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     Version 1.x files

Downloads – Version 1.x Files

Version 1 is no longer for sale but is still available for download.

Versions 1.x and 2.x can be installed and used concurrently on the same computer (though they cannot be run simultaneously).

Note: Four Winds 2 opens version 1.x files so there is no need to keep version 1.x installed for that purpose alone. But there might be other reasons you wish to use version 1.x (e.g., it has Swedish and Russian language modules which the version 2 does not have at the moment). Note that all registered users of version 2 can download version 1.14, which they can use with their version 2 registration number.

Important: Four Winds 1.x setup packages cannot be installed on 64-bit Windows systems, and the program is not fully compatible with Windows Vista or 7 (e.g., it relies on system-based virtualization to handle incompatibilities with user privileges). To have full compatibility with modern Windows systems, please upgrade to version 2.

Complete game packages

• Four Winds Mah Jong version 1.14a – Complete game in one package
  File Size: 2.728 MB, Date: September-19-2003 – Download now
• Four Winds Mah Jong version 1.14a – Multipart download
  Disk 1: 4w1141.zip (1.374 MB)
  Disk 2: 4w1142.zip (1.221 MB)
  Note: After having downloaded the zip files, extract them in a temporary folder (e.g., c:\4wtemp) and then start Setup.exe.
  If you wish to create backup copies on 1,4 Mb diskettes, extract the contents of the zip files in two separate folders (e.g., c:\4wdisk1 and c:\4wdisk2) and copy the extracted files on two 1,4 Mb diskettes.

Update packages

• Four Winds Mah Jong version 1.14a
  File Size: 891 kB, Date: September-19-2003 – Download now

Note: Users of Finnish, Swedish or Russian versions: 
After downloading the program update, please download the updated language module!

Language Modules

• English Language Module
  File Size: 623 kB  Date: August-10-2003 – Download now
• Finnish Language Module
  File Size: 637 kB  Date: August-10-2003 – Download now 
• Swedish Language Module
  File Size: 625 kB  Date: August-10-2003 – Download now
• Russian Language Module ( Software only) – thanks to Alex Rex!
  File Size: 318 kB  Date: August-10-2003 – Download now
  To accompany the module, you might also want to download the rules in Russian.

Tutorials

• English Tutorial
  File Size: 1.629 MB  Date: March-15-2000 – Download now
• Finnish Tutorial
  File Size: 1.654 MB  Date: March-15-2000 – Download now
  

Note to users with large amount of RAM:

Due to a bug in Macromedia Director v.6.5, users with large amount of RAM may encounter the following error when trying to launch the tutorial:

"This application requires at least 3MB of free virtual memory to run".

– OR –

"C:\ADMINI~1\CONFIG~1\TEMP"

To prevent this error, do the following:

Reduce the maximum Virtual Memory setting in the System control panel (in the Performance tab) or select the setting in this control panel "Allow Windows to manage my virtual memory settings".

If setting the Virtual Memory manually, the amount you will need to reduce this setting will vary from configuration to configuration. Generally, a maximum Virtual Memory setting of 200MB will prevent the error from occurring.

16-Color Module

• 16-Color Module (to be used with old computers supporting only 16 colors)
  File Size: 275 KB  Date: August-3-1988 – Download now

Version history

Click the items below to see the details of each version (when using a browser other than Internet Explorer the list items are not collapsed and appear already expanded).

