Patch for Aztec DVD (The Sacred Amulet) for Windows XP or later

I do have a request for you now, Iurii. Do you happen to have an Aztec patch for Windows XP or later? It's been reported on several other boards that after you install the game - without any glitches, you enjoy the beautiful introductory cutscene, and then choose any gaming option from the menu, you get a black screen, and the game crashes. I've tried everything from changing the compatibility mode, disabling visual themes and text services to lowering or switching off hardware acceleration, but none work.

I found a patch on the Patches Scrolls, but that's quite old, from 1999, and appears to fix only a Windows 95 bug. It doesn't work for me.

I can run it inside an emulation, but that's often painfully slow - though an .iso-image copy on my hard disk obviously helps a bit.

Rich

RichAlexis, that's not so easy - this patch was made by one person from our old-games.ru forum, and he warned: 'This patch only for the Russian version of the game and it's very unlikely that it work with any other version.'

You can always try of course - here is the patch and here is my already patched exe.
Before the patch, the game instantly crashed for me in XP/7. And they fixed some timer issues as well.

By then we can always try to contact the author of the patch asking to make the patch for English or French version - about a year ago he made a patch for Polish version this way. Although I am not sure he is still around and has time to do it now.

I messed up and linked to the older uploads in my last post.
I think I've got them correct now.
Try the links again.


Interesting. Mine is a 2-sided DVD, and has the folders with the SPW1024 and WARP1024 on one side of the DVD and the folders with the SPW512 and WARP512 on the other. I wonder if there's some way to replace textures in the GOG version. It should play WAY better on a new computer than it did on my PIII.

Yes, now they are correct, thanks!


Of course, there should be a way. But can you try just to run the game from DVD and take a look at (better) pictures?

No, it's not easy, but thanks a lot anyway!

When I applied the patch and tried to start the modified executable, I got an error message:
So no luck there.

Then I overwrote the executable with your 'precooked' version, and I got an instruction to insert the DVD. This may be because my DVD-driver isn't the default D, but F! I don't know how to fix that without hex-editing the file some way or another, and I'm at a loss to do that.

Well, there's always a way for me to play it inside an emulation. Or you may again ask your contact, if that's not too much to ask!

Best,

Rich

OK, I will ask him. But first please send me (or better, upload somewhere) your versions of EXE and DLL's files from Aztec folder!
(Or, tell if you mean the Dutch version from DVD, I have it then.)



No, this can't be a problem. I have my CD image in F as well, and the game works even if I put it in Z:\.

Oh, I noticed that aztec.exe from DVD is the same for all languages. Maybe Polish patch will work for you?

Hi Iurii,

Thanks again for your assistance!

Oh yes, first I should tell you I've always tried installing the English version from the multilingual DVD.

I just applied the Polish patch, no luck again, but at least the error is consistent with the Russian version:
There's also a considerable difference in size between the patched version of my executable and the Russian ready-made you sent me: the first is 1.564.672 bytes, the second is 1.789.275 bytes.

Whatever I try (also different compatibilities), I get the instruction:I've just uploaded the 'untouched' AZTEC.EXE and DLL-files here.

Just take your time, no hurry! Any help much appreciated!

Best,

Rich

Rich, here is the Aztec patch - https://yadi.sk/d/xuiOyTKEe9EzC
Please test it and tell if it works!

Oh Iurii, thanks a lot for the patch! I really hate to disappoint you and your very helpful Polish friend, but I can't get it to work.

Let me get this straight, just to make sure that we rule out any misunderstanding.

I'm on Windows XP, Home edition, Service Pack 3. First I install the English version of the game from the DVD on my C-drive, just as I would any other game. I don't install DirectX from the DVD or try to change it. Then I copy the patch to the installation folder, and apply it, by clicking the AztecEN5.exe. Then I get the message 'Successfully patched!'. So I've applied it to the installed .exe, not to the Autorun .exe on the DVD, which also happens to be called 'Aztec.exe' - just to make sure.

