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Might and Magic seriesMM1 text problem (8 posts)solved(8 posts)solved
(8 posts)solved
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Posted September 02, 2016
Some text goes away way too fast.

Example: When looking at the statues in the first town I'm given a split second to read the first message before the next one shows up. This also happens with pretty much every single move a character/enemy makes during combat thus I can never see how much damage is done/taken or if the hit even landed or missed. I've checked multiple times to make sure I'm not just accidentally pressing some "skip" key. With my hands off the keyboard the text just goes away too quickly.

Is this a bug or will I simply need superhuman reading skills in order to play?
This question / problem has been solved by Waltoriousimage
Posted September 02, 2016
There are several things you can do.
1. Reduce CPU cycles with CTRL--F11
2. IIRC there is a text delay option.
3. You can video capture the game with CTRL-ALT-F5
4. I think there's some third party patch you can apply, which has bee has mentioned on the forum before.
Post edited September 03, 2016 by PetrusOctavianus
Posted September 02, 2016
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VeloxBanks: Some text goes away way too fast.
I highly recommend the fan-made patch for this. Check the following thread:

https://www.gog.com/forum/might_and_magic_series/mm1_read_this_if_you_think_the_text_appears_too_fast

And specifically the patch linked in this post:

https://www.gog.com/forum/might_and_magic_series/mm1_read_this_if_you_think_the_text_appears_too_fast/post38

Download that file, rename the extension to .exe instead of .jpg, put it inside your game directory, and run it. It will slow down almost all text in the game, with very few exceptions (enemies skipping their turn in combat, certain rare events on certain maps, e.g. the "avalanche!" event still goes by pretty fast).

Long version if you want more info:

This is caused because modern processors are too fast for the game. There's a text delay setting in the game, but it only affects combat. In combat you can press D to set the delay, which will make combat message stay around longer. But it won't affect e.g. the statues in Sorpigal, which still go by too fast on modern processors. Also you have to set the delay every time you play, it's not saved with your save games.

The other option is to reduce cycles in DOSBox, which will slow down the ENTIRE GAME, not just the text. This works, but the game feels sluggish and unresponsive, with delays when moving and other annoyances. Technically, however, it's the only way to slow down ALL the text ("avalanche!" included).

I strongly prefer the fan patch. I can run the game at max cycles so it's nice and responsive, and almost all the text is slow enough to read. There are still a few things that are too fast (another example is the "spinners" on certain maps), but you can always lower cycles when encountering those obstacles and then raise them again later (or just deal with them being fast, which is what I did).

Note that if you do mess around with cycles, you can do it while playing with the ALT+F11 and ALT+F12 keys [EDIT: actual shortcut keys are CTRL+F11 and CTRL+F12, sorry!], although these don't decrease and increase by the same amounts. You can also look at your DOSBox configuration file to set cycles t here.
Post edited September 02, 2016 by Waltorious
Posted September 02, 2016
The answers are appreciated. However, none of the solutions worked sadly. I can't even adjust CPU cycles ingame using alt-f11/12. It seems that the second game has the same problem. I would assume the third does as well.

Do all the games have this issue or is it just the first couple? As much as I don't want to I'll have to just skip to which ever game in the series doesn't have this problem.
Posted September 02, 2016
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VeloxBanks: The answers are appreciated. However, none of the solutions worked sadly. I can't even adjust CPU cycles ingame using alt-f11/12. It seems that the second game has the same problem. I would assume the third does as well.

Do all the games have this issue or is it just the first couple? As much as I don't want to I'll have to just skip to which ever game in the series doesn't have this problem.
6, 7, and 8 don't have this issue. There are two videos that won't play in the GOG version of 8, but they are just "here's the result of your choice" videos, and can be seen online.
Posted September 02, 2016
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VeloxBanks: The answers are appreciated. However, none of the solutions worked sadly. I can't even adjust CPU cycles ingame using alt-f11/12. It seems that the second game has the same problem. I would assume the third does as well.
Actually, ONLY MM1 should have this problem. MM2 worked fine for me "out of the box", so to speak. Did you try running MM2 and had text speed by too quickly? Can you give more details if so?

Also, I gave you the wrong shortcut keys, it's CTRL+F11 and CTRL+F12 to lower and increase cycles. Try those and see if they help.

As for the fan patch, did you put it inside your installation directory for MM1 before running it? What happens when you run the .exe? You should see a terminal come up and it will list a bunch of things and then exit. If you don't see that, then it didn't work. Usually that's because it's in the wrong location when you run it.
Posted September 03, 2016
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VeloxBanks: The answers are appreciated. However, none of the solutions worked sadly. I can't even adjust CPU cycles ingame using alt-f11/12. It seems that the second game has the same problem. I would assume the third does as well.
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Waltorious: Actually, ONLY MM1 should have this problem. MM2 worked fine for me "out of the box", so to speak. Did you try running MM2 and had text speed by too quickly? Can you give more details if so?

Also, I gave you the wrong shortcut keys, it's CTRL+F11 and CTRL+F12 to lower and increase cycles. Try those and see if they help.

As for the fan patch, did you put it inside your installation directory for MM1 before running it? What happens when you run the .exe? You should see a terminal come up and it will list a bunch of things and then exit. If you don't see that, then it didn't work. Usually that's because it's in the wrong location when you run it.
Nevermind about the first game. The patch worked. I messed something up the first time I tried it. What did I mess up? I... don't know, honestly. Downloading it and trying again simply worked. I was able to read the statue text at least. It's much better now, although I fear that if I have to read longer messages it'll still be a problem. Nontheless it seems fine for now. Combat is still a bit too fast (even when set to 9) but I'll try and just live with that. I can spot a "miss" when it shows up and seeing how much damage my characters took can be done by just pressing Q and seeing how much they've lost since the last turn. Yes, it'll be a bit tedious but it'll work.

MM2 seems to be fine now that I adjusted the combat speed. Setting it to 9 does at lot more in this game than the first one. I actually have a good few seconds to read what happened and it feels a lot better. I haven't had any non-combat encounters yet so I don't know how fast the text is there. I hope I'll be able to choose when new text appears.

All in all things seem good enough for now. The help is greatly appreciated!
Posted September 03, 2016
Glad things are working! If you still feel that text is a bit fast for your taste, you can try lowering cycles at bit as well. Easy to do while playing with the shortcut keys, and it will reset every time you start the game so you don't have to worry about messing anything up.

Otherwise, enjoy the game!

EDIT: Also remember that you have to set the combat text delay every time you run the game. It doesn't keep your setting.
Post edited September 03, 2016 by Waltorious
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Might and Magic seriesMM1 text problem (8 posts)solved(8 posts)solved
(8 posts)solved