Arcanum:WIP 2.2 (Beta) Now Available

Alright, I'm terrible at photoshop but I think you should try and retain a certain style, aka: copy the same backgrounds, and have 19th century style portraits.



Once again, I can't really help you with this but I think you know what I'm trying to say. Maybe the whole community should get involved with their excellent photoshop skillz and make some portraits.

Edit: Just went to Brandybuck. Wow. It made me smile. Now, because you probably just want to hear complaints: Too many rocks of the same type as fencing. Try some other stuff. Also, same with potted plants. And if you have time, you should try and make some npcs with original dialogue. Just say, "haven't seen a visitor here in years!" or something of the sort. Also, maybe decrease the hue/saturation on the boots in the boot store. Look too bright. I'll look for some new music in case you care.

Double Edit: Have you looked at this! (Sorry, I'm excited.) Made by ben houge, same guy of arcanum. http://newspics.rpgdot.com/gallery/34/Music/arcanum_in_memoriam.mp3

Triple Edit: Wow, all of my save games just corrupted. :cry:

 

Glad to hear your initial reaction to Brandybuck. I tried to get the general feel of Hobbiton and the sound clip from "Concerning Hobbits" went a long way towards offsetting the limitations of the Arcanum artwork.

Sorry to hear about your saves. That always sucks.

Now then - The portraits: I've added tinkering with the pictures on the to-do list but it's near the bottom.

The fencing will have to remain as-is until I find suitable rock-wall artwork to replace the stock rocks. What you see is the best that could be done with what I had to work with. If it was in WorldEd, I tried it.
Could be worse - Troika would have used the ruins or dwarf walls and those were over the halflings' heads!

The secondary dialogs: Like I mentioned in the announcement, only the core things were finished in Brandybuck. The next release will have the general coversations, rumors, and maybe even a bit of run-a-round concerning the hobbit-hole purchase.
"Mr. Furbottom? I seen him heading towards the center of town just a bit ago. If you hurry, you might catch him."

I noticed about the boots. Now that I'm using flat-screen monitor while building and testing the hack, I'm afraid you're right.
Item 101 on the glitch list.

Hold up on the new music. MP3s take up way too much space, which is why I scavanged that sound clip from my LOTR porn collection for use at Brandybuck instead of the full song. I'm going to continue using the stock music everywhere I can but violin music just didn't seem right with Arcanum's "Hobbiton" .

Finally: Thanks for letting us know about Houge's piece!

 

Well, I'm enjoying it so far. I'm playing an idiot savant orc, aptly named after a co-worker. I have noticed that alot of options in the "dumb dialog" are dead ends. Having never before role played a raving idiot, I don't know if these are effects from the mod or the game. Mr. Toone just calls me an idiot and won't talk to me, Jongle allowed me to do the first quest, then wouldn't say anything other than training option or goodbye. Are a lot of the stock quests just not available to drooling characters?

Edit: Additionally, this applies to Faithe in SH. I came back when I had enough CH to add a party member.... the conversation just looped from:

"Hey Faithe, I talk to you?"
"Me ask more?"

Seems like there is a line loop (at line 38 it is missing something from the previous conversation and reverting to a default idiot dialog... I cannot find "Me ask more?" in Faithe's dialog) with nothing but a goodbye for an alternative. Suggestions on another tech (new)follower for a high-tech moron?

 

No conflict? No. As soon as I leveled up, my game started glitching to hell and back. I got a black screen with Tarant's music playing, and I couldn't move or see at all. I (quick) saved and quit, then started up again and saw everything was where it should be. After leveling up a second time the same thing happened, so I figured I'd just leave it go and put the leveling scheme back to normal. So much for my bright ideas...

 

Tekkus: I've never played very far as an idiot - just enough to check a bit of dialog in a new area - so I'm not sure why you're having no luck with Toone or Jongle, but I didn't do anything with them.
In fact, Althea and Faithe has the only dialogs in Shrouded Hills I did anything with.

