FAQ


Frequently Asked Questions
The Beginning

  1. What is Populous: The Beginning about?

     The basic objective is to build up a population and wage war against other tribes. You have a number of powerful spells at your command that can affect the landscape, to a certain extent. You must make good use of these spells, your population and your surroundings in order to successfully defeat the enemies.
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  2. What sort of gameplay can I expect from Populous 3?

     Populous 3 offers goal-orientated, objective gameplay. Within each level, you'll be building towards a purpose, such as colonising a specific region of the landscape, obtaining certain spells, defeating up to three computer-controlled opponents, etc. For the most part, you'll be controlling a shaman who wanders across the landscape, influencing people and casting spells. Once a level's complete, you'll be rewarded with new spells, new buildings, more powerful attacks and new abilities for the members of your population.
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  3. What sort of spells/powers are featured in Populous 3?

    In order to cast a spell, your target must be within the specified radius around your shaman. If you want to burn an enemy's town to the ground, then you must manoeuvre your shaman close to the town before letting loose. Spells:

    Blast
    This is the first spell you get in the game. It's your basic tool for blasting enemy followers, destroying trees, and just to hear you girl say "TAKA!"
    CONVERT
    Aim this spell at wildmen to convert them to braves under your command.
    EARTHQUAKE
    Earthquake works great for destroying enemy buildings and really destroying their land.
    ERODE
    The name says enough, use it to erode enemy bases. it can do a lot of damage when used correctly. Works best on land near water, or on high land near a cliff.
    FIRESTORM
    A nice rain of fire to wreck their buildings and send their followers running around wildly.
    FLATTEN
    You can only build on flat terain, so this spell will come in handy should you need to expand into hilly terrain. Simply choose your destination and watch as a spiralling configuration of sparks cut away the land, leaving it nice and flat.
    GHOST ARMY
    A great decoy to fool your enemies with. When you cast this spell on a type of follower, the ghosts will take their shape. However, they will not act as the character they mimic. (ie: ghosts of braves will not build) And they're useless in a fight. They're very handy for making your enemy think you have a huge army or better yet, keeping enemy followers ( or Angels of Death for that matter ) busy, while your real army/shaman just waltz right in.
    SWARM
    Unleash a cloud of swarming insects on your poor enemy and watch as they run around like headless chickens, trying to shake them off.
    LAND BRIDGE
    If you find yourself unable to expand anywhere on the land, perhaps with an aggressive enemy located just over the hill,why not expand across the ocean? Alternatively, some enemy may be fortified on a remote island, so this is the only way to reach him.
    LIGHTNING
    One of the classic populous spells. Pick your target and fry your victims with a heavenly electric current. Shoka!!
    VOLCANO
    One of the most feared spells in the game, and understandably so! This spell will wreck a very nice chunk of land around the area that you cast it. A nice big hill will raise up, pouring out lava, making it very difficult for your enemy to rebuild afterwards.
    TORNADO
    Just as its name suggests. When this spell is cast, a tornado will tear through an unpredictable path, taking out anything in its way.
    SWAMP
    The shortest route between you and your enemy is that landbridge to your backdoor. Instead of wasting all your troops in battle, just lay down a swamp on the path and watch as your enemies sink. Just beware that you don't send your own troops into the death-trap!
    ANGEL OF DEATH
    This bird is angry... and hungry! Set one loose and watch as your enemies run away in fear.
    ARMAGEDDON
    When someone casts this spell, all followers of all tribes will be summoned to an arena where they will fight to the death. The last tribe standing will be the winner.
    HYPNOTIZE
    With this spell you can turn enemy followers under your command for a short period of time. Very handy when you're in an enemy base.
    INVISIBILITY
    Use this to make your followers invisible. Very handy if an enemy base is surrounded with firewarriors in towers.
    BLOODLUST
    Give your followers a powerboost by casting this spell on them. It will boost your followers special power by 50%. This means a firewarrior can shoot twice as fast, a priest will convert men twice as fast etc etc.
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  4. What kind of buildings and characters are there?
    SHAMAN
    It's the shaman's task to build the population up, receive mana, cast spells and take the battle to the enemy. When she dies, she will be revived in her circle of reincarnation.
    WILD MEN
    Wild Men roam the land at the start of a level, offering no particular allegiance to anyone. Your shaman will need to covert them if you want to start building a decent population. There's only a finite number of Wild Men available at the start on each level, so it's best to convert them as early as possible, else your enemy will get to them first.
    HUTS AND BRAVES
    The more huts you make, the more braves will be born. Braves can build basic buildings and also fight, but only with their fists. One-on-one against an enemy brave, the fight will be balanced, but to succeed against anything more formidable the Braves will have to be considerable in number. Huts are very important for mana as well. Try to keep braves in huts to upgrade them.
    TEMPLE AND PREACHER
    Here you can train followers to become preachers. Preachers can wander into enemy camps and convert the people he finds there. When a horde of enemy braves or warriors reaches your base, one preacher can be enough to convert them all. They are very weak at fighting though.
    SPY HUT AND SPY
    Here you can train followers to become spies. They can infiltrate enemy bases and burn their buildings or trees. If the enemy has some spies guarding his base, your spy's disguise will be blown.
    WARRIOR HUT AND WARRIOR
    Here you can train followers to become warriors. They have the ability ability to wield a sword. If you're attacked by a horde of enemy Braves then a small group of Warriors should be enough to see them off.
    FIREWARRIOR HUT AND FIREWARRIOR
    Here you can train followers to become firewarriors. Firewarriors have the ability to throw fireballs. In hand-to-hand combat, warriors will beat out firewarriors. However, at a distance, or even better, in a tower firewarriors have the edge.
    BOAT HUT
    Here you can build boats to travel overseas.
    BALLOON HUT
    Here you can build balloons to fly through the sky.
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  5. What's the control interface like?

