We really need more people actively testing and reproducing bugs and I hope readers can play a more active part. The forums attract a lot of views but relatively little participation except from a handful of regulars. Please pitch in so that things can be resolved faster. We also really need more people trying to patch stuff up. The tools are all there. Get ToEExtract and an editor and you too can help in the bug hunt and help to patch files. You can use this to write dialogue and other things as well. We can cover ground much faster if we make a concerted effort. I declare myself a complete n00b in terms of python skills. Just try to read a little and have a look at some of the stickies around here. They can give some direction to your efforts. Pick a problem/issue in Unfixed problems or a feature request and we can start a livelier discussion with more people. Or you could suggest an idea perhaps. Or give your opinion regarding how to make the dialogue and atmosphere better in the game. If you could write some dialogue lines, that's even better. Throw your ideas out. Who knows some of them may be viable and would bloom into a nice mod. The whole idea here is many hands make work light and more heads are definitely better than a few. If you still think there's a glimmer of hope for this game, wouldn't it be nice to be part of the process in making it better? Heck, just post something even if you don't feel like modding/helping. Anything will do. The forum's just too quiet. Sometimes I don't even know whether maintaining the buglist is worth it anymore... it's not as if Troika has a good chance of fielding a second patch and it seems most people around here couldn't care less either...
Well you managed to atleast drag me out of lurking, Mr Shuge. To tell you the truth I would never have posted anything in here, nor in the Atari forums, if you had not seemed so disheartened. I'll keep this brief lest I start to rave. You guys are doing a great job. And I would have been even happier there had not been any need for you to do it. The single fact that I need to regularly visit your well kept and updated site to get my game to work as it should is grating on my nerves. You guys _should_ have been free to work on mods and addons, not providing _free_ technical support for a developer and a distributor that are responsible for selling me this so glaringly defective game. My guess as to why your forums are so quiet is that people are a bit like me. Don't have the patience or focus to be efficient in hunting down bugs, though I met quite a few playing. And I'm too angry with Troika and Atari to simply let them get off the hook that easily. I'm sure they will not produce a second patch if they can silently point towards a "fanfix". The fact that there seems to be no feedback from any Atari moderator is even more infuriating. But I've been creating mods to games ever since Baldur's Gate appeared in the stores. I know how deeply frustrating it is when you do a lot of work and noone bother to say anything, praise or no. I'll give your list a check and will see if there's anything I can help you out with. I'm sure I can confirm a bug or two. As silly as it might seem but the thing that pisses me off the most is the lack of portraits and PC speech in the game. I would gladly create portraits for this game as I did for the Infinity Engine games if there was some way to add more than a handful. Keep the kettle boiling.
The Circle of Eight team has done stellar work. Without your patches, I would have stopped trying to play through ToEE by now. My biggest complaint has been the lack of interesting NPCs, stories and quests. I’m python-illiterate (I’m an interpreter / trainer in the real world), but if I can figure out how I’ll try to put some new dialogue into the game. I’d like to (a) flesh out the existing joinable NPCs, (b) restore some of the disabled quests and / or add quests, and (c) make the townsfolk more interesting. Any pointers to appropriate threads would be welcome. Also, it would be nice to figure out why my level 6 wizards scribed 5d6 scrolls of fireball, but my level 8 wizards are scribing 8d6 scrolls of fireball… Anyway, a sincere thanks to the Circle of Eight team. Now to figure out this dialogue thing…
Aww, shucks... Thanks for the support. I guess I was a little moody yesterday but I'm really happy now to see something come out of it. <big grin> Yeah, tell me about it... I hope to do some AI changes soon. Looking at bugs the moment you get home from work isn't much fun anymore after you keep at it for any length of time. Don't know how moddable the AI is, if at all, but the relevant files have been identified. Point taken. Just remember we're doing this for ourselves and the other fans. I also fear that Troika may have abandoned us. There has not been a reply from Troika staff lately regarding any subject and not a single one ever regarding a second patch. As for Atari, they didn't really leave us. They never were with us from the very start. NEVER. Thanks for confirming and retesting. I'll get to sorting them out as soon as I can. I look forward to seeing your mods (portraits or otherwise) in ToEE as well. I don't really know much regarding portraits, but I can show you some relevant threads and sites: Troika's Chris Glenn's site (http://www.cglenn.com) Download the instructions for custom portraits: http://www.cglenn.com/tools/ToEE_CustomPortraits.zip A massive thread dedicated to portrait discussion at Atari: http://www.ataricommunity.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=318754 Some custom portraits from fans, including Steelwraith's portrait pack: http://www.sorcerers.net/Games/ToEE/index_editors.htm Download JHunz's Portrait Wizard (also in Co8 patches): http://www.ews.uiuc.edu/~hunsley/files/pwizard.zip I suppose this is one area which was badly compromised in the rush to produce so many animations and graphics. Well at least that's what Troika claimed. As for speech, ummm... not really sure how to go about it... maybe you could import some soundsets from other games. Not sure whether it'd work but it might be worth a shot. Any thoughts from the others? Thanks again for chipping in. It was very much appreciated.
