zetafleet.com/

[timesguy]

This is a DOS emulator for Windows. It will run old DOS games with sound, and you can run them full-screened or windowed.

http://dosbox.sourceforge.net

[jamesfoti]

If An old adventure game does not work on windows go on there website and look for patches that is what i did :D

[Tanukitsune]

Here are some tips...
-When having VESA troubles try to set the graphics to 800X600 and 256 colors...
-Soundcards can emulate OTHER soundcards! If your are installing a game and it can't detect your card, try other other versions of this card and other soundcards....

I guess some of you know these but this is for all who don't know....


Sometimes getting the game to work is half the adventure!
http://www.gamers-forums.com/smilies/kao/otn/bloblaugh.gif

[Lagomorph]

The author of this (http://forum.spacequest.net/viewtopic.php?t=183) thread at spacequest.net has made patches to fix timer bugs in Sierra games. While these patches are still experimental, many people have reported that they were able to get past parts that were previously impossible to complete. It may even fix the infamous error 52 bug in QfG4. You can download the fixes here (http://www.spacequest.net/misc/timerissues/index.shtml).

[twiki]

Hi, I'm new here (and I absolutely looooove adventure games). I found this forum while searching on Google a solution to install the Hopkins FBI game. I can't get this game working on XP. First off, I couldn't run setup without getting a black screen. I downloaded a patch from the hopkinsfbi.com website and that got me through the setup. However, I get a fatal error in the beginning of the game:
"TW_FillBlock: Adpcm_InitDecodeStream() failed. Adpcm Error: ADPCMERR_INVALIDADPCMBUFPTR"
I hope that someone here has any idea how to get past this, because I'm still curious about this game!!

Thanks!
Martha

(I do run it in compatibility mode with win95.)

[Lagomorph]

Update on sierra timer fix: The maker has abandoned the project in favor of better game specific patches, which you can get here (http://www.lau-net.de/~nl2305/sci/). More games will be supported later.

[Sky Warrior Bob]

While nowhere near as far along as ScummVM, apparently there is something similar being done for SCI Sierra titles, here:
http://freesci.linuxgames.com

Here's something similar to Scumm Revisited & Adventure Game Studio rolled into one:
http://www.bripro.com/scistudio/index.php
(Likely used in the creation of Space Quest: The Lost Chapter)

Here's a site, that while a tad confusing, covers the whole AGI/SCI scene and explains them somewhat.
http://agisci.cjb.net/

Sky Warrior Bob

[Sky Warrior Bob]

While I don't know of any old adventure games that have a problem with UniVBE.DRV, I'll go out on a limb and guess there's at least one out there. Anyway, this Zip contains two drv files, and a readme. The files represent different versions of UNIVBE.DRV, and you basically put the files into the game directory and renamed them to UNIVBE.DRV.

I can only claim that these files enabled me to get my Mortal Kombat Trilogy game to work after many years of disuse. I can't tell you if this will help you with any adventure games you may have.

Sky Warrior Bob

[BacardiJim]

Thanks, Bob! Toonstruck is notorious for its reliance on and compatibility problems with UNIVBE drivers. Hopefully, your input will allow some folks to check out this game that couldn't otherwise. :)

[Sky Warrior Bob]

If you can't get this to work, do a google search for unifrsh or Scitech Display Doctor. They might help. Unifrsh is also made by Rob Muller, the guy who created the above files.

Problem is, the main unifrsh site is no longer active, and Scitech http://www.scitechsoft.com doesn't seem to have any direct links to the program, so finding either of these programs requires a bit of a google search. I've easily found Unifrsh, but being it only helps with a certain number of video cards, and the above patch (at least according to a Mortal Kombat Trilogy FAQ), seems to work with nearly all cards. I opted not to attach it. (And I have yet to find the Scitech program).

And this workaround may not work with anything above Win ME, but it at least helps me in regard to my Radeon 9600 128mb & my Win ME 1.3Ghz comp & Mortal Kombat Trilogy, so it might help in some regard for everyone else.

Sky Warrior Bob

[Captain Blondebeard]

Is there some option I use to make the Scumm based games fullscreen?

[Glenn Epic]

Is there some option I use to make the Scumm based games fullscreen?

In the options, graphics menu. Tick the fullscreen checkbox

[MDMaster]

Hello everyone, and welcome to a post that should have seen the light of day sooner than this, but hey better late than never.
Today we're gonna talk about man's best friend: Virtual Machines (VM)

First, what is a VM? It's something that mainframes have been using for a long time, and only now that pcs got more powerful we poor user can use 'em too. To cut a long story short, you're running another computer on your computer. And that computer can run anything of course, it's not a copy of your system, but rather a new one that can be used however you can without fear of formatting or losing precious data files.

