Re: Status Report hi all i am slightly new here and i was wondering about "Keep on the Borderlands" - what the latest status is? I have never read the module itself but i have seen it before (in ages past, on store shelves, but never bought it back then). However I MAY (very slight chance) have a copy of it in PDF form "somewhere in my datacenter", lol... I am wondering what the latest status is because i am quite excited! and there has been no report since EARLY december of last year and here we are almost at the end of January 2007 (and I think it was ShiningTed who mentioned a possible DEMO release sometime in January (this month???) yes yes I know i might sound like i am bugging people but i really am not. I am mostly curious because all the work I have seen so far (the scant readings I have done on this particular huge thread) seems quite amazing! and can anyone possibly make a list of what ELSE needs YET to be done? I have never modded a game before, and I am not exactly volunteering, because I am unsure of committment nor any of my skills that might be useful .... but I am just curious to see what is going on. I think if i can offer ANYTHING, it might at least be in the form of ideas (but i dont know how useful that might be because I have never read nor even PLAYED said module KOTB ever before). Hmmm ... this is so exciting I just can't wait! on a side note: I have been playing TOEE with CO8 Expansion Module 5.0 for almost a month now and I have only spotted a small amount of "Extras" in it so I guess I must not be too observant - I have read some of the "release notes" on CO8's 5.0 mod and I am wondering just what were the highlights about it? It seemed very much that the ORIGINAL TOEE CRPG (without any mods) from Atari, did and does seem "hastily released" ... like there was much more than only the Brothel stuff left out or missing / disabled. I always wanted to purchase the original TOEE module but back at the time I was not into DM'ing at all. Is there anyone that can answer my few questions? I always wanted a CRPG game that was super-huge in explorability, and I really hope that KOTB actually might EXCEED the scope and/or depth and scale, that TOEE had when it was first released. Thus far, the only 2 TSR/WOTC-style CRPG games that I have ever seen that have met this mark are IceWind Dale 2, and MAYBE Baldur's Gate 1. A game that can meet the depth and scale (size, etc...) of IceWind Dale 2 would VERY MUCH IMPRESS ME!! How would CO8's 5.0 mod of TOEE, and also, your latest KOTB mod, compare in size with those 2 games? I am very curious to know!!!! PS: that link for ShiningTed's site ( http://members.optusnet.com.au/~shiningted/gallery.html ) - has been invalid for a long while now - I have started to read his BLOG however (the RPG Rant one) - are there any pages on his blog site now, that ECHO/COPY/REPOST the content which he once had posted on that now-dead link?
Re: Status Report Well... Firstly, no, there is no update of the 'KotB website' - its just no a priority atm. I do want KotB to have its own website one day, since I have never seen a serious mod / TC that didn't have its own website, but it would be something associated with Co8 obviously and something to decide after discussions with Co8s owners. Nothing I feel the need to worry about atm... ...because I am indeed working flat out to get the demo done. The demo is advancing nicely, some initial testing is already underway. We are still some weeks off a beta version, but even now new folks are getting involved and every new hand that helps brings victory one step closer. (And makes my life easier ) Re the size of KotB: well, it will be easy to respawn, because that sort of stuff is being built into the initial planning (respawning situations, NPCs who go up levels as time goes on etc). But other than later respawning, it will not be a huge endeavour, certainly not BG1 size or anything. Not even as big as ToEE. The Caves of Chaos dungeon, square by square, is less than twice the size of the the Moathouse dungeon from Village of Hommlet although there will be far more wilderness adventures in KotB than ToEE. But it is depth of gameplay we are going for, not size. Co8 5.0.0 adds some new areas (Verbobonc and Hickory Branch), a respawn of the moathouse and subsequent encounter, and some new encounters in the early game - a new 'ending' to the moathouse experience, a nest of Orcs to rumble, some new quests, and lots of minor stuff like extra Balors. So yeah, there is a fair bit of new content in there.