I start the modified Aztec.exe, watch the Cryo and France Telecom intros, and the introduction movie with the eagle, see the menu, and start either a new game, or a visit. The new game starts with the scene introducing Little Serpent and his plight, but when the gaming should start, I get a black screen, and a crash. When I try visit mode, I get something similar: I can see the map, but as soon as I click it, black screen and crash.

I've tried Windows 95 and Windows 98 compatibility mode, but no difference. Perhaps the problem is I'm on XP and not Windows 7 or 8. I'm going to change over in a while, but I can't test it yet.

I can get it to run another way, but perhaps it's best to wait till I've got Windows 7 or 8?

Rich

Rich, I already said he is Russian not Polish, and not my friend but just a person from our forum

And yes, there was an error in the patch. Now, this one should work, I have checked it - https://yadi.sk/d/Gwn99cdVe9gWg

I think you can move some parts of this topic into 'Bugs' section. I do not want to make new posts there is it continues the discussion that had already started here.

Wow, thanks a lot, Iurii, the patch works perfectly now!

It's so good to be inside the game at last! What a relief!

Sorry for mixing up the nationalities!

To show my gratitude to you and Jenny, I will post something for you, which, to maintain the division necessary on these boards, I will post in the ADVENTURE GAMES DISCUSSION forum.

All the best & happy gaming,

Rich

Great!

Hi everyone,

i registered here after a long search for a patch to "Aztec". After trying a lot of stuff system-wise before (disabled hardware acceleration, enabled win98 mode etc) i figured, that the patch for the dvd version, offered in the old-games.ru forums, may be the only way to make this game playable on modern systems.

Now, the problem is, that i own the original first release of the game, which came on cd-rom. and the dvd patch won't work with the cd-rom version, because the exe seems to search for files on the dvd which are not present on the cd-rom version. For example a language.ini file, which is not present in my version, because the cd version features one specific language only, which is -in my case- german.

I attached the german cd-rom files to this post and hopefully, someone may create a functioning patch for that edition.
I would then keep it on my external hdd, for future requests in forums like this together with credits to the creator of course.

regards and thanks in advance

ps: if other files are needed, for example these inside the "data"-folder, please let me know. and you may have to disable anti-virus software. you may not be able to copy "azteken.exe" otherwise.

Download: Aztec_ger.zip

to GameBoomers, KSE. It would be nice if a patch could be created for the CD version of the game.

Thank you for the message, KSE!

It's nice to see this thread about classic games 'come alive' with new posts and (hopefully!) patches.

I do hope someone will be able to create a working German CD patch for you.

I take it that you have tried the French/German patch Win 95 patch on the Patches Scrolls site?

Best wishes,

Rich

Yes, i did. Did'nt work. The funny thing is, that the exe from the patch-archive doesn't differ from the one, that is already on the german disc. They are both version 1.0.0.1 plus both got exactly the same size in bytes, so i guess it's one and the same exe and therefore doesn't make any difference.

I've downloaded that patch for Aztec DVD version, as this is one of the Cryo games that I have not yet played through. Now I just need to remember if I have the DVD or CD-ROM version, ha ha. Knowing my luck, it is cd-rom. Perhaps I'll hunt down a copy of the DVD version if it comes to that.

Anyways, my hat is off to those intrepid folks who have the programming savvy and willingness to come up with these patches to share to the gaming community. I think that is great.

Thanks for your very nice comments, Lakerz!

Intrepid is indeed the right word. And, as you say, skilful. Dedicated. And generous!

If it hadn't been for them, our main challenge would not be playing the game, but getting it installed!

I salute them!

Rich

Hi KSE,

I found another Aztec patch.

This is on Megagames and is described as "backup CD Aztec v1.0 FRA", so this at least appears to refer to the CD-version.

It's different from the Patches Scrolls one, as the Megagames one is 1.70 MB (1,789,952 bytes), and the Patches Scrolls one is 1.47 MB (1,548,288 bytes), and also from the patch for DVD I use.

As the Aztec executable in general appears to be language-independent and not just restricted to French, this might work for you!

