Albion and Dark Sun questions

[Rostere]

And don't forget to duplicate the fucking sword!

My party of Half-Giant rangers must have gotten corrupted by El's evil powers, couldn't bring myself to destroy it even in subsequent playthroughs

Cheeser detected.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

Ok, I grabbed both games and DOSBox, and installed them.

For Albion, I got another freeware version at http://www.bestoldgames.net/eng/old-games/albion.php, this one is 48Mbs and includes the Intro movie, only the Credits movie and the 300Mbs of Demo are ripped out.

Also, apparently it's pretty easy to configure DOSBox to auto-launch without a frontend. You just create a shortcut (in Windows) on your desktop to DOSBox and name it to your game. Then right click the icon, and under properties tab, in the Target field, append the directory path of the game's file to whatever is already in that field surrounded by "" and a single space in front. So for example, Target: ...DOSBox.exe" "C:\Downloads\Albion\LAUNCH.EXE". This way, when you click on this icon, it will automatically launch the DOSBox and the game. Maybe frontends give other benefits beside this, I dont know, but for this you don't need them.

Now just need to find the time to play them.

 

[HiddenX]

Both games are really worth playing - have fun!

 

[lorn]

Ok, I grabbed both games and DOSBox, and installed them.

For Albion, I got another freeware version at http://www.bestoldgames.net/eng/old-games/albion.php, this one is 48Mbs and includes the Intro movie, only the Credits movie and the 300Mbs of Demo are ripped out.

Also, apparently it's pretty easy to configure DOSBox to auto-launch without a frontend. You just create a shortcut (in Windows) on your desktop to DOSBox and name it to your game. Then right click the icon, and under properties tab, in the Target field, append the directory path of the game's file to whatever is already in that field surrounded by "" and a single space in front. So for example, Target: ...DOSBox.exe" "C:\Downloads\Albion\LAUNCH.EXE". This way, when you click on this icon, it will automatically launch the DOSBox and the game. Maybe frontends give other benefits beside this, I dont know, but for this you don't need them.

Now just need to find the time to play them.

The Frontend is mainly there to configure the game, not just to start it. You can easily configure stuff like: mounting a cd-rom, if it's needed; applying screen filters to slightly improve the graphics, configuring memory (ems, xms), emulating soundblasters and configuring the cpu-speed. Many games don't need all that to run properly, but for those games that do, the front end makes configuring them much easier. Additionally you can use the Frontend as a sort of steam, i.e. you just put the frontends exe on your desktop and it opens up with a list of all the dos-games you have installed and configured.

Did you try the windows port for Albion? I've played with it a bit a while ago and I think it improves the experience.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

Did you try the windows port for Albion? I've played with it a bit a while ago and I think it improves the experience.

I tried, but the instructions are a little confusing. They talk about copying stuff from CD by which I think they mean the actual CD, which I obviously don't have. There is a CD subdirectory in the abandonware version, but I am not sure that would work correctly. Anyways, for the small amount of improvements, I'd rather not deal with any potential problems later on, so I'm just playing it on DOSBox.

Started playing Albion. The controls are a bit archaic, similar to Ultima VII, but you get used to them. The graphics are pretty charming. So far just walking around the spaceship and talking with people to catch up on the background info and learn the basic mechanics. One thing that never ceases to amaze me about older games is how much more respect they had for the player, not burdening them with a ton of tutorials and obvious exposition, but just placing them in the world and allowing them to learn it at a normal pace.

Also, when I was setting up Dark Sun (to play later), the game ran pretty slowly, as if at a lower framerate in DOSBox. Is this a known issue?

 

[Elwro]

Nah. Have you tried pumping up the cycle rate?

 

[lorn]

Did you try the windows port for Albion? I've played with it a bit a while ago and I think it improves the experience.

I tried, but the instructions are a little confusing. They talk about copying stuff from CD by which I think they mean the actual CD, which I obviously don't have. There is a CD subdirectory in the abandonware version, but I am not sure that would work correctly. Anyways, for the small amount of improvements, I'd rather not deal with any potential problems later on, so I'm just playing it on DOSBox.

