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Lode Runner Online for Free...
Posted September 28, 2009
Originally posted here : http://www.daggert.net/Folio/Programming/Presage/LodeRunner/Loderunner1.htm
Now available here : Todd Daggert Site on Wayback Machine
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Hey folks. I figured I'd add a post here for anyone looking to get this game, Lode Runner Online/On-Line: The Mad Monk's Revenge, running on post Win XP PCs (Win7+). I went through this process just this past week, so I documented my process and copied the files off so anyone can just follow what I did.
You just need the file "Lode Runner Online - Preinstalled by SIERRA.zip" under the following link : https://archive.org/details/loderunneronline.
There's a file in the archive titled "Lode Runner Online - Preinstalled by SIERRA.txt" which tells you what's in the archive and where to navigate in the archive for the install instructions (this is just to avoid muddying up the install).
It's a fairly straightforward process, so long as you're ok with editing text files to set the right paths. It's pretty easy. I tell you what you need to do. If you get especially hung up, get in touch with me and I'll attempt to help.
The entire ISO is there also in case you want the CD Music. Getting that going is beyond what I can offer help with, but if you either burn it to a CD, or set it up as a virtual drive in something like PowerISO or DaemonTools and alter the SIERRA.INI mentioned to set the CDPath setting to the drive, it'll play.
There's also the manual and the original install file from Todd Daggert's website when it was given away as freeware.
I just want to add that I'm not overlooking the significant contribution by QuarkRobot in his "Mad Monks' Revenge Definitive Edition". For 95% of the people out there, that's the way to go. The "Definitive Edition" is WAY easier to setup and will get you most, if not all, the result.
My instructions are for purists like myself who take the act of setting this up as a challenge and want to have the original as an option. I have both the QuarkRobot's Definitive Edition and the original linked here installed.
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My motivation for figuring this out was I was transferring my old system over to a new one and couldn't get LRO to run. I tried to run the installer again, but the installer is a 16 bit app and therefore completely deprecated in new versions of Windows.
I found new installers at a site (http://www.sierrahelp.com/Patches-Updates/NewSierraInstallers.html) but upon running these through VirusTotal, ALL of them came up with trojans.
The site claims these are "false positives" but I don't buy it. The choice was either take the time to reverse engineer what the installer did or take the chance and possibly destabilize a system I spent an absolute ton of time setting up just right to do game development and gaming on, as well as use for general tasks. I (obviously) opted for the former.
So, I started by copying the installed DIR over from my old XP machine I had it working on and tracing through the error messages. It was helpful that the file SIERRA.INF in the install has a script that tells me what the program does to validate the install. In there it told me it refers to the file SIERRA.INI in the Windows DIR and reads settings out of that.
Well, I just copied that there and that changed the host of error messages. I then looked at the file to determine what it's looking at and noticed all the paths were wrong and changed them to where I had copied the install. This again changed the errors I was getting. So, at this point I had it on the run.
I then had to finagle with copying the DirectPlay DLL in the Windows DIR to what it was expecting and that fixed one of the last errors saying that wasn't available.
Then I just had to set it for Compatibility Mode for Win98, 640x480, 256 colors and it ran! I outline what you have to change to get it to work. You don't need any installer at all, and certainly not one that potentially opens up your system to attack. F that!
TL;DR - I screwed with the install a whole bunch over a night and figured out exactly what the installer does and outlined/documented how to manually reproduce it such that no install is needed. You can now just enjoy the fruits of my labor and copy the DIR over, take a few steps, and play.
Enjoy!
Files (also linked above) :
Lode Runner Online - Preinstalled by SIERRA.zip
Lode Runner On-Line (Full ISO, Manual, Original Installer, & Pre-Installed Files)
Mad Monks' Revenge Definitive Edition
Levels & Utilities :
Lode Runner Archive (Site with TONS of levels & Utilities)
TNT Level Pack
ChaosUnown Level Pack (File)
Lode Trekker Mod & Levels (File & ReadMe)
Dungeon Master Remake...
Posted September 21, 2009
http://homepage.mac.com/aberfield/dmj/
Screenshots :
http://homepage.mac.com/aberfield/dmj/screenshots.html
Shadowgate-like game...
Posted September 14, 2009
Malstrums Mansion.
Play here :
http://www.aceteam.cl/retro/
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