The Exile FAQ v1.2   
by Jeff Vogel

This is the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) file for Exile: Escape From the Pit, the huge, highly detailed shareware fantasy role-playing game for the Macintosh.

This FAQ contains a description of the game, system requirements, tips regarding common problems, and hints for the trickiest puzzles (Oh well, having people buy the hint book was nice while it lasted.)

This is a FAQ in the truest form - everything in here I’ve typed out for stuck gamers more times than I care to think of. I don’t mind this, of course. I love hearing from and helping people. I can be reached at SpidWeb@aol.com, SpidWeb on AOL, SWeb on EWorld, and 76463,1521 on CompuServe. Feel free to drop me a note!

Contents:

Section 1: What is Exile?
  1.0 What is it?
  1.1 System requirements?
  1.2 Why should I register?
  1.3 Bugs and Troubleshooting
  1.4 Does this feature exist?
  1.5 How BIG is this game, anyway?
  1.6 Can I use Exile on a 12” screen?
  1.7 Is Exile on the World Wide Web?
  1.8 How do I get it?

Section 2: Nastier Puzzles
  2.0 How do I get past the gremlins in the glade?
  2.1 Where is the stone key?
  2.2 How do I get into the tower where Grah-Hoth is imprisoned?
  2.3 On the third floor of the Crypt of Drath, how do I get past the teleporters?
  2.4 Where is the graymold?
  2.5 Where can I store my items?
  2.6 Where is the fifth piece of mold?
  2.7 How do I get over chasms?
  2.8 How do I get past the goblins in Erika’s tower?
  2.9 How do I pass the double barrier in the Vahnatai cave to the far west?

Section 3: Miscellaneous
  3.0 Is it safe to kill the dragons?
  3.1 If you killed a dragon you shouldn’t have...
  3.2 How can I get money?
  3.3 Will there be an Exile II?
  3.4 Will there be an Exile III?

Section 1: What is Exile?
This section describes the game, what you need to run it, and how to get past various problems you may encounter.

1.0 What is it?

I defer to the ad copy...

Fantasoft, the makers of Realmz, and Spiderweb Software present
a new, full-length, fantasy role-playing shareware game for the 
mac:

        EXILE: Escape From The Pit v1.3.1

by Jeff and Shirley Vogel

“4 out of 5 joysticks” - Inside Mac Games Magazine

"exile n. 1. Enforced removal from one's native country. 2. The state
or circumstance of being in Exile."

        Above ground, there is only one nation: The Empire. That's all
it's called. What need is there for fancy names when there's only
one game in town?
        The Empire maintains order at all costs. Misfits, magical
creatures, and petty criminals of all sorts are unwanted, and the 
Empire has one tried and true way of disposing of them...

        They are sent through a one-way teleporter into the
Underworld. And you are considered misfits.

        There are hundreds of miles of tunnels under the surface 
world, filled with creatures fantastic and mundane, all scrabbling 
for the same limited food and limited space. It is into this hostile,
war-ravaged land that you are sent to find your fortune. Or just 
try to survive.

Exile is a shareware full-length fantasy role-playing game. It 
boasts intricate game machinery and an enormous, highly detailed 
world. Among its features:

*  An enormous cave system, filled with special encounters and 
almost 80 towns and dungeon levels.
*  Many, many people to talk to and puzzles to solve.
*  Multiple game objectives. Win the game in one way, or several.
*  Elegant, skill based character generation system. No character
classes - customize your characters as much as you want.
*  Full auto-mapping.
*  Ultima-like top-down view.
*  First half of game available, at full functionality, without
paying. Play many of the towns and dungeons for free.
*  _Extensively_ tested and debugged. You may be my customer, 
but you won't be my beta tester.

There is also a hint book ($6.50) and a character editor ($10). The Editor can heal the party, give gold and food, unkill dragons, and move parties out of towns in the unregistered version.

1.1 What are the system requirements?

     Exile requires System 7, 256 colors, 2 MB free memory, 3 MB disk space, and a 13” monitor.

Q: What about my PowerBook?

A: Exile will only run on 256 color PowerBooks.

Q: I have 16 colors. Will it run?