The CD simply refers to a folder you have downloaded. I checked your download, the folder CD\Albion is the CD, i.e. you'd have to copy this folder into your albion installation folder and rename it to AlbionCD. Then do the ini-edit and then copy the windows-port into the main Albion folder. That's it and it works like a charm for me. Only the credits are ripped out and replaced by a 1kB smk-file, so it shouldn't cause any problems.
You can start the port with the Albion.cmd and in the Albion.cfg you can select your options, inlcuding any resolution you like.
The enhanced 3D-Rendering alone makes it worth it, I think. Just compare the dos-version and the windows-port once you reach a 3D area.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

Nah. Have you tried pumping up the cycle rate?

Not yet. I'll look into that.

The CD simply refers to a folder you have downloaded. I checked your download, the folder CD\Albion is the CD, i.e. you'd have to copy this folder into your albion installation folder and rename it to AlbionCD. Then do the ini-edit and then copy the windows-port into the main Albion folder. That's it and it works like a charm for me. Only the credits are ripped out and replaced by a 1kB smk-file, so it shouldn't cause any problems.
You can start the port with the Albion.cmd and in the Albion.cfg you can select your options, inlcuding any resolution you like.
The enhanced 3D-Rendering alone makes it worth it, I think. Just compare the dos-version and the windows-port once you reach a 3D area.

Ok, I'll look into this again, although it's a pretty game even in DOSBox.

Been playing it for a bit. I really like the lore so far, very original and different from typical fantasy.

SPOILERS!!!

The getting into COM room on the spaceship and keeping the pistol thing was just beautiful. Epitome of good game design, there is a puzzle that's hard but also not required to advance, but also very beneficial if you solve it. I got the pistol from the room, and when I saw that the service dungeon by which i came was closed off, tried to walk out the guarded front door. The guards searched me and confiscated the pistol, which negated the whole point of going to COM room. So at first I just thought it was weird, stuck in modern gaming mindset where if you cant get something you want easily, you give up. But then something in me decided to reload and explore the dungeon again, maybe finding some way to go back that way and keep the pistol. Spent a bit of time walking around it, pressing switches and just couldn't do it, but at some point, as I was thinking about how those 2 doors there were related, I had this insight that if I could somehow drop/leave the pistol there and walk back from the other side to retrieve it, that might work. Then I immediately thought of the conspicuously empty chest in that room and it all came together. Beautiful! I just love this kind of stuff.

Unfortunately, I also saw the seeds of decline in the subsequent puzzle. When you get attacked in the initial Iskai house cellar, the ceiling collapses behind you. After killing everyone in the cellar and exploring the dungeon, I saw that there were no exits. I started thinking about it and had the idea that maybe I could somehow dig through the collapsed part, which also fit with me finding a pickaxe tool in one of the chests. I was all excited about this just like with the pistol before, but when I approached the collapsed part of the wall, a message popped up telling me that I can dig through it with the pick-axe i just picked up. This is bad design, because now even if I had no idea what to do next, I would just walk around the dungeon naturally and eventually stumble into that message, solving the puzzle for me, so it feels a lot less satisfying coming up with a solution on your own. Now because this puzzle unlike the pistol one was mandatory, I'll cut them some slack, but I really hope there are more like the pistol ones, where they don't tell you the solution.

 

[lorn]

Yeah, there is plenty of that ahead, lots of puzzles with no guidance. I do think, using the pickaxe autoamtically is a good design decision, though. If you had to manually use it via using from the inventory, you'd just use it on every single damn wall, whether you can break it and find a secret passage. If they made it consumable you could trap yourself with using it on the wrong wall.

The Iskai cellar is basically the combat tutorial, easiest area of the game. Even there, you can really mess up. If you tell the Iskai Elder, that they may not use the wreckage of your shuttle, he immediately kicks you out of his house; you can never return there again, you can never do the cellar and you made your life a lot harder.

 

[Siobhan]

Did you try the windows Linux port for Albion?

Damn, how was I not aware of this? Installing right now, fuck work, the next three days will be an Albion marathon.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

I installed the Windows port, been playing with it, can't really tell a lot of difference between it and the regular DOS version.

