Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

IMPORTANT NOTE: This FAQ started out as the official FAQ from the Caster of Magic Readme, but it is now a wiki so feel free to ask new questions or add details to existing ones!

Does this work on a Mac, etc?
Yes, but you might need to install it on a PC first and copy the files. In general, if you can run DOSBOX, yes, it will work but the installer and launcher might not. Once the files are installed on a PC, the game is portable, moving the files elsewhere is safe.

NOTE: At least one Linux-using wiki user was able to install Caster of Magic using WINE to run DOSBOX (although some extra libraries were needed by WINE).

The launcher is crashing/does not work/etc.
Then don't use it. You can run the game through DOSBOX, or even create your own start menu and desktop icons. Refer to DOSBOX's documentation for more information.

How do I change the system settings (resolution, sound etc)?
Edit DOSBOXMOM.CONF. There are some pretty good guides all over the internet on what each of these settings do, or you can read DOSBOX's documentation. To change the game music, run Install.exe from dosbox.

AI turns are too slow.
Increasing CPU cycles and setting Core=Dynamic in DOSBOXMOM.CONF helps but only if your computer can handle any higher. For reference, most newer computers can handle up to 200-250k cycles, older ones around 100k.

Unfortunately the game is slow because it runs on an emulator, not directly on your CPU and it uses only a single CPU core. CPUs nowadays aren't all that much faster than they were 5 or 10 years ago, instead they have more CPU cores to multiply the performance and put a lot of the work on the GPU both of which isn't applicable for an old DOS game.

Also the AI turns take long because they simply have that much to do - moving 100 units at 50 miliseconds each would take 5 full seconds for example, then there are 4 players and they also cast spells and do other stuff, so the time adds up to a noticeable amount in the end. I tried to improve the performance of the most critical parts but this is the best result I was able to reach. (Turning off "enemy moves" if you haven't already, helps a lot btw, seeing the units move wastes the most time.)

Enemy units are running away and not attacking my units on higher difficulty, is this a bug?
No, it's a feature. If the enemy is significantly outnumbered and has the means to stall for time and possibly even retreat safely at the end of the battle, they'll go for it.

Lucky (Immolation, etc) appears twice on my hero.

This is merely a cosmetical problem. The hero ability Lucky grants the Lucky unit ability to the hero, likewise the Immolation unit enchantment grants the Immolation ability. After fixing the display to show every ability on the unit, this does result in showing some of them twice.

How do I start itemmake.exe?
You can run it from dosbox as usual, or if you want an easier solution, edit DOSBOXMOM.CONF and replace the line that starts magic.exe with itemmake.exe, launch the game, and itemmake will be started. Don't forget to restore it to play the game normally.

Some of the predefined items have an ability set you can't produce manually, so be aware that changing those is permanent, unless you backup and restore the entire ITEMDATA.LBX file. Predefined items have been designed with game balance in mind, so heavily editing the set can make hero strategies better or worse than intended.

How do I cycle through my cities on the city view screen?
Use the keys Z and x to move to the previous or next city.

Why does the AI break the Wizard's Pact all the time, and why is it entering my territory despite the agreement?
A Wizard's Pact is an agreement where the human player guarantees not entering the AI's territory, and in return the AI will not attack the player, will not declare war on them without first formally cancelling the treaty (Chaotic wizards are an exception), and will not use hostile spells such as city curses against the player. On top of all these benefits, your relation with the AI improves over time. Only Engineer and Settler units are allowed to enter the AI territory, no, not even that spearmen nor magic spirit scout can. Do your scouting before making the treaty, or after you've advanced to an Alliance treaty later on. Or just leave the AI's territory alone, it's not yours...yet. If you really want to push the AI's patience to the limits, they are only guaranteed to cancel the treaty if you violate it on 3 consecutive turns. See the diplomacy chapter for more information.

My enemy destroyed some of my buildings and now I can't build them again!
Your buildings are in the building queue. You have to start processing the queue to build them (see the User Interface section) or you can use the Clear button to empty the queue. You can disable the automatic requeueing in the settings.

Map generation sometimes freezes!
No, it most likely does not but Tiny land size maps can take up to 2-3 minutes to generate. It's an acceptable compromise for generating better quality starting positions. The problem is there aren't enough land tiles to have room for everything. You are going to play the map for many hours anyway, so please be patient and wait, it's worth it to avoid starting on max pop 3 or right next to an enemy.

I don't want to read this much, isn't there a shorter guide?
https://www.gog.com/forum/master_of_magic/master_of_caster_an_intro_to_caster_of_magic