Dawn Of The Third Age ... Comments, Feedback

I tried left clicking on the circle and the stones around the circle nothing at all happens except the serpent gets closer or swims away. I am going to have a look starting with DS2 instead of broken world.

Update: The quest works just fine when you start a DS2 Game instead of a Broken World Game. There is something in how the circle works that is different between the two versions of the game. This will cause a problem with people playing your map without having a saved Level 50+ party. Some of the other differences (not game ending ones, could also be a difference between DS2 and broken world). There where quests in broken world that used the circles of mushrooms and you had to click a mushroom and not the circle for the quest to activate. Maybe a clue there.

So for now I will start over with a level 75 saved DS2 party. The party is currently two female archers and three pack wolves. Have room for one more, but presently they appear to be doing just fine. Wish I had my normal package of combat magic spells, but they only function in Broken World. (The spell effects only work in Broken World, Just like the armor ornaments)

Played from DS2
*** Act 1 "Continuum" ***
1. "Continuum"
2. "Haku Mischief" Completed
3. "Trolls"
4. "Demons" Completed
5. "Leyline Disrupton" Completed
6. "Prime Location"
7. "It Might Work"
8. "Not Done Yet"
9. "Abandoned Goods"
10. "Strange Lights"
11. "The Stelae of Life"
12. "Oytissohwa"
13."Chief Thief"
14. "Dark Wizards"
15. "Ritual Binding"
Notes:
A-- Game seems much easier than when playing from Broken World. I am using ruffly the same armor and weapons. Using the standard DS2 Spells instead of special Broken World Spells. Even with a party made up of two rangers and 3 wolves I was able to take out things that would have killed my party of 6 in Broken World.

Just tested the stone circle at Merlin's lake using the Broken World exe., and the BW Allsaves exec. Both worked.

The circle uses basic triggers, and as related before, has always worked, with no problem. You left click on the center of the circle, your character moves to the circle, the Serpent swims in, Merlin appears with an auto-dialogue. Once you end the conversation with Merlin, he drops a crystal and "The Cosmic Connection" quest starts.(You have to pick up the crystal)

After you leave the area, Merlin walks away, and disappears. The trigger only works once for Merlin, but the Serpent continues to swim in close every time you use the stone circle.

You can test it by starting a new BW game (or trying a savegame). Then go directly to the stone circle and try it.

I have yet to use the regular DS2 exec. Have been using the DS2mod exec., and Broken World. I haven't noticed any difference in difficulty, but you could be right. Will have to do some comparison forays.

Speculation, but this may be why, some of the last minute damage increases made before uploading the map, seemed tougher than when they were tested.

Okay using Broken World I took a new character directly to Merlin's Lake and stepped on the circle, Merlin Appeared and we chatted. The quest activated and I picked up the small crystal. Going back to my previous Broken World party I opened the lore tab and looked at the quest items and the same small crystal is there. However Merlin as I said never appeared and the quest did not activate. If I recall correctly the crystal was on the ground already and I picked it up prior to stepping in the circle. Anyway all is well, I will just take the new character to a few lands pick up a useful crew and run the map again from the start.

Stymied on that one. The quest start and crystal appearing both work off the same trigger and the trigger only activates when Merlin's conversation ends.

Something I'm going to check is what happens when you use a party member rather than your main character, in the circle.

[update] Tried a couple things; another party member, running away after activating it. It still worked. One thing though, the crystal appears at the same time as Merlin's conversation, not after. The quest is however triggered by the conversation.

My best guess presently is that it was one of those rare flukes that can happen in any game.

I'm doing a fair amount of fine tuning, some fixing and adjusting. Also adding things here and there. These changes are too numerous to mention, but quite a few, if not most, are based on the feedback and reports in this post.

To date there have been 29 downloads of the map, though some of the 5 people who downloaded the origional, have probably replaced it with vers.1.1. Going by the number of people watching the videos, I had expected 50 to a hundred downloads by now. So far, there's been at least 1 download a day the last few days.

You probably noticed Fairys here and there, usually around Mana bushs. They will and do attack enemys, so if your in trouble, and there are some nearby, go get thier assistance. They are very helpful in distracting enemies away from your party.

I'm just testing out a group of Pixies (not DS1 pixies). They will not be invincible, but will respawn. Pixies will be rare, and will hang out around Health bushes.