• September-19-2003 – Version 1.14a
  • Fixed bugs:
    1. Fixed an error related to Windows log-in names with no space characters. If a user-defined name was not specified for the human player (i.e., the default name, “Player”, was used), the program would cause an illegal instruction when trying to automatically compose a human player name based on Windows log-in name 
• August-10-2003 - Version 1.14
  • Fixed bugs:
    1. Fixed an error related to exhaustion of multimedia timer resources. The error would appear as sticky tile animation after the game had been played for about 20 minutes. The error was noticeable only on Windows NT and XP systems.
    2. Fixed a memory overflow error that might result in an unexpected program closure in certain circumstances.
    3. Fixed a couple of screen paint errors related to changing of the wind of the round in the Wall window.
    4. In Hong Kong Mah Jong Four Chows now  requires a valueless pair (i.e., a pair that is not composed of Dragons, Wind of the Round, or Player's Own Wind). This limitation was erroneously ignored in the previous versions.
    5. The Limit in Hong Kong Mah Jong was erroneously set to 128 though it should have been set to 64 (however, this did not have any effect in scoring except in a situation where a player would need to pay the penalty for going out).
    6. Identical pairs are now accepted in the special hand Seven pairs, unless the Japanese style paying method (To winner only by discarder / all losers option on the Points I tab of the Preferences) is chosen (in Japanese rules identical pairs are typically not allowed).
    7. Bonus for dealer's extra hands is now paid to any winner of an extra deal (not just to the dealer who wins an extra deal).
  • Improvements
    1. Added features that make version 1.14 binary compatible with the Pocket PC version 1.0. This allows you to play games interchangeably with your PC and Pocket PC.
• July-02-2002 – Version 1.13
  • Improvements:
    1. Added a feature that allows using of version 2.x registration name and number with version 1.13.
• March-03-2002 – Version 1.12
  • Fixed bugs:
    1. Fixed an error related to recognition of certain kinds of calling hands on systems that do not support Scandinavian/German sort order. Hands where the first set of the would-be winning hand was a pair (e.g., calling with B3 C5C5C5 C7C7C7 D8D8D8 D9D9D9) were not recognized as calling (or ready) hands on these systems.
    2. Fixed an error related to an erroneous recognition of the Limit hand All Honors. On systems having a non-Western language (e.g., Chinese or Japanese) as the language of the non-Unicode programs any Pung hand (a hand consisting of any four triplets and a pair) was mistakenly considered as an All Honors hand.
    3. Minor UI fixes in dialog boxes.
• January-04-2002 – Version 1.11
  • Fixed bugs:
    1. Fixed the program’s flexibility to handle large title and menu bars while using the Small game board (640x480 graphics). Accordingly, the graphics are no longer cut when using the Small game board and the default visual style of Windows XP.
    2. Fixed a minor error related to displaying a misleading error message (related to having too many Chows in hand) in a situation where a player declared out by claiming a tile for a Chow from a non-valid player. The error would occur only if the rules restricted BOTH the number of Chows in a winning hand, AND a player's right to claim a winning tile to a Chow.
• March-15-2000 – Version 1.10
  • Fixed bugs:
    1. When playing with Hong Kong rules, having all Flowers or all Seasons would give 3 points (faan) instead of 2, but the total score was calculated as if 2 points were given. This error appeared in version 1.09 where the scoring for Flower or Season of the Wind of the Round was removed. Now having all Flowers or all Seasons scores 2 points, as in most rules based on faan-laak scoring system, and the scoring is correctly reported.
    2. It was possible for East human player to discard tiles while the initial replacement of Flower and Season tiles was going on. This is now prohibited.
    3. In certain situations the number of available tiles and preferred discard was incorrectly calculated for AI players, resulting in occasional bad tile evaluations.
    4. Summary report printed incorrectly when a resolution other than 300 dpi was used.
    5. The game would freeze in certain situations when a saved game was loaded while using a different size game board than in the original game (e.g., if the saved game was played using the small board, and large game board is used when the game is loaded).
    6. There was a problem with moving the child windows on Windows NT. A moved window was positioned completely off-screen whenever its top or left border would cross the screen top or left border.
    7. The game incorrectly ended a deal in draw in case a Kong was declared when only one tile was left in the Wall.
    8. A minor error relating to registry keys fixed.
• June-12-1999 – Version 1.09
  • Fixed bugs:
    1. Reports printed incorrectly when resolution other than 300 dpi was used.
