Gothic 2 annoyances
Darin Johnson
replaying Gothic 1, and I'm finding a few annoyances.
First, there is just way too much vegetation. I can't see much, and
trying to locate stuff on the ground is slow and tedious. I was even
standing on a sword and didn't notice it, much less the important
plants that were hidden under ferns. In Gothic 1 the items were a bit
brighter than the normal objects, but here they seem dark, almost
black, which gets lost in shadows. Is there any way to just spray
agent orange over everything? Turning down texture and model detail
to the minimum just made it worse.
Second, running seems jerky. Not from slow frame rate I think, but it
seems like the hero is running with a limp and head bob. It could be
slight pauses while the cpu loads distant areas. In any case, it's
the first time I've gotten a bit nauseous from a game in years.
Finally, I think I hit a bug, and I'm debating whether to start over
or tough it out. The Canthor merchant has bad mouthed me, even though
I have not spoken with him in the city. I'm practically certain I
reloaded the game after he talked to me, since I didn't want to get
involved with his side quest before looking around town. Yet now I
can't talk to half the merchants in town, even some that I need to
talk to for quests, and have no money to fix the situation.
--
Darin Johnson
"Floyd here now!"
GSV Three Minds in a Can
Johnson <darin_@_usa_._net> said
<snip>
>Finally, I think I hit a bug, and I'm debating whether to start over
>or tough it out. The Canthor merchant has bad mouthed me, even though
>I have not spoken with him in the city. I'm practically certain I
>reloaded the game after he talked to me, since I didn't want to get
>involved with his side quest before looking around town. Yet now I
>can't talk to half the merchants in town, even some that I need to
>talk to for quests, and have no money to fix the situation.
Yeah, he does that. Last time I played I killed the SOB outside of the
town - stand behind the fence and nail him with ranged weapon (you have
to do that before entering the town for the first time though, IIRC) -
it's quite fun trying to get some armor/weapons/etc. without ever going
into town. 8>.
--
GSV Three Minds in a Can
Outgoing Msgs are Turing Tested,and indistinguishable from human typing.
Darin Johnson
> Yeah, he does that.
You mean, yeah he causes a bug, or yeah if you actually talk to him
you get an annoying quest result? It seems like a bug, since I don't
remember talking to him inside the city, except once after which I
reloaded the game.
Should I sell the items to make money, or will there be better
merchants later on? (no one offers more than 1/4 price)
--
Darin Johnson
Where am I? In the village... What do you want? Information...
Darin Johnson
>
> Never noticed that. I liked the fact that there was some vegetation,
> after the grey blight of the prison. Maybe you should turn up the gamma
> in the game?
Gamma is turned up, which wouldn't help see through opaque vegetation
anyway. Lester claims he can see Xardas' tower, which I find hard to
believe.
--
Darin Johnson
"You used to be big."
"I am big. It's the pictures that got small."
GSV Three Minds in a Can
Johnson <darin_@_usa_._net> said
>GSV Three Minds in a Can <G...@quik.clara.co.uk> writes:
>
>> Yeah, he does that.
>
>You mean, yeah he causes a bug, or yeah if you actually talk to him
>you get an annoying quest result? It seems like a bug, since I don't
>remember talking to him inside the city, except once after which I
>reloaded the game.
I don't remember whether I talked to him or not every time, but if you
don't do his quest he screws things up for you.
>Should I sell the items to make money, or will there be better
>merchants later on? (no one offers more than 1/4 price)
Did you swim S down the coast (need lockpicks and lockpicking skill)?
Swim out to the island with the lizards on, and look in the
undergrowth??
Found the thieves yet?
There are plenty of ways of making the rather small amount of money he
wants .. I killed him (outside the city) because he p1$$ed me off, not
because I can't normally afford the bribe. 8>.
--
GSV Three Minds in a Can
Paul
Not sure what it is, but I'm tired of running around this world....
..
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.
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.
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..
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.
.At the place where I've got to gather a crew and sail away to a Island. All
of a sudden I can't be bothered to play anymore.
I've really enjoyed it for the most part but like I said all of a sudden it
became a chore and not fun...
"GSV Three Minds in a Can" <G...@quik.clara.co.uk> wrote in message
news:dJPwALgUSK$$EA...@from.is.invalid...
GSV Three Minds in a Can
from the wonderful person Paul <cantdoj...@home.maybesometime> said
>I'm in Chapter 5 at the moment and the game is fizzling out fast for me.
