A few questions. [Archive] - DreamCatcher Forums

123

10-07-2007, 03:50 PM

I've just played the first Painkiller demo, and it was okay. I've got all the cards, completed it on nightmare difficulty and found most of the secrets, but I came across quite a few problems. I know it's a work in progress and it has undoubtedly been improved since, with the other demos and patches and the game being out, but it seems so buggy, that before I go and spend money on the game, I'd like to know if these things are either a) a recognised bug that has since been fixed, b) some problem at my end that I need to do something about or c) something that has never been rectified and that some people are still suffering from, and that if I bought the game, I would have to accept.

1) One of the most annoying bugs hit me before I even started to play the game. When I was configuring my controls, it said "Unknown Key". I thought that was fair enough, it has happened with other games, I think it is due to my keyboard and particular games coming from different countries or something. However, when I got into the game, the key wouldn't work. I brought down the console and typed it in there and it worked fine, I even tried to bind it from there, but that didn't work. I also tried entering it into the config file, but that was no good either. If the game can recognise the key in the console, and even in the controls menu (although it doesn't know the name) why won't it work during gameplay? I am having to use an awkward configuration to play currently, which is fine just for a demo, but not for the duration of a whole game.

2) I have found 3 of the secrets and holy items on the Town map, but I can't seem to find the 4th. Having checked a walkthrough it says that the final secret area I am looking for is where the first zombie off the ground is (but it doesn't mention the 4th holy item), but if I go up there, there is nothing and it does not say that I have found a secret area, also...

3) ...I can step "off" the map and fall into oblivion and death.

4) Also, partly related, I seem to be able to get "stuck" quite easily, I can look around and fire, but I'm completely unable to do anything else. It's like I'm trapped between two bits of the map, usually between a wall and a piece of "scenery". I don't know what else to do but exit the game.

5) Related - It is possible to get back into a previous area (I actually did it by accident) and then be trapped, "locked in" if you will. The doors won't open to let me out and I can see nothing to do but exit the game. Generally, the maps just don't seem finished properly.

6) Sometimes (always at least once when playing) some coins will fall straight through the floor without giving me a chance to collect them. Also related (but not necessarily a bug) is that some coins are out of reach, on high ledges for example.

7) There seems to be a problem with the collision detection. Sometimes my projectiles will pass straight through things such as enemies or enemy projectiles.

8) "Strange behaviour" from some objects (namely the zombie organs and the reddy brown corpse things). Once or twice when I have hit them with the grappling hook thing, they have injured me. When I first saw one of those corpse things, I didn't know what it was, so I shot it, and because it was pulled towards me, it touched me and injured me. This doesn't make sense because either they are inherently harmful and so would cause harm when walked over or brushed past (they NEVER have), they are harmful when thrown by the force of an enemy (why did they injure me?) or objects cause injury when they hit me with a certain force, such as when pulled my the blade weapon (nothing else EVER has).

9) Whenever I see the "stats" either at the end of a level or during, it always says "Objects Destroyed 0".

10) The "Trauma" difficulty level is locked and says I have to complete in "Nightmare" mode first. I have done that, but it is still locked.

11) Finally, the nVidia movie at the very beginning is incredibly jolty. The sounds seems to play fine, so because the video is running too joltily and slowly most of the time (the odd second is smooth) it gets out of sync. I have watched the movie in the bink player and it plays smoothly, although the sound of the mace hitting the floor does seem premature.

Thankyou for reading all of that (more than I expected) and thanks in advance if you can help me.

123

10-11-2007, 09:08 AM

This is the official forum, isn't it?

I understand that the game is couple of years old and that probably means that the community is dead, but where are the representatives of the game?

After all, the point of a demo, surely, is so that people can try a small portion of a game, before they pay their money for it. I tried the demo and had quite a few problems with it, but because it's "work in progress" (it says so in the top corner) and therefore not representative of the final game, I would imagine that at least some of these issues have been corrected.

I suppose everyone is beyond the point where they care about getting a few more sales. Or maybe they can't/won't answer these types of questions on the forum, should I be e-mailing some kind of "support"?

Varus77

10-11-2007, 12:43 PM

Welcome to the forum...

