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Black & White

Windows - 2001

Alt names 黑与白, B&W, Black & White: Entdecke dein wahres Ich, Black & White: Find out who you really are, Black & White: Odkryj, kim naprawdę jesteś, Black & White: Ontdek wie je werkelijk bent, Black & White: Scopri chi sei veramente, Black and White, Hei yu Bai
Year 2001
Platform Windows
Released in Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Norway, Poland, United Kingdom (2001)
United States (2002)
Germany (2003)
United Kingdom (2004)
Genre Simulation, Strategy
Theme City Building / Construction Simulation, Fantasy, Giant monsters, Prehistoric, Puzzle elements, RPG Elements, RTS, Real-Time
Publisher Electronic Arts, Inc., Sold Out Sales & Marketing Ltd., ak tronic Software & Services GmbH
Developer Bullfrog Productions, Ltd., Lionhead Studios Ltd.
Perspectives Free-roaming camera, Diagonal-down
4.37 / 5 - 565 votes

Description of Black & White

Read Full Description

Black & White is a “god” game in the tradition of Populous, one that hoped to revolutionize the genre through complex learning AI and an exploration of good and evil and how they relate to a divine being. It was one of the most anticipated games of the genre and highly praised for its originality and concepts upon release, however many have re-evaluated Black & White since the glow of its initial hype faded and found it over-ambitious and highly flawed, likely to leave a mixed impression.

While you take on the role of a god of a primitive people, you cannot act as a gentle shepherd in your divine role—to put it simply, your followers are brick-dumb and useless, and they cannot do or accomplish anything, even having kids, without the literal hand of God intervening.

Black & White's tutorial may be useful, but it is also quite lengthy—an indicator of the snail's pace at which the game moves. Your “influence” grows very slowly as you perform miracles and impress your followers by dumping food and raw materials on them; eventually, you are able to interact with neighboring villages to win hearts and minds or destroy them utterly. The process can take hours.

One of the key features touted in Black & White is your “creature”--an animal with a learning AI that allows you to teach it by showing it things, rewarding “good” behavior and punishing undesired behavior. The difficulty in effectively teaching the creature to behave in a useful manner is one of the most frequently criticized aspects Black & White. Plus several unfinished or poorly implemented aspects of its AI can prove a source of constant frustration (such as a creature complaining repeatedly about thirst—there's no way to force the creature to drink, and water is not a resource you can manipulate or provide).

The moral quandaries posed by Black & White are often the cartoonish type you get with any games with hamfisted morality systems, where the choice is to be an angelic paragon or a mustache-twirling villain. Of course, difficult controls and sluggish rate of progression means that it's also easy to either accidentally do bad or too tiresome to resort to good.

Black & White is more a novel curiosity to be revisited than a genuinely good game. Fans of real-time strategy games that focus on building and developing a culture will find Black & White shallow and imprecise, while fans of real-time strategy games that focus on action and combat will find Black & White slow and tedious. To the builders, I'd recommend Serf City or Age of Empires; to those who get a kick out of being an evil hand that smacks its minions around, the Dungeon Keeper games are infinitely more rewarding.

Review By P. Alexander

Black & White has an addon available: Black & White: Creature Isle, don't miss it!

External links

How to play Black & White Windows

Running Black & White on Windows 10: http://bawsite.com/installationguide.html or https://forum.bwgame.net/threads/running-black-white-on-windows-10.7916/
Unofficial patch: https://forum.bwgame.net/downloads/black-white-unofficial-patch-v1-42.1418/
Black&White Ultimate (combines base game and expansion): https://forum.bwgame.net/downloads/black-white-ultimate.1460/

The unofficial patch fixes the following:

  • Fixed game not running on Windows 7, 8, 10 due to Safedisc DRM.
  • Fixed game crashing at resolutions higher then 1080p or on high DPI displays.
  • Fixed low resolution textures and landscapes on PCs with high video memory.
  • Unlocks all creatures, including the never released rhino.
  • Fixed addons such as football addon not activating once installed.
  • Fixed windowed mode.
  • You can now skip the tutorial on a fresh install of the game.

Comments and reviews

guzsuaotnok 2024-04-22 0 point

is there a workin crack for german version? cant open ripped versions at win98

Lord_snoodles 2024-04-19 0 point

I followed @Anon's guide and while it worked, and all due respect to them, you're way better off just downloading Magipack's version.... https://www.magipack.games/2020/11/black-white-full-game.html

A snap to install on both XP and windows 10

Eddt 2024-04-10 2 points

I'm having the same issue as the last dude. Worked fine for a while now a small side window and my save won't load? Please help

Damie 2024-04-07 0 point

Any advice for installing on Windows 11? Everything works up to the unofficial fan patch v1.42. Can't find any guides on making the game work for 11.

MrE 2024-03-28 1 point

Worked great for a little while now the game is shrunk in the corner when I run it and doesn't load my save, Graphics got all weird and I can't figure it out. I completely removed it and tried again to no success, any ideas?

Ta loco 2024-03-28 -1 point

Tem que fazer um pós doutorado pra jogar um jogo de 2001 vai se fuder, deu preguiça so de ler os comentarios, baixei e ja exclui trampo do caralho!

