Circle of Eight Modpack v7 / v7 NC General Commentary & Discussion Thread

Discussion in 'The Temple of Elemental Evil' started by UncleBuck, Dec 2, 2011.

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  1. zebrainz

    zebrainz Yumm

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    Aaahhhhh! sound!!!. That could very well be my missing ingredient in this quest. Prolly should take it off 'mute' and see what happens. Let's just say I've made some poor choices for my NPC's voices during character creation, now and in the past.
     
  2. odrew

    odrew Member

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    So after a lot of testing I found a solution.
    My party repeatedly freezes when leaving the Inn in Hommlet.
    When locked up I cannot use any items or move.
    So using a potion is not an option.

    I tried using the map and moving to other locations.
    Party stayed frozen in all Hommlet locations, Nulb and the Moathouse.

    But when I move to the Decklo forest the party unlocks.
    It has happened to me ten times and moving to Decklo forest unfreezes the party every time.

    Weird. Hope this information helps someone.
    Cheers
     
  3. Abascar

    Abascar Member

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    Potential problem with the Castle of the Lords Teleporters. When I set one to the "Bazaar of the Bizarre" then used it, my party was sent to a black area on the map. Was unable to move or get out. Possible that with the re-vamp of the Verbobonc map that some things got shifted around?
     
  4. Gaear

    Gaear Bastard Maestro Administrator

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    Probably. Will fix, thanks.
     
  5. zebrainz

    zebrainz Yumm

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    2nd playthrough of 7.4, some things:

    1. Unusual/different melee from Balor in the fire node. He immediately summoned 3 water node demon guardians in the first round, surrounding and appearing to be over one of my characters. Alegiances seemed mixed in this fight, dominated PC auto attacking djinn, frogs attacking djinn, djinn attacking frogs, almost like a 'sport' encounter from Mona. Not a big deal, the frog demons and the Balor demon were definitely after the un-charmed members of the party. Had some weirdness with the cursor changing to the talk icon instead of the weapon (sword or arrow respectively) icon when icon was hovered (fear effect?) over the balor. Good tough fight, but the party persevered in the end. I mention all the previous because when the fight was over, my fighter had an undroppable, untransferable 'spell object' on the inventory screen that looked strangely like and golden/tan ioun stone. Went to see zuggy after than and it didn't seem to effect any of the PC's abilities, at least in the 'rolls' window. Decided to go back to my cleanest pre-balor save and retry to get rid of the spell object. Well, it worked, maybe the balor was feeling wussier the second time around, or I was more carefully energetic about a through pre-buff. Killed the balor before he could get around to summoning this time around. No magically appearing spell object in my inventories. Saved, memorized spells and went after zuggy-->

    2. Zuggy hit me with 3 Vrocks after my hand to hand fighters had already closed, relatively uneventful battle, Dismissals and what not worked pretty well. Zuggy dies, Vrocks die, get zuggy kill screen, etc. 2 of my 3 hand to hand fighters have Vrock spore purple particle effects, permanently, no flags on pcs, just purple fog wafting off of them. Took them to Jaroo. His kill, raise, reset didn't work. Could bring myself to kill them, just for being purple, so I advanced to Verbobonc and took the Underdark/Trade Routes quest and let a Stupendously, Monstrously Enormously Gargantuan Spider do it for me. Particle effects still there after Raise Dead. So I went back to a pre-Zuggy save, boned up on my Dismissals and did her again with no ill effects. That was the game I saved and played through Verbobonc.

    3. On the subject ridiculously but hilariously named spiders, the spider cave between the Drow Matriarch and the Juvenile Dragons has un-hostile spiders in it. Just walked right through, multiple saves and playthroughs. WAI?

    4. I know there was some discussions about the dragons' looks previously. Whatever was done, however it was done, they are spot on now IMHO, both inside and outside. Perfect.

    5. 2nd playthrough, still can't rest in CotL after completing Fear of Ghosts properly, just like the 1st time. Must be my download, waiting on Wakefield perma-fix, will reload and reinstall 7.4 again.

