It has been more 5 years since i worked on a3. However i was helping my friend with some ollydbg work for his private server and tried to setup BDE on my win7 64 bit system and experienced a few problems and found out that many people are having trouble with the same. So herez a guide on how to run a3 server on ur win7 64 bit edition. I will try my best to add in everything. Please dont ask for further help as this guide itself is self explanatory.
Before trying to raise a proper server there are a few things that you need to know..
The Borland Database Engine that a3 uses was created before windows 7 64 bit editions and thus the game does not know where to look for them. ( installation directories ).
The installation paths are different in 64 and 32 bit machines
for example.. for a 32 bit system it is C:\Program files
for a 64 bit it is c:\Program Files (x86)
So when BDE installs, it goes to (x86) and our reg file doesnt read them as they are traditionally made to work under 32 bit. So if you if some tweaks you can achieve success. But i wont be covering how to change installation locations.. However i am going to show u how to create your ODBCs using 64 bit and BDE without changing the path of installation.
STEPS:
1. Install BDE for win 7 from here..
BDEInfoSetup
2. Install your BDE and make sure to keep in mind where u installed it ( default is C:\Program Files ( x86)\BDE blah blah blah... In my case it is C:\Program Files (x86)\Borland\Common Files\BDE
3. After successfully setting up ur server databases and other stuff thats involved upto adding your BDE, you follow the below given instructions to make ur DB_ports ( 7770 8880 9990 ) work..
4. Go to ur Borland Database Engine folder in my case it is
C:\Program Files (x86)\Borland\Common Files\BDE
and open BDE ADMIN.
5. Go to objects and select ODBC ADMINISTRATOR and select SYSTEM DSN.
6. Click ADD and go to SQL SERVER, and click finish. a small window will appear that says Create a New Data Source to SQL Server..
7. In name put in A3ItemEvent in Server add in your server name just click the drop down and your can find yours.
8. Now click next and choose the 2nd option. Next is u type in ur sa and password and click next
9. Change the Default database to FriendDB and click next
10. Click next, next and finish it.. Do the same process for the following
A3Friend = FriendDB
A3RcvResult = A3ItemEvent
A3SerialList = A3ItemEvent
ASD = ASD
EventA3 = ASD
FriendDB = FriendDB
HSDB = HSDB
LETTERDB = ASD
LocalServer = ASD
Login202 = ASD
NEWASD = ASD
After finishing go to d:\a3server\DB_PORTS ( or whatever just go to ur db ports 7770 8880 9990 and start them and see what happens )...
Please pm in you need any help.. Like for more guides on hex\ollydbg for a3.
Added screens
Ragezone