Why does this not work out of the box?

[Marcycle]

Very strange release. First the LEGACY version seems to be the newer, VGA version and the normal version seems to be the older, EGA version.

Also, the "legacy" version doesn't work out of the box. I need to use ScummVM to execute it correctly.

How has this not been patched by Steam?

[Catra]

Unlike GOG, which provides / applies custom patches to make older game work on newer systems or even includes community patches and fixes; Steam just provides the software "as is" with no other customization applied. It has always been this way. And yes, ScummVM is the way to go with most of the older games you get from Steam.

[Marcycle]

Originally posted by Catra:

Unlike GOG, which provides / applies custom patches to make older game work on newer systems or even includes community patches and fixes; Steam just provides the software "as is" with no other customization applied. It has always been this way. And yes, ScummVM is the way to go with most of the older games you get from Steam.

Interesting. I guess I'm too used to how Steam is with newer games, like NWN:EE, where it keeps providing updated patches and fixes every once in a while.

I didn't understand that Steam won't even patch their older games. Particularly when the bug in the game is not caused by the older game itself, but is caused by how Steam packaged the older game to begin with.

[BossGalaga]

Originally posted by Marcycle:

How has this not been patched by Steam?

Because Sierra/Activision have not provided any such patches to Steam.

[Marcycle]

Originally posted by BossGalaga:

Originally posted by Marcycle:

How has this not been patched by Steam?

Because Sierra/Activision have not provided any such patches to Steam.

Very strange.

Since it seems like the "Space Quest Collection" didn't exist until Steam decided to sell it in this collection package.

So I guess Sierra/Activision provided it to Steam to sell, it *never* worked out of the box, and then when people told them it didn't work they ignored all complaints and never patched their ini files to make it work out of the box?

Weird.

[BossGalaga]

Originally posted by Marcycle:

So I guess Sierra/Activision provided it to Steam to sell, it *never* worked out of the box, and then when people told them it didn't work they ignored all complaints and never patched their ini files to make it work out of the box?

Weird.

That's not weird. That's extremely typical for Activision.

[Jim]

SQ1 VGA doesn't even start ? EGA does, but man, I played that when I was ten and neither of us has aged well.

[zeathe]

Originally posted by Jim:

SQ1 VGA doesn't even start ? EGA does, but man, I played that when I was ten and neither of us has aged well.

Let me necro this thread.

Sorry to hear you both haven't aged too well. Try playing Leisure Suit Larry EGA.

My Steam installation seems backward. If I run the *legacy* version of Space Quest Collection -- I get the VGA version of SQ1 and it doesn't launch through
the UI. If I run the standard version -- I get the EGA SQ1 in DosBOX.

SQ1 VGA doesn't run on 64-bit OSes because it is a 16-bit game. It isn't being wrapped by DosBOX correctly in the collection... which is why this old thread
mentions ScummVM: https://steamcommunity.com/app/10110/discussions/0/2592234299532267878/#c2579854400752039923.... but also mentions being able to run dosbox as well.

To verify this 64bit issue... If you dig into the steamapps installation directory for sq1vga and execute scidhuv.exe -- you'll get a win dialog box "Unsupported 16-bit Application"
that it cannot run due to an incompatibility with the 64-bit version of Windows (this is on Win10 Pro 64bit). If you have 32-bit Windows, it'll likely work.

Want to doctor it right quick and make it work with only what Steam installed?

Step 1 - Dupe the DosBOX for EGA to VGA

Recursively copy SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Space Quest Collection\2016_SpaceQuestCollection\sq1\DOSBOX to SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Space Quest Collection\sq1vga\DOSBOX

Step 2 - Copy the sq1.bat file

copy SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Space Quest Collection\2016_SpaceQuestCollection\sq1\sq1.bat to SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Space Quest Collection\sq1vga\sq1.bat

Step 3 - Doctor the dosboxSQ1_single.conf file

edit SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Space Quest Collection\sq1vga\DOSBOX\dosboxSQ1_single.conf and change the
second to the last line in the conf file from "sq.com" to "scidhuv.exe".

Step 4 - Run the Game

Run the SQ1.bat in the sq1vga folder. Enjoy!

[Krushak]

Originally posted by Marcycle:

Very strange release. First the LEGACY version seems to be the newer, VGA version and the normal version seems to be the older, EGA version.

Also, the "legacy" version doesn't work out of the box. I need to use ScummVM to execute it correctly.

How has this not been patched by Steam?

Because A: It's Sierra/Activision. They have to patch it.
B: You have to update dosbox settings and etc. Even with GOG, I have to tweak even their dosbox and or games. For example Disciplines 2: I Had to delete a direct3draw file and run the game under windows XP compatibility to play it. GOG hasn't patched it worth of crap or can't due to how the game is. So this isn't a steam/sierra thing. Even GoG has warnings about how the game may or may not work for you on newer machines especially windows 11.

[damson]

I own this collection for a long time, but never actually tried it until today. I noticed that the Legacy Launcher doesn't work and apparently it has the VGA version of SQ1. The 2016 Launcher works fine but it only has SQ1EGA version.

I took a peek into the game files and noticed that both launchers use basically the same game versions (except SQ1 EGA vs VGA), the Legacy uses older DOSBox versions and that's probably why it doesn't work on newer OSes.

You could fix this in several ways, but I found pretty tidy solution to it. You can actually have 2016 Launcher with ALL 7 versions of the game working.

I posted a guide on how to achieve this, it's not very complicated, it involves copying and editing some files.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3134952859

[Pax]

Originally posted by Marcycle:

Originally posted by Catra:

Unlike GOG, which provides / applies custom patches to make older game work on newer systems or even includes community patches and fixes; Steam just provides the software "as is" with no other customization applied. It has always been this way. And yes, ScummVM is the way to go with most of the older games you get from Steam.

Interesting. I guess I'm too used to how Steam is with newer games, like NWN:EE, where it keeps providing updated patches and fixes every once in a while.

I didn't understand that Steam won't even patch their older games. Particularly when the bug in the game is not caused by the older game itself, but is caused by how Steam packaged the older game to begin with.

Just FYI, Steam is not supplying these updates/patches to newer games; the devs are.
On the other hand, GOG actually tweaks the older games they sell to maintain OS compatibility, as much as is possible. Even on GOG, actual game patches for newer games are provided by the devs.