New Player Basic Questions

Discussion in 'The Temple of Elemental Evil' started by licker, Jul 25, 2011.

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  1. Ausdoerrt

    Ausdoerrt Veteran Member

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    All MW weps just give +1 to attack roll, not damage roll. Magic weps give bonuses to both attack and damage.

    Normal.
     
    Ausdoerrt, Jul 27, 2011
    #16
  2. Gaear

    Gaear Bastard Maestro Administrator

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    I don't know why that would be - for me it comes up pretty much instantly. Also you shouldn't really have a lot of 'random' crashes. Have you done any consoling?
     
    Gaear, Jul 27, 2011
    #17
  3. licker

    licker Member

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    Yes and no. Or, using the speedup command didn't change anything from the behavior I had before.

    Could it be an issue with the resolution one plays at? I'm using a 'nonstandard' res (1680/1050). Probably not.

    And well 'random' is a poor word choice, I doubt they are random. They seem to occur either when I spam a hot key (like for read magic), or when I open the spell panel in inventory. Is there a log or dump file I should look for, or would no one care :)

    And (boy I'm full of issues this morning) my mouse is always hyper sensitive in game. I didn't see a setting in options to change mouse sensitivity though, is there some other way to 'slow' it down a bit? When I'm kinda on cruise control at the end of a combat I occasionally will misclick on an unconscious body rather than the target, and this occasionally gives opportunity attacks away for no good reason :)
     
    licker, Jul 27, 2011
    #18
  4. Gaear

    Gaear Bastard Maestro Administrator

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    I doubt the resolution affects it - I use 1680 x 1050 as well.

    It's odd that your mouse is too sensitive, as traditionally the complaint with ToEE is that mouse sensitivity is dull/slow. I do think there is a mouse setting on the options menu though.

    The only basic things I can recommend for as trouble-free play as possible are:

    - don't use the console.
    - make sure that when you activate a module, it is completely activated before you do anything else (TFE-X will tell you).
    - don't goof around with anything else while a module is being activated (don't browse the internet, play games, run other apps, etc.).
    - don't save during battles (and then reload from those saves, more importantly).
    - don't self-mod unless you know what you're doing.

    Players with operating systems from XP to 7 have all reported widespread success with ToEE, so when people do have issues, it's got to be due to something specific to them - either they've done this or that wacky thing, or there's some setting on their system that doesn't agree with ToEE, or their anti-virus interferes, etc.
     
    Gaear, Jul 27, 2011
    #19
  5. licker

    licker Member

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    All sound advice Gaear.

    Would you suggest running the game with nothing else open? I do usually have firefox and sometimes X-chat open while I play. Well I play ToEE full screen, so these things are not being 'used' while I play, though they do their own thing.

    Perhaps my issues have arisen after I do some alt-tabing, though I'm not sure. Is alt-tabbing a bad idea for ToEE generally?

    The slow menu bit has been there since the first time I fired up the game though.
     
    licker, Jul 27, 2011
    #20
  6. Gaear

    Gaear Bastard Maestro Administrator

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    I guess ToEE can be a resource hog (although those estimates were I think initially made back when it was released - its hard to imagine modern systems having trouble running it, but as we know the issues are often not resource-related. Think DOS emulators, etc.). Personally I don't run other stuff while ToEE is running, aside from background apps that always run, but I frequently have multiple apps open with no issues whatsoever. So bottom line is that I don't think that kind of management should be necessary. Then again, maybe some apps run processes that are in conflict with ToEE ... no idea, really.

    I wouldn't think ALT-TAB would hurt anything either, but I don't really know because it doesn't work for me anyway. (I always get stuck in some limbo where ToEE stays on the monitor but Windows becomes active and I have no mouse and can't click on anything.)

    I really don't know why ToEE would need a lot of time to 'think' about bringing up the main menu. Regular game play is a lot more intensive than that, I'm pretty sure. But hey, computers and software are goofy in general. It probably does that in your case because the guy who preinstalled java on your system at the factory forgot to install Adobe Acrobat first, and everybody knows that java will search for a function that installs with Acrobat and become idle if it can't find it, and the menu process in ToEE happens to have a similar registry string, blah-blah-blah.
     
    Gaear, Jul 27, 2011
    #21
  7. licker

    licker Member

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    So to get clarification on an earlier statement you made...

    When you say

    - don't use the console.
    Is there another way to make the speedup a default setting?

    - make sure that when you activate a module, it is completely activated before you do anything else (TFE-X will tell you).
    This is through the front end utility right? So while it's activating the 6.1 NC (for example) I just sit and wait (which is what I did I'm 99% sure)

    - don't goof around with anything else while a module is being activated (don't browse the internet, play games, run other apps, etc.).
    Again, this is the 1st time you activate it from the console, not an issue just launching the game?

    - don't save during battles (and then reload from those saves, more importantly).
    I have saved during battles, when I forget to save before leaving town/safe area, I don't think I've loaded those saves much though.

