I’ve spent some time trying to document solutions to the issues with JP3 on Windows 11 in the hope of making it easy for GOG to one day update the game to work out of the box. The problems are fixable, but the fixes aren’t exactly convenient.

As has been discussed extensively on this forum, there are two separate issues:

Issue #1: The included version of ddraw.dll is incompatible with Windows 11. The game fails to start, giving the error message “DirectDraw could not initialize. Program will now terminate.”

Fix: Replace the included ddraw.dll with an open-source alternative. There are several out there, but the one that worked best for me is DdrawCompat. I’m unable to post links for some reason, but a simple Google search should lead you to the project’s github site. Incidentally, DDrawCompat also fixed the minor graphical glitches in the game's menus and dialog boxes.

Note: After you’ve replaced ddraw.dll, JP3 will start asking you for the game disc. To fix that, you’ll need to mount the game’s “data” folder as a virtual CD/DVD drive. Numerous solutions exist for that; for example, you could create an ISO of the data folder then mount the ISO.

Issue #2: The included version of QuickTime is broken on Windows 11. Audio tracks play at normal speed, but the video runs much faster than it’s supposed to.

Fix(?): In the game folder, delete or rename the file quicktime.qts, then install a standalone version of QuickTime. The latest version is 7.7.9, which solved the video issues for me. However, Apple dropped support for QuickTime for Windows in 2016, and it hasn’t been updated since. The standalone QuickTime Player reportedly has numerous security vulnerabilities that put your system at risk. Obviously, this is not a recommended solution for most users.

Does anyone know of a fix that doesn’t require a standalone QuickTime installation? Maybe editing the quicktime.qts file, or somehow creating a new quicktime.qts file based on version 7.7.9? I’m not familiar enough with QuickTime to attempt it, but I have to assume that’s where the “real” fix will be.

Sounds like a lot of ridiculous tinkering that we have to do.

thanks for the suggestions, but indeed this is a crazy amount of work (and risk?). I am also getting graphics issues. Ironically, the only title in the series that works well with W11 is the first...

Sadly I think we're going to have to wait until this thing gets SCUMMVM compatibility to run right, and considering they still don't have the original first game up and running yet, that might take a while...

@lelletto
@gibbeynator

I have a post around here that says how to get JP3 working on Win11 just fine. Played it to the end.

https://www.gog.com/forum/journeyman_project_series/jp3_and_jp2_not_working_in_new_windows_11_build/post5

You don't have to jump through hoops like the above two things from dblspace (that stuff is not needed to have the game play well). That person is trying for "out of the box", not typical users here. It GOG or the devs may do something like that idk. It was actually very easy in the end to get working well. Nothing is actually needed but the game itself and some settings changes. The details are in the link.

Thanks EchoVolume I will give it a try