Unofficial Arcanum Patch (Original Thread)

[Hümmelgümpf]

[R] Restored original skill icons (Combat, Thieving, Social and Technological).

Could you post them here?

 

[Drog Black Tooth]

 

[MetalCraze]

It's obvious why they weren't used - too much detail, too many objects and not much of a style. Icons should be simple.

 

[Drog Black Tooth]

[F] Fixed the wrong size of the written UI background (notes, books, newspapers, etc).

What size are they written in now?

Written UI's backdrop was 800x399 instead of 800x400. Most of the small annoyances regarding the UI were found while developing the high resolution patch (and are already fixed there).

 

[puppyonastik]

Thanks for continuing on, Drog.

 

[Drog Black Tooth]

Casting "Stone Throw" on one of your followers if they have full health results in the following message:

"This creature is already at full health."

No such thing.

Also, if you kill the Gnome while he is kicking the dog before initiating dialog the Text Float flag will still run, EG: "Take that, mutt!" and whatever will still appear next to the dog and the it will also stay on the ground.

Fixed.

 

[Chefe]

Maybe it's just me, but every time I've seen alpha/beta (early screen shots) or unused icons from a game they are always better than the ones that are shipped. Same thing goes for a lot of the original art.

 

[ever]

Its just you

 

[Drog Black Tooth]

This is an unused enemy type called Dark Knight. The graphics for it had positioning problems, but I fixed them in 081004. Palettes are original, although maybe I should change them, at least a red/pink one.

I think it'd be a good idea to put this enemy somewhere in the main Arcanum module via the Extra Content optional component, although I'm not sure where, as I don't want them to affect the balance.

Four monsters are based on this type. Here are their stats:

// dark knight (default palette)
Level: 20
Strength 12
Dexterity 14
Constitution 13
Beauty 1
Intelligence 8
Willpower 9
Charisma 3
Perception 10
Damage Resistance: 40
Fire Resistance: 40
Electrical Resistance: 40
Poison Resistance: 40
Magic Resistance: 15
Normal Damage: 10 25

// dark berserker (green palette)
Level: 25
Strength 15
Dexterity 16
Constitution 10
Beauty 1
Intelligence 5
Willpower 9
Charisma 3
Perception 5
Damage Resistance: 40
Fire Resistance: 40
Electrical Resistance: 40
Poison Resistance: 40
Magic Resistance: 15
Normal Damage: 15 20

// dark warrior-priest (red palette)
Level: 30
Strength 11
Dexterity 13
Constitution 16
Beauty 1
Intelligence 8
Willpower 15
Charisma 3
Perception 11
Spell: Bolt of Lightning
Damage Resistance: 40
Fire Resistance: 40
Electrical Resistance: 40
Poison Resistance: 40
Magic Resistance: 15
Normal Damage: 15 25
Fatigue Damage: 5 10

// dark warlord (default palette)
Level: 35
Strength 18
Dexterity 15
Constitution 14
Beauty 1
Intelligence 11
Willpower 9
Charisma 3
Perception 14
Damage Resistance: 40
Fire Resistance: 40
Electrical Resistance: 40
Poison Resistance: 40
Magic Resistance: 15
Normal Damage: 20 30
Fatigue Damage: 5 15

They can also wield two-handed swords.

Please suggest a location(s), preferably a specific room/area.

 

[Turok]

In the first town soo it make us run like hell :D

Awesome work, thanks for it. (right now playing with your patch).

Cant suggest a real place because i am still on tarant :D

 

[ARZ]

I think maybe plop three of them (one of each palette) inside Ashbury castle?

 

[Drog Black Tooth]

I think maybe plop three of them (one of each palette) inside Ashbury castle?

Suggest a specific room(s).

 

[pipka]

Please suggest a location(s), preferably a specific room/area.

the haunted castle not far away from town(don't remember the name)
the place where you find Torian Kel (enemies should be capped at level 20 here, i suppose)

rooms should be far enough from entrance, so you could start with skeletons/zombies and finish with dark knights and their army of skeleton followers.

mmmm... maybe adding some enemy variation to Halfling's Riddle

 

[ARZ]

If I added them to Ashbury castle, I would add one to the final room that contains the final boss (I think it was a lich?) as well as 2 on the first floor, one in each group of NPC's.

 

[Machined Plate Man]

They would be great somewhere at the void or in Kerghan's castle.

