Celtic Minstrel

I despise the graphics (those pie charts look supremely ugly behind the tiny status effect icons) but the idea is pretty nice. From the sounds of it, this patch is more than just the graphics, right? I wouldn't expect the code to just support that implicitly… It's a little unfortunate that the Mac version is harder to patch… why is that, exactly? Patching the graphics should be easy on your Basilisk image as long as you have ResEdit, so I assume the problem is code-related?

All versions of the Exile trilogy are 16-bit. I'm not sure why it doesn't run on your install, but that's not the reason.

All four Exile games will run on Windows 3.1. Just note that for Blades of Exile you'll need the version downloaded from Spiderweb's website – the "Blades of Exile" row, not the "Blades of Exile Open Source Project" row.

I think some of the item graphics in Nethergate / Avernum were carried over from the Exile series, actually. For example, the bread icon, and maybe some potions?

Nethergate probably isn't a major issue for that, since it's not even legally available anywhere… although I suppose some people probably still have it. That said, didn't it come after Blades of Exile? So if the original help with Blades of Exile works, then Nethergate's would likely be fine too?

I guess they have a picture of a person because it's a person who's doing things with the item.

I don't think that was Mistb0rn. If you didn't make it, then it was probably me (using Andrew Hunter graphics as a base, of course). I dunno, the text is even tinier, and I don't understand why you've added different-coloured backgrounds, but they're not terrible I suppose? So you don't need me to extract them with ResEdit after all?

I tried it just now and it doesn't look like it'll be quite as easy as I first thought. It should still be possible though, as I'm pretty sure a PICT file just stored it in the resource fork, so I can probably copy the Blades of Exile Graphics file several times, delete all but one resource, and change the file and creator codes. Of course, I'd still have to convert it to a different format after that, though… If the mushrooms are in a regular arrangement, like crops, then perhaps they could be made by Mistb0rn? Mistb0rn made a lot of graphics at my request for inclusion in OBoE, mainly based on BoA graphics (unfortunately some of them were only posted as JPEGs so I can't really make use of them). I think mushroom crops might be among those. If that's not it, could they be from Exile I? I recall there was one mushrooms graphic in Exile I which didn't exist in Exile III. It was just another variation on the existing ones, but you could see the difference. If this is the one you're thinking of, it's probably a Jeff edit of Andrew Hunter originals. If neither of those fit, then I have no idea. It would be easier to help if I could see the graphics themselves.

All the original icons (both Mac and Windows) are in the OBoE repository in the legacy resources folder.

I don't think it would be a bad idea if it worked on both platforms, though I'd say there's no point unless it's a graphic that's not otherwise customizable. Custom missiles or explosions could be done this way, though. That said, not working on Windows is a pretty big barrier.

Replacing base data files would only be required on Windows for the record, since with the cmg file the game automatically loads sheets from there in preference to the main resources. The reason that doesn't work on Windows is because it's not an intentional feature - it's just the way the Macintosh Resource Manager works.

Just to clear up the reasoning on that, as a ready-to-play version of Exile it must contain proprietary, copyrighted software from either Microsoft or Apple (in this specific case, Windows 3.1; possibly also proprietary SoundBlaster software, though I didn't look closely at it). Even though the software is no longer sold, it's still not allowed to distribute it, particularly on these forums. :)

Huh, you're right; in that case I have no idea where the OBoE one came from. I assume there was some reason for replacing the original but I don't remember what it could be. Maybe something to do with the background removal process? I don't remember clearly but I think the Intel Mac BoE in the forum header is an old OBoE? But it could also be Khoth's version, which would predate OBoE. I'm not sure.

Huh? The Windows version didn't have an attack pose for the living statue? Anyway, I'm pretty sure the one in OBoE is the same one you're seeing in the Mac graphics. The OBoE graphics are the Mac graphics. Yes, that's exactly how I run the legacy versions too. Mind you, my Mac can't really be called modern anymore… but I assume Basilisk could still work on modern Macs. Worst-case you'd need to compile it from source, I suppose? DOSBox will definitely work. It's possible but probably illegal, because that would mean distributing a copy of Windows 3.1. Even if someone does it, I don't think we can allow it to be posted on this forum. Similarly, distributing a ready-to-run Basilisk II image would mean distributing Mac ROM files which are similarly copyrighted.

There do exist two resource editor programs other than ResEdit that will run on newer machines (Rezilla and ResKnife); both are available from SourceForge. That said, they still might not work on the newest machines… What do you mean by "newer, unofficial versions"? Is it what I just said, or an actual modified ResEdit? I do have a copy of Graphic Adjuster somewhere, but it looks like Kelandon beat me to that.

Yeah, that is true, but I think it's also around the time where Macs added the convention of a right-click being equivalent to a control-click to open a context menu.

I guess I'm a bit late to the party; I could have easily extracted the PICT resources from the Mac version using ResEdit in my Basilisk II instance, but I guess you already have them now? Have you checked that the graphics are not glitched or anything? Are there any graphics missing? There are also the ppat resources which correspond to one of the Windows graphics sheets, so if you need those, I can probably extract them with ResEdit.

Those "extra permanent keywords" existed in E2 and E1 too, though, as buttons. The only real difference in E3 (other than the appearance) is that you can click keywords to ask about them. Still, I think that's quite a big difference. Right-clicking to look was a feature exclusive to Windows users until OBoE.

There are a lot of ways to generate a patch file for a binary program (this thread lists a number of options). Ideally you'd use a patch that self-applies, so that the user doesn't need to have the same patching software that you used to create the patch, but I'm not sure if any binary patching tools produce that sort of thing. I'm not sure whether it would be acceptable to distribute already-patched executables. The games are freeware, and Blades of Exile is even open source, so it might be okay, but it's probably best to get more opinions than just mine on the matter.

Yeah, E2's talking system is pretty much identical to E1's. Okay, so maybe it looks a little nicer, but it's functionally the same.

My understanding was that it also uses Thrown Weapons instead of Archery. Was it really present in Exile I though? I had always assumed it came about because he missed something as he added new features onto the engine. As for the source of the idea, someone noticed the error in the source code, I believe.

If you mean dialog boxes, that system changed between E2 and E3. E2 dialogs were basic native dialogs, the same as E1.

There are three ways to play the Exile Trilogy on a Mac; I recommend using an emulator. You can either download a copy of Windows 3.1 and install it on a DOSBox instance, then run the trilogy there; or you can use Basilisk ][ to emulate an older (System 7) Mac and run the trilogy there. I believe the trilogy can also be run with WINE, but that didn't work very well for me when I tried it (I believe I had a problem with dialogs being blank or something). Both emulators require a bit of setup to get working, unfortunately. The WINE method is the easiest. For playing the Exile Trilogy on Windows, both emulator methods will still work, but WINE is not an option. You could try setting the program to run in Windows XP Compatibility mode, but it's probably not going to help, because the Exile Trilogy are 16-bit applications. So you'll have to get either DOSBox or Basilisk ][ and figure out how to set that up (or find an image that someone has already set up for you).

I've never come up with a procedural way to convert Windows graphics into Mac graphics. If someone could find a way to do it using GIMP or Photoshop though, I'd be very interested in coding that into OpenBoE. I don't have an alternate default graphics file, but I do have the blue cave floors hosted on my website, along with some other graphics that didn't make it into Blades of Exile.

To be clearer, there needs to be a "break;" before "beginstate EXIT_STATE;".