Paladin's Cove beta release, and feedback

The new pathnode file I posrted should have fixed the problem completely. I retested it with your saved game in all areas, and there are no more crashes. I even restored the old file, got the game to crash 3 times with it the same way, then download the new file and put it in. The crashes went away.

Did you restart the game after putting the new file in? And then retry it a second time after the crash? Try restarting the game a few times till the change "kicks in". It should work eventually.

Also, it may cause problems to keep the backup file in the same folder, especially when it's named "pathnode.pnd - original". It's best to put it somewhere else. I've had problems with that kind of thing before.

I'll double-check it all, just to be sure.

 

i removed the backup from the folder.

First attempt, i opened that first door and I made it through 1 full round of battle, and then it crashed at some point in the second round.

Second attempt, I opened the first door and tested it in battle again and I just pressed the spacebar to skip everyone. After a few successful rounds (3 or 4 rounds completed successfully), then I killed that creature and went to the second door that i reported. When I opened that door and battle began I made it through 1 round successfully and the game crashed in the middle of the second round.

third attempt, i opened the first door, successfully did many rounds of battle with that creature, then I killed it. Then walked up to the second door, opened it, and it crashed in the first round of battle.

a few more tests crash in the battle at the first door.

here is a video.

 

I'm still getting the crash too, if I let the combat go for a long time. It doesn't happen immediately anymore, but it still does in some situations. The fix seems to have made it better. But the Labor to Revenue ratio on the investigation for this fringe-case bug has been exceeded right now, and I'm going to let it go until a later date, when I may look into it again.

One more thought, I'm not sure if some part of the pathnoding is saved within the saved game. That's beyond my knowing. But if it is, then the change won't take affect unless you completely renter the first level fresh for the first time. Again, too much time I would need to spend for an obscure case.

In your current play-through, if you can prevent the crash by keeping her down the hall and around the corner, just do that for now.

Also, keep in mind about Kaleela and her quest.

Spoiler

You don't have to keep Kaleela completely out of combat. She may need to take a few hits and be around combat, in order for her to become really afraid and quit adventuring. If she's kept safe, she may never learn. Or, she may like it when she gets a few scrapes and bruises, and become a hardened adventurer.

 

Understood - thanks for support.

Oh, now that's something that I did not consider. Thanks.

 

The pathnodes aren't saved in the savegame, they're loaded every time from the maps folder.

 

Thanks, I assumed that, but sometimes you just never know.
It's nice to know that for sure.

 

Yes, a very fun module, but I tend to agree with your assessment.

I don't really want the same old "fed-ex" type of quests from ToEE, but it may be that since we don't know all the possible quests in this module and their resolutions, it could be that we are unknowingly doing things in the wrong order here and unknowingly skipping some of the easier ones because we don't know any better.

I have so many entries into the Logbook, but only a few have been completed. I'll need to make note of which ones are easier, so far, so for a replay I can concentrate on those to get me to level up quicker without too much of a challenge.

There's a couple that I don't even know how to get them completed.

 

SPOILERS ALLERT!!
So...
I just started Chapter four. I have to admit it, I am a bit rushing through the game as too eager to see what's what to the (provisional) end ; will do a more thorough play second time round
I agree to the above mention of the difficulty, but, hey, I enjoy it lol ( I've had to replay some battle 7 or 8 times!! particularly bothersome for me was

Spoiler

the Pirates of the Coast quest final battle. VERY hard and few times when I was about to win kept CTD!! until I figured out , I think , that too many area effect spells in place in the same time was the culprit... A VERY VERY hard hitter enemy "tank", 50/60hp each of the 3/4 attacks don't remember exactly, ouch! combined withy the fact that there's NO room to move... )

I've finished almost all the quests I could find, some I botched on purpose as not my style of playing ( although Marc mentions in the Readme that there's no alignment as such, I still like to RP ) for instance

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"sword of evil" and "Paladin's Fall"

in the Cove and

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"In a new light"

in the Beyond and I botched on purpose , through dialogue ,

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" A thief in the night "

as I just don't like to turn people in, unless they are evil lol . Some quests I just can't see how are they possible (

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"They went too deep", "Zolroth", "Meet the new boss" - especially since I've killed Lang! if anything this quest should appear as botched! ...

If you really want to see a list of the quests you can still have a peek in

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the files folders , under data/mes/questlog...

 

Hey guys. Thanks for all the feedback.

I've been laid up for a few days with a pinched nerve in my neck, but it's passing. I get them a lot, so it's no a big deal, but I need to avoid computer usage for the most part when it happens.

I'm looking forward to responding to each of your feedbacks tomorrow sometime.

One quick one, right now...

