How to Run Drakan on my New PC

Discuss Drakan: Order of the Flame with fellow players and post any technical problems here where an 'unofficial' support team will try and help you. Gameplay help questions can go here too.
Ork020693
Hatchling
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Mar 06, 2012 10:02 am
Location: United Kingdom

How to Run Drakan on my New PC

Post by Ork020693 »

I have played Drakan since a kid, both Order of The Flame and Ancient Gates. In my opinion its the best game ever, non of this COD rubbish at the moment.

However i went to replay the game yesterday, by installing the software on my new computer (Dell Vostro), and it installed GREAT.
but when i went to play the game and chose the level difficulty, it crashed and said that it is unable to run..

I would be grateful if anyone could help me on this matter. I just want to play the game again.

Thanks.

Ork020693
Hatchling
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Mar 06, 2012 10:02 am
Location: United Kingdom

Post by Ork020693 »

and can i also note... i am really rubbish on computer matters, so simple context explaination would be much appreciated...
thanks.

Admin
Dragon
Posts: 114
Joined: Sun Dec 24, 2000 12:00 am
Location: United Kingdom
Contact:

Post by Admin »

The game does not run on Vista / Win7 systems properly - you have to enable developer mode by holding shift whilst starting the game and then click on 'enable developer mode' on the developer tab in the riot engine options box that will pop up. Click OK then the game should run. Start a new game and select 'ruined village' from the list of levels to start the game. This process bypasses the intro cut scene that causes the crash. Also you need the 445 patch installed.

Ork020693
Hatchling
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Mar 06, 2012 10:02 am
Location: United Kingdom

Post by Ork020693 »

Thankyou, but what is patch 445??

Admin
Dragon
Posts: 114
Joined: Sun Dec 24, 2000 12:00 am
Location: United Kingdom
Contact:

Post by Admin »

It's a bug fax, software patch. V445 was the last one released for the game. You can download the english version from this site on the downloads page www.arokhslair.net

Direct link www.arokhslair.net/downloads/drakan_patch445_eng.zip

Ork020693
Hatchling
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Mar 06, 2012 10:02 am
Location: United Kingdom

Post by Ork020693 »

Thanks, i have done exactly what you said and it worked, UNTIL - i clicked on new game, clicked on ruined village and it said - please insert disk - when the disk was already in..
so i unistalled and then reinstalled the game and it still game up with the same.. it could be becuase i cannot download the 445 patch - as when i clicked on the download and went through the process this was the exact message i was given:

This program cannot update the installed version of Drakan: Order of the Flame for the following reason:

C:\Program Files (x86)\psygnosis\Drakan\Dragon.rfl: unknown version.

Any Ideas?

and thanks for the swift replies to the past two messages, much appreciated.

Admin
Dragon
Posts: 114
Joined: Sun Dec 24, 2000 12:00 am
Location: United Kingdom
Contact:

Post by Admin »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Ork020693</i>

Thanks, i have done exactly what you said and it worked, UNTIL - i clicked on new game, clicked on ruined village and it said - please insert disk - when the disk was already in..
so i unistalled and then reinstalled the game and it still game up with the same.. it could be becuase i cannot download the 445 patch - <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Yes, this is the reason why. The 445 patch removes the requirement for the CD to be in the drive. When the game was originally released PC's were running Windows 95,98 or ME. Windows 2000 and XP had problems recognising the CD so the 445 patch was brought out to fix this amongst other things.

As for the reason why it won't install; I think someone had this problem before. I think it was because the game was a special promo or something. You could try installing the 444 patch first then 445. Before you patch the game what version does it say in the bottom left of the main game screen? It should be something like V375/XXX where XXX is the patch version number.

444 patch available here http://www.fileplanet.com/17028/0/0/0/1/section/Patches

<font color="red">Edit: I just looked through the archives; yes, the guy who had the same issue was because he was using a pirated version downloaded from Bittorrent. This does not mean your copy is pirated it just could be some promo version. Ill know more from the version number of your game.</font id="red">

If you still get no joy, Ill ask the 'unofficial' development team if they have any ideas.

Ork020693
Hatchling
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Mar 06, 2012 10:02 am
Location: United Kingdom

Post by Ork020693 »

BUILD 365 / 435

and now the screen is also coming up very small.
the patch444 - is just a bunch of files i downloaded... which one do you have to open?
or dont you.

Admin
Dragon
Posts: 114
Joined: Sun Dec 24, 2000 12:00 am
Location: United Kingdom
Contact:

Post by Admin »

Your build ID is OK - this is the original retail version you have so the patches should install. I have no idea why you are getting that unknown dragon.rfl version error.

What I would do is:-
1) completley uninstall the game then re-install into the default location which should be c:\program files (x86)\psygnosis\drakan (assuming by your previous post you are using 64 bit windows 7) and do a full install not just single player.

2) Reboot your PC

3) unzip (extract) the 444 patch you downloaded and run setup.exe. Let it install and then reboot again.

4) install the 445 patch. Reboot again.

5) enable debeloper mode (see previous post)

6) hopefully it will run now and you can double click on ruined village from the list of levels.

If you get that error again when installing the patch try installing as an admin (right click and select run as an administrator) also you could try selecting properties and enable compatibility mode for windows xp.

When correctly patched and updated your build ID should be 375/445. Sorry for any typos - i cut the end of my finger off and typing is now a little difficult. [:)]

Outlaw Wyvern
Dragon
Posts: 402
Joined: Fri Oct 10, 2003 4:20 pm
Location: USA
Contact:

Post by Outlaw Wyvern »

Sorry to hear about your finger, AT.
Hope it was just a tiny bit o' finger. Heal quickly!

Admin
Dragon
Posts: 114
Joined: Sun Dec 24, 2000 12:00 am
Location: United Kingdom
Contact:

Post by Admin »

Lol, yeah it was only a small bit. Thought it was healing but it split open again this morning when I was doing odds and ends around the house. Bugger.

Ork020693
Hatchling
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Mar 06, 2012 10:02 am
Location: United Kingdom

Post by Ork020693 »

Thankyou,

I can now play the game but only in very little screen in the top left hand corner.
any ideas why?

anyway thanks for the quick and detailed replies.
My dad brought this game, and we spent many happy hours on both order of the flame and ancient gates.

does anyone still play multiplayer on this?

thanks anyway and i hope your finger has recovered.

Admin
Dragon
Posts: 114
Joined: Sun Dec 24, 2000 12:00 am
Location: United Kingdom
Contact:

Post by Admin »

It's probably video settings or you have it set to windowed mode rather than full screen. If the game will only run in windowed mode increasing the resolution will make the 'little screen' bigger.
Finger, yeah, better but scarred. At least I can type now. [:)]

Ork020693
Hatchling
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Mar 06, 2012 10:02 am
Location: United Kingdom

Post by Ork020693 »

I clicked maximize in the engine set up area..

thanks for the swift replies and all your help


do you reckon they will ever do another drakan - i hope so.

Admin
Dragon
Posts: 114
Joined: Sun Dec 24, 2000 12:00 am
Location: United Kingdom
Contact:

Post by Admin »

Glad to hear you got it working. As for a 3rd game, I don't think that is likley as Surreal Software are no longer around. Sony still owns the rights to the game which could mean they could get another developer to make another game but at the moment I don't think so.

Post Reply