Unofficial Arcanum Patch (Original Thread)

[Drog Black Tooth]

Thanks for proofreading.

It's the same thing as with "good bye", they used a wrong variant a lot: there's 66 dialogs with "cannot", and 54 with "can not". I'll fix them all, of course.

I thought it was an acceptable variant, like 'all right' and 'alright'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodbye
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/goodbye
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/goodbye

The lines 46, 92 and 148 have question/exclamation marks before ellipses.

We still haven't decided on what to do with them. Removing ellipses altogether may change the original style too much. Aboyd gave his opinion on the matter, but I'd like to hear other opinions as well.

Line 134 ({134}{I see. Well, Ristezze is always one to help those in need. Take this small donation. Ristezze is a business man, but he has a heart as well. Tell, me...were there any objects there that seemed...well...unclaimed...?}{I see. Well, I hope the damage wasn't too great. Ristezze is a business man, but he has a heart as well. Tell, me...were there any objects there that seemed...well...unclaimed...?}{}{}{}{$$50}):
I know that the female line doesn't have to be identical to the male one (with man/woman exceptions) but I think it should mention Ristezze's donation,as you receive the money whether he mentions it or not.

Female line are supposed to be almost identical, only with slight changes such as different forms of address/gender specific words. What we have here (and with CHANCES/STUMBLES as well) is that they updated the dialog at some point, but didn't check all female lines. There was a similar line in D'ak Taan's dialog as well, the female line was different (probably from an older version), I noticed it myself, Earth Nuggets missed it. That's why I'm saying we should pay extra attention to female lines.

Line 245: "The Willoughsby banking dynasty were like children to Ristezze, asking for toys." has singular 'dynasty' with 'were', which I believe is wrong. You can't really change it to dynasties as it's just one, but maybe you could add "the men of the Willoughsby..."? Or maybe Ristezze is confused?

Are you sure? Google shows a plenty of examples of 'dynasty' with 'were', e.g. "The 'Syrian dynasty' were, of course, Romans.".

Line 65: "I suppose it does no harm in telling you now."
Question This just seems wrong. Could it be "there is no harm..." or "it does no harm telling you now"?

Not sure. Any other opinions?

Line 208: "...you know a dwarves true home is ALWAYS in the hand-carved caverns of mountain stone..." should be a dwarf's.

Can it be "a dwarves home" as in "a home of dwarves"?

Line 220: "My god man! I will hear no more! Prepare to die!" should be "my good man" - the PC isn't usually prone to religious outbursts. Although calling him a "good man" before attacking him is a little odd...

I'm quite positive that it's "My god, man!" nevertheless.

Line 1: {You bastard stop toying with my life!!!}{You evil witch stop toying with my life!!!} should be "You bastard, stop toying..."?

Are you sure?

Also, what about 01042Lukans_Henchmen.dlg?

EDIT: I'm a bit puzzled about this line: "Like royalty! Kings and Princes, their ships laden with goods and resources, tribute from lands both near and far!" Shouldn't "Princes" be uncapitalized?

EDIT2: You've missed a typo in Winston Schuyler's dialog--"blood lines" is a single word.

 

[MaskedMan]

Thanks for proofreading.

It's the same thing as with "good bye", they used a wrong variant a lot: there's 66 dialogs with "cannot", and 54 with "can not". I'll fix them all, of course.

I thought it was an acceptable variant, like 'all right' and 'alright'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodbye
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/goodbye
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/goodbye

Yes, I saw that. I was talking about 'can not' and 'cannot'.

http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutspelling/cannot
http://www.languagehat.com/archives/000876.php

It is not really 'wrong', but it will have to be judged on a case-by-case basis.


01042Lukans_Henchmen.dlg doesn't really have any errors; line 2 writes meatloaf as two words, but I googled it, and if it's a mistake it's a pretty common one...

 

[Drog Black Tooth]

I was talking about 'can not' and 'cannot'.

http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutspelling/cannot
http://www.languagehat.com/archives/000876.php

It is not really 'wrong', but it will have to be judged on a case-by-case basis.