FetiBash 2024-03-27 0 point

@IJUSTREALLYLOVEBLACKANDWHITE
if you rlly would do that dm me, i dream bout it every day
discord @fetibash

ijustreallyloveblackandwhite 2024-03-21 1 point

I've been waiting for Fata Deum to release on Steam for going on 2 years. It feels like it was HEAVILY inspired by B&W. If that's the case, it has some mighty large shoes to fill. B&W is still the golden standard for god games. I've played it for over 20yrs. Also, if you aren't enjoying the pacing, there are tools you can easily find on the internet that will manipulate the game files for you, or you could just mess with them yourself. I think there's even a tool that will skip the intro. I know I tried them about a year ago and some of them worked, but keep in mind, it's a bit hit-or-miss with these tools. They were created for a different, older era. If I knew anything about coding, I would rebuild this game from the ground up as a passion project, update the graphics, and bring it into the future, because it deserves it. Oh and, yeah, this version works. I return to this page every time I need to redownload the game. Just follow the super helpful people that explain how to install it properly. It works on windows 11 also.

DanM 2024-03-20 0 point

I followed @ANON install advice in the comments section (it was fourth from the top for me) and the game works well on Windows 10. Not a fan of the unskippable tutorial, but what can you do?

Patrick 2023-12-16 -2 points

It'd be a real miracle to be able to play and finnish this game, I remember playing it at school but it must have been an early release or something because I was only 8 years old or so. So that would of meant it was being developed in 1996 but am not sure really. If it wasnt released until 2000 am not sure. Was a long time ago. Is an amazing game full of wonder.

Krumbly 2023-12-03 1 point

had this game running for several months. now it crashes every time I save. not sure how to fix without losing my save file.

Lui 2023-10-25 1 point

Also this may be a dumb question but what are the "disc image" downloads? I thought it was different languages but i cant figure out how to add them to the game. Can someone help me? Thanks in advance

Lui 2023-10-25 0 point

@T Audio is stilling missing for me after overwriting the audio from iso to rip, too. Have you found a way?
Music is playing sometimes but whole dialogues and sound effects are missing. Can't even do the singing stones quest lol

Rott 2023-10-20 1 point

Anyone know of a way to adjust the resolution beyond what's in the setup? Even if I can't widen the game display (I know that would make everything stretchy-looking), can I at least center the display so it's in the middle of my screen instead of the far left with the other half of my monitor just being a black box? XD

T 2023-10-16 0 point

When I overwrite the audio to the RIP folder, I still have missing audio, anyone else?

Alice 2023-10-03 2 points

Anyone know how to get saves to work I keep having to redo the unskippable tutorial and then there are no saves in the temple

thrillho 2023-09-25 -1 point

Will this work on a steam deck? it runs linux

GeoG85 2023-09-19 1 point

The shadow bug with the creature, I was able to shake him loose with it, with a leash. Took about 10minutes of stubbornness.

It's where the creature is stuck, and turns only into a shadow.

rouged 2023-08-26 0 point

also follow-up. I downloaded the 1.42 unofficial patch and now the game crashes every time i load up.

rouged 2023-08-26 0 point

I keep having a problem where when i load into the game, my creature is stuck in one spot, invisible and just looks like a shadow. every time this happen, i have to restart the game completely over since loading a previously saved game won't fix this issue. any help would be appreciated!

tree 2023-08-23 2 points

Everytime I run the game I have to go thru the whole tutorial and then I have to load my save game. Is there anyway around that?

Sadurn25 2023-08-13 0 point

I remember playing this game when I was young, oh man the memories! this game brought me so much joy and all the random extra things you can learn to do such as the speed/slow time, infinite food and wood glitch. I've had these moments where I would just want to play again. Hopefully someone will bring this game up or do a justify remake of it.

achim 2023-04-08 0 point

Das mit der Installation hat sehr gut funktioniert! vielen dank für die guten Anleitungen. Kann man das spiel auch auf deutsch umstellen?

SamboNZ 2023-04-08 1 point

Thanks so much for the files and links to get this running. All working on Win10 as at Apr 2023, using: https://forum.bwgame.net/threads/running-black-white-on-windows-10.7916/

Ryqueelm 2023-03-28 -2 points

Anyone else get a trojan when downloading this?

Chirok9 2023-02-19 2 points

I was never able to finish this game because of a few bugs. I was only 6 so I didnt know how to fix it.
Now I can finally finish this game. My first ever PC game.
Thank you

PolterDF 2023-02-18 0 point

I was wondering if the other versions of the game with different dub are still available or if only the English version has survived

Kato 2023-02-03 -1 point

I followed the instructions in the comments and it ran great when I started it and I played for hours. However, then I saved the game in the temple and quit it, and since then, it won't start again. I get the logo screen and the load screen and then it all goes black and I'm back to desktop.

alausone2 2022-12-13 1 point

Awesome game

Nordicnick 2022-12-10 2 points

How i can switch the Language?

Cholden 2022-09-24 -8 points

I like playing as a god

Sunsence 2022-09-17 0 point

I used to love playing this, even if it came with weird unorthodox mechanics, this felt like an experiment back in the day.

BNL 2022-08-21 3 points

is there a way to fix where items are half see through. example when people are running away you shouldnt see their faces facing you. Or be able to see a building and see through it

leh 2022-08-15 0 point

i spend my childhood playing this game it was so fun old but gold such a great game i hope one day they will realease a new one with unreal 5

Nateri 2022-08-13 -1 point

All time favorite game, such a shame it's so hard to find.
I thought this must be too good to be true, surely its all viruses?
Nope! Its glorious!
The controls haven't aged well, and the audio is messed up (even aver following EMMADEEB's intrusctions) so I missed out on the sailors song. But this game is just as old and the creatures are as gloriously nightmarish and unccany as I remember :)

The Boz 2022-08-12 0 point

I loved games like this at the time, daring to be different and tried to push gaming code at the same time. The problem with the industry now is that it's too commercialised and the publishers will only now try and cater for the mainstream. I doubt we will see visionaries like Jeff Minter, Peter Molyneux, Sid Meier, Jon Romero (Pre Daikatana), Chris Sawyer, the Rowlands Brothers. When computing was still a hobby for boys and most of the programmers learned their trade in their bedroom, nobody to teach them and no confines of trying to appeal to a publishers' whims.

