Discworld 1 save game problem

[The Seed]

Hi,
I just started playing Discworld which is nice, but it turns out I can't save my game. When I save a game it appears to work all right, but when I go to load up a game there's nothing there.

Anyone have any ideas?
Cheers.

[timcclayton]

Which operating system are you running ?

[The Seed]

Windows XP.

I suppose I should also mention that I actually downloaded it in the form of a bit torrent, which a) makes me a downright dirty thief :rolleyes: , and b) Probably accounts for the fact that it doesn't work right.

Frankly I was shocked it even worked in the first place.

Ah well.

[timcclayton]

I am afraid that pirated copies of games are rightly frowned upon in these forums for any number of good reasons.

I would advise you to check eBay or similar periodically for a copy - they do come up quite often. And even if you do have to shell out £20-£30 for a copy, remember that, once you have completed the game, you will be able to resell it on eBay for the same amount of money, so you effectively get the game for free !

[Catbert]

I think the underdogs has a version of the game, I actually played it a couple weeks ago and it was fine. I also think if it's in the underdogs there's no problem getting it from there.

Dunno what the underdogs is? www.google.com

[timcclayton]

Actually, while I empathise with the idea that since these games are no longer available to buy new it is OK to release them as "abandonware", it is simply NOT legal to distribute them without the copyright owner's permission - and Underdogs certainly does not have that permission for Discworld 1.

I simply can't understand why the copyright owners of these games don't re-release them again - you only have to look at the prices some of them fetch on eBay to see that it would be worthwhile producing another run of their games.

[MDMaster]

I guess they're all busy releasing Fps or something!

As for your problem, don't know what to say, I found it hard to run the game without at least using VDMSound and I had probs even with that.

[Catbert]

Actually, while I empathise with the idea that since these games are no longer available to buy new it is OK to release them as "abandonware", it is simply NOT legal to distribute them without the copyright owner's permission - and Underdogs certainly does not have that permission for Discworld 1.

I simply can't understand why the copyright owners of these games don't re-release them again - you only have to look at the prices some of them fetch on eBay to see that it would be worthwhile producing another run of their games.

Why not? Psygnosis was closed long ago and the game is rather old. Besides, try checking the site and search for games like Gabriel Knight and such. If they don't have permission, they don't post the game, simple.

[RLacey]

Why not? Psygnosis was closed long ago and the game is rather old. Besides, try checking the site and search for games like Gabriel Knight and such. If they don't have permission, they don't post the game, simple.

Actually, the policy of abandonware sites is to not post games that they have been told not to, rather than, as you are suggesting, to get permission to post games before they do.

Regardless of individual beliefs in this area, abandonware remains illegal, and as such links to it are prohibited at AG.

[Catbert]

I see. Well, you're always learning, right?

[The Seed]

Well anyway, thanks for the help guys.

I guess I could attempt the game in a one-er, though I probably don't fancy my chances much, seeing as it's apparently one of most difficult adventure games to complete without a walkthrough.

[Jazhara7]

Well anyway, thanks for the help guys.

I guess I could attempt the game in a one-er, though I probably don't fancy my chances much, seeing as it's apparently one of most difficult adventure games to complete without a walkthrough.


It's not THAT difficult...



- :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

[Ninth]

Well anyway, thanks for the help guys.

I guess I could attempt the game in a one-er, though I probably don't fancy my chances much, seeing as it's apparently one of most difficult adventure games to complete without a walkthrough.

Plus it's very long. I suggest you find another copy (legal or not :P ), one that allows you to save.

[Ninth]

Actually, the policy of abandonware sites is to not post games that they have been told not to, rather than, as you are suggesting, to get permission to post games before they do.

Regardless of individual beliefs in this area, abandonware remains illegal, and as such links to it are prohibited at AG.

Abandonware is illegal, but widly acccepted. I'm not sure why links to the underdogs or some such should be forbidden, since this kind of site obviously does a lot of good to the adventure community. Oh well...

[Catbert]

I think it's because it's like telling someone where to score dope. Here it's illegal. It's just the same, helping someone commit illegalities is in itself illegal.

Then again, I did start playing adventures with a game I got from the underdogs :\

[Ninth]

I think it's because it's like telling someone where to score dope. Here it's illegal. It's just the same, helping someone commit illegalities is in itself illegal.

Except there's nothing much in common between scoring dope and downloading abandonware, because downloading abandonware hurts no one.

[Catbert]

Yes it does, law concerning. You're downloading copyrighted stuff, it's as much illegal downloading old stuff as new stuff if they're both copyrighted.

[MDMaster]

Yup, with the main difference being that nobody is gonna sue you for downloading Caesar 2 (btw the first Caesar is freeware), but they are gonna do it for downloading Fifa 2005.

