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Black and White Deluxe

Black and White Deluxe

List Price: $14.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: If you have Windows98/ME and A LOT of Ram, you need see this
Review: I saw some people have problems running this game. If your system is Windows98/ME and you have more than 512 MB memory in stalled, you need to see this ... otherwise you will get game crashes more frequently ... not just in Black & White, but other games as well. You need to follow the workaround method as follows.

I first come across this knowledge from www.nvidia.com FAQ : Windows 98 and ME were based on the original Windows 95 kernel which was never designed for handling a lot of memory. These systems will experience various operational difficulties if more than 512MB physical memory is installed. These problems are due to how the 32-bit protected-mode cache driver (VCache) for Windows 9x/ME reserves memory. With more than 512MB memory, VCache may reserve most of the virtual addresses available. This issue does not affect Microsoft Windows XP or Windows 2000. Directions for correcting this problem are outlined in Microsoft's Knowledge Base article number 253912: [...]

CAUSE :
The Windows 32-bit protected-mode cache driver (Vcache) determines the maximum cache size based on the amount of RAM that is present when Windows starts, or 800MB, whichever is less. Vcache then reserves enough memory addresses to permit it to access a cache of the maximum size so that it can increase the cache to that size if needed.. These addresses are allocated in a range of virtual addresses from 0xC0000000 through 0xFFFFFFFF (virtual address occupy between 3 gigabyte and 4 gigabyte area - a space of only 1 gigabytes) known as the system arena.

On computers with large amounts of RAM, the maximum cache size can be large enough that Vcache consumes nearly all of the addresses in the system arena, leaving little virtual memory addresses available for other system process.

This problem may occur more readily with Advanced Graphics Port (AGP) video adapters because the AGP aperture is also mapped to addresses in the system arena. For example, if Vcache is using a maximum cache size of 800 MB and an AGP video adapter has a 128-MB aperture mapped, there is very little address space remaining for the other system code and data that must occupy this range of virtual addresses.


WORKAROUND :

- Add the MaxFileCache line as follows in the System.ini file to reduce the maximum cache size that Vcache uses to 512 MB (512x1024 =524288 KB. Note: The value for these settings are in kilobytes) or less :
[VCache]
MaxFileCache=524288

- Then reboot computer to have setting take effect. You should suffer FAR LESS crashes in many games. Your game can still crash, though. But it will be due to other problems - game bugs, drivers too old, etc.


Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Windows XP
Review: I'm talking about an old budget version of B&W here, but it seems that the XP issue has stayed the same. Got it from Wall Mart for 9 bucks, and without a patch or anything it ran perfectly fine on three different XP computers with XP home edition and professional(P3 1 gig Laptop with ATI card, P3 1 gig Celeron Laptop + ATI card, and Athlon 3200+ with Gforce 5200xp. No problems at all. So I sent it to my brother in Austria, and on his machine, it wouldn't run. Before that, he had ordered the German version at Amazon. Wouldn't run either. He sent me the German version, it's working fine on my computers. I am suspecting this is more of a graphics issue than anything else. In any case, stay away from the damn thing, because in four years they either didn't care or were not able to fix the issue. Now they are trying to make a quick buck with an obviously still flawed version, but at a time when everybody is running XP. The consumer should not reward behavior like this.
Anyway, the game itself is in my opinion a little bit overrated. A great idea poorly executed (My creature is so stupid, it drives me nuts. Leash of learning yeah...). Creature management is tedious and boring. The controls (rotating, tilting, zooming) remained an issue, even after hours of playing. (Stop playing for a month, and then try to get used to it again...). And don't get me wrong, I am a "Bullfrog" of the first hour. Power monger, Syndicate, Flood and Dungeon Keeper are among my favorite games ever. Let's hope B&W 2 lives up to the hype. Syndicate 2 was a big disappointment in that respect.
Oh, graphics are good.


Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Black and White Deluxe
Review: I've played this before, but having an XP box now, I got this version. It does come with problems, it won't play unless you find and install the various patches. The game is a lot of fun and it's very amusing for all ages. If you have problems with the game running on your computer, don't try EA tech support, try finding the solution from other gamers on message boards, you'll find the correct answer almost immediately.

