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[Tito]

I just realised something, the manual that has been updated for that game has a curious phrase in its first page, saying that it was scanned and compiled for The Underdogs. I realise that this game's manual is quite important, given its complexity, but I don't feel its fair to provide a manual from another site as if it is kind of Abandonia's property.

[Japo]

Dunno, I guess that if someone wanted to make the manual appear as Abandonia's he would have edited the PDF to erase the mention to HOTU. Someone scanned and uploaded it there, then someone downloaded it from there and uploaded it here, and the mention remains to remember that we all have it thanks to HOTU. On the other hand the property belongs neither to HOTU nor Abandonia, but to Microprose --or whoever has its assets now.

My two cents though, I don't know about formalities in the world of Abandonware. But I bet that it's not the first time it happens and that Miss HOTU doesn't mind --at least as long as the mention isn't erased.

To all the users who had the problems with the game freezing on dosbox 0.7 when starting a battle.

I've tried downloading different versions of the game (from here, from HOTU, etc) and they all had the same problem.

I've managed to make it work though.

Find this line in your DOSBox.conf file

xms=true

and set it to

xms=false

It has worked for me.

[fryet]

Here is a summary of tricks that I have found (here and other locations) to get the program to work best on my PC running Windows XP:

1. 4 picture files are in the main directory instead of the PICS directory. Copy all files named *.PIC in the main directory to PICS directory. This will resolve a bug where you perform a certain action and you get an error causing the game to end saying that it can't find the picture file. (This is a really bad error, because after you clear the knockers out of a mine - which takes several hours - you get this error and have to go back to the last time you saved the game).
2. I only need to run DOSBOX to run this program successfully with sound. Here are a couple of general things that I needed to do:
a. at command line type MOUNT C C:\DARKLANDS (that is where I stored the game files)
b. To navigate to the C drive I then typed C: and pressed enter
c. To setup sound, I did the following once:
i. type INSTALL (and then press enter)
ii. Choose Configire/Reconfigure Hardware options
iii. Choose SoundBlaster Pro (later)
iv. Choose Address 220, IRQ 7 , DRQ1
d. to launch the game type DARKLAND
3. Here are some DOSBOX configuration changes that I made. For my machine, it defaulted to 3000 cycles which was a bit slow. I have had better performance with 6000 cycles. You can decrease/increase the number of cycles by pressing ctrl F11/F12 to see what is best for your machine. Once you have found what you like, you can then hard-code that number into the config file:
fullresolution=1024x768 (enter your screen ratio here - I found that default was truncating parts of the screen)
output=overlay
cycles=6000
xms=false
4. Pressing ctrl-alt-enter will toggle between full screen and windowed mode for the game.
5. Be sure to download the manual and map for this game as well. The manual has some information that you will be asked to provide occasionally in order to play the game.

I cant seem to swallow potions no matter what I do they dont work... I played Darklands on my old 486 when it originally came out and remember beating it then... However I think I did it without consuming essence'o grace and other healing p.. Help anyone?

[Japo]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Hans85 @ Jul 6 2007, 09:05 PM) [snapback]298214[/snapback]</div>

I cant seem to swallow potions no matter what I do they dont work... I played Darklands on my old 486 when it originally came out and remember beating it then... However I think I did it without consuming essence'o grace and other healing p.. Help anyone?[/b]

It's in the manual, press the P key while the potion is selected at the inventory.

[Nyxator]

What a lot of times I yearned, reading reviews on magazines about this game, because I didn't have a suitable computer to play it!! And now, at last... sweet satisfaction! (thank you so much, Abandonia guys, you've opened wide for us a gorgeous gaming world long gone)
Darklands, just to put it bluntly, is a massive RPG experience, in my opinion. Historically rich, deeply involving, perfectly balanced... and extremely enjoyable to be played! As a seasoned rpg player (on the computer and off it) I haven't noticed difficulty imbalances... on the contrary, I find it realistic but not harsh, deaths-wise. So, absolutely no need to pump up your stats via cheating, mates! Making money and progressing through your XV Century life won't prove too hard, believe me. I'm pretty sure that almost everyone who played Darklands to a good extent... will agree!
Sure, sure... just like every clever retrogamer knows, the Darklands novice shouldn't expect impressive graphics and similar "fireworks"... but let's scratch that surface... a game of great fun and longevity lies beneath.

P.S. and for the Little Daydreaming Corner: ever thought about what a "brushed up" and graphically modern version of Darklands could turn out to be??

[fryet]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(fryet @ Jun 25 2007, 02:48 PM) [snapback]296292[/snapback]</div>

Here is a summary of tricks that I have found (here and other locations) to get the program to work best on my PC running Windows XP:

1. 4 picture files are in the main directory instead of the PICS directory. Copy all files named *.PIC in the main directory to PICS directory. This will resolve a bug where you perform a certain action and you get an error causing the game to end saying that it can't find the picture file. (This is a really bad error, because after you clear the knockers out of a mine - which takes several hours - you get this error and have to go back to the last time you saved the game).
2. I only need to run DOSBOX to run this program successfully with sound. Here are a couple of general things that I needed to do:
a. at command line type MOUNT C C:\DARKLANDS (that is where I stored the game files)
b. To navigate to the C drive I then typed C: and pressed enter
c. To setup sound, I did the following once:
i. type INSTALL (and then press enter)
ii. Choose Configire/Reconfigure Hardware options
iii. Choose SoundBlaster Pro (later)
iv. Choose Address 220, IRQ 7 , DRQ1
d. to launch the game type DARKLAND
3. Here are some DOSBOX configuration changes that I made. For my machine, it defaulted to 3000 cycles which was a bit slow. I have had better performance with 6000 cycles. You can decrease/increase the number of cycles by pressing ctrl F11/F12 to see what is best for your machine. Once you have found what you like, you can then hard-code that number into the config file:
fullresolution=1024x768 (enter your screen ratio here - I found that default was truncating parts of the screen)
output=overlay
cycles=6000
xms=false
4. Pressing ctrl-alt-enter will toggle between full screen and windowed mode for the game.
5. Be sure to download the manual and map for this game as well. The manual has some information that you will be asked to provide occasionally in order to play the game.
[/b]

I received the following note from an admin at abandonia, so copying files as described above should not be necessary.

Hi!

Thanks for the heads up! I've updated the archive so hopefully it
should be
fine now

Cheers,
Kosta

[mercenary]

And when I complaind about missing .pic files almost two years ago, noone listened.

Thanks for the pics info. I had the 4 pic in the main directory! Anyway, this is the greatest RPG, how could the score be 4 - it should be a 6! And as for 3.3 for the user score, well, anything great get's knocked down by idiots, we all know that! This is the only game I would take, if told I could only have one PC game to play for the next year. So quite simply I know therefore that this is my favourite game of all time!

I will repeat here for those that also don't read previous messages that I have uploaded the cluebook to www.replacementdocs.com for those that need help or want to get even deeper into the Darklands interesting mythos!!!!

As a P.S. I will also say that in this game if you don't take on the missions quickly enough the world can change. Let's say you take on a quest to kill a dragon in a certain area, and separately you take on another quest that entails travelling to a town within that same area. Well, if you take your time killing the dragon, it will burn down more villages, and so the greater chance that on visiting that village you will not be able to do that quest as all you will find is a smoking ruin! Now how cool is that - that;s what I call a 'living world' that so few, if any games can muster today! And oh, by the way, come back to that area in 20 years and there may be a new village standing where you can get a new quest!