Forgotten Realms: Unlimited Adventures (FRUA) thread

[hrose]

Keep in mind also, some races can only go so high in levels for some classes. For example Dwarves can attain any level of Cleric, but thy are limited to Level 9 for fighters.Elves can only attain Level 11 as a Magic user etc.. so be sure to RTFM.

I can't find the relevant infos. The only table I found is this one: http://images.wikia.com/frua/images/b/b2/Level_limits.png

And it is obviously wrong, since it says dawrfs can't be clerics, elfs can't be rangers and so on. So how do I get to see what are the restrictions for The Realm?

And if one wants to go through everything and the other races all have restrictions, but other races are necessary for the checks, so what? Is there a patch to remove level restrictions or the game expects you run a party of level 20 where some char is stuck at 7?

It's making no sense to me.

 

[Jaesun]

Keep in mind also, some races can only go so high in levels for some classes. For example Dwarves can attain any level of Cleric, but thy are limited to Level 9 for fighters.Elves can only attain Level 11 as a Magic user etc.. so be sure to RTFM.

I can't find the relevant infos. The only table I found is this one: http://images.wikia.com/frua/images/b/b2/Level_limits.png

Yes. Those match the chart that is in the FRUA Manual.

And it is obviously wrong, since it says dawrfs can't be clerics, elfs can't be rangers and so on. So how do I get to see what are the restrictions for The Realm?

To be honest I don't even remember if default FRUA allows dwarves as clerics (such as playing the default mod that comes with FRUA, I think it's call Heirs or something like that). So he may have changed that. I don't believe he did make any other class/race changes. He also did some (minor) weapon changes.

I do not believe any of these changes are documented, as in he encourages thinking, trying stuff and figuring out stuff on your own.

And if one wants to go through everything and the other races all have restrictions, but other races are necessary for the checks, so what? Is there a patch to remove level restrictions or the game expects you run a party of level 20 where some char is stuck at 7?

I finished the entire high level end campaign (as suggested by Ray) and had no problems at all with race limited characters?

It's making no sense to me.

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/pools-of-darkness-race-lvl-limits-wtf.70943/

 

[hrose]

So what should I do? Just make whatever I want and not care if I hit some level block later on?

On the rosedragon page there are also all games available as standard or "hacked", though zero explanation about what's different. Should I simply go with hacked and hope for the best?

 

[ProphetSword]

So what should I do? Just make whatever I want and not care if I hit some level block later on?

On the rosedragon page there are also all games available as standard or "hacked", though zero explanation about what's different. Should I simply go with hacked and hope for the best?

Hacked modules require you to run them through a tool called "UAShell," which will install the hacks into FRUA so that the design works properly. Hacking is what FRUA designers do to get the modules to do things they weren't intended to do.

For example, I have built two "Buck Rogers" games using FRUA, which is not something it could do out of the box.

Out of the box, FRUA only allows a designer to change the pictures. With hacks, a designer can change the walls, dungeons, backdrops, alter the classes, offer different player icons, change the system in multiple ways, etc.

I don't recommend attempting to play a hacked design without using UAShell, as the results can end up in disaster. Most of the best modules are hacked, by the way. The whole community just accepts it as the standard way to do things and considers unhacked modules to be unworthy of their time (don't ask me why; because I have no issues with them).

 

[Jaesun]

So what should I do? Just make whatever I want and not care if I hit some level block later on?

Yes. Try It. I did and survived just fine (The recommended West and South + Final Diamond). However I still have not finished a full run of the Recommended East Campaign. THAT series of modules are a bit brutal. But not impossible. As I outlined earlier.

Also welcome ProphetSword!

 

[hrose]

I played a bit. I guess I'm going with the hacked modules. Started with game05 (since 00 is just a map, I guess?). The impression is quite good considering most of it is text-driven.

A few things:
- Sometimes in Dosbox it freezes for no reason and I have to close/reopen. Quite annoying.
- I set the Roland/MT32 to work with other games, but I'm getting no music at all here. Sounds are ok.
- A group of kobolds right at the beginning killed 3 of my party. I was going if resurrection was cheap but then it froze before I could find a temple.
- The game funnels you around, is it fine if I abandon the place so I can go exploring/shopping and return later?

 

[Jaesun]

Game00 is a module to learn about the history of The Realm. Learn about the West, South and East and yes is an overland map. While you are free to do any modules in any order you want, since this seems to be your first time playing FRUA, I would recommend playing the modules recommended here: http://therealm.flopsyville.com/Menu.htm

I don't have any freezing problems (except combat with very long musical scores playing). You are playing FRUA with the 1.2 patch?
As for sounds, start UAShell. Then click on Edit > Sound Registry and then when the prompts come up:

Permit PC Music CLICK NO
Permit Adlib music CLICK NO
Permit Roland Music CLICK YES
Permit PC Sound Effects CLICK NO
Permit Soundblaster Sound Effect CLICK YES

As for the kobolds, see what I recommended above. You might want a few levels before playing 05.

You should have no problems leaving a place and returning, as long as the module allows that.

