unixdude Posted March 21, 2013 Report Share Posted March 21, 2013 Hi, all. I have started playing Space Quest again in Boxer on my Mac, and I'm having a configuration issue. I'm trying to configure it so that I hear the voice, but all I can hear is the sound effects. Does anyone know of a fix or the correct configuration to get the voice as well? I've tried several patches I found at sierrahelp.com and I've tried every audio option in INSTALL.EXE but nothing I have tried has allowed me to hear the voice. If it matters, I think the Space Quest collection I have is the one released by Vivendi Universal. Thanks for any help you can provide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troels Pleimert Posted March 21, 2013 Report Share Posted March 21, 2013 Hi, unixdude. Generally, if you're hearing digital sound effects, you should be hearing voices as well. (Voices telling you to kill, kill, kill! Er, ahem ...) However, Sierra made sure that if you only had AdLib MIDI cards, you would still hear sound effects -- albeit synthesized imitations of the digital sound effects. If that's the case, then the Sound Blaster emulator is on the fritz and you're only hearing AdLib music/sfx. So there's two things you want to check up on: 1) Are you hearing digital sound effects or just synthesized sound effects? 2) Are you playing the CD-ROM version? I know this is a duh question, but if you've somehow installed the disk version then there are no voices (although I can't see how that should happen, since only the CD-ROM version comes with the SQ Collection). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unixdude Posted March 21, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2013 Wow, thanks for the quick reply. How can I confirm which sound effects I'm hearing? Sorry if that's a lame question, I just don't know. :) I'm pretty sure it's the CD-ROM version, because when I launch it in Boxer, the cursor momentarily switches to an icon of a CD. Now, it is very possible that I didn't copy all of the files I needed to run this in Boxer/DOSBox without the CD. Do you by chance know what files I should check for, to ensure that i have them all? I see a 4.9MB RESOURCE.000 file and a 161MB RESOURCE.AUD file, among others. DOSBox 0.74 does the same thing as Boxer. I have INSTALL.EXE configured with a Music setting of "Sound Blaster / AdLib Card" and an Audio setting of "SoundBlaster." I have the game configured with a Display Mode of "Speech." Thanks so much for the help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MusicallyInspired Posted March 21, 2013 Report Share Posted March 21, 2013 If you copied all the files then it's possible that your resource.cfg file isn't pointing to their location so the game doesn't know where the voices are to play it back. If you've got the Vivendi collection and there's a resource.aud file then you've got the cd version. Another giveaway is the golden mouse cursors in game and whether the drunk alien in the intro melts in his own vomit or if he just steps in it. I'll post some more details after I get home from work on how to solve this issue. Do text boxes/portraits appear and disappear immediately when there's supposed to be speech? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frede Posted March 21, 2013 Report Share Posted March 21, 2013 You generally shouldn't be in doubt about the sound effects once you've heard the digital ones. However, an easy one is that with digital sound effects, the intro has Roger Wilco landing on the SQ12 Xenon streets with a loud "thud"-kinda sound. If I remember correctly, there's no sound there when you're only using AdLib. If there is, it's bound to sound more metallic and tinny than its digital counterpart. If you have a RESOURCE.AUD with that size, it's the CD version. No question about it. I'm not sure why you're not hearing voices. You could try ScummVM, if only to see if it works within that? Troels Pleimert 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unixdude Posted March 21, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2013 It was the RESOURCE.CFG file. The directories were incorrect: it was pointing to "C:\SIERRA\SQ4" as the "directory" and "patchdir," and it was pointing to "D:\sq4" as the "audio" dir. Correcting those to all be "C:\" fixed the problem. My kids, who are excited to play the game with me will be glad to learn of this development. And, in the intro, the alien melts into his vomit. :) Because I had it set to "display mode" of "speech," I wasn't seeing the text boxes either. Frede, nockgeneer and Troels Pleimert 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troels Pleimert Posted March 21, 2013 Report Share Posted March 21, 2013 Fantastic. I didn't think SQ4 would launch if it couldn't find the resource-file, but huh, I guess it will. And then not tell you something is wrong. How about that. I think we've all learned something today and I hope future generations will benefit from our bold ingenuity. My kids, who are excited to play the game with me will be glad to learn of this development. Oh, well, I guess future generations are taken care of, then. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unixdude Posted March 21, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2013 What's sad is that I did not play all of the games as a kid. I had them, but never finished them. In the last few years, I have started playing them all, and a year or so ago I finished SQ3. It has taken me this long to decide to post and figure out why the speech wasn't working in SQ4. :) And, my kids are ages 3 and 5, which might be too young for SQ4. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frede Posted March 21, 2013 Report Share Posted March 21, 2013 They'll be fine! If you avoid the zombie all costs, that is... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MusicallyInspired Posted March 21, 2013 Report Share Posted March 21, 2013 Hey I was 4 when I played the first SQ games. Taught me hand eye coordination and spelling/typing. Was playing SQ3 and SQ4 by 5/6. Frede, Troels Pleimert and BlockMaster 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unixdude Posted March 21, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2013 Oh, and when Roger's feet hit the ground, I do hear a thud. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troels Pleimert Posted March 21, 2013 Report Share Posted March 21, 2013 That means it's working! Oh, and if you want your kids to grow up to be the outstanding examples of human decency that we are -- i.e. morbidly death-obsessed sarcastic misanthropes and ne'erdowells -- then I say it's never too early to play Space Quest with them! :) BlockMaster and Frede 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FroggyMe6581 Posted June 15, 2013 Report Share Posted June 15, 2013 I recently started playing SQ4 again too, and the zombie really scared me hahaha AAAAAAUUUUUUGGGHHHH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Weaver Posted August 10, 2013 Report Share Posted August 10, 2013 It was the RESOURCE.CFG file. The directories were incorrect: it was pointing to "C:\SIERRA\SQ4" as the "directory" and "patchdir," and it was pointing to "D:\sq4" as the "audio" dir. Correcting those to all be "C:\" fixed the problem. My kids, who are excited to play the game with me will be glad to learn of this development. I'm sorry I'm new to dos how do I change the directories? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frede Posted August 10, 2013 Report Share Posted August 10, 2013 RESOURCE.CFG can be opened in any text editor. So you can edit the path that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Collector Posted August 10, 2013 Report Share Posted August 10, 2013 Make sure that you use a plain ASCII editor to avoid adding the formatting information that a rich text editor will. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troels Pleimert Posted August 15, 2013 Report Share Posted August 15, 2013 I recently started playing SQ4 again too, and the zombie really scared me hahaha No joke; that guy still gets my heart racing. One time, I was playing SQ4 at 2 in the morning and I clenched my buttocks so hard when he came at me, I peed a little. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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