Dusty Dunes

When I looked through the files for Dusty Dunes I found a few quests which I hadn't completed / heard of in the game.
Has anyone fixed up the guy in the bar with the herbalist? If so, how?
What about getting the tree to grow?

There is also a quest to save a boy in the well but that is straightforward enough. You need to be dumb to get it.

 

Well, if you have seen the sapling and have an intelligence of twelve and two levels of persuasion you can talk Ban F'aar (the arrogant elf) into giving you his Elven Spring Water as you have "heard that elven spring water does miracles for plants". Of course, you could also just kill him to get it. However, I have no idea what to do with it. I tried using it on the sapling, using on the tree and dropping on and near the sapling, even drinking it, all to no avail. No idea if that's a bug or if I'm just doing it wrong.

For the other quest, I also had a look at the files, but understanding little of them, except that there should be a threeway conversation between Laela Morey, Stanford Lainson and Franklin Payne, but you probably knew that already (or at least suspected it after reading the newspaper's in the chest). Again, no idea how to initiate it. Their dialogues never seem to change.

 

From a brief look at the files, you need to drop the water on the ground near the tree. That should be it.

The script for the 3-way dialogue is 50 lines long so I couldn't be bothered wading through it. At a glance, I've no idea how the dialogue is initiated.

 

I tried dropping the water pretty much everywhere. Did you ever manage to pull it off?

EDIT:

OK, now I'm feeling stupid. First of all, on a positive note, I'm now quite certain that the sapling quest is not solvable in the module as it is, but it can be fixed easily enough. It's just a matter of attaching script 48 (00048_use_water.scr) to the use action of a useable item (preferably to Ban's bottle of Elven Spring Water for the dialouge to make sense) and then using (not dropping) that item on the sapling.

Having fixed that, I became confident about fixing the romance quest as well and I thought I managed to do it by modifying lines {6} and {7} in 00027_stanford.dlg which seemed to do the trick. Being proud of myself, I soon came to realise my stupidity, when I checked out the original version of the module, finding that that had always worked and I had just been too stupid to see it. Possible spoilers follow.

In fact, if you return to Stanford after having talked with Laela about her newspapers you will have an option of telling him and I just never saw it. Probably because it was the last one in the multiple choice menu and I subconciously skipped it because I was assuming that the last option is just a way of saying good-bye. D'oh! After that dialogue, Stanford will join you. Once you've picked up Franklin in the swamp, visiting Laela with both of them will trigger the three-way dialogue. There's still a minor bug with the quest not being marked as completed, but that too should also be easy enough to fix.

EDIT 2:

Now that's curious! Looks I'm not as blind and/or stupid as I thought. Appearantly my initial fix is indeed necessary and dialogues are cached differently from maps or something, so my modified dialogue file was used even when I tried out the original version of the module for comparison's sake (without restarting Arcanum in between, of course).

In detail, here are the changes I suggest, all of them in 00027_stanford.dlg:
1. replacing "qu 1003 4" with "qu 1003 2" (without quotes) in line {6}
2. replacing "qu 1003 4" with "qu 1003 2" (without quotes) in line {7}
3. replacing "lv" with "lv, qu 1003 4" (without quotes) in line {341}

 

I had a proper look and you are correct.
I thought that script 36 was to do with the water but it is actually to do with the 3-way conversation.
You have to use the water on one specific part of the withering tree (the small weed like part).

For the incorrect quest setting I would suggest a slightly different solution.
In script 30 change:
{6}{I talked to her, Stanford.}{}{5}{gf5 1, lf2 0, gf11 0, qu 1003 4}{133}{}
{7}{Laelieeee tok ta @pcname@, Stannie!!}{}{-4}{gf5 1, lf2 0, gf11 0, qu 1003 4}{133}{}
to
{6}{I talked to her, Stanford.}{}{5}{gf5 1, lf2 0, gf11 0, qu 1003 2}{133}{qu 1003 4}
{7}{Laelieeee tok ta @pcname@, Stannie!!}{}{-4}{gf5 1, lf2 0, gf11 0, qu 1003 2}{133}{qu 1003 4}

The quest is only to talk to her on his behalf so it should be complete when you let him know that you have done this.