The game itself though is a lot of fun. Working my way through the Iskai city, finished off my first wilderness dungeon, loading up on equipment. The combat is pretty brutal at first, when you have no equipment or skills and run low on potions, but now getting easier. It's so refreshing how these older games just rape you early on as opposed to modern games where you nap through most early encounters. This contributes to that awesome RPG feeling of getting more powerful as the game goes on and really gives the world a sense of being dangerous and real.

Also, so awesome how shopkeepers have a shitload of stuff that does who knows what, so even buying things is an act of exploration and discovery. Also awesome is having to load up on torches, ropes, lockpicks and food before venturing forth. And cursed items! Just purchased a compass and that baby has really made it easier to get around.

 

[lorn]

Glad to hear, you are enjyoing it. Combat stays pretty difficult throughout the game, you are just outleveling the first island now.

 

[Fray]

So HiddenX . I seem to remember you said some versions of Albion were missing a file that was needed to get side quests from dialog or something along those lines. I don't suppose you (or anyone else) know of a quick way to tell whether that file is in a particular version?

 

[HiddenX]

So HiddenX . I seem to remember you said some versions of Albion were missing a file that was needed to get side quests from dialog or something along those lines. I don't suppose you (or anyone else) know of a quick way to tell whether that file is in a particular version?

The file WORDLIS0.XLD should be in the Folder

\ALBION\XLDLIBS\GERMAN
or
\ALBION\XLDLIBS\ENGLISH

depending on the language version.

The German version is 94520 bytes long.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

For Albion, I got another freeware version

I hate to be a wet blanket here, but that's not what freeware means.

Freeware refers to software that you are not intended to pay for. Albion was a commercial product, copyrighted and trademarked and sold in the usual manner. You were supposed to buy it.

Your version is warez. A badly-butchered warez version, but warez nonetheless.

Don't give me that "abandonware" crap either, that term is meaningless and is only used as an excuse for people to justify not going through the bother of hunting down a legal second-hand copy of the game.

Unfortunately Albion is no longer supported by the developer/publisher, so people are left with two choices: Pirate it, or buy a second-hand copy.

I'm not saying that your choice is wrong, but your choice of term most certainly is.

 

[Jasede]

I think you might be the one wrong here; he might be talking about a full version. Gaming magazines all over the globe used to come with old games for free as full versions on CDs and DVDs. Maybe that's how he got it and why he used the word the way he did.

 

[Commissar Draco]

I think you might be the one wrong here; he might be talking about a full version. Gaming magazines all over the globe used to come with old games for free as full versions on CDs and DVDs. Maybe that's how he got it and why he used the word the way he did.

Yes Commissar got his Fallouts this way in pre-internet age... it was not free but 3-4$ payed then for Reset, SS, NGK, etc... or so was 10% of price of Games sold from shop benches. Good for Student then and en pair with pirated versions bought from stadiums.

 

[Fray]

The file WORDLIS0.XLD should be in the Folder

\ALBION\XLDLIBS\GERMAN
or
\ALBION\XLDLIBS\ENGLISH

depending on the language version.

The German version is 94520 bytes long.

Thanks, I appreciate it.

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I think you might be the one wrong here; he might be talking about a full version. Gaming magazines all over the globe used to come with old games for free as full versions on CDs and DVDs. Maybe that's how he got it and why he used the word the way he did.

Yes Commissar got his Fallouts this way in pre-internet age... it was not free but 3-4$ payed then for Reset, SS, NGK, etc... or so was 10% of price of Games sold from shop benches. Good for Student then and en pair with pirated versions bought from stadiums.

I'll have to admit that this is news to me.

We didn't get every gaming magazine over here, but the ones that we did get never included full commercial games, and only rarely included full games at all. (So much for the "all around the globe" statement right there.)

And as Commissar Draco said, even these "cover games" weren't free, they still came with trademarks and copyrights. Even if the game was included "for free", I'll bet you money that it came with the condition that you used the cover disc itself, and not a copy/rip of it. That's not freeware.

