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dracula 3 the path of the dragon

Posted By: deleterman

dracula 3 the path of the dragon - 06/30/17 01:24 AM

I just down loaded this game from GOG when i started the game it's not full screen what do i have to do to get it full screen? or can I .. bravo
Posted By: Jenny100

Re: dracula 3 the path of the dragon - 06/30/17 01:36 AM

I don't know why it didn't change resolution automatically on your computer. I think the Dracula 3 game's resolution is 1024x768, and it should scale to the height of your screen. If your monitor doesn't have a setting to do this, check your video card options to see if there's anything to do with scaling.

I don't know why you'd have this issue with the GOG version if you didn't have it with the CD version -- unless GOG tweaked something to make the game more compatible. Some people like playing games in a window.

You could also check the game folder and see if there's an .ini file or .conf file or .cfg file that can be opened and read in Notepad and which states if the game is run windowed or not.
Posted By: deleterman

Re: dracula 3 the path of the dragon - 06/30/17 01:50 AM

thanks ,my screen 1440x900 is that ok.
Posted By: Marian

Re: dracula 3 the path of the dragon - 06/30/17 03:03 AM

I found a discussion about this issue on the GOG forum here.
Posted By: Draclvr

Re: dracula 3 the path of the dragon - 06/30/17 03:12 AM

That's the same forum discussion I found too. Mine plays in full screen, but it is installed from the old disks. I have the mouse lag they describe. Dracula Resurrection and The Last Sanctuary play better on my Windows 10 than this one does.
Posted By: deleterman

Re: dracula 3 the path of the dragon - 06/30/17 04:11 AM

I guess I will just play on . devilchili
Posted By: Jenny100

Re: dracula 3 the path of the dragon - 06/30/17 06:56 AM

Well someone did report a fix for the full screen in that thread:

Edit config.ini in the game's installed folder, and change: "bFullscreen=0" to "bFullscreen=1"

They still had problems with lag though.
Posted By: deleterman

Re: dracula 3 the path of the dragon - 06/30/17 06:50 PM

thanks -can't find game install folder for this game but all the others yes -odd.. duh
Posted By: Creeping_Doom

Re: dracula 3 the path of the dragon - 07/16/17 03:06 AM

After reading this thread , I got curious , & installed the game . I did make the full screen change in the config file . Everything was fine , no cursor stuttering , sound , or video issues .Myself , I use an AMD video card . I do remember that some time ago , the game behaved very oddly , especially with new Nvidia drivers . If memory serves further , Both Microids & Nvidia kept blaming each other for the issue , & said issue was never resolved . Perhaps that is the case here ?
Posted By: Draclvr

Re: dracula 3 the path of the dragon - 07/16/17 03:41 AM

As I remember, Nvidia drivers were the culprit... but I'm not sure.
Posted By: Uncle Reg

Re: dracula 3 the path of the dragon - 07/16/17 04:40 AM


It was Nvidia drivers that caused this problem. It was not Microids, however, but Kheops. This game was one of a handful of Kheops games that were affected.
Posted By: Creeping_Doom

Re: dracula 3 the path of the dragon - 07/16/17 02:46 PM

Originally Posted By: Uncle Reg

It was Nvidia drivers that caused this problem. It was not Microids, however, but Kheops. This game was one of a handful of Kheops games that were affected.



'Scuse the heck out of me then
Posted By: Jenny100

Re: dracula 3 the path of the dragon - 07/16/17 06:36 PM

Wouldn't surprise me if Nvidia messed up both Kheops' games and other games published by Microids. Nvidia drivers have broken compatibility at several points in time, with Nvidia's "latest" drivers causing problems in various games (not just adventure games). In cases where the game is an older one, Nvidia may never fix the problem and you have to go back to using older drivers. I remember in the GeForce 2/3/4 era there was a problem with game screens being way too dark in many games (not just adventure games), and the problem persisted through many of Nvidia's drivers revisions without them fixing it. I ended up replacing my Nvidia card with an ATI card to get rid of the problem, so I don't know if they ever fixed it or whether "go back to older drivers" was the only fix.
Posted By: sanford

