Help with the King's Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder computer game

Updated: 03/06/2020 by Computer Hope

If you are getting the "out of heap space" error during gameplay

  1. For Windows 3.1, run Windows in Standard mode by typing: WIN/S at the command line.
  2. In the game's Control Panel, raise the SPEED to maximum and lower the DETAIL to minimum.
  3. Make a Windows 3.1 boot disk. Add the following: "STACKS=9,256."
  4. Make sure that the Windows version of the game is the only application active. Disable all screen savers and close all other applications.
  5. Turn off any different shells for Windows (e.g., Norton Desktop, PC Tools, Kid's Desk, etc).
  6. Try playing under DOS instead of in Windows.
  7. Run the MS-DOS chkdsk to check for lost allocation units or other errors on your hard drive (if you have MS-DOS 6.2 or higher, use the ScanDisk program). If MS-DOS reports error(s) found, correct the allocation table problems.

    First, backup any irreplaceable data from the affected hard drive. To correct lost allocation units or other errors on the hard drive, use the chkdsk /f command or any other disk diagnostics utility, such as PC Tools, Norton Utilities, or ScanDisk. Consult your MS-DOS or disk utility manual for more information.

    Once corrected, delete any files associated with the game from your hard drive, verify you have plenty of free hard drive space, and reinstall the game. Make sure to back up your saved games. If you are using any disk compression, such as DoubleSpace, you need twice as much free hard drive space as the game normally uses.