and still no reaction. cmo'n (GOG) guys, I know you have a lot on your plate, but this should be a quite trivial fix, considering that I have presented everything to you on a golden plate.

I'm having troubles downloading the file, does it work for you?

That worked, thank you for your help - I appreciate it.
Here's hoping the GOG team decide to fix all the issues at long last.

Is the official version still up shit creek without a paddle?

if you are asking about the patch, as far as I know, the game remains unpatched. hmmm.. maybe I can compare the gog exe with the original one byte by byte, and then copy over the changes to an original patched one.

bump... some progress on this topic? Did http://www.gog.com/forum/battle_isle/update_new_build_up_on_servers fixed the problem?

maybe someone (voodoo47?) should really create a binary diff-patch between the gog version and the correct patched version, incorporating the GOG changes?

the current problem is only the executable - we have either the fully patched exe that does not have GOG's music fix (will not play music), or the unpatched exe that has the music fix (plays music, but has bugs).

the music fix needs to be copied to the updated exe - probably by hexediting. I would do it myself, but I have no idea what they changed and where, so I'm pretty much screwed.

apart from the exe, the full patch has been ready for download for a long time (see my previous posts).

it's possible that I might find the edits when I get some more experience in hexediting - I think if I could create a dif when comparing the unpatched orig exe and GOG exe, and move that dif to the patched one, the problem would be solved.

and as much as I don't like to say this, GOG support has been all talk and no walk on this, promising a fix via support ages ago.. I understand Incubation is not really a top priority, but anyway, all that is required is that tiny little fix to the exe.


to make it short; this is the original, unpatched exe (v1.50). this is the same exe with the GOG fix (v1.50). this is the original, patched exe (v1.52). the GOG fix needs to be copied over from exe no2 into exe no3 (creating a fully patched 1.52 exe with the GOG fix).

Thanks for feedback. Had just taken a look myself with a diff tool between a plain 1.50e exe and the gog 1.50e exe (version number on title screen). They seems to be heavily different while having (almost) the same size. Even the 1.52e, while being significant smaller, seems to share more similarities.... :/ Maybe I have the wrong variant (not sure about copy protection in my "plain" 1.50e)?

to get a proper diff, you would need to compare it to the original platinum exe, not the standalone wilderness exe, I believe. sent you a pm.

this diff would then have to be applied to the fully patched 1.52 exe, and if done successfully, the patch would be complete.

diff of the gog150.exe to the platinum 1.50e version is only:

left platinum, right gog
000313E0: 81 ADD B8 MOVE
000313E1: EC 01
000313E2: 08 00
000313E3: 01 00
000313E5: 00 C3
00031868: 05 03
000462C3: 75 JNZ EB Jump (unconditional)
00046324: 75 JNZ EB Jump (unconditional)
00049C20: 75 JNZ EB Jump (unconditional)
000FC548: 57 73 S
000FC549: 49 6F o
000FC54A: 4E 75 u
000FC54B: 4D 6E n
000FC54C: 4D 64 d

The last 5 bytes are clear, winmm.dll -> sound.dll. But keeps failing on startup with "copy protection"

The first 9 bytes are unclear (copy protection removal?), can't locate them at the 1.52e at them moment.... searching.

I also have an 1.52 exe with the protection already removed, I've just replaced winmm.dll with sound.dll, and will try it out with the gog version.

if this is going to work, I'm probably going to kick myself, as this was so simple, it could have been done ages ago.

no, it's not enough - this breaks the way the gog launcher loads the game. I'm able to load it using a 3rdparty launcher, and this will actually make the game work with sound (so yes, patched AND sound), but ONLY in software mode. as long as I launch it accelerated, the sound is gone yet again.


ahhh, so frustrating, so close, yet so far.

do you renamed the exe to exactly "incubation.exe"? Overall, can you please make the nocd 152 available? :)

yeah. here is the orig 1.52 exe, and here the hexedited one (only sound.dll hexedited in).

extract the patched one including the loader into your incubation folder, run Wilderness_sw.exe, and you should have the patched version with music. but, as I said, the music wont work with the 3dfx launcher (Wilderness.exe), and the orig GOG shortcuts will not work.