Rorschdark 2022-06-04 2 points

The game works very good by using this guide on windows 10:

https://forum.bwgame.net/threads/running-black-white-on-windows-10.7916/

Download the ISO version and follow the guide from the link that I provided, the game it's still unstable sometimes and you need to save (F7) or quicksave (CTRL+S) often but it's playable, you can find some keys in the comment section.

Good luck!

Quida War 2022-05-17 2 points

1507-3675069-2422562-7350
1507-3675069-2422562-7350

This code worked for me.

robska 2022-05-12 0 point

In response to TRUEGOD's question about saves not working, when I encountered an issue that sounded like this, it was back in around 2007 or something on Windows Vista, so I can't guarantee this will fix your issue but I found I had to run the game as administrator (guess it was encountering some permissions issue when trying to save).

TrueGods 2022-05-07 1 point

Any one know how to make sure the game keeps the save files? i have just come to 3 island yesterday. But today all my save files are gone and im back at island 1 again at the leash scroll quest. Even tho im saving in temple, and multiple times

Super3dcow 2022-01-27 3 points

I addition to Bulleto's comment on how to install the game, if you have Windows 10 you don't need any software to mount the ISO file, windows can do it just by double clicking it, and then running the install file. Everything else worked perfect.

I did find one more awesome quick patch on the Black & White Community site. It sets all people and animals to have infinite draw distance and only uses the high polygon models. So now people won't turn invisible just from zooming out a little bit. https://forum.bwgame.net/threads/black-white-v1-42-infinite-drawing-distance.8354/

Bulleto 2022-01-12 4 points

1. Installed .iso version, with winCDemu available at

https://sysprogs.com/downloads/
(any .iso mounter will do, and of course google anything you don't trust)

2. and used CD key 0901-3324366-4702210-2081 provided by SLADE, thanks btw!

3. Installed patch 1.10 and 1.20 from

http://bawsite.com/officialfiles0.html

4. Which lets you install the unofficial patch

https://forum.bwgame.net/downloads/black-white-unofficial-patch-v1-42.1418/

5. Then I copied the audio folder from the .iso, which was mounted on D:/, and pasted the audio folder into the installation directory, default "C:\Program Files (x86)\Lionhead Studios Ltd\Black & White" this is necessary to get... audio

6. And then set "runblack.exe" to run as administrator, and play the game! The unofficial patch removes the need to use any crack.

Enjoy! (bonus, use creatures unlockers to give you several extra creatures, just run each .exe, takes no time)

zed 2022-01-11 0 point

ive tried atleast 2 ways to install game but its impossible to do that! i cant even get patches to work, the install solution i followed on youtube gives ctor.dll problem, ive tried fixing that as well, idk what could be causing these issues, my thoey is the original iso/rip files were recently updated/changed and now the old installing types wont work!

Mr. Watermark 2022-01-05 1 point

The game keeps crashing about every half hour of gameplay. upon the relaunch of the game I find that the auto saves have been lost from the level I am on, at about half of the times that a crash occurs, and this is during the third island. Any ideas on soloutions would be greatly apreciated.

Sorry I posted this on B & W 2 by accident, however the comment is for this game.

@IzzyGamer79 2022-01-04 2 points

Love that I am not the only one playing this in 2021-2022

Anna Banana 2021-12-31 1 point

Works like a charm. :D Followed the comment from ANON and it running fine so far, I cant wait to play this for the first time! But cant get creature isle to work keeps saying to find the path for B&W sadly it will be one that I can't try. :(

Banana 2021-12-30 0 point

Same problem as others, it cant find the game path.

moss 2021-12-22 2 points

--- MY SAVE GAME FIX ---

If you're anything like me, you first tried to install the RIP version of this game, only to find that it won't even launch. So, you then downloaded the ISO, which works mostly dandy, but won't save properly. Boy, do I have the stupidest fix ever for you.

Open up your program files folder and find the Lionhead Studios / Black and White folder. This is the folder that was installed when you attempted to use the RIP installer. Find the "Profiles" folder in here. BOOM. Right there is your save that you attempted when saving in the ISO. For some reason, it's been saving to that abandoned RIP.

Pull that save folder out and do yourself a favor: DELETE EVERYTHING INSTALLED FROM THE RIP AND REPLACE IT WITH THE ISO. LIFE CHANGING.

Phil 2021-11-28 3 points

I have texture problems like trees and certain landscapes can be seen throu mountains does anyone know how to take care of it ?

Cobraregala 2021-11-14 1 point

Can you play the multiplayer of the game and its expansion?
and where can I find cd codes for black and white 1 2 and their expansions?

Dark Dezire 2021-11-04 0 point

OMG I love this game, I wore out a CD and had to buy another one lol. Then a windows update obliterated it. Thank you so much. Sending major Hug

Lominoth 2021-10-21 2 points

I cant seem to get the game to save. It just keeps taking me back to the beginning every time.

EV 2021-10-18 1 point

I've downloaded the RIP version and the ISO version and as several of the other comments instructed I was going to copy the audio file from the ISO into the RIP folder, but when I open the ISO folder that downloaded, all that's inside is just one ISO file, no other folders. There's no audio folder for me to copy. I've tried downloading it again and I've tried both zipped and unzipped versions, but they all only have the one single ISO file named "BNW." Has anyone else had this problem? Am I doing something wrong lol?

