Spidweb

"The customer is always right."

I profoundly disagree with this statement, which is why I always say, "You can't win an argument with a customer," instead.

Sometimes the customer thinks the game should be free (or a trivial amount). Sometimes, as you said, different customers will have redically different points of view. And sometimes the customer is a paranoid schizophrenic who thinks that my game is spying on him. (Yes. It happened.)

Sometimes people don't understand how personally I take their critiques. No matter how many people like Avernum 4, the number of people who didn't like the new direction makes me genuinely unhappy. But what can you do? Looking back, there are some small things I would have changed, but, in Avernum 4, I feel I wrote the game I had to.

Of course, I'd be a lot more angsty about Avernum 4 if I wasn't selling a lot of it. :-)

- Jeff Vogel

I do get negative E-mails too, of course. But I have noticed that, whenever I do ANYTHING different, there is a portion of my fan base that are full of rage and will leave and never come back. I still get wrathful E-mails about switching from the Exile engine to the Avernum engine. Still!

You can't win an argument with a customer. If someone hates Avernum 5, they hate it. But, I am sorry to say, a lot of people love the direction I've taken with the series. Their feedback gets kinda sorta taken into account.

- Jeff Vogel

"am i the only one who thinks this"

Not at all. There are a lot of people who love the game. I read their E-mails every night.

- Jeff Vogel

It will definitely be 800x600.

- Jeff Vogel

I have gotten a few reports of Avernum v2.0 for Macintosh being unable to load saved games. I've tried multiple times, but I can't reproduce it.

If you are able to make the problem happen and can answer a few questions, could you drop me a note at spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com?

- Jeff Vogel

The reworked Nethergate would use the same engine, just beefed up. Probably Avernum style dialogue (this would take some time). Some new content. Interface and game system improvements. The interface would likely look a lot like Avernum's in the end.

A lot of the major encounters would be reworked to be more in the current style (multi-phase encounters with adds and other special abilities). And the game would be rebalanced to make it more challenging at the end (something I have long felt is a major flaw in the game).

The update would most likely be $10 for registered users. In addition to the general, overall reworking, there would probably one decently sized dungeon for each side (one for Romans, one for Celts).

All of this, is, of course, at least 9 months in the future and subject to drastic change.

- Jeff Vogel

This is a new one on me. This is the only way I know of in the newest versions to make the game unwinnable. Part of me wants to patch the game to fix it. Part of me doesn't.

- Jeff Vogel

No more Erika. No more Rentar. No more Garzahd.

- Jeff Vogel

It shouldn't be possible to be in debug mode at all. It should be completely disabled. I suspect a corrupted game file. Follow the standard advice in the tech supprot section (back up saves, uninstall, redownload).

- Jeff Vogel

Look on this page, section C. Should solve your problem.

http://www.spidweb.com/misc/download.html

- Jeff Vogel

Look on this page, section C. Should solve your problem.

http://www.spidweb.com/misc/download.html

- Jeff Vogel

Get a new copy from our web site and install it. That shouldn't unregister your copy. If it does, we can give you a replacement key for free. Just E-mail us.

Of course, it might be the saved game that got corrupted, not the game files. That's why it's a very good idea to go to a game from before things went wrong.

- Jeff Vogel

I think I removed experience drain in Avernum 3. I CERTAINLY made sure experience drain never takes levels away. Nothing takes levels away.

What this looks like is a file corruption, either in the game or the saved game.

I suggest chucking Avernum 3, downloading a fresh copy, and reinstalling. Then go back to a saved game from before the levels mysteriously disappeared. There is nothing in the game as designed to cause that effect.

- Jeff Vogel

I did read this whole thread.

I've done complete engine reworks several times now. There will always be people who love the changes and people who hate them. Most of the changes I made in Avernum 4 are, I feel, all to the good. For example, I have absolutely no apologies for:

i. Unlimited arrows.

ii. The new first aid and death systems.

iii. The new seamless world. (Avernum 4 would not exist if it weren't for this. I was completely fatigued with designing in the old system. Also, I'm not sure why people say there is no outdoors. Most of the game is outdoors, and the Avernum 4 outdoors has more detail and characters and stuff than any of the earlier games!)

iv. No secret passages. (Bumping into every wall was just lame.)