Have you noticed how many unused files there are?
It would seem that the tree was supposed to display amusing messages and then give a blessing if you made it grow.

 

Good point about that quest, but that makes it look a bit cheap, so I think I'll leave it as it is in my version for now. BTW is anyone interested in a fixed .DAT file for Dusty Dunes?

About the unused files, yeah, I noticed. I never looked at any of the other modules, so I don't know if that's normal, but this one had a certain unfinished look to it and not just because two out of the four quests need to be fixed. Judging from the missing line numbers in 00007_dog.dlg and 00009_kid.dlg, it was probably intended to give non-stupid characters the option of figuring out what the dog wanted and saving the kid. I once was stupid enough to talk to the dog, but too smart to talk to the boy, having learned Healing Salve in the meantime which had required me to increase my intelligence. :/

It also looks like as if there was to be a way to somehow transform the entire dead tree, finding a mysterious statue and receiving a blessing from the swamp spirit, all of which could possibly be related to one another. And it looks like it's lacking polish overall, be it the ridiculously high requirement to get the Elven Spring Water (or even information about it) or the nude (albeit only briefly) shopkeeper at the very beginning. Of course, it was free, but it's certainly not the best of the free modules.

 

If your offer is still open, Anym, I would like one.

 

Yes and no. I still have the file and I'd be happy to send it to you, however, at the moment, I can't, because it's on a different computer to which I currently don't have access to because it's about 150 miles away and that won't change for a month or two. Somewhat ironically, that's only since today, so if you had posted yesterday, I could have sent you the file already. :???:

So, if you only want the file for completeness' sake and you're willing to wait some time, I can send it to you later this year (or rather upload it somewhere and send you the link), provided I haven't forgotten about it until then. However, if you wanted to play it now or just don't feel like waiting, then I suggest, you try to fix it yourself. It really isn't a big deal, even if you've never used the editor. It was the first time for me as well and all the changes are rather minor ones and documented in this thread. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. :thumbup:

 

I appreciate the quick come-back.

Since I have a rather full plate at the moment, I really can't afford to take on another project at this time. That's why I can wait until you get back to the other computer.

Hope to hear from you then.

 

OK, I'll try to keep it in mind. Fixing it really isn't much of a "project" though.

 

OK, if anyone's still reading this, here you go: http://upload2.net/page/download/6IgkAJ ... d.zip.html

Don't expect too much though.

 

Thank you!

 

Could you upload the file again please?

I have just recently played the game over again. It's nice to be back knowing there are already many things that were fixed. And the best part is that there is still a community that's here to work things out more better.

Thanks in advance.

 

There you are: http://www.mediafire.com/?ha2mzxoxele

Don't expect too much though.

 

Jolly good!


Cheers mate. Thanks a whole bunch!

 

I took a look at this module about 8 months ago. I initially tried to fix it as well, but I realized how many quests and scripts didn't just need a small fix, but were missing many key parts. If memory serves me right, there were a few attempts to implement the dead tree quest, so some of the scripts weren't intended to be used, as they were failures to accomplish the transformation. I believe that the mods released after Arcanum's launch were made by different people or groups, and were more of an amateurish effort, as some of the designers don't appear to be as familiar with scripting.

This mod could definitely still use a more comprehensive .patch file, especially if people are interested. I'm going to try to release my own mod in the next month, or I'd go back and take a more in-depth look. The thing is, the pieces aren't necessarily there to fix everything that's broken here, and it might need "new" content to fill in the gaps.

EDIT: didn't realize that this was a recent gravedig until after posted. Shame on you for bringing back an interesting topic that I actually wanted to post about!

 

I don't have a problem with gravedigging in cases like these.. I mean what's the big problem really?

Anyways I did not own dusty dunes yet so thanks!

 

team a, do you need some help with fixing those scripts?

 

nah, I can do it, but I'm not going to bother unless people need them. I think there are a lot of other problems with Dusty Dunes besides a few typos.

 

^I do. And I'm sure some people do too.

I mean, I'm trying to fix this is as well, but I'm only a week old in this modding business, so that can't do for now.

If you would, however, come up with a completely fixed module of Dusty Dunes, that would be good.