Dark Wizard for the Sega CD
BelgarathMTH
Member Posts: 5,653
Hello, friends. 
I just wanted to let y'all know that, inspired by the game music thread, and another thread in which I mentioned it, I went out on the internet this morning, and searched for a way to play Dark Wizard again.
Lo and behold, you can download it and play it for free!
You need three file resources, and the best place to get them all is here:
1) the emulator software that will play the game for you:
http://www.romnation.net/srv/emulators/93/smsgg/Fusion-v3-51-for-Windows.html
2) a thing called a "bios" file, that replicates the hardware of the Sega CD system: http://www.romnation.net/srv/roms/51779/genesis2/SegaCD-68k-BIOS-U.html
3) the game itself:
http://www.romnation.net/srv/roms/44428/segacd/Dark-Wizard-U.html
And here's a very good tutorial about where to put all those resources:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOnizySQfPM
There's one thing the tutorial doesn't tell you, and I only lucked into the solution by fiddling randomly. The Dark Wizard Download doesn't give you a proper .exe or "image" file of any kind. What you need to do is make a folder and name it "Sega". Then make a folder within that folder for the Fusion software, and name it "Fusion". Then, extract the .bios file into that folder.
Then, *and the video does not tell you this*, you need to extract your Dark Wizard .rar into the Fusion folder, but then, you need to right-click on *that* folder, and click "extract here", to unpack all those resources into the Fusion folder, even after having done the first extraction of the whole folder.
Once you have done that, your Fusion software will be able to find and load a .rar folder that is mysteriously labeled "Track".
Then the game will run.
And, oh, what a game it was/is! I am having more fun than I've had since 1995, when Baldur's Gate was nothing but a gleam in Bhaal's eye.
I can give all kinds of hints and tips, if anyone is interested. If anyone needs me, I think I'll be playing Dark Wizard now until BG2:EE comes out!
Cheers!
BTW: For roleplaying immersion, you *need* to find options, and turn ON "Battle Display: Real". That will change those boring, cold text results into glorious animated cartoons, with hit point bars displayed, fantastic music, and animations that grow as your "pieces" class advance! For some reason, nobody on YouTube who has posted about Dark Wizard seems to care about these glorious battle animations - I'm not even sure if they know that they exist!
I just wanted to let y'all know that, inspired by the game music thread, and another thread in which I mentioned it, I went out on the internet this morning, and searched for a way to play Dark Wizard again.
Lo and behold, you can download it and play it for free!
You need three file resources, and the best place to get them all is here:
1) the emulator software that will play the game for you:
http://www.romnation.net/srv/emulators/93/smsgg/Fusion-v3-51-for-Windows.html
2) a thing called a "bios" file, that replicates the hardware of the Sega CD system: http://www.romnation.net/srv/roms/51779/genesis2/SegaCD-68k-BIOS-U.html
3) the game itself:
http://www.romnation.net/srv/roms/44428/segacd/Dark-Wizard-U.html
And here's a very good tutorial about where to put all those resources:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOnizySQfPMThere's one thing the tutorial doesn't tell you, and I only lucked into the solution by fiddling randomly. The Dark Wizard Download doesn't give you a proper .exe or "image" file of any kind. What you need to do is make a folder and name it "Sega". Then make a folder within that folder for the Fusion software, and name it "Fusion". Then, extract the .bios file into that folder.
Then, *and the video does not tell you this*, you need to extract your Dark Wizard .rar into the Fusion folder, but then, you need to right-click on *that* folder, and click "extract here", to unpack all those resources into the Fusion folder, even after having done the first extraction of the whole folder.
Once you have done that, your Fusion software will be able to find and load a .rar folder that is mysteriously labeled "Track".
Then the game will run.
And, oh, what a game it was/is! I am having more fun than I've had since 1995, when Baldur's Gate was nothing but a gleam in Bhaal's eye.
I can give all kinds of hints and tips, if anyone is interested. If anyone needs me, I think I'll be playing Dark Wizard now until BG2:EE comes out!
Cheers!
BTW: For roleplaying immersion, you *need* to find options, and turn ON "Battle Display: Real". That will change those boring, cold text results into glorious animated cartoons, with hit point bars displayed, fantastic music, and animations that grow as your "pieces" class advance! For some reason, nobody on YouTube who has posted about Dark Wizard seems to care about these glorious battle animations - I'm not even sure if they know that they exist!
3
Comments
I found this website: VG Emulation for Newbies
I had to use the BIOS file linked on that site to get the game to work. If anyone else runs into the same problem try that BIOS. Works great!!
Apparently, there are a lot of versions of the Sega CD BIOS, and different ones match different computers. So, if you get the black screen problem, try another BIOS from a different website, and that one might work, as @JLee said.
