2018-10-06 22:44:20

Hi everyone,
So I just perchased the upgraded shades of doom. I'd bought the old version years ago on an old computer, so now I just upgraded and redownloaded it. I tried to change the speech to screen reader to acquire faster speech, but it gave me an error. Now, I cannot use screen reader or built-in speech, only sapi, and it pops up the error about"can't initialize screen reader/sapi speech." When I hit ok it just gives sapi no mater what I do.
Any thoughts?

2018-10-06 23:57:09

You'll need to put the game in a folder where UAC is not a factor. For example D:\Games\GMAGames\Shades of Doom should be fine.

Standing by the window, eyes upon the moon,
Hoping that the memory will leave her spirit soon.

2018-10-07 01:31:27

I tried moving it to the path you said, except that mine is C:, I tried moving it to documents, I tried other folders in the D: directory, and I turned UAC off on my laptop. still getting the error. I wouldn't even mind the error, except that sapi speaks in a slow droaning voice that seems to pause for three seconds between when it says words and numbers. IE, "Door in... ... ... 4 ... ... ... feet." By then I've most likely died to the hole in the floor it was trying to tell me about lol. Any other suggestions? Thanks for previous post, keep them coming anyone with ideas.

2018-10-07 03:08:04

Although I don't have an answer for you because I've never played Shades of Doom, I do have an observation regarding GMA Games.

I have decided not to buy any of their games or programs because they haven't been updated in a long time, and when I ran into problems while trying VIPMud, they didn't seem to care or be willing to consider the idea that it has some problems that need fixing.

What you got is all you get, warts and all.

2018-10-07 06:52:40

*shrugs. I like SOD, and it's the only audio game I know of with that exploring halls and passages and solving a puzzle but yet with the monsters and danger too that also has good sound quality. I would love sarah and the castle of witchcraft for that same vibe, but I haven't redownloaded it since I bought it a year ago and I couldn't play it past the first floor for it crashing so much. When you have a gaming preference you can't be choosey lol. But anywho, Gma hasn't given me any grief besides this issue, and i haven't contacted them by email yet, though I might if this post comes up dry, I'm waiting till monday.

2018-10-07 18:51:04

You might need to manually register either ScreenReaderAPI.dll or UniversalSpeech.dll using the command:
regsvr32 <path-to-the-dll-file> for example:
regsvr32 "C:\Games\GMA Games\Shades of Doom\ScreenReaderAPI.dll"

Standing by the window, eyes upon the moon,
Hoping that the memory will leave her spirit soon.

2018-10-08 13:05:25

BlakeT,
As I developed the Sarah game I want to help you to get it and SOD to work.
When you wrote that you moved SOD to another place I hope you meant you uninstalled it and re-installed it in the new location.
I installed SOD 2 in,
c:\users\phil\games
Did you try running SOD with the default sound file version before trying to switch to the screen reader setting?
What screen reader are you using?
I think there was problems with NVAD.
I noticed some traffic on the GMA email list about this but haven't read all the responses yet.
If there is a solution I will copy it from that list and post it here.

2018-10-09 03:19:07

Hi,

@post 6, I will try this. I haven't had a chance yet so I will do so after posting.

@post 7, I am using NVDA. Yes, I did use the built-in speech before trying to switch, but now I bitterly regret trying to switch because now, not even built-in works, and I can't speed up sapi, and no matter how much I uninstall and reinstall in other places, the problem stays. Which is odd because it somehow remembers that I had tried it on the screen reader setting when I thought, when reinstalling it, it would return to defaults. But yeah I uninstalled and reinstalled into that folder. I'm wondering if there's a file somewhere that I need to go in and delete and let the game remake or something like a settings file. idk. I hate messing around in the guts of a game I paid for, because if I mess it up beyond my understanding of how to fix... well...

2018-10-09 12:55:16

BlakeT,
Try, Control-F12 - to Delete the game registration from the registry.
Then install the game again.

2018-10-10 00:12:46

Ok. Clarification: Do you mean CtRL+f12 within the game? That didn't work. If not, where do I go to try this?

2018-10-10 04:33:48 (edited by Phil 2018-10-10 05:09:57)

I haven't tried it in a while.
I think you use it just as the game starts, or with the main menu active.
It is in the SOD 1.2 instructions to remove your registration if you plan on selling the computer to someone else.
After I posted that suggestion I realized I was in the older version but thought it would work in 2.0 also.
I looked in SOD 2.0 text file and it is the same,
If you would like to remove your registration code from your computer, press the Control-F12 key during game play. 
This is useful when you upgrade your registration, or when you are no longer going to use the game on the currently running computer.

2018-10-14 07:26:00

Hi,

I'm sorry, it's been a while since I've posted, I've been busy and haven't had a chance to work on this. I deleted my registration and uninstalled and reinstalled Shades of Doom. I tried playing in demo mode and it still gave me the error unable to initialize screen reader. If it's not the location because I've tried everywhere, and it's not the registration because I now have none, and it's not the install because this is like the fifth reinstall...

2018-10-14 07:27:18

The only likely candidate is the DLLs were or are corrupted somehow.

"On two occasions I have been asked [by members of Parliament!]: 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out ?' I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question."    — Charles Babbage.
My Github

2018-10-14 13:18:12

BlakeT,
Do you have Shades of Doom 1.2 on your system?
That has the same control f12 registration removal hot key.
Maybe you need to remove registration on both before installing SOD 2.0.
You could also try another game from David like Time of Conflict or Lone Wolf to find out if they work in demo mode.

2018-10-14 17:36:09

Hello,
Anyone actually played SOD 2.0 ? I finished v1.2. Are there any major changes?

Best regard,
Simon

2018-10-14 18:03:35

Simon,
What's New in Shades of Doom Version 2
• Changes have been made so that sounds again represent the direction of the monster or object. After a previous version of Windows was introduced, sounds did not well reflect the actual position of the monsters and objects. The sounds seemed to center when the monster or object was close to the player character.
• Changes have been made to remove a few problems arising with the introduction of Windows 8.1,
• The user data files are now kept in the user's documents folder instead of being kept under the program files folder. This removes quite a few problems when trying to locate where Windows saved these files, especially for those running versions of Windows starting with the Vista version. This change should also eliminate problems related to privileges.
• You may now use the mouse to play Shades of Doom.
• Most of the sounds have been improved.
• The EVA has a new voice.
• You can select EVA's voice choosing between the default built-in voice, your screen readers' voice, or MS-SAPI.
• Cheat codes are included at no charge.
• There was a major reworking of the engine.
• Many small bugs have been fixed.

2018-10-15 18:31:41

Hi,

No, I don't have 1.2, this is a new computer. I don't even think they give the download for the old version anymore do they? I will try lone wolf and time of conflict. Downloaded them to try anyways but I never tried them. I tried pacman talks, and it worked but Idk if it has the same thing with multiple voice options. Even SOD didn't mess up until I tried changing the voices.