Quest for Glory 1 VGA problem, please help me

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dungeonsofdorks · #1 Post by **dungeonsofdorks** » Fri May 12, 2006 8:48 pm

I picked too damn many mushrooms. The game broke. I got a whole bunch of unrelated messages, like the unguent wearing off, the tingling sensation being almost gone, then I got "Memory Fragmented" "Who cares" "Debug"

Yeah, I should have remembered not to pick 126 mushrooms, but I just couldn't help myself. So... now occasionally the game messes up and won't let me walk offscreen in a certain direction (i.e., to the right) and my stats are all off center and such. Does anyone know/remember/have any suggestions for .... how to fix this?

Alistair · #2 Post by **Alistair** » Sat May 13, 2006 5:39 am

You are joking, right?

If not, surely you've saved more than 'save' which you constantly save over.

If not if not, then.. I'd start over.

- Alistair

Blackthorne519 · #3 Post by **Blackthorne519** » Sat May 13, 2006 5:52 pm

Restore, Restart, or Quit.

Bt

dungeonsofdorks · #4 Post by **dungeonsofdorks** » Sun May 14, 2006 12:52 am

I never make more than one save game because I know how to beat every Sierra game, I just save it before I do something stupid, generally. Unfortunately, I forgot about the mushrooms. I already started over and I'm on QFG3 now. Thanks anyway.

Betelgeuse · #5 Post by **Betelgeuse** » Wed May 17, 2006 3:37 am

i've had the stat screen screw up on me too. not much can be done other than quit and reload the game - or just not be able to read the stats right for a while. dunno about the other one

gizzywiz · #6 Post by **gizzywiz** » Thu May 18, 2006 2:07 pm

What causes this glitch? I get tons os mushrooms and everything works fine. My only problem is trouble buying potions from healer (sometimes I am charged, but do not get potion).

Peter Swinkels · #7 Post by **Peter Swinkels** » Tue May 23, 2006 1:55 pm

Maybe you need to patch your version of Quest for Glory I. I think this site has some useful patches: http://geocities.com/belzorash/. You could also try running the game in DOSBox. DOSBox has gotten a lot of my old DOS games and applications running on my computer and it's getting better with each version.

You need a pretty powerful computer though. On my Pentium III 866 mhz DOSBox gives the performance of approximately the equivalent of a slow 80386. On my Pentium 4 3ghz DOSBox appears to give the performance of roughly a fast Pentium I. (166/233mhz)

#8 Post by **navynuke04** » Tue May 23, 2006 3:09 pm

Peter Swinkels wrote:You need a pretty powerful computer though. On my Pentium III 866 mhz DOSBox gives the performance of approximately the equivalent of a slow 80386. On my Pentium 4 3ghz DOSBox appears to give the performance of roughly a fast Pentium I. (166/233mhz)

I haven't used DOSBox extensively, but I'm pretty sure you can adjust its speed. I'd have to look through the documentation though.

Peter Swinkels · #9 Post by **Peter Swinkels** » Tue May 23, 2006 6:50 pm

Yes, I know about that, but since it's an emulator, the highest speed DOSBox can emulate is always going to be much lower than what your computer can support. The speeds I mentioned were what I estimated to be the best DOSBox could manage on the processors described.

dungeonsofdorks · #10 Post by **dungeonsofdorks** » Sat May 27, 2006 1:47 am

depends on the game/cycles used. I run dosbox on my athlon 1.3 ghz at about 5000-10000 cycles for old sierra games and it's fine. also, I used those patches and still have the healer potion selling problem... though the patches DID fix the mushroom issue.

I forget who said the healer problem but here's what my bro and I do to make sure it doesn't happen

buy one potion

check your inventory for it

wait about 5-10 seconds

buy another potion

repeat for each one you buy

seems to make them show up better when you check after each one and give it a few seconds... check again if it didn't show up the first time.

hope that helps.

Peter Swinkels · #11 Post by **Peter Swinkels** » Sat May 27, 2006 11:09 am

I'm aware of the fact that DOSBox's performance speed is dependent on the number of cycles used. But, program's running in DOSBox CANNOT perform as fast as they would running in the real MS-DOS (edit: when using the same computer.) The comparisson's I made were what I estimated to be the fastest DOSBox could emulate on a given processor. There is a point at which increasing the number of cycles won't work. I don't think DOSBox can overclock your processor, can it?

dungeonsofdorks · #12 Post by **dungeonsofdorks** » Sat May 27, 2006 5:32 pm

Peter Swinkels wrote:I'm aware of the fact that DOSBox's performance speed is dependent on the number of cycles used. But, program's running in DOSBox CANNOT perform as fast as they would running in the real MS-DOS. The comparisson's I made were what I estimated to be the fastest DOSBox could manage on a given processor. There is a point at which increasing the number of cycles won't work. I don't think DOSBox can overclock your processor, can it?

Right.... but I don't WANT Sierra games to run as fast as dosbox can go, because then they run too fast, just like I wasn't running them in dosbox at all. Faster does not mean better, as far as old games go. And yes, after increasing your cycles too much, everything then slows down tremendously. And yes, programs running in dosbox CAN perform as fast as they would in real MS-DOS. And faster. Which is why setting the cycles to a level that runs them without skipping, slowdowns, OR crazy speed increases is important.

