I just tried to download this game on Big Fish and I couldn't find it in my search. Did they remove the game from their catalog? I loved playing this game in the past and would like to play it again. I see that you can buy it on GOG, but I already paid for the game.

I don't think it's available at Big Fish but even if they removed it, you should be able to install it if you bought it there for PC. Maybe it is listed under a different name than how you are searching. Are you looking for it in your Game Manager? That is my understanding about this type of situation anyway. Maybe Marian can help you out better.

Thanks for answering so quickly oldbroad but I did try to look it up under different titles. I don't want to buy it again even if it's only 99 cents. Its the principle of the thing.

Hey Fil, I have this game from Big Fish and it is in my Purchase History in the Game Manager (I just looked) under Sherlock Holmes and the Hound of the Baskervilles Collector's Edition. Did you have the Collector's Edition or the standard edition?

And yes, it was removed from the catalog years ago, along with many other Frogware titles.

I had the collector's edition. I know because it was the first collector's edition I ever purchased. I'll have to look in my purchase history, I just did a general search before. Thanks

I just checked my purchase history and found the game but when I tried to download I got an error message saying that this game was not availabe.

This must be the standard version, then. I have no trouble downloading the Collector's Edition.

All you can do is write to Big Fish and ask them why the game is not available; you paid for it, you should be able to play it. It should be available for download to the original purchaser even if the game has been removed from the website. I have heard a few other reports of this nature and am finding this unsettling. In the past, if you purchased the game, they always remained available for download even if the games were removed from their catalog later on. I am afraid this may not be the case anymore.

I know someone in Australia who has recently discovered approximately twenty games in her Purchase History (she has about 1000 games) that when she tries to download them, she gets the message that the game is not available.

I sure hope that is not the case! I have to ask Marian though, what difference would it make whether it is the SE or CE? It should still be available right?

I just checked again. The game is in my Purchase History, but when I checked Game Library it wasn't there. I think that even though I bought the game it is no longer available on Big Fish.

My friend in Australia, she has had two or three "games not available" that were the standard edition, but I had the Collector's Editions that were still accessible to me. This makes no sense at all and has been reported to one of the liaisons on the Big Fish Fans page on Facebook who can speak directly with BF tech support, but thus far we have not had any answers. I will certainly post again if we do.

By the way, I have also been writing to Big Fish about this issue but so far I have not been given any satisfying answers to my questions.

And Fil, plenty of games have been removed over the years on Big Fish, but the key difference is that in the past, the original purchasers of the game always still retained access to their games after their having been removed.

Thanks for the information Marion. I'm sorry about this because this was one of my favorite games. I'm thinking of buying it on GOG. I have over 1200 games on Big Fish and have been a member for many years and it disappoints me that they would take a game away without even an explanation.

I certainly understand " Its the principle of the thing." I feel the same way, but since you love the game so much I would just go ahead and re-purchase it from GOG.


And, thanks Marian for clarifying why you said that about the SE vs CE.

Fil, it disappoints me too, but until I hear differently about this I am afraid we are going to have to assume that this is a possibility, now and in the future.

I agree with oldbroad that you should probably just pick this one up on GOG during a good sale. 99 cents is a good deal right here.

I will have to check if I can still download and play my BF version of this game - which I have done many several over the years.

(I did notice it as available in GOG’s sale - but listed only as playable in in 10 - whereas BF offered playability in more Windows systems than just that one 🙄)

DOUBLE EDIT :


OK. I checked and my version is the CE - which downloads, installs and plays fine - via my Purchase History.

So then I went directly to Big Fish to take a peek and neither the standard or CE versions appear to be available there any more.
What a shame !! 😒

I also checked again at GOG and it's showing as playable in Windows 7 / 8 / 10. So why it only showed as Win 10 last time I looked, I have no idea

I started playing the game and it appears that it's the standard version because it doesn't seem to have a strategy guide, so I guess there isn't any bonus gameplay. Oh well, I'm enjoying it. I haven't played it in a long time.

Well, I guess it doesn't say that it is the Collector's Edition, does it? Oh, well. The price was right and it's better than nothing. Enjoy!

Thanks again for all your info Marian.

You are most welcome, Fil. It's nice to see you here.

I have the CE of this game in my Big Fish purchase history, purchased on 12/01/2012. It's listed as Sherlock Holmes and the Hound of the Baskervilles Collector's Edition, just as Marian said above. I just now downloaded and installed it without any issues. I started it up and played through the intro, and it plays perfectly. I don't think I've played it on this Win 10 computer that I got almost 4 years ago.

I also have the GOG version that came as part of a bundle that included the 5 SH adventure games that ended with The Testament Of Sherlock Holmes, that I purchased in 2016. The Hound Of The Baskervilles is still on sale now on GOG for $0.99.

You always pique my curiosity, so I checked my purchase history. I also bought the game, on 12/15/2010. It's not the CE, which for me is unusual. I normally opt for the Collector's Edition. Anyhow, it installed and plays without any problem.

But the actual reason I have butted into this thread, is another game. I have a fairly new computer, and have been restoring old games. All of the Mystery Case Files have installed, but one. Madame Fate appears to download and install, but it will not run. Locks up, and I have to Ctrl-Alt-Del to get out. I tried 'everything' such as deleting it and downloading again etc, to no avail. Windows 11, solid state drive, Very fast, and otherwise reliable.

Thanks to both of you for checking this out. It's great to hear that it was tested on the CE as well as the standard edition.

Maybe Fil's problem is not the one that I thought it was. Further investigation will be needed.

The price for Baskervilles on GOG is great, but it's not the Collector's Edition (in case this matters to anyone reading this).

Tally Ho, I am not sure about Madame Fate and Windows 11, but I do see people online saying that it works on Windows 10/11. Are you saying though, that MCF: Dire Grove is working on your Windows 11? Because if you are, you are the only one I know who has been able to run it on Windows 10 or Windows 11. We have it running in a Virtual Box on my Windows 11 computer.

One of these days I will try to install Madame Fate on my Windows 11 computer.

And the plots thicken...

This is not a new problem. I refer to one of my favorite games, Epic: Wishmaster. It was dropped from the BFG catalog years ago, but it still shows up in my purchase history, and thus, should be downloadable. It isn't. Correct that! When I had my HD crash several months ago I upgraded my PC to a Windows 11 machine, and reloaded several games from my collection. E:W was one of them. It downloaded, but was unplayable on my new machine. (Not a real surprise, since the same thing happened when I upgraded to a Windows 10 machine.) Interesting enough I tried to download two early ERS games, Haunted Legends - Queen of Hearts and Dark Tales - The Black Cat. The first game showed in my purchase history, but wouldn't download. The second, from the same era, downloaded and played perfectly. Go figure!

Not being able to download a game from my Purchase History, even one that has been removed from the website, is a new problem for me. In the past, I was always able to do so. Whether a very old game will still work on a newer OS is a different issue.

I have the Haunted Legends: Queen of Spades CE version as well as the Dark Tales: The Black Cat CE version and they both download just fine for me.

The specific game message I am talking about, where the game is in your Purchase History and you try to download it and it won't let you, is error code 760 game not available.

I didn't but the CE version of either game. But that doesn't explain why I could download one and not the other. Btw, I did not receive a coded error message for the QofS download. It just wouldn't let me do it. Since I un-subscribed from BFG, I'm not sure customer service would be willing to help.