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 Lilrosaleen   |
Warning! This guide is usable in it's current state but still in flux. It is still being improved for better readability and clarity. More details or pictures will be added as needed upon request. (Please also keep in mind that English is not my native tongue) Detailed Installation Tutorial for Creatures Exodus from GoG on Windows 7 and 10 Part A. Game Installation 1. Download the Creatures Exodus Installer (setup_creatures3_2.1.0.12) from www.gog.com. (It is important that you do not use the new GOG Galaxy client to install Creatures Exodus. It is still in beta and is only able to change the installation path but not the installation directory name) 2. Rightclick the setup_creatures3_2.1.0.12.exe and select "Run as Administrator" At the resulting confirmation window click ok to confirm. 3. Now you see the Creatures Exodus Setup Window, and in the lower left corner click the button named "Options". 4. At "Install game to:" click on the Browse Button next to the Installation Path. Navigate the folder structure to your folder called "Documents" 5. In the install game to: Window it will then say: C:>"Your Username here">Documents>Creatures Exodus  larger image here 6. Left-Click in the Install Path window again then delete only the word Exodus. The install game window should now say C:>Users>"Your Username here">Documents>Creatures  larger image here 7. Now you are ready to install. Click the box next to "Yes I have read and accept the Eula" and then click the "install" button. 8. Wait until installer is done. Click the exit button in the lower left corner. 9. To test if your game is installed correctly, navigate to your "Documents folder" open the Creatures folder you just installed It should look like in the picture below.  larger image here 10. Navigate to the Creatures 3 Folder and find "engine.exe" Rightclick and open properties, select the compatability tab and put a checkmark in "run as administrator". 11. Navigate to the Docking Station Folder and find "engine.exe" and repeat procedure in step 10. Part B Add support for older addon installers, agents and breeds 1. Download Creatures Remastered Patch from here . Extract the Remaster Patch.zip and then execute Remaster Patch.exe as administrator. Press "n" and "enter" let the patch finish and close the patch window. Part C Change the DockingStation to have offline capabilities Download DS Offline Option here Extract DSOfflineOption.zip Place the file offlinelogin.c16 into C:>Users>Your Username here>Documents>Creatures>Docking Station>Images Place the file zzz_gamestart_login.cos into C:>Users>Your Username here>Documents>Creatures>Docking Station>Bootstrap>010 Docking Station and allow it to overwrite existing file. Part D Test your installation 1. Test Creatures 3 Launch Creatures 3 and create a world to play test. Close it again. 2. Test Docking Stationn In order to verify that your game has been installed correctly and that agents will be able to extract their catalogue-files properly download Catalogue Tester from here Place Catalogue Test.agents into C:>Users>Your Username here>Documents>Creatures>Docking Station>My Agents Launch Dockingstation through your startmenu and create a new world. Inject Catalogue Tester and wait for the message to appear If it says "Catalogue files extracting properly" then everything is working as intended. Yay! Done! |
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 Peppery One Papriko |
Could totally become a Resource Article once it is done. Lets play plants! Photosynthesis... Photosynthesis... Photosynthesis... |
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Lilrosaleen |
Papriko wrote: Thank you for your nice comment, Papriko. I hope the tutorial can be helpful to someone. |
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 Norn_master |
Very similar to what is the instructions included with Creatures Pocket edition.  It’s a me! Dvader0086 from the’a Discord! |
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Lilrosaleen |
Norn_master, if it is similar, in that case I wish I had known of your Pocket tutorial then when I recently became interested in the game. This is the reason for me writing the tutorial That and my own struggles to get a working installation. I am still hoping to get more feedback from users that struggle with their install so I can improve the tutorial where it is still unclear. Or even better I hope GoG can fix things on their end to provide an Exodus installer that does not require the additional steps outlined above. I have contacted their support about it all. This option I would like the best. Then I can delete this tutorial. |
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 Allekha  |
I would also like GoG to fix this, and I am also going to send a message to support about it. It's really not acceptable to be selling a game that doesn't work as-is. Creatures 2 ran fine for me on W7 but now has the black box problem and sometimes lags on W10, and I remember having problems with C1 on W7 as well (haven't tried it on W10 yet). If we annoy them enough, they might try to come up with a fix eventually, but I had another game from them that had a couple of game-breaking glitches (it was not possible to complete the game, it would always crash at certain points). It took months, I think over a year, for them to release a patch. Thankfully I still had a version on CD :/ Just a couple of notes from my install: I don't need to run DS in admin mode, but C3 standalone doesn't work even if I do run as admin - I get the black screen error. I couldn't get it to work in W7, either, and I remember seeing other people having the same problem. My install is essentially what you have here, so I don't know why there is a difference. |
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Lilrosaleen |
Allekha, I really like that you are also contacting Gog support about these issues. I couldn't agree more about your statement that you find it unacceptable that they are selling a game that does not work as is. We shouldn't need a tutorial for this. One should not require user-created patches and workarounds for the game to run as it should in the first place. After all, these patches are not mods that add extra game play, but instead these were made just to restore basic functionality to the game. As far as Creatures 2 goes I have not been successful to run it properly on Windows 10 just yet, instead I have the same black box problem as you do. As for your Creatures Exodus installation... do you recall if you ran the installer as administrator or not? And to confirm, your game is installed into documents, is that correct? |
