Frequently Asked Questions

I have compiled this document of the most asked questions about Aethra in the hopes it will address any problems you may experience.

Game Questions:

Q: How far does the shareware version go?

A: The shareware version is the quest for the "Book of Prophecies" once the book is found you have probably done all that you can. The rest of the game involves the 4 Gems of Power and the Demon lord.

Q: Why can't I get into certain places?

A: These are areas only available in the registered version.

Q: What is the best way to start so I will survive?

A: Try the pregenerated and equipped party under Save game 4.

Here is my recommended start until you get the hang of it.
First character make a Human Paladin with STR=100 and WIS=100 with CON and AGI as high as you can get them.
Next make a Dwarf Fighter with STR=100 and CON=100 with AGI and REA as high as you can get them.
The last guy make a 1/2 Elf Ranger with AGI=100 and WIS=100 with CON and STR as high as you can get them.

Immediately go hire a Cleric from the Temple, a mage from the Mages College, and a thief from the Crafts Guild. Hire as high a level NPC as will go with you.
Do not worry about paying the NPCs until you are ready to leave the city. Time passes slowly in the city but days will go by while traveling outdoors if you leave the roads.

Go buy a sword for everyone but the mage and thief. Buy a bow for thief, ranger and paladin. Buy a shield for everyone. Buy boots for everyone. Buy chain vest for Paladin, Fighter, Ranger and Cleric, Buy leather vest for thief and a cloak for mage. Buy a lantern This should be enough initial equipment.

Go to the cemetery and explore the dungeon you will find there. Be sure to look for secret doors.

Q: In the pregenerated game who are the NPCs?

A: Suela, Mahmoud, and Lucina.

Q: Why does time pass so quickly outdoors?

A: The rougher the terrain more time it takes to travel over it. Stick to the roads for the quickest although not always the shortest journey.

Q: How do I go up in level? Where is the Paladins Guild? Where is the Ashikari Guild?

A: When you have gained enough experience points you are ready to be trained. Go to a guild and asked to be trained if you are ready and it is a guild which will accept you then pay for training and develop your char for the next level. The Paladins Guild is in the town of Drensea just to the NE of Stormhaven. It is next to the Warriors Guild. The Ashikari guild is in Drensea in the NW quadrant. Hint: Guilds specific to character classes will train you better (ie fighters can train at the Mercenaries guild but will do better at the warriors guild).

Q: How do I get experience points?

A: By completing quests. Most experience points are gained from the quests and some from killing monsters.

Q: How does one get rid of a cursed item?

A: The cleric spell Remove curse removes a curse from an item so you can then get rid of it.

Q: How do I get Hitpoints and Spellpoints back?

A: Hitpoints and spell points are regained while resting at an inn or camping outdoors. Hitpoints can also be restored at temples, from healing spells, and potions. The green potion restores spell points.

Q: How do I resurrect a char?

A: Either the cleric spell Faith Resurrection or at a temple.

Q: What happens if you dismiss a core member? As in one of the three? Does a hireling take his/her place or are you just SOL?

A: You cannot dismiss a core member and are stuck with them for the whole game.

Q: I have a Sword and Bow but in combat when I try to swing at a monster it says I do not have a weapon, Why?

A: You must equip with armor, weapons and some magic items before they are usable. Select the review character option then select items, then equip items then select the ones you wish to equip with. You are allowed one hand weapon and one bow. In combat move next to an opponent and select the swing icon or (W) key to swing a weapon. or the shoot bow (B) option to shoot at an enemy.

Q: How do I find secret doors? detect traps?

A: The 3 lead party members are the ones who are checked against there perception/detect traps skill for secret doors and traps. They always get an automatic check. By using the look option you can choose to look in specific spots this gives you a bonus versus just walking by. It is wise to have a party member with high perception and detect traps in one of the front 3 positions.

Q: Why does the dungeon map screen go black after an encounter of other screen update?

A: If you do not have an active light source the screen will stay black when the program does a screen refresh. Make sure you have an active lantern or torch, the little torch icon will be on if you do.

Game Hints and spoilers.

Q: Where is that #*@!!#! Painting I have looked all over the bandits dungeon?

A: It is hanging on the wall in the lair of the Bandit Leader. His lair is in a hidden section on the first level of the bandit dungeon.

XXX
XXX
OYX

If each X is a dungeon map square the secret area is the O. Entrance to O is from Y.

Q: Where is the Aelftrowe Forest?

A: It is the large forest along the southern coast in the middle map grids.

Q: Where is Galoran, I killed the bandit leader in the city isn't this Galoran?

A: No the bandit leader in the city is not Galoran. Galoran is hiding out in the hills just to the NW of Stormhaven.

Q: Where is Babbage?

A: Babage is located in the Village of Drensea.

Q: Where is the Monastary?

