Unofficial Arcanum Patch (Original Thread)

[Earth Nuggets]

Huh... I'm trying to get Z'an A'lurin to join me with 100 alignment, 20 CH and Expert in Persuasion. I know I got her to join me last game with nearly the same stats/skills. Does BE affect her decision?

[Edit - Nevermind, you just need Mastery in Persuasion. NYUK!]

 

[Drog Black Tooth]

Typo in the book "The nature of Archaeological practices":
"Criteria as disparate as and objects color" - should be an objects color

Typo in the book "Psychological Treatise on Intolerance":
"If Jonathon had been able to persue his dream" - should be pursue

Kraka-Tur refers to the dragon as Belerogrim in his journal, while the map-location, the plaque outside of the cave, and the museum refers to it as Bellerogrim.

When talking to Thorwald about Gudmund he calls him "OreBender" - should be Ore Bender.

Excellent observation! Many thanks.

When first talking to Maximillian he says: "I do not know you half-orc, nor do I wish to know you" (random low reaction dialogue?).The polite answer is "Sir! Is this a way for gentlemen to speak to one another?" - Clarissa Vorak is not a gentleman.

It's possible to make this line appear only to males, and add a females only line for this situation (first meet, low reaction). Do you have any suggestions? How about "Sir! Is that any way for a gentleman to speak to a lady?"

It doesn't really make sense that you are able to ask Tarellond-Ashe why he is standing outside the cemetery (and go through the entire introductory dialogue) when you have already accepted his quest and retrieved the gem.

Yes, the lines are repeatable until you give him the gem. But perhaps it was done so to give a player another chance to ask Geoffrey to join him?

 

[Faceless]

It's possible to make this line appear only to males, and add a females only line for this situation (first meet, low reaction). Do you have any suggestions? How about "Sir! Is that any way for a gentleman to speak to a lady?"

Do this.

 

[kazgar]

Quick side question: I'm finally getting around to getting a proper copy of this game, mainly to take advantage of all the work here. If you had a choice between the original boxed version of a newer budget packed release, which would you choose? (I've found a place that has both at a good price) Is there anything different besides the possible application of patches, which i can do anyway?

 

[Faceless]

That really depends. Do you like having the boxes for display/whatever or not? Personally, I'd get the bundle because there might be something else in there of interest to you.

 

[Drog Black Tooth]

The new version is out!

The list of changes is pretty big this time. I've fixed a lot of dialogues and scripts, several game breaking bugs have been dealt with as well. There's also a bit of restored content, including readable technical manuals, the wall spells' effects and sounds, and art for several items. Many descriptions of magickal items have been corrected as well. All in all, the game should be much more stable now.

The full list of changes is as follows:

