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Prelude to Darkness is a pretty damn awesome RPG

RegionalHobo

Scholar
Joined
Oct 2, 2018
Messages
294
this is the roughest rpg i've tried to play so far in my life.

first village look like a pre alpha version of age of decadence. holy shit i'm not new to old rpgs but this is something else, dunno if i'll stomach getting used to it
 

Fowyr

Arcane
Vatnik
Joined
Mar 29, 2009
Messages
7,671
So, Deadman, looks like you really improved camera crashes with dxwrapper, and that is really amazing. I had a crash or two every hour, and most of these crashes were camera crashes.
 

PrettyDeadman

Guest
The game run pretty stable on my machine even without dxwrapper to be honest. But its nice if for some people there would be a noticeable difference.
I think ill try to test ancientruins without dxwrapper to confirm that it actually helps. Yep, got crash within first 5 seconds of starting of testing. Was able to replicate crashes easily without dxwrapper. And with it - 0 crashes due to camera movement in that location.

I've only edited Compatility and DDrawCompat setttings in dxwrapper.ini. Here is what I have:

[Compatibility]
Dd7to9 = 0
D3d8to9 = 0
DDrawCompat = 1
Dinputto8 = 0
DisableGameUX = 0
DxWnd = 1
EnableDdrawWrapper = 1
EnableDinputWrapper = 0
EnableDsound8Wrapper = 0
HandleExceptions = 1
SingleProcAffinity = 0

[DDrawCompat]
DDrawCompat20 = 0
DDrawCompat21 = 1
DDrawCompatExperimental = 0
DDrawCompatDisableGDIHook = 1
DDrawCompatNoProcAffinity = 1
 
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Darth Canoli

Arcane
Joined
Jun 8, 2018
Messages
5,687
Location
Perched on a tree
So I tried this game the very day when I wrote my first comment in this thread, but gave up after several crashes in row in cave.
However, now I plan to make a serious attempt at playing PtD, but since there helluva lot attributes without a way to increase them manually (I did not knew this during my first walkthrough) through game I think some meta knowledge required.
Anyone have suggestions for attributes for good ol' fireball slinger/Thaumaturgy guy? I know that main stats are dex and int, but what about values of str,end,spd and willpower? Is willpower as important for non casters as tips in character creation says? Good values of dex and speed for fighters? is there a reason to not dump int for pure melee/ranged combatants since their skills can be trained with practice on random encounters? Is there a time limit like in Fallout games?
Tips about attributes in general is very appreciated.
Lord_Potato your druid in review seriously buffed for character without combat skills to train strength for example, is there any secret?
Darth Canoli your insight would be appreciated too.
Sorry to bother you guys, I just feel a bit overwhelmed by the game.

So, depending on your grinding tolerance, you can make overpowered builds since skills give you attribute points.
Leveling 2 weapon skills at least isn't that difficult providing you don't do it for all your party members at once.

You should rely more on Lord Potatos' and my review as my memories aren't quite fresh.
Speed is really important since it's both AP and initiative but you also need STR and END for fighter types, mostly a lot of SPD+STR and decent END depending on your healing options, i had two druids so i didn't need too much END.

INT influences skills learning pace, not a major attribute for non-casters but still not so much a dump stat either except if grinding doesn't bother you, from memory, the difference between low and high INT could be 10 speech attempts to raise the speech skill from 10 to 11 and 20 attempts, or something like that, number of attempts increasing with the skill level.

Barter is extremely slow to level up, You can't learn Medecine if you don't start with at least 1 point, same for flame magic as far as i know.

There's a literacy teacher in the citadel, a locksmith one as well, taumaturgy teachers in the starting village (southern exit) and in the academy.
I don't remember about all the teachers though.

I don't think i can help you to make the "perfect" build, you should check the skills and what bonuses they'll give you and focus on some of them, by early mid game, you'll hit the first one and soon enough the second, at some point, aside from SPD and STR for fighters and WILL /SPD for mages, attributes bonuses are irrelevant.

Just pick the 3 characters you absolutely want to play (at least one warrior) and don't bother too much, the beginning is going to be real tough either way.
Just don't pick thaumaturgy during the character creation, it's a waste of points, you can get it easily (it's also disappointing because it's only temporary boosts aside from the golem which requires expensive and limited consumables)

Some cheats (and useful to know either way not to get cheated by the game)

I also found a way to cheat while trying to optimize character progression (trying to level multiple weapons skills)
If a character uses an item giving +X skill and you get to 30 (i guess it works for 50 too) you get the attributes bonus and if you remove the item, you keep it and will get it again when reaching the threshold.
Got +1 Dex that way with my guardian (so two times +1 Dex).