Maybe the reason for that nobody answered your questions above:
- you've tested an very old demo
- if you own a normal PC, means a bit over the requested minimum and
- if you patch the game for PK to 1.35 and/or with BooH to 1.61

...you won't get any of these mentioned problems

eg. (and we're talking about Single Player Maps or official MP-maps)
1) never heard about
2) players caused "problem" ;)
3) normally not... very rare problem (1 of 10000) caused by wrong collision detection based on your data and your hardware (CPU).
4) the same like before and with PowerMad installed you can use via console "pmbump"
5) unknown (besides of "trick-jumping")
6) "some coins will fall straight through the floor" < like above 3) and "that some coins are out of reach, on high ledges for example" < like 2)
7) like 3)
8) of course - game play intended
9) like 2) (there are many players around who 5-stared all level on all difficults - like me)
10) game play intended...and not only that level is blocked (how could you try that with a demo which have had only one level?) more about that you'll find at the FAQ: Painkiller by dooguesgoober4 under the frist sticky thread above)
11) you've a hardware problem (maybe insufficient RAM too)

and finally: "I know it's a work in progress " < nope...the comming out was Apr. 2004

Blaise

10-11-2007, 07:04 PM

^^^ No. 11 could be caused also be caused by a bad driver release - try updating to the latest one from the nVidia site. I haven't experienced this problem myself though.

123

10-12-2007, 09:16 AM

Varus, it seems like you don't understand English very well, which is a shame, because you're the only one trying to help me. It seems like you are saying that if I buy the game and install all the patches, all my problems will be fixed, then you go on to point out why they won't.

Maybe it was I, who was not being clear, I will try to explain better (my post was getting quite long, I was trying to make it shorter).

1) Well, that doesn't fill me with confidence that it is fixed. I can't play an entire game with this awkward configuration.

2) Yes, I know this now and I wanted to delete this point, but I was unable to edit my post.

3) I don't think you understand, I can reproduce it every time because it seems as if there should be a wall, but there isn't. As such, I can "step off the edge". I can also see through to other parts of the map. (It might be easier to understand if I post a screenshot).

4) This isn't completely random or rare either, I think I can reproduce it, for example, when I go for the first holy item in "Town", it is easy to fall against the wall next to the window, and be trapped between (I think) it and the wooden frame.

5) Again, doesn't help me or make me feel confident. However, I suppose you are just one man, and so you personally might never have seen these things. This is why I need help from the "community".

6) & 7) As I said, I thought it was collision detection problems, but I want to know if it is fixed, or if I can fix it, what I need to do. What does "based on your data and your hardware (CPU)" mean? I can't play this game with my CPU? And what do you mean "my data"?

8) It's intentional that the behaviour should be inconsistent and make no sense?

9) You don't understand. Either that, or your response doesn't make any sense to me.

10) I don't understand what you're saying, and checking the FAQ hasn't helped.

11) What kind of hardware problem? How can I fix it?

As for "it's a work in progress", you don't understand.

Finally, Blaise, what nVidia drivers do you mean? Not graphics drivers, I use an ATI card. In fact, I don't think I have any nVidia hardware. Do you mean something to do with the game?

Thankyou for trying to help me, and if anyone else knows the answers to any of my questions, please feel free to reply.

Varus77

10-12-2007, 03:27 PM

Varus, it seems like you don't understand English very well, which is a shame,...
:confused:... Keep in mind that nobody have answered your questions before, and right - English isn't my native language (there are a few people around the world from other nations... you know? ;) - but at least it isn't that problem. Maybe I was a bit short for some points but excuse me ... to answer questions about a 3 years old DEMO with one level and, like for demos generally not representative for the final version, and for somebody that won't pay 10$ for the whole game... :confused: ... it's a bit worthless, isn't it?

Anyway...

3) I don't think you understand, I can reproduce it every time because it seems as if there should be a wall, but there isn't. As such, I can "step off the edge". I can also see through to other parts of the map. (It might be easier to understand if I post a screenshot).
- believe me that I've understood you...
- right - there are and have to be unvisible walls (besides of my own SP-map...:D)
- you can see through? - Yes - if you're at a normally not intended place - why not?
- a screenshoot? - yes - this would help so much. Why you didn't post one?

4)6)7) - the collision detection problems -
You have to know this is a arithmetical problem and therefore CPU related. Faster CPU have more time to detect these collisions between different polygones. In few words: they (CPU) can check these collisions hundred times/sec. Slower one only 10x/sec.
The consequences:
- objects can pass through
- you've problems e.g. with climbing (with nowadays fast CPU's you can climb walls nearly 85-90°)
for the "DATA": if you start a level those collisons data for the whole map will be stored in a mopp-file - normally temporary - but sometimes players have to restart the level, some to reinstall the game because something went wrong or those bad data were stored and not deleted.
for your CPU: you didn't say anything about your hardware...right?

