The Scroll - v2.65 PENDING ! (DOWNLOAD WITHDRAWN PENDING IMPORTANT v2.65 UPDATE - TB COMBAT VIDEO HERE!)

Lance_Botelle · February 15, 2019, 1:24am

EDIT: I had to start a new post because I could no longer edit the TITLE of the last set of posts. I will keep making this the main post from now until I hit the same “Titling” problem again.

I have a number of things to speak about in this post, for there has been a lot of fixes and updates; some minor, but a few “major”. I also have one or two other “updates” in the idea stage, which I will also talk about. As there is a lot to say, I will get stuck straight in:-

The List of Fixes

1) MAP BLOCKS: On the back of a previous fix, I decided to improve the “door code” so that monsters do clear an associated map block when opening a door if the PCs are nearby.

2) LOAD GAME: There has been some loading improvements, which also required a fix to allow CURSED items to work on a reload properly.

3) MAP PINS: Some map pins were not updating due to other nearby potential targets being activated instead. The target system for such has been fixed.

4) JOURNAL UPDATE: The “Lady of the Lake” journal had a repeated updating due to an error in a conversation. This has been addressed.

5) TB COMBAT: Some creatures were slow to start TB COMBAT upon activation. This has now been fixed.

6) AUTO EXAMINE OBJECTS: Some placeable objects are designed to give a full examine feedback prior to further use. Some objects were having issues between showing the info and starting interaction within our MP session, causing difficulty in closing a GUI. This has now been fixed.

7) GOLD HANDLING: This was a bigger issue, and is related to the old Money Pouch issues of previous reports. This time I gave the system a complete overhaul, removing any reliance upon heartbeat calls and ensuring all “Give” and “Take” of gold functions are replaced with my own home-brew versions that immediately fire the weight check scripts upon gold transactions. Furthermore, additional checks at PC entry have been added to ensure gold pouches are not prematurely added when nearby companions with pouches still need to be joined. UPDATE: The latest version has been uploaded again (there were no downloads to date), and also makes sure the gold is corrected if a player takes control of another players PC that carries pouches.

8) CURSED ITEMS: There was a timing issue that prevented the cursed items working as expected on a reload of a game. This has now been fixed. Furthermore, the cursed item descriptions have been updated to reflect that such items can only be removed with “Oil of Unbinding” or a cleric can cast Remove Curse on any cursed items that they carry only. i.e. The Remove Curse spell cannot be used to free other PCs of their cursed items.

9) CODE IMPROVEMENTS: I have also reworked some old coding related to storing of items when companions either leave the party or die and leave a tombstone. This had to be done due to the overhaul of the gold related issue.

10) GAME BREAKING TRANSITION: Fixed a broken transition to Demons Bowl. (Was in the emergency v2.49 release.)

The List of Updates

1) UNDERWATER: I added a “slowed” effect for being underwater.

2) LIGHT BLINDNESS: Credit to KevL who fixed a problem I noticed where Light Blindness was not penalising a PC when in daylight. This code has been slightly altered and added to my campaign to work now.

3) GAME BALANCING: A lot of effort was placed into re-calculating the challenge rating of monsters, both placed and encounters. Balancing was adjusted to cater for smaller or larger parties, and the difficulty setting the player had set among other factors. A battle we had on the night showed the balancing was much better and made for an epic battle, in my opinion.

Potential Updates

1) DEFAULT STATS: After some feedback, I am considering adding a section to the character sheet that shows the DEFAULT ability and skill values (without any alterations due to bonuses or penalties.) This allows players to more quickly ascertain by how much something has been positively or negatively influenced.

2) HENCHMEN WAIT: After leaving Scraps at the water side and finding him gone upon returning, I am considering possibly allowing such creatures to stay around a little longer “waiting” for the PCs to return than they currently do. Subject to how much time I get, I will look into this.

Catch up with the heroes in our session here (also with screen shots at the bottom of the blog): https://worldofalthea.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-adventure-continues-26-farewell.html (NOW WITH MULTI-LANGUAGE SUPPORT)

Download campaign v2.50 here (module v2.50): https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn2/module/scroll

kevL_s · February 15, 2019, 8:32am

+2 as long as the scene doesn’t get too busy. Perhaps “tuck it in” somewhere

Lance_Botelle · February 15, 2019, 10:17am

Hi KevL,

Yes, that was the idea, to hopefully be able to simply add the default figures in the GUI as I currently have it. I have not yet looked closely at it yet, so it may need more work than first realised. However, I am keen to see this myself.

Cheers, Lance.

Lance_Botelle · February 16, 2019, 7:10pm

Well v2.50 only fixed 80% of the GOLD issue that I reported on last time, as it soon became clear that normal “gold coins” were not being detected by my code. And surprisingly, when I did find the fix, I thought it would have replaced what I had already done, because it seemed more efficient by using the On(Un)Acquired code. However, in testing it showed that any gold “given” or taken" from PCs does not actually trigger the OnAcquire or OnUnaquire hooks, and so my home-brew functions from the last fix were still needed. I ended up concluding that the handling of gold via the code and official campaign is most unusual - and is probably why I had so many problems for so long.

