chrlpolk

That's what I ended up doing. I'm running Windows 3.1 (runs entirely on DOS) inside DOSBox. Even though it's not that big a hassle to run it this way, I'd still pay for it to be updated to run natively on modern machines. I wonder if there's a way to pseudo-do it like GOG does? GOG's X-Com and Gold Box games came with their own DOSBox pre-setup so that it practically runs natively, as in, you click on the .exe and the game starts right up.

Just finished the game with this setup! Oh, the nostalgia! Admittedly, it was not optimal. Even late game, that strategy of having everyone know level-1 Priest spell "Cure Minor Wounds" is useful, as you can take whatever damage and you just get taken to 0, and next hit you're dead. I also now understand why future games only use 4 characters. With the experience system, you easily end up with a few characters several levels ahead of the others. At the beginning, my two melee characters were consistently 3-4 level above everyone else, mostly due to taking advantage of bottlenecks at doorways. This "Magic User" character rapidly caught up once he learned mass-damage spells, and the "Cleric" character to lesser extent. But I had to grind (have other characters pass their turn) to let the "Thief" and "Bard" catch up. That slowed down the adventuring quite a bit. I plan on finishing all the games in the series, but I will create a new party to take advantage of the neph and slith races that become available. Maybe I'll do archetypes again, but as was pointed out elsewhere in this thread, it isn't optimal to this game without tweaks. Just depend on how I feel the day I do it!

Yeah, that's the ridiculous requirements of original Bards. High attributes, also. You had to reach Level 5 fighter, dual class to Thief until level 5, then dual class to a Druid, at which point you were a "1st level Bard" and used Druid magic, with a song that charmed. See what happened there? Your DM had to allow 2 dual class changes. Also, Half-Elves could be bards, even though only Humans could dual-class in the official rules! So you couldn't become a Bard unless your DM bent the rules, and since your DM was already bending the rules to allow Bards, why not say, "Look at this character sheet from another game where I'm a Bard!" Then you had this 50 HP level 1 Bard playing with your 3 HP, 1-spell level 1 Magic-User on a Level 1-5 campaign - you can see the imbalance! "I cast my 'sleep' spell, then I hide behind the Bard!" But the thing about the Bards that made balancing difficult was that, unlike other dual-class rules, their hit dice at level up was added, making them the highest HP potential in the game. Each level, they also progressed in Druid magic (the progression was similar to Paladins' use of Cleric spells, except Bards started at 1st Level). They attracted henchmen at Level 5. Their XP requirements were about on par with the Druid's, so even if you put them in a party that was of a higher level for balancing, they still became the uber-class of the campaign through rapid level-ups, higher HP's, Druid magic, a charm song, Lore identification, etc. And so it's a difference seeing the Bard more normalized now, to the point where people don't like them because they're too balanced and even considered weak. So I wonder how much The Bard's Tale, which drew its influence from AD&D, in turn influenced the later AD&D editions!

John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt And Bernie Sanders

Emulation in general is of sketchy legality, but Apple has been very specific about proprietorship. If you own a copy, it's difficult to claim it's illegal to install it on any device, but it is a violation of Apple's EULA, for whatever weight that would carry. Don't want to find yourself on the wrong end of the Human Centipede! I don't recall Apple doing such giveaways on their OS's, but there is an "Internet Archive", a cool org, you can Google. They carry ISO's to various older and hard-to-acquire operating systems. I, too, am curious to know which programs, drivers, Windows updates, etc. cause these games not to work on Windows 10 for many of us! I mean, I've been told why it doesn't work for me, I am just curious why it works for others using the same OS.

I've played this game in all kinds of configurations in its heyday, including where every character learned all magic. I just thought for kicks I'd do an AD&D iteration. Building on Thaluikhain's last comment. It does make me curious about certain developments in these games. In AD&D 1st Edition, for instance, Bards were a Druid subset and were crazy difficult to acquire, considered an uber-class. Then players starting "dumbing down" the bard because A) nobody could meet the requirements legitimately, and B) if they did manage, they were so overpowered compared to other characters the game wasn't fun. Then Bard's Tale came out, and by the time AD&D 2nd Edition had come a few years after that, Bards were a subset of Rogues and progressively became the class we know today. Did "The Bard's Tale" flip AD&D's model, after AD&D players rejected the initial Bard class? Likewise, when I was very young, my friend's older sister introduced us to the original D&D. Where you didn't have "Fighters" you had "Fighting-men", and dwarves and elves weren't races they were classes. I think the evolution of high-fantasy gaming is fascinating!.

It's going very smoothly! Almost like there's a reason these archetypes came into being.... The Bard is a bit lackluster, without songs and conversation benefits. The way experience is doled in this game, he's falling behind. I've given him 2 points in Item Lore and will focus on increasing Archery so he can score some EXP. Just for kicks, I begin each playing session with "We All Live in The Pit" from Parks and Recreation. Totally the unintended soundtrack for this title!

I (regretfully) agree with this... maybe one with more description text rather than conversation trees, but if you play an RPG I think you're in for some reading. One of the fondest games I remember playing in my youth was Out Of This World, where the player is transported to an alien world and has no way to communicate with the natives. While I don't think such an RPG is completely undoable, I would think it would require a bigger effort (in terms of graphic and audio design) that what Spiderweb is known for, because the cues would be explicitly audio/visual. And most likely, it would turn out to be some form of ARPG, as turn-based would break the exploration pacing. Whereas with Spiderweb's usual RPG's, exploration's pace is set by breaks for dialogue and description text, so sudden interruptions for turn based combat isn't jarring.