     All control's done through the mouse. In fact, you'll be able to play the game entirely one-handed. Having said that, there are various keyboard shortcut options for those who prefer to speed up their controls.
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  6. What are the system requirements for Populous 3?
    Minimum requirements:
    Windows ® 95 P133 16MB ram Direct x 6.0 16-bit sound card.
    Recommended Requirements:
    Windows( r ) 95 or 98 or another compatible operating system P200 16MB ram Directx 6.0 3d Accelerated card ( direct3d compliant ) 16-bit sound card.
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  7. Why won't Populous run with Windows XP?

     Populous was made before XP, but that doesn't mean you can't use it. Make sure you have the latest patches downloaded, and change the compatibility for the two Populous .exe files to Windows 98. Doing a full install is recommended. If this still doesnt work try downloading the patch in the utilities section. Put the files in the directory where your populous executable is located. Again you will need a "complete" installation of Populous.
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  8. What are all these boxes and fuzzy graphics in D3D mode?

     This is usually a problem with your graphics card. Try downloading all the latest drivers from the manufacturer, and change all the appearence settings to max in the advanced display window.
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  9. Why does my mouse lag or flicker when I play in D3D node?

     This is a problem with your graphics card's mouse framerate, download the fix here.
    Unzip and read the readme for instructions.
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  10. Are there any single player maps/mods that I can get now that I've finished the game?

     Apart from the official mission disk Undiscovered Worlds (See below for more), there are no maps or mods for singleplayer.
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  11. I'm having problems installing Populous from the CD on XP. Help?

     Well it just so happens that Khickman has written an excellent page up on manually installing populous. That should solve the mojority of problem, otherwise you might have a bad disk with scratches or other defects, in which case you will have to get another copy somewhere.
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Undiscovered Worlds

  1. What is Undiscovered Worlds (UW)?

     UW is an expansion for Populous: The Beginning. It provides you with 12 new single player worlds, as well as 12 new multiplayer worlds.
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  2. I can't find UW in any stores! Where can I get it?

     Unfortunately this game is out of print now, which is a shame. Your only hope is to try searching ebay. Fortunately there is still some hope. The game is 146 MB on the CD and installed, but the download page includes a mod under 4 MB that is almost as good as the real thing.
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  3. How do I play UW online?

