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Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick ObscuraI have a dilemma (12 posts)(12 posts)
(12 posts)
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Posted May 21, 2011
I have a problem, should I patch the game with the unofficial patch or not? I'm aware that a post similar to this exists but to get answers efficiently I posted a new topic. My problem is that I can't decide to get the unofficial patch or not I have got to a good point and although I have not even talked to the "P. Schuler something and Sons" people in Tarant besides their employee, I can't come to a definite decision. So basically I am asking fellow gamers for advice, for one thing it ruins my interest when I start over usually with the same character I had before which is what I was planning since I liked playing a human gunslinger( with tux until it was broken). Also I have noticed the "use at your own risk" warning from the fellow who made this patch, and everytime I see it I get more and more hesitant, my character is at level six so I don't have much to do over, I am mostly worried about the possible problems I could have if I get his patch. So far I have not noticed anything glitchy besides this one blacksmith's "goodbye" option not appearing one time so I also ask for people to mention bugs they might know of to actually give me more reason for the patch, as well as some of the stuff you get that the developers did not fully enable at release that the patch fixes. For any replies thank-you for your time, as any help could be great, I can be very choosy about problems such as this.
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Posted May 21, 2011
Here's a quote from Archmage Silver over @ Spellhold:
http://www.shsforums.net/topic/33528-arcanum-unofficial-patch-extras/
Unofficial Patch - Summary:

See your downloaded mod archive for the changelog. There are hundreds of bug fixes included at the present time.

This patch fixes almost all of the remaining bugs in Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura. Most crucially, this patch restores the *cut* animations for every NPC/creature in the game, single-handedly disabling the now-present sprite mirroring.

What this means basically, is that the vanilla game now only uses 4 out of 8 animation frames for all of the NPCs and creatures and their actions, but this patch allows the game to use all of the original 8 animation frames, which are still included in the game's files.

There are extra animations for walking, running, prowling, fighting with all weapons, everything. This patch will drastically improve Arcanum's graphical state by restoring over 200MBs of unused animations.

The CD check has been removed as well, no point in it after all these years. The patch should be installed after the official 1.0.7.4 Arcanum patch, and no other mods than Drog Blacktooth's should be used due to conflicts.
I've never had any trouble with it (and I always use it), but that's just me :>.
Post edited May 21, 2011 by senbon
Posted May 21, 2011
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khnk222: I have a problem, should I patch the game with the unofficial patch or not? I'm aware that a post similar to this exists but to get answers efficiently I posted a new topic. My problem is that I can't decide to get the unofficial patch or not I have got to a good point and although I have not even talked to the "P. Schuler something and Sons" people in Tarant besides their employee, I can't come to a definite decision. So basically I am asking fellow gamers for advice, for one thing it ruins my interest when I start over usually with the same character I had before which is what I was planning since I liked playing a human gunslinger( with tux until it was broken). Also I have noticed the "use at your own risk" warning from the fellow who made this patch, and everytime I see it I get more and more hesitant, my character is at level six so I don't have much to do over, I am mostly worried about the possible problems I could have if I get his patch. So far I have not noticed anything glitchy besides this one blacksmith's "goodbye" option not appearing one time so I also ask for people to mention bugs they might know of to actually give me more reason for the patch, as well as some of the stuff you get that the developers did not fully enable at release that the patch fixes. For any replies thank-you for your time, as any help could be great, I can be very choosy about problems such as this.
I think you should try to experience the original game (bugs and all) during your first playthrough, and only think about using the unofficial patch or other mods on an eventual second time through Arcanum.

That's just my opinion though, and if bugs really annoy you, the unofficial patch does squash quite a few.
Posted May 21, 2011
Arcanum is one of those rare cases when you should play with unofficial patch even on your first playthrough.
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khnk222: I liked playing a human gunslinger( with tux
That was also my first character - a gun-wielding gentleman. :)
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khnk222: my character is at level six
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khnk222: I have not even talked to the "P. Schuler something and Sons" people in Tarant besides their employee
You're only at the beginning, it wouldn't too long to start over and play to this point. Just make the same choices as the first time if you're a purist and want your character to be "the same".
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khnk222: I also ask for people to mention bugs they might know
There are TONS of them. To get the feeling, look at the cached version of the patch changelog (and it's not even up to date!):
http://web.archive.org/web/20090122015630/http://drog.terra-arcanum.com/uap.html

There are many broken quests, several missing opportunities, endings and much more other stuff that the patch fixes.

And if you are afraid that the patch will add something that the developers weren't intending - don't be. Everything is as close to the spirit of the vanilla game as possible (except for the Extra Content, which is optional). There is no new dialogue besides that was already in the game files, but previously unused.
Posted May 21, 2011
I'm currently playing (and almost at Level 20) and so far haven't experienced any real issues.
The decision is ultimately yours to make...but I thought perhaps any comments may help you make your Decision.
Posted May 21, 2011
avatar
senbon: Here's a quote from Archmage Silver over @ Spellhold:
http://www.shsforums.net/topic/33528-arcanum-unofficial-patch-extras/
Unofficial Patch - Summary:

See your downloaded mod archive for the changelog. There are hundreds of bug fixes included at the present time.

