Silvery-Corgan: There's a new fix for the game available in the form of an updated ddraw.dll
You can download dgVoodoo2 from
http://dege.freeweb.hu/
You will need to extract the contents of the MS folder to Septerra Core's root folder and overwrite ddraw.dll
Also extract dgVoodooCpl.exe and play a bit with those settings and see which one works for your system.
Thank you for this, @Silvery-Corgan! Replacing the ddraw.dll file from dgvoodoo got rid of the mouse cursor stuttering / being slow / being 1hz on the Title Screen!
Now I just need to get the movies working again!
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Edit 1:
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I can confirm the movies not working seems to be a problem with the ddraw.dll.
Old ddraw.dll: movies work, but the mouse cursor is stuttery / 1hz
DGVoodoo ddraw.dll : Everything works fine, but the movies don't play.
I'll report back if I manage to fix it.
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Edit 2:
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Okay, after hours and hour of research, here's my best solution:
- I can get a smoothly running game, the movies will play sound, but show no video.
- I can switch to a different exe and watch the videos fine, but the game will stutter.
- End result: I'm going to play the game mostly using dgVoodoo for smooth gameplay and if I see that a movie starts playing, I'll quit, get up to right before the movie plays, Quick Save, and then reload the other exe.
If this sounds good to you, here's what you have to do.
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Let's Fix This Crap
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1.) Install GoG version of game.
2.) Download the db versions of the videos from the following link. This is a mirror of Silvery-Corgan's files. Drag these DB files into the install directory, overwriting the old 0KB ones. (Back up the old ones if you want to.)
Link:
https://mega.nz/file/nzZl2CLY#rl1WOOWFnqinwqnQS3OsKlpRATnXWOJ5KlqXLt4plUo 3.) Download dgVoodoo from the URL, go to MS > x86 and drag "DDraw.dll" into your install directory, overwriting the old one. (Backup the old one if you want.)
Link:
http://dege.freeweb.hu/dgVoodoo2/dgVoodoo2.html 4.) Download the Static Recompiled version of the exe and its associated libraries from the link. Drag and drop all the files into the install directory, as the "readme-Windows.txt" states.
Link:
https://github.com/M-HT/SR 5.) septerra.exe should start the smoother-running version of the game. You'll hear the movies, but won't see them.
6.) Run SR-Septerra.exe to run a mostly playable version of the game that still stutters a bit. You'll be able to see the movies at least, though.
Hope this helps someone...