Seems so, although it's used as two words in quite rare cases. Anyway, I've changed it only in the mayor's dialog so far. This was the line: "Is there some difficulty they can not deal with?".

 

[Enigmatic]

The full line is "[Magnus takes the snuff from you, taking a large pinch.] Sniff...ah! That's much better! Thank you, my friend! Let's say all is forgotten...".

Oh... That makes more sence

Line 65: "I suppose it does no harm in telling you now."
This just seems wrong. Could it be "there is no harm..." or "it does no harm telling you now"?

It's fine the way it is. It makes perfect sence.

Spell Checker/Grammar Checker
Am not sure which style of English (American/UK) it uses though.

 

[Freddy]

To Freddy, will you proofread again? If so, how many KB would you like to receive?

Sure, let's keep it at ~20kb for now.

 

[Earth Nuggets]

01066ThorvaldDialogue

Lines 18-19, 456, 693: "Ok" should be "OK." Hopefully that error isn't common.

Line 32: I think a hyphen should connect "over" and "intellectualized."

Line 58, 68: Comma should be replaced with semicolon.

Line 79: First instance of line has no comma after "but" while the other does.

Line 81: Needs a question mark after "why don't you tell me."

Line 121: "None of this makes sense" should not end with question mark.

Line 184: "Dwarf" and "gnome" are capitalized, when in other lines they are not.

Line 218: "Can not" should be "cannot." "Kathorn Crystal" is not fully capitalized, whereas in other lines it is. There is also no period at the end of the last sentence.

Line 309: Should be "an old woman," not "a old woman."

Line 320: Period should be replaced with question mark.

Line 326: "An other" should be "another."

Line 59, 337, 339, 347: I'd think "clan" would be capitalized, as it is in other lines.

Line 341: The word "forgive" should not be capitalized.

Line 349: "Tounge" should be "tongue."

Line 413, 673: There should be a space between "all" and "right."

Line 444: "desided" should be "decided."

Line 467: "Wheel Clan" is not fully capitalized, as it is in other cases, and same issue with "Kathorn Crystal" yet again. The second instance of the line is also confusing. Thorvald says you will need glasses "with lenses made of pure crystal" instead of "lenses made of Kathorn Crystal." Isn't that vague?

Line 474: "Deal" is unnecessarily capitalized.

Line 501: Instead of simply "disposed," perhaps it should be "disposed of."

Line 548: Second "your" should be "you're."

Line 563: Second instance of line is missing comma.

Line 564: Second "yes" should be capitalized.

Line 593: "the" should not be capitalized.

Line 701: This line is kind of weird. I'll just type my correction...

...and I assure you I am a dwarf, and it is comments such as those which assure me that I am making the right decision in saying "No, I will not join you."  So don't ask again.

Line 779: There should be a question mark instead of period.

Line 836: "Anything" should be one word.

Line 844: Missing period.

Line 846: No space before exclamation points.

Also, I don't know if this would be considered an error, but in line 186 (one of Thorvald's), there are quotations around "rock." In a later line by Thorvald (277), however, there aren't.

Let's continue with the 40 kilobyte chunks.

 

[Drugar]

Yesterday night I got to the Silver Lady and noticed that one of her prophecies about M'in Gorad has a completely different text spelled than spoken. I saved afterwards so I can't specify which line I'm afraid but if any players are around that part of the game, pay attention to it.

And thanks for making this patch Drog, it's awesome :D

 

[shadow86]

I've got a couple of questions about the patch. First, should I install it before playing Arcanum for the first time or stay vanilla? Also if this doesn't allow mods, is the only way to play mods another "clean" installation of Arcanum. Not there really are any mods worth playing but...

 

[BillyOgawa]

There is absolutely no reason to play Arcanum without this patch.

 

[Drog Black Tooth]

Thanks for proofreading.

Line 58, 68: Comma should be replaced with semicolon.

Why do you think so? I'm not sure on this one, and am afraid it may change the original style. All semicolon does is just make a longer pause than comma. Here are the lines, for everybody to see: "Black Mountain Clan? There's no Black Mountainers here, I'm the only dwarf that has ever lived on this rock." and "I'm Thorvald Two Stones of the Wheel Clan. You're a bit off in your directions, the Black Mountain Clan is in the northernmost region of the Stone Wall Mountains."