On the other hand, if you reach 30/50 because of a trainer, you don't get the attribute bonus. (-1 Cha for my Thaumaturge, didn't load a previous save, to be honest, i would have if it had been a Wis/Int bonus)

Deadman
About crashes, something i wrote when i was playing the game :

Short guide to alleviate the "auto-eject" feature :
- Don't play too much with the rotation arrows, pick your view and let it rest
- When you right click a target, don't right click it again
- Always save after you did something
- Always save before you think about doing something
- Keep a lot of separate saves, just in case
- When a fight ends, save before even picking the loot (you'll thank me later)
- Save after picking the loot too (not just because of the crashes but also the random encounters, specially on hard mode)
- For some reason, trading a lot of items in one trading session often bring a crash too, just trade a few items, save and trade again ...

Mostly, if you click too much or don't treat your mouse and keyboard like a crystal glass, it's going to crash.

Also this, while trading:

One thing has about 99% chances to crash the game, when bartering, stacked equipment, vendor side when there is already something else in his trading window, you get the unstack window and if you confirm, it's Hiroshima all over again ...
 
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PrettyDeadman

Guest
This is great! Is the mod compatible with Fowyr's fixes? Also, how viable is the default party?
I will download fowyr's files and update them in the way which will make both work later this week. I still need to fix notifications for checking against worst stat in the party anyway.
 

Darth Canoli

Arcane
Joined
Jun 8, 2018
Messages
5,687
Location
Perched on a tree
Did someone used Dxwrapper to run PtD with anything other than windows 10?

It's supposed to work for windows 10 so i'm wondering if it's going to do anything for windows 8.
 

Skdursh

Savant
Joined
Nov 27, 2018
Messages
734
Location
Slavlandia
I am absolute 100million% sure I had a copy of this game v1.8 along with some patch on one of my external drives but it seems like it disappeared somewhere into the ether. Anyone have a download link hosted anywhere?

Edit: Nevermind, I think I found it.

Also, does anyone know if there is anything different about this version from the other ones floating around the net? Most versions seem to be about 63mb, while this one is touting a massive 71.7mb. https://archive.org/download/PreludeToDarkness This version also "claims" to have been uploaded by the actual developers.
 
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Calcium

Educated
Joined
Dec 6, 2015
Messages
54
I can't give the potion to the little girl because a single one of my characters has low charisma, despite my leader having 15. Does anyone know how to get past this?
 

Calcium

Educated
Joined
Dec 6, 2015
Messages
54
I am absolute 100million% sure I had a copy of this game v1.8 along with some patch on one of my external drives but it seems like it disappeared somewhere into the ether. Anyone have a download link hosted anywhere?

Edit: Nevermind, I think I found it.

Also, does anyone know if there is anything different about this version from the other ones floating around the net? Most versions seem to be about 63mb, while this one is touting a massive 71.7mb. https://archive.org/download/PreludeToDarkness This version also "claims" to have been uploaded by the actual developers.

The only difference I noticed between 1.7 and 1.8 is that 1.8 has options for mouse sensitivity and resolution. I remember there being patch notes somewhere on the web but I don't remember where exactly.
 

AdolfSatan

Arcane
Joined
Dec 27, 2017
Messages
1,871
I couldn't finish the endgame quest on 1.7, had to transfer savefiles to 1.8

Deadman don't forget to post your combined fixes in the downloads thread so that everyone can find it in the future. I'll provide a dropbox mirror for as long as the site lasts.
 

Darkozric

Arbiter
Edgy
Joined
Jun 3, 2018
Messages
1,651
I can't give the potion to the little girl because a single one of my characters has low charisma, despite my leader having 15. Does anyone know how to get past this?

Same problem here, I have a bard as leader with 18 CHA and the game chooses the worst charisma in the party to make the check. Is this a bug or all the party members must have an above the average charisma value in general? If this is the case then what's the point of the leader selection, I don't get it.
 

Konjad

Patron
Joined
Nov 3, 2007
Messages
3,930
Location
Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Codex+ Now Streaming! Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
+1, twice, thinking about the third run once the ultimate version is published here.
I wanted to replay it sometime soon. So far completed it twice - one playthrough for each faction. However, now I postponed it since the released source code might lead to some decent fixes. It would be amazing to play it without crashes one day :M I also wonder what other improvements will be done. Anyway, I guess I can wait a year or two more and see if there is a new version that runs better.

It's worth noting though that the source code is of version 1.5 as someone said in the source code thread, so there are quite a few fixes that are not a part of it... still, less crashes is way more important than minor game fixes.

This was the changelog for 1.8:
- No more invisible characters
- Bless Dagger event fixed
- Random encounter crash fixed (body encounter)
- Dying does not send you back to Olvar's Tavern
- Telus bug fix
- Can now run in 1024x768
- Smoother scrolling/mouse speed

No idea what was for 1.7 and 1.6 though.
 

vazha

Arcane
Joined
Aug 24, 2013
Messages
2,063
Can you imagine a completely smooth run of PTD? Like, no bugs, you just sit there and you play this awesome game. Nobody's asking for additional content or graphical overhaul, just make it so that you only have to reload maybe once in 6 hours. That would be *Heavan* (c)
 

