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New Fixpack 3.0 Readme - Sneak Peek


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#1 Qwinn

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Posted 18 December 2008 - 05:10 PM

Okay, here it is. (Phew). The new Fixpack 3.0 Readme with the full changelog that will ship with the release that is due in hopefully just a few hours. (File downloadable at bottom of post).

This should be pretty much all of it. I've got about 2 hours of testing to go, and not expecting to find much left, and I'll do some additional testing on scient's fixes when he's done (he's always tested his own stuff before giving anything to me, always been very solid, but just to be sure and safe).

I'll post the new readmes for UB and the Tweak Pack in their own forums soon as they're done shortly.

If you're already familiar with what previous versions fixed, and just want to know what's new to version 3.0, here you go:

Version 3.0:

Engine Fixes! Courtesy of the Binary Executable Guru, Scient (oh my, that's an unfortunate acronym - just kiddin' scient). Many thanks to scient for some groundbreaking fixes that were previously thought impossible. Qwinn identified most of the bugs, developed the method to WeiDUize the engine fixes and did some testing, but scient gets all credit for the amazing work in actually working with assembler code to develop the fixes.
1. Consistent HP: As per the game manual, TNO now always gains hit points as a fighter (1-10hp per level till level 9, 3hp per level thereafter) when leveling his highest level class, and no longer gains 1hp when leveling any of his other classes. (scient)
2. Class Based THACO: As per the game manual, TNO loses all of his class abilities when he switches to another class. He no longer keeps his fighter THACO when operating as a mage or thief. (scient)
3. Morale Fixes! This major set of fixes correct the previous behavior where party NPC's morale would reset every 8 game hours, among other issues. The following three fixes are a result:
4. Dak'kon's Zerth Blade was supposed to transform when gaining certain fighter levels depending on Dak'kon's morale. This usually wouldn't work due to the morale reset. Now it will! You can now see Dak'kon's Streaming Blade or Kinstealer, depending on how you treat him. (scient)
5. TNO and his fellow PC's are no longer immune to fear spells. This makes several fights with mages that were trivially easy no longer so. Beware! (scient)
6. Fear spells will no longer effectively just paralyze opponents, which made those spells far far more powerful than they should be. Opponents struck by fear will now run 80% of the time, panic (paralyze) 10% of the time, and go berserk 10% of the time, the same as if their morale had broken naturally. (scient)
7. Weapons fix: Switching weapons would not always update combat statistics such as THACO and number of attacks, especially when equipping non magical weapons. (scient)
8. Expanded journal! The diary portion of your journal could only hold about 128 entries, with older entries disappearing as new ones beyond that limit were added. The diary can now hold all entries until the end of the game. (scient)
9. Several methods of healing would previously not heal bonus hit points gained from items. This included being healed in dialogues (Mebbeth, Curst Hermit) and TNO's hit points when resurrecting. All hit points will now be healed. (scient)
10. Usable Only By Xaositect flag now functions as it should. Currently, this only applies to the Rat Charm restored in Unfinished Business. (scient)
11. Portals fix: several portals in the game would stop functioning correctly after TNO changed class/faction/alignment. They will now work properly. (scient)
12. Items with faction and alignment restrictions will now automatically de-equip when you change faction or alignment, in the same way items with class restrictions automatically de-equip when you change class. (scient)
13. If a character with more than 12 spell slots in a level added or removed an item that gave additional spells, all memorized spells would be wiped and would have to be rememorized. Fixed. (scient)
14. Receiving a stat bonus during a dialogue would deactivate item bonuses until the end of the conversation, which could make the player fail stat checks that they should have passed. This was fixed with workarounds in previous versions of the Fixpack, but it is now fixed in the engine. Previous workarounds have been rolled back and removed from the previous version fix list. (scient)
15. Equipping the prybar will now grant a 10% bonus to attempts to bash open locked containers, as its description implies. See the non-engine Locks fixes described below. (scient)
16. Pickpocketfailed() function fixed. See the non-engine Eli Havelock fix below. (scient)
17. The one secret door in the game is no longer automatically discovered. See non-engine Tenement of Thugs fixes below. (scient)

