Running original Knights and Merchants from CD
This section - while it might be quite outdated - is provided as is, for those that wish to run the original Knights and Merchants - both The Shatterred Kingdom and The Peasants Rebellion - on newer Windows releases. Please keep in mind that these fixes and advices are pretty old, and in case of problems, you might be better off buying the game again for a cheap price from one of the digital retailers, where you have some quarantee that it will work. It might also be a better idea to play KaM Remake instead, which is a mod done from scratch, and not plagued by problems of the old releases.
Note: The first thing you should try if you are having problems with Knights and Merchants on Windows Vista/Windows 7 is installing the Windows Vista/Windows 7 fix from the Downloads section. This fixes the sluggish gameplay and color palette corruption.
E: When I try to install the game I get the following error message:
Unsupported 16-Bit Application
The program or feature "E:\KM\setup.exe" cannot start or run due to incompatibity with 64-bit versions of Windows. Please contact the software vendor to ask if a 64-bit Windows compatible version is available.
S: There's no direct solution for this problem. Your best bet would be to install Knights and Merchants on an older computer and then copy over the installed files to your new one. The setup doesn't write any important registry entries or install any system files, so it works.
E: Win2000/XP: When I try to install the game I get an error message!
S: To solve this one make a short cut to the setup file and put the compability mode to Windows 95 or 98. If this does not work, see the problem below.
E: Win2000/XP: When I install the following message appears: "C:\windows\system32\autoexec.nt. The system file is not suitable for running Ms-Dos and Microsoft Windows Applications. Choose close to terminate the application."
S: This is a rather complicated problem and you need acces to your Windows CD in order to fix this.
Read more
E: When I start the game it instantly crashes (or causes illegal operation)!
S: This is a really common problem and there's no 100% surely working fix, but you could try patching the game to either 1.30 or 1.32, and if that doesn't help check your CD wether you would happen to find KaM_800.exe and KaM_1024.exe and copy them to your Knights and Merchants folder. You can also try checking whether you have set the compability mode on as KAM does NOT like the compability mode (although it seems to run under windows 2000 and XP mode) and therefore crashes. If noone of these work you could try getting additional help at the forums.
E: The music doesn't play!
S: This could be caused by different things, and most likely is not related to Windows version. There's the chance that your CD is scratched and there's nothing you can do, except for trying to clean your CD. Another reason can be that your CD-Drive can't read RedBook audio data which is how the audio was recorded into the CD. In order to allow your CD-drive to read RedBook audio, you might need to check if the audio cable is attached to your CD-drive. For more information about doing this, please read this.
E: The movies get skipped!
S: This seems to occur on all Windows Vista machines, and it can be fixed in a really complicated way which is illegal as well so I can't help you, sorry!
E: The game plays slow as hell, it's like half of the normal speed? What in the world is going on?!
S: Install the Windows Vista/Windows 7 fix from the Downloads section to fix these problems.
E: My game crashes only after some minutes of playing! It's very annoying...
S: Installing the latest patch should solve these annoying problems.
E: The game plays slow as hell, it's like half of the normal speed? What in the world is going on?!
S: Install the Windows Vista/Windows 7 fix from the Downloads section to fix these problems.
Multiplayer
Playing a game only by yourself will surely get booring after some time. That's why there's the option to play multiplayer games. Here's explained how to play multiplayer if you seem to have problems with it.
NOTE: Only TCP/IP is explained
NOTE: The best way to play Knights and Merchants online is to play KaM Remake!
Requirements:
- A friend who's willing to play
- Internet connection
- Either game, both people must have same game and same patch!
First of all you'll need to decied who is going to host the game. By hosting the game it means that the game is running on your computer. The host must now find out his/her IP adress. There's two methods to do this, the first one is easier but some might feel that it will send your IP to publicity and that's why I've included a securer method too.
1. This is the simple way, just go to www.whatismyip.com and you should see a number combination which is your IP-Adress.
2. This is the more secure method to do it. Go to Start Menu and then choose run. Write command if you're using Windows 9.x and if you're using Windows 2000 or XP write cmd. A dos windows should appear where you will need to write ipconfig and after that there should appear some text and number combinations. Read the text that appeared untill you find IP-Adress and after that there should be a number which is your IP-Adress.
Now that you know your IP-Adress you'll need to tell it to your friend so that he/she can join your game when you start hosting it. After you have told it to him/her start your game and then choose"Start Multiplayer game". If you're using TPR the game will ask if you want to play via the Net-Games lobby or by Local Area Network. Choose Local Area Network. When you choose to play multiplayer in TSK it will ask you to enter your name and so does TPR now, so write the name you want to use in the game to the box.
Now it will ask for how you want to play the game online. Choose TCP/IP and then the host must press "Create Game" while the otherone chooses "Enter Game". As the host presses create game he/she will need to give a name to the server. After that he/she will get to the lobby where you can change the game options. The otherone that choose enter game will now be asked the IP-Adress of the host. Write the number combination you got from your friend and press OK. Then the game will start searching for theserver which your firend is hosting. (NOTE: Your friend must be hosting the server before you type the IP-Adress )
If everything goes well you should now have joined your friends server and now just adjust the options and then press "Begin!" In the game you can chat by pressing the trumpet and then just put a cross on the name of the one you want to talk with. By pressing the scroll you're able to adjust the diplomacy stance against other teams so that you can form alliances.
Now I just wish you good luck in the game!
NOTE: Don't ever tell your IP-Adress to someone you are not sure that you can trust, because he/she might try to hack your computer!