Collector

He added me to the group, but I have not yet accepted. It is Ryan Nicotera, after all. If you have not been aware he has caused enough problems to get banned from the Sierra Gamers and Sierra Chest groups.

By that I assume that you have the 2006 VU collection. Those releases are real nightmares. This is about the KQ 2006 VU release, but all four had very similar issues.
 
http://sierrahelp.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=657
 
They were missing games, missing files, poorly configured games with the dosbox.conf hardcoded into that funky launcher. And to cap it all off it uses a VERY old version of DOSBox that creates a host of problems on its own. Just use the new installer. It corrects all issues with this piss poor release.
 
http://sierrahelp.com/Patches-Updates/NewSierraInstallers.html#Collections
 
If you have one of the other collections, download the one that matches the collection version you have.

SIERRA.INI is not used for the DOS version. patchDir= \SIERRA\SQ4 is your problem. All the "." or ".\" means is the current directory regardless of path. Depending on your DOBox mountings "\SIERRA\SQ4" may not exist. It would mean that you had a SIERRA sub director with a SQ4subdirectory under that. If your patch files are in a "PATCHES" folder  then patchDir=.\;.\PATCHES willget the game to look in the game's base folder and in a PATCHES subdirectory. This is why the new installers help. It is done for you automatically.

SIERRA.INI is not used for the DOS version. patchDir= \SIERRA\SQ4 is your problem. All the "." or ".\" means is the current directory regardless of path. Depending on your DOBox mountings "\SIERRA\SQ4" may not exist. It would mean that you had a SIERRA sub director with a SQ4subdirectory under that. If your patch files are in a "PATCHES" folder  then patchDir=.\;.\PATCHES willget the game to look in the game's base folder and in a PATCHES subdirectory. This is why the new installers help. It is done for you automatically.

Eh, maybe to us personally, but SQ doesn't have the community today that KQ has - look at the Phoenix Online forums, even back in their "Silver Age" versus here. Not much activity round these parts even back then. And it's not like there weren't similar things going on - the SQ7 group shut down about the same time TSL was going through its own cease-and-desist throes, which eventually reversed, supposedly thanks to their fans... And saying it's SQ ignores the following that games like QFG, GK, or even PQ has...
 
My intent is not to dump on any specific community. Perhaps SQ just appeals to a different type of person than KQ - the underdog.
 
My opinion as a programmer is that AGI/SCI, as well as Ken's ability to keep developers produce a number of quality games for years, are the true "crown jewels" of Sierra. Without an engine that could let storytellers do what they wanted or a producer that pushed them to succeed, I don't see how Sierra could have been successful. It's only once Ken was pushed out by Cendant that we saw Sierra fall. I don't feel that SQ could have happened at that time without Sierra. SQ helped diversify Sierra's portfolio and probably helped make it a bigger name, but there was Sierra before there was SQ. Ken was the one that let Scott learn how to program and develop his own game after hiring him for random projects. That wouldn't have happened later, or likely at another game company.

Let's remember that trying to do it on the cheap was probably necessary given the lower sales of the remakes. The remakes did not sell well enough to warrant their continuation. People wanted new games, not remakes of games that they had already played. Ken once said that he had learned that you can't really hurry the creative people, so taking the remakes out of the hands of the original designers was probably a necessary measure to keep a low return game within budget. Also, the 2 guys would have been commanding higher salaries. I'm sure that Ken also wanted his primary designers working on new games where sales could be expected to be higher. The one paying the bills has to make sound fiscal decisions.

Yes, but I don't have it. The later version would have been bug fixes. Earlier versions were probably replaced soon after the initial release for the bug fixes. Also, the game versions for the different platforms would have had little to do with other platforms. Part of the different game versions were very dependent on the interpreter version, which were way off from other platforms.

The DOS version of SQ1 AGI was first. It was released in Oct, 1986 in North America.  Most of the other platforms were released in 1987. While AGI was intended to be portable, it was designed to be primarily for the PCjr. Atari was never a primary target for Sierra. At that time DOS/Tandy/PCjr and Apple would have been their primary markets.
 
As far as I know there was no Atari release of SQ1VGA. It was a late SCI1 game that would have been a bit beyond the capability of the Atari. It was released for DOS, Amiga and Mac.