Version 3.0 Non-engine fixes:.
18. AI Fix: Selected creatures in game will now move as quickly as they can (i.e. run) when attacking or being attacked. This raises their minimum intelligence to that of vertebrates. No more casually walking through Baator with 20 ravening demons behind you unable to catch up. This mostly affects creatures only in the later stages of the game. (Qwinn)
19. Tenement of Thugs fixes: This entire area is designed to be a Thieves' Playground, but instead it was a boring interruption to the game. There were 3 reasons for this. The 1st reason is that there's a secret door near the area exit that lets you run right through the place with zero challenge that was only supposed to be available to Xaositects. That is now fixed by scient in the engine (and Xaositects can still use it if they talk to the right person). The 2nd reason is that all the thugs were set to be initially hostile, which made them unable to be pickpocketed. There was tons of scripting to make them aggro when they saw you, but none of it mattered because they were hostile to begin with. Making them neutral to start with reactivated all their excellent aggro scripting, and made them able to be pickpocketed, which was supposed to be the only way for non-Xaositects to get through the Tenement without combat. The 3rd reason was that the thugs couldn't run (see AI fix above) to block your path to the escape should you attempt to do so without stealth, and they are now capable of doing so. When you see how it all works out and see how carefully the creatures are placed to make it fun for thieves in there, you'll see what I mean. Oh, and as a bonus, the hostility fix means it's now possible to save your game in the area without having to kill almost everyone in it. (Qwinn)
20. Lock Fixes: The thief Open Lock ability was effectively broken. Most locks in games were set to trivial values, easily bashed by a mage with 9 strength, and all but 2 were easily openable by Annah's starting skill or TNO as a level 4 thief. I reviewed all locks one by one and assigned reasonable values that will require some attention to TNO or Annah's lockpick skills (or the Knock spell, no longer useless) in order to open successfully. Do note that there is a small random component to picking/bashing attempts, so trying more than once may achieve unexpected success. Also note the related change to the prybar in the engine fixes section. (Qwinn)
21. Attempting to pick Eli Havelock's pockets at a certain time may produce unexpected results, as was intended. See related engine fix. (Qwinn)
22. Dak'kon's Streaming and Kinstealer Zerth Blades have been adjusted to progress as one would expect from the item's descriptions (previously, upgrading to his best weapon was a bad thing). See related engine fix. (Qwinn)
23. All of the secondary bestiary entries that were originally restored in Cilantro's Restoration Pack are now restored in this Fixpack except for the Alu-Fiend entry. This restores expanded entries for Annah, Dak'kon, Dhall, Dustmen (both male and female), Grace, Ignus, Lothar, Nordom, Trias and Vhailor. (Restoration Pack)
24. Fixes to the Foundry Alarm system. This fix was requested by Colin McComb, the original Black Isle designer of the Foundry. Angering the Foundry citizens will no longer necessarily cut off all Foundry quests. If you mildly anger them, do what they tell you - leave the Foundry and return to calm them down. If you -really- anger them (hostile), run away and stay away for a couple of days to calm them down. If you angered them -and- murdered a Godsman in cold blood, don't expect forgiveness, ever. (Qwinn)
25. Further fixes to Sarossa's Curses dialogue. Fixes in Fixpack 2.0 were insufficient to get it working properly. Her curses should now work. (Qwinn)
26. In Curst Underground, two black abishai near Tek'elach have the same dialogue they have in the Hive. They were supposed to be red abishai, and their dialogue was supposed to regard Tek'elach. Also, incorrectly sharing one script made them stand on top of one another. One of them is now moved back to where he was supposed to be. (Qwinn)
27. Mochai now has some copper on her. It is no longer pointless to handle Barkis's quest by being exceptionally evil, though be aware that the two evil options draw from the same pool of copper. (Qwinn)
28. Emoric and Phineas T. Lort were supposed to restart dialogue when you rested via their dialogue options. Now they will. Mebbeth has a similar and more extensive waking dialogue, this is restored in Unfinished Business Restored Mebbeth component. (Qwinn)
29. Restored TNO "Gained an Ability" sound when learning Stories Bones Tell and Sensory Touch. (Qwinn)
30. When reporting Soego's location to Emoric, the check to see if Soego was dead was done incorrectly - it checked if the Mortuary Soego was dead instead of the Dead Nations Soego. (Qwinn)