5) a screenshot would help or even better a short movie...

8) It's intentional that the behaviour should be inconsistent and make no sense?
You're talking about Town?

When I first saw one of those corpse things, I didn't know what it was, so I shot it, and because it was pulled towards me, it touched me and injured me. This doesn't make sense ...:D...It is intended and you should let PCF the licence for their ideas. BTW... nobody have ever challenged this :rolleyes:

9) You don't understand. Either that, or your response doesn't make any sense to me.
We can't know if you've ever destroyed an object - right? Therefore I've told you that many players 5-stared all levels - means: all monsters killed, all objects destroyed...and so on. 1 star behind each statistic points - at all 5 stars...ok?

10) I don't understand what you're saying, and checking the FAQ hasn't helped.
ok...that was a miss - sorry - but it isn't right what you've said because:
(from your ReadMe.txt in your Docs folder)
- Locked Difficulty Modes: Trauma mode is available after collecting 23
cards, not Nightmare mode.

As for "it's a work in progress", you don't understand.
:confused: PCF isn't anymore...there will be no more new patches or fixes...
but besides of this you've wrote:

...that before I go and spend money on the game, I'd like to know if... How can you play it and ask those questions if you don't own this game?

Finally, Blaise, what nVidia drivers do you mean? Not graphics drivers, I use an ATI card. In fact, I don't think I have any nVidia hardware. Do you mean something to do with the game?
Ever heard about nVidia motherbords?
You didn't told anything about your hardware, did you?

123

10-13-2007, 12:37 PM

I'm not quite sure I understood your first paragraph. It seems that you feel insulted and maybe insulted me in return, that was not my intention. I fear the language barrier strikes again. I appreciate your help.

3) Well, I thought posting a screenshot would be quite difficult, but anyway I have found one on the internet. The screenshot shows the wall that is missing. Because of this, I can walk through where the wall should be (and is in the screenshot) and fall off the level. Clearly, the screenshot shows that this has been fixed in the full game. I feel safe to assume that there will be no such instances in the full game and that it was simply evidence of the "work in progress" status of the demo.

http://www.painkillerhell.com/graphics/pkgrabs/pksecretgrabs382.jpg

4)6)7) Ah, I see. A slower CPU will make fewer measurements and/or calculations and so it isn't as precise as a faster CPU, and collisions can "pass through the gaps" in between measurements of the positions of things (or something like that). That would make sense because my CPU is actually slightly slower than the minimum requirements, but it wasn't showing any problems and the game seemed to be running fine most of the time, but this is the manifestation of my inferior CPU. Just for the sake of certainty, can anyone else confirm this?
I'm not really sure what you mean about climbing vertical walls though.
Also, I understand that you're saying the map data can become corrupted or otherwise unreliable, but how do I find out if I have this problem and is there any way to fix it other than reinstalling?

5) a screenshot would help or even better a short movie...

5) It doesn't really matter where it happened (if you really care, I think I jumped through a hole in the wall between the 3rd and 2nd areas on the "Palace" map). I know about this now and I can avoid doing it again and it will probably never happen again, but it's things like this that bother me. Maybe there are lots more of these on the other maps in the game along with other problems that force me to exit the game.

...:D...It is intended and you should let PCF the licence for their ideas. BTW... nobody have ever challenged this :rolleyes:

8) You've said a couple of times now that it is intentional that the behaviour of these things is inconsistent and makes no sense, so I will accept it. I suppose it's a minor irritation and I can live with it, as long as there aren't too many example of things like this throughout the game.

We can't know if you've ever destroyed an object - right? Therefore I've told you that many players 5-stared all levels - means: all monsters killed, all objects destroyed...and so on. 1 star behind each statistic points - at all 5 stars...ok?

9) Maybe I should rephrase this. How can it be that 0 objects have been destroyed? And if it can't be, and some objects have been destroyed, why does it say 0? And how can I make it change to say anything other than 0.

ok...that was a miss - sorry - but it isn't right what you've said because:
(from your ReadMe.txt in your Docs folder)
- Locked Difficulty Modes: Trauma mode is available after collecting 23
cards, not Nightmare mode.

