Zork
Grand Inquisitor
Setup Walkthrough
by KM3K
Note:
While this walkthrough is made for
and tested on the DVD version of Zork Grand Inquisitor, this idea will work for
the CD version of the game. Go to the
bottom
of the page for more info about
getting the CD version to work in XP.
If you have installed Zork: Grand Inquisitor and have tried to play it only to get a black screen with the error "Please insert DVD Zork Grand Inquisitor", the following is a work around which just may work for you. It is also useful for those who don't want to keep the DVD in the DVD-ROM drive in order to play the game. The following allows you to play the entire game from your hard drive.
Note:
This method assumes that you have at least 2.88 Gig of hard
drive space available. This also should work with Windows 98 as well as
XP.
- Install the game normally.
- Using Windows Explorer go to
your Local Hard Disk "C"...."Program Files" ....
"Activision" "ZGI_DVD" (C:\Program
Files\Activision\ZGI_DVD) and it's here that we will create a folder for
the DVD. First "Right click" in this location and choose
"New Folder"...name it "DVD" (without quotes).
- Put the DVD into your DVD-ROM drive and using Windows Explorer look at the contents of the DVD. We want to copy the DVD of the game to it's proper folder that we just created. There are a number of way's to do this copy. One way is to select "Edit" at the top of Widows Explorer and click on "Select all". Go back into the folder we've created (i.e. C:\Program Files\Activision\ZGI_DVD\DVD) and with the mouse "Right Click" in the empty folder and choose "Paste". This may take some time depending on your PC specs.
- Next we have to modify two
files. These files are used by the game to "point" to all the
other files that are not installed and are played from the game DVD. We
just copied the DVD to the hard drive so we have to edit these files and
move the pointers. These files are called "Inquis.zix"
and "Inquisc.zix"
and are located in the same place that we created the new folder. (C:\Program
Files\Activision\ZGI_DVD). When you have found the files double click
on them. Both files are nearly identical, so we will use the same
procedure on each.
- Your computer will not
recognize the file extension and will ask what to open it with.
- Open them with "Notepad". We can do this because this file is all text.
- First, replace the text "g:\.." on the second line of the file with "C:\Program Files\Activision\ZGI_DVD\DVD" (without quotes).
- Next hold the Control key (Ctrl) and press H. This will bring up the Replace Window. In the "Find what:" text box enter "CD0: " (without quotes). Make sure that the space at the end is there. In the "Replace with:" box enter "DIR: .\" (without quotes). Click the "Replace All" Button".
- Repeat the last two steps with the other of the .zix files.
| The first portion of Inquis.zix should now look like this: |
007575 0 C:\Program Files\Activision\ZGI_DVD\DVD ' Zork Grand Inquisitor DVD ---------------------------- DIR: . DIR: .\cursor.zfs DIR: .\scripts.zfs DIR: .\subtitle.zfs DIR: .\death.zfs DIR: .\zgi_mx DIR: .\DVD\zgi_e\zgi_mx DIR: .\DVD\zgi_e\zgi_mx\minmax DIR: .\DVD\zassetsc\zassets1\global DIR: .\DVD\zassetsc\zassets1\portfooz DIR: .\DVD\zassetsc\zassets1\jail DIR: .\DVD\zassetsc\zassets1\monast1 DIR: .\DVD\zassetsc\zassets1\underg1 DIR: .\DVD\zassetsc\zassets1\lucyqst DIR: .\DVD\zassetsc\zassets1\griffqst DIR: .\DVD\zassetsc\zassets1\castle DIR: .\DVD\zassetsc\zassets2\global DIR: .\DVD\zassetsc\zassets2\monast2 DIR: .\DVD\zassetsc\zassets2\underg2 DIR: .\DVD\zassetsc\zassets2\dmlair DIR: .\DVD\zassetsc\zassets2\grueqst DIR: .\DVD\zassetsc\zassets2\guetech DIR: .\DVD\zassetsc\zassets2\hades DIR: .\DVD\zassetse\eng_anim DIR: .\DVD\zassetse\eng_pix DIR: .\DVD\zassetse\eng_aud DIR: .\DVD\eng_mpeg DIR: .\DVD\zassetsc ---------------------------- |
| The first portion of Inquisc.zix should now look like this: |
007575 0 C:\Program Files\Activision\ZGI_DVD\DVD ' Zork Grand Inquisitor DVD ---------------------------- DIR: . DIR: .\cursor.zfs DIR: .\scripts.zfs DIR: .\subtitle.zfs DIR: .\death.zfs DIR: .\zgi_mx DIR: .\DVD\zgi_e\zgi_mx DIR: .\DVD\zgi_e\zgi_mx\minmax DIR: .\DVD\zassetsc\zassets1\global DIR: .\DVD\zassetsc\zassets1\portfooz DIR: .\DVD\zassetsc\zassets1\jail DIR: .\DVD\zassetsc\zassets1\monast1 DIR: .\DVD\zassetsc\zassets1\underg1 DIR: .\DVD\zassetsc\zassets1\lucyqst DIR: .\DVD\zassetsc\zassets1\griffqst DIR: .\DVD\zassetsc\zassets1\castle DIR: .\DVD\zassetsc\zassets2\global DIR: .\DVD\zassetsc\zassets2\monast2 DIR: .\DVD\zassetsc\zassets2\underg2 DIR: .\DVD\zassetsc\zassets2\dmlair DIR: .\DVD\zassetsc\zassets2\grueqst DIR: .\DVD\zassetsc\zassets2\guetech DIR: .\DVD\zassetsc\zassets2\hades DIR: .\DVD\zassetse\eng_anim DIR: .\DVD\zassetse\eng_pix DIR: .\DVD\zassetse\eng_aud DIR: .\DVD\engmpegc DIR: .\DVD\zassetsc DIR: .\DVD\eng_mpeg ---------------------------- |
- If all is done correctly, then the game will run without errors and without the game DVD. The game experience is well worth the time and effort to do the above procedure.
One of our readers, Angus Oliver has submitted a script to do all the work of copying files and editing the zix file for you. This script works for the CD version only and can be downloaded here. Thanks Gus!
Back to Inferno's XP Compatibility List