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Durandal

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Everything posted by Durandal

  1. Huh, interesting. Fair enough on that then.
  2. Scorched greaves are plate but give a +1 bonus to sorcerer skill Focus Mastery Corrupted, Frost-rimed, and Searing Scarab abilities appear to be using numbers from prior Avadon series, costing very little fatigue and having a fast recovery time. Is this intended? Acid and Shock Canister appear to have fatigue, icon, and turns to recover switched. Not sure if it's intended or not, but the burning goo effect can still be used to kill town npc's (tested it on Redbeard and misc npc's at Fort Foresight).
  3. Hugs and platonic kisses Jerakeen. One last question: how do I make the script give more than one item, for the sake of convenience? reward_give(150); Would it be (150,151), (150)(151) or...?
  4. Right? I've been considering that every time I start a new SWS game... since sandals and pants are items, what were they wearing before I found the basic clothing items? And SWS claims to be family friendly *tsking sounds* And Stranger, could you elaborate on adding the item to a script? I'm really not familiar with any editing past the spoonfed copy/paste lines I find on the forums, but I've often wondered how I might *safely* add things at the nuts and bolts level.
  5. Among other things, I *really* miss being able to add any item with the Shift+g debug console in the first Avernum trilogy, or with the editor advanced features. I was super disappointed when it was taken out, not even for the special options or making an overpowered party, but because it was really useful for RP purposes. In Exile/Avernum 1, starting with nothing makes sense, since you'd likely be stripped of valuables and tossed down, but in others where you start as established adventurers, makes sense that someone in the party might have something better than bad leather and stone daggers. The better options for starting party variety really made, at least for me, the PC's more unique added a little bit of character, no pun intended. For instance, in Avernum 4 and later, being able to just add the swamp pants etc would have made a starting character feel like more of a hunter. Now the closest thing I can do is cheat gold into my inventory and buy stuff from early vendors and/or read up where early loot drops are to accomplish this little bit of RP that I indulge in to make the story feel more immersive... meh. I guess this also goes for Avadon, too, since similar things would be relevant e.g. Khalida's intro states she is in full metal armor and has a sword, then she joins your party with leather and a dagger, so I can't even rectify this bit of dissonance with an edit... sad trombone. So, yes, does anyone know if this will ever make a comeback?
  6. Yeah, I even find myself thinking that myself since this is the second reboot (maybe third if you can count the much needed skin change in exile 1 & 2). He really did change gameplay and item selection changed so much between them that it was like playing a different game entirely, though. My two cents: I might know what's happening in the future reboot of Crystal Souls, but the changes and updates are enough that I'm still super excited to see the reincarnation of my favorite Exile/Avernum episode. Anyone have idea when that might be on the timeline? Edit: Saw someone post elsewhere that the estimate is late 2014,
  7. Found the issue: the only volume I was simulating was in OS extended format. On a hunch, I tried adding one in standard format, and that seemed to fix it. No idea why that was the case (probably a quirk with those system files and sheepshaver), but now it works no matter where the game files are placed on the SS desktop.
  8. Yeah, just found that out for myself when I ran into a weird bug and tried it. For some reason, A3 has been running perfectly but when I went to try A1 and A2 just today, neither of them were able to load saved games. Everything else works fine, including the prompt for "save as," but when "load save" is clicked, it gives the thinking icon briefly, but no window opens up to let you browse. Like the other poster, the Wineskinned versions don't seem to work for me (it "opens" and the toolbar changes, but no window appears and nothing else happens), and I even tried using Crossover on the plain Windows version to see if that would work, but that failed, too. Would you happen to have any ideas on the subject?