Second, which VM should I use? Very simple. As far as I know, there are two major choices in VMs, and those are: VMware and Microsoft Virtual PC (2002, 2003, etc). The first one is usually recommended to people who really know how to work around computer, it's not exactly meant for games and such, but for experiments and things like that. It is not easy to make VMware run without problems, I never managed to solve stuttering sound and I gave up quite soon. So my choice here, and the one I recommend, is Virtual PC by Microsoft. That is a nice utility (that you can try for free for 45 days) that was meant mainly to run old programs on older windows systems such as 3.1 or 95. You should really have no problem with Microsoft Virtual Pc, and of course you can also use it on your mac, thus proving really useful.

Third, how do I USE a VM? Ok ok, how do you use a VM... well, exactly the same way you use your computer. The first time you fire up Virtual PC you'll need to create a virtual machine and give it a name. After that you have a pretty new computer, pretty but empty. So you'll have to create a boot disk (or use a cd) for the OS you'll want to install. My advice here is to install Windows 98, that should be fine for most old adventures and games, but of course if you wanna have three virtual machines with 3.1, 95 and 98 or dos 6.0 it's even better, just more complicated. I'm not gonna discuss how to install an OS here, there's just not enough space, let's just say the process is not really complicated at all. You just boot the disk or insert the cd, the setup will examine your free space and then install the OS (that will take a long time, so relax). After you've installed it... well, you're ready to go! On Microsoft Virtual PC you'll see a lot of talk about those 'VDM Additions'. Those are some 'drivers', let's say, that modernize a bit your virtual machine with an s3 video card (and a 65.000 colors desktop), a better audio card and so on. But keep in mind that some games may not like those additions, while some require 'em. You will have to see for yourself. Also, Virtual PC supports disks & cd images, so you can keep the program from 'owning' your cd and disk drives.

Fourth, what are the minimum specs? This depends on the kind of game you're trying to run. Remember that Virtual PC does not support 3d acceleration, so it's useless to install it to try games that need it. You should stick to games pre 1999/2000, and generally you should be fine with at least a 2 ghz processor with 512 mb ram. Avoid running other programs in background, strange things happen.

Fifth, why should I use a VM? Well, I've seen so many posts of people not being able to run games and many times I've recommended this. A Virtual machine with w98 does not give you any kind of problems with games that won't ever run on XP. So you can save some time, avoid the usual emulation problems you have with progs like VDMSound or DosBox, and of course run the program on another system, so even if crashes your system is fine.

Sixth, what games benefit from a VM? I can't really make a list of all games that can be run on a VM without problems. Here's a small one, just to remind you all, I will update it in the future:

Discworld (can also be run on a modern system with some workarounds)
Discworld II (same as above)
Fable
Feeble Files
Gabriel Knight - Beast Within (if you can't install neither the windows nor the dos version)
Phantasmagoria (same as above)
Phantasmagoria - A Puzzle of Flesh (same as above)
Riddle of Master Lu
Revenant
Scorcher
Stonekeep
Toonstruck
Y2K

Generally keep in mind that whenever an old game/program won't run, usually a virtual machine can help.


Seventh, where do I find a VM? Well, you can find the free trial version of Microsoft Virtual pc HERE (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=360cafd6-5098-4c64-9ca7-a30f225859f6&DisplayLang=en) and VMware HERE (http://www.google.com/url?sa=U&start=1&q=http://www.vmware.com/&e=9818).

Keep in mind that this guide is just to walk you through the basic passages in using and running a virtual machine, mainly to play games. A more professional use will require more time and work.
There are a lot more infos and this thread will definitely require updating, but for now I guess this is it. If you have a question feel free to PM me and I'll help in any way I can.

Have PHun! :D

[katie]

Good post and good advice, I've been running Microsoft VM for a while now, for it to run Windows 98 so there are now many old games I can play. I have very few problems with it.

It's easy enough to install, easy enough to use, and it can just run like another window on your desktop which means you can still access all your XP stuff at the same time.

Only downside to Microsoft VM is the price which is about £100 in the UK - but for me well worth it.

Katie.

[MDMaster]

Since I'm unable to edit my post, and don't wanna disturb any mods for that, I'll just add some news from time to time. :D

First, there has been a SP (service pack) for Microsoft Virtual PC, but it's usefulness is quite limited to people running the VM on Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and other 'odd' OS. So I would vote against downloading it, unless you really need to have the latest patches or you're running Windows 2000 or such.

Second, here's another bunch of games that will work only on a VM running Windows 95/98:

Dragonstone (DosBox is fine too)
Rama
Sonic CD
Syndicate

I also tried running the underrated Appeal game 'Outcast' on a VM but something strange kept happening. The game would install, then delete itself just after the setup program closed. I don't really know how to explain this, I suppose it's just some weird reaction to the VM, but I can't see how the game is influenced by it. Funny, anyway. For those interested in running the game on XP, I would suggest downloading a 'loader' program and the patch.

I didn't say it in my main post, but I would strongly suggest using DosBox if the game you're running isn't that old and can be run on a 486, that's why I didn't include those old ones (Ecoquest, King's Quest V, Quest for Glory II etc) in my list.

