A:WIP Players Feedback NEEDED!

Today I just discovered something wrong with my creation and I'm REALLY! in need of some feedback from those of you who have been playing A:WIP.

What I need to know - even from you lurkers! Come on - is there any odd problems you've encountered with the weapons in particular as well as anything else.

Do swords, axes, and firearms do much less (or more) damage than they should?
Does the game try to stall when you traverse an area? (Tarant entry not included)
Have you seen any areas where the scenery looks blurred or digitized?
Have you encountered people or items with a really odd name; ex: a chest being named King?

Please - search your memory, replay a scene if need be, and get back to me.

Thanks in advance.

 

Huhu rroyo!

I´m afraid I cannot give much of a feedback, anyhow I am delurking myself today, so hello to all. :wavey:
I installed your mod and everything worked fine, so I didn´t discover any problems like Quaid did. Maybe his download is broken so he has to download it a second time?

Anyhow, my poorly feedback, here you go:
I found the two winebottles, than headed over to shrouded hills and explored the new temple. Wow, awesome work! There were just too many strong magical items this early in the game for my taste.
That's fairly all I can think of now, unfortunately I am not going to play the mod for the next weeks(?), because I just finished a game for my very first time a few days ago so I´d like to let some time pass before. Just proofed if it is working at all.

Regardless of this I have still some questions I would like to ask you.
Did you include the 127 level hack? I know that this hack isn`t working for the german version, but I do not know if it could mess up the game in any way. So could I expect problems with the german version or is it just not possible to reach levels beyond 50 (which would not be a problem for me)?
Will you include Krupps weapon modification in a further version respectively could one add the hack to your mod without causing problems?
As I don´t like Chris Beddoes new schematics (multiply arrows with a ruby and such), can I just get rid of them by editing mes files or is it more complicate than that?


Hmm, that´s all I think, so I wish you all the best for your mod and good luck and I hope that I can give you more of a feedback in the future.

 

Welcome to the forum, figorian! And thanks for answering this.
Nice to hear that it's working right for someone.

OK - To answer your questions -

Yes, I did include the level 127 hack. But, are you trying to use my mod with the German version of the game? I built this with the English version, so I have no idea how the hack will work with the other languages.
The best I can say is: Try it and find out. Let me know if it does or doesn't work.

The Krupps AIO fix was added but somehow, some way, the prototype files got deleted. I know I didn't delete them so that's why I started this thread. To see if anyone is having weird problems. When I finish going back through everything, looking for other changes, I'll re-install the AIO and keep an eye on those folders.
For now, just play it as-is. I couldn't tell you what to expect if you add the AIO.

Edit: Right-click on the Arcanum5.dat/proto folder and choose Properties from the menu. Select Read-Only at the bottom and exit. Now, it should (fingers crossed) be safe to add the protos from Krupp's AIO into the folder. Everything else seems to still be in place.

I see you found the schematic files. Don't worry. Although I did copy Chris' files for my use, the vast majority of his new ones are just there as placeholders for any I create.
ie: Create Sheetmetal used to be Create Rough-Cut Diamond (I think....)

From 5450 (Replicate Rubies) to 5540 (Create Kathorn) and from 5560 (Replicate Arrows) to 5580 (Replicate Rags) is not being used. If you really want to, those and the matching numbers in Schematic_Text.mes can be safely deleted.

I look forward to hearing from you again.

 

I downloaded it, and looked through it a bit. I noticed that you included the backgrounds mod... and the portraits mod as well, unfortunately. My main nitpick with the backgrounds mod has always been the almost universally atrocious spelling and unArcanumish wording of the new backgrounds. A few don't exactly feel balanced, either. As for the portraits, they quite simply do not match the style of Arcanum well enough for my tastes. Both are immersion-breakers, IMO.

As to the prototypes problems you've been having... how many are supposed to be in the WIP2.exe that I downloaded? There are only four -- same ones mentioned in the other thread.

On a possibly related note: when I was fixing the graphic for the officer's uniform proto the game automatically "regenerated" it. I re-fixed the proto, set the folder to read only before running Arcanum, and it worked in game without being overwritten. Not sure if this is related to the same problem you've been having, but you might want to try that.

