Cleopatra - A Queen's Destiny

Big Fish has this game and I want it but something is wrong/ It takes at least 10 min. to download and once it does the video is very jumpy. Just looking at it makes dizzy. The audio is perfect though. I've tried to contact Big Fish but got no response,

Games on Big Fish can have slow downloads.
It's sometimes related to the size of the game but not always.
Big Fish says the game is 1852 MB.
https://www.bigfishgames.com/games/2896/cleopatra-a-queens-destiny/?pc

If you can download a game that size in 10 minutes you're doing very well. I've had games less than half that size take over 10 minutes. Not all of Big Fish's servers are speedy.

Your video problem sounds similar to what some users mention here
http://forums.bigfishgames.com/posts/list/101746.page

Some people in that forum mention "Flash" updates. Don't bother with "Flash" updates because the game doesn't use Flash.

Also the game uses DirectX 9, not DirectX 11.
It's listed in the Big Fish specs.

Cleopatra is not a recent game -- it's over 10 years old -- and it may do better with older drivers, like some members in the Big Fish forum suggested.

If I could download an 1,852 MB game in 10 minutes, I'd dance for joy!!

Several of these older Kheops games have a problem with newer Nvidia drivers. You can find some discussion on GameBoomers about it here.

I downloaded Destination: Treasure Island from Big Fish and had the same problem. What worked for me was this (to quote one of the posts in the above link):



That got rid of the flickering and I was able to play the game, rather than having to play the game in a window (which also gets rid of the flickering).

The flickering is so bad by default that it renders these games unplayable, so I am very happy there is a workaround as I really enjoy these games.

I remember several Kheops games had this problem . Both Nvidia & Kheops blamed each other , & the issue was never resolved , other than what has already been mentioned here . Those with AMD gpu's were luckier , & seemed to not experience these issues .

It wasn't just Kheops. There were other games, not just adventure games, where you had to go back to older Nvidia drivers. If you found a stable driver, it was often better to stick with it rather than always try to use "the latest" driver.

Nvidia makes good video cards, but sometimes they seem more interested in supporting a small subset of "high end" games really well than supporting a wide variety of games in a stable fashion.

I am curious - has anybody played the so called '2010 edition' of 'Cleopatra' and several other Kheops games?

They were sold through their digital shop only (I think) between the end of 2010 and January 2012 when the company has closed its doors.
I did not buy them then as I already had all the first editions on disks - but now most of those first editions have the flickering problem! Maybe the newer versions do not have it? Besides, higher resolution is always a plus.

Strange enough, none of those games are being sold now anywhere. And nothing can help with the flickering except forcing the game to run in a window...

Hm, none of this sounds too promising ...

Picking up the subject from a thread in ADVENTURE GAMES DISCUSSIONS, I decided to go with the FireFlower download offered by user Kristian on his site. It was indicated as version 1.08 on the start-up window. As this was specified for Windows 7, and adapted or ported by Anuman, I assumed that it would be easy to install on my Windows 8.1, or else in Windows XP emulation.

While installation went perfectly, there was no way I could get it to run on Windows 8.1 without the annoying flickering screen, especially when the scarab beetle appeared, or the subtitles. I downgraded the compatibility of the exe-file to Windows 7, Vista, Windows XP or Windows ME, switched the Administrator privilege on and off, but while the flickering was clearly most annoying without any compatibility mode change, or just down to Windows 8 (without the subdivision), it didn't go away. Adjusting the rotation speed to slow inside the game, by clicking on the sphere, made no difference either.

I also changed the relevant parameters inside the 'config.ini'-file in the installation directory, which had to do with hardware acceleration and screen resolution, to zero in any combination, but to no avail. Even though I got the impression from this forum and some boards on other Kheops games that windowed mode (bFullScreen=0, as opposed to default full screen mode) would solve the problem, it didn't work out either.

bUseHardware=1 => 0/1
bUse32BitsSprites=1 => 0/1
bUse32BitsScreen=1 => 0/1
bFullScreen=1 => 0/1

I also lowered my monitor screen resolution to 1024 x 768 in order to adjust to what I think the game was designed for. No effect either.

Even worse, once I started playing the game, the introductory cutscene left me with a black screen, with the dialogues running, and even beyond the cutscene, all I could see was a black screen. Changing the compatibility settings or the config settings made no difference at all.

I also tried my VMware Player Windows XP emulation of course, but while this worked for a lot of Cryo and Kheops games, I again just got a black screen.

So, would anyone still have a solution to get this game to run properly?

Best,

Rich

Hi Rich,

If you haven't seen it by now, check out the thread here. It would appear that the flickering problem has been solved.

Wow, what a coincidence, Marian! No, 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 is fixed now by Iurii's driver files: flicker, cinematics playback and gameplay. No more black screens! Truly a miracle!

Thanks again!

Rich

You are most welcome, Rich! I certainly wanted to share the good news with you.

Let me just add that, if the driver files are applied in the way Iurii instructed, the FireFlower download (Anuman) version of the Cleopatra game can be played on Windows 8.1 without any compatibility, privilege or configuration adjustments. Just install and run - as it should be!

Best,

Rich

Terrific!

Thanks!

Hi Rich,

I was glad to help!

Yes, I should have written about the solution in this thread as well... And there are others, too.
Maybe the administrators could take that post of mine out of 'Dracula 3' topic and make it a separate topic locked above?

I've made a topic thread and "stickied" it.
How long will the link to the fix remain valid?
Do we need to find a more permanent home for it?

Thanks for the topic!


I don't think it will ever expire. It is my Goggle Drive, so it should remain there until I remove it (and that I am not intended to do, of course).

The file is only a little over 500k in size, so it is easily emailable. It should be easy to find somebody who has it, even if the link becomes invalid.