Does anybody know where to find a copy of this game that doesn't have a messed up title screen? (The Sierra logo appears on the wrong screen and then messes up the background)

huh? works for me, running sierra.com. it must be your pc. are you running it via dosbox?

what do you mean by "wrong screen" anyways? are you running multiple monitors or what?

GAME MAP
 

Does anyone know where I can download hig res image of the map?

This is the best one I was able to find with a quick search.

Help "follow mule" error
 

Anyone knows how to fix "follow my mule" error:

sound (21):
Sound not loaded

I use DOSBOX, sound ok and everything running fine till I got here

I noticed that the version of "Gold Rush!" available on Abandonia is sadly the poorly-cracked version with the messed-up title screens (starts with "and Sierra" rather than the correct "MacNeill Bros" opening title).

I actually found a patch online many years ago that that will FIX the version uploaded here (remove protection but fix the glitches of the old crack), but I don't know how to contact the people here to get this uploaded properly... so I've attached it below. Hopefully nobody minds that I've made it available this way (if so, let me know and I'll remove the attachment right away).

To use the patch, unzip the file ("grpatch.exe") in the same folder/directory as the game (e.g. "c:\sierra\goldrush") and run grpatch.exe. You likely need to do this in DOSBox (via the prompt, in the right directory, type "grpatch" <enter>), as just double-clicking on "grpatche.exe" will not work in later versions of Windows (such as Windows 7 x64).

The site I got the patch from seems long gone... there's still a (rather broken) thread on the "Sierra Gamers" forum about this (which includes a savegame file that is supposedly another "workaround" for crack-induced bugs), but not the actual patch itself. There's also detailed info on the problems here, but no advice on fixing the issue.

As far as I can tell, the buggy pre-cracked version uploaded here is the ONLY one available on every single abandonware site I've ever come across; I've never seen an uncracked version anywhere... since my original floppy disks no longer work, I'd love a "clean" copy if anyone has one (I remember that getting the copy protection wrong in the original version shows you getting hanged!).

DISCLAIMER: Since I didn't make this patch (all credit goes to "HWM"), I can't promise it works and is bug-free. I just wanted to make it available since it was so hard to find, few people seem to know about it, and the uncracked original seems impossible to find!

FOR NAGI USERS (if you don't know what NAGI is, just ignore this):
You can get your patched version of Gold Rush to show up correctly by adding the following to NAGI's "standard.ini" file using a decent text editor (not Notepad!):
... and add "grhwm" to the crc_list as below:
DOWNLOAD FOR THE PATCH IS BELOW:

Greetings Abandonia community,

An introduction:
I am the son of Doug MacNeill, one of the creators of Gold Rush. I stumbled across this site tonight and thought I'd chime in. My father does still hold the rights to this game, and after talking with him about the fact that the site has fallen into antiquity and the software is now being given away by many on the internet, I'm taking it upon myself to make a couple tweaks to his website to begin selling high-quality digital copies of Gold Rush -- for a reasonable cost (which I have not settled on yet). I'm not going to try to get rich off this, I just want to try to preserve the game's rights for him.

Also, from what I've read here, aside from the fact that it's an illegal copy, the cracked version has issues. The game was updated in the late 90's with some minor fixes to improve playablity, and works flawlessly in dosbox as far as I know.

I'm glad to see that his game still has a few fans. I'll keep you all posted, and if anyone wants to chat, PM or email me though this site. Life's been busy for my dad, and as such keeping the game available has been pretty far down on his priority list.

Great news!

Doug, you should *definitely* look at having your father's game hosted/sold via "Good Old Games" (www.gog.com).

They host most of the other Sierra games from the same era, charge a fair price (after all, this game *is* nearly 25 years old), strongly support a "no DRM" model (why I won't buy off the likes of Steam) and have a great reputation and level of trust among classic/abandoned gaming fans.

If 'Gold Rush' *is* going to be rescued from abandonment and sold again (as a digital download), I can think of no place I'd rather see it - or that it would be more at home - than GOG. Seriously, take a look; I recently re-bought all their Sierra compilations even though I already own them all (several times!) on disc, to support what the company does. I know Abandonia is supportive of GOG's titles, too.

Issues
 

Hi everyone-

I am running this game in D-Fend Reloaded, and I am having issues with the guy that's supposed to buy Jerrod's house. Even after I put the house up for sale, he never shows up! I've tried walking around a bit and completing other tasks, and then go back to the house and wait, and nothing happens :( Anyone else experienced this and were you able to fix it?

Thanks!

LM

I believe this is a "known bug" of the cracked version of this game (i.e. the version of the game on Abandonia and all other sites I've found it at). It is triggered with the cracked version when speed is too high. Turning the game speed down until the house is sold apparently fixes it.

For more info, read here!

I would be VERY interested to know if you're getting this bug, if you have used the patch I posted in this thread or if you are still using the unpatched version of the game. In theory, the patch could fix this issue, but I'd like to know for certain if it does.