New Space Quest 4 DOSBox Installer

[Collector]

I have written an initial release of a new installer for Space Quest 4. It should work for both the CD and floppy versions of the game. It has been tested with the 5.25", 3.5" and the standalone CD versions of the game. It has not been tested with the "Sierra Originals" version and is not intended for the collections. The new installer will install and set it up your game to run automatically in DOSBox from Windows shortcut, just like any Windows game or program. It will also install a simple configuration utility that eases the change of a couple of settings for DOSBox.

New Space Quest 4 DOSBox Installer

To install the floppy version, copy the contents of the disks to the same folder as the installer before running the installer. To install the CD version, insert the CD in your drive before running the installer. As usual, the installer does not include the game. You must own the game to install it.

The standard Vista warning for old games should be observed -- because of its limited write access, avoid installing in the %ProgramFiles% folder ("C:\Program Files" on most English systems or "C:\Program Files (x86)" on Win 64 systems) or you may have problems with not being able to save configuration changes or saving games.

[audiodane]

Do the standalone installers (specifically SQ4 Floppy) contain all the same patches and fixes as the collections installers? I'm working to get as many of my old versions working again as I can for nostalgia's sake.. but want to make sure they are all just as playable (timer bugs fixed, yadda yadda)..

Diffs between the two installations are huge, but that's to be expected as the floppy version is less than 7MB, and the CD version is over 100MB...

Thanks!
..dane

[Collector]

No patching is required or recommended with the installers. Applying the wrong patch to a game can cause crashes and other problems/errors, i.e. many of the patches for floppy games will not work with the CD versions. Some patches are intended only for the Windows version. Sometimes the patches can even be game version number specific. Adding the 1.1 Phantasmagoria patch to the 1.1 version of the game will cause the game to error out on launch.

I try to support as many versions as I can with the installers. I have version detection built into the installers to configure the game accordingly and only apply the patches intended for that version. If there is more than one version of a game where the versions are different enough that someone may want to have both installed at the same time (i.e. AGI vs SCI, EGA vs VGA or floppy vs MPC CD versions) the default install folder, Start Menu folder and shortcut names will change according to the version, so that the first version installed will not be overwritten by the second.

[audiodane]

Thanks Collector-- to be clear, I was simply asking if the effort you've put into the much more recent CD Collections installer might have any 'newer' patches that needed to be back-ported into the Floppy installer. That's all!

I TRULY appreciate all the hard work you and others have put into patches these old games and making installers for them to make our job of enjoying them SO much easier!

cheers,
..dane

[MusicallyInspired]

The floppy and CD versions of SQ4 use a completely different version of the SCI interpreter (the floppy uses SCI1.0 and the CD version uses SCI1.1). No patches for the CD version can be backwards compatible with the floppy versions.

[audiodane]

Good to know. thanks!

[audiodane]

Hmmmm... I've been going through and checking all my game installs, and the Floppy version of SQ4 doesn't seem to have sound! I have re-run the included 'install.exe' program to switch between SoundBlaster and General MIDI. Neither seem to work. SoundBlaster gives an "unable to initialize hardware" error, and genmidi just doesn't emit any sound. ??

Going through with the SQ4 installer (set to floppy version) again shows a "Copy Failed" error on one line:

Copy to ...\RESOURCE.MAP
Copy failed
Copy to ...\README.TXT


ideas?
thanks,
..dane

[Collector]

Part of the problem is probably that you have a different version than the one that I based the installer on. Run the diagnostic tool and post the results so I can see the version and the file layout. I'll try to add support for your version. The missing file is the original installer's script file, but your copy may be a little earlier version than the one that I used add support for the floppy version and used an earlier installer that did not use it. Look for INSTALL.SCR in your install files. If this file is missing I'll change the NSIS script to only try to copy it if it exists in the source files.

I am not sure why you get no sound with the GM driver. Can you hear regular MIDIs on your system? If either the GENMIDI.DRV or the 4.PAT files were missing you would get an error that the game could not find them. In DOSBox, type mixer /listmidi and post the results here.

The "Unable to initialize your audio hardware" error is an infamous common error with the Sierra SoundBlaster driver early VGA games. It is actually a speed bug. I missed it because I was using GM for the default sound driver and missed the fact that the SNDBLAST.DRV included with the floppy version of SQ4 was one of the versions that needed patching. The next build of the installer will include a patched SNDBLAST.DRV to fix this. I have attached the patched file in this post.

[audiodane]

new soundblaster driver works.

mixer /listmidi shows only the following:

0 "Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth"

However, upon closer inspection (read: my sound settings), I had the MIDI channel muted for some crazy reason. I don't know why! Turning up the volume on the midi channel fixed it right up.

diagnostic_log.txt attached for your information...

cheers!
..dane

[Collector]

OK, it is a different version. You don't see INSTALL.SCR with your floppy files?

[audiodane]

OK, it is a different version. You don't see INSTALL.SCR with your floppy files?

Interestingly... no! Haven't spent a lot of time on it-- could be a missed read... install.exe runs fine without it however..

cheers,
..dane

[Collector]

Your version probably just had a different installer version. I can set the installer to only try to copy the file if it finds it in the source files. This will prevent the "Copy failed" message. One last thing. Could you look through the installed files and see if there are any files from the floppies that did not get copied over. Then I can add support for your version.

[audiodane]

Working late tonight. Might get a bee in my bonnet and check tonight even though it'll be late. If not, it'll be later in the week. I will also mess around with it a bit more to see what else I can see..

Out of curiosity, what version(s) have you already designed for?

cheers,
..dane

[Collector]

For the floppy, 1.052.

[audiodane]

For the floppy, 1.052.

My reply got rather long.. Will send via PM..

..dane