Hi, Oddhat. Thanks for dropping by. It's very reassuring to see a familiar face. First of all to mod dialogue, you need tools. 1)You'll need Zane's ToEExtract (69kb zipped into a WinRAR archive) (http://www.co8.org/files/tools/toeeextract.rar) -Next, unzip all contents for ToEExtract.rar to the Temple of Elemental Evil folder. -You will now see 3 files: ToEExtract.exe, ToEExtract.cpp, ToEExtract.h -Click-drag a ToEE dat file like ToEE4.dat on top of ToEExtract.exe and release to begin extraction (may take a short while) -You will now see an additional folder named TOEE4 (or whatever .dat file you extracted) with all all the subdirectories and files for the extracted .dat file. -For dialogue files these are noted by .dlg extension -Extract ToEE3.dat and access the dlg subdirectory in the new ToEE3 folder for all pre patch dlg files -Extract ToEE4.dat and access the dlg subdirectory in the new ToEE4 folder for changes made to dlg files post patch -You can use Phalzyr's ToEE Proto Editor to browse and edit the .dlg files. If you just want to browse, Notepad should do as well. 2)ToEEditor (seems that the link is dead for Joviex's old Jade editor which seemed to this very well. Anyway the one I use is Temple of Elemental Editor (ToEEditor) Copyright Onarom Enterprises, Inc. Version 1.0.1367.9248 I suppose I can zip and send it as well if needed) -Provides easier/faster viewing (including all dialogue files) without need for extraction but unable to save changes 3)Phalzyr's ToEE Proto Editor (http://www.kasec.org/toee/ProtoEd2-4-1.zip) -Able to save changes to extracted .tab, .mes and .dlg files -Contains a handy help file Joviex's new JADE editor is also a nice alternative. 4)Python software (http://www.activestate.com/Products/Download/Download.plex?id=ActivePython) -To change encounter parameters and dialogue initiation some changes to python files may be needed. Another place to download Python software: http://www.python.org/ I'm using ActiveState ActivePython 2.2.2 currently to do simple edits to .py files and it works Ok so far. There may be better versions for Python but I'm not exactly familiar with software since my early days in school with BASICA and some very basic Pascal, so I guess I jumped at the first site that struck me when Googling for it. Never did manage to pick C++ and my job while being partially science based does not require me to take up programming. After acquiring the tools, you will need some guide. Phalzyr's thread on Dialog/Python commands (mentioned by Bob the Elf) is very helpful in that respect. Changed files and their subdirectories must be placed in the data subdirectory of Temple of Elemental Evil for any changes to take effect. Some forumers to liaise with are Crichton and Ausir whom I believe are already working/have plans to work on some stuff and both have the original PnP module for reference. I honestly have no idea why some scrolls use base caster level for scribing such a scroll and other scrolls use current caster level. Your current observation that the same spell uses base caster level at times and sometimes it does not, further adds to the confusion. I have received and read a number of similar reports. None seem to be able to explain the situation. My guess is 2 people did the coding for spells. Some were done right (base caster level). Some were done wrong (current caster level). To trace, test and identify all would be exceedingly laborious. I'll see whether a fix can be made to .py regarding this but I highly doubt it is feasible though. Thanks again for dropping by, have fun with the tools and feel free to post any queries. EDIT: Oops, forgot the links. EDIT2: Found a working ToEExtract link and put up the address in the appropriate section.
Thanks zhuge. Hope I can contribute something. Downloading the dialog editor and protoed as I type. If you're OK with it, I'll drop you an e-mail to get a working copy of ToEExtract, as the link does seem to be down. As to the scroll situation, this is what I've seen: 1) A level 1-6 Wizard scribing a level 3 Fireball spell will generally create a scroll that casts that spell at level 5. 2) Except if they allready have a level 7+ fireball scroll in their inventory, in which case the scroll in inventory will be duplicated, giving a stack of level 7+ fireball scrolls. 3) The same applies to all Evocation spells I've tested, with the scroll-spell cast at the minimum level at which it could be learned from levels 1-6, then upgrading. 4) Abjuration and Alteration scrolls seem to be following a less predictable pattern. So, I don't know what the heck is going on....which is to be expected.
@Oddhat: ToEExtract.rar has been successfully sent to your mailing address. There's no hurry to contribute. Take your time and familiarize yourself with the files and tools. Most of all, have fun. Again if you have any queries feel free to air them.
The reason I been sparse lately is I got dungeon Siege LOA and been playing / modding with it somewhat lately along with disciples: rise of elves. that and I been waiting hoping to hear another patch is on the way official wise to fix the many bugs that they didn't in first. I've been holding of on starting into TOEE again for that reason, I just can't seem to get back into the game from scratch again knowing I might just want to start over again soon. Well that and work been busier of late, and hlidays coming up and all Keep up the great work
