The Shattered Kingdom

Version History

 

 

This section lists all known versions of Knights and Merchants - The Shattered Kingdom that were actually released. The section also includes unofficial patches. If you happen to know of a release that is missing, please inform me.

 

Provided are both the dates when the executable for that very version was compiled the first time and when the version was actually released. These dates are provided for the curious, sometimes the dates can vary a lot. Obviously not all versions were released in each language and some versions were also released in retail later. This information is available next to the flags indicating a specific language.

 

As an added curiosity, pirate releases of the game are also listed in the availability section. However, all changes listed refer to those of the official localization (not that any pirate release would ever have received a patch).

 

 

 

 

Version 0.73

 

Compiled and released June 2, 1998

 

Available in:
English - Demo

 

Notes

  • Initial release

 

 

 

 

Version 0.91

 

Compiled and released June 10, 1998

 

Available in:
German - Demo

 

General Improvements

  • You can now scroll the game view by using the mouse just by touching a border
  • Troops can now be moved simply by right-clicking
  • The game can now save up to 999 screenshots
  • The version number is now shown next to the multiplayer lobby name
  • Right-clicking now adds 10 more to the order amount in military buildings
  • Scripted buildings now automatically get a piece of road beneath the entrance
  • Multiplayer games can now be saved and restored
  • Mission scripting now supports specifying troop types for AI defense positions
  • Mission scripting now supports customization of the AI recruit count, laborer count, serf count, aggressiveness and troop formations
  • Mission scripting now supports pre-allowing certain buildings in missions; alternatively all buildings can be pre-allowed
  • DEMO — Added a victory screen that appears after winning the mission urging you to order the game

General Changes

  • The metallurgist's now produces two chests of gold instead of just one
  • Right-clicking no longer allows scrolling of the game view
  • Right-clicking will now close an active menu
  • In multiplayer lobbies your own slot is now also a button

Graphical Changes

  • The main menu buttons are now shaded slightly differently
  • The arrows that appear when scrolling the game view have been redesigned
  • The shields that show troop strength have been redrawn and now change size according to troop size

Text Changes

 

General

  • Text added for computer to multiplayer, but computer cannot be added to multiplayer

Mission Changes

 

Demo Town Tutorial

  • Fixed one bowman group that previously would get out of level bounds with its troops
  • Added troop types to defense positions for the AI
  • Minor terrain changes

 

 

 

 

Version 0.92

 

Compiled and released June 11, 1998

 

Available in:
English - Demo

 

Text Changes

 

English

  • “Serfs” is now called “Serf”

Mission Changes

 

Demo Town Tutorial

  • Minor terrain changes

Multiplayer Missions

  • “Three Continents” has had minor terrain adjustments

 

 

 

 

Version 1.20

 

Compiled on August 6, 1998
Released on August 14, 1998

 

Available in:
English - Demo
German - Retail, Demo, Patch
Russian - Demo, Pirate (7 Wolf)

 

General Improvements

  • The game is now capable of showing splash screens or videos at start-up
  • The game is now capable of showing campaign map screens
  • You can now block ware delivery of a specific ware by clicking on it in a storehouse
  • Added a new unit, the barbarian
  • Added a new animal, the duck
  • You are now able to change your player color in multiplayer games
  • The game now includes two cheat codes
  • A narrator now gives a warning if your citizens or buildings are under attack and you're not watching
  • You can now use esc to close messages, delete to delete them and finally space to go to the event
  • You can now send units by using the mini-map
  • A new schoolhouse system which allows queuing up to six units
  • The game can now be paused by pressing F12
  • The game now includes a post-scenario screen with gameplay stats where you can either restart the current mission or proceed to the next one
  • The game now supports transferring saved multiplayer games
  • The game now allows one to change tracks if using CD audio as music
  • An autosave function has been added
  • A fast scrolling function has been added
  • Saved games now have meaningful names
  • Soldiers of the same type created at the barracks will automatically merge into one troop
  • Soldier hunger messages are now sent earlier, when they're initially thinking about food
  • Soldier hunger messages are now always resent when a troop moves
  • There is now room to display three numbers without messing up in the ware order amount number in workshops
  • Up to three recruits can now be going to the barracks at a time
  • Right-clicking on the arrow in the barracks or in the schoolhouse will now go to the very end of the list
  • Soldiers are now positioned as scripted at the start of the mission including facing direction
  • Mission scripting for goals now only needs four values instead of five
  • Mission scripting now supports entering defense radii for AI defense positions
  • Mission scripting now supports putting troops as defending or attacking troops in AI defense positions
  • Mission scripting now supports specifying enemy colors per mission
  • Mission scripting now supports battle type missions where most menu buttons are disabled
  • Mission scripting now supports buildings that are damaged at the start of a mission
  • Mission scripting now allows further customization of troops in missions; starting with full conditions, sending them somewhere specific or giving them an attack position
  • Mission scripting now supports certain buildings being blocked in missions
  • Mission scripting now supports adding wares to a secondary storehouse or a barracks at the start of a mission
  • Mission scripting now supports having a delay as to when the AI starts training recruits
  • Mission scripting now supports scripted AI attacks
  • Mission scripting now supports more customized loosing conditions for missions
  • Mission scripting now supports for players to be allied during a single player mission
  • Mission scripting now supports having the whole map visible at start
  • DEMO — Now includes a fourth song, “Entree”, which the game starts off with
  • DEMO — The game now also sports a battle tutorial

