A4 Bugs

[*i]

In antipation for the PC version and near-term bug fixes, we should assemble a list of things to fix. Post anything you have below:

[Duality]

Well, there's the dispellable barriers in Fort Emerald.

And apparently you can shoot Gorath Icelord (nice name) from afar without him ever hurting you, since I don't think he can move.

[Lattan]

If you tell your characters to walk a long way and they run into somebody, they just stop instead of going around.

 

Many encounter dialogues (the one I remember specifically is Hrickis) don't begin early enough; I often get moved into combat and go through a few rounds before I start talking to them. If I didn't move up with my melee fighters, I probably would never get the encounter dialogue.

[*i]

"Many encouter dialogues" is not specific enough. To report bugs to be fixed, you need to extremely precise.

[Lattan]

Quote:

Originally written by SNM:
(the one I remember specifically is Hrickis)

I'm working from memory here; I'm not a beta-tester and didn't keep a log of them. Though I've kept logs before, so perhaps I'll start.

[Duality]

I'm not sure whether this is a bug or not, but the Transient Sentinals guarding Demonslayer don't give exp and first aid doesn't work after you fight them. (are first aid returns exp based?)

And I don't think it's because of the level difference, although I am level 20.

 

Also, when training skills, if you meet the requirements for a special skill, it wont appear until you leave the training screen and then hit train again.

And, you can only train twice in riposte. You have to leave the training screen and come back, then you can train twice more.

 

Is it just me, or are hp's much harder to obtain them sp? I have 7 in INT and 10 in END and I have 130 hp's and 165 sp's.

[Milu]

At least the yellow nephil PC's attack graphic and the "evil altar" graphic are not exactly in the right place in the sheet, I think. The altar has a white left edge.

[Delicious Vlish]

I complained about those out of place graphics all through the beta. The altars still have them, the ginger nephil still has them when you attack, lots of places and graphics still glitch from certain angles or when animated.

 

I wish those had been cleaned up better.

 

Argh.

[Ziggy]

Minor text edit: In the end game summarization King Satrrus says that I slayed Dorikus, when actually he escaped to the surface.

[Celchu]

Any time the game creates enemies while in combat mode, after the battle is over you won't be able to get first aid from those enemies. However, if you exit out of combat and then reenter it, you will get the first aid after killing those guys. I don't know which behavior is intended.

[Soul of Wit]

I entered Formello (with "permission") from the West. There was no "greeting" related to the restricted access. When I reached the other entrance on the far side of town, the greeting was given as if I had just gotten to town for the first time.

[Lilith]

Quote:

Originally written by Duality:
And, you can only train twice in riposte. You have to leave the training screen and come back, then you can train twice more.

I had a similar problem with Sharpshooter -- I was only able to raise it once for each time I brought up the training window.

Oh, and then there's the Annatolia/Crewl bug, which I've already sent to Jeff and received a reply along the lines of "Thanks; I'll look into it."

[Slawbug]

A lot of the skills seem to be buggy that way. Gymnastics is capped at a few at a time, and something else -- I think it was either Luck or Tool Use -- only let me raise 10 at a time. (Yeah, yeah, I know...) A pretty weird, if harmless, bug.

[scottk]

Hello. This is my first post.

 

I registered just so I can report my problem, but then I started up Avernum 4 to get the exact error message, and now everything works fine! I'm using v1.0 on mac OS 10.4.3.

 

Anyway, the message was along the lines of "can't load zone script [scriptname.txt]". It happened around the ruins NE of fort remote and again when I left fort remote to the west. The Vahnatai warriors there didn't attack me (I now know they were supposed to). I think it also happened in the scree caves a couple times.

 

I had reinstalled A4, repaired permissions, and restarted the computer, but these steps didn't help. But this morning it all works, so I guess something happened to fix it.

 

I only hope I haven't missed an event. Will the event play if I go back to those areas? For the Fort Remote area I never saved the game so these events play when I visit for the first time. However, for the other areas, they are long since cleared out. If it happens again, I'll provide better details.

