FIX THE BLACKBOXES IN JUST NINE EASY STEPS ! ! !

Because The Settlers IV can look much better than THAT^


Instructions:

(STEP ONE) First stop is the VirtualBox downloads page (the virtual machine requires Virtual Box 2.1.0 (released December 17th 2008) or newer to run):

http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

PLEASE make sure that you download the correct version for your operating system

Windows XP Home,Professional,Media Center Edition or Vista 32bit - Download the x86 version.
Windows XP 64bit Edition or Vista 64bit - Download the AMD64 version.

(STEP TWO) After installation load Virtual Box and then close it. This is to allow the program to create its folder structure which we require for installing the S4 Linux OS (operating system).

(STEP THREE) I have highly compressed the virtual machine using the free 7-zip compression utility. Because of this you must download 7-zip to extract the files. The 7-zip program can be downloaded from here:

http://www.7-zip.org/download.html

We also need to download the two compressed Linux OS files from here (Sorry, this version is bigger than others so the download is bigger too):

Part 1: http://rapidshare.de/files/412...UBLFinal.7z.001.html

Part 2: http://rapidshare.de/files/412...UBLFinal.7z.002.html

(STEP FOUR) Once you have the OS downloaded, extract the files from the archive to the following folders (depending on which version of windows your PC runs) by right clicking on the file S4UBLFinal.7z.001 (to bring up the right click menu) going down to 7zip, and choosing the 'Extract Files' option, and then extracting it out to:

Vista Users: C:\Users\YOUR-USER-NAME\.VirtualBox

XP Users: C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR-USER-NAME\.VirtualBox

(STEP FIVE) Now start up Virtual Box. If all has extracted well you should now see a PC on the left hand menu called S4-UBL.

Highlight S4-UBL and then click the Settings button. This will now open a new window showing you the configuration of the Virtual PC.

From the left hand pane, select CD/DVD-ROM.
These options need to be changed to reflect the drive letter of your cd/dvd rom drive. If you dont know what this is, open up My Computer and see what drive letter your cd-rom drive has been called. If you wish to run settlers from a Virtual CD-Rom drive (eg Daemon Tools etc) you will want to set the drive letter to the virtual drive.

From the left hand pane, select Audio.
Change the option to anything other than NULL (which would result in no sound at all).
If the second audio box (under the one where you chose anything other than NULL) has a selection to choose from, use Soundblaster16 ONLY if no other options present themselves, or if sound fails to work once you are up and running in Settlers 4.

=== ( OPTIONAL STEP FIVE EXTRAS ) ===

You will see a 'Base Memory Size' slider scale. Currently it is set to 256mb of system ram. To speed things up you may wish to set the number to reflect half of your computers physical ram (eg if you only have 1gb of ram, set the slider to 512mb). Obviously if your computer has 256mb of ram (or perish the thought - LESS than that) please lower the slider setting, remember though the less memory the virtual machine has, the slower things will run on it (anyone running XP or Vista with only 256mb of ram should seriously consider upping their ram anyway).

You will also see a 'Video Memory Size' (currently set to 32mb) you should set this also to half the size of your Graphics Cards ram. The maximum this slider can go is 128mb, so if you have any graphics card with 256mb ram or greater, you can leave it at 128mb.

* There is an option in these settings called 'Enable 3D Acceleration' DO NOT enable this option (it makes your game run slower and the mouse can go crazy).

IF your graphics card uses Shared System Memory you MAY want to deduct the video memory size from the base memory size, this will depend on whether your game (when we set it up in a few steps) has playback issues.

(STEP SIX) Now click the OK button and then double click on the name: S4-UBL (which you highlighted earlier before clicking settings).

The Virtual PC will now load up. After a short while a username prompt appear. The user name is: s4

and the password is: settlers4

* Some programs will require special administrative rights and ask for the password, the password is always (as stated above) settlers4 .

(STEP SEVEN) To Install The Settlers IV insert the cd-rom into your cd-rom drive. Now click on the small folder icon in the top taskbar, next to the word: Applications. This loads the File Manager.

A window will appear that is divided into two panes. One which to its left shows the CD/DVD-ROM Drive, click on this icon to bring up the contents of the Settlers IV cd-rom.

* Note: If ever the game (once installed and playing) asks for you to insert the cd-rom, it means you will have to click the icon mentioned above, to load the cd-rom, and thus allow the game to see it.

Locate 'Autorun.exe' and double click on it. Settlers IV installation is then as normal.

*Note that the BBGC installer will always fail to install claiming it's already installed on the system. Therefore you may as well click NOT to install the BBGC client.

