I've been happily playing this game on my Win7 machine - using a screen resolution of 1680x1050 - but have come to a part where my character has to jump over a balcony and I can't get him to do it.
I think the screen is not deep enough "vertically" to allow me to move my character "low" enough on it.
[I hope that makes sense ]

Apparently, when I originally setup the game I could have chosen a "windowed" version and if doing that would allow me to progress at this point I wouldn't mind re-installing the game and starting over.
Does that sound like a feasible solution ??

Or is there anything else I could try ??

Any help is always appreciated

I just found the A Tale of Two Kingdoms manual online and it says this about the game:



It sounds like the saved games are not in the game folder; you could check and see. If this is the case, you should be able to uninstall and reinstall the game without losing your saves.

I also found this in the game manual:



It may be that the game does not display/play the way that it should at the much higher screen resolution you are using. 320x200 is a very low native resolution.

Hi Marian.

Thanks for your response

I will try re-installing using a different resolution - and let you know how I get on.
But not right now !!
I have worn out my feeble "techie-ness" with all the messing around I've done up to now today

Yes. I already had the manual and my saved games are safe. [They remained after I uninstalled the game. So that is something.]

Thanks again.

Mad

Yes, I understand needing a break before trying again. You have reached your limit for the day - it happens to me too!

Well, I'm as stuck as ever !!

I copied my current saves to a safe place. Uninstalled the game. Did a registry clean and a re-boot etc and then went to install it again.

This time, however, there were no options for screen resolution. The game just installed with a full screen version straight off.

So I deleted my original download from itch.io and everything else - did the whole cleaning up rigmarole again - and then went to itch.io and downloaded the game anew.

But the same thing happened. No options for resolution during the install procedure. Even with the new download

[I did note that this new download did not arrive "zipped" as the original had. It just came as the ready unzipped setup files. And I am wondering if that made any difference ??]

Finally I visited the Crystal Shard Forum but couldn't see anything there about this game so, as a last resort, I've emailed Crystal Shard's support address direct.

Can't think of anything else to try

Yes, I am not sure what the next step should be either, but I was going to mention writing to Crystal Shard. I have noticed that they seem to be quite responsive to queries and comments on Steam, and hopefully their email support will be the same way.

Thanks, Marian

Exactly what I was going to suggest too. You might try changing your screen resolution in Windows first and then launching the game.

Yes, I was thinking the same thing about the screen resolution in Windows and that perhaps adjusting that would be worth a try.

I'd actually already done that - trying with three different lower resolutions.

But the game wouldn't launch in any of them

I had a similar problem with the GOG release of "Dragonsphere" and it was solved by reverting to a Windowed version for the one affected scene.
But I don't know how I could do that with this Two Kingdoms game

I have what I guess is that free 2007 version that somebody mentioned in Mad's recent thread in the Discussions forum, and in the game folder there is a file called winsetup.exe which will allow you to change to windowed mode as well as a lot of other settings. There is also a file called acsetup.cfg which is a plain text file that looks like this:

[misc]
screenres=1
windowed=0
refresh=0
gfxfilter=None
antialias=1
gamecolordepth=16
defaultres=1
letterbox=0

and could probably be manually edited with Notepad to change that windowed=0 line to windowed=1.

Most likely that acsetup.cfg file was created by the winsetup.exe.

This might not pertain to the newer version, but it might be worthwhile to look and see if those files are still used.

Thanks so much for your suggestions and help, Uncle Reg!

Hi Uncle Reg.

I did see that "acsetup.cfg file" when I was looking for anything I might "understand" enough with which to fiddle - but didn't touch it in case I wrecked something !!

Anyway, I'll try what you describe when I next use my Win7 machine.

And thank you very much for the "help" suggestion

Cheers.

Mad

EDIT

OK. I removed every vestige of the game files from my computer (again) and made a totally new download from itch.io (again).
[And, once again, the download did not arrive zipped.]

Anyway, I ran the setup, played through the long prologue until I could save the game and then Quit to go and look at the config. files.
And these are are what I have :

[sound]
digiid=-1
midiid=-1
digiwin=1096302880
midiwin=-1
digiindx=0
midiindx=0
digiwinindx=0
midiwinindx=0
[misc]
gamecolordepth=32
defaultres=1
screenres=0
letterbox=0
windowed=1
refresh=0
gfxfilter=max
defaultgfxdriver=D3D9
gfxdriver=D3D9
titletext=A Tale of Two Kingdoms Setup
cachemax=102400
forceletterbox=1
sideborders=0
[sound]
threaded=1
[disabled]
speechvox=1
AAx2=1
AAx3=1
AAx4=1
AAx5=1
AAx6=1
AAx7=1
AAx8=1




As you can see, "windowed" already shows as "1".
But the the game is playing in full screen !!

Should I try altering the "1" to a "0" ?? [Ridiculous as that sounds.]

Crystal Shard haven't replied yet but I am hoping they will because I really like the game and would dearly love to get back to it.

Still no reply from Crystal Shard. And if don't get help I'll have to abandon the game as I can't progress

I hope you hear from them soon, Mad.

Is it possible that it IS windowed and the window is bigger than the screen? That could cause the problem you describe. I don't think it would hurt to try changing it to "0" and see what happens. You can always change it back.

Mad, just want you to know that I contacted Crystal Shard via Twitter and they said that they have not received any emails. I asked them for the best email contact for them. If they reply, I will get back to you. They seem more than willing to communicate, so I think it's just a question of finding the right contact information for them.

Hi Uncle Reg and Marian

Thank you Uncle Reg.
I attempted to change that "windowed" status to "0" using Notepad earlier today but got the message that access to the file was denied. [Pah !!]

And thank you, Marian.
I certainly DID email crystal Shard - using the Customer Support address : support@caravelgames.com
However, if you receive a reply from them with an alternative address that would be good.

Cheers.

Mad

Can you rename the file, or move it out of the game folder?

I could try ....

1. What should I try to re-name it as ??

2. And how would I "remove" it ?? And where should I put it ??

Up to now whenever I've tried to fiddle with this file I've got the Access Denied message.

[You have to realise I am a very non-techie person, Uncle Reg ]

Hi Mad,

Just heard from Crystal Shard and sent you a PM about this.

You're the best Marian! Good luck Mad!

I agree, oldbroad !!!!!!!!

And thank you very much, Marian. I have replied to your PM

What folder is the game installed in? This may be relevant to the Access Denied message.

The reason for asking about renaming or moving the file is because I read on the Crystal Shard forum that someone was having a problem with the game running in some non-English language, and the moderator told him to delete the acsetup.cfg file. Undoubtedly this means that if the game starts and can't find the file, it will allow you to reconfigure and generate a new acsetup.cfg. The same result could be obtained by renaming or moving the file, and if this didn't work properly, you would still have the file to either rename it back or move it back. It doesn't matter what you rename it, or where you move it, as long as you remember what you did in case you need to restore it.

Hi Marian, Uncle Reg and Draclvr

I am very pleased to say that (thanks to Marian helping me get in touch with the correct person at Crystal Shard Support) the problem is solved !!

And embarrassingly it was entirely one of my own making

In all my hurried attempts to jump over the balcony railings and make my escape, I had never used the "look;" option on them. I had just rushed up to them and immediately tried to jump over.

So there was nothing wrong with the resolution or any other part of the game.
The error was solely down to me ....

Anyway thanks very much for all the help and suggestions !!

And now I'm off to (hopefully) adventure further into this lovely game

Cheers.

Mad