RoL Reborn

Setup guide

About ten minutes from a fresh install to your first online match. The installer does most of it; this page covers the rest.

Before you start

  • Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit.
  • Rise of Legends installed from your own discs or download. Start it once and create a player profile, then quit.
  • Every player in a match needs their own copy and CD key.

Update the game to v2.5

Online play needs the final official patch, 2.5 (April 2007). The game's own updater no longer works, so install it by hand. The installer tells you if your copy already has it.

  1. Download rol_patch25.zip from a public mirror such as GamePressure.
  2. Check it is the genuine file: in PowerShell, run Get-FileHash rol_patch25.zip and compare with the hash below.
  3. Unzip it and run RoL_Patch2.5.exe. Click OK through its steps; it takes a few minutes.
  4. Start the game: the main menu shows the version number 0704.1001.
rol_patch25.zip
51B37FAE41B136B7761E4E39E57AE517B71505C2878FBAE77F519CAF6A3B39A1
RoL_Patch2.5.exe
62A105F7625C5117BB99D6A84909A4991C3A4D750AB5F6E2DD454F5A3B6354E4

We link to the patch rather than host it: it belongs to Microsoft and Big Huge Games. After patching, the game no longer needs the disc.

Install RoL Reborn

  1. Download the installer and run it. Approve the admin prompt: it needs admin once, to add firewall rules for the game.
  2. If Windows SmartScreen warns about an unknown publisher, choose More info, then Run anyway. The installer is not code-signed yet.
  3. At the end it checks your install and lists anything left to do.

Play a match

  1. Start RoL Reborn from the desktop or the Start menu, and approve the admin prompt. The launcher needs it to create its network adapter.
  2. Type a room code and send it to the other players. Codes are not secret passwords; pick something unusual.
  3. The launcher opens Rise of Legends. Go to Multiplayer, then LAN.
  4. One player hosts. Everyone else sees the game in the list and joins.
  5. Quit the game when you are done; the launcher closes by itself.

Start the game through RoL Reborn every time. Started on its own, the game cannot see other players and shows firewall warnings.

Widescreen and resolution

The installer and launcher set the game to your monitor's native resolution, including ultrawide. If you prefer another resolution, change it in the game's options; the launcher leaves it alone once it matches what the game offers.

To do it by hand: in Documents\My Games\Rise Of Legends\personal.ini set AllowAllResolutions=1, then pick the resolution in the game's graphics options.

At very wide resolutions the game's menus stretch and the camera does not widen its view. Those are limits of the 2006 engine.

Known problems

"Cannot connect to the internet" or firewall warnings

The game was started without the launcher. Quit it and start RoL Reborn.

"MSXML4.0 is not installed correctly"

The game needs Microsoft's MSXML 4.0. Install msxmlenu.msi from the game disc, or MSXML 4.0 SP3 from Microsoft. The installer checks for it.

The mouse cursor looks wrong

Right-click legends.exe, Properties, Compatibility, and run it in compatibility mode for Windows XP (Service Pack 3).

"Graphics card initialization error"

Rename Documents\My Games\Rise Of Legends (keeping it as a backup) and start the game again; it recreates its settings.

Random crashes in long games

Try turning anti-aliasing off in the game's graphics options.

The first connection takes up to a minute

During testing our relay sleeps when nobody has used it for a while, and takes 30 to 60 seconds to wake. Later connections are instant.

The other player's game does not appear

Check that you both typed exactly the same room code, and that both launchers say the other player is in the room.

Something else

Send the newest file from %LOCALAPPDATA%\RoL Reborn\logs along with what you saw.

Uninstall

Use Windows Settings, Apps, RoL Reborn. That removes the launcher and its firewall rules. Your display settings stay; the originals are kept next to them as .rol-reborn.bak files.