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Legacy of the Ancients is an old RPG created by Electronic Arts for the Commodore
64 computer.
Why would I want to play a game that is on an obsolete computer
system?
Answer: Most won't. For me personally, this was one of my favorite games, and I enjoyed
playing it for nostalgia reasons. The game compared to modern standards has awful graphics, however if you can look
past that, the sound is quite decent even to modern standards, and the actual "game" is still quite fun.
How do I play the game without a Commodore 64 computer?
You also need the following files found at Project 64:
LOTA-1.D64 (game disk1)
LOTA-2.D64 (game disk2)
lacode10.txt (translation of piracy protection code wheel. Without this, you will not be able to complete the game.)
legacy.txt (it is the apple game manual, but close enough)
The game disks can be downloaded from (Download site appears to be currently unavailable - ask me to email you a copy
if you cannot find them).
In addition, you need to use the emulator to create a character disk for the game called ccs0.d64 (ok, the name can be
anything, but you need an extra .d64 file). To create this file (I highly recommend that you read the documentation
on the emulator, it will be very helpful) perform the following steps:
- Run ccs.exe
- Press F9
- Select Device 8
- Highlight the line "(Dir) ."
- Press F1 to create a D64 file, and accept the default file name
To start the game:
- Run ccs.exe
- Press F9
- Select Device 8
- Select the file LOTA-1.D64
- Hit F2 for fast boot
- Press any key to skip the scrolling message at the bottom
- Wait 1-2 minutes for game to load, and then follow the on screen directions to play the game.
A couple of notes about playing the game:
- Make your LOTA-1.D64 and LOTA-2.D64 files read-only. When you first start the game, the game wants to update LOTA-1.D64.
If you let it, it will destroy the game and you will have to redownload the file. This is a form of copy protection
since the original disks were read-only.
- To switch disks in the game (when prompted), go back to Device 8, select the file that you want to use, and press F4.
Whenever you change disks, the emulator will ask you if you want to update the previous disk if something on it had changed.
Always say no if it is one of the game disks, but always select yes if it is your character disk. So what this also
means, if you have just saved changes to your character disk, and want to quit the game for the night, first switch to one
of the other disks, and then tell the emulator that you want to save the changes to the character disk. If you do not,
your game will not be truly saved.
- Navigating in the game is a bit tricky until you figure out the keys, but here are the main ones: Up ([), Down (/),
Left (;), Right ('). When it comes to in game actions, you will notice a list of commands on the left side of the screen.
The first letter of the action is the same as the key that you must press on the keyboard.
Spoilers
- Don't skip any of the windows in the game. I tried to save a jade coin by not using one on the crappy weaponry window,
however I was stuck at level 1 until I used a jade coin on it.
Maps
I have created an Excel file that has maps of all of the dungeons in the game. I am currently working on a way
to allow users to download it from this website. In the mean time, you can ask me to email it to you.
| Tarmalon Map |
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| This map was taken from the game (but colors were changed during image capture) |
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