Knights 24 Released

[Stephen]

I am pleased to announce that a new version of Knights has been released!

This version includes a couple of gameplay changes (as requested by KnightRider) plus some bug fixes.

The full release announcement is here: http://www.knightsgame.org.uk/blog/2014/07/04/knights-version-24-released/

Or go directly to the download page: http://www.knightsgame.org.uk/download.html

Thank you to all fans who continue to support Knights :)

[K9]

Would love to join in the new version, but having difficulty. 

It might just be me and my old Windows XP computer, but I'm unable to get this version running.
I'll try to get this setup on another pc and see if it's just my XP system that doesn't like the new compilation.

I installed the program and everything appears to be well, until I run the Knights Application, when I receive this exception:

Popup Title:  "Setup"   Unable to execute file: c:\games\knights\knights.exe
CreateProcess failed; code 193
%1 is not a valid Win32 Application


Attempting to run the shortcut or direct knights.exe:
c:\games\knights\knights.exe is not a valid Win32 Application


Any ideas?

[Stephen]

Oh no!!

I suspect this relates to the move to the latest Visual Studio. I suppose I should have expected some trouble from that (especially as MS don't formally support XP any more).

Anyway, I found there is a compile setting "Platform Toolset" which has two values, "Visual Studio 2013 (v120)" (the default) and "Visual Studio 2013 - Windows XP (v120_xp)". I'm guessing this is some sort of backwards compatibility mode, and if we set it to Windows XP then we might have some luck? :)

So I've uploaded a new build (link below), please could you try it out on your machine? (Just copy it over C:\Program Files\Knights\Knights.exe and see what happens...)

http://www.knightsgame.org.uk/Knights.exe

[ImpassIve]

I've installed Win XP on a Virtual Machine just to check it out.
After replacing .exe file I see this:

It tells something like "Entry point GetTickCount64 not found in KERNEL32.dll"
If "64" in function's name means 64bit...

[K9]

Yes, thank you ImpassIve, mine as well, using the XP Build version Stephen just placed on forum, I receive the same message (in English):


Title:  Knights.exe - Entry Point Not Found
Red X icon:  The procedure entry point GetTickCount64 could not be located in the dynamic link library KERNEL32.dll



Stephen, also to note, I was able to install and run Knights on a borrowed MS System 7 Laptop and get some games in this today with Moo.  All your other updates and mods appear to be in great shape.


I definitely hope you are able to identify and output a package that is backward compatible to WinXP (or older 32bit systems).
Unfortunately I won't be able to borrow my MS Sys7 test machine from family every weekend, and upgrading is going to take awhile until I can either fix a new version of os somehow on different hardware I have laying around (that might work), or I have to save up some money and attempt to find a good deal on new system.

I'll do anything necessary to stay in the game ;)

But, if this turns out to be exceptionally difficult within the new Visual Studio world (moving forward) - don't sweat it - I know what I need to do and will figure out a way.

Even if worse case, as Moo suggested we just setup independent 023 server for awhile until I can get my 'upgrade' act together on this side of the equation.


Thank you!

[Stephen]

The problem seems to be the dlls: SDL.dll and freetype246.dll. These include a reference to "GetTickCount64" which does not exist on WinXP.

What we can do is get some DLLs off the 'net that are compatible with XP:

If you download: http://win32builder.gnome.org/packages/3.6/freetype_2.4.11-1_win32.zip
then unzip the file "libfreetype-6.dll", then rename it to "freetype246.dll" then copy it over C:\Program Files\Knights\freetype246.dll
(note, the version number is not exactly the same -- this is freetype 2.4.11 while Knights uses 2.4.6 -- but it seems to work, at least for me!)

Also download this: https://www.libsdl.org/release/SDL-1.2.15-win32.zip
and unzip "SDL.dll" and copy it over the Knights version of SDL.dll

Please try this on XP and let me know what happens. Thanks.

[ImpassIve]

Well, that seems to be working (but I also had to create a copy of "zlib.dll" named "zlib1.dll")

[K9]

I applied Stephen's two dll suggestions and received the error about zlib1.dll, then I copied the current zlib.dll to zlib1.dll per ImpassIve and the game works again on my regular XP laptop..

But, as I subseqently found out - that only worked for the local/single player modes.

When I tried to connect to Primary Knights Game server, I receive this error message: 

ERROR: Cannot connect because this server is running an older version of Knights.


But felt like I got a few steps closer for sure.

[Stephen]

Sorry, that was my fault. I increased the version number (I always do this straight after a release), so that Knights.exe thinks it is version 25, which is why it fails to connect.

I just re-uploaded a new build, please re-download Knights.exe (using the above link) and try again.