Crack to reveal all cities at the beginning?

Would it be at all possible to crack the Arcanum main module so that all of the major cities are available and that the gatekeepers at Quintarra and Tulla will let you pass from the beginning of the game (i.e. upon finding a map or something)? And perhaps that booking passage on a ship will take you to most important ports, including Thanatos, Isle of Despair and Half Ogre Island? I've been through the linear story twice now, and I just want to explore at random with a new character. There's stuff I haven't discovered yet, but going through the Black Mountain Mines et al again just seems tedious.

Please let me know if it's possible.
S

 

As far as I know there's no such crack. You could use cities coordinats but you would have to be wary because some Main Plot characters don't appear until you go to a certain place when you're supposed to and you can spoil everything when you get there earlier. For example if you go to Quintarra too soon you will not see elven princess nor will she appear later on.

 

Yeah, but I just want to go on a killing and looting spree. I'd especially (still) want to get into Tulla to get Spell College mastery without having to talk to Nasrudin first.

Arcanum's an incredible game and could have had an excellent run at it, except for two major things that hold it back from becoming legendary: 1) the main plot's too linear, and thwarts those of us who just want to explore or to mod within the existing continent, and 2) there's not a whole lot of product support -- either take down the barriers in the main plot, or cultivate some mods and the modding community. Troika doesn't seem to plan to do much of either, and it reminds me of Atari and the reason they went extinct, leaving a gap of almost a decade before it was viable to do console games again. The six (well, five, actually) mods that they created are only available at Game Spy, where you have to jump through several hoops for your download.

I'm not whining as much as I'm challenging someone at Troika to prove me wrong. What makes or breaks Arcanum is word-of-mouth, and these are two sure ways to get people excited about the game. And if someone knows how to crack the main plot to help address concern #1, I'm sure it would be quite welcome.

 

BTW, thanks for responding. I hadn't meant to vent at you.



And anyone know how to change or get rid of the dangly condom that appears under my name? :wink:

 

You have to spam err, that is post more. After 10 posts you should get the ugly club. Or was it 15? Anyway somewhere around 25 you'll get a knoife.

 

I do not know if there is a "crack" that allows you to visit all the locations, but there are other options.

Before continuing the main plot you can:
a) Visit Shrouded Hills
b) Visit Tarant
c) Visit Dernholm
d) Visit Ashbury
e) Stonecutter Clan

If you know where the northern mountain pass is (I forgot the name...not Gorgoth. The other) you can go to that location and then go to Quintarra. I am not sure if you are *allowed* into Quintarra....
Then go to the Wyvern Sighting Place (approaching from the north) and find the bridge to cross.
That last action should free up the access to:
e) Caladon
f) Roseburg (or whatever name it is)

Also, besides these locations, you can visit all the other places that hold treasure waiting for you to come:
1) ponds
2) camps
3) ruins
4) cathedrals
5) cold places

After you have visited all these places, go to Gorgoth Pass and open it up.

After you have done all this, you should be able to perform the "Arround Arcanum Tour" without any limitation.

If you still want to do more BEFORE following the main plot, you are playing the wrong game. Buy Ultima Online or something like that.

Have fun.

 

Funny you just mentioned Atari, since they had some mysterious part in NWN. And, although NWN is toted as such a big "mod" game, it really isn't. The toolset doesn't provide some rather important options, such as classes and feats. It's a crime not to let makers fully use the engine, if it's a game with moddable intent to begin with. I will not be mad at Hideo Kojima for not supporting MGS2 mods, since he obviously had no intent to do so. It's the half-assed mod support that gets on my nerves.

HOW THIS RELATES TO ARCANUM is that Arcanum also doesn't fully allow players to mod the engine via toolset. To make a total conversion one would generally have to hex edit and squint at lines upon lines of code, which doesn't support modmakers. They already have to create a world, best not to make it harder for them than it needs to be.

 

What/where and where does the Gorgoth Pass lead? I've clocked the game once and haven't seen it...

 

Gorgoth Pass is the connection point between Caladon and Blackroot by land.

It also contains the altar for the pagan god of neutrality (which is required for the ultimate blessing).

It also poses as a great opportunity to go up at least one level by just walking from the west end to the east end of the pass.