| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Gelcur |
Posted - 17 Mar 2018 : 00:47:16
Today I was browsing the FR Interactive Atlas, as I often do when bored. And I realized it has a very large map for UM L5. Oddly I don't remember this being published in any paper source? I know 3E Expedition to Undermountain featured a few chunks of it.
Was this a digital exclusive? I am also curious if the Shaft labeled in the center of the level could be where Belkram's Fall passes through this level? |
| 21 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| ericlboyd |
Posted - 19 Sep 2019 : 11:24:50
quote:
Originally posted by Gary Dallison
All sorted, you can mount a cd iso using winiso, as long as it is designated as the D: drive (perhaps requiring you to change the drive letter of your existing dvdrom), then the patches will pick up the new mounted cdrom iso and run.
All three patches appear to be successfully installed (although i barely used the original so i dont know how to check).
If Maskyr's Eye is mapped (near Mulmaster), then the 3rd patch is installed. Don't remember how ot check the other 2. |
| Gary Dallison |
Posted - 19 Sep 2019 : 10:42:19
All sorted, you can mount a cd iso using winiso, as long as it is designated as the D: drive (perhaps requiring you to change the drive letter of your existing dvdrom), then the patches will pick up the new mounted cdrom iso and run.
All three patches appear to be successfully installed (although i barely used the original so i dont know how to check). |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 19 Sep 2019 : 04:00:21
quote:
Originally posted by Gary Dallison
Major bummer if the CDs lose their magnetism and weren't copied onto a hardrive
Uh... CDs have nothing at all to do with magnetism. Data is written onto them as a series of pits, which are read by a laser.
As long as they're not exposed to major temperature fluctuations and the disk doesn't get scratched or dirty, they'll last for half of forever. |
| Gary Dallison |
Posted - 18 Sep 2019 : 16:51:59
Major bummer if the CDs lose their magnetism and weren't copied onto a hardrive
I don't suppose someone could do a bit of trial and error to see which file the patch#1 or #2 is looking for. It does the file check as soon as the patch is run so if you don't get an error on starting then that is the file that you need (moving the files to a USB and transferring them back one by one should work).
Then perhaps we could find/share that single file for those whose CD is broken.
I'm guessing it will look for an ini file or a flg file or something not otherwise used. Just a thought, I hate losing information, the disappearance of the realms l archives still gets me down. |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 18 Sep 2019 : 16:24:18
quote:
Originally posted by Gary Dallison
I think patch#3 doesn't do the CD check, but if you want the updates from 1 and 2 it does check for a cd
As I recall, it's not as much looking for a CD as it is looking for the original installation files -- which is why I've never had an issue, despite not using the CD. |
| Gary Dallison |
Posted - 18 Sep 2019 : 16:19:57
I think patch#3 doesn't do the CD check, but if you want the updates from 1 and 2 it does check for a cd |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 18 Sep 2019 : 15:38:12
The Interactive Atlas came out in 1999, and hasn't been updated since like 2002 or so, when the 3rd patch came out. It predates 3E and doesn't include anything from that era or later.
I've installed it on Windows 98, Windows ME (ye gods, what a horrible OS), Windows XP Home, Windows XP Pro (multiple systems), Windows 7 Pro, and Windows 10 Pro.
I've got the original CD -- I bought it from the TSR Mail Order Hobby Shop, when they were dumping them at half price -- but I've just used my copies of the files for most of those installs, from XP onward. Not an iso or anything, just copying the files to a folder and running them from there. |
| ElfBane |
Posted - 18 Sep 2019 : 14:33:23
Yikes! I've been promoted to Learned Scribe!! Kool!! |
| ElfBane |
Posted - 18 Sep 2019 : 14:31:58
You might try using an program like Gizmo( http://arainia.com/software/gizmo/ ),to burn the old FRAtlas CD to a fresh CD. Then try and see if the patches will accept it. |
| Gary Dallison |
Posted - 18 Sep 2019 : 14:17:41
I've had a look through multiple forums and they all agree that the patches are not cumulative so they all need to be installed in series, in the correct order for the full changes to be applied.
As far as I can tell patch#3 is the latest and it does not include any 4e, 5e, or even 3e changes.
I think the best we can get is if someone has installed patch 1, 2, and 3, then if he can zip up the map folder we could try and put them in place manually, otherwise it might be a hard slog trying to figure out how to mount the cdrom.iso so that the patches pick it up correctly. |
| Seethyr |
Posted - 18 Sep 2019 : 13:43:47
Many years ago I owned the interactive atlas, but it is long since gone. If I wanted to start from scratch and pick up my copy today fully updated, will a Google search produce the most recent version? And how recent is the most recent? Does it include 5e era Realms? |
| ericlboyd |
Posted - 18 Sep 2019 : 12:45:11
quote:
Originally posted by Gary Dallison
I've got the basic atlas working fine (copied over from an old usb that i copied from an old xp machine), but the patch#1 and patch#2 require the presence of the cd in order to install the new maps. The cd no longer reads in the drive so the patches refuse to install
I thought patch 3 was a superset. |
| Gary Dallison |
Posted - 18 Sep 2019 : 11:18:54
I've got the basic atlas working fine (copied over from an old usb that i copied from an old xp machine), but the patch#1 and patch#2 require the presence of the cd in order to install the new maps. The cd no longer reads in the drive so the patches refuse to install |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 18 Sep 2019 : 11:06:24
quote:
Originally posted by Gary Dallison
Did anybody find a way to overcome the patches 1 and 2 requiring the cd. I have the cd but its 20+ years old and doesnt work anymore.
Try copying the files on the CD to your hard drive and install it from there. I've got the CD, but I've been using the copied files for the install for years, and multiple computers. |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 18 Sep 2019 : 11:04:53
quote:
Originally posted by Gary Dallison
Given that the atlas is no longer available and will likely not work on modern PCs, could someone take pictures of these maps so that they aren't lost forever
It works just fine on my PC. It's a Windows 10 box that I built myself. |
| Gary Dallison |
Posted - 18 Sep 2019 : 10:23:43
Did anybody find a way to overcome the patches 1 and 2 requiring the cd. I have the cd but its 20+ years old and doesnt work anymore.
|
| George Krashos |
Posted - 18 Sep 2019 : 09:20:24
Yeah Eric. Send me that Maskyr's Eye map!
-- George Krashos |
| Gary Dallison |
Posted - 18 Sep 2019 : 07:48:20
Given that the atlas is no longer available and will likely not work on modern PCs, could someone take pictures of these maps so that they aren't lost forever |
| ericlboyd |
Posted - 18 Sep 2019 : 00:32:08
quote:
Originally posted by Duneth Despana
I just had exactly the same experience. No news on printed lore other than Expedition?
If I remember right, this was one of the selling features of the FR Interactive Atlas ... new hitherto unseen maps.
If you apply patch #3, you can see my one and only decent village map in Maskyr's Eye. I carefully made it fully consistent with Ed's Polyhedron articles. Never been published before or since.
--Eric |
| Duneth Despana |
Posted - 17 Sep 2019 : 23:04:14
I just had exactly the same experience. No news on printed lore other than Expedition? |
| Barastir |
Posted - 20 Mar 2018 : 18:55:10
Nice find, I haven't found any printed references, this far. |