The bottom line is, I needed two systems in place: (1) To handle gold given or removed from players via the functions, which must have simply altered a variable rather than hand over or take any actual item. (That was my updated home-brew functions.) (2) A system that “detected” the acquisition or removal of “gold coins” via the coin item. At first I thought this was going to be impossible, as the OnAcquired did not appear to register any tag for the gold coins movement. Then I realised that while this was indeed the case, any movement with gold coins did actually still fire these two hooks! A very strange setup. Thankfully, however, regardless of the fact that I could not “get” the gold coins via these acquisition scripts, I was still able to fire my own function check for any gold movement, even though it was effectively invisible.

Anyway, that probably sounded like a lot of waffle, but I hope it helps some coders. Meanwhile, here is what else was addressed:-

The List of Fixes

1) GOLD HANDLING: I am still listing this as a fix even though I explained some above. Basically, this part fixed the movement of gold coins from creatures or placeables onto the PC. On “detection”, it simply runs the same PouchCheck function as the home brew “Give” and “Take” functions do. The bottom line: It really should be squashed by now. In our own group play, this caused an incorrect amount of gold being carried, and after searching through the saved games, I calculated that the gold for the party was out by 9000gp! This is mainly because I was fixing stuff between sessions, which meant when the player rejoined the session and had their PCs join the party, any gold pouches their PCs carried were being duplicated. The new gold check system is now robust enough to take this sort of thing into account. Furthermore, it is unlikely to have affected any SP games at all. (I also removed some DEBUG code that I had inadvertently left from previous testing.)

2) CRAFTED ITEM NAMING : The ability to rename a crafted item had been broken after a small change I had made a short while ago. This has been reverted and the renaming GUI works fine again. As a workaround, players could rename worn items via the Althéa Main Menu anyway.

3) DUNGEON STATUS: At one point during our session, Threska started to complain about the morality of opening a Talanthian chest. This was due to a variable not being correctly picked up / corrected by the code and so Threska did not register that they were in a dungeon. This has now been fixed.

4) TOO FAR AWAY: Some notice text related to examining placeable objects was being displayed at times when it was not required. I have fixed this.

5) AIRY WATER EFFECT: A check was missing to ensure animals did not receive the Airy Water VFX, and so Scraps (when later found) still had his showing. It looked like a glamerous dog collar! This has now been fixed and I will be adding a patch for our session to remove the VFX from Scraps.

6) INVENTORY COMPARE: Sometimes an object description when comparing to a shop item would not fully display. I believe this was related to the same error introduced in (2) above. It relates to whether the item needs to have its description updated or not. I had tried to increase the number of times an item could have this done to allow for any changes I may have missed. However, this appeared too zealous as the item lost all description (when needed)! The fix is now in place, but a player may need to either HOVER or LEFT CLICK on an inventory item to update the item description for their game, which I hope will now remain valid when required. If it still ever appears to go missing, then I may need to look for other additions of the variable clearance that needs removing.

7) LIGHT CRYSTALS: If a PC left an area carrying light orbs, then they would have their quantity dropped to one if they carried more than one. This is because I have to replace “light” objects to fix a broken VFX when they travel between areas. However, I was trying to replace a “stack” of light orbs, when they do not stack. Hence, in our session, three light orbs got replaced with a single one. The code has now been fixed (and made more efficient by doing so), as light orb fixes have been moved alongside torches and lanterns that require the same treatment.

8) OTHER ISSUES: Very minor … If a DM looked at the Party Craft tab on a character sheet, the essences section was not displayed correctly (even though it has nothing to say really). However, I fixed it anyway.

Catch up with the heroes in our session here (also with screen shots at the bottom of the blog): https://worldofalthea.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-adventure-continues-27-restoring.html (NOW WITH MULTI-LANGUAGE SUPPORT)

Download campaign v2.51 here (module v2.50): https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn2/module/scroll

Lance_Botelle · February 21, 2019, 12:54pm

We were hit by a number of small issues in the last session. Nothing game-breaking, but annoying enough to require another module update as well as a campaign one. Alongside being unable to pick up some dropped items, we experienced some missing journal entries, and gold duplication again. Even the crafted item naming still haunted us with another variation of the fault. Anyway, here are the details …

The List of Fixes

1) GOLD DUPLICATION (AGAIN): Let’s get this one out of the way first. First and foremost, the code itself was fairly well fixed, apart from one small detail. The code was fixed for SP games, but broken for MP ones, in that the new gold initialisation function, which corrected the amount of gold carried to pouches owned was not firing for anyone but the host. Therefore, when (as in our case) the DM started the session, the DMs gold would have been initialised (not that I carried any), but players entering after no longer had the module variable set to ensure they had their gold corrected. The bottom line, the gold carried by any companions was added on top of the gold of the main PC when they rejoined. The variable check has now been added to ensure every player has the gold initialisation function fired as they enter the session.

2) PLACEABLE ITEMS: The second issue we experienced was when a player temporarily dropped a scroll and went to pick it up again. Unfortunately, the “placeable” item object representing the dropped item was created “static”, which meant the player could not retrieve the dropped item. There were four or five placeable objects, including books and scrolls that needed correcting in the toolset to fix the broken item drops. Therefore, this fix requires a MODULE update. WORKAROUND: Do NOT drop scrolls or books unless you know you no longer need them. NB: The game will not allow you to drop plot items anyway.

3) SCALED CREATURES: On the back of an earlier fix when I discovered some “scaled” creatures appeared too small for an encounter, we now discovered some were too big. In our session, the ants the heroes encountered, while supposed to be “giant”, were, perhaps, a little too big. I have now adjusted the algorithm that calculates the maximum size of scaled creatures … and they appeared to be better proportioned.