 

[ProphetSword]

Also, on rare occasions, FRUA can lock up when the sound is configured to the wrong interrupt or port (gotta love DOS). So, if the above tactics don't work, you might consider that. At worst, you can disable all sound or set it to PC Speaker mode (which I don't recommend).

Do you have any other issues with DOSBox locking up while playing other games, or is this the only game giving you problems?

 

[hrose]

It seems I had misconfigured the MT32. Now I have fixed the music. I also had the problem that when I alt-tabbed back in I kept hearing constant blips as if I was pressing wrong keys. Now I disabled pc speaker in dosbox so I don't hear them anymore, but I don't know if the game's fine.

Music lags sometimes though, even if I set a large buffer.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Crooked Bee

Crooked Bee was asking me where I did my Let's Play FRUA, and wanted a link to it. Instead of replying in the thread that CB asked this of me, I thought it may be more appropriate to put the link here, in the actual RPGCodex FRUA thread. I am currently playing through the Westlands Adventure Path and have completed Assault on Raven's Ruin. I will be tackling Night in Daelwyn's Rest next.

The link is here on a pen and paper DnD site, for anyone who wishes to follow along: http://www.enworld.org/forum/genera...ay-forgotten-realms-unlimited-adventures.html

 

[Jaesun]

Deuce Traveler there is a game stopping bug in B11-12, King's Festival/Queen's Harvest IF you do uh..... a certain thing (trying to not spoil anything). Ray actually asked me to fix this (it was an unknown bug in FRUA that's not Rays fault), so while you play in Night in Daelwyn's Rest I'll try to get a fixed on http://frua.rosedragon.org/modulelist/file.php in the next couple of days.

Of note, that is the only game stopping bug I have found playing (almost all) of Rays The Realm series. It is a weird FRUA bug.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Deuce Traveler there is a game stopping bug in B11-12, King's Festival/Queen's Harvest IF you do uh..... a certain thing (trying to not spoil anything). Ray actually asked me to fix this (it was an unknown bug in FRUA that's not Rays fault), so while you play in Night in Daelwyn's Rest I'll try to get a fixed on http://frua.rosedragon.org/modulelist/file.php in the next couple of days.

Of note, that is the only game stopping bug I have found playing (almost all) of Rays The Realm series. It is a weird FRUA bug.

Does it cause a crash, or does is it cause a more critical problem such as ruining save files? If I can reload a saved game and avoid the switch action that causes the crash, I would imagine that it would be a minor issue.

 

[Jaesun]

Deuce Traveler there is a game stopping bug in B11-12, King's Festival/Queen's Harvest IF you do uh..... a certain thing (trying to not spoil anything). Ray actually asked me to fix this (it was an unknown bug in FRUA that's not Rays fault), so while you play in Night in Daelwyn's Rest I'll try to get a fixed on http://frua.rosedragon.org/modulelist/file.php in the next couple of days.

Of note, that is the only game stopping bug I have found playing (almost all) of Rays The Realm series. It is a weird FRUA bug.

Does it cause a crash, or does is it cause a more critical problem such as ruining save files? If I can reload a saved game and avoid the switch action that causes the crash, I would imagine that it would be a minor issue.

Uh... you can NEVER leave the dungeon... If you uh choose a certain thing. It does not cause a crash. And it does not ruin a save (A variable just needs to be set to 4). Following your walkthrough, you seem fairly violent.. so uh..... you may not have a problem. I'm surprised you did not try to piss off the gnomes. (In The Rock).

I can fix your save game if you choose the uh.... game breaking one.

 

[tiborvadovan]

Hi,
First of all, thanks a lot for posting this! I had played the Krynn series in the old days but had never even heard of FRUA until recently. Your posting was most helpful since I got things up and running without any problem. I have just completed Journey to the Rock and am going to start assault on raven's ruin now. Got one +2 broadsword and a +1 protection ring from the first module alone, so I guess I can't really complain since magic items seem to be so scarce.
I also noticed something, not sure if you have anything to do with it, but anyway: the links to 2 of the modules were wrong in the download site. Anyway, I managed to discover the correct links (just edit the filename in your browser address bar after clicking the link):
game06se.rar - > should be game06se.zip instead
Game14.zip - > should be game14.zip (change from upper to lower case)

Also, I'm probably missing something obvious: how does the ANTI-RAGE stuff work anyway? I guess i'm just missing something obvious as I noticed some of the people here seem to have used it, but if you explained it I missed it. Do I just copy over those 3 files I saved to the gamexxx.dsn folder?

Thanks again
tibor

 

[Jaesun]

Glad you are liking FRUA so far tiborvadovan. As for the ANTI-RAGE stuff. Are you wanting to change the interface and colors? I can document that, I just can't remember the files to copy over off hand.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Welcome to the club, tiborvadovan! I've been in a writing contest on ENWorld the last couple of weeks, which slowed my Let's Play posts down, but I should be restarting here soon. It would be awesome to share impressions with you as you go through the Westlands.

I found Journey to the Rock to be pretty good. I didn't enjoy the second half of Raven's Ruin as much, but it was a matter of taste.

 

[Saxon1974]

This is great thanks so much for the write up!

