Lands of Lore: The Throne of Chaos

>>3415272
Just to elaborate on what I did with the sound setup.

In the install directory there's a DOSBox folder. I ran DOSbox.exe and then

Mount C C:\LOL
C:\
setup

I chose MIDI once and Soundblaster Pro for the music, digitized sounds and voices I always set to Soundblaster Pro.

OP here,
okay I just made the switch to ScummVM and it runs much smoother now. The GOG.com version is compatible with ScummVM. Lands of Lore 2 is not supported however.

Me again,

switching to ScummVM was the right choice for this one. Runs smoothly now and no audio issues anymore.

Additionally, I found this nice Soundfont that replaces all the General MIDI instruments with better sounding ones and it was breeze setting it up.

1. Download the Soundfont and unpack it
http://www.mediafire.com/?zo8l3dgf2989266

2. Start ScummVM, go to global options

3. Enable FluidSynth in the audio tab

4. In the MIDI tab, eneable FluidSynth and point ScummVM to the path of the Soundfont. Done

Sounds better than ever. If you need better than this you'd have to invest in a Roland SC-55 or something. But I guess, then it's back to DOSBox as well, right? So this Soundfont isn't a bad alternative at all.

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Hm, not a single reply? I thought folks on here would have reverence for this title.

I mean, I think it's really fun to play so far, incredibly polished and just gorgeous to look at.

But hey, it's been a while. Maybe you need a refresh, right?

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Animated

>>3415272
Props on keeping this thread alive I plan of getting to LoL after I finish up the MM series.

This kinda looks like was an Eye of the Beholder 4 would have been... if 3 didn't kill the series.

Always saw the box for Lands of Lore around, but never really knew what it was. Looks neat.

On and forgot to mention, for the speed up and down issue with music.

Dont use auto cycles or max cycles in Dosbox. Set an actual number. For a game like this I'd imagine setting something like 15000-20000 would probably work fine. If that dosn't work try a diffrent sound card to emulate if the game supports it, like an MT32 or whatever.

These will probably have to be set in the dosbox.conf file.

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>>3415272
I hope you're still here OP, I was banned so I couldn't reply before, I can't believe nobody has replied to your thread yet

I really don't know what the sound issue might be since I don't have the GOG version, mine is from the original CD turned into an .iso file to be able to play it on DosBox through the imgmount command, and mine doesn't present that sound problem so I can't really help you there

Your post >>3416612 was really helpful and amazing! I didn't know I could do this on ScummVM, so that's pretty amazing, you made me look for a Roland soundfont http://www.mediafire.com/download/gbxaqsyxlyy6x3t/Roland+SC-55+Soundfont.7z

The game has some advantages on DosBox "version" though, you can configure the CPU to run at max cycles so the movement in-game is almost inmediate, and you can hack the savefiles to play as different characters (one's that were planned to be in the game but were scrapped afterwards, but files, portraits still remain in the game)

But your first playthrough on ScummVM should be enough (since you don't really need max cycles to move fast if you don't know the map layouts yet), but if you really loved that game after beating it and desire more you will want to juice it as much as I did and you'll have to find a DosBox solution to your sound problem eventually

Anyway, if you have questions about anything, or find yourself stuck, or confused about a mechanic, you can ask me, most guides only cover the basics and don't go too "in depth"

(Pic is from Roland's Manor, a place you should have visited by now, although you only saw the right picture, since the left one was prior to the orcs attack, apparently you would visit that place at one point before the attack but the idea was scrapped, still you can see the pixel art was completed)

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>>3420246
Btw you can min/max in this game, the SGM-V2.01 alternate soundfont made me want to replay the game, I just made pic related with the stats I currently have on Gorkha Swamp.

In order to min/max you need to play the game on Ferocious mode so enemies have larger HP, meaning more attack/magic is needed to kill them, meaning your Fighter/Rogue/Mage skill bars increase further. You need to save to a point where your skill is about to level up (around one more attack/throw/magic) because the stat changes depending on a Random Number Generator, you just keep loading and leveling up on and on until you find the max value your HP/MP can raise with that level up.

