Shandalar 2012 Revisited

[CirothUngol]

Sure! Please let us know if you run into any problems... and thanx for joining the forums just to say "Thanx", that's really cool.

[Bugle]

Terribly sorry to create an account just to bother you about this, but I can't seem to get the game to run at all.

I am running Win7, downloaded the 2012 folder linked in the OP, ran the "install me first" bit, installed all three things in the "WinUpdates" folder, and yet I still cannot get Shandalar to run at all. When I try, I get an error saying "The application was unable to start correctly (0xc0000142). Click ok to close the application."

My only theory is that I may have accidentally installed "install me first" too many times. It opened and closed more or less instantly when I ran it, so I didn't notice it had run and I ran it twice, only for it to happen again. This doesn't really seem to make much sense to me, but I'm one of those people infested with Gremlins who just refuse to let me do simple things like "follow 3 instructions and have things work perfectly."

I have already tried restarting the computer to no avail.

The file path, incidentally, is C:\Program Files (x86)\Shandalar 2012\Shandalar 2012\Program if that matters any.

Any help would be appreciated, as this sounds like it'd be a fun new experience to an old classic.

After writing all of the above, I decided to try deleting everything and installing again just in case that would help, starting from downloading the zip. This time I only installed the "install me first" once, but still the same error. I am baffled as to what could be causing this as I can't see which instruction of "download and unzip, double click this batch file, make sure these three things are installed, run game" I'm doing wrong.

[Huggybaby]

One thing to try, I don't know if it affects this package though:

Install to a shorter path, like C:\Shandalar

[Bugle]

Moving it out of Program files seemed to work as running the Batch File now actually didn't open then close instantly.

I guess I'd make a note to people not to install in Program Files? That seems counter intuitive, and I probably wouldnt' have figured that out otherwise, but... yeah.

Anyway, thank you for the help!

[Huggybaby]

You're welcome. Yeah, installing to program files is often a bad idea. If you need to and have trouble though, you can try to run the installer as admin.

[hip63]

Hello all! (to Huggybaby and CirothUngol especially!)

I've returned for the depths of darkness! (also know a corporate work hell!)

What a fine thing you have here!

So I have to asked. "would you like one of my nice installer crafted for this?"

Not only can I put togther an installer for the game files, but I can incorporate the additional needed files (the visual basic, ect.) but I can also automate the DEP fix I think with the installer as well. Plus I can make a unified installer for 32/64 bit (it would prompt the user during install as to what version of winderz they have). I've also figured out a way to use 7zip for compression so I compress the bagibbers out of the thing.

And of course it would have all my usual amenities (like looking "purty" as the redneck 'round here say, ease of use, creating shortcts, ect.)

So how about? Wanna kick it up to the next Level?

hip63

[Huggybaby]

Hey hippy, long time!
I'm glad you're back. Good to hear you've been working too.

This is CirothUngol's baby. I'm sure if he puts his imagination to work he can come up with something for you to do.

Unfortunately, gotta run...talk to you soon.

[Bog Wraith]

Hello hipper! Nice to see you again.

I'll second Huggy on your offer to create another all in one install as you did before. That one was a gem and made it real easy to install & to get going with a minimum of fuss, especially for the new user.

The method to get it installed & running now is very good & relatively easy, but it's my desire to see it even easier for the new player that I'd like to see this done for, as well as making it available in this way for everyone.

As before, I & many others here will be glad to test the software if & when the time comes. Real excited to see this happen.

[hip63]

This is CirothUngol's baby.

Indeed!

But just in case he sez yes, I might just just have a little "sumthin' sumthin'" ready soon enough for testing for a select few.

All the stuff I said (hate to brag, but gonna anywho) is a piece of cake for me to do.

But to be clear it for all passers-by, this would be a stand alone installer for just this project, Shandalar 2012, by CirothUngol, as it should be.

(hey huggy, we've come along way from that old installer I did for the ol' HOTU version back in the day, eh?)

And hello Mr Bog! Last time I was here I believe you had to wander off the reservation for a spell yerself. Nice to your back as well.

I love this version of Manalink! The installer is great and a dead ringer for the originals. Although much of the game has been updated, Shandalar itself is identical to the 1.3.2 version. There are no differences, and this one requires installation.

And to Mr. CirothUngol, I want to personally thank you for this, +1000!

Indeed, I went to great lengths to recreate the original cd and installer as close as possible. And to resurrect the tutorial was no small task either! (even if it is bit of a "zombie" lol, but that's fitting too!)

However the "true collector" would note, I did take one liberty. I actually have copies of both the older version CD simply titled "Magic: The Gathering" (1.0, The "fireball" graphic on the disc) and the later disc "Magic: the Gather, Duels of the Plainswalkers" (1.cantreallyrememberrightnow, "Shandalar" graphics on the disc). The "Dragon Crystal Ball" video that plays when the ISO I did loads, comes from the the older game disc and was not included on the later game disc. But it was just too damned cool not to include on the ISO, so I did!

hip63

[Bog Wraith]

Thanks hip, nice of you to say.

As for the original game disc & the DotP version, I too still have those along with the expansion Spells of the Ancients that was released, the one with the Juzam Djinn on the CD.

Again, good to see you back here!

[CirothUngol]

Greets, hip63!
Thanx for showing an interest in our little Shandalar Update. I was supposed to scan in the original Microprose manual and finalize this before the end of last year... let's hear it for being lazy. ^_^

As for sprucing up the install... go for it!
Anything would be nicer than the loose collection of archives and BatchFiles that it is now. The latest version (Shandalar_2012delta.7z) is from last November and contains the most current stuff. You can grab it from one of the links in my signature.

I do indeed love the 2010 install! In fact, I've installed it multiple times, just to see how it handles all of the different options... I'm weird like that. Having a super-spiffy install for Shandalar would be great, and it'd help many users who have issues with archives and BatchFiles (can you blame them?).
Many thanks for making such a nice offer.

we've come along way from that old installer I did for the ol' HOTU version back in the day, eh?

Wow, you did that?! That was my de-facto install for MtG for an entire decade... like I said, thanx again!

I've actually used your Tutorial from the 2010 ISO to make a Manalink 3.0 Mod that integrates the Tutorial back into the Manalink interface (like it should be). You can grab that in the "\Manalink 3.0\Mods\" folder from the download links (look for VideoMod_Manalink3.0_MagicTutorial2010.exe).

And if you dig the retro MtG stuff, check out the Classic Rogues Gallery Project, it's a replacement for/addition to all of the Rogues from the original game... and it should work with any version of Microprose MtG. These are also available in the Mods folder.

Incidently, you can extract all of the contents from any of the Mod.exe files by calling them from the CommandLine with either "ef" or "extractfiles" as the 1st paramenter. Please let me know if there's any other info or resources that you might need.

[Huggybaby]

"I've actually used your Tutorial from the 2010 ISO to make a Manalink 3.0 Mod that integrates the Tutorial back into the Manalink interface (like it should be)."

Woah, please elaborate! Does that mean you've made the tutorial interactive again? (That is, non-zombified. heh heh)

[CirothUngol]

Nah, it just launches when you hit the "Tutorial" button from the "Help" menu on the User Interface. Go snag it and give it a try.

[hip63]

Just a quick note. I think I've got the DEP settings automated for Windows Vista/7 (it will however require a reboot for the setting to apply), now I've got figure it out how to do it for XP (they use different way of applying the settings)

Also, does this version also need the ACT fix? (I'm thinking it does but want to be sure)

hip63

[Huggybaby]

I think I read that the updated .exe doesn't need the ACT fix, but I'd add it in anyway since it's no harm done.