For games like, say, Arena and Daggerfall, yes, a faster computer is better because you need to be able to increase the cycles more than I can on my own computer.

Peter Swinkels · #13 Post by **Peter Swinkels** » Sat May 27, 2006 7:39 pm

How do you make a game run as fast in DOSBox as it would in a real MS-DOS environment (edit: on the same computer?)

dungeonsofdorks · #14 Post by **dungeonsofdorks** » Tue May 30, 2006 3:17 pm

Apparently you aren't using it correctly, because the only answer I can give you is...

It just does.

Peter Swinkels · #15 Post by **Peter Swinkels** » Wed May 31, 2006 7:50 pm

What's in your Dosbox.conf file?

BTW:
Hardly any dos game probably needs the processing power of today's computers. Even if Dosbox wouldn't execute a dos game as fast as it would be executed outside Dosbox it wouldn't matter because it's still fast enough. And properly written Dos games will adjust their speed on fast systems so they don't run too fast. Have you ever used Dosbox on an old computer, say Pentium 350-600mhz? I would be surprised if Dos games which require a 80836 would run fast enough and smoothly (edit: on the same computer in Dosbox...)

dungeonsofdorks · #16 Post by **dungeonsofdorks** » Wed May 31, 2006 11:13 pm

You just don't seem to make any sense, man. First you say you can get it to run as fast as a pentium 1, then you say it can't run as fast as MS-DOS. Also, you keep insisting that dosbox can't do things that it, y'know DOES. Then you attempt to appear to know what you're talking about by talking about the numeric values of older computers, none of which is relevant to any of this at all. This conversation is no longer even interesting, much less useful, especially since it's WAY off topic. I already solved this problem, and I hopefully helped that other guy with his problem. The relative speeds of processors and dosbox are totally irrelevant.

Peter Swinkels · #17 Post by **Peter Swinkels** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 12:16 pm

You're right, I guess continuing this topic is pointless. But, I have to say one more thing:

Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2006 12:13 am Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You just don't seem to make any sense, man. First you say you can get it to run as fast as a pentium 1, then you say it can't run as fast as MS-DOS. Also, you keep insisting that dosbox can't do things that it, y'know DOES. Then you attempt to appear to know what you're talking about by talking about the numeric values of older computers, none of which is relevant to any of this at all

I personally find this to be a bit insulting. I re-read my posts, and they seem to make sense. I could be wrong, but you could go about it differently when telling me. But, let's close this topic, it has dragged on long enough.

Spikey · #18 Post by **Spikey** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 10:17 pm

I do understand you, Peter, I think.

Simply try running the game in both the genuine DOS environment and then in DOSbox.

For example, in genuine DOS environment KQ7 on today's computers, Valanice will explode immediately after taking the firecracker, simply because the game runs too fast. In KQ6, when climbing the logic cliffs, Alexander won't stop trying to keep his balance, while actually this should only happen one or two times a screen. Try emulating those troubles with DOSbox.

dungeonsofdorks · #19 Post by **dungeonsofdorks** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 11:03 pm

I'm sorry. Maybe he (Peter) actually has these problems, but I don't, and I was getting annoyed because he continued telling me that dosbox couldn't, etc. etc.... when it blatantly does just what he claims it cannot, on my computer at any rate, and my computer is not particularly fast.

So to Peter, I'm sorry if you were offended by what I said. It annoys me when people tell me that things are not the way they are when to me, it is blatantly clear that they are in fact that way.

Peter Swinkels · #20 Post by **Peter Swinkels** » Fri Jun 02, 2006 11:48 am

I never said that what I said was true for all computers. If you have a Pentium III or 4 of 1ghz or more, Dosbox should give you no trouble with most games. Try running your games in Dosbox on a really old computer. You will see what I mean. I have two laptops, both Pentium III's. One is 600mhz and the other 866mhz. Simple DOS programs run fine in DOSBox on those computers. PCGlobe and Alley Cat for example don't require much processing power, but try running a SCI1 game such as Leisure Suit Larry 1 VGA and Leisure Suit Larry 6. Those games require a bit more processing power and won't run smoothly in DOSBox on my laptops. I have one desktop, a Pentium 4 3ghz and so far haven't seen a DOS game that wouldn't run smoothly in DOSBox on that computer.

I'm sorry if I wasn't clear enough. Hopefully I've been clear enough with my explanations this time. This is pretty technical stuff.

Alistair · #21 Post by **Alistair** » Mon Jun 12, 2006 4:50 pm

It's not that bloody technical, people just think it is and get put off. Solving Sierra bugs is the easiest thing in the world.

Here's the logic. Sierra games were made for 486's, roughly. We try to play them on XP, which have much faster processors (at least a GHz).

DOSBOX emulates the NT DOS environment (XP's bastardised 'fake' DOS), in such a way that it regulates CPU cycles and effectively tricks the games into thinking the game is been played on a CPU, which it is not.

So, how is it hard to understand? New PC's fast. Old PC's slow. Old PC Games on New PC's = problem. New PC's + DOSBOX = solution.

- Alistair