Also OP, another point worth of notice and offtopic are chests, do not think 1 lockpick click is enough to check if it'll open or not, you have to click many times until it finally opens. Rogue skill increases the chance of lockpick so it makes clicking again and again less tedious.

>>3420704
I have low Rogue skills because early game it's not that worth (having Lora with Rogue 4 and all) and I'm waiting for the Crossbow "Valkyrie" to invest in the Rogue, which is the best bow to increase Rogue skills since it hits everytime. Rogue skill level up acts the same as Fighter skill, meaning you get an increase on HP although it's not as big as Fighter skill, but you can still min/max it through the load method I mentioned in my previous post.

OP here,
it's nice to get some replies after all.


>>3420152
Some one stealth bumped the thread with the last image and now we even people talking. Nice.


>>3420185
To me what makes this game stand out from similar dungeon crawlers of the era is just the pure amount of eye candy. There's transition animations when moving around the world. That really does a lot in terms of immersion for me and I think not many games of this type had that. Then again it's sort of a late entry, right?


>>3420195
Thanks for the info. I think I'll continue my run on ScummVM for now. It only crashed once so far when I took a ladder to change levels in a dungeon. I'm past that point now, hope stability doesn't become an issue later on.

But I will definitely keep CPU cycles in mind as a tweaking option for other titles. I think what was actually happening there for me was, that the whole game sped up and slowed down and not just the music. Not sure though, it is kind of hard to tell with the way it moves. I had only been playing for a couple of minutes at that point and I'm not used to looking at these types of 2D animations anymore.

OP here,

>>3420246
>>3420704
Don't sweat it. Thread's alive and my sound problems are solved for now.

Glad you booted it up again because of SGM-V2.01 soundfont - it really it makes a big difference. I knew a SC-55 soundfont existed but hadn't bothered searching for a link yet. So I'm keeping that to try out later for sure. I believe "¥Weeds¥ General MIDI SoundFont v3.0" is another popular soundfont that people use: http://www.simpilot.net/~richnagel/#downloads

Soundfonts like SGM-V2.01 can also be implemented into DOSBox. But it is not quite as easily done as with ScummWM. I found the following instructions on the same site where I first saw how to do it with ScummWM. I have translated this from German btw - native speaker btw, so don't worry I made no mistakes in the process. I will 2 add pictures as well.

1. On Windows first you need to install a MIDI driver, BASSMIDI Driver https://kode54.net/bassmididrv/#bassmididriver
2. From the start menu, select "Configure BASSMIDI Driver", click add, select the soundfont SGM-V2.01 sf2-file. This will give all programms that have MIDI support access to that soundfont: e.g. ScummWM (which then doesn't need FluidSynth anymore), Winamp etc.
3. Install D-Fend Reloaded (a popular DOSBox GUI) http://downloads.sourceforge.net/dfendreloaded/D-Fend-Reloaded-1.4.4-Setup.exe Then add the game to the D-Fend library, right click on the game > edit > MIDI > "Choose MIDI device from list" (or "MIDI-Gerät aus Liste wählen") > Choose BASSMIDI 1 or 2
4. Now execute the game's setup through D-Fend Reloaded (you can point it to the correct file path) and set music playback to General MIDI (port 330 most of the time, right?)
5. Done

To be continued...

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>>3420921
Interesting things you mention there with DOSBox. The instant movement on max CPU cycles thing: Isn't that a timing issue that affects the whole game, e.g. attacks and cool down as well? Do you play the game on fast foward essentially? Also, being able to see content that didn't make the final cut, like character portraits, is super interesting. I love stuff like that. And you're right, I'll have to get DOSBox to run properly soon. I'm sure it's an easy fix.

Finally, thanks for the lockpicking info - and yes, I already got myself stuck more than once. First time, I spent all the money I found at Roland's Manor that was supposed to be used as fare money to get me back to Gladstone Keep. I believe that is a unwinnable state? I read that game has those, or at least one. I had a chuckle over that.

If you have anymore hints for gameplay mechanics that don't spoil anything for me, that would be great. It is true, most resources I found online are very basic. Like, how do I even make that >>3420704 hit point and magic point message pop up?

