Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Technical Support FAQ
Installation | Troubleshooting | Transferring Characters


 
Minimum System Requirements	 
MS-DOS 3.3 or higher 
IBM PC or compatible 
2 Megabytes of free RAM 
CD-ROM Drive 
EGA/VGA video graphics card. 
Microsoft compatible mouse 2.2 Megabytes of hard disk space

 
Installation Procedure	Back to Top	 

If your system is running Windows or Windows '95, you must first exit to DOS before installing or playing Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. You must be in true DOS to run the game, so don't use the MS-DOS prompt from within Windows. Instead, exit Windows 3.1 completely, or from Windows '95, Shutdown and Restart in MS-DOS mode.

CD-ROM installation

Insert the A D & D Collectors Edition CD into your CD-ROM drive. 
At the Ms-DOS prompt (C:\) type D:\ (If your CD-ROM drive is E, type E:\) and press <enter> 
At the D:\ prompt, type INSTALL and press <enter> 
After a brief introduction screen, the Main menu appears. Each available game is displayed as text on the screen. Choose the game you wish to play, then press <enter> 
Choose "Install" from the list of options and follow all on screen instructions to complete the installation.

Installing from Floppy disks

Place Disk #1 in your 3.5" drive. 
Type A: (If your 3.5" drive is B, type B: ) and press <enter> 
Type INSTALL and then press <enter> 
Follow all on-screen instructions to complete the installation.

How to START "A D & D" 
Advanced Dungeons and Dragons installs to different directories depending on which type of media you install from. The three lists below detail these locations.

The following is an example of how to play "Pool of Radiance" from the nine game CD-ROM.. To install any of the other games, follow this procedure, changing only the names of the directory or directories.

From the DOS prompt, type the following:

CD\WIZWORX [Enter]
CD POOLRAD [Enter]
START [Enter] 

The command to begin all AD&D games is START.

Nine-game Collector's Edition CD-ROM
All nine games are in a main directory called WIZWORX
Pool of Radiance is in a sub-directory called POOLRAD
Curse of the Azure Bonds is in a sub-directory called CURSE
Secret of the Silver Blades is in a sub-directory called SECRET
Champions of Krynn is in a sub-directory called COK
Death Knights of Krynn is in a sub-directory called DKK
Dark Queen of Krynn is in a sub-directory called DQK
Gateway to the Savage Frontier is in a sub-directory called GATEWAY
Treasures of the Savage Frontier is in a sub-directory called TREASURE
Pools of Darkness is in a sub-directory called POOLS

Three-game CD-ROM
All three games are in a main directory called AD3WIZ
Gateway to the Savage Frontier is in a sub-directory called GATEWAY
Treasures of the Savage Frontier is in a sub-directory called TREASURE
Pools of Darkness is in a sub-directory called POOLS

Individual Diskettes
Pool of Radiance is in a directory called POOLRAD
Curse of the Azure Bonds is in a directory called CURSE
Secret of the Silver Blades is in a directory called SECRET
Champions of Krynn is in a directory called KRYNN
Death Knights of Krynn is in a directory called DKK
Dark Queen of Krynn is in a directory called DQK
Gateway to the Savage Frontier is in a directory called GATEWAY
Treasures of the Savage Frontier is in a directory called TREASURE
Pools of Darkness is in a directory called POOLS

 
Troubleshooting	Back to Top	 

When I try to save a game in Pool of Radiance it asks me to "Insert Disk 3 in Drive C:"! And then I can't do anything! How do I fix this?

In Pool of Radiance, after characters are created and saved, one may find 6 copies of the last character that was created. Another problem that arises is that during play of this game, the computer may ask the user to: INSERT DISK #3 IN DRIVE C: There are a few steps in resolving these problems: 1.) The user may do this at the install of the game onto the hard drive. 2.) When you start play for the first time, you may change the path from WIZWORKS\POOLRAD\SAVE\ to WIZWORX\POOLRAD\SAVE\. Change the 'ks' in WIZWORKS to: 'x'. 3.) Now you are ready to go and edit the cfg file in this game. 4.) Go to a DOS prompt ( c:) and type CD WIZWORX . Next type in CD POOLRAD, and then on the next line type: EDIT POOL.CFG. 5.) You may now may enter backslashes at the end of POOLRAD AND SAVE. You should also make the necessary change of WIZWORKS to WIZWORX if needed. Make certain that you save these changes in the MS DOS TEXT EDITOR. 

When I save a game in Pool of Radiance, It saves the last character in the list six times! 

Well, unfortunately Pool of Radiance does this on a lot of computers when you save a game while playing off the CD-ROM. Install the game to your hard drive (and be sure to read the above question and answer).

When I save a game in Gateway to the Savage Frontier and later try to call it up, the computer asks me to "Insert Disk 3 in drive C:". 

If you save your game after creating characters but before you begin adventuring, you will get this message. All you need to do is begin adventuring after creating a set of characters, read the messages setting up the adventure, and save at the earliest possible opportunity. You do this by encamping and choosing the save option. You are now free to quit or adventure to your heart's content. Good Luck!

I'm Playing Gateway to the Savage Frontier or Treasures of the Savage Frontier and my mouse Disappears! Where'd it go?

Nowhere. It's still there, it's just invisible. If you click around enough, you'll see you still have it. The next time you call up the game, it'll be back. You don't even have to reboot your computer. It seems to happen if you stop using the mouse for a while, especially if you last moved it off the screen and left it there. There does not seem to be a way around this other than occasionally moving the mouse and making sure you don't let it rest off the edges of the screen for more than a couple of minutes.