[Duality]

This is nitpicking, but if you reposte a spined enemy, you don't take damage from the spines on the reposte

[scottk]

There is a road sign in the Great Cave near the Avernite soldiers who tell you about the other Avernite soldiers hunting Chitrachs. It's south of Kraig's mine.

 

Anyway, the sign says Patrick's Tower is to the southwest but the tower is more like due east.

 

It also says that Fort Remote is south when southwest would be better, but that's being picky.

[Wrath_of_Achilles]

This may not be important, but it's on the same lines as SNM's post.

 

When I entered the evil slith fort in the Great Cave I went east from the outset into the door that leads to the room with all the barriers. It skipped the encounter dialog about the seeing a giant and the slith chieftain since I didn't go the center path. I got the encounter dialog about the giant and such as I left the area and after I had killed everything, which was sort of wierd.

 

I also remember a seriously delayed encouter dialog with the small vanhatai camp just west of Fort Remote.

 

Also, a few times when I resurrected my fourth character, his picture didn't show up (all his info and inventory did, as did the actual character on the screen, just no character picture), and wouldn't until I resurrected him again. Not sure what that was about.

[Actaeon]

I have been having the same problem with disapearing pictures. I found that going into the party editior and reselecting the image for the charector in question brought it back.

[VCH]

If a Character dies then is resurrected they will return with full spell points. A nice feature to exploit as for 50 sp you gain regain a mage with 300 sp. Also the giants all seem really stupid. You can walk right up to them before they attack. That is the giants which patrol the area around Harston. When a character is using an item in their backpack say a potion it may only be used once then the screen closes. I think this should be the players choice whether the screen closes or not. All items do not fit in the quick slots.

[Alorael at Large]

Riposte shouldn't be fixed. Having a skill should never penalize you, and taking damage for having Riposte would be a penalty.

 

Quick slots exist for a reason. They are limited for a reason. Your inventory is not meant to be instantly accessible at all times.

 

—Alorael, who can sound righteous about use of intentory mostly because he never used potions, wands, or scrolls in combat. The most he ever did was switch weapons.

[Lilith]

Quote:

Originally written by Dupreciation:
Quick slots exist for a reason. They are limited for a reason. Your inventory is not meant to be instantly accessible at all times.

After all, it's not realistic to be able to dig around in your backpack for an item in the same amount of time it takes to grab an item from your belt. The extra AP cost for using an item in your regular inventory reflects this.

(See Fallout for an example of an easily exploitable inventory management system. Using a healing item that was in your hand cost 2 action points. Accessing inventory cost 4 action points, but after that you could use as many items as you liked for no additional AP cost. Very handy if you were badly injured enough to need to use 5 or so healing items at once.)

[Kennedy]

I noticed that the tiles for blank areas kind of resemble blue water. But the tiles for water which show up as blue on the automap apear as black space on the screen.

[calzo]

Quote:

Originally written by SNM:

Many encounter dialogues (the one I remember specifically is Hrickis) don't begin early enough; I often get moved into combat and go through a few rounds before I start talking to them. If I didn't move up with my melee fighters, I probably would never get the encounter dialogue.

same problem with the vatanai you have to kill (north of formello, in the mortrax dragons tunnel - do not remeber his crazy, but it is the solution of the quest from formellos mayor)

[scottk]

When you talk to the chitrach tunnel-watching Lieutenant near Fort Remote, he says the undead are to the west. Again, they are to the east.

[Croikle]

More direction issues: Dorun, east of Mertis, says Thorious lives to the southwest, when in fact he lives to the southeast.

[VCH]

But when you are not in combat the inventory screen should remain open.

[MacProject]

Here's a weird one...

 

Battled the chitrach queen today in the Eastern Gallery chitrach tunnels. I managed to defeat her with all 4 members of my party intact. However, one of my guys was sprayed with acid and managed to die just as the queen was defeated and the victory dialog box came up. Oddly enough, I heard his death scream, but he was still alive with 0 hit points. Even funnier, I was able to use my priest to cast a heal spell on this fallen fighter which allowed him to go from 0 hit points to 35, and then to a full healing.

 

Anyone experienced something like this before?

[Milu]

I noticed that it's possible to kill Abisynthe again and get her nice equipment an infinite number of times.

