Arcanum:WIP2 (Beta) Now Available.

Edit: 10/28/07: The download link below is dead. Between human and software errors the mod was almost unusable. An updated version is now available. See the Arcanum:WIP 2.2 (Beta) Now Available thread. Thank you.

Presented for your game-playing enjoyment is the updated (and debugged - I hope) version of my creation which is being hosted right here at HoL in the Downloads Section under the name of Arcanum Work in Progress, BETA 2. (Link further down)

For those who are new to the forum, in June I made an unplanned (and problematic) release of an expansion pack I am creating for the stock game. This is not a revision like Car-Arcanum, but an attempt to add more adventures and solve a few problems in the process.

Although still far from finished, this mod is fully playable and contains just about every known bug, dialog, and teleport fix, many of the common hacks, the Cargo Hold addition, new schematics, portraits, scenery, and a combined total of seventeen new areas to explore and conquer.

Updates include:
Added all the bug fixes needed for the A:WIP (1) release.
Added the backgrounds hack.
Added a new start-up splash.
Four new adventures - Bear Trap, Spider Cave, Acererak's Tomb, and The Halfling Merchant Rescue.
The Halfling village of Brandybuck, including eleven new buildings. Four hobbit-holes, a smithy shed, a village market, four thatched-roof cabins and a halfling-sized log cabin.
A new merchant class - Fletcher. (Bows & Arrows)
One new Halfling follower - Wrinko Minna. (Bow, prowling, lock pick).
Weldo Rubin now has a melee/thief leveling scheme. (Bow, prowling, lock pick).
Franklin Payne's strength boosted to 18. (Minimum needed for his elephant gun)
Althea, the Shrouded Hills librarian, now has her own (initial) dialog.
“The Atlas of Arcanum” – A list of all places in the game – has been moved to the Tarant Library.

Known problems:
The unpacked files make for slow game start and shutdown. 1 to 3 minutes depending on CPU speed.
This mod still has unfinished scenes. Leahbo, in particular.
This mod is not compatible with the Dark Magic hack. Most of the rest are already in here. I recommend not adding any.
Acererak's Tomb: One concealed passage possibly too well hidden. Feedback needed!
Spider Cave: Cobwebs frequently conceal NPCs. Live with it, folks.
Wrinko Minna: Not full game tested.
Weldo Rubin: Leveling scheme not full game tested.
Franklin Payne: New strength not full game tested.
Althea: Still has no "After Void" dialog.
Brandybuck residents at night: Can be seen walking onto, then disappearing behind their homes.
Brandybuck in general: Only the core items - merchants, follower, hobbit-hole purchase, and side quest - are done. No secondary dialogs or rumors yet.

If this is of interest to you, then you will need:
1) A fresh, clean copy of Arcanum
2) The Arcanum_EN_1.0.7.4 patch
3) The AWIP2.exe
Available here: http://www.terra-arcanum.com/downloads/arcanum/rroyo/AWIP2.exe

Directions:
Install Arcanum and patch.
Download the AWIP2.exe directly into your Sierra/Arcanum folder.
Double-click on the AWIP2.exe to extract the two folders within.
Move the Arcanum.patch1 folder to your Sierra/Arcanum/modules folder.
Start a new game.

Note: A:WIP1 players can simply delete or rename their existing Arcanum5.dat and Arcanum.patch1 files prior to installing this update.
Expect your saved games to be unusable!

Edit: I renamed Virgil's script so the game would play normally. If anyone wants all the locations visable, go to the Arcanum5.dat/dlg folder and find the x01324Virgil.dlg and rename it by removing the X. Start a new game.

The first clue for a successful install would be behind your PC at the crash site.
There will be 2 wine bottles just behind and to the right.

Special thanks to Mathboy and the Administrators of The House of Lords for graciously hosting this unfinished expansion pack; to everyone willing to voice an opinion about the first release; and to Arkas for all his scripting help and suffering through all my "I just remembered....!"
e-mails.

For any comments, questions, criticisms, praise, or death-threats, I can be reached here at Terra-Arcanum.

Enjoy!

 

Hey rroyo - thank you for all of your effort in Arcanum:WIP!

I've downloaded and run it, but I think I may have a problem. I followed your instructions (moving the patch folder, etc.).

When the game starts I am at the crash site. There is no Virgil. When I go to the World Map, there is no location but the crash site. No shrouded hills - nothing. I thought I read in the previous WIP version that all of your locations were automatically shown on the map and we would have to do something special to get them NOT to show.

Does this sound like a correct startup? Do you have a suggestion on where I should go in-game to see if everything is working?

 

You have a problem, I'm afraid.
Is this a fresh Arcanum install or are you replacing the files from A:WIP1?

If this is fresh, you have a glitch and need to start over.
If this is a replace, this should not be happening. I tested the replace twice on two machines just to make sure it would work.
Let me know which way you went here - I'll see if I can replicate the problem - and find a solution.

Virgil is still at the crash site, but I did rename his modified script for the game to play normally. I suppose I should have mentioned that before.

If anyone wants all the locations visable, go to the Arcanum5.dat/dlg folder and find the x01324Virgil.dlg and rename it by removing the X. Start a new game.

The first clue for a successful install would be behind your PC at the crash site.
There will be 2 wine bottles just behind and to the right.

 

I am replacing A:WIP1, but I don't think that one worked originally either. I didn't bother with it since I knew you were releasing this one so soon.

I've deleted the Arcanum5.dat and Patch folders. I would like to start from scratch.

I have the AWIP2.exe file (77,035 kb). How do you recommend I proceed?

 

Since you mention the first one didn't work, my recomendation would be to move the AWIP2.exe to a safe place, then completely uninstall Arcanum.
Reinstall, patch with the 1074 patch, and then add the AWIP2.
Look for the two wine bottles at the crash site for your indicator of a successful install.