I'm playing Secret of the Silver Blades or Champions of Krynn. The copy-protection asks for a word in a journal entry on a specific page, but the journal entry is on a different page! 

No sweat, just use the journal entry number and don't worry about the page number. 

I'm playing Secret of the Silver Blades or Death Knights of Krynn. I type in the copy-protection word the game asks for, but it doesn't accept it. 

Be sure to count the words in the title of the journal entry. For instance, if Secret of the Silver Blades asks for word five of journal entry three, you type "black" because you include the words "Sir Dedrick's Story" in your word count.

I'm playing Champions of Krynn or Death Knights of Krynn. When I'm in the game, sometimes when I try to save, it asks for a copy-protection word, and that word isn't in these booklets that came with my 9-game collector's edition CD-ROM. 

The copy-protection answers in the booklets are for the beginning of the game only. You need to print copies of the rules and journals from the CD. To get to these documents you run the install program on the CD, select the game you want, and choose the Docs option. Then choose the Rules or Journal, and then the Print option. 

My characters have loads of experience, but the game won't let me train them up to the next level! 

One of two things is happening here. First, a long-standing rule of the Dungeons and Dragons games is that characters of non-human races can only advance to limited levels in any class other than thief. The level limits are listed in the adventure journals. Also, each game has a level for any character past which they may not train. For instance, in Gateway to the Savage Frontier, no Magic-User may advance past fifth level. The game designers did not anticipate the high amounts of experience the most diligent players would amass. Also, another long-standing rule of Dungeons and Dragons is that no character may advance in level past the level of the person training them, and this is the rule rationalization for the limit. Your experience will be saved, however, and when you advance to the next game in whichever series you are playing you will be allowed to advance in level when you go to train.

I begin playing and my computer freezes up if I try to move. Now what?

There are several solutions to this problem. 
The first thing to do is check and make sure that you are not in Windows. These games (especially Pool of Radiance) do not like to be combined with Windows. They are older programs and do not have the complicated memory-management abilities that modern Windows and DOS programs have, so they try to use memory that Windows needs to run. You may get them to run for a while, but once you get to a particularly large battle or complex graphic, your computer WILL freeze up. 
You may also have some sort of DOS shell active; you need to shut this off as well, for the same reason that you cannot combine these programs with Windows. (One way to check if you have Windows or a DOS shell active is to type EXIT at the C:\> prompt. If your computer suddenly goes into Windows or some other program (such as Navigator), you have not exited that program. Check your manual for that program to determine how to quit.) 
The next thing to check is if you are playing the game or games off the CD-ROM. Some computers do not seem to like this. Try playing the game or games off your hard drive instead. (The Play option in the INSTALL program on the CD-ROM does not access the installed game.) 
If it is already installed, the next thing to try is reinstalling the game onto your hard drive. You should either delete the game from your hard drive using DOS commands or use the Uninstall function in the INSTALL program on the CD-ROM before reinstalling the game. 
The last thing to try is making a boot disk to maximize your available memory. Please consult your DOS manual for instructions on doing this. The process is relatively simple but you need the exact commands and file names for your computer.

 
Transferring Characters	Back to Top	 

Pools of Radiance to Curse of the Azure Bonds

First, be sure that after you have installed Pools of Radiance your path for save reads: C:\WIZWORX\POOLRAD\SAVE\

When you've finished adventuring in Pools of Radiance and wish to transfer your characters to Curse of the Azure Bonds, remove the characters from the adventuring party and exit Pools of Radiance.

From a "C" prompt (C:>), get into the path C:\WIZWORX\CURSE and type COPYCURS.

Use your arrow key and go down to the option that allows you to transfer from Pools of Radiance to Curse of the Azure Bonds.

When you are to choose which drive to transfer from choose "other". You now should type (from the cursor location) C:\WIZWORX\POOLRAD\SAVE\

Now you are ready to choose the destination of where your characters are to go. Again, choose "other" and type in C:\WIZWORX\CURSE\SAVE\

Your characters are now ready to play in Curse of the Azure Bonds.

Curse of the Azure Bonds to Secret of the Silver Blades

First be sure you have created an adventuring party in Curse of the Azure Bonds. Save this group of characters, and remove them from the adventuring party. Exit the game.

From a "C" prompt (C:>) in DOS, get into the path C:\WIZWORX\SECRET\SAVE\

Now type, COPY C:\WIZWORX\CURSE\SAVE\*.*

These instructions are designed for those who have the 9 Game CD-ROM version. If your programs were originally on diskette, do not include WIZWORX in any of the path names.

Champions of Krynn to Death Knights of Krynn

First, be sure that after you have installed Champions of Krynn, your path for save reads: C:\WIZWORX\COK\SAVE\

When you've finished adventuring in Champions of Krynn and wish to transfer characters to Death Knights of Krynn, remove the characters from their adventuring party and exit Champions of Krynn.

You are now ready to install Death Knights of Krynn to your computer. When you go through the configuration (i.e. Sound Type, Graphics Adapter, Path for Save), make sure you manually type in C:\WIZWORX\DKK\SAVE\ The next important step is to make certain that you change the save path for Champions of Krynn to C:\WIZWORX\COK\SAVE\

Start Death Knights of Krynn and choose the option LOAD SAVED GAME. You may now choose characters from Champions of Krynn.


The AD&D series is no longer supported by WizardWorks. For additional assistance with the games, please call Interplay at 1-949-553-6678.