It doesn't say anything about "Trauma" in the readme. I suppose this comes down to one of two things either a) I have done everything to unlock trauma (complete in nightmare) and it won't unlock because of some bug or b) (I think probably now) the text saying "Finish Nightmare to unlock" is just wrong.

Ever heard about nVidia motherbords?

Yes, that's why I said "I don't think I have any nVidia hardware".

Finally, you said I won't pay $10 for the game. I wasn't aware that it was that cheap, but I suppose it's because it is 2 or 3 years old. However, I don't live in the U.S. or Canada or wherever else you meant. If I could get it for USD10, I would go and get it right now despite the problems and if they were still there I would throw it into the bin, because it's just pocket change.

Thanks again for your help.

Varus77

10-13-2007, 03:03 PM

...the whole world isn't that big thing any more...:)
There are certains links where you can just download it:
e.g.
http://google.metaboli.de/MetaGame/productdetail.jsp?product_id=3606&gclid=COu-rNKvjI8CFSRHXgodjWXlKQ
or buy Painkiller AND BooH...both for $9,95
http://www.steampowered.com/v/index.php?area=game&AppId=3200

or follow this offer via
http://www.dreamcatchergames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31266&highlight=steam

BTW...if your CPU is under the minimums you haven't to wonder about some problems maybe eg. with the ingame bink-movies or later during the spawning of many monsters

For the objects...it's 4 years ago for the demo and I can't remember right but I'd think to have in mind that the script for the statistic wasn't completely finnished at that time and many others bugs too...

Well it was a really long way with many patches and/or community fixes...

Blaise

10-13-2007, 09:26 PM

Just to clarify your position... what exactly are the specs of your machine? (CPU, RAM, video & sound)

The requirements are (note: these are BOOH specs as the box was close at hand):

Minimum: 1.5GHz processor, 384MB RAM, 64MB DirectX 8.1 compatible video card.
Recommended: 2.4GHz processor, 512MB RAM, 128MB DirectX 9.0 compatible video card.

That would make sense because my CPU is actually slightly slower than the minimum requirements,My bad... I thought it safe to assume that most people would exceed these minimal requirements these days. It goes a long way to explaining why you are having trouble with collision detection and probably why the nVidia cinematic is jerky. There are moments when my SLI'ed 7900GT's show lag in this game - it'll happen (only sometimes) if there are a lot of explosions and monsters occurring on-screen at the same time. It's safe to assume (and I'm not trying to be elitist or insult you) that your machine is way below my specs and I'll also wager that your video card is quite old as well. How do you go with games that are a bit more modern (and more demanding) than Painkiller (eg. F.E.A.R., Half Life 2, Doom 3 or Quake IV)? One of the beauties of this game is its scalability to a very wide range of hardware specifications. Have you tried lowering your video settings? For example, try 800x600 (or lower), reducing the texture quality etc. and see if things improve.

On a side note, my work machine contains an Intel P4 1.7GHz, 1GB of PC133 RAM and a nVidia 6800GT (utilising a 4x AGP slot) and out of curiosity, I gave Painkiller a run on it. Assuming I don't try to max out all the settings (i.e. be sensible), the game is quite playable @1280x1024. I also tried it out using a 256MB nVidia 6200 card and again, it was fine. I didn't have time to go poking around everywhere to see if the lower spec'ed CPU ran into the collision detection problems you encountered but from what I tried, it didn't.

- you've problems e.g. with climbing (with nowadays fast CPU's you can climb walls nearly 85-90°)To clarify Varus77's sentence further (and this goes for difficult jumps as well), more processing power (CPU & GPU) mean higher FPS (frames per second). Higher FPS simply makes these tasks easier to manage (assuming you have the basic skills to pull off the moves in the first place). A example of this was a new way I found to get one of the secrets in the Catacombs level (there's a video of it on RJ19's site). I scaled a near vertical wall using the Painkiller weapon which wouldn't have been possible (or at least darn near impossible) if I had low FPS. Please note that when doing this climb, I was bouncing between 170 and 220 fps @1600x1200 which obviously made the job a whole lot easier.

Varus77 also used the point of people 5-starring the game when referring to your "0 objects destroyed" problem. What he didn't say was that in both the original Painkiller and the expansion - Battle Out of Hell (BOOH) there are some objects (destroyable, ammo and holy items) that cannot be reached. Community patches and/or the PowerMad mod fixes these problems allowing users to complete the 5-star challenge.