4) CRAFTED ITEM NAME (AGAIN): Although I had fixed a variation of this problem last week, a new variation returned this week. On testing the fix last time, the problem appeared fixed (and would remain unspotted) if a player left-clicked on an item on the bench to gain an item description before picking it up. Thereafter, clicking on the item after then acquiring it would have kept the new name given after item creation. However, if a player simply looted the item directly from the workbench without first left-clicking/looking at it, then the name change would have been lost by the time it was looked at again within the PCs inventory. I could not find any way to “keep” the new name if a player directly looted it from the workbench, and so in the end I ended up transferring the item directly to the crafter after exiting the renaming GUI. i.e. The player no longer picks it up from the workbench, as it is now given directly after the crafting process. This ensures the new name stays in place by the time the player looks at it in their inventory.

5) JOURNAL ENTRIES: We encountered a couple of journal issues this session: (i) A journal update for Ravel’s Request was missing if the heroes acquired the missing rod lost to Scraps. This has now been fixed. On the night the missing entry was not noticed by the players, as they shortly after encountered Ravel at the graveyard anyway, which moved the plot forward for this quest. However, this has now been fixed to aid as a reminder of the path to follow for players. (ii) A journal entry for The Barrier did not update after the death of Ravel, to put players back on the path of seeking the rods for Orechin. This is a rare entry update as it only occurs if the heroes have not yet entered the wizard’s tower. It’s not an essential update, but helps the players remain focused on their task in hand. (NOTE: I need to update our own session’s journal entry for this journal update after killing Ravel.)

6) SCRAPS GONE: Scraps obviously preferred the easy life compared to adventuring after he decided to head back to the Bloated Buckle Inn during an area transition. Joking aside, this may have been caused by a variable that is added to henchmen left to wait, which the heroes have done in the past. This variable is now cleared after henchmen are invited back to the group again. (NOTE: To update this variable within our own session, players need to dismiss and invite Scraps back again.)

7) GOLD ON TRANSFER: I left this one almost to last because it appears to be a new version of a GOLD bug. However, I have had troubles duplicating it, and it may be a red-herring and simply a glitch. Basically, this is what happened: When transferring some arrows or bolts from a main PC to a companion, a number of Money Pouches appeared on the companion at the same time. No other items triggered it, and I was unable to duplicate the issue when transferring from the main PC to created PCs. Furthermore, when a second player left the session, the problem appeared to go. I was unable to duplicate the problem thereafter. For the time being, I have tidied some variables around the target of the item transfer code and will test again the next time we are all together, or before if I have the opportunity.

8) CORRUPT PC ON LEAVING: Sometimes the session may report a PC that left the game was “corrupted”. This may be reported if an old variable has been left behind on a PC that may have once had an issue. I have since updated the code that handles this to work more efficiently, and it now also deletes the variable before it makes future checks, and so in theory, should be gone by the time the player leaves the next time … unless there had been a genuine problem.

UPDATE

I can also quickly add that I have updated the style of Character Info GUI with additional bonus and penalty figures next to the attribute score. Thanks to KevL and Aqvilinus for their help with that. The latest Campaign folder contains all the code and images required.

Catch up with the heroes in our session here (also with screen shots at the bottom of the blog): https://worldofalthea.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-adventure-continues-28-not-so-small.html (NOW WITH MULTI-LANGUAGE SUPPORT)

Download campaign v2.52 here (module v2.52): https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn2/module/scroll

kevL_s · February 21, 2019, 3:49pm

/lol

those don’t look too big, they just need a bigger burrow

Lance_Botelle · February 21, 2019, 4:05pm

Ha!

They were so big (twice what I expected) that they could not even get out of the barn door! We all had a laugh.

Hence, the scaling has been toned down by a factor.

Cheers, Lance.

Lance_Botelle · February 22, 2019, 12:31pm

The last session went well, and I believe a fun and relaxing time was had by all. There were a couple of minor issues, including a new take on a gold problem (but nothing serious) and some minor visual errors. All in all though, the main fixes needed this week were a couple I discovered while testing outside of play. Here’s the rundown …

The List of Fixes

1) GRIST CHAMELEON PUZZLE: The main issue for gameplay on the night was due to a variable not being set on Grist’s Chameleon Puzzle, which meant the answer expected had not been properly set. This occurred due to the flow my players took through the game, which other players may also come across if they do not pay Scar for the answer. To fix the issue, the variable is now set at the beginning of a game. (I have fixed the variable for our own game for next session.) Thankfully, this issue came to light as we were finishing the session, which meant I had time to rectify the problem before the next session. For those that may already be playing, the safe path is to pay Scar for the answer, or sell him the stone. If you do not do either of these, then you could always use Life Essences to crack the code, but it would use a fair number and the answer would reveal an obvious error by producing a TAG. (NB: Do not forget that you cannot use Life Essences and reload to use the answer as the game checks for this kind of exploit. Life Essences would still be taken on a reload.) If you know about scripting, you can also open the toolset and edit alb_althea_patchscript and uncomment our game patch there.

2) SCARS DESK: This produced an empty GUI when clicked. Easy enough to close, but an error all the same. I updated the placeable in the area, which should prevent it from doing so. This fix requires the MODULE update and a fresh start.

3) JOURNAL ENTRIES: There were a couple more minor alterations to fix logical flow in journal updates to do with The Barrier and Ravel’s Request entries. Because these two quests are closely linked and other events are affected by their quest states, it requires careful management. However, I believe I have ironed out all the points now, especially when related to acquiring rods.