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>>3420924

OP here,

I just realized I never posted how to run the game in SummWM. So I'm adding that... for some reason. This is for the GOG.com version however and I am not sure how this process might differ if you happen to have the CD release for example.

Anyway, it's really simple:
1. Install the GOG.com version like you normally would
2. Within the install folder, you need to unpack the "game.dat" file into a new folder with 7-Zip, WinRAR, IZArc or whatever works.
3. You can leave that new folder within the already existing install folder.
4. Point ScummWM to that exact new folder as the game's location and it will give you the option to choose the game's language.
5. Done

>>3420921
>>3420924
Hey OP glad to see you back! And thank you for the ¥Weeds¥ General MIDI SoundFont v3.0 link, and for posting the soundfont instructions for DosBox, will definitely give those a shot whenever I can.

The CPU max cycles only have effects in certain parts of games, it pushes their limits to points that maybe were not accesible during their time (because computers were not as fast as today), some do feel weird when using it (games that were not designed for this and will feel like a super speed up game to the point it's unplayable), but Lands of Lore doesn't bug or anything, that means the cooldown for attacks remain the same, enemies are the same speed as always, etc. It only increases the number of repeated actions you would otherwise be unable to do in succession, this might only apply to movement since it's the thing in succession we do the most, as you know by now, unlike Eye of the Beholder, the game "animates" the movement, meaning more frames are needed for movement, making it slower than their predecesors of the same genre, that's why max cycles is so nice, keeps the animation but makes it run smoother, to the max point the game is capable of doing it.

That no-money stuck scenario never happened to me, but judging by what you say and what I remember, I would say it is indeed one unwinnable state because the only "shop" in that area is a guy who will not accept back stuff you bought him (although you can sell him those red potions for 20 crowns, whereas Victor from gladstone only accepts 10 crowns for them, so he's the best place to sell those if you feel confident enough to not need them in combat), you can always leave Timothy behind (by not talking to him so he doesn't join you, you can't actually kick him if he's in your party already) because the Thomgog (that's the race of that banana girl) says 100 crowns per passenger, so the ticket will only cost 100 instead of 200 crowns.

>>3421203
Continuing my post because the other one was almost at the limit.

I'm also playing the game because with these new soundfonts to play around, it is enough reason to do it, so whenever I see something in-game worth mentioning I will, because it's hard to remember a mechanic or anything useful until I already experience it once more (not because it's not important, but because they are very minor details that are easily forgetable until you see them again), I guess that's how brain works and can't be helped. But as soon as I see one I will mention it to you. It would be good if you could also tell me at which part you're in the game, because I wouldn't want to spoil something that ends up being linked with the main story.

To show how much HP/MP your characters have, you simply click on their HP/MP bars right next to their portraits. You can compare your numbers with mines on here >>3420704 when you reach Gorkha swamp (if you haven't already) and see how you're faring, no need to worry if they are low, mines are pretty much the max value you can get at that point in the game so it's not something to be concerned about, but if you're playing any other character that isn't Ak'shel and still have Mage skill at level 1, you may have a little trouble here because they have low MP compared to him and you need the Freeze spell to be able to walk through some places in this map.

Baccata will sometimes get sleepy in Gorkha Swamp because of the "swamp gas", simply by trying to sleep you will wake him up, regardless of HP (if it's full and you don't need to rest, he'll wake up anyways), but this swamp gas can also poison your characters, you can remove poison with a "Giseng" item (a leaf) or by using Heal spell level III or IV (which also encourages you to get a high Mage skill)

About to play this blind for the first time. Anything I should know that would fuck me over in the long run (like: is any of the characters a trap/challenge option, any stuff that's easy to miss but doing so would cripple me later on)? Preferably without spoilers.