I'm sorry to say but Faithe is the only new tech follower at the moment, and it seems I missed a spot with the debug.

Gross: Oh, man! That's a lot worse than what I'd encountered.
Thanks for letting us know just how bad it could get.

 

I can't seem to find this wooden chest. anyone can post a screenie? I cant tell if im blind or i just installed everything incorrectly. .

 

Welcome to the forum, haildwx!

Something went wrong on the install. In the stock game there is a wine bottle behind your PC. I set the chest right beside the bottle.

Just to be sure: (from the !!ReadMe!!)

The Arcanum5.DAT goes into the Sierra/Arcanum folder while the Arcanum.PATCH1 goes to the Sierra/Arcanum/modules folder.

You do have the DATs in the correct places, right?

Edit: Here's the screen-shot:
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o314/rroyo/Arcanum/Start.jpg

 

Hello! Thank you so much for replying to my inquiry. Yes, I am new to this forums, however, I've been an avid fan of the arcanum game years ago. Much to my excitement the game has become a bit of an opensource. This could really pave way for something great.

Okay I found the problem, its merely directory as you suspected. However, its the arcanum_en_1074 patch files that i have misplaced. So i guess i wont be too eager to play this game because i tend to be a nuisance here with my cattered brainess.

btw sorry i edited a few times. this is so that i wont flood the forums with rubbish.

 

Hey Spiffy! Is this how you're installing Arcanum?
He has the same problem you do, haildwx.

 

Again i like to openly express my gratitude. Anyways, since people here are suggesting things can i trouble you for some feedback:

About the custom backgrounds, I find it a little too quirky than usual. It would be nice if we sticked to a more serious tone with just "hints" of humor. So re-doing the existing custom backgrounds at least in description is a big plus.

And yes, I would have to agree on sticking to 19th century painting looking avatars. Having baldur's gate pictures kinda mess-up the essence of arcanum in terms of feel and texture. I'm being too oc i guess but i see great potential for this one. And im taking this opportunity to say whatever i think would make arcanum again prosper.

Anyways, I know this sounds a bit going too far considerting i just joined you guys today. but since you are here to nourish arcanum's content, can i offer some of my ideas as well?

I've been dreaming of playing some characters:
I have a bounty hunter, pirate, renaissance man, prophet, even a boxing champ and some more in mind.

 

Ok, ok, ok.... I'll pull most of the new avatars.

One of the nice things about this game is you can play as just about anything you want to.

Edit: Before anyone says anything, I neglected to delete a cheat-chest in Brandybuck. *kicks self again*

 

Bounty Hunter. Hmm, I'd go for a technological guy who's in the boil. Very intelligent, and not too reliant on weapons.Perhaps a mod to add some quests in Tarant or something.

Pirate. Simple, rapier, revolver, gambler, and a boat.

Renaissance Man. That's a bit tricky. I don't know exactly how that would work.

Prophet. Massive charisma/persuasion, and a large group of followers. A few magical spells in there such as heal, dominate will, etc...

Boxing Champ. Very strong ogre, with possible brain damage. Probably a small amount of beauty but maybe a +20 reaction for his fame.

Hmm, maybe you should add more character backgrounds...

 

Some more feedback:

(1)When you let your half-ogre wear a Large Machine Plate. It doesnt quite reflect on the sprite. Has this been the same problem with the original game?


(2) And I kinda agree on enriching the existing quests/plots. Having multiple ends work as well depending on class or gender.

 

I've noticed that every now and then... the healing salves just quit working. They will cast, but no animation or heal. I'm a tech character. Same deal for followers. They run up to me and quickly burn through healing salves that don't work.

Edit: It's only with Faithe in the party that this happens... I load her up with healing salves... she works fine for a bit, then stops. When I zone out of a dungeon or change map, the heals catch up and start working again until they quit. Odd.

Rechecked again. Has only happened so far in Tarant sewers (harbor entrance) and only in TURN based play. Exiting turn based seems to fix it as does zoning out.

