Here's some useful information that I really ought to have posted a long time ago, which may help with some common issues.
1) If you are using Windows Vista or above, I strongly recommend against installing the game into 'Program Files' or 'Program Files x86'. This is because windows UAC will try to 'protect' these files from changes and may also cause the problem where you are unable to start the game directly (eg, without the patcher). Installing the game somewhere outside of these folders is a better choice, eg c:\Games\ICDomo or something. You do not need to reinstall the game to move it, you can just move the folder directly while the game is closed, then update or create new shortcuts to the new location. The game doesn't need to be installed 'properly' to function, so if your client is having problems starting, but a friend's is working, you can try having the friend send you their client.
2) In order to view the Chinese properly in all places, you need to set your
System Locale to
Chinese, Traditional, Taiwan, and should probably also use the default font (MingLiu). In my experience, AppLocale is unable to render chinese characters in chat windows and thus is of limited help; I strongly recommend switching your system locale instead. If you are a Windows XP user, this is called 'Language for Non-Unicode Programs'. If you have set your system locale to Chinese, you do not need to use applocale at all.
3) If you are having font problems, you can try one of these solutions (in addition to using the correct system locale):
- Make sure you have the MingLiu font installed. If you have an old install of Aeria Domo, the font is included with that.
- You can change the font names in the execparam.ini file (in main/config) from the chinese name of the font (which may look like a garble in your text editor) to
MingLiu.
- If text is littered with artifacts, this an anti-aliasing problem. disabling this may resolve this problem.
4) Regarding crashes..
- If you find yourself crashing a lot in town, you may try setting the beginner clothes option on, or using ctrl-p (or both if you are really having issues). If you crash in this game, it's probably related to player loading, so you may use this as a preventative measure if you find yourself having issues (though it will not prevent map change crashes). Many other crash causes have been addressed, but this one remains.
- The game may crash or black-screen when you initiate a UAC screen fade; minimizing the game windows will both prevent and solve this issue.
5) voc.dbf: You should use the original chinese version of this file no matter what. If you use the english version, your Witch doctor stats and equipable gear will seem to be glitchy, and when you get to 61+, the xp values will be incorrect. I recommend keeping copies of both the chinese and english data files; you may also find it useful to have a second copy of the client with full chinese files for when you want to do shopping or the like (you can just straight copy the game somewhere else without installing it again).
I have made a backup of many old guides from Aeria as well as some new ones on my forum
here, so you may peruse these as well for additional information.