Anon 2021-10-05 32 points

How to run Black & White 2021
This guide is meant to help people having trouble downloading/running B&W on windows 10.

First off you want to create two folders on your desktop one called (Black & White) and call the other folder (B&W ISO). Next you want to download both the RIP version and ISO version of the game. Now you want to put the ISO file in the (B&W ISO) folder than unpack that file using 7zip. Now you want to take the RIP file and put it in the (Black & White) folder and unpack that file using 7zip as well. Now open the ISO file that we just unpacked and copy the audio folder and paste it in the black and white rip folder doing this will cause a windows prompt just click replace files. Now you want to run the setup.exe file in the rip folder. This will let you change the games resolution and things like that. Now at last you can click on runblack.exe which will start the game.

Have Fun!!

GeoG85 2021-09-22 0 point

Can anyone get the Wolf unlocked without hacking in the RIP version?

Was fun to whoop Nemesis's ass 10+ years later. ;D

Keepers1994 2021-09-20 0 point

Great game, but nothing I try works, no longer worth the hassel.

saltybread 2021-09-16 2 points

For those who wants to use the fan patch, DO NOT (I repeat) DO NOT combine the RIP version and ISO version together. Install only the ISO version.

Combining the RIP and ISO does work well but if you wanna use the fan patch, you only need the ISO version. You can find the CD keys in the comments.

Then, you can choose to install village banter add-on if you want. Football add-on won't work but if you install the Fan Patch, it is included in it.
(Link for the village banter:
https://forum.bwgame.net/downloads/villager-banter.139/)

Next, install 1.1 Patch, 1.2 Patch and the Fan Patch.

Setup.exe - a program to change the resolution + other options
runblack.exe - the game program

Once you are done, test the game first. Make sure to run Setup.exe and runblack.exe with admin. If you run Setup.exe without admin, the resolution changes and etc will only apply to runblack.exe when it is ran without admin. I encountered this issue and basically the fix is to run both programs with admin.

If it runs well with no problems you can proceed to install creature isle.

If the game does not have sound, download the RIP version and only copy the AUDIO file. Do not copy the rest.

I'm not really sure what the difference between the RIP version and ISO version so if someone can tell me I'll be very happy.
____________________________________________________________________________________

Explanation of why Patch 1.1, 1.2 and fan patch does not work when you combine RIP and ISO together: (You can skip this if you want)

Firstly, the ISO version installs a clean copy of the original game. This is basically what you get out of the box if you were to buy it.

From what I know, the RIP version is not a clean copy of the game. I think it contains update patches? Which update patches, I'm not sure. I'm sure it does contain update patches that's why when you try to update it using the 1.1 patch it doesn't work. It does explain why it runs well though.

(I could be wrong, feel free to correct me if you do know the reason)
____________________________________________________________________________________
Sources used to create this guide:
https://forum.bwgame.net/threads/running-black-white-on-windows-10.7916/
Me

TCLCloud 2021-08-28 3 points

Anyone else having issues with the mouse just zooming out as far as it goes even at the slightest touch? I know it isn't my mouse as the touch pad does the same. Makes the game impossible to play anyone know any fixes?

I tested B&W 2 and that worked fine with the current set up so I know it is a software problem just don't know what. TIA

unclechicken 2021-07-28 0 point

I have finally found the bwvortex cheat program! Now I can cheat using the vortex and have loads of stuff appear at the other end! Does the admin of this site wish me to send it them to add to the downloads?

Phoenix 2021-05-18 40 points

What a terrible review that doesn't capture the essence of the game, nor does it do the game justice in any way. BaW is meant to be played slowly so you can fully enjoy the zen atmosphere it establishes, especially in the first island or two.

Blezzer 2021-05-15 0 point

I downloaded the game and played just fine. The problem that I have is that my computer doesnt seem to recognize the game is on there. I downloaded Kong, the creature changer, and it claims it cant find a creature file for my game. I just downloaded the Creature Isle expansion, and while installing it said I dont have the Black and White game. Is there a way to fix this so I can play the expansions?

Susan Boyle 2021-04-22 3 points

try this link on how to install, helped me out: https://forum.bwgame.net/threads/running-black-white-on-windows-10.7916/

Discord on link: https://discord.com/invite/EtmRWXCWf3

Seal 2021-04-14 -3 points

I'm trying to install the ISO version. But it asks me for a code on the CD case. What code does this rom use?

Lisa 2021-04-07 0 point

Hey guys, i tried everything you said in the comments and i didnt get it to work :(
Can someone please help me? Like in Discord or somewhere?
I realy Love this game, i played it as a child. Would be so nice if you could help me out. TY

Cobra 2021-03-19 39 points

The guy that wrote this game review screams of an impatient gamer. While Black & white has flaws like any other game its still a great game. What happened to the really nice review awhile back? It is a deeply complex game which kind of glosses over it's depth despite having tons of tutorials and sign posts. I'll go over the things this guy complains about since he probably spent 3 hours and gave up.

1)Villagers actually get lazy if you micromanage them ,guide them don't baby them just place buildings and only make male breeders since one guy can breed with all the women. Don't directly give them resources as they will get to dependent on you and your creature. If you are evil you can punish them for this hahahaha.

