Played game many times over the years. Both from disc and GOG... this download from GOG... I've been in Harmondale and the castle for at least three years... Game time. Not including the few months spent on Evenmore Island.

Been to every place transportation can take me... always returning to Harmondale. Still nothing, anywhere on the map, resets or respawns.

No horse shoes... no genie lamps... monsters... nuttin.... Shops work great... Spaming always gives new inventory. But that's all that resets.

ONLY major thing I did different in this play through was on Evenmore.

I did not take the offer from the guy on Evenmore...about the wand.. I lured the dragon flies to town and took the wand from his body, after they killed him.

Maybe that bugged it??? Maybe something in some "script" got broken with him dying like that????

Don't have any of the patches installed... but, haven't installed patches on other play throughs and this never happened. Any ideas?? Thanks

I GOT THE ANSWER..... played all MM's... so many times and NEVER even considered this could be the problem... A great bit.... DUH....

The.... Game Clock..... DOES NOT start when you leave the island and enter Harmondale... or the Castle... The darn clock starts when you go to Barrows and talk to the King .. don't have to do the Bracada rescue quest, to start the GAME CLOCK.... Just be sure to go and at least talk to the Dwarf King... BEFORE you do anything else.

Like I did this time around. So, never ran into the issue....

Thank you everyone.. Hope this helps someone who tries a play through... out of sequence...

PS... tested this several "starts"... and it's correct. Got to speak to Dwarf king to start the Game Clock.... for respawning. The only thing that worked correctly, even without speaking to the Dwarf king... was "spam/saving" in the shops. That worked... but nothing else...no horseshoes... lamps... bad guys... etc...

Spoke to him and returning to Harmondale... and every where else... were my horseshoes... lamps... ets...

I'm not sure but the respawn time for harmondale might be longer than 3 months game time.

I know not every map has the same respawn time because the respawn time on Emerald Isle is really short.

---edit---

A quick internet search tells me that most outdoor(!) zones have a respawn time of 6M or 2Y

Quick name note, so future readers don't get confused: Emerald Isle is the starting location where you do the scavenger hunt. Evenmorn Island is a different map area with lots of skeletons, ghosts, and gargoyles.

The respawn timer for an area doesn't start until you've first entered the area. In the case of the map section of Harmondale, that means that any time you spend on Emerald Isle doesn't count toward the respawn timer of Harmondale. Erathia's timer doesn't start until you first visit Erathia, etc. I believe each dungeon has its own timer as well, so if you visit Erathia but not the Erathian sewers, then the sewer timer doesn't start yet.

Most outdoor areas have a timer of 2 game years. The dragon flies on Emerald Isle respawn after about 24 hours. Barrow Downs respawns in 6 months. A few areas, like Harmondale Castle, don't respawn at all.

You do have to leave an area and reenter before the respawn happens; if the two year mark passes while you're there, the area isn't going to repopulate while you're sleeping or training.

I don't know why your Harmondale outdoor area isn't respawning if you've passed at least 2 game years since you first entered the area. Maybe that outdoor area doesn't have a respawn timer either?

Hi .. thanks for the reply. Emerald it is.... duh??? Played this MM at least 5 times.... when 1st getting to Harmondale from Emerald... I always clear the castle... quickly.. and then take the coach to ALL the locations to grab the Horseshoes and start that town clock....

Then back to Harmondale to start the quests. Several years went by (game years) going back to Harmondale, on and off....to use the chests in the Castle..... then I noticed over THREE YEARS had gone by... no horseshoes.... traveled by coach to all other towns.. No horseshoes or great ore or herbs in Tatalia....and almost 4 years... game time since I 1st set foot there.

Anything I can do in the "files".... change some "script" or something to start the clock.... don't wanna play without goodies..... or ore..

Thanks

2 game years is a REALLY long time in game terms. It takes about about 67 overworld area transitions (5 days per trip) to pass a single game year, and that is probably the second most time efficient way of using real life time to pass in-game time. The most efficient way is probably to murder enough civilians to run up a fine, then present yourself to a castle and get imprisoned for a year.

Anyway. The game can pretty easily be cleared in under a year, maybe a little longer if you do a lot of training. I'd strongly suggest not bothering trying to grind using the area respawn mechanic. As you get to higher levels and later areas, the bonuses from the ore, lamps, horseshoes, and challenge pedestals simply aren't high enough to make such an endeavor worthwhile, and the equipment value tends to be even worse.

Get some of the really good ore caches, like from the top of the mountain in Mount Nighon, and loot the really valuable places like Titan's Stronghold and Land of the Giants. By the time you can do those fairly easily, you're probably very close to the point where the game becomes "Hold A to win". If you really want increased power, you can save scum when turning in ore or casting (Grand Master) Enchant Item on stuff you buy from shops.

The cost of increasing skills eventually means you're mostly funding those skill increases via skill points from leveling up. That's the way to go.

To directly answer your question: You'll only be looting your castle 3 times. First is when you reach it initially. Then you can find more loot after the first castle upgrade. The last batch of loot becomes available from the second castle upgrade. Your castle doesn't have a respawn timer.

Beyond that, I don't know what to tell you. I know the Barrow Downs respawns because I've seen it happen, so the entire respawn mechanic isn't broken. I never bother passing enough play time for other areas to respawn on the 2 year timer.