Patches
1.6 Patch
Introduction
The 1.6 patch is the latest unofficial patch that has been released for the game. It is also unarguably the biggest unofficial patch to date and boasts a number of changes and improvements to the original game. The patch was built as a continuation to Service Release 2.
It allowed further changes and improvements to be made as significant advancements had been made in decoding the game files. Another significant factor that contributed to the fact that fixes and improvements could be made was that there was quite some research into the main game executable itself as well in hopes of finding values there that could lead to a fix or two, which eventually panned out.
The patch was officially released on October 4, 2013 and currently supports English, Dutch, French, German, Hungarian, Polish and Russian versions of the game.
Development
The development of the 1.6 patch really started in late 2007. There was a hoax going around about a supposed patch that was going to fix many longstanding problems requiring assembler code to fix, e.g. the multiplayer issues. At that time thinking it was going to be a real patch, I thought it might be a good idea to sneak in a few fixes of my own into the patch. Later on however, it turned out that the supposed patch was just something someone came up with due to boredom.
But the possibility of an upcoming patch had inspired me to do some work on fixing some missions and messed up building properties for some of the new buildings in The Peasants Rebellion and also doing some small fixes on the English translation. However after doing some small scale interest checking on the German forums there didn't seem to be much interest in another unofficial patch unless burning issues like multiplayer synchronization could be fixed. As such the patch was put on hold, even though the slightly updated English translation eventually saw its release in the form of English Language Pack 4.
During summer 2008 I suddenly felt the urge to pick up the little patch project again and held a new interest check on the English forums. Interest over here generally seemed higher than on the German forums and driven by this, I released the first public beta version of the patch on July 21, 2008. The list of changes was pretty meager at this point, but there was plenty of feedback given regarding the state of the missions and a second beta of the patch followed just a week later on July 28, 2008. As time went on, the list of changes grew at a constant rate mostly due to very helpful feedback received from the community. The third beta version of the patch was release August 10, 2008.
Perhaps one of the biggest things for the patch was what was achieved in beta 4. It included the first of a few hacks that were created by disassembling the game EXE file itself. All the credits for figuring this one out go to Lewin; I seriously couldn't have done any of the changes to the game binary without his help. While the EXE hack for beta 4 was simply to allow adding the missing songs from The Shattered Kingdom, it was the start of a bunch of fixes and improvements that could be made in the future by using disassembly as a reference point. Beta 4 was released August 31, 2008.
A pretty much quick hotfix release was published as beta 5 on September 2, 2008 as there were some pretty severe bugs that had popped in as a result of the previous patch. It also included a small teaser of what was to come in the form of small changes to how the tutorial worked.
The most important release by far was beta 6 on October 1, 2008. With the advent of dissassembly, Lewin and I had managed to make changes like fixing the statistics screen to include all of the available citizens and buildings. It also included a hugely expanded tutorial that would go through the complete build-up process in the town tutorial mission. Some other not so big hacks were also included, like the carpenter now getting unlocked in the statistics screen when building a siege workshop and so on. Another quite nice touch was the addition of sound effects to siege equipment courtesy of Lewin.
At this point, development of the patch slowed down. The Knight had managed to receive the source files for the game manuals and I spent quite some time updating these to remove errors that had crept in a bit here and there. I also started toying with the installer for the patch itself. But that hardly took a year to achieve; instead my interest in doing the patch itself kind of died down and as such it would take all the way to September 26, 2009 for beta 7 to get released. The changes to the game itself were pretty minimal with most of the effort having been used to get the manuals up to date.
During this time my waning interest in the patch got the best of me and I didn't have much motivation to pick up any work on finishing off the patch. This would eventually lead to the longest break the patch was going to have between releases. It took over two years for the first release candidate to show up. It was eventually released on January 7, 2012. On a more positive note, a rather obscure French translation of the game was supported starting from this release.
On August 31, 2012 a minor update was released as release candidate 2. The major new thing here being compatibility with the newly released 2012 edition of the game. As a small added bonus, most of the new tracks from the 2012 edition of the game were included into the patch.