-Removed unnecessary blocking tiles in the Wolf Cave, so now it's possible to reach for the body.
-Loghaire in exile now has a correct portrait.
-Technical manuals are now readable.
-Fixed music issues in Mannox's Hole.
-Fixed two typos in Nasrudin's dialogue.
-Torian Kel's Ancestral Sword doesn't have an empty spell menu anymore.
-Nasrudin now kills K'an Hua at the Ring of Brodgar in all cases.
-Removed a broken line in Perriman Smythe's dialogue, also fixed his response about the Void.
-Fixed wrong conditions for a response about Kerghan in dialogues of Perriman Smythe, Geoffrey Tarellond-Ashe, Raven, Magnus and Franklin Payne.
-Fixed several mistakes in the dialogue of Loghaire in the Iron Clan.
-Fixed wrong conditions in Arronax's dialogue.
-Fixed several problems with Kerghan's scripts. First, now he won't be hostile to your party members when you persuade him to surrender, thus letting you finish the game with out fighting him. Second, he won't be summoning the slaves if you've either joined him or persuaded him to surrender.
-Gurin Rockharrow is now properly leveled up and has master training in gambling.
-Fixed a typo in Gurin Rockharrow's dialogue.
-One of D'ak Taan's henchmen is now properly leveled up and has a correct description.
-Fixed Gorgoth's dialogue. Now you get a different set of lines if you know that the enemy is Kerghan, not Arronax.
-Fixed the chicken's soundbank. Due to typos some sounds weren't playing.
-Restored missing special effects for the Wall of Stone, the Wall of Fire, the Wall of Force spells and the Fire Obstruction.
-Horace McGinley's corpse now has a correct race.
-Dante no longer acts like a ranged fighter.
-Fixed a typo in Edmund Craig's dialogue.
-Fixed descriptions for the Sword of Sickness, the Sword of Air, the Stillwater Blade, the Sword of Defense, the Filament Sword, the Reaper's Axe and the Axe of Strength.
-Added a missing line for dummies to Caleb Malloy's dialogue.
-Half Elf PCs now use elven art instead of human's, just like all Half Elf NPCs.
-Fixed a typo in Jared's dialogue.
-Fixed a mistake in the dialogue for Virgil after seeing Joachim's telegram.
-Fixed several typos in Bunny's dialogue.
-Fixed a line leading to a wrong response in Constable Owens' dialogue.
-Fixed a typo in Surly Virgil's dialogue.
-Fixed several typos in generic NPC responses.
-Fixed a dummy response, a typo and some wrong conditions in Arvid Millstone's dialogue.
-It's no longer possible to give Cassie's necklace to Madam Lil more than once.
-Fixed wrong conditions for dummy responses in Madam Lil's dialogue.
-You can no longer ask Ristezze about Schuylers as a dummy and get XP more than once.
-Herkemer Oggdoddler now properly takes 500 coins for training you in the melee skill.
-Fixed wrong conditions in Garret Almstead's dialogue.
-Fixed a typo in the dialogue for Virgil with an agent at the Crash Site.
-Fixed a wrong description and basic proto issues with one of the bank robbers: a correct soundbank now.
-Fixed Sogg Mead Mug's dialogue, now it's possible to ask him questions as a dummy as well.
-Fixed wrong conditions for dummies and added a missing line for dummies in Mr. Plough's dialogue.
-Fixed the dialogue of a half orc bandit to whom you must deliver the note from a dark elf in the Wellington Club. Now the note is properly transferred in the case of a dummy character as well.
-Fixed text formatting in Clarisse Vorak's background text.
-Fixed a typo in the book "The Pagan Gods of Arcanum".
-Fixed wrong female lines in Magnus' dialogue.
-Tollo Underhill won't appear in Dernholm Pits if you don't have the quest.
-Fixed a typo in Edward Teach's dialogue.
-Fixed several broken lines in Theodore's dialogue.
-Fixed Theodore's script, now he recognizes if one of your followers is wearing his armor.
-Fixed basic proto issues with a female Gnome Noble in Ashbury's town hall: a correct soundbank now.
-Fixed two repeatable lines for dummies in Constable Owens' dialogue.
-The line about work won't appear in Gildor Nighwalk's dialogue if you already have his quest.
-Fixed two typos in Gildor Nighwalk's dialogue.
-Fixed descriptions for the Goggled Helmet and the Eye Gear.
-Added a description for the Charged Ring.
-Restored the original art for Daniel Hallaway's strongbox, the map of Tarantian sewers and Tollo Underhill's map.
-Fixed a number of broken lines for dummies in the dialogue for the guard at the Isle of Despair. Also added two missing lines.
-Fixed a typo in Maximillian's dialogue.
-Fixed several broken lines in Laura's dialogue.
-Fixed a typo in Brigitte's dialogue.
-Added a missing line for dummies to William Bench's dialogue.
-Now once you get the information about Renford A. Terwilliger from the Hall of Records clerk you can no longer ask it again.
-Fixed two repeatable lines for dummies in the librarian's dialogue.
-Fixed wrong conditions in Pollock's door guard's dialogue.
-Fixed a mistake in Daniel Hallaway's dialogue.
-Fixed wrong conditions for low reaction lines in Mrs. Cameron's dialogue.
-Fixed several broken lines in Hadrian's dialogue. Also added two missing lines for dummies.
-Kietzel Pierce's quest now gets botched if you lie to him about the bow.
-Fixed a line for dummies in Nasrudin's dialogue.
-Fixed two typos in Nasrudin's dialogue.
-Fixed descriptions for the Hurful Bow, the Axe of Lost Time, the Blade of Malevolent Storm, the Black Stone Blade and the Star of Soul Bonding.
-City tailors now buy both Elegant Dresses and "Sunday's Best" Dresses.
-Fixed repeatable lines for dummies in Weldo Rubin's dialogue.
-The Nature's Wrath Helm now has a perception penalty.
-Fixed typos in "The nature of Archaeological practices", "Psychological Treatise on Intolerance" and Kraka-Tur's journal.
-Fixed a typo in Thorvald's dialogue.
-Added a line for females to Maximillian's dialogue.
-Fixed two broken lines for dummies in Arronax's dialogue. Also, added two missing lines for dummies.
-Fixed a typo in Arronax's dialogue.

