Paladin's Cove beta release, and feedback

I've had a few rooms in the first level of the stronghold that are instant game closures when i open the door.

I will try and note which ones tonight - assuming that they are repeatable in the crashes.

 

Yes, that helped!
It narrowed the search down to 6 possible containers.
It was a fire trap in the rock container. (proto 1353)
I was able to repeat the crash multiple times, which means I can fix it.
I'm sure it's something in my garbage scripting.
It's probably the fancy particle effects I tried to add, so it might be a one line fix.
I'll get to it soon, and post a fix to the script file that holds all the traps.
Thanks!

 

When I open this door and battle starts, then the game crashes/closes immediately.





quite repeatable - always when battle starts

 

Here is the fix for the crash when you open a trapped rock container.
The fix is just one file, called "traps.tab".
Close the game completely, then copy the new file into the folder "/data/rules".

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1abXLO2reQXp1aZtFkZ3eS7ccMJyNJW5n/view?usp=sharing

The short version is, that a certain particle-effect ('Trap-Fire') would not work on a container that's a rock.
It only works on real chests, although is does work OK on barrels, and the water-well. [shrug]

 

I've never had a problem with that area. All I can say is there IS a wandering monster up there, and the game randomly picks one of 5 different creatures to spawn there. There may be something in it's scripting that's causing problems when combat starts. That sounds like the problem because you say that combat does start for a short time before the crash.

For now, there is an entrance to that hall from the other side, on the west (you are entering from the east). Once you get to the west side, check if it crashes when you enter from the western door. If it does, you can just skip that hall for now until I figure out what's happening. It's just a connecting hall with one creature.

It would be a lot easier to find the problem if I had a saved game file from right before that room.

EDIT: Checked all 5 possible creatures that can spawn there, and none of them crash for me. So I'll move on from there tomorrow.

 

I'll work on getting you a saved game.

It has been many years since I've done that, so i need to look for my notes on exactly the best way to that.

In that same saved game, you can also walk down that hallway to this door and once open and battle begins, then it will also immediately crash within the first round.

 

There seems to be a deep problem specific to your game, if you're crashing that much. Getting the saved game is the only way I can find it. The problem is not with the doors themselves, but probably with the scripting when the enemy creatures first enter combat.

To post a saved game:

Spoiler

1. Go to the folder called "modules\ToEE\Save".

2. Find the 6 files related to the saved game you want to post.

For example, if your saved game is called "My Save where it crashes",
then the files will look something like this:

slot0119.co8
slot0119.tfaf
slot0119.tfai
slot0119My Save where it crashes.gsi
slot0119l.jpg
slot0119s.jpg

The slot number in your files will be different than "0119".
It will be a number between "0001" and "9999".​

3. Upload them to this thread. You can compress them into a zipped folder, which is easier for both of us. Or you can just post all 6 separately if you want.

 

Yes, I don't think it is the doors.

For example, I can open that first door i mentioned, and if the spawned creature is far enough away, then we can stand there at the open door until the creature walks close enough to see us and then the battle starts and then it crashes shortly thereafter.

So it seems to be battle related.

here's the requested save.

 

Well, it seems the source of the problem is that your recruit (Kaleela the bard) is back at the front entrance, about 500 feet away from the rest of the group. Once she is near to the group, there are no more crashes. (I replicated both crashes that you were having at those two doors, and I crashed also.)

I'm assuming you are trying to keep her at a safe distance?

I'm pretty sure my scripting is failing because of that extreme distance. You should be permitted to do that kind of thing without the game crashing on you. But you can't right now. So I'll look in to why the separation is causing the crash. I'll get a real fix in for it if I can.

Until then, if you keep her a hundred feet or so from the group and around the corner, she should still stay safe, and the game won't crash. I tested with her at about 150 feet away at both doors you had the crash at, and it didn't crash.

Thanks for breaking my mod in peculiar ways. Keep it up!

 

I was able to find the exact problem.

There was a wrongly entered pathnode value, down by the main entrance where Kaleela was hanging out. If you'll notice, your saved game crashes right when HER turn comes up in the initiative queue. The game was trying to find her, but the pathnode was not connecting to her.

Anyway, the fix is in one file, called "pathnode.pnd".
File is here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ebaYujVWELn917o5-RYvnjUVD-FedbFQ/view?usp=sharing
Copy it in the folder "modules\ToEE\maps\B1_02_Level_1"
I recommend backing up the original "pathnode.pnd" in that folder and saving it somewhere beforehand.

Your saved game should work after that.

--- WARNING ---
If you decide to manually copy this file, make certain you put it in the correct maps folder, shown above.
There are many folders that all look very similar and it's easy to mix them up.
If you put it into the wrong folder, you'll have pathnodes from one map on another map, which will be a mess.
--- WARNING ---

 

Yes, now that I think about it, i did notice that but I didn't suspect that as a clue to the issue - especially since I've had numerous battles on that map without issue. I must have moved her slightly at some point between those previous battles and now.

But I have loaded your new file and the game still crashes at her turn.

 

probably not for everyone - i am "cheating" a little bit

Spoiler

We are tasked to take Kaleela with us and keep her safe.

So i am doing that by leaving her at the very entrance to the map when we first enter the stronghold as my actual party members are walking around the map to do the real work.

So she will be safe from all battles, but she is quite far away from the party.

And it seems that I stumbled upon a weakness in the pathnode file

So I'd imagine that if I move her position, then maybe the path stuff will be OK because previously battles were working, but I think I moved her slightly at some point. Probably after a rest period where rest was interrupted so she had a small battle with tiny bugs.

So unless you park her like I am doing, and you have her in the same spot that I do, then you probably don't need this file.

See? I am cheating, a little bit, to keep her safe.

 

As another test: I moved her, but kept her in the same general area and the game still crashed.

I was planning to do my trick for all levels of the stronghold.

But for the sake of progression, i will move her to be near the party and I'd imagine that this will bypass the issue.

If you do want to attempt to fix the file, please let me know and I can use an updated file and use that saved game as a test.

just let me know.

 

It should be fine, except for extreme cases. But downloading it and replacing the old one should only take a minute if you have the time.