I've got Arcanum on 3 machines now, and only once did I have any kind of trouble. That was a crash-to-desktop upon exiting the game.

 

I've uninstalled Arcanum and deleted all WIP files (except AWIP2.exe).

Then I reinstalled Arcanum and ran the patch (arcanum_en_1074.exe) downloaded from this site.

Next I ran AWIP2.exe

Finally, I moved the Patch folder into the Modules folder and ran Arcanum.

Experienced the same problem as before. No Virgil, and no wine bottles.


Here are my system specs:
Celeron CPU 2.4 GHz
1 GB RAM
GeForce4 MX 4000 - 64 Mb Video Card
Sound Blaster Live! Sound Card
Windows XP Service Pack 2

Any ideas? Anyone else experiencing similar difficulties?

 

Just as a test, rename the Arcanum5.dat and the Arcanum.patch1 with an X or similar in front of the name.
Then go to the Sierra/Arcanum/modules/Arcanum/maps folder. You'll find about 85 or so oddly named files there with no file extention. Select and delete them all.

Now start the game and see if it will run normally.

 

Instead of deleting the files, I cut and pasted the 'maps' folder to a different hard drive.

I then renamed both folders (Arcanum5.dat and the Arcanum.patch1) with an X in front.

When I tried to run the game, it froze on the load screen. When I checked the directory after ending the game with Task Manager, a maps folder had been created with the following file: 1zjcnpgN

Does this tell you anything?

 

Ok.... It sounds like the game engine tried to recreate the folder - but just couldn't do it all the way.

Delete that one file inside the maps folder and try again.
Do not delete or move the new maps folder!

 

I've done as you requested. The maps folder was left as-is. Everything inside was removed.

Ran the game and it froze on loading again.

Upon inspection, these files were in the 'maps' folder:
1zjcnpgN
qrmvs-420-1zjcnpgN


Is the game supposed to load even without all of the 'maps' files? What are you looking for this to tell you?

 

ATTENTION PLEASE!
Is anyone else having a problem getting this release to run?
Please let me know if you are. Thanks!

Quaid: Empting the maps folder resets the list of what's supposed to be in the game.
As the game loads, it creates new files that tells the game engine that "this" is supposed to be "there".

All right - There's one last thing I can think of - A bad Arcanum install.

Check your disks for scratches, fingerprints, or anything else that might interfere with the installation.
Clean the disks - Carefully! - or have them buffed if need be and then re-install the game and start it up.

If that works, then empty the Sierra/Arcanum/modules/Arcanum/maps folder, restore the names of the Arcanum5.dat and Arcanum.patch1 folders, and start the game again.

 

Okay. I can do this. But I am still slightly confused.

My game works just fine without A:WIP2 or the moving of these files.

How could it be a bad Arcanum install?

 

This is what led me to think you had a bad install.

You'd disabled the add-ons and emptied the maps folder but it still didn't start.

I'll have to admit, I have no idea why you're having this problem.

Someone else want to jump in on this?

 

rroyo, while I'm specifically interested in what prototypes (if any) have been modified, I'd love to see the full list of changes from 1.0.7.4 to WIP2 (if it exists... *fingers crossed*)

I'm also wondering if you're interested in fixing item's graphical glitches, like the officer's jacket being the (mystic? magickal?) leather graphic instead of what was originally intended, venom shielded garments, etc.?

 

Well - I'm afraid you might as well uncross your fingers. The list of changes is spread out over somewhere around fifty pages of notebook paper - and it's actually incomplete. There's been numerous small things, like the Shrouded Hills graveyard that didn't get wrote down.

As for the prototypes - I just found something odd. In November 2006, I added Krupps AIO fix and all the modified prototypes - but when I looked inside the proto file of AWIP this morning, all that's left is four!
006066 (rusty axe), 10077 (Anti-gravity bread), 015099 (chest of gold), and 015134 (dynamite).
Here's the kicker - the chest of gold and the dynamite is not in the AIO fix!
(The anti-gravity bread was added separately.)

A check on a December save (just some odd files actually) shows all the protos still in place. By the end of January they were gone. I haven't had a reason to look in that file, so I didn't know.

Changing some of the graphics - perhaps later.
Right now I've got something more important to worry about.
I have a horrible feeling that the build computer is screwing up the saves.

 

Arcanum5.dat/
Arcanum.PATCH1/


Shouldn't it be

Arcanum5.dat/
modules/Arcanum.PATCH1/

?


Edit: D'oh, yes. I see it in the original post.

 

sounds good

Man this sounds awesome. Just one question: will this be able to support multiplayer since it is a mod?

Man, I would have loved to play arcanum all the way through on LAN.

 

Truthfully, I have no idea if this would work on multiplayer.
If you can do so, try it and let us know.

 

I'm glad that you took my map idea!

Dude, you are fucking awesome... I LOVE your new backgrounds. The only one I find a bit overpowered is the Negotiator. Also, there are quite a few grammical and spelling mistakes, just to let you know

It isn't working for me . When I start I don't see 2 wine bottles near me :/
I'm pretty sure I followed your directions correctly. I downloaded it, extracted it to the arcanum folder, and put the PATCH1 folder into the modules folder - and it still doesn't work

What's wrong?

 

You're welcome.
Setting it up to play normally sounded like a good idea, so that's how I went.

Also - Last night, I finished proofing the backgrounds, so that'll read a bit better.

For your install problems - It sounds like the Arcanum.exe isn't wanting to read the new additions.

Here's an idea: Temporarily relocate the new folders then run the Arcanum install as a repair. Move the new folders back and see if that has done the trick.

The alternative seems to be a complete re-install.

I'll probably think of a third way once I get a pot of coffee in me.