The Almighty Doer of Stuff

50 minutes ago, DarkenVolk said:

And is there a way to build the new fixes onto a new version somehow?

 

So in the meanwhile, If i want to play any version of BOE in a stable way, Is there a proper way to do it in a windows 10 machine?

 

http://www.BladesOfExile.com/ has instructions on getting the legacy Exile series working on Windows 10, so you can play the game while waiting for OpenBoE development to progress.

The website needs work and so does the packaging of the software, but I'm working on it a little at a time and have been too stubborn to make the changes until I'm done tweaking text and instructions and stuff in the game. But it works.

In Exile, Ghasts and Quickghasts, powerful and very fast undead monsters, are depicted as bloated, blue corpses like you would pull out of a lake. I think Jeff might just like slow-looking undead that are actually fast, for some reason.

Swearing is against the rules, Slarty, even masked or in acronyms. Tsk tsk. Next time you want want to swear...

...just walk away, Slartay.

Spiderweb Software used to publish other studios' games, back in the day: Galactic Core, Lost Souls, Ocean Bound, SubTerra, and Homeland: The Stone of Night. They eventually decided it wasn't profitable enough and stopped doing it.

I haven't played Avernum 3: Ruined World, but it happens in Exile 3: Ruined World too. The Alien Slime supposedly was keeping the smaller slimes functioning.

If you think Jeff is a cranky old man, believe me, you have no idea how far the word "cranky" goes to describe an old man.

The big problem I have with Jeff's games is they are very long, lots of content and well written, and they draw me in... but I have ADHD so I almost never finish them, even though I sincerely want to.

Going past the limit crashing the game is something Jeff does, not something inherent to programming. And you wouldn't need discussion, per se, just a sprite and a list of stats and abilities for NPCs, etc.

I love hydras. Exile 2 has a hydra nest which is one of the highlights of the game. I feel bitter that in Avernum 2: Crystal Souls, it's just hellhounds instead. Hydras are better.

Picture this: The player finds a place where they can shape a Servant Mind. If you do, the Servant Mind acts as a library of every piece of text, NPC stats, and item stats the player has ever encountered in the game, as well as various gameplay statistics (enemies defeated, mines disarmed, mines detonated, etc.) and some amusing conversation.

I don't know if specifically shaper vs. loyalist creation lines makes sense with the side-switching nature of the story, but regarding Drakons, in the Exile/Avernum series, sometimes people would react to you differently if you were traveling with a Nephilim or Slithzerikai. It was subtle and mostly inconsequential, but it would have been cool if it had more of an impact. Imagine six lizardmen just strolling into Lorelei claiming they're going to save the world! I could see potential for that concept being explored more deeply in Geneforge.

I have the legacy Exile Trilogy and Blades of Exile hosted here, with easy instructions to get them working on Windows 10, without a virtual machine: http://www.BladesOfExile.com/ The original programs on Spidweb's Older Games page do work, but the programs hosted on BladesOfExile.com have a bug fix and some graphics neatening too.

(I'm still in the process of doing some fixes. Slarty's suggestions in another thread will be implemented though.)

That, in fact, does not make me feel good. 😛 But I'm glad it works.

What host operating system are you running? You haven't said.

11 hours ago, Intentionally Left Bank said:

For anyone else reading, the download links on Spiderweb's website work just fine.

 

ADoS, since [...]

Good ideas. I'll do that when my brain starts working better. Rough morning. I'll append "ModifiedLegacy" to the beginning of the filenames of the ZIPs, append "modified legacy" to each link on the web page, and specify that it's the thrown missiles bugfix in the readme, with the URL of the description of the fix, like I did on the website itself. I'll also mention that the Spidweb site files work but just don't have the fixes. I'll provide a link to the Older Games page too.

I'll see if I can patch the Bash/Pick fix in BoE too, without disabling Instant Help. I wanted to make a tutorial scenario but couldn't make a decent one. Also I came up with a solution for the tutorial that doesn't require the disabling of Instant Help: just create a special party which is already in the tutorial with Instant Help turned off, and tell new players to load the save file. I might give it another shot anyway.

But I still might see what I can put together for a tutorial. I also had the idea to make an interactive scenario design tutorial, but that's definitely premature. Changes to the editor will obviously be dramatic compared to gameplay changes, once development picks up. (I've secured a large amount of money from a generous, anonymous donor, although it's not available to us yet.)

If you're curious about the graphical fixes, mostly what I did was remove stray pixels, make incorrectly transparent pixels slightly off-white, correctly mirror incorrectly-mirrored monster graphics, and completely mirror some graphics which were facing backward both left and right, like the Ice Pudding and the Troglodyte Khazi. I also applied the Mac-colored graphics. I think I forgot to do this, but all Windows-colored graphics will be placed in a subdirectory for convenience, if someone decides they don't like it or are playing a light-colored scenario and it bothers them enough to swap it.

http://www.bladesofexile.com/

I put this website up just now. It's very simple. BoE and the Exile Trilogy are hosted there, with some fixes. You can try downloading the games there. Let me know if it works.

Sorry you're having trouble. From where did you download BoE?

I ask because I wonder if you're playing an unstable copy of open-source BoE, instead of legacy BoE. The OTVDM software will work with legacy BoE. Try this, maybe? Let me know if it works. http://www.bladesofexile.com/

Leave the town level and visit four other town or dungeon levels, then return. Or, press > to debug-reset towns. Leave town first.

Thanks for playing BoE!

(EDIT: I've been trying to find someone who knew the debug code all day, but I ended up just pressing Shift+every key until I found the right one. 😛)

The screen magnifier built into Windows 10 can help. I recommend 200% zoom with no antialiasing or smoothing, if your monitor can fit it.

Thanks!

Does the outdoor chitrach nest south of New Formello in Exile 3 ever get cleared out, if I kill the bugs enough times?

Seems fair.

It's usually called a "carton" of eggs, not a box, in my experience. But here's an obvious one, given the recent holiday: A heart shaped "box" of chocolates or truffles! There's also a Nirvana song called "Heart Shaped Box", named after such a (non-chocolate-containing) item Courtney Love gave Kurt Cobain as a gift when she asked him out. Then there's a hat box, which is usually shaped to fit the hat inside.

You might be right, actually. A captain, I think.

Yes, I'm in the middle of playing Exile 3. She's there although she's hard to notice. She looks just like any other guard.

Yeah, (KREE-zhahn). I never knew how to pronounce it until one of Jeff's recent streams, where he said it.

Thanks for the etymology. I like reading etymologies. "Krizsan" in Spiderweb Software games refers to the maiden name of the games' designer Jeff Vogel's wife, Marian Krizsan Vogel, though. I haven't played most of the games though, so maybe it is a reference to a river too at some point.