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Police Quest Collection: The 4 Most Wanted Help

The game's original requirements:

MS-DOS 5.0 or Windows 3.0 or greater
486/33 or better
2x CD-ROM
8 MB RAM (MS-DOS games require only 4 MB)
15 MB Hard drive space
SVGA 256 colors
Soundcard with digital-analog converter (DAC)
Mouse

 

Installation Problems

Like many of the later Sierra games, Police Quest Collection: The Four Most Wanted has installation problems with the installer not fuctioning with faster PCs or under Windows XP. Two of the more common are below.

Problem - Autoplay Lockup:
After inserting the CD the Autoplay launches and then hangs.

Solution:
Hold the shift key after inserting the CD to to temporarily disable the Autorun. You can also press Ctrl+Alt+Del to bring up the Task Manager to close the locked up program.

Problem - "integer divide by 0" Error:
When installing the games the installer crashes with the error of "integer divide by 0"

Solution:
This is a speed bug of the installer's system test. Skip this system test. You will still be able to install the games.

Problem - Can't Install the DOS Version of PQ4:
The collection's installer can't install the DOS version of PQ4 under XP.

Solution:
You have to install the game manually, then setup the hardware from the hard drive.

Audio Problems

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

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

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

Solution 2:
Use VDMSound. The game work 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:
Play the game with FreeSCI, a third party Interpreter for Sierra's early SCI games.

Solution 4 (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.

Problem - Unable to initialize your audio hardware:
On starting the game you get the message:

Unable to initialize your audio hardware

Solution 1 (preferred):
Play the game in DOSBox. By playing your game in DOSBox, you can avoid this and other timer problems. Even the Windows version can be played in DOSBox if you install Windows 3x in it, first.

Back when computers came with a "Turbo" switch (a sort of speed switch,) Sierra's workaround was to turn off the Turbo switch to start the game, after which you could turn the Turbo back on. If you have your cycles in DOSBox set too high, you may still encounter this problem. You can mimic the turbo switch solution by lowering your cycles (Ctl+F11) before starting your game. You may raise the cycles back up after the game starts (Ctl+F12).

Solution 2:
Patch the old audio driver with GOSiERRA or SBSIERRA.

Solution 3:
Use an updated driver,AUDBLAST.DRV (sb16drv.exe).

Solution 4:
Try installing the Windows version.

Speed problems

As with many of the Sierra VGA games, some of the games in the Police Quest Collection: The Four Most Wanted have some speed bugs. These bugs can also be avoided by playing the game in DOSBox. Even the Windows version can be played in DOSBox if you install Windows 3x in it, first. If you can't or don't want to use DOSBox, you can try using a Slowdown Utility. See the Individual Games' Help Pages for help with these.

Police Quest Collection: The Four Most Wanted & XP

The Police Quest games are best played in DOSBox. This will provide the environment that hte games were written for and will overcome any speed bugs. All but Police Quest 4 are DOS only games. PQ4 comes with both Windows and DOS interpreters. You will want to install the DOS version of PQ4 to play it in DOSBox.

First install the games and apply the patches. Next setup the games in DOSBox.

Installation

Many later Sierra games have Installation problems. After inserting the CD the Autoplay launches and then hangs. Hold the shift key after inserting the CD to to temporarily disable the Autorun. You can also press Ctrl+Alt+Del to bring up the Task Manager to close the locked up Autorun program. Open the CD in Windows Explorer to manually install the game with SETUP.EXE. This is the Windows installer. Only Police Quest 4 comes with a Windows version.

When installing the games the installer creashes with the error of "integer divide by 0". This is a speed bug of the installer's system test. Skip this system test. You will still be able to install the games.

  1. Allow the installer to install both PQ1 original and PQ1SCI (remake), PQ2 and 3. Skip PQ4 as the installer will only install the Windows version.
     
  2. Choose General MIDI muisic and Soundblaster for sound effects for PQ1SCI.
     
  3. Choose "SoundBlaster or compatible (includes AdLib)" for PQ2.
     
  4. Select SoundBlaster for PQ3.

    Installing PQ4 DOS

    The DOS installer does not work in XP, so PQ4 will have to be manually installed.

    1. Copy the PQ4 folder (except the VESA and ENGLISH folders) from the CD to the SIERRA\PQCOL folder on your hard drive.

      BOOTDISK.EXE, EXISTS.COM, EXPFILE.EXE, GODIR.COM, INSTALL.INI, MAKING.ICO, POPDIR.COM, PQ4.INF, PQ4CHK.BAT, PROGLIB.DLL, PUSHDIR.COM, README.BAT, README.WIN, RESOURCE.WIN, SCIDLL.DLL, SETUP.EXE, SIERRA.BMP, SIERRA.INI, SIERRAW.EXE, WHAT.EXE and WINDOS.EXE can all be safely deleted.
       
    2. Unzip this archive (with the two missing files for the original installer) into the PQ4 folder.
       
    3. Run INSTALL.EXE to choose General MIDI for music.

Apply All the Relevent Patches

The Collection has the official Sierra patches, but you will want to apply the NewRisingSun fan made patches, which can also be found on this page. or on NewRisingSun's page.

Using DOSBox

See the DOSBox Quick Guide for help with setting up the games to run in DOSBox.

 

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