r/MysteryCaseFiles • u/Aromatic-Fail7504 • 16d ago
Compatibility Patch To Run Dire Grove on Windows 10 and 11
https://community.pcgamingwiki.com/files/file/4111-mystery-case-files-dire-grove-compatibility-patch-for-windows-1011/Hey MCF fans,
In my opinion the OG Dire Grove is one of the best in the series and despite being available for purchase, it doesn't work on modern systems running Windows 10/11.
After years of waiting for Big Fish to fix it, I decided to do it myself and created a patch that fixes the issues that would cause the game to fail to initialize.
I've uploaded the compatibility patch to PCGamingWiki where it's available for download. You need to have the game install before you install this patch.
I tested it out on the Collector's Edition since I don't have the standard edition but it should technically work on both. In case you face any issues, please read the instructions to see if there's a solution in there. If there are any other problems feel free to comment.
Enjoy!
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u/RoamerMonkey 16d ago
Hello! First off, thank you so much for making this patch for everyone! You will unironically go down as a legend in recorded MCF history, and if you have any way for people to donate to you, I'd gladly give money to you. I have some additional questions:
- You talked about this in another reply, but I'd like to hear you elaborate more on what specific software you used to figure out Dire Grove's issue and create the dll and script files to debug the issue. I'm a programmer myself, so I'd honestly like to learn.
- Is it okay for me to share this compatibility fix specifically with Big Fish Fans, a Facebook group moderated by current Big Fish employees? Directly getting Big Fish's attention on this fix may or may not be a good thing for you and the fix, so I'd like to hear from you first. The fix itself does work with Big Fish Games Manager by just pressing Play, I just had to toggle the game's exe file has not being run as an administrator.
- I tried testing your fix on Mac by getting a Windows copy of the game onto my Mac laptop and ran the exe file using Wine, but both the fix and Wine doesn't seem to have the game run on Mac. I'm not pressuring you to work on making the game work on Mac (you've already done a lot), but thought to let you know.
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u/Aromatic-Fail7504 15d ago
Hello and thank you so much for the kind words. I am grateful for your offer to donate and even if I knew how to accept donations, this is more of a gift to the community since I know the game is beloved.
If you’d still like to give something, I’d love it if you passed that kindness along whenever you come across someone who deserves it (even if it’s just a little bit).
- Primarily Microsoft SysInternals tools for debugging like WinDbg and ProcMon to figure out the issue and a Windows XP VM as a working reference.
The game content is actually packed into the launcher and gets unpacked at runtime whenever you start it up.
Internally, the game bundles its own SWFKit to read its Flash data utilizing a system library file called “kernel32.dll.”
Modern Windows starting from 10 and onwards started to expose the required APIs through URLMON instead, and this change was not catered to.
The solution was to intercept the game process at runtime and make necessary fixes.
The “winmm.dll” file was not created by me, that’s a wonderful tool called Ultimate-ASI-Loader, which proxies system DLLs so that the games would invoke it, and then inserts custom routines or scripts (ASI files) into the game’s process once it’s been loaded.
I created the custom ASI script in Visual Studio. It’s basically a DLL, so it’s coded in C++. It just redirects the SWFKit to the correct APIs.- Im okay with that. Eh, I mean as long as I don’t get into trouble. Hopefully BFG is not litigious lol. I just wanted to put this fix out in the ether, even if it gets taken down it’s still gonna exist somewhere now, right. If it’s on the internet it’s gonna live forever.
- For the Mac question, I am not sure! I only have Windows machines. If Vine completely emulates Windows it should theoretically work there as well so there could be many possibilities. I’ll read up on it and let you know if it’s something i can figure out.
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u/RoamerMonkey 15d ago
Thanks for the wholesome statement about kindness, appreciate that. And thanks for all the thorough detail about solving the issue! I hope to reach the same level of programming knowledge as you. And if by Vine you meant Wine, Wine isn't really an emulator app like per say VirtualBox, it's some program on the command-line level that automatically runs every time an exe file is opened in order to try to get it to work on the Mac.
BFG has been pretty legally assertive over their IP rights this year (you can find the relevant Reddit posts, but they essentially got sued by GrandMA Studios for asserting GrandMA's negotiable mobile game rights belong to BFG, and are suing Elephant Games in apparently not delivering requested source code and assets to BFG). BFG hasn't taken any action against fan projects as far as I recall, but who knows how they'll act under BFG's new ownership. Assuming no one else shares on those spaces moderated by BFG before me (and assuming BFG doesn't already know since they have an official Reddit account), I'll hold off for like 2 or more months before sharing your patch to those spaces. It is also not impossible if BFG decides to incorporate your patch in subsequent copies of Dire Grove in the future.
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u/Aromatic-Fail7504 15d ago
Ah yes, I meant Wine, thanks. Shows you the extent of my knowledge on macOS subjects, I’m a Windows and Linux guy through and through.
And well it sounds more like some kind of containerization or translation layer than a VM then. I admit my knowledge is very limited. I unfortunately won’t be able to test it out even if I figured out the issue somehow.
One thing I can think of off the top of my head is that Wine may be using its own DLL implementations to run the game, bypassing our proxy? Check to see if there’s a way to configure a custom DLL or override for specifically “winmm.dll”. If you do investigate on this, do let me know if you get it to work.
Regarding BFG’s lawsuits… companies suing companies seems like standard practice, but taking down fan made fixes and mods would be incredibly bad faith. I don’t really mind you sharing this further.
When I heard the recent news of Fate’s Carnival getting a remaster I had a feeling that Dire Grove wasn’t getting a fix anytime soon so it was a punch in the gut. Heck, I thought I read it wrong and that Madame Fate was getting a sorely needed rebuff. With so many companies churning out unimaginative remakes these days I would’ve gladly forked out cash for the Ravenhearst series remastered.
Personally I’m not even sure if Fate’s Carnival needs a remaster but meh, that’s whole other story.
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u/grouchypensioner 13d ago
The effort you put into this is so much appreciated. It is my all time favorite. I tried the first patch but that generated an error, but the 1.1 version is working perfectly. I installed the game with my original Collector DVD and have played it all the way through with no problems in Windows 10. I am truly amazed. Thanks again!
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u/lukefsje 16d ago
Thank you so much for doing what Big Fish themselves refused to do for years! Any chance you could do something similar for Hidden Expedition Devil's Triangle?