Setting up LEGO Island is generally straightforward on PCs of its era, however some extra effort and considerations are sometimes required depending on how modern your system is.
- 1Installing
- 1.1Standard
- 2Playing LEGO Island
Rather than pay out bonuses to developers, Lego Island studio Mindscape decided to fire everyone and fold. The new behind-the-scenes details come from the newest episode of the Lego Bits N' Bricks podcast. Eurogamer first picked up the story yesterday, which was told on the official Lego Group podcast by Lego Island senior producer Scott Anderson. 5731 LEGO Island is a 1997 Windows PC game developed and published by Mindscape. It was one of the first LEGO video games ever created. It was re-released in 2002 and 2007. 1 Characters 1.1 Playable characters 1.2 Notable Non-Playable characters 2 Gameplay 2.1 The Brickster's Story 2.1.1. The original and Pirate Island Hotel rooms were arranged in such a way that there was a wall between the bunks and the main bed, and the boys enjoyed a TV just for them. At the Beach Retreat, the bunks were tucked into a nook, separated from the main bed area by a decorated curtain.
Installing
Standard
The stock installer located at INSTALL.EXE
should run fine on any version of Windows (ignore SETUP.EXE
as it's a 16-bit application that won't run on any 64-bit version of Windows). This will provide a fairly standard install of LEGO Island authentic to the era, with the obvious caveat that it doesn't take into account some extra steps required on modern versions of Windows:
D3DRM.DLL
Main article: Direct3D Retained Mode
From Vista onwards, D3DRM.DLL - a DLL required to run LEGO Island - was removed from Windows itself and has to be manually restored. While the DLL is on the LEGO Island CD (located at redistdirectxd3drm.dll
), it's recommended to use a newer version that was released with Windows XP for better compatibility. You'll want to place D3DRM.DLL into LEGO Island's install folder (usually C:Program Files (x86)LEGO Island
).
No-CD Patch
Main article: NOCD.SI
If you want LEGO Island to run without a CD, it's as simple as copying the Lego
folder from the CD to LEGO Island's install folder (usually C:Program Files (x86)LEGO Island
). You'll want to merge with the LEGO
folder that already exists and don't worry about replacing the file NOCD.SI
(it's the same file so skipping or replacing it makes no difference).
Japanese Version
For unknown reasons, the Japanese LEGO Island installer features a version check that fails if the version of Windows you're using is not 4.x (e.g. 95, 98, or Me). This means the installer will fail on any Windows version newer (starting with Windows 2000). As such, for this version you should probably use the LEGO Island Alternative Installer.
Alternative Installer
A community alternative installer exists to make up for the shortcomings of the stock installer. It will automatically copy D3DRM.DLL from the CD as well as the LEGO folder if you select a 'Full' install. This is generally a much easier and more fool-proof option than the stock installer.
Playing LEGO Island
Persistent save data
Main article: Compatibility Issues
LEGO Island stores its save data in its program folder, which in modern software is a big no-no due to inherent security risks involved. From Windows Vista, access to the Program Files folder was restricted to administrator access only, preventing LEGO Island from saving game data. The solutions are generally as follows:
- Using LEGO Island Rebuilder. Rebuilder functions as a launcher that automatically redirects save data to a safe location so that administrator privileges are not required. This is the simplest and most recommended solution.
- Run LEGO Island as administrator. Relatively simple by right clicking LEGO Island and selecting 'Run as Administrator' or opening 'Properties', navigating to the 'Compatibility' and selecting 'Run as Administrator' so that the game is always run as administrator.
- Re-installing LEGO Island to a non-restricted location. Often this is a second drive on your PC or somewhere in your home folder. This will work, but may get complicated depending on where you choose to install it.
Turn speed
Main article: Turn Speed
LEGO Island infamously ties the turn speed to the frame rate, meaning the much faster computers of the day heavily impact the game's controls and playability. It's recommended to use LEGO Island Rebuilder which has parameters for separating the turn speed from the frame rate as well as changing the turn and walk speeds in general.
'To configure LEGO Island' doesn't save
This issue is similar to the save data not saving correctly but a slightly different presentation. In this scenario, the data is not being saved to the game's program folder, but rather the registry's HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
hive - another section of Windows that has become more restricted in over time due to inherent security risks.
Lego Island 1
For some reason, running CONFIG.EXE
as administrator doesn't seem to address this issue. It seems the only way to make it save configuration data is to set its compatibility mode to 'Windows 95' (right click > Properties > Compatibility tab).
Lego Island Game Download
General graphical glitches
Main article: Compatibility Issues
LEGO Island relies on various dated DirectX APIs that have seen numerous changes over the decades since its release. As such, using Direct3D HAL can result in various graphical glitches and crashes that impact the game's playability. To address this, it's recommended to either use a software mode instead ('Ramp Emulation', 'RGB Emulation', or 'MMX Emulation') as those are CPU-based and have therefore been largely unaffected by the changes to the Direct3D API, or to use dgVoodoo which translates LEGO Island's outdated DirectX 5 calls to modern DirectX 11 calls. This has the advantage of allowing other graphical tweaks too, such as increasing the resolution, adding anti-aliasing, overriding texture filtering, and more.