*If you have more than one cd-rom that needs installing from, then you can easily unmount (eject) the drive by right-clicking on the cd-rom drive icon (in the File Manager) and choosing eject.

(STEP EIGHT) After installing the game and before running it, run the Settlers IV patch located in the /home/s4 folder.

(STEP NINE) Once installed double click the desktop icon for The Settlers IV to start the game.

=== ( OPTIONAL STEP NINE EXTRAS ) ===

If the sound volume is too quiet, exit the game back to the desktop. There is an icon to the left of the top taskbar called 'Alsa' click on it and adjust the sliders in the window that opens accordingly.

(STEP TEN FUN)

Enjoy playing The Settlers IV without any black boxes


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

HAMACHI INSTALLATION GUIDE:

(The only way to play multiplayer using the virtual machine)

NOTE: There is an icon on the desktop called gHamachi, this will not work untill the following steps have been completed. Once you have done the below, then you can use the icon - BUT NOT BEFORE ! ! !

Since there are a few differences to installing Hamachi on the virtual box, which aren't mentioned in their installation guide, here is a step-by-step guide for Hamachi under the virtual box.

1) First off, and always a good idea is to go and get the Hamachi Linux Installer download:

https://secure.logmein.com/pro...achi/vpn.asp?lang=en

2) Once you've saved it (for this guide I'm taking it as being in /home/s4).

Right click it (find it using the File Manager) and select 'Extract Here'.

3) Open a command prompt and type the following in (following each line hit the return/enter key):

cd /home/s4/ham*
sudo make install
/sbin/tuncfg
hamachi-init

And that's it, from now on all you have to do is double click the desktop gHamachi icon, and gHamachi will load up and away you go.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

TROUBLESHOOTING.

Q. Settlers IV is installing very slowly. What can I do about it?

A. Cancel the installation, and shut down the Virtual Machine. Now go into the settings for your Virtual Machine and tick the checkbox for:

Enable vt-x amd-v

Now start the virtual PC and try the installation again.

Q. Settlers IV is playing very slowly for me, what can I do?

A. Some wine users suggest editing the Video.cfg (found in /home/s4/.wine/drive_c/BlueByte/The Settlers IV/Config) file with the following setting:

ForceBlit and change it to 1 (if it's already at 1 try 0 to see if it makes any difference)

You may also like to try modifying the 'Base Memory Size' and 'Video Memory' settings in your virtual computers settings window.

Q. My mouse keeps hitting invisible borders on the screen which it can't move past, unless I move the mouse away from the area and then move my mouse as fast as possible to get past the area.

A. This is an issue when changing from full to windowed screen modes. The fix is to start up the Virtual Machine in full-screen mode (Right Ctrl + F).

Q. My mouse has gone crazy in settlers, making me zip all over the world if I try to move round my territory using right-click drag.

A. Check that 'Enable 3D Acceleration' is disabled in the Virtual Machines Settings. If it is already disabled, then the only other fix is, in-game to turn on border scrolling, set the slider to max-speed and use that as the fix.

Q. I can't enable Hardware Rendering. Is there anyway to enable it?

A. No, the virtualbox video card doesn't support 3d hardware acceleration under linux guests currently (they've just introduced it to windows guests), only 3d software. If ever VirtualBox gets updated with 3D Hardware Acceleration for linux guests, which allows people to enable hardware rendering within Settlers IV then I'll maybe update the guide with step-by-step instructions (as opposed to uploading another machine to download).

* As mentioned before DO NOT turn on 'Enable 3D Accleration' in the Virtual Machine display settings.

Q. What about router ports, etc etc etc.

A. The Virtual Computer is set up to use NAT, therefore if your Windows PC is setup to properly run Settlers, and your router is also setup to forward the ports to your windows PC, then automatically your linux virtual machine will work out of the box, no settings to be changed.

Q. Can I play Settlers III or other games on this.

A. Yes, however if they're working fine on your host PC there's little point. Remember that for DOS games (Settlers I/II) you should use Dosbox.
No support is given for other games though in this troubleshooting guide.
You should note that the wine application database, does say that for Settlers III on wine, you will need the 1.60 XP patch exe.

Q. I really want to play using the BlueByte Gaming Channel (BBGC) is there anyway to do this in the virtual machine.

A. No. There is no guaranteed to work method. The Darkspace players, (a space game created by the company that created BBGC for BlueByte) have had limited successes getting their own client - GCQL(which is an updated version of BBGC) to run under linux and wine. A guide can be found here:

http://darkspace.net/index.htm?module=forums.php&page=/...c=43009&forum=100&14

I give absolutely no help in trying to get this to work, I also should point out that there are many Microsoft licences which it is your responsibility to accept or reject, before being able to attempt the method, and that it might destroy the virtual machine, meaning that you have to reinstall the machine using Steps 1-9 of this installation guide.

