I just downloaded this from GOG. Years ago I got about 3/4 of the way through and then for some reason didn't finish, and now I get my chance! Just have to figure out which graphics settings are the best.

Has anyone played it on Windows XP lately? Do you remember which settings you used? It has: Surface, Overlay, Direct 3D, DDraw and Open GL. I'm not sure which is best. Surface is really blurry. I remember playing this in DOS originally and I know I saw more clear than what I see now.

Any ideas?

The original DOS version of Sins of the Fathers had no settings like Surface, Overlay, Direct 3D, DDraw, or Open GL. It used plain old VGA graphics. Of course VGA at full screen may not look so good on a flat panel monitor because we're used to sharp images at high resolutions, but trying to apply enhancements like "Surface" to games that don't support them can just make things look worse.

Unless DOSBox is giving you graphics enhancements, it's probably best just to turn off all those extras. If you're still not satisfied with the way the game looks, and you have an old CRT monitor in storage somewhere, you could try using the game with that and see if it looks more like what you remember.

Thanks, Jenny. Real life is interfering with my gaming today. I'll check it out again and see if I can load the game without the enhancements.

Ok looked again, and this is what it has. I can just click on the icon on desktop and it starts the game, but the graphics still look much more blurry than the original game. In the start menu, under the Gabriel Night game, it gives you the option to click on "Graphic Mode" setup, which has the options I told you earlier. The default is "overlay mode" and it can be changed to those others. I don't see anywhere that any of the stuff can be turned off.

Edited to say I went through the graphics options trying them one by one to see if it would clear it up, but no go. The screen is so blurry I'd get a headache if I tried to play it. So I guess I won't be playing it. I just want to scream. I've never used anything with DosBox and I guess I figured it would make the games look like the originals, but it doesn't.

I always play older DOS games in a windowed mode. Most folks don't like the small size of the window, but it sure takes the edge off the pixels.

There aren't any settings that I can see to play this in a windowed mode. I got it as a download from GOG.

I played it years ago when it first came out and the graphics were not this bad. Their faces are just a blur -- years ago they weren't all that sharp either, but they weren't this bad.

Years ago they probably had pixels -- lots of little squares, like in the ***Mobygames screenshots***. It's possible you've got some kind of anti-aliasing going on which is changing the pixels into blurriness. It may be in your video card settings as an automatic option rather than in the game itself, so check the settings for your video card.

Holding down the Alt key and pressing the Enter key may get the game to play Windowed. If that doesn't help, there are settings in the DosBox.conf file that may control things like size of the window and anti-aliasing. I found a website here with some suggestions for tweaking the dosbox.conf file:
http://laddish.net/projects/benchmark/vms/dosbox.shtml

I found these instructions for disabling anti-aliasing in Windows:


The anti-aliasing may be caused by your video card settings rather than the game itself. I agree with you that anti-aliasing can cause headaches and I'd rather see the original pixellated graphics.

I disabled anti aliasing in my video card, but it didn't make much of a difference. I was able to alt tab and get it to a windowed mode, which makes it a bit easier on the eyes, but it's still kindof blurred. I'll look at the link for tweaking dosbox files, but I don't even know where to find dosbox!

Edited to say I found the Dosbox file but can't see where I can configure anything like what he's talking about in the article. I think I'll just have to let it go.

I'm so disapointed in GOG. I really thought I would be able to play the games.

Have you tried posting over on the GOG forum?
http://www.gog.com/en/forum/gabriel_knight_series/#1323734277

I haven't heard of anyone with this issue before, though some people complain about the low-resolution graphics. So there may be some setting that could be changed.

Thanks, Jenny. I looked at those screenshots and that's what mine looks like in windowed mode, so I'll just play it that way. Maybe it doesn't get any better than that? I'll check out the forum, though.

I just remembered there being more clarity before -- or maybe back then I thought it was clear and it wasn't, lol. It's just what we were used to.

I think old DOS games "look" better on the old CRT monitors. Playing something full screen on a flat panel monitor at less than its native resolution can make it look worse than it looked on an old CRT. That may be why you're remembering it looking better.

I think my daughter might still have one at her place. I'll have to see if I can get it from her.

Assuming it's running under DOSBox, you should be able to edit the .conf file to alter the fullscreen setting, although I have no idea where GOG stores the file.

That's the problem -- I couldn't find the .conf file.

Maybe it's stored as a .PROF file in the game directory?

Edit -

I was able to locate them as .conf in the game directory, in my case C:\Program Files\GOG.COM\the game folder

While playing the game, pressing Alt+Enter will toggle Fullscreen mode off and on (assuming it's running under DOSBox).