[SOLVED] Issues transitioning between chapters 2 and 3...

[Legacy_Halo Ravenwing]

               I'm running HotU with the 1.69 patch.

I'm currently at the battle with the Valsharess' armies, and am having issues. I just tried playing through that area twice. The first time, my screen went blank, although I could still hear the sounds of battle going on. I ended up dying, and saw the dialog box to respawn in the Realm of the Reaper, but I still couldn't see the actual environment. So, I respawned, saved and quit, reloaded, and everything seemed normal. However, when I returned to Lith My'athar, the Seer was dead, along with all my allies, and Valen, Deekin, and my golem all started killing me. Needless to say, I reloaded my previous save right before the battle.

However, the second time I played through, I had issues again. It looked great up until the confrontation in the Valsharess' throne room. There, it randomly cut to Lith My'athar in a cutscene I didn't really get a chance to see, because I skipped. '> But, it seemed okay until Mephisopheles did his thing. Suddenly, my game crashed and I got an error message saying something like, "Could not load module. Could not unpack module." Is this an isolated event, or can I expect problems like this every time my game reaches the end of this chapter?

I'm sorry if it's something stupid that I'm doing wrong, but this is my first playthrough of HotU by myself. I was forced to load a 1-player multiplayer game to get my custom items, just because I'm not literate enough in Toolset to get my custom items into the campaign.

Any help will be greatly appreciated! <3>

               

                     Modifié par Halo Ravenwing, 07 octobre 2010 - 06:52 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_HipMaestro]

               You are not alone.

Every time I play the Chapter 2 finale I am on pins and needles.  I am guessing that it is due to the way my vcard is trying to digest the event output.  But I think the main area that gliches is right at the end of the Courtyard battle where the Captain spirit thingy comes back to tell me that the attackers are retreating. My PC gets frozen in place and I can see my henchmen and the remaining allies fighting.  At that point, USUALLY, a convo thread appears on the spirit thing that I can click and that loads the transition.  But not always!  Many times I have to just reload from my previous save, sometime several times, before it fires properly.  I have found that it is important NOT to leave the courtyard during the battle.  And that is very restrictive because it forces me to place all my troops into the courtyard or I won't be able to help them.

Incidentally, I always send both golems and the Diva to protect the Seer and I always complete all five quests before the final visit to the Seer, for whatever relevance that may have... probably none.

A few times, my PC got froze in the city just at the Seer's parting words.  But this has been very rare.

The Valsharess is another potential freeze-up.  I usually use the ESC key just after the Seer's dialog and where my PC disappears.  It will skip the Valsharess scene where Meph kills all her sisters but it never crashes that way... for me anyway.

I have no recommendation except to make lots of saves, starting the moment your PC leaves the Seer's chambers after completing the required quests.  I make one there, then immediately at the arrival at the courtyard to begin setting up troops and then finally, when the battle in the city commences.  Experiment using the ESC key at different points.  There must be a problem with some vcards/drivers handling the transition movies but it may also be scripting.  I have had no problem like this anywhere else in the module or in any of the other campaigns.

So when it comes right down to it, all I can offer is some company in the suffering and perhaps encouragement to persist until you negotiate the one bottleneck.

Nonetheless, good luck in your progress!


*** SPOILER, IF YOU WANT IT :****
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If you are fortunate enough to defeat the Valsharess, if you hit the pause button at the EXACT moment she dies you can loot her her awesome inventory.  It's tricky and I can't always do it but when I can it is sweet. I consider it pay back for putting up with the wonkiness of the chapter ending dynamics. :innocent:
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_jmlzemaggo]

               You're so right Hip. Valsharess is probably the most beautiful NWN vilain ever and any respectful player should pay her his respect as you did.

I forgot what she had on her actually. What is she, a cleric? If so, I'm becoming very religious all of a sudden...
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_HipMaestro]

               

jmlzemaggo wrote...

You're so right Hip. Valsharess is probably the most beautiful NWN vilain ever and any respectful player should pay her his respect as you did.
I forgot what she had on her actually. What is she, a cleric? If so, I'm becoming very religious all of a sudden...

Cleric/BG to be exact.  You don't think she wields a whip by accident do you?
               
