SHP Forums

Originally Posted: Sat May 31, 2008 2:12 pm

Hot off the compiler...

Shivers 2 - Harvest of Souls

Modified for Windows XP/Vista:
* XP/Vista installer.
* XP/Vista windows executable.
* Scales to use entire screen (Direct3D bilinear interpolation).
* Eliminates black lines in cut-scenes.
* Per-user save games (Vista friendly).

http://www.squirtthecat.com/shivers2/index.html

Feedback welcome.

Nick

It just displays the splash screen and after a long while, the music starts and captures the mouse, but no game window.

Odd.

If the music starts then it suggests a problem initializing the Direct3D support.

Do you have DirectX 9c installed?

I have added an error dialog if Direct3D fails to initialize... it will be in the next release.

Nick

Are you ever going to make it so the install installs the WHOLE CD (and thus removing the need for the CD) in the future?

I have all of my Sierra games boxed away, because I couldn't handle having all these CDs out.

The removal of the need of the CD would be greatly appreciated!

Just throwing it out there.

Tawmis wrote:The removal of the need of the CD would be greatly appreciated!

I'll second that. That is what I have been doing with my installers, but the multi CDs present an extra challenge. Even if you concatenate the resources, you have to remap the game to the resources. Enrico Rolfi managed to do this with his TraduSCI tools for GK2. It is also what a German developer used for his Phantasmagoria installer to eliminate the need for CDs.

I see two problems... copyright and gameplay.

The goal is game preservation. Including the CD-data would alienate the project from official Sierra related forums.

Gameplay is an interesting question... I would argue that the "please insert disc 2" screen is part of the game play (it tells you that you have made progress and crossed to the next major chapter). Actually having to swap discs is a pain but the screen itself could be argued as useful.

Update...

Release 20080601:
* Fix captions in cutscenes.
* Fix black line glitches in cutscenes.
* Show error message if Direct3D initialization failes.

http://www.squirtthecat.com/shivers2/index.html

Nick

jafa wrote:I see two problems... copyright and gameplay.

The goal is game preservation. Including the CD-data would alienate the project from official Sierra related forums.

Gameplay is an interesting question... I would argue that the "please insert disc 2" screen is part of the game play (it tells you that you have made progress and crossed to the next major chapter). Actually having to swap discs is a pain but the screen itself could be argued as useful.

Well for Copyright - the person using the installer would NEED to have the CD to yank the data from. (One would hope that they wouldn't then upload it somewhere after it's been yanked onto the HD). Because ideally, what I am HOPING to one day do - is basically install every Sierra game I have onto my External 500 Gig hard drive - and that way when I go on travel or whatever - I bring my laptop, and my external drive - and I can play any Sierra game I want to... without the need of bringing all my CDs with me if I want to play Phantasmagoria, Shivers, SQ6, etc.

It's a dream. May never happen. But that's what I would one day love to have!

I still get the same results. It give no error message, either. I do have DirectX 9c installed on my machine and haven't have issues with it. I imagine that it is mostly my PC. It has been developing some odd quirks and lockups. I will try uninstalling it and reinstalling the game without the new installer to see if it starts.

I have some thought about playing these games without the CDs, but this thread is about your Shivers2 installer, so I will start another thread about that topic.

Hi,

Can you please double check that you installed the 20080601 release. Sometimes the browser cache will show an out of date webpage.

If you are running the 20080601 release then D3D must be initializing ok, but failing to draw.

Run 'dxdiag' to check DirectX.

Is there anything unusual about you system relating to video?
Multiple monitors?

Nick

dxdiag does not show any problems. I tried again, and same thing. I lowered my color depth to 256 and your Direct3D error came up before the music.

Are you running in 32-bit color mode normally?

Nick

Yes. I tried 256 because Sierra recommended that the game be run at that color depth.

Hi,

Please try:

http://www.squirtthecat.com/shivers2/sh ... 2test1.msi

Nick

ERROR: Direct3D failed to display (0x8876086c)