I Just Want To Play KQ7 on a Mac OSX

[bebosafetycow]

Okay, so I am genuinely stupid when it comes to all this DOS stuff and emulator stuff, etc. I don't know any sort of computer lingo to save my life. I admit that freely. I literally just want to play KQ7 and have been unable to do so. I used to have a CD rom of the game but cannot find it for the life of me. I downloaded BOXER for Mac and have been able to play a few games on it, but all of the versions of KQ7 that i've found haven't worked or I just didn't know how to make them work.

Basically what I'm asking here is A) does anyone have a working copy of KQ7 that will work on a Mac OSX computer that they would be so kind to share and B)how the hell do I make it work?

I would actually give my first born child to play this game again!

[Collector]

You are not going to be able to play the Mac version of KQ7 on a modern Mac. The easiest solution is to play the DOS version in DOSBox. The main problem with this is that only version 2 of the game includes a DOS interpreter. Earlier version were Windows only, so will not run as is in DOSBox. The KQ7 installers here will update versions 1.4 and 1.54 to version 2.00b, which has the DOS interpreter. If you have Parallels or bootcamp with Windows installed, you could run the installer there.

[stringtapper]

This happens to be a topic I am currently concerned with, so I thought I would jump in.

I have literally been trying to play King's Quest 7 *for years*! Since it was first released to be exact. The old Macintosh I had as a kid when it came out just couldn't run it. I could get to the first scene and it would just play slowly and then freeze.

Anyway, now we have modern computers. If you want to run the old Mac version of KQ7 on a modern Mac you have to be running OS 10.4 or earlier and run it in Classic mode. I never got a chance to try this before I upgraded to Leopard but I'm not sure how well it would have played in the Classic emulation anyway.

So now I'm trying to run a Windows version of KQ7 on my Mac via DOSBox. I have followed all of the instructions on Collector's help pages, installing the King's Quest Collection and the updates from this site on a WIndows machine and then moving the files onto my Mac. I finally got KQ7 to start!

BUT when I click the button to watch the intro I get this error:

Alert

VMD error - 51 -> IMD unknown
1
__\vmdcache.cpp(374)


AND (most importantly) when I click "Start New Game"……… nothing. The button reacts as if it's being clicked but nothing happens. So I can't even play the game. Oddly enough, clicking the "Quit" button does work.

Anyone have any advice as to what might be going on here?

[Collector]

The Windows version has no advantage over the DOS version, outside of the opening and closing AVI movies are somewhat better than the DOS RBT movies. The DOS version in DOSBox is the way to go. If the disc that you have is earlier than version 2, you have a Windows only version. The KQ7 installer from here can upgrade versions 1.4 and 1.56, to 2.00b, which has a DOS interpreter to be played in DOSBox. Check the "VERSION" file with a simple text editor for the version number.

I am not sure of the status of WINE on Mac OS, but many of the SHP installers do run in WINE. If not, install it with Parallels, Boot Camp or a real PC and transfer the installed directory to your Mac. You will need to modify the mounting in the autoexec section of the dosbox.conf in the game's folder to work on your Mac and then start DOSBox using that dosbox.conf.

[stringtapper]

I'm sorry, I think I wasn't clear enough. I have a Windows version of the KQ Collection, but I have already gone through the process of installing your DOS updates to allow KQ7 to be run in DOSBox. That's why I am actually able to start KQ7 and see the Sierra logo opening and the KQ7 logo (with music and all), and then see the main menu with the options "Intro" "Start New Game" and "Quit". In other words I am running KQ7 2.00b.

The problems I'm having now are inside the actual game. Here are the issues again:

I finally got KQ7 to start!

BUT when I click the button to watch the intro I get this error:

Alert

VMD error - 51 -> IMD unknown
1
__\vmdcache.cpp(374)


AND (most importantly) when I click "Start New Game"……… nothing. The button reacts as if it's being clicked but nothing happens. So I can't even play the game. Oddly enough, clicking the "Quit" button does work.

Thanks again, and thanks for this site!

[Collector]

Did you download the DOS movies?

[stringtapper]

Yes! I downloaded those files and put them in the "AVI" folder as instructed. Also downloaded the patches. Thanks.

