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#1 Qwinn

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Posted 09 June 2008 - 10:08 AM

Just letting you all know - I'd love to hear how the mods are playing for you.

I only tested it myself, you see. I did a single comprehensive run-through with my mods installed, playing a mainly Lawful Good character (I did detour to see if the big branches available to other alignments would work, but I didn't go talking to every single character that way)... and that was enough to find a whole lot of bugs. The last 40 or so bugs in the detailed list of my Fixpack readme were discovered during my own playthrough, not reported to me by anyone else.

So if I could still find that many bugs in one playthrough generally playing a single alignment, then I'm sure that the aggregated knowledge and playing of all of you can generate a whole lot more.

Anyways. The point is - how's it playing for you so far? Good? Lousy? Less buggy? More buggy? Feel free to be cruel. No wait, I take that back. Feel free to be cruel IF you're also going to provide specific details as to why you're disappointed. If you're just going to effectively say "you suxx0r" without detailed specifics as to why I or my mods suxx0r, I'll probably just return the sentiment.

This goes for all 3 mods, by the way. Please let me know! Lots of people have had very nice things to say after reading the readmes, but I haven't gotten any feedback from anyone after they've actually played with it yet, and I'm anticipating such feedback greatly. I really want to make these mods as good as they can be, but right now, I don't know if anyone's even made it out of the mortuary successfully yet, heh.

Qwinn

Edited by Qwinn, 09 June 2008 - 10:09 AM.


#2 --Chris--

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Posted 11 June 2008 - 12:50 AM

Just wanted to thank you for a very solid effort producing these mods. Sadly I cant add any direct gameplay feedback as I am yet to play it (but I will later this afternoon, with my notepad next to me in case in encounter anything that would be of interest to you). I do however have a question for you regarding your mods.
Let say I do start playing this afternoon, reaching quite far into the story and you release a update (not that you might do that just yet but you eventually will).
If I want to play with the updated fixes, additions and/or tweaks do I have to restart and start over or can I simply apply the new once and carry on?

Thanks for your dedication and good work.

#3 Qwinn

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Posted 11 June 2008 - 08:31 AM

Short Answer: You shouldn't have any problems in such a case. I wouldn't worry about it.

Long Answer:

Well, I wouldn't want to try loading a saved game that was created before installing -any- of my mods.

But if you're just talking about an update, odds are very good you'll be able to update and continue. None of the 7 new tweaks I added for version 2 of the Tweak Pack should cause old saved games a problem, for example. In such a case, you might not get the benefit of the tweak in game content you've already explored (for example, Explore All Areas won't uncover areas you've already visited), but it will work for you going forward.

If ever there were an update to any of the three that would cause a problem with backward compatibility in such a way, I'll make it known, no worries.

The main issue I ever had that made old saved games no longer work was -un-installing mods that created new variables or that created new items. For example, don't have a Scale of Souls in your inventory and then uninstall the Scale of Souls component, heh - that'll make it crash, for obvious reasons. But installing new stuff never made my save games unplayable.

Enjoy your game :)

Qwinn

Edited by Qwinn, 11 June 2008 - 08:58 AM.


#4 -Paul-

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Posted 27 July 2008 - 08:48 PM

Just letting you all know - I'd love to hear how the mods are playing for you.

I only tested it myself, you see. I did a single comprehensive run-through with my mods installed, playing a mainly Lawful Good character (I did detour to see if the big branches available to other alignments would work, but I didn't go talking to every single character that way)... and that was enough to find a whole lot of bugs. The last 40 or so bugs in the detailed list of my Fixpack readme were discovered during my own playthrough, not reported to me by anyone else.

So if I could still find that many bugs in one playthrough generally playing a single alignment, then I'm sure that the aggregated knowledge and playing of all of you can generate a whole lot more.

Anyways. The point is - how's it playing for you so far? Good? Lousy? Less buggy? More buggy? Feel free to be cruel. No wait, I take that back. Feel free to be cruel IF you're also going to provide specific details as to why you're disappointed. If you're just going to effectively say "you suxx0r" without detailed specifics as to why I or my mods suxx0r, I'll probably just return the sentiment.

This goes for all 3 mods, by the way. Please let me know! Lots of people have had very nice things to say after reading the readmes, but I haven't gotten any feedback from anyone after they've actually played with it yet, and I'm anticipating such feedback greatly. I really want to make these mods as good as they can be, but right now, I don't know if anyone's even made it out of the mortuary successfully yet, heh.