Yes, but I don't have it. The later version would have been bug fixes. Earlier versions were probably replaced soon after the initial release for the bug fixes. Also, the game versions for the different platforms would have had little to do with other platforms. Part of the different game versions were very dependent on the interpreter version, which were way off from other platforms.

The DOS version of SQ1 AGI was first. It was released in Oct, 1986 in North America.  Most of the other platforms were released in 1987. While AGI was intended to be portable, it was designed to be primarily for the PCjr. Atari was never a primary target for Sierra. At that time DOS/Tandy/PCjr and Apple would have been their primary markets.
 
As far as I know there was no Atari release of SQ1VGA. It was a late SCI1 game that would have been a bit beyond the capability of the Atari. It was released for DOS, Amiga and Mac.

Let's remember that trying to do it on the cheap was probably necessary given the lower sales of the remakes. The remakes did not sell well enough to warrant their continuation. People wanted new games, not remakes of games that they had already played. Ken once said that he had learned that you can't really hurry the creative people, so taking the remakes out of the hands of the original designers was probably a necessary measure to keep a low return game within budget. Also, the 2 guys would have been commanding higher salaries. I'm sure that Ken also wanted his primary designers working on new games where sales could be expected to be higher. The one paying the bills has to make sound fiscal decisions.

Let's remember that trying to do it on the cheap was probably necessary given the lower sales of the remakes. The remakes did not sell well enough to warrant their continuation. People wanted new games, not remakes of games that they had already played. Ken once said that he had learned that you can't really hurry the creative people, so taking the remakes out of the hands of the original designers was probably a necessary measure to keep a low return game within budget. Also, the 2 guys would have been commanding higher salaries. I'm sure that Ken also wanted his primary designers working on new games where sales could be expected to be higher. The one paying the bills has to make sound fiscal decisions.

Ken Allen of SQ4 says "hi"... ;)

Hey Gang -
 
Scott and I are both very saddened by the news of Gary Owens' passing the the age of 80. What can we say-  the man was a living legend in the entertainment biz whom we were both extremely privileged to have had the opportunity to work with and honored to have featured in Space Quest. It was definitely a high-point in our younger lives/careers and an experience I'll always look back on warmly. What makes this news doubly hard ,of course, is that (as you all know) Gary was to be featured as the narrator in Spaceventure. Unfortunately, Mr. Owens health fell into decline before we were able to record him. But what we want everyone to know is that, though we could never replace Gary as the narrator, we will work hard to find the right talent for the job.
 
Best,
 
-Mark
 
A favorite chidlhood memory ... "SPAAACE GHOOOST!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9NI_Z-hAeM

It is the MT-32 ROMs that are required. As to the speech, GOG probably used my resources to grab the SB driver. Its music, however will just be SB/AdLib, not MT-32.

Ha!..  there's some really funny food for thought here. (see what I did there?) Keep 'em coming !
 
Thanks all.
 
-Mark

You might want to try the "Ultimate KQ4" version. http://sierrahelp.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=3925&start=60#p53395

You might want to try the "Ultimate KQ4" version. http://sierrahelp.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=3925&start=60#p53395

The lead designer has popped up on Facebook and has been answering questions. He can't say much, and we won't know things for sure until we see some actual gameplay ourselves, but he has confirmed that it is "certainly not a platformer or action-oriented," is episodic, is open-world, is able to interact with the environment, "not point & click in the traditional sense but is an updated take on the formula (more details to come)". And we can expect puzzles, exploration (those two alone satisfy me), and a humour-filled wondrous story. He also said we shouldn't be concerned about linear gameplay and expects us to be pleased in that department. He says the trailer was cut more action-oriented because "adventure game mechanics are hard to show in a trailer without making the trailer seem slow for a mass audience." He also says he hopes he can go into more detail about why soon. This doesn't and has never bothered me personally, though. He goes on to say that if this game is successful, it could show the industry that people still want games where charm, storytelling, and using your mind are at the forefront. That's a winning approach in my book. Only time will tell for sure, though.
 
He also wants to do a straight up AMA in Jan.

Only problem is they have zero idea what the game is actually like yet, lol.

Alt+D -> bye bye wizard

Alt+D -> bye bye wizard

Alt+D -> bye bye wizard

I wonder how many even recognize that these days.

Did I mention the "Von Zell hunt" in GK2? That genuinely creeped me out. I hate sequences where, if you stand still for too long, something jumps your ass and kills you. That goes double for fucking man-wolves tearing your goddamn windpipe out and eating it on camera.