    2. On Windows NT, saving of per-user based data in the system registry would trigger the installation mode, resulting in failure to launch the program in case the user had logged in as a non system administrator.
    3. Errors in the rule of dealer's extra hand fixed. Payments for dealer's extra hands were calculated incorrectly in Hong Kong rules. Also, the dealer did not receive limit points after 7th extra hand (8th successive win) and the deal counter was not reset nor was the deal passed after the 7th extra hand.
    4. Details for ready declaration payments, payments for dealer's extra hands and penalties for faulty declarations were not included in the score reports (neither on screen nor on print).
    5. When customized Hong Kong rules were used with scoring for Concealed hand enabled, the game would incorrectly give 10 points for a concealed hand (winning tile being a discard). Now the points are given only for fully concealed hand when the scoring is based on Hong Kong rules (Faan-Laak scoring).
    6. When Hong Kong rules were used, the points for All Honors and Big Three Dragons were omitted from the total score, and for All Honors, the implied combinations (e.g. No Chows and One Suit with Honors) were not excluded from the point calculation. In addition, 1 bonus point was erroneously given for a Flower or Season of Wind of the Round.
       Now the scoring is fixed as follows:
       a) All Honors
       – Basic score 7 points, points for Dragons and Winds excluding. The hand always implies one value Pung, the worst scenario being three Wind Pungs none of which is a value Wind, plus a Dragon Wind. Four Winds adds points for value Pungs to the basic score (so in practice, the hand always scores at least 8 points).
       – Additional points for several other combinations, excluding the following, which are implied: No Chows, One Suit with Honors.
       – For Dragon Pungs the bonus is given only for the second Pung (the first being implied). However, full bonus will be given for having Big Three Dragons (6 pts) or Little Three Dragons (4 pts) in All Honors hand.
       b) Big Three Dragons
       – basic score 6 points
       – additional points for several other combinations, but not for dragon Pungs (as they are implied).
       c) Flowers and Seasons
       – 1 point for player's own Flower or Season
       – 1 point for no Flowers and Seasons
• March-02-1999 – Version 1.08
  • Fixed bugs:
    1. The program gave an incorrect total score for human player's hand in case the player could go out on a discard in more than one way (basic points were missing from the total though correctly listed in scoring details).
       The error occurred in versions 1.06 and 1.07 (but not when Hong Kong rules were used).
    2. In the case human player claimed a tile and had a chance to go out on a Pair, Pung and Chow, the program did not display button for the Pair option.
    3. In the case human player claimed a tile and had a chance to go out on a Pair, Pung and Chow, but did not declare Out in the Tile Claimed dialog box, but immediately after having melded the claimed set (Pung or Chow), the program would calculate points according the best possible claim, disregarding the actual tile set that was melded.
    4. In the previous case, if the player saved the game before declaring Out, and then loaded the saved game, the program would calculate the points according the best possible claim, but did always assume that the last melded set was Pung.
    5. When the Finnish language module was used, the program would cause illegal operation (or behave otherwise unstably) after declaring a melded Kong of White or Red Dragons. Similar problem occurred occasionally at the start of the deal, if the human player was North. (The message box informing about the next dealer and your own wind would sometimes display nonsensical strings or cause Access violation error).
    6. The accelerator keys for Kong buttons were erroneous (in case a player could choose from several Kongs).
    7. If the rule of obligatory ready declaration was used and one of the computer players had a ready dealt hand, the program would mark one or two of the other computer players ready, as well.
    8. The rule of Sacred Discard was erroneously implemented. In addition to forbidding the player to claim a sacred winning tile, it also prohibited from claiming a tile for a non-winning combination. Now the rule is applied as it is used traditionally.
    9. On Windows NT, if Four Winds was installed or launched by a non-administrator user and the system security would prohibit non-administrator installations (permission to write in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software) the program would go in loop on launch without being able to exit.
    10. Volume control of MIDI background music (with + and - keys of numeric keypad) did not work for all devices supporting programmatic volume control (e.g. SoundBlaster Live! or any other board or configuration supporting more than one MIDI device).
• December-01-1998 – Version 1.07
  • Fixed bugs:
    1. The claimed tile is now repainted if it is covered by another window while the Tile Claimed dialog box is active.
