The problem for me, and possibly for others, is that my browser blocks me from downloading Zelda Classic (thinks it's a virus for some reason) and as good as the game looks, I'm not sure I want to go through the hassle/risk of forcing the download.
I felt kinda bad about that, though, so I downloaded Zelda Classic 2.5.0 (without any issues) and finally gave it a try.
That's... odd. The archive itself is hosted on Dropbox, so I don't know why your browser is blocking it, as I wouldn't expect that site to run any scripts that would trigger AV stuff. Maybe it's overzealously blocking it just because it's an archive that contains executables?
What browser did you use, and what software blocked it?
I just unpacked the archive (I haven't actually used 2.50.1 yet) and ran a Comodo scan on it, and it checks out okay. I think it's highly unlikely it's anything but a false positive on your end:
Having said all that, there's no reason using 2.50 instead should present any issues. And C-Dawg, maybe you should edit your OP and replace the 2.50.1 thread link with the AG ZC downloads page:
http://www.zeldaclassic.com/downloads.phpThat way, if this 2.50.1 false-positive is (or becomes) a common issue for users here, it isn't a hurdle for them to try out your quest, if the "official" links on AG don't trigger anything.
For the rest of you, 2.50 should be fine, as far as I know. It's an engine for making custom ZC quests, so a lot of the improvements and bugfixes are for minor things, or things that have no impact on this particular quest. If you're
really curious to know the differences, head over to the
ZC Change Log, scroll down to the entry "
Build 1571 - linux , macosx-Leopard , windows / 2.50 RC5 ( Saffith, 2012-11-04 17:30:55 )" and read everything above it to see what they've changed since the last 2.50 update. Otherwise, you should be fine playing this in 2.50. Don't try to play it in anything earlier than 2.50, or it probably won't work correctly, or at all.
I couldnt figure out for god how to open a custom .qst file, so I changed the "1st.qst" with your file and it worked.
I actually did the same thing. I thought maybe it was just because I was using an older version of Zelda Classic that was missing the "Select Quest" option, but I don't know.
I'm not certain, but this
might produce unforeseen/undesirable bugs. I recommend loading the custom quest correctly. I've included step-by-step instructions to properly load the custom quest at the end of my post (with saving explained as well.)
Yo, dawg
you could make a rar with zelda classic already downloaded and everything set up, just add a shortcut on the top level folder, that links to the right executable, so people would not need to download anything at all. just one click play. woudl awesome wouldn't it ?
This might not work. If the gamesave file includes the full path of the quest file location, then bundling it up like that would simply frustrate players, as when they try to play the preconfigured game, they would get missing .qst file errors, unless they unpack the files to an identical path as C-Dawg used to pack it. I'm not sure. Plus, he would have to rebundle the entire game with the demo every time he updates the demo version, instead of simply uploading a new .qst demo file to the project. I've included step-by-step instructions to properly load the custom quest at the end of my post.
ETA: I have several replies to other comments to post, but I gotta run to school now, so I'll update/post again this evening. I'll also add a guide for updating the .qst version file properly. C-Dawg, feel free to quote/copypaste my guide into the OP, if you think that's helpful, with any revisions you deem necessary (son once this thread grows past the first page, new readers don't overlook it.) If you do, I'll snip it from my post so it doesn't add needless repetition to the thread.
Guide to starting a new game (in Windows, either with ZC 2.50 or 2.50.1)Download the ZC 2.50.1 or 2.50 archive:
http://www.purezc.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=64855 (2.50.1 from Dropbox)
http://www.zeldaclassic.com/downloads.php (2.50 from Armageddon Games)
Download the Zodiac, Story of the Guardian archive:
http://www.purezc.net/index.php?page=projects&id=224Click on
Download Demo, and on the subsequent screen, click on
Download (N.NN MB).
Unpack the
zc-250-win.zip /
zc-2-50-1-win.zip archive wherever you like - it doesn't install itself.
Copy the
224_ZodiacStoryoftheGuardian-PUBLICBetaMMDDYY_NNN.zip archive inside the
Zelda Classic folder, and unpack the quest zip file there.
Run
zlaunch-w.exe.
Click on
Launch ZC. After launching ZC, you can close this window, or leave it open. It's just a launcher that sets command-line options for the actual ZC program. Settings are pretty self-explanatory.
The first time you run ZC, you'll see this. Click OK.
Press ENTER:
Press ENTER:
Press ENTER with the heart on
REGISTER YOUR NAME:
Type in whatever (8-character limit) and press ENTER:
You should see something like this:
Pressing ENTER at this point will load the default quest. To load a custom quest, you must press "A" rather than "Start" (i.e. ENTER) - but the game engine is referring to a
button A (as in, A and B buttons) not the A key on the keyboard. By default, ALT is mapped to "A" and CTRL is mapped to "B".
To change the keyboard/controller input mappings, press ESC (or click anywhere on the screen.)
The screen will grey out and you'll see the menu bar. Click
Settings,
Controls and then
Key Buttons...:
Change these to whatever you like. While you're at it, go back to
Settings > Controls and click on
Joystick/Gamepad... to configure your controller, if plugged in.