>Not sure what it is, but I'm tired of running around this world....
>..
>.
>.
>.
>.
>.
>.
>.
>.
>.
>.
>..
>.
>.
>.
>.
>.At the place where I've got to gather a crew and sail away to a Island. All
>of a sudden I can't be bothered to play anymore.
>I've really enjoyed it for the most part but like I said all of a sudden it
>became a chore and not fun...
Pity, because the bit that's left is fairly quick, and has some of the
few actual puzzles in the game.
Darin Johnson
> There are plenty of ways of making the rather small amount of money he
> wants ..
Well, yes, of course, I assume I'll end the game with more than I'll
ever need. I'm just frustrated is all since I'm only level 3 and
haven't even fully explored the city yet.
Josh Mayfield
> First, there is just way too much vegetation. I can't see much, and
> trying to locate stuff on the ground is slow and tedious. I was even
It helps immensly to increase the view distance; doing so even tips
you off to objects lying in the distance and certainly helps you get
around the landscape better. The default view distance setting is
usually 80, but it goes up to 300. Also, during gameplay you can use
the F1-F4 keys to adjust it on the fly (it doesn't stick between saves
when you do it this way though).
> In Gothic 1 the items were a bit
> brighter than the normal objects, but here they seem dark, almost
> black, which gets lost in shadows. Is there any way to just spray
> agent orange over everything? Turning down texture and model detail
> to the minimum just made it worse.
In the Gothic.ini file (in the Gothic2\System folder) there are the
following lines:
highlightInteractFocus=0
; ... here you can turn on an optional focus highlight during
interactions
I wonder if this would help? (Setting it to 1 that is.) I haven't
tweaked the setting myself, so not sure exactly what it does.
> Second, running seems jerky. Not from slow frame rate I think, but it
> seems like the hero is running with a limp and head bob. It could be
> slight pauses while the cpu loads distant areas. In any case, it's
> the first time I've gotten a bit nauseous from a game in years.
I play the game on my desktop at home and transfer my saved games to
my laptop when I'm travelling. My laptop's just as fast and powerful
CPU/Video wise as my desktop, but has 512MB RAM compared to my
desktop's 256. Running (and especially turning the camera while
running) is MUCH smoother on the laptop... so I'm attributing the
difference to RAM. As a result I just ordered 1GB of RAM for my
desktop... hope it gets here before I finish Chapter 6!
> The Canthor merchant has bad mouthed me, even though
> I have not spoken with him in the city. I'm practically certain I
> reloaded the game after he talked to me, since I didn't want to get
> involved with his side quest before looking around town....
I think there are a few ways you can get on his bad side... I didn't
do any of his favors, nor did I take him up on any offers, and I
avoided him as long as I could, but eventually he did corner me and
threaten me when I turned down his request. As for fixing the
situation you're currently in, cash is the only solution I could come
up with and you'll soon enough have plenty of that.
Also, to be honest, the merchants in that part of Khorinis pretty much
have crap for sale. Zuris is the only one I ever went to more than
once. About the only advantage to staying on good terms with them is
you can pickpocket them later once you know how.
mr bernard langham
> On Wed, 07 Jan 2004 21:35:59 GMT, Darin Johnson <darin_@_usa_._net>
> wrote:
>
>> Hmm, I'm in chapter one of Gothic 2, after segueing directly from
>> replaying Gothic 1, and I'm finding a few annoyances.
>>
>> First, there is just way too much vegetation. I can't see much, and
>> trying to locate stuff on the ground is slow and tedious. I was even
>> standing on a sword and didn't notice it, much less the important
>> plants that were hidden under ferns. In Gothic 1 the items were a
>> bit brighter than the normal objects, but here they seem dark, almost
>> black, which gets lost in shadows. Is there any way to just spray
>> agent orange over everything? Turning down texture and model detail
>> to the minimum just made it worse.
>
> after the grey blight of the prison. Maybe you should turn up the
> gamma in the game?
>
>> it seems like the hero is running with a limp and head bob. It
>> could be slight pauses while the cpu loads distant areas. In any
>> case, it's the first time I've gotten a bit nauseous from a game in
>> years.
>
> distance with one of the function keys. F4 toggles between them, I
> think.
F1 to F4 = progressively further fog plane.