BTW: I've read about another problem that some people have on some computers where the game will crash after the first map, and be unable to load up and continue to the next map. The solution is supposed to be to go to "Options" in Fusion, and check "Perfect Synchronization".
I haven't had any trouble yet with the game being able to change to a new map, but I've had that checked from the start.
Also, I had trouble at first finding the keyboard buttons to control the game. Your arrow keys move the cursor, the a, s, and d keys select menus and activate actions. The enter key is the Sega CD system start button, and also will skip over unwanted cutscenes. The tab button resets the game, so be careful not to push that unless you're ready to quit.
If your BIOS supports it, F5 will "save state", which is like a quicksave button. F8 quick loads your last save state, so be careful not to push that by accident.
If your BIOS does not support "save state", you can still save through the options menu, which will also light up "continue" on your start screen, for a quickload when you come back to the game. There is also a "system RAM" screen you can navigate to, where you can have multiple save files, just like a modern game.
F9 through F12 will toggle sound modes.
The backspace key puts the game on "fast forward", but that doesn't do anything in Dark Wizard except speed the music up, since it's a turn-based game.
In 1995, I also did a run with Krystal, except I renamed her "Samantha", after the Bewitched character, because I thought she looked like that.
The only one I've never played is Robin, so I might try a run with her this time around.
I already noticed that the rumors about sidequests that you get in the towns are different, depending on which leader you're playing. Also, I figured out how to buy and equip new items, which I had never figured out before.
I think a lot of people missed a lot of the features of this game by not experimenting with all the controls and screens.
EDIT: Awww, he turned them off in video number two. I will *never* understand all the majority of Dark Wizard players who prefer to read text to watching all these delightful cartoons. He also has lost all his ambient sound effects, and doesn't even know it.
About sound effects: there is an entire set of sound effects that increase immersion. Every unit has a sound when it moves or attacks, there are lots of control beeps when you click on menu options, actions like resting or summoning units have cool little sound effects, and spell effects have sounds. In the Real Battle Animations, there are sounds for movement, for weapons and armor, and for spells.
There is a problem in emulators and/or BIOS files, where, if you have the sound setting maxed out, the memory cache fills, and you lose half your sound environment. Set it on 2200 hz, NOT 4400. If it fills too quickly even then, and cuts off your "secondary" sound effects, you can save and restart to restore them.
Now that I've discovered this, I *can't stand* the relative silence of playing without these sound effects present. It's like playing Dark Wizard while deaf, when they're not there.
The music of this game is one of its shining strong points, but so are all those sound effects that you lose if you increase the sound "quality" in the emulator.
The workaround I discovered, after some experimentation, is to turn off Real Battle animations (all together now, AWWW!), until the enemy bishop is defeated.
I sincerely hope I don't discover any more missing animation files!
BTW, if you have "save state" available in your BIOS, press F5 at the end of every turn, *before* you end turn to let the enemy take his turn. This will save you a lot of grief if you encounter any more game-crashing missing files in the game download.
In the screens that you access after winning a map, make sure you find the menu that says "Dispatch Guards". This is *very* important. *Always* leave five units from your army at the "Dispatch Guards" castle after every win, or else, the Demon Lords are going to take the castle from the map you just won, forcing you to backtrack, and retake territory.
I do believe it also forces you to re-win your victories against Demon Lords that you just defeated.
I just had the displeasure of defeating Aqua, having Quentin retaken, and having to go all the way back to Quentin to face Arachna. Now, I have to defeat Aqua all over again.
So, again, *always* "Dispatch Guards" to every castle you've won, after every map win, unless you enjoy fighting over and over for the same territory.
Here's another tip. DO NOT hit the tab key. It reboots the system! (at least on my BIOS)
Oh, and yes, the tab key is also the reset button in the BIOS I'm using.
Guarding your castles is very important, but also, it is very tricky to figure out the controls for it. After you win a map, you click on "Advance". It will say "Select a Map". You can choose to fight towards the east or towards the south. Pick one.
Then, you will see a control at the bottom that says "Next Map". DON'T click it! Look and see if there are castle names above it. There could be one, two, or more. You need to post five units as guards at each and every castle name on that screen!
Once you click on a castle name in the Advance/Select a Map screen, it will bring up your troop roster. Select the five lowest level troops to leave on guard duty, but I always have a whole freaking bunch of snakes in my army for this purpose. Snakes win and lose maps for you, and they make great castle guards. So, I always take my six highest level snakes (serpents or hydras), with me from map to map, and leave at least three low level snakes and dragon pups, or other slow moving, hard to advance troops, guarding my castles.
IMPORTANT: Once you have selected your guard roster for each vulnerable castle, the control to lock in your choices is the enter key/start button. I had to do some hair-pulling experimentation to figure this out.