31. In Ravel's dialogue, you could remember Ravel's question before she asked it with an easy stat check - however, the cutscene that then played was always that of your not remembering, even if you did. The cutscene you get will now be consistent with the outcome of the stat check and what the dialogue says is supposed to happen. This restores a previously unused soundfile for the Nameless One. (Qwinn)
32. It is now possible to tell the Dabus in the Alley of Lingering Sighs about his brethren before you talk to the Alley itself. (Qwinn)
33. More Warrens of Thought aggro fixes. Talking to Many As One -should- reset area aggro as it indicates in dialogue under all circumstances now. Also, if you are freed by the prison guards, they will no longer incorrectly attack you as soon as you walk through the door they just opened for you. (Qwinn)
34. Black abishai in the Lower Ward will no longer disappear and be replaced by a zombie when talking to them with Annah or Morte in your party. (Qwinn)
35. Similarly, you can no longer get a dialogue zombie when talking to Iron Nalls with Annah in the party but not close enough to engage in dialogue. (Qwinn)
36. Curst thugs that allow you to ask "one and only one question" before "turning and walking away" will now actually turn and walk away, instead of repeatedly allowing you to ask "one and only one question" over and over. (Qwinn)
37. The creature file of the two patrolling Harmonium Guards in the Lower Ward were horribly bugged - they were actually selectable and controllable as party members, they had trivial (level 0) stats, and their aggro behavior was wildly erratic. They are now normal NPC's, and their stats match that of other Harmonium Guards. (Qwinn)
38. Several NPC's in the Lower Ward had incomplete triggers regarding when you could ask them about Lothar. (Qwinn)
39. Lower Ward Gith Fixes: the various Lower Ward githzerai dialogues were quite bugged, mostly because you could ask the githzerai about githyanki before you actually met any githyanki. Innocently walking up to the githyanki with Dak'kon in your party no longer means certain disaster. Dak'kon will now warn you not to speak to the githyanki with him nearby, and you will have one chance to get away without combat. (Qwinn)
40. If you didn't warn Thorp, and didn't collect your reward from Xanthia right away, there was a 15 second window before she'd leave the area where her dialogue would say she's given you a reward, but you wouldn't actually get it. Fixed. (Qwinn)
41. Thugs in the Alley of Dangerous Angles that incorrectly congregate near the center of the area will now go back to their starting positions after you complete their leader's quest. (Qwinn)
42. Restoration Pack's change to Adahn's name rolled back to the original 'Adahn the Imagined'. I can't see a reason for that change other than possibly an aesthetic preference which I don't agree with. (Qwinn)
43. In the Foundry, Keldor will now say "Saros, good to see you!", rather than Saros saying it to himself, in floating text. (Qwinn)
44. Modrons, constructs, Ravel, Trias and TO are now immune to fear effects, based on racial/boss immunities. (Qwinn)
45. All infinite-money exploits in stores have been eliminated. You can no longer buy something back from a merchant for less than what you sold it to them for. Affected stores are Brokah and Miccah's, Crumplepunch's, and Conall's. Also, the two faction vaults that would buy your goods (Emoric and Conall) will no longer do so, thus preventing quests getting broken by selling them quest items, then leaving the faction. (Qwinn)
46. Thanks to SKARDAVNELNATE for spotting an error in previous Fixpack versions that incorrectly changed Conflagration's and Power Word: Blind's casting speeds. They are now 9 and 1, respectively. (Qwinn)
47. Major fixes to Agril's dialogue. You will no longer get his "Free me" dialogue when meeting him again in Curst in Carceri, which could lead to getting his reward twice. (Qwinn)
48. Additional dialogue fix to Morte's interjections when talking to Aethelgrin and Tegar'in. (Qwinn)
49. You could "give" Giltspur's handbill to Scofflaw Penn even if you didn't actually have it in your possession. (Qwinn)
50. Additional minor dialogue fixes for Asonje, the Anarchist skull, several generic Lower Ward citizens, female Giltspur's auction watcher, one Harmonium slave auction guard, one open-air-market worker, Bedai Lihn, Foundry guards, Saros, Kii'na, Kester, Tainted Barse and others.
51. Fixed a sound looping error caused if the first new entry added to the vanilla dialogue file had a sound file attached. Generally only happened if Subtitled Cutscenes was the first mod applied after the Fixpack. (Qwinn)
52. More duplicate journal entries removed, MANY more misspellings and bad punctuation fixed in the english version, yadda yadda. (Qwinn)

