installation

[Vladimyr]

Hello!

1) I installed Black Gate and Serpent Isle on my computer.
2) I downloaded the Exult source for Windows XP
3) I tried to run exult and it said something was wrong with my configuration.

I am sorry. But I know very little about computers and manipulating them so as to make things like this work. If you could instruct me in a very easy-to-understand manner I would much appreciate it.

Thank you... I love u7
Vladimyr

[b]

Hi, I am very tech unsavvy and this is what I did

Open My Computer, then open C drive

Make new folder named exult
open exult folder, make one folder named ultima7, one folder named serpent
Load up old U7 disk, install ultima 7 to c:\exult\ultima7
install serpent isle to c:\exult\serpent

download exult and install to c:\exult

download sound files and install as per the documentation

[marzo]

Try this.

[Vladimyr]

This is the part that's confusing me..I don't understand this at all...the 2.2 details don't make sense to me either:

Edit the configuration file with a text editor (e.g. on Windows use Notepad) and enter the correct paths for the game folders - see 2.2. for details

[MeddlingMonk]

It's not all that tough and you've actually posted part of the answer yourself. You say that you put The Black Gate in c:\exult\ultima7 so if you open exult.cfg in Notepad or whatever you locate where it says and underneath is and make sure that what is beneath reads c:\exult\ultima7. All you need to do is edit exult.cfg so that every path is pointing to where things are on your hard drive. Since you clearly know where you have put things, it's really just a matter of applying what you know to a so-far unfamiliar situation.

[Vladimyr]

(default)


jmsfx.flx












(default)


jmsisfx.flx


1




.




2xSaI


no




yes


no


yes


no


no


no



0


original


no



8


yes


yes




no


yes



yes


gs


normal




yes


gm


-1

[MeddlingMonk]

Ah. I see where you've gone wrong. You've got the path settings essentially correct except you're doing things like when c:\exult\ultima7 is all you need. Also, you have two Serpent Isle sections (the second one having no path setting, only a period). So delete the reduntant SI section and take the out of the path settings and you'll probably be OK.

[marzo]

So delete the reduntant SI section and take the out of the path settings and you'll probably be OK.

Just a small correction: doing just that won't help. Instead, replace this:

Code: Select all

with this:

Code: Select all

 


c:\exult\ultima7

and then replace this:

Code: Select all

 
(default)


jmsisfx.flx


1




.

with this:

Code: Select all

c:\exult\serpentisle

 
(default)


jmsisfx.flx



1

That ought to do it.

[Vladimyr]

....I've made those changes. But it still won't work "could not find data files"
Here's what it looks like so far:






c:\exult\ultima7



(default)


jmsfx.flx



c:\exult\serpentisle


(default)


jmsisfx.flx



1




2xSaI


no




yes


no


yes


no


no


no



0


original


no



8


yes


yes




no


yes



yes


gs


normal




yes


gm


-1




1




2xSaI


no




yes


no


yes


no


no


no



0


original


no



8


yes


yes




no


yes



yes


gs


normal




yes


gm


-1

[marzo]

Hm. Your exult.cfg is still corrupted; I am posting a fixed version. Note the parts in bold; you must edit those to be the path to where you installed the original games. Most specifically, the 'static' directory of the game in question must be a sub-directory of the path you enter.

Code: Select all

 
  
   
    
    [b]c:\exult\ultima7[/b]
    
    
    (default)
    
    
    jmsfx.flx
    
   
   
    
    [b]c:\exult\serpentisle[/b]
    
    
    (default)
    
    
    jmsisfx.flx
    
   
  
  
  1
  
 
 
  
  2xSaI
  
  
  no
  
 
 
  
  yes
  
  
  no
  
  
  yes
  
  
  no
  
  
  no
  
  
  no
  
  
  
  0
  
  
  original
  
  
  no
  
  
  
  8
  
  
  yes
  
  
  yes
  
 
 
  
  no
  
  
  yes
  
  
   
   yes
   
   
   gs
   
   
   normal
   
  
  
   
   yes
   
   
   gm
   
   
   -1
   
  
 

[MeddlingMonk]

Pity there isn't (yet) a way to specify paths in the GUI. Maybe someday.

[Vladimyr]

I copy and pasted Marzo's data over my corrupted data. It still doesn't work. So maybe something else is wrong?

[MeddlingMonk]

There is potentially a minor problem with what you copied as what is there for but only if you don't have what's specified and even if you didn't, you just wouldn't have that sound. So, how is it not working now. Do you start Exult and it claims there's no game data or is it something else? The only thing I can think of right now is that you don't really have BG in c:\exult\ultima7 nor SI in c:\exult\serpentisle. Earlier you did say you put BG in c:\exult\ultima7 but you also said you put SI in c:\exult\serpent. If you did, that would be a problem although only for SI (you'd just need to correct the SI entry in exult.cfg or rename the folder to match the entry). Another thought...when you say you installed from from an old U7 disk, but which one? The floppies, The Complete Ultima VII CD, the Ultima Collection CD? Each had it's own ideas about the default install path.