2) Creatures are like babies and no nothing when you first get them. There are 15 creatures in the base game(16 with the rhino fan patch) and ALL of them are very different from each other. So to go over the starter creatures real quick the ape is the brains the tiger is the fighter and the cow the middle ground. When people complain about them being dumb or AI is broken they most likely chose the tiger which has a 1 out of 10 intelligence score which is the lowest in the game. Many people chose the tiger because it looks cool but don't understand that it demands a lot of patience and creature training experience. If you really want your creature to learn what you want it to as fast as possible chose the dang dirty ape or chimp they both have the highest intelligence scores the ape being a 9 and chimp 10. They may suck at first in combat but make up for it when they start blasting enemy creatures like a wizard and you can just switch to another creature you like later.

3) The water complaint, it sounds like he rewarded his creature to get thirstier even faster which you can do lol similarly to teaching them to be more gluttonous. The AI works just fine in this game what is he talking about? Now there is only certain spots creatures can actually drink at that you can click on but its kind of a quirk which I can see his point.

Gil 2021-02-23 35 points

I can play the game and save it, however, I cannot load an existing game from the starting menu or anything like that. I always get the unskippable intro cutscene and have to go through the tutorial everytime I open the game. Once the temple has been built, I can enter it and load a file form inside the temple. Any way to fix this?

Villain is Me 2021-02-21 0 point

At first playing this, the game worked beautifully but wouldn't save.

Now I can save the game (mostly via running it in compatibility mode) but now it won't let me change the keyboard hotkeys! Of all things! Anybody else having this problem?

Mahpsy 2021-02-19 0 point

If you are having trouble saving on ISO, run the game as administrator under your file directory. Worked for me

MeMeBigBoy 2021-01-30 4 points

this is a certified good game

Don 2021-01-22 1 point

Cant get the creature isle add on to run. every time I attempt to launch the crack file, I receive the a few messages regarding files that cant be found(DSETUP.dll, IFC22.dll, LHDialogLib.dll, LHLogR.dll). Not sure what to do here!

Ryder89 2021-01-22 -1 point

I followed the steps and running into the music issue. And also the game is playing with black borders on the sides instead of full screen. Any tips?

modok 2021-01-17 1 point

Hey, I did everything that was mentioned in the instructions but the game wont start for me :( Tried fidgeting through the Setup stuff to select resolution and other stuff like that but can't figure out why. I just get a black screen which dissapears after a couple of seconds, no error no nothing. I'm running on Windows 10 Pro

Jimmy J 2021-01-11 0 point

I downloaded and followed all instructions, game worked perfect, but make sure when loading you run as admin every time or you cant save the game!

Nikolas 2021-01-09 1 point

I need password and serial. Do you have?

Rakesh 2021-01-06 3 points

When I exit and play again mtmy save is gone. What should I do?

KoolBreeze420 2020-12-20 -2 points

What in the world am I doing wrong? I can't get the ISO or the update patches to install, It says that Black and White needs to be installed. Can anyone tell me what step I'm missing? It's been so long since I was able to make this game work with all its patches and the addon. I'm missing something I just don't know what.

smithgard 2020-11-23 -2 points

I can't get the music to work, what do I do? otherwise the game goes smoothly

BLACK NIGGSON 2020-11-18 -1 point

Best game ever! Reply to this if you need any help. I know every single issue regarding this game!!!!

SingingCircleHippie 2020-10-23 3 points

So Update. I played my first game with the tiger that could't travel with me to new lands; on land "4" (or land 1 again). the only problem is there was no orge to defeat so I could only get 2 of the 3 gardian stones. I've just started a new game and chose the Ape instead. so far he's come with me to a skirmish game... So the tiger is broken?

SingingCircleHippie 2020-10-19 2 points

I followed UNWISELYWORDS how to. The game loads, saves and runs without crashing. However, my creature (tiger) doesn't follow me to new lands. Including skirmish modes.

Chiara 2020-09-16 3 points

I'm so happy I finally found this game again! It was my favorite as a child but I never managed to finish it due to CD damages.
I followed the steps to properly install it and even if I'm no expert I managed :)
I have no issues with saves, there are just a few graphic problems, as the landscape texture is messed up and sometimes you can't have a sense of depth and see through the mountains, but it's still playable. Sometimes the creature just disappears, you can only see her shadow and cannot interact with her, but this problem always fixes itself in a few minutes.
The biggest issue is that in Land 2, as soon as I conquer the third village, the game crashes. I still don't have a solution for this :(

anon 2020-09-02 0 point

Just wanted to say I appreciate UnWiselyWords 's effort but I found out the patches, 1 through 4, work if you don't apply the RIP files on top of the iso installation.

patches can be found here https://www.bwfiles.com/forum/index.php?topic=7916.0

UnWiselyWords 2020-08-27 4 points

Hey guys and gals, building on what Chilly already posted here is a proper step by step guide on installation order:

(Note that any CD Keys you may need you can pretty easily google.)

Step 1: Download **BOTH** the ISO and the .RIP from this site.
Step 2: Download a free ISO mounting program.
Step 3: Install Black and White from the ISO as you would any other program. DO NOT LAUNCH YET!!! (it wont work anyways)
***OPTIONAL STEP*** Download the .ISO of the addon Creatures Isle from this site and install it on top fo the Black and white install you just did.
Step 4: extract the .RIP and copy and paste the ENTIRE contents of the folder into the same black and white folder you just created via the proper install. (C:\Program Files (x86)\Lionhead Studios Ltd\Black & White by default)
Step 5: Right click the Registry setup and run as administrator. (It will think it didnt install properly but it did.)
Step 6: Right click the Setup APPLICATION run as administrator and chose your settings for when the game opens up.

Next is one of the MOST IMPORTANT steps....