  9. Some people are using Wine and the like to run the Windows version of the first Avernum Trilogy (FAT), but someone in another thread was having issues with that, so I'd like to give a very basic how-to on setting up an emulator to run FAT and other programs that need a Mac Classic Environment for on your OSX 10.7+ machine. As we well know, 10.7 did away with a lot of backward compatibility, and I wanted to play some old games on my laptop. The two main emulators for this are Sheepshaver (for the curious: the name is supposed to be a play on "shapeshifter") and BasiliskII. I'm going to give a rundown on Sheepshaver but, if it gives you a lot of trouble on your machine, you might try BasiliskII (some guy's setup guide video for BasiliskII here: ) Sheepshaver is my preferred emulator because it is a standalone program with its own GUI, is fairly easy to set up, and it also happens to be the best one I've found for running Realmz (which some of you might be familiar with from the days when Spiderweb Software was associated with Fantasoft. Fun fact: Exile II-III and Realmz even have some shared graphics and sprites). Oh, and it's free, so that's good, too. The three things you'll need are the program itself (duh), an old Mac ROM, and the actual system files. Sheepshaver has its own support community and commensurate site where you can get the latest version, and some altruistic soul has provided the other needed files here: click me I'm a link! which is a godsend since the old Apple ROM and OS files are otherwise a pain to find. Scroll down on the redundant robot link and find the New World PPC ROM and the MAC OS 9 Boot Image. When you open the Sheepshaver (SS) folder and try to run the program for the first time, it will fizzle and immediately auto quit. This is normal. To move forward, we need to rename the ROM file we downloaded to "MAC OS ROM" so SS will recognize it, and drop it in the SS folder with the actual application. Go ahead and create a new folder titled "Shared" and drop it in there, too. The boot image we downloaded can stay as "OS9.img" but we're going to want to select it and do Get Info so we can check "Locked" (sometimes SS won't accept it as a disk if it isn't *shrug*) then drop it in the SS folder, too. SS should now open and give a grey screen with a floppy disk that has a blinking "?". Now go to the toolbar and open preferences in the SS menu. The ROM file should already be filled in, since SS booted off of it and all. The Unix Root is our middleman folder that lets us move stuff from our main machine to the disk we are going to create. In this case, it is the "Shared" folder we created. Use the Browse button by that Unix Root row to select this "Shared" folder. You should also see an option for RAM size below that. I've never fiddled much with it, but I recommend giving it a RAM zip a machine back then could have expected, like 256 or 512. Check the "Disable CD-ROM" box. We then want to use the "Add…" button to select the OS9.img file. This is what SS will boot off of when we reopen it. Now we want to create our hard disk with the "Create…" button. Name it OS9 (or whatever suits your fancy), and give it an appropriate size (I only have a few games I run, so 600mb gave me more than enough wiggle-room) then save it in the SS folder. All of our file work is done, so we just need to finish up the preferences. The Audio/Video tab will have the video mostly up to you, but my video setup is Window - Dynamic - 1024 - 678 and enable quickdraw checked. I haven't messed with the audio, so I left Output and Mixer devices as /dev/dsp and /dev/mixer respectively. The Miscellaneous tab should have all CPU Options, except that experimental one at the bottom checked. The Mouse/Keyboard shouldn't have Raw Keycodes checked, unless you need to use a non-qwerty key set. I like Mouse Wheel Function set to Page up/down (those of you on MacBooks will be able to use the two finger slide scroll with this option). Serial/Network can be left alone, with Ethernet Interface just being filled in with "slirp" for some reason that I don't know. All that done, just hit save! You'll need to force quit SS now (shortcut of cmd+opt+esc), since it is not functioning at this point. When we reopen SS, you'll boot up and get a "disk is unreadable…" message, that prompts us to format/initialize the volume we created ("OS9" if you followed my example). I just named mine the classic "Macintosh HD" but its whatever floats your boat here. You'll want the Mac OS Extended [your volume size here] format from that drop down bar. Now hit the initialize button. You should get a warning prompt about volume erasure that you just hit "continue" on. We now have a desktop. Whoo! You should see your boot disc (the OS9 image), the volume you just named, "unix," the trashcan, and a little extra toolbar near the bottom (you can click the tab on the end of it to minimize). Opening the OS9 disk, we should see a "System Folder" that we can then drag n' drop into our newly named volume. Double check that it successfully copied, then go to the SS preferences (on the OSX toolbar, not the emulated one) and remove the OS9.img from the volumes list. Now quit SS (shutdown from the "Special" tab in the emulated toolbar does the same thing) then reopen it. SS will boot and the desktop should look the same, sans the removed OS9 disk image. We now have the final product! Anything you want to run in SS, just drop in the "Shared" folder. If you then open the "Unix" folder, it will be there. Just remember to move any application to your "Macintosh HD" disk folder (NOT just the desktop) before you attempt to run it, to ensure optimal operation. Some applications will be fussy if you don't move it to the created volume. You're all set to get your nostalgia on. A few final notes: SS, being an emulator, is a very fussy program, so don't be surprised by occasional error messages (I've never had one interrupt a game in progress, however), or needing to quit and reopen, not just select the "restart" option in the emulator. I've also noticed that SS absolutely hates it when you quit a game, then reopen it (or another application within SS) without quitting and reopening SS, too. This applies to the installers for the FAT, so you'll need to install one, quit SS, then reopen and proceed each time. As I said in the beginning, this is a basic guide just for a fast start. You can certainly modify how SS operates with the preferences, but I haven't done it myself, so you'll probably need to consult the SS forums should you be so inclined to personalize your emulator's performance. I think that's about it. Enjoy!