Modron

Arcane
Joined
May 5, 2012
Messages
9,934
No idea what was for 1.7 and 1.6 though.
Can't find any info pertaining to 1.7 but they had this as their notes from when 1.6 was the downloadable version:
Improved user interface.
New screen resolution options, including 1280 by 1024.
Improved journal.
Improved terrain texturing.
Additional NPC portraits.
Additional unique items.
Additional quests.
New cutscenes pertaining to the main plot.
Multiple fixes to scripts/quests.
New music.
New creature sound effects.
Playbalancing.
Walkthrough (available online).
Retrievable from here http://www.zero-sum.com/download.html using archive.org

Also I think there was 1.55 patch before those as well http://www.zero-sum.com/downloads.html
1) Intro
2) Pickpocket
3) Multi-tile creatures
4) Improved Pathing
5) Better Regioning
6) Improved Magic
7) Shadows
8) Improved Help Text
9) Music and Sound

Known issues:
1) No limit on interaction. You can talk/interact with things that are several screens away
2) Spell aura does not surround casters properly 3) You cannot use the thaumaturgy and river spells you get in Kellen 4) Any race can use any magic
Where'd you find the 1.8 changelog?
 

AdolfSatan

Arcane
Joined
Dec 27, 2017
Messages
1,871
Shit, it seems like 1.5 differences against 1.8 are quite heavy. I'm completely ignorant on the subject, but I hope that stuff like info about the added quests can be extracted (weren't those stored in plain txts?), as well as the extra portraits, music, etc.

My offer to work on updating the UI (within the game's premise) still stands once someone manages to get the important stuff done.
 

Zariusz

Arbiter
Joined
Nov 13, 2019
Messages
1,836
Location
Civitas Schinesghe
So im after that rebellion assasination attempt, Genwen is dead but somehow all my characters lost the ability to use godess spells. Is there a fix for that?
 

Fowyr

Arcane
Vatnik
Joined
Mar 29, 2009
Messages
7,671
So im after that rebellion assasination attempt, Genwen is dead but somehow all my characters lost the ability to use godess spells. Is there a fix for that?
Have you killed that druid?
I can't remember now, but I think I just killed Genwen and all my spells were intact.
If you killed druid - then good luck. I think there was a way to atone your sin. If this is a bug, I probably could fix it, but I need your saves.
 

Zariusz

Arbiter
Joined
Nov 13, 2019
Messages
1,836
Location
Civitas Schinesghe
So im after that rebellion assasination attempt, Genwen is dead but somehow all my characters lost the ability to use godess spells. Is there a fix for that?
Have you killed that druid?
I can't remember now, but I think I just killed Genwen and all my spells were intact.
If you killed druid - then good luck. I think there was a way to atone your sin. If this is a bug, I probably could fix it, but I need your saves.
Druid lives, Genwen was with rebellion and after the fight visage of the goddess was added to my spell list.
https://we.tl/t-CijsmCfVHj - link with my save, well i hope its my latest one since files didnt use save names.
 
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Fowyr

Arcane
Vatnik
Joined
Mar 29, 2009
Messages
7,671
https://we.tl/t-CijsmCfVHj - link with my save, well i hope its my latest one since files didnt use save names.
WeTransfer proclaimed that I could not use it, being evil Russian. I could use this site for the war effort.
And for the war, war on Darklings, I have used it.
So, at least you have not angered the Goddess. ^GoddessAngered^ flag, that is set when you kill Druid, is good. I'll check some more. Quick question, could you use some Goddess spells outside combat? I forgot too much, but gradually started remembering.
EDIT:
Oh, I see. All Goddess spells are indeed inactive in combat.
EDIT2:
Talked with Goddess in event 81 (Kieno and its field). Does not work.
 
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Zariusz

Arbiter
Joined
Nov 13, 2019
Messages
1,836
Location
Civitas Schinesghe
https://we.tl/t-CijsmCfVHj - link with my save, well i hope its my latest one since files didnt use save names.
WeTransfer proclaimed that I could not use it, being evil Russian. I could use this site for the war effort.
And for the war, war on Darklings, I have used it.
So, at least you have not angered the Goddess. ^GoddessAngered^ flag, that is set when you kill Druid, is good. I'll check some more. Quick question, could you use some Goddess spells outside combat? I forgot too much, but gradually started remembering.
EDIT:
Oh, I see. All Goddess spells are indeed inactive in combat.
EDIT2:
Talked with Goddess in event 81 (Kieno and its field). Does not work.
Yes, i could heal earlier outside of battles with Mother Kiss/ Breath. And i didnt do that Kieno's field quest because my autistic magical powerhouse called Venes has only 2 charisma points so he always fucks up those charisma checks.
 

Fowyr

Arcane
Vatnik
Joined
Mar 29, 2009
Messages
7,671
Yes, i could heal earlier outside of battles with Mother Kiss/ Breath. And i didnt do that Kieno's field quest because my autistic magical powerhouse called Venes has only 2 charisma points so he always fucks up those charisma checks.
OK, I'll try to tinker some more and try other things. Are you playing version 1.8?
 

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