Step 7: The game is now playable in this state HOWEVER you ***MUST*** Right click RunBlack Application and run this administrator or else the game will save Creature progress but not your actual land/ingame progress.

Thats it. You can now play Black and White 1. Sadly I could not get either Fan patches or Official patches to work this way however my game has been incredibly stable and hasn't even crashed once. The only hiccup being the save issues (see above for fix)

Optional: Creature unlockers **WILL** work with this setup I can confirm, as I run around with a Horse Creature.
Optional but Necessary: Copy the Audio from the ISO file and paste it over the Audio in your default Black and white folder. This will correct the missing music/audio during certain cut-scenes and ambiance.

Little_ungoy 2020-08-20 2 points

Gonna pop this onto my new XP computer!

Chilly 2020-08-14 1 point

This worked for me... I gave it some thought and it occurred to me that when this game came out there were very few, if any, 64 bit windows consumer systems, meaning that the path of the install folder would have most likely been C:\Program Files and not C:\Program Files (x86). I downloaded both the RIP version and the ISO. I then mounted the ISO and installed the game to confirm the install folder name. I then copied the Audio folder from the ISO into the RIP files collection as has been suggested on here previously. I then created the following path on my system: C:\Program Files\Lionhead Studios Ltd\Black & White and then moved all of the files from the RIP file collection (including the copied Audio folder) to the Black & White folder. After doing that, the game ran fine on my Windows 10 Home 64 bit system. The only thing I've run into is that I have to be sure to create a saved game in the temple during the tutorial, otherwise the saves later in the game are not kept and you have to go through the tutorial again. Hope this helps!

Vessel 2020-07-26 -8 points

How do you get rid of these InstallShield files so that I can try and restart this - obviously - ambiguous process of getting this set-up? The guide above doesn't even have proper grammar to follow the instructions and it's not even in the context of someone who has begun learning how to get these files to work. It's worded like people know what to look for.

After you install it from the set-up file from the ISO download, it installs it using a fresh install of InstallShield - which doesn't exist on any Windows 10 PC - and it doesn't even let you delete it afterward. The iKernel.exe file inside of the InstallShield folder under your drives' 'Common Files' prevents it from setup again, but you can't even delete the entire InstallShielf folder to try and restart the process over from scratch.

Do you people actually know how to communicate? This game is one of the only PC games that doesn't have any sort of port that doesn't require a bunch of people making sporadic suggestions and guides on how to get this to just work.

Someone comments saying the 'EASY' way to install this is to replace the audio files from the ISO folder - after it has been mounted from an ISO application (which they don't even specify to do begin with) and replace the audio filef othe Riped version of the download and you just add files, yet that's not even close to what the guide that leads to the other website with the patches and .dll says - and somehow it has been upvoted 53 times? Are you people even remotely intelligible?

codex 2020-07-10 -1 point

how can i force the game to play in windowed mode plz?

AJ 2020-06-30 -6 points

So what about a city builder with God powers? The mane comment is certainly biased af.

cara 2020-06-22 -1 point

ok so after messing around on my desktop which runs windows 10 i couldnt figure out how to get it to work. I tried to make since of the guides and even extras and i just couldn't. I'm extremely tech illiterate so this guides confused me. i didnt know if i needed the ISO version or the RIP version. or even what mounting the game meant. so i gave up.

downloaded the RIP version onto my laptop which runs windows 7. just ran the the runblack.exe file as administrator and the game worked audio was fine til i got to the eidee guys song didnt play. (didnt bother me hated that song anyways) I played about 6 hours on it saving the gaem and everything (i did test exiting and reloading before playing this long and it was fine.

next day I go back to trying to relaunch it and it wont play says i'm missing DLL files or something like that. when i reunzip it it plays fine again but i can't transfer my save file and i dont want to start from the beginning again. also i couldnt figure out how to get patches or extras into.

so is there a guide somewhere that basically tells my what files to download exactly and what programs i may or may not need to install to run the game cause i tried that d-fend reload program and that wouldnt run it either. I'm completely lost on how this stuff works and these guides are confusing me very badly.

pyrra the wise 2020-06-09 1 point

Man. zero comments? Let's change that. Fantastic game. This game really shaped my upbringing into the reality of world expanding experiences.

Steve 2020-04-29 -1 point

There is a fixed No-CD patch available on GameBurnWorld that works "BlackAndWhitev1.0NoCDFixedexeUSUK".

I was having DLL issues with the patches here.

Thug 2020-03-05 1 point

I cant delete the files. I've got multiple downloads of this on my PC but I cant get rid of them. Something about system

Alan 2020-02-17 1 point

I've managed to install the game, but I'm having issues with saves. I can save the game inside temple and auto saves work, but when I quit the game and load it again it restarts the whole game from the opening cut scene. I have tried to edit security permissions, but no luck. Any thoughts?

Random USER 2020-01-12 1 point

Game works fine as is on windows 10!
1) Mount ISO
2) Key is on the readme file on the crack folder of the cd
3) Needs CD to be mounted in order to run properly

jojomojo 2019-12-28 0 point

I got the game to work with windows 10 with some graphic issues and audio issues but nothing that makes it unplayable. Haven't checked on anything concerning saves yet and still in first area

Epitaph 2019-10-23 2 points

I just can't get it to work... I've tried a number of different ways, and I always get the same result, a black screen like it's booting up, and then gone, and the game never loads. Any solution?

Slade 2019-10-08 36 points

The cd case keys are 0901-3324366-4702210-2081 OR 1507-3675069-2422562-7350 OR 1802-2939293-7504664-6430.

