DarkStone US v1.03

DarkStone US v1.03

Upgrades DarkStone to version 1.03. The patch makes a number of changes, which can be seen by clicking "more info".

Patch Beta 1.0.3 Darkstone US:

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* What you must know before installing this patch:

With this patch, characters and single player save games are compatible with the previous

versions. (However it's possible some objects may disappear from your inventory as we are now checking duplicated

objects).

The network save game is not compatible. (You can load it, but you may have some problems)

Installation of this patch is irreversible.

* This should be done before installing this patch:

You must copy the folder "Darkstone/save"(the save games and the characters) somewhere else on your computer,

in case you want to reinstall the version 1.0.0 later.

The save games that have been made with this patch cannot be used with the version 1.0.0.

*What's new about this patch:

*The difficulty level has been increased:

-The monsters open the doors.

-Some of them have new spells (Reflection...)

-Their resistance and their speed movements have been increased.

*There is a new difficulty level,"Heros", also playable on the network:

-More difficult.

-Some new monsters are waiting for you.

-And new weapons too.

*Some new character functions have been added :

-Change of memory spells of the 2nd character with the shortcut key.

-Call for help and your 2nd character attacks your closest attacker.

-The automatic spells for the second character are more intelligent.

-Characters can now be exported from saved game files.

*The network has been improved:

-The chat box supports up to 80 characters.

-Chat messages are now visible by the sender.

-The server is able to end the session of another player using "K" followed by the player number.

-In cooperative mode, your character can't be attacked by another player.

-Moving the mouse on a multiplayer character will display his experience level.

-The disconnect problems have been corrected.

*What you must know about the network :

If you play on Windows 95 you must install Winsock 2 (Not for 98 it's already on it)

Installing Directplay 6.1A may correct some problems.

If again you have some problems ,try with these differents command lines (Each PC in the session

must have started the game with the same command line):

In IPX protocol:

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*nooptimizelatency : remove the bandwidth optimization for latency delays

to send information less often as it is packed bigger .

*noguarantee : remove the guarantee messages of directPlayprotocol

The information you send is not guaranteed, so if it is lost (Collision) it will not be sent again.

This may cause desynchronization problems.

*noasync : remove the asynchrone network messages of directPlayprotocol

The program waits for the guarantee messages and the game look freezes until the message arrives.

*nodirectPlayprotocol : disable the DirectPlayProtocol

Use the normal IPX protocol (disable the guarantee messages,wait for reply)

Could be better in some cases.

In TCP/IP protocol:

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*nooptimizelatency : remove the bandwidth optimization for latency delays

to send information less often as it is packed bigger.

*keepalive : enable the DirectPlay keepAlive option.

Let Direct X manage the disconnection problems.(if the other players do not answer within 6 seconds,

the player will be disconnected).

You could activate this option if you have a good bandwidth ,otherwise ,

if someone is disconnected,the host has to kill the disconnected player from the game with the 'K' key.

*directplayprotocol : enable the DirectPlayProtocol (off in TCP/IP ).

*noguarantee : remove the guarantee messages of directPlayprotocol.

The information you send is not guaranteed, so if it is lost (Collision) it will not be sent again.

This may cause desynchronization problems.

*noasync : remove the asynchrone network messages of directPlayprotocol

The program waits for the guarantee messages and the game look freezes until the message arrives.

See the updated Readme.txt file for more information about this patch.