New to ToEE? Read this first.

[Lord Plothos]

Bit of background: The developers at Troika were forced by Atari to release the game well before they wanted to. They made a valiant effort to complete it and test it, but it came out predictably buggy. This is too bad, because what in my opinion is one of the best games ever made was very badly received and sold poorly.

The good news is it has since been just about completely fixed and has had a large amount of great content added, fleshing out the sparse points. First, the game designers kept working on the game after it was released. The first two patches fix most of the big bugs. A couple lingered, so they put out patch 3. However, patch 2 had been out for a while and everything fixed in patch 3 was already fixed by fan mods. Hence, patch 3 was obsolete when released. Because of this, and because all the mods and further fixes were coded for patch 2, nobody took the time to re-code their mods for patch 3. Installing patch 3, therefore, interferes with any other fan mods, many of which do a better job fixing what 3 did anyway.

Installation: As a result of the events mentioned in the above story, in almost every case, the best thing to do after installing the game is to get only patch 2 and install it (some people have better luck starting with patch 1 and then installing patch 2, but 2 should include 1, and this should not be necessary). After getting 2, solve what patch 3 solved and more (including the infamous looting and magic missile bugs) with Moebius' "Temple.dll" fix.

These items can be found here.

Moebius' fix goes by the name "unofficial patch" on that page. Note that first you must install the official patch 2, and then apply the Moebius fix. To do this, you don't run any install files, but rather you unzip the download and manually transfer some things. There should be a readme file in the .zip with instructions, but the basic idea is you locate in your games main directory, a file called temple.dll and replace it with the file by that same name from the .zip. (Don't overwrite the old one, in case of emergencies. Just rename it something like "temple-original.dll" - the game won't ever use it, but it'll be there if you ever need it.) You're not done yet. You now need to take the remaining files from the .zip and copy them to the game's "data" folder. There should be a folder called data in the .zip. Take the folders from inside that and put them inside the data folder from the original game. (Basically, you want a data folder in the game's directory with all the files it had at the outset plus those folders inside the data folder from the .zip. I don't think you need to put the other assorted files from the .zip in there, but I would, just in case.) Once they are in there, the game should run and the vast majority of bugs should be fixed.

As with all games, as systems and their OSs "improve" games develop problems because of new code no one ever anticipated. Some people, as a result of the service pack 2 update for windows XP, experience a black screen and a crash to desktop (CTD) when they try to run the game. There is a fix for this, if you encounter it, but you will have to PM me or ask around, as gamebanshee.com has asked us to keep it on the q.t.

I have at present no good data on problems specific to windows Vista or other OSs.

Finally, there is an extensive modding community to be found at http://www.co8.org. They have a range of updates, mods, and general improvements that greatly enhance the playing of ToEE. Some of the nicest features include a "front end" program, ToEEFE, that let you pick and choose from some tweaks to the game at startup (e.g. whether you want PC levels capped at 10, or not). This also allows you to do certain things with portrait packs and to set up several different "modules" that let you play with the different mods and settings without having to constantly reinstall and modify the game.

As some of the mods are just included with the co8 versions of the game, and as these change the content and increase the difficulty of the game, it's a good idea to just start with patch 2 and Moebius' temple.dll fix to play the standard game, and then advance to co8 stuff from there. The community there is very friendly and can answer any questions you have - you probably will, as they have a lot of good work, but the documentation is often hard to locate and stuff is ever-evolving.

Finally, the folks at co8 have been working long and hard on a NEW GAME using the ToEE engine. It is a separate game, but runs, as I understand it, as a module loaded into the ToEE front end program. Last I heard, it was still in beta-testing, but was more-or-less complete and getting a good response. It is entirely free (which is why they're legally allowed to do this) and entirely fan-made (with much just copied from ToEE, of course).

I hope all that info helps. Enjoy this great game, and let us know if you encounter any problems.

[Lord Plothos]

Once you have started your game, you should have no problems, but if you have a crash to desktop upon startup, there may be a workaround that's a bit hush hush. PM me for a the first thing to try.

When the game is up in running, STEP ONE before you do ANYTHING:
Turn off the autosave function in the options menu. Save only by using the esc key to access the save menu. This is because the autosave function has an unfortunate tendency to corrupt save files.

[Lord Plothos]

The quicksave function is also to be avoided.

Save ONLY by hitting esc and clicking save game.

[dhammond]

I am having this win XP service pack 2 drop to desk top issue with my game.
Please send me the work around.
Thanks!

Hmm ToEE worked on my computer after install from CD.

When I patched official patch 2 only and then I get this:

Run time error, abnormal program termination and then it drops to desk top and my mouse icon turns into a spinning CD icon. The CD drive indicates it is in use but it is not spinning and it will not eject the CD. I have to reboot to clear the error and then I can eject the CD.

I hope your work around fixes this issue for me.

Further info when I patch using Circle of eight mod pack 5.9.3 NC Beta release Nov 23, 2010 then that patch resolves my abnormal program termination problem. However all I get after this when I try to run the game is the 3 splash screens. The when the game Intro video is to start it drops me back to the desk top. No error message just dump to desk top. It appears that the Co8 mod 5.9.3 does fix some of my issues but not the win xp service pack 2 issue which still drops me to desk top.
Man this game takes a lot of work to make it run.

[dhammond]

I am still waiting for some help here. Nobody willing to PM me the help I need?