DOS ain't dead

http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/blackthorne
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackthorne

"In 2013 the game was added to Battle.net as free download emulated through DOSBox."

http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/11/03/blizzards-16-bit...-blackthorne-is-now-available-as-free-download/
http://www.reddit.com/r/GameDeals/comments/1pt0mp/battlenet_classic_blizzard_game_blackthorne/


However, this was clearly intended to be used on "Windows only" since it comes as an .EXE installer. (But it's a DOS game, you say. Yes, I know. Sigh.)

Luckily (probably more by accident than otherwise), you can still manually install and play this in DOS.

Grab the .EXE (.CAB / installer, no you don't need an account, I didn't):

https://us.battle.net/account/download/
http://dist.blizzard.com/downloads/blackthorne/5e1...1d84e3ee3005dd26181e14a2f/Blackthorne-Setup.exe

Unpack it with either p7zip or cabextract.

ren _7770311E01264484BDC66FB81E4EF650 bthorne.exe
ren _126448A72F4442D39DCD600746EE09F7 data.dat
ren _C987F762EF304955BB86AB432FF6F847 manual.pdf

jemm386 x=test i=test load (since it demands EMS) or similar

Since it doesn't come with SETUP.EXE (as DOSBox always has sound), if you don't have an old SB compatible (or similar?), it won't run. However, you can grab SETUP.EXE from the old BTDEMO.ZIP and temporarily rename data.dat -> demo.dat.

For me, on my desktop, since it has Intel HDA, I just disabled sound entirely, and to save you some effort, here's the four bytes it changed (so you can use a hex editor manually if you find that easier):


[ FreeDOS ] G:\BTHORNE>comp old\demo.dat new\demo.dat

Byte    File 1  File 2
058E    01 ^A   FF
058F    00      FF
059E    07 ^G   FF
059F    00      FF
4 error(s).


FYI, I just noticed the other day that they've released two other freeware games, but I've not had the time nor patience to test them yet. Feel free to do so (native? DOSBox?) and report back here!

"
The Lost Vikings®
English (US)
Windows [eh?]
http://dist.blizzard.com/downloads/classics/9f8ba2a406416a70cfe1bc97ec5346ba/The_Lost_Vikings.zip
"

"
Rock N' Roll Racing® [lite??]
English (US)
Windows [eh?]
http://dist.blizzard.com/downloads/classics/9f8ba2a406416a70cfe1bc97ec5346ba/Rock_n_Roll_Racing.zip
"

> FYI, I just noticed the other day that they've released two other
> freeware games, but I've
> not had the time nor patience to test them yet. Feel free to do so (native?
> DOSBox?) and report back here!

The Lost Vikings: includes the two files VIKINGS.EXE and DATA.DAT from the DOS version + a "special" version of DOSBox named "The Lost Vikings.exe"
Rock N' Roll Racing: includes ROM + ZSNES 1.51 (slightly modified)

No testing done here.

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