(re: HELP: King’s Quest Collection on Windows XP)
Just go into each game’s folder on the CD and run the setups from there. To have sound with the DOS games, download VDMSound http://vogons.zetafleet.com/ndldownload.php?filename=VDMSound2.1.0.exe and install it. Open each DOS game’s folder on your hard drive and right click on the games executable (usually SIERRA.EXE) and choose “Run with VDMS”. This version of KQ7 should run with no problems. You will have to do more to get the Windows version of King’s Quest 5 and 6 going. KQ5 needs 640×480 resolution and 256 colors to run. The problem is that XP hides this resolution from the user and the game checks for this resolution before Compatibility Mode can change it, so it just quits. You will have to change your resolution in the advanced display settings before you start the game. An easy work around is to make a batch file to replace the Windows’ shortcut to launch the game with. Just right click on your KQ5 shortcut and copy what is in the targetbox and paste it into Notepad. Save this as KQ5.bat (be sure that it has the ‘.bat’ extension) and set it to run in Compatibility Mode – 640×480 and 256 colors. Now just launch the game with this bat file. The Win version of King’s Quest 6 takes the most to get going on XP. You’ll need to have VDMSound and the VDMS Launchpad installed on your system to do it, but you will need it to play the older KQ games with audio, anyway. 1) Download VDMSound and install it. 2) Go to the KQ6 shortcut in your stary menu and right click on it and choose “Properties”. Copy what is in the “Target:” box and paste it in Notepad. Save it in the games folder as KQ6.bat. 3) Copy the file “RESOURCE.AUD” from the CD to the installed game folder on your hard drive. 4) Open your game’s installed folder on your hard drive and delete the file “HDLOGO.AVI” and open the file “SIERRA.INI” (it may be in a sub-folder named “WIN”) in Notepad. Look for the lines: audpath=D: audio=D: movieplayer=1 (Note, yours may be different, depending on what letter drive your CD-ROM is.) Chang this to: audpath=. audio=. movieplayer=0 EDIT: Note that the audpath= and audio= lines should each be =dot back slash, but this board does not allow a back slash 5) Right click on the file in the installed folder, “SCIWV.EXE” and go to the Compatibility tab and choose Compatibility mode for Win 98 or Win 9, 256 colors. do the same for the file you made earlier, “KQ6.bat” 6) Now all you have to do is right click on the .bat file you made and choose “♫ Run with VDMS” (the one with the musical notes) and the game should run. You will find a new file in the installed folder — “KQ6.VLP” When you want to play the game after this, just double click on this file. You can copy this file to your desktop, your start menu or where ever you fid easy to get at to run the game. If you have any trouble with this, just post any questions here. This method can be used to get LB2 running, too. Also you can try the DOS versions of the games as well.