Line 79: First instance of line has no comma after "but" while the other does.

I believe, the female line is wrong here. I see no need for comma after but. "That is strange. But why is it you believe that they are here?"

Line 413, 673: There should be a space between "all" and "right."

"All right" is used in 23 dialogs, while "alright" is used in 86, and both variants are correct. We'll be using "alright", since it's the most used.

Line 444: "desided" should be "decided."

And what is "naw"? "Naw... I decided I don't want your help." Perhaps, it should be "nah"?

 

[BillyOgawa]

"Naw" is a sort of hick-ish way to say "No." Like, "Naw, that ain't right, mama, hyuck-hyuck!" I guess it depends on who is saying the line. Is it the PC?

 

[Drog Black Tooth]

"Naw" is a sort of hick-ish way to say "No." Like, "Naw, that ain't right, mama, hyuck-hyuck!" I guess it depends on who is saying the line. Is it the PC?

Yes, the PC.

 

[BillyOgawa]

"Naw" is a sort of hick-ish way to say "No." Like, "Naw, that ain't right, mama, hyuck-hyuck!" I guess it depends on who is saying the line. Is it the PC?

Yes, the PC.

It seems intentional to me. I'd leave it.

 

[BillyOgawa]

Send another whenever.

01047GilbertBatesDialogue.dlg

When I played the game, I felt pity for Bates and liked his character. After going through this dialog, he seems like a pretty big bastard.

Many instances of "strange looking". It seems like "strange-looking" would be more proper, but I'm not certain.

Line 32: "dwarf like" should be "dwarf-like"

Line 51: "slit our throat than" should be "slit our throats than"

Line 71: "Clean shaven?" should be "Clean-shaven?" http://www.thefreedictionary.com/clean-shaven

Line 110: "well known" should be "well-known" http://www.thefreedictionary.com/well-known

Line 200: {200}{You dare? I've had men beaten within inches of their lives for less than that! Give me the ring NOW - you get nothing!}{You dare? I've beaten women within inches of their lives for less than that! Give me the ring NOW - you get nothing!}{}{16}{}{ }

(I just thought this line was interesting. If you're a man, it doesn't seem so dark. But if you're a woman, the way the line changes paints Bates as a really unpleasant individual.)

Line 201: Considering how line 200 is different depending on the PC's gender, there should perhaps be a different female response here. The line as is {201}{Please don't have me beaten! Here is your ring.}{}{5}{}{210}{in 2804 } A possible female line could be, "Please don't beat me! Here is your ring."

Line 290: "well known" should be "well-known"

Line 305: "Of course sir, pardon me, sir." should be "Of course, sir. Pardon me, sir."

Line 360: "I uh never, that is," should probably be "I, uh, never, that is,"

Line 371: "the isle of despair" should be "the Isle of Despair"

Line 550: "I'll wire ahead to Teach to expect you." should be "I'll wire ahead to tell Teach to expect you." See Line 560, which has my corrected line.

Line 581: "how do I get to there?" should be "how do I get there?" See 591, which has my corrected line.

Line 600: "too" should be "to"

Line 1082: "you tell me you came by that ring" should be "you tell me how you came by that ring"

Line 1288, 1289: The comma between "dangerous" and "to me" is unnecessary.

Line 1320: "tight knit clan" should be "tight-knit clan"

Line 1430: "[he pauses for effect]" "he" should be capitalized, there's an extra space between "better" and "than" and "halforc" should be hyphenated.

Line 1460: "half breed" should be "half-breed and there's an extra space between "better" and "than"

 

[aboyd]

Line 58, 68: Comma should be replaced with semicolon.

Why do you think so? I'm not sure on this one, and am afraid it may change the original style. All semicolon does is just make a longer pause than comma. Here are the lines, for everybody to see: "Black Mountain Clan? There's no Black Mountainers here, I'm the only dwarf that has ever lived on this rock." and "I'm Thorvald Two Stones of the Wheel Clan. You're a bit off in your directions, the Black Mountain Clan is in the northernmost region of the Stone Wall Mountains."

