Please follow this process to get a patched, uncracked game up and running:
Download the main program zip from Abandonia& install it
Do NOT run the crack file, just delete it
Obtain the 1.013 patch zip & apply it (if you cannot find it, message me, I’ll email you it)
Download the manual from Abandoniatoo (essential, unplayable without it)
The manual is needed because without it you cannot get past the word-lookup type copy protection built into the game. The supplied crack only solves for you the copy protection presented when starting the game and there are additional copy protection events within the game.
The patch is needed because the main executable file provided from Abandonia and to the best of my knowledge everywhere else has already been ‘cracked’ so even if you don’t run the crack supplied this results in a trigger for an additional copy protection measure that will cripple your game after about 6 hours of playing. You get to play for about 6 hours and then all your party members are renamed as “Pirate” I think, plus some other stuff.
You’ll find similar instructions to these in the dedicated thread for Disciples of Steel over at Abandonia posted by a Svend Karlson. That is me. If this doesn’t work, and it really should because I’ve followed these instructions twice myself to get an uncracked game running, please let me try to help further.
I have run Disciples of Steel via D-Fend under Windows XP on a 32 bit OS and also under Windows 7 on a 64 bit OS, so affirmative.
I remember that getting the sound to work can be a bit fiddly and don’t remember how to solve that, but I know there is a solution. I’m not far off re-installing now myself, so if you run into further problems let me know.
So, for proof positive, I have version 1.013 (the patched version) up and running on a new installation of D-Fend Reloaded on a Windows 7 64 bit system.
Mouse, sound and music all working. I’ve gone in game and created a save, exited and loaded again.
If anyone has problems, I can be provoked into describing in detail what I did. Having got this 16 bit game working on a 64 bit system via D-Fend Reloaded, I’m wondering if I can get Chaos Overlords and Missionforce: Cyberstorm working too. Off to the geek-mobile!
Okay I have DosBox installed, D-Fend installed and all the files I need. Next question; in “applying the patch” I assume this has to be done through DosBox as well but can it also be done via D-Fend? I just want this to be as easy as possible. I hate doing anything through command line stuff.
Edit: NM…I did not see your latest post until after I posted this.
Edit again: I cannot figure this out. Where exactly do these files have to be and where do they have to be installed to(via the patch)? I am just getting nothing but errors here.
Okay, here is my entire process. I’m not sure which bits are critical and which are not, so recommend replicating everything except the USB stick. Note that I didn’t install DosBox. This ain’t necessary since D-Fend Reloaded v1.21 comes with.
Install D-Fend Reloaded v1.21. Select user-defined installation and portable installation and pick your destination drive. To keep it simple I choose the root drive of a USB Stick, so drive H, and called the installation folder DFend
The portable installation bit is important, because it creates defaults for folders which may be critical for the next steps.
Start D-Fend Reloaded.
Drag and drop the Disciples of Steel.zip (the main game zip) into D-Fend Reloaded. Rename the folder it suggests to DSteel then accept all the default settings.
Unzip the archive containing the patch (steel113.zip) into the newly created DSteel folder
Edit the created profile and choose START.BAT as the Program file and INSTALL.EXE as the Setup file then run the Setup and ignore the error message about Checksum if you get it. Patch should install and leave you with a patch message.
Edit the created profile again and this time select DCONFIG.EXE as the Setup file, again ignore the Checksum message. Run Setup again to setup your music, sound and mouse.
Run Program
I didn’t actually get the Checksum errors the first time I installed. I repeated this process in order to replicate what I’d done the first time for the purpose of writing out these 7 steps and got the Checksum errors then, likely because there was some profile somewhere I hadn’t cleared.
If this still doesn’t work, we could do a Skype desktop share to get it fixed for you.
Yeah. I want my Helherron thread back, damnit! >:)
BTW back then within few weeks of starting this thread last year I’ve comlpeted about half of the Helherron game before getting distracted with some RL stuff, which has put the game on a hold where it has stayed since then, alas… ;(
Okay I think I am done with this experiment. Following your instructions exactly but things did not work out the same for me and putting this much work into trying to get this game to run when I could just play Helherron or something…no. Thanks for the help though Lyrkugos. I would never have been able to divine the information in your first few steps above without your instructions.
