itch.io

Thank you! I never played it bitd, I lived in Europe and we never heard of it. Btw if you’re planning on playing it again, I’m going to release very soon (next few days I hope) version 2.0 whose saves are INCOMPATIBLE with this version. So you may want to hold off and play 2.0. The reason is that 2.0 uses a hard disk version, no more floppy swapping and its related problems!

I know that Proton has issues with my engine although it’s pretty basic DirectX12. I’m currently in the process of making version 2.0 which will use a hard disk image of Deathlord (no more diskette swaps!) put together by the legendary qkumba.

Then I will attempt to migrate my engine to SDL2 which is, of course, crossplatform. This necessitates a lot of work because it’s not just the engine that needs to move but also Applewin.

I use the Applewin (windows) codebase and DX12. Recoding the game in a crossplatform Applewin and SDL2 would be a lot of work.

good luck. You’ll need it. :)

I just pushed version 1.0.8 that fixes the bug with the menu where all the map submenu wasn't working. Sorry about missing that in the previous updates. I also added in the emulator menu the ability to zoom the original apple interface 2x.
Enjoy!

Okay that's a bug. Probably introduced in one of the latest updates. I'll take a look and also see if I can add these other features.

Hello Bloyamind. Thanks for the good words. Hidden doors can be seen in a couple of ways. First, make sure that you don't display secrets by going in the menu Relorded > Map and disabling "Show Hidden/Unopened". And second, make sure your leading member of the party doesn't auto-sense hidden doors. But that door being "seen" should only happen after the party has stepped next to it once.  Let me know if these things don't work, that would be a bug.

ONLY THE LEADER USES THEIR SPECIAL ABILITIES.

Now you could play Relorded without sensing anything hidden by just playing like we used to play Deathlord: use humans exclusively. :)
No one ever used any other classes because they sucked compare to humans.

As for F11, I should probably provide the ability to zoom 2x the original window.

oh great, i’m glad you got it resolved!

Yes I copy everything to a saved game folder, making a snapshot of every disk. It’s critical because Dathlord saves game info on both scenarios A and B.
I hope some day that qkumba (the foremost Apple 2 guru) converts Deathlord to a single HDV and gets rid of all the disk swapping. It would be ideal.

Sorry this is happening. When does it ask you to insert Disk B?

Can you paste the content of the settings json file that is in DLRL folder? It should say what the game thinks is in the drives.

The artistic direction is superb.

Thanks!  I decided to make this relorded version because of some of those fundamental issues (failing search, useless non-human races, etc…)

it’s not loading a disk.

Try inserting the boot disk via the menu.

Can you write me the steps to reproduce? I'm also on Windows 11 so I should be able to see the issue.

Thanks, I hadn't thought of that.

you’re right. My monitor has a different aspect ratio than the default window so that’s why I see more when I maximize the window.

Very smooth. The only "issue" is that the FOV scales with the resolution of the window, so the bigger your window the more of the board you see and the easier it is to plan your route.

In version 1.0.7, both scenarios A and B seem to be correct. I've copied them inside the game (utilities menu) from the original masters, and the game validates both.

I assume you’re using the latest version.

I will check if the scenario B disk is corrupt. Maybe that is the problem.

Thank you!

Well it’s not possible. The original interface is literally the Apple 2 game. I can’t switch to a C64 tileset because the Apple wouldn’t be able to display the colors.

I could after the fact overlay the C64 tiles on top but it would be a lot of work and a hybrid thing that would look quite ugly I think. Ideally you’d replace the apple 2 version with the C64 version and recode all the hooks etc… too much work!

And thanks for playing, I hope you enjoyed this “remaster”!

ninja and shukenja (monk) AC is only determined by the level. Their AC is half their level. In the original there’s a bug that resets their AC bonus at level 32 . I fixed it in Relorded.

This is not a D&D game with AC bonus for dexterity. Because it’s Deathlord. The one and only.

What does the original interface say?

Thanks for playing this! A sequel wouldn’t do it justice. Maybe something inspired by Deathlord.

I released version 1.0.6.1 that should have the pristine images in the correct directory, I hope.

However, in your case, what you should do is reboot the game, press 'C' in the menu for "character options". Then insert the scenario disks (from the menu or "alt >", and tell it to "disperse existing group". Then reassemble the group and play again. Your adventurers will keep all their skills and inventory, and the world should reset.

It looks like the default scenarios a&b are not pristine disks from the masters. It’s my fault entirely. I will need to fix that but I can’t get to it until about a week from now. :(

hmmm… did you use the premade party?

Maybe I have a bug where I package the master player A that’s already been “played”. I’ll take a look.

Excellent, glad we could sort it out. Have fun!

Please read the original docs (although they're full of errors, normal for that time period) and the changes that Deathlord Relorded brings to the experience.

That is interesting. Because the game works, which means the scenario disks are not the problem.

When you press 'P' to play the game, behind the scenes the original game asks for the scenario disks to be inserted, but in this case Deathlord Relorded automatically switches to the scenario disks, just as if you'd selected "Insert Scenario Disks" from the Emulator menu.

So we're certain the disks are not the problem.

Here are the exact steps to manage characters:

1. Launch the game
2. On the main screen, press 'C'
3. See "INSERT SCENARIO DISK A"
4. Press "Alt" and '>' or select menu Emulator > Insert Scenario Disks
5. Press "Enter"
6. You should now see the character management area

It's pretty simple and I just want to ensure that there's nothing different that you do.

