Difference between revisions of "Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom"

Latest revision as of 02:08, 20 February 2024

City Building (Sierra)
Caesar (series)
Pharaoh	1999
Zeus: Master of Olympus	2000
Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom	2002
Children of the Nile	2004
Pharaoh: A New Era	2023

Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom is a singleplayer and multiplayer bird's-eye view and isometric building game in the City Building (Sierra) series.

General information

Emperor Heaven fan site

GOG.com Community Discussions

GOG.com Support Page

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		SecuROM 4 DRM
GOG.com

A free demo version is available from GameFront.

Essential improvements

Patches

The 1.0.1.0 patch is the latest official update for the game (already included in the GOG.com release).

Skip intro videos

Skip all intro videos^[1]

Open <path-to-game>\Emperor.ini.
Change the line PlayIntroMovie=yes to PlayIntroMovie=no then save the changes.

Notes

Some have reported that this tweak also fixed random sound glitches for them.^{[citation needed]}

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\^{[Note 1]}

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\Save^{[Note 1]}

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
GOG Galaxy

Video

Video settings

Graphics feature	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution		Patch the game's EXE using the Emperor Resolution Customiser, or use the older WSGF community files
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen		Patch the game's EXE using the Emperor Resolution Customiser.
4K Ultra HD		Patch the game's EXE using the Emperor Resolution Customiser. Note that due to the way the game is rendered, text and graphics will be very small.
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed	See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Vertical sync (Vsync)	See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
60 FPS and 120+ FPS	20 FPS cap. Mouse not clamped to engine framerate.

Windowed mode

Switch to windowed mode outside the game^[2]
Open `<path-to-game>\Emperor.inf` in a hex editor. Look for the byte at address `0x04` (5th byte). If this byte is equal to `0x01`, the game will run in fullscreen. If it's `0x00`, the game will be windowed. Change this byte to the appropriate value and save the edited hex file.

Input

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support

Controller types

Audio

Audio settings

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost		Game pauses during `Alt`+`Tab ↹`.
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
French				Retail only.
German				Retail only; download for GOG.com version.
Hungarian				Fan translation.
Italian				Retail only.
Polish				Local retail version only. Details
Spanish				Retail only.

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
LAN play		8	Versus Players play separate cities connected by a world map menu.
Online play		8	Versus The official WON service has been shut down.

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP

Issues fixed

Game does not start after patching to 1.0.1.0

Run the game in compatibility mode for Windows 98/ME and as administrator^{[citation needed]}

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
DirectDraw

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Audio	Miles Sound System	6.0i^[3]
Cutscenes	Bink Video
Multiplayer	World Opponent Network	Was shut down in 2008

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	98
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium II 400 MHz
System memory (RAM)	64 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	800 MB
Video card (GPU)	16-bit 4 MB SVGA

Notes

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).

References

↑ Useful Emperor ROTMK links - last accessed on February 08, 2018
↑ Verified by User:XJDHDR on 2023-03-08
↑ Verified by User:Nessy on 2021-05-29
Version number found in Mss32.dll in the game installation folder.

[gamedir-2] 1.0 ^1.1 When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMDATA%, or %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore on Windows Vista and later (more details).

[1] Useful Emperor ROTMK links - last accessed on February 08, 2018

[3] Verified by User:XJDHDR on 2023-03-08

[4] Verified by User:Nessy on 2021-05-29
Version number found in Mss32.dll in the game installation folder.

[1]

[Note 1]

[2]

[3]