Things that are neutral:

i. The movement system. It's sort of a sideways switch. But I really don't think Avernum 4's system is bad. Just different. And you can always move using the keyboard.

Things that I will likely rework in Avernum 5:

i. How locks/lockpicks work.

ii. Having a proper character editor.

iii. The lighting system.

iv. I want elevations to return. I have to think a lot to see if it's feasible. Elevations didn't make the cut because it was already months of work just doing the Avernum 4 engine as it is.

As I have already said in other threads, it was already a huge expense in time and money to have the graphics Avernum 4 already has. There will be more new graphics in Avernum 5. But the economics of the thing means that we have always reused old graphics and always will. You don't like it. I don't like it. Nobody likes it. But it absolutely can't be avoided.

- Jeff Vogel

Thank you VERY much for this information. The MPlayer thing was my mistake. I will fix the support info and spread it to the other support pages for our games.

- Jeff Vogel

Later edit ... this is the new support page message:

"Unable to open sound channels" Error

If you get the error "Unable to open sound channels" when you launch the game, carry out these steps to fix the problem:

i. Open the Applications folder.

ii. Open the Utilities folder.

iii. In this folder, run "Audio MIDI Setup"

iv. Under Audio Output, change the Format to 44100.0 Hz.

This should correct the problem.

###

Now I have to dig into the code and try to figure out a gentler way around this problem.

Hmm .. this is from the Avernum 4 support page, but it might be a general issue. Try this ...

MPlayer Incompatability

It has been reported that installing MPlayer can interfere with Avernum 4's ability to run. The program will return the error "Unable to open sound channels" and quit.

Going into the "Audio MIDI Setup" and set the Audio Output

format to 44100.0 Hz should fix the problem.

(We only use plain, vanilla Mac system calls for sound, which makes these problems frustrating.)

- Jeff Vogel

The v1.0.3 patch should fix this. For people with an older version, the back to start cheat is the only way out.

Some of the wyrms should repop. I forget where in the Scree Caves they were.

- Jeff Vogel

Get the v1.1.4 patch here.

http://www.avernum.com/avernum3/techsupp.html

It should fix the crash.

- Jeff Vogel

The way I currently picture Avernum 5 is:

i. In a whole new area of the underworld.

ii. On a much smaller scale, plot-wise. You have a major mission, but no monolithic power trying to blow up the world.

iii. More like Avernum 2 in details of storyline.

iv. Vahnatai are present.

v. More talk and diplomacy.

vi. More PC icons and graphical improvements, but the same underlying engine.

But I won't think about things in real detail for a year, at least.

- Jeff Vogel

The new patches for Windows and Macintosh Avernum 4 are now officially available on the Avernum 4 Support page.

http://www.avernum.com/avernum4/techsupp.html

I'll have full installers for the updates up and ready in the next few days.

- Jeff Vogel

There is no windowed mode for Avernum 4, but Alt-tabbing should work just fine. If you are getting crashes when you alt-tab, I'd suggest the standard steps (uninstall, redownload, reinstall, reinstall fresh display drivers).

Also, I am about to release a patch which improves the code for when Avernum 4 is in the background (it won't hog system resources as much). This might help.

- Jeff Vogel

I have made two patches for Avernum 4, one for Mac and one for Windows. These patches make 2 changes:

i. The game will be much better at sharing system resources when in the background.

ii. You can no longer enter the Scree Caves except through Fort Emerald. This prevents some plot problems and the possibility of getting stuck in there.

If you have any problems with these updaters, please let me know at spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com.

Mac patch:

ftp://ftp.spiderwebsoftware.com/mac/Avernum4.v103.update.sit.bin

Windows patch:

ftp://ftp.spiderwebsoftware.com/win/Avernum4v101Updater.exe

- Jeff Vogel

Thanks for letting me know. I'm adding something to the support page now. Anything else you notice is greatly appreciated.

- Jeff Vogel

Every few games, I get a situation where several small glitches are crammed in the same area, making me look stupid whenever I fix one because it just reveals the next one.

It was always intended that the Fort Emerald north barriers aren't player-dispellable and that the Scree Caves can only be reached through Fort Emerald. The first part is currently working as intended. The next patch will fix the second.

- Jeff Vogel

I'm afraid that this will never happen. One of the reasons the vahnatai are so cool are that they are alien, the other. It is unthinkable to me to change this.

- Jeff Vogel