Unofficial Arcanum Patch (Original Thread)

[Arcanumisepicness]

Let me first say, I love Arcanum, and wanna play it again, so got ya patch and also the official one, first the official and well, I did this all while game was on. When I done putting your patch on, went back on to game, and main menu become more nice looking, less pixelated, but when i quit game to see if it was still on it'd gone. Mind explaining how I got it, and is it possible to keep?

Here it is:

Now checking if I've still got it.

Edit:

It seems to come back on if I press start key, then go back on and it's all crisp and unpixelated, but when I sleep it return back to the pixelated images. It's annoying :/

 

[Arcanumisepicness]

One more thing to add, it's also same with the game, see it all crisp and clear, nice looking even, but when I sleep it goes back to looking like this.

Huh, hold on, when I print screen shows, it like I'm not seeing when I wake up from sleep.

What could that be?

Because, it shows all pixelated, when it's not supposed too, thoughts?

 

[Icarian]

I started a new game a while ago with the latest unofficial patch. I noticed one big issue (at least for me).

"[A] Added skill training to Tattered Bowman, Insectress Hunter and various NPCs in random encounters, such as Molochean Hand assassins and bounty hunters."

As I understand, this makes those NPC's have Apprentice training, which means +5 to speed.

This makes at least the Tattered Bowman shoot arrows like if it was a minigun. Me and my party dies just in a few seconds every time (I'm at level 11, wearing chainmail, 36 total armor protection.). Tried it in Ashbury haunted castle. In previous games with older unofficial patches, those bowmans were easier to defeat. I hope no similar issues is to expected with other NPC's when I play further....

This change was a bad call in my opinion (causes imbalance). This is very sad for a otherwise perfect patch. Even more frustating is that the patch is discontinued, so it never gonna change. I don't wan't to roll back to previous patches, because the other additions are important.


Why this was made in first place?

Could there be at least for a optional hotfix that removes this skill training for NPC's.

 

[Double Ogre]

The newly added Bow skill and and its training follow the same rules as the Melee skill that all monsters get automatically. The skill level is based on the critter's DX, while the training is dependent on the level. Since monsters get training in Melee it was decided that there's no reason to not add training for Bow, following the same rules.

Also, the game should really be played in TB, RT is too... spontaneous and unbalanced. Tattered Bowmen get 4 attacks a round with the Apprentice training (and 3 without it).

Oh and by the way, all bowman monsters had 0 bow skill in vanilla, so they couldn't even hit you.

 

[lordfrikk]

Oh and by the way, all bowman monsters had 0 bow skill in vanilla, so they couldn't even hit you.

LOL! Seriously, how could THIS made it thru beta testing?

 

[Icarian]

The newly added Bow skill and and its training follow the same rules as the Melee skill that all monsters get automatically. The skill level is based on the critter's DX, while the training is dependent on the level. Since monsters get training in Melee it was decided that there's no reason to not add training for Bow, following the same rules.

Ok, thanks for clearing this. I still think that the developers removed the skill training for npc bow on purpose, because the imbalance issue in RT-mode. Btw, do npc's with firearms have skill training (originally)?

Also, the game should really be played in TB, RT is too... spontaneous and unbalanced. Tattered Bowmen get 4 attacks a round with the Apprentice training (and 3 without it).

I have played this game multiple times always in RT-mode. I'll try TB-mode next.

Oh and by the way, all bowman monsters had 0 bow skill in vanilla, so they couldn't even hit you.

Yeah. IMHO Bow skill addition was good, but adding training to it went too far.

 

[Double Ogre]

I still think that the developers removed the skill training for npc bow on purpose, because the imbalance issue in RT-mode. Btw, do npc's with firearms have skill training (originally)?

All monsters had only the Melee skill originally (it's just hardcoded for the monster flags), and NPCs in random encounters had no skills at all, so the assassins would often stab themselves while the bounty hunters would shoot themselves in the foot.

The skill points were added in 080420 and the training in 081004.

 

[weirwood]

I've run into those Tattered Bowman too, and they're ridiculous in RT. However, I fully understand and support the decision to pick TB mode and try to balance for that as the baseline, so far as balancing's possible for this game.

There's no way around it that Arcanum's combat system & balance sucks either way, unfortunately. I can only assume this is due to some brain-dead Sierra CEO insisting to get the next Diablo 2 from Troika. And we got this unholy hybrid model that doesn't work in either mode. A TB mode that combines possibly more than 50 AP per turn with weapons that cost as little as 1 AP per attack? And that from the creators of Fallout?

Mind-boggling.

I know this project's officially dead, and a balance overhaul patch never got of the ground, but maybe you can indulge me and answer a couple of questions;

Would it be possible to assign variable AP costs for movement to different critters?

Barring that, would it be possible to introduce an IE-style pause function to the RT mode?

The former would be a vital step in achieving meaningful TB balance, while the latter would at least make the RT mode less stressful (for non-optimised char builds).

 

[Double Ogre]

If I was making a rebalance patch, I would just put min and max caps on the Speed stat, so it would start at 5 and go only as high as 25. (The animation speed in RT is already capped at 25, btw.)

As to your questions, a pause function is already in the game (the code is used when you access the ESC menu), so we can bind it to some key or just use a trainer to access it at any time. Of course, you won't be able to give any commands in this mode, only look around.