Finally, your posts seem to contain a rather curious enigma... you keep referring to the demo (I've never played it, I simply bought the full game when it came out) but then you say:
I have done everything to unlock trauma (complete in nightmare) and it won't unlock because of some bug or ...Are you playing the demo (3 levels) and expecting to unlock or are you referring to the full game (which you say you won't buy if the game is still buggy or a work in progress)?

123

10-14-2007, 02:02 PM

Well, you both seem to be saying that the collision detection (and similar) problems are due to my processor, so I'll take your word(s?) for it and scratch it from the list (if I can work out how).

Also, the consensus (such as it is) seems to be that the "objects destroyed" is just a bug in the demo and is (largely) fixed in the game. Just a quick question, these community patches and mods, are they something I have to buy as an extra or do they ship with later versions of the game, or can I just download them?

As to the slow, stuttering nVidia video, you say my CPU is probably why it is happening, which would suggest that up until the 1.5Ghz CPU was released, there were no videos on PCs. Anyway, even if that was the case, as I said it runs fine outside of the game.

The minimum requirements said a 1.5GHz Athlon, so I thought my 1.2GHz Thunderbird wouldn't be too bad because I seem to remember they run about 15-20% faster than a regular Athlon, so that would be equivalent to about 1.4GHz. I thought that would be near enough, especially when I have the recommended 512MB of RAM and 128MB Radeon 9600XT. Besides, I know that if your PC isn't fast enough then a game can run slowly and even become jolty and not run smoothly if lots of things are happening, but I've never heard of the game world actually behaving differently.

I am playing the 1st demo that contains the maps "Town", "Palace" and "Ruins".

Varus77

10-14-2007, 03:53 PM

The community bug fix you can just download from my page (click the sign below) - it's only 156Kb. For the patches (you'll need for PK 1.35 and for BooH you need 1.61 (1.62+1.64 are only optional for MP)) follow the second sticky thread:
http://www.dreamcatchergames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20797
and use the patches from Gamershell...
All is for free of course.

As to the slow, stuttering nVidia video, you say my CPU is probably why it is happening, which would suggest that up until the 1.5Ghz CPU was released, there were no videos on PCs.
That's wrong. To play movies with a player, eg. Bink-player in that case, outside of a game is one and an easy thing because the CPU has only to decode the bink-codec (and mostly windowed). But in game the engine is very often loading the other needed stuff in the background too and/or the rare RAM is full with game related data (eg. if there is enough RAM the game-engine is storing more then 800Mb). Therefore the engine has at first to transfer data to temporary folders and can then play the movies (maybe meanwhile stuttering).

BTW...I've played PK in 2004 with the same RAM and GPU like yours but with ~2.0 for the CPU - the gameplay was slow but good enough but it was a pain to make the movies over PK. The fps drops down to 20fps...horrible...

SOULTAKER

10-14-2007, 11:57 PM

Hi 123, my apologies for not getting involved but the technical stuff ain't my strong suit. :o Actually Varus is the expert in this field, Kalme too, fleabay, FragManiac, PeTjA...

As Varus said, the demo isn't the final released version of the game. The final released version of the game wasn't bug free, hence the subsequent patches given to correct these hiccups. So to answer your question:

that before I go and spend money on the game, I'd like to know if these things are either a) a recognised bug that has since been fixed, b) some problem at my end that I need to do something about or c) something that has never been rectified and that some people are still suffering from, and that if I bought the game, I would have to accept.

Probably all three, a, b, and c.

Regarding your "getting stuck in a crevice" problem... as far as I know several players have found different buggy areas in different levels. It's happened to me too a few times over the years, but I could count the number of times it's happened to me on one hand so it's rare and not a usual occurrence. Typically (in my case) it's happened when I was fighting a lot of enemies and I used a Stakegun grenade - Daniel got knocked into a crevice or into a solid wall from the explosion. I think I may have had pkgod enabled? That's the "God mode" that's available when you enter the code in the drop down console.

If it's happening to you "quite easily" that's abnormal. I played the demo for 2 months before I bought the game and I didn't get stuck in it at all. Whenever it's happened it has been in the final release of the game with "all" patches applied.