As Armer IX, I don't like to leave centaurs on guard duty, because centaurs are Armer's special strong unit. Those always come with me, and I always have a bunch of them! Every leader gets one troop that is a Class Two unit upon summon, and for Armer, that is his alliance with the Centaurs. Every hero also gets some form of Snake ("Star Destroyer" in the water unit), some form of Flyer, some form of medium slow ground unit, a very difficult to raise but powerful if you do dragon unit, a fighter, a cleric, and a mage.
Don't leave any of your special units on guard duty. Take very special care of your adventuring party. They are almost irreplaceable. You can hire other humanoids, but you have to somehow get them five levels up before they can even choose a class, and they are very weak and vulnerable until you find some way to do this.
This game is so very tricky and hard, I don't think that a huge percentage of people who played it ever figured it out. But, my oh my, the rewards are so great if you do! (Assuming you like strategy games.) I think that Dark Wizard is Battle Chess times a thousand.
TECHNICAL TIP FOR 090313:
About the sound effects that love to keep going silent:
Nothing I could do in the SegaCD BIOS version 2.0 was stopping the loss of game sound effects, and that was starting to drive me crazy with frequent saving and reloading to restore them!
I just, in desperation, looked up another BIOS, and changed my BIOS to version 1.*. So far, not only have the sound effects not been lost, but they are much louder in relation to the music. I think that older versions of the SegaCD BIOS are much more friendly to Dark Wizard than the newer versions.
Also, I was worried that changing BIOS files might lose my saved game, but it didn't. Wherever in the emulator your saves are stored, it's not in the BIOS, so, if you are having frustrating technical issues of any kind, the first thing you should try is to change to a different version of the BIOS than the one that is giving you difficulties.
I may not be able to play tomorrow, and I might be able to play Thursday night, but, I'll be spending my weekend fighting on for Cheshire, without a doubt! I haven't had this much fun with a game in ages!
There's just something about Dark Wizard, for the select few who really figure it out and "get it", that makes it the best thing since sliced bread and Chess!
I wonder if I have enough troops or too many.
Also, I have not worked on leveling the leader at all (he leveled once just by way of casting a spell every turn).
Can't wait til this evening when I can be reunited with this great game...
On the leaders: I don't level mine, either, other than the two xp per turn he or she gets for casting Mass Heal, Megaheal, or Restore every turn.
I look at the leader as being like the king in chess. It's a powerful piece, but if the king goes down, it's game over.
In Dark Wizard, you also lose the game if any enemy unit takes the hex on top of your castle. I think the leader is the best equipped to single-handedly defeat any stray fast or flying unit that slips behind your lines and makes a beeline for your castle (and I've seen the AI do exactly that). Plus, it isn't worth it to risk his or her life.
That's just my cautious playstyle, of course. Some players delight in raising the stakes and taking their "king" out on every map, going for a superhero with high levels.
This game is ginormous, and it is also very quirky about its save state memory.
I just managed to lose my entire week's worth of play with Armer IX, just because I wanted to try playing for awhile with Robin.
So, live and learn, I suppose.
There's a "change files" button in the file management screen, but it doesn't seem to work properly.
Oh, well. Be *very* careful with your saved Dark Wizard games. Play one hero at a time. Attempting to do modern file management with the game is likely to lose you an ungodly amount of hours of play!
http://shrines.rpgclassics.com/sega_cd/darkwizard/
I remember at first he simply playef the soundtrack in windows media player until he fixed it
Also, check Options:Sound in the game to make sure you didn't accidentally toggle the music off.
Pardon my casting of "Raise Dead" on my old thread here.
Last January, I beat Dark Wizard (1994, Sega Genesis CD), using Armer IX.
So now, a year and three months later, I started out playing Amon until I beat Arachna, then had some ideas about a Robin run, so I've restarted with her. (Uh-oh, restartitis is kicking in. But that's the sign that I'm really into the game.)
It's so fun to watch the little dramas play out on the battlefield maps, because I've named all my units and made up little stories about each one of them. The game gets a lot of replayability because of how the magic users and clerics progress - each alignment has different level up progressions and the spells are picked randomly, so you can wind up with all kinds of different caster builds.
It's really fun to experiment with the spells, too. Some of them behave differently depending on whether you cast on an adjacent hex, or several hexes away, and the higher the level of the caster, the more hexes they can cast over.
I'm trying to make do with a smaller army this time around, but it's really tempting to keep creating new units, because I keep getting ideas for unit names that would be fun, and also, you have to keep leaving up to ten of them at a time behind to guard castles, and thus unavailable to play on the next map.
Anyway, I'm not sure if many would be able to appreciate such an old game nowadays, but if you played it on the Sega Genesis CD back in the 1990's, you would still enjoy it, plus it's got a nostalgia factor. Dark Wizard was the first computer game I ever played, and it was the game that got me hooked on gaming as an adult.
If you missed this thread last year, the first couple of posts have instructions about how to get it to work on a modern system.
Have fun!! You're making me want to give it another go!