I got Timeshock! running with Windows XP service pack 3 compatibility mode and all graphics settings to minimum but Fantastic Journey just doesn't work at all for me without extremely choppy game play. Any ideas?

My specs are:

Windows 8 64bit (home premium)
Intel i7-3640QM
8Gb RAM
SSD HD
Nvidia 675Mx

.. so yeah, Crysis runs on ultra detail 60fps + but this 14 year old game refuses to play nice. :)

I'm using the original Fantastic Journey Windows CD version (bought the whole set way back in the days). I've yet to try BRUSA as it's my least favorite but I suspect same troubles there. Timeshock doesn't run nicely either unless I set graphics on minimum, but when I do, it's silky smooth 60fps with absolutely no stuttering balls.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

EDIT: FINALLY A REAL SOLUTION!! See the last post of the thread.

Nope. Like I said, even at absolute minimum graphics (everything is at it's smallest possible value) it's very choppy, like 15 fps whereas Timeless with minimum details is extremely fluid.

On windows 7 I never had any issues at all with any of the games. With these machine specs I suspect it would run ridiculously good on windows 7. So the choppiness is a windows 8 issue.

You may have to go to the Start Tiles to select the graphic mode setup for this particular game. I used Open GL mode and it makes the game perform much better.

The icon should be orange.

Huh? Your post makes absolutely no sense.

I've installed Fantastic Journey from the CD.. there's no option of selection Open GL mode or anything. Are you sure you aren't talking about some extra program relate to your graphics card?

I've got an Nvidia 675mx card.

Please be a bit more specific than ".. icon should be orange". Is it an icon within Fantastic Journey the game? Something related to windows 8? What?

He might be talking about the Graphics Mode Setup programme that comes with GoG games. I don't know where you would find it in the Win8 start menu, but try using explorer to go to the game folder and run any video mode setup from there.

There's an existing thread in this forum about improving performance in FJ and BRUSA. You should at least read through that first.

OK I did not read about the CD part thats my mistake for not having enough coffee that day or what have you..
But I was referring to trouble shooting directions of the DOS version of Timeshock on here.

I wouldn't mind finding an answer for this as well. I'm running Windows 7 x64 with an nVidia GTX 650Ti (2 GB). Timeshock! and Fantastic Journey both have jerky gameplay when the ball gets near the flippers. It's just enough that it throws off my timing. I see this with both the GOG and CD versions. Big Race USA and The Web (CD) play just fine.

I haven't tried adjusting the graphics settings yet, but I was also thinking that maybe setting the affinity to a single core may help as well? I'll have to try it later as my netbook with an AMD processor/GPU doesn't have this problem with either table.

Edit: Oops, I was wrong. Timeshock! and The Web play fine. Big Race USA and Fantastic Journey had the problem. See my post below for the solution. :)

Flynn

AMAZING!!!!!!! This actually works!!

Simply disabling the "Ball Rolling" graphics display thing (it removes the tiny scratches and marks on the ball) makes the game run 100% smooth! I was able to severely update the graphics settings.. full resolution with much more colors.

Thank you sooooo much for this. Amazing!!

Good to know that helped. :)

Flynn

I must report that this does not work for me on Windows 7 professional. The game runs as choppy as before, the only difference is that after I have turned this option off, the game crashes every time I go into the options menu and then back out. One does not have to understand that.

Thanks! That fixed it for me.

Makes sense in a way since I was only experiencing choppiness during the multi-ball frenzies.

The "ball rolling display" solution worked for me as well (but I'm on AMD).

Worth noting that I used to run these games maxed out without issues back in the day, when I would have been using a 750mhz Pentium III and a TNT videocard.

It would probably be a simple case of recompiling the source code to a modern CPU set to fix it properly.