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Theme Hospital

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Introduction

There is now no support for Theme Hospital due to Bullfrog Productions LTD being merged into Electronic Arts. This is especially a problem as the game was originally released for MS-DOS but does not work well on DOSBOX as it is Windows 3.1x based. However, EA signed a deal with Good Old Games in 2011 to revive classic Bullfrog games[1], so Theme Hospital may be included within this.

Issues and Fixes

Getting the game to run at all on modern machines is difficult due to the age of the game. However, there are several steps you can follow that may get it working. It is suggested to check if the game works after each paragraphs as different users will have different settings.

The first is to transfer the HOSP folder from your CD copy onto your storage device, making sure to save the files close to the root of the drive (the entire directory location needing to be under 8 characters, e.g. C:/ThemeH). You will also need to edit the configuration file to allow saves to work (see "Save Game Data" below).

Now change your EXE compatibly settings (which may depend on what OS you are using). Right click HOSPITAL.EXE and click properties. going over to Compatibility and choose Windows 95. Then, under Settings check Run in 256 colours, Run in 640 x 480 screen resolution as well as Run this program as an administrator. Fiddle around with these options for the one that suits you if you know what you are doing.

There is also a patched version available, which you can download here. Copy and paste it over to your HOSP folder (replacing any existing files, remembering to edit the configuration file again if you replace that too). If this now gives you mouse lag, see the "Patches" section below.

If none of those steps work for you, then you will have to use Corsix-TH (see "Corsix-TH" below).

Patches

Mouse Lag Patch - This sets the CPU affinity to 3 instead of 1, though you may need to fiddle with this number. Save this file where your HOSP folder is and run it instead of Hospital.exe.

Save Game Data

Edit HOSPITAL.CFG after where it says INSTALL PATH= to your installation directory, making sure to put a trailing backslash (\) at the end of the directory name. This tells the game where to save the save files.

Corsix-TH

Corsix-TH is an open source clone of Theme Hospital, however, it can be seen as a (slightly buggy and unfinished) patch to get Theme Hospital to work on the latest machines. Simply download the latest archive files here and then extract them into the directory where you have the game saved. Then download the installer from the same place and run that. Whenever you get any options for directory placement make sure that you insert the exact directory of where you installed the game files. Remember, once you have this installed you don't run the HOSPITAL.EXE, instead you run one of the three Corsix files, where you can choose to run the game with DirectX, OpenGL or SDL.

While the version linked above is the most stable, it is only updated every three months. To get the latest fixes you need to install the development snapshots which won't be as stable but will have more bug fixes. Windows users can download it here and those on other OSs download it here. To install, simply extract all the files into your HOSP folder. You will automatically get the latest development versions via SVN (make sure you have a SVN client installed like Tortoise SVN).

When using Corsix-TH it is advisable to install it over a "clean" (ie. not patched) version.

References