Re: dracula 3 the path of the dragon - 08/01/17 02:41 AM

Hi everybody,
I just installed Dracula 3 (boxed dvd version) on my Win 10 pc, which has an AMD video card. As predicted, I'm getting the "flickering" on the screen all the time. I have tried all of the suggestions listed on this thread, including the Window option in config.ini. I get sound but a black screen, so now I'm back to full screen again, still with flickering. Any other suggestions that would "fix" this problem would be greatly appreciated. My wife's pc has the Vista operating system. I might try that next. Have any of you played this game on a Vista PC, and if so, did it work for you (without the flicker)? WHEW!!!!!
Sandy
Posted By: Creeping_Doom

Re: dracula 3 the path of the dragon - 08/01/17 03:02 AM

Originally Posted By: sanford
Hi everybody,
I just installed Dracula 3 (boxed dvd version) on my Win 10 pc, which has an AMD video card. As predicted, I'm getting the "flickering" on the screen all the time. I have tried all of the suggestions listed on this thread, including the Window option in config.ini. I get sound but a black screen, so now I'm back to full screen again, still with flickering. Any other suggestions that would "fix" this problem would be greatly appreciated. My wife's pc has the Vista operating system. I might try that next. Have any of you played this game on a Vista PC, and if so, did it work for you (without the flicker)? WHEW!!!!!
Sandy


I do remember in my Vista days , playing Dracula 3 with no issues . I do remember having an AMD video then . During my last run on Win 10 , I had the flickering issue in full screen (my card is an AMD RX 480 8gb) . I went back to Win 7 , no flickering at all .I did make the full screen config change .I should note however , that in my case , the flickering in Win 10 full screen mode , happened with both my boxed & GOG versions . I haven't used an Nvidia card in a long time , so I can't really say how a newer Nvidia card & drivers would perform .
Posted By: Jenny100

Re: dracula 3 the path of the dragon - 08/01/17 03:03 AM

Apparently this "flicker" problem with Windows 10 and older games isn't limited to Dracula 3. Here's a thread about Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six
https://steamcommunity.com/app/19830/discussions/0/520518053446830141/
It's possible that some of the suggestions in the 2nd post might help -- like disabling vsync (in your video card's properties) or restricting the game to use a single processor.

Also a gamer at GOG forums claimed that changing the desktop color depth from 32-bit to 16-bit helped with stutter in the Dracula games.
https://www.gog.com/forum/dracula_series/dracula_fscreen_lickering

It's possible that using a Vista computer might help, if for no other reason than that the computer is older and isn't using Windows 10 drivers.
Posted By: sanford

Re: dracula 3 the path of the dragon - 08/01/17 08:47 AM

Thanks everybody, for your valued input. I guess I'll install this game on my wife's Vista PC and give it a try. At this moment I can't remember what video card is installed in her pc, but I sure will find out tomorrow.Of course I'll be starting the game from the beginning, but i'm not too far along in this game anyway. Wish me luck! LOL. I'll give you an update by tomorrow.
Sandy
Posted By: sanford

Re: dracula 3 the path of the dragon - 08/01/17 08:37 PM

SUCCESS
The game is running perfectly on the Vista PC. NO FLICKER! I guess that WIN 10 just doesn't like this game. I just started to play it from the beginning, so thank you all for your input. HAPPY GAMING!
Sandy
Posted By: Jenny100

Re: dracula 3 the path of the dragon - 08/01/17 10:01 PM

The Dracula 3 game box does list Vista.
I don't know if the problem is with Windows 10 itself or with poor video drivers for Windows 10.

Hope you enjoy it.
Posted By: sanford

Re: dracula 3 the path of the dragon - 08/02/17 11:37 PM

Thanks Jenny,
I AM enjoying it, and I've just caught up to the part that I was up to when it was on my WIN 10 pc. I'm "forging ahead" now. LOL
Sandy
Posted By: Draclvr

Re: dracula 3 the path of the dragon - 08/03/17 02:59 AM

Good for you, Sandy!
Posted By: Iurii

Re: dracula 3 the path of the dragon - 08/06/17 08:15 AM

I now have that flickering problem on almost all Kheops games :(

I have Windows 7 x64 and nVidia card. Still, I do remember that the problem in question was indeed due to nVidia drivers - I had it before on drivers released between something like August 2015 and April 2016 (but not on older or newer drivers). However, I tried different drivers now, including those that used to work for me before, but no luck. Nothing helps - including compatibilities and drivers' tweaks. Only forcing the window mode (instead of fullscreen) works - but that is really not comfortable to play with.

