Influence Problem

Kurtillius · Post by **Kurtillius** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 12:00 am

Has anyone else had this problem?

I'm playing as a Sith Lord. When I play with Atton in my party, I noticed that he was almost all the way to dark-side mastery, I'd influenced him so much. But then I quicksaved, and quickloaded... suddenly, he was just *barely* evil.

I tried it again and again... whenever I manage to drag his influence down... if I do *any* loading (not just quicksaving and quickloading), his darkside/lightside meter is knocked way back towards neutral.

Is there anything I can do about this? It happens with all of my party members. So, basically, I can't influence my party members very much at all. It breaks my heart.

Kurtillius · Post by **Kurtillius** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 1:21 am

Oh, and this is weird, too...

I've discovered that if I load or change maps, party members' light/dark meter reverts back to near-neutral... but if I take them out of the party, and then add them back in, it goes back to where it should be on the scale.

It's really annoying to have to do that to keep my party members alignment influenced, though. Does anyone know what's going on?

lyanna · Post by **lyanna** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 4:16 am

Ack, that sounds pretty unfair! Okay, maybe more than unfair. Enragingly annoying, maybe. Anyways, I don't really know what to suggest as I haven't had any of the same problems, other than it sounds like maybe it's a bug with your copy of the game. Have you tried ringing any of the customer support helplines? They might be able to suggest something. If there's more people that have experienced the same problems then Obsidian might know about it ... maybe they'll bring out a patch or something.

This is just guessing though. I really hope you manage to get it sorted; the influence thing is one of the great parts of the game.

King · Post by **King** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 5:10 pm

I have the exact same problem!
I tested by loading various saved games today, with a sticker placed on the monitor screen where the Lightside/Darkside threshold is, and it varies.
I also noticed Atton varies the greatest. Bao-Dur varies alittle.
I am aiming for a Lightside character and I aim for Influence on Atton, Bao-Dur, T3, and Handmaiden.
This is saddening when this game is built upon story and INFLUENCE!!!

I hope somebody can help us out. Xbox users do tell us of your experiences, has something similar happened?
PC users who have completed the game, did you get the ending you were expecting or did you faced a similar problem?

Thanks! All help appreciated!

Nephthys Shadow · Post by **Nephthys Shadow** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 6:45 pm

I have the PC version.. I'm no expert on the new KOTOR but i know that.. Mandalore the driods and when they are't in your party they don't change for me... I donno.. My game is buggy... Maybe its just they arn't with you at key areas which is bugging the area loads since it looks at something like. "You didn't do this here they should blah blah" ..... Maybe. I donno... I'm hoping there will be an update sometime to fix mine.. Sorry Xbox guys... ((I have one too but PC versions sometimes are better + updates for free))

Kurtillius · Post by **Kurtillius** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 11:01 pm

Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one experiencing the problem.

If it will give you hope though, I've noticed that now that I've progressed another 5 or so hours into the game, the problem *alsmost* fixed itself. Atton's bar doesn't reset itself all the way to neutral... only a small shift. Ditto for the rest of the party. I may not be able to drag them as far towards light/dark as I would like, but the reset is small enough that I can still keep them in the general light/dark range that I want.

King · Post by **King** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 10:08 am

Yes this is a b1tch a$s problem, other than being a Star Wars fan, Influence is one of the main reasons why I play KOTOR2.
But I am sure NPCs get certain masteries being all light/dark, so we will miss out on these benefits.
I hope to hear more experiences from PC users. I saw a new patch released today, maybe it will fix the prob.

Co5mo · Post by **Co5mo** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 1:43 pm

LucasArts Jay (administrator)
Total Posts: 648
Member Since: 06/01 Date Posted: Feb 14, 2005 05:44 PM

These patches are for the International Language versions of the game only.

The updates cure some ingame text issues, as well as update the game documentation.
You can find them here:
http://support.lucasarts.com/patches/KotOR2.htm

NOTE: these updates are not intended for the Domestic version of the game.

Thought it was a bit quick for a patch to come out

hopefully wont be too much longer before we get one that fixes some of the many "real" bugs though

Nephthys Shadow · Post by **Nephthys Shadow** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 5:48 pm

You can allways cheat their DS/LS to max... *shrugs* But that would get old it it reset all the time and not worth the "Cheat Used" all over your save.

Kurtillius · Post by **Kurtillius** » Wed Feb 16, 2005 1:02 am

Still doing it....

I started a brand new game... uninstalled, started a new character... still does the same thing.

I think this might be affecting more people than they realize. Pick a random character. Atton works nicely. Save and then load, or transition from one map to the next... now, observe where they are on the LS/DS meter... then, go to the party selection screen, REMOVE THEM. Then, *close* the screen (it won't work otherwise). Then, open up the screen again, and re-add them. Voila. Now you'll see what LS/DS level they're *supposed* to be at. But this will only last until you switch maps or load/save.

