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Why no love for Warlords 3 Darklords Rising?

thesheeep

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Wouldn't using WINE do the trick? That is usually far less cumbersome than trying to setup some cracked Windows version under a VM...

If you want to stay on Windows, I'd install Ubuntu on a VM (which in contrast to doing the same with Windows is extremely easy) and run WINE from there.
 

Rossy

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At least on my PC the game runs just fine using WINE on Linux.
 

catfood

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Great game, I do hope we will see it on GoG with the rest of the series.

Its about damn time we get some more good old strategy games on GoG.

Not likely unfortunately. Game is all but ignored in their 'requests' threads (whereas Diablo and shit like that has like thousands of requests/hits) and Faulkner losing the source to the patch (which fixed many issues and added a bunch of features) means the GoG guys won't be able to get it running on modern Windows OS. Right now if you have any Windows OS after XP you can only run W3 through a very complicated and difficult VMware set up and even that is hit and miss.
No you don't. All you need to do is create a desktop shortcut and add the line /WINCURSOR -w in the Target box in the proprerites.

EDIT: ar least on Win 7. No idea if this trick works on Win 10, but who the fuck would willingly want to install Win 10 on their computer?
 

SkeleTony

Augur
Joined
Aug 17, 2006
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938
Wouldn't using WINE do the trick? That is usually far less cumbersome than trying to setup some cracked Windows version under a VM...

If you want to stay on Windows, I'd install Ubuntu on a VM (which in contrast to doing the same with Windows is extremely easy) and run WINE from there.

?
Are you saying this 1990s TBS game had a Linux port? Seriously excuse my ignorance on this.
 

SkeleTony

Augur
Joined
Aug 17, 2006
Messages
938
Great game, I do hope we will see it on GoG with the rest of the series.

Its about damn time we get some more good old strategy games on GoG.

Not likely unfortunately. Game is all but ignored in their 'requests' threads (whereas Diablo and shit like that has like thousands of requests/hits) and Faulkner losing the source to the patch (which fixed many issues and added a bunch of features) means the GoG guys won't be able to get it running on modern Windows OS. Right now if you have any Windows OS after XP you can only run W3 through a very complicated and difficult VMware set up and even that is hit and miss.
No you don't. All you need to do is create a desktop shortcut and add the line /WINCURSOR -w in the Target box in the proprerites.

EDIT: ar least on Win 7. No idea if this trick works on Win 10, but who the fuck would willingly want to install Win 10 on their computer?

This is possible. I am no expert here. I was just going by the shitload of people at sites like warlorders.com or .org or whatever and various threads detailing how to use VMware (IIRC?) to play DLR in Windows 7 and 8 as it was considered the only viable means at the time (probably 4-8 years ago?)
The -wincursor is a known fix for getting W3:DLR running in certain Windows XP set ups. My memory is bad as I have not had to do this myself since the early 2000s I think.
 

Makabb

Arcane
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I did the wincursor fix but the graphics stutter like hell, unplayable on win 7
 

thesheeep

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Wouldn't using WINE do the trick? That is usually far less cumbersome than trying to setup some cracked Windows version under a VM...

If you want to stay on Windows, I'd install Ubuntu on a VM (which in contrast to doing the same with Windows is extremely easy) and run WINE from there.

?
Are you saying this 1990s TBS game had a Linux port? Seriously excuse my ignorance on this.
No, WINE is a Windows emulator running on Linux. So you'd need to use Linux to use WINE.
It usually runs older software much better than Windows itself.
 
Joined
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Messages
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After a lot of frantic searching and tinkering, I've managed to jerry rig install Darklords Rising under Windows 10. Here are the steps to get it working on a modern x64 version of Windows, without needing a VM:

1. Acquire a copy of the game (not an easy feat to buy it these days)
2. Copy the contents of the CD to a writable media. You'll need to replace the default installer .exe (SETUP.EXE). The game shipped with a 16-bit version of InstallShield 3.x, which doesn't run on modern 64 bit OSs. Download the 32 bit generic installer from here: (https://community.pcgamingwiki.com/files/file/111-installshield-3-32-bit-generic-installer/) and replace IS_SETUP.EXE in the /SETUP folder with this new file. You should be able to install the game now.
3. Create a shortcut of Darklord.exe, with the /WINCURSOR argument at the end. This replaces the game's animated cursor with a black & white static one - the default cursor makes the game crash.

That should do it.

4. (Optional) Dxwnd's developer recently added a profile for the game. Check this thread: https://sourceforge.net/p/dxwnd/discussion/general/thread/d149fdba/


dlrxosz6.jpg


The only thing that's bugging me is that I remember the game using a special font for town names and such instead of this generic Arial shit. I haven't been able to find a solution.
 
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Self-Ejected

DakaSha V

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436
Ive played the game just fine on win7 using the wincursor argument.

edit: just to add to the pool saying its possible
 
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Jul 4, 2014
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I played WL2 recently and sampled different versions and the initial version of Warlords 2 does look much better than the latter deluxe version. Mastery in 16 colors, overwhelmed by the insane 256 colors. Wonder if it was the same artist.
 
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Replaying these games over the past couple of days hit me with a realization I don't think I've had before (I haven't played them in like 20 years): I think they're the main inspiration for Age of Wonders (especially the very first one), at least from a mechanics point of view, and not the often-cited Master of Magic (MoM elements are very sparse in AoW). The stack mechanic is almost exactly the same, map elements such as ruins work the same way and the automatic combat resolution is very similar. AoW has some great additions of course, such as the tactical combat and it's obviously a much more refined game with many more elements, but it's interesting to go back to Warlords and look at it from a different perspective.
 