A: Exile _sometimes_ runs on 16 color macs. It’s a very dicey proposition, and when it does run, the colors are ugly. As long as you don’t have a 16 color PowerBook, it may be worth a shot.

Q: I have System 6. Will is run?

A: I don’t know. Nobody with 256 colors and System 6 has ever gotten back to me on whether it ran. I _think_ it will. I tried to make the game System 6 compatible. But I don’t know.

Q: What about my 12” monitor?

A: Yes. But. See section 1.6.

Q: What about AV Macs?

A: Go for it! It runs like a charm.

Q: I hear it crashes on older Macs, like the II, IIc, IIcx, etc.

A: It did, but that bug was fixed months ago. Go for it!

1.2 Why should I register?

     Exile is $25 shareware. Without registering, you can play the first half of the game at full functionality, and believe me, that’s a LOT of game.
     Upon registration, you get a code that lets you into the second half of the game, a printed out instruction manual, and a command reference card. Plus, you have made it possible for a full-time Mac game programmer to continue making software for our favorite platform. 

1.3 Bugs and troubleshooting.

There are a few problems people have had. Most are fixed, but...

Q: The game sometimes has blank spell-casting and training windows. What do I do?

A: Exit the game. Select More Info about Exile (command-I). Raise the memory requirements (at the bottom of the window) by 100 K each (to 2100 K). This is a very rare problem, but that should fix it.

Q:  The game is really slow during combat sometimes! Why?

A: Running other applications sometimes causes the game to slow down during fights. Reduce the number of background processes.

Q: It crashes my Mac II (or IIc, or IIcx) when I run it!

A: You are running Exile 1.0. This is fixed in later versions. Alternately, if you have ResEdit, change the MDEF of MENU resource 500 to 0. This will fix the problem.

Q: My game became unregistered when I moved up to a new version!

A: When you register, make a copy of your misc.dat file and put it in a safe place. Put in in the folder with the new copy of the game.

Q: I register, but then the game is unregistered when I run it again! What do I do?

A: Sometimes, the game becomes corrupted when it becomes uncompressed. This is the result. Move the misc.dat file to a safe place. Delete the old copy of Exile. Uncompress a new copy. Copy the old misc.dat over the new one. The game should register fine now. If not, call Fantasoft or (preferably) E-mail me.

Q: I’m getting other crashes, or weird, staticky graphics keep appearing!

A: Several steps to solve most of your problems...
1. If using background music, turn it off.
2. Run Exile without extensions ... reboot your Mac while holding the Shift key down, and then play.
3. Give Exile more memory. From the finder, click on Exile, select Get Info from the File menu, and increase the numbers in the two fields at the bottom of the window that just came up.

1.4 Does this feature exist?

Q:  How do I save maps?

A:  Move up to version 1.1 or later.

Q:  How do I store away my excess items? I can’t carry enough!

A: Same answer.

Q: How do I move several spaces a combat turn?

A: Upgrade to version 1.3 or higher.

1.5 How big is this game, anyway?

Big. The lair of Sulfras, Erika’s tower, and Grah-Hoth’s castle are at the far western edge. The Castle is at the east-west halfway point. Fort Duvno is at the north-south halfway point. There are 77 towns and dungeon levels, and 42 outdoor sections. Every section, town and dungeon has a bunch of special encounters. There’s a lot of game there.

1.6 Can I use Exile on a 12” screen?

Exile is designed for screens 13” or larger. However, people have been able 
to play it on 12” screens, using one of two methods...
i. Going in with ResEdit and modifying the dialogs so they fit on a smaller screen.
ii. There is a control panel called Drag Any Window, which one user told me can 
be used the shift the dialogs around so that all of them can be accessed.

So the answer is yes, but it takes a little work.

1.7 Is Exile on the Web?

Yes. There is an excellent Exile Web page, maintained by Mark Bradburn. It’s occasionally tricky to get into, so be patient. Jump to...

http://www.nimr.mrc.ac.uk/~m-bradbu/Exile/index.html

Fantasoft also maintains an Exile web site...

http://www.engr.wisc.edu/~foley/exile/exile.html

1.8 How do I get Exile?

Exile is on a variety of shareware collections, can be downloaded from AOL, CompuServe, and EWorld, and is at all the major ftp sites, such as infomac and sumex.