@@ Line 7: / Line 7: @@
 {{Infobox game/row/publisher|Sierra Entertainment|Retail}}
 {{Infobox game/row/publisher|Activision|Digital}}
+{{Infobox game/row/publisher|Sold Out Software|Re-release}}
 |engines      =
 |release dates=
@@ Line 29: / Line 30: @@
 |lutris       = emperor-rise-of-the-middle-kingdom
 |strategywiki =
-|mobygames    = emperor-rise-of-the-middle-kingdom
+|mobygames    = 6729
 |wikipedia    = Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom
 |winehq       = 2736
 |license      = commercial
 }}
-'''Key points'''
-{{--}} Official servers were shut down in 2008.
+{{Introduction
+|introduction      =
+|release history   =
+|current state     =
+}}
 '''General information'''
@@ Line 46: / Line 53: @@
 {{Availability/row| GOG.com | emperor_rise_of_the_middle_kingdom | DRM-free | | | Windows }}
 }}
+{{ii}} A free demo version is available from [https://www.gamefront.com/games/emperor-rise-of-the-middle-kingdom-1/file/emperor-rise-of-the-middle-kingdom-demo GameFront].
 ==Essential improvements==
@@ Line 52: / Line 60: @@
 ===Skip intro videos===
 {{Fixbox|description=Skip all intro videos|ref=<ref>{{Refurl|url=https://www.gog.com/forum/emperor_rise_of_the_middle_kingdom/useful_emperor_rotmk_links|title=Useful Emperor ROTMK links|date=February 08, 2018}}</ref>|fix=
-# Open <code>{{P|game}}\Emperor.ini</code>.
+# Open {{file|{{P|game}}\Emperor.ini}}.
-# Change the line '''PlayIntroMovie=yes''' to '''PlayIntroMovie=no''' then save the changes.
+# Change the line <code>PlayIntroMovie=yes</code> to <code>PlayIntroMovie=no</code> then save the changes.
 '''Notes'''
@@ Line 114: / Line 122: @@
 |antialiasing               = n/a
 |antialiasing notes         =
+|upscaling                  = unknown
+|upscaling tech             =
+|upscaling notes            =
 |vsync                      = false
 |vsync notes                =
@@ Line 124: / Line 135: @@
 |color blind                = false
 |color blind notes          =
+}}
+===Windowed mode===
+{{Fixbox|description=Switch to windowed mode outside the game|ref=<ref>{{Refcheck|user=XJDHDR|date=2023-03-08|comment=}}</ref>|fix=
+# Open {{file|{{P|game}}\Emperor.inf}} in a hex editor.
+# Look for the byte at address <code>0x04</code> (5th byte).
+# If this byte is equal to <code>0x01</code>, the game will run in fullscreen. If it's <code>0x00</code>, the game will be windowed.
+# Change this byte to the appropriate value and save the edited hex file.
 }}
@@ Line 205: / Line 224: @@
 |eax support              = false
 |eax support notes        =
+|royalty free audio       = always on
+|royalty free audio notes =
 }}
@@ Line 253: / Line 274: @@
   |audio     = true
   |subtitles = true
-  |notes     = Localized by CD Projekt. Local retail version only.
+  |notes     = Local retail version only. [https://dubbingpedia.pl/wiki/Cesarz:_Narodziny_Pa%C5%84stwa_%C5%9Arodka Details]
   |fan       =
 }}
@@ Line 276: / Line 297: @@
 |lan play modes       = Versus
 |lan play notes       = Players play separate cities connected by a world map menu.
-|online play          = true
+|online play          = false
 |online play players  = 8
 |online play modes    = Versus
-|online play notes    = Players play separate cities connected by a world map menu.
+|online play notes    = The official WON service has been shut down.
 |asynchronous         =
 |asynchronous notes   =
@@ Line 300: / Line 321: @@
 |upnp =
 }}
 ==Issues fixed==
-===Game won't start after patching the game to 1.0.1.0===
+===Game does not start after patching to 1.0.1.0===
-{{Fixbox|description=Run the game in compatibility mode and as admin|ref={{cn|date=November 2021}}|fix=
+{{Fixbox|description=Run the game in [[Windows Compatibility Mode|compatibility mode]] for Windows 98/ME and as administrator|ref={{cn|date=November 2021}}|fix=
-# Right-click <code>Emperor.exe</code> and go to properties
-# Set it to Windows 98/ME
-# Set it to run it as administrator
-# Click apply and OK.
 }}
@@ Line 314: / Line 332: @@
 |direct3d versions      =
 |direct3d notes         =
-|directdraw versions    =
+|directdraw versions    = true
 |directdraw notes       =
 |opengl versions        =
@@ Line 332: / Line 350: @@
 |windows 32-bit exe     = true
 |windows 64-bit exe     = false
+|windows arm app        = unknown
 |windows exe notes      =
 |macos intel 32-bit app =
 |macos intel 64-bit app =
+|macos arm app          = unknown
 |macos app notes        =
 |linux 32-bit executable=
 |linux 64-bit executable=
+|linux arm app          = unknown
 |linux executable notes =
 }}
@@ Line 354: / Line 375: @@
 |cutscenes notes  =
 |multiplayer      = WON (World Opponent Network)
-|multiplayer notes= was shut down in 2008
+|multiplayer notes= Was shut down in 2008
 }}

Developers

	Impressions Games
	BreakAway Games
Publishers
Retail	Sierra Entertainment
Digital	Activision
Re-release	Sold Out Software
Release dates
Windows	September 9, 2002
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Bird's-eye view, Isometric
Controls	Point and select
Genres	Building
Themes	China, Medieval
Series	City Building (Sierra)