How can I fix jerky graphics in Commander Keen 4-6?

Falco · Post by **Falco** » Sat Apr 09, 2005 9:13 pm

Everything works perfectly except that the graphics are very jerky, and it's bad enough to make the game unplayable. DOSBox doesn't help (it screws up the graphics big time), and I have no idea what to do...please help!

Dosser · Post by **Dosser** » Sat Apr 09, 2005 9:26 pm

I also have jerky graphics (and no music), but DOSbox fixes both problems for me.

All I can think of is fiddling with your DOSbox settings. I'm no DOSbox master, so I don't know exactly what to do, but I'm sure a master will come along soon

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Apr 09, 2005 11:04 pm

Ah, okay, well at least there's hope. I haven't/don't know how to tweak DOSBox, so I usually just run from XP with VDMS, which works most of the time, except for cases like this...

Frenkel · Post by **Frenkel** » Sun Apr 10, 2005 9:27 am

Have you tried the 2 options that fix the jerky graphics inside the game?

Falco · Post by **Falco** » Sun Apr 10, 2005 5:55 pm

Yes, I have, and the in-game options are for "jerky motion" which probably means if the characters themselves are moving erratically. But it's the graphics that are messing up, not the movements of the characters.

Post by **dosraider** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 2:04 pm

These are the settings that works fine on my pc,keen runs smootly with them:
Frameskip=0
<ctrl>+<F7>to reduce
<ctrl>+<F8> to raise
Cpucycles=8.000
<ctrl>+<F11> to reduce
<ctrl>+<F12> to raise
don't raise the cpucycles to high on a slower pc,can cause a systemcrash.

To give you an idea:
AMD Athlon 64 3500 (2.2 ghz) ,if i raise cpucycles above 12.000 the game is much to fast, below cpucyles 4.000 it becomes jerky and not well responding to input.
If i raise the frameskip it becomes 'jumpy'.
good luck.

Falco · Post by **Falco** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 2:37 pm

Does this fix the graphics or the gameplay? Because the gameplay is fine and not jerky at all, but the graphics are messed up.

Post by **dosraider** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 2:50 pm

If the graphics are jerky you can try different settings on "frameskip",
You will have to find out for yourself,trial and error.
It's always possible you never will get nice graphics,but then you should'n have nice graphics in other dosgames.Then you have a compablity problem with your screen,sometimes newish ttf screens just can't handle 640X480 or less fullscreen.
So the question is:how behave other dosgames on your system?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 9:06 pm

All games except Keen 4-7 work perfectly............

Post by **dosraider** » Wed Apr 13, 2005 4:28 am

......................Shit.
I have a friend with also that problem,his vidcard is a matrox mill2,i wonder if yours...???

Falco · Post by **Falco** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 9:14 pm

Ah, no, my card is ATI Radeon 9200 =)

DOSBox makes the graphics look discolored in addition to being jerky, and changing frameskip and cpucycles didn't help =(

dr_st · Post by **dr_st** » Fri Apr 15, 2005 4:30 am

I seem to recall graphical glitches with all Keen games and all ATI cards, even when playing in DOS 6 on something like ATI Mach64.

Falco · Post by **Falco** » Sun Apr 24, 2005 12:41 am

Are you sure? That's the hugest downer I've heard in a long time........nothing can help now, I guess.

Falco · Post by **Falco** » Fri May 20, 2005 11:50 pm

Tried compatibility settings, didn't work.

Frenkel · Post by **Frenkel** » Sat May 21, 2005 11:29 am

Keen works just fine with my stupid ATI Mach 64 card, if I use the no-jerky option.

Falco · Post by **Falco** » Sun May 29, 2005 10:56 pm

Well, I have an ATI Radeon 9200, and it doesn't work =)