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Allekha |
I want to try C1 before I write them a message, see if that works okay on W10 or not, but I'll definitely send them something. For the black box problem, I use the workaround described here. It's not ideal but it's somewhat usable, at least. Doesn't fix the lag, though. I ran the installer as an admin, and my game is installed into [my personal account, not admin]/Documents/Creatures (with C3 and DS having their own folders within Creatures). |
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Lilrosaleen |
Allekha wrote: I have not tried the installation on a non admin account but running the exe as admin. Both the installation on Windows 7 and Windows 10 were on admin accounts. Both resulted in a working DS and C3 when following the tutorial steps. Thank you very much for the blackbox workaround for C2 but I might wait with trying C2 again since you mentioned there was still lag. |
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Allekha |
I will try installing C3 to the admin account (and then running as admin) to see if that works, then. The lag is pretty annoying :/ When I was playing around with C2 a while back I do remember thinking that it seemed to let up after the game had been running for a while, and it did sometimes run normally. (Or maybe I was just getting used to it?) |
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Peppery One Papriko |
You know, I don't wanna annoy you or anything, but they only promised that it works up to windows 7. Nobody on GoG lost a word about 8, 8.1 or 10. "Works on newer systems" does not mean "forward-compatible with all future versions of this OS, ever". Seen from this perspective, I wouldn't quite say it is GoG's fault, more that of too wide interpretations. Lets play plants! Photosynthesis... Photosynthesis... Photosynthesis... |
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 Razgriz |
I understand that it's easy to shove any blame onto GOG for these issues but we should keep in mind that: The Creatures games themselves are very old at this point and by extension, so is the engine. Having issues with these games should be a given at this point. Something else worth noting is that GOG does not actually touch these older games beyond getting them to install and run. In cases like say, Star Wars X-Wing, GOG maintains a good relationship with the DOSBox team and because of that they will simply package X-Wing with a preset DOSBox config to put on sale. Please, if you're going to insist on contacting GOG support then I ask that you remain polite and explain the exact issue without accusing them of neglectful work or placing any blame on them. |
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Lilrosaleen |
Razgriz, it is done already. I have already contacted GoG support about this even before I posted this tutorial. You can rest assured that it was done in a polite manner.  Allekha, I hope very much you will also be able to get your game working properly. Good luck. I hope we can figure out a way together. (Also I will try Creatures 2 with my bf on his windows 7 laptop tonight, since Creatures 2 is not compatible with windows 10 as we just learned.) Papriko, thank you for making this very valid point. So I just went to the GoG store pages for Creatures. Creatures Exodus is listed as: Works on: Windows (XP, Vista, 7, 10) Therefore we have every right to expect full compatibility with the above listed operating systems. The Albian Years (Creatures 1 and 2) however is indeed listed as Works on: Windows (XP, Vista, 7) For Creatures 1 and 2 we should therefore not expect these two previous creatures versions to be compatible with Windows 10. |
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Razgriz |
Can I point this out in regards to Windows 10?: Please be advised that Windows 10 operating system will receive frequent hardware driver and software updates following its release; this may affect game compatibility Allow me to just reiterate that GOG does not really tamper with the games and to be polite and calm with the email to support. |
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Allekha |
As Lilrosaleen said: Exodus, at least, is listed as being Windows 10 compatible. Putting aside my issues getting C1/C2 to work on Windows 7, DS can't even be run without a user-created mod to take it offline, and this isn't even noted anywhere. GoG is making money off the sale of this game; surely they have a responsibility to make sure it is basically playable, if only by noting that it requires a specific mod to be run. They do fix issues like this sometimes, so it's not like we're expecting them to do something out of the ordinary. And they specifically invited users to submit bugs related to playing games on Windows 10. I appreciate that you guys are concerned, but please believe that I (and presumably Lilrosaleen) am capable of being polite when emailing support staff. I'm venting a bit here because this is an issue I've had with GoG on more than one game and it's been affecting my ability to run Creatures for years. (And help others run Creatures - someone I knew gave up on the idea of playing DS because they found it too frustrating to get working on their Windows 7 machine.) That doesn't automatically mean I'll be rude to the GoG staff when I report issues to them. |
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 Tea Queen Laura Administrator |
Putting aside my issues getting C1/C2 to work on Windows 7, DS can't even be run without a user-created mod to take it offline, and this isn't even noted anywhere. GoG is making money off the sale of this game; surely they have a responsibility to make sure it is basically playable, if only by noting that it requires a specific mod to be run. The fault and responsibility for the online functionality not working lies at Gameware's door, not GOG. I don't think GOG can be expected to fix or shoulder that particular problem. Creatures Exodus is still a very enjoyable game, and good value for £3.99, without the ability to go online. And even if they have neglected to mention the third-party offline option in the release notes, it's not really that much of an issue because the community does that job for them. Just my two cents. |
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Lilrosaleen |