Re: Status Report ok i understand that. I figured that wouldn't be a priority right away anyways lol so whatever happened with your old optimus.au or whatever site you used to have? did all that content get moved over to your "RPG Rant" blog site? well i was mostly just wondering sorta what percentage is done ... i mean i know i ain't "anyone important" per se, but i guess i was just wondering how far along things have gone as far as basically transforming all the elements of the original module's gameplay into digitized form for the mod - that IS what you guys are all doing, right? translating the original KOTB module details into digital playable form by making this mod? That's how I understand how it goes ... if i am not mistaken. I never looked at the original KOTB module but I always DID know and understand something about it: that alot of the encounters happen "in the wild" (outside) and I was never a big fan of outside stuff, I guess. I always loved skulking around in corridors and castles, keeps and dungeons and such, I guess I was always more of a "dungeon favoring" kind of player whenever engaged in "real-life" tabletop D20 play. Honestly I don't think I (or any of my former cohorts in those gatherings) ever really had much of any real substantial or length of adventures in an outside setting. So maybe this whole thing might open my eyes up somewhat. I don't know. From the screenshots I have seen it looks like there are some interesting locations inside whatever buildings that are there, but as for the wilderness aspect of KOTB I have only seen that 1 cave exterior with the lizards, lol It all looks fine to me, I just wondered what this module will be like. can anyone post a possible "run-down" of the basic premise or storyline, of what KOTB is about? or is that going to just be part of the surprise (except for people who have actually read the real module from long ago?) I mean, when you buy the TOEE game, unless you ever played the original module in a table-top way, you never really get to hear the storyline about it till you actually open the module itself as a DM or just reading it out of interest. So I really don't know "what KOTB is really about" except some "Keep" on some Borderlands, wherever that is (or however important it is, I have no idea) - and add to that my whole unfamiliarity with the world of Greyhawk, and I draw a TOTAL BLANK about what this project is going to result with hehehe So I guess I am in for a total shock (which I suppose is only supposed to be the whole purpose of plundering a new module area just like in tabletop games, to begin with, anyways). why does the moathouse re-spawn? I mean, I already ran through there once already and killed everything in there. what could possibly come back? does someone else re-enter the place after I've decimated it's former inhabitants and just begin a huge re-stocking summoning-fest of new baddies to deal with, or what? I read about the re-spawning of the moathouse before and i never understood WHY that was implemented since once you go through, the only things that ever did truly re-spawn (in the stock TOEE game) were the dire rats in that big double-door main room there. And that actually makes sense. So what kind of re-spawns are we talking about here, and would they even make sense? I mean, is any/all of this stuff covered in the original module that was released by TSR so many years ago? Or is CO8 actually putting NEW content / quests / gameplay material into all of their mods just to make what they think would make TOEE a better game? Are they just "filling up what was originally in the module" or are they adding new stuff into their TOEE mod that was never in the original TSR module, in the first place? I am just wondering how you guys are all going about this (methodology and policies, ideology, and "mission statement" sorta stuff, really). Right now I am stuck with the "assassin initiate" quest given by the traders in Hommlet - how do i complete that darn thing? Oh there is also a BUG in that quest too, the description of the quest DISAPPEARS from the logbook after a while of gameplay. Of course when the quest is first mentioned / accepted, it shows up just fine. But having taken-on a few more quests after that (after more gameplay), the name and description of the Assassin Initiate quest given by Gremag and Rannos (the traders) IS NOT SHOWING UP in the Quest Log - is that a known bug or why does that happen? I am also clueless about what to do or how to go about getting TO Verbobonc. And I have never heard of "Hickory Branch" - what is that? I like the extra quests that were put in, but Liv's "Desperate Housewives" quest seems near impossible to complete?!? I mean, 2-3 of those people are DEAD or unreachable, aren't they? WTF?!? :anger: :xeyes: Anyways, the "Cure for Amii" (swamp lotus) quest had me VERY stumped also, until I read some of the threads in here. I found the "random random encounter" ZIP file in here and I might try that. So that's good (I wish Atari or CO8 (whoever invented that quest) would have made it a lil but more "discernable" as to how to find that damn thing (I presumed it was near the moathouse swamp and apparently I was right ... just WTF is it? And the damn TAB key technique has yet to work for me! lol And I thought that the Nest of Orc's quest was really cool - I wish there was more stuff like that in the game. I love the mini-rumbles, especially when it is intrinsic to the main point of the game's overall point or objective(s) (even tho that particular quest didn't seem all that important concerning the completion of the Main Quest from the Opening Vignette perspective, anyways). On another note, I did NOT like the small size of the house in the DH quest where I met Frankie the Balor just to borrow some sugar. Hell, doing the quest ITSELF was just fine, if not a bit BIZARRE lol But after the quest was done, hell, I wanted to KILL THAT MOFO but upon going back there, that damn small house size makes it near impossible to allow 1/2 if even MOST of my characters to position themselves around him to fight him at all. It seems the only way I can really fight that Balor is to lob constant spells on him or ranged attacks of some kind ???? I mean, there is hardly any room to maneuver around in that TINY TINY lil house! grrrrrrrr I wish Liv had made it a much bigger sized house instead of that teeny tiny thing :rant: On a side note: I did find a module in PDF form on the net today, named "RETURN to the Temple of Elemental Evil" - but i have not looked at it yet. Has the CO8 mod team considered adding the elements of that module into their further 5.0.x releases?