4) WORLD MAP: I have two instances when a land map drawn by myself in another program is presented to the players. The first is if they click on the nexus, which offers Teleportation Travel (when the barrier is lifted) and the second source is via the Party Maps (from the hotbar) if and when the players manage to find the “world” maps. However, one of my players said they had received the wrong version when clicking on the Party Maps. I checked the code, and while I could not see any major problem, I did end up changing one function for a more basic way of showing the world map compared to another that added some variables. (I also ensured a Teleportation variable cleared down.) As this code is not used to any extent in this module, I will take a closer look at the variables in module 2. However, on testing after the changes, both map systems appeared to display correctly in all my testing.

5) XP EXPLOIT: During testing I noticed there was a small chance (subject to how a second player joined a session compared to the host) that their joining could cause PCs to not be set to the correct level / XP. A variable has now been set to distinguish between PCs joining at the start of the game (when XP should be set at zero) or when “rallying” new PCs at the Bloated Buckle, when they can be added with XP averaged to the party current.

6) “SOMEBODY WORKING”: There was an instance of Myara (the rogue) not being able to interact with a combination puzzle on a door due to the code thinking somebody was already working on the door. I believe this was just a throw back to an old problem because the rogue had already interacted with the door once before (many sessions ago) and was during a time when the problematic variable had not been fixed. Checking the same door from a new module did not repeat the problem.

7) OBI STEN CONVERSATION: A small square block was removed from the conversation. I have no idea how these strange anomalies have crept into the odd conversation. They appear to have replaced the odd apostrophe, which I fix as I come across any.

8) SPLIT EXPLOIT: A player pointed out that while splitting a stack, if they selected zero, then it was possible for a single item to be split from the stack, without affecting the total amount remaining! I added an extra check to ensure no action is taken if the selection returned is zero.

9) MONEY POUCH STACK: I want to make it clear that we had NO problems with the gold management on the night, and all pouches and gold carried among players’ PCs calculated correctly. However, my players’ PCs had reached the point where they needed to offload some gold and chose to leave it inside Kathy’s chest. This all worked fine until a player then went to add another single pouch to the same chest that already contained a stack of pouches, and the stack was removed leaving only the single pouch. This was easily fixed by myself as a DM as the host, but I point it out as a warning to other games. The workaround is to ensure a PC grabs all the money pouches from a placeable object and combine pouches before placing the combined stack into said chest or other placeable. I have NOT fixed this issue to date, as it may not be required for many players, and the workaround works fine. however, I will take a closer look as time permits.

Catch up with the heroes in our session here (also with screen shots at the bottom of the blog): https://worldofalthea.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-adventure-continues-29-restless.html (NOW WITH MULTI-LANGUAGE SUPPORT)

Download campaign v2.53 here (module v2.53): https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn2/module/scroll

Lance_Botelle · February 28, 2019, 10:42pm

The last session got off to a slow start as we tried to address a minor quest issue, but after some script searching I could not determine the error and so we continued the session with me as the DM fixing the situation as we played. Today, after doing some more leisurely testing, I now have to conclude that the error we encountered was mainly due to a “glitch”, because I was unable to duplicate it. A second minor error relating to treasure items also appears to be a “glitch”, as once again I was unable to duplicate the issue with testing. The bottom line, I suspect most issues in the last session were more to do with using an older module rather than anything else. Bear in mind that the module we are using is quite a few versions behind the latest. Anyway, here is the list of information for you …

The List of Fixes

1) JOURNAL ENTRY (SCAR SCAM): On the back of a new journal entry added a few weeks back, there was a broken sequence that quickly needed mending on the night. Our group took a path where the players cracked Grist’s Chameleon puzzle on their own. The journal entry for this did not update. A quick save and reload after a minor fix sorted this, and it is now properly fixed for all. On the back of this journal entry fault though, came this second one, which I will refer to next within its own “Glitch” title …

2) JOURNAL ENTRY (GLITCH): After cracking Grist’s chameleon puzzle, the players receive a map, which when examined is supposed to unlock access to the treasure caches it leads to. Furthermore, as the PCs find the caches, the journal is supposed to update with a count. However, on the night, all the treasure caches failed to become properly useable, and the gold they contained ended up sitting on top of the cache instead of inside it. Therefore, the journal update did not fire because the caches could not be interacted with. When I tested the same code following day (using the same PCs, albeit with a DM present), the caches updated correctly and interaction was normal … apart from something weird … they were useable, even before I had used the map that is supposed to make them useable! Again, I have no idea why this happened, although I can say that everything worked as it should from a fresh start . Therefore, this goes very much under the title of glitch! On the night, as DM, I simply gave the players the item they needed on discovering the sixth cache.

3) TREASURE ITEMS (GLITCH): While on the subject of “glitches”, here relates the second of the night: Upon returning to Kathy’s chest where a player had stored some treasure items, upon opening the chest, all the treasure items had become unidentified. This at first appeared to be related to where I had disabled some code to help resolve the “more than one money pouch” being left within a chest. At first I re-enabled the code and “fixed” the money pouch a different way. However, after checking my code, I could not see any reason why this had occurred and so I tried to repeat the error within a fresh game … and could not. Again, I have no clear reason why this glitch occurred, by can confirm that the problem did not exist in a fresh new game.