Actually, I think EN is correct. You're supposed to use a semicolon when you're connecting two lines that could stand on their own as separate sentences. Having said that, I like the commas anyway. They're OK, and they're certainly not wrong. It's just that the semicolon might be sort of the anal-retentive English teacher's way to do it.

 

[Drog Black Tooth]

Thanks for proofreading, Billy!

Many instances of "strange looking". It seems like "strange-looking" would be more proper, but I'm not certain.

Yes, seems like a moot point.

Line 32: "dwarf like" should be "dwarf-like"

Are you sure? According to the google search it seems to be a moot point as well.

Line 110: "well known" should be "well-known" http://www.thefreedictionary.com/well-known

Line 290: "well known" should be "well-known"

My Concise Oxford English Dictionary uses the variant without hyphen, and the google search shows a plenty of both.

Line 1430: "[he pauses for effect]" "he" should be capitalized

It's in the middle of the sentence.

Line 58, 68: Comma should be replaced with semicolon.

Why do you think so? I'm not sure on this one, and am afraid it may change the original style. All semicolon does is just make a longer pause than comma. Here are the lines, for everybody to see: "Black Mountain Clan? There's no Black Mountainers here, I'm the only dwarf that has ever lived on this rock." and "I'm Thorvald Two Stones of the Wheel Clan. You're a bit off in your directions, the Black Mountain Clan is in the northernmost region of the Stone Wall Mountains."

Actually, I think EN is correct. You're supposed to use a semicolon when you're connecting two lines that could stand on their own as separate sentences. Having said that, I like the commas anyway. They're OK, and they're certainly not wrong. It's just that the semicolon might be sort of the anal-retentive English teacher's way to do it.

OK, went back to commas. And reverted this change in Archibald's dialog as well.

01007archibald

Line 52: With proper punctuation, it would be "I couldn't take your money; I'll do it for nothing."

 

[MaskedMan]

01061Edward_Teach.dlg

Lots of bad form and some misspelled words, but most of it's probably on purpose, to add to his pirate lingo. It's better to just leave it alone. Still, I found some errors I believe are unintentional:

Line 43, the female line:" Ahoy there, mate. What can Old Teach do ye for?" "'mate" should be "missy" or "lassie".

Line 266: "...and as the night got on, they tales got taller and we laughed harder, and we were all havin' a grand old time..." "they"' should be "the"?

Line 304: "somethin" should be "somethin'"

Line 352: "The furthest I even been?", "even" should be "ever".

He is pretty inconsistent in his use of "ye. He uses variations of "you" in the lines 107,137, 174, 254, 282, 299, 314, 318, 334, 366, 401, 406, 414, 421, 425, 429, 436, 440, 444, 451, 459, 483, and 510 (it looks like a lot, but it's mostly the same line, with different conditions). He uses "ya" in the lines 90,359, 390, 414, 429, 444, and 459.


01068Hippington.dlg

Hippington is inconsistent in whether or not "the giant" should be written "the Giant" or not. When it is reffered to as the "Stillwater Giant" it is, of course, capitalized, but the word "giant" is also capitalized in the lines 7, 9, 26, 27, 29, 47, 49, 154, 173, 319, 321, 338, 340, and 392.

Line 113: "shape shift" should be" shapeshift" or "shape-shift"?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shapeshifting

Line 143: "impossibilty"' should be "impossibility".

Line 153: "moth eaten" should be "moth-eaten"?

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/moth-eaten
http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/moth-eaten
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/moth-eaten

Line 203: the female version is slightly different. Minor detail, but it explains why the giant changes into a rabbit when it is in its lair.

Line 214: "How am I suppose to get close enough to it to trap it, then?", "suppose" should be "supposed".

Line 253: "I commend you on your courage, though I can not say the same about your intelligence.", "can not" should be "cannot".

Line 307: "Dr. Fenwick has been possessed by other worldly demons intent on my destruction!", "other worldly" should be "otherworldly".

Line 312:"capabilties" should be "capabilities".

Line 346: "addle brained" should be "addle-brained"? Also, he refers to the female PC as "sir", should be "madam".

Line 355: "Gigantopithicus" should be "Gigantopithecus".

