Atari/Troika patch for Greyhawk

fable · Post by **fable** » Fri Oct 03, 2003 9:30 am

Adrenaline Vault posted this recently:

Atari has informed the Adrenaline Vault that it's working on a patch for Temple of Elemental Evil. A representative for the company said Atari isn't ready to release a list of planned fixes for Troika Games' new RPG due to the ongoing reception of feedback from fans.

So while fans complain and mention bugs up on the TOEE official forum, Troika holds off completing the patch. Or am I reading this wrong...?

Ned Flanders · Post by **Ned Flanders** » Fri Oct 03, 2003 10:23 am

Troika/Atari/WotC/Hasbro......sounds like a lot of red tape to cut through in getting this patch out the door; too many fingers stirring the pot/everyone's going to have their say which will delay things.

Perhaps they're trying to write a very comprehensive patch as opposed to say a fix this now/fix that later approach like with NWN.

cjdevito · Post by **cjdevito** » Fri Oct 03, 2003 7:04 pm

Fable, Huy from Troika has been working on the patch, in large part fixing issues culled directly from the bug threads on the official board.

What I suspect Atari's statement is in reference to is to continual posting of new bugs on said forum, from which Huy is gathering info on what to fix.

Ned's on the money in his comprehensive patch statement. Expect there to be ONE patch for this game, so expect it to be an all-in-one wonder that will cause it to take even more time before release.

For me, I finished the game with a neutral good party yesterday with only very minor headaches along the way.... so I do consider the game playable with only minor (though numerous) faults.

fable · Post by **fable** » Fri Oct 03, 2003 8:34 pm

I've already been expecting one giant patch on TOEE, @Cjdevito. Huy wrote as much; but I wasn't referring to that, above. I was being sarcastic after the fact that the players of the game are providing, post-purchase, the beta-testing that should have been done beforehand. And because the bug list is likely to keep growing for some time, the single, all-inclusive patch is not likely to get done for a bit.

cjdevito · Post by **cjdevito** » Fri Oct 03, 2003 11:31 pm

Sarcasm, Fable? I thought that was against the gamebanshee user agreement

FWIW, I've been using the fan made patch for the past two days and so far, it's been flawless. Since it can be uninstalled so easily, and since it shouldn't corrupt anyone's game if it's uninstalled before installing the official patch (whenever it's released), I really recommend using it.

DraySkullan · Post by **DraySkullan** » Sat Oct 04, 2003 8:31 am

Luckily I bought Icewind Dale II (which I've actually been impressed with) on the same day I bought ToEE. When I couldn't even get the game to run, I just installed IWD II and started playing. Since then I have fixed my problem with ToEE, so it'll run now.

I figure by the time I beat IWDII, a nice big fat patch will be out and I'll be playing ToEE stress free!

FourPak · Post by **FourPak** » Mon Oct 06, 2003 9:50 am

Originally posted by cjdevito
For me, I finished the game with a neutral good party yesterday with only very minor headaches along the way.... so I do consider the game playable with only minor (though numerous) faults.

You are just really really lucky. Seriously.

Like you, I -had- been playing ok with only minor (though numerous) bugs since release, but just recently started having the terrible CDT and character freezing problems described by so many others.

So far I've managed to "fix" each problem via reloads or backups, but the lower I go in the temple, the worse it gets. The game is nearly unplayable at this point.

I regret purchasing this product at release.
Next time, especially when I see the Atari logo, I'll wait.

btw for any who aren't familiar with game publishing, it isn't the developers, it's the publisher's 3rd-party projects Producer who has the Financial and Quality Assurance authority from executive management to approve, delay, suspend or cancel any project at any point along the development cycle, including just before release. It's the publisher's Producer who makes or breaks a game.

fable · Post by **fable** » Mon Oct 06, 2003 10:38 am

I tend to agree with you, @Fourpak, but it's probably a bit more complicated than that. Developers can contribute to a problem by falling prey to "creeping featurism," the classic example being Simtex's Agents of Justice. (Four years' development. Microprose finally shutdown the unit.) It's easy to sympathize with devs, on a publisher's leash, especially when there are some pretty nasty examples of publishers out there--such as EA, and the late 3DO, both of whom are credited with killing a variety of companies they purchased.

But Troika has turned out fairly buggy products before. Arcanum and Fallout 2 both suffered badly in this respect, though neither approached the truly...well, awesome number of bugs that bedevil TOEE. It's quite possible that Atari had set them repeated deadlines before, and these had passed without comment.

I'm not privy to what goes on within Atari, Troika, or WOTC, so let's just say that among 'em all, releasing TOEE in its current state was a really bad move. Bad among hardcore RPG fans, who can discuss the matter on the Web, and worse among general players who may never check the Internet for updates, and will return TOEE without even realizing a patch was available.

cjdevito · Post by **cjdevito** » Mon Oct 06, 2003 1:51 pm

Next time, especially when I see the Atari logo, I'll wait.

