To play the randomizer, you will need to have the relevant TR1, TR2 or TR3 game(s) installed on your PC. It is important that the data files for these games are "clean", meaning that they should not have been modified by any other custom tool. If you are in any doubt about this, the first step you should take is reinstalling the game (for example in Steam or GoG).
Following is a brief video explanation of the setup, but be sure to read each of the following points as well.
poj2qu.mp4
Before you launch the randomizer for the first time, you should carry out a few steps as follows.
You must use TR1X to be able to randomize Tomb Raider 1. Follow the installation guide on the TR1X GitHub page, or you can also refer to this video for guidance. Note that if using the TR1X installer, the default directory where your game will be located is your Documents folder as opposed to the base game folder.
You must also ensure that you have the Unfinished Business levels files in your installation. These are available when using the TR1X installer, and we recommend that you choose the set that contains music triggers. The level files are also available to download manually from https://lostartefacts.dev/aux/tr1x/trub-music.zip - you can then simply extract the files into your TR1X data folder.
Use the Version Swapper or install and configure TR2Main.
This step is entirely optional based on your own preference of gameplay.
Use the Version Swapper or install and configure tomb3. Using tomb3 is recommended to enable all features in the randomizer, plus to enjoy all of the benefits of the improved game. See https://github.com/Trxyebeep/tomb3/blob/master/USING.md for detailed installation steps.
This step is entirely optional based on your own preference of gameplay.
It is recommended at this point that you create a copy of your game folder if playing classic TR. If you choose to use the original folder and decide later that you want to revert the changes made by the randomizer, see the relevant point below.
Let's say you are setting up TR2 and have it installed in D:\Games\TR2. You should copy this folder in its entirety and name it something like D:\Games\TR2Rando.
For TR I-III Remastered, you will need to point the randomizer to your main installation of TRR, as copying the folder and launching it from a different location will trigger Steam (for example) to launch, which will in turn always run from your main installation folder. This means that you cannot have separate folders setup for different playthroughs. Use the reverting guide below to restore your game to defaults once you have finished playing with the randomizer. You can then later re-open and randomize safely if you wish. Note too that some files are shared so if you randomize TR1R, you may for example see some text changes in both TR2R and TR3R as a result. Again, restoring defaults will revert everything back to normal.
Now that you have a dedicated folder for the randomizer to work on, you should not change anything manually in this folder as it can cause corruption when randomizing again. Everything can be controlled in the randomizer, so provided that you have set the game up as above per your preferences, you should have no need to edit anything manually.
Setting up the randomizer itself is straight-forward.
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Download the latest release from https://github.com/LostArtefacts/TR-Rando/releases/latest. Make sure to download the
TRRandozip file and not the source code. Choose the x64 or x86 version, depending on your system.
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Extract the downloaded zip file (it does not matter where you extract the zip file to). The resultant folder should appear as follows.
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Launch
TRRandomizer.exeto begin.
Click on Browse in the initial window and select the DATA folder in the TR game folder you wish to randomize. This continues the example above, so we pick D:\Games\TR2\data.
The randomizer will now check the data in the folder you have selected and create a backup of the files, which it will use as a base for randomization. If the data in the folder you have selected does not match the original game files, you will see the following message.
It is strongly recommended that you click Yes if you see this message, reinstall the game and follow this guide carefully again from the beginning.
Now that you have your TR game folder open in the randomizer, you can select each aspect that you wish to randomize. There are several options available, so be sure to click the available Options button in each pane. Note that for TR I-III Remastered, the options that are available to randomize are much more limited than the classics. Only the following aspects are currently supported, the remaining options will be greyed out in the UI.
- Secrets
- Items
- Enemies
- Start positions
- Secret rewards (excluding TR2R)
- Audio
- Game text
When you are ready to start, click the large green Randomize button. A progress bar will appear and the randomizer will make the selected changes.
Once complete, the progress dialog will close and the randomizer will show Saved in the bottom status bar.
Now that your game has been randomized, you can launch and play! Open the game in the usual way. It should be obvious that the process has worked successfully once you begin playing a level, but as a guide you should see the following wording change in the title screen (this applies to all TR versions).
You can start and stop the game as you please - you do not need to re-randomize each time. So you could play a few levels, save and exit the game and then return to the same save the next day, for example.
Once you have completed a run of the game, you may wish to jump straight into another using different settings. All you need to do is re-launch the randomizer and this time select the same folder shown in the Recent Folders list.
The settings you previously selected will be shown, so simply change as much or as little as you like and click Randomize again.
In the majority of cases, save files that were created in previous runs will not work if you have since changed settings in the randomizer; the game will either crash or you will experience some very strange results. You can safely delete your save files prior to starting the game after running the randomizer, or otherwise take care to only load saves created in your current run.
If you wish to restore your game folder to its original state, click on the Tools menu and select Restore To Default.
You may see the following error message when you try to launch the randomizer - this means that your system is missing the .NET Core Runtime, which the randomizer needs in order to run. Simply follow the prompt to install the runtime, and then launch the randomizer again.
If however the randomizer doesn't launch, but you don't see the above error, you can install the runtime manually. Use one of the following links depending on your system.
- x64: https://aka.ms/dotnet/6.0/windowsdesktop-runtime-win-x64.exe
- x86: https://aka.ms/dotnet/6.0/windowsdesktop-runtime-win-x86.exe
If you encounter error messages during randomization, the most likely cause is unclean data files. In this case, you should follow these steps.
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Click on the
Toolsmenu and selectDelete Backup.
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Click Yes at the prompt.
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Reinstall the TR game from scratch (e.g. in Steam or GoG).
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Follow this guide carefully from the beginning.
If you continue to experience issues, we have a friendly community Discord server where you can get help or you can raise an issue for investigation.