Once you're done, you should be back at the Quest menu (if the screen's still greyed out, press ESC again, or click on
GAME and
CONTINUE) with your Name you just registered. With the heart cursor next to your name/save file, press "A", whatever key/button you just assigned to A. You should see this:
Press "A" again. You'll see the
Select Custom Quest popup. Click
Browse:
Click on the ZodiacGS .qst file and click OK:
Wait for a couple seconds - the window will be unresponsive for a few. When this confirmation popup appears, click OK:
You have now loaded the quest properly. You can immediately start playing it by pressing ENTER (with the heart next to it):
Once you've assigned a custom quest to a game save, it will stay that way - you'll skip most of the above steps to resume playing later. You just need to get to the menu screen, select your quest, and press ENTER to resume it.
Guide to continuing/saving/retrying your gameJust like The Legend of Zelda, you have the option to Continue, Save or Retry when you die:
You can also force this menu at any time by pressing F6 and clicking
Yes to the confirmation prompt:
Continue: Resume play from the last continue point*, retaining any progress since last save.
Save: Save progress up until death/F6 selection, and return to the main menu. Resuming the quest will start you off at the last continue point.*
Retry: Discard all progress since last save and return to the main menu. Resuming the quest will start you off from the previously saved continue point.*
* ZC confusingly uses two different kinds of "continue" points. There can be multiple "soft" continue points within an area, and when you F6/die and Continue, you'll resume from the last one of these soft continue points. However, each area of the game contains only one "hard" resume point, which is where the player will appear when loading the game from the main menu (after selecting either Save or Retry, or resuming the game after closing/relaunching the engine.) These points are (as far as I know, in this quest) also always "soft" continue points as well, but you will not always resume from the same location depending upon whether you Continue or instead Save/resume from the main menu. This is hardcoded into the engine, I believe, and not something that can be changed.Your health bar will always reset to full when resuming a game, but your energy bar will remain where it was when you died/F6'ed.
Please note: there is some inconsistency in how the save/continue points work, presently. In some levels, when you quit/continue|save/resume, you'll resume from the level entrance; in other levels, you'll resume from the last door you entered/exited. And to top it all off, some of the inside rooms may still have continue bugs, where if you quit/continue|save/resume inside of them, you'll resume from a room in a completely different level. Please report those, if you find any. The continue points are another area listed for overhaul.
Guide to updating the Quest VersionC-Dawg is updating the quest demo version fairly frequently with bugfixes and additions/improvements, so... if you just want to give the quest a try, simply follow the above steps and play it through on one version. If you really dig it and want to help hunt for bugs to report, then you
may want to update your quest version while you're playing through the game, as new demo versions become available. Read on if you so wish...
Once you've assigned a particular custom quest file to a particular game save, there is no way to change
which quest file is assigned to the game save,
within ZC. (You can reassign the quest associated with the game save prior to saving any progress, but not afterwards.) However, you can easily swap the actual .qst files out, so ZC will look where the old one was and load the new one instead.
If a new version is posted, go ahead and download the .zip to your
Zelda Classic folder.
The
Download Demo link on the
main Quest Project page always links to the newest demo (to see a list of all demos available for download, click on the
View All Demos link.) You can also subscribe to the project (for updates) by clicking the
Follow Project link (though you'll need to register, obviously.) On the little
Receive Notifications popup, click
Yes, and you'll get alerts at the top right next to your username when you visit the site.
Once you've saved the new demo to your folder, navigate to the folder. Close ZC if you left it open. Click on the
old quest file and press F2 to edit the file name. Press CTRL+C to copy it. Press ENTER. Press DELETE. Press ENTER. Now click on the
new quest file and press F2. Press CTRL+V. Press ENTER. You're done! ZC will now load the new quest in place of the old one, so you can go ahead and relaunch it and resume your game. The actual game save data is stored in a separate file, so deleting the old quest file won't delete your progress.
Keep in mind, though, that there is presently a bug with the game, which may or may not prevent you from accessing the final level. Two of us have discovered, while playtesting, that some of the corridors keep re-opening on us, after we've beaten/closed them. This interferes with the game reacting to completion of the corridors correctly, a necessary task for reaching the final area, so the only way to proceed at that point is to "cheat" and move through a closed gate to reach a cutscene that opens the final level. This may be happening because we've both swapped quest files during playthrough, or it may be happening for some other reason. If you reach this point in the game and experience this bug, feel free to PM me and I'll walk you through the workaround to access the final level. ETA: This has apparently been resolved in the most recent Demo, v434 released on 02-15-15, so you can
probably disregard the preceding paragraph if you're playing on this or later demos.
Also, some global variables
may be changed by the quest author, i.e. C-Dawg, between versions, in which case you may have to start over from the beginning on a brand new game save from the new demo version. (Or you can just ignore the update and continue playing through on the version you already have.) If this is the case, he will (probably) state this very clearly in the demo description, so players know not to attempt swapping it in place of earlier versions to resume a previous game.
If you become physically stuck anywhere, e.g. by warping/entering a door and appearing somewhere obviously wrong/inside a wall, please report it. You can press F6 and select CONTINUE to at least resume the game from your last continue point, without losing anything you picked up. In general, if you find a bug in some room, it's helpful to report it with the area name and room coordinates (rather than "somewhere in Aquarius near that one boss," etc.) and if you feel a screenshot would help, press F12 to take a snapshot of the game - it'll be in your
Zelda Classic folder with a file name like
zeldaNNN.png.