The development of the patch finally started nearing an end when the final release of the patch was pre-released on July 2, 2013. With pre-release I mean that I didn't promote it at that point since I was hoping to have at least the English, German, Dutch and Polish translations of the patch done before I'd officially announce that the patch had been released.
Time flows like a river, and finally on October 4, 2013 I got the Polish build of the patch done and could as such consider the patch officially complete.
Regrettably the patch could have been finished all the way back in 2009 if motivation and I just got along better. But at least its finally out there!
List of Changes
General Improvements
- Revised statistics screen, now includes all buildings and occupants
- Added missing songs from “The Shattered Kingdom” back into the game
- Added most of the songs from the 2012 edition into the game
- Game music player now says “Track” before track number
- Music player now starts with track number 1 instead of 0
- Publisher video promoting TopWare Interactive added
- The fisherman now uses unique greeting and death sounds
- Sound effects have been added to the catapult and the ballista
- The rebel, rogue, vagabond and warrior now use their own sound files to allow replacement
- Improved sound effect and music quality
- The rebel now has unique sound files (
, 
) - The rogue now has unique sound files (
, 
, , ) - The vagabond now has unique sound files (, )
- The warrior now has unique sound files (, , , )
- Added a general horse scream battle sound effect that was missing (
, 
, ) - The Shattered Kingdom campaign added to the game ()
- Removed some Barbarian sound effects that were duplicates of the Sword Fighter, added unique DEATH sounds and renamed an ATTACK sound to a BATTLE sound (, )
- Z and Y are no longer reversed when writing messages in multiplayer (, , )
- Improved the game logo intro video ()
- Improved the quality of The Shattered Kingdom campaign intro video ()
- Added a missing sound effect to the knight ()
- The game font files are now based on the Windows-1250 character set (, )
- The game font files are now based on the Windows-1251 character set ()
- The game font files are now based on the Windows-1252 character set (, , ,
)
General Fixes
- The siege workshop and the town hall can no longer be built on top of trees
- Building a fisherman's now unlocks the fisherman in the statistics menu
- Building a siege workshop now unlocks the carpenter in the statistics menu
- The AI will now properly take all wares to its storehouses
- Sound effects for the crossbowman now work properly ()
- The rebel now uses the sound effects of the lance carrier (, , , , )
- The rogue now uses the sound effects of the bowman (, , )
- The changes made in the 1.53 patch are now carried over properly ()
- Removed English barbarian sound effects ()
- The correct soldier hotkeys are now reported by the game ()
- The briefings for mission 6 and mission 8 of The Shattered Kingdom campaign have been corrected ()
- The message in the fourth mission of The Peasants Rebellion campaign is now correct ()
General Changes
- Scout line of sight is now back at 9 squares
- The fisherman's now gets unlocked after you build a sawmill
- The briefing font file line height has been decreased to allow for longer texts
- Relocated the fisherman in the schoolhouse between carpenter and farmer
- Game music tracks have been reorganized according to The Shattered Kingdom with the new tracks added thereafter
- In-game message strings have been reorganized to make it easier to keep track of the messages
- Two colors changed in the menu palette, necessary to make it possible to add the Russian game logo
- All mentions of ZuXXeZ Entertainment and the local publisher have been changed to TopWare Interactive
- The crossbowman sound files are now read from a folder called “crossbowman”
- The mission briefings are now read from a folder called “briefings”
- Soldier command hotkeys changed (, , )
Graphical Changes
- Iron mine icon now has blue pickaxes to match the color of the ore
- The militia parchment now uses the official graphic with two sword icons
- The in-game menu graphics are now of a higher quality when playing in 1280x960 or 1280x1024
- Allow repair/disallow repair icons will no longer bump one pixel when clicked
Text Changes
General
- Roll-over messages and short tool tips are no longer ended with a full stop
- Game credits have been cleaned up, hopefully making more sense now
- Multiplayer starting properties now use the values of “Storehouse”, “Storehouse and Troops” and “Troops and Buildings”
