Guide for installation of Black & White on Windows 7, 8.1, 10 (and, actually, any other Windowses).
1) Start with basic installation in any folder. Usually it is C:\Program Files\Lionhead Studios Ltd\Black & White
But you can try something original, to show the world how unique you are (actually you are not).
2) Install the patch. At least 1.10 (it fixes a lot of bugs and makes the graphics better). But it is better to use 1.30 (it adds new features too).
Link to the patch: baw/black___white_patch_v1.300.zip
Link to the DLL file for 1.30, that you need to put into the game folder: other/p5dll.zip
3) Newer Windowses (Vista and higher) have User Account Control (UAC). It can stop the game from saving properly. There are a few ways to solve this problem. Choose ONE of the following:
- Disable UAC. In Windows 8.1 it may be harder than in Vista and Windows 7.
- Allow simple users to change the game folder (right click on the folder > Properties > Security > press Edit > choose Users in "Group or user names" list > add "Allow" for "Full control")
- Launch the game as an Administrator (right click on runblack.exe > Properties > Compatibility > Run this program as an administrator)
- Install the game in a folder, where security already allows the file changing for simple users.
If you already tried to save the game BEFORE any of those actions were made and you think that your saves are lost, it is not truly correct. You can restore them. By default the game would be saved here: %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore
4) Install addons and Creature Unlockers, if you need any.
5) It is recommended to use no-cd crack and use BaW Patch 2.0. It solves graphics issues that can happen on newer computers and allows Football add-on and MP3 Add-on to be used. Also, no-cd crack helps with a problem that was created by the new Windows update (which is built-in in Windows 10). More details about the patch and the patch itself can be found on the link below.
ourfiles.html#bawpatch
6) It is recommended to copy the audio files from the CD. It speeds up the loading times a lot if you are using a real CD. And if you are using a crack, it allows you to have music at all.
7) Launch Setup.exe and make sure to use Maximum Detail, it is better than Custom Detail [Advanced] (even if everything there is activated). About solving graphics problems, check point 5.
8) The game supports Widescreen resolutions, but does not allow to choose all available variants. You can manually change the game resolution here: Start > Run... > "regedit" (or Start > "regedit"), HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Lionhead Studios Ltd\Black & White\BWSetup
ScreenW means width.
ScreenH means height.
ScreenD means depth. Usually it is better to leave it at 32.
Change them as Decimal.
If you don't change it manually, the image may be stretched.
They may be lacking if Setup.exe was never used before.
9) Do NOT use Compatibility mode, it only makes things worse. By default it is not active, but some players activate it. It adds problems with reading of the registry.
Issues include lack of correct version number in the loading screen and problems with Alignment loading. So, check if it is "off".