No one has any idea what to do about this, eh?

I thought it might be a problem with the Sith Lord's force corruption ability, but it does it no matter what class you are.

I've only tested it with two Dark Side characters. I'm assuming it happens LS, too.

<Edit>

Who would I contact, support-wise, for this problem? I'm kinda' under the impression that the tech support people are there to deal with hardware issues/graphical glitches/crashes/etc.

Kurtillius · Post by **Kurtillius** » Wed Feb 16, 2005 2:32 am

Complex workaround:

When a party member's alignment shifts, before you switch maps, remove them from the party. Then, after you switch maps, bring them back in. This will 'lock in' their current LS/DS gauge.

Annoying. But at least it works. In the areas you can switch party members. Otherwise, you're screwed.

Pardoz · Post by **Pardoz** » Wed Feb 16, 2005 1:38 pm

Related bug, with LS Jedi Master - on the occassions when my NPCs don't start leaking LS points, several of them are far enough over to be showing "Light Side Mastery - +3 [appropriate stat]" in the character screen. Unfortunately the stat bonus doesn't actually appear

King · Post by **King** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 9:34 am

Updates. I just reach Dxun (my 3rd planet stop from 1-Dantooine, 2-Nar Shaddaa) and it's 41 hours of game time already. I know, it's a loooonnngggg time as Im a big SW fan and I like gettin indepth with my RPGs.

I have managed to train Handmaiden, Atton, and Bao-Dur into Jedi. All of them have racked up LS points. In fact, even Visas got her LS gauge up. Im perhaps half-way through the game and Im havin less to no more of this INFLUENCE problem, though I noticed a slight LS drop (very very small), not really worth mentioning.

However, I was wondering do NPCs get the benefits of +3 on a stat for being way up the LS gauge? My main character is higher just a little above the rest and got a +3 CON (Light-side Mastery). I was hoping the others get a +3 on something too.

Macleod1701 · Post by **Macleod1701** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 9:47 am

Well in regards to the LS mastery, I've noticed that the Handmaiden does get the +3 strength, maybe because she has the hots for me or something, and Visa is only a gnats wing away from her mastery but alas I don't think I can influence her any more. My NPC's light/dark don't seem to shift about like has been mentioned but I think you may have a limit as to how far you can shift them, Atton is roughly 3/5ths up the lightside, Boa-Dur possibly 7/8ths and Visa and Handy pretty much full. Mira is pretty LS too but I have yet to train her.

The only buggy thing I've noticed is with T3. That little sucker is fully light, and has been completely repaired but I notice that sometimes when I'm switching through the profile screens that the background behind him is that of a fully dark NPC, flames and all. Doesn't happen all the time, but it is very weird.

King · Post by **King** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 9:59 am

[QUOTE=Macleod1701]Well in regards to the LS mastery, I've noticed that the Handmaiden does get the +3 strength, maybe because she has the hots for me or something, and Visa is only a gnats wing away from her mastery but alas I don't think I can influence her any more. My NPC's light/dark don't seem to shift about like has been mentioned but I think you may have a limit as to how far you can shift them, Atton is roughly 3/5ths up the lightside, Boa-Dur possibly 7/8ths and Visa and Handy pretty much full. Mira is pretty LS too but I have yet to train her.

The only buggy thing I've noticed is with T3. That little sucker is fully light, and has been completely repaired but I notice that sometimes when I'm switching through the profile screens that the background behind him is that of a fully dark NPC, flames and all. Doesn't happen all the time, but it is very weird.[/QUOTE]

KOTOR2's a wonderful game but them bugs are givin it a bad rep. And to think that the Xbox version came out 1st, and the PC one 2 months later. Nothing was done bout the bugs except for the Swoopbike win-time exploit.

Thanks for the insight. We can now conclude that not only the main character gets the +3 stat bonus. NPCs do benefit from them with a particular mastery as well.

The thing is, I managed to get most of my characters all the way up the LS gauge, and I really do hope they all get the +3 stat bonus, especially Handmaiden cos she's my girl!

Macleod1701 · Post by **Macleod1701** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 10:00 am

Ahem no offence mate but real women are much better than pixels. Put the conroller/mouse down and go get em

King · Post by **King** » Mon Feb 21, 2005 10:07 am

Yeah, Im a big horndog, I get u buddy! So fvckin bored of blonds, brunettes, and redheads.

I would definetely love to get in bed with a girl whose hair's all white, with skin so fair. I bet if she were in skin, her skin be real cold to the touch!