One last thing I'll try to cram into this post before I go to sleep: it's not strictly necessary to delete and reinstall Arcanum; you may want to write a small tutorial on how to take your existing installation and duplicate it for testing purposes. I've already duplicated my installation (NTFS hardlinks FTW). I'll write the tutorial myself if you don't know what it involves (benefits primarily include saving yourself several GB of HDD space, and waiting for your comptuer to copy all that crap).

 

You're the second one to grumble about the new portraits.
Maybe I should rethink those.
Unfortunately, usable Arcanum-style ones are a bitch and a half to find.

As for the wording and punctuation on the backgrounds hack - whenever I need an easy way to kill a few minutes, I've been going through them and cleaning it up. Literally - I started at the bottom.
The rest of it I'll leave as-is because there are people who like the benefits or challenges presented.

The protos: There's supposed to be a total of 45.

And! I tried your idea on the protos - It works!!!!
A test run with the Krupps protos reloaded in the generic folder resulted in them being deleted. Then I reloaded, set the read-only, and tried again.
Not a problem. I will be keeping a close eye on it though as I'm still wondering why the chest of gold and dynamite were created in there.

Thanks a million for this. You just saved me a boatload of eyestrain. I was bracing myself to do a side-by-side comparison of everything to see what else had been changed.

Finally - The duplication of the game. I've done it several times now.

Same drive: Create a new folder with a modified name, then copy everything inside the main Arcanum folder to the new folder.
Different drive: Select the entire game folder, copy, then paste.
Different computer: There's where the 6 gig or larger flash drives rule.
Plan A: Copy the game onto one, and you can upload it into any computer that will recognize the flash drive.
Plan B is physically moving a slave drive from one machine to another. Still not too big of a deal.
Note: Don't forget to enable (register?) the dll and ocx files needed to run the game!

Copying takes a while, so go walk the dog, fix yourself a bite to eat, do the dishes, and by then it should be done. I'm joking but it does take several minutes even on a fast computer.

 

Opening the self-extractor in WinRAR shows they simply aren't there. Urk. I'm sure people don't wanna download ~70MB again just for the protos (nor, I suspect, do you want to waste time uploading all that again until AWIP reaches v0.3). I know at the very least I don't. No chance on a separate download for the protos, is there?

I know that all too well. My current computer is a beast, dual core, 8800 GTX, SATA, etc... and it still takes forever copy large files. (On a slightly amusing note... why the hell did I buy such a powerful computer since all I've been playing is Fallout and Arcanum? Why? WHY?! *kicks self*)

Since I'm used to a considerably smaller HDD than I currently have, I got into the good habit of using NTFS hardlinks for multiple installations of games I mod. While it has the benefit of saving space, it also takes literally no time whatsoever to duplicate installations past writing the initial batch file.

Code:

d:
cd\Progra~1\Sierra
md "Arcanum TEST"
cd "Arcanum TEST"
fsutil hardlink create arcanum1.dat ..\Arcanum\arcanum1.dat
fsutil hardlink create arcanum2.dat ..\Arcanum\arcanum2.dat
fsutil hardlink create arcanum3.dat ..\Arcanum\arcanum3.dat
fsutil hardlink create arcanum4.dat ..\Arcanum\arcanum4.dat
md modules
cd modules
fsutil hardlink create arcanum.dat ..\..\Arcanum\modules\Arcanum.dat

...then just copied the smaller files from D:\Progra~1\Sierra\Arcanum to Arcanum TEST. Just copy 'n' paste all that into a .bat file and replace "d:", "Progra~1\Sierra" and "\Arcanum" with the correct bits.

 

rroyo, isn't it possible to just pack all the stupid files into a .dat ?

 

xoid: The current release seems to be playing alright without protos, so until I hear otherwise, I'll wait until the next release to include them.

Now.... Having said that......
This really needs a lot of testing before I can say here's the fix, but if you're wanting to add the Krupp's AIO protos - start by downloading this:
http://www.terra-arcanum.com/downloads/arcanum/doa/krupp_aio_arcanumhackv1.zip

Then right-click on the Arcanum5.dat/proto folder and choose Properties from the menu. Select Read-Only at the bottom and exit. Now, it should (fingers crossed) be safe to add the protos from Krupp's AIO into the folder. Everything else seems to still be in place.

