Micawber

OK. So it seems 640x480 was the fallback resolution up to and including win me, after which it became 800x600 from win xp onwards. It's possible reinstalling or upgrading your graphics driver might help, thereafter allowing you to select a higher resolution...

I thought Resurrect (w 35) was a de-dusting spell Edit: See, I was worried people wouldn't get that it was an Exile reference. Turns out I should have been worried people wouldn't get that it was a joke.

In win xp, they would have been in C:\Program Files\Avernum 4\Data, which was fairly obvious. However due to the security improvements in win vista & 7, ordinary users don't have permissions to write to C:\Program Files, so they end up in the user's 'virtual' Program Files as above. This will actually happen in the same way for all legacy apps. This, together with script editing, is a reason why my advice is always is to give yourself ownership of the Avernum/Geneforge program folders. It just makes things easier all round, and if you're the only user of the computer, it makes no difference.

The change to the way action points work is major.

Windows Live Mesh is a Windows Live thing, it runs on all my computers (not just the win7 one) and keeps the files in sync. As it is constantly scanning the Documents folder, I wondered if that might cause a conflict in some way, which if unhandled, would cause Avadon to crash. The reason I point the finger is that I also started getting errors during saving when replaying Avernum 6, I didn't get them the first time through, and the main difference since then is WLM. Then again as the saves always succeed, perhaps it's unrelated and the crash is due to the graphics driver (which I'm unable to update because Sony have locked the card so I can only use drivers they publish, and they haven't published any for >1 year). On second thoughts, that's probably it.

Ooh, data What's the population? Assuming the units are individual vehicles, I'm slightly surprised by how small those numbers are. Or perhaps they were just sales for a particular quarter. Back on topic, SoT's point is of course valid (market share doesn't equate to quality/desirability). However, in context, after Dantius said that he wanted to buy a computer with Windows (and makes it plain he has another computer, and presumably, software he would like to continue to use) the first reply was rather a poor response. It's not unreasonable for Dantius to define clearly what he's looking for (perhaps hoping to avoid replies from timewasters?)

With all the pedantry in this thread, I'm surprised no one has yet pointed out the errors in the topic title.

I just love sentences that begin "If you go back in time" I remember there used to be shareware programs where you got 100%, they were just on the honour system, if you like it then please send payment.

I did try that step and it doesn't help, unfortunately. I have encountered exactly the same issue on my machine (sony vaio running win7 64bit). The good news is, even when it insta-crashes, the save still succeeds. So although it was slightly irritating it didn't prevent me from finishing the game. (Actually the spontaneous crashes sometimes provided a useful reminder to do other non-Avadon things like eat, go out, etc.) Edit: I did wonder if it might maybe be connected to windows live mesh?

Agree this would be a good feature. In fact I even kept trying it, in the hopes it would magically start to work

not true.

Originally Posted By: Spiderweb For the first time, Avadon saved games are compatible between Mac, Windows, AND iPad. This is from this thread.

In some other geneforges (e.g. GF4), there might be a use for very high leadership, since your reputation is adjusted for leadership before people decide how to deal with you, but in GF3 the game forces you to pick a side long before you would reach 30 leadership (in any sane character build). Other than that, leadership will be useful up to 15-16 for better dialog choices, but probably not higher than that.

There's a similar sense of community on usenet, at least on some groups.

Even so, 800x600 is still awfully low (unless the monitor is 20 years old). An alterntive might be a problem with the graphics drivers - I have seen the resolution locked at 800x600 on pcs when the graphics card was not recognised. On the upside, 800x600 is the perfect resolution for playing the Exile Trilogy Edit: And Blades of Exile!!

That sounds like character traits. If you have the elite warrior trait, it gives you free levels in blademaster and parry. The bonus increases as you level up. To unlock riposte, you need to have actually spent skill points to buy 6 levels of blademaster and parry. The points you get from traits, blessings and stat-boosting equipment you're wearing don't count at all. In Matt P's walkthrough (linked from the forum header) he lists the skill point costs that you would expect to see when you reach the required levels. By the time you've invested enough, Parry should cost 6 skill points to raise, and Blademaster should cost 8 skill points to raise. Edit: Actually it's not linked from the forum header. D'oh. Avernum 6 FAQ and Walkthrough

The 16-bit refers to the color palette. The screen resolution is the display size, this will appear as something like 800x600 or 1024x768. Try making those numbers as big as possible.

Originally Posted By: Trenton Uchiha, rebel servile. I did. That just exited the thing and at first I thought it was starting. But after thirty minutes I realized it wasnt starting. Heh-heh. Yeah on my machine, it takes less than thirty minutes It sounds like your computer is on a quite low resolution (so that the entire dialog doesn't fit on one screen). Increasing the screen resolution (if possible) may help you to view the whole thing. Have you tried the 'play game in window' option? What about the DirectX version (launch icon is on start menu, not the desktop)?

Press return, or enter.

Thara is the one at the desk just inside the entrance to the dragon's chamber. She walks around a little, but never far from that desk. It's up to you; you will be coming back to the Kva so you could mop up the quests then. On the other hand, if you want to do everything in order of difficulty, you might want to finish everything you can do in each area before you move onto the next. (Later areas can sometimes be tough if you start before your characters are strong enough.)

Originally Posted By: Jewels in Black @Everyone else. Where's my ooohing and ahhhing? I have only a rudimentary understanding of JavaScript and I still managed to make a slideshow. Does nothing impress you anymore? I was impressed!

Advice for Death Knight: Stay out of the shaper crypt. (That zone is plot-optional and it's tough even by Geneforge standards.) On your stats. You only need to get to level 5 in each of Battle Magic, Mental Magic, Blessing Magic and Healing Craft. After that, do not raise them any higher, but get Spellcraft instead. Adding 1 point of Spellcraft (costs 4) does the same as adding 1 point to each of the other four (in total costs 8). The skill point costs are fixed in this game. I'd say for a singleton character like the agent, buy plenty of Mechanics, because you'll need to sneak around a lot and Mechanics will help with that. Leadership would help with a few quests, but Mechanics is more often useful. Don't spend any more skill points on shaping. Of the primary stats, Intelligence is most useful for the agent. I would also put maybe 2 more points in Endurance but that's just me. (The reason is there are some zones where you take damage every round just from being there, that's why I prefer to have some more health. Others may disagree.)

Fine for the experts, if you know how to exploit the AP system, but I think for a first time player it's still safe to say that agent is a more difficult class to play than shaper. In Geneforge, unlike the sequels, there are only a handful of spells available. You need to be very, very tactical using a combination of battle magic, crystals, and mental magic.

I admit it's been a while but as I recall, you have to sneak past the pylons in the mine until you find the control mind who can switch them off. You have to visit it more than once as it can only deactivate parts of the mine at one time. The game does warn you that agent is more difficult than the other two classes. Unlike the later games, there are very few spells available, which makes the agent's life very difficult. It's ok to play on easy! You can either take a screenshot and upload it to some hosting site, or just type up the stats into a post. I.e. what level is your PC and how many points you have in each skill. Edit: This was a reply to the one 3 posts ago...

Does studying political disengagement lead to student disengagement?