All the newer titles are affected: "The Secret of Da Vinci", "Nostradamus", "Return to Mysterious Island 2", "Treasure Island", "Cleopatra", "Dracula 3" and "Safecracker".
Older games run fine: "Return to Mysterious Island", "Egypt 3", "Echo: The Lost Cavern" and "Journey to the Moon".

I have tried both switching to 16-bit color depth and the mentioned d3d8.dll fix for Windows 10 - nothing worked for me...
Posted By: Draclvr

Re: dracula 3 the path of the dragon - 08/06/17 03:24 PM

Thanks for the great information, Iruii...
Posted By: Jenny100

Re: dracula 3 the path of the dragon - 08/06/17 05:01 PM

That's interesting, Iurii. From your list, Kheops games from 2006 and later are affected by flicker while those from 2004 and 2005 are not. Did Kheops increase their games' resolution in 2006?

Are you using the original disc versions of the games? Downloads may have been "updated" in some way.

Have you checked whether the Nvidia drivers are using specific per-game settings for any of the games that work vs those that have flicker?

Sometimes installing new drivers changes default settings, and going back to the older drivers doesn't necessarily change the settings back to the original defaults.

Have you checked whether Vsync is enabled or disabled in the games that work properly vs those that have flicker?
Posted By: Marian

Re: dracula 3 the path of the dragon - 08/06/17 05:31 PM

I found this old thread on GameBoomers where this problem was being discussed. It's been plaguing gamers with NVidia cards for a good long while now.
Posted By: Iurii

Re: dracula 3 the path of the dragon - 08/06/17 06:49 PM

Jenny100, I am using the original disc versions, but I have only Russian editions of them. However the flickering certainly does not seem to be a localization problem.

Of course, I have tried all the Vsync options, as well as adding the games with different specific settings to nVidia drivers. As I said, nothing worls except the good old 'bFullScreen=0' in config.ini. But the windowed mode is very inconvenient to play. Installing older nVidia drivers used to work for me before, but not now somehow, so I stay with the latest.

In Windows XP there are no such problems, by the way.
Posted By: Jenny100

Re: dracula 3 the path of the dragon - 08/06/17 09:54 PM

Originally Posted By: Iurii
Installing older nVidia drivers used to work for me before, but not now somehow...

That's why I asked about Nvidia default settings.
I've had them change between driver versions, and they don't necessarily change back if you go back to the older drivers.

I have to wonder if it's partially Microsoft's doing -- changing the way DirectX 11 works with DirectX 9 games.
Posted By: Iurii

Re: dracula 3 the path of the dragon - 08/07/17 06:34 AM

I have tried Steam editions as well (some games have them, not all) - the problem is present there, as many users complain.
And I have tried different nVidia settings of course.
Posted By: Iurii

Re: dracula 3 the path of the dragon - 01/21/18 10:01 AM

Originally Posted By: Iurii

All the newer titles are affected: "The Secret of Da Vinci", "Nostradamus", "Return to Mysterious Island 2", "Treasure Island", "Cleopatra", "Dracula 3" and "Safecracker".

OK, I was able to fix the nVidia flickering in 'Nostradamus' and 'Return to Mysterious Island 2' smile
It seems that only some versions of these games were affected somehow, so I have added or recompiled the games' resources (from Russian disks) to the working English EXE files (from Steam versions, as the Russian Steam versions still have the flickering).