 

HurricaneAK: As tempting as it is, I have no plans to add more backgrounds.
Maybe towards the end of the build I'll reconsider.

haildwx: 1) The machined plate on half-ogres has always been that way.

2) More side quests for the existing cities are planned, but I'll need to do some actual playing and research to learn which existing ones could use expanding.
I know that somewhere along the way I'll be adding new endings for the Half Ogre Quest, so that's one right there.

Tekkus: I'll have to check this out. Of course, just about all I've been doing for the past year is power-play testing (maxed-out everything), and so I never really knew what would happen during a nornal game.

One thing though, Faithe does better with a regenerative jacket and Chapeau than any similar magic item. The gunfighter/doctor scheme makes her a bit tech-oriented. Maybe that's where the problem lies.

I'll start a normal play-through today.

Edit: Read your update about the sewers and I'm heading for Tarant after dinner.

 

Tekkus, I can't get your heal potion problem to happen. I've tried six times, the last two was just my PC and her, and on the last one, I even removed her armor.
Not a problem. I suspect a minor glitch on your end, and let's hope it's the worst one you encounter.

BTW: Wrinko and Schratt are missing female PC responses. *kicks self*

Edit: Add Peri Took to the list.... *kicks self again - HARDER!*

 

Hi there, yes expanding the existing quests are indeed good.

:lol: Request for lenghtier plots for Underground Thieves. . .hehe

 

More ideas/questions, with corresponding pictures.

1) Put a building or two here? Maybe not.
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h9/HurricaneAK/arcanum2.jpg
2) Throw in a few interesting features on this boring road in Blackroot.
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h9/HurricaneAK/arcanum3blackroot.jpg
3) How about make that road to the wood piles a bit more interesting/scenic?
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h9/HurricaneAK/arcanum4shroudedboring.jpg
4) The Black _________. A glitch?
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h9/HurricaneAK/arcanum5theblackwtf.jpg
5) Way, too easy to kill these people in an early level. Backstory even? For the amount of money and the fancy pistol, it should be harder. Also note that you need to put one of those impassable tiles on the hatch.
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h9/HurricaneAK/arcanum6z.jpg
6) I think you should lock the door and place a person inside. Also, it's a bit nice for the Boil isn't it?
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h9/HurricaneAK/arcanum7pleaselockthedoorkthx.jpg
7) Whoah, I'm walking on the roof. More impassable tiles please.
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h9/HurricaneAK/arcanum8wtfhouse.jpg
8) See 7.
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h9/HurricaneAK/arcanum9yougetthepoint.jpg
9) 24000 dollars in the house! :/
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h9/HurricaneAK/arcanum10whoah.jpg
10) They...they're not really going anywhere.
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h9/HurricaneAK/arcanum11ohgodendlessloop.jpg
11) That field is kind of a dead end. Maybe a passageway?
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h9/HurricaneAK/arcanum12anexitwouldbeawesome.jpg
12) Just asking. Isn't it a bit far to paddle to Cattan?
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h9/HurricaneAK/arcanum13cattanboatissue.jpg
13) This is getting ridiculously petty, sorry. How about a boat in Dernholm? Your own boat? Same with Cattan.
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h9/HurricaneAK/arcanum14dernholmboatperhaps.jpg
14) Maybe you should throw in an abandoned shack or two in the middle of the wilderness, with an interesting journal, and kind of some rpg-esque elements?
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h9/HurricaneAK/arcanum15howboutsomestuffhere.jpg
15) Yeah, I found the orcs and the Molochian Hand WAY too easy. I could kill the Molochian easily at level six, thus giving me ridiculous weapons.
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h9/HurricaneAK/arcanum16tooeasy.jpg

Edit: Number 10 is upside down. Sorry!

 

AAARRGH, use "direct link", it takes ages to load them


1) IIRC that 2 building were there already
4) Probably
6) That's a special place, it's good as it is.
9) So?
12) You're fastidious.
13) It's DERNHOLM.

 

I was kind of thinking of your OWN ship, when you actually get it. That's probably a stupid idea though. Don't quote me on that.