As always, you can download the update in the first post.

 

[anatta 無]

Thanks

I want to thank you for your work on polishing this game! I had stayed away from it due to its bad reputation of being extremely buggy, but because of you and your work I have finally started to play. Very much appreciated!

 

[puppyonastik]

A big thank you from me as well, Drog.

Oh, if you would be so kind, to assist me in my bug hunting, would you be able to add to Virgil's Cheat menu the ability to make skills Expert and Apprentice as well?

 

[Drog Black Tooth]

Thank you for the warm comments.

Oh, if you would be so kind, to assist me in my bug hunting, would you be able to add to Virgil's Cheat menu the ability to make skills Expert and Apprentice as well?

It actually gives you the best training possible for your skills. Not necessarily master.

BTW, I finished playtesting my mentally impaired character, I checked almost all quests he could take (many quests are just unavailable to dummies), but I didn't check the evil path and some of the master quests. I got mastery in Bow, Dodge, Melee, Throwing, Backstab and Prowling though, so these are definitely alright. And Persuasion, Gambling, Heal and Repair can't be mastered by dummies.

And about this one:

When talking to Ristezze, If you have both the camera and the Toone boot in your inv, you only have the options to give both the cam and the boot together, or to go back in the conversation. If not paying attention, or clicking the former option thinking you will get the choice of either the boot or camera, this can be a severely costly mistake for a dumb player considering that it can cost nearly 2k to buy the camera back.

Maxim doesn't talk to retards, so the camera is useless.

 

[MaskedMan]

Yay, new patch!

If you had a choice between the original boxed version of a newer budget packed release, which would you choose?

The boxed version. Arcanum has an awesome 190 page manual, and having that in print would truly be heavan.

Anyway, some more minor bugs for you Drog:

Talking to Ogdin on the Isle of Despair: Following lines 72, 76, 78, then 82 doesn't give you the name of the book he wants. It still appears in your logbook, under a "mentioned" quest-entry.

Talking to Randver in the Wheel Clan:

- His response to line 414: "We seem them not as choices...", should be see

- His response to line 377: "But to live within him! feel him shifting and settling...", as a minimum the f should be upper case, maybe add "To feel"?

- His response to line 222: "Right now, it serves little purpose now but to house an assortment of foul creatures." sounds a little odd. Perhaps you could remove one of the now's, or replace the comma with "..." to indicate a pause? I'm not sure about this though, correcting spelling is one thing, changing the actual content is a whole different matter.

Also, what does the effect "Bad reaction modifier:-5" of the Serpentine necklace mean? It doesn't change my characters reaction modifier, can it be cancelled out by high technological aptitude or already having a low (-13 ) reaction modifier?

 

[puppyonastik]

It actually gives you the best training possible for your skills. Not necessarily master.

