Lighthouse: The Dark Being Help

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Lighthouse: The Dark Being Patches/Updates

Lighthouse: The Dark Being's original requirements:

MS-DOS 5.0 or Windows 3.1 or greater
486DX 66 or better
2x CD-ROM
12 MB RAM
20 MB Hard drive space
SVGA
Win Compatible Sound Card W/DAC, SoundBlaster 100% Compatible or Pro Audio
Mouse

Installation Problems
- Setup Crashes
- DOS Installer Gives Errors in XP

Audio Problems
- Poor quality or no sound

Game Specific Bugs
- Errors with the Submarine and Compass

Extras
- Lighthouse: The Dark Being Manual (PDF file) [1.67 MB]
- Lighthouse: The Dark Being Player's Handbook (PDF file) [2.61 MB]
- Lighthouse: The Dark Being UHS File (ZIP file) [386 KB]
- Lighthouse: The Dark Being Walkthrough
- Lighthouse: The Dark Being Cheat
- Lighthouse: The Dark Being Demo (ZIP file) [16.3 MB]
- Official Lighthouse Forum
- Find it on eBay
- Google

Installation Problems

Like many of the later Sierra games, Lighthouse: The Dark Being has installation problems with the installer not fuctioning with faster PCs or under Windows XP. The game will install in Windows XP without trouble if you just avoid a couple of things.

Problem - Setup Crashes:
On Windows XP, the setup crashes on launch with this error:

SETUP caused a General Protection Fault in
module <unknown>0417:2391¾[][][][]SETUP will close.

Solution:
Install with the Lighthouse: The Dark Being DOSBox Installer or the Squirt the Cat Lighthouse: The Dark Being Installer by jafa

Problem - DOS Installer Gives Errors in XP:
The DOS installer errors out.

Solution 1:
Many of the commands used in old BATCH files don't work under Windows XP. You can continue installing after the error. You can also use INST.EXE instead of INSTALL.BAT.

Solution 2 (preferred):
Install with the Lighthouse: The Dark Being DOSBox Installer

Audio Problems

Audio problems are common in the later Sierra DOS SCI games. There's no single fix for all these games. You can try the Windows version.

Problem - Poor Quality / No Sound (Win9x and XP):
The DOS Version of the game has no sound or the music is of poor quality.

Solution 1:
Play the game in DOSBox. It also will work with the MT-32 sound module, if you are fortunate to have one.

Solution 2:
Install the Windows version with the Squirt the Cat Lighthouse: The Dark Being Installer by jafa

Solution 3:
Use VDMSound. The game works well with VDMSound. The sound will be as good as your audio hardware, and as with DOSBox, it works with the MT-32 sound module.

Solution 3 (DOS/Win9x):
Install DOS drivers for your soundcard. Without DOS drivers installed you won't have sound in a DOS window in Windows 9x. If you can't find DOS drivers for your soundcard, there is an alpha (developmental) version of VDMS that you can try.

Game Specific Bugs

There are a couple of bugs that Lighthouse: The Dark Being has that are not speed dependent.

Problem - Errors with the Submarine and Compass:
Errors that can occur around the submarine or in the compass

Solution:
Apply this patch.

Installing Lighthouse in XP

Note: There are now two solutions for installing and running Lighthouse on Windows XP/Vista/7. Use the New Lighthouse: The Dark Being Installer by jafa to play the Windows version, or use the SHP Lighthouse: The Dark Being DOSBox Installer for CD-less game play in DOSBox.

Lighthouse presents problems on an XP machine, but these are easily to overcome. When you first insert the CD, the AutoRun will start and seems to lockup. It is just searching your system for a previous installation. You can safely quit the AutoRun and just open the CD to run the installer.

If you try to install the Windows version (SETUP.EXE) you will get the error message:

SETUP caused a General Protection Fault in
module <unknown>0417:2391¾[][][]SETUP wil close.

Even if you manage to install the Windows version, you will get the following error when you run the game:

Error 142:
I:Sys\Interps\Light\Restype.cpp(124)
Script# 0 ($fe00c784+)

It is best to install the DOS version, instead. If you use INSTALL.BAT to install the DOS version, you will get this error:

Invalid parameter - co80

and then continue with the install. INST.EXE will install with out error.

Running Lighthouse in XP

Running Lighthouse is easy. You can run it with VDMS, but you will encounter a few speed bugs with the puzzles. You can try using a slowdown utility, but, a much more reliable solution is to run the game in DOSBox.

Also be sure to apply the Lighthouse 2.0a (litept2a) patch.

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