26 replies to this topic

[Bursk]

I'll also be using the G3 Widescreen mod when I play. I've had a good look through the readme, but I'm still not sure what's good for a newbie.

For those mods that change things graphically e.g. Use Floating Text Font Globally, Easter Egg Morte etc, would it be possible to see some before/after screenshots?

Edit: Oh, and regarding the Widescreen mod, I've read that there are 'hidden containers' in Torment, so will I still be able to find these when running at 1280x800? That's the res I'm using for Tutu and BG2 on a 20 inch screen.

Edited by Bursk, 12 June 2008 - 01:32 PM.

[Qwinn]

A great question. I'll be happy to answer.

I'm lousy with screenshots. But I would not suggest using either the alternate Morte or Annah graphics until you've played at least once the normal way. Especially with the alternate Morte, as it doesn't just change his graphics but his sounds as well.

Here's what I'd play with in your circumstances:

The Fixpack, of course.

All components of Unfinished Business. (Yeah, even the Restored Cheat Items, I guess. I just wouldn't use them (particularly the Sword of Whynn, as it can spoil the ending for you) ... buying them can unlock a new tattoo which is a reasonable restoration itself though. And the dialogue about them with Vrischika is amusing.)


As for Tweaks...

These I consider must-haves:

Banter Accelerator (you almost definitely won't see all the banters without it. Hell, you can easily not see them all -with- it, even at it's fastest settings)

Explore All Areas (because the Widescreen mod can't play well with unexplored areas)

Stackable Rings/Charms/Bracelets/Scrolls.



These are recommended:

Save Nordom! (the issue this resolves is IMO the least fun aspect of the unmodded game)

Class/Armor Balancing Tweak (unless you think mages -should- have massively better AC than fighters and thieves, even without buffs, and this enhances your gaming experience... It doesn't for me.)

Maximum Hit Points per Level for TNO and Party (cheating a bit, but let's face it, 99% of us wind up reloading when we get crappy hit die rolls on level up, and reloading isn't fun. Doesn't make a difference after level 9-10 anyway.)

Maximized Friends Spell (purely a convenience tweak, similar to the last one in that most of us will simply reload or rest to rememorize spells if our Friends spell didn't give us the maximum bonus, and repeatedly resting/reloading isn't fun)

Scale of Souls - eh. It's mostly a novelty item that lets you get an actual number representing your alignment, rather than just broad categories. I like it, YMMV.



Not recommended for First Time Players:

No Battle Music: You should hear it at least once, and can remove it for later games if you dislike it. I install this now because I'd rather hear the party member's "I'm hurt!" type of comments, which can be hard to hear over the louder battle music.

Easter Egg Morte

Power Action Leprechaun Annah

Use Floating Text Font Globally... personally, I think the unmodded fonts are easier to read in their respective situations. YMMV, especially if you're using the widescreen mod, which I don't.

Rest Anywhere - makes the game trivially easy and boring.

Tome of Cheats - makes the game trivially easy and boring.

Identify All Items - identifying isn't all that much of a chore once you're a mage, and sometimes the unidentified descriptions can be interesting.


Qwinn

EDIT:

Edit: Oh, and regarding the Widescreen mod, I've read that there are 'hidden containers' in Torment, so will I still be able to find these when running at 1280x800? That's the res I'm using for Tutu and BG2 on a 20 inch screen.

I can't say, as I don't use the widescreen mod. Someone else will have to answer that.

Edited by Qwinn, 12 June 2008 - 01:54 PM.

[Salk]

Explore All Areas (because the Widescreen mod can't play well with unexplored areas)

Hi Qwinn!

Could you please elaborate a little further?

I was going to play with Widescreen and I never liked the "All areas are visible" tweak.

What happens if I do not install it?

Thanks!

[Qwinn]

Check out the link at this post:

http://www.shsforums...&...st&p=398422


Qwinn

[Bursk]

Thanks a lot, Qwinn!

[Salk]

Check out the link at this post:

http://www.shsforums...&...st&p=398422


Qwinn

Hello!

I read it twice but I must be really dumb because I don't understand yet what the problem having Widescreen mod without the Explore All Areas tweak is.

[Qwinn]

Don't read it, Salk. Click the link at that post. The one to "rockpapershotgun" or whatever. It's a screenshot that demonstrates the problem.

Qwinn

[Salk]

Hi again!

I clicked on the link and it shows me a widescreen screenshot of one area with no fog of war. What fog of war issue can it show if there isn't any?

EDIT: Unless the issue is about the fight going on with enemy and party being distant?

Edited by Salk, 13 June 2008 - 09:32 PM.

[Kaeloree]

There's no actual problem, it just looks much, much better if you don't have any fog of war when using the Widescreen mod, as far as I can tell?

[Qwinn]

There -is- fog of war, a good half of that screenshot is "covered" by fog of war, it's just blotchy. Look all along the top half. See all the black squares? Basically, a single "block" of fog of war isn't big enough to cover the area it's supposed to under the higher resolution, and it makes it look like a chessboard.

EDIT: Just to make absolutely sure we're looking at the same picture:

http://www.rockpaper...08/pstlarge.jpg


Again - the area around the Mortuary isn't supposed to look like a chessboard. Most of the top half and the bottom right of that screenshot do.