One further thing is that the BBGC installer won't install, and that you either have to enable shared folders and copy your windows BBGC install folder into it, to drag and drop into your wine directory, or email the folder to yourself and access it from within the virtual machine and put it in the wine directory or install 7zip in the virtual machine, navigate to its 7zfm.exe and manually extract the bbgcinstaller file out to somewhere, and then run the newly extracted bbgchan.exe to try and get it to work.

Once again, I offer no help with this method - YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN.

BUT IF ANYONE OUT THERE STILL HAS THE BBGC-ALT LOBBY INSTALLER (OR INSTALLATION FOLDER) THEN IT MIGHT WORK IF THEY UPLOAD IT SOMEWHERE FOR PEOPLE TO TRY ! ! ! ! !

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ChiefWhosm,

Just dont buy an 8series card!

Chief I started to read all that and my brain got fried,about a 1/3 of the way through.

If I lose the blonde moments and manage to work this out it isnt going to affect any other games on my PC is it?

You don't have to worry penny, your other games are on the real PC, not the virtual one, you only use a virtual PC to install and run older games that give problems with the newer video cards.
Due to the fact that the video card is just an emulated one, and therefore wouldn't work with new games, there's not much point installing any of your newer games, but it should be fine for games that either don't like Vista, XP, or your 8 series card.

My last dealings with a Virtual CD were not happy ones,the disc ended up becoming a frisbee,and I happily watched as a car ran it over.The instructions that came with the disc were all of 1 paragraph,and could have been written in Russian for all the sense it made

quote:

Once they're all downloaded, open 7zip, and highlight BackedUPVMs.7z.001 and now go to File > Combine.Once all the files have finished combining into a single file, extract the files contained in the .7z to the following destination:Vista Users: C:\Users\YOUR-USER-NAME\.VirtualBox

Hello,

I've been trying to get things working but I'm stuck. Things went wrong at the point at which I had to download those 4 files. I kept on gettin a error when I tryed to combine them togheter. So I changed their names to:
BackedUPVMs.7z.001
BackedUPVMs.7z.002
BackedUPVMs.7z.003
BackedUPVMs.7z.004

Then I tryed again and it worked! I now have this file:
BackedUPVMs

But if I try to extract it I get a error:
Can't open the file "C/ect/ect/ect.7z" as a archive. I tryed most options 7z gives me but I keep on getting errors that it can't be read or that it's not a good file so my guess is that I did something wrong when I was trying to combine those 4 files but I dono what or how I should do it. Some help would be appriciated

Lothar

It sounds like one of the d/ls got corrupted. Thats what that error usually means, there should be a file integrity check you can run through 7z to find out which of the files is causing your problem

Well I'm sure it's just me but I can't find out how to do that ... Where should I go if I want to test the integrity?

What are those files about anyway? Can't I go on without them or download them somewhere else(make them)>?

This is the only way to remove that black box?

Lothar

Hi!

I got Settlers 4 today and got frustrated to the "black boxes" right away. I did everything mentioned in these instructions and now my Settlers is... hmm... opening? I used the "b- style" to open Settlers and it has downloaded for 20 minutes now.

Is it going to open or what? o_O

The only thing I did differently from the instructions was to install BBGC (I installed it before read the "don't install it"- part). Could that be the problem?

I reinstalled S4 (I think so, I really don't know if I uninstalled anything, virtual console is so weird) and didn't install BBGC this time. Still the game refuses to start. Though I noticed it claiming that there is no CD-ROM.

I succeeded in mounting the CD, but when the console asked the password I couldn't write anything! Nevertheless I typed "debian" (though nothing happened on the console) and hit enter. After that I tried to mount the CD again (because the console didn't say what it was supposed to say) but this time the console didn't ask the password but said that the CD has been mounted with read only blocks.

quote:

Where should I go if I want to test the integrity?

Right click on the 7z file, 7-zip> Test Archive.

quote:

(make them)>?

If you dont mind dual booting any Linux system would do, I just made this as a customised one where everything was done for new users (well..... mostly done ).

quote:

This is the only way to remove that black box?

That anyone has found so far

quote:

Though I noticed it claiming that there is no CD-ROM.

Reinstall the patch (to fix the no cd request), and also edit the video.cfg file (the 20 minute wait time).

There is of course the faint possibility your PC depending on its age isnt capable of running an emulated settlers 4.

quote:

the CD has been mounted with read only blocks.

