Blatant Plug: DVD case AdventureSoft titles-Idigicon webshop

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samwise
Posts: 62
Joined: Sat Jan 12, 2008 5:47 pm

Blatant Plug: DVD case AdventureSoft titles-Idigicon webshop

Post by samwise »

Hi,

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: this is a blatant plug, but I'm not affiliated with said company in anyway, except as a customer.

I've just had a really good customer experience after ordering a title from Idigicon.com, so I thought I'd share the experience as they're not listed on the Where to buy games ScummVM wiki page.

Idigicon are the guys who were officially licensed to re-release the XP-compatible versions of the Simon the Sorcerer and Feeble Files titles in DVD cases, instead of AdventureSoft's usual big boxes.

I've been ummming and ahhing about whether to buy something from AdventureSoft's online shop because they don't respond to emails (all but one of the listed addresses bounce) and, as far as I can tell, their webshop sends my personal details unencrypted and then seems to break completely when it comes to submitting my credit card details from my Linux 64-bit browser.

(off-topic: has anyone successfully ordered anything from them recently?)

Anyway, I found Idigicon brilliantly responsive and, when I had a bit of a moan about an imperfection of the case when it arrived, they sorted it out really quickly. In fact I ended up with more than one copy, so I'll be donating the spares to a local charity.

Sadly, they don't seem to sell the best-value Simon double-pack online anymore (which actually included the Puzzle Pack and Pinball titles as well) but the individual titles are all still pretty cheap.

I'd definitely recommend them if you haven't got the classic Simon games yet (and if you haven't, why on earth not???) and, in fact, I tend to prefer the Idigicon DVD cases as the AdventureSoft big boxes take up way too much room, even though they only hold the same CD!

I'm now looking forward to seeing whether fellow-Red Dwarf star Robert Llewellyn is as funny in The Feeble Files as Chris Barrie was in Simon The Sorcerer: The Original Adventure!

Sam.
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chas-g
Posts: 34
Joined: Wed Nov 23, 2005 1:05 pm
Location: UK

Post by chas-g »

Hello Samwise
I take it that you've tried running the Idigicon versions of Simon 1 & 2 on an Win XP comp?

Because I looked up Simon 1 & 2 on idigicon.com website & both mention (in their minimum requirements section of the ads) -
Later versions of Windows are supported after downloading the patch from the downloads section.


So I made an enquiry with them & filled out their on line form. I wrote the following. -

Dear Sir,
I read an item on a website (scummvm.org)about 2 of the games that you sell - Simon the sorcerer 1 & 2. The person mentioned that you sell XP compatible versions of those games.

I looked at these games on your website & both say -
Later versions of Windows are supported after downloading the patch from the downloads section.

Well I already own these games & therefore looked for the download section so that I would be able to run them on my newer computer which uses Windows XP. But I can't find the patch download anywhere on your website.

I rang your company this morning & the lady that I spoke to said to contact you, & that you may be able to provide me with a link to the above mentioned patches.

This was their answer -

Hi Charles,

Thanks for your e-mail. Ok, I've just had a quick search myself and have never heard of this XP patch for Simon The Sorcerer, but I will continue to look.

If you have bought this game from us within the past couple of years the game should automatically be XP compatible as we simply updated the game on the CD.

From your description I am guessing you maybe bought this off us ages ago when the game first got released.

If not, did you try compatibility mode?

To run in compatibility mode find the exe or link to the product.

- Right click and then select 'properties'
- Then click the 'compatibility' tab
- Tick the box []"Run this program in compatibility mode for"

See what happens when you next try, you can come back to this menu and fiddle with the other settings and see if this gets it working.

Kind regards,
Neil Atkinson
Idigicon Ltd

Well I hadn't bought the games from them & I'm extremely confident that both games won't run on XP. In fact if my memory serves me correctly I had a job running them on Win 98 SE. I think that I had to turn hardware acceleration off before they would play.

People reading this might think why bother when ScummVM does it all for you. The reason is that it gives me another choice. Which doesn't detract from the fact that ScummVM is totally brilliant. :D
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eriktorbjorn
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Joined: Mon Oct 31, 2005 7:39 am

Post by eriktorbjorn »

The downloads section on AdventureSoft's web page has something they claim to be patches for fixing "compatibility problems with Windows Me, 2000 and XP" in Simon the Sorcerer 1 and 2. I have no way of testing whether or not they work, though.
Kirben
Posts: 421
Joined: Wed Sep 21, 2005 12:15 pm
Location: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Post by Kirben »

I purchased a few games from Adventure Soft's online shops last year, and I would be surprised if the online shop still wasn't working. The online shop is the only way to still get the original boxed versions of their various games.

The email addresses on Adventure Soft's web site have been down a long time.


The Windows XP patches for Simon the Sorcerer 1 & 2 are available in the Downloads section of Adventure Soft's web site. But the games still have various issues, even with those patches.
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samwise
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Joined: Sat Jan 12, 2008 5:47 pm

Post by samwise »

chas-g wrote:Hello Samwise
I take it that you've tried running the Idigicon versions of Simon 1 & 2 on an Win XP comp?
Actually, no - I run Linux so ScummVM is perfect for playing them back.
chas-g wrote:Well I hadn't bought the games from them & I'm extremely confident that both games won't run on XP. In fact if my memory serves me correctly I had a job running them on Win 98 SE. I think that I had to turn hardware acceleration off before they would play.
Yes, there's your problem. The CDs in DVD cases that Idigicon sell have been updated to be XP-compatible. You didn't get your version from them tho, so you need to go back to [url=htpp://www.adventuresoft.com/]AdventureSoft[/url], who made and distributed your older Windows 95/98 version, for support. As eriktorbjorn and Kirben said, they have a downloads section with patches for both games which add Windows ME/2000/XP compatibility.

However, as I noted, you won't be able to get any official support via email from them as their published addresses bounce back anything sent to them.
Kirben wrote:I purchased a few games from Adventure Soft's online shops last year, and I would be surprised if the online shop still wasn't working. The online shop is the only way to still get the original boxed versions of their various games.
Hmm ... I suspect it's because they're relying on Java, and my 64-bit linux distro doesn't support that out of the box yet. However, they definitely send the contact details on the screen before unencrypted, which I'm not too happy about.

Haven't decided yet whether to risk it or not ... oh, I wish they'd respond to emails. I could easily send them a cheque via snail mail!

Sam.
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