Adventurer's Guild 𝙲𝙻𝙰𝚂𝚂𝙸𝙲 Issue #10 — Exile III: Ruined World

[rusty_shackleford]

► Linux or Old

You can download a copy for free directly from the original developer here: https://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/exile3/winexile3.html

If you're on Windows, you can grab a copy of Dosbox with Windows 3.11 preinstalled + a bunch of games here: https://f.rpghq.org/QpuU5kvf53cu.zip?n=Windows 3.1.zip
Just double-click the dosbox executable:

Grab the HQBox — Portable Old Windows Emulator! It comes with Exile III. If you have issues, try the Win3.11 Dosbox in the spoiler above, but this should run better.

Quickhelp:

HELPPICS.BMP.webp

Full help:
https://rpghq.org/exile3/Contents.html

[rusty_shackleford]

I had trouble downloading it from his site, grabbed it via wget and mirrored it on the vault
https://f.rpghq.org/bChCuIuLQ3UR.zip?n=EXL3INST.EXE.zip

[Lord of Riva]

I can't even start the executable on win 10

EDIT: I tried compatibility options, nothing works. They are not made for x64 systems as he says himself.

What kind of emulator could I use? I am not willing to fiddle around with a VM

[Finarfin]

Same here, says that "This app can't run on your PC, to find a version for your PC, check with the software publisher"

[rusty_shackleford]

I can't even start the executable on win 10

Indeed, it appears it's a 16 bit NT3.1 executable, I wasn't even aware these existed — I had assumed all NT 3.1 and later was 32bit.


If you're willing to do a bit of tweaking, could you give otvdm a try?
https://mendelson.org/otvdm.html
https://mendelson.org/OtvdmSetup.exe

https://emulation.gametechwiki.com/index.php/WineVDM

[edit]
Nevermind, I have a one-click solution, give me a minute

[Lord of Riva]

I can't even start the executable on win 10

Indeed, it appears it's a 16 bit NT3.1 executable, I wasn't even aware these existed — I had assumed all NT 3.1 and later was 32bit.


If you're willing to do a bit of tweaking, could you give otvdm a try?
https://mendelson.org/otvdm.html
https://mendelson.org/OtvdmSetup.exe

https://emulation.gametechwiki.com/index.php/WineVDM

[edit]
Nevermind, I have a one-click solution, give me a minute

Setup Worked like a charm. I will probably have now opened my PC to every virus on the planet, but whatever.

This game is beyond my beginnings. I'm not ashamed to ask for pointers.

[rusty_shackleford]

I've updated the OP with a one-click solution, but feel free to use the winevdm version instead if you prefer it.

Setup Worked like a charm. I will probably have now opened my PC to every virus on the planet, but whatever.

Nah, you're fine, it's just a hacked down version of wine for 16 bit only intended for windows, you can find the sourcecode here:
https://github.com/otya128/winevdm

[Nooneatall]

One thing we could try is to disassemble it to Assm -> C and then compile it via x64. I am messing around with it but I'm not too serious because this game looks boring.

game.png

[rusty_shackleford]

Everyone point and laugh at @gerey

Of all the accusations you can hurl at Microsoft, not supporting and maintaining legacy software is not one of them.

[rusty_shackleford]

One thing we could try is to disassemble it to Assm -> C and then compile it via x64. I am messing around with it but I'm not too serious because this game looks boring.

Way too much effort, I assume most people here are fine just using dosbox like a bunch of the other entries.

[Nooneatall]

One thing we could try is to disassemble it to Assm -> C and then compile it via x64. I am messing around with it but I'm not too serious because this game looks boring.

Way too much effort, I assume most people here are fine just using dosbox like a bunch of the other entries.

Yeah I jumped the gun not realizing that it was a solved problem

[Lord of Riva]

So characters are created, I wonder how long I will want to play this.

Is there an option that i am not seeing that makes the game window actually big enough so that my eyes don't bleed? I am old man.

[rusty_shackleford]

Is there an option that i am not seeing that makes the game window actually big enough so that my eyes don't bleed? I am old man.

You'd probably need to use something like Lossless Scaling or similar


[edit]
Seems there's an open source alternative, Magpie
https://github.com/Blinue/Magpie

[Lord of Riva]

Is there an option that i am not seeing that makes the game window actually big enough so that my eyes don't bleed? I am old man.

