Hello all, I'm having trouble with a game called Seige of Avalon. I have the cd version of it and it's not running. The installation completes successfully, however.. When I open the game's launcher and attempt to run the game an error message pops up saying unable to open (or run) driver, something along those lines. I've tried running the game in compatability mode, still doesn't work. Any suggestions?

More info needed: what kind of PC (especially the GPU), what OS etc.

First thing I suggest is googling with the game name and your Windows version, it is quite probable someone else has already asked about similar problems, and maybe even fixed it.

I don't even know what that game is, at least it doesn't fully ring a bell (maybe a tiny "ping", but that's all), but I'll check from Mobygames shortly...

EDIT: Have you updated your game?

http://soaos.sourceforge.net/Update.htm

Also, check this discussion:

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/revisiting-siege-of-avalon.95354/

Is it the game that is created by Digital Tome? If so, try going to their site here (link below), and see if installing the updates could help you run the game. You can also google the error, as suggested by Timppu. Might be just something missing that you could download and install.

http://soaos.sourceforge.net/Update.shtml

It's telling me I can't apply these patches to a downloadable version of the game... but as I mentioned it is the cd version, it has a cd key and everything, even the original manual. I'm on windows 8.1 by the way

I'm not sure if it has anything to do with it, I wouldn't think it would. The version I have is from Spain, where I live. The ini files and all that is all in English so I'm not understanding why these patches aren't working.

Have you tried getting the Spanish patch? Not sure if one exists, but if it does, it should work.

No, no patches that I could find even searching in Spanish. I've got some patches installed, and I got the game running.. however now there's not sound. I wish more people had this game XD It would be easier to figure this out. There's a forum for the game, but it's predominantly Germans. I'll continue patching the game and drop some info here.

Okay, sorry. Seeming as I don't have the game, that is all I can offer. Good luck with getting the game to run though!

The game's website (obviously outdated as it is) recomends for sound issues that drivers be updated... now is that really necessary, seeing as my pc is only two years old, and this game 17 years old? XD

Yes, installing the latest chipset drivers for your computer is a good idea and that might take care of your sound problems too unless you have a sound card (rare nowadays). Missing sound codec problems is easily solved by installing the free VLC player.

Isn't this a game using Directsound acceleration ? DS was deprecated . In Vista and 7, it was still emulated, but not in 8.1...

Now, the dedicated audio drivers from the soundcard/soundchip producer may include an emulation, and in that sense it might be worth getting the latest set.

Also, the game configuration tool may include possibilities to tweak the DS acceleration that could be worth trying.

yes, you're right. the game does indeed use that. I'll try tweaking in the configuration app. However, how would I go about actually emulating that?
My audio software is Realtek HD audio, and I've been searching around and all the sites that pop up in search engines.. well.. they seem a bit shady XD

Edit:

I found a link to a new download of the full game (English version, I believe. But you can always copy and paste any language files and see if they work.). After testing it on my system (Windows 8.0), the game is able to launch and run, with music & sound. However, there is a weird flickering of the mouse. And updating the game to the unofficial 1.4 patch oddly seems to worsen the situation. But perhaps, you can get things working better than I. I can send you the link (since you already own the game) via PM (enable your chat settings), if you'd still like to have it.

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Another solution, is that you can try installing Dosbox (an emulator for older games that can't run on modern systems), and run the game from inside it.

Dosbox -

https://www.dosbox.com/

Instructions on how to use -

https://www.dosbox.com/wiki/Basic_Setup_and_Installation_of_DosBox

Just move your game to the folder where Dosbox detects and runs the game.

Are you using Windows 7 or 8 ?

Windows 8 and 10 are near hopeless when it comes to running many old games released before 2005.

DOSBox is meant for running MS-DOS games, and I think this is a Windows game.

Of course one could try to run Windows 95 within DOSBox and run the old Windows game from there, but I presume you were not referring to that...