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Space Quest VI: The Spinal Frontier Help

Space Quest VI: The Spinal Frontier's original requirements:

MS-DOS 5.0 or Windows 3.1 or greater
486/25 minimum, 486/25 recommended
2x CD-ROM
8 MB RAM
5 MB Hard drive space
SVGA
SoundBlaster or 100% compatible, General MIDI or Pro Audio
Mouse

 

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, if running on 32-bit Windows.

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, Space Quest VI has some speed bugs. These bugs can also be avoided by playing the game in DOSBox. If you can't or don't want to use DOSBox, you can try using a Slowdown Utility.

Problem - DNA Scanner:
In the sickbay while sliding the card from the DNA scanner into the ComPost, the game crashes with:

Error 47: Not an Object: $0
Script 64994/$f29

Solution #1 (preferred):
Apply this patch by NewRisingSun. (You may still want to play the game in DOSBox.)

Solution #2:
Play using DOSBox.

Solution #3:
Use a Slowdown Utility.

Solution #4:
Use one of these saved games to get past the trouble spot. You must have an extraction utility like WinZIP in order to retrieve the files from the ZIP file.

Problem - Non-responsive Endodroid Runner/Elmo Pug:
Roger only says "Hey" and the Endodroid Runner and Elmo just walk away without talking back You just have to talk to them

Solution #1 (preferred):
Apply this patch by NewRisingSun. (You may still want to play the game in DOSBox.)

Solution #2:
Play using DOSBox.

Solution #3:
Use a Slowdown Utility.

Solution #4:
Use one of these saved games to get past the trouble spot. You must have an extraction utility like WinZIP in order to retrieve the files from the ZIP file.

Game Specific Bugs

There are a couple of bugs the game has that are not speed dependent.

Problem - "Could not open robot resource 410" Error:
The error message which appears on some people's systems at Stellar's Funeral is NOT a timer bug; it means that the game can't find the 410.RBT file.

Solution:
Make sure that the "robot=" line in the RESOURCE.CFG (DOS version) or RESOURCE.WIN (Windows) file points to the directory where the 410.RBT file resides (for example, E:\ROBOTS).

Problem - "WaveOutUnprepareHeader" Error:
Error messages containing the words "NTVDM.EXE and "WaveOutUnprepareHeader" that may appear at various points in the Windows version are NOT timer bugs.

Solution:
Editing the RESOURCE.WIN file, changing the value following "dacsize=" from 16384 to 8192 or to some other non-default value, may help. Otherwise, turn off "speech" (in the game's control panel) before entering the room where the problem occurs; you can turn it back on later.

Problem - Screen "Scrolls Over" Into Black:
The screen "scrolls over" into black

Solution:
Turn off "scrolling" in the game's control panel.

Problem - Missing Copyright Documentation:
Missing copy protection documentation required to complete Space Quest VI

Solution:
Download this file.

 

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