You'd probably need to use something like Lossless Scaling or similar


[edit]
Seems there's an open source alternative, Magpie
https://github.com/Blinue/Magpie

works great, thanks. Let's see if this old thing can keep my attention.

[J1M]

I can't even start the executable on win 10

EDIT: I tried compatibility options, nothing works. They are not made for x64 systems as he says himself.

What kind of emulator could I use? I am not willing to fiddle around with a VM

I used a windows XP VM to play this several years ago. There was an official solution for Windows 7.

[J1M]

This game is Jeff Vogel's magnum opus.

I really like the conversation system, the dungeons, and finding secret passages.

I don't have much party building advice because it felt like my party could have been much better, but it seemed like I needed two mages.

[J1M]

Not official (yet?) pin for Exile 3:

[1998]

Great choice, will certainly play at some point

[SpellSword]

The original Adventurer's Guild returns?!

[wndrbr]

Why Exile 3 and not one of the two earlier games in the series? Do you need to play them (or at least read something about them) to understand what's going on in Exile 3?

[rusty_shackleford]

Why Exile 3 and not one of the two earlier games in the series? Do you need to play them (or at least read something about them) to understand what's going on in Exile 3?

The previous story isn't too important and the game has a cutscene you can watch to get the story from them.

[Lord of Riva]

Why Exile 3 and not one of the two earlier games in the series? Do you need to play them (or at least read something about them) to understand what's going on in Exile 3?

The previous story isn't too important and the game has a cutscene you can watch to get the story from them.

The cutscene is amazing "this is a tree", "what is it for?"

Old games certainly have charm, I mean in hindsight games like these can be produced by anyone now, quite easily even and still the circumstances were vastly different and games like this have a certain purity in them, it's done by nerds for the nerds.

[Kalarion]

I loved this game so much as a teenager that I actually saved up the money to unlock my shareware version.

I sent $20, cash in an envelope, to Jeff Vogel's home, and received a hint-book with the unlock code in the mail about a week later. Something that's basically unimaginable these days (I mean, cash in the mail?!).

General party-building advice:
- at least 3 dedicated fighters.
- recommend 3 casters, at least 2 dedicated (1 each for priest and mage). 3rd can be anything, I made mine a hybrid priest/mage.
- casters should have at least 3 in the spellcasting skill they're focusing at creation. This gives them bonus max SP, and you start with knowledge of most spells up to the level you gave them.
- fighters should focus on edged weapons or polearms. I recommend 2 edged weapons specialists and 1 polearm. There are good weapons for all categories, but outside of swords/axes/polearms they're a little rare.
- one dedicated archer is fine, there are some amazing ranged weapons and one of the artifacts is a crossbow.
- there is essentially no reason (outside of RP and levelling speed) not to take every character trait you think would be beneficial at creation. You will have plenty of experience to hit level 20, at least, on all characters, no matter what traits they have. By the same token, no reason whatsoever to take any negative traits unless you just want to.

Skills advice:
- Jeff's advice for each skill (in the Notes area for the skill) is pretty solid.
- two of your characters should focus edged weapons, and your mage casters would benefit from a couple levels (there are a LOT of good edged weapons).
- only one character needs to focus thief skills, and not forever. If you have an archer he's ideal (archery costs less SP to level than melee skills). Lockpicking only needs to go to 6-8 to deal with early game SP issues, after that the Unlock skill edit: spell will take care of most stuff. Same for Disarming, eventually you can just tank any trap damage. Poison is really cool but not necessary. Anyone applying poison needs about 3-4 levels and it's fine.
- casters should start with exactly three in their casting skill. If you have a character you're planning to hybrid, pick one to set to three and make the other at least 2. I recommend your hybrid start with Mage 3 in order to get access to Fireball at the start. Two casters flinging Fireballs is going to make your early game much easier.
- all characters should have 3 STR to start, because there's a heavy max hp penalty for going below it. Mages can leave it at 3 for a good long while.
- all casters should have 4+ INT to start, for the same reason (but for SP). Fighters don't need it at all, dump it.
- all characters should have at least 3 DEX. It has a heavy effect on to-hit calculations. Fighters want 4+ minimum to start. Archers probably want 5 or 6.
- fighters should have 5+ in their chosen weapon type to start.
- item and mage lore can be spread around. You need I think 20? total mage lore to be able to take advantage of the hardest events. Try to have around 8-10 total to start. DO NOT NEGLECT MAGE LORE. Try to have 20 total by level 5 or 6 or so. You got a lot of really good **** from having enough mage lore at the appropriate times, you don't want to miss out on them. Item lore is nice later on, when getting out of a dungeon to identify something will be a pain, and you can't spare the massive SP cost for the Identify spell. Get it to 12-15 later on in the game.
- assassination is completely useless until the mid-game, when it becomes amazing. Leave it alone until you're level 7 or so, then start slowly working it up on your fighters.
- luck is incredible late-game, but not really necessary before then. It primarily saves you from killing shots, but it has other small effects as well. Work on it later, but eventually you want to max it on your fighters, and probably on your mages as well.