Qwinn



#5 Qwinn

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Posted 27 July 2008 - 09:05 PM

Um, yes, yes, I did say all that :)

Did you maybe have something to add? ;)

Qwinn

#6 -Paul-

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Posted 27 July 2008 - 09:11 PM

Possible issue (and solution?) when installed with the widescreen mod. Apologies if the solution has already been posted.

There have been posts in several forums reporting crashes when players first enter Vrischika's Shoppe or the Apothecary (in the Clerk's Ward). This happened to me. The only mods I installed were components of Fix, Tweak, UB, and the widescreen mod. I am using the 2 CD version of the game. I found I had to install the widescreen mod first (or it would abort with an error). I did two things:

1. Played with the versions of AR0609.wed and AR0612.wed in the override directory. It seemed possible the widescreen mod modified those files, and subsequently installed mods updated or replaced those files in a manner incompatible with the widescreen mod.

2 Changed the case of the wed file extension (the mods had changed the extensions of those two files from .wed to .WED). If the application is case sensitive it may be crashing when it can't recognize those areas in the override directory. I suspect this is the real culprit...

My apologies for not spending more time isolating which change above solved the problem.

My first time ever playing the game, and I really appreciate the time you guys put into the mods - thanks very much.

Paul

#7 Qwinn

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Posted 27 July 2008 - 10:00 PM

Hmmm. Interesting. If the Widescreen mod -does- modify all the .WED files, then there may indeed be a compatibility problem. It may be as simple as me not installing those two files if the Widescreen mod has been installed, though. I will look into it. Thanks for the report.

I found I had to install the widescreen mod first (or it would abort with an error).


Any chance you still have that error handy and can tell me what it was?

Qwinn

Edited by Qwinn, 27 July 2008 - 10:01 PM.


#8 Qwinn

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Posted 27 July 2008 - 10:08 PM

Found this thread over at the Widescreen mod forum, which I'm pretty sure is related.

http://forums.gibber...showtopic=14421


The solution seems to be to make sure to leave the 2nd CD in the CD ROM drive while installing the Widescreen mod. In fact, the only reason I touch those two .WED files is because of this problem, I just included them with my mod so that they would be copied to the hard drive and the installation wouldn't -try- to copy them from the CD ROM.

It is still possible that because of that there's a compatibility issue with the Widescreen mod, I will continue to look into it and make sure I do -something- before my next release.

Just out of curiosity, did anyone out there use both Widescreen and my mods with the 2CD version and NOT encounter a problem with those two areas?

Qwinn

#9 -Than-

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Posted 27 July 2008 - 11:00 PM

At first i want to thank you for all your effort, doing this job. Itīs great. I never tried your mods, but i will use them soon, for may new walkthrough. When you will release a new Version of your mods, including all the translations?

Greetings,
Than

#10 Qwinn

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Posted 27 July 2008 - 11:31 PM

Thanks for the kind words, I hope you enjoy :)

The next version is roughly scheduled for around August 8. I expect the german translation to be finalized in about a week, and giving myself another 3 days to look things over and make sure everything's looking decent before I do the release. It will include spanish and german translations.

Qwinn

Edited by Qwinn, 27 July 2008 - 11:31 PM.


#11 -Paul-

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Posted 28 July 2008 - 05:29 AM

Hmmm. Interesting. If the Widescreen mod -does- modify all the .WED files, then there may indeed be a compatibility problem. It may be as simple as me not installing those two files if the Widescreen mod has been installed, though. I will look into it. Thanks for the report.

I found I had to install the widescreen mod first (or it would abort with an error).


Any chance you still have that error handy and can tell me what it was?

Qwinn



I'm afraid not. I'm away from home, don't have the first CD with me, and can't recreate the problem uninstalling and reinstalling the patches on my laptop.

Regarding the thread you referenced at Gibberlings Three, I think that may be a different issue. I play with a full install (CD2 copied to the hard drive, appropriate path changes in torment.ini). No 'cracks' installed, so CD2 is always in my optical drive. I think it was there during game install, but I'm not positive.

I changed the case of the file extensions (.wed) in my override directory, and the game continues to work fine - scratch that as the problem. I have seen two different versions (based on file size) of AR0609.wed in the override directory after both mods have been installed. It looks to me like under certain circumstances the widescreen mod changes to those two files are not preserved if you subsequently install the fixpack. That might explain why some users start a new game after all mods have been installed, and still crash when first entering the two suspect buildings in Clerk's Ward.