I can't blame you for that. Ever since infogrammes resurrected the atari name to hide behind it seems their already notorious problems have worsened.

Master of Orion III still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Earl Grey 1 · Post by **Earl Grey 1** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 2:45 am

So Infogrames = Atari?

Owch! I really dislike Infogrames. This means that I won't really have to expand my dislike list, but rather add another alias to Infogrames.

UserUnfriendly · Post by **UserUnfriendly** » Wed Oct 08, 2003 4:54 am

Originally posted by cjdevito
Next time, especially when I see the Atari logo, I'll wait.

I can't blame you for that. Ever since infogrammes resurrected the atari name to hide behind it seems their already notorious problems have worsened.

Master of Orion III still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

i completely agree with you there....i mean i thought it would have been impossible to completely leech out all the wonderful micromanagement fun of master of orion 2...i was wrong...thankfully i still have my cd for master of orion 2...still a classic by anyone's definition...

AncientGreyelf · Post by **AncientGreyelf** » Thu Oct 09, 2003 10:01 am

Patch

First.Every buisness that put thier name on the box and disk is responsible for the product and it's flaws!They all are collecting a pay check for having a trademark on the game, they can say no to any possibly inferior product!I made the misstake of seing the SSI logo and thought that this game might have been as good as the old black and gold box games.I was very wrong and I will wait for the next atari product to hit the $9.99 bin as I have with other producers whom can't beta test a product!!

Galuf the Dwarf · Post by **Galuf the Dwarf** » Thu Oct 09, 2003 10:10 am

So, no exact release date has been given for the official patch at this point?

Although it sounds like I'm going to get the game today, I still might want to wait on playing it. With the load of work I've had, I often haven't found enough time to continue in BG2: ToB (which I'm hoping to finish once and for all). Ah well, such is youth.

Edit: Installed the game today, and experienced the common "Crash To Desktop upon loading" incident. Sure, it's disappointing, but I've got a hunch that this game will be pretty fun once I get it to work. Just have to wait for the patch.

AncientGreyelf · Post by **AncientGreyelf** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 10:39 am

Prices are dropping!

At the local stores the prices are dropping!It's amazing when everyone starts complaining to their local stores that they are selling garbage.And management of the online stores aren't crazy about the reps' they get from customers complaining.By the way lean to use the space bar to get by lockup areas such as videos.save more than one game!

fable · Post by **fable** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 12:34 pm

Re: Prices are dropping!

Originally posted by AncientGreyelf
At the local stores the prices are dropping!It's amazing when everyone starts complaining to their local stores that they are selling garbage.

Whoa. Local stores are parts of national and international chains, who have their prices set at corporate headquarters. Do you notice anybody writing down your complaint about a game when you return it? I've never seen that. (In fact, the game store clerks always seem busy either with customers, or ignoring customers to play games.

) So I doubt that local stores send on long lists of complaints to headquarters. Prices are pre-determined by the wholesale cost of the item, transportation, etc. Most prices drop on well-advertised titles after the first month or two, because marketing strategies insist you can raise the price abnormally in that initial "fan mania" period. The later price you see is the normal price at which the item would have sold, if the retail chain didn't think think at first they could make a lot more. It happens to extremely successful titles, as well.

Galuf the Dwarf · Post by **Galuf the Dwarf** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 4:07 pm

IT'S OUT FOR REAL!!!!

YAAAAAAAY!!!!

I found a link to it on the Atari board and downloaded it! I'll tell you all how it is later, okay?

fable · Post by **fable** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 5:02 pm

Okay: tell us what the patch fixes for you, when you get a chance.

Galuf the Dwarf · Post by **Galuf the Dwarf** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 6:48 pm

Well, you asked for it.

This fixes A HECK OF ALOT of little things! Here are a few of the bugs it fixed:

1) Fixed the bugs with Craft Wonderous Item. Now anyone can possibly make everything with the right level and spell!

2) Weapon Finesse now applies to all small weapons, including the slightly bugged +1 short sword!

3) Sorcerors and Bards now have the number of charges per spell level listed in the magic section of their radial menu.

4) No more monsters spawning in walls! Now enemies spawn surrounding your characters if your rest is interrupted.

5) Magical leather armor now does not retract from Hide and Move Silently skills (which is not supposed to happen).

And that's just the tip of the iceberg!! Now this game rocks even more than ever!!! (In case you're wondering, folks, I am not exagerating with the excitement

)

shogun13h · Post by **shogun13h** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 7:05 pm

Yeah! Thanks for telling us

fable · Post by **fable** » Mon Nov 10, 2003 8:01 pm

Re: Well, you asked for it.

Originally posted by Galuf the Dwarf
3) Sorcerors and Bards now have the number of charges per spell level listed in the magic section of their radial menu.

About time.