Gilbert and the chemystical island

Key points

Does not work on modern Windows, see this fix

General information

Gilbert page on Snille’s website (Archived)

Levande Böcker’s info page (Archived)

Gilbert in Swedish, Levande Böcker (Archived)

Gilbert in Norwegian, Levande Bøker (Archived)

Gilbert in Danish, Levende Bøger (Archived)

Gilbert in Finnish, Elävät Kirjat (Archived)

Chemistry Promotion Ltd (sw: Kemifrämjandet) vision of the Gilbert franchise (Archived)

Step by step solution provided by Levande Böcker (Archived)

Swedish FAQ on game provided by Levande Böcker (Archived)

Finnish FAQ on game provided by Levande Böcker (archived)

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		Game does not require physical CD to run.

This game is not available digitally

Video

Graphics feature	State	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Borderless fullscreen windowed		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS
120+ FPS
High dynamic range display (HDR)

Input

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support

Controller types

Audio

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Music, Sound effects
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
Swedish				Original Language. Published initially by Snille Publishing AB, and later re-published by buyer Levande Böcker*. The game intro of the former has a male voice, while the intro of the latter has a female voice.
English				Published by Levande Böcker*
Norwegian				Published by subsidiary Levende Bøker*
Danish				Published by subsidiary Levende Bøger*
Finnish				Published by subsidiary Elävät Kirjat*

* Translates to "Living Books" in each respective language.

Identify version

The Swedish, English and Norwegian localization was released first^[1], followed by the Finnish^[2] and lastly the Danish localization. Each localization has been released in different versions, which may provide helpful to know about while troubleshooting.

Language	Case	Publisher	Size on CD	Standard installation	Vignette on start	Vignette on quit	Gilbert.exe creation date on CD	Other
Swedish	CD-case	Snille Läroäventyr	564 MB	113 MB	Snille Läroäventyr, Kemifrämjandet	.pir	December 04, 1998, 2:27:40 PM	Published in a large big box
Swedish	CD-case	Levande Böcker	578 MB	119 MB	Levande böcker, Kemifrämjandet	.pir	April 25, 1999, 10:47:52 PM	Published in a small big box
Swedish	DVD-case	Levande Böcker	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
English	CD-case	Levande Böcker	555 MB	114 MB	Levande Böcker, Kemifrämjandet	.pir	April 25, 1999, 10:47:52 PM	Has no instruction booklet inside the case
Norwegian	DVD-case	Pan Vision	562 MB	115 MB	Snille Läroäventyr, Kemifrämjandet, .pir	None	November 26, 1998, 3:39:02 PM	Has Rustbeskyttelsesmaling, Konsertrød leppestift and Såpe in inventory from start.
Norwegian	CD-case	Levende Bøker	564 MB	115 MB	Levende bøker, Kemifrämjandet	.pir	April 25, 1999, 10:47:52 PM
Norwegian	unknown	Levende Bøker	564 MB	115 MB	Levende bøker, Kemifrämjandet	.pir	April 25, 1999, 10:47:52 PM
Danish	CD-sleeve	Levende Bøger	545 MB	114 MB	Levende bøger, Kemifrämjandet	.pir	April 25, 1999, 10:47:52 PM	Branded with McDonald's as part of Happy Meal
Danish	CD-case	Levende Bøger	545 MB	114 MB	Levende bøker, Kemifrämjandet	.pir	April 25, 1999, 10:47:52 PM
Finnish	CD-case	Elävät Kirjat	551 MB	113 MB	Elävät Kirjat, Kemifrämjandet	.pir	April 25, 1999, 10:47:52 PM

Issues fixed

Game doesn't work on Windows 10

Use a DirectDraw Wrapper
Download this file Unzip `ddraw.dll` into <path-to-game>

Setup.EXE doesn't run on Windows 7 Ultimate (64-bit) (Service Pack 1)

Chose one of three workarounds

The last two options apply to the Norwegian version marked by Unknown above. All three apply to the English version.

On the CD, go to GILBERT/Program and run gSetup.exe. (An error will show after installation, but proceed to the game from the Start menu and it will play as intended.)
Install in Windows XP Mode
On the CD, go to GILBERT/Program and run Gilbert.exe. Unfortunately you can't save the game (Lagre spill) this way as you are playing straight from the CD without installing. Playing the game takes at least 1.5 hours. When you quit (Avslutt) an error will appear stating Failed to set data for 'FirstTime'.

Can't save gameplay in-game

Rename all gilbert.ini-files that are not located in root

May only apply to the Finnish version, as this troubleshoot is based on the Finnish FAQ.

Locate all files named gilbert.ini in <path-to-game>
Rename the gilbert.ini files which are not in the root of <path-to-game>. E.g. zilbert.ini
It should be possible to save in game now.
Start game via Start Menu, and not via the Autorun window that pops up when game is inserted.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	95, 98
Processor (CPU)	Pentium 133 MHz
System memory (RAM)	16 MB RAM	32 MB recommended
Hard disk drive (HDD)	114 MB
Video card (GPU)	2 MB of VRAM DirectX 6.0 compatible	4 MB of VRAM
Sound (audio device)	Sound Blaster

References

↑ [1]
↑ [2]

[1] [1]

[2] [2]

[1]

[2]

Developers

	Pir New World Media AB
Publishers
	Snille Publishing AB
	Levande Böcker
Release dates
Windows	1998