Troubleshooting Gabriel Knight 1

Most of the content of this page comes directly from Collector's GK1 Help in his Sierra Help Pages , and is therefore intellectual property of Collector.

As with many of the Sierra VGA games, some of the Gabriel Knight: Sins of The Fathers problems are timer related. They can be fixed by using Enrico Rolfi's (Endroz) new installer that installs the Windows version with patches for the Gabriel Knight bugs. These bugs can also be avoided by playing the game in DOSBox. If you can't or don't want to use DOSBox, you can try using a Slowdown Utility.

Although the timer bugs can also be avoided by playing the DOS version in DOSBox alone, it is recommended that you apply the NewRisingSun patch (for floppy version or the CD version) for the DOS version, even with DOSBox.

Original system requirements
Audio issues:
- Poor quality sound or no sound at all
- "Unable to initialize your audio hardware" error
Speed issues:
Game specific bugs:

Overly rapid text
Save/Restore crash

Windows XP troubleshooting
- GK1 - Windows version
- GK1 - DOS version

Original system requirements

MS-DOS 5.0 or Windows 3.1 or greater
386 or better
2x CD-ROM
2 MB RAM
2 KB minimum Hard drive space, 30 MB recommended
SVGA 256 colors
SoundBlaster & AdLib, Pro Audio, Pro Audio 16, Roland MT-32, Sound Source or General MIDI
Mouse

Poor quality sound or no sound at all

In first place, we recommend you to get your hands on a Windows version of GK1, since the DOS one is more likely to have trouble running on new systems. Anyway, there are several things you can try to solve this problem:

(Recommended): Play the game in DOSBox. It also will work with the MT-32 sound module, if you are fortunate to have one.
Use VDMSound. The game work well with VDMSound. The sound will be as good as your audio hardware, and as with DOSBox, it works with the MT-32 sound module.
Play the game with FreeSCI, a third party Interpreter for Sierra's early SCI games.
(DOS/Win9x): Install DOS drivers for your soundcard. Without DOS drivers installed you won't have sound in a DOS window in Windows 9x. If you can't find DOS drivers for your soundcard, there is an alpha (developmental) version of VDMS that you can try.

"Unable to initialize your audio hardware" error

(Recommended): Play the game in DOSBox. By playing your game in DOSBox, you can avoid this and other timer problems. Even the Windows version can be played in DOSBox if you install Windows 3x in it, first.
Back when computers came with a "Turbo" switch (a sort of speed switch,) Sierra's workaround was to turn off the Turbo switch to start the game, after which you could turn the Turbo back on. If you have your cycles in DOSBox set too high, you may still encounter this problem. You can mimic the turbo switch solution by lowering your cycles (Ctl+F11) before starting your game. You may raise the cycles back up after the game starts (Ctl+F12).
Patch the old audio driver with GOSiERRA or SBSIERRA.
Use an updated audio driver.
Try installing the Windows version

Day 5 - Lockup

If the game locks up on Day 5

(Recommended): Install the DOS version and apply this patch by NewRisingSun for the floppy version or here for the CD version. (You may still want to play the game in DOSBox.)
Install the DOS version and play using DOSBox. Even the Windows version can be played in DOSBox if you install Windows 3x in it, first.
Use Enrico Rolfi's (Endroz) new installer.
Use a Slowdown Utility.

Day 6 - Desk sergeant

On Day 6, the desk sergeant leaves the police station to buy beignets and comes back in too soon, making it impossible to get into Mosely's office without getting caught.

(Recommended): Install the DOS version and apply this patch by NewRisingSun for the floppy version or here for the CD version. (You may still want to play the game in DOSBox.)
Install the DOS version and play using DOSBox. Even the Windows version can be played in DOSBox if you install Windows 3x in it, first.
Use Enrico Rolfi's (Endroz) new installer.
After the sergeant comes back in, wait until he falls asleep before sneaking past his desk.
Use a Slowdown Utility.

Day 9 - Floating mummies

In the African Snake Mound scene, mummies "float" instead of walk if you leave the room too quickly.

(Recommended): Install the DOS version and apply this patch by NewRisingSun for the floppy version or here for the CD version. (You may still want to play the game in DOSBox.)
Install the DOS version and play using DOSBox. Even the Windows version can be played in DOSBox if you install Windows 3x in it, first.
Use Enrico Rolfi's (Endroz) new installer.
Use a Slowdown Utility.

Overly rapid text

Rapid TEXT during Gabriel Knight 1 - the game's text just flies by. The rapid text is because the timing is based on the audio resources (on the CD) -- when the game can't find this, the text speed goes by too fast.

You must mount your CD drive with the CD in it, or you will have to copy all of the CD to your game's folder and edit the resource.cfg file to reflect this change. i.e.:
audio = .\;.\sfx;.\patches;.\aud
sync = .\aud
movieDir = .\seq

Save/Restore Crash

If the game crashes when saving or restoring a game (Windows XP)

(Recommended): Play the DOS version of the game. (You may still want to play the game in DOSBox to avoid any speed bugs.)
Use Endroz's new GK1 Windows XP Installer.

GK1 Windows version and Windows XP

Enrico Rolfi (Endroz) has developed a new Windows installer with patches for the Gabriel Knight bugs. Use his installer to play this game in XP. It fixes most problems with GK1 under XP, including the nasty save/restore bug under Windows XP.

NOTE: If you have 64 bit version of Windows, you MUST run the DOS version in DOSBox, since the Windows version of the game will not play (no 16 bit code will run natively in x64 Windows.)

GK1 DOS version and XP

In XP, the DOS version of the game (unless the audio in the install is set to "no audio/speech") may give a blank screen or won't even start, giving this error message:

We're sorry, you have encounter an internal game error...

Error number: 29
..\audio.cpp:1167:0:0

The default RESOURCE.CFG file has an entry:

audiosize=63k

Change this to:

audiosize=45k

or any value up to 45k means the game will run fine. Any value above 45k gives the audio.cpp error. If you remove the audiosize line, it will default to a much lower value. You will get much better audio performance (less crackling and dropouts) by changing this value to 45k.

A sample RESOURCE.CFG:

videoDrv = VESA.DRV
soundDrv = ADL.DRV
audioDrv = DACBLAST.DRV
joyDrv = NO
directory = \SIERRA\GKCD
cmd = GKCD
mouseDrv = none
memoryDrv = none
minmemory = 2M
CD = YES

audio=C:\SIERRA\GKCD;D:;D:\sfx;D:\patches;D:\aud
sync=D:\aud
movieDir=D:\seq
patchDir=C:\SIERRA\GKCD;D:;D:\patches
audiosize=45k

Also, adding:

audioIRQ=7

to the RESOURCE.CFG has helped some. (Note: From the command line typing "SIERRA -" gives options for the resource.cfg )

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