Circle of Eight Modpack v8 Final General Commentary & Discussion Thread

Can you post a save that demonstrates the crash? (see instructions in my sig)

 

Sitra Achara--
Maybe this is a little more clear. Two concerns.
The first is that (in the attached files -- I've never done this .zip file thing before, so let me know if I did it correctly) I try to ascend the staircase to the Temple Entry level without a Shortcut map in my possession (neither inventory nor Chest), and the game crashes. The saved game should begin at the foot of the stairs on the second level in the intersection of the three elemental hallways. I ascend that staircase to the first level, then go either right or left to one of the staircase(s) ascending from the first level to the entry level. Just so you know, the Shortcut map is in Alrem's chest (fire temple chief cleric). But it seems that if I carry the Map with me (either in the Chest or Inventory), then ascending the staircase to the Entry level is fine. [So, now, once I've been given the Map, I need to keep it with me ... it seems?]

Second, if I ascend the staircase(s) or enter the front door from outside the Temple with the Shortcut map in the Chest (not in my Inventory), then I get the Cartographer tutorial again and another copy of the Shortcut map. (I've got quite a collection of Shortcut maps, let me tell ya'.)

Hope that helps.

 

Cloudkill: Enemies killed by this spell don't grant XP either. I doesn't matter if the enemy dies because of cloudkill's SoD effect or the Con-damage.

This is a pretty heavy bug:
Obviously effects which kill opponents without dealing hit point damage cause the game to not count the kill.

The creature or character killed by spells such as phantasmal killer or cloudkill -- apart from not granting any XP -- doesn't even show up in the log. This makes some of the best spells totally worthless.

Does nobody else have this problem?

[edit]
btw: The update to 8.01 didn't fix the problem with the merchant's scale and the eyeglasses. Moving the scale in the inventory still breaks the glasses.

[edit.1]
Just tried it with the watersnakes in the water temple and when they die because of cloudkill's SoD effect, they count and give XP. What's funny though is that different tries gave two different amounts of XP (in both instances all 4 of the snakes were in the equation). My level 9 characters get either 162 or 222 XP. No matter if the snakes are killed by cloudkill or conventional means or a mixture of the two.

[edit.2]
Might be that it's only when enemies die of the constitution loss that they don't count as a kill. Puzzling why phantasmal killer doesn't count either while cloudkill's SoD effect does.

[edit.3]
Confirmed. If a creature dies to cloudkill's constitution loss without suffering any kind of hit point damage it doesn't count as killed. Same thing happens if a creature dies because of phantasmal killer. Cloudkill's SoD works normal, though.

 

I believe xp is rewarded as a die roll, not a set amount.

The Cr of the creatures and the levels of the PC's determine what die are rolled, but still a roll and can give slightly different amounts.

Or, I could be completely wrong.

 

This wouldn't be a correct implementation of the rules. XP are donated according to a chart which doesn't include any kind of variable and/or randomly determined numbers.

The main issue is still that some ways of killing things don't count, though. This has really spoiled my gaming experience.

 

@ Corwyn

I could not replicate a crash, and thus I can't even approach a solution for that, but there was indeed a bug that caused a lockup when your inventory was full. Attached a fix - put it in the [ToEE]\data\scr folder.

@ Zug, Sirchet

XP awards are completely deterministic, except for a bug in the spells discussed herein which causes no XP to be awarded at all. (other than that there's XP scaling for different levels, but that's completely deterministic too)

To be more precise, the game doesn't register the monsters as being slain by you, and thus awards no XP. IIRC if you land a hit on them before they die, you will get XP (no matter how small the hit). The Cloudkill SoD and Phantasmal Killer effect can probably be fixed that way, I will check it out.

 

Thanks. Strange that this is the first time I've recognized that bug...

What about sleet storm, though? That spell worked just fine with 7.3 (last edition before 8.0 I've played), but now its duration is instantaneous.

 

I found the following in Circle of Eight Modpack 8.0.0 - Release Notes.txt:

I wonder whether the player receives XP for killing opponents with other spells such as Circle of Death, Destruction, Finger of Death, Power Word Kill, Prismatic Spray, Slay Living and Weird?

 

You get xp for destroying skellies with "Turn Undead".

 

With further experimentation I too noticed that the lock up occurs with a full inventory, but the file you attached fixed it. Thank you. That was the only issue -- my software lingo is that of a neophyte, so 'crash' was not the operative word.

 

Again, the problem with inconsistent XP-awards is not only happening when you're using SoDs, ability drain, turn undead or similar. It's happening when you're just cracking heads, too.

Now that i think of it, could it be that if summons kill an opponent the kill doesn't count?

Also, cloudkill's SoD seems to work fine but its constitution damage causes subjects to die without counting as a kill. Phantasmal killer on the other hand, as an SoD, doesn't cause resulting deaths to count either.

It's really strange.

 

I agree with Zugschef. Experience points sometimes vary for the exact same encounter against groups of enemies. Single opponents usually give the same xp, but groups -- especially mixed groups (in other words, other than a single homogenous group of enemies) gives random xp. For example, the Moathouse ambush. Ran it, reloaded, and did it again. Different xp. Only used sword, halberd; magic missle and scorching ray spells, and Stinking Cloud, Web, and Fireball from scrolls. The xp difference isn't significant, but it isn't the same.

On another note, I just experienced something odd. Got the reward from Lord Grundwall for rescuing Prince Thrommel ... problem is, I didn't rescue Thrommel (but, yes, guilty for accepting the reward), or even been on the 3rd level yet (except run away from a black pudding). I did rescue the Elves (Tillahi and Juffer) and got the reward from the Elven Rangers a week or so after the Thrommel reward.

 

Has anybody had difficulty with spell feats? For example maximise spell feat.

I want to maximise a fireball. I have the feat. The bullet point appears next to all my spells. i select fireball and click on the bullet point. It brings up the select feat screen i drag the maximise feat across to the slot. But when i return to the spell list a first level spell has been maximised not fireball.

I am playing in a higher resolution that the original. This reduces the size of the text on the screen .
The position on the screen would be occupied by a lower level spell in the original resolution.
If the spell selection is based on the location of the spell on the screen but has not been adjusted for the increased resolution, this Might explain why a lower level spell appears maximised in my list.

??????

 

Is your PC multiclassed ? This problem appears when you multiclass caster classes, i.e. Wiz / Dru, Cle / Sor , Wiz / Bd, etc...

 

No longer around - from memory I had two one was the npc sorcerer /mu from homlet one was a pure pc mu. I think they both had the problem