General Fixes

  • Mission 20 no longer crashes shortly after starting
  • Scrolling bug in lower right corner when playing on 1024x768 resolution fixed

General Changes

  • Messages now appear on the left edge of the game screen
  • The building selection menu can no longer be closed by pressing space
  • You can no longer start multiplayer games without there being at least 2 players in the lobby
  • Support for MIDI music has been dropped from the retail version
  • Scripted soldiers now have a varying amount of condition at start
  • Screenshots are now taken by pressing F11
  • DEMO — The demo version number is now followed by a “D”

Graphical Changes

  • The game palette has been made brighter
  • “Condition” on a building is now written in brown
  • All message icons except for the ones with a stone block as background have been mirrored
  • The graphic for composing multiplayer messages has been slightly changed
  • The barracks now has visible road by the entrance
  • Altered the falling animation of the tree with an orange trunk
  • Altered the looks of the three small green bushes making the shadow less obvious
  • Altered the looks of the three tree branches making them slighlty bigger
  • Altered the looks of the seaweed making them slightly browner
  • The numbers in gray.fnt (e.g. the statistics screen) are now one pixel lower down
  • The terrain files have been altered for better support of snow terrain and bridges; this causes some incompatibility with old map files
  • DEMO — The exit splash screen now says “Coming this fall!” and lists the website of Interactive Magic instead of TopWare Interactive (English)

Text Changes

 

General

  • Multiplayer maps are no longer numbered
  • Multiplayer maps now list actual size in tiles
  • Multiplayer maps now indicate whether the mission is a build-up mission or a battle mission
  • The text for all parts of the game has now been completed
  • When quitting from an active game the game now talks about quitting the mission instead of quitting the game
  • The roll-over description for removing highlightings now also mentions that buildings can be removed
  • DEMO — The town tutorial button now says build a town

English

  • “Barracks” has been renamed into “Castle”
  • “Knights” is now called “Knight”
  • The rollover help for ware distribution is now “To Distribution of wares”
  • The button for canceling the quitting action now says “Go back”
  • The slider for altering the sound level now says “SFX”
  • Demolish confirmation message now says “Do you really want to demolish this building?”
  • Cancelling training description at schoolhouse changed to “Cancel current training”
  • “Attack troop” changed to “Attack”
  • Changed line when receiving message from player to “Message from player x”, previously said “Message from Player x”
  • Main menu button for loading saved games reads “Load saved game” instead of “Load earlier game”

German

  • ...to be continued

Mission Changes

 

Demo Town Tutorial

  • The blue player's woodcutter's hut has been moved one tile to the right
  • Moved a tree that previously was under the blue players second in to the front of the inn
  • Decreased the size of the mountain in the very northeastern corner
  • Moved some of the green players defense positions slightly upwards
  • Fixed a misplaced troop of bowmen for the green player that previously wouldn't appear
  • Messages are no longer received when defeating the enemies

Multiplayer Missions

  • Multiplayer starting property has been reworked and choosing the most property now allows you to start with some buildings
  • “Three Continents” has had some more aquatic life added

Miscellaneous Changes

  • DEMO — The game executables no longer include the word “DEMO” in their filenames

New Bugs

  • Mission 17 can no longer be won
  • When the music player is set to play MIDI music it now says “viar MIDI” (English)
  • DEMO — The stonemason, carpenter and metallurgist have no sound effects as these are not included
  • DEMO — There is no music, as the game tries to play CD audio (German)

Footnotes: There is at least one unofficial pirate release of this version available in Russian, but officially only a demo version was released of this version. Note that all changes listed here are for the official localization.