Line 375: "... it is all so obvious Dr. Fenwick painted the rabbit blue, then told me, no wait, he made it shape shift and he has sent it to attck me or mate with me ... " should have punctuation, or at least a comma after obvious? Or maybe Hippington is beyond proper punctuation at that point? Anyway, "attck" should be "attack".

Line 400: can spirits hand you bottles :

Line 405: "prescence" should be "presence".

Line 430:it seems unsuitable that a spirit would care about being ripped apart by a giant, but there aren't any alternate lines to replace it with in the dialog file.


BTW, this

Yesterday night I got to the Silver Lady and noticed that one of her prophecies about M'in Gorad has a completely different text spelled than spoken.

is about her reply to line 64; the VO is "(...)beyond...a ragged wound, mended with a ring of blasted stone", and the text is "(...)beyond...crooked finger points eastward, adorned with a ring of blasted stone". Is the male line identical? The only other place I've seen this prophecy described is in conversation with Raven, line 317.


I'm ready for more, 80 KB.

 

[BillyOgawa]

I won't be able to proofread for the rest of the week, but I'll ask for more when I can.

01071Loghaire_Thunder_Stone.dlg

Line 9, 15, 33, 43: "reign" should be "rein"

Line 12: "life hangs in the balance stranger!" should be "life hangs in the balance, stranger!" Also, "you taste of the fury of Harrow" should be "you taste the fury of Harrow" this correct line appears in Line 317

Line 77: "coward King should be hyphenated, perhaps? In this dialogue "dwarf-betrayer" and "traitor-King" were previously hyphenated.

Line 84: "You're" should be "Your"

Line 103: "Technology, in the hands of the human had spread" should be "Technology, in the hands of the human, had spread"

Line 122: add commas and capitalizations "was "what can" should be "was, "What can" and "have been "what is" should be "have been, "What is"

Line 215: "King" shouldn't be capitalized in this instance

Line 292: This is voiced right? Does he say, "I would be VERY interested in finding out what really happened to them. VERY interested..." Because normally one would say, "I'd be interested in finding out. VERY interested."

Line 317: "Your life hangs in the balance stranger!" should be "Your life hangs in the balance, stranger!"



01076MyrthDialogue.dlg

Line 65: "brought you Giant's pelt" should be "brought you the Giant's pelt" perhaps?

Line 68: missing text "[Show him the in the cage]"

Line 81: "If course" should be "Of course"

Line 94: "Please can't you" should probably be "Please can you"

Line 131: "and its bad." should be "and it's bad."

Line 147: "has" should be "have"

Line 177: "of Dwarves" "Dwarves should be lower case? "have" should be "has"

Line 178, 182, 222: add a period to the end of the line.

Line 181, 184: "Dwarves" should be lower case

Line 215: "You're exploits" should be "Your exploits"

Line 239: "you're idiocy" should be "your idiocy"

Line 261: "This is a rabbit you idiot!?" should be "This is a rabbit, you idiot!" add a comma, subtract the question mark.

Line 279: "I wish you good journey." should be "I wish you a good journey."

Line 339: What is Talans?

Line 394: "you" should be "your"

Line 405: "very long ." extra space between "very long" and the period

Line 414: "giant" not capitalized despite being capitalized in all other lines, including dumb person

Line 418: "feelings my simple" should be "feelings, my simple"

Line 421: "I guess you too dumb" should be "I guess you're too dumb"

Line 422: "That's OK you can" should be "That's OK, you can"

 

[Earth Nuggets]

I believe, the female line is wrong here. I see no need for comma after but. "That is strange. But why is it you believe that they are here?"

I too felt the comma was unnecessary and merely pointed it out for being randomly inconsistent with the other instance of the line.

Also, I suppose I'll lay off the semicolons...

 

[Earth Nuggets]

01056CedricAppleby

Line 82, 138: There's a space before the question mark.

There are lines of dumb dialogue where the first letter of certain sentences aren't capitalized (pretty inconsistent too), but it's so frequent, it has to be intended.

Line 520: Four dot ellipses.

Line 590: Space after hyphen.

Line 645: "If" is unnecessarily capitalized.