    6. Killed Darlia/Lerrick as authorized by 'the man' while wearing green cloaks. Maitre'D tells me I better watch out, they are after me, etc. No SB revenge after much resting and traveling (was seeing how many valid geometric shapes a could make traveling from place to place, resting random and multiple days in different places). WAI? or should they be after me?

    7. Still can't complete 2 missing children sewer quest. Don't know what my problem is. Got a day worker, got a night worker, got 3 pieces of evidence in the logbook with only 2 I'm aware of from the day and night workers. Maybe it's just me. Got a couple of more tricks to try on the 3rd mob I found down there.
    I would like to say that I can make the game ctd in the sewers if I ask the AI to do too much, like entering from the the CotL, immediately casting Clairvoy/Clairaud and selecting the City Hall stairs as a destination. I don't normally move like that, I try to stay within 2 or 3 'fog of war' distances max when moving PCs, mostly becuase they will move off in all kind of different direction that I may not want them to go. Example - I'm really not interested in Zaxis's sister's panties, especially if Zaxis isn't even in the party, but I'll have some party members find a secret door, open it and go through there every time if the movement is too far from start point to stop point. Ctd only happens to me in the sewers over very large travel distances with many, many, many, many twists and turns. I only mention it because someone else (silo25?) said they encountered a similar difficulty with this in the sewers. Personally, I've always had problems anywhere in ToEE when I ask the AI to move PCs too far in one fell swoop. No issues here for me, nice new underground playground.
     
  6. odrew

    odrew Member

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    Hey all:

    Looking for advice on a strange bug I have never encountered before.

    Had a PC member cast silence during a fight.
    I hit one of my party members who failed the save and was silenced.
    That silence has never worn off and always states 89/90 turns.

    The PC who cast the spell always has the Dismiss Spell option available but it doesn't do anything.

    What kind of cracks me up is that its the bard who is silenced.
    She will never sing again... the inhumanity!

    I have tried to dispel magic and break enchantment to no effect.
    Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

    Am I going to have to load a previous save?

    EDIT: I read the walk through for hints and attempted to load the patch that allows the cheese seller to clear permanent spell effects - didn't work. Then I went to Jaroo who cleared the effect at no charge. Huzzah, she lives to sing again another day!
    Thanks all, especially Zebrains for the advice. Much appreciated.
     
    Last edited: Sep 23, 2012
  7. zebrainz

    zebrainz Yumm

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    @odrew

    Jaroo, the druid in Hommett's Druid Grove (or whatever it's called) has dialog options for spell permanency. I would try him first before doing anything radical. It's free, no charge.
     
  8. Gaear

    Gaear Bastard Maestro Administrator

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    The patch is coming, hopefully tomorrow. Will contain:

    • WotGS Wakefield fix.
    • Hickory Branch blockage fix.
    • Lareth spiders faction fix.
    • (Temporary) removal of the invulnerable skeleton archer in Moathouse Respawn.
    • WotGS Northwest patrol fix.
    • Overhauled castle resting/ghosts routine.*
    • Eliminated repeat Boroquin charm dialog and evidence incrementation.
    • Fixed destination errors in Verbobonc with castle teleporters.
    • ...

    *end result will be -

    Don't own the castle - pass time only

    Own the castle -
    Never did Moathouse Ambush - rest safe

    Did Moathouse Ambush -
    Haunted by ghosts - rest dangerous (will always be interrupted by ghosts)

    Solved ghost quest - rest safe​
     
  9. Gaear

    Gaear Bastard Maestro Administrator

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    Strange, they are all flagged KOS.

    Oddly enough they don't come after you for that. They will if you narc them out though.

    The evidence with the day guy can increment incorrectly, as you discovered above, but that will be fixed with the patch. Like Abiram said, you need 3 pieces of (genuine) evidence to make a case.
     
  10. Gaear

    Gaear Bastard Maestro Administrator

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    Patch released, see banners.

    As usual, the patch can be used with existing saves.
     
  11. zebrainz

    zebrainz Yumm

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    Downloaded and installed, worked with existing saves. I have no saves that go back before CotL purchase or completion of Fear of Ghosts, however I can now rest (green tent) there in those old saves. Ooo-rah! Good deal.

