How to get the original Sierra adventures to run on ModernPCs?

[Anakin Skywalker]

Where can I get some of Sierra/Roberta's earliest titles--Mystery House, Time Zone, Adventure in Serenia, etc--and how can I get them to run on a Windows 7 PC?

[MusicallyInspired]

VirtualApple.org

[BagginsKQ]

Adventure in Serenia is a dos game... You only need to use DOSBox.

I won't tell you where to get it however, as that would be 'piracy'. That being said its not that difficult to find.

As for legal versions of most of the games you mentioned, the last time they were officially released was in the Roberta William's collection, although King's Quest Collection released around the same time also has a few of them.

The above link has many of the apple II and Apple IIGS versions though emulated... Who knows for how long, if people keep linking to it, and let activision know it exists . Kinda like how they went after Sarien.net...

[Sleeq]

DOSbox.

[tomimt]

For Apple games this should work well: http://applewin.berlios.de/ If I recall right it's the same emu that came with Roberta Williams Anthology.

For AGI, SCI etc. games dosBOX works well, but ScummVM has also added support for several AGI and SCI sierra games, so that's actually more user friendly approach at the moment.

[Chyron8472]

Depending on the game, it may also help to check the New Installers for Sierra Games page at sierrahelp.com

[MusicallyInspired]

He said the earliest titles, though.

[dagman]

I'd have a crack at 'D-Fend Reloaded'. It is a lot easier than DOSbox.

[Blackthorne519]

Mystery House
http://www.virtualapple.org/mysteryhousedisk.html

Bt

[exo]

I've heard tale of something called 'eXoDOS' that compiles every single adventure game ever made for dos into a front end menu with cross referencing databases, screenshots, and scripts to automatically launch in dosbox..... and I also hear tale that vol 1 is specifically based on adventure games... It is up to your google skills however to locate this mythical beast.

[Olaus Petrus]

Originally Posted by BagginsKQ

Adventure in Serenia is a dos game... You only need to use DOSBox.

I won't tell you where to get it however, as that would be 'piracy'. That being said its not that difficult to find.

As for legal versions of most of the games you mentioned, the last time they were officially released was in the Roberta William's collection, although King's Quest Collection released around the same time also has a few of them.

The above link has many of the apple II and Apple IIGS versions though emulated... Who knows for how long, if people keep linking to it, and let activision know it exists . Kinda like how they went after Sarien.net...

For me it's either legal version or nothing. But that said, it's bit annoying that Activision won't release the early titles as freeware or earn money by making those games available in GOG or similar place.

[Blackthorne519]

Mystery House is Public Domain. Ken and Roberta released it to the public domain as a gift on the game's 10th anniversary.

Different world, eh? Think about some games that came out 10 years ago now... would be people give them up for free?

Bt

[MusicallyInspired]

No kidding. KQ8 alone is 14 years old.

Then again, Bethesda released Arena and Daggerfall for free on their 10th anniversaries and they weren't too long before KQ8.

[BagginsKQ]

Hmm public domain, eh? Here is more information from a hidden file in the Roberta William's Anthology version (someone linked to);

http://forums.scummvm.org/viewtopic.php?t=11503

FROM A GREAT MOMENT IN HISTORY:
MYSTERY HOUSE, THE FIRST GRAPHIC ADVENTURE,
WAS CREATED IN 1980 BY SIERRA ON-LINE FOUNDERS KEN AND ROBERTA
WILLIAMS, AND RELEASED INTO THE PUBLIC DOMAIN IN 1987 TO
CELEBRATE SIERRA'S 7TH ANNIVERSARY.

WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO COPY THIS GAME, FOR YOURSELF OR TO SHARE.
IF YOU HAVE ENJOYED IT YOU MAY SEND A $5 DONATION TOKEN AND
ROBERTA'S FAVORITE CHARITY, SIERRA HISTORIC SITES ASSOCIATION,
P.O. BOX 451, OAKHURST CA 93644

NOTE: BECAUSE IT IS NOW FREE, SIERRA'S GIFT TO YOU,
WE CAN NO LONGER TAKE CALLS ON THIS GAME. IF YOU NEED HELP,
WE SUGGEST YOU CONTACT YOUR LOCAL APPLE USERS GROUP TO TALK
WITH OTHERS WHO MAY HAVE PLAYED IT."

I'm surprised they didn't do what they did some time after, by releasing Betrayal of Kronder or Johnny Castaway as short term 'freeware' from their website as special limited releases (in honor other games/productivity software that were released at the time).

Of course in 1987 there really wasn't an 'internet', to upload 'limited release' free games to... I'm not sure when Sierra's BBS was first introduced.

But then again I guess later on Sierra and Feist didn't really want to fully give up the rights to major software such as "Betrayal of Kronder". Thus Activision currently still holds rights to it, and to market it.

[Blackthorne519]

Ah, 7th anniversary. I was just going off the top of my head - I remember reading it in a Sierra mag when I was a kid. I assumed it was around 1990.

Bt