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I have no idea why I'm obsessing over this game lately.

I figured out the font issue - DLR uses a font called "UNCIAL ATT". It doesn't get installed by default, but the demo for the game has it in a FONTS folder for some strange reason. The same is true for the font used in the original Warlords 3 ROH (Chancery).

Now I get to enjoy this unreadable piece of shit font inside the game, the way the developers intended!

wl3dr0tsji.jpg

wl3dr2bks2t.jpg
 

Archibald

Arcane
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Messages
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You should totally write a how to guide for this when you have nothing else to obsess about.
 

catfood

AGAIN
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Does anyone have the manual for this game? I'm especially curious what all the options for customizing the scenarios do.
 
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I've looked all over for the DLR manual but haven't been able to find one. I do have the original RoH manual, though - although that game didn't have the various random map options that came later.

The different game modes for random maps are (taken from http://warlorders.com/forum?func=view&catid=13&id=1131):


Standard: Players are randomly placed. No special rules.

Utopia: Players are all placed on the outer parts of the map. There's a special city in the middle of the map marked with a circle, which gives 10 mana and 100 gold. Whoever holds that city for 10 turns wins.

Instant Chaos: The opposite of Utopia. Everybody starts in the middle of the map, close to each other.

Clash of the Titans: Everybody starts with a level 10 hero.

Heirs to an Ancient Power: Everybody starts with a hero who has an insanely powerful artifact (like a bow that gives +5 Leadership and +8 Missiles).

North vs South: Creates two teams of 4 players. They will be allied to each other and at war with the other team. One team starts in the north, the other in the south.

Two Against the World: Creates a team of 2 players vs a team of 6 players. The 2 players start in the middle of the map.

Hammer and Anvil: Again creates a team of 2 players vs a team of 6 players. But this time the two player start on opposite sides of the map.

Against the Horde: One player is "the horde" and has a lot of cities on one side of the map and is at war with everybody else. Everybody else is allied with eachother.

Crusaders: I'm a little uncertain, but this seems to be similair to Against the Horde, except that players seem to start in random positions instead of having a team on each side of the map.
 
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KoolNoodles

Arcane
Joined
Apr 28, 2012
Messages
3,545
Hell yeah, this game was my first love in this genre. Got it for Christmas after I showed my folks the glowing "Strategy Game of the Year" review in Computer Gaming World(which was always superior to PC Gamer). I think ol' Tom Chick was the reviewer, but that could be way off. He did write for them back then.

Anyways, played through just about everything for this multiple times, still have the CDs somewhere....but remember spending several frantic days trying to get it to work on Win7 and it being quite...buggy. Didn't even run very well in virtual machine.

Might have to try and do that again, thanks. If I play it after my Dominions 5 turns it won't even seem that old.
 

Jugashvili

管官的官
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Georgia, Asia
Codex 2013
I managed to get RoH running on Win10 using Great Deceiver 's method with a twist -- you need to unpack the 1.02 patch for RoH on a 32-bit machine and copy it in the WIII folder on your 64-bit machine. Other than that just follow the SOP (IS_SETUP.EXE and -wincurs).

Why RoH rather than DLR, I hear you ask? Because I missed being taunted by Lord Bane in all his saturday morning cartoon villain bitchiness every turn or so. That man deserved an oscar.
 

Citizen

Guest
I managed to get RoH running on Win10 using Great Deceiver 's method with a twist -- you need to unpack the 1.02 patch for RoH on a 32-bit machine and copy it in the WIII folder on your 64-bit machine. Other than that just follow the SOP (IS_SETUP.EXE and -wincurs).

Why RoH rather than DLR, I hear you ask? Because I missed being taunted by Lord Bane in all his saturday morning cartoon villain bitchiness every turn or so. That man deserved an oscar.

Jugashvili, have you got the music working? I tried to launch DLR on my win machine, but couldn't get the music to play. (Used the full ISO with music track, mounted in a correct way, but no results)
 
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To hear the music, you need to use a mounting program that actually supports streaming redbook audio. Alcohol 120% does, which is what I used. Mounting it via Windows' default shell mounting doesn't cut it.
 

Jugashvili

管官的官
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Codex 2013
I managed to get RoH running on Win10 using Great Deceiver 's method with a twist -- you need to unpack the 1.02 patch for RoH on a 32-bit machine and copy it in the WIII folder on your 64-bit machine. Other than that just follow the SOP (IS_SETUP.EXE and -wincurs).

Why RoH rather than DLR, I hear you ask? Because I missed being taunted by Lord Bane in all his saturday morning cartoon villain bitchiness every turn or so. That man deserved an oscar.

Jugashvili, have you got the music working? I tried to launch DLR on my win machine, but couldn't get the music to play. (Used the full ISO with music track, mounted in a correct way, but no results)

To hear the music, you need to use a mounting program that actually supports streaming redbook audio. Alcohol 120% does, which is what I used. Mounting it via Windows' default shell mounting doesn't cut it.

In my experience you also need to fuck around with the drive letters to get red book audio to play. Go to disk management (in Win 10, right click on the start menu icon) and change your physical DVD drive's letter to anything, then change your virtual CD drive letter to whatever the physical drive's letter was (in my case, E: ), then mount the CD to E:

Also, if it doesn't work with ISO you might have to use bin/cue
 

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