I usually end up with some variation of the D&D archetypes, but figured this time I would specifically go for developing my party in such fashion (with some slight balancing decisions). Barbarian Health 22 Str 6; Dex 4; Int 1 Edged and/or Bashing, Throwing, Defense On level-ups: Add to fighting-related stats. Eventually add a few points of Assassin to emulate Rage. Paladin Health 22 Str 5; Dex 3; Int 4 Pole Arm; Archery; Defense Priest (3) On level-ups: Add to fighting-related stats. In keeping with the tradition of Paladins having limited Cleric magic, I am not planning on adding additional points to Priest or MP. Thief Health 20 Str 4; Dex 6; Int 1 Edged, Throwing, Defense Disarm Traps, Lockpicking On level-ups: Focus on thieving skills, with some addition to fighting. Eventually add lots of Assassin, and some poison and luck. Cleric Health 20; SP 6 Str 4; Dex 3; Int 4 Bashing, Defense Priest (3) On level-ups: Increase Priest magic with minor increases to fighting. Bard Health 12 Str 4; Dex 3; Int 4 Mage (3), Priest (3) One level-ups: Focus on Item Lore with minor increases to archery. In keeping with the Bard's "Jack Of All Trades" reputation, I will not raise magic abilities. Mage Health 10; SP 10 Str 4; Dex 3; Int 6 Mage (3) On level-ups: Focus on Mage skills.

TRA, Thank you for that! I was definitely getting my hopes up. If anyone wants to head on over to the Tech Support part of the forum, I finally got all the Exile games working in Windows 10 by using DOSBox (I know, technically, not in Windows 10).

Confirmed: Works in DOSBox through Windows 3.1 Windows 3.1 is a very early dos-based 16-bit Windows. There are very detailed instructions online for how to install in DOSBox. (The only issue I had was on the step to update the video driver, I had to exit Windows and type "setup.exe" in the Windows directory.) I was able to get a copy of Windows 3.1 in a certain "Internet Archive", a cool org, just Google it! Just created a party in Exile 1 and getting ready for a quick long night!

Avernum just doesn't feel the same. Too many alterations. I know it has a lot of quality of life improvements, but it loses something, too. The six-character party has more of that Gold Box feel that drew me to it to begin with, and the design is... better? I know "better" isn't the right word, but I prefer it.

That is fantastic! I think I'll buy a shirt, help the cause, now to decide between Kelly Green and Carolina Blue...

I would legit pay for pulling a GOG on this series. I'm not talking about a remake or even an Enhanced Edition, just take the game as-is and do whatever it takes to make it run on a modern system! I have been struggling for a couple days now with VM's and can't seem to make the magic happen. I've played the demo's for Avernum and Avadon series and I can see the appeal! But, they just don't play like the Exile series, which at one point I had all registered. They give me the same feeling as the Gold Box games, but with so much more in the way of customization options! But alas, from my perspective of failed VM attempts, they seem to be gone forever. What would it take to make this happen? Kickstarter?

Well, now I'm frustrated. I sat down with Exile 3 and went to create a party. I had tinkered with it earlier but didn't have time to really dig in. This time, the game froze. So I restarted and after clicking off the "tip of the day" popup, I got the white screen. Restarted again, and now I'm getting the white screen straight off. That's happening everytime now. HOW HOW HOW does something work and then suddenly not???? I already spent one night in frustration, I'll save this for another day. Man, I wish Mr. Vogel would pull a GOG on these Exile games, I would legit pay for them all over again.

Good news is: Exile 3 and Blades of Exile work in the VirtualBox! Bad news: Exile 1 & 2 do not. So it's something different in the way these two games start up which causes the freeze. Note that the Character Editors for these games comes up with no issue, and although I have no saved game I can navigate the menus without issue, so it is specifically something that happens after the picture and tone at launch. Even after copying files over to Windows 10 and using compatibility mode as you suggested, it unfortunately did not work on any of the titles. "This app can't run on your PC". DX9 won't install on Windows 10, either; I did go ahead and install it in my VM although that had no impact. Very unfortunate because I loved Spiderweb Software in the early 2000's, and I honestly prefer these Exile games to the newer Avernum series. Six characters to a party reminds me more of Gold Box games, and sure, it's probably all just nostalgia. I read somewhere about using a Windows 3.x in DOSBox. I'll admit my ignorance but I'll try to pull up info on that and see what happens.

I've spent all night checking threads and not one time could I find this particular problem. I have Windows 10, but I'm using Oracle VirtualBox 6.0. I downloaded Exile: Escape From The Pit. It unpacks fine. When I start it, the picture comes up, the cursor becomes a sword, and a chordal tone plays. Instead of going to the menu, the screen turns white and the game freezes. I let it stay for 20 minutes, thinking maybe it'll unfreeze if I wait long enough. But no! I've repeated this experiment on Windows 98, XP 32-bit system (which I used to play this game on back when I had a registered copy), and a Windows Vista, to no avail. I've attempted all kinds of messing with the resolution, colors, compatibility and permissions. Does anyone know of the magic settings to get this to work on VirtualBox? All the suggestions I see regarding Windows 10 issues recommend that program, but I'm not seeing anyone having this specific problem.