Well, stick to Caesar II says I! :D

[timcclayton]

Abandonware is illegal, but widly acccepted. I'm not sure why links to the underdogs or some such should be forbidden, since this kind of site obviously does a lot of good to the adventure community. Oh well...

There is a very good article on Brass Lantern about this and you can read it HERE (http://brasslantern.org/community/companies/warez.html)

But it simply boils down to this:

Imagine that 5 years ago you spilled a lot of blood, sweat and tears creating a game and eventually managed to sell it commercially. Over time, as tends to happen, the sales dropped off gradually until you decided to stop selling it any more due to the costs involved and moved onto other projects. Then today you find out that someone is selling (as some sites do) or giving away your game (possibly in a cracked format, so that errors might occur, just as they did to the game in this thread, thereby compromising the good name of the game).

How would you feel ?

You'd probably feel a lot better if someone contacted you and expressed their interest in the game and asked you to release it as freeware or shareware so that today's game players would have a chance of playing your game the way it should be played. It is a fact that on many occasions this technique has actually worked. There are of course many software houses who just can't be bothered to do this and I totally agree with the argument that the onus is on both sides (both those who want to play, and those who own the copyright).

So what's the answer ?

Good question. One possibility for a more positive route would be for someone to set up a liaison group that could help bridge the gap between the two parties (e.g. interest is expressed in a certain game, the group would then attempt to track down the copyright holders to try to get their permission to re-release the game in question).

Well, just a thought...

[Zanthia]

Seed, your game probaly is not on main disk. Create on main disk a folder with a name of a game(C:/dsceld or something like this, it doesn't have 2 b C, the disk on wheach your game r.) In that folder creat folder SAVE(or SAVES- I don't remember exactly). You will have no problems with saving after that.

[The Seed]

Yep, that did the trick, thanks Zanthia I totally owe you one.

[Ninth]

Imagine that 5 years ago you spilled a lot of blood, sweat and tears creating a game and eventually managed to sell it commercially. Over time, as tends to happen, the sales dropped off gradually until you decided to stop selling it any more due to the costs involved and moved onto other projects. Then today you find out that someone is selling (as some sites do) or giving away your game (possibly in a cracked format, so that errors might occur, just as they did to the game in this thread, thereby compromising the good name of the game).

I disagree with this.
I downloaded Homeworld (Gateway2) as abandonware, and I frequently mention it as one of my 5 favorite AGs, whereas I'd never have heard of it weren't for abandonware.

[timcclayton]

If you had bothered to read the rest of my post you would have seen that there are ways round abandonware that are potentially legal.

But I suppose you're too lazy to actually source a genuine copy yourself since it is just so easy to go the Underdogs and quickly download it.

While you're doing that kind of thing, why not just go to some warez sites and download some stuff there then ?

My point is - where are you drawing the line ?

I mean, they've got Santiarium on their website for download. Yet Sanitarium is still being sold today (albeit hard to find outside the US). They've got both System Shocks for download as well, which are also available for purchase.

What really surprises me though is not pirates like yourself, but the fact that the IDSA and their affiliates have not shut the Underdogs down.

It happened to Napster.

[Ninth]

If you had bothered to read the rest of my post you would have seen that there are ways round abandonware that are potentially legal.

But I suppose you're too lazy to actually source a genuine copy yourself since it is just so easy to go the Underdogs and quickly download it.

While you're doing that kind of thing, why not just go to some warez sites and download some stuff there then ?

My point is - where are you drawing the line ?

I mean, they've got Santiarium on their website for download. Yet Sanitarium is still being sold today (albeit hard to find outside the US). They've got both System Shocks for download as well, which are also available for purchase.

What really surprises me though is not pirates like yourself, but the fact that the IDSA and their affiliates have not shut the Underdogs down.

It happened to Napster.

Your post is kind of aggressive, is it?
Anyway...

What do you mean by "source a genuine copy yourself"?

And I draw the line where games are not sold anymore. Meaning that I think Sanitarium shouldn't be available to download on the underdogs, while the Legend games should be.

EDIT: Note that I would jump on a release of a old Legend games bundle if it were ever to see the light, which is highly unlikely, because, as you said, both sides are to blame.
You know, I've spend 10 years looking for Death Gate in France and even in the states. And I've never found it before the underdogs.

[The Seed]

I wander if someone could clear up another small Discworld related issue I have.

This concerns the fishmonger puzzle. I've seen screenshots where there is an Octopus sitting on the fish stall, accept in the game it's not there. I was wandering whether this is normal, and the Octopus will show up later, or if maybe something is f***ed and the game has been rendered incomplete able.

I'm not looking for a puzzle solution, just checking that there's nothing amiss with this Octopus thing.

It's a brilliant game by the way, probably the best adventure game I've played in ages.