Did you try using any of the DRM mitigation options I suggested in the prior thread about this topic that you left comments in just this past Nov. 27th and 28th, and to which I responded a couple of weeks ago on Dec. 15th? Perhaps you did not see it.
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/app/327930/discussions/0/3591087260086063913/#c6580353067865512496

Try out the option #3 if you want the most inline QOL solution of those currently available. It can be applied to your game files as-is without any negative impact on any of your ongoing games. It's just a matter of swapping some PIC files.
http://darklands.net/files/AlteredAlchemyImages.shtml

Anyway, there is nothing wrong with this "version" of the game, whether it be here or GOG. This is "version 7" of the game (483.07, Feb. 1993), and the files themselves are identical to those that would be installed by the CD-ROM distro produced by GTI for Microprose in 1995. Any differences lie in the version of DOSBox used and the settings in the config files that go with it, in addition to the Steam launcher overhead.

Hopefully you had a recent saved game and didn't lose too much of your progress. :)

Cheers!
-mwirkk

So hold on here... but are you actually suggesting that I try to fix a broken game that I got as a gift?

I'm not trying to be a ♥♥♥♥ here, but what you are suggesting is just silly from a consumers standpoint.

What you are suggesting sounds like a job, exactly like work, and I would prefer to be paid for that. And if it is so easy to do, so it doesn't have to be paid for to be done then why hasn't it just been done by the current publisher and fixed "forever"?
I bet enough people have paid for this copy of Darklands, that a Fiverr developer could even be/have been hired cheap enough to just do the fixing for them.
This isn't the world of Windows 95 anymore, Windows 7 has basically even be phased out.

It isn't about "losing progress" to me, because I know all the tricks to the game to draw all the perks out as fast as I want (ie. save scumming). For me this is a matter of preservation, especially because there is a price tag on a museum art piece being sold to the public, like selling laminated copies of the US Constitution or the Mona Lisa.

I can just go play the game on any number of retro curator websites, and play the game with out missing hooks for sound files or bugs that force crash the DOSBox. For free, as I have been doing for at least one decade now.

The Steam Copy (this copy), because it is sold on Steam, should be at the very least compatible with Steam. Its overlays, its hot keys for screenshots and etc.. I shouldn't have to be the one to "fix" things and try to piece a broken game together when I can just go play on a chrome web browser.

Thank's for the suggestion though, I know you are just another player of the game so I'm really not trying to be rude to you. I'm just expressing my severe dissatisfaction.

Games this old usually need a little tweaking to get working properly.

mwirkk님이 먼저 게시:

Did you try using any of the DRM mitigation options I suggested in the prior thread about this topic that you left comments in just this past Nov. 27th and 28th, and to which I responded a couple of weeks ago on Dec. 15th? Perhaps you did not see it.
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/app/327930/discussions/0/3591087260086063913/#c6580353067865512496

Try out the option #3 if you want the most inline QOL solution of those currently available. It can be applied to your game files as-is without any negative impact on any of your ongoing games. It's just a matter of swapping some PIC files.
http://darklands.net/files/AlteredAlchemyImages.shtml

Anyway, there is nothing wrong with this "version" of the game, whether it be here or GOG. This is "version 7" of the game (483.07, Feb. 1993), and the files themselves are identical to those that would be installed by the CD-ROM distro produced by GTI for Microprose in 1995. Any differences lie in the version of DOSBox used and the settings in the config files that go with it, in addition to the Steam launcher overhead.

Hopefully you had a recent saved game and didn't lose too much of your progress. :)

Cheers!
-mwirkk

This is actually a really helpful post. Good to know the only problem is with the included DOSBox and not the actual game needing patching.

los hermanos enanos님이 먼저 게시:

Games this old usually need a little tweaking to get working properly.

They do, and I'm sure there are actually plenty of freelancers around that do that sort of thing.

los hermanos enanos님이 먼저 게시:

Good to know the only problem is with the included DOSBox and not the actual game needing patching.

No, there is at least one bug I can name that needs patching too, I mean in the game itself. There is times in the game where you will be sent off the map to complete some quest (I don't want to spoil it for you completely), and the only way to complete it is to get as close to the edge that you need to be at, save the game, then restart the game, and you will be able to complete the quest.
It's not even a very important quest, but it's just a bug. A well known one.

But yes, as the other user pointed out, it is the DOSBox framework mostly to blame for "this version". It is barebones and shoddy and probably a free version that wasn't designed really for steam. None of our overlays work. We have to "hack" screen shots in, and "hack" video feeds to steam if we wish to share like that.

☃님이 먼저 게시:

It really crashes a lot. More than it should, and for reasons that it shouldn't I feel like.
Super frustrated with crashes because I was playing tonight and got a 5th party member (a Schulze), only to be met by copy protection. Alt + Tabbing out, to get the alchemy code for the protection wall, made the game crash.
Pretty frustrating.

Printers can print those things I have file but since I bought my version else where I cant post them but seriously there are only a few symbols you could do them by hand in a pinch

macbraveheart68님이 먼저 게시:

☃님이 먼저 게시:

It really crashes a lot. More than it should, and for reasons that it shouldn't I feel like.
Super frustrated with crashes because I was playing tonight and got a 5th party member (a Schulze), only to be met by copy protection. Alt + Tabbing out, to get the alchemy code for the protection wall, made the game crash.
Pretty frustrating.

Printers can print those things I have file but since I bought my version else where I cant post them but seriously there are only a few symbols you could do them by hand in a pinch

I just play on a website now. When I do play.

☃님이 먼저 게시:

macbraveheart68님이 먼저 게시:

. . .

I just play on a website now. When I do play.

Which ones do you prefer, on Archive-dot-org, or somewhere else?

mwirkk님이 먼저 게시:

☃님이 먼저 게시:

I just play on a website now. When I do play.

Which ones do you prefer, on Archive-dot-org, or somewhere else?

I prefer ClassicReload, because they have a lot of other software. A lot of awesome old software, not just games.

Also, I found that all the hooks for saves and sounds work the smoothest on ClassicReload. The site is pretty well maintained.

GTK. Thanks!

This is such an awesome game. I'm glad it's on steam in a way, don't get me wrong. It's a posterity thing for sure, so the future generation can find it and experience it. But once you get tired of the crappy Steam DOS-BOX, the archive sites are better to play this at.