Space Quest Collection

[Tyrant]

Hi all, I'm new to this forum :)

I was wondering if the Space Quest Collection is playable on XP without DoxBox?

I'm talking about the new collection from 2006.
http://www.sierra.com/en/home/games/game_info.prod-L2NvbnRlbnQvc2llcnJhL2VuL3Byb2R1Y3RzL3NwYWNlX3F1ZX N0.html


Tyrant

[Travisty]

Indeed it is. Works great for me.

Also:

Microsoft® Windows® 98SE/Me/2000/XP Operating System

;)

[Tyrant]

Ahh cool thx :)

Have been trying to get Space Quest 6 to work for a long time. Without dosbox which sucks.

Do you know any other good adventure games you could recommend? old ones.
Im an adventure fan, so I know most titles.

[Kurufinwe]

Those compilations are just the games bundled with an old version of DOSBox and pdf manuals. So if you already own the games, you really ought to spend your money elsewhere.

(and DOSBox doesn't suck; people who say that are just too lazy to learn how to use it :P)

[Tyrant]

Hehe your prolly right.

I tried it but gave up...

But with the new versions, you don't have to use dosbox. right?

[Kurufinwe]

Yes, you do. It's just the exact same games (same executable), with DOSBox.

[jcornwall]

Unless you have a particularly old monitor I find that most Sierra games, particularly the older ones, look absolutely dreadful without window mode or resolution scaling. DOSBox makes it all nice again by letting me play in a window.

I know this doesn't answer your original question but I'm curious as to why you're not keen on DOSBox. Assuming your PC is fast enough to run it at a good speed, I can't think of a single negative point against it.

(A sound tweak is needed for some of the Sierra games but I think that's also needed without the emulator - search this forum for more info)

[Frogacuda]

Hehe your prolly right.

I tried it but gave up...

But with the new versions, you don't have to use dosbox. right?

It uses Dosbox to run the games, but it has a front-end launcher that does all the work for you, so if you've just been confused by how to get it to run, then you should be fine.

Of course, if you're smart and you know how to use DOSbox, you can do a much better job that this piece of crap compilation. It configures all the games to use the crappiest music hardware available. Hope you like OPL3 music.

[Tyrant]

Well I just don't know how to use dosbox. Have tried following some steps but didnt work for me.

[eXo]

It uses Dosbox to run the games, but it has a front-end launcher that does all the work for you, so if you've just been confused by how to get it to run, then you should be fine.

Of course, if you're smart and you know how to use DOSbox, you can do a much better job that this piece of crap compilation. It configures all the games to use the crappiest music hardware available. Hope you like OPL3 music.

This got me wondering - do you think it's possible to edit the launcher files to launch the game differently? Possibly changing the music it uses, etc?

[Stain]

This got me wondering - do you think it's possible to edit the launcher files to launch the game differently? Possibly changing the music it uses, etc?

It absolutely is possible. There is another thread about this at this site and a patch was released by someone for the Space Quest Collection that did this all for you. The link to the file was in the thread as well.

[crabapple]

There is another thread about this at this site and a patch was released by someone for the Space Quest Collection that did this all for you. The link to the file was in the thread as well.

This one?
http://forums.adventuregamers.com/showthread.php?p=347776

[eXo]

thank you muchly!

[k1da42]

Have any of you ever had a problem where the picture is shifted up and to the left (for all six of the games)? I thought it was a resolution problem, but changing my resolution didn't help any, and there aren't many in-game video options, so I am at a loss for what to do.

[eXo]

Ya, that was happening to me before I installed the above mentioned patch.

If it is still happening after the patch then you can modify the new dosbox.cnf file for each game to change the video options

[k1da42]

Ahh, okay. I installed the patch but still no luck - how do I work on the .conf files?
On a different note, why is sq3 in a small window after I install the patch but not before I do so?
Thanks, by the way.

[eXo]

alt-enter will maximize the windows once you start the game.

the patch starts them in windowed mode rather then fullscreen.

By the way - are you using an LCD monitor? There is a patch for LCD's.

Anyways, after the patch there will be a dosbox.conf file in each driectory of your games;
ie: C: \Program Files\Sierra\Space Quest Collection(TM)\sq2\dosbox.conf

(remember - your collection and dosbox 0.65 MUSt both be installed to your C: ) - you did d/l and install dosbox 0.65 - right?

If you installed dosbox 0.65 and space quest compilation to your c:, and then ran the patch, and your still ahve trouble with the game window not being centered then you cane dit your dosbox.conf file located in the directory listed above.

To edit it you want to find the lines:

aspect = true
scaler = advmame3x

Fool around with these. Try turning aspect to false. Also try changing your scaler to either none, normal3x, or one of the others listed in the comment section. If all that doesnt work, let me know and I'll pull some more settings you can actually add to the conf file which may fix it.

[k1da42]

I had the patch and the games installed, and just now installed the latest dosbox, but I still haven't got any dosbox.conf files in C: \Program Files\Sierra\Space Quest Collection(TM)\sq2, sq3, etc.
And yes, I am running on an LCD Monitor.

[eXo]

Is your windows installed on the c:?

My windows is installed on my f:, and I found that even though I specified the c: - the patch still installed it's files to
F: \Program Files\Sierra\Space Quest Collection(TM)\

If that happened, then simply go to each game directory and copy all the files over the files in your c: directories.

ie: drop F: \Program Files\Sierra\Space Quest Collection(TM)\sq2\*.* on top of C: \Program Files\Sierra\Space Quest Collection(TM)\sq2\*.*

Repeat for all the games and any other directories.

[k1da42]

Yeah, all my stuff is in the c: drive. Two things of note: the only directory that has a dosbox.conf file is the main dosbox folder, and I can't figure out how to do anything with that file (my cpu/internet couldn't find a program to open it with, and the properties are rather limited).

[shadow9d9]

You should check out the fanmade patches at http://forums.vugames.com/thread.jspa?threadID=33403&tstart=0 for space quest collection help.

[eXo]

right click the shortcut to your game on the start menu and select properties. The line should have the link to your dosbox.conf.

[k1da42]

Got it all straightened out. Thanks a lot!