 

[Kogorn]

Kerghan's castle would work...but there are already a lot of dark knight type enemies there. It would fit in nicely but it might be overkill. Can't think of anywhere else to put it without affecting balance though.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Well, this is off discussion, but is it possible for you to actually make Gar have the stats of an Orc?
I would think that he should have the strength and constitution of one, but with a higher intelligence (human level).
Technically, he appears every bit an Orc, so why wouldn't his body type conform to the standard?

 

[Voodoo Daddy]

Knights: I'd change the pallet of the green and pink ones, and maybe plop down each one in a different location. One should be in Ashbury Castle for sure. I'll cast a second vote for the place where you get Torian Kel as another location. One could be with Min Gorad in the Dark Elf city - only hostile if you attack her.

Question: Maybe futility of fixing this has already been covered, or maybe it's something that would not be appropriate for The Patch, but is there any way for Virgil's scrips/AI/whatever to be edited so that he would not cast heal on someone with a moderate or higher technical aptitude (same thing applies to other Necro White users like Smythe and Raven - although I've never taken them so I don't know if they continually cast it or not)? It really diminishes his usefulness if you're a techie because he wastes all his stamina failing to heal you.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Places to put these abominations of man and spirit:
Kerghan's lab, The Bangellian Deeps, perhaps the ancient ruins where Torian Kel is (replace one of the speakers of evil for it), the ancient ruined maze outside Dernholm (maybe replace a golem or simply add it in), also since there's alot of zombies, mummies, etc in the sewers of Tarant, maybe put one there somewhere. Also, another place to put one, as mentioned, is Ashbury's castle, and another could be in those caves where you find the dagger of whatever it is that kills Lanmalellich the daemon.

Also, Drog, have you thought about restoring certain tech items that were taken out for whatever reason (along with their old arts)? I seem to recall that there is armor known as Guard Plate (shows up as a type of machined plate with a red kilt) and I think there are several types of arts for the different armors that are quite different from what's shown now in the inventory. Have you thought about using those older arts at all?

 

[Major_Blackhart]

double post.

 

[Drog Black Tooth]

is it possible for you to actually make Gar have the stats of an Orc?

His STR and CON won't go over 20 unless I change his race to Orc (Orcs can reach STR22, CN22). Stat caps are hardcoded to race.

is there any way for Virgil's scrips/AI/whatever to be edited so that he would not cast heal on someone with a moderate or higher technical aptitude

Not really possible, unless somebody decides to rewrite the rather primitive spellcasting AI.

It really diminishes his usefulness if you're a techie because he wastes all his stamina failing to heal you.

That's why he has the Heal skill. Just give him some Bandages.

Drog, have you thought about restoring certain tech items that were taken out for whatever reason (along with their old arts)?

Yes.

There's much more left over stuff in the game resources, of course. Some of it is just ideas that were never fully implemented, like Automaton Gunner (just a schematic with no actual critter/art), Folding Rifle (schematic and inventory arts), etc. There's also Animal Lure (it was supposed to attract wild animals to the target critter), however it seems they couldn't get the scripting right, so the animals just appear on the target critter's tile instead of off screen like intended (it seems like the engine feature that was supposed to spawn critters off screen was never finished). Additionally, there's plenty of unused art as you've mentioned, earlier designs and such. Not really sure what to do with them.

 

[Voodoo Daddy]

Gar's whole thing is that he's actually a human, of course, so giving him the stats of an Orc wouldn't make sense. Still, it would be nice if he had something else going for him besides not being able to wear most armor, but not every party member can be that useful (he's still pretty good at melee though).

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Well, that's kind of the point about Gar I mean.
He looks like an Orc, has their physiology. So why not make him one?
Yes, he doesn't acknowledge himself as one, because his direct antecedents were human. Then again, if you got a kid that's born black and looks black, but you and your wife, along with your parents on both sides are white, the kid will still technically be black. Why should it be any different with Gar otherwise.
Besides, you get no Half Orc or Orc followers at all in Arcanum.

Edit:
Also, what schematics in general were taken out of the game that have art?
Is there a list we can check out online somewhere?

 

[Kogorn]

[
Not really possible, unless somebody decides to rewrite the rather primitive spellcasting AI.

Any volunteers? :D

 

[deuxhero]

You say not to try with previous versions. Does this include saves from a game using only "offical" patches, or just older versions of your patch?