[smackhead_onrock]

I've got one.

In the second major Slith area, North of the castle,

I approached the lone giant, killed him and continued on my looting spree. When I left much later, I received dialogue about the giant charging at me. I somehow managed to avoid triggering the dialogue at the appropriate time.

[VCH]

Yes generally I found dialogue triggers to not always function. At times I would completely kill everything in a certain room, then on my way out the initial description of the room would trigger.

[MacProject]

Quote:

Originally written by VCH:
Yes generally I found dialogue triggers to not always function. At times I would completely kill everything in a certain room, then on my way out the initial description of the room would trigger.

Now that I think about it, I've noticed this on several occassions as well. In particular, right before a major battle (like the chitrach queen or even Hrickis) you can see the enemies on screen and even cast a few spells before the dialog sometimes triggers. It just seems to lag a bit at times.

[Spidweb]

I just fixed several of these, including the infinite Abisynthe problem.

 

The thing about dialogue triggers for fights is something I have been struggling to fix for several games. It's better than it was, but it still requires some work. It'll probably require some actual engine work in the next game.

 

- Jeff Vogel

[Synergy]

I guess Abisynthe no longer makes the wallet grow fatter.

[ProperPseudonym]

ok, I'm not sure if this is just my computer... or a real bug

whenever I am in a cave and their is water, well all it shows is black where the water shoud be. the way I know it is water it the fact that it shows as water on the map

[Flake]

Quote:

Originally written by Spidweb:
I just fixed several of these, including the infinite Abisynthe problem.

The thing about dialogue triggers for fights is something I have been struggling to fix for several games. It's better than it was, but it still requires some work. It'll probably require some actual engine work in the next game.

- Jeff Vogel

Oh fun, engine work Just wondering if you fixed these bugs in the Mac version, Windows Beta or both? Oh, and I'm still out of town, so I'll be able to get to testing in a few days

[Istara]

The quest to get some worm bits from one of the northern mines is ruined if you clear it out first before receiving the quest. Unlike other things (the tribal goblins or shed rats) which continually regenerate after getting the quest.

[Polychrome]

When doing the quest to kill the bugs just east of Fort Remote, if the Lieutenant is killed the mission does not terminate properly.

General Howe still gives you the reward, but it doesn't disappear from the list and you still get the option do drop the meat in the cave.

[2marcus]

Is there a message log feature? On at least one occasion I had problems during combat because the number of creatures being poisoned was enough that I couldn't tell who was casting the poison spell because it would scroll off the screen...

 

(reposted from Sudden Ending, where I posted by mistake)

[smackhead_onrock]

I may have just triggered a new bug, and I think I'm being punished for stealing.

 

I'm playing a singleton party on normal, and I just entered the Formello mines area for the first time. For some reason, every box that normally contains items in this area is now empty. Also, every item on the ground is gone.

 

This includes the items protected by the thorny fungus in the southeast mine, any gear belonging to the miners, and every item in the mine with the splice-worm infestation. Goodwife Hortense still sells gear as normal. Also, a little to the south, the farms north of Formello don't have the same problem, so at least it's an isolated issue. I didn't see this bug on the list of 1.0.1 fixes, and I don't think I saw this bug posted anywhere else in the forums.

 

So. . .do I get a prize?

[jimmythesaint]

Quote:

Originally written by smackhead_onrock:
I may have just triggered a new bug, and I think I'm being punished for stealing.

I'm playing a singleton party on normal, and I just entered the Formello mines area for the first time. For some reason, every box that normally contains items in this area is now empty. Also, every item on the ground is gone.

This includes the items protected by the thorny fungus in the southeast mine, any gear belonging to the miners, and every item in the mine with the splice-worm infestation. Goodwife Hortense still sells gear as normal. Also, a little to the south, the farms north of Formello don't have the same problem, so at least it's an isolated issue. I didn't see this bug on the list of 1.0.1 fixes, and I don't think I saw this bug posted anywhere else in the forums.

So. . .do I get a prize?