That is all, let's wait for Microsoft Virtual PC 2005 in the meantime. :D

[fov]

Threads become uneditable after some point. I can still edit it, but adding your thoughts on a new post works just as well. :D

[paulcdavis]

Add Dark Side of the Moon to the list of games that will run (with text displayed) on a virtual pc with Windows 95 installed.

[morriss]

Call me a sausage, but why use a VM when you can simly create a partition drive with Win98 installed?

[fov]

Call me a sausage, but why use a VM when you can simly create a partition drive with Win98 installed?

Some people see that as more work. Also I have heard some horror stories about trying to create partitions in XP... but maybe it's easier now with SP2 than it used to be? I remember a lot of people having trouble with partitions when XP first came out.

[morriss]

Some people see that as more work. Also I have heard some horror stories about trying to create partitions in XP... but maybe it's easier now with SP2 than it used to be? I remember a lot of people having trouble with partitions when XP first came out.

Partition Magic is your friend. It's an extremely user friendly system, it took me all of 'literally' 2 mins tel PM what to do. Then reboot, wait about 5-10mins and voila! A partition drive.

Or just put the Win98 CD in your cd Drive. Restart and then go into your BIOS. Tell the PC to boot from CD and then you'll be able to creat a partition to install Win98 from.

[littleguybrush]

I also tried running the underrated Appeal game 'Outcast' on a VM but something strange kept happening. The game would install, then delete itself just after the setup program closed. I don't really know how to explain this, I suppose it's just some weird reaction to the VM, but I can't see how the game is influenced by it.

This has nothing to do with VM. It was a well-known game bug. There is a patch to fix this.

[Coop]

Can someone tell me how to use DOSBOX with a CD? I have no idea how to run a cd in dosbox..I run games by doing it off the harddrive and it takes up a lot of space. i remember a site that showed how and it seemed easy but i cant find it thx

[Dale Baldwin]

Can someone tell me how to use DOSBOX with a CD?
mount c d:\ -t cdrom is the simplest way.
That would mount a CD-rom drive d:\ to drive c: in DosBox.
Further syntax can be found by typing intro cdrom into DosBox, but the simplest way has always worked for me so far.

[Davies]

Some people see that as more work. Also I have heard some horror stories about trying to create partitions in XP... but maybe it's easier now with SP2 than it used to be? I remember a lot of people having trouble with partitions when XP first came out.

My previous computer had two hard drives, one running 98 and the other running XP. It was fine until one of them developed a problem. It became impossible to tell which drive was complaining, which was acting up, etc. and in the end everything crashed.

Now I have my desktop PC running Windows XP and doing all my serious stuff, and a high-spec laptop running 98SE for games and "fiddling about" type projects.

I seem to recall that if you want a dual drive or partition, you have to install the lowest-spec Windows first and work upwards. In other words, you have to begin with a Windows 98 system and then add the XP. You just get told off if you're already running XP and want to add 98.

[marsan]

My previous computer had two hard drives, one running 98 and the other running XP. It was fine until one of them developed a problem. It became impossible to tell which drive was complaining, which was acting up, etc. and in the end everything crashed.

Now I have my desktop PC running Windows XP and doing all my serious stuff, and a high-spec laptop running 98SE for games and "fiddling about" type projects.

I seem to recall that if you want a dual drive or partition, you have to install the lowest-spec Windows first and work upwards. In other words, you have to begin with a Windows 98 system and then add the XP. You just get told off if you're already running XP and want to add 98.

Yes. If you use Partion Commander you can make it hide the XP partion and make it possible to install 98 onto a partion you have created, or a own harddisk. But it's still risky. It's easy to end up sitting there with an XP that won't boot, and a 98 that won't boot either because it's not on the first partion(unless you decide to move the XP partion up... which also can make XP angry and decide that it can't find the partion anymore, unless you fix your boot.ini file first...)

Also, some newer hardware doesn't have proper 98 drivers. That means suddenly something you depend upon doesn't work properly. Also, many older games won't work with a new PC because it will not like that the CPU is so powerful and that you have that much RAM... and that much disc space... etc... even when you run Win98. Often an emulator hides all those things and make the game only see a PC matching the specifiations it needs. So installing 98 is no way a guaranty that all your old games will work, but the chance may be bigger for them to work than in XP.

Installing XP first, then 98 makes 98 takes control over the booting, making XP unbootable. This can be fixed, if you installed 98 and XP to seperate partions, by installing a boot manager that can take control over the boot process. But yes, often the easiest is just installing 98 first and then XP to another partion.

[Davies]

Yes, I just have to reiterate: Running two platforms in one computer (whether in separate partitions or separate hard drives) works GREAT until something goes wrong. And then it REALLY goes wrong.

I'm not running that risk again. Computers are cheap enough these days to have two and keep them separate.

[Dara100]

Virtual Machine is free now and a perfect solution to the problem of getting old operating systems on your computer after installing XP or Vista. I am running Win 98 SE in VM right now and it solves the problem of running games that just won't run outside a 9x environment. As a side note, it gives me new respect for how far Windows has come. I'd almost forgotten what it was like to have to track down your own drivers if you want to do more than play games on the os.