Could I just clarify something, you're not talking about the anomaly when you try to walk in a direction but Daniel gets sort of "pushed" in a different direction? This too has happened to me on 5 or 6 occasions but I'm certain it's because I accidentally press some bizarre combination of keys on the left-side of the keyboard (if I'm playing frantically, hehe). I'm sorry I can't shed more light on this issue but you can restore normal movement by holding down Shift or Ctrl or Tab and some other button (?). I've never recorded what I did to fix it, but within a few moments of it happening I always could. Maybe it was holding down one of the buttons and shooting? Actually now that I think about it, this might be a keyboard shortcut to switch to "reverse mouse look" or whatever it's called?

Kalme's Powermad has a function to "unstick" Daniel if he gets stuck in a wall.

My PC is just over the minimum requirements but if I turn off unnecessary programs that run in the background "before" I play a PK session (e.g. AntiVirus, Firewall, AntiSpyware, AntiMalware, AntiTrojan, etc... the list is long and demented, hehe) but if I only have those applications running that must run in order to use Windows, even for a machine that just meets the requirements I get pretty good results. Obviously not as good as a more than adequate gaming system.

However, and there is "some" problems "sometimes", and one problem all the time, for me at least. The one problem that I've always had is in the Castle level. There's some info. in a thread by FragManiac (gone but not forgotten :( ) titled: Floating in air" bug in He11, any fixes for this? Here's some screenshots:

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/750/castletexturebugcopyla2.th.jpg (http://img87.imageshack.us/my.php?image=castletexturebugcopyla2.jpg)

The textures don't cover the ground properly, but the ground is solid wherever this texture problem occurs. And this is the only place, only level I have this problem. All other levels in both PK and BooH are fine, it's just in this area in the Castle that's effected. The great Hills mod has always worked perfectly for me :D;)

Anyhow the advice was to download the patches from a different location, as maybe mine were corrupted. I tried that but it didn't change anything so unless my game is corrupted...? I don't know what the solution is? Then again, perhaps one of the 2nd batch of patches I downloaded are also corrupted? This would be the logical explanation.

The other problem that happens "sometimes" for me, and until I asked about it I didn't know other players had known about it for ages - happens in The Lab. Some of the save points will crash the game. Apparently the only way to avoid it happening comes from a tip shared by Artas1984... go around the save point and don't save. When I do this I can play on without a crash. :cool:

Re: slow, stuttering nVidia video... I'm using nVidia 77.77 driver. It's the only one that's stable on my machine. If I try to use a later driver (and I know there've been several updates since then) I get lines across the screen and no amount of tweaking or problem solving will fix it (I've read through the nVidia forum). But when I revert back to version 77.77, I can play games and watch movies perfectly. I've stopped trying to update the driver because it's always the same result, lines.

I realise this doesn't really help you, but I don't think you can expect much support for the demo. The final game still has issues, for some (I'm guessing the majority of folks) the game works fine, but for some it doesn't and with so many different factors (systems) it really is an individual problem.

Re: Coins falling badly, my non-technical guess is that some will fall badly and cannot be gotten to, but perhaps shooting the object from a different angle will make them fall differently? Like I said, non-technical, hehe, I just like to play the game.

Re: Zombie organs, they're designed to do damage to you, it's one of the Zombie's attack methods. I used to practice knocking them out of the sky with the Stakegun. But maybe just like with PK jumping - a faster computer doesn't drop frames, and you can do jumps that you can't do on a slower machine, maybe this is analogous with flying organs too?

Re: Objects destroyed 0 in stats... sounds like a serious bug if you're destroying objects and it's not being recorded. Maybe the demo is corrupted?

Again I believe installing Kalme's Powermad will fix a couple object related problems that weren't fixed in the patches (objects which were placed in unreachable places). Can anybody verify this? I thought I read it in a thread once? But I could be mistaken.

Varus77

10-15-2007, 12:31 PM

The great Hills mod has always worked perfectly for me...
...this make me happy...:D;)

- the glitches in Castle - seems to be a DirectX/GPU-driver problem because with my old ATI from 2004 I've gotten it - later with the ATI9800XT they were gone.
- Coins falling badly - again a collision problem - many small objects to calculate but compared with an unlucky polygone structure at that point they are falling through - faster CPU lower the "risk" (you remember the item at the top of the statue in Stone Pit? > it was placed on a very bad polygone triangle point and most players have mentioned problems to get it)
- Objects destroyed 0 in stats - meanwhile I'm sure that the statistic for this wasn't scripted in the code of the demo.

