Error in some (read: older) AGS games

[f]

Hello, fresh meat here. Long story short:
Recently found AGS games, played through at least dozen of them, but some games have this peculiar error. Let’s take Earwig is ANGRY!, for example. Just after clicking on the game icon, a pop-up comes up:

There was a problem initializing graphics mode 320x200.
(Problem: ‘Can not set video mode’)
Try to correct the problem, or seek help from AGS homepage.

Setup is unresponsive. Any ideas on what the problem could be?

Thanks.

[Joe]

Your graphics card. But I don't know exactly what you could do to solve it. Maybe changing your graphic card config...

[Khris]

Vista/7 doesn't allow fullscreen @ 320.
The problem with using winsetup to change the resolution is that with older games, the game isn't just scaled up by a filter but actually runs at 640 natively which might give unexpected results (e.g. a tiny in-game font).
The best way is this: get AGS 2.72 (http://db.tt/jdW0FJq)
Now run the game with the 2.72 engine.

1. rename the game.exe to "ac2game.dat"
2. copy 2.72's acwin.exe into the game folder
3. from the command line, run "acwin.exe --setup"
4. select the x2 filter, then click "Save and run"

[f]

Fast replies, cool. Anyway, I'm lost at the third step (if not at the beginning): do I run cmd (in which I can't figure out how to run the setup) or does it have something to do with 2.72 engine (in which I can't figure out how to run [load up, right?] the game, even after renaming game.exe). Some serious business here for a noob like me.

[Khris]

After running cmd, you should get the console/prompt.
Navigate to the game's dir, then enter "acwin.exe --setup" without the quotes.

Alternatively you can create a shortcut to acwin.exe (right-click it, select "Create shortcut"). Then right-click the shortcut and select Properties, in there, add " --setup" to the end of the Target line. Confirm, then run the shortcut to get to the setup window.

[f]

It worked. Thanks again.

[Aphelion]

1. rename the game.exe to "ac2game.dat"
2. copy 2.72's acwin.exe into the game folder
3. from the command line, run "acwin.exe --setup"
4. select the x2 filter, then click "Save and run"

This is the thread I've been looking for.  I tried the above to the letter to run a 320x200 game, but get the following error message:


You must create and save a game first in the AGS Editor before you can use this engine.

If you have just downloaded AGS, you are probably running the wrong executable.  Run AGSEDIT.EXE to launch the editor.

(Unable to find 'ac2game.dat' in [game directory])


Thanks in advance...

[Khris]

Your problem is the first step.
It says right there in the error message you got that acwin.exe can't find ac2game.dat.

The reason is usually that Windows hides known extensions i.e. you renamed the file to "ac2game.dat.exe".
Go to folder settings, uncheck "hide known extensions", then rename the file properly.

Pro Tip: use an actual file manager instead of the Explorer.

[Aphelion]

Your problem is the first step.
It says right there in the error message you got that acwin.exe can't find ac2game.dat.

The reason is usually that Windows hides known extensions i.e. you renamed the file to "ac2game.dat.exe".
Go to folder settings, uncheck "hide known extensions", then rename the file properly.

Pro Tip: use an actual file manager instead of the Explorer.

Just tried that, deleted the ".exe" from the ac2game.dat, now I get the following error message:

Invalid file format.  The file may be corrupt, or from a different version of AGS. 
This engine can only run games made with AGS v2.5 or later.

For the record, the game I'm trying to run is Pirate Fry 1.  Too old for this workaround apparently?

[Khris]

Yes, looks like it.
Try DosBox, that should do the trick for fullscreen.
You should still be able to play it windowed, just reduce the windows resolution to 640x480 beforehand.

[Aphelion]

Yes, looks like it.
Try DosBox, that should do the trick for fullscreen.
You should still be able to play it windowed, just reduce the windows resolution to 640x480 beforehand.

DOSBox won't run it without CWSDPMI.exe, then once I drop that in, it gives me the same error message about 320x200 not being supported.  The lowest resolution my graphics card supports is 800x600.  I'm not sure how else I can run the game windowed.  Would the "ac2game.dat" trick work with an older version of AGS perhaps? 

[Khris]

You can run the setup by calling "fry.exe --setup" form the command line.
In there you can switch to windowed mode/up the resolution.

I could get it to run on XP, 960x600, windowed.
Edit: the mouse won't work though.

[Calin Leafshade]

Nimbus will run pirate fry 1 with no setup at all

(The latest version does so but i dont remember if the current released version does.)

Wait no thats not true since pirate fry is not compatible with dosbox, sorry.

[Aphelion]

You can run the setup by calling "fry.exe --setup" form the command line.
In there you can switch to windowed mode/up the resolution.

I could get it to run on XP, 960x600, windowed.
Edit: the mouse won't work though.

I was able to get the setup screen and up the rez and selected windowed mode, but my system hangs when I run the executable.  I just get a black screen.  Anyway, I got it to run flawlessly in the XP environment on my laptop, without any jury rigging, and that'll work.  It's not worth the trouble trying to run it on my PC anymore, though it would be nice if these older games could be recoded for newer Windows environments.  I suspect a lot of people could be missing out due to these compatibility issues.