Help with files needed

[Minnakht]

Recently I returned to playing Heroes IV, and it does run on Vista.

*long story*

Due to the game CD being old and not in really good condition, the file for the Vial of Binding Liquid (or so, Polish version of this game) is lost somewhere. Or broken, I don't know for sure. When it would appear in anyone's inventory the game crashes, when looking at the "shop" in Academy it is shown as 0 price, and so on.

And worst of all, even though it seems to not appear in random encounters, there seems to be a sure spawn of this thing in the third map of the Nature campaign, so I can't proceed.

Is there anything you could do about this?

[solitaire345]

I kind of think it's because of Vista. If the file is damaged due to scratches, the installer shouldn't finish at all. Have you tried to install from this disk on other computer with other OS?

[jeff]

I doubt Vista is the culprit, I played H-IV for over two years on Vista Home 32 bit (using XP compatibility) and had no issues. If it is installed successfully you might try installing Equilibris; you won't need the CD to play. Then see if it still crashes, but it does sound as you may have a corrupt file. Perhaps one of the modders can identify which file that info is stored. Have you tried opening the editor and seeing if the vial is there and can you place it on a map?

[Minnakht]

Phew, I had my doubts as this forum does seem dead... nevermind.

Still, for some of the questions:

If it is installed successfully you might try installing Equilibris;

I only have the base and Gathering Storm (not installed yet), no WoW, so I'm not sure if I should Equilibris, but... well, worth a try.

Have you tried to install from this disk on other computer with other OS?

I had the game previously and for a very long time on a PC with Windows 2000, and the problem did happen there as well.

Have you tried opening the editor and seeing if the vial is there and can you place it on a map?

Yes, on this old computer I did. The vial was placable and did have its graphics, but it had no name, and it had no name in those options deep in the editor where you can select what is meant to show up in random artifacts and what isn't. And, of course, running a map with one and getting an hero to pick it up resulted in a crash. I may run some more tests about this... uh, now. Yes.

EDIT: I have tried now. I made a small map with just the Vial and one hero one player and a Quest House that causes victory if you bring the vial. The vial shows in the editor properly - has a name, has graphics, can be found in the "Artifacts" section of options. So I ran the map, came up to the vial, and just as it would say I picked it up... the game froze and then after a few seconds it quit. Exactly the same as when I win the siege against the northwestern town in the Nature campaign (Elwin) third map, as the hero in there has the vial. I'm sure. Back on the old computer some moving hero had the vial, same map, same player.

So, maybe one of the modders knows which file is it and could put it up for downloading somewhere so I can replace the faulty one?

[ByteBandit]

I would still recommend getting Equilibris once you get everything figured out. It's free and you don't need the CD like Jeff says. And it balances H4 as best as can be done, so it's a win-win situation regardless. I use it and I love it. If you don't like it, get rid of it. But I think you would be in the minority if you did. Just an opinion from a fan only.

As far as the corrupt file goes, I could'nt tell you which one it is. I would probably do another clean install with XP compatibility, get the necessary patch fixes and I would think you are good to go from there. I don't have 7 or Vista, but that's what I would do.

[GreatEmerald]

Yea, for corrupt files, it's hard to say what file is it, since from what I know in general about games, there isn't one file that would hold all of the data about it - it has graphics, it has code, and those can be split between several files, too.

If you have GS, try installing it and see if the issue is still there. Often times a repatch/expansion will overwrite the corrupt file with a good one.

[solitaire345]

I have uploaded text archives to the internet: http://sites.google.com/site/algimantas ... ects=0&d=1
file, named "old" is for the basic version, file, named "new" is for other versions, including equilibris. i tested it with The Gathering Storm and it seems to work, but i can not promise that it is completely compatible.

[Minnakht]

Copied old to the data folder, opened the test map and it worked! As a side effect, it cleared the map size parts in the scenario select screen and turned everything into English, but... I like it more in English, so... REALLY THANK YOU

...now I'll just check if the campaign part works.

EDIT: It also broke all the spell texts, putting the flavor text in the spell description part (the bold, upper part) and spell results in the flavor text space (italics) and put x as every spell name, and the Vial while in inventory still has no description, just ":" is the only thing that shows up, but... but hey, the game doesn't crash, so... success! I'll try copying new in there and seeing what will happen.

EDIT2: Copying new in there fixed the spells. I'll stick to it. Thanks again, now I can make progress!

[solitaire345]

Hi. If the only thing that crashes the game is that vial, use this file: http://sites.google.com/site/algimantas ... ects=0&d=1
it is for unpatched version, and it overriddes only your artifacts table without breaking other files. rename to new to work. (your H4 now will be partly english - partly polish)