Ehm... Copy protection isn't off??

[Tuxu -=JeepC=-]

The game will boot you out even if you bought it on steam, is that a feature? lol

Please fix it.

[☃]

Can't be fixed mate, it is an inherited part of the program. Even if you play this game on ClassicReload.(om, the copy protection feature is still there.
You just need to read the manuals that come with the game and then give the right answer to the question.
Game is 30 years old. It wasn't really very super popular even in its day. The developers are so old now that they don't even remember how it was made. And I highly doubt it makes enough sales on steam to warrant any kind of work.
Thank GOD I got this copy on Steam as a gift from a friend, because this copy is pretty f'kd up and wonky. I prefer to play the copy that is loaded on ClassicReload.(om. Everything about the game works better on that site, and for free. It's actually a little bit criminal what has been done to this piece of art. Ripped and chopped for Steam.

[Tuxu -=JeepC=-]

Originally posted by ☃:

Can't be fixed mate, ...

Fairlight, LCT and the rest of the scene would beg to differ.

Lazy publishers need to add a DLL that targets the function and always returns the right value.

Back at the time of my childhood a fair amount of games had that Copy Protection schemes, most of them were cracked.

I'm not asking for something that can't be fixed, I'm asking for a basic human fairness while lazy publishers basically leave that to the scene, that some would call criminal.

Well, I'm calling a release like that criminal.

You can get the game legally and for free and set it up via Dosbox.

I don't see any reason to buy it here if a basic thing like Copy Protection is beyond the publisher's professional skills, I'd have the same in the Free, Legal version through Dosbox.

[☃]

I agree, the release of this game in the state it is in is criminal. The sounds don't work right, there are still game breaking bugs that keep you from completion.
This game, as wonderful as it is to revisit it, just shouldn't be sold like THIS. It shouldn't be sold AT ALL. It's a 30 year old game that belongs in a gaming museum, or played online at a curators site like ClassicReload.(om.

Like I told you already, I got it as a gift, because I was playing it live on Facebook via ClassicReload.(om. The SoundBlaster emulation is much better tuned and the sounds work right on that copy, which is free to play online anytime. The Steam Copy I have was gifted to me way back when Steam Users could gift games to each other. You can't even do that from our own Library any more. The person gave it to me as a joke gift because this copy works terrible and they had a copy they wasted their money on.

[Tuxu -=JeepC=-]

I'm guilty of doing nonsense like that as well so it's quite understandable. :)

[☃]

The best thing about this game was the Character Creation and Alchemy really. The religion system was really pretty amazing too, but if it were done today I think developers would get backlash in major ways by "Cancel Culture". I think this whole game would probably be attacked by political fanatics if it were to be done or redone in today's culture. They probably couldn't even use any historical backgrounds or anything at all for fear of triggering people because Firearms are in the game...

[Tuxu -=JeepC=-]

It's the height of the Snowflake Empire - Future generations will laugh and cry about it, we can only suck it in or wait it out, much like a smelly bathroom if i'm blatantly honest.

Anyhow, you seem a decent fellow. Sent you an invite.

[☃]

It would have been pretty cool, if the current publishers had taken a little time and care before releasing this for sale on Steam. Fixing the sounds, fixing the known bugs that can keep you from "completion" of the game... removing copy protection.
But when I look at the current publisher, all they seem to be is an investment company that buys IP's and then resells the games here on Steam and GoG with little, if any, work done to "improve" the games.
Just a money grab company from the looks, selling childhood memories.
Pretty silly really, seeing that I've played a majority of their tittles on free websites with zero downloads needed.

Accepted your invite. Maybe we will have some other games in common and can team up sometime.

[Tuxu -=JeepC=-]

Originally posted by ☃:

Maybe we will have some other games in common and can team up sometime.

About 17 unique titles. partially the reason why I had the inv sent. :)

[mwirkk]

Originally posted by Tuxu -=JeepC=-:

The game will boot you out even if you bought it on steam, is that a feature? lol

Please fix it.

There is a "fix" of sorts that can be applied, which I have documented on the Darklands Domain, here: http://darklands.net/files/AlteredAlchemyImages.shtml

You have several options:
1) reference the game manual to find the correct response (the method originally intended), which is provided in digital format and comes with the game;
2) reference the quick code sheet that was originally distributed in 1995 with some distributions of the game on CD-ROM format, and which was broadly made available with early versions of the Darklands FAQ since 1996 (and Darklands Domain since 1998);
3) implement the alternate tile sets first created by "Quadko" (c. 2002-03). This is probably the most elegant solution for most players at this present time (Dec. 2022). A download and instructions are available at the link above.

Btw- There is another alternative which may be generally available soon in the form of a patch created by another fan of Darklands. It actually alters the game executable itself, which makes it a "crack" in the traditional sense. It will be made available for general download iff and when it passes a vetting process. However, not everyone would be comfortable with using something like that and prefer to stick with the traditional solutions as described.

Cheers!
-mwirkk

[Tuxu -=JeepC=-]

Thank you, mwirkk!

I play my oldies on self made Dosbox profiles and solve these issues for myself.

I think that if sold, for money that people are earning by working, the publishers should work as well and make a packaged release that solves these issues from the get go.

What's done here is bad practice and I, for once, do not condone it.

[jonnin]

I recall this being really easy to fix on the original, ironically. Everyone was passing the games around back then and hex edited the protection away in the copies. If a bunch of 14 year olds in 1990 could do this, why can't actual programmers do it in 2023? I don't mind the nostalgia of looking it up but there is no reason they could not have fixed this with a quick hack that accepted any answer or set the pop up chance to 0 or whatever seems easiest.

[Tuxu -=JeepC=-]

Originally posted by jonnin:

I recall this being really easy to fix on the original, ironically. Everyone was passing the games around back then and hex edited the protection away in the copies. If a bunch of 14 year olds in 1990 could do this, why can't actual programmers do it in 2023? I don't mind the nostalgia of looking it up but there is no reason they could not have fixed this with a quick hack that accepted any answer or set the pop up chance to 0 or whatever seems easiest.

Thank you, exactly what I thought.

Originally posted by Tuxu -=JeepC=-:

Originally posted by ☃:

Can't be fixed mate, ...

Fairlight, LCT and the rest of the scene would beg to differ.

Lazy publishers need to add a DLL that targets the function and always returns the right value.

Back at the time of my childhood a fair amount of games had that Copy Protection schemes, most of them were cracked.

I'm not asking for something that can't be fixed, I'm asking for a basic human fairness while lazy publishers basically leave that to the scene, that some would call criminal.

Well, I'm calling a release like that criminal.

You can get the game legally and for free and set it up via Dosbox.

I don't see any reason to buy it here if a basic thing like Copy Protection is beyond the publisher's professional skills, I'd have the same in the Free, Legal version through Dosbox.

[☃]

Can it be done? Sure. But... That would take some one spending money to find some one that can. Those people don't grow on trees like they did in the 90's. So I think cracks for DOS-Roms and such will likely never happen with old games like this on Steam.

So I still say it can't be fixed.

Not that my opinion is worth anything, but there it is.

[☃]

Don't forget guys, 1980 is as far from 1940, as 2020 is as far from 1980. And we are closer now to 2050 than we are to 1990.

[Tuxu -=JeepC=-]

*They* don't grow on trees, *we* grow on the internet. ;)