     Install it from the mod section of the mm and play it like any other special mod. UW will start instead of populous.
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New Worlds

  1. Where do I get New Worlds?

     You can download New Worlds from the downloadsection of this site. New Worlds are completely free and not sold in any stores.
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  2. How do I install maps?

     Our Maps and Mods are exclusively made for "Populous: Reincarnated" users. Download our Matchmaker. After downloading the matchmaker, download New Worlds. We recommend you download the pack of 17 for starters, then download others as you want them. To install them you don't even need to save it to your computer. Just open the link and run the installer, New Worlds will install into the default matchmaker directory. Start the matchmaker and go to the "MODS" section. The mappack( s) will now show up in the "Map Packs" list.
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  3. Why isn't my map pack showing up on the mods page after I just installed it?

     If you installed the map pack or mod while the matchmaker was running, you must press the [Refresh] button or restart the matchmaker.
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  4. Can I install all mappacks at the same time?

     No, our maps replace the 2 and 3 players maps. Everytime you install a mappack, the 2 and 3 ways will disappear and become 4 ways. We dont have the ability to add maps yet. When you joingames you don't have to isntall mappacks, this will be done automatically depending which maps/mod the host installed, although u must have the same mappacks in your "mappacks" folder as the host, otherwise you won't be able to join the game.
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  5. So how can I play 2 and 3 ways then?

     Simple, just go to the "MODS" feature and install "multiplayer" in the mappacks list, although if you join games, it will automatically reload.
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  6. I'm afraid to install new maps. Can they cause any problems with my Populous install?

     No. All our maps do is overwrite the original 2 and 3-way Populous map files, and modify the file that contains the level names. The Matchmaker includes a backup program that completely restores Populous when you close it.
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  7. Can I play New Worlds or other multiplayer maps against the computer?

     Currently there is no way to play any multiplayer maps agianst the computer, and have the computer play back. It's possible to preview the maps by changing file names, but that can mess up your game so it's not recommended.
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  8. Can I have the map editor?

     As much as we'd like to let others use our editor, the software is still very buggy and complicated. We are currently developing a new editor which everyone can use.
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  9. But I have a great idea for a map! How can I get it made?

     We currenlty give people the chance to send us an idea. Its easy to make an image with a paint program. We prefer an image with the following instructions: Map heights with a key ( ex: white is low land, black is high land, use fade to show differences) Objects ( ex: tree is dark green, blue shaman is big blue and braves small blue, heads are grey etc etc) Stonehead information ( ex: worship ammount-20, spell-EQ ammount 6, shape-Totem, w.s.time-1 minute) You will get all credit for the idea!
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Multiplayer Populous

  1. I've installed Populous: The Beginning.. What should I do before I dive into multiplayer mode?

     Download and install the patch. You'll need to update to version 1.03. Go to our downloadspage for information and a download link.
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  2. Ok, I'm patched. Now what?

     Download our Matchmaker, install New Worldsand select one of the rooms to enter ( all servers are linked).
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  3. I made it to the lobby! What am I looking at?

     On the left, you'll see empty spots. These are huts. You'll notice that if you doubleclick on one of the huts, you'll see your name appear in the "empty" space. If you are the first one in the hut, you'll be the host ( will be explained later). If someone else is the host, all you have to do is wait for the hut to fill up, and for the host to launch. The center is the chat applet, where you can chat with the rest of the people in the lobby ( excluding the people who are in game). And to the right are the other players that are online. Top right are the people who are waiting to join a game (o r just there to chat) and the bottom are people who are currently playing (they can't see the chat or anything else in the lobby for that matter).
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  4. I jumped into a hut that already had people in it. Now where am I?

     Well, if your Populous game loaded, that means that the "host" "launched" the game. You are now in the area where the host chooses the settings for the games. Here he/she can select which level to play, select which spells to enable/disable, select which buildings to allow, turn fog on or off, turn forge world on or off, and select the number of lives each tribes' shaman will have. If you're not hosting all you have to do is click "Ready." and wait for the host to finish customizing the settings. Once he is done, and everyone else is ready, the game will start.
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  5. What are all the settings that the host can choose?

