Do the new Sierra installers include all relevant patches?

[lukeman3000]

I stumbled across the new Sierra game installers as well as a page with a bunch of patches for each game. Take Space Quest 4 for example - there are many individual patches. However, if I use the installer, instead, will it automatically include all relevant patches, or will those still need to be applied?

As a general rule of thumb, should I install all patches just to be on the safe side?

[Collector]

Yes, all needed patches are included. You should not use any others.

[Tawmis]

Collector (the fine maker of these installers!) answered your question(s) - but I also wanted to extend a welcome to the forums, and hope as you play the games, you consider participating on the forum to discuss the games - or just for general chatter.

[lukeman3000]

More specifically, do these installers use New Rising Sun's patches? For example, does Space Quest 4 come with version 1.3 of his SQ4 CD patch?

For reference: https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=44537

Also, what about his KQ4 patch in which he brings various elements of the different versions of KQ4 together?

Source: https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=41384

[Collector]

It includes his timer patches, but not his floppy/CD hack.

[lukeman3000]

While I'm on the subject of the KQ4 hack...

I've been trying to get this to work (getting the files from the adf). My knowledge with Amiga is virtually nonexistent and I'm not really that computer saavy to begin with, so this has been a challenge. That said, I got WinUAE and Workbench 3.0 installed and running on my computer. I'm trying to mount one of the adf files in WinUAE, open it in dopus, and then copy the files to one of the folders mounted in Windows. However, whenever I click on one of the adf files, WinUAE crashes. Just a single click is all it takes, as seen here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prP2ozq8-7c

Am I approaching this the right way?

[Collector]

Make it easy on yourself http://sierrahelp.com/forums/viewtopic. ... =60#p53395

[lukeman3000]

Excellent, thank you very much for the link.

Another question - I noticed that, in SQ4 for example, I can run the install or edit resource.cfg to get (what I assume to be) emulated Roland MT-32 sound.

How does MUNT differ from what DOSBox already seems to do? I'm using v.0.74 of DOSBox which I think is the most recent version. Is MUNT a just a higher quality MT-32 emulation? Or am I incorrect in thinking that DOSBox emulates MT-32 out of the box? It certainly sounds different and more "synthy". Seems relatively similar to what I've heard on YouTube videos of people who actually own MT-32s.

Also, thank you for all the help! It's very much appreciated.

[Collector]

Munt is an emulator of the old Roland MT-32 sound module. You cannot get MT-32 sound without a real MT-32 or Munt. If you set a game to use Roland sound without either the resulting sound will be very bad. The official DOSBox does not include Munt and cannot emulate the MT-32 sound. The SHP installers include a special build of DOSBox that incorporates Munt to properly emulate the MT-32. However, you must find the two required ROM files for it to work. Please do not ask for them here. They are easy enough to find via Google.

[lukeman3000]

I see.

Is there a way that I can use this special build of DOSBox with my D-Fend Reloaded front end? I just ran the Space Quest 4 Sierra installer again and didn't select my pre-existing DOSBox installation, and I noticed it installed DOSBox in Program Files(x86). Can I transfer everything in that folder to my D-Fend Reloaded DOSBox folder, add the ROM files (for MUNT), and it will work?

Or is there a way for myself to integrate MUNT with DOSBox? I like the idea of MUNT being built-in because I'm creating sort of a portable version of DOSBox with D-Fend Reloaded as the front end that I can put on a flash drive and take with me to other computers, so I'd like to be able to launch the game from DFR's menu without also separately launching MUNT and messing around with the MUNT control panel.

[Collector]

Check the other installers thread http://sierrahelp.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=3925 and see the end of the first post for the installers with Munt support. They include an SVN build of DOSBox with Munt support.

[lukeman3000]

Ok; after running the installer I have a few couple questions:

1. I assume I should be able to copy and paste the DOSBox folder from the King's Quest IV directory that's generated from the installer into my D-Fend Reloaded folder, or are there further modifications that are needed? For example, I saw that the MUNT DOSBox directory that is generated with the KQ4 installer is missing the "video codec" directory. Do I need to copy that over from my previous vanilla 0.74 DOSBox folder?

2. In the new dosbox.conf I noticed there are these parameters:

[midi]
mpu401=intelligent
mididevice=default
midiconfig=
mt32.romdir= .\DOSBox
mt32.reverse.stereo=off
mt32.verbose=off
mt32.thread=off
mt32.dac=auto
mt32.reverb.mode=auto
mt32.reverb.time=5
mt32.reverb.level=3

Will I ever need to adjust these? If so, are there explanations to what each of these do anywhere? Also, are there any other parameters unique to this build of DOSBox I should be aware of?

3. I got the KQ4 with Amiga sounds installer to work, however, when I try to run it from D-Fend Reloaded (without using the King's Quest 4 (Amiga Sounds).exe, I get a black screen. If I run the exe directly then it works fine. I don't get it -- it looks like DOSBox is launching SCIV.exe but when I try the same thing, a black screen is all I get.

4. I've ran your installers for the Space Quest games and for some reason in the resulting game folder I don't have install.exe or install.bat for SQ1AGI and SQ2 so I can't run the setup and change my sound device to MT-32. I also don't seem to have resource.cfg for these two games so I can't edit that, either (though I would prefer the install files anyways).

Edit: I noticed that your SQ collection installer should restore the missing install exe but after running it again I still do not see it for SQ1AGI or SQ2.

5. Finally, is there any way to increase the volume of the music or decrease the volume of the voice track? In SQ4 for example, the voice seems to overpower the music when using MT-32. The in-game volume slider seems to change only the music, but even maxing it out isn't enough.

Thanks again for all the help - it's very much appreciated!

[Collector]

The video sub directory in the official DOSBox is just the Zip Motion Block Video codec. It is just for installing the codec on your system for video capture and is not needed for additional copies of DOSBox. You do not need to modify the midi section of the conf.

For KQ4 start a new thread in the King's Quest forum.

You seem to misunderstand the differences between AGI and SCI games. There is no configuration for AGI games. AGI predates SCI. For the PC versions the best sound is had with the Tandy 3 voice plus noise channel. This is set in the dosbox.conf file. There is no install file because there is nothing to configure. See this thread for info in the differences: http://sierrahelp.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=86&t=3965

As to volume that is a matter of volumes on your system. Unfortunately Microsoft has simplified its mixer to no longer include separate WAV and MIDI controls.


Also note that with games that include a GM driver using Roland sound will not always be the best solution when the MT-32 tracks were more of an after thought. Think roughly SCI EGA games > MT-32, SCI VGA > GM.

[lukeman3000]

Yes, I didn't realize that there simply shouldn't be installers for AGI games. Thanks for clearing that up for me.

As far as your last comment - are you saying that in general, SCI EGA games sound better with MT32 sound whereas SCI VGA games are better with general midi? Where does AGI fall? I tried general midi for Space Quest IV but it sounded quite a bit worse than MT32. Are there additional steps required to getting general midi working similar to what I've done to get MT32 (i.e., more driver or ROM files to download and the like)?

Is there an "objective" or even subjective list of games and with which sound driver they are best enjoyed?

I will post a thread on the KQ4 forum for that issue, thanks.

[Collector]

If you are running the floppy version of SQ4 it is a SCI1 game, which did not yet fully support GM. The CD version was SCI1.1 which did. I do not know what sound resources the NRS hacked version uses, but if it is from the floppy it will not sound right with the GM.