[Collector]

Also downloaded the patches. Thanks.

That is probably the problem. The patches are for earlier versions of the game. If you used the installer from here you have version 2.00b, which requires no patching. Applying patches to the wrong version usually results in crashes. Remove the patch files you applied. If you can't remember which files are which, do a clean reinstall. Remember, the installers here include all relevant patches, no further patches should be applied.

[stringtapper]

Ok I reverted the "PATCHES" folder back to strictly the contents from the upgrade installer.

Still the same two problems.

BUT…

EUREKA!! Following the same logic I realized that I had also installed your "KQ7DOSBox" pack (KQ7.BAT and RESOURCE.CFG). Well it was the RESOURCE.CFG file. It wasn't matching up with what was in the RESOURCE.cfg file from the upgrade install. So changing that file solved both issues!

So the moral of the story is: if you want to run KQ7 on a Mac in DOSBox, only install the 2.00b upgrade and not the patches and DOSBox config file. I just went down the line and installed everything that was in the list erroneously thinking I needed it all.

Thanks again for all your help!

[Collector]

So the moral of the story is: if you want to run KQ7 on a Mac in DOSBox, only install the 2.00b upgrade and not the patches and DOSBox config file. I just went down the line and installed everything that was in the list erroneously thinking I needed it all.

Not just Mac, any platform. Patches should never be applied to games installed with the installers from here.

[Arwen4CJ]

Wait...I'm confused.

Okay, I have the original files from the KQ 1997 collection copied to my Mac in a folder I created in Finder.

I can't figure out DOSBox without having it automatically running with the games, as the 2006 collection did with whatever ones it had it do that with.

When I tried playing them on DOSBox on Mac, it says I'm missing files and it's just confusing. I played most of the games in Boxer, but I can't get KQ 7 to play in Boxer. It gives me an error that I'm missing a different file -- I think it's 999.pal or something. I had to use the 1997 copy of the games because the 2006 one didn't have Dos on it.

So how does this work on DOSBox? The other games all said I was missing some avi files or something like that.

I had copied them directly from Windows XP in VMware Fusion -- from My Computer to Finder. I know the games will work on my Mac because they worked in Boxer.

It looks like someone got KQ 7 to work on a Mac...but I'm confused as t what they did.

[Collector]

The games need to be set up. Use the new installer to install it in your Windows VM and copy that folder over to the Mac side, not directly from the CD.

[Arwen4CJ]

The games need to be set up. Use the new installer to install it in your Windows VM and copy that folder over to the Mac side, not directly from the CD.

That's what I did

Thank you, though.

[brell]

What IS the 2.00b upgrade? Is it the King's Quest VII for DOSBox link, which downloads the file KQ7ForDOSBox.exe ? The Mac Finder says it is a "DOS/Windows Executable" but Boxer says it is for Windows only and refuses to run it.

When I first tried to set KQ7 up in Boxer and ran the Sierra.exe, the intro started but soon quit with this error message:

Error 99: Error loading resource 1304.wav
..\restype.cpp(54)
Script 1250/$6a3

Using the Sierra help pages I found the resource.cfg and the kq7.bat files plus the DOS movie files. I added these files to the KQ7 directory (put the movie files in the AVI folder) and ran the KQ7.BAT file. That resulted in quite a few lines of DOS messages ending with:

COMMAND-LINE ARGUMENTS:
SYSTEM MEMORY: 8388608
INTERPRETER VERSON : 2.100.002 VERSION STAMP: 0

And, yes, I deleted the files mentioned on the help page. So, can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong?

[Collector]

The installers are for Windows. Linux users are able to use many of them via Wine. The will not run on MacOS. If you wish to use the installers from here you will need to setup Windows with BootCamp or Parallels and run it from there. If you wish to play in MacOS you can copy the game's folder to your Mac hard drive and manually set it up. The installer for KQ7 does include and upgrade patch that I made to upgrade either version 1.4 or 1.56 (which are Windows only versions) to version 2.00b to add a DOS interpreter to the game so it can be run in DOSBox. If you already have version 2 of the game the installer does not apply the upgrade.