Simon the Sorcerer 2 Crash

[SimontheSorcerer]

Hi everyone.

I am running Windows Vista Home Premium with the latest build of ScummVM.

I have the PC CD-ROM version of Simon the Sorcerer, and it is in a double pack (Simon the Sorcerer 1&2). The pack also contains Simon Pinball and Puzzle.

I selected Simon 2 from the drive, ran the game and everything was going fine.

I did have a slight issue however, which was that when the character had spoken their line, the subtitle text was floating above them for about two seconds longer, causing a pause between each character's lines. Maybe this is not actually an issue and is just how the game is made?

I was coping with this until I entered McSwampy's, spoke to the tatoo guy and the nerd. I then spoke to the cashier, and it had got to the line where he shouts "DO WE HAVE ANYTHING WITHOUT ANY SWAMP IN IT?". The food is then put on the counter, he was halfway through a line and the game just crashes to my desktop - no error message or anything.

Please help me! I will start the game up again and see if the error occurs. Thanks very much.

Regards,
Simon the Sorcerer.

[SimSaw]

Could you tell us which version of StS 2 you're using? DOS or Windows? MD5s might be also helpful since there seem to be two different versions of them also.

[SimontheSorcerer]

Could you tell us which version of StS 2 you're using? DOS or Windows? MD5s might be also helpful since there seem to be two different versions of them also.

Hello SimSaw. Thanks for the swift response.

I'm afraid I'm not quite sure what you're asking - how do I know if it is DOS or Windows - I'm assuming it's the Windows version I'm using?

Again, what does MD5s mean?

I do have an update on my problem, however. I just ran the game again and the crash didn't happen in the same place. It was probably just a one-off, but it might happen again - I will of course let everyone know either way.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Regards,
Simon the Sorcerer.

[kosuan]

Hi everyone.

I selected Simon 2 from the drive, ran the game and everything was going fine.

Simon the Sorcerer.

Did you copy the game files on your computer or did you ran the game from CD?

If you have not copied it, do so and play it from there.

Have fun, ko

[SimontheSorcerer]

Hi everyone.

I selected Simon 2 from the drive, ran the game and everything was going fine.

Simon the Sorcerer.

Did you copy the game files on your computer or did you ran the game from CD?

If you have not copied it, do so and play it from there.

Have fun, ko

I'm playing the game from the CD. Is there an advantage of copying the files instead of playing from the CD?

[kosuan]

Yes, it works
is not that an advantage ?

You may choose any place you want on your Harddisk,
create a new folder or directory or howsoever you call it.
Then copy all the game files for StS 2 into it, point it out to ScummVM and .....

have fun

[md5]

The lag you're having is caused because the files are left on the CD, you should copy them all to the hard drive. As for the version, you can check which version you got from it's installer - if it's DOS, you got the DOS version. I think the executable is different too (can't remember now) - the one in the Windows version should be "simon1win.exe" and "simon2win.exe" for Simon 1 and 2 respectively and "simon1.exe" and "simon2.exe" for DOS.

As for the crash... don't know, perhaps it was a one-off as you said, or because of unexpected delay when loading files from the CD. Just copy all the game's files to the hard drive and you should be ok

[SimontheSorcerer]

The lag you're having is caused because the files are left on the CD, you should copy them all to the hard drive. As for the version, you can check which version you got from it's installer - if it's DOS, you got the DOS version. I think the executable is different too (can't remember now) - the one in the Windows version should be "simon1win.exe" and "simon2win.exe" for Simon 1 and 2 respectively and "simon1.exe" and "simon2.exe" for DOS.

As for the crash... don't know, perhaps it was a one-off as you said, or because of unexpected delay when loading files from the CD. Just copy all the game's files to the hard drive and you should be ok

My version is the Windows one then. I will copy all the files to my hard drive now.

Thank you for all the help, everyone - and the quick responses! Keep up the good work.

Regards,
Simon the Sorcerer.

[SimontheSorcerer]

I'm back.

I have copied all the files to my hard drive, but the speech is still going slow. When people are saying long amounts of text, the subtitles will speed ahead of them and will cut off their words (usually about 10 of them) and will skip to the next person talking. I am running the game in full screen mode.

Yet when it is short amounts of texts it will hang there for a second or two.

I'm assuming this is something to do with the subtitle speed? If so, what should I put it at?

[eriktorbjorn]

I have copied all the files to my hard drive, but the speech is still going slow. When people are saying long amounts of text, the subtitles will speed ahead of them and will cut off their words (usually about 10 of them) and will skip to the next person talking.

That (if I understand you correctly) sounds like the issue described in the ScummVM README file: "Combined speech and subtitles [in Simon the Sorcerer 2] will often cause speech to be cut off early, this is a limitation of the original game."

At least the English version of the game didn't support combined speech and subtitles at all originally.

[SimontheSorcerer]

I have copied all the files to my hard drive, but the speech is still going slow. When people are saying long amounts of text, the subtitles will speed ahead of them and will cut off their words (usually about 10 of them) and will skip to the next person talking.

That (if I understand you correctly) sounds like the issue described in the ScummVM README file: "Combined speech and subtitles [in Simon the Sorcerer 2] will often cause speech to be cut off early, this is a limitation of the original game."

At least the English version of the game didn't support combined speech and subtitles at all originally.

Oh really? So there's nothing I can do to get round it (unless I disable the subtitles)?

[eriktorbjorn]

Oh really? So there's nothing I can do to get round it (unless I disable the subtitles)?

Possibly. I haven't used the combined speech/subtitles much in Simon the Sorcerer 2 myself. I haven't noticed any problems with speech-only, though. (Except, of course, that sometimes it can be a bit difficult for me to make out exactly what the voices are saying. Particularly if there's a lot of other background noises.)

[SimontheSorcerer]

Oh really? So there's nothing I can do to get round it (unless I disable the subtitles)?

Possibly. I haven't used the combined speech/subtitles much in Simon the Sorcerer 2 myself. I haven't noticed any problems with speech-only, though. (Except, of course, that sometimes it can be a bit difficult for me to make out exactly what the voices are saying. Particularly if there's a lot of other background noises.)

Turning off the subtitles is really a last resort for me. I like being able to read along with the text because, like you said, it is sometimes hard to hear what's being said.

[md5]

As mentioned, that's a limitation of the original game, so there's little that can be done about it I'm afraid (sort of rewriting all of the game's scripts)