4) LIFE ESSENCES (GLITCH): I believe there was one other “glitch” on the night related to acquiring Life essences. Upon killing a monster, a PC can acquire Life Essences from the fallen creature. Life Essences start off as “Bound” Life Essences on a dead creature, but become “Unbound” upon a PC acquiring them either by Channeling or Harvesting them. Somehow, a player had two of the Bound versions on their PC, suggesting the OnAcquire code did not fire for them. Hopefully, this was a one off glitch too.

5) CHAMELEON PUZZLE EXPLOIT: On the back of testing the journal update for the “Scar Skim Scam” quest, I recognised a minor exploit where a player could gain a slight clue/advantage using Life Essences with this puzzle and then reloading. This has now been squashed in the latest fix.

6) PRECISION WEIGHTS (TYPO): Too many "S"s in a couple of places with these items. The typo has been fixed for all of them. Some may require a module update to be noticed.

7) ROD OF LOCATING (MP ONLY): If a player tried to start a new game with a PC that already carried a Rod of Locating, then the PC would fail to load any saved game thereafter. This was due to a timing issue when checking if a Rod was present or not. The timing has now been fixed, and the PC no longer reports having a missing item. (Discovered during testing.)

8) NPC CONVERSATION: A function to have a NPC start a conversation was not always finding a valid PC to start a conversation. E.g. Grist in the cellar. This has now been fixed.

9) GAME BALANCING: Some creatures were too weak, while others marginally too strong. I have done some minor tweaking again. Some alterations require a module update.

Catch up with the heroes in our session here (also with screen shots at the bottom of the blog): https://worldofalthea.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-adventure-continues-30-realm-of.html (NOW WITH MULTI-LANGUAGE SUPPORT)

Download campaign v2.54 here (module v2.54): https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn2/module/scroll

Lance_Botelle · March 2, 2019, 5:00pm

EDIT: If anybody needs any particular fix that I may have missed, then now is the time to mention it. I will continue to make fixes available as I find them, but the more feedback I receive (especially from anybody playing MP), then the more stable I can be sure to make it.

Well the last session we played turned out to be THE last session marking the end of all the quests available. We will be having one last “tidy up” session, which will include some PC house-keeping, and a special “Dream Sequence” episode that will cover an area of the campaign not explored by the players. This allows me to test that final section and keep a saved game prepared for any possibility of further modules in the campaign.

As you know, my current task (alongside fixing problems with module one that we came across) has been preparing the campaign for transition between modules … and writing the second module. I have to admit this has been slow progress, simply due to health reasons. However, now that our play through for module one has almost come to an end, I may be able to do a little more. I am reasonably certain I have completed the module transition code, and can now concentrate on the story aspects. However, like always, time will tell with respect to how far I get.

I do also plan to have another multi-player run through of the first module, but this time as an active player (rather than as a DM). I want to do this so that I can fully test all the changes from the last play through, and test one or two aspects of play that the last play through may not have tried. E.g. Playing through by a different path. Besides, I think it could be fun for me to have a go as a player too … and test how the balancing has changed things.

As regards to the play of the last session, apart from a few minor issues, we did also encounter another critical broken multi-player transition. Here follows the problems encountered and fixes involved in detail.

The List of Fixes

1) TRANSITION (ASTEND): The game-breaking bug (MP only) we encountered this session was another broken transition, which failed to fire due to a delay added to the end of the conversation. The delay did not serve much purpose apart from allowing a slightly longer view of Astend performing his spell, and so was removed to allow the timing of the transition to work as expected. Thankfully, these transition bugs should have only affected MP games, but I am sorry to those that have had to wait for fixes to play multi-player.

2) FORMULAE PAGES: In our session, when one of the PCs picked up the first formulae page they were meant to collect, it did not fire the GUI to give advise about collection. I think this may have been a glitch , along the lines of those that I explained last time. However, I did alter the code slightly to help ensure the associated GUI on collecting the first page does fire. Tested as working.

3) “STILL BEING WORKED”: A couple of puzzles reported “Still Being Worked Upon”, even when they were not. One was due to a (non-critical) bug, but the other I believe stemmed from some code changes made over the previous weeks. I will keep an eye open on these as we play again, but hopefully, this is not a problem.

4) OBI REWARD: A reward collected by the heroes from OBI was giving too much, as it included associates that should NOT have been included. This has now been fixed.

5) RAGNOR SWORD JOURNAL ENTRY: The journal entry for acquiring the sword of Ragnor Oran would keep firing when passed from PC to PC. This has been fixed.

6) CLARIFICATION (GONG): I have changed the way the conversation works with Astend’s gong. Players would think the conversation had stopped/broken and try clicking again, even though it was “paused” in the process of sounding a second time (when struck twice). Now the gong sounds twice in quick succession without any pause in the conversation. Furthermore, any hostile creature summoned will now correctly un-summon on being killed.

7) CLARIFICATION (TELEPORT HUB): Players did not realise that a summoned portal was an object that could be interacted with. To clarify this, I have made it so a central hub now appears within the portal encouraging the player to click on it.

A Final Word

All in all, after dodging the bullets of bugs as we went along, the campaign played well. Yes, we had quite a few moments of rough-riding when some bugs were more persistent than others, but thankfully, everything was “fixable” along the way, especially as I was present as the DM. Hopefully, our own experiences will help make for a smoother game for those that wish to try The Scroll MP as well.