Anon 2019-08-22 1 point

It seems the pre-patched No-CD fixes aren't designed with the crack and require additional .dll files that aren't included in the given rip or ISO. I think it would be simpler (to download & use, at least) if the ISO crack was already pre-patched, but I'm not a programmer so idk.

Neon The Umbreon 2019-07-10 2 points

I am running Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 and have tried all of the guides in the comments and none of it works.

I have installed the game from the ISO and it says that I need to insert the correct CD when I run the installed game.

I have added tried all of the no CD patches and all of them say this when I load them: "The procedure entry point ?Initialise@LHDebugStack@@SAHXZ could not be located in the dynamic link library LHLogR.dll."

I have tried the RIP version and all it does is load a command prompt window and then just closes out.

I have even tried burning the ISO to a DVD-R and none of this works.

Please help me!

Jack 2019-05-28 4 points

Cant install patch it says game is not installed

James 2019-04-16 4 points

I'm playing ther RIP version but some sound is missing and my creature doesnt follow to next map.

anymous 2019-03-22 1 point

installing black and white

-after install, the game cannot be played and the crack inside disc also error. so patch the game to 1.2.
-copy crack from 1.2 no cd fix
-set compability to xp and run as administrator

installing creature isle

-after install creature isle, game cannot run properly because folder instalation is wrong. it will keep telling that you have not install the original black and white for the expansion to be able to run. so change :
C:\Program Files (x86)\Lionhead Studios Ltd\Black & White\CreatureIsle
to C:\Program Files (x86)\Lionhead Studios Ltd\Black & White\Creature Isle
(the correct creature isle instalation folder is using space)
-download black and white crature isle no cd crack 1.0 eng from gamecopyworld and paste it.
-run the game as administrator. don't use compability to win xp sp because it will make the game asking you not having original game error again like above. this is first game to have error after set to compability xp sp. usually most other game instead require you set compability xp sp to run properly. this is the opposite....

Peter Bosman 2019-03-16 1 point

Hi

I have tried downloading both the Rip version of Black & White and the ISO Version of Black and White and I am having a lot of difficulty trying to get the program to run. My OS is Windows 10. I have a friend that got it to work on his pc and a youtuber that I follow was playing it on his windows 10 PC so if you have any suggestions on how I can get this game to work on my PC please email me at Peter_Bosman@hotmail.com

Quil the Great 2019-02-01 2 points

@Azhsara A RIP is what you get when you install the game and copy all the installed files, pretty much the game is pre-installed but to make it downloadable sounds and music and things like that are often removed.
An ISO is a virtual disc file - it's the disc but not physical. You'll have to mount it to your CD drive and install it, but it has all the sounds and music and stuff.

Quil the Great 2019-02-01 1 point

Oh wow... this game. The 'Good' and 'Evil' characters and their un-skippable tutorial drive me up the wall, but it's still fun.

PIZZABYCARLOS 2019-01-30 0 point

this aint working for me, it downloads fine but asks for a code.
ive tried everything from googling codes to looking through the files but nothing worked,
all that came in the folder was the black and white disk thing

artyom 2019-01-11 1 point

i love lionhead studios but its really sad that they didnt finish the BC game :(

CrysalisX 2019-01-10 1 point

I also was having trouble with the serial number and then jeez getting it to actually run, but it's always the simplest things we forget so I'm going to put what I found here:

The serial number is in one of the folders once you open the downloaded folders called 'crack' because of cracked serial numbers ya get,
Was so ready to give up bc ISO one gets you far enough to download everything but doesn't load on windows 10 at least, eventually I tried the RIP runblack again and it worked, unsure if I did anything special but defo followed the guide.

Now I can finally play, as I have done for the last 6 hours, and promptly realised there's no way I have time for this kind of game anymore, old games wai, still fun tho

Shaswat 2019-01-09 0 point

I always love Black & White games

Nik 2019-01-01 1 point

Dgvoodoo program is needed to run this game well. it forces the game to use current dx9-11. simply throw it in the game folder run the dgvoodoo program play with settings save and run B&W. May take a bit of playing to get the perfect setting. but should run well enough even without playing.

Mark Langdahl 2018-12-30 1 point

A little hint: The game basically has borked graphics settings meaning that if you have more than I believe 128 MB of video memory the game gets an overflow resulting in you getting the worst possible textures in the game. You can get around this by using a Direct3D wrapper like dgVoodoo. Just unzip the dll files from the MS folder into the game folder together with the config exe and set it to use GeForce 4 settings. Then it should look its best even on modern hardware.

EmmaDeeb 2018-07-20 101 points

How to install. (EASY)
Start of creating two new folders, wherever you want this installation to take place. One called B&W ISO, and one called Black & White.
Download the ISO file, to the B&W ISO folder.
Download the RIP Version to the Black & White folder.
Unpack the ISO file in the ISO folder, and the RIP file in the Black & White folder.
Go to the unpacked ISO folder, and copy the Audio folder to the Black & White RIP folder. It will ask you to overwrite - Pick yes.
(In the RIP file, the music seems to have gone missing, so this will fix that.)
If you want to unlock the creatures, simply download the Creatures unlockers to a new folder. Once they have been downloaded, you will been to unpack them, and they will show up as Exe files. Start one at the time as admin. It will ask you if you wish to install the creature, press yes.
If you get a windows pop-up saying it might not have been properly installed, just chose "No, this has been installed correctly." or just press the X.

