Sat42: I thought I would return to give some feedback on how well
The Lost Artifact works with Malleus' technique for no-CD:
- it's clear that using the tomb3.exe file in the TRLA installation folder makes the latter game not entirely independent from the original workings of
Tomb Raider 3: the number of secrets listed in each level is not correct (rather the numbers refer to the number of secrets in TR3 levels); after 4 levels, you have the "adventure" interface with the world map popping up (selecting the default Pacific Islands allows the player to continue the TRLA campaign);
More problematic (concerns the ending -
SPOILER):
using this technique for playing TRLA makes the final boss invincible - Sophia Leigh was originally not meant to be vulnerable the traditional way, and since the .exe file carries over some code from TR3 which overwrites some info from TRLA, the new confrontation with Leigh is effectively impossible to finish given that it was intended to be finished in a more "traditional" way (i.e., player using guns to kill the boss when it is vulnerable).
Otherwise, everything works as intended, and given that the post-boss end is nothing special, at the end of the day I am grateful for the technique provided as it allowed me to enjoy the TR3 stand-alone expansion :)
EDIT: downloaded an ISO file for
The Lost Artifact, which together with Daemon Tools Lite allowed me to pick up from my last save and defeat the final boss in order to finish the game properly ;)
Sorry for the necro, but
this solution is better. The problem with Lost Artifact is that it seems that the MMX code is bugged on recent systems. You have to deactivate it for it to work, but for that you have to edit the game's config.txt. But when you freshly install the game, it doesn't exist yet, so you have to use a default one (i.e. the one from TR3 for example).
If you need a default config.txt, use this (copy-paste this in a text editor) :
DD 0
D3D 1
D3DTF 1
DS 0
DI 0
VM 17
ZBUFFER 1
DITHER 1
FILTER 1
AGP 1
SOUND 1
JOYSTICK 1
MMX 0
SFX 10
MUSIC 7
GAMMA 3.000000
DEFKEY 200 208 203 205 86 58 54 184 157 57 53 82 207 1
USERKEY 72 80 75 77 83 79 54 184 157 57 76 82 207 1
Notice that the MMX value is set to 0, this is necessary to avoid the crash.
You can manually edit the controls and change the resolution while ingame. The video mode is set to 1920x1080. Maybe it's better to remove the compatibility settings of the exe because it removes the higher resolutions of the game, resulting in a mediocre 1152x720 instead with the above config.txt. Instead, either remove any compatibility setting, or put any Windows XP compatibility.