When the download is finished, unpack the zip and open the Data/proto folder. Select and copy all the proto files there. Paste these into the Arcanum5.dat/proto folder.

Although my test save had no trouble playing, you may have to start a new game.

It's your choice. Leave well enough alone, or make a grab for it all.

Frigo: Being a main-game modification instead of a stand-alone mod necesitates the need for two DATs. The main map is being used for this expansion and I remember reading that it takes like 20 minutes an "Arcanum mod" to load. I wouldn't want to wait that long.

As for compressing the folders into DATs before posting, yes.
But I've chosen to leave them unpacked to aid in bug-fixes.

 

That didn't work. I think that the protos in Arcanum/data/proto are taking precedence over those in Arcanum/modules/Arcanum5.dat/proto.


Apples in Panarii Temple Basement, Shrouded Hills: surrounded by a noticeable solid red outline in the inventory screen.

00005Althea.dlg - some of her responses lack text for female PCs, some minor text-formatting errors (e.g., superfluous space at the start of a [ description] -- like that, no full stops at the end of [ descriptions] either, for that matter... breaking with the style that Troika used. (Extreme nitpicking... Xoid style. Feel free to lynch me at your earliest convenience.)
00026RobotSlave.dlg - some of its responses lack text for female PCs.
30581Frigo.dlg - no float text when you initiate combat with him?
...can't be bothered looking through anything more right now.

semi off-topic: It just occured to me: technically, shouldn't the new .dlg files be in the Arcanum.PATCH1 folder? I'm asking this because I'm unsure as to what order files are read. My best guess would be:

1. Datted .dat
2. undatted .dat
3. /data/
4. /modules/%modulename%/

...which would mean that having them where they currently are is fine.

 

rroyo, could we get the newest version with all things packed in it, in a nice .dat ? (Should give a try any of the .dat solutions, it isn't healthy to have 50 000 files unpacked)

 

xoid: Sounds like I have some work to do.
Those protos are going to drive me nuts.

Edit: Would someone go to the store then tell me what a loaf of bread weighs?

The dialogs I'll look into.
Althea's is incomplete, I know, and I missed the float for Frigo. The slave one isn't being used at the moment.

Quote: Apples in Panarii Temple Basement, Shrouded Hills: surrounded by a noticeable solid red outline in the inventory screen.

I don't get the red outline. That's one reason I used them.
Anyone else seeing this?

The dialog files are in the right folder.

Frigo: I'll think about it.

 

I need to know if the proto for the anti-gravity bread is being used or not.

 

I think the bread is supposed to weigh 3 stone.

 

Normal game - 3 stone sounds right. But what I need to know is:

 

Ah. The anti-gravity bread, as TONGS had made it, is supposed to weigh -10,000 stone.

That's the one I saw in your game, though it may be because I put it in there as a precaution.

 

Screw it. I'll just assume the worst.

 

I'm doing a play-through now to see how many bugs I've introduced and spotted something.

Has anyone had the Malochean Cloaked Figure remain standing after you kill him?

For that matter - any NPCs who refuse to fall after death.

 

Nothing like that, but I've had Molochean Hand assassins stop fighting me after I kill their leader (not the one in the village of dark elves, just the leader of the group that attacked me), and they've gone from "Hate" to "Courteous".

 

Do you have anything tied to their 'dying' script location? I found some issues that I cleared up in Doomsday before release where they would die but just wouldn't go down!

 

I haven't tied anthing to them except the Molochean hack.

Today's the first time any of the hand has done that, and now I've seen it 3 times in about 20 encounters.
This includes all the other times I've played a full game.
I've used the hack in both the straight game and Car-Arcanum without any problem.

I just did a "side by side" comparison of the scripting (used and new) and I can't see where anything has been changed.

Weird...

Edit: It just got weirder.
Check this happy horseshit out! (Behind the tree)


After I posted this message I returned to the game to hunt out some more of the Hand and this happened twice in a row.