If not, let's do something else: remove the save game information and let the game redo everything from a blank slate. To do that, there's one of 2 options. Either you're using Itch's Sandbox, or you're not. Go in your "C:\Users" directory. If there's a folder called "itch-player-XXXX" then you're using the Sandbox and that's the folder you should go into. Inside, go to "Saved Games". If you're not using the Sandbox, just go to your own "Saved Games" directory.

You should see a folder "Deathlord Relorded". Rename it to "Deathlord Relorded OLD" and start the game. This should set up a blank slate, and you should go through the steps outlined above.

Thanks.

If you simply go to to menu Emulator > Insert Scenario Disks, nothing happens?

The scenario disks are already set up, selecting "scenario disk a" is for when you want to tell the emulator to use another disk A than the default one.

I assume you got it here on itch.io. Go to "Library" on the left menu, then choose Deathlord Relorded. Press "Launch" and choose either to launch the game or open the original documentation. I highly recommend you read the original docs before playing or you won't get far.

I've just pushed version 1.0.5 that resizes the game to play on 1366x768 screens. It makes some of the smaller font sizes very difficult to read, but at least you can play the game.

Actually I think the problem is that your screen is not 1920x1080 which is currently the minimum supported.

The reason being that there’s a ton of data on screen at once, and a very big map. If I were to support smaller sizes by scaling it, it would not be readable. Sorry about that.

I was under the impression that pretty much everyone used 1920x1080 for gaming these days, but it’s clear that some retro gamers prefer 1366x768 laptops. In order to have a decent experience on those screens I’m going to have to redesign the interface when I find the time.

Ok somehow the game thinks your screen is bigger than it is. That's very weird. Do you have a special screen setup of some sort?
Try ALT-ENTER to toggle away from fullscreen and play in a window. How does that work?

Can you post a screenshot? I think the game isn't understanding the screen/window positions. Press ALT-ENTER to toggle fullscreen, let's see what happens.

Press ALT-SPACE, then M. Then move the window with the arrow keys and you should be able to get it where you want it.

It's a Windows issue. Let me know if that solves your problem!

Hello. I just checked with a dwarf barbarian on the latest version of the game, and I can't reproduce this in the starting dungeon level 1. Everybody gets damaged by the swamp except for the barbarian.

Thank you!

I just updated the game to 1.0.4, fixing the class swamp damage resistance being overridden by race.

InventoryList.csv is in the main game folder. Right click on the game in the itch app, choose "Manage", then again "manage" for the game itself (not the docs) and open the game's folder. Make a backup of the file though :)

For the disk swap, the easiest thing is before you want to play the swap game, press 'Q' to save game, and then make a backup (using File > backup scenarios or Ctrl-S). The backups are stored in your C:\Users\[your name]\Saved Games\Deathlord Relorded\backups\

Then go into town or whatever, kill and destroy and steal and exit. Then go in the menu Emulator > Insert Disk into Drive 1, and insert the backed up scenario A disk. Do the same with Drive 2 and scenario B. Re-enter the town or dungeon, it'll have reverted. Right away, choose menu Emulator > Insert Scenario Disks (or Alt->). It will put your active scenario disks in there again automatically. And press 'Q' in-game to save the current (good) state of the town.

The disk swap trick works everywhere to reset a town/dugeon etc…Back in the day everyone used it to steal cash from the towns. Swap, rince and repeat.

I’ll check the barbarian swamp thing, where the barbarian shouldn’t be damaged by swamp outdoors only.

Kobito hammers and Toshi bows are in. Nothing’s been modified there. Regarding weaponry I only allowed peasants to use crossbows, because that’s who crossbows were originally designed for!

The manual is shock full of inconsistencies. I originally followed the manual to create the portraits and some people reported black portraits. It turned out the game allowed you to make more types of characters than the manual allowed for, so I added those portraits.

Everything you see in-game that isn’t documented as a change in Deathlord Relorded is in the original game. Whenever you see an inconsistency with the original manual, it’s the manual that is wrong :).

To steal a boat you need to attack it. It is very tough until you get mass damage spells, and in any case don’t bother leaving the original island before level 20. You’d be in a world of hurt!

Energy walls can be passed with the right item. I suggest you look at gamefaqs, there are a few walkthroughs that are excellent, especially the latest one by fraterrius. Look at them also to understand why certain tiles behave the way they do, like portcullises. some of them are static and won’t ever open. Why, you ask? Because Deathlord. Really. That game is just sadistic.

You’re probably the only person to ever play a peasant. And I’m wondering how effective the peasant is with the Relorded rules. He might ultimately be extremely powerful! Speaking of smashing, add STR and SIZ and that’s your % of success. So statistically if your crazy strong peasant can’t smash a door after 10 tries, I won’t open.

And as for the emperor question, you need to use the disk swapping trick to reset the palace/town.

Yes, Dosoi slows poison, but doesn’t cure it, it’s an omission that slipped through the cracks. I’ll update it on the next bugfix release. I could also allow the peasant to wear the harame-do. You can do this right now by modifying the InventoryList.csv file and setting the peasant column to 1 for the harame-do line. But there is other cloak armor that you’ll find later that gives the same level of armor for the peasant if you’re willing to play on.