Arcanum: Work in Progress now available

Edit 10/28/07 - The download links mentioned in this thread are now dead. See the Arcanum:WIP2.2 (Beta) Now Available thread in this section. Enjoy the read though!

Long story short - I've just zipped and uploaded this thing I'm working on for a relative to play around with and it occures to me there might be one or two others around here who wouldn't mind playing in a construction site.

Although this is unpacked, it is still fully playable - with pluses and minuses. ie: It is a (very) Beta expansion pack for the stock game.

On the plus side, this hack contains just about every known bug, teleport, and dialog fix; most of the available hacks including the now-mandatory cargo hold; several new locations to explore; safe access to and from the Island of Cattan; new mountain trails to conquer; as well as expanded versions of The Uncharted Cave, The Iron Clan, and The Shrouded Hills Temple.

On the minus side, the unpacked folders makes for slow game start and shutdown - 1 to 3 minutes depending on CPU speed.
All of the cheats I'm using for the build are still present. They're there if you wish to use them.
Unfinished scenes. You will come across several areas where I have yet to complete, repair, or remove that particular scene. Starting in Shrouded Hills. WIP.
All the locations - original, added, and to be added are visable. There's an easy way to fix this. Details further down.

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) a newer version of Winzip

Here's the download link: (approx 82 mb)
http://rapidshare.com/files/43516542/Arcanum-WIP.zip

Install Arcanum and patch. Download the ZIP file into your Sierra/Arcanum folder. Unpack. Move the Arcanum.patch1 folder into the Sierra/Arcanum/modules folder. Start a new game. It's that simple.

Optional: About all the marked areas - If having every place marked from the very beginning bothers you, the go to the Sierra/Arcanum/Arcanum5.dat/dlg folder and locate the 01324Virgil file. Rename it to X01324Virgil before you start the game.

Warning!: This has not been tested on the unpatched version of the game and do not attempt to use with any other hack or cheat. Chances are, what you're looking for is already in here.

Edit: I've uploaded this to a more secure area. This mod will remain available for as long as I maintain an account.
Also: There is a potential problem in the Iron Clan - on page 2 of this thread is a fix and installation instructions.

Edit2: The Orc Bandit Hack that was included is just a little too much at the higher levels. On page 2 is a fix for that.

Edit3 - 8/17/07: A problem has been found with map-marking one of the new locations. Near the bottom of page 2 is a fix for that.

Edit4 - 8/18/07: The arrival point at Cattan wasn't being marked on the map. A fix for this is on page 3.

Edit5 - 8/23/07: A problem was found with Faithe Tobor's joining dialog. On page five is the corrected script.

For any questions, comments, criticizims, lavish praise, or cash donations, I can be reached here at Terra-Arcanum.

Enjoy!

 

Just to be sure: those hacks you're talking about not trying it with... Does that include the additional backgrounds? (backgrnd.mes, effect.mes and gameback.mes)

 

At this time, I haven't messed with any backgrounds or effects so I'm not sure if those will cause any problems or not. The good news is that adding modifications into the game instead of on top of it seems to have bypassed several conflicts. The number one exception to this rule was the Dark Magic hack. It caused nothing but problems no matter where I tried it.

So if you really want to add those, the backgrnd.mes and effect.mes go into the Arcanum5.dat/rules folder while the gameback.mes goes into the Arcanum5.dat/mes folder.

Good luck!

 

Espedition of Vyenna:

everything seems to be working fine.

should I keep feedback private, so as to not make a spoiler here?

 

I suppose this means I should hurry up and release something then...

 

No, wait... I can't play both of them at the same time! :O

 

Re: Espedition of Vyenna:

Actually, keep posting here. The next person to try an Arcanum hack could use this info.
And thanks! Now I know.

 

I downloaded it! Wooo! Well, actually, I'm still downloading it. I think it's on a DSL connection...or everyone wants it.

 

Well... There is a couple thousand lurkers...
If your second idea is correct, then my comment about "one or two others around here" just got blown through the nearest wall!
Can I underestimate or what?!

 

A quick question: Has anyone made it to the Iron Clan or the Twin Cities yet?
If so, how is the lighting? Too much or not enough?

 

Well, you want criticism?

It's a great mod in general, but I feel that the portraits were completely useless and only took space. They didn't really match the style of the defaults and kind of seemed strange to use. And real-life people were out of the question.

Also, I think that the Molochean Hand bandits shouldn't carry resurrection potions (name?) because they were a bit easy to acquire. I would get about seven of those everyone half-hour of playing.

Anyways, still AMAZING, but I figured you might want to know my useless but possibly helpful opinion. Still though, actually taking the time out of your life to work on a "dead" game is commendable. Yay.

(I've almost made it to the Iron Clan, I'm a the Black Mountain mines.)

 

Appreciate the feedback. Keep it coming!

The portraits seemed like a good idea when I added them. Most of them came from Sinbad's hack, with the LOTRs portraits added during the hype about the movies. Those might be a bit much.

As for the Molochean Hand, since I'm still not worth a damn at hex-editing, I just altered the inventory in a pre-mod attempt to make them more deadly. Before too much longer, I'll be going back through the inventories to make them a little more specific, especially for the general stores.

As for working on the mod in general, this is the realization of a half-assed idea I've had for a very long time - being able to add more adventures to a graphics-based RPG. Arcanum just happened to be the first game I found where that is possible. It's a lot more work than I had imagined, but it's made for a nice challenge.

 

I really like the molochean hand assassins now. A lot tougher, but not super-hard. I never considered how easy it suddenly was to get Morganas Tears though. Maybe I haven't looted them...?

Anyway, what's with the kites? Why would a molochean hand agent summon kites when he dies?

 

It's the Molochean Hand hack. It creates the Kites as well as various undead creatures semi-randomly based on your level.

 

...But why? Kind of destroys the flavour, if you know what I mean (talking in Magic:TG here...).

 

I didn't create the hack, I just added it as-is. I did take a look at the scripting and it wouldn't be hard to modify.

In your opinion, Vyenna, should the Hand be able to summon back-up?
If so, what kind? More assassins, skeletal warriors, what?

BTW: The ressurection potions have been removed from the inventory.

 

The assassins in robes could probably summon something. They look magicky enough. For them, kites are probably good. Or something from the summoning college. The ones in armor shouldn't summon anything, though. They look like regular melee characters, so why would they?

 

You've got a good point there but the cloaked ones are usually the low-ranking henchmen and aren't scripted. They're just there for muscle like the ruffians.

There is the cloaked half-elf Dark Individual who is a leader with spells and gets the dialog script in addition to whatever the hack brings up. He starts with Drain Will and Summon Undead.

The Dangerous-Looking Man is pure melee, no spells, but he too gets the dialog and the hack effects.

Perhaps I could make the Dark Individual show up more often than the Dangerous Man. That would make the magic use seem more realistic. (I think)

Maybe someday I'll learn hex-editing and be able to do something with the henchmen.

Edit: Before anyone says anything, there is a bedroom door missing on the Haunted Lodge.

 

Now I need to re-dig out my arcanum CDs and get it reinstalled.....MUST PLAY