Laura, it is certainly a great value even in it's current state, there is no doubt about it. But it seems that it is very frustrating for both new players and long time dormant previous players to get the game to function as it ought to. (in my own experience and noticing others having difficulty) Allekha, most certainly I have gotten the same impression on the GoG forum, they do invite user to make suggestions and report problems. Therefore it is very beneficial both to GoG and to us as players of these games if we provide feedback, make suggestions and report issues. They also were responsive when I communicated with them and I am sure if as many people as possible contact them then we may see a positive change. All the more important because this is a small community compared to those some of the huge mainstream games have. But this fact does not make it less important, rather more so. |
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Tea Queen Laura Administrator |
Yeah, I was just referring to comments about the lack of online functionality in particular. I don't doubt that some users are experiencing other issues related to both Windows 7 and Windows 10. Although I do think Razgriz also brought up some very good points. |
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Lilrosaleen |
Razgriz wrote: This part I personally found very useful and it adds a little more perspective. |
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 Lollipop Lord C-Rex |
I think it's a joke that Gameware have done literally nothing significant creatures-related in the past five years besides change website URLs a couple of times. Unfortunately, that seems to often be the case with small companies. Perhaps when Creatures Online finally sees a release they'll bother to make the games run better on newer operating systems? I also find it silly how they're still not selling the mall breeds, yet if they were being sold they might actually generate some income for the company. |
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 Wrong Banshee Dragoler |
At this point I don't think enough people would be willing to pay for the mall breeds, honestly. They are old content for an old game that are spread freely around the community and in the current state of gaming I don't think new players would be too impressed by the idea either. The only way to get Gameware to care about Creatures again would be if Creatures online came out and did very well. Creator of the TWB/TCB genome base.  |
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 Sanely Insane RisenAngel Manager |
Just a reminder that this topic was created to be a guide for installing Exodus onto newer OSes. Please try to keep all replies focused on that. Thank you. Risen Angel's Creatures Blog |
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Lilrosaleen |
Off-topic start Dragoler and C-Rex, I value both of your comments and opinions and agree with both of you wholeheartedly. (And i would buy the mall breeds if they were for sale even though I already have them, just to support the developer) Off-topic end I think this has been a fruitful discussion, unfortunately this is not the right thread for us to be discussing this and Grendel Man is right. This thread was made for the tutorial and to gather more feedback from users that were struggling with their installation and to improve my instructions. Please from now on, let's direct our focus back to the opening post. Thank you. |
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 Zurinsel13 |
Lilrosaleen, thank you so much for this article, it helped me so much because I just bought the on sale version of Creatures Exodus from GOG and everything works perfectly ;D "Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others" -Jonathan Swift |
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 Zoaea |
Your tutorial got my game to actually load, whew. But I still get the red box with the catalog test. I had a working c3/ds game in the gog folder that I had uninstalled to fix this issue, then my re-installation wouldn't work with c3 /panic. Your walk through got me past the c3 error from the first re-installation. Now I used the default user when selecting the folder, rather than my "user name" (I chose to try that because when I had the unsuccessful re-install I had used my "user name", also the document folder says "my documents" instead of just "documents"  Anyway its currently in default, and in a folder called "documents" and it will run. Just... the catalog test fails! Oh, also I hit Y in the patch installer cause I didn't fully read the directions. X_x could this have lead to failure? Thanks for all your help, and if I don't hear from you I'll uninstall and try it again in my proper user file. But I'd like to know if what I did might have caused the failure of the catalog test. PS- I do have win 7. |
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 Carminechimera |
This is sort of out of the blue, but I just got a new computer and have not been able to play any games until fairly recently. Creatures 3 called to me again, so I had to try. I've been gone a while because I'm busy with life things, but I wanted y'all to know that this tutorial works for Windows 10. You just have to always launch it from your own shortcut after you do everything in the guide above. Before I had (unsuccessfully) tried on Windows 7, with only Docking Station stand-alone working. Now I have it running on Windows 10 a year later. Running it from the above steps from engine DOES WORK, just make sure you change the properties to run it in 16 bit color from there. Make sure you also OVERWRITE the offline fix files, or it won't work. Just had that issue. Double-checked it, now it's working. I now have Docking Station WITH the Creatures 3 ship running, which is NOT something I have been able to get to work over the last two years. Amazing! I want to thank everyone involved, again. I hope that Lilrosaleen's guide on top of everyone else's suggestions will get the game running for someone else out there. It just needs patience. Creatures is an amazing series and I hate that so many get turned off it by technical problems these days, myself included for a time. Gog's installation by itself doesn't work as one would think it would, but a bit of tweaking will make it run on Windows 10. Which isn't something I can say for similarly aged games. I'll be testing my mall breeds and all my older files, metarooms and migrating things and hoping it will stay stable in the coming days. "Gob swear- if me see ONE more potato in house..." |
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