     Restrictions:
    Spells
    If you don't know what spells are, you should consult the The Beginning FAQ section. The host can choose whether or not to allow certain spells to be used in the game. Note: This does not prevent you from obtaining and using any spells that are awarded to you from heads.
    Buildings
    Again, if you don't know the buildings please see the The Beginning FAQ. The host can choose which buildings he wants everyone to be able to build. Again, this does not prevent you from using any buildings that are awarded to you from heads.
    Level
    The level is the world that your battle will take place on. It doesn't really need much explaination.. you'll learn all the levels after playing them for a while.
    Guest Spells
    The choices of Bloodlust, Teleport, Armageddon, or Random (chooses one of the previous options) that will be availible for all players to charge during the game. Levels that include heads that give out any of these spells will not let you have these.
    Fog
    When fog is enabled, it covers the world in a black fog so that you can only see places where you've been before. You must explore - you'll notice that every step one of your followers, or your shaman takes, it uncovers the area that that follower/shaman is in. Hint: spies come in handy ;)
    Shamans
    This setting will be set to "infinite" almost 100% of the time. However, the host has the option of restricting the number of times each players' shamen will reincarnate. If, for example, the host sets it to 2, your shaman may only die twice. After that, her reincarnation site will sink into the ground and it will be up to just your followers and your own wit.
    Force 640 x 480
    This was a feature for when there were people that couldn't play in higher resolutions, but wanted the game to be fair. Just leave it off.
    Forge world
    Forge world is a designated time of 120 seconds at the beginning of the round where you can "forge" your land. To forge your land you are given many tools, and a specified area around your reincarnation site to work with. You can level off your land, set hills, make crators and valleys, build landbridges, raise land (good for making land on the water. Doesn't do much on areas where there is already land), erode land, set trees and set wildmen. You can use each tool only 5 times, so use them wisely. The most common mistake of beginners during forge world is bad setting of their wildmen. Since when you reincarnate after forge world, you don't have the normal 6 braves, it's a smart technique to set braves within your reincarnation site. Good players will wait until the last 5 seconds of the forge world, then set all the wildies in the reincarnation site. This way, they don't have time to run away and you get the most amount of braves when you reincarnate.
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  6. What if I don't like the settings that the host has chosen?

     This is what the "Ready" option is for. As long as you haven't clicked "ready" the host cannot launch the game. So if you aren't satisfied with a certain setting the host set, click "Ready" until it says "no" and try to work it out with the host. Do remember that you can't always get what you want, and afterall, you did join HIS hut. Most of the time things can be worked out between the players and the host and everyone will be happy. If you absolutely just can't stand the host and his/her settings, just leave before the game even starts. It's definately not encouraged, but it's still better than quitting during the actual game.
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  7. How do I host a game?

     To host a game of Populous, just enter the first place of an empty hut (host places are the ones slightly to the left) . Wait for others to join you in your hut. Once full, click the "Launch"button below the huts list. The game will launch and you will be brought to the area where you choose your settings ( unless someone doesnt have the same mappack as the host, the game will not launch and players will be notified who failed to install). Change the settings until you, as well as the other players are sattisfied. Once everyone is ready, click "Start." If all went well, you will see the level that you chose, and all the shamen will reincarate.
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  8. How many points until I get to the next rank?
    Rank Points
    Wildman0
    Brave50
    Spy100
    Warrior200
    Preacher300
    Firewarrior400
    Shaman500
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  9. How do the points in games work?
    • In a 2-player game, there is a maximum of 1 point available.
      • If 1 person wins, they get 1 point
      • If the 2 players ally, then no points are awarded.
    • In a 3-player game, there is a maximum of 2 points available.
      • If 1 person wins without allying, they get 2 points
      • If 2 people win (allied victory) both get 1 point
      • If all 3 players ally, then no points are awarded.
    • In a 4-player game, there is a maximum of 3 points available.
      • If 1 person wins without allying, they are awarded all 3 points
      • If 2 people win (allied victory), both players are awarded 1 points
      • If 3 people win (allied victory), all three players are awarded 1 points
      • If all 4 players ally, then no points are awarded.
    In the event of a dropped game, or fatal out of synch, no points will be awarded to any player.
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