This patch fixes almost all of the remaining bugs in Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura. Most crucially, this patch restores the *cut* animations for every NPC/creature in the game, single-handedly disabling the now-present sprite mirroring.

What this means basically, is that the vanilla game now only uses 4 out of 8 animation frames for all of the NPCs and creatures and their actions, but this patch allows the game to use all of the original 8 animation frames, which are still included in the game's files.

There are extra animations for walking, running, prowling, fighting with all weapons, everything. This patch will drastically improve Arcanum's graphical state by restoring over 200MBs of unused animations.

The CD check has been removed as well, no point in it after all these years. The patch should be installed after the official 1.0.7.4 Arcanum patch, and no other mods than Drog Blacktooth's should be used due to conflicts.
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senbon: I've never had any trouble with it (and I always use it), but that's just me :>.
The extra animations sound very convincing so i'm going to get it, I just hope that it will be truly worth it and improve the game more than normal and that nothing will mess up.
Posted May 21, 2011
Thanks for the advice everyone, I'm deciding to get it since I want the game to have as much as possible and still be vanilla, so I will get the extras and patch. If I have any trouble I hope that there is information about how to fix anything that might come up. Thanks people for the info, hopefully things will work accordingly.
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deathwurm: I'm currently playing (and almost at Level 20) and so far haven't experienced any real issues.
The decision is ultimately yours to make...but I thought perhaps any comments may help you make your Decision.
Your correct this post was mainly here to get reasons to get the patch or not and info about it.
Post edited May 21, 2011 by khnk222
Posted May 21, 2011
New dilemma: when I run the game it does not even work and never gets past the loading screen with skeletons. I have tried running as an administrator and still it crashs and goes back to the desktop. I did get a warning though, does anyone know some tricks I could use to get it working with the UAP.
Posted May 21, 2011
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khnk222: New dilemma: when I run the game it does not even work and never gets past the loading screen with skeletons. I have tried running as an administrator and still it crashs and goes back to the desktop. I did get a warning though, does anyone know some tricks I could use to get it working with the UAP.
Hmm... that's a weird one. Did you install the UAP as administrator? Are you running the game as administrator? Another thing you could try is reinstalling the whole game (I've only ever applied the unofficial patch on a fresh install). Since you're going to start over anyway, reinstalling the whole game and then immediately applying the patch could help.

You could also try installing the game somewhere OTHER than program files... the program files directory has extra protections that may have prevented the patch from applying properly.
Posted May 21, 2011
Be sure you have installed arcanum outside the default Program Files directory.

Personally I've had a crash before I installed the high resolution patch (+ hq townmaps and music as an added bonus) on newer systems. I've had this only once, so it probably isn't the case.
Posted May 21, 2011
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khnk222: New dilemma: when I run the game it does not even work and never gets past the loading screen with skeletons. I have tried running as an administrator and still it crashs and goes back to the desktop. I did get a warning though, does anyone know some tricks I could use to get it working with the UAP.
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Waltorious: Hmm... that's a weird one. Did you install the UAP as administrator? Are you running the game as administrator? Another thing you could try is reinstalling the whole game (I've only ever applied the unofficial patch on a fresh install). Since you're going to start over anyway, reinstalling the whole game and then immediately applying the patch could help.

You could also try installing the game somewhere OTHER than program files... the program files directory has extra protections that may have prevented the patch from applying properly.
Thanks for the info, I reinstalled and deleted the patch when it was not working so I just have to redownload the UAP and install it outside of program files. Should I also reinstall Arcanum to a different directory?
Posted May 21, 2011
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khnk222: New dilemma: when I run the game it does not even work and never gets past the loading screen with skeletons. I have tried running as an administrator and still it crashs and goes back to the desktop. I did get a warning though, does anyone know some tricks I could use to get it working with the UAP.
avatar
Waltorious: Hmm... that's a weird one. Did you install the UAP as administrator? Are you running the game as administrator? Another thing you could try is reinstalling the whole game (I've only ever applied the unofficial patch on a fresh install). Since you're going to start over anyway, reinstalling the whole game and then immediately applying the patch could help.

You could also try installing the game somewhere OTHER than program files... the program files directory has extra protections that may have prevented the patch from applying properly.
Thanks it worked(I think) this is what I did I just copied the the Arcanum file I just installed to my games folder(so I have two Arcanums one with patch and the other without it) on the one with the patch it still lets me play the old save games which I thought that it would not let me do at all. So I just want to know if any problems could occur with two Arcanums on one computer and if I really have the patch and ways I can tell if I have it?
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Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick ObscuraI have a dilemma (12 posts)(12 posts)
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