Thats normal, because you cant write to a standard cd-rom, read-only.

Arbinn,

What did you do to get those 4 files combi into 1 and then unpack it?

ChiefWhosm,

I tested all 4 files:
BackedUPVMs.7z.001 = ok
BackedUPVMs.7z.002 = not ok
BackedUPVMs.7z.003 = not ok
BackedUPVMs.7z.004 = not ok

The error he gives me is that it can't be read as an archive.

Well really hopes it will work seems like a good solution to me, not that I understand all of it but if this will work it will be great! finally play the game again xD

Thanks for the awnsers so far I was already afraid this had become a inactive forum

So you just need to download 2,3 and 4 again and try combining again.

You might want to use freedownloadmanager.org as i've had better luck with it from sites that give corrupt d/ls through the normal browser download window (dont worry, its free and also spyware/adware free).

Even on ADSL sometimes the good ol' d/l managers are a wonderful thing

quote:

Originally posted by SNPRLothar:
Arbinn,

What did you do to get those 4 files combi into 1 and then unpack it?

I used 7zip to combine them as mention in the instructions. And I didn't extract the file with any particular program. I just clicked the file and told it to extract.

I reinstalled the whole VirtualBox and started all over. Everything went perfectly. But when I tried to open S4 I got the "insert CD-ROM"- message even though I installed the patch (settlers4_v10xx_to_1516a). This time the message is different though. Yesterday no-cd- error message was just a tiny grey text on the bottom of VirtualBox but this time I got a real and nice message with OK on it.

Is the patch version wrong or what's the problem?

Thank you.

I think I know what you mean, it links back to my small warning about auto run:

quote:

On putting in the cd-rom, windows will usually autoplay it, this can cause a slight issue with Debian on occasions. So please close the autorun down and click back in the VirtualPC Window, to get back to your console.

I would say windows has taken control of your cd, before the VM did. Eject the cd, then without closing the tray again (and leaving the cd on the tray). Use the sudo mount cd-rom command (which should auto-close the tray for you), then run the s4.exe again and see if that fixes it.

quote:

Originally posted by ChiefWhosm:
I think I know what you mean, it links back to my small warning about auto run:

quote:

On putting in the cd-rom, windows will usually autoplay it, this can cause a slight issue with Debian on occasions. So please close the autorun down and click back in the VirtualPC Window, to get back to your console.

I would say windows has taken control of your cd, before the VM did. Eject the cd, then without closing the tray again (and leaving the cd on the tray). Use the sudo mount cd-rom command (which should auto-close the tray for you), then run the s4.exe again and see if that fixes it.

VBox didn't autoclose the tray. On the other hand you don't need to write the commands to the terminal at all. I had VBox open and tray outside. I tried to make the tray auto-close with the sudo mount command few times but finally I closed it manually. Windows didn't take over the CD this time. It didn't appear on My Computer.

So it seems that you only need to have VBox open before you put S4 CD in. No nasty terminals. ;P

S4 also worked perfectly. No ugly black boxes! Now I'm going to find out how to put S4 in fullscreen mode. ATM it's just a small window in the middle of the screen.

Thanks for the marvelous advice and instructions ChiefWhosm!

Unreal...

I can't get Settlers working after the first time... Windows take over the CD every single time. No matter how I mount it. Guess the first time was just some magical and lucky random event.

I open VBox, got to the terminal, type "sudo mount /dev/cdrom /media/cdrom" (tray outside). Tray won't close and I get the "specify the file"- message (I get it every time I try to mount the CD while the tray is outside). When I close the tray by hand Windows takes over instantly and I keep getting the "insert CD" message.

In case you meant I was supposed to write "sudo mount cd-rom" command: I did, but it didn't do anything.

Ah the frustration. -.-'

Well this is strange. I managed to open S4 again. I don't even know how I did it. o_O I just typed different commands and restarted VBox few times in the process and suddenly the game started. :S

I guess Virtual Box finally got the hint you wanted to use the CD-rom drive

Ah well, all's well tha ends well

Yeah. I just hope it will start a bit more easily from now on. :E

Thanks again for awesome instructions.

Settlers works perfectly now. It starts every time normally as it's supposed to.

I'm trying to play online with my friend. We use Hamachi, but can't see games on the LAN list. VBox is the culprit somehow because we tried to play using windows and it worked perfectly. Then I switched back to VBox and my friend stayed in Windows (he doesn't care about the black boxes x)) and we couldn't see each other's hosted games.

Because it works on Windows everything should be fine with router etc. and as you said VBox is supposed to automatically work out the connection.