EDIT - For those who would like try tinkering with Gabriel Knight on Scummvm and find errors/crashes/glitches please refer to m_kiewitz posts below.



Hello,

I apologize for bringing up this topic again as I have seen many threads about this. I have tried different solutions but none of them seem to work...

Like some users here I experience sound delays in specific areas of GK1 - areas that use both background noise and music which causes the dialogue to be delayed by 5 seconds.

I have tried playing with the resource.cfg and dosboxGK.conf - changing core settings & video settings & sound settings but nothing helps.

I also tried the game with the Scummvm build software but I have not got the chance to see if I have the same issues because I ran into a different problem with Scumm - Game crashes at the cinematics sequences so I cannot anywhere after seeing Gabriel starting his bike (same problem occurs when I play the intro in the menu)

Any help from some experts here will be appreciated.

This is what I have in my resources.cfg file:

[i]videoDrv = VESA.DRV
soundDrv = GENMIDI.DRV
audioDrv = DACBLAST.DRV
joyDrv = NO
cmd = GKCD
mouseDrv = none
memoryDrv = none
minmemory = 2M
CD = YES
smartdrv = YES
mode = protected

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=63k [/i]

And this is for my dosboxGK.conf file:

[i]# This is the configurationfile for DOSBox 0.72.
# Lines starting with a # are commentlines.
# They are used to (briefly) document the effect of each option.

[sdl]
# fullscreen -- Start dosbox directly in fullscreen.
# fulldouble -- Use double buffering in fullscreen.
# fullresolution -- What resolution to use for fullscreen: original or fixed size (e.g. 1024x768).
# windowresolution -- Scale the window to this size IF the output device supports hardware scaling.
# output -- What to use for output: surface,overlay,opengl,openglnb,ddraw.
# autolock -- Mouse will automatically lock, if you click on the screen.
# sensitiviy -- Mouse sensitivity.
# waitonerror -- Wait before closing the console if dosbox has an error.
# priority -- Priority levels for dosbox: lowest,lower,normal,higher,highest,pause (when not focussed).
# Second entry behind the comma is for when dosbox is not focused/minimized.
# mapperfile -- File used to load/save the key/event mappings from.
# usescancodes -- Avoid usage of symkeys, might not work on all operating systems.

fullscreen=true
fulldouble=false
fullresolution=original
windowresolution=original
output=ddraw
autolock=true
sensitivity=100
waitonerror=true
priority=higher,normal
mapperfile=mapper.txt
usescancodes=true

[dosbox]
# language -- Select another language file.
# memsize -- Amount of memory DOSBox has in megabytes.
# machine -- The type of machine tries to emulate:hercules,cga,tandy,pcjr,vga.
# captures -- Directory where things like wave,midi,screenshot get captured.

language=
machine=svga_s3
captures=capture
memsize=8

[render]
# frameskip -- How many frames DOSBox skips before drawing one.
# aspect -- Do aspect correction, if your output method doesn't support scaling this can slow things down!.
# scaler -- Scaler used to enlarge/enhance low resolution modes.
# Supported are none,normal2x,normal3x,advmame2x,advmame3x,hq2x,hq3x,
# 2xsai,super2xsai,supereagle,advinterp2x,advinterp3x,
# tv2x,tv3x,rgb2x,rgb3x,scan2x,scan3x.
# If forced is appended (like scaler=hq2x forced), the scaler will be used
# even if the result might not be desired.

frameskip=0
aspect=false
scaler=normal2x

[cpu]
# core -- CPU Core used in emulation: normal,simple,dynamic,auto.
# auto switches from normal to dynamic if appropriate.
# cycles -- Amount of instructions DOSBox tries to emulate each millisecond.
# Setting this value too high results in sound dropouts and lags.
# You can also let DOSBox guess the correct value by setting it to max.
# The default setting (auto) switches to max if appropriate.
# cycleup -- Amount of cycles to increase/decrease with keycombo.
# cycledown Setting it lower than 100 will be a percentage.

core=auto
cycles=max
cycleup=500
cycledown=20

[mixer]
# nosound -- Enable silent mode, sound is still emulated though.
# rate -- Mixer sample rate, setting any devices higher than this will
# probably lower their sound quality.
# blocksize -- Mixer block size, larger blocks might help sound stuttering
# but sound will also be more lagged.
# prebuffer -- How many milliseconds of data to keep on top of the blocksize.

nosound=false
rate=22050
blocksize=2048
prebuffer=10

[midi]
# mpu401 -- Type of MPU-401 to emulate: none, uart or intelligent.
# device -- Device that will receive the MIDI data from MPU-401.
# This can be default,alsa,oss,win32,coreaudio,none.
# config -- Special configuration options for the device. In Windows put
# the id of the device you want to use. See README for details.

mpu401=intelligent
device=default
config=

[sblaster]
# sbtype -- Type of sblaster to emulate:none,sb1,sb2,sbpro1,sbpro2,sb16.
# sbbase,irq,dma,hdma -- The IO/IRQ/DMA/High DMA address of the soundblaster.
# mixer -- Allow the soundblaster mixer to modify the DOSBox mixer.
# oplmode -- Type of OPL emulation: auto,cms,opl2,dualopl2,opl3.
# On auto the mode is determined by sblaster type.
# All OPL modes are 'Adlib', except for CMS.
# oplrate -- Sample rate of OPL music emulation.