Just after reading your post I was messing around in Rhentar Ihrno's keep. It as the first time I've been there and after I killed the Formerly captured crystal soul (vryynas bok?) I recieved a wisdom crystal and a heroes necklace. everything else in the keep is empty and theres no loot on the ground. Pretty much the same thing. I saved and quit there and restarted. didn't help. I'm gonna try to leave for a while and come back.

Edit: Also, when I go to leave the fort and get to where the field of pylons were every time i move it activates combat, even though there are no enemies and i can just click right out of it. Very annoying.

[Ephesos]

Quote:

Originally written by jimmythesaint:
Also, when I go to leave the fort and get to where the field of pylons were every time i move it activates combat, even though there are no enemies and i can just click right out of it. Very annoying.

I recall having that one as well... in fact, I remember trying to communicate the problem during beta-testing. Once it happened while some vahnatai allies were fighting pylons out of my sight range, and apparently Jeff thought this was the cause, as that was the save file I sent in.

That area seems to be very buggy.

[jimmythesaint]

I think it was an off screen vahnati because i found one fighting as i pressed on. Once he died everything returned to normal.

 

Edit:Also, I left the keep and headed south to erica's tower, killed the lich there and made a jaunt to the castle and back and there are still no items in the keep.

[Croikle]

I've encountered the missing item problem, though I believe it's because of my adventuring in the blackness before registering. The items appeared as usual then, but after I registered the items in some areas around where I had been disappeared. I think it was limited to areas which had been loaded when I was wandering, since I haven't encountered the problem in further journeys. Also, I think that some items respawned (say, treasure in the Bandit Castle), though that could be an effect of loading a save outside the demo barrier.

[Shigerello]

I can attack pylon from distance.

 

I realized that pylons are easy prey.

Most characters can counterattack, but pylon can't because of thier unmovality and their limited attack range.

It is not bug, I think. But If this kind of things relating to range are fixed, it surly achives game quality improvement.

[troglodyte #1]

Personally, I find that objects' unmovality does not achive game quality improvement. But this kind of things could be a matter of opinion...

 

But there's no reason to be surly about it!

[Randomizer]

First there is a design flaw. If you are using a laptop, F3 and F4 are reserved for sound control.

 

Second, Elite Warrior adds to strength at a moderate rate, but this only appears in the carrying capacity.

 

In version 1.0.1 beta, Hrickris appears as soon as you attack the skeletons on level 2. He slows you through the wall.

If you are in fight mode some of the messages appear at the wrong times. Eastern Gallery - young ogres' message never appears asking for money.

Submission fungi and spraying plants are only damaged if you are in their attack range in spite of the damage message,

 

In the original CD version:

Nodiacus can shoot through walls. He nailed my singleton hiding in the altar room with the door closed.

Eastern Gallery - Chitrach queen room - while waiting for an egg sac to hatch, it said, "Pit Ghoul waits"

[Croikle]

Quote:

Originally written by Randomizer:
First there is a design flaw. If you are using a laptop, F3 and F4 are reserved for sound control.

To use F3 and F4 instead of the volume controls, press the 'fn' key in the bottom left corner of your keyboard and then press the key. You can also switch this behavior in the Keyboard & Mouse preference pane, but I doubt you want to do that.

[Lilith]

Quote:

Originally written by Randomizer:
Second, Elite Warrior adds to strength at a moderate rate, but this only appears in the carrying capacity.

Huh. You're right. I just created two characters identical except that one had Elite Warrior and one didn't, and the Elite Warrior had a carrying capacity 16 lb higher than the other guy (82 lb vs 66 lb). That's equivalent to a difference of 2 points of Strength.

[Spidweb]

I have found that items are not saved properly if you are blipped back to start by loading a saved game past the shareware barrier, or using the return to start cheat code.

 

It also appears that my fix to keep you from going north from Fort Emerald didn't take.

 

Both of these will be fixed in the upcoming Mac update.

 

- Jeff Vogel

[Alorael at Large]

Enemies have always healed very rapidly if they aren't able to attack you or move closer to you. If you're not doing a lot of damage that can easily make it seem like you aren't doing damage.

 

—Alorael, who didn't need another reason to make Elite Warriors.