    2. Double clicking a tile discarded by human caused an extra tile appearing in the hand. Now double clicking the discarded tile has no side effects.
    3. Fixed a minor error in the scoring of Valueless hand.
• September-01-1998 – Version 1.06
  • Improvements: 
    1. Hint for number of tiles played (discarded and melded) improved: while holding down the SHIFT key, it is no more necessary to click the tile for which you wish to see this information (just hold down the SHIFT key and move the mouse cursor over the tiles).
  • Fixed bugs:
    1. Shortcuts for Hint (H) and Undo (Ctrl+Z) would work even if Allow Hints and Allow Undo options were disabled.
    2. Keyboard and mouse accelerators (Enter key / click on the game board) for confirming human player's discard did not work if Allow Undo option was disabled.
    3. If player ignored his claim (by choosing the Ignore button in the Tile Claimed dialog box), the discarded tile was not displayed amongst the discarded tiles. The bug appeared only if the penalty for faulty declaration of out was disabled.
    4. The limit hand All green did not work correctly (it would accept a self-drawn non-green winning tile, e.g. Bamboo 5 for a Chow composed of Bamboo 3, Bamboo 4 and Bamboo 5).
    5. The program erroneously gave 20 points for the winning hand (human player only) when Hong Kong rules were used and the player could use the claimed winning tile in more than one combination. (This error appeared in versions 1.03, 1.04 and 1.05.)
• April-13-1998 – Version 1.05
  • Fixed bugs:
    1. The improved Kong play for computer players (added in version 1.03) contained a bug that would result in computer players randomly claiming Kongs for every tile discarded.
• April-08-1998 – Version 1.04
  • Fixed bugs:
    1. A memory leak fixed in the animation of Wind bones in the Wall window. The error resulted in the eventual exhaustion of the system resources if several rounds were played in the same session.
• June-04-1998 – Version 1.03
  • Improvements:
    1. Slightly improved Kong game for the computer players.
  • Fixed bugs:
    1. The program incorrectly gave doubles for No Chows in case the winner received points for "Four triplets, three of which concealed". ("No Chows" is implicitly included in "Four triplets").
    2. The program incorrectly gave points for the Valueless hand in case the winner went out on a one-chance tile and had an opportunity to go out on a non-one-chance combination. (The points for the Valueless hand were not listed in the Points dialog, but were included in the totals.)
    3. The program incorrectly gave points for the Valueless hand in situations where the winning tile was a one-chance tile, but the winner had in hand a tile similar to the winning tile (this is legal only if the similar tile in hand is not bound to a combination where it is itself a "one-chance" tile).
• November-29-1997 – Version 1.02
  • Fixed bugs:
    1. The program did not recognize One suit with honors in case there were no suit tiles in the hand (that is, the suit tile were among the melded tiles).
    2. The program erroneously gave extra points for value pairs to losers having a set of four tiles in the hand (the player would have points both for Pung and a Pair).
    3. The program gave two doubles for All Seasons or All Flowers when it should have given three, and vice versa.
    4. The case where a combination would give two doubles was reported erroneously as giving only one double (the points, however, where calculated correctly).
    5. The setting for showing of tile ID's was not saved in a saved game.
• October-07-1997 – Version 1.01
  • Improvements:
    1. Demo mode now runs in an indefinite loop. New game
       is started as soon as a game is finished.
  • Fixed bugs:
    1. The discards were arranged erroneously, if a player got more than 18 discards (only when each players discards were displayed in separate areas).
    2. Background music of Four Winds theme used track settings of the default MIDI file (4winds2.mid) even if the background music was customized.
    3. Helen and Tim made occasionally silly decisions regarding hands to collect.
    4. The maximum number of Chows rule setting was saved erroneously in the system registry.
    5. Error in the recognition of Seven pairs: the last pair was not examined (any single tiles were accepted).
    6. If the rule of obligatory Ready was applied, the dealer (East) could not declare Out if he got the winning hand in the dealt hand, nor could other players declare Ready before East's first discard. Now there is an exception, which allows players to declare Out before making the first discard – either self-drawn (East), or by claiming the winning tile. In the latter case, the human player must press the Ready button  before East makes his first discard (the Ready button  is enabled for 20 seconds before the deal starts).
    7. The program did not accept claiming a single tile (other than for a pair) as a winning tile for the limit hand "Thirteen Orphans".
    8. The program did not accept concealed Kongs in the limit hand "Hidden Treasure".
    9. Couple of user interface errors fixed (e.g., state of the Show Tile Id's command).
• June-13-1997 – Version 1.0