Rich

Unfortunately the patch doesn't work either. I get an error message, probably because the patch/cr*ck is for version 1.0, not 1.1

Maybe someone could upload the dll files from version 1.0? I could try to replace the 1.1 dll files with them.

Oh, that's a pity.

It's true that the file version given for both the Patches Scrolls and the Megagames patches is 1.0.0.1

They appear to be official Cryo releases. Patches Scrolls version created December 10, 1999. Megagames version created September 29, 1999.

Also, when you look here, these patched exe's all refer to 1.0.0.1 versions...

Rich

They might be the same, but the only way to know for sure is to compare hashes of the two files or use a file checking utility.

One way to get hashes is by uploading the files to http://virusscan.jotti.org/en
When I upload aztec11f.zip to that site, it gives me these hashes

MD5: 22a619d0213ab970c6281b4e28b7baeb
SHA1: 8ce11d65362fdb80a7f1a159fdba2d3f8b1b479b

Or if I upload the Aztec.exe file after extracting it from the aztec11f.zip file, it gives me these hashes

MD5: 6597add1ac03543cc6540fb899583fbd
SHA1: ea8ce6b9ac4ee5c72e1b51d0bd314736bb94020a

If you upload the Aztec.exe from your game disc to http://virusscan.jotti.org/en , you'd be able to check whether the files were really the same.

As for getting the game working, this might be a case where it's easier to run the game inside a Virtual Machine than figure out whether a patch exists that makes it compatible with XP or Windows 7.

I did the check, like you suggested and it's the same exe.

Virtual machine... i would have to buy Win95 or something then. For one game? I think i'll pass.

That's a very good tip, Jenny! I usually run a little checksum program to compare files, but it's nice to have a handy tool online everyone can use.

Rich

Thanks RichAlexis for trying to find an appropriate patch for the cd-rom version. Seems like mission impossible though.

That is an interesting trick you bring up Jenny100. Thanks for that. I've saved that website for future use when I'm trying to puzzle out patch versions for older games I play. It is all rather confusing to me.

The mission is not impossible. I have sent KSE's aztecen.exe to the person who makes patches. I hope he will have time to take a look.

OK, here's what he answered:

1. Download Polish CD patch (or here).
2. Rename Azteken.exe -> Aztec.exe.
3. Run AztecPL5.exe from the patch.
4. Rename back Aztec.exe -> Azteken.exe.
5. Try the game - and tell if it works!

I'm pretty sure i already tried this without success, but i will do again when i got the time for it.

KSE, that would be great if you could double check to see if the solution works or not for CD-ROM versions!

Thanks Iurii for making the effort to reach out and and see what could be done for the cd-rom version. I appreciate it! :-)

OK, i tried it and... it worked. I'm currently playing the game and so far, everything works pretty fine - except a mouse-lag, if you're inside some menus or have conversations. This can be fixed though, if you disable directDraw within "dxdiag", but in exchange, this will also make the camera turn too fast, if you hit the borders with the mouse-cursor, so it's not the best workaround.

I'll upload the modified german EXE to patches-scrolls.de. Will do the same with the international CD and DVD-Patch.

I think someone mentioned it before somewhere, but just in case: If you got audio problems (sound and music skipping), then you'll have to reduce the sound-hardware-acceleration to "basic".

EDIT:
Since i don't get a response from the patches-scrolls staff, i uploaded the patches to 4shared and i'll post the links to them here:

German CD Patch: http://www.4shared.com/zip/d6kJbtnEba/Fluch_der_Azteken_CDpatch.html
English / International CD Patch: http://www.4shared.com/zip/tXKNDzofba/AztecPL5.html
International DVD Patch: http://www.4shared.com/zip/Z8XuVSP5ba/Aztec_DVD_Patch_int.html

That is excellent. Thanks a whole bunch KSE for taking the time to test it all out as well as upload it all and post here.

I will definitely download copies of those patches for safe keeping.

Edit: Kind of odd, but the 4shared download portal flagged the AztecPL5.zip to contain a virus. I downloaded it anyway and run my own spyware/virus software on it, and they did not complain.