>>3421267
Kieran has the lowest stats of the bunch so that would be a challenge for a first try, set the game to Ferocious difficulty and that should give you plenty of challenge to play with. Use magic constantly to raise your MP because certain areas require you to use magic in order to progress (although there are some consumable items like wands that should prevent you from getting stuck unless you use it all)

Another thing worth mentioning is that Baccata is the best fighter in the game, he's even better than Michael, this might not be easy to see at first because in the story they portrait Baccata as a mage (he starts with Mage skill 3 and is Dawn's apprentice, and she is the best magic user in Gladstone). But having 4 arms, being able to equip 2 weapons with no downsides whatsoever (they are additive to his damage) makes him hit hard, which increases his Fighter skill further than any other character in the game.

>>3421209
>>3421203
>>3421203
OP again. Cool, please let me know if you were able to get soundfonts working in DOSBox and if the instructions were accurate enough.

Your info on CPU max cycles while interesting is also kind of a bummer in fact, because that's the setup that gave trouble earlier. But I guess it isn't a must having that and setting a fixed value might the music problem, right? But that's an experiment for another time. I'm also pretty sure the ScummWM version runs faster than any machine back in 1994. A similar effect might be in play here cause it moves.

Yeah, the fare money thing seemed like a dead end. I was reasonably sure right away after I'd heard that line cause there was just nothing else around. Not joining up Timothy and saving 100 bucks hadn't even crossed my mind until now. That's interesting that the game allows for that. Might not be a bad idea, he's only with you for a short amount of time anyway. After we first parted ways I realized right away that what little items I had given him were gone. So I releaded an earlier save and stripped him bare before the cutscene.

And please do not worry too much about spoiling things. I'm not THAT allergic to them as long as it isn't a major story thing or THE stand-out moment. I would much rather keep this dialog going. But you asked and I looked it up, I'm currently still in the Draracle's Caves. Not very far I know, but I didn't have as much time to play. I'll get some in later today though (Also currently playing Outwars and Heavy Metal FAKK2)

Continued from >>3421494

>>3421394
Yeah, already in the Draracle's Caves it really shows that he's a greater fighter than Michael and I kind of accepted that in my mind even before that when I looked at this character screen and saw that he's got 4 arms - which I could've realized even before that because of his sister(?) who works at the marina, who has the same trait.

Anyway, I'll make sure to cast a lot of spells which I haven't really been doing as much so far. Can I endlessly btw? Level 2 of Draracle's Caves feels like the cave men are just endlessly respawning.

The fact that're you already at the swamp really shows how familiar you are with the game. How many times do you reckon you've finished it so far? Feels like a game that would lend itself well for a speedrun. Although I'm not really into those.

Later

Oh, almost forgot. Got any good websites to share about the game? Anything that's interesting or helpful really. Doesn't matter.

>>3421267
This newfag again. One more question inspired by this thread: any unwinnable states I should actively watch out for, or are they reasonably easy to avoid assuming I'm not destroying/getting rid of any suspicious possibly-quest-items, not antagonizing NPC, etc?

>>3421531
Like I said, I think I ran into such a situation quite early on and I don't know how many more there are. My advice would be to save regularly and not to overwrite the old save files.

My situation was easy to recognize as a dead end. If you want to know, I will repeat: The money you find early on in the destroyed house. Don't spend it. You need it to take the boat back to the castle. Further spoilers ahead concerning the same situation. Presumably you would only need pay half the money if you don't join up with a certain party member at the pub which apparently you can do. That character is only with you for a short amount of time in the beginning it seems. I don't know if not meeting him has as any repercussions down the line, but I imagine not.

I also remember that you can fuck up the whole thing through an unspecified, missable item but I don't really know what that is about.

Also not sure if stuff like is intentional game design or oversight. Either way, good luck. Have fun.

>>3421570
>Have fun
Oh I plan to. I loved the Eye of the Beholder series and this seems like more of the best of them. Thanks for the help.

>>3420704
OMG min/max'ers are the cancer that kills gaming.

Unrelated to Lands of Lore itself, but to provide further potentially useless info for anyone that might be interested in stuff like this, I just found out about the Roland Sound Canvas VA: It is an official software synth DAW plug-in by Roland for Windows and Mac that is supposed to emulate the C-55 up to the SC-8820 almost perfectly.

Unfortunately it is quite expensive and setting it up seems to be a bit of a hassle in some scenarios as well - more on that in a second.

