Been reading about Turnabout and then got to thinking about some other mods that add/change things late in the game... UthNatha Underdark Accelerator comes to mind too, but in general...
Lets say a modder (And experienced modder who knows what they are doing) makes a mod like Turnabout or something that changes things in Chapter 6 say.
Even the best modders can make mistakes, is human after all. But... when it is all good to go and ready to TEST before Upload for release how do you TEST the sucker?
I mean, if if you get people to test run it For you, do you have to start a new game and play through until you get to the part with the mod? heck, even for a person who plays often, THAT could take WEEKS.
And if there IS a problem that makes the game crash, ya go back and fix it, reinstall and then begin from the git go???
Always wondered about this...
Minotaur In...A Daze, frequently.
Testing LATE IN GAME Mods...
Started by minotaur_in_maze, Oct 03 2005 12:10 PM
5 replies to this topic
#1
minotaur_in_maze
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- Member
- 906 posts
Modding Prima-Dona
Posted 03 October 2005 - 12:10 PM
* * * * * *
They say the world is going to Hell.
They are wrong.
The world IS Hell! Always has been, always will be; except perhaps for the five percent or so of the population who can afford differently.
And, if one must reside in Hell, it is far better to do it as a minion of the Devil than as a member of the damned.
* * * * * *
LOVE SUCKS: It makes fools and slaves of us all.
But being alone and unloved is worse.
- Nancy A. Collins "Thin Walls" * * * * * *
They say the world is going to Hell.
They are wrong.
The world IS Hell! Always has been, always will be; except perhaps for the five percent or so of the population who can afford differently.
And, if one must reside in Hell, it is far better to do it as a minion of the Devil than as a member of the damned.
* * * * * *
LOVE SUCKS: It makes fools and slaves of us all.
But being alone and unloved is worse.
- Nancy A. Collins "Thin Walls" * * * * * *
#2
jcompton
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- Modder
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- 492 posts
Posted 03 October 2005 - 12:53 PM
The then-head of Interplay QA for SOA boasted that he could complete the game's critical path in just shy of a half-hour. I've done it in about 75 minutes, and that was taking time to read some important dialogue to make sure I didn't miss what I was trying to test. So it's not that terribly difficult to get to the content you need to test, and test it.
It's incumbent on the modder to understand what, exactly, they're altering, and as a result what kind of archive saves they can use "just before" things start to change and require testing. Obviously, this varies from project to project.
It's incumbent on the modder to understand what, exactly, they're altering, and as a result what kind of archive saves they can use "just before" things start to change and require testing. Obviously, this varies from project to project.
Pocket Plane mods and modlist etc.
#3
Ghreyfain
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- Member
- 137 posts
Posted 03 October 2005 - 12:56 PM
CLUAConsole:MoveToArea("blah")
CLUAConsole:EnableCheatKeys()
CLUAConsole:ExploreArea()
CLUAConsole:SetGlobal("blah2","GLOBAL",*)
Plus setting whatever other conditions I need, like having an item, or an NPC in the party.
That's in my command buffer every time I wind up testing something over and over.
CLUAConsole:EnableCheatKeys()
CLUAConsole:ExploreArea()
CLUAConsole:SetGlobal("blah2","GLOBAL",*)
Plus setting whatever other conditions I need, like having an item, or an NPC in the party.
That's in my command buffer every time I wind up testing something over and over.
#4
minotaur_in_maze
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- Member
- 906 posts
Modding Prima-Dona
Posted 03 October 2005 - 03:13 PM
Ahhh, thank you both for the replies.
I had always wondered.
Taur
I had always wondered.
Taur
* * * * * *
They say the world is going to Hell.
They are wrong.
The world IS Hell! Always has been, always will be; except perhaps for the five percent or so of the population who can afford differently.
And, if one must reside in Hell, it is far better to do it as a minion of the Devil than as a member of the damned.
* * * * * *
LOVE SUCKS: It makes fools and slaves of us all.
But being alone and unloved is worse.
- Nancy A. Collins "Thin Walls" * * * * * *
They say the world is going to Hell.
They are wrong.
The world IS Hell! Always has been, always will be; except perhaps for the five percent or so of the population who can afford differently.
And, if one must reside in Hell, it is far better to do it as a minion of the Devil than as a member of the damned.
* * * * * *
LOVE SUCKS: It makes fools and slaves of us all.
But being alone and unloved is worse.
- Nancy A. Collins "Thin Walls" * * * * * *
#5
Yovaneth
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- Modder
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- 3058 posts
The newly-appointed Master Builder of Baldur's Gate
Posted 08 October 2005 - 12:08 PM
Ditto as for Ghreyfain.
-Y-
-Y-
'Go for the optics, Chiktikka. GO FOR THE OPTICS!!' - Tali vas Neema
DLTCEP Tutorials Update Page
DLTCEP Tutorials Main Page
Yovaneth's AI Scripts for BG1, BG2-SoA and IWD1
Fishing for Trouble - a quest mod for Shadows of Amn
#6
-Guest-
-Guest-
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- Guest
Posted 08 October 2005 - 02:40 PM
I typically split my testing into two phases: "console" and "real playthrough". It may seem counterproductive to do both rather than simply skipping straight to the latter, but given the number of changes that often require a section to be replayed from the start, it's helpful to identify as many as possible at the stage when you're just CLUAing between areas.
The "real playthrough" phase generally begins from a point in the game prior to any of the mod content kicking in, rather than the very beginning of the game. I have a standard testing save right after speaking to Gaelan Bayle, for example. (And from there it's a 5-minute job to equip dual killsw01s and rush through to chapter 6 without breaking anything.)
For Turnabout, I found it sufficient to CLUA to the final area without playing through anything, although Bons reported that this caused her problems.
BG1 is, in fact, far harder to test for than BG2, because creatures tend to be re-used rather than spawned anew, which means you have to be careful about skipping out events. In trying to fix up the final encounter for Tutu, I rapidly discovered that a piece of code from the Duchal Palace is responsible for placing Sarevok in the final battle.
What I really, really can't do to save my life is game balance testing. I never have the patience to play through with an accurate party strength, so I tend to guess at how tough battles should be, and rely on user feedback.
(This is SimDing0, incidentally, but I have to log out to be allowed to post anything here.)
The "real playthrough" phase generally begins from a point in the game prior to any of the mod content kicking in, rather than the very beginning of the game. I have a standard testing save right after speaking to Gaelan Bayle, for example. (And from there it's a 5-minute job to equip dual killsw01s and rush through to chapter 6 without breaking anything.)
For Turnabout, I found it sufficient to CLUA to the final area without playing through anything, although Bons reported that this caused her problems.
BG1 is, in fact, far harder to test for than BG2, because creatures tend to be re-used rather than spawned anew, which means you have to be careful about skipping out events. In trying to fix up the final encounter for Tutu, I rapidly discovered that a piece of code from the Duchal Palace is responsible for placing Sarevok in the final battle.
What I really, really can't do to save my life is game balance testing. I never have the patience to play through with an accurate party strength, so I tend to guess at how tough battles should be, and rely on user feedback.
(This is SimDing0, incidentally, but I have to log out to be allowed to post anything here.)