You asked for feedback before. Up to this point in the game (Clerk's Ward), Ive had no technical trouble. I took a cursory look at your list of changes early in the game, but not once during gameplay have I seen or read something that seemed out of character or inconsistent with the rest of the game; if I didn't know the mods were there, I'd never guess it was anything other than the publisher's original release.

Thanks again, Qwinn.

#12 Qwinn

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Posted 28 July 2008 - 07:11 AM

It looks to me like under certain circumstances the widescreen mod changes to those two files are not preserved if you subsequently install the fixpack.


This is indeed very possible, and is what I'm looking into. I plan on adding code that will look for an installation of Widescreen, and not copy those two files if it is there (since the main purpose of copying those files - putting them in the override directory - is already done by Widescreen).

Let me confirm that that's true, actually, since I've not played with it myself. Do you find -every- .WED file in the override directory after installing the Widescreen mod? Those two files are the only .WEDs I touch in any of my mods, so if you're finding others, it's definitely Widescreen that put them there.

As for your feedback, thanks very much, that is great to hear! Especially if you've played with Unfinished Business, which by virtue of adding "new" (albeit Black Isle produced) content would be the most likely mod to make someone think "this doesn't look right" :)

Qwinn

Edited by Qwinn, 28 July 2008 - 07:14 AM.


#13 -Paul-

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Posted 28 July 2008 - 08:48 AM

Let me confirm that that's true, actually, since I've not played with it myself. Do you find -every- .WED file in the override directory after installing the Widescreen mod? Those two files are the only .WEDs I touch in any of my mods, so if you're finding others, it's definitely Widescreen that put them there.

There are 62 .WED files in the override directory, presumably all created by the Widescreen mod's 'conversion' of the original files.

#14 Qwinn

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Posted 28 July 2008 - 09:02 AM

Alright, then, yeah, I'm definitely going to have to add that bit of code.

I'm surprised it hasn't been reported before now... I'm wondering if it's been avoided by people who somehow managed to avoid the problems you encountered trying to install the Widescreen mod after my mods (which, if successful, shouldn't create this issue).

Note to those who have my mods + widescreen installed and are encountering this issue - uninstalling the widescreen mod, deleting the two .WED files in the override directory, then reinstalling the widescreen mod should resolve it.

Qwinn

EDIT: Actually, to be more comprehensive about the fix, I'll just check for those files already existing in override before copying them. That should resolve the compatibility issue with any other mod out there that touches them, not just Widescreen.

Edited by Qwinn, 28 July 2008 - 09:19 AM.


#15 Qwinn

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Posted 02 August 2008 - 01:12 PM

Alrighty, I'll look deeper into it. I doubt it's something I'll have a solution for in time for the next release (which should hopefully be in the next three or four days, and which has been delayed enough), but I'll see if I can't come up with something for the release after that.

Thanks for the report and the info, you clued me in to several things about this particular issue I wasn't aware of before :)

Qwinn

Edited by Qwinn, 02 August 2008 - 01:13 PM.


#16 -Timecrash-

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Posted 02 August 2008 - 04:21 PM

Excellent set of fixes/tweaks here, Qwinn! Some of the things here are absolutely amazing, especially the Banter Accelerator. I may have run into a bug, though. Either that, or my stupidity screwed up my save game. >.<

Possible spoilers ahead, I'll put them in spoiler tags. It may not be necessary, but I'm really paranoid when it comes to spoilers; I don't want to screw anyone up.

Anyway, I'm right after
Spoiler
, and are about to go to the portal back to Sigil.

Short version: The problem is, my party's not entering the portal! When I click on it, the party just stands in front of it, not doing anything.

Long version: Literally right after that scene, I saved my game. This is before I installed Qwinn's packs. I entered the portal, saw the cutscene
Spoiler
, and I found out that my CD drive wasn't reading the second CD, even when my DVD drive was. After Alt-F4'ing out of the game, I found and installed the packs, and changed where the game was looking for the CDs in the torment.ini file. Starting it up again, I came across the problem I listed before.

I don't quite know if it's the pack that's causing the problem, but I figured it was close enough to post here.

It could be worth noting that I installed and uninstalled the "Global Floating Text" tweak. Also, I'm running the 4-CD version of the game.