  10. You can run the first Avernum trilogy on the newer OS X using Sheepshaver or BasiliskII (classic environment emulators). I think I'll make a post about it, since it's pretty easy to set up once you get past the awful awful interface.
  11. Nevermind I solved my own problem
  12. When I first downloaded A2 it was version 1.0. I went to the downloads page today to see if there was a newer version and found 1.0.1 as the current available download. I only just got around to starting A2 this week, and read the forum posts listing a few things people noticed back in November (like ice lance being linked to the ranged weapon slot) that were patch worthy, but I couldn't find any documentation of what actually was changed in this update. Can anyone enlighten a poor lost plebeian?
  13. The basic consensus seems to be that shields are fairly useless, especially in the beginning where incoming damage is low, because from a practical standpoint killing things faster is simply better: why bother mitigating damage when killing it quickly precludes the need for that and healing? Probably true from an "optimization" standpoint, and I don't like the idea of making something else worse so that people feel pigeon-holed into using a different aspect. I guess while they dont necessarily have to be "awesome" I want shields and two-handers to feel like an option, something different, and most of all another fun choice, rather than the hinderance they currently feel like. Why choose a path that basically reduces your effectiveness, especially at higher difficulties? I think balancing it out with new/tweaked battle disciplines might be workable. Give like, 2 new abilities that require a shield equipped and do something utility-based, and not necessarily damage oriented (eg ensnare all adjacent enemies for two turns) and make it, well, a fun choice, if not the best choice. As for two-handers, maybe make bladesweep way better when one is equipped. It seems like it's pretty meh damage [and has atrocious accuracy?] for one-handers as is, and only really good for getting rid of wimpy monsters. Hey. A boy can dream.
  14. No clue where this should go, since it's a suggestion for the future (I think) updates to the Exile/Avernum series for OSX 10.7. I figured it would be better to start a discussion here, rather than my initial impulse to bother the author with a direct email that had no other input but my own. Simply put, I miss the two-handers from the old Exile series. It feels like an RPG just isn't complete without the greatswords and giant maces, and though they weren't terribly useful compared to dual wield in Exile 2 (didn't play 3), I still liked the idea of them. I personally would be thrilled to see them make a comeback to the future remakes of Avernum 2/3, and I think there is a fairly simple arrangement to make them work. From my recent experience in the Avernum 1 remake, polearms just didn't match up to dual-wield in damage and utility. They had some cool stats on them, but I ended up using them for my casters, rather than melee. I figure It would be best to divide the stats into one-handed (maybe incorporate a bonus for shield users?) and two-handed weapons for simplicity and easy integration of 2-handed swords and maces. As for balancing the damage disparity, it might be cool to give different utility to the weapon classes. Dual-wield I see as being awesome single target damage. Of course the casters will have the monopoly on multiple target damage, but it seems to me that adding cleaves as a universal stat to 2-handers such that they do more total damage than dual-wield when fighting enemies adjacent to one another. Significant enough that one would want to specialize a character in it, even if the damage on single targets (like solo big enemies) is lesser, and not feel like they are missing out. Also, maybe incorporating some extra stats to make up for using one magic item, compared to two. As for shields, well... they're kinda boring, especially at lower difficulties where the damage isn't coming in as hard to the tank character. I think adding a battle discipline or two that requires a shield equipped would make it feel like you aren't wasting a weapon slot on weaker enemies, as well as making them a more exciting option. As a last, and less significant suggestion, I personally think that adding different cosmetics/animations for dual-wield, shield, each of the two-handed weapon types (should it expand from poles) would go a long way towards more RP immersion. Thoughts?
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