Thanks to Per Jorner for his excellent bug list that alerted me to the following bugs (these are above and beyond the 7 he alerted me to that were fixed in Fixpack 2.0):
53. Festhall aggro fixes. NPC's in the Festhall would react very strangely depending on who you attacked. Sometimes they wouldn't react at all, or even realize dead people were in fact dead. This has been thoroughly analyzed and fixed. As one consequence, being cursed by one inhabitant is a lot less likely to become uncurable. More details in the forums. (Qwinn)
54. When Diligence fixes your reputation, currently hostile guards would remain hostile. Permanent guards will now go neutral, and summoned guards will leave the area. (Qwinn)
55. You now need to be more lawful in order to get Vhailor's better strength boosts. It is now possible to get his +1 bonus. (Qwinn)
56. Grace's experience rewards when answering her questions about her tenth student are now consistent across all dialogue paths. (Qwinn)
57. You could renounce the Dustmen and still keep the Dead Truce. Fixed. (Qwinn)
58. You used to be able to turn all black-barbed seeds you got from Ravel into wands. Now you can only make three wands, one per twig plot, as was intended. This is important, as there is a use for an unchanged seed later in the game. (Qwinn)
59. Weight fixes: Many items had incorrect weights. These are fixed to match the item descriptions. Affected items: Cheese, Crimson Veil, 4 out of 5 versions of the Entropic Blade (this included 2 changes to weapon speed as well), Mortuary Front Door Key, Gehraise's Ring, Mirror of Imaging, Rod of Modron Might, and Tarnished Silver Bracelet. (Qwinn)
60. Ignus's experience rewards for discussing Reekwind's story were inconsistent, some dialogue paths giving 10k xp, others giving 6k xp. Standardized at 8k xp for all paths. (Qwinn)
61. Two conversation paths in Iannis's dialogue would give double xp for claiming Deionarra's legacy. Fixed. (Qwinn)
62. Giving Conall the Anarchist password before giving it to Leena would cut off Leena's quest. Fixed. (Qwinn)
63. If you managed to anger a joinable PC enough to attack you, and then you die or leave the area, when you return they would still be hostile (red circle) but wouldn't attack. This is fixed. (Qwinn)


