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Tracking down Old Nethergate


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Hello, Spiderweb forums!

 

I have a question for you. I hope this is an okay topic for here. If not, please disregard and send me packing.

 

I -- as usual -- have waited a bit too long and missed my chance. This time, I waited too long to pick up a copy of the original Nethergate, which I'd been holding off on until I had a little more disposable income (also, I just plain forgot for a while). Now that I finally do (and stopped forgetting!), I see the game's gone from the Spiderweb store. I even emailed support to confirm it's no longer available.

 

So here's the question: how can I get a hold of this game? Obviously I don't want to pirate it, and ideally I'd like it on disk to add to my Spiderweb collection. Has anyone ever seen it sold on eBay? Amazon? Do any of you have an extra copy you'd be willing to part with? There are two on eBay right now, but they're both the Mac version. Maybe it's possible to emulate an old Mac environment if it came to that? I don't know much about that stuff.

 

Anyway, I'd appreciate any tips you might have. I'm pretty desperate to play the whole game. I know there's a remake, but I understand some of the cooler old systems like the point-based leveling and keyword dialogue were changed... and those were two of my favorite things about Exile -- and the Nethergate demo when I played it.

 

Secondary question: Spiderweb support said in the email that they don't offer Nethergate anymore because they don't sell any CDs. That makes me wonder if they sell any physical products. I wanted to at least grab the Nethergate hint book (weirdly, it's still listed even when the game isn't) for my collection. Would that still be a physical booklet like the other ones I've got, or just a PDF / other digital format?

 

Okay, wall of text over. Thanks to anyone who read it all!

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Nethergate original was only available as a CD-ROM with the demo as a download.

 

I thought that the CD contained both the Windows and Mac versions. But someone else should be along later that will be certain.

 

Welcome to Spiderweb Software. Please leave your sanity at the door. Come over to the Dark Side. We have cookies. :)

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Almost all copies on CD will have both the Windows and Mac versions, except for those copies sold during the months between the release of the Mac version and the release of the Windows version. It is possible to emulate a PPC Mac running OS 9 and play the original Mac version using a program called Sheepshaver.

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You can also easily get Nethergate running with CrossOver, but that's commercial software. SheepShaver is free but requires a little bit more work on your part.

 

—Alorael, who imagines Jeff might be baffled but willing if you emailed him. He's surely got the game available and could cut a deal to sell it. It's in fact somewhat surprising that it's gone; it's the only old game that's truly no longer available from the Spiderweb site.

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Almost all copies on CD will have both the Windows and Mac versions

Ah, that's interesting. I should have known, though -- I never had trouble with Exile and Geneforge on CD even though I didn't specifiy my OS when I bought them.

 

...Jeff might be baffled but willing if you emailed him. He's surely got the game available and could cut a deal to sell it.

Do you mean at the generic support@spiderweb, or at a Jeff-specific address? I actually offered to pay the original 30 dollars for it when I emailed Support... but I got shot down, unfortunately.

 

I'll definitely keep trolling eBay for a copy. Thanks for the help, everyone!

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If someone here has the CD he can give it to you, or he can upload its contents for you. (I don't have it.) Then you can always send Jeff some money if you want to.

Original Nethergate is interesting, unlike Nethergate: Resurrection it is a game in its own right, it is not made compatible with the Blades of Avernum engine. (N:R very much uses the BoA engine.)

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Yeah, I can get the demo to you, but not the full game, unfortunately. Seems strange that Jeff said he didn't want your money, too. I know when I bought the game, I downloaded it whilst waiting for the CD to arrive, so it was online at one point.

 

Edit: Huh. The demo is still on the FTP site, so I can only imagine the full game is.

 

Edit 2: Out of curiosity, what did Spidweb say when you offered cash?

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Yeah, I can get the demo to you, but not the full game, unfortunately. Seems strange that Jeff said he didn't want your money, too. I know when I bought the game, I downloaded it whilst waiting for the CD to arrive, so it was online at one point.

 

Edit: Huh. The demo is still on the FTP site, so I can only imagine the full game is.

 

Edit 2: Out of curiosity, what did Spidweb say when you offered cash?

 

After how well the humble bundle sold last week, maybe he doesn't need any more money ... :grin:

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  • 9 months later...

Sure, but scwiba hasn't been active on these forums for nearly a year. This thread hasn't been active for the same length of time. Nobody was really wondering why Nethergate wasn't available anymore. This was topic necro that didn't help the OP (or anybody else) find a copy of the game. If you're really unclear on why the contents of your post did not justify resurrecting an old thread, feel free to PM me - lets allow scwiba's thread to rest in peace.

 

Also, as an aside, Nethergate is NOT 'the first Spiderweb game to be banned by Jeff'. Jeff/SW have decided not to sell the game, but this is not the same as banning it.

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Um, I I have a copy of the original Nethergate, which I got just a few months ago, simply by writing Spiderweb and asking. Since the Exile games are freeware on their site now, I e-mailed them and asked if they were going to be putting up Nethergate Original. The next day, a nice lady wrote me back with the full game attached. It's the first game that they wrote 32-bit, so it even runs on modern 64-bit systems with no issues. It's not the demo - the setup window explicitly says "full, registered version." The self-installing file itself is less than 7 MB. Given how I got it, I don't think that Spiderweb would mind me handing it out. If anyone can point me to free hosting, I'll put it up to share.

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A pity there isn't a Mac version, too.

[Link removed]. I made this quite some time ago for personal use but was reticent to share it because it's the full registered version. If SW is handing out the installer on request, I see no reason not to make it available to everyone. This is a Mac app made from the Windows version running in a Wineskin wrapper with remapped keys allowing Cmd-O and Cmd-S to open and save and cardinal direction movement with the arrow keys.

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The interesting thing about Original Nethergate is that it has not been Avernumized, it has its own game structure.

You can start with spells greater than level 3 as I recall.

You have two terrain types occupying the same square on occasions, other terrain types can have a third icon as well as a second one. Also, there can be up to sixteen custom terrain types per town.

 

Combats will have different levels of difficulty in the two games. Romans get better spell access. Piercing Crystals are cheap and unlimited in O:N...

Edited by Ishad Nha
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Unfortunately, Jeff Vogel has said that this was definitely a mistake. He does not want the full version of Nethergate distributed and looks upon it as piracy. So no giving out copies and no more discussion of it here unless he changes his mind.

 

—Alorael, who is sorry to be the rain on this parade. But no more Nethergate handouts without a clear, official, and public okay from Spiderweb.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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