Re: Status Report You know, it's always hard to estimate things like that. Personally I don't like questions like "When is <X> going to get released?" since it's always hard to estimate when exactly you'll finish a massive, huge project since real life can take over at any time and you'll be compelled to put the project on hold for some time; I can say that Ted and the KotB team has done a superb job so far, transforming the original game into a whole new module, but the engine itself is hard to deal with and there are many questions to be answered and problems to be solved before the project is finished. The project, like Ted said, is progressing very nicely, and if things work out nicely for everyone in the team, you might get a chance to play a demo within a few months (but if the demo doesn't get released within a few months, don't blame me for the fact that I said it might be released - as I said, it'll be done when it's done. ) Remember: KotB, as well as the ToEE modding scene in general, is a non-profit project, a hobby. Therefore, we don't have a set deadline to match here, we work on it whenever we feel like we want to. Being in the tool development department and providing tool support for the KotB team since the very beginning of the project, I can say that personally I'm trying to do my best for the KotB project to progress as quickly as it can. I'm sure everyone else in the team does the same. So, my advice for you is: be patient and stay tuned for the impressive things to come. Even if they don't come out as soon as you'd like them to. Basically, the Co8 mod aims to make the game more varied and interesting, sometimes filling the things that were in the original module and were left out by the ToEE designers, and sometimes just bringing in some whole new content that wasn't in the original ToEE. Either way, remember that a module is not only what you see on the paper, but it's also what the DM (Dungeon Master) brings into play, even if it was not in the module. We try to stay true to the atmosphere of ToEE but we don't limit ourselves to the module book here. Actually, some of the mods included in the Co8 mod are totally different from the ToEE module, e.g. the Desperate Housewives, but it's optional and it's up to you whether to play it or not. Personally I can say that I enjoyed the experience very much. I actually told the team to make a clue somewhere in the module documentation as to how to get to the Hickory Branch and Verbobonc, but as far as I can remember, everyone blamed me for trying to spoil the game experience in this way and the idea was rejected. Well, that's why I'm NOT going to tell you how to get there (yeah, I'm bad today ), so you're on your own, but I'll give you a little hint: when you get tired of trying to do this yourself, do a search on the forums, the answer is out there somewhere. Other questions are better left to someone else. - Agetian
Whats with the PM eh? You have offended me. I'm not going to reply to your posts just cos you asked me to, I'll reply as whim takes me. Also your posting style is the kind that I seldom read, far to long and to many questions. You come across as someone who isn't a native english speaker but ,also, in a way that sounds like you should have a pretty good grasp of the english language :shrug: thats my 2c, sorry its not enough in this day and age to cover the cost of calling someone who cares.
Re: Status Report ProphetPX - Please read: http://www.co8.org/forum/showpost.php?p=23542&postcount=1 Though you will find that many here tend to be fairly accomodating (as you can see above), this thread really isn't for general discussion of KotB, and the developers aren't in the habit of discussing development particulars with the general membership. This is also not a forum for discussing ToEE. This thread is provided as a courtesy to the public to inform them of KotB's relative status. Please use it accordingly.