Broken World, Restarted with new party
*** Act 1 "Continuum" ***
1. "Continuum"
2. "Haku Mischief" Started
3. "Trolls" Started
4. "Demons" Completed
5. "Leyline Disruption"
6. "Prime Location"
7. "It Might Work"
8. "Not Done Yet"
9. "Abandoned Goods"
10. "Strange Lights"
11. "The Stelae of Life" Completed
12. "Oytissohwa"
13."Chief Thief"
14. "Dark Wizards"
15. "Ritual Binding"
Notes:
A Pixies are just Fairies with digital cameras. Maybe they are not Pixies but their relatives the Pixels kind of like an average e-mail is a fair-e. It must be time to take a nap my mind is wandering.

A video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQeYNc3WMZI&lc=z23vgbjjazvbjnwj504t1aokgtf2ovd1rfbkxyrx01bybk0h00410

Broken World, Restarted with new party
*** Act 1 "Continuum" ***
1. "Continuum"
2. "Haku Mischief" Completed
3. "Trolls" Completed
4. "Demons" Completed
5. "Leyline Disruption" Completed
6. "Prime Location" completed
7. "It Might Work" Completed
8. "Not Done Yet" Completed
9. "Abandoned Goods" Completed
10. "Strange Lights" Completed
11. "The Stelae of Life" Completed
12. "Oytissohwa" Completed
13."Chief Thief" Completed
14. "Dark Wizards" Completed
15. "Ritual Binding" Completed
Act2 "East"
1. "Under Siege" started
2. "The Crown Jewels" Completed
3. "Harpies" started
4. "Dragon Stones"
5. "Morden Stronghold"
6. "Supply Line"
7. "Explosive Situation"
***Act 3 "North" ***
1. "Business Plan"
2. "Dragon Priests"
3. "Unnannull"
4. "Joined Forces"
5. "The Legion Garrison"
6. "Boundaries Crossed"
7. "Magnus Bane"
8. "The Cosmic Connection" started
9. "They Found A Way"
10. "Life Stone"
*** Secondary quest ***
1. "Garth's Crystal"
Notes:
So far no problems
Notes: No issues yet when I get to some of the new quests I will let you know.

As it is, the quest can be completed before one of the barges is destroyed. All depends on which barge is destroyed first. I have figured out a way to fix this.

Broken World, Restarted with new party
*** Act 1 "Continuum" ***
1. "Continuum"
2. "Haku Mischief" Completed
3. "Trolls" Started
4. "Demons" Completed
5. "Leyline Disruption" Completed
6. "Prime Location" completed
7. "It Might Work" Completed
8. "Not Done Yet" Completed
9. "Abandoned Goods" Completed
10. "Strange Lights" Completed
11. "The Stelae of Life" Completed
12. "Oytissohwa" Completed
13."Chief Thief" Completed
14. "Dark Wizards" Completed
15. "Ritual Binding" Completed
Act2 "East"
1. "Under Siege" Completed
2. "The Crown Jewels" Completed
3. "Harpies" Completed
4. "Dragon Stones" Completed
5. "Morden Stronghold" Completed
6. "Supply Line" Completed
7. "Explosive Situation"
***Act 3 "North" ***
1. "Business Plan"
2. "Dragon Priests"
3. "Unnannull"
4. "Joined Forces"
5. "The Legion Garrison"
6. "Boundaries Crossed"
7. "Magnus Bane"
8. "The Cosmic Connection" started
9. "They Found A Way"
10. "Life Stone"
*** Secondary quest ***
1. "Garth's Crystal"
Notes:
So far no problems, other than trying to find the start of the explosive situation. If I recall it was in a mine somewhere on the south shore.

The Picture.