High-definition Patch
Main article: dgVoodoo
LEGO Island was only ever designed to run at 640x480 which was relatively standard at the time. Given the much larger variety of resolution available today, it may be desirable to run the game at a higher resolution. Currently, the best way to do this is with dgVoodoo, which allows users to override the resolution to one of their choosing. Note that this is unfortunately not a true widescreen patch, the game will still have a 4:3 aspect ratio that will get stretched to whatever resolution you choose. As such, it's recommended to use a 4:3 resolution to maintain LEGO Island's native aspect ratio (e.g. 1440x1080 instead of 1920x1080). Currently LEGO Island Rebuilder is working on a true widescreen patch to address this issue.
See also
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There's a lot of licensed games about these wonderful little plastic bricks. And a lot of licensed games about licensed LEGO kits! Just... don't call them LEGOs. It just starts a big fight and then nobody's happy.
Windows | Chess • Rock Raiders • LEGOLAND • Digital Designer • Builder Bots • Bricktopia Pirates of the Caribbean • Marvel Super Heroes • The LEGO Movie • Marvel Super Heroes 2 |
---|---|
Game Boy Advance | Soccer Mania |
Nintendo DS | Friends • Pirates of the Caribbean |
Nintendo 3DS | Friends |
iOS | Life of George |
PlayStation | Rock Raiders |
PlayStation 2 | Soccer Mania |
Wii | Rock Band • Pirates of the Caribbean |
Wii U | Dimensions |
Adobe Flash | Aqua Raiders: Treasure Trench • Castle • Mars Mission: CrystAlien Conflict |
Adobe Shockwave | Junkbot • World Builder • World Builder 2 |
Batman | |
Windows | The Videogame • 2: DC Super Heroes • 3: Beyond Gotham |
Wii | 2: DC Super Heroes |
Nintendo DS | The Videogame |
PlayStation Portable | The Videogame |
Bionicle | |
Game Boy Advance | Bionicle • Maze of Shadows |
Windows | Nestlé • Heroes |
GameCube | Heroes |
Wii | Heroes |
PlayStation 2 | Heroes |
Adobe Flash | Mata Nui Online Game • Mata Nui Online Game II: The Final Chronicle • Voya Nui Online Game • Mistika |
City | |
Nintendo 3DS | Undercover: The Chase Begins |
Wii U | Undercover |
Adobe Flash | Train Game • Police Chase • Build It • Time to Build • On Patrol |
Harry Potter | |
Windows | Years 1-4 • Years 5-7 |
Wii | Years 1-4 • Years 5-7 |
PlayStation 3 | Years 1-4 |
PlayStation Portable | Years 1-4 |
Nintendo 3DS | Years 5-7 |
PlayStation Vita | Years 5-7 |
Indiana Jones | |
Windows | The Original Adventures • 2: The Adventure Continues |
Nintendo DS | The Original Adventures • 2: The Adventure Continues |
PlayStation Portable | The Original Adventures • 2: The Adventure Continues |
Island | |
Windows | Island • 2: The Brickster's Revenge • Xtreme Stunts |
PlayStation | 2: The Brickster's Revenge (Prototype) |
Game Boy Color | 2: The Brickster's Revenge |
Game Boy Advance | 2: The Brickster's Revenge • Xtreme Stunts |
Adobe Shockwave | Pepper's Skateboarding Challenge |
Middle-earth | |
Windows | The Lord of the Rings |
Wii | The Lord of the Rings |
Wii U | The Hobbit |
Ninjago | |
Adobe Flash | Spinjitzu Smash (DX) • Smash Creations • Smash Party • The Four Paths • Viper Smash • Spinjitzu Spinball |
Racers | |
Windows | Racers • Racers 2 |
GameCube | Drome Racers |
Game Boy Color | Racers |
Game Boy Advance | Racers 2 (Prototype) |
Adobe Flash | The Robot Chronicles • World Racers (Prototypes) • RampAge |
Star Wars | |
Game Boy Advance | The Video Game • II: The Original Trilogy |
Windows | The Video Game • The Complete Saga • III: The Clone Wars • The Force Awakens |
Xbox | The Video Game |
GameCube | The Video Game • II: The Original Trilogy |
PlayStation 2 | The Video Game (Prototype) • II: The Original Trilogy (Prototype) |
Wii | The Complete Saga • III: The Clone Wars |
Nintendo DS | The Complete Saga • III: The Clone Wars |
PlayStation Portable | II: The Original Trilogy |
Xbox 360 | II: The Original Trilogy |
PlayStation 3 | The Force Awakens |
Pages in category 'LEGO series'
The following 98 pages are in this category, out of 98 total.