Re: Whats with the PM eh? Aye, I completely agree with what Cujo says. It's not a good idea to PM people and ask them to answer your posts, pal. I answered just because I had no better things to do at the moment (consider yourself lucky ) On a side note, I'll be removing all the posts that are unrelated to the topic of the discussion in some time. That is, if someone doesn't kill them before I do. - Agetian
I decided not to kill all the messages altogether but instead separate them from the Status Report thread and move them to a separate thread. If anyone objects to the existence of this separate thread, feel free to delete at will, I don't specifically care. - Agetian
wow i really had no idea that people could be so mean .... what did i do so wrong? damn i am sorry ... for what it's worth ... ?!?!?
Well basically, you ran your mouth without thinking. Nothing worse than that, it just went on for a long while: - you asked us to post the plot of a game we are working to release (thats called a spoiler) - you gave us some bizarrely inconsistent feedback of our mods, much of which is critical (eg "I love the Orcs, put in more fights! But why did you make the moathouse respawn with all those extra fights?") - you asked us to spell out our methodology, future intentions etc despite the fact we are pretty transparent about such things (if only through our disagreements) - you were factually wrong on a number of points - you seem to have really missed the point of Frank: he's certainly not there for combat, and the smallest map in the game was chosen for a reason (that is, to ever-so-slightly enhance the comical aspect) - you posted some critical 'wtf' comments about mods you obviously haven't gotten very far into, regarding issues that have been addressed before on here numerous times (such as where is Clarisse, Mandy and Paida) - you posted a rambling, disjointed amalgam of above-mentioned criticisms, questions and suggestions that ran over well over 100 lines, most of which was about Co8 5.0.x, in the KotB forum. All of which, in a nutshell, means: - you didn't read the rules about posting, - you were excessively critical without being in possession of the facts - you didn't use the search function to check for previous answers to your questions (or you didn't use it enough). In fact, I don't think you looked around much at all: I mean, you don't need to read the thousands of threads on here when you first arrive, but there is one called Desperate Housewives Quest currently in the Temple of Elemental Evil forum that you could have read, thought "o wow it IS doable, well wtf" and done a bit of searching rather than suggesting we stupidly post hopelessly broken mods and un-doable quests. Hence, our less than impressed response. This isn't a "piss off and never darken our door again" post, just a request that you think before you type, and abide by the established forum etiquette.
wow!! Well, it seems it has been a whole year since i first posted that, and now i am ashamed i even did. All of your comments were very true and correct and i really looked like the unaware loser lol oh well ... I guess by now the time has come and gone and I hope most have forgotten (if not forgiven me for) what I did. I am gravely sorry and I will try my hardest to not let it happen again. I am just about to try out the new (and patched 1.03) KoTB demo and I am EXCITED !!! woo hooo! kinda off-topic: I wonder if anyone has ever thought of making a mod for Ravenloft ? I loved that module, back in the day I do have one question though: I read the KoTB Demo's "release" thread, and the attachment at the bottom for the 1.03.1 patch is gone (i cannot download it anymore). It was posted this past March so I am assuming it was taken off as obsolete anymor in light of any new work you all have done. Do I really still need it anymore? I was hoping to install that too, in order to get the most out of my first-time gameplay of the Demo Also, if anyone ever noticed, I made a reference to you guys' work on the KoTB mod, on the Wikiipedia page about KoTB, here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Keep_on_the_Borderlands It would probably be better if one of you experts actually revised anything I wrote in that entry (my only contributions to that page were mainly on the last 2 items on it, referring to the KoTB mod of ToEE, and the KoTB mod for Neverwinter Nights 2) since I am sure I probably did it all wrong. I was (am) just trying to be helpful and "spread the word". Forgive me if I wrote anything inappropriately. I am just excited and I hope that was the only thing that ever showed in any / all of my postings on here
ProphetPX, I just downloaded the 1.0.3.1 zip file at the bottom of the "Keep on the Borderlands Demo Released!" thread mere minutes ago, so it does work. If you can't download it, I don't know why...
Heh. Well, welcome back, don't worry about the past (I know I'd forgotten about this thread) and thanks for the link. Its about time Wikipedia started talking us up. Regarding 1.0.3.1, the link is at the bottom of the thread (post 4). Bad placement, I admit, but that was only ever meant to be a temporary thing that is taking longer than I expected since I moved house and have to get my modding PC set up again and get a new ISP.
