Hi,

I am having problems getting GOG's Kings Quest Mask of Eternity (KQ8) to run on Windows 7 64bit. When I run it I only see the splash screen for a moment, then the game closes. There is no error message. I tried running it on 2 computers with the same result:

Windows 7 64bit SP1, 4GB RAM
AMD Phenom II X4 920 2,80Ghz
Geforce 8200, driver 257.21

Windows 7 64bit, 2GB RAM
Intel Core2 T7200 2,00Ghz
Radeon x1400, driver Catalyst 10.02

I also tried several Compatibility Modes, I tried changing "assignGModeName" to "Software", and creating starttxt.txt (yes, extensions are shown). But I still cannot get the game to run.

Does anyone know how to fix the problem?

Thank you and regards,
humaita

I found out what the problem is: KQ8 does not run on computers that do not have a CD-ROM drive. You don't need the actual KQ8 disc, you just need to have a drive installed.

@GOG.com: Is there any chance of fixing this? Most netbooks and smaller laptops do not have optical drives any more.

Having virtual drive (like Daemon Tools app) works as well and solves such issues. I doubt GOG could do much in that case without actual source code for games.

I know that a virtual drive solves the problem. I am using WinCDEmu. The difficult part was actually finding out that this was the problem.

You can still patch an executable without having any source code. I think they actually did that so that KQ8 would run on modern windows versions... its not that difficult.

There are other games suffering from the same problem (Tropico, M&Ms, etc.). If it was that easy, they would probably take notice already.

But I might be wrong as well. Still, contacting support directly (either via mail or PM) could get you better results than posting on forums. They do read them, but it may take longer.

Hmm, this appears to be my problem then. I'm trying to run the game on an Alienware M11x R3, which has no Cd-drive. Hmm, hopefully they can patch this.

Unlike GOG's support, I'll be helpful! Enjoy playing on your netbook folks ;)

Mask_netbook.zip


Support is just lazy, obviously it can be done since I just did it.

FYI: A better version of my patch is included in Collector's installer for retail cd-rom copies over at sierrahelp.com.


from GOG.com support hd-games@gog.com
to <removed>
date Wed, May 11, 2011 at 8:57 AM
subject Re: King's Quest 8 won't launch without cd-rom connected||7LVZMJ2V8Q

Hello,

As absurd as it seems, that's the way the game was programmed and I'm afraid there is no way to get around this. If plugging usb drive is too troublesome you could try installing optical drive emulator like DAEMON Tools and creating a virtual drive.


--
Regards

Ethaar
GOG.com Support

Hmm, unfortunately your link doesn't work anymore... I use Daemontools, so its not a big deal.

But it sure would be nice of GOG to add in the fix themselves...