Arcanum:WIP 6.0 now available

[rroyo]

Thanks!
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[tumbleweed]

Hello again, I was completing the quests regarding the gnome and his half-ogre son but when I killed his son no one seemed to recognise that I had done anything, I attempted to talk to the elf Prince of Qu'inar, the dwarf prince (forgotten his name) and the manservant (also forgotten his name) but they weren't saying anything new, I also tried to resurrect the gnome but that did not work either. Am I missing something or is this quest merely not working?
Should I be avoiding "new" areas so that I don't run into quests which cannot be completed or is this problem (if it exists and I haven't just missed something) not so widespread?

[rroyo]

It's an odd problem I'm afraid.
On page 45, just over a third of the way down, you'll see where VeilOfAbsence had the same thing happen to him.

Avoiding the new areas: No. The fact that the teleport scripts and basic dialogs are working says the Arcanum5.dat is being read by the game engine and the vast majority of the additions should work alright.
There's still plenty more to see and do that's less global flag dependant.

If and when you decide to try another round with this hack, double-click the Drog'sCleanCache.bat before you make your new character.
That should improve your chances of a trouble-free game. (I hope)
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[light-servant]

Reporting more bugs:
I bought some gloves from the Pawnshop in Tarant, I can't remember their name, but they are supposed to give the user 1000+ carry weight and reduce WP by 2 points. When I put them on they don't do any of those things.

[tumbleweed]

I'll definitely continue playing with your mod, from what I can gather reading other people's posts it's seen as the better mod and I vaguely recall having problems with the unmodified game too so it's not as if I'm going to avoid problems altogether! Though I do hope that if I decide to play this game again in the far future I'll find a modification that will eradicate all the "bugs".
I wish I had known about DrogsCleanCache.bat prior to starting, I'm probably not going to start a new game though, I'm about to search for a hidden village of elves and it's all so very exciting! I would hate to abandon my little band of people too.
If it helps, I'll continue to post problems I find, if it's annoying I'll stop. :)

[rroyo]

Keep posting problems - and that goes for everyone.

It looks more and more like I should put together a patch for this until I can resume work on it again.
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[kalduchae]

First off... Hi there!
Just found out about Arcanum having visited a friend some days ago. Apparently, he's been playing it for some years now and encouraged me to try it out as well. After reading quite a bit about the game, I stumbled to this site, specifically, this thread. Now, after a bit more reading, I have a few questions to ask.

- Will Arcanum WIP work fine with the Arcanum that's on GOG.com?

- Is Arcanum WIP a mod that's mostly of the "enriched vanilla game" kind, or the "major changes to the setting" kind?

- My friend mentioned I can create my own custom backgrounds, but the first post of this thread mentions modifications to the backgrounds as well. If I do decide to make my own backgrounds, will it clash with the backgrounds that will be added by Arcanum WIP?

- Is there a mirror from where I can download AWIP 6.0? I'm trying to get it from the original link but the speed seems to slow down terribly and/or times out, resulting in an (in)complete download.

Anyway, that's it so far. Looking forward to trying out the game as a whole, since I only got as far as the haunted mine when I played the game at my friend's place.

[rroyo]

Welcome to the forum, kalduchae!
Glad to hear you're willing to give the hack a try.

OK - the questions.

1) It should. Although A:WIP was never tested with GoG's version, what they are selling is the stock game, so I don't think there will be a problem.

2) It the "enriched vanilla game" variety. A:WIP adds more areas to explore, more toys to play with, and more side-quests without messing with the main game too much.

3) Quite possibly - as an add-on. There's like 170 backgrounds in the hack already (with the replacement Arcanum5.dat) and the game engine was modified to allow that. Check the existing ones out first and if you're still wanting to create a new one, unpack the Arcanum5.dat into a folder, and rework one of the existing. That would be a little safer than trying to add even more data for the exe to read.

4) Sorry. The old Rapidshare link is gone.

Haunted mine - as in Bessie Toone in Shrouded Hills? If so, all the good stuff is still waiting for you.
Enjoy!
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[kalduchae]

Thanks for both the welcome and the speedy reply.