[rusty_shackleford]

Can the default party beat it?

[Kalarion]

Yes, but it will be painful at the start.

By level 6 or so your choices in skills etc should make up for any initial deficiencies.

[rusty_shackleford]

I had an issue with the cursor blinking using dosbox, going to see if I can set up a more 𝙰𝚄𝚃𝙷𝙴𝙽𝚃𝙸𝙲 experience in 86box.

[rusty_shackleford]

I had an issue with the cursor blinking using dosbox, going to see if I can set up a more 𝙰𝚄𝚃𝙷𝙴𝙽𝚃𝙸𝙲 experience in 86box.

86box_98 - 86Box 4.2.1_001.webp

Windows 98 SE, you could also use it for other games of the era you have issues with. Also lets you easily fullscreen it for a nice experience.

[rusty_shackleford]

Here's the packed version: https://f.rpghq.org/vCObnB1aglDx.zip?n=86box_98.zip
Exile 3 shortcut is on the Desktop. You can enable fullscreen in the 'View' menu dropdown, or ctrl+alt+PageUp, exiting is ctrl+alt+PageDown. Has all the options already set, etc., Should just take a couple clicks to get into the game.
I ran this under Wine and it worked fine, just go to the directory and run 86box.exe, let me know if you have any issues! If not I'll offer this as an alternative in my 'running old games' thread for really old Windows games, as it presumably will run most later 16bit games and early 32bit ones.

For linux users, just navigate to the directory on commandline and run 86Box natively, install it from your package manager(for Arch it's in the AUR)

QRD on difference between dosbox & 86box is dosbox will run on much weaker hardware, it's high level emulation, and tends to have issues with anything that isn't just directly running a game. 86box is a dedicated x86 emulator, much more accurate, requires significantly more effort to get setup & running.

[rusty_shackleford]

Here's the packed version: https://f.rpghq.org/vCObnB1aglDx.zip?n=86box_98.zip
Exile 3 shortcut is on the Desktop. You can enable fullscreen in the 'View' menu dropdown, or ctrl+alt+PageUp, exiting is ctrl+alt+PageDown. Has all the options already set, etc., Should just take a couple clicks to get into the game.
I ran this under Wine and it worked fine, just go to the directory and run 86box.exe, let me know if you have any issues! If not I'll offer this as an alternative in my 'running old games' thread for really old Windows games, as it presumably will run most later 16bit games and early 32bit ones.

For linux users, just navigate to the directory on commandline and run 86Box natively, install it from your package manager(for Arch it's in the AUR)

QRD on difference between dosbox & 86box is dosbox will run on much weaker hardware, it's high level emulation, and tends to have issues with anything that isn't just directly running a game. 86box is a dedicated x86 emulator, much more accurate, requires significantly more effort to get setup & running.

Noticed a mistake already, it has 'linear' filtering set by default for fullscreen, swap that over to 'nearest neighbor'.
Linear:

86box_98 - 86Box 4.2.1_002.webp

Nearest Neighbor:

86box_98 - 86Box 4.2.1_001.webp

How to switch:

Menu_001.webp

It's in the `View` dropdown. I'll change the default if I upload a new version.

[rusty_shackleford]

I converted the old .hlp file into HTML and am hosting it here: https://rpghq.org/exile3/Contents.html