It seems they edited that one pretty damn well.

 

[Drog Black Tooth]

Thanks for proofreading!

Line 266: "...and as the night got on, they tales got taller and we laughed harder, and we were all havin' a grand old time..." "they"' should be "the"?

The full line is: "Well, one night we was all drinkin' in the Sour Barnacle down Black Root way, and old Jack got real drunk, and started in with his stories...and as the night got on, they tales got taller and we laughed harder, and we were all havin' a grand old time..."
First, "we were", I suppose? It doesn't seem like pirate lingo to me. And I'm not sure on the second one as well. "Their tales"? "The tales"? Or even perhaps "them tales"? (E.g. "Them cops are a pitiful example of law and order").

He is pretty inconsistent in his use of "ye. He uses variations of "you" in the lines 107,137, 174, 254, 282, 299, 314, 318, 334, 366, 401, 406, 414, 421, 425, 429, 436, 440, 444, 451, 459, 483, and 510 (it looks like a lot, but it's mostly the same line, with different conditions). He uses "ya" in the lines 90,359, 390, 414, 429, 444, and 459.

Well, it seems he uses all forms a lot. So, I can't judge what's consistent or not. Any other opinions on this? I'm afraid to change so many lines without a solid evidence.

Line 375: "... it is all so obvious Dr. Fenwick painted the rabbit blue, then told me, no wait, he made it shape shift and he has sent it to attck me or mate with me ... " should have punctuation, or at least a comma after obvious? Or maybe Hippington is beyond proper punctuation at that point?

Perhaps, "obvious that"? What do you think?

Line 400: can spirits hand you bottles :

Magick!

Also, you missed "capabilties" at line 312.

 

[BillyOgawa]

The "ye" and "you" business seems intentional to me.

 

[Drog Black Tooth]

Line 520: Four dot ellipses.

We had that explained yesterday.

A niche bit of info is that an ellipsis doesn't actually end a sentence (it's not like a period) so if the writer is being obsessively perfect, you may occasionally see an ellipsis followed immediately by a period (four dots total). That would end the sentence. I find that weird, but it's correct.

Also, will you proofread again, Earth Nuggets?

 

[Drog Black Tooth]

Thanks again, Billy!

01071Loghaire_Thunder_Stone.dlg

Line 12: "life hangs in the balance stranger!" should be "life hangs in the balance, stranger!" Also, "you taste of the fury of Harrow" should be "you taste the fury of Harrow" this correct line appears in Line 317

The funny thing is that he says "you taste of the fury of Harrow" in both cases in the VO. So, it seems it's line 317 that is wrong.

Line 292: This is voiced right? Does he say, "I would be VERY interested in finding out what really happened to them. VERY interested..." Because normally one would say, "I'd be interested in finding out. VERY interested."

He says the exact line.

01076MyrthDialogue.dlg

Line 65: "brought you Giant's pelt" should be "brought you the Giant's pelt" perhaps?

Line 414: "giant" not capitalized despite being capitalized in all other lines, including dumb person

"The giant" is uncapitalized (with a few exceptions) in Hippington and Fenwick's dialogs, so I'll change all instances of it here as well.

Line 147: "has" should be "have"

I believe it should be "Your question has been answered." The PC asks a question about the story state, and once it's been answered this line is called.

Line 177: "of Dwarves" "Dwarves should be lower case? "have" should be "has"

It's the same thing as with "dynasty". It can be used in a plural form, as well. The google search shows a plenty of examples.

Line 339: What is Talans?

That's a good question.

P.S. We've proofread 700 KB already. Not bad.

 

[DDTerr]

Magick / magic, magicker / mage

Hi all,
what about using of two similar words: magick/magic and magicker/mage ??
There are so many words "magick" and "magickal" in Arcanum (also in the title of the game so that it should be used in ALL texts. I understand the different meaning (see "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magick"). I think that this game is the right place for "-k".

Only in dlg and mes files: magick (788), magickal (439), magic (213 but some only as notes, not in in-game texts), magical (61), mage (399 !), magicker (18 only?)

But I am not native English, so don't take me so serious Maybe I'm wrong.