Alright, guess I'll have to read up on how to work on the .dat and adding a background. Also, no worries on the alternative download I guess. I still got the rest of the day to keep on trying to download the whole mod.

Edit:
So I finally got everything set up, patched, and running. The character backgrounds are quite interesting, but in the end I still wanted to make my own. So now I'm reading a guide on how to make one, and the directions seem to be just for the vanilla version of the game.

So then, since this is a mod... After tweaking an existing background for my use, do I have to somehow recompile it back into an Arcanum5.dat file, or will the method for vanilla (\rules and \mes folders) be enough?

[rroyo]

Just spotted your edit.

The method for vanilla will work, or you could even replace the packed Arcanum5.dat with the unpacked version.
The latter works great if you plan to make a fair number of changes.

Just remember to double-click the Drog'sCleanCache.bat before testing your changes and this'll force the game to recognize them.
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[Technomancer]

Great work rroyo i stand in awe of what you have created.

Although the isle of dispair is confusing me did you alter thorvald so the he no longer comes with you and you must fetch him back via the secret landing at later point. or am i just forgetting a branch or 2 in the conversation.

also the pit acted up a few times either traping me inside or the sounds overlaying each incorectly(battle and normal music, which now that i think about it the pit has differnt ambient music a shouting spectator thing) or not playing (summons and other spells and weapon impacts)

anywho on to my suggestions

someone suggested distributing the anti-gravity gems to dungeon locations rather then the pawnshop. I have som ideas in that vein.

1. the well of lost souls we dont always want to play with the helm of infinte evil be nice to have some other neat item in there
2. in the brandybuck house after purchase. intices the player to actually save up and shell out 50k
3. merow vortam 3,800 year old demon with out so much as a bent copper irks me
4. aceraks tomb is another good spot after all thats the place i would expect to find uber loot
5. Bogoroth is another good one after all since he aint a pushover anymore it should be worth the risk.

and finnaly a pawnshop suggestion
you could put some 4th and 5th rank tech products in there as it stands now the followers make low end tech items and the very high ends one apper in sufficent numbers in the world to satisfy most needs but things like helmets of vision and explosives and such just plain dont appear with the exception of the 3 grenades in the crash site. i personnaly think it strange that there are only 3 natural grenades in the WORLD likewise one would think helmets of vison would be in demand for guners and archers. as it is the only choice a techer that dosent dive down the smith tree a longish way is to use one of the 2 naturaly found miners helmets

[rroyo]

Welcome to the forum, Technomancer! - and thank you for your kind words.

About Thorvald: His being a follower did get altered with the UAP repairs, but he should have joined you on the first time around.

The pit acting up suggests the game engine was struggling with something - probably the Arcanum5.dat. This might be the source of the problem with Thorvald.
Keep your eyes peeled for more pronounced glitches, and if they get too bad, be ready to re-install.

Your suggestions:

The Well of Lost Souls - I'm really not sure what would be a suitable good-guy reward. At any rate, you can always sell the Dark Elven Helm for a nice sum.

The Brandybuck House - I'm not sure what you mean here. After haggling Frigo down to 35,000, force a reason to come up with the extra 15,000?

Merow Vortahm - That quest is hopelessly incomplete. Although there is some loot to be had at Plainwicke, the bulk of the treasure will come later. The campaign will ultimately include a trip through a dwarven mine and a necropolis.

Acerarak's Tomb - I got growled at for having too much treasure there already.

The Bograth - Other than beefing him up a bit, I figured I'd leave him alone. That side-quest was put in to give the PC a few more exp points before heading off for Vendigroth. That's all it was ever meant to be.

The pawnshops: Maybe I've been watching the wrong movies, but I have a hard time imagining high-end tech stuff in a Victorian pawnshop. Based on what I remembered seeing, more often than not, the pawnbroker was little more than the local fence. That's why I added things like the wineglasses and a ton of rings.
Although I'll pass on adding most of the higher tech stuff, a miner's helmet or two wouldn't be out of place.

Edit: Forgot about the grenades. Towards the bottom of my to-do list is to create another class of merchant - an explosives dealer. There you'll not only be able to find the schematics, but the complete grenades as well.
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If you can't go through a problem, go over it, under it, or around it.

