Bard's Tale was released in many different formats, like the Commodore 64, Apple, IBM PC, Nintendo, Atari, and Amiga. As you may have noticed, the graphics and sounds are different on many of the versions. For instance, on the C64, you could only use four colors in Sprite Animations, but on the IBM, you could use 256 colors. So, the developers took full advantage of the different platforms.

As far as sound goes, I really enjoy the C64 musical scores, but the IBM versions of the same songs sound much worse! Not only did they use different music (totally different notes), the IBM PC Speaker is not the best tool for making video game music.

Of all the platforms, the Commodore 64 is one of the most classic. This month's editorial shows how you can get a Commodore Emulator, and walks you through the steps of setting it up to play The Bard's Tale.

To start off, we need a C64 Emulator. Let's grab "CCS64: The best C64 emulator for the PC" at http://www.fatal-design.com/ccs64/. Once you're there, press the "Download" link, and download the file "ccs64109.zip". It's about 430 KB. Make a folder on your computer called "C64", or whatever you like, and unzip the contents of this file into it.

Now, we need the Bard's Tale software. You can get a hold of all Bard's Tale ROMS for every known format at the Adventurers Guild. Once in the Guild, select the game you need the software for, and then select the "Files" link. In this example, we'll be running Bard's Tale 3, so we'll need to download "bt3-commodore_64.zip" (426K). Unzip the contents of that file into your C64 folder, and we're ready to go.

The four files included in the Bard's Tale 3 Zip file are:

C64 Disk NamePC File
The Boot Diskbt3-boot.d64
The Character Diskbt3-char.d64
Dungeon Disk Abt3-duna.d64
Dungeon Disk Bbt3-dunb.d64

If you have Windows 95, to start up the C64 Emulator, run the "Ccs64_95.bat" batch file. You'll see the main C64 screen before you eyes!


Press F9, and select "Load program".


Select "BT3-BOOT.D64", and press ENTER.


Select the file right under "BOOT DISK". In this case, select "PRODOS", and press ENTER. For Bard's Tale 1, select "BARD'S TALE I", and for Bard's Tale 2, select "BARDS TALE II".


Select "Reset and load", and press ENTER.


Once back at the main C64 start up screen, type "RUN", and press ENTER.


That's it! It's time to play Bard's Tale 3 on the C64! In about 34 seconds, you'll see the ever so familiar C64 BT3 Intro.


Once you press a key, and wait for 27 seconds, you'll be prompted to "Insert your Character Disk".


Press F9, select "Load program", and this time, select "BT3-CHAR.D64", and press ENTER.


At this screen, instead of pressing ENTER, press ESC.


Now, you'll be back in the Bard's Tale game, and you'll need to press any key. What we just did was switch disks.

It will then ask you if you want to resume you last saved game. If you say "Yes", you'll be in the Ruins of Skara Brae with the default party loaded, and if you say "No", you'll be in the Ruins with no characters loaded.

Playing C64 games on the PC can be a little difficult, since the keyboards are set up a little different. For instance, to print an asterisk (*) on a PC, you press SHIFT+8, but in the C64 Emulator, you press the ] button on your PC (usually right above the ENTER key). The asterisk is handy, since all party names start with one (like "*ATEAM").

I have found that the UP and DOWN arrows on the PC both translate to a LEFT on the C64, while the LEFT and RIGHT arrows translate into a RIGHT.

When it says, "<-- to continue", pressing the SPACE BAR works just fine.

Another difference, as far as Bard's Tale is concerned, is that the C64 didn't have nice "arrow keys", so they used the J, K, L, and I keys to navigate. The I moves forward (but doesn't go through doors or enter buildings), J turns to the left, L turns to the right, and K is used to Kick down doors or enter buildings.

Remember, this is the C64, and loading the software through the C64 emulated 1541 disk drive can take a while! Don't expect fast speed, no matter how much memory your PC has, it's still a Commodore 64!

When you're done playing, press F9, select "Quit CCS64", and press ENTER.

The Shareware Version of CCS64 that I used for this editorial cannot save your game. You need to buy the full version to do that.

In future months, we'll be looking at other emulators and different platforms. Enjoy the C64! In my opinion, it's the only way to play The Bard's Tale.

You can contact me at WebMaster@BardsTale.com. Until next month, farewell fellow Bard's Tale fans!
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