I have been wanting to play some dnd lately so was just looking at this. I have not played champions of krynn nor gateway to the savage frontier in like 20 years either.

Curious; do you recommend these mods over those games? Do they feel more like real dnd then champions or gateway?

 

[Deuce Traveler]

This is great thanks so much for the write up!

I have been wanting to play some dnd lately so was just looking at this. I have not played champions of krynn nor gateway to the savage frontier in like 20 years either.

Curious; do you recommend these mods over those games? Do they feel more like real dnd then champions or gateway?

I can't find a group that wants to play the retro RPGs of the 1980s from the BECMI dungeons and dragons, or the 1st and 2nd edition dungeons and dragons modules. The great thing about the mods is that people have copied those modules over to FRUA mods, which means that I can finally experience these older pen and paper games first hand (though in solo play).

 

[Mother Russia]

Hey Jaesun, whatever happened to your EOB conversion of this?

 

[Jaesun]

Hey Jaesun, whatever happened to your EOB conversion of this?

I am waiting for the 1.0 version of Dungeon Craft, as they are adding a bunch of stuff, like I can now in real time change walls, switches and other things. It is REALLY fucking cool! I just do not want to waste a bunch of time on it until the final code of the base game is finished.

 

[octavius]

Jaesun, do you remember what this was all about (you didn't really explain it)?

8A. in your FRUA directory Make a new directory. I named mine HOLYSHIT. Now in your FRUA Directory there is a directory called DISK1. Go into that directory. Copy the 2 files: ALWAYS.TLB and GAME.FON and paste these in the new directory you created. Now go to FRUA directory and open the DISK3 directory. Copy the file FRAME.TLB and paste that into the directory you created. The 3 files you copied are going to be ANTI-RAGE INDUCING files, which some users may need to use later on. I'll explain later.

Do you really mean Copy and not Move?
Also, from last time I dabbled with FRUA I recall there were some graphics updates for the default pictures. Have you tried any of them?

 

[Jaesun]

Jaesun, do you remember what this was all about (you didn't really explain it)?

8A. in your FRUA directory Make a new directory. I named mine HOLYSHIT. Now in your FRUA Directory there is a directory called DISK1. Go into that directory. Copy the 2 files: ALWAYS.TLB and GAME.FON and paste these in the new directory you created. Now go to FRUA directory and open the DISK3 directory. Copy the file FRAME.TLB and paste that into the directory you created. The 3 files you copied are going to be ANTI-RAGE INDUCING files, which some users may need to use later on. I'll explain later.

Do you really mean Copy and not Move?
Also, from last time I dabbled with FRUA I recall there were some graphics updates for the default pictures. Have you tried any of them?

Uh I specifically said COPY and paste? And no, I need to add the part of what those file do. I just have not done that yet.

Why would anyone need updates to the already BEAUTIFUL original art? So that would be a no.

Though all of Ray's modules come with tons of new artwork specific to each module. And he uses some really good stuff.


Also of note - and some general news:

Nol Drek has done his conversion of Judge's Guild #1: The Caverns of Thracia and Judge's Guild #2: Tegel Manor and is using The Realm series as a base. I have played the 1st one. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. It was a blast. Be SURE to read the read me about what level the party should be, so you are not an idiot like me and try to play this with 1st level characters.

You can find it here: http://frua.rosedragon.org/modulelist/index.php

 

[octavius]

Jaesun, do you remember what this was all about (you didn't really explain it)?

8A. in your FRUA directory Make a new directory. I named mine HOLYSHIT. Now in your FRUA Directory there is a directory called DISK1. Go into that directory. Copy the 2 files: ALWAYS.TLB and GAME.FON and paste these in the new directory you created. Now go to FRUA directory and open the DISK3 directory. Copy the file FRAME.TLB and paste that into the directory you created. The 3 files you copied are going to be ANTI-RAGE INDUCING files, which some users may need to use later on. I'll explain later.

Do you really mean Copy and not Move?
Also, from last time I dabbled with FRUA I recall there were some graphics updates for the default pictures. Have you tried any of them?

Uh I specifically said COPY and paste? And no, I need to add the part of what those file do. I just have not done that yet.

OK, I googled the file names so I think I know what you meant.
As you mentioned later in the thread, some modules replace the default fonts and background graphics with ugly, rage inducing versions, so keeping the backups ready it's easy to return to the deafault files.

 

[octavius]

I'm currently trying the scenario that was included with FRUA: The Heir's to Skull Crag. It's harder than I thought it would be. Being ambushed by a large number of Ogres, among them several Shamans that cast Hold Person is no fun when most of your characters are held before you have a chance to act.

Why would anyone need updates to the already BEAUTIFUL original art? So that would be a no.

I dunno...I think some of the artwork looks pretty bad. Look like poor scans from yellowed pages of Dragon magazine.
I installed some updates and I think it was a definite improvement.

 

[Jaesun]

I'm currently trying the scenario that was included with FRUA: The Heir's to Skull Crag. It's harder than I thought it would be. Being ambushed by a large number of Ogres, among them several Shamans that cast Hold Person is no fun when most of your characters are held before you have a chance to act.

heh you know, I have NEVER played that mod.