The campaign lasted far longer than I first anticipated, by almost double! At first, one may think it was due to the way we used turn-based combat, but the in-game timer ignores that part of the time. Therefore, our nearly 71 hours of gameplay was all story and adventure! It did include the times when players stopped to purchase equipment and read the various tomes and scrolls throughout the game, but even after accounting for this, the first module does still offer a substantial amount of gameplay hours.

From my own experience, I believe the creatures encountered needed some balancing, some of which I addressed as we played. Others, however, will only be noticed on a fresh replay. I may even address this some more after I test it again.

In the end, the PCs have ended up at ninth level, nearly tenth, and are very wealthy, having stashed away just over 60 000 gold and are still carrying dozens of precious gems and jewellery. Most of this gold and some of the gems have already been earmarked for crafting and enchanting items, and so that will quickly drop when you consider the high costs of such. However, now that the barrier is down, new equipment will always come in handy for the adventure ahead … when it is ready!

Catch up with the heroes in our session here (also with screen shots at the bottom of the blog): https://worldofalthea.blogspot.com/2019/03/the-adventure-continues-31-mind-how-you.html (NOW WITH MULTI-LANGUAGE SUPPORT)

Download campaign v2.55 here (module v2.55): https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn2/module/scroll

andysks · March 3, 2019, 5:50pm

I’m curious, Lance. How many hours one plays as a single player compared to the 71h MP? In any case, 71h is an impressive number. And I thought my ~60h were a lot . Well done.

Lance_Botelle · March 4, 2019, 10:34am

Hi andysks,

Thanks!

Well, let me first say this … When I test played the module, I obviously knew the plot and what to do without too much reading required. And, playing single player does not require co-operative conversation about actions or quests paths to follow. Also, my wife enjoyed doing the “combi-chest” puzzles (etal), and so “picked” every lock without ever using any aids (e.g. life essences or special picks), which probably added an hour or so to the time. Therefore, dependant upon a person’s style of play, I reckoned it would take around 35-45 hours.

However, perhaps I ought to consider revising that figure if we take into account “taking time” to read tomes, consider equipment to purchase, etc. i.e. My test times would equate to a “speed play” I suppose. Perhaps 50 - 60?

Finally, the in-game timer is only a rough guide (as it relies upon the heartbeat check), but is probably not too bad a guide.

As I say in my last post, my wife and I (and possibly the same player as before) are going to play again in the near future, taking a different path, so we will see how that differs in timing.

Cheers, Lance.

Lance_Botelle · March 4, 2019, 1:50pm

Hi Everybody,

UPDATE: FIX AVAILABLE (SEE POST BELOW THIS ONE.)

UPDATE: The player who reported this problem has confirmed the latest v2.56 fixed their problem.

Someone reported a problem with receiving too many copies of “The Scroll” in their PC’s inventory. While I have not been able to reproduce the problem exactly myself, I have encountered a couple of problems that can occur around this area of the code in my own tests.

In particular, I noticed that the Main PC’s heartbeat script will not start firing until they have possessed one other PC. Therefore, I need to address this issue for players who may not play another PC for some time.

This issue would tie into a number of other potential issues where a heartbeat is required, including receiving “gifts” from Vol.

I am currently trying to fix this issue, and will post the latest version when available. To be clear, I think this issue will likely only affect players who are currently playing a single PC with neither created nor companions added.

Back soon as possible.
Lance.

Lance_Botelle · March 4, 2019, 5:57pm

Hi Everybody,

OK, so here is the latest information …

v2.56 AVAILABLE HERE: https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn2/module/scroll

The latest version, which is now available, addresses the following issues:-

1) MAINPC HEARTBEAT: If a player started with only one PC (did not create any others), then their Main PC heartbeat would not start. The same issue would occur if the player did not possess another PC at least once. Therefore, the latest fix ensures a pseudo PC is added/possessed/removed to ensure the heartbeat gets started. (This evaded me in the past as I always played with a party from the start.)

2) VOL GIFTS: On the back of the above issue, a player could miss out on a Vol Gift entirely, as it relied upon a heartbeat call from the MainPC. So if a player either had no other PCs or had not possessed one before meeting Vol, then this script would not fire. Now, it is also set to fire the moment the conversation with Vol ends.

3) MOD VARIABLES: As somebody had reported issues with receiving multiple copies of The Scroll item, I have reworked the “between module variable controller” to use an item that the Main PC already carries, thereby avoiding creating another item and thereafter having to rely on destroying said item. In testing, the old method could sometimes fail, leaving the player sometimes with no Scroll item, or even with multiple Scroll items. In testing the new system, this appears fixed … and also no longer prevents a player from leaving an area, as it relies on an integer rather than an object check now.

4) INVENTORY (NEW PC): A minor update. I added a line of code that would ensure the player could read “A New PC Has Been Selected” in the inventory window if they had previously scrolled the window description and then selected a new PC.

Cheers, Lance.

EDIT: Although I have updated the module version as well as the campaign files, there was no actual module update. I just wanted to keep the two in synch after having finished the MP test. Therefore, you can take advantage of just a CAMPAIGN update if you prefer. If starting afresh, then go for both!

Lance_Botelle · March 5, 2019, 12:18pm

Hi Everybody,

LATEST VERSION HERE: https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn2/module/scroll

UPDATE: v2.57 is NOW AVAILABLE and for those that want to keep to the latest, even a new Others.7z file (compressed folders) has been uploaded, which contains an updated Althea_01.tlk compressed folder. However, for those that know what they are doing and want to just download the smaller altered tlk file rather than download the entire Others.7z folder again, then grab it here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/bkj9cbv3bfg6cmh/Althea_01.7z?dl=0 (The only altered text in the tlk file is the clarification of the No fear of Death feat describing how the penalty is applied when any character falls in combat rather than just the leader or main PC.)