If you are completely new to these things just know that some games of the era have had their music composed on certain MIDI sound modules, like for example the SC-55. Playing them back on these devices is the way they where intended to be heard. Playing them back on other devices changes up the sound quite dramatically in some cases. Or in case of the original, real modules it might not even work correctly.

And this is sort of the point. Soundfonts and soft synths in this day and age, why also completely different from their original (analog) counterparts (if they have one) are not such a bad alternative in this day and age. I mean God bless Dave Smith and others like him for what they have achieved, but if you take compatibility and perfomance on a modern OS into account, software plug-ins do have some things going for themselves.

Anyway, this is the thing:
https://www.roland.com/global/products/sound_canvas_va/

Buy the thing (somwhere there is a 10 minute trial version that resettable)
https://contentstore.roland.com/software/detail/sound_canvas_va/

Here's a good video about the thing detailing how to use it with DOSBox and ScummVM:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WumRboSfn90

>>3421935
>It is an official software synth DAW plug-in by Roland for Windows and Mac that is supposed to emulate the C-55 up to the SC-8820 almost perfectly
That would be an SC-55

>>3421853
It's just a different type of gameplay, you choose if you want to do it or not, it's not mandatory and the game doesn't really encourage you to do it (you discover it yourself), and when you've played this game many many times like I have, this only increases the choices you have when you want to play it again.

>>3421494
I'll definitely let you know, I'll first complete this ScummVM playthrough before I give a shot to the DosBox soundfont installation.

Well if you haven't touched any of the DosBox settings on the config file, your cpu cycles should be set to "auto" instead of "max", auto tries to emulate the cpu cycles the game needs to run properly, so I do not think the sound speedup issue is linked to the cpu cycles, and my game doesn't do this whether its auto or max cycles.

Yeah, the ScummVM version has a very fluid movement, it is very close to the max cycles on DosBox version, there are times where some of my movement is not registered (if I do them in a quick succession), so I believe it's just a little lower than the DosBox max cpu cycles, but the ScummVM movement version is definitely faster than what I remember oldschool movement was.

Ohhh something I forgot to mention on that "dead end" island and that might have contributed to your lack of money, the chest on Roland's house grants you 3 stuffs (so you have to click it 3 times after opening it), but the initial thing will vary depending on whether you talked to that guy's room in the Grey Eagle where Tymothy is (he says "this room is occupied" and then after a small talk gives you a compass), but if never talked to him, the first item on the chest will be the compass, and if you already have it, you get an extra 200 crowns, so to put it in perspective:

If you talked to the guy that gives you the compass:
1st item: 200 crowns
2nd item: 200 crowns
3rd item: sword

If you didn't talk to the guy and don't have the compass yet
1st item: compass
2nd item: 200 crowns
3rd item: sword

>>3422752
Continuing:
This will definitely limit how much money you can have in that island and might be the reason why you ran low on money and couldn't afford a ticket.

If you're playing with Michael there are still some scenarios where you want to give him your best weapon so his Fighter skill levels up, afterwards you give him to Baccata, etc. That's another thing I like about the game, you're free to choose what to do at any point in the game since they can equip everything (you can also give Baccata 1 melee 1 ranged weapon and stuff like that). And yes the Thomgog in the marina is Baccata's sister, she will say this if you talk to her (meaning you don't accept to pay for the ticket, or simply by talking to her as soon as you enter the island since there's still no option to go back)

Yes you can cast spells endlessly, Michael and Kieran are the hardest to do this since they initially only have Spark at level 1, and the best way to cast them endlessly is in transitions between zones, for example, you cast the spell in Level 2, go to level 3 to sleep (refills MP), go back to cast it, and so on, your Mage bar will increase everytime you cast the spell, it also increases if you use items like the Swarm, specially if you cast it when there are many enemies on screen (2 in front of you, and two on the back of those, your swarm skill will hit the four of them and all will count towards the Mage bar increasing, it's the best use you can give to those consumable spells)

I have played the game many times specially in my childhood, but when I was a kid there were parts where I would get stuck and simply not continue, so the count for completing the game is definitely smaller than the overall play, I know on Dosbox I have beaten the game from start to finish at last 5 times, one with each character (the 5th one is the one they scrapped out of the game), 1 more time on the ScummVM iPhone port, another one on ScummVM PSP port, so that's 7 times I have completed it.