I have too many GOG games on backlog right now anyway.
Okay this looks like the best place to put this. The game dev posted the below over on the Octopus Overlords forum today. I’ve waited a long time for this.
Helherron 2.10 is now available for download at helherron.co.nf!
This is not just a little patch and goodbye, I’m planning to keep working on this game. Need to upgrade that 800x600 resolution for starters.
Previously he had posted this there as well:
Do not worry. I can pretty much guarantee that an update comes out this year. I’ve recently invested so much time on fixing and refactoring the old Helherron source code that I can’t see myself failing to release it. Check helherron.co.nf.
Prepare for tougher than ever opponents. I haven’t increased their stats but the AI is on a different level than it used to (for instance, there’s finally a proper pathfinder…).
Other than getting bugs fixed and improving the AI, my longer terms plan is to improve the game balance and add new features. I’m working as a professional game programmer these days so my time for hobby programming is limited, but I’ll do my best…
So am I, but didn’t he promise updates in the past that never came? Seem to remember someone from OO was working on a graphic update with him as well. (I could be completely mis-remembering this.)
Yes. He promised source code but never did it. And the span between updates previously had been lengthening. That said, there are a few reasons for optimism here. IMO I will list them, numbered but in no order, for your (the editorial your but also you, LeeAbe) At the end, I will include a useful protip for anyone looking to get ahead!
He just released 2.10. It includes some significant changes. AI overhaul, a massive UI quality of life improvement (albeit one that’s not likely to matter to a lot of people; it’s the “character dies and now all their stuff drops into a single item that’s a container” change is awesome. Most people jus t reload on death, sure. But sometimes you won’t want to and this is a godsend). There is now a x64 version of the game (mind you that in and of itself is not a complicated undertaking). There was also some balancing and plenty of new goodies (consumables and item affixes; not new areas. Yet). And some new graphics which look pretty sharp IMO…
2.10 appears to come on the heels of signfiicant time spent in the source code. This is the “refactoring commentary”. It could be bullshit of course, but it seems likely to me given that we’ve seen a significant update. Working in legacy code can be the stuff of nightmares. I would wager that this contributed to his drifting away from the game (although by no means would I say it was the only reason; I simply don’t have the information to know either way). The undertaking to “modernize” can be daunting but there’s a certain satisfaction in it.
He’s got a video of the game running on a Mac, and wants to port to iPad. Them’s “big plans”. To say nothing of more content to come down the road.
Caution is certainly reasonable. And there’s no guarantee that he won’t drift off again. Or maybe this is like when Redigit came back to Terraria, and it turned into it’s own little mini empire (1.4 in the works currently!). We shall see! But I think there are significant positive signs here. Even getting a higher resolution version would be amazing. But he wants to add mouse support.
I rolled up a new party yesterday for the new 64 bit version (which took forever, btw) and noted on the OO forums that it seems like the upper stat values have been increased. The dev responded thusly:
Initial attributes are now normally distributed, which means there are no strict upper and lower limits. So in theory you could have strength 100 at the beginning of the game, but that’s super unlikely.
Now, that’s pretty cool that you might get one outrageously godly outlier stat in your roll (and I saw one or two of those) but the trick is pairing that one stat with other decent stats. I spent a lot of time and was able to get one good roll that did that but I stupidly rerolled and never saw anything that good again. While it’s nice you can theoretically roll a monster character now, it does make it more tempting to keep trying to do that, which may not be so good for my power gamer mental health.
In any case, I am in the goblin caves now and have not had any stability issues. I fought a battle with bunch of spiders and grid bugs aplenty with no crashing or other problems. It seems rock steady so far. I’m hopeful that now I can at last finish a run through of this game.
[quote=“Coldsteel, post:96, topic:63700”]
I rolled up a new party yesterday for the new 64 bit version (which took forever, btw) and noted on the OO forums that it seems like the upper stat values have been increased. The dev responded thusly:[/quote]
Yeah I’ve seen some 31 and 32 Con scores for Golem Barbs which I don’t recall as possible. It frightens me how much time I might spend rolling just to see what I can get.
Glad to hear your optimism peacedog, and that he sounds committed to updating it. I will without doubt a jump back into once he has rolled out some updates. Will probably have to buy it again, but I have no issues doing that.
