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[Dampe]

I've downloaded DFhack, as apparently there are a few bug fixes that might be useful for starting a fortress.
The "read me" thing I found was not very useful, I really have no idea how to install it.
I've got a (very shitty) PC running Windows XP, and I'll drag the contents of the DFhack folder into my Dwarf Fortress folder (minus stonesense, because I get a frame maybe every two seconds, and I don't think stonesense could possibly improve that) and it says in the readme that if I installed it right, a separate window will open when I launch Dwarf Fortress, which has not worked.

So, I'm wondering, what am I doing wrong?
Do I really need DFhack for my fortress, or is it not worth the time?

[sal880612m]

If you followed the instructions in the readme it should work. Did you rename the SDL.dll and/or check the error log mentioned in the readme. If you didn't get a message asking about replacing the SDL.dll you put the files in the wrong folder, if you did and chose copy but keep both you should drag the contents over and choose replace. DFhack comes with a copy of the vanilla SDL call SDLreal.dll so You don't have to worry about losing the file forever.

If you have temperature turned on there is a tweak or binary patch that could possibly help speed up your game.
It also has some good tools like prospect/prospect all that can give you an idea what is available in an embark if you have some project that requires certain materials among others.

Also stonesense should, as far as I know, only affect your game when you are running stonesense and you do not have to run it so having it there is only an issue if you are desperate for hard drive space. Best way to describe it would be that it is similar to Dwarf Therapist it interacts with your game when Therapist is running but if you aren't running Therapist there is no affect on your game, but as Stonesense deals with graphics and automatically updates it interacts more constantly than Dwarf Therapist.

[Witty]

My real question is why you haven't just downloaded the starter pack that comes pre-bundled with DFhack, among other nice features and plugins

And if you want a nice tool that offers a wide variety bug fixing and time saving commands, then yes it is very much worth it.

[Quietust]

My real question is why you haven't just downloaded the starter pack that comes pre-bundled with DFhack, among other nice features and plugins

I wasn't aware that there was a single "starter pack" - there are a whole bunch, and many of them come bundled with extra things that most players have absolutely zero use for (such as DFTerm, something which is only meaningful if you're going to run a public game server).

Maybe Dampe just wanted the standard DFHack distribution. Also, Stonesense won't slow down your game unless you actually turn it on, which doesn't happen by default.

[Putnam]

Peredexis Errant's is the one I think being referred to there, and I'm not sure if it comes with DFTerm (but then, I've never used any of those packs). IIRC Masterwork is the only one that comes with DFTerm.

[sal880612m]

Peredexis Errant's LNP does have DFTerm. However, it is set up in such a manner that once you unzip it you can delete everything but the Dwarf Fortress 0.34.11 folder and you will only have DF and DFHack. The reason I didn't recommend it in the first place was because he may have saves, init, settings, graphics and so on that aren't included that would then need to be moved over and that seemed far messier than just installing dfhack.

[nuget102]

In my opinion, it's very much worth it. I use multiple 'tweaks' and bin-patches (essentially, fixes to current bugs) that make the game much more enjoyable. For example, I can have a squad of 10 and they will actually train; removing my need to have multiple squads of 2-4 soldiers just so they train. I also use a tweak that fixes the hospital overstocking bug, and many many other bugs. I also recommend dwarf therapist if you don't have it installed, it makes the game much easier to play.

[Dampe]

Damned if I can install this.

[Quietust]

Damned if I can install this.

What exactly is the difficulty? All you need to do is take the DFHack ZIP file and extract its contents directly into your Dwarf Fortress directory (not into a subdirectory) and overwrite SDL.dll when prompted.

Don't try to use a right-click "extract ZIP file here" command, since those are likely to automatically create a subdirectory for you (which, in this case, you don't want) - just double-click it and drag+drop its contents into the Dwarf Fortress folder.

[Dampe]

Damned if I can install this.

What exactly is the difficulty? All you need to do is take the DFHack ZIP file and extract its contents directly into your Dwarf Fortress directory (not into a subdirectory) and overwrite SDL.dll when prompted.

Don't try to use a right-click "extract ZIP file here" command, since those are likely to automatically create a subdirectory for you (which, in this case, you don't want) - just double-click it and drag+drop its contents into the Dwarf Fortress folder.

That's what I've tried to do, but it says that if it's installed properly, a console window or something will pop up when I open Dwarf Fortress, which isn't happening. Also, "overwrite SDL.dll?"

[Quietust]

Exactly what version of Dwarf Fortress are you running?

In order for DFHack to actually work, you will need to be running version 0.34.11 (displayed at the bottom-right corner of the screen). Additionally, you must be running the SDL version - if you are running the Legacy version, DFHack will not work.

[Dampe]

Exactly what version of Dwarf Fortress are you running?

In order for DFHack to actually work, you will need to be running version 0.34.11 (displayed at the bottom-right corner of the screen). Additionally, you must be running the SDL version - if you are running the Legacy version, DFHack will not work.

Ooooooooooh.

Nobody ever said anything about the Legacy version not being compatible before now.
I'm a dumbass.

What exactly is the difference between the Legacy version and the SDL version?

[Quietust]

The Legacy version uses the "old" graphics/input code from 40d and earlier (which is mostly Windows-specific), while the SDL version uses SDL and is generally more flexible (e.g. multiple different render modes, dynamic window resizing, custom zoom settings, and TrueType font support).

Most notably, DFHack works by impersonating SDL.dll in order to get itself loaded into Dwarf Fortress's address space, and the SDL version also uses the dynamic C runtime; this is important, because otherwise it wouldn't be able to allocate/free memory in a way that was compatible with DF itself (though I've worked around this limitation with DFHack-23a and DFHack-40d, it's a very dirty way of doing things).

The Readme file for DFHack does state "On Windows, you have to use the SDL version of DF" in the Compatibility section, which is right before the Installation instructions.

[Dampe]

The Legacy version uses the "old" graphics/input code from 40d and earlier (which is mostly Windows-specific), while the SDL version uses SDL and is generally more flexible (e.g. multiple different render modes, dynamic window resizing, custom zoom settings, and TrueType font support).

Most notably, DFHack works by impersonating SDL.dll in order to get itself loaded into Dwarf Fortress's address space, and the SDL version also uses the dynamic C runtime; this is important, because otherwise it wouldn't be able to allocate/free memory in a way that was compatible with DF itself (though I've worked around this limitation with DFHack-23a and DFHack-40d, it's a very dirty way of doing things).

The Readme file for DFHack does state "On Windows, you have to use the SDL version of DF" in the Compatibility section, which is right before the Installation instructions.

Alright.
Would the fact that I was using the Legacy version have contributed to me also being unable to install Dwarf Therapist?

[Quietust]

That depends on what version of Dwarf Therapist you're using - from what I recall, some of the older versions had support for both Legacy and SDL versions, but the latest versions might be SDL-only.