Broken World, Restarted with new party
*** Act 1 "Continuum" ***
1. "Continuum"
2. "Haku Mischief" Completed
3. "Trolls" Completed
4. "Demons" Completed
5. "Leyline Disruption" Completed
6. "Prime Location" completed
7. "It Might Work" Completed
8. "Not Done Yet" Completed
9. "Abandoned Goods" Completed
10. "Strange Lights" Completed
11. "The Stelae of Life" Completed
12. "Oytissohwa" Completed
13."Chief Thief" Completed
14. "Dark Wizards" Completed
15. "Ritual Binding" Completed
Act2 "East"
1. "Under Siege" Completed
2. "The Crown Jewels" Completed
3. "Harpies" Completed
4. "Dragon Stones" Completed
5. "Morden Stronghold" Completed
6. "Supply Line" Completed
7. "Explosive Situation" Completed
***Act 3 "North" ***
1. "Business Plan" Completed
2. "Dragon Priests" Completed
3. "Unnannull" Completed
4. "Joined Forces"
5. "The Legion Garrison"
6. "Boundaries Crossed"
7. "Magnus Bane"
8. "The Cosmic Connection" started
9. "They Found A Way"
10. "Life Stone"
*** Secondary quest ***
1. "Garth's Crystal"
Notes:
1: Added the Wolves “Purple Rain” and “Fear the Pink” and allowed them to lead me to the mine.
2: I have noted that on several buildings, walls and Ceilings tend to block what is in the next room and you can not see your party. This happens a good deal in the Morden Stronghold and The Dragon Priests Tomb.

bare_elf ... Notes:
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" 2: I have noted that on several buildings, walls and Ceilings tend to block what is in the next room and you can not see your party. This happens a good deal in the Morden Stronghold and The Dragon Priests Tomb."
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There are places where you have to manually zoom in on your party. The walls do not cause the camera to automatically zoom in, as they do on default settings. In some places I set the camera this way, so the far and mid distance views were not lost, and the party view was not just very close.

In the Morden Stronghold though, the camera was set this way because the party view bounced around too much on the default settings. This was caused by a couple things; The close proximity of walls, and mainly, the alternating open / closed tops of the walls. Tried the settings both ways, and believe the current settings are the best.

In the Barrows, the big problem area is Qwtreyllagatha's room, which is not in the main building . You have to barge into the room in order to see your party, and the view is very claustophobic.

In the main building, I don't think there are any problems. If there are, I don't think much can be done about it, because of the way the building is built.(would require major work, and not be perfect)

Qwtreyllagatha's room has been fixed in Vers.1.2, and the walls and ceiling are no longer a problem.

In the Morden Stronghold I might do something with the sleeping quarters view. The ground level room along the wall near the sleeping quarters will have a good view in Vers.1.2.

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Further imput on any camera view problems would be helpful.

Broken World, Restarted with new party
*** Act 1 "Continuum" ***
1. "Continuum"
2. "Haku Mischief" Completed
3. "Trolls" Completed
4. "Demons" Completed
5. "Leyline Disruption" Completed
6. "Prime Location" completed
7. "It Might Work" Completed
8. "Not Done Yet" Completed
9. "Abandoned Goods" Completed
10. "Strange Lights" Completed
11. "The Stelae of Life" Completed
12. "Oytissohwa" Completed
13."Chief Thief" Completed
14. "Dark Wizards" Completed
15. "Ritual Binding" Completed
Act2 "East"
1. "Under Siege" Completed
2. "The Crown Jewels" Completed
3. "Harpies" Completed
4. "Dragon Stones" Completed
5. "Morden Stronghold" Completed
6. "Supply Line" Completed
7. "Explosive Situation" Completed
***Act 3 "North" ***
1. "Business Plan" Completed
2. "Dragon Priests" Completed
3. "Unnannull" Completed
4. "Joined Forces" Completed
5. "The Legion Garrison" Completed
6. "Boundaries Crossed" Completed
7. "Magnus Bane" Completed
8. "The Cosmic Connection" started
9. "They Found A Way"
10. "Life Stone"
*** Secondary quest ***
1. "Garth's Crystal"
Notes:
1. Now it is time to hunt for the Cosmic Aligner. Now is it hiding in the Star Chamber in the Kingdom of Ehb. Or maybe it is really the great clock under a different name, I know it is in Aranna somewhere

v1.1 downloaded..will be taking a look at it in my rare spare time

Dawn of the Third Age does have the Veteran and Elite maps. but .... I just checked the Broken World exec. with a party that had all three maps open, and could only get the Mercenary map.

Apparently, from what I hear, no one has been able to do a fixed Broken World Exe. (or mod). Could this be done with a reverse engineering tool? This is beyond my range of experience, so I don't know.

bare_elf is doing her current play through with Broken World, so unless there is some way to transfer a BW save to DS2 ... only the Mercenary map is available.

first town was amazingly big, think I found act 1 chapter 2 and 4 by accident, will have to explore around to find chapter 1 and 3 before I start destroying the enemy, I have a level 39 mage and the enemy in pic are 21 so should be no problem. think I stood at waterfall for like 15 minutes so breathtaking.