Again I believe installing Kalme's Powermad will fix a couple object related problems that weren't fixed in the patches (objects which were placed in unreachable places). Can anybody verify this?
That's right eg. both items from Stone Pit (BooH) - but corrected with 1.61 too - besides of the wrong spawn points in Trainstation (only for 5-starring related) - that's only in The-All-in-one-Bug-Fix and was my fix for our perfectionist SYS :D

123

10-17-2007, 09:16 AM

you're not talking about the anomaly when you try to walk in a direction but Daniel gets sort of "pushed" in a different direction?

No, I've never had that. From your description that followed, it almost sounds as if you accidentally Alt+Tabbed and some other program got priority over the mouse.

About the coins, I understand that the ones that fall through the floor are due to collision detection problems and happen (primarily) because of my CPU. The other thing I wondered about (as I have said) is when a barrel explodes (either because it was on fire or because I shot it) and some of the coins land on the high ledge or balcony that the barrel was on. I said that this wasn't necessarily a bug and is probably just part of the game and collection all of the gold isn't necessarily possible. I just wondered if maybe I was missing something, like a way to pull the barrel or the coins down to where I can get at them (the grappling claw thing doesn't work).

Greybeard

10-17-2007, 11:28 AM

... collection all of the gold isn't necessarily possible...
I believe SYS (someone correct me) tried this but gave up even with the 5* reward. I can't remember whether it was impossible (e.g. some item destructs in a place you can't possibly get to) or just required an unnacceptable level of repetition (e.g. coins falling through cracks haphazardly). If you have a go, do let us know how you get on :)

Cheers

Greybeard

Varus77

10-17-2007, 12:23 PM

I just wondered if maybe I was missing something, like a way to pull the barrel or the coins down to where I can get at them (the grappling claw thing doesn't work).

Yes - that's right - means you can't grab these things. And some of these coins bearing objects normally aren't possible to reach, eg. the both bowles at the top of the building in the second section of Oriental Castle...(besides of Cyody's last movie which shows him climbing to that place :D).
But that is at least no problem. You can easy make some money with juggling it out of dead bodies till they disappear...the "huge" coins...in your statistic shown as +xxx in the coins row.

123

10-18-2007, 09:59 AM

I can't remember whether it was impossible (e.g. some item destructs in a place you can't possibly get to) or just required an unnacceptable level of repetition (e.g. coins falling through cracks haphazardly).

I think this is probably the case. Theoretically it's probably possible, but in reality it's impossibly improbable. I think trying to collect all the coins would be equivalent to that American quantum physicist who tries to walk through his office wall every morning.

What made me wonder was the statistic. It implied (or maybe I just inferred) that it was possible to "complete".

Now, has anyone got any ideas on the "Trauma" difficulty level? Blaise, were you going to say something?

Varus77

10-18-2007, 01:41 PM

(from your ReadMe.txt in your Docs folder)
- Locked Difficulty Modes: Trauma mode is available after collecting 23
cards, not Nightmare mode.

have you missed that?
(the original manual from 1.0 have said the wrong ! This was the correction of the manual later)

123

10-19-2007, 02:19 PM

Okay, so the text in the demo is wrong, it should probably say "Unavailable in the demo" or something similar.

So, gradually it seems everything has been answered. I suppose I can live with 5 & 8 as long as I'm mindful and make sure I avoid them.

Unfortunately, no-one seems to have any idea about 1) "Unknown Key". This was the main problem I couldn't really live with, as I've mentioned. If anyone has any idea, please let me know.

Meanwhile, I've been sufficiently reassured, that I'm going to see if I can get my hands on the 2nd demo and see if that makes any progress on the "Unknown Key" problem (or (http://www.dreamcatchergames.com/forums/images/icons/icon4.gif) introduces any more).

Blaise

10-19-2007, 07:37 PM

1) One of the most annoying bugs hit me before I even started to play the game. When I was configuring my controls, it said "Unknown Key". I thought that was fair enough, it has happened with other games, I think it is due to my keyboard and particular games coming from different countries or something. However, when I got into the game, the key wouldn't work. I brought down the console and typed it in there and it worked fine, I even tried to bind it from there, but that didn't work. I also tried entering it into the config file, but that was no good either. If the game can recognise the key in the console, and even in the controls menu (although it doesn't know the name) why won't it work during gameplay? I am having to use an awkward configuration to play currently, which is fine just for a demo, but not for the duration of a whole game.