               

               

                     Modifié par HipMaestro, 06 octobre 2010 - 07:34 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_jmlzemaggo]

               Do you know the feminin for accident?
Premeditation.


                                            
               
               

               

                     Modifié par jmlzemaggo, 06 octobre 2010 - 06:44 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Halo Ravenwing]

               Glad to know I'm not the only one who has these issues. A partner in suffering makes it a bit better. I'll keep at it with the replaying.

Have you heard anything about the game being unable to load the third module? The only thing I've done to the 3rd module is install the romance fix for Valen. What? Don't look at me like that! You know you love him.

Ahem, anyway. Thanks for the advice--I never knew you could loot the Valsharess. However, i fI'm playing as a NG Sorcerer/Ranger, would I be able to use most of her items? Aren't they probably restricted to evil alignments or something? I don't know, I'm just rambling here. You'll find I do this a lot.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_HipMaestro]

               ....clip...

Halo Ravenwing wrote...
However, i fI'm playing as a NG Sorcerer/Ranger, would I be able to use most of her items? Aren't they probably restricted to evil alignments or something?

Most, yes.   In any case, you'll need lots and lots of gold in Ch 3 so any little bit helps.
Some of them depend on which feats you took. '>
               
               

               

                     Modifié par HipMaestro, 06 octobre 2010 - 06:23 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Vaalyah]

               @Halo: I suppose it is a performance problem. In the battle you have TONS of NPCs making TONS of things. Some cast spells, some fight, some move, some dies. Everyone of them is interacting with all the others with a result of many dices rolling. The computer is just "overwhelmed" with things to do.

I suggest you to try reloading the scene with all the possible other software not running (ie: antivirus and scheduled things of windows). That could be of help.



To the other too-interested-in-the-Valsharess guys ( ' ) she has a whip because she is a cleric of Loth, like 90% of drow females, and Loth's favourite weapon is the whip. So each cleric of Loth is compelled in using it. I know because my P&P PC is a drow... that has left Underdark and become an Eilistraee cleric. But of course, she has had to use a whip while in the Underdark.



Actually, in the drow society, since they are all immune to magic, wizards are useless. Just some males is used as a wizard to produce magic items. But they are considered very bad. But of course, all males are quite useless for drows! ;-)

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Halo Ravenwing]

               The only thing I'm wondering is that I downloaded the Valen romance fix for chapters 2 and 3 while playing this game. I mean, not while the game was up, but I had a game saved in chapter 2 while I edited chapter 2. Is it possible that this might have something to do with this?

The super irritating issue is--when I manage to get through the fight all the way to the end of chapter 2, my computer can't load the chapter 3 module. <>< i swear,="" this="" game="" drives="" me="" crazy="" sometimes.="" still,="" it's="" worth="" it.=""><3>

               
            

[Legacy_Vaalyah]

               I've downloaded the fix too. No problem if you have followed all the instructions (ie: recompile the module).

It could both be a hardware problem or a not-recompiled module... please, tell me:

1) your system specs

2) have you followed all the instructions in a patched toolset?
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_HipMaestro]

               Anything is possible when you begin customizing.  That's one of the reasons I play all the campaigns through at least one time as vanilla v1.69 to form a baseline.  That way, if anything out of the ordinary happens I can begin the tedium of removing overrides one-by-one until I locate the offending culprit. I would first try loading a save from before you installed the fix and play that one through to Ch 2 ending. But with the knowledge that my own vanilla has caused similar problems,  the effect is still problematic. Re-installation of the game would be my last resort for obvious reasons.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Halo Ravenwing]

               UPDATE:



I did as Vaalyah suggested and disabled my antivirus software (Norton), and it worked like a charm. I am now currently in the chamber of the Sleeping Man. [smilie]../../../images/forum/emoticons/grin.png[/smilie]

Thanks so much for helping me out! I'm so excited to finally get to finish this game. I lurked on these (and the old) forums forever. I never realized how helpful you guys were. Thanks again. *scurries off to keep playing*
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Vaalyah]

               Happy you have found a solution! And remember... each time you play with something... the antivirus must be put KO! ;-P