Now, the problem remains in "The Secret of Da Vinci", "Treasure Island", "Cleopatra", "Dracula 3" and "Safecracker".
Does anybody per chance have some (international?) versions of these games with no flickering?
Posted By: Marian

Re: dracula 3 the path of the dragon - 01/22/18 03:13 PM

In all of these games I experience the flickering problem, unfortunately.
Posted By: Iurii

Re: dracula 3 the path of the dragon - 01/22/18 04:28 PM

Well, I have found some kind of a solution for that flickering problem. The utility is in Russian, but you do not have to read anything if you want to try it: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ygSzipDaNpvDdkeU2jA3RZk3x-ffGcGl/view?usp=sharing

Just put the file in the same folder with the game EXE - and run it (kheopsr.exe).
The screen flickers only once on each new location - it is possible to fix it by opening nVidia control panel and adding a user's resolution of 1040x806. Then it will run almost fine, but without stretching on widescreen monitors.

Maybe somebody would like to try it. It was made for Russian versions of those games, but should work with English ones as well.
Posted By: Iurii

Re: dracula 3 the path of the dragon - 01/30/18 09:07 AM

OK, the flickering problem is finally solved!

Here is the right utility: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_bTojcH2Yj0d0G9QPqazNVzGsX9DlTIe/view?usp=sharing

Just unrar the files into the directory of any problematic Kheops game - and it could be run with the fullscreen on.
Posted By: Uncle Reg

Re: dracula 3 the path of the dragon - 01/30/18 02:57 PM


Wow!! It works. I tried it on Safecracker and the flicker is gone. I had to reinstall it, then I ran it and the flicker was there, and after extracting those 3 files to the game folder, I ran it again and the flicker was gone. This is great news. In my opinion, those Kheops games were some of the best adventure games ever made. Return To Mysterious Island 1 & 2 (the first one didn't have the flicker), Nostradamus, Secrets Of DaVinci, Destination Treasure Island were some others that come to mind.

You should announce this in a separate thread to make sure that everybody sees this. There was also threads on Big Fish that discussed this flicker problem. I think that's where the run in a window workaround first surfaced.

Great job, Iurii. thumbsup thumbsup
Posted By: Draclvr

Re: dracula 3 the path of the dragon - 01/30/18 04:18 PM

This is great news... I may have to reinstall Path of the Dragon and try it. Thank you, Iruii!
Posted By: Jenny100

Re: dracula 3 the path of the dragon - 01/30/18 04:21 PM


Thanks for testing it for us, Uncle Reg.
Good to know it works on the English version.

I wonder how it works -- what causes the flicker and how the patch gets rid of it.
Posted By: Marian

Re: dracula 3 the path of the dragon - 01/30/18 04:27 PM

Thanks from me too, Iurii. These Kheops games are some of my favorites and to have this problem fixed is wonderful! joy
Posted By: Iurii

Re: dracula 3 the path of the dragon - 02/01/18 09:02 AM

Jenny100, the last fix, in difference from the first one, has nothing to do with (especially) Russian versions of the games, - it is a universal solution!

As for how it works - as far as I know, the reason for the flicker is the incompatibility of (some) Kheops games with later (in relation to their release dates) versions of DirectX 9.0c. Kheops blamed Microsoft, and Microsoft blamed Kheops, but somehow neither had done anything about it.

And the fix is just an 'alternative' version of DirectX 9 libraries made for Wine project in order to run Windows games in other OSes like Linux or ReactOS. Luckily for us, it works even in Windows proper smile Thanks to a person from Russian forum who told me it could help!
Posted By: Uncle Reg

Re: dracula 3 the path of the dragon - 02/01/18 01:37 PM


Nostradamus and Secrets Of Da Vinci are both working perfectly with the fix applied.

Thanks again, Iurii.
Posted By: RichAlexis

Re: dracula 3 the path of the dragon - 02/09/18 04:13 PM

Wow! I would never have associated a thread on Dracula 3 with a general solution to flicker in the Kheops games. This is quite a game changer in every way (pun intended), because everything I discussed in the thread on flickering and playing issues in Cleopatra - A Queen's Destiny, is fixed now by Iurii's and this very helpful Russian individual's driver files: flicker, cinematics playback and gameplay. No more black screens! Truly a miracle!

In my case, the errors occurred in the Anuman port offered as a download by FireFlower Games.
Thanks again, Iurii - and Marian for taking me here! praise

All the best,

Rich
Posted By: Fireflower

Re: dracula 3 the path of the dragon - 02/09/18 05:03 PM

Thanks, Iurii!
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