A: It is located on the NE section of the continent, nested in a mountain range.

Q: What is the GEM of power I found in the Bandits dungeon?

A: It is part of the greater quest when you register so do not sale it.

Program Questions

Q: The Sound does not work? Music Does not play?

A: You must first answer yes to the sound configurations in the install program. If the sound is configured ON and does not play then you may need to free up more memory. The program needs 590K free to play both music and sound effects.

Q: I get an error code 3 after generating my first 3 characters?

A: The program did not install properly or you did not run the install program. The install program creates 5 sub directories Save0-Save4 if these directories do not exist this error will occur.

Q: The program aborts and gives me an error message 203 or 204?

A: You are on the borderline with memory. Free up more memory or disable the sound and music from the install program.

Q: I have an original Soundblaster card and the game locks up when I attempt to run it or install it.

A: Apparently my sound library does not detect the old SB properly. The latest version of the game has been rewritten to not auto detect if sound is turned off. So if it locks up while trying to configure sound choose no sound as an option.

Q: The mouse cursor disappears half the time, why?

A: Apparently the latest mouse driver from Logitech has a bug in it. It does not support Native EGA mode on the second video page. The only thing to do is try a different mouse driver. The MS mouse driver that comes with windows works with almost any mouse and functions properly.

Q: The computer locks up when the program plays a sound effect (i.e. door opening in dungeon).

A: While playing sound in the background my sound library will lock up if the Hard Drive is accessed. If you are running a disk caching program like SMARTDRV.EXE the write caching may be turned. Write caching takes the control of HD access out of the programs control and it may happen at any time most likely it seems when the game tries to play a sound effect. Please disable write caching if you are going to enable the sound effects. Please see you DOS manual on how to do this.


[ Add Comment ]
hi

i want to edit the ports.rsc file, how can this be done?

please reply to this email
by Volti-115   (2018-12-18 18:41:27) [ Reply ]
Replied by email.
by Pixelfck (webmaster)   (2018-12-18 19:26:51) [ Reply ]
What the primary char stats does?
Agility for example
by Sanuich   (2019-05-11 19:47:28) [ Reply ]
You can find a description of all the attributes in the manual. You can find the manual on the downloads page.
by Pixelfck (webmaster)   (2019-05-11 20:21:14) [ Reply ]
Just wanted to pop in that I'm so thankful and happy you keep this site online. Aethra is one of my favourite games from my childhood, and I've replayed it every few years since the mid-nineties.
by AnilOfDoom   (2019-06-30 19:14:32) [ Reply ]
Hi. ¿Which are all the recruitable characters in the world? ¿How many are there at total; and for each class; and how many characters at each level?
I know some recruitable characters need to be hired for periodic fee and some join for free under special conditions along the storyline.
But I can't seem to find anywhere a list or relation of all of the recruits with —at least— basic information such as: i) building where to hire; ii) name; iii) portrait; iv) level; v) class/subclass.
I think it would be nice to have this topic in the site (as there are lots of other info in it, for example about Shops in towns), because it can provide nice information for strategic party compositions —maybe more useful in replayability, or just for certain styles of play. Thanks.
by Kinox   (2020-08-23 15:24:48) [ Reply ]
This is a wonderful site, thank you so much for creating it. It is logically laid out and has super helpful information about the game. Thank you for the fine nostalgia trip!
by Anonymouse   (2020-08-27 17:29:15) [ Reply ]
This site is incredibly helpful! I've always wanted to fully complete the game and this site has helped me do that. The information is vast and very, very helpful. If there's one added feature I'd like to see, it would be the various combinations produced by Race, and Class in determining Skill boxes to fill.

I figured out a small hack for the random die roll for Character Attributes. The highest total sum I was able to generate was 645. So far I've found that if a total sum lands in the 600s its pretty high and takes a lot of die rolls to land on one. I just kept rolling until the higher distributed attributes were the ones I wanted to keep.
by Bob Dylan   (2021-12-23 21:15:15) [ Reply ]
Where is the thief specific guild? If I understand correctly, the craft guild in stormhaven is a multi class guild and not a class specific guild. or am i wrong?
by John   (2022-12-09 06:46:46) [ Reply ]
The craft guild is the thief's guild. I like to think that they pose as a multi class guild to hide the fact that they are the thief's guild. I think the name also implies they are hiding their true colours.
If I remember correctly, you can train other classes at the Crafts guild, but the result is worse than going to the specialised guild for those classes.
by Pixelfck (webmaster)   (2022-12-12 12:44:22) [ Reply ]
You still looking for Michael Lawrence? It's pretty easy to find today, just google Michael Lawrence Aethra Chronicles and check Digital Night Studio. If you get to ask your questions, would you mind asking when he will finish the game? :D
by Gebbard   (2023-09-05 21:13:25) [ Reply ]

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