I would suggest this game to anyone, it's an amusing and fun play.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: simple as black and white.
Review: In this game you are a god. You get followers, towns, and a creature. As you play through the game your alignment will change, depending on how you act. If you are good to your villages (feeding them, giving them wood, protecting them,) and if u never kill, then your alignment is good. If you are evil to your villages ( ignoring them, sacrificing them, etc) then you will become evil. Your creature is like a physical extension of you. Usually he will become the same alignment as you(but he does not have to). You can teach him all sorts of magic abilities (miracles) that are granted by your followers worshipping you. He will use these miracles as he sees fit.

The controls of the game are a little complicated, but you will get the hang of it. You can use the mouse, the keyboard or both to move around.

This game has ok replay value. Just because the game is over does not mean u have to stop playing. Online games are still going and there are skirmish games also available.

A sequel to the game is being created. BUT the release date has not been set, and the estimates are around August of 2005. Someone said to wait for that game, but thats a long time away. You can buy this and help with the wait. THe expansion pack and the game normally costs 9.99 each. With this combo pak u save $5, which u can use to buy a McDonalds value meal or something.

I don't kno if this is XP compatable, there is a rumor that a patch is required. NOTE i said rumor.

I hope this review helped

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Yes it does work on xp
Review: oh ya and yes this game does work on xp maby its somthing with your settings or something

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good game
Review: Okay first the upsides good graghics, neat storyline, nice idea for a game, asome control and now the down side cant skip cinimatics so your stuck for abought 3 minutes at a time listing to the same crap over and over again, to be a good god is hard.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Looks cool, but is it?
Review: There aren't many god simulators on the market nowadays, nor have there ever been years ago. Black and White Deluxe is a great package, which comes with the Black and White and its expansion for a nice price. I may have given this game 2 stars, but this game is absolutely phenomenal in terms of graphics, sound, and especially AI. Here's my review of the game:

Concept: The player assumes the role as god. You're either good or evil. You also have a "creature" that you can raise and teach stuff. Your objective is to gain influence by taking over villages by either helping them, or harassing them. Sounds pretty good so far, let's move on.

Graphics and Sound: Both are absolutely amazing, considering this game was made roughly 3 years ago.

Replay Value: You will be playing this game for hours, whether it's training your creature, facing other people online, or just completing the single player campaign.

And what does this add up to? NOTHING!!
1. When I first bought this game, I saw a giant creature on the cover, which was raising hell. I thought it looked cool so I bought the game. I have been playing this game for months, and my creature is only as big as a tree. You'll spend hours playing this game, but all you'll get is a tiny creature that poops! This is definitely a great disappointment.
2. There are only five levels. Five!!!
3. You're going to need more than a day off from work just to play this game; it consumes way too much time. It may seem fun and addicting for the first couple hours. After using a food miracle to impress a village for the 567th time, you realize you're getting nowhere. I'm simply warning you so you don't waste precious time.
2. Problems!! If your computer runs on Windows XP Home or Professional, you'll experience more problems than a bacterium reproduces itself. Black and White Deluxe does come with a patch for the original Black and White, but this does not help that much. You'll get errors that force you to quit from starting the game. The Creature Island expansion pack doesn't even work! When you click on the screen, you go back to the main Windows screen. These problems have been reported from many Windows XP users. Also, I used a new high-performance computer to play this game.

Overall: An epic game wasted. If only the programmers spent some extra time to fix the problems, if your creature grew faster, if this game had some more levels, and if it had some point, it would be an amazing game. Sadly, this is not true. My advice for you: do not get this game. You'll waste sooooo much time. However, I do recommend you try the sequel when it comes out.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: It should NOT be stated that this operates on XP...
Review: This absolutely should not be considered to work on xp...there are sound issues, mouse issues...what a friggin mess. I finally got the original to work...it would still switch to desktop after one click but I could alt+tab back into it with success. Don't have 5.1 turned on...you won't get any sound. As for creature isle....no matter what I've tried it will always crash back to the desktop after clicking within the game...terrible compatibility issues.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Does not work with XP
Review: This game does is not compatible with XP although the box states that it is. After several tries with EA Tech support I was able to get disk one Black & White running after downloading patch 1.2. I was not successful with Creature Island though and have not managed to play it. I do not recommend buying this game if you have Windows XP as your operating system; it is a waste of money and time.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Does not work with XP
Review: This game does is not compatible with XP although the box states that it is. After several tries with EA Tech support I was able to get disk one Black & White running after downloading patch 1.2. I was not successful with Creature Island though and have not managed to play it. I do not recommend buying this game if you have Windows XP as your operating system; it is a waste of money and time.


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