How to get King's Quest VII
to run in DOSBox
by Collector

• King's Quest VII Updates/Patches

  Note: Versions 1.4 and 1.51 can be updated to version 2. For those with the Windows only KQ7 version 1.4 upgrade to version 2 DOS (or here for version 1.51). For the new Collection install the DOSBox 0.70 Update.

Version 2.0* of King's Quest VII for Windows installs and runs well on Windows XP. It also has a DOS version of the game included. However, there is still the fire cracker bug (which is speed related) to contend with. One obvious solution is is DOSBox. Even the earlier Windows only versions can be played in DOSBox, too, now that Windows 3x can be installed in the CVS of DOSBox,

To run the DOS version in DOSBox, you can mount a C: drive and your CD drive in DOSBox and run INST.EXE in the KQ7 folder on CD. You will have to mount the CD drive everytime that you want to play the game, if you install it this way. To play the game in DOSBox without having to mount the CD eveytime that you want to play the game, you will have to install the entire game to the hard drive. The Sierra installer does not allow this option, so you will have do it manually. This is easier than it might sound.

1. Copy the KQ7 folder from CD1 to your Sierra folder on your hard drive except for these files:

   AUTOKQ7.ICO
   AUTOPLAY.EXE
   AUTORUN.INF
   BDISK.EXE
   BOOTDISK.EXE
   BOOTDISK.ICO
   CONTACT.TXT
   COPYMEGS.EXE
   COPYMEGS.PIF
   CPUID.EXE
   D2HTOOLS.DLL
   FUN.BAT
   HDDTEC.EXE
   KQ7W.ICO
   KQCHECK.BAT
   RESOURCE.WIN
   SCIDLL.DLL
   SETUP.EXE
   SETUP.SOL
   SIERRAW.EXE
   VESATEST.EXE
   WHAT.EXE

   You can copy the entire folder and then just delete these files from the folder.

2. The RESOURCE.CFG file will need to be edited. open the file in Notepad and add this to the end of it:

   resMap=.\
   resAUD=.\
   resSFX=.\
   patchDir=.\;.\AVI
   robot=.\

   and save it.

3. Now all you need to do is create a batch file to run the game. Open Notepad and copy this into it:

   sierra -o .\resource.cfg
   :end

   and save it as KQ7.BAT in the KQ7 folder.

All you need to do to play the game now is to run KQ7.BAT in DOSBox. Note: If you don't want to edit the RESOURCE.CFG file or create the batch file as described above, you can download them in a ZIP file here.

*Version 2 can be found on the King's Quest Collection Series and The Roberta Williams Anthology

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