I have been playing the game for hours on end, and I still love it after all these years.
Also - No issues what-so-ever. Save files working great, no lag or weird bugs. Everything seems to be working just fine when "installed" like this.
So I definitely recommend installing it like this, using the RIP version, and not installing via the ISO version, just taking the Audio files from ISO to RIP to make sure all of the Audio works fine.
Happy installing!

hillo 2018-07-17 2 points

I found a much more thorough guide
http://www.bwfiles.com/forum/index.php?topic=7916.0

bheaze 2018-06-24 -1 point

land 3 is not appearing for me? not sure how to fix it? was working till this point... tried re-extracting and also changing folder permissions ect

Zagreb 2018-06-07 1 point

try to run the game on Windows 8.1 i tru run it with admin, change the color set to 256, the resolution, but nothing happens anyone has a solution?

steevxx 2018-05-07 -7 points

I am having the same problem as kath. Whenever i try to run this game nothing happens. Not even a simple load screen window. I downloaded all of the patches cracks and even ran as administrator... Nothing! Im using windows 10 64bit machine... Can anyone help in any way???

TomCrusader 2018-04-11 -3 points

Is there a serial key for this game?

Azhsara 2018-04-08 0 point

I dont know what RIP and ISO is. could someone enlighten my poor unintelligent soul

ArchDuke 2018-03-23 1 point

It keeps on crashing every time I start the game

Dark_JED 2018-02-25 4 points

I did everything, installed all I was supposed to, then when I want to play it... it tells me to put in the right CD rom... and I only have one cd for this game, that I burned the files onto

Kath 2018-02-13 0 point

So I've followed the guide, but whenever I launch the game.. nothing happens. I've set it to run as administrator, but still nothing happens. Really don't know what to do.

Lemo 2018-02-05 1 point

Thanks Pico, everything work now except I'm unable to patch the game

Pico 2018-02-03 2 points

Lemo, make sure you always run Black and white with administrator permissions and saves will start working correctly.

Lemo 2018-02-02 0 point

everything works fine except the game wont save so I have to keep restarting.

Fazed Out Pigeon 2018-01-27 -1 point

Cool. I'm gonna try download this, looks sick.

KZ 2018-01-08 8 points

My whole family has been looking for this game since 2008 when we lost our hard copy, the makers of this site deserve some kind of cultural preservation commendation for the site in general, but especially this, thank you, admins.

Dario 2017-12-10 -2 points

For me following link worked; http://www.bwfiles.com/forum/index.php?topic=7916.0

ecxed 2017-12-10 3 points

I don't know why they don't just re-release these old games and update them, I'd buy them again, this one full price.

The_Viol8ter 2017-12-06 2 points

Anyone have a serial number?

P 2017-11-16 1 point

Both the music and the intro video both did not work upon my download...everything else seems to be working fine...any fix for this??

ITS EASY 2017-11-11 -4 points

if you read it then your fine and you need to extract the files which reading your comments it seems like you neglected to read so read then comment if your still having trouble...

people are getting more and more stupid

Zeus 2017-11-02 2 points

i am using wine to run this on mac but the problem is that some of the textures are just plain black.

Hoody 2017-10-25 1 point

I havent been able to get the RIP version of this to work, because you have to install the patches to get this functional.

If your using Mac, I think your out of luck btw, because this was a day where Mac didn't care for gaming... Lol

Anyways, you have to use something to install the .ISO (virtual CD) I like to use Daemon Tools, (your virtual CD Drive) download Daemon Tools, learn out to mount the .ISO and you can install the game easy. (You basically are trying to put your virtual CD, into your virtual CD drive) Once you do that, do what the rest of the description says above, and use the "Guide" to install the patches and stuff to get it to work. If you do it perfectly, and you think its garbage and a liar, try another computer. Use your old crappy laptop, use your brothers, use your grandmas, and if you don't want to do that. Then I'm sorry, YOUR CONSCIENCE DIDN'T WANT TO PLAY WITH YOU EITHER!

??? 2017-10-11 1 point

this game i vary fun even now i love the choice you have

Scott 2017-10-09 1 point

Loved this game back in the day!

Bod38 2017-09-07 0 point

So i may be really stupid because im not tech savvy. but the instructions say for the audio to take the audio from the cd into the install directory. does that mean i need the original disk to have music? or am i just an idiot haha. either way the music is important for my childhood soul

Dmitriy 2017-08-24 -7 points

I see that the download worked well but when I start the game, it asks me to make a CD uncertain how I can fix it or which folder I need to open?

B&W fanboy 2017-07-16 -2 points

Hi I have been having problems trying to get B&W to work properly can someone help me?

Olly 2017-06-07 3 points

Would love a Mac port of this!

DerangedGaming 2017-03-02 1 point

Downloaded perfectly, following the steps provided in the link above, game installed, patched, and played flawlessly. Windows 10 x64 OS.

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Download Black & White

We may have multiple downloads for few games when different versions are available. Also, we try to upload manuals and extra documentation when possible. If you have additional files to contribute or have the game in another language, please contact us!

Windows Version

DownloadRIP Version English version 326 MB DownloadDisc Image
Europe Version English version 719 MB
DownloadDisc Image
US Release English version 767 MB
DownloadISO Version English version 612 MB DownloadDisc Image German version 731 MB DownloadDisc Image Italian version 711 MB ManualEnglish version 11 MB

Game Extras

Various files to help you run Black & White, apply patches, fixes, maps or miscellaneous utilities.

FixNoCD Fixes English version 8 MB MiscCreatures Unlockers English version 650 KB MiscSerial Keys English version 152 B MiscBonus Creatures CD
Horse & Leopard English version 195 MB
MiscBonus Creatures CD
Horse German version 94 MB

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