Discworld Noir - Intro HQ - 1999 (GT Interactive, Perfect, Teeny Weeny) DgVoodoo + Reshade
3The third entry in the Perfect Entertainment developed game series based on the Discworld universe and works of author Terry Pratchett.
But first... the setup.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Without the fixed executable linked below the game crashes for me on loading options or after the intro cutscene,
This game could be considered difficult to get running correctly, but as someone who runs older games fairly regularly, I already had a leg up. Hopefully I'll remember everything I have running and that will help. First off, I have something called Otvdm installed, which basically detects 16-bit Windows executables and automatically emulates them to work on 64-bit modern systems. That is located here: http://www.columbia.edu/~em36/otvdm.html.
Secondly, DGVoodoo is an excellent utility for running older directx and opengl games on modern systems with some resolution and aliasing controls. You can find it here: http://dege.freeweb.hu/dgVoodoo2/dgVoodoo2/
However, as is the case sometimes, it doesn't always have full control. Discworld Noir is one such title, where it doesn't help with resolution and aspect ratio. It does, however, allow for running Reshade which can help with some other things.
While I could install the game with Otvdm, I could only run the opening videos before it crashed. Using the patched executable found here fixed that: https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=64638. However, as mentioned in the thread, this makes the mouse wonky and does not preserve aspect ratio (I fixed aspect ratio in Davinci, rendering to 1440x1080). So be prepared to deal with those to issues.
The third issue was the incredibly dark image. I deployed reshade to tweak this to my liking. Filters/post-processing are not for everyone, but I like to use them fairly liberally. I tweaked some detail, color saturation, and bloom to get a slightly brighter image but still noir contrasty. You can find some good 2d/CRT shaders here https://mugenguild.com/forum/topics/reshade-scanline-lcdcrt-vhs-2d-scale-xbrz-and-ect-188262.0.html along with some xbrz shaders I found elsewhere to tweak the image. I debated using scanlines here as I did the first two games, however the slightly larger resolution and the use of polys instead of sprites dissuaded me here.
Anyway, the game info - Discworld Noir departs from the main character featured in the first two games of the series, instead centering on protagonist detective Lewton and his adventures in Ankh-Morpork.
Wiki Info: Discworld Noir is a 1999 adventure game developed by Perfect Entertainment and published by GT Interactive. The game is set in Terry Pratchett's satirical Discworld universe, and follows its first and only private investigator as he is given a case leading him into the deadly and occult underbelly of the Discworld's largest city.
The game plays on film noir genre tropes, parodying noir classics such as Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon. Originally released for Microsoft Windows, it was later released for PlayStation by Teeny Weeny Games, the resurrected form of the already insolvent Perfect Entertainment. Pratchett consulted on the story and provided some of the dialogue, being credited for causing "far too much interference."
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