Ted. The goblin rogues and goblin archers are only level 1, and are akin to the moathouse brigands in terms of difficulty, which was the intent. However, there are also three nasty guys there, called Goblin Brawlers, which is probably what was making the encounter impossibly deadly. They are F3/R1. They are NOT meant to be turned on for the baseline encounter (sorry ). Those 3 guys are meant to only turn on as bonus creatures if a party happens to do that quest late in chapter 1, at a time if the group average level is up to 5. I'll fix that. Thanks for telling me.

 

Thanks, Ted, means a lot coming from you.

Uh oh...

Spoiler

Hmm, I actually thought that guy wouldn't be a big deal, even at first level. And a fun challenge. Although I did expect most parties to be at least second level before getting there. I suppose if you take that quest as your very first quest, you can still be a first level party by the time they encounter him.

The bruiser PC's can usually poke thru for a few points of damage each round, same with sneak attack guys, and casters can use magic missiles which are unaffected by the DR. Sleep spells have about 50/50 chance of working each time, so a few sleep spells and it's usually over, statistically. Also, if you 5-foot step away from his multi-attack, there's very little damage he can do each round.

If you think I should, I can make it so that he only turns on for second or third level parties. Or I could leave him there, and just reduce his total HP to about 20 (his average HP roll right now is about 35).

Also, I do believe this encounter is somewhat in line with newly-enchanced Lubash at the Moathouse, which you can certainly stumble upon as a first level party.

Spoiler

[Note: I'm pasting this response from a response above, just to keep it all in one place.]

The goblin rogues and goblin archers are only level 1, and are akin to the moathouse brigands in terms of difficulty, which was the intent. However, there are also three nasty guys there, called Goblin Brawlers, which is probably what was making the encounter impossibly deadly. They are F3/R1. They are NOT meant to be turned on for the baseline encounter (sorry ). Those 3 guys are meant to only turn on as bonus creatures if a party happens to do that quest late in chapter 1, at a time if the group average level is up to 5. I'll fix that. Thanks for telling me.

Spoiler

Yep, you got me on that one. It's too much, I'll change this. Especially since it's an "in town" quest, and should be assumed to be suitable for level 1 guys. In my testing, I usually did that quest around level 4-5, and it was never a problem, so the red flags never went up.

I'll make it just one dire bat (perhaps with reduced HP). I'll change the other dire bats in that encounter to regular bats, which are easier to kill.

I think I mentioned this before, but all the chapters are open to doing the quests in any order. As such, they are designed to have a baseline difficulty for a party of level 2-3. As you go up to levels 4-6 more creatures are added to the encounters, so they don't get easy and boring. It's a fine line to walk designing this.

With that in mind, the game can be deadly to parties of level 1, and level 2 may also struggle.

Perhaps I'll add a "heavy hint" somewhere at the start of the game, to stay in town (and above ground) till you "get some more experience" (i.e., attain level 2). Actually, I think I'll definitely do that.

Spoiler

Sometimes that happens. All the treasure there is randomized (like the orignal module), and sometimes the roll is nothing, but yet the chest is locked. If it happens a lot let me now, then it may be a deeper problem. But you'll probably see it once or twice naturally.

Spoiler

I have the strategy set for some archers to approach if they can't take a shot. So they can get in range to fire. It's mostly to prevent archers sitting in place in a room, while the party runs outside to take 5 rounds and heal up before running back in to kill them.

They will also join their melee comrades in chasing the party down, if the party tries to run away.

It's a crude method sometimes, and it can lead to approaching too closely. Still somewhat of a WIP.

Spoiler

With a very few exceptions, all gear is spawned in all NPC's at their very first san_first_heartbeat. This is throughout the game, not just at that encounter. It is also randomized. So yeah, if you reload, they will have different equipment sometimes.

I'll check out the Elven Shield. What was I trying to do? Now I remember. The small shield was meant to have 0% spell failure, and the Large was meant to have 5% spell failure (that's actually how they are in the protos right now, so that part is correct). An AC bonus of +2, for a penalty of 1 in 20 spell failure seemed like a decent trade-off, especially since they are craftable. I'll update the long descriptions to match the actual proto. I notice the long description for the small shield isn't even there, oops.

 

You can take the quests in any order. There's no special sequence they need to go in. Though some may be more difficult. I mentioned in my response to Ted, that I'll probably make a change that encourages the party to do "in town" quests that don't go into some kind of dungeon environment, until the part gets to level 2.

If you let me know which quests you're stuck on, I can help.

 

Keep in mind that when a quest appears to be "evil" at first glance, or asks you to do something bad, or to have someone arrested...

Spoiler

You can approach that quest in a different way, such as investigating the situation yourself and then deciding what to do. As an example, if you are sent to kill/apprehend/threaten/etc a person as a quest, you may instead warn that person and possibly end up working with them. This can make the story play out in a different way than expected, and sometimes lead to follow-up quests.

I'll update the quest "Meet the New Boss" to be botched if the person who sends you on that quest dies.