test

passed ;-)

Any questions?

LOL - was having a problem posting the message - anyway here goes-

This is my first download and the graphics are so grainy, the game is not playable.

I am Running XP - Service pack 3 - nvidia geforce card - updated drivers - 1024 X 768

I have tried different settings in the dosbox configurator but am not sure what settings to use. I have searched other posts for the proper settings, with no luck. For example, do I change the graphics mode or the scaling engine, etc? I tried Hq2X with no improvement.


I did locate the link below from another post and if my screen was this good, i would not be complaining. As you know, in this type of game you need to be able to pick out various items in every scene. On my screen you cant tell the difference between a coffee machine and a cash register.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WULkhdQmJQw

I appreciate any assistance provided.

Hi. I don't know the exact nature of the problem, but there just might be a way around the issue altogether. The GOG installation includes the original CD mirror you can burn to a disc, which you can than install using a custom installer from zetafleet for modern systems. I found this alternative installation method in the following thread, post 23 and 25 by Gremmi:

https://secure.gog.com/forum/gabriel_knight_series/bad_sound_quality/page2

Here's the highlights:

post 23:
One last thing to try if you're desperate to play the game (though this is a bit of a lengthy process):
Browse to the installed folder
Find the file GK1.gog.
Open this in WinRAR and extract all the files to a directory (say C:\GK1)
Download and run the GK1XP installer from http://gkpatches.vogons.zetafleet.com/
Point the installer to the GK1 directory.
This will then install the Windows version for you, which should avoid any DOSBox sound conflicts.

and post 25:
Ah, I just tried it myself and the GK1XP installer's been updated since last time I used it so it only works off a CD. You'll have to burn the extracted files to a CD, then run the installer.

I used this method myself to solve an issue different from yours (this installation doesn't use DOSbox), and others have used it to solve yet another problem (the sound issues Gremmi originally adressed in that thread) maybe it works for you too. It's worth the effort, if only for the alternative intro music. I really hope this works for you.

DOSBox offers several mechanisms to enlarge the picture of old games. Some of them significantly blur/smooth the original.

One mechanism are scalers. hq2x doubles the resolution of the original with a bit of smoothing.
Here is a good visual comparison: http://www.dosbox.com/wiki/Scaler

I suggest not to use smoothing or scaler at all, for a lot of old games (and pixel-art indies like the Blackwell series) because I like it crisp and original. But often it's a matter of taste and depends on the game.

The scaler is used before any further scaling mechanism. If you scale the picture above the targeted resolution, it'll be shrank again later, what could cause a quality loss.

Another (later) mechanism of scaling is done by the resolution settings (also in the DOSBox config file):

For full-screen mode:
fullresolution = width x height | original | desktop

For windowed mode:
windowresolution = width x height | original | desktop

Scaling is only done, if the output device supports hardware scaling.
output = surface | overlay | opengl | openglnb | ddraw

surface is the only output device, that doesn't support hardware scaling.
On Windows systems give directDraw a try (output = ddraw) or anything but surface.

You find details on these options here: [url=http://www.dosbox.com/wiki/Configuration:SDL]http://www.dosbox.com/wiki/Configuration:SDL[/url]