>>3422765
And lastly, this is the best place I've found for any Lands of Lore information:

http://www.abandonia.com/vbullet/showthread.php?t=4308&page=101

I had it on a bookmark so the page is 101, you might want to start from page 1 of course, I saved that specific page because the first post is talking about how Michael is the best magic user, not because he gets the most magic points (that would be Ak'shel), but because his spells deal the most damage because apparently the Mage damage is also tied with Fighter skill, those are details that are way out of my league and it feels really good to know that despite the many times I've played it, there are still stuff I don't know. So I would really recommend you that thread for information.

Ohh and yeah, you have to strip their equipment off before they leave your party, those items get lost forever.

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This picture was one of my last playthroughs on the iPhone ScummVM version, I was trying to do a no compass/atlas/lamp run on Ferocious mode as a way of challenge but have not touched it since because the point I'm in is a bit hard for me because I do not have a "mental map" of these last zones since they're not the ones I played in my childhood (I was stuck before that because english is not my native language and couldn't understand what I needed to do next), I hope I complete it one day, I just need to get myself in the mood (it's also discouraging playing with touch controls so that adds a bit of extra challenge)

>>3422765
>you cast the spell in Level 2, go to level 3 to sleep (refills MP), go back to cast it, and so on

After reading this I don't think I made myself clear with that, I meant the Draracle Caves Level 2 and 3 (the transition between those zones), and not magic levels 2 and 3. Sorry for any confusion.

>>3422752
>>3422765
>>3422774

Oh man, oh no. I did have the compass! But I only got the 200 crowns, not 400, and no sword neither! Guess, I clicked only once right... hehe :( I don't have a bow yet either. Maybe I should just start over.

Thanks for the grinding tips and explaining how the magic XP works. I'm looking forward to reading that thread you linked as well.

Are the other LoL games any good? I was thinking of trying them out after I beat this one.

>>3424727
I didn't like Lands of Lore 2, feels very clunky, you're better off playing Might and Magic VI. I haven't tried Lands of Lore 3 though.

OP check this link, it's full of curiosities:

https://tcrf.net/Lands_of_Lore:_The_Throne_of_Chaos

>>3425191
Thanks, I will.

Btw, setting a fixed value for cpu cycles in DOSBox resolved the audio bug I was experiencing earlier. It was set to auto initially.

>>3424787
I'm currently playing M&M7 and enjoy it. I see 6 mentioned all over. Is it that much better?

>>3415272
is this game turn-based?
i've been looking for a good dungeon crawler (eye of the beholder, ultima underground, dungeon master, etc.) but they're all real time
i just want a zero-stress game

>>3426895
>is this game turn-based?
It is not.

>>3426351
Well Might and Magic VI, VII and VIII are all the pinnacle of the series IMO, they are all different and it will be up to you to decide which one is better.

I for example played VI and VIII in my childhood, and did not touch VII until much later (simply because I did not have the game), and VII feels like a mixture between VI and VIII which contains the best elements of both worlds and that was pretty amazing, so despite nostalgia I learned to love all the 3 games the same specially because I like this kind of genre.

Just try them all, you won't be dissapointed if you are enjoying VII.

(VI is the one that resembles a bit more to Lands of Lore because of "real people portraits" so that's why I mentioned that one, not because it's superior to the others)

>>3426351
6 has the best dungeons by far. If you like 7 you'll like 6.

>>3426895
Go to the Heroes general here on /vr/ and download Might and Magic 1-8 from the pastebin. They're all turn-based (6-8 are turn based and realtime) and great for relaxation.

>>3426895
There is an indie game called The Quest, it has the movement of old dungeon crawlers (eye of the beholder, dungeon hack, etc) and it is turn-based, you move freely until you find an enemy counter nearby, then it switches to turn based (even movement starts being turn based)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LcSYXep-kg