Zkl Combined Dll Files?

Zoogrammy · Post by **Zoogrammy** » Thu Apr 08, 2004 2:53 pm

I read your description and you said that using a user-made building without the dll will cause the game to crash when a guest uses it. I have been using the Log Flume ride that way for some time and have not had a problem. But I can see how this might explain other game crashes that I have had in the past with many of DJ's items that still patch the dll and I didn't use the patch.

Thanks for explaining this.

Post by **Jay** » Thu Apr 08, 2004 7:29 pm

When you highlight the Log Flume in the ZT menu, does it have a name? (In my case, the name is "Log Flume Ride".) If it does have a name, then you are using a dll file. In my case, the log flume download (or some other download) edited ZT's lang0.dll file directly for the Log Flume information. Also in my case, the log flume information is in langPopcornVendor.dll. So, either way, the information is provided.

Zoogrammy · Post by **Zoogrammy** » Thu Apr 08, 2004 8:56 pm

No, I have no name for the ride or when you open the menu to see how your shops etc. are doing. It just shows the amount of money it is making. Like I said, so far I haven't had a problem. I just don't trust patching the lang file.

Post by **Jay** » Thu Apr 08, 2004 9:27 pm

In tne early days, I would use the patch files. But I found later that they can cause unexpected problems. So, ever since, I also do not use patch files. For those downloads that use patch files, I would like to put the messages into the LANG--ZKL.dll file. But that involves more effort than just merging dll files. So I'm taking things one step at a time. (On my machine, I already have another dll file called LANG--USERS.dll with all of these other messages. Ever since I created that, I have not had any unexpected game crashes. I need to start moving the messages from that one to LANG--ZKL.dll.)

That is interesting about the Log Flume. I tried a number of buildings in my tests, but I don't remember if I tried the Log Flume without any user dll files in my tests. I'll give it a try. (It uses extremely high message numbers compared to other buildings. I don't know if that has anything to do with it.)

Post by **Jay** » Fri Apr 09, 2004 3:40 am

I retested the log flume and most of the other buildings. None of them now cause a game crash if they are used by a guest while the dll file is missing. The only thing that I believe is different is that, previously, I was using a lang0.dll that had been patched by various downloads. In my current tests, I'm using the original lang0.dll from ZT. (Once I created LANG--ZKL.dll and LANG--USERS.dll, I went back to the original lang0.dll file.)

So this says a couple things. First, as we both have said, patching the lang files is dangerous. (Even more so than I thought.) Second, if anyone ran any of the patch programs and has experienced unexpected game crashes, they should replace the lang0.dll file with the one provided by ZT. They might no longer see names for some things, but at least they should have less (possibly none) game crashes.

As a side note, I also noticed that the configuration for the Camel Ride that I have is wrong. It causes all guests to get trapped inside, even when the ride is placed far away from anything else.

Zoogrammy · Post by **Zoogrammy** » Fri Apr 09, 2004 9:27 am

I have the camel ride and have had no trouble with it. I think that there was a new updated version to it some time ago. I did have trouble in the past with the ball pit and two other tower type rides for dl here with guests getting stuck in them. I no longer have those in my game. I also use the ZTU Rainforest Cafe without its patched dll but I have it listed in my menu and in the guest's thoughts. This came about when I dl the original version of ZA's adoption center. The lang file worked on the rainforest cafe. Later on the lang file was changed on the adoption center because of some problem so I just renamed the original file for use with the rainforest cafe.

I have noticed from the screenshots that others post on different sites that they have these and other downloads that I had trouble with in their game, obviously working very well. So it seems that new two machines work alike.

Anyway thanks for your input. I'm using the new ZKL combined dll and it is working fine.

Post by **Jay** » Fri Apr 09, 2004 9:59 pm

For the camel ride, my notes say that I have the updated version (1-1). But I will have to confirm that. As you know, it gets confusing trying to keep track of updates.

I agree with your comment about no 2 computers work alike. However, entrances and exits for buildings and rides will never change for the same download. The reason one appears to work on one and not another is because of what is near them in the zoo. If they are placed too close to something else, guests may not enter them or guests may get stuck in them. Usually you can put them somewhat far away from anything else and watch how the guests enter and exit them. Then you can put them where you want, keeping that information in mind.

Many user created rides and buildings, including the ball pit, have entrances and exits that are configured incorrectly. However, most are only an extra square or two off. But the camel ride had a problem even being extremely far from everything else. A bigger problem with the ball pit is that it uses message numbers that conflict with the Orangutan toys that are in CC and the endangered species pack download. The Drop Zone uses a patched lang0.dll. The Space Needle uses a lang0.dll copy. I eventually would like to fix a number of these downloads, especially those from here.

The ZTU Rainforest Cafe was one that patched the Zoo Tycoon's lang0.dll. As mentioned, this is a problem. Some downloads, including at least one version of the Adoption Center, copied the lang0.dll (in some cases, a lang0.dll that had been patched). This is also bad. Besides causing unexpected game crashes like lang0.dll patches, this has one other problem. When Blue Fang created DD, they have some messages in lang100.dll that are overriding messages lang0.dll. Similarly, when Blue Fang created MM, they have some more messages in lang200.dll that are overriding messages in lang0.dll. And, again with CC (and the endangered species pack download), there are more overriding messages. But these overriding messages only work based on the name order of the dll files.

I believe there is a simple test to see if any user dll flles are preventing the overriding from occurring. Start ZT without the CD. It should tell you which version to put in the CD drive. If it says ZT, but you have one of the expansion packs (DD, MM, CC), then there is a user dll file preventing the overriding from occurring.

I personally would not recommend having any user dll files that are bigger than 1M. They are probably a copy of lang0.dll.

And thanks for all of the feedback. That comes in handy as we try to get a handle on the downloads, especially the older ones, which were created before a number of these things were fully understood. (Even with the problems, I'm glad they made them. They did such a wonderful job with both creativity and graphics, plus they took the initiiative in unexplored territory.)