I was asking because people might want to test some things on master or their highest, and then revert to a lower skill level all in one play through when testing, rather than having to start over. I guess it's not that big of a deal, but it might make things a tad easier for people trying to help you.

Maxim doesn't talk to retards, so the camera is useless.

However, a player who accidentally sold the camera might have been planning on investing points into Int and may, by the time he/she reaches Maxim, have the Int necessary for the appropriate dialog.

 

[Shota Shernokavich]

will installing this patch corrupt the saves that i had for the previous one?

 

[Cadaver]

@Shota, most likely it does. As certain global flags are changed.

Some fixes won't work with old saves.

 

[carlstar]

puppyonastik you can just use the "arcanum edit" cheat program thing to change stats and everything if you need. im sure if you do a search you will find it somewhere.

 

[Drog Black Tooth]

I was asking because people might want to test some things on master or their highest, and then revert to a lower skill level all in one play through when testing, rather than having to start over.

It's impossible to revert training.

However, a player who accidentally sold the camera might have been planning on investing points into Int and may, by the time he/she reaches Maxim, have the Int necessary for the appropriate dialog.

I don't think it's a good roleplay. If you start as a retard, it doesn't make much sense to become smarter out of the blue. Especially, in the case of Arcanum, the world reacts VERY differently to retards and normal characters. There just won't be any consistency.

will installing this patch corrupt the saves that i had for the previous one?

It won't crash your game, but some .mob file fixes may not work if they're already on your save.

Also, what does the effect "Bad reaction modifier:-5" of the Serpentine necklace mean? It doesn't change my characters reaction modifier, can it be cancelled out by high technological aptitude or already having a low (-13) reaction modifier?

Bad reaction adjustment is a reaction modifier that will work only with negative alignment. E.g. gnomes have bad reaction modifier +10 as a racial bonus. Also, yes, the item most likely won't work at all with your tech aptitude.

 

[puppyonastik]

puppyonastik you can just use the "arcanum edit" cheat program thing to change stats and everything if you need. im sure if you do a search you will find it somewhere.

Thanks.

It's impossible to revert training.

My apologize, I didn't know.

I don't think it's a good roleplay. If you start as a retard, it doesn't make much sense to become smarter out of the blue. Especially, in the case of Arcanum, the world reacts VERY differently to retards and normal characters. There just won't be any consistency.

Whether or not we think it is good role-playing, the game still allows for it. Which, even though I agree with you, makes it a moot point.

 

[Depressed Construct]

Btw, here's the latest version of this Arcanum Edit thing.
Found it recently but it was of no use to me.

 

[theorel]

Journal for Thieves Guild in Tarant, says to steal Schrick's Pistol Schematic. should be Schreck's.

 

[Faceless]

At character creation, picking to play as an Elf who has had a Miracle Operation results in a CN stat of 1. Due to this, it doesn't matter how long you wait, your fatigue will never regenerate and as such the game is entirely unplayable.

This needs urgent attention imo.

 

[Talio]

Tarant Sewers

After applying the patch, I cannot enter Tarant Sewers (the first set of sewers, which contains that gold ring for that guy who needs you to go fetch it for him).

It simply hangs there, acting as though it is loading forever. The cursor-pocket-watch-loading graphic continues to function, but I have to close the game with task manager to get my computer's functionality back.

In order to ensure that this was in some way caused by this patch, I ran the game with a non-unofficially patched version of the game, and the sewers ran fine (albiet with the music glitch). I then applied the patch to that install, and attempted to enter the sewers again (same savegame) and it did the same thing all over again, crashed.

Could this be a problem with the use of old-save-games? I understand that finding bugs related specifically to using old save games it kind of a bother (and relatively pointless) but I was curious if anyone had run in to this problem as well, or if this is a legitimate screw-up.

Let me end this with thanking you for putting your time and effort into this game, I quit playing it so many times over the years since it had so many bugs.

The only mods that I have are the official ones, and I removed one of the mods prior to starting this character (at least I am very sure I did).