[Technomancer]

eyeballs peeled for more screwballness


mostly just thoughts as to where to hide them off the top of my orgerish skull(mileage and cleverness vary considerably) on another note

tempter of fate idea to address "buying" uberness

Say you can sell points to start and a difficultish quest grants the exchange power round about the time you go to the isle of despair and buy fate points say after 2 finished mastery quests. say how bout that link his powers to the number of masterys a pc has(if thats even doable)

[rroyo]

I'm not sure I could make that work properly - and consistantly.

What is planned is to make the Tempter accessable only after the PC has been to Vendigroth. That'll let the casual player beef-up some before heading into the Void.
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If you can't go through a problem, go over it, under it, or around it.

[Technomancer]

Ah that would work well i tended to use my fate points about then to do quests my charcter really had no bussiness doing thief quest as a half-oger for an example.

And i did fiqure out thorvald seems he is a tad more sensitive on the discusion flags then before seems he now has 3 where before he had one. and to boot im also to lowa level to aquire him oh well back up and do the ancient temple and kree and see if thats sufficent xp if not my support caster with lotsa followers will be forced to leave his butt to rot or wander around the wilderness

edit: well further wierdness the staff weilding barb in kree seems to have lost its KOS flag

[rroyo]

Found the barbarian and her KOS flag was not set.
Thanks!

BTW: I learned this was an original problem that got overlooked in the UAP bug-hunt.
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If you can't go through a problem, go over it, under it, or around it.

[Technomancer]

More bugs and iritateing things .

1. Thorvald no longer remains in your party long enougf for to drag him to bates. He now appears to depart if you go anywhere but the wheel clan after departing the isle of dispair. Not a big thing but a variant chunk of dialouge is now immpossable to see.
2. When you ask wrinko about tarant he says "I read everything could about it." Now im no english major but an "I" appears to be missing from that sentance.

Lastly another suggestion perhaps you could tinker with the level of some the stock followers. some of them are easily several level behind the pc at the first opportunity to recruit them. Warromon is the prime example being 20 at when your already at least 22 to aquire thorvald. he also timed near to perriman smyth who is 25. Weldo at the gate to the wastes is another 25 when your closer to 40s when you arrive. Im sure a few other tweaks would be nice to keep followers in line with character xp particualry in light of the alterations to total xp and needed xp.

[rroyo]

1) Noted. I'll check it out, but Drog may have had to straight-line him to the Wheel Clan to get his sector over-rides to work properly.

2) Line 245: Wow....! We're in Tarant! I've read everything could about this place. They've got factories, big ships, museums, and that thing they call a locomotive - [He breaks off wide-eyed] ...look at all these people....

I-i-i-i-im not seeing a missing letter here.

3) This is something I hadn't really thought about but it does make sense. However - it would be best if I waited until the end of the build to do any adjustments. That'll give me a better idea of how much is needed and where.
*makes note*
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[Technomancer]

I ment "I" as a word as in "I read everything I could about this place." vs "I read everthing could about this place." Proper syntax does help in the polish department.

[rroyo]

Ahh, hell! I must have read and re-read that line a hundred times without catching that goof.

Thanks for letting me know.

*makes appointment to get eyes checked*
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[Bloodhawk_77]

Hey rroyo.

i was wondering if you had a picture of the atlas with all the locations marked cause ive been playin AWIP for a while now and i still think im missing a few locations.

Thanks

[rroyo]

Welcome to the forum, Bloodhawk_77!

Sorry to say, but I never made one.
However, if you get Virgil or the Atlas of Arcanum (Tarant library) to mark all the new locations, you'll have everything I've added (and left in) displayed.
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[Bloodhawk_77]

Ok will do!
Thanks!

[Technomancer]

Further error reports

1. the window to the back room in the smith shop in myercona is unlocked.
2. Also in myercona back window to the magic shop is unlocked when the back door is.
3. The random dwarven villagers in the wheel clan are NOT affected by reaction raising events such as rescuing thorvald, killing the dread spider, and bringing back the king.

I did find some other stuff but ive forgotten what they where.

[rroyo]

Noted - and thanks!
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If you can't go through a problem, go over it, under it, or around it.