    - don't self-mod unless you know what you're doing.
    Lol... no worries there :)


    Anyway, for sake of argument, let me decide that I want a fresh install of everything. Is there an order to do the uninstall? Will the characters/saved games survive or do I need to back something up? When I reinstall I should have nothing else running (other than the usual windows crap)?

    Thanks
     
    licker, Jul 27, 2011
    #22
  8. Gaear

    Gaear Bastard Maestro Administrator

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    No. I say that about the console because it's a slippery slope. Players usually forget what they've done with and therefore can't account for everything. In that sense it's bad practice. But if you can be disciplined, then go ahead and use the console.

    Yes.

    From TFE-X. Otherwise, yes.

    If something goes wrong in the save routine (much more likely during combat for whatever reason), then all it takes to screw you over permanently is one save and one reload that you then go on to re-use with subsequent saves, etc.

    Just uninstall via add/remove programs, then go to the ToEE root directory and delete it and all its contents if it's still there. Save your Co8 downloads somewhere else if you don't want to re-download them.

    If you go to all that trouble, don't reuse characters and saves, because you might just be re-importing all your old problems.

    Pretty much, but this is standard operating procedure, right?
     
    Gaear, Jul 27, 2011
    #23
  9. licker

    licker Member

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    Standard operating procedure...

    I wish I were so disciplined :)

    Usually there's no problems, but I guess I do need to be cognizant of what I might encounter if I'm not so careful.

    As to the console and speedup.

    Do I have to do that each time I launch ToEE? I'm thinking yes, but I only just tried it yesterday so i haven't had the opportunity to explore it myself.
     
    licker, Jul 28, 2011
    #24
  10. Gaear

    Gaear Bastard Maestro Administrator

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    I think so, yes.
     
    Gaear, Jul 28, 2011
    #25
  11. Ausdoerrt

    Ausdoerrt Veteran Member

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    I think I've run the game on 4 different computers with all the various mod versions, and I'm positive at least 3 of those had a 2-3 second wait before the main menu shows. No idea why, but never came across as a problem.
     
    Ausdoerrt, Jul 28, 2011
    #26
  12. licker

    licker Member

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    Well my wait is a bit longer. Not a 'problem' exactly, but a tad annoying.

    So last question on the install and what not (I hope).

    How do I tell if my version is prepatched or if the patches have been correctly applied? I have the GoG version, and when I tried the patches I got some error, so no idea if that means they are already applied or just I need to run them from the ToEE directory or something else.

    Thanks
     
    licker, Jul 28, 2011
    #27
  13. Gaear

    Gaear Bastard Maestro Administrator

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    Gaear, Jul 28, 2011
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  14. licker

    licker Member

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    Ok thanks, that's what I thought.

    I'd say my wait for the menu is around 10s, I can time it, but it's not really that critical.

    It is noticeable, I guess that's my observation, but if it's 'normal' then I'm fine with it. The annoying thing really is that some windows (like the map) don't close with 'esc' so if I hit 'esc' to close the map, I get to wait for the menu to come up.

    Not so terrible as it kinda prompts me to save, but a bit annoying that I forgot to hit 'm' to close it.
     
    licker, Jul 28, 2011
    #29
  15. licker

    licker Member

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    MOAR Questions :)

    So I've finished off the Moathouse, and am happily slapping some orcs around up in Hickory, and now that my party is getting higher levels (6) I find my understanding of somethings starting to wane.

    My rogue/sorc is 3/3, and for now I'm just keeping the levels balanced. The idea was to use the buff spells to keep the combat rolling (thus magic weapon, enlarge person, and magic armor now) and spew some daze/flare if necessary.

    6th level monk is pretty straightforward, though what feats should i really be looking at?

    6th level Cleric (Heal/Sun) is again, pretty straightforeward, though again, buffs?\

    6th level Paladin is still straightforward, though again, feats? Already Exotic-bastartd sword, and focus bastard sword, and now power attack--> cleave....

    6th level Wiz (Evo focus) also seems pretty straightforward, the Craft feats eat up some of the spots, but has both penetration feats and focus in evo as well.

    So, buffs...

    I read the discriptions, and use them, but do they stack well? Magic Weapon only gives the +1 damage to master worked weapons. What about enchanted weapons, stack? Bless and Prayer? Stack? Mage armor, kinda pointless for the rogue actually since it overrides the normal armor. Cantrips like Guidance and Virture, and the Pali divine favor... all worth the time? Or just don't give you anything.

    Extra attacks come when? My Pali seems to have 2 now, the Monk with fury has 2 and eventually 3 (forget the level) what about the rogue? The manual doesn't really seem to spell this out, or I just missed it.

    I've crafted some armors and weapons to +2, I can craft them further later right? I haven't crafted any wonderous items because I really don't know what I get from them, but I don't need any 'base' item to craft them right?

    More later probably, but I'm having a good time still!

    Oh, looting... is it really worth the effort to grab 'everything'? I pretty much just take better armors, and some weapons.
     
    licker, Jul 30, 2011
    #30
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