--
>^..^<
Bernard
www.cs.uwa.edu.au/~langhb01
"You may lose me on the east face/You may lose me on the west/I may be
covered over in the night/Bury me deep in your love." RIP Harry, 1965-2003
Darin Johnson
> Running (and especially turning the camera while
> running) is MUCH smoother on the laptop... so I'm attributing the
> difference to RAM.
I noticed that when the jerkiness happens the hard disk is being
accessed, so I'd attribute it to virtual memory also. However,
I've got 512MB already... The problem is only in the city though,
and it isn't too bad, but just bad enough to give me a headache.
> As for fixing the
> situation you're currently in, cash is the only solution I could come
> up with and you'll soon enough have plenty of that.
I managed to get enough cash finally, and immediately got several new
quests from the merchants.
> Also, to be honest, the merchants in that part of Khorinis pretty much
> have crap for sale.
Crap? Now that I have no cash left, I see that they have very good
weapons for sale. At least better than any I've seen, and which would
have been nice to purchase for survival purposes while waiting for
better stuff to appear.
--
Darin Johnson
My shoes are too tight, and I have forgotten how to dance -- Babylon 5
rickmx
> seems like the hero is running with a limp and head bob. It could be
> slight pauses while the cpu loads distant areas. In any case, it's
> the first time I've gotten a bit nauseous from a game in years.
I've got the same problem, even when I replaced my old MX404 with an 9600
pro I'm still on 800x600x32 to get relatively smooth scrolling! Not only
that but I often have to turn the view down to F1 like in cities or on farms
with lots of NCPs.
It make me nauseous too, run run run, flicker, run run, flicker etc. It's
somewhat unpredictable though as at other times I might run 8-12 step before
a 'flick'.
I wish there was a change size of swap file fix or something for this.
Otherwise my mind boggles to imagine what PC hardware you need to run on
1280x1024x32 with all graphics max and get smooth scrolling, and this is
nearly a 2 year old game FFS, the hardware to run it wouldn't have even been
available when it was first released!
Like Paul I'm at the stage (ending chap4) where I feel I'm finishing the
game mainly for the sake of a sense of completion rather than the end being
the reluctant inevitable conclusion to my joyful game playing experience.
Mind you I cant think of ANY game in recent memory where I have actually
felt that! With a good fantasy book for instance I actually slow down and
savour the last few chapters because I know it's going to end and I've
enjoyed it so much I prolong the enjoyment. Golden Fool by Robin Hood
springs to mind (though now I see there is a new book in the series)
Anyway smooth scrolling would have me happily wandering Khorinis to
completion of the game and eagerly awaiting Gothic 3! So I hope help is at
hand!
Rick
Darin Johnson
> I wish there was a change size of swap file fix or something for this.
> Otherwise my mind boggles to imagine what PC hardware you need to run on
> 1280x1024x32 with all graphics max and get smooth scrolling, and this is
> nearly a 2 year old game FFS,
I turned on a display that showed framerate ("G" from Marvin mode I
think), and it showed a constant 25fps for me, even at max graphics
and view distance, but the slight hiccup was still there (only in the
city). So this isn't a graphics problem, but a memory one.
--
Darin Johnson
Laziness is the father of invention
Werner Arend
> Finally, I think I hit a bug, and I'm debating whether to start over
> or tough it out. The Canthor merchant has bad mouthed me, even though
> I have not spoken with him in the city. I'm practically certain I
> reloaded the game after he talked to me, since I didn't want to get
> involved with his side quest before looking around town. Yet now I
> can't talk to half the merchants in town, even some that I need to
> talk to for quests, and have no money to fix the situation.
Here's the definitive solution to all Canthar problems, including your
own gain:
You can't really avoid speaking to him in the city. If you go near him
then he speaks to you, then pushes his task on you. After that, instead
of doing it, report him to Lord Andre. Canthar lands in jail and Sarah
gives you a sabre as a reward.
But don't think it's solved. Canthar will use his contacts to get out
of prison and then you're in trouble all over again. To avoid that,
go into the prison and kill him. You can do that without anyone
noticing.
This way, you have Sarah's reward *and* you don't need to pay his
500 gp.
Werner
Martyn Wheeler
> But don't think it's solved. Canthar will use his contacts to get out
> of prison and then you're in trouble all over again. To avoid that,
> go into the prison and kill him. You can do that without anyone
> noticing.
> This way, you have Sarah's reward *and* you don't need to pay his
> 500 gp.
