Phantasmagoria Game Technical Help

Sierra’s Phantasmagoria can have some technical glitches depending on which operating system you have — PC or Macintosh. Sierra does have support for both PC versions as well as the Macintosh version. Sierra has two online technical documents and two patches for this game.

Phantasmagoria Installation Requirements

PC PROCESSOR: 486/25 DOS or 486/66 Windows (Pentium recommended)
PC RAM MEMORY: 8 MB or more (16 MB recommended)
PC CD-ROM: 2X speed (4X speed recommended)
PC HARD DISK SPACE: 5 MB for small install (10 MB compressed)
PC OS: MS-DOS 5.0 or higher
PC WINDOWS: Windows 3.1 or higher
PC VIDEO CARD: 640×480 256 colors SVGA
PC OTHER REQUIREMENTS: Mouse, Soundcard with DAC

MAC PROCESSOR: 68040 25 Mhz Processor
MAC RAM MEMORY: 8 MB with 5000 KB free
MAC CD-ROM: 2X speed (4X speed recommended)
MAC HARD DISK SPACE: 30 MB
MAC OS: System 7.1 or above
MAC DISPLAY: 13″ monitor (256 color or greyscale)
MAC MOUSE: required

or if you have a Power Mac:

MAC PROCESSOR: Power Mac 601 Processor
MAC RAM MEMORY: 16 MB RAM with 9500 kb free
MAC CD-ROM: 2X speed (4X speed recommended)
MAC HARD DISK SPACE: 30 MB
MAC OS: System 7.1 or above
MAC OS: 13″ monitor (256 color or greyscale)
MAC MOUSE: required

Phantasmagoria Installation Procedures

DOS INSTALLATION

:
Exit Windows completely. You need to be in DOS mode. Place the CD in the drive. Assuming you have sufficient space, type D: and press to switch to the CD-ROM drive. If your CD-ROM drive is another letter, use that letter instead of D. Then type INSTALL and press the ENTER key to begin installation. Follow the on-screen prompts, making sure to verify that all hardware selections are correct for your system.

WINDOWS 3.1 INSTALLATION

:
From Program Manager, select the “File” menu and then the “Run” option. At the prompt, type D:\SETUP and press OK. If your CD-ROM drive is another letter, use that letter instead of D. Follow the on-screen prompts.

WINDOWS 95/98 INSTALLATION

:
Insert the CD into your CD-ROM drive. After a few seconds, a window will automatically appear on your desktop and ask you if you would like to install Phantasmagoria. Choose “install” and follow the on-screen instructions. If the window does not appear automatically, then go to the Start button and select the “Run” option. At the prompt, type D:\SETUP and press OK. If your CD-ROM drive is another letter, use that letter instead of D. To play Phantasmagoria in Windows 95/98 after installation, insert the CD in your CD-ROM drive and follow the on-screen instructions

MACINTOSH INSTALLATION

:
Insert the first Phantasmagoria CD into your CD-ROM drive. After your Macintosh mounts the CD, double-click on it to open it up. You will see several folders in a window named PHANT CD #1. Drag the folder “Phantasmagoria” to your hard drive. (You will still need to have the CD in your CD-ROM drive.) Move to your hard drive and double-click on the “Phantasmagoria” folder. To start the game, double-click on the “Phantasmagoria 68K” icon (for 68040 systems) or “Phantasmagoria PPC” (for Power Macs).

Phantasmagoria Game Patches

Sierra has two patches for Phantasmagoria. One is for PC and the other is for Macintosh. See Sierra’s online technical document for more technical problems. It may be able to correct your problem without needing a patch.

This patch is only for the PC version of the game. It updates version 1.0 to 1.1. It fixes out of memory messages with excessively large bytes requested, the missing spell book picture in chap 7 has been added, the set-up problem with demos is corrected, and it assists with case 1 overrun and other CD read errors. Objects can no longer be picked-up during the Chapter 7 chase scene and it corrects the error 29 lock-up when using SoundBlaster 16 DSP version 4.05.

PHANTAS PATCH 1 – PH1PATCH.EXE – 807.0 KB

This patch is only for the Macintosh version of the game. It corrects some Unimplemented Trap and System 11 errors, corrects lockup which may occur when saving game at the end of a chapter.

PH1PATCH.SEA.HQX – 604.4 KB

Phantasmagoria Technical Documents

Sierra has composed two online technical troubleshooting documents for Phantasmagoria — one for Macintoshes and one for PC computers. In these documents, you can find information concerning the following problems plus installation, memory, speed, and soundcard help and other technical tips:

When starting the game, you get the error message “You need XXXXXX bytes more memory to run this application.”
The message “Out of movable memory: XXXXXX bytes requested.” occurs when playing the game.
The censor option does not work.
Choppy video playback in the game’s movie sequences.
Choppy or distorted sound in the game.
You receive a “DOS 4/GW Professional” error when starting the game, even when using a boot disk. (DOS version)
The screen is black when starting a game. (DOS version)
In Chapter 7, the Hintkeeper quits talking.
In Chapter 7, the cursor does not turn red over hot spots.
When starting the game, you get the error message “Cannot load resource 999.pal”. (DOS version)
When instructed to switch CD’s and press , you get a “DOS Error – Read Error” message. You may or may not have the opportunity to retry.
Case One Double Overrun” error message.
When starting the game, you get the error messages “Windows Title Not Found” and “Cannot Find SIERRA.ERR”. (Windows)
While playing in Windows on a Compaq computer, you get a General Protection Fault in module ES688WIN.DRV. (Windows 3.1)
“General Protection Fault in Module http://www.sierraplanet.net. ” The module name will vary. (Windows 3.1)
While playing, you receive a message saying “This program has performed an illegal operationhttp://www.sierraplanet.net.” (Windows 95/98)
The installation instructions in the Phantasmagoria booklet are for MS DOS and Windows! (MAC)
The game will not install due to insufficient hard drive space despite having 13 or more MB available. (MAC)
When trying to start the game you get a message stating, “There is not enough memory to open “Phantasmagoria” x,xxxK needed, x,xxxK available).”
The game gets an “System Error Type 1” after startup. (MAC)
: When trying to start the game you get the message “This Sierra game requires Sound Manager 3.0. (Included in you game folder. See your installation guide.)”. Please note that the error message contains a misspelling. (MAC)
“At least one game file could not be foundhttp://www.sierraplanet.net.” error message when starting the game. (MAC)
“Unimplemented Trap” error message when saving or restoring a game, switching CDs, or using System 7.5.3. (MAC)
Game locks up. Mouse cursor moves but nothing will highlight. Both the skull or eye icons on the game interface are missing. (MAC)
Colors in the game are distorted. (MAC)
“System Error Type 11” error message during game play. (Phantasmagoria PPC only)
“Application Error 33” error message during game play. (Phantasmagoria PPC only)

Click here to view the TECHNICAL DOCUMENT for Macintoshes
Click here to view the TECHNICAL DOCUMENT for PC computers.

Note that these technical documents are rather outdated, and Sierra is no longer updating them. In fact, Sierra Planet was lucky enough to save a copy of the document before Sierra deleted all of them. If your problem is not listed there or not resolved, check out Sierra’s technical support knowledge base for more updated information.

Other Contact Information

If you need more technical support, then try the Sierra Help site. More experienced players might be able to help you out relatively quickly. Because this game is so old, Sierra Entertainment (now owned by Vivendi Universal Games) no longer offers technical or customer support as stated in their list of current supported games.

Here is the Phantasmagoria help page.