 

 

 

 

Version 1.21 (1998-08-17)

 

Compiled and released on August 17, 1998

 

Available in:
English - Demo

 

 

General Changes

  • DEMO — The disclamer at the bottom of the main menu now also mentions TopWare Interactive

Graphical Changes

  • DEMO — The splash screen now has a TopWare Interactive logo instead of Interactive Magic
  • DEMO — The order screen when quitting the game now mentions the website of TopWare instead of I-Magic

 

 

 

 

Version 1.21 (1998-08-20)

 

Compiled and released on August 20, 1998

 

Available in:
English - Demo

 

 

Graphical Changes

  • DEMO — The first splash screen now once more carries the logo of Interactive Magic
  • DEMO — The second splash screen now has both the logo of Joymania Entertainment and TopWare Interactive
  • DEMO — The order screen now has a phone number to call if interested in ordering the game

Text Changes

 

English

  • The description for moving troops now says “Dispatch troop”
  • Added a note to the first tutorial message that buildings must be connected to road

 

 

 

 

Version 1.30 (1998-09-01)

 

Compiled on September 1, 1998
Released on September 6, 1998

 

Available in:
German - Retail, Patch
Polish - Retail, Demo
Russian - Pirate (GSC Game World)

 

General Improvements

  • Citizens now return faster back to roads

General Fixes

  • Mission 17 can now actually be won

Footnotes: Even though there is no official Russian release of this version, there is a pirate release of the game available in Russian.

 

 

 

 

Version 1.30 (1998-09-14)

 

Compiled on September 14, 1998
Released on September 18, 1998

 

Available in:
English - Retail
Dutch - Retail
Russian - Retail

 

General Improvements

  • You can now choose to reply to messages that are sent in multiplayer games
  • RETAIL — A battle tutorial has been added (English)

General Changes

  • The hotkey for moving soldiers has been changed from S to D (English)
  • The hotkey for linking soldier groups has changed from V to L (English)
  • The hotkey for splitting soldier groups has changed from L to S (English)

Text Changes

 

General

  • The demo and retail builds have been unified so that they use the same SETUP.LIB file

English

  • “Castle” has been renamed into “Barracks”
  • Interactive Magic has been added into the game credits

Russian

  • ...to be continued

 

 

 

 

Version 1.31

 

Compiled on October 5, 1998
Released on October 15, 1998

 

Available in:
Czech - Retail
French - Retail
Hungarian - Retail
Spanish - Retail

 

General Fixes

  • Canceling out of the window where one enters the IP address during multiplayer will no longer crash the game

 

 

 

 

Version 1.32 (1998-11-03)

 

Compiled on November 3, 1998
Released on November 5, 1998

 

Available in:
English - Retail, Patch
German - Patch
Italian - Retail
Polish - Patch

 

General Improvements

  • The way in which serfs supply wares to your buildings has been optimized

General Fixes

  • The game no longer crashes when pausing the game (Polish)

General Changes

  • Made the AVI output code uniform with other language releases; movies will no longer play on Windows XP (German)

Text Changes

 

English

  • The formatting of the message sent in mission 19 has been improved
  • The formatting of the message sent in mission 20 has been improved
  • The first message of the battle tutorial has been altered to make it clearer what needs to be done
  • Four new messages have been added to the town tutorial and the first message has been slightly altered

German

  • Updated the tutorial messages so that they take you through building a tannery and a butcher's
  • Added Nathalie Everding under beta testing and Stefan Dewald under special thanks in the credits

New Bugs

  • On occasion, newly trained recruits might go to the barracks of another player
  • If you have more than three construction sites, serfs will no longer bring construction materials to these
  • All messages that get sent during the campaign arrive one message too early (German)
  • As a side effect of the previous error, mission 20 crashes as it can't find the message it is looking for (German)

Footnotes: The official list of changes claims that problems with recognizing the CD-ROM if using multiple drives have been fixed. This is not the case since the game checks if Red Book audio data is present and as this can only be read from the primary drive, the game still only works if your game CD is in the first drive.

 

 

 

 

Version 1.32 (2004-09-18)

 

Compiled and released on September 18, 2004

 

Available in:
Germany.gif - Patch

 

General Improvements

  • Some improvements in message formatting

General Fixes

  • The proper messages are now sent in the campaign
  • Mission 20 no longer crashes

Text Changes

 

German

  • Now also includes translated messages for the battle tutorial
  • “Bogenschützen” is now called “Bogenschütze”
  • “Armbrustschützen” is now called “Armbrustschütze”
  • “Daß” in the serf description is now spelt as “dass”
  • The roll-over description for mouse speed has been altered
  • When music is on, the word used is “An” instead of “Ein”
  • The roll-over description for removing building/highlights now uses the word “Gebäuden” instead of “Häusern”
  • The description for a building under construction has been rewritten.
  • The schoolhouse button for the previous citizen now has “Vorheriger Beruf” as its roll-over description

New Bugs

  • “Eisenschild” is now called “Eisensschild”
  • “Metzger/Gerber” is now called “Metzger/Gerberer”
  • The description of the baker has a misspelt word and an empty line
  • The hotkeys given for soldiers actions are wrong
  • The title for coal distribution is misspelt as “Kohleverteilung”
     

Footnotes: This is an unofficial update to the 1.32 patch which tries to correct a few errors that slipped in the previous patch. As it is unofficial, none of these changes have been carried over to The Peasants Rebellion