    My saves also don't go back to a point prior to initiating the sewer missing children quest. That one still has me stymied. Has anyone actually reported completion of this quest yet? Don't tell me how, just want to know if it's do-able. I'll keep picking at it like a scab until I get it if so. I'm thinking I am going to have to start another game and reinitiate the quest to get this one to work as it was modified by the patch with my saves in a started but unfinished state for this quest.

    Note to Gaear: I've turned my sound on for this quest. It has yet to make any measurable difference in solving this quest that I can tell. I'm pretty sure I've interacted properly with the 3 mentioned npcs given by the Captain (and a 4th un-mentioned one) now.

    Probably going to load my save closest to Smyth 'mentioning' WotGS and test the Wakefield/NW patrol fix. Then call this playthrough as done and start over in a new game.

    **Edit: WotGS completed normally after downloading 7.4.1 patch, Wakefield appeared, WotGS completed in logbook by conversation with Ariakas in Nevet's house, first attempt. Still only 5 nw patrol members, but it worked.
     
    Last edited: Sep 25, 2012
  12. SCO

    SCO Member

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    Does this version allow me to steal the diary from lareth's dresser if i'm invisible?

    Also, btw, could anyone talented enough do a alternate map of the temple that places Zuggtmoy body on the throne if you chose the fight option with her? These small inconsistencies hurt.

    And by the way, in the version i was playing (7.0) the hag was still in the temple after geting the jewels from the throne to banish Zuggy. I thought this was fixed.
     
    Last edited: Sep 25, 2012
  13. Abascar

    Abascar Member

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    I've completed the missing children (sewer) quest (gathered the information). However, when I (finally) found the children they readily joined my party, but upon leaving the sewer would mysteriously disappear. If you are really, really, stuck, Prince Zook's uncle can give you a few hints.
     
  14. zebrainz

    zebrainz Yumm

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    Thanks Abascar. I've talked to the uncle already and tried to follow his advice on how to treat the 3 sewer entities (even wrote it down word for word this time). I think I just need to restart this one from scratch and see how it progresses.

    edit - completed sewer quest after downloading 7.4.1 patch. Not certain I put the right man in jail though. In the save I was using the PC party face didn't have Circlet of Discern Lies and that particular party had yet to find the crazy man even though the City Hall Captain's dialog said that I had on quest completion. Weird. I will try to get his one right on my next playthrough. Never saw children either, but City Hall Captain (can never remember the different Cap'n's A names) had dialog to cover that. *Shrugs Shoulders*
     
    Last edited: Sep 25, 2012
  15. Gaear

    Gaear Bastard Maestro Administrator

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    I can assure you guys that the sewers job is not undoable. It might be a little unusual in that you're not really used to problem solving in ToEE, but it is something that can be figured out with some persistence and deductive reasoning. (That's not to say there aren't bugs however. It's a fairly complex routine so there probably are.)

    Some basic tips/info:

    • The quest can be done without the circlet, provided you have other sufficient communication skills. The only reason the circlet exists is because the damn spell of the same function doesn't work in ToEE, of course. The circlet is only one way, albeit the easiest.
    • The quest can be done without getting answers from Uncle O, provided you pay attention to what people tell you, like any good investigator. Basically everyone tells you what their weaknesses are, without saying it outright.
    • You will also need to actually look for all involved parties. The sewers are big. People can and will hide from you and/or not cooperate with you. That was the idea. This was intended to be more of an interactive puzzle/haunted house ride than simply another Fedex quest, which is why all the need to figure things out. Fedex sucks, as we well know.
    • Lastly, nothing is certain, about anything - culprits, locations, statements, guilt, etc. Don't assume anything about anything. Watch your rep notifications to know for sure when you've got something to go on.

    @zebrains, the audio doesn't provide any answers, it just supplies atmosphere.

    @Abascar, did you ask Abiram about the kids after?

    ~

    Also please maintain spoiler vigilance here for the usual reasons, thanks.
     
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