The latest v2.57 addresses the following …

VOL GIFTS (UPDATED): In a MP game, the Companion Protector gift will now become available for all players who wish to select it, and not just to the first chooser.
VOL GIFTS (UPDATED): In a MP game, the No Fear of Death will now only work for the player that selects it. i.e. No longer can one player select it for all players to benefit from the gift. Only the PCs controlled by the player with the gift will have their PCs benefit.
VOL GIFTS (CLARIFIED): The No Fear of Death description will be corrected to read when any character falls in combat, rather than just the main PC (or leader).

NOW ALSO ADDED:

Dwarf Smith … Open and available if encountered outdoors, even if after close time.
Companions … Remove gold coin item from companionable creatures. (Fresh start only.)

Thanks, Lance.

PENDING in v2.58 …

TO BE UPDATED WITH FURTHER TESTING.

Lance_Botelle · March 6, 2019, 11:42pm

First I need to apologise for the patch info in the last version (v2.57), as it did not report the correct version after patching. The files were correct, it was simply the patching info that was wrong (It stayed reporting v2.56). The latest patch v2.58 fixes the patch info for both the module and the campaign folder, and so anybody who wants the correct version to show would need both files/folders. (NB: The module version only shows from a fresh start. Note, however, there is no difference in the module folder apart from the version reference.)

However, the v2.58 Campaign folder does have another gaming fix: It fixes an OnAcquire firing issue that was stopped if a PC acquired a gem of any kind with any other items at the same time.

1) ON ACQUIRE FIX (CONSOLIDATION): Basically, the OnAcquire script fires a “consolidation” function that prior to the latest fix caused the OnAcquire to FAIL to fire for items acquired at the same time as the gem. The function now has a slight delay to allow the OnAcquire script to finish prior its calling.

This will now fix issues like “Bound” Life Essences being collected instead of unbound ones, and allow gems to collect into their appropriate containers (if carried). The “Bound” Life Essence problem was reported in v2.54, but was thought of as a “glitch” only. It has now been confirmed as a bug caused by this issue, now fixed (hopefully). The workaround would be to transfer the “bound” life essences between PCs, which would make them “unbound”. And, gems would have to be placed manually sometimes. This fix resolves those issues from occurring in the first place.

I will continue testing this to make sure all is now well, and update (of course) if I discover any other issues surrounding this problem.

IMPORTANT FIX (v2.58): https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn2/module/scroll

Thanks, Lance.

Lance_Botelle · March 7, 2019, 1:50pm

Some of you may be asking, “Why are there so many updates?”, especially in the light of The Scroll having undergone a substantial amount of beta testing and SP testing already. The answer is mainly due to the number of variations involved in the campaign. This is compounded by the fact that the gameplay allows the player a number of ways to play the campaign … and how it prepares the player for any potential new modules. Well, that and the fact that there is still the occasional update, or fix. And the bottom line is, if I do a module update in any way, I like to keep players with the latest available, as that update requires a restart, and the sooner a player has access to it, the more they can decide whether it is worth restarting or not.

Campaign updates, on the other hand, even though quite frequent, keep the player up to date with the most stable version. (And do NOT require a player to start again.) I certainly look forward to when these updates slow down myself, as it means I can start to focus on the second module more. This should be the case if all goes well with my next play through, which should go through relatively smoothly.

I am thorough!

0 ---- 0

Anyway, here is the latest v2.59 files for both module and campaign.

1) GRAVE HIGHLIGHT (MODULE UPDATE REQUIRED): Module versions prior to this latest did not highlight Josiah’s Grave in the graveyard. Originally, I left it more difficult to find, making it only for those players that stumbled across it with closer inspection. However, I think this falls into the realm of “pixel hunting” (especially as the z key highlight facility would also NOT highlight it) and so I decided to update the particular grave with a gold sparkle so players now know it can be interacted with. The sparkle disappears after an initial inspection. If you do not update to this latest version, note that the grave can still be interacted with, but you have to locate it with your mouse pointer first.

2) AWARD TESTS (IF DATABASE DELETED): A few versions back, I added the facility to allow a player to restart the campaign using the PC with the *same * name. (i.e. Effectively, the same PC.) It meant that previous saved games with the PC of this name would (possibly) no longer work as expected (and so were warned NOT to be used), but it also meant the player could easily start again with the same PC if they wished by choosing to delete the associated database with the PC. There was a minor error, in that the optional “Award Tests” game would not reset properly. This has now been fixed in the latest version.

3) VILLAGERS RISK REPORT: Removed erroneous info being reported on villagers and patrons if examined. NOTE: If you are already in the village (or Bloated Buckle), then you would need to leave the area and enter it again before the description updates correctly.

EDIT: Note that I also discovered another TLK description that had some wrong info. Therefore, I have now updated the Others file/folder again with the updated TLK file. (It’s to remove the reference in the feat description of Party Survivor, which says “The Main PC with this feat also has the benefit of not suffering any damage due to hunger. Companions can still die from hunger though.” This is NOT correct information and can be ignored.) The DROPBOX DIRECT LINK FOR JUST THE TLK FOLDER: https://www.dropbox.com/s/bkj9cbv3bfg6cmh/Althea_01.7z?dl=0 (Clear you download cache if you have downloaded this file before, as it is the same compressed file link, but now contains the updated TLK file.)