EDIT2: How odd... if you click on and "zoom in" on that picture, the square blocks go away, and it looks like there's no fog of war. That's -really- really strange. I've never seen a zoom do that before. But anyway, if you don't zoom in (or zoom out if it's defaulting zoomed in for you for some reason), you can see the blocks I'm talking about.


Qwinn

Edited by Qwinn, 13 June 2008 - 11:00 PM.

[Qwinn]

Can someone confirm for me that they can see the blocks I'm talking about in the zoomed-out version of the picture at that link? And that they go away if you zoom in? I'm just really curious about that now, never seen it before. (I zoom out and in just by clicking on the picture)

Qwinn

Edited by Qwinn, 14 June 2008 - 11:19 PM.

[Miloch]

Can someone confirm for me that they can see the blocks I'm talking about in the zoomed-out version of the picture at that link?

I don't get a "zoomed out" version or any blocks - just the full graphic. Sounds like an IE thing, but surely you're not using IE...

[SimDing0]

Can someone confirm for me that they can see the blocks I'm talking about in the zoomed-out version of the picture at that link? And that they go away if you zoom in? I'm just really curious about that now, never seen it before. (I zoom out and in just by clicking on the picture)

This will often happen on an image with a subtle repeating pattern--when you run any sort of algorithm to strip out part of the detail to reduce the size, the pattern becomes a lot more jarring. Look up spatial aliasing if you can be bothered, but suffice to say that the image is actually fine.

[HomiSite]

If I click on that given link in Opera 9.27, I get a normal 1.680 x 1.050 Pixel pic with no Zoom in/out stuff (because it's a direct link). When zooming 200% into the pic with Opera's zoom function, the top-right corner looks like this (blocks):
http://i28.tinypic.com/16gwz5y.jpg (341 KB, JPEG, 100% Quality)

Edit: Sorry, I misread the issue... I thought it was the question if there is fog of war at all (= blocks).

Edited by HomiSite, 15 June 2008 - 04:04 AM.

[the bigg]

What Ding0 said. I see it fine at native image resolution and when scaled 73%; if I scale the image at, say, 50% I get ugly blocks too.

[SimDing0]

Well yeh, clearly if you zoom in 200% it's not going to look good, because, um, you've zoomed in 200%...

[HomiSite]

Sorry, I misread the issue... I thought it was the question if there is fog of war (= blocks).

So, it's all about the zooming algorithm? When zooming around in a local pic viewer, no blocks; when zooming out in Opera I see some blocks/squares only at 90%: http://i31.tinypic.com/n2z984.jpg

Edited by HomiSite, 15 June 2008 - 04:03 AM.

[Qwinn]

Okay, I get the ugly blocks when I am zoomed -out-, and it's what pops up as the default when I first click that link.

Homisite, with your first .jpg, I'm not seeing blocks in that. In the second jpg, I am, but not in the same way.

The very curious thing though is that in the picture I'm seeing when I first click that link, the chessboard pattern -really is- only appearing where the fog of war is supposed to appear. It very clearly delineates the fog of war pattern you can make out in the unblocky picture. It's not just over the whole screen like it is in Homisite's 2nd picture, it's only where the fog of war is supposed to be.

And nope, I'm not using IE, I'm using Firefox. But -now-, when I look at that picture, the checkerboard pattern is -much- bigger (each square, I mean)... so yeah, it's definitely an artifact of my viewer, not something inherent in the original picture. And yet... if it's an artifact, why would it only happen in the area actually covered by fog of war? Very very very weird.

Anyway, so the question becomes - is anything like what I thought I was seeing happening when using the Widescreen mod? I mean, look at it from my point of view - the user who posted that pic told me there was a problem with fog of war in widescreen, I click and see a chessboard block pattern wherever fog of war is supposed to be. I -can- see how a widescreen mod might result in something like that. I proceed from that point thinking that's what the problem was. I make an explore all areas mod that actually explores -all- areas. And now, I don't even know if there was an issue at all

So yeah, if there -is- an issue with widescreen mod and fog of war, please let me know in some detail what it is

Qwinn

Edited by Qwinn, 15 June 2008 - 08:31 AM.

[the bigg]

No, no, no. Squares are a result of your browser, *not* of widescreen. If you view that jpg at 100% of its size (without any scaling), it doesn't have any squares. In FF, pics are scaled to fit your monitor - click on them with the magnifying glass to get the unscaled version.

[Qwinn]

*nod* I understand what you're saying. My question remains, though - why would I only get the blocks over the area that is covered by fog of war? Because that's certainly what it looks like. I would expect such a browser artifact to cover the entire image, not just portions of it, portions with the sort of circular edges that you get in the fog of war when you uncover a portion of it and step back...?

EDIT: Actually, I'm seeing it everywhere that the characters on screen (TNO and Morte) don't have direct visibility to at the moment that picture was taken... so it looks like the whole map was "explored", but where the fog of war that comes from not having direct visibility at any given moment occurs, that's where I'm seeing the blocks, and only there. That seems very odd and coincidental coming from a picture posted by someone who was saying there was a problem with fog of war...

When you guys go to 50% (and yes, that's the scale at which I see them too), are you seeing the square blocks over the entire picture, or only in the areas not directly visible to TNO and Morte, as I am?

Qwinn

Edited by Qwinn, 15 June 2008 - 08:59 AM.