- Single mission mode is now consistently called single mission mode and not single map mode
- The resolution button at the main menu screen no longer separately mentions that it is for the resolution in the game
- The map size for the single mission “Snow and Sand” is now properly reported as 160x128
- The music player is no longer called a CD player, but simply a music player
- Added text strings for all the new songs into the game files
English
- The Peasants Rebellion briefings rewritten and renarrated
- The Peasants Rebellion campaign messages rewritten
- Vehicles workshop renamed to siege workshop
- Fischer's hut renamed to fisherman's
- Iron armament renamed to iron armor
- School hous renamed to schoolhouse
- Many citizen descriptions have been improved
- The game now mainly uses British spelling to make the language more consistent
- ...to be continued
French
- The Shattered Kingdom campaign messages rewritten
- The Peasants Rebellion briefings rewritten to be true to the narration
- The Peasants Rebellion campaign messages rewritten
- Some building and unit names have been changed to make more sense
- ...to be continued
Dutch
- ...to be continued
German
- The Peasants Rebellion campaign messages rewritten
- ...to be continued
Hungarian
- ...to be continued
Polish
- ...to be continued
Russian
- ...to be continued
Mission Changes
General
- You now start off with fish in all missions where you are allowed to build a fisherman's; other food amounts have been reduced to take this into account
- The AI now also starts off with fish in his storehouse in missions where this is applicable
- Fixed several instances of areas in maps that were inaccessible yet you were able to click on them
- A lot of general mapping errors like misplaced roads and buildings, and stone traces have been fixed
- You are no longer allowed to build fishermen's in missions with no accessible water
- Decreased the defense radii of several enemies in multiple missions
- Maps where the AI left some buildings unprotected have been fixed
- In some missions the AI had too high defense radii and as such they would get ways too aggressive if you expanded your camp; this has been fixed
- Missions where the enemy doesn't have watch towers now have a limit on how many recruits the enemy may have
- The AI is now capable of properly handling all different types of soldiers he may create in a certain mission
- The AI soldier placements should no longer overlap each other and have been generally improved
- Road systems of AI players have been improved in missions where enemy serfs usually get jammed in front of the storehouse
- Some missions have had additional inns placed for the AI to prevent starvation
- A lot of defense positions have been added for the AI in missions where they generally had too few
- Missions where the AI doesn't attack now have a maximum limit on the amount of soldiers the enemy may deploy
- Added aquatic animals to lakes that used to be empty
- Allied towns are now always visible from the start
Town Tutorial
- The tutorial is now a lot more thorough and takes you through building all of the available buildings
- You now start off with 700 gold like you did before Service Release 2
- You are no longer allowed to build stables, watchtowers, gold mines, coal mines or iron mines
- Some units that were misplaced in Service Release 2 have been fixed
Battle Tutorial
- Each message is now sent after you have completed your previously assigned task
The Shattered Kingdom
- The fisherman's is now unlocked in the second mission
- The town hall is now unlocked in the ninth mission
- The siege workshop is now unlocked in the eleventh mission
- Mission 2 has had a misplaced scout defense position fixed
- Mission 3 has had a bug fixed which could cause the enemy attack to get delayed
- Mission 5 now allows building of barracks
- Mission 5 has had a bug fixed where the purple team soldiers wouldn't return to their base after an attack
- Mission 5 has had some additional coal added to the blue team
- Mission 5 now requires you to defeat all enemies and soldiers in order to win
- Mission 6 has had a bug fixed where some enemy soldiers would on occasion refuse to attack
- Mission 7 has been fixed so that the enemy attacks are of the same size as they were in the original game
- Mission 7 has had a bug fixed where some enemy watchtowers would on occasion end up being unoccupied
- Mission 7 has had a bug fixed where your ally would have trouble attacking enemy buildings
- Mission 7 now also requires you to defeat all soldiers in order to win
- Mission 7 no longer allows you to build watchtowers; this is because the briefing of mission 8 says that the technology to build watchtowers has been discovered