Qwinn

Attached Files


Edited by Qwinn, 19 December 2008 - 12:02 PM.


#2 vilkacis

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Posted 18 December 2008 - 06:32 PM

Wow. I'm impressed - there's really nothing else I can say. Will definitely have to get this if/when I decide to re-install Torment.

#3 Qwinn

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Posted 18 December 2008 - 07:00 PM

I hope you will :) I can promise you a very new gaming experience, one that implements the designer's true intent in a lot of ways that didn't make it to final release, right from the beginning of the game :) Especially if you add the Unfinished Business component as well, I highly recommend it, there's a LOT of very cool stuff in it that is 100% Black Isle material that should arguably also be in the Fixpack but which I kept separated out for principle's sake.

Qwinn

#4 Qwinn

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Posted 18 December 2008 - 07:39 PM

The Sneak Peeks at the UB and Tweak Pack readmes are now also available. See here:

http://www.shsforums...showtopic=38144

http://www.shsforums...showtopic=38145

Qwinn

#5 rtr86

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Posted 19 December 2008 - 04:06 AM

Incredible, you should be very pleased with yourself Qwinn! Looking forward to installing and playing again over the holidays.

A big thanks to you and other contributing modders.

Edited by rtr86, 19 December 2008 - 04:10 AM.


#6 the vanished one

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Posted 19 December 2008 - 06:55 AM

Thanks Qwinn! We're really lucky that you decided to start working on this. You and scient add new layers of awesomeness to Torment :)

#7 Qwinn

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Posted 19 December 2008 - 08:51 AM

Thanks for the support, all :)

Well, I did find one issue in my last bit of testing that I'm not sure what to do about. A bunch of previous changes were made to fix/correct the dialogues of Agril and Tek'elach when you met them in Curst in Carceri, but it turns out you can't ever talk to them anyway. Both creatures are made hostile the moment you enter the zone, and nothing makes them unhostile again. One of their dialogues, however, indicates very strongly that they're not supposed to be hostile towards you.

Now, I can't just make them neutral to start with, because they immediately start fighting each other the moment they see each other, and it would be a bad thing to let you walk in in the middle of that and start up a conversation. But adding code to make one go neutral when the other is dead would, IMHO, add a lot and really seems to me to be what they intended. That way, you can help one or the other creature, and then talk to the other when it's over. The additional dialogue (well, for one of them, at least) is pretty cool and interesting, and fits in with the whole theme of that area.

Would also have to make sure they didn't go neutral if you directly attacked them while they were red-circle, of course.

I'm going to finish my testing, and if I get that done before scient's done with his side of things, I'll look at that, test that proposed fix a bunch of times, and if it all works out smoothly without additional fixes needed, I'll see if we can't squeeze it in last minute.

Qwinn

Edited by Qwinn, 19 December 2008 - 09:12 AM.


#8 Qwinn

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Posted 19 December 2008 - 09:00 AM

(Curst in Carceri is soooo much more exciting with the RunningAttack fix, let me tell ya. NOW it's a town in chaos. Before, it was a town in generally apathetic hostility).

Qwinn

#9 Qwinn

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Posted 19 December 2008 - 10:30 AM

Okay, scient's finishing up his side of things, so never mind on the Agril-Tek thing. The Changelog is what it is, further testing is only going to focus on making sure fixes and restorations and so forth work as they should, any newly discovered bugs, restorations, etc. that need to be made can be done in version 4.0 due out, oh, a long long time from now, heh.

Really, though, I think this version's going to have 98%+ of everything I ever intend to do (or to ask scient to do). Pretty sure I've caught just about everything. Version 4.0 is just going to be a little bit of final, niggling, anal-retentive polishing, but what's getting released now is essentially (finally) the game as I think it was intended to be.

Qwinn

Edited by Qwinn, 19 December 2008 - 10:49 AM.


#10 Qwinn

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Posted 19 December 2008 - 11:57 AM

Well, I'm all kinds of embarrassed now.

I've been stating something that isn't true. To wit: All classes in PS:T do NOT gain a full hit die until level 10. Looking at the chart, I must've had a dyslexic moment or something, cause that's how they looked to me. But, in fact, rogues and wizards do indeed get a full hit die until level 10, and fighters and clerics only get a full hit die till level 9.