So it still doesn't change my point about the wrong term being used. Freeware can be acquired and used without fear of legal troubles. Warez always has the potential to be a legal fracas. Very VERY unlikely in this case, so in the end it boils down to the question of whether people are willing to risk it.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

So HiddenX . I seem to remember you said some versions of Albion were missing a file that was needed to get side quests from dialog or something along those lines. I don't suppose you (or anyone else) know of a quick way to tell whether that file is in a particular version?

The file WORDLIS0.XLD should be in the Folder

\ALBION\XLDLIBS\GERMAN
or
\ALBION\XLDLIBS\ENGLISH

depending on the language version.

The German version is 94520 bytes long.

Umm, my version doesn't have that file in XLDLIBS directory, or even the ENGLISH subdirectory. What does this file do exactly? This is the kind of stuff that would've been nice to know before I started.

I hate to be a wet blanket here, but that's not what freeware means.

Freeware refers to software that you are not intended to pay for. Albion was a commercial product, copyrighted and trademarked and sold in the usual manner. You were supposed to buy it.

Your version is warez. A badly-butchered warez version, but warez nonetheless.

Don't give me that "abandonware" crap either, that term is meaningless and is only used as an excuse for people to justify not going through the bother of hunting down a legal second-hand copy of the game.

Unfortunately Albion is no longer supported by the developer/publisher, so people are left with two choices: Pirate it, or buy a second-hand copy.

I'm not saying that your choice is wrong, but your choice of term most certainly is.

Wake up on the wrong side of the bed?

 

[Jasede]

stop being such a wet blanket lol


An accurate depiction of Cat:

 

[Ladonna]

I never saw you rage like that over on the Underdogs forum Unkillable...

In any case, I prefer Darksun, but you have picked two decent games, so either is a win.

 

[Scroo]

So HiddenX . I seem to remember you said some versions of Albion were missing a file that was needed to get side quests from dialog or something along those lines. I don't suppose you (or anyone else) know of a quick way to tell whether that file is in a particular version?

The file WORDLIS0.XLD should be in the Folder

\ALBION\XLDLIBS\GERMAN
or
\ALBION\XLDLIBS\ENGLISH

depending on the language version.

The German version is 94520 bytes long.

I am playing the english version but I don't even have an ENGLISH subfolder in the XLDLIBS folder. In fact it looks like this:

and none of the two folders contains the WORDLIS0.XLD file. Now I am confused and don't dare to play on since I don't want to waste dozens of hours and then having to start all over again.

/e:

Nevermind, I found it. It's in the CD\ALBION\XLDLIBS folder, not the root folder. That probably means I'm safe, phew

 

[HiddenX]

Scrooge you are right it is the \CD\ALBION\XLDLIBS subfolder.

I have even more parent directories in front of it, because I installed it in a dosbox directory.

For German speakers: you can get the easy to install version albion4win here.

http://albion.forumsfree.de/f10-albion

 

[Unkillable Cat]

I never saw you rage like that over on the Underdogs forum Unkillable...

The main problem seems to be that people think I'm raging when I'm not.

I was annoyed at the wrong term being used, plus the general ignorance that seems to go with it.

Normally something as trivial as the wrong term being thrown around is not even worth mentioning, but in this case there is a slight (VERY slight) possibility of this getting ugly. Because not only has a user confessed to a (minor) crime, but he's done the stupid thing of telling everyone what he stole. If the rights holder to the Blue Byte catalog would happen to read this, he might see reason to take legal action. Not just against Porky_Paladin, but against the website as well.

Coincidentally, this annoyance of mine does stem from my days at the Underdogs forum, where copyrights holders were constantly banging on UD's door because she was hosting downloads for titles that were no longer being supported by their developers, to the point that she gave clear instructions to the forum on how the topic of piracy should be approached so as to not get Underdogs into further trouble (don't be bloody stupid, for example). I'm fairly certain the Codex has a similar rule that the users here shouldn't be inviting legal trouble that the admins will have to sort through.

So yeah, I'm annoyed at stupid criminals, great and small. At least when I'm talking about the piracy I conducted back in the day, I make sure no one can get into trouble for it.

It could be worse. I could be Tommy(bot). Remember him from the Underdogs forum?