I ran into a problem with this. I visited Canthar in jail and killed
him. A day or two later Sarah was gone anyway, and none of the
merchants would do business with me. With Canthar dead, of course,
there was no-one to whom to pay the 500 gp... and since at the time my
only saved game was after killing Canthar, I had little choice but to
restart.
--
Martyn
---- Martyn....@sas.com ---- SAS Institute Inc. ---- DoD #293 ----
"A left mouse push fires it. Kinda crazy really. We actually asked for
a great big red button, but they wouldn't give us one."
-- crew member on firing Tomahawks from H.M.S. Splendid
Darin Johnson
> This way, you have Sarah's reward *and* you don't need to pay his
> 500 gp.
I've never even _seen_ a character named Sarah in this game.
--
Darin Johnson
Gravity is a harsh mistress -- The Tick
GSV Three Minds in a Can
Johnson <darin_@_usa_._net> said
>Werner Arend <ne...@arcor.de> writes:
>
>> This way, you have Sarah's reward *and* you don't need to pay his
>> 500 gp.
>
>I've never even _seen_ a character named Sarah in this game.
She has Cantor's pitch in the market while he is in jail (and maybe
anyway, until you do his quest).
--
GSV Three Minds in a Can
Mean_Chlorine
> >> This way, you have Sarah's reward *and* you don't need to pay his
> >> 500 gp.
> >
> >I've never even _seen_ a character named Sarah in this game.
>
> She has Cantor's pitch in the market while he is in jail (and maybe
> anyway, until you do his quest).
A question - is there any way to save Sarah if one don't kill that
b*stard in prison? When he gets out, she gets arrested, if memory
serves, right?
Darin Johnson
> >I've never even _seen_ a character named Sarah in this game.
>
> She has Cantor's pitch in the market while he is in jail (and maybe
> anyway, until you do his quest).
I know how it's supposed to work, but that's not how it actually did
work it for me. The first time I saw Canthor, he was outside the
city, and the second time I saw him he was at the stall and saying
"I told you you'd be sorry." Sort of like a page got torn out.
I suspect that what happened is that he approached me with his quest,
I hit a whole bunch of escapes and spaces to get out of the dialogue
without reading any of it in order to reload the game, then somehow
forgot to actually reload the game.
--
Darin Johnson
I'm not a well adjusted person, but I play one on the net.
Arcana Dragon
@license1.unx.sas.com:
> I ran into a problem with this. I visited Canthar in jail and killed
> him. A day or two later Sarah was gone anyway, and none of the
> merchants would do business with me. With Canthar dead, of course,
> there was no-one to whom to pay the 500 gp... and since at the time my
> only saved game was after killing Canthar, I had little choice but to
> restart.
I never paid the bastard a single dime - there's lots of loot all around
the place anyway.
Has anyone tried killing him BEFORE entering town for the first time?
--
Arcana Dragon -==(UDIC)==-
d++e++N++T+++Om-KAWML!34567'!S'!8!9!u+uC+uF+++uG-u
LB®----uAnC+nH++nP+nI----nPT-nS+++nT----o---oE---xz
http://www.phyton.dk/games.htm
mr bernard langham
> Martyn Wheeler <Martyn....@sas.com> wrote in news:bu3tqp$m50$1
> @license1.unx.sas.com:
Yes. You avoid the cold shoulder from the other merchants, *and* you get a
free town pass.
--
>^..^<
Bernard
www.cs.uwa.edu.au/~langhb01
GSV Three Minds in a Can
wonderful person Arcana Dragon <th...@ress.is.invalid.com> said
>Martyn Wheeler <Martyn....@sas.com> wrote in news:bu3tqp$m50$1
>@license1.unx.sas.com:
>
>> I ran into a problem with this. I visited Canthar in jail and killed
>> him. A day or two later Sarah was gone anyway, and none of the
>> merchants would do business with me. With Canthar dead, of course,
>> there was no-one to whom to pay the 500 gp... and since at the time my
>> only saved game was after killing Canthar, I had little choice but to
>> restart.
>
>I never paid the bastard a single dime - there's lots of loot all around
>the place anyway.
>
>Has anyone tried killing him BEFORE entering town for the first time?
Yes, that is now my preferred strategy, as I said upthread somewhere.
However getting the required armor/arms without entering town is a bit
of a challenge (even getting around town, to the Inn and the mercs, is a
PITA when you have no weapons/armor worth speaking of).
If you stand behind the fence you can nail him with ranged weapons while
he is stuck trying to walk through it straight at you (not very smart
path-finding).
--
GSV Three Minds in a Can