Thanks for sticking with me on the updates.

VERSION 2.59 HERE: https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn2/module/scroll

Lance.

Lance_Botelle · March 9, 2019, 11:25am

Hi Everybody,

I forgot to update the version info on the v2.59 again! My apologies again.

Therefore, I am uploading this latest version (v2.60) now so that players can see the latest version fix info as well. I cannot believe I forgot to do that again! I am going to add the line prior to any work now saying something along the lines of, “Yes, I Forgot again!”, so that people know the info is pending at least. Then, I will edit it before doing the next update. NOTE: The latest version patched is still mentioned, but the info about what had been fixed was missing. (A minor thing, but I still wanted to let others know that I was aware of it.)

So … I have been having a little more time to be able to work on module 2, and noted one or two minor issues that will be coming out in the next version release that may help with module 1 as well. These are the fixes in v 2.60: -

Update the version info AGAIN! (Sorry about forgetting this info.)
Remove some DEBUG feedback mentioning attribute decrease when swapping PCs.
Fixed monsters potentially staying “friendly”, especially if they have an aura. (Let me know if you have already experienced this.)
Updated code for module to module transitions.

GRAB v2.60 here: https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn2/module/scroll

Thanks, Lance.

Lance_Botelle · March 9, 2019, 9:35pm

Hi All,

EDIT: I think there may be some errors in the new BARD INSTRUMENT code and so will check it and make fixes for the next release.

Latest v2.61 available and includes: -

AREA TRANSITION CODE: Tidying of some conversations and transition code.
RAVEL CAMERA: Ravel’s conversation has had some camera angle changes.
PATCH INFO: A default “Aargh! Forgot!” type message just in case.
REST INFO CORRECTION: Rule update that rest limitations can be worse than 50%.
ALTARS: Altars now stop interaction until Life Role set as Channeler or Harvester.
FIXMAINPC FIX: Removes an invisible creature that should be removed after use.
BARD INSTRUMENTS: Updated bard songs with instrument bonus code by Clubok.

CLUBOK CODE: https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn2/script/bard-song-buffs-instruments#comment-48111

This is for both MODULE and CAMPAIGN. Although the only reason the module is being updated is where I removed some variables on objects no longer required (related to the tidied transition code). Therefore, it is NOT an essential update at this stage. On the other hand, the campaign update is always worth doing.

GRAB v2.61 here: https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn2/module/scroll

Cheers, Lance.

Lance_Botelle · March 11, 2019, 9:14pm

Now available in v2.62 … https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn2/module/scroll

OK, I have recoded the bard songs to work as follows when “wielding” instruments, with the following understanding:-

An instrument’s value determines a base bonus figure, which the bonuses are calculated from. All bonuses use this figure, and I have removed any reliance on “level” as (a) this is already used in some of the songs and (b) I felt the difference was too great and imbalanced the song effect.
Different songs require ownership of one of the three instruments currently available: drum, flute or lute (or any variant name thereof). Here follows a list of the instruments and how they affect the various songs. Currently, only the Haven Song can use any instrument, and all others require a specific instrument to gain the associated bonuses.
The player PC need only have an instrument equipped and the code then automatically searches for the best appropriate valued instrument to allocate the bonus. If no instrument is equipped, then no bonuses are applied, and a reminder is given about the benefits of wielding an instrument. i.e. A player does not need to switch instruments if they have one equipped already and carry the one they need. It’s equipping is assumed.
There are currently three values of instrument available per instrument:- 0-2500 will give a + 1 bonus variable, 2501-4500 will give a + 2 bonus variable, and > 4500 will give a + 3 bonus variable. (i.e. In the values below change a 1 value to 2 or 3 for the more expensive instruments where appropriate … or double/triple the value.):

THE DRUM DESCRIPTION (BASIC MODEL)

Song of Courage : + 1 ATT + 1 DAM
Inspire Defence : + 1 AC
Inspire Jarring : Penalties + 2 Disc + 1 Conc
Inspire Toughness : + 1 Saves
Inspire Legion : + 1 DAM + 2 RNDs Duration
Inspire Heroics : + 1 AC + 1 Saves HP Boost
Haven Song: + 2 Sanc Boost + 2 RNDs Duration (*)

(*) Any instrument does this.

THE FLUTE DESCRIPTION (BASIC MODEL)

Inspire Competence: + 1 Skills
Inspire Slowing : + 1 Will DC + 5% Slow
Cloud Mind Song : + 2 DC + 2 RNDs Duration
Fascinate Song: + 2 DC + 2 RNDs Duration
Haven Song: + 2 Sanc Boost + 2 RNDs Duration (*)

(*) Any instrument does this.

THE LUTE DESCRIPTION (BASIC MODEL)

Inspire Regeneration: + 1 HP Regeneration
Ironskin Chant: + 1 Damage Reduction + 2 RNDs
Countersong: + 2 Spell Resist + 2 RNDs
Song of Freedom: + 2 Level Boost. Large Radius.
Haven Song: + 2 Sanc Boost + 2 RNDs Duration (*)

(*) Any instrument does this.

NB: The CAMPAIGN code allows the instruments to be used to give a bonus after updating the folder. However, the instruments descriptions (as above) will only show on newly purchased instruments from a fresh MODULE start. The important point is that the bonuses apply whether you get the instrument description or not.

Cheers, Lance.