- Mission 8 now has the proper amount of barbarians attacking you at the start, just like in the original game
- Mission 8 has had useless barbarians that would never attack you and just starve removed
- Mission 8 has had a butcher's and a tannery added to the northern enemy
- Mission 9 has had the defending positions of the enemy soldiers completely redone
- Mission 9 now has the enemy starting off with more powerful soldiers; this is to prevent the mission from being winnable with ease using only the soldiers you have at start
- Mission 9 has had a bug fixed which lead to the fact that the enemy would rarely or never attack
- Mission 9 has had one weapons smithy replaced by a weapons workshop
- Mission 9 has had some fields added to enemy farms that previously had none
- Mission 9 had a farm without fields that has been replaced by a weapons workshop
- Mission 9 has had a bug fixed where a bakery wouldn't appear due to uneven terrain
- Mission 11 now requires you to defeat all enemies and their soldiers in order to win
- Mission 11 now has the southern enemy working like before as in they will attempt to cut down the stone deposit eventually leading to a very quick path into their camp
- Mission 12 now requires you to defeat all enemies and their soldiers in order to win
- Mission 12 has had a farm fixed that previously wouldn't appear due to uneven terrain
- Mission 12 now has the northern enemy playing more aggressively
- Mission 14 has had a defense position corrected that previously had the enemies facing in the wrong direction
- Mission 15 has had the gold mines of the northeastern enemy fixed so that they can produce more gold
- Mission 15 has had a misplaced armory workshop fixed so that it will actually appear
- Mission 15 now has the build-up enemy playing in a smarter fashion
- Mission 15 now has a more aggressive northeastern enemy
- Mission 15 now requires you to defeat all enemies and their soldiers in order to win
- Mission 16 has had the defending positions of the enemy soldiers completely redone
- Mission 16 has had some misplaced iron mines fixed
- Mission 16 has had a weapons smithy fixed that previously wouldn't appear due to unsuitable terrain
- Mission 16 has had more coal and iron added to the middle teams in order to increase difficulty
- Mission 16 now has the two teams in the middle playing more aggressively
- Mission 20 now has the proper amount of soldiers attacking you at the start
- Mission 20 has had the defense positions of the northernmost enemy redone
The Peasants Rebellion
- The AI will now properly attack you in all missions where he is supposed to do so
- Mission 1 has had your second storehouse fixed so that it will actually appear
- Mission 3 no longer allows building of watchtowers
- Mission 3 now has proper defeat conditions
- Mission 3 no longer has your enemies allied with your ally and vice versa
- Mission 4 now has your ally allied with you properly
- Mission 4 has had soldiers added to your ally that you have to protect
- Mission 4 has had the iron wares in your second storehouse replaced with wares you can actually use
- Mission 4 now has more stone available in the deposit near your camp
- Mission 4 now also requires you to retain the economic buildings of the northeastern player
- Mission 5 has had a bug fixed where the green player wasn't green on the mini-map
- Mission 5 no longer has your enemies allied with your ally and vice versa
- Mission 6 has had the defense positions of the brown enemy redone
- Mission 6 now has you starting off with slightly more food
- Mission 6 now has the dark green enemy starting off with more iron
- Mission 6 now requires you to defeat all enemies and their soldiers in order to win
- Mission 7 now has the yellow team attacking you at the start also represented by yellow on the mini-map
- Mission 7 has had an iron vein mountain altered so that an iron mine can be built onto it
- Mission 7 now has more gold added to your enemies
- Mission 7 now has all enemies properly allied with each other
- Mission 7 now requires you to defeat all enemies and their soldiers in order to win
- Mission 9 no longer allows you to build iron mines since there is no iron
- Mission 9 has had a bug fixed in the color of the northern purple team which caused their flags to flash on occasion
- Mission 9 now has your enemies starting off with more gold and iron
- Mission 9 now has you allied with the team owning the burning storehouse
- Mission 9 no longer has your enemies allied with your ally and vice versa
- Mission 10 has had a bug fixed in the color of the northern purple team which caused their flags to flash on occasion
