A bit of a strange request. But is there any bug fixes or patches for the Quest for Glory V Sneak Peek Demo/Soundtrack?

It's a bit of an oddity since it has the only accessible access to the QFG5 multiplayer options that cut from the final game. There are some other interesting bits to look through as far as comparing it to final version of the game. Different jokes and descriptions on the screens too.

On windows 7, it opens ok I suppose, but there are some color glitches sometimes, and certain screens lock up.

For fun I've added it as a requested bonus item for the QFG pack.
http://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/quest_for_glory_v_sneak_peek_soundtrackdemo

I voted for it the other day. I don't conisder it very likely, but it is called a wishlist.

Well it would also be nice if they included the included QFG5 soundtrack that came with it as well.

On a related note when I went through the sound files in QFG5, I discovered a bunch of unused lines for Magnus, and Elsa, and also by Erasmus that seem to be reference in to the Multiplayer co-op mode. It would be kinda cool if someone could hack a multiplayer mode back into the game, and access those! Between the demo and those voice overs it might offer a general idea what co-op would have been like. It seems to me it would have been a shorter more linear game, without most of the submissions, but just the major events of the Rites of Rulership..

I don't think the multiplayer mode was ever fully programmed. For all intents and purposes, this would make it impossible to implement the multiplayer mode at this point.

First of all, you'd need access to the source code to implement multiplayer mode. QFG5 is old enough that it's entirely possible that the source code has been accidentally destroyed (this is actually a huge issue with games from the 90's and earlier) and even if it still exists the legal issues with getting it would be a nightmare.

Even presuming you get the legal side worked out and acquire the source code, you'd need to get it to compile. That may be exceedingly difficult; even a slight change in the programming environment can break source code. It could take months of work to get it to compile properly, even without making modifications. Then you have to actually start changing the code to support the multiplayer mode. This would require a massive amount of programming, testing, and iteration. Even then you may need to make design changes to get it to work smoothly and actually be fun to play.

All things considered, it would be considerably easier just to create a remake from scratch and include a multiplayer mode there. So, I feel very comfortable in saying that this will never happen.

The music CD also had the demo? It would be nice to have the music and at CD quality.

Ya, the demo and music cd were all part of the same product.

From what I remember the Coles saying at the time, the multiplayer code was in the game, but inactive. However, it was JUST the multiplayer code - you could wander around the city and fight each other (like the demo), but there was no story scripting implemented for it, so you wouldn't be able to play the game beyond that.

Fascinating...

It would be interesting if someone was able to reverse engineer, and find that code and reactive it.

Beyond that the only other material related to multiplayer I the game files, but with no scripting, appears to be some comments from various story owners speaking to Magnus, and Elsa.

There is a couple of lines from Fenrus and Erasmus that makes it sound like they teleport Elsa, Hero, and Magnus from Rite to Rite, but with just breaks in between to be able to buy equipment, and a few items. In other words it looks like the multiplayer game probably wouldn't have been a full fledged full-length game in the same way of the single player, but rather a kind of shorter reader's digest abridged version of the game's story (and in alternative fashion Magnus wouldn't die early on).

Who knows if it was something you could play for fun, with other people, perhaps semi-diablo like in that you had to play through the objectives over and over again (new game +?) to get enough exp/skill to move on to later objectives?

Or maybe it gave you preconfigured characters that would be good enough for the objectives?

If the sound files are any indication, it seems that probably all three would be in competition, possibly going for highest 'score', and then whoever did the best would win the multiplayer game?

I don't think you realize just how much work you're talking about there. Let me put this in a dollars figure perspective (as in, how much you would expect to pay if you hired software engineers to do this for you). If you don't have the source code, you're looking at well over a million dollars in development costs. Even if you do have the source code, you're still looking at over a hundred thousand dollars in development costs.

Bottom line: any sane person would just do a remake instead.

I didn't say anything about 'building' a complete new game, or even 'finishing the game'. Just unlock or access the unused material whatever it is (just for experimenting purposes).

There are actually some fans already 'hacking' the game adding features like new models, improved sprites and stuff.

Other mods people are working on is trying to decrypt the files to pull out the game script (I'm guessing this is very difficult work in itself).

I think there are also some mods out there to access and unlock playable Elsa, and Magnus features (tied to the MP side of the game) including some of the unique shop conversations tied to those characters, apparently. Also hack in and unlock some of the unused spells and abilities (such as the bow). With talk of trying to add in bow animations too (yes, that could be very difficult).

I seriously doubt they 'spent millions' to access those features.

BTW, I don't know where you can find it anymore, but the add-in hack to access Elsa, and Magnum modes is called;

"Heroes Add-On".

It's interesting because some of the stores in the game will acknowledge that you are a different character. Thus suggesting that there is some 'scripting' for the multiplayer in place in the game, but not all.

I seriously doubt that any of the projects you described are modifying the executable code. Much more likely is that they're using conventional modding techniques: modifying the data files and assets that are utilized by the executable. The bottom line, however, is that they're constrained by the limitations of the source code. Anything that would require substantial source code modification is effectively impossible (hence my "million dollar" comment). New assets are completely different from code modification. Depends on what kinds of files we're talking about and what kind of encoding is used. Much easier than modifying the executable code, that much is certain.

Yes, there were bits and pieces of content for the other two characters, but not the full suite of stuff necessary to make it fully playable in multiplayer (again, from what I remember the Coles saying then). The multiplayer aspect fell victim to time and budget constraints and the situation with Sierra at the time, so it was never finished, and unlocking just the "walk around town and fight each other" bit wasn't seen as worthwhile.

I was scanning through old internet databases... It appears that at one time there were several fan groups working on creating a multiplayer mod for QFG5. The websites no longer exists. Based on one interview I was reading, apparently one of them got as far as releasing a patch. However, there was still a lot of work, and it only worked partially, and maybe not on all systems, compatibility issues. No idea how they even patched it (is there a leftover debug mode with partial multiplayer features)?

There is a small handful of people mentioning their attempts at trying out the mod, with varying results.

Would have been interesting to know what they had actually discovered, and what they did to 'unlock' whatever multiplayer features they did.

But Garran is right, there is very little actual 'MP' related content in the files. Apparently it doesn't go much farther than the town. I'm guessing a player could possibly leave the town, and mess around on the island, but it wouldn't actually do anything special.

Apparently another thing that got cut was Wizard's Whirl. I think it gets mentioned in the game, and Fenrus will attempt to challenge you to it, but no way to access it.

I am huge fan of Quest for Glory, so if anyone could PM me and send a copy of the QG5 Sneak Peek Demo, I would really appreciate it. Thanks.