Doesn't change anything re: the mod. TNO will still gain hit dice as a warrior, so he'll gain 1-10 till level 9, not level 10. The Readme will be adjusted to account for that fact.

Qwinn

#11 Qwinn

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Posted 19 December 2008 - 12:19 PM

Okay, scient's THACO and HP fixes are in and tested. They work awesome.

I'm going to finish testing my side of things, which shouldn't take long. Will DEFINITELY be uploading the new release tonight.

Qwinn

#12 Qwinn

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Posted 19 December 2008 - 11:14 PM

I said tonight!

The sun hasn't risen here yet!

I'm not late yet!

I've got till sunrise!

*Gnaaaaarg*

*works feverishly*

Qwinn

#13 Qwinn

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Posted 20 December 2008 - 02:28 AM

Sorry gang :( Not gonna happen before sunrise. Been working hard at it for about 30 hours now. Discovered some minor issues with Expanded Deionarra's Truth mod I gotta work out, and I gotta get some sleep before I can tackle 'em.

My apologies. Scient's done with his whole side of things, so the delay is all my fault. Can't see any reason why I shouldn't be able to release within a couple of hours of waking up.

Qwinn

#14 -Brumbek-

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Posted 20 December 2008 - 02:43 AM

My apologies. Scient's done with his whole side of things, so the delay is all my fault. Can't see any reason why I shouldn't be able to release within a couple of hours of waking up.

Qwinn

No problem, thank you for everything you're doing. I'm waiting for this before starting PST for the first time ever. :) Thanks again.

#15 Qwinn

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Posted 20 December 2008 - 02:41 PM

Oooh, found one last very cool thing to fix. The state weights and triggers in Ebb Creakknees' file are somewhat messed up. A comment by Morte about him near the endgame could never be seen, now it can.

Spoiler below:

Spoiler


I consider him one of the more interesting characters in the game, and am definitely fixing this before release.

There will also be some other small alterations to the Fixpack readme, besides adding that, including:

1) Bedai Lihn will no longer give her secrets away the first time you talk to her, long before she's supposed to.
2) Additions to the Credits section

Qwinn

Edited by Qwinn, 20 December 2008 - 02:50 PM.


#16 Qwinn

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Posted 20 December 2008 - 03:07 PM

COOL! I did find something else broken regarding that whole Ebb Creakknees thing... I'm not going to post all the details in the readme cause it's spoilerific, but...

Spoiler


Qwinn

Edited by Qwinn, 20 December 2008 - 04:03 PM.


#17 Qwinn

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Posted 20 December 2008 - 04:11 PM

Oh, also, as an obvious bug, you now -do- lose access to the Anarchist vault and faction benefits if you actually officially leave and renounce the faction. Doing so makes Penn not talk to you, but the cell will continue to give you the full benefits of being a faction member, even though Penn and the cell communicate regularly. Strange behavior for a bunch that are supposed to be manically paranoid.

The warehouse has no area script attached. I'm pretty sure that is where all these obvious things were supposed to be happening.

Qwinn

Edited by Qwinn, 20 December 2008 - 04:12 PM.


#18 Daulmakan

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Posted 20 December 2008 - 04:33 PM

I can't wait. :Tasty:

item_pack.jpg   Drows.jpg

 


#19 Ezekiell

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Posted 20 December 2008 - 05:20 PM

This game looks like pure sex. I can't believe I haven't played it yet. AND with this super sexy fixpack it's gonna kick ass. :cheers:

#20 Sirhc

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Posted 20 December 2008 - 06:06 PM

I registered just to cheer you on! To see that a game that's been out for so long is still being fixed by its dedicated fans says something about its quality. I definitely look forward to trying what looks like a super fun and interesting game for the first time with the newest versions of all of your packs! Many thanks to Qwinn and scient and anybody else that I'm sure I forgot who helped!