- Mission 10 has had an iron vein mountain altered so that an iron mine can be built onto it
- Mission 10 has had a gold vein mountain altered so that a gold mine can be built onto it
- Mission 10 now has the yellow team attacking you with the proper amount of soldiers
- Mission 10 has had more gold and iron added to your enemies
- Mission 10 has had a woodcutter's and a sawmill added to your ally so that he can keep on producing soldiers
- Mission 10 has had the size of the coal field by your ally reduced so that it is no longer partly covered by ploughed fields
- Mission 10 now has all enemies properly allied with each other
- Mission 10 no longer has your ally allied with the green team
- Mission 10 now has the yellow team attacking you at start properly yellow on the mini-map
- Mission 10 now requires you to defeat all enemies and their soldiers in order to win
- Mission 11 now only requires you to defeat the soldiers at the end in order to win
- Mission 12 has had the amount of soldiers the blue team had at start reduced; they had more by mistake
- Mission 12 has had the iron ore and coal in their storehouse replaced by iron armament they can actually use
- Mission 12 has had a stable added to the eastern team
- Mission 12 now requires you to defeat all enemies and their soldiers in order to win
- Mission 12 has had more iron and gold added to your enemies
- Mission 12 now has all enemy teams are now properly allied with each other
- Mission 13 now has all soldiers starting the map with full condition
- Mission 13 has had your siege equipment replaced by crossbowmen
- Mission 14 now has two messages that will get sent to you during the game
- Mission 14 now actually requires you to defeat all enemies to win; soldiers are not required due to engine limitations
- Mission 14 has had iron armament added to the eastern grey team
- Mission 14 now has you starting off with slightly more resources
- Mission 14 has had more gold added to your enemies
Multiplayer Missions
- Mission 4 has had one iron vein mountain altered to allow better placement of iron mines
- Mission 7 now pre-allows building of siege workshops and town halls
Single Missions
- Mission 1 now actually requires you to defeat all enemies to win; soldiers are not required due to engine limitations
- Mission 1 can now actually be lost
- Mission 3 now actually requires you to defeat all enemies to win; soldiers are not required due to engine limitations
- Mission 3 can now actually be lost
- Mission 4 has had one iron vein mountain altered to allow better placement of iron mines
- Mission 5 now actually requires you to defeat all enemies to win; soldiers are not required due to engine limitations
- Mission 5 can now actually be lost
- Mission 7 has had two woodcutter's removed that an enemy team had by mistake
Miscellaneous Changes
- The game manual has been updated to correct errors and make information up to date
Screenshots
Credits
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Coordination: |
Dutch Translation: |
Help Wanted
While a lot of work has been done on the patch and it is essentially finished, there's still some work that would be nice to get done. When the 2012 edition of The Peasants Rebellion appeared two more languages became officially supported for the game. Those are Spanish and Czech. While the Czech translation was just the unofficial translation slapped into an installer, it would be pretty awesome to support it nonetheless since it is now an “official” translation. Also, the Spanish translation that was apparently never before released for the game finally saw the light of day. Now we wouldn't want all those Spanish speaking persons left without help?
In any case, both the Spanish and Czech versions of the patch would require a lot of translating work to be done in order to get these into a release-able state. The two main obstacles are translating the manual and the readme. If you are interested in helping, please contact me by either e-mail or via a private message.
Downloads
From here you can find the final release of the patch as it was released. While the previous beta releases could be interesting from a historical standpoint, they are unfortunately not currently available since they are quite huge. If you are looking for a specific beta of the patch please e-mail me and I'll do my best to provide it for you.
1.6 Patch
This is the final release of the 1.6 patch. It took a total of 7 betas and 2 release candidates for the patch to get to this point. Excluded are also various hotfixes released during development.
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