[Dominus]

Pity there isn't (yet) a way to specify paths in the GUI. Maybe someday.

I wish we could decide on something like the scummvm loader...

[Vladimyr]

A friend copied it on to my computer from his CD. My copy "the collection" cracked when I stepped on it.

I first played the game years ago. I've had a yearning to play it again. Lately I've been watching Youtube videos of the game. How pathetic is that?

It still says it can't find the data and I've made all the changes everyone tells me to change. So I don't know what to do anymore.

[marzo]

It still says it can't find the data and I've made all the changes everyone tells me to change.

Please do this:
1) Run Exult, close it and browse to the Exult installation folder (you can right click the shortcut, select properties then click "Find target"). In this folder, find the "stdout.txt" file and post the first 20 lines here.
2) Still in the Exult folder, post the directory structure. For example, in my computer I have this (only showing the relevant folders):

Code: Select all

    D:\Ultima7
      |- BlackGate
        |- static
      |- data
      |- SerpentIsle
        |- static
      |- tools

3) Also post here the full path to where you installed Exult, just to be sure.

[Vladimyr]

Exult version 1.2
Built at: Jun 12 2004 03:31:19
Compile-time options: NO_SDL_PARACHUTE, HAVE_ZIP_SUPPORT
Compiler: Microsoft C/C++ Compiler, version: 13.0.9466

Platform: Windows XP Service Pack 2 Version 5.1 Build 2600
Exult path settings:
Data : data\.
Digital music : data\\music

1 Midi Devices Detected
Listing midi devices:
-1: Microsoft MIDI Mapper
0: Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth
Using device -1: Microsoft MIDI Mapper
Music player: Internal Win32 Midiout Midi Player for Exult and Pentagram.
Black Gate : not found (c:\exult\ultima7\static\endgame.dat)
exult_bg.flx : found
Serpent Isle : not found (c:\exult\serpentisle\static\sispeech.spc)
exult_si.flx : found


[and here is where exult is: C:\Program Files\Exult]
Thanks

[Dominus]

Since there is clearly something wrong, please answer Marzo's 2nd step

2) Still in the Exult folder, post the directory structure. For example, in my computer I have this (only showing the relevant folders):

D:\Ultima7
|- BlackGate
|- static
|- data
|- SerpentIsle
|- static
|- tools

And let Windows search for the files endgame.dat and sispeech.spc and post here where they were found.

[Vladimyr]

Endgame.dat is C:\Program Files\Exult\ultima7\STATIC

sispeech.spc is C:\Program Files\Exult\serpentisle\SI\STATIC

Directory Structure:
- Data
- images
- serpentisle
--SI
---STATIC
- ultima7
--STATIC

that's all the folders
thanks

[marzo]

Yes, the guess I made when I asked for those 3 bits of information was absolutely correct: you didn't edit the paths at all, like I told you to; note the discrepancy:

Black Gate : not found (c:\exult\ultima7\static\endgame.dat)
exult_bg.flx : found
Serpent Isle : not found (c:\exult\serpentisle\static\sispeech.spc)

(emphasis added) Compare with this:

Endgame.dat is C:\Program Files\Exult\ultima7\STATIC
sispeech.spc is C:\Program Files\Exult\serpentisle\SI\STATIC

(emphasis added)
Now that I know the paths, I can state the correction: in exult.cfg, find this:

Code: Select all

    
    [b]c:\exult\ultima7[/b]
    

and replace with this:

Code: Select all

    
    [b]c:\Program Files\Exult\ultima7[/b]
    

then find this:

Code: Select all

    
    [b]c:\exult\serpentisle[/b]
    

and replace with this:

Code: Select all

    
    [b]C:\Program Files\Exult\serpentisle\SI[/b]
    

If you prefer, you can use ".\" instead of "C:\Program Files\Exult\"; this will give you the ability to move the entire folder elsewhere (if you want to -- say, to a USB stick) and still be able to use Exult without having to edit exult.cfg again.

Also, I'd suggest (but this is by no means required) that you move SI's static folder to "C:\Program Files\Exult\serpentisle" and get rid of the \SI folder (and remove it from the replacement path above).

Finally: you may or may not experience problems even with the correct settings in exult.cfg because you installed Exult in "Program Files", which has a space in the path -- and some people had problems with that in the past (or so the docs say). I think you will be fine, I am just giving a heads up.

[Vladimyr]

It's working!!!!! Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!