Mystery Case Files: Dire Grove (2009)

I resurrected my Windows 7 PC and fired up this game for the first time in a long time, and it's still enjoyable. I don't know why BFG (or whoever owns the rights to this game) isn't doing anything to make it compatible with modern systems. This is an important title to this series, BFG, and the casual game industry as a whole. It added a much needed modern spin to the series, which had been mostly gothic in nature (and getting stale too, IMO) up to that point. In those days, whatever BFG did influenced the whole industry. So this was an influential game, and it should be treated better, such as with a new version. They made a new version for Drawn: The Painted Tower, which I didn't really need. And they made Rewind, a re-packaging of the older games, that was sort of meh to me. If any game needs to be remade properly, it's Dire Grove. I don't think I'll have any disagreement here in this fine forum!

Maybe it's too much of a challenge to remake it. A lack of funds is perhaps the cause too, since the casual game industry isn't what it used to be. The game industry as a whole, however, is suffering from remake-a-litis. Tons of old games have been remade in the last few years, from Monkey Island and Diablo, to Resident Evil and Alan Wake. Many have sold pretty well, so the trend of remakes and remasters will continue.

There are so many people who wish that Big Fish Games would get Dire Grove working on Windows 10. As it stands, the only people I know running the game on Windows 10 are running it in a virtual machine. I suspect that the cost involved in fixing this issue is not something that Big Fish wants to absorb, because they certainly would make a lot of people happy if they were to do this.

I read this post, and said "That's weird; I just played this game recently. Fired it up, and it runs just fine. Oops - What I fired up is the sequel - Dire Grove, Sacred Grove. For some reason I don't have the original. So I downloaded the trial, and alas it does not run. Compatibility doesn't help. Fooy!
If they wanted to, Steam or GOG can fix this in a moment; but they might not have the right to resell it. Too bad we the people dont have software that re-does an old game to play on a newer system.

Dire Grove is shown on Steam as "coming to Steam at a later date". Interesting. You can see that if you look at their Bundle. It may just be an old statement.

I do wish Big Fish would flag it somehow though, that it doesn't work. I know all games show what systems they're compatible with but many don't list Win 10 even though they play just fine on it, so I don't think that's enough.

According to this page, these are the casual games that don't work with Windows 10 or above:


Alice and the Magic Gardens
Amanda Rose - The Game of Time
Christmas Wonderland
Create A Mall
Deep Blue Sea 2 - The Amulet of Light
DinerTown Detective Agency
Hypnosis
Jurassic Realm Deluxe
Magic Inlay
Mystery Case Files - Dire Grove
Shadow Shelter

Thank you. I am not familiar with Zylom. Is it just their site they are talking about for the games they say won't be fixed?

I think that's just the list of games from Zylom's website that won't work with Windows 10 or have issues getting them to work. Gamehouse also has such a list. It's not likely that any of them will be fixed. Dedicated fans of particular games are usually the ones who go to the trouble of finding workarounds (if there are any).

If you can get a virtual machine running Windows 7 installed on Windows 10/11, the problem with any older casual game is generally solved. There is also the Flash Player issue, but there are these flash player substitutes that I still haven't tried that might work too.

I am pretty sure that's an old message on Steam about Dire Grove. You can see people wishing and hoping about it here.

Thanks Marian. I think Big Fish needs a list like that. I rue the day I uninstalled Flash from my Win 7.

I imagine you can still find Flash online for download somewhere, but of course you would want to make sure it was a safe site before doing so.

Gamehouse's list of games that don't work well or at all on Windows 10/11 is much longer. You can find the list here. Since some of the games listed are on Big Fish also, it is worth noting.

I had tried to put Flash back on there in 2021 when I tried to replay the Dream Chronicles games but was unable to.

I will take a look at the Gamehouse list. Thank you.

Doesn't change the fact that Big Fish should have a list since they continue to sell the games. I do not object to them selling the games as many people can still play them on older systems, but I do think they should be more clear about what games won't play on newer systems.

The cause is Windows 10, not Flash. Flash was around until December 2020, but the game was already unplayable in 2015 when Windows 10 came out. Here is a 2016 discussion on this forum where people already complained about the game being unplayable. Something inside Win10 made the game incompatible, and sadly we still don't know what it is, let alone finding a fix. We need a developer to go under the hood and find the cause and the fix. I think GrandMA Studio is the only entity in position to do this. They have access to the MCF franchise at the moment. One word from them ("Hey, we want to work on Dire Grove for our next release!") and the publisher (BFG) may comply. 8 years after Win10's release, I don't think fans can fix this game or it would've been done long ago. Only someone in position who wants to fix it will fix it.

Yes, I know that Dire Grove's refusal to play nice with Windows 10 is not a Flash issue. It is a Flash issue, however, with some other older casual games that won't work now.

I agree with you, ob, that Big Fish should also have such a list - or at least a notification on the download page when a game will have trouble with Windows 10 or higher.

Sorry GamingPhreak. We sometimes get a bit off topic in these posts. Dire Grove not working and Big Fish pushing it's sale at times (like now in their Build a Bundle sale) is what set me off I guess.

Marian, I have at least 10 games or so from that list on Gamehouse, some of which I have never played yet. I do have at least 3 of them installed already on my Windows 7 so may try to play them there just in case. One of those 3 is from Steam and 2 are from Big Fish. Not sure I can get to the Steam one before the end of the year and Steam no longer works on Windows 7. On that note though, I can verify that House of 1000 Doors - The Palm of Zoroaster (which is listed on Gamehouse as not playing), did in fact play on my Windows 10 computer - from Steam. I played it earlier this year.

And to get WAY off topic, I saw today on Steam that A Vampyre Story has been updated to play on Windows 10. I had ended up buying it from GOG so I could play it because neither my disc or Steam worked, but still good to see.