Keep up the good work!

 

[Donovan]

-Fixed several broken lines in Hadrian's dialogue. Also added two missing lines for dummies.

I haven't had a chance to download the new version, but it doesn't sound like you're describing the typo I spotted with Hadrian so I'll post it.

01090Hadrian_the_Archaeologist.dlg (Arcanum3, though now probably Arcanum5 for your latest patch), line 67, both male and female:

"Or if some poor fool comes across a tomb with sealed with a Gorgothian blood-curse?"

I'm guessing they meant "tomb sealed with".

 

[dougbrad82]

Thanks for your amazing work Drog! I started a game with patch 080510. want to install the newer one, would it cause problems with my current game? should I just start over?

 

[Donovan]

Another typo, this one is Gunther Wilhelm (01091Gunther_Willhelm.dlg in Arcanum3). Line 78, both male and female:

"There were two eye-witnesses to the ascension of Mannox--two elves of One was an elf named R'aan-Dar, and the other...what was his name...K'an Hua, I believe."

Not sure where they were going with that (two elves of what?), and it would be slightly repetitive to say "two elves" and then say "one was an elf...". I'd suggest either:

"There were two eyewitnesses to the ascension of Mannox. One was an elf named R'aan-Dar, and the other...what was his name...K'an Hua, I believe."

or perhaps:

"There were two eyewitnesses to the ascension of Mannox, both elves. One was named R'aan-Dar, and the other...what was his name...K'an Hua, I believe."


Lines 65 and 75 should also use "eyewitness" instead of "eye witness", as that seems to be preferred by the dictionary and is consistent with other usage in the same dialog.

 

[Drog Black Tooth]

Re: Tarant Sewers

After applying the patch, I cannot enter Tarant Sewers (the first set of sewers, which contains that gold ring for that guy who needs you to go fetch it for him).

It simply hangs there, acting as though it is loading forever. The cursor-pocket-watch-loading graphic continues to function, but I have to close the game with task manager to get my computer's functionality back.

Yes, the sewers map was updated in 080420. That's why it's recommended you start a new game. Although it's the only crash I'm aware of.

- His response to line 222: "Right now, it serves little purpose now but to house an assortment of foul creatures." sounds a little odd. Perhaps you could remove one of the now's, or replace the comma with "..." to indicate a pause? I'm not sure about this though, correcting spelling is one thing, changing the actual content is a whole different matter.

Actually the second "now" appears only in the female line. The male one doesn't have this mistake.

At character creation, picking to play as an Elf who has had a Miracle Operation results in a CN stat of 1. Due to this, it doesn't matter how long you wait, your fatigue will never regenerate and as such the game is entirely unplayable.

The same thing happens with gnomes as well. CN1 has 0 heal rate. CN2 already has 1 though. So, if you faint with CN1 - it's all over, you won't be able to wake up anymore. I'll look at the engine and try to change CN1 to heal rate 1.

"There were two eye-witnesses to the ascension of Mannox--two elves of One was an elf named R'aan-Dar, and the other...what was his name...K'an Hua, I believe."

Not sure where they were going with that (two elves of what?), and it would be slightly repetitive to say "two elves" and then say "one was an elf...". I'd suggest either:

"There were two eyewitnesses to the ascension of Mannox. One was an elf named R'aan-Dar, and the other...what was his name...K'an Hua, I believe."

or perhaps:

"There were two eyewitnesses to the ascension of Mannox, both elves. One was named R'aan-Dar, and the other...what was his name...K'an Hua, I believe."

I like the first variant beter.

 

[Donovan]

When you enter the Iron Clan with both Magnus and Loghaire, one of the voice-overs from Loghaire starts "As did my own", but the text reads "My grandfather told me the same stories". I can see where the text is a bit clearer, but unfortunately it doesn't match so I think the voice-over version is preferable (and still clear enough).

Line 4 of 01919Loghaire_in_the_Iron_Clan.dlg (Arcanum3).