Qfg5: Windows 7 solutions

[Spikey]

Hi again,

Got two ways of running Qfg5 in Windows 7, without Win98. Wanted to share them with you.

After easy and succesful install of KQ8 in Virtual Machine / Windows 98, I ran into trouble doing the same for Qfg5; after install, the game just wouldn't do anything at all. Not even the slightest error message, just a quick flash of the program in the windows bar.

I then tried a native install of the game in Windows 7, which actually worked as expected; it installs, but Quicktime does not (am on Home Premium), making the essential playback of MOV files ingame not possible. After applying the update and the windows patch and setting compatibility to Windows 98 / ME, I read somewhere here that putting the Quicktime 3.0 files in the game folder would force the game to use those files for MOV playback. Tried this, and, as expected, the videos did play, but with scratchy buggy sounds. This has always been the case for me, updating usually helped; yet now I read that people are having trouble with newer versions of Quicktime & certain settings. For the sake of experimenting, I started trying old versions of Quicktime, but newer than the one shipped with the game;
http://www.oldversion.com/QuickTime.html
After installing 4.0 (an installer that works with Windows 7), it was a hit! Everything works flawlessly now. The drag and drop to folder method didn't work for 4.0 either, same scratchy sounds.

To sum up what I did to make it work natively in Windows 7;
1. Run the installer
2. Run the patches
3. Download and install Quicktime 4.0
4. Set compatibility for Qfg5 to Windows 98 / ME

Also installed it in VM with XP Pro, also works flawlessly after installing the game using this method, the 1.2 patch, the w9/XP patch and Quicktime 4.0 (also scratchy sounds with 3.0). This can come in handy when you need to update Quicktime in order to use iTunes etc.

Well, I'm off experimenting again.

[Collector]

Thanks for reporting your findings. A couple of things to add. The installer for the update is 16-bit. This means that it cannot be installed on 64-bit systems. The patch itself is a binary level patch, meaning that it doesn't just replace older files with newer versions, but updates the files themselves. I have made a 32-bit patcher by packing both the updated and the new files from the patch into an NSIS installer. Because it includes the updated files instead of a binary patch with the differences, it is a fair bit larger, but it will run on 64-bit Windows.

The SHP QfG5 installer includes the QFG5UP12 patch, the QFG5Win2k patched EXE and the QuickTime 3 files from the version that shipped with the game. I consider the QfG5 and the GK3 (again because of codec issues) installers somewhat experimental as there are still issues for some. I do not get the audio issues that you got with QT3, but that illustrates the problem. While there have been a number of "fixes" for the QT problem, no one fix seems to work for everyone. While the QT3 files in the base of the folder seems to offer a solution to many, it does not do so consistently.

Some have had luck with QuickTime Alternative, some with various versions of QT installed and some with using SafeMode settings for QT. It would be great to find a solution that consistently worked for most. I am going to experiment with placing the QT4 files in the base. If it works right, it would let people have a newer version of QT installed on their systems for security and functionality reasons, bur QfG5 could have the version that works best for it. Of course it would need to be tested on enough systems to see if it is a reliable solution.

[Spikey]

Hi,
THanks for you response;
I used your 64-bit patch to update the native install, not the old one.

However, when I check the version number of qfg5.exe, it says 'version 1.1.0.0' instead of 1.2.

[Collector]

That is what version of the executable you get from the original patch. The QFG5UP12 patch is inclusive of the QFG5UP11 patch. It may be that the EXE was updated with the QFG5UP11 patch and didn't need further updating. Remember, a game's version may not be the same as main EXE's. The main thing that the 1.2 updated were the room files.

[Spikey]

Ok, so nothing to worry about there.

To experiment, I installed a newer quicktime (one compatible with iTunes), which messes up the native Windows 7 installation. Now whenever I try to watch the introduction in-game, the game asks for the installation CD. The safety settings in the newer Quicktime don't influence it at all.

So back to the in-folder Quicktime 3.0 files method, I feel there's a solution closeby somewhere in there, because the videos DO play, it's just that the audio sounds really scratchy, laggy and weird, as if it's a decoding issue, solved in Quicktime 4.0.

Any suggestions, Collector?

[Collector]

Perhaps drop the QT4 files in the game's base folder.

[Spikey]

Already tried that with the basefiles, but to no avail; the game does play the sequences, but with the same scratchy sound as 3.0. So odd, I don't know what to make of it. It has to be something with the non-base files, I'm experimenting with them now.

[Collector]

Maybe try the Safe Mode solution from the QT in the Control Panel? Maybe try installing OpenAL?

[Spikey]

I tried adjusting both safety settings, but it won't influence the scratchy sounds in the ingame videos, so I gave up on that.

The game itself runs fine when I place the QT3.0 or 4.0 in the folder, and the MOV scenes play also fine visually, it's just the detail of the MOV files being played in game that sound incorrect.

So here's what I trie so far for the native instlal;

Install of Quicktime 3 shipped with the game: Scratchy sounds during ingame MOV scenes
Installing Quicktime 4.0: No problems with Qfg5! Runs great.
Updating Quicktime the latest version: Game asks for Install CD upon trying to play a MOV
Safety settings: Game asks for Install CD
Placing QT 3 files in folder: Scratchy sounds
Placing QT 4 files in folder: Scratchy sounds
OpenAL: Still nothing

I could deinstall QT and install an older version whenever I want of course, but it's not ideal, and since I suspect it's just some silly playback or decoding issue, I'm sure it can be solved.

[Collector]

To compound things the QT3 files don't cause any audio problems for me. I do not have iTunes installed and I have an old Audigy card that I am using for my sound instead of the onboard HD for the MIDI port for my MT-32. I would consider using the onboard if I could get a USB to MIDI with 64-bit drivers, but that is getting sidetracked. It must have something to do with how QT interfaces with the hardware or less likely something to do with iTunes.