Assigning different AP costs for movement to different critters would require more serious ASM hacking. I suppose we can make use of unused object flags to indicate "slow" and "extra slow" movement rates, and then make a check for these flags in the movement cost calculation subroutine. Should be possible.

 

[emperorworm]

one question, is there a way to go to the island of cattan? ive been playing arcanum for several times now and i really dont know how to go to that island. c:

 

[lordfrikk]

one question, is there a way to go to the island of cattan? ive been playing arcanum for several times now and i really dont know how to go to that island. c:

Check this topic, Mr. Worm

http://www.terra-arcanum.com/phpBB/view ... =&p=160048

 

[weirwood]

If I was making a rebalance patch, I would just put min and max caps on the Speed stat, so it would start at 5 and go only as high as 25. (The animation speed in RT is already capped at 25, btw.).

That, in addition to some weapon speed tweaks so they don't go below 3 AP, would already go a long way. I was thinking about a SPECIAL-like system as a starting point, where Speed = 5 + DEX/2, with reductions to the DEX 20 bonus and the speed-adding items, but I assume some of that's hardcoded.

Good to know about the RT speed cap, I was wondering if such a thing was in place.

As to your questions, a pause function is already in the game (the code is used when you access the ESC menu), so we can bind it to some key or just use a trainer to access it at any time. Of course, you won't be able to give any commands in this mode, only look around.

Hmm. Somewhat useful to get your bearings at least, I guess. But that means RT is rather unsalvageable, as far as making it tactically interesting is concerned.

Assigning different AP costs for movement to different critters would require more serious ASM hacking. I suppose we can make use of unused object flags to indicate "slow" and "extra slow" movement rates, and then make a check for these flags in the movement cost calculation subroutine. Should be possible

Is the RT speed of critters due to their animations, or is stored somewhere as tangible data? I the later case, the conversion wouldn't be difficult to balance I imagine. Implementation is another matter, of course. Otherwise it'd take some judgement calls, but the system wouldn't need to be to be very fine-grained either way.

 

[Mooses]

I was wondering if the Shield of Force does any extra damage. The shield currently works at 91%, so it should do 0,91 - 9,1 extra damage, my weapon does 1 - 8 and my melee damage bonus is 0. I've never seen my character do 17 points damage. With and without the shield my character does only that 1 - 8 damage from the weapon with average of 4.

 

[gothemasticator]

The Shield of Force does 1-10 Electrical Damage to the enemy when the pc is attacked. It doesn't do anything for the pc's attacks.

This is very important at Falchon's Ache. Otherwise it's just a little help in battles.

gothemasticator

 

[Mooses]

Seems like the shield does the damage so rarely, that I've never noticed.. and manual states ED = Extra Damage, which obviously made me think it gives my attacks extra damage.

I tested the shield with some ailing wolf attacking Virgil who was equipped with the shield. The ailing wolf did over 20 attacks before it died, it would have done a lot more if it hadn't critically missed once.

 

["Bob"]

Race mod?

: What happened to the race mod? Drog Black Tooth apparently posted it on rapidshare.de in April 2008, according to that post, but it is no longer available for download. Basically the race mod adds a bit more support for playing as a dark elf, ogre, or orc, according to the post by Drog I just linked to. I already have DKoepp913's Save Game Editor 1.8, which, among its many features, lets you change your race to dark elf or ogre (but not orc for some reason ). Anyway, could someone who has it post Drog Black Tooth's race mod online again, perhaps in Terra Arcanum's downloads section or some other website that won't delete it, and then post a link to it here? Thanks. :wink:

 

[lordfrikk]

I am REALLY interested in that one!

 

[WhiskeyWolf]

http://www.rpgcodex.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=30955

High Resolution Patch is COMMING!

 

[Satori (original)]

Does anyone else experience slowdown when prowling?

 

[killerschlumpf]

Become a master in prowling, then you are able to run.

 

[SCO]

Are the God endings already included? And if not do you have any idea of how to blend them into the storyline. The gods quest seems like an obvious way, but something else too?

 

[Nicolai]

Hmm, one of the Grizzled War Veteran's lines (the expert melee trainer in Black Root) seems to be a tad too long, so the last word is cut off:

 

[Drog Black Tooth]

Hmm, one of the Grizzled War Veteran's lines (the expert melee trainer in Black Root) seems to be a tad too long, so the last word is cut off:

Hmm, looks like there's a height limit of 200 pixels for NPC responses, and the text with larger fonts (optionally available in the high resolution patch) didn't fit in it, in this case. I've already found the solution though, so this problem will be addressed in the next version of the high resolution patch. I'm not sure if there are a lot of lines that long, but you can always change the font size back to original by running HighRes.bat in your Arcanum folder. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Are the God endings already included? And if not do you have any idea of how to blend them into the storyline. The gods quest seems like an obvious way, but something else too?

Those endings were always available via Kerghan's dialog (join him first, then change your mind, he will ask you what you are going to do then), although the ending script was bugged/incomplete so they never actually worked. Now they do, of course.

 

[Nicolai]

Haven't seen any it happen to any other lines, so it's probably a very minor issue. No sweat. B)

 

[bhlaab]

Does this patch rebalance the game or just fix bugs?