sbtype=sb1
sbbase=220
irq=7
dma=1
hdma=5
mixer=true
oplmode=auto
oplrate=22050

[gus]
# gus -- Enable the Gravis Ultrasound emulation.
# gusbase,irq1,irq2,dma1,dma2 -- The IO/IRQ/DMA addresses of the
# Gravis Ultrasound. (Same IRQ's and DMA's are OK.)
# gusrate -- Sample rate of Ultrasound emulation.
# ultradir -- Path to Ultrasound directory. In this directory
# there should be a MIDI directory that contains
# the patch files for GUS playback. Patch sets used
# with Timidity should work fine.

gus=false

[speaker]
# pcspeaker -- Enable PC-Speaker emulation.
# pcrate -- Sample rate of the PC-Speaker sound generation.
# tandy -- Enable Tandy Sound System emulation (off,on,auto).
# For auto Tandysound emulation is present only if machine is set to tandy.
# tandyrate -- Sample rate of the Tandy 3-Voice generation.
# disney -- Enable Disney Sound Source emulation. Covox Voice Master and Speech Thing compatible.

pcspeaker=true
pcrate=22050
tandy=auto
tandyrate=22050
disney=true

[joystick]
# joysticktype -- Type of joystick to emulate: auto (default), none,
# 2axis (supports two joysticks,
# 4axis (supports one joystick, first joystick used),
# 4axis_2 (supports one joystick, second joystick used),
# fcs (Thrustmaster), ch (CH Flightstick).
# none disables joystick emulation.
# auto chooses emulation depending on real joystick(s).
# timed -- enable timed intervals for axis. (false is old style behaviour).
# autofire -- continuously fires as long as you keep the button pressed.
# swap34 -- swap the 3rd and the 4th axis. can be useful for certain joysticks.
# buttonwrap -- enable button wrapping at the number of emulated buttons.

joysticktype=auto
timed=true
autofire=false
swap34=false
buttonwrap=true

[serial]
# serial1-4 -- set type of device connected to com port.
# Can be disabled, dummy, modem, nullmodem, directserial.
# Additional parameters must be in the same line in the form of
# parameter:value. Parameter for all types is irq.
# for directserial: realport (required), rxdelay (optional).
# for modem: listenport (optional).
# for nullmodem: server, rxdelay, txdelay, telnet, usedtr,
# transparent, port, inhsocket (all optional).
# Example: serial1=modem listenport:5000

serial1=dummy
serial2=dummy
serial3=disabled
serial4=disabled

[dos]
# xms -- Enable XMS support.
# ems -- Enable EMS support.
# umb -- Enable UMB support.
# keyboardlayout -- Language code of the keyboard layout (or none).

xms=true
ems=true
umb=true
keyboardlayout=none

[IPX]
Enable=0
Connection=0
ipx=false

[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.

@ECHO OFF
mount C "."
imgmount D GK1.gog -t iso
c:
cls
sierra
exit[/i]

Many Thanks,

I'm having this issue as well. I'm on day 1 and the game worked fine, but as soon as I got to the Napoleon House dialogue text is displayed long before the audio sample plays. Is this a Windows 10 issue?

I'm using the default GOG configuration and running the game from GOG Galaxy. Any help would be appreciated.

try changing these values:

core=dynamic
cycles=fixed 46000

Thank you for your response. Unfortunately it didn't work :(

I tried playing with the cycles using different numbers but the game didn't show any changes besides going slower on very high numbers. I actually had the same issue a few years back (around 2012) on my old desktop who had Windows 7. At the time I didn't mind it as I thought it was just an old game but when I reached the final confrontation in the end the mood was just destroyed because of it.

It does seem to be recent though (from around 5-6 years ago) and not that many people have it for now.

Most solutions turn around tickering with CPU, Mixer or SB Blaster/Thunderboard bot so far no luck :(

I wish this was supported by Scummvm. From the little I managed to play it was a much better experience.

I own this game on CDROM (and floppy too!) so I'll give that a try in DOSBox to see if it makes any difference. I don't remember having this issue when i played GOG's GK1 on my previous PC.

Just to note - work is on the way to get this supported in ScummVM. It already works quite well in the daily builds.

That would be very awesome :D

Hopefully i can experience it beyond the bookshop some day.

This is great. Thank you.

The game does not crash after the cut scenes anymore which is a good sign

I managed to play a bit but a crash came down when I was solving the clock puzzle in grandma's attic :(

I guess it is part of the issue you were mentioning.

I appreciate a lot what you and your team did and do with the engine. Thank again.


EDIT - I managed to solve the puzzle. Apparently Scummvm does not like when you try to move the faces of the clock from the top but rather wants you to rotate starting form the bottom.

Let's see how far I can get!

For me right now I even get crashes, when I skip certain dialog right at the start of the game. You're welcome. We try to preserve all sorts of games for future generations. And we try our best to also fix game bugs as well. For example all the known timer issues in Gabriel Knight 1 should be patched out on-the-fly automatically. In case you get a signature error or some other ERROR message and not a real crash, then please post it in here.
Signature errors are caused most of the time by script bugs, right now it could also be an engine bug (with us being responsible). Sierra's original engine ignored all sorts of issues and ScummVM doesn't.

Sure thing ;)

I am on Day 4 now. All is good so far.

Got an error message on Day 6 while trying to solve the drum code. I have attached an image showing the error.

This error appears when I put the mouse on the words of the book on the left.

Ah, very interesting. Thanks. Will reply on here as soon as it's fixed.

May be a script bug, we will see.

You should now be able to get past it.
Please download the latest daily build. In case it still doesn't work, there hasn't been a new daily build yet.