Whenever I start DS, I get an error message.

Installation stopped

Trouble bzip2 reading from
C:\Program Files\\GOG.com\Creatures Exodus\Docking Station\file_list_splash.txtpartial

This is a Windows 7 64-bit system

I'm not too familiar with this issue, but hopefully this will help out! Do you know if you're loading the game from InstallBlast.exe or engine.exe? I believe the default is the former, but this can create issues. An excellent short discussion about this issue can be found at Creatures Caves. Good luck: I hope you're able to play soon!

It pops up when I run it from the installblast.exe. I have tried launching from the engine.exe but I get the 16 bit color error.

There's a way to set it such that your computer switch to 16 bit color when you launch a specific program but I could never get it to work.

I just manually switch to 16-bit color whenever I play Creatures 2 or Creatures 3/Docking Station. It's a pain, but I've gotten used to it! I think there was a way to set up the automatic switching, as you said, but I also never got it to work. If you switch to 16-bit color and run the program from engine.exe, it should be playable. Yet I know that switching color modes is quite annoying!

I finally managed to get the game running, but stalemated against the login screen, as there is no way to create a username and password, and the DSOffline patch doesn't work on the GOG.com build -- it gets you into the world itself, so you get to see agents bouncing around and interacting in the background, but the login screen blocks any interactivity and if you cancel the login screen, you save and close the world.

I think it's sufficient to say that if you bought this any time recently on a modern OS, you're out of luck. Creatures 3 itself works like a charm, though.

The DS Offline option definitely works with the GOG.com build. I've never had any trouble with it. Have you installed the Remastered Patch? There might be another reason for it, but I've never heard of anyone else having problems with the DS Offline option...

It's a shame the registration is down, though! The warp is an interesting feature, and manual adoptions just aren't the same as having random creatures pop into your world from time to time.

Feel free to post some more information: I would be happy to help you figure out why the DS Offline option isn't working. Docking Station itself is slightly different from Creatures 3 and offers a few more options. Hopefully you'll have it all working again soon!

I actually played Docking Station back in 2006-2007 or so -- whenever it was that they had briefly brought back the Gameware Development server -- so I got to experience the invulnerable (and thereby rock stupid) norns that people unleashed onto the internet. I was rather disappointed. At that time my financial situation wasn't enough to get a copy of Creatures 3 and I didn't particularly trust a lot of the vendors at that point either, so my experience was limited to Docking Station only. But in any case, it took a sale to get me to buy here. I do have to say I was a little disappointed with the limited medical equipment in the Shee starship compared to the Capillata. =P

No installation of the Remastered patch -- wasn't even sure what that is until I looked it up. Might that be it?

I did however discover that the login disabler built into C1toDS works fantastically -- and I get Creatures 1 content out of the deal too (I just bought Albian Years too, but it sort of obviates it). So I'm quite happy with that for the time being. =)

Now if only CAOSTool would recognise the Exodus versions... maybe Remastered is the ticket there too.

I was lucky enough to sign up for an account in 2010 before all registrations went down. The warp has been fun on the rare occasion when it works... Mainly because the only people who are online are those in the active community!

You can find the Remastered Patch at AmberCreatures. This should help you out with many issues, hopefully! I also wonder if the DS Offline Option was installed correctly... I put some files in the wrong places initially with a few agents, and had to smack myself across the head after hours of trying to figure out what was wrong! But maybe the remastered patch is all you need.

I'm glad you got C1toDS, though! Even though it kind of makes playing Creatures 1 not necessary to enjoy its charm, it's still my favorite in the series by a long shot. Well, aside from the absolutely annoying body data/sprite issues that have been inherent from the start. I'm working on some fixes, though, which should make the Norns and Grendels look a lot more put together!

Good luck!

I did put all of the files in the right place. However, the jury is back and as it turns out I am very guilty of being an idiot! Sentencing hearing is in two weeks. I may need to be euthanised.

Problem is, I didn't anticipate that Creatures is greedy when it comes to CAOS files, so being a prudent and savvy computer user and all, I figured it'd be a great idea to make a backup of the original file before overwriting it -- and saved the backup in the same folder without renaming the extension.

So although the DSOffline (and now that I got Treesprite to open up anonymous downloads from forums.treesprite.com, DSLoginDisabler2.0) zzz_gamestart_login.cos worked fine, it was also reading from "zzz_gamestart_login - Copy.cos" and zzz_gamestart_login - Copy (2).cos... and since those were duplicates of the ORIGINAL login dialog, once I closed the dialog with the offline option by clicking the offline button, the original dialog behind it showed up and kept me locked out.

Hurr! Durr!

Hi,

I bought and installed the game last week. Find a copy of C1toDS, it gives the option to run in offline mode, it works perfectly and was simple to do. :) DS won't update however and I'm on a mission to see if there's any way to get it to update a different way. If you click no to installing updates though, then it bipasses the update problems. I think because it's trying to update from a dead webiste then it causes problems. I wonder if they will bring the webiste back up at any point, or if it's gone for good now with Creatures 4 due for release at some point this year.

Cretaures 4 looks rubbish btw, they updated it to one of these cutesy little games, it seems without the engineering and genetics of the rest of the creatures series. Shame really :/

Glad to hear you got it working, JTGibson! I've had worse "Duh" moments where all I can do is roll my eyes and shake my head at myself. Ha ha!

Gemsikelly, there are no updates for Docking Station that I'm aware of. The install blast simply tries to do this from, as you said, a fairly dead web site. I believe that if you do update to a newer version, it makes it problematic to launch the game. Quite annoying!

Creatures 4 is still up in the air, but the developers have been very open with the community. They're actually using the C3/DS engine and keeping most of the genetics... It seems like they're really trying to keep a lot of elements of the Creatures series while opening it up to a new generation of gamers. I wouldn't write it off just yet!

In regards to Creatures 4, I heard that it'll be coming with Creatures 1-3 and will have all the official store creatures with them. Any idea if the Creatures 3 that comes with it will be dockable with Docking Station? If so will they reopen the servers for Docking Station?

I know this is an older topic, but I am having this same problem. I have the exact same error message when I try to run DS as the original poster. I have applied the remastered patch (which fixed most of my COB issues), but just can't get DS to work. I'm running Windows 7, 64 bit and can't for the life of me figure out how to change it to 16 bit color to see if that'll work.

Any ideas would be appreciated :)

Have you tried following the instructions posted by Grendel Man at Creatures Caves? If you've already tried to download the update, you may need to uninstall and reinstall.

Grendel Man wrote:
The best idea, I think, is simply ignore any messages about updates (there isn't any, obviously) and change your shortcuts so they bypass the update check.

To do this, right-click on your desktop shortcut/main menu link/whatever and select "properties." Underneath "target," you'll see a file path - it should read something along the lines of "X: \Program Files\Docking Station\InstallBlast.exe." Change "InstallBlast.exe" to "engine.exe" (without quotations, of course).

The 16-color option is rather annoying. To access this, you should be able to right-click on the desktop, choose Screen Resolution, click on Advanced settings, then List All Modes, and the 16-color option for your screen resolution should be there. You can also visit Here to see screenshots and more information.

If you play in fullscreen mode, I believe you don't need to change your color settings. There are also a few suggestions out there to avoid the hassle of manually switching back and forth. I've never tried any myself, but you can find some suggestions Here and Here.

Good luck! Hopefully

Thank you very much!

Got it running after changing it to run directly from the engine instead of installblast, then got the 16 bit error, and was able to get that changed per your very helpful directions.


There was more posted here about another problem I had, but I got it figured out. Thanks again :)