... ...

Unfortunately, no-one seems to have any idea about 1) "Unknown Key". This was the main problem I couldn't really live with, as I've mentioned. If anyone has any idea, please let me know.I totally missed this question/problem in your original post... you need to clarify what you mean by "it may be my keyboard". There have been a couple of problems with members here over the years regarding the game not recognising particular keys but by and large, these people have been using non-US keyboard layouts or foreign language sets. What key(s) are you trying to bind to anyway that are causing the problem? Are they specific to your keyboard (eg. something like the Logitech Z15's "G keys" or the infamous ZBoard)?

I'm also puzzled by the comment "I am having to use an awkward configuration to play currently". Do you mean the standard First Person Shooter "WADS" movement layout or something else?

123

10-20-2007, 12:26 PM

Okay, I'll try to state the facts and clarify this as much as possible.

Firstly, there is nothing special about my keyboard, it's the standard 105 key (or whatever the number is) keyboard. The only keys that might seem special if you haven't seen a PC keyboard for about a decade are the two Windows keys and the menu key, or whatever it is, next to the right Windows key. It doesn't have any extra keys or any extra buttons or any extra flashing lights. It doesn't have any gimmicks or special functions. It's not a usb keyboard, it's not a wireless keyboard, it's not a projected keyboard or a waterproof rubber keyboard that you can roll up and put in your pocket. It's not even a funny shape. To reiterate, it's the most basic, standard, rectangular keyboard there is.

Secondly, I'm not trying to bind any special keys (you know I don't have any). I'm simply trying to bind the " , " (comma) key.

Thirdly, as I have said, when I type in the console, it is detected perfectly and it places a comma. It even detects it in the control config screen - when I press the key it doesn't fail to detect anything and sit there still waiting for me to press a key, it detects that I have pressed it, but just seems to simply not know the name and call it "Unknown Key".

Also, I should point out that I never have any keyboard problems with any software at all. The only thing like this to have happened before was with one game (or maybe two) in the past. Unfortunately, it was years ago and I can't remember what the game or the key was. What I can remember, is that although it didn't know what to call the key in the menu, it worked perfectly during gameplay. And why shouldn't it, after all, the games (including Pankiller) are clearly detecting the key being pressed.

Finally, I didn't say "it may be my keyboard", it isn't my keyboard, it's the game. I know this because of all the facts I have just stated. I did say "I think it is due to my keyboard and particular games coming from different countries or something", maybe I should elaborate. I don't really know what's going on (that's why I said "think" and why I'm here asking for help), but I have an idea that if I play a game from Russia or Japan or something like that, then I can understand how it might see a key as "Unknown" if it hasn't been made or tested properly. I imagine a similar situation could occur if say, a Russian played an American game.

I'm also puzzled by the comment "I am having to use an awkward configuration to play currently". Do you mean the standard First Person Shooter "WADS" movement layout or something else?

I don't know why you are puzzled. I cannot bind the keys I want to bind and therefore I am having to alter my configuration. Are you saying you want me to tell you my entire control configuration, and if so, why?

123

11-07-2007, 01:00 PM

I've finally played the second demo and it's much better, it seems far more polished. It's fixed most of the problems I was having (even the nVidia video plays smoothly). I didn't want to say it earlier for fear of causing offence, but the first demo felt like either a good alpha, a beta or a terrible representation of the full game. Clearly, it was a beta, but without any mention of it (apart from maybe "work-in-progress").

It now counts my destroyed objects and even separates the statistics into ones that are readily completed (and gives me a star) and those that aren't necessarily meant to be (I'm no longer bothered about the coins).

Unfortunately, it still hasn't fixed the "Unknown Key" problem, and now it's killed my keyboard. http://www.dreamcatchergames.com/forums/images/icons/icon9.gif

There has been some change through. Now, instead of saying "Unknown Key", it says "None". Does anyone have any ideas about this? If someone (maybe from the game) could just tell me that it's been fixed in the full game, that would do.

P.S. I forgot a couple of new bugs. I can pickup the things inside the crates without destroying them (obviously they're not actually inside the crates, the crates have just been placed over them). Also, the gamma and brightness adjustments don't work if I drag the bar, only if I press the arrows, also if I minimise the game and then restore it, the adjustments aren't enabled.

Varus77

11-07-2007, 02:47 PM