This info is in the PDF, you can't always go by the level given. Some powerful enemies will tell you they are Level 0.

This was not intentionally done .... I just couldn't figure out how to adjust the levels shown.

Cosmic Aligner/Star Device in some old Utraean Ruins north west of Ellennu. Others have found it treasure hunters, grave robbers and the like. I have not found it I have been up and down elevators, in and around every ruin my mind is numb and my eyes are sore from looking for some secret door.

The Cosmic Aligner is on the North side of the Utrean Ruins.

It is the same base as the Life Stelae base near the Falls, which was also not easy to find. Have added a shadow edge to make it easier to spot, and will add other things to get your attention.

In this context, I have noticed that the frustum width/depth/height partially has been increased by ~3x (default is 45, but noticed values far beyond 100).
Remind, 2-3x more range means that 5-10x has to be loaded than the game engine is possibly tuned for (e.g. I always register a lag of several seconds when walking to the West from the first starting position).

 
Technically a bit strange to see was too that the 'forced expiration' was set to 'never' in order to (well, as the dev comment said) to make them respawn!?
I haven't tested it, but does that really work? Because in the following session I refound a dead but untouchable monster still standing on its feet (...unsure, caused by some mods I have installed perhaps!?).

There are four points in this post that need some answers;

1. Using another mod for level adjustment.

2. High frustrum settings. (View distance)

3. The "forced expiration settings"

4. Previously killed monster ... standing and dead.

1. --- As to using another mod, I won't be doing this. The map will remain stand alone. As it is, the levels do adjust in the Veteran and Elite maps.

2. -- The view distances are quite often maxed out in this map. There are framerate drops here and there, but they should be within acceptable limits. Most you shouldn't even notice.

There is however one very foggy region were the drop is noticeable. This is due to a huge number of effect gizmos, not view distance. There is trade off here. I believe it works though, ... your party is proceeding in the fog, and taking it a bit slower.

3. ---- "forced expiration" set to "never" .... Yes, this works quite well for respawning ... and, ***should also work in a DS1 map***. Any npc that can explode when killed, and does, will no longer respawn.

If you use "dead" instead of "never" you get a body that remains for the entire game.

4. --- A previously killed dead, but untouchable monster, standing?. ... If you come across something like this, a screenshot would help me to investigate.
However, I never had this happen ... could be mod related. I don't run very many mods. Could also be a fluke, and the monster should be reset properly next time you go by.

Did have this happen with some good npcs, which had "animation" gizmos. Once the gizmos were removed, all was good.

The only place in the direction you suggest that remotely looks like the picture is Lavenord, however I still can not find the base to click on. Can not get anything to trigger was there something I should have picked up somewhere, besides what Merlin left for me? I have been over the north side, south side, west side and east side, plus through the middle. Lots of places look similar but nothing is just right. Maybe I need the three bears to help me look. (nursery rhyme reference)

has gone

I checked out the direction signs, and there were none showing the way in Ellennu, or that area. The only direction you have to start with is in the quest info; "the Utrean Ruins northwest of Ellennu", and this doesn't really help you get there.

If you head *northeast* from Ellennu, you come to a bridge across a chasm. This is way you have to go.

There is also a longer route. If you go to Skye, then head South, passing through the Troll Cave, you can get there.

When taking the route from Ellennu however, you have to go through the Sulpher Geyser area, then watch for a sign further along.

In Vers1.2 there will be more signs, and some changes to the Raptors encountered along the way. The raptors are a bit much in Vers.1.1, when using the BW exec.

While near the bridge over the chasm, try out Merik's Horn.

I have attempted to pass through the the Sulpher Geyser area. Evil smelly place. My party never survives no matter the power and buffs on their armor and casting many protection spells.

The Sulpher Geysers shouldn't be deadly. Anyone else unable to get through?

The damage type is "Acid". I don't know what the protection is for this type of damage, but did manage to get through, even with a level 50 